CHAPTER 68.

Amber paused at his words. “How do you know that?”

“Because the High Elves taught me,” he answered simply. “And because of that, I can see it.”

High Elves? This elf had met High Elves? Weren’t they only present in Ill’hine?

“Does that mean you have gone to…”

“Ill’hine?” he asked. “No, the ancestors of my family are High Elves, the only ones in all of Vir perhaps.”

Amber nodded at that, while she was curious if they were restricted on whom they could share such information with ⁠— given the secret of Ill’hine was something that is meant to remain hidden for eternity ⁠— she didn’t ask about any of that. Instead, she looked at the man. He seemed weak, and disheveled.

“Please help me leave this dungeon,” he said. “And in return, I’ll teach you Essence just like how I was taught.”

“Can’t you get out yourself?” Amber asked as the elf slowly stood up.

At that, he shook his head. “No, I do not have a staff and my Essence is gone⁠— my core is broken.”

“Broken? It can be broken?”

He nodded.

“You can see for yourself, place your hand in front of my chest and push your Essence⁠— try to see inside and you will know.”

She did as told. Amber found the action rather weird, but after hovering her hand over the man’s chest and pushing her Essence for a second. She saw it⁠—

But the sight made her pause.

In the vision she was seeing, she had to crane her head to see it fully. It was akin to seeing a destroyed and desolate planet, one that had chunks of its surface broken apart and whose magma and cores had long been destroyed. It was so big.

And that was the elf’s core.

Or what remained of it.

That can happen…? Amber wondered.

“I once was strong and powerful, now I am nothing more than an elf,” he said shaking his head. “While normally, this type of damage is impossible to administer to anyone, to a god like the Primordial Spirit, this is nothing.”

Amber nodded at that. The notion of that happening to her was scary, but perhaps a god could also fix the damage.

“And what did you do to⁠—”

“End up like this?” the elf chuckled. “It’s a long story, but if you want to hear I’ll tell you. But first, let’s leave. I do not want to spend another second in this cell.”

Amber nodded, and left along with the elf.

* * *

His name was almost forgotten to him, but he remembered it. It was Asil. And the woman, the one who had rescued him, was Amber. And it was all because she had unraveled the Essence hiding the entrance to his cell— which he explained to her as much.

She helped him get clothes, get a staff for casting spells, and even get food. But his mind was elsewhere even as he spoke with her and educated her.

He had been imprisoned in that cell for two-hundred plus years. He had screamed, cried, begged, and even tried to end his life during that time. But eventually he accepted that he wouldn’t be getting what he wanted.

Once upon a time he was young, he was foolish, but he was also powerful.

He remembered it like he was yesterday.

A lone elf stood atop a vast mountaintop in one of the most remote sections of Vir. Snow was falling, clouding the environment. The sun was setting, turning the storm into a frozen hell of darkness.

And yet, he remained steadfast as a thunder streaked. He had just ascended, and now he wanted to see the fruits of his labor after one hundred years. He took a deep breath, and for a moment it seemed like nothing was happening.

Then, he heard a booming roar. One that made his elongated ears twitch and his face turn. And with the crackling of thunder and a flash of light, he saw the silhouette. A gigantic one with two wings and a tail, one with elongated horns. A creature of legend.

A dragon.

The elf saw the orange light in the distance, it was like a warm candlelight. But he knew, he understood that it was more than that. So, he pulled his golden Essence from his core forward and pushed it to his arms. His hands began to glow with a pale golden light, and for a moment that was all he did.

The dragon unleashed a roar and soon the candlelight turned into a blazing inferno and he in turn pulled.

A golden bow appeared as an arrow was nocked, then a moment later he shot. The light zipped through the air, like a flare passing through a storm and heading into a volcano. Then, it hit⁠—

The air exploded, the storm was cleared and the attack from the dragon was turned to nothingness. And yet, the arrow continued striking down the creature of legend and making it burst into nothing but blood and gore.

And the elf smiled.

[You have defeated a [Crimson Draco of the Flame. Lvl. 482].]

For defeating an enemy 450 levels above your own, you have received bonus experience!

That had been the peak of his life. His strength had reached the next stage. Many had different ways to call it, but he himself simply referred to it as level 500. After all, that was the equivalent of his strength within the System. And he was aware that even some Primordial Spirits weren’t that level.

So, he sought to challenge one.

And that had been his downfall.

A blast of light flashed, his golden arrow was destroyed with a single hit. And the Primordial Spirit laughed, but not in a mocking way, or an amused way, but rather, in an angry way.

“You, I’ve allowed your house to exist in Vir, and yet this is how I’m repaid,” he said angrily. “Very well then! I shall make an example of you!”

And he was punched.

He felt his innards twist, almost convulse as he dropped out of the sky and into the vast sands of the desert. Then the spirit landed on him breaking his spine in half. His non-descript face looked at him, and then, he raised his hand.

“I will make you more than just an example, you will serve as a warning to those that want to come for me.”

And he reached⁠— not to his heart, not to kill him, but into his core. The very source of his power and⁠—

Shattered it.

Asil closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. Even though he had been listening to Amber explain and conversed with her, he still had all of that playing in his mind. While he could have asked for Amber to help him⁠— to lend her her Essence and betray her. He didn’t, even if he knew she seemed to carry some source of Essence that seemed infinite.

Of course, there was also the fact that she was friends with the same Primordial Spirit that had destroyed him, but that played no part in his decision. He had once been arrogant, and ignorant, but that wasn’t him anymore.

Now, he strove to be better, to be the opposite of what he had once been. Benevolent instead of unkind, humble instead of arrogant. So, instead of dumping his past on her, he focused on teaching her and mainly listening to her. He explained to her numerous things, including the type of elements she could use⁠— all of that was based on the information he was given.

And finally he arrived at a conclusion.

“Your Essence is… peculiar,” he mused.

“Is that so?” she asked, evidently bored out of her mind.

And Asil sighed. “Sorry, it’s just the first time I’ve heard of someone pushing their limits so hard that… their entire being seems to be all about that.”

“Hey!”

“It’s not an insult.” He shook his head. “Anyway, how about you show me instead.”

“Show you?”

The woman tilted her head. Asil took in her appearance for a second⁠— it was a human woman, one who was quite attractive at that, but yet she was also twenty one years old. She was learning Essence at twenty one. When he had been twenty one he was still learning how to write!

Then again, elves developed slower than humans, but it was still a ridiculous notion to him. Nevertheless, he didn’t let it get to him.

“Yes, use your Essence attacks on me, only then will I be able to judge you properly.” He nodded, extending his arm into the air. “They won’t do anything to me.”

Right now, she had just formed her membrane, and he had explained to her as much. She didn’t even have her inner core, let alone nucleus or an ignited nucleus⁠— the final stage of attaining a core. So, needless to say, he didn’t expect much.

He watched as the woman raised her hand with Essence, and slashed.

It was a peculiar attack, but it basically dissipated into his refined body. Still, it was much more polished than he had ever expected⁠—

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

And she swung at the wall with the exact same attack but devoid of Essence.

“It’s based on that,” she declared.

She managed to copy it? He was already impressed, but he didn’t show it.

Instead, he made Amber show him all of the Essence things she had learned. And some looked normal, but others…

He looked at the floating red particles⁠— it was the magic of a Primordial Spirit ⁠— he had seen her Essence before. A rare sight, that yet Amber was aware of.

She befriended two Primordial Spirits…?

Still, before long, they reached the end of the road as Amber prepared her last attack. Her hand raised with flames. It was a lengthy preparation, and one whose appearance surprised him. Wasn’t she missing her inner core?

And she slashed.

The attack did damage to him and he couldn’t help but blink.

“Amazing,” he muttered.

“Is it?” Amber wondered and he immediately nodded.

“I have an idea to make your inert core, we will find a monster, but first, listen to me very carefully.”

* * *

Gather my Essence… not slowly but fast…

Amber dodged a monster that had the appearance of a black wolf with crystals growing out of it. It was growling and furious at her, and for good reason. It had a multitude of burned and charred cuts all around its body, and yet they were shallow.

“Cleave,” Amber whispered.

At her words four iridescent slashes hit the wolf and ignited him on fire, but aside from a blood splatter and a small shriek nothing more happened. The wolf monster was a Crystalwelf, according to Asil it was on the weaker side of the monsters of this dungeon and yet Amber was struggling to kill it.

And that was because she was trying to use Essence, but it was hard. It was hard to follow Asil’s instructions: gather Essence in a fast manner, breathe deeply and while doing so, notice a spike in Essence and slash, all while simultaneously igniting it. It seemed straightforward enough, but Amber couldn’t do it that fast.

“You’re losing control,” Asil, the elf, said from the side. “If your breathing is like that, you won’t be able to output its max potential, remind me why you refuse to meditate?”

“Because I don’t see the point,” Amber answered simply, which made the elf roll his eyes.

Apparently breathing was particularly important for Essence, but so far Amber had yet to see anything⁠— no matter how calm she was, or how she felt. There was no spike, nor was there any sort of feeling that helped her. And that was after trying for hours. Needless to say, she thought it was pure boogus. Even the part of meditation leading to clarity and ideas seemed bullshit to her.

