John felt tempted to accept the deal, but he wanted to know if it was worth it before making a decision. “Can you tell me the part about the essence first? If I don’t think it’s worth it, you can just kill me, right?”
Sage Full Blue turned his head to the side again. “I do not kill. But now I can tell you that the information will be worth it.”
John furrowed his brows in confusion. “You didn’t know earlier; how come you can say for certain now?”
“... I can tell you if you share the name of the planet you come from,” he replied, turning his head to the other side.
‘That much should be fine, right? He can’t do anything with a name.’
“We’re from a planet called Earth.”
The sage nodded his head forward again. “I must apologize; that was deceptive of me. The reason I knew was that you said the name you have for ‘essence.’ A name contains information about your knowledge, and so I knew your understanding of essence was flawed.”
John felt his mind reeling at the revelation, trying to remember what he had said so far. ‘That means I just told him a bunch of things about Earth? What a sly devil!’
The choice to reveal his knowledge had been made for him, but he didn’t feel much guilt. Anyone would likely have revealed knowledge to the sage unknowingly, and he knew less than most about what Earth was truly like.
Besides, he had little doubt the sage could find the portal and figure things out from there.
‘Let’s just hope this doesn’t have major consequences…’
The sage put a hand on his forehead in a sort of gesture. “Ahh, Earth! That's some valuable information! A newborn civilization, but surprisingly advanced in technology. You have been lucky!”
“... How so?” John asked, curious about his meaning.
Full Blue put his hand back down and turned his head back to John. “Would you rather know that or the information about essence?”
John thought the situation felt weirdly familiar. Captain Dirk had also made him choose questions to reply to.
“No, let me know about essence,” he replied, feeling his excitement building.
“Alright, then. Listen carefully… Essence!”
The information hidden in the word spread out across John’s mind like a bursting dam, letting him know exactly how ignorant he had been up to this point.
Essence wasn't just a form of energy; it was a fundamental building block of reality itself. It permeated everything, existing in various states and forms, each with its own properties and uses.
The gaseous form he was familiar with was just the beginning. Essence could exist as a liquid, flowing and adaptable; as a solid, stable and enduring; and even as plasma, volatile and powerful. Each state had its own strengths and applications.
But more than just existing in different states, essence could be transformed from one form to another. This transformation was key to unlocking greater power and control over the fundamental forces of the universe.
Purity, too, played a crucial role. The purer the essence, the more potent its effects. John reeled at the implications—could he purify his own essence? How much stronger could he become?
‘This is incredible! It changes so much! Does no one on Earth know about this? How far behind are we? And how much could this information help us in the war?’
As the flood of information began to slow, John realized he'd only scratched the surface. There were still so many questions: What determined its purity? What were the limits of what essence could do? And what do the different states do, exactly?
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Learning so much with a simple word was incredible in itself, not to mention the content. It reminded him of the sensation he felt after the enchantments entered his equipment, instantly letting him understand how they function.
He looked at Sage Full Blue with new eyes, wondering just how much more this being knew about the true nature of essence, not to mention the universe itself. There was a hunger in his heart for more knowledge, but at the same time, there was a limit to how much he could offer in return.
“... I’m not getting any more information from you for free, am I?” John asked.
He wanted to ask many questions, but only some of them related to essence. For example, he wondered how the sage knew English and what the world looked like outside of Earth’s narrow scope. The fight for survival in the universe now seemed a lot more challenging—at least without allies.
“The thirst for knowledge is always encouraged, young one. But we of the Loreholders have strict rules in terms of what we can reveal to young civilizations. If we did not follow those rules, we would no longer be seen as impartial.”
“But if we’re a young civilization, why are there so few signs of technology in the universe? You seem like someone from our distant history!”
The sage gave his demon mount a gentle pat, making it turn around. “Everything has an explanation, child. I can only tell you that Earth is a rare case, judging by what I saw in your mind. I will be exploring this planet for a while longer, so we might meet again. But if not, goodbye, Earthling.”
John watched him slowly ride off through the trees, still feeling his heart pounding in his chest. Relief and frustration both swirled around in his mind, along with a dash of confusion. But he was used to being confused by now.
‘Damn… This feels like it will have huge consequences for the future. But maybe we will be better equipped to meet it if I can get this knowledge back home.’
The urge to test his newfound knowledge was strong, but he would need a quiet place to do it. And some nutrition, so he wouldn’t starve.
The monkey still lay there with the shortsword stuck in its head, blue blood dripping down its face. John put his hand on it to claim the kill, regaining all the essence he had spent. The essence was all gaseous, but that seemed to be the natural form it took.
‘Gaseous essence is the weakest and hardest essence to store, but it is also the easiest to control and the fastest to activate… So we’ve been crippled by our ignorance all this time.’
There was no enchantment this time either, but he didn’t feel like he deserved it. It was a cowardly kill, and one he would rather not be reminded of.
Standing up, he decided to throw the corpse down from the tree, keeping only the arm he had chopped off. It would be more than enough, and anything else would likely spoil before he could eat it. It was better to avoid attracting predators to the area.
He watched it fall with a heavy heart. And he prayed that these monkeys were unique in their honorable nature, so he could hunt other beasts without too much worry.
Looking at the arm, he summoned the shortsword and chopped off the hand. Then he started skinning it, removing all the thick green fur. The flesh was dark blue in color, far from tempting to eat. But he had little choice in the matter.
‘Let’s hope you at least taste good, honorable ape. And that your friends don’t come here looking for you. I won’t be merciful.’
He returned to his base, holding the skinned arm as he crawled through the hole and putting it down on a makeshift shelf. He was worried about cooking it since it might attract beasts, but he could use essence to heat it once it was in his mouth, preventing any dangerous bacteria from attacking him.
Using his shortsword, he cut a small piece off and studied it closely, dreading the next part. Other than the color, it just looked like normal meat to him. But the smell was odd, like a mix of fish and leather.
‘Oh well, here goes nothing.’
He put the piece in his mouth and started heating it immediately. The heat would normally hurt him, but using more essence he protected his tongue and mouth from any pain. The taste wasn’t as bad as he had feared, but neither was it as good as he had hoped.
‘It’s just muscle, very little fat. Very chewy as well. Kind of tastes like pig, actually.’
Feeling his stomach start to rumble for food, he swallowed it down. Despite not being a delicacy, it still felt great to get some food back in his stomach. As soon as the first one had landed, he went for another piece.
‘I would have told him my life story for some salt and a cold beer…’
Once he felt full, he put the remaining meat away. There was still a lot left since the entire arm was about twice the size of a human leg.
‘Now I just hope it’s not poisonous or anything. It was a decent meal, despite the taste of selflessness…’
He leaned back on his crudely carved seat and closed his eyes, mentally entering his core. It was like a large circular chamber, with walls that stretched high above, bathed in the pulsating light emanating from the core in the center.
Larang, his greatshield, and the shortsword floated serenely in the space around the core, reflecting the core's light. They seemed to almost be drinking from the light that hit them.
The core was like a large sphere of light floating in the middle of the room, humming a soft melodic sound that followed the pulsating light. The essence within the core was cloudy, as it always had been. But now, with his new knowledge, John understood that this cloudiness was merely the gaseous state of essence.
‘Let’s change that, shall we?’