“If you’re worried about dying in battle against the Malaki, I don’t plan on allowing anyone to perish.” Savekio said, “However, the experience is invaluable for any warrior. Not to mention, their meat is useful for quite a few things.”
“Such as?” Rixam asked.
“Such as soul marking, strengthening your Ux, and bolstering your resistance to their corruption.”
“I thought eating those things is what turned you into them.”
“That’s correct if you don’t consume the parts of an Ingen tree to prevent the corruption from taking root. The only known way to destroy a Malaki for good is to eat it. That’s been the purpose of the Tiburs since the dawn of our civilization.”
“So do you think everyone will have an easier time unlocking their Ux if we hunt Malaki?” Dreiki asked.
“It’s certainly an opportunity for the others to awaken their Ux. However, my main intent is to train you, not them. Malaki feed on the souls and Ux of their victims, and sometimes recreate themselves in the corpses they leave behind. The more they feed, the more powerful they are. Just the same, that power is not destroyed when they are slain. We have an opportunity to reclaim it by eating them.”
“So does that mean…”
Savekio nodded, “The reason a Malaki’s meat would strengthen your Ux is because you are reclaiming the Ux of their victims from their flesh. That is the power inherent within all xiozians, and it is why we are capable of becoming godslayers.”
“So Ux can be transferred from one person to another? Are there other methods?”
Savekio took a piece of stale hardtack and broke it off with his teeth, tossing some to Ezo who snapped it out of the air, “There are, but they all require the original user to be dead in some way. Whether it’s through winning it in a duel to the death, or being eaten by a monster and someone else eating that monster.”
“Is there a way to strengthen Ux without doing that?”
“Of course! But it requires diligent training, and this method of accruing Ux should not be neglected. We honor our fallen by carrying their Ux with us. Ux which does not find a host is lost forever. No rebirth, no ascension into higher planes, just oblivion. A second death.”
Gornax breathed out, scratching his head, “That’s pretty heavy, but I guess I get it. We all gotta carry the memory of someone we lost to make sure they’re not lost to time right?”
Savekio nodded, “You could put it that way, yes.”
“And can Ux be taken by force? How does that work?”
“Answers will come in due time. For now, worry about understanding what I’ve just told you first. Speaking of which, what have you learned so far?”
Dreiki went over everything he had experimented with, listing off his theories and thoughts. He felt like he and Savekio were speaking a different language from everyone else from how their eyes glazed over during their conversation.
He felt a pit in his stomach. Was there a way to teach them too?
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“Since you’ve discovered how to summon your Ux and manipulate it, why don’t you take another try at reading?” Savekio said, handing him a blank page.
“Hey pops…” Rixam said.
“Yes?”
“Why’s it so rare for someone to awaken their Ux like Argo did?”
“Because it requires certain prerequisites to be met. The first being that all three aspects of their Ux- Mind, body and soul- are in harmony. If one or more is lacking in comparison to the other, then awakening it becomes far more difficult.”
“So if I got smarter or something, I’d be able to unlock it?”
“Theoretically, yes. But it’s not that simple. Awakening Ux always requires some sort of familiarity with death. Whether you’ve brushed close to it, or spent time in meditation on its meaning. Dreiki has done both.”
“I see.”
“For the majority of people it can be unlocked through easier, more risky, methods. If you’re worried my disciple will become unreachable having learned how to summon their Ux, then don’t be. What Dreiki is actively doing is something which we all do passively.”
“But learning to control it is the first step towards true strength, right?”
“Correct.”
“Then I’ll catch up fast.”
“Your resolve is admirable.”
“I’ve got a lot of things I wanna do in life, and getting strong is the only way I can accomplish those things. No one expects anything good from a devil like me, but my pops did and so did my moms.”
As they set up camp to stay the night, Dreiki still hadn’t managed to read the page. He knew his mana skin was related to it in some way, but he couldn’t understand how. He tried wrapping his Ux over the page, over his eyes, and a combination between the two, but it didn’t work. He felt exhausted in a way that was completely foreign to him. He wanted to crawl in his sleeping bag and never wake up. He decided to take a break to light the campfire for them.
It was shaky, but he managed to ignite the timber they had lugged up here. Why was it difficult?
“Looks like you’ve fatigued yourself. Take some time to meditate before trying to read that page again,” Savekio said to him, “Here’s your hint: It’s a lot easier to see in the dark than it is to read that page, but they both rely on the same fundamental technique.”
Dreiki let out an exhausted sigh. If it was easier to see in the dark, why had Savekio given him the page in the first place?
He switched gears and walked out of the cave. He crossed his legs in meditation to collect himself. It seemed that using Ux took some sort of toll on him, but he couldn’t fully understand what it was.
He inhaled, focusing on that breath. After a few cycles, he felt the fog in his head clear. When he thought about it, meditation was a practice that involved every part of himself. He focused his mind on his body to achieve spirituality and enlightenment.
So that’s why Grandpa made me read the page. He knew I’d exhaust myself trying.
So meditation helped him regain his stamina for using Ux. Perhaps it was also a method of heightening his control? Is that why magic was always stronger after meditation?
Think of it less as a cause and more of the magnifier
A magnifier. A lens. He imagined his Ux curving over his eyelids. What was the dark? It was the absence of light, but there were animals who could see in the dark.
That wasn’t true. It wasn’t that animals could see in the dark, it was that they could perceive smaller levels of light than he could. If he was deep underground, he would not be able to see.
He opened his eyes to the moonless night, his breath stolen by the beauty he had never been able to perceive before. He could see everything in perfect clarity, the stars, the forest in the distance, the golden branches of the world tree. He could see the light of the stars sparkling off the snow covered hills and cliffsides.
Dreiki was anchored to this point on the mountaintop. He could almost feel the world moving beneath him. He felt his throat tighten. Why did he feel like crying? He wasn’t sad. He pushed his tears down, laughing to himself. It was so stupid.
He stood up reaching toward the star-filled sky like he wanted to grab one of them. Even though he had climbed this high, it was still so far out of reach, but he had never been closer.