As Annalise tailed Corrigan into the cottage, she was instructed to take a seat on the chair and Corrigan flew from her head and stood on the table.
She put her hands on her hips and stared at Annalise.
“Since you are going on an expedition in this world, there are things that you MUST know in order to survive. This information is crucial and will help you not DIE!!!”
Annalise was at last, learning about the nature of the world. Her dream of finding her mother was finally put into fruition. She couldn’t help but wonder with childlike excitement as to what she was going to learn.
“Alright, Annalise! Listen up and listen well because I will only say this once.”
Annalise nodded with joy and aspiration.
“I am sure you are already familiar with Elemental Power but let me explain the basics. Elemental Power is composed of two components, spiritual meditation and spiritual energy. This is what’s known as Vim. Vim is used to measure the competency, potency, and ability of both energy and meditation.”
“Spiritual energy is based on your physical being and constitution, while spiritual meditation is based on your mental being and ego. To freely manifest your Vim, these two aspects of Elemental Power must be perfectly balanced. If you succeeded in meeting these requirements, then you can control your Vim and you can cast Elemental Power.”
Corrigan began to manifest her Vim from her body. A sickly, ominous jet-black wispy aura started covering her whole body like an opaque cloak of foam.
“Too much energy, and you will find your body breaking down and your life force will start rapidly decaying, while too much meditation causes your sanity to erode until you’re a mindless husk of a decayed ego.”
Annalise gulped. She never realized the exact importance of the training her dad put her through; however, she was glad that she did practice.
“After you have perfectly blended both your spiritual energy and meditation, you can start to manifest your Vim into an elemental style.”
“There are five different elemental styles: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Storm. These elements make up the vast majority of all the elemental power on the planet. Think of them as the basic elements.”
“Corrigan, do the basic elements have different weaknesses? I remember during my meditation practice that my spirit core reflected that I had a vulnerability to the element of Light.”
“Yes, they do, but be patient and let me explain first. Onto the basic five elements, there exists the primordial elements. These are Darkness and Light. Darkness is weak against Light, and Light is weak against Darkness.”
‘So, they cancel each other out?” asked Annalise.
“Mhm. There are different aspects and spells of both the Darkness and Light Styles that highly resist their respective element, so it is not as big of a problem then you might think.”
Annalise sat and stared at Corrigan puzzlingly. It was a lot of information to dump on someone at one time, and Annalise was struggling to understand.
“Mmm…okay.” Annalise stammered.
Corrigan cleared her throat.
“Ahem. Now let me fully explain the curse that Iridis has placed on you, so you know exactly what you are dealing with.”
“The Curse of the Void is the personal mark of Darkness God. They can bestow their high ranking subordinates the ability to mark any entity who they deem worthy, as a personal vessel to Darkness God.”
“What does that mean?” asked Annalise.
“This means that your life force and energy will be slowly sapped from your spirit core. Have you noticed that you’ve been hungrier as of usual?”
“Yes, I thought it was weird! I’ve never been that famished before.”
“That’s why. The increased hunger rate offsets the amount of energy being sapped by your body.”
Annalise was surprised. How did she not catch this sooner?
“Corrigan, how do we get rid of the curse?”
“The only way to get rid of the Curse of the Void is to have the one who bestowed it upon you remove it.” Corrigan retorted. “That means that you are going to have to make Iridis cleanse the curse from your spirit core.”
Annalise sighed. This was a titanic task, as she beheld the true power of Iridis when he effortlessly murdered her father.
“What can we do?” asked Annalise. “I am too weak to face him as of now.”
“You must get stronger. I can sustain your curse with my Vim for the time being until you are able to properly utilize Vim, but you will be on your own after that.”
“Well, I guess it can’t be helped. Let’s do this!!” Annalise punched her knuckles together.
***
Four months had passed.
Annalise had been training diligently every single day, only resting when she was utterly exhausted. Corrigan had been pushing her to the very limit.
Since winter was around the corner, the island had been getting colder and the weather was nasty and unpleasant. This made her training even more tedious.
Still though, Corrigan was a fantastic teacher. Since she could utilize her ability [Physical Manifestation], she was able to reconstitute her being from a spirit into a human.
Her human form was quite like her spirit form in the fact that her outfit and hairstyle stayed practically the same, but she lost her small stature and wings.
She looked like an older teenager, around the age of 18, and she was quite tall, standing around 196cm.
Corrigan had also wielded her personal weapon, the Swampsnout. It was an eerily ornated kris sword decorated with various emeralds and onyxes. The handle was made from bone from an unknown creature, and the material of the sword was a night black metal that was as dark as the void itself.
Her large frame and enormous strength made training more difficult for Annalise as she had to use her wits and her brawn to be able to hold a chance at defending herself from Corrigan.
Annalise’s appearance had changed quite drastically over the course of the 3 months. She had grown a little taller and was a little more muscular. Her eyes were blackened like beautiful flawless opals. Her lips were stained black, and her fingernails were like charcoals. Her skin was a pasty white, like paper and her hair color changed to a radiant jet-black that exuded magnificence.
Annalise by no means was small, even though she was young. She had gained sufficient strength to be able to wield her ax with little difficulty and was able to fend for herself from the more dangerous creatures in the thick bush of the inner part of the island.
Yet, she was utterly outclassed by her companion. It was like if Corrigan was trying to restrain a small puppy with one finger.
Even though Annalise was being outclassed, she was growing at an extraordinary rate. Her focus to escape the island was so overwhelming that she did whatever it took to become strong in order to survive. This was reflected immensely in her training.
Her magnitude of conviction was unquenchable and endless. This was Annalise’s true power.
***
It was early morning. The island was chilly and covered with frost, like being covered with a thin blanket.
In the front yard of the cottage, a makeshift training pavilion was made full of hastily built training dummies, archery targets, and crudely constructed weights made of stone.
The brush around the yard was completely cleared, and in its place was an arena filled with gravel, dirt and sand.
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Annalise and Corrigan stood facing each other on the makeshift arena with both of their weapons ready.
Since the training was needed in order to prepare Annalise to survive out in the world, both used their real weapons in practice bouts.
“Begin!” yelled Corrigan.
Annalise charged with her ax in both of her hands and began to cast her elemental power.
“Darkness Style – Night Breaker!” Annalise chanted.
Her ax started materializing a black wispy aura, and she swung the ax vertically at Corrigan. The black aura propelled from the ax like a flying strike. It’s ominous appearance and dark color looked sickening, like the very essence of the night itself was gathered in the blade.
“Nice one!” Corrigan smiled. “Let’s see if you can stop this!”
“Darkness Style – Unholy Disturbance!”
Corrigan manifested a giant dark brick wall from the ground. Hushes and whispers were being emitted from the wall. From a closer look, one can tell that this dark brick contained the damned souls of the Blank Dimension embedded inside.
Their expressions were pitiable, full of grief, despair and anguish. It was a frightening spell if one was not able to handle their own conviction.
The spiraling Night Breaker slash hit the brick wall and was instantly dissipated. The souls of the brick wall seemed more vicious and ominous after absorbing the energy from the Night Breaker.
“Damn.” Annalise thought internally. “I hope she likes this!”
Annalise seem unperturbed by the outcome of her strike and was preparing herself to counter Corrigan’s Unholy Disturbance
“Darkness Style Aspect – Poison Edge!”
Annalise’s ax started glowing a hideous dark green, and the glow of the aura was bubbling like a deadly potion. The poison made a hissing sound, and steam started to rise from the ax.
This time she won’t be so naïve in her approach. Annalise rushed at Corrigan, but at the last moment, she feigned her movements by dashing to the right side of her.
Annalise slashed down with both her hands.
A large metal ping was followed by sparks flying. Corrigan countered the move perfectly and responded by her own Poison Edge. The scraping sound of both blades imbued with the same element and spell clashed with immense power.
Unbeknownst to Annalise, Corrigan had anticipated her spell, and released the Unholy Disturbance and attacked with her own Poison Edge.
The bubbling sound of the poisoned weapons with the darkness element imbuement started to overpower the sounds of the island around them.
Annalise’s weapon started to slowly melt as she clashed with Corrigan. Knowing that her ax wouldn’t be able to withstand another minute, she broke the engagement and dashed back to her corner of the grounds.
“As expected of you, Annalise.” Corrigan smiled gleefully. “Another minute of that clash, and your ax would’ve disintegrated due to the frightening power of the darkness element.”
“Let’s take a break. You’ve worked hard enough today.”
Annalise smiled, as she dropