Did not see anything!… Did not see anything!… Did not see anything!
Crack Crack Crack
Shatter
“Ugggghhhh… haaaaa…” Adamu’s eyes flicked open, and his chest inflated to take a very deep breath before eventually releasing it, alongside all the negative emotions flooding his body and mind. Only after the majority of the stockpiled negative emotions were released did Adamu’s mind recognize where he was and what might have happened to him.
The ‘might’ adjective was there in case things were not as they seemed.
Overall, after Adamu’s body settled down, he uprighted his upper body, which had fallen to the floor at some point, and stared at the source of the light illuminating the cave he had been born in the previous day. Or at least, he assumed it was the day before. It could have been more before his Spirit recovered from gazing at things it was not ready for.
Nevertheless, when Adamu saw the Orb of Rebirth present, he knew he was outside the… Illusion or whatever it was in the first place because it was definitely more than just a simple Illusion.
No, it was far too good and vast enough to be a superficial and momentary recreation of the real world.
Recalling his experiences after overcoming the stupefaction effect forced upon him, all Adamu remembered was the dark passage, the exit of the cave entrance, and the valley beyond it with a river and a forest decorating said valley.
After that, it was beyond blurry, and that meant only one thing.
Adamu subconsciously chose to ignore and forget what he had witnessed. Regardless, some things he had purposely left behind. In this case, it was a warning. A warning to not stare at the Source of the Silver Light. At least not before reinforcing his Spirit Integrity with the ability to process information of the Divine rank or above.
Thus, recognizing it for what it was, Adamu stood up and stared at the sole opening inside his refuge place.
Taking a deep breath, he moved and went past it. Out into the darkness, which was not the deep black abyss Adamu witnessed prior to waking up inside the Illusion, as that was what he dubbed it for now.
No, this was ordinary darkness characterized by the absence of Light and not that which swallowed Light. As such, while being careful, it was but a matter of time for him to reach the cave entrance and the outside world beyond it.
On the way outside, Adamu noted no carcass of the Raven/Cat creature he had smashed to pieces last night in the Illusion. That in itself hinted at a few things. Things that remained to be verified but were not too important right this very moment.
Nevertheless, what was important was the receding of ordinary darkness and the perceiving of actual light.
With its help, Adamu once more gazed at the valley, with the river meandering through its center and the forest decorating its sides. However, compared to the fairytale-like mystical appearance caused by the silver light, what he witnessed this time was far more common.
In fact, it was so common that Adamu immediately embraced the sounds of nature reaching his ears. Be it leaves rustling as the wind moved through them or the birds singing at the dawn of a new morning.
The normality demanded Adamu to ignore the safety of the cave entrance, to leave and enjoy the bliss of a world not bathed in Silver Light. As such, Adamu gladly indulged that part of himself through trauma-induced therapeutic excuses.
Hence, moments later, Adamu sat on a decently leveled-out stone to enjoy a morning sunbath.
However, things were not as they seemed at first glance.
When Adamu sat down and angled his face into the sky and the Source of the Light, his body had no choice but to produce another outbreak of shivers. Being extremely sensitive after what he went through, Adamu instantly closed his eyes while cursing in his mind about the place his future self had chosen for him.
Regardless, cursing was all Adamu did because of the nature of Time Loops and their consequences.
In his case, this meant Adamu himself had put himself into this very position. Hence, cursing at his future self meant cursing at himself, and that was not a good deed to be done. Or at least, it would not have been if he had access to Magic, and since he did not, the aftereffects would have been extremely minimal. Hence, it is well worth it for the momentary expulsion of grievances.
Either way, after the shivers receded, Adamu lowered his gaze to the ground and opened his eyes again.
“Considering my surroundings, I doubt it will be as bad as witnessing the Source of the Silver Light.” Adamu reasoned out. “Phuu… One quick peek, then?... Phuu”
Nodding, Adamu steeled his resolve and faced the sky and the origin of the Light.
Almost immediately, his eyes began to tear up and his body to shiver.
But that did not defer him to stop. On the contrary, it only made him want to stare more. Much, much more. In truth, it was so much more that Adamu desired to prostrate himself on the ground and display his adoration for its benevolent existence.