“You aren’t going to achieve anything with that,” the elf said offhandedly.

Amber ignored him, and instead focused her attempts on slashing at the wolf once more. She used cleave after cleave, she tried for what felt like an hour, and as she raised her hand to slice, which happened to be flaming⁠— she paused before extinguishing it. Then, she had a realization.

Can’t I just skip some steps?

Amber raised her hand, and once more ignited it into flames, and then she slashed. An Essence powered cleave went towards the wolf, but it didn’t cut⁠— all it did was bathe it in a deluge of red flames causing it to screech. But Amber quickly had an idea and changed her focus, and once more, ignited her hand, before swinging.

“Cleave.”

A single crimson slash passed through the wolf and⁠— decapitated. It’s head went flying with a burst of flames, and the crescent light hit the ground, leaving behind a charred cut. The sight made Amber blink.

“Not exactly what I want you to do, but that’s the best you’ve done so far,” Asil commended. “It retained its slashing and fire properties. But are you sure you don’t want to learn something different?” he asked. “Not saying this is bad, but I feel like you jumped at the most familiar thing.”

Amber turned, he did have a point, but she explained herself, “I think it’s cool.”

“Huh, right.”

In truth, Amber wasn’t particularly focused on the properties of her powers, but rather understanding the possibilities of them and what they could do.

So, she focused on polishing that and growing more familiar with Essence.

* * *

Two days quickly ticked by, and most of her time was spent polishing. Going from one blade in the cleave all the way to the original four, but soon enough she got stuck at the next hurdle. Increasing the Essence output to the max.

Amber struggled and hit the wall for the ninetieth time with a regular cleave, unable to strengthen it any further.

“Do you need help?” Asil said, from the side, finishing some food she had given him.

“More theory isn’t going to help me,” she said.

“No, I don’t mean more theory, but how about I show you.”

Amber raised her brow and turned to the elf who had put his plate of food down. He was walking up to her with a serious expression.

“Make you feel how to do it.”

Amber raised her brow at him. “And how will you do that? Your core is broken.”

“Indeed it is, but I can borrow your Essence to show you.”

She blinked at that. That’s possible? Still, such a suggestion normally would put her on edge, but after spending so long with Asil, Amber trusted him. So in the end, she agreed.

“Very well.”

He nodded at that and smiled, then he went over to grab the plate of food and handed it to Amber for storage. Then he spoke simply.

“Your hand, please.”

Amber just lent him her hand, and after a moment she felt her Essence being pulled into his body. Except it wasn’t quite being absorbed, more like moving all across his body and to his other hand. Then he snapped his fingers.

The world blurred and a moment later Amber heard a growl, she turned only to see a gigantic bear creature. One made out of rocks and incredibly massive. It was roaring at them and standing in its two hind legs, it was easily the size of a shed. And more than anything.

[Metamorphic Bear. Lvl. 161]

It was strong.

Amber paused at that, and the elf snapped his fingers once more as a transparent barrier formed around them. So far the Essence consumption had felt quite high, but nothing she had used before. And with the Cube of Stars constantly feeding her, she hadn’t really run out yet.

“I may have a hunch to why you seem to have so much Essence, but I won’t pry,” he said. “Instead, pay close attention to what I’m about to do, and by that I mean feel what I’m about to do.”

She nodded and focused, this time solely following the flow of the Essence⁠— the mysterious energy which seemed limitless and could be used for almost anything⁠— and a moment later. She felt connected to the elf, she could sense the way he distributed the Essence in his hand as he slowly raised it.

Then, it burst into flames.

At that, the temperature in the room gradually began to raise.

“I’ll do it as you do,” he said. “First…”

The bear roared and struck the barrier but it did nothing more than make it tremble slightly. Then, more Essence was pulled as his hand turned into an incandescent light⁠— the crystals in the room began to flicker in response, to that.

Then, he turned to her, his face flickering to the light, only the hard shadows visible in his smile.

“Increase the output to the max.”

Amber could feel how much Essence he had concentrated in his hand, and it was more than what she could manage.

“Then, you cleave,” he said. “But, you know. Sometimes four cuts aren’t better than just one.”

Amber stared at him in surprise and then⁠—

He swung.

A large amount of her Essence was consumed and the room became a pitch black. Even though it was only for a briefest second, the whole world went silent and then⁠— it exploded with orange.

The entire room was cleaved by a line of gold— the ceiling and floor melted, turning into dripping magma. The air in the room rose by several degrees from the attack, and the bear⁠— it was collapsed into two halves on the ground, two flaming halves that were cleanly sliced by a superheated blade.