Only he had nothing but himself to present in adoration to it because he was freshly born and therefore, buck naked. The remainder, floating in the back of his head that he was freshly born and naked, served as an anchor of reasoning to which he could retreat, recover, and process what he had just witnessed.
By the time Adamu's mind had retreated, closed his eyes, recovered and processed what he had witnessed, and opened his golden eyes, it was already noon.
“Ha… At this rate, I will need to find some Magical glasses if I don't want to become an idiot.” Adamu joked with himself as the source of the joke. Done jabbing his current useless self, Adamu focused on his surroundings. “While there are plenty of wrong things with this Realm, I am afraid I am the main problem.”
“Hmph… A wise Man once said; Realizing the Truth can also be a Liberation from the Truth.” Adam iterated from memory. “Time to leave my uselessness behind. Still, it's not as easy as one imagined.”
The difficulty in Adamu’s case stemmed from the fact that he had to use Essence as the bargaining chip and not Magic, which was favored and utilized in almost all Realms. And it was so for a reason.
Of course, what Adamu knew was far more than what the average individual knew.
Stolen novel; please report.
‘Everything was born out of Chaos, and to Chaos, everything shall return’ was a core principle of Creation.
None could deny it, no matter how they tried it.
It was an Inevitable Law of Creation.
Still, just because it was that, it did not mean that many interpretations could not be reasoned out. However, to Adamu, there was only one interpretation that mattered right this moment, and it goes like this.
If everything was born out of Chaos, then did that not mean that everything was Chaos? And if everything was Chaos, then what is Chaos itself?
The answer was simple.
Chaos was potential, yet to be shaped into something.
Thus, the potential could be expressed as energy itself.
Thus, everything was energy, even if it looked solid at the moment.
Thus, it made no difference what kind of energy one used because, theoretically, every one of them could bring you closer to the Source of All, The Creator.
However, simply because it was conceivable, did not mean it was achievable, and the reason was simple, availability.
Not all sources of energy can be found in similar quantities.
Once more, the answer was simple.
Not every energy source had the benefit of being directly integrated into the marvel known as The Realm Grid.
A Realm Grid is what manifests when a Realm drinks the Chaos from the Chaos Sea in order to fuel its own growth as a Realm. As such, during the process of drinking the Chaos from the Chaos Sea, a Realm Grid siphons, filters, and tempers the raw Chaos into many usable sources of energy.
The energy type that was the most conducive to Realm growth was Mana. As such, Mana was the number one available energy source throughout Creation and the many Realms that bubble around its insides.
Therefore, when an individual archives resonance with the Realm Grid, he or she can draw on the Mana present in the Realm Grid as an energy source to power their Magical desires. However, very few individuals achieve that kind of Realm Grid resonance. When they did, it was mostly because they possessed a powerful Spirit and a very strong Realm Grid Affinity.
With both being likely inherited from their Divine parentage.
Those without a dense Spirit and a strong Realm Grid Affinity to directly tap the Realm Grid sought Magic through a different methodology.
By seeking out places within the Realm, where Mana overflowed from the excess of the Realm Grid’s Chaos Sea consumption, they draw the free-flowing Mana into their Spirits, and just like a Realm Grid treats Chaos, they treat the free-flowing Mana.
By tempering the Mana with their Spirit, they personalize Mana and gain access to Magic.
Over time, their Spirits grew in strength, with the end goal being sensing the Realm Grid. Once the sensing was behind, they slowly attuned to the Realm Grid and achieved what the gifted inherited from their progenitors.
With time, methods were invented to make the processes more efficient and more distinct, thus transforming into different Schools of Magic for Internal and External Spellcraft.
Today, however, none of that mattered because Adamu had to avoid Magic as the Local Realm Grid was corrupted.
Had it been the usual, Adamu, or whoever should have replaced him and received an inheritance, would easily tap the Realm Grid and start on his journey of once more becoming The First Man, with the main problem stemming from choice.
The choice of just what kind of path they would take for the journey.
Unfortunately, Adamu’s journey through the Chaos Sea had thrown those plans under, and now he had to deal with Essence.
Essence was an enigmatic source of energy because it is not found free-flowing anywhere, typically speaking.
On the contrary, it could only be encountered within living biological beings, and even then, it had to be Mortal beings not affected by Mana or other energies. On top of that, the acquisition of Essence was so slow that there simply was no point in even trying it… unless, of course, you have neither inherited anything from your progenitor nor have access to a Mana Zone.
Therefore, in many Realms, Essence was dubbed as useless energy at the very best.
At least, it was so until the first Essence users found a way to mix Essence with Mana into a newfound type of energy dubbed Qi, or the many other variants depending on the methodology involved.
Thus, from the ranks of Essence users appeared The Cultivators. Individuals who steamrolled through The Realms. With numbers beguiling their origins and thus threatening the positions of the Realm Custodians, aka Deities.
In their wake, many Deities fell in the hands of these Cultivators. And when they did, the Realms were transformed forever to accommodate the presence of Cultivators and not Magic users.
Since that point in Time, since the Realm Wars, all Magic Realms were implemented with Cultivator-specific Rules into their Core Realm Laws to cut down on their emerging numbers and increase the difficulties of their Ascension Path.
Additionally, after the appearance of Cultivators, much research had been put on Essence, and therefore dismissed most of its mystery, yet some things remained as elusive as first discovered.
Like how was Essence gained in the first place?
Many theories were born, and many were ditched.
Ultimately, only one had survived long enough to be worthwhile. Hence, it became the main theory, and hence, it became the main downfall for all Cultivators within The Magic Realms, Essence users included.
“Since my future self pointed me on the path, it must mean there is merit to it because I will obviously succeed.” Adamu reasoned. “However… His wording was somewhat specific if I remember correctly.”
“‘Uncover the Uniqueness, develop my Essence, and the First of Man shall rise again.’”
“Mmm, had I meant the Path of Cultivation or its ilk, I would have mentioned it differently, I think.” Adamu expressed himself as if he knew every trait of his character, good or bad. “Therefore, he meant Pure Essence. Yes… Yes, that is probably what my future self meant. Additionally, since uncovering the Realm Uniqueness will not be possible without enough strength to back the arduous journey, it must mean the two goals converge somewhat, and last night's event confirmed it, somewhat.”
“That means…” Rubbing his chin with his right hand, Adamu found the crux of the matter. “That means. The problem is not Essence acquisition, unlike what I imagined, but the method of Essence Mastery.” Ceasing all thinking and going over the logic of his thoughts, Adamu nodded in one final confirmation of his reasoning. “That means I need to pick a methodology that does not rely on Essence efficiency since that is its number one feature and drawback, but one that is expensive and powerful since I can acquire Essence through slaying more of those creatures or similar ones.”
“Mmm… Not many of those exist, and if they do, I am not aware of their inner workings.” Adamu frowned when he realized. “I mean, why would I be with a strong Spirit and a powerful Realm Grid Affinity thanks to the inheritance of the First of Man? Even those that I know are only known because of my predecessors' curiosity since I never bothered with any of that shit.”
Griefing somewhat, Adamu tried to recall what he knew about Essence and its methodologies.
As he did, the passage of Time went on. Soon enough, noon passed, and afternoon came. But even that would be gone soon, to be replaced by Darkness. Only when the first glimmers of Darkness started rising and devouring Light had Adamu roused from his stupor of memory diving.
“Grr… If only I could cast a Memory Recall Spell and directly search for what I needed.” Voicing out his grievance, Adamu glanced around and for the first time, noticed what was happening. “True Darkness, huh? No wonder I saw nothing last night. Mmm… That would make the Sun a Source of True Light, I think? To balance out the Realm instability, maybe?”
“Ah, whatever. I can ponder on that later. I better return to my little hideout.” Adamu recognized. “Otherwise, I will be in deep trouble… Maybe… That is precisely what I need. A bit of trouble, as an experiment?”
“Anyway, I can decide while in safety.” Adamu declared.
Standing up from the rather large stone, he slowly made his way back. However, just before entering the cave entrance, he glanced one last time in the forest. “Considering I just emerged from the Orb, I should be fine without water for at least two more days. A week without food should be fine as well. However, I will need some shoes if I am to traverse between the cave, the forest, or the river.”
“Oh… and something to cover my manhood.” That affirmed, Adamu slowly made his way back to his birthing cave.