Amber stared at the oozing magma from the ground and the dripping rock from the ceiling.

And all she could say was, “Amazing…”

She stared at it for a few more moments, before she stumbled, taking a step back with dizziness. She stared at her trembling hand, and she could sense that her body was almost completely devoid of Essence. Even though it was quickly being replenished she was still surprised at how she felt because of the change.

However…

Amber looked back at the bear’s corpse, and she felt nothing but admiration. The elf hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary, and yet the result was…

Ending such a strong monster with just a single attack.

She wanted to be able to do that.

Of course, she understood that Asil had drawn on her entire Essence pool to achieve that, but it was still incredibly impressive nonetheless.

“Did that help?” he asked.

Amber thought for a moment, and nodded. “It did… a lot.”

“Good.” He smiled. “Then, let’s get your inert core.”

So, with newfound knowledge, Amber resumed her training.

* * *

Amber, of course, still leveled her skills given most of them were active even while she practiced Essence. And over the course of two more days, she did it. Though, she did go out of her way to level Cursed Cleave and Quick Dash, and overall she was quite happy.

After all, many of her skills were soon to reach 4th Rank.

[Cursed Cleave has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 9 to 3rd Rank level 10.]

[Quick Dash has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 9 to 3rd Rank level 10.]

[Cursed Supreme Momentum has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 9 to 3rd Rank level 10.]

[Cursed Supreme Berserker’s Body has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 9 to 3rd Rank level 10.]

[Cursed Stomp has leveled up from 3rd rank level 7 to 3rd Rank level 8.]

[Cursed Rage Synergy has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 8 to 3rd Rank level 9.]

[Crimson Sense has leveled up from level 5 to 6.]

[Crimson Destruction has leveled up from level 3 to 5.]

[Elemental Resistance has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 4 to 3rd Rank level 5.]

[Physical Resistance has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 5 to 3rd Rank level 6.]

[Magical Resistance has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 4 to 3rd Rank level 5.]

[Sharp Instincts has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 8 to 3rd Rank level 9.]

[You have reached level 136. 5 stat points awarded.]

+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]

But the thing she mainly focused on was truly learning the extent of her Essence. Even though she had seen Asil do it, it wasn’t as easy as it first seemed. Gathering so much Essence at her hand had been easily learned⁠— Amber had been just trying to push as much as possible when doing her attack before ⁠— however, the part she got stuck on was the cleave.

Amber held onto a mantis-like monster, by the throat as it frantically flailed. Her hand was a shining like a hot iron, while not as bright, there was still an incandescent light to eat⁠— one whose heat was cooking the monster with sizzling sounds.

Then, using all of her strength she threw the monster.

It screeched and with a trail of smoke it hit the wall, then Amber raised her hand. She didn’t know how many times she had tried it, but still she took a deep breath and pushed her Essence before swinging along with the momentum of her arm⁠—

“Sever.”

And a bright flash of orange exploded. An incandescent light hit and cut the monster in two with a loud boom before fire exploded, leaving nothing but a small scorching inferno.

Of course, the monster had been of her level so killing it in one hit was something she could most certainly do even without Essence, but still, she was shocked. She stared at the site with wide eyes and blinked.

“I did it…”

“Not perfect, but yes, you did it,” the elf praised. “How is your core?

Amber paused and scrambled to look inside of herself. And all she could see was a cloudy mass inside of the membrane.

“It looks… Just like a bunch of Essence gathered without any solid form…”

At that, Asil frowned. “That shouldn’t… unless this wasn’t enough of a push to awaken it…? Or maybe my theory is wrong…”

Amber blinked at him. “What do you mean by that?”

The elf hesitated before nodding. “I theorize that your Essence isn’t related to an element but to the feeling you experience when pushing your limits. Only then will it awaken. So I gave you a hard task to accomplish, but…”

“But I didn’t push myself enough.”

Amber sort of understood what he meant, then she turned to the dead mantis-monster. All she had done was replicate what the elf had done, she had yet to apply her new knowledge or anything⁠— though…

Her eyes landed on the leftover Essence, the one that remained after the attack, it was only present where the attack had struck⁠. And for a moment, she felt like she could improve upon the already existing skill. That or she could use the remaining Essence for something else.

Amber went into thought and Asil’s ears twitched.

“Do you hear that?”

In response, she raised her head but saw nothing. However, the elf’s ears were still twitching, and he had a frown.

“We have to leave, now,” Asil said with some wariness as he raised his staff. “Cloak⁠— what.”

His spell did nothing, and Amber grabbed the elf by the hand and pulled⁠— and the spot where he had just been standing exploded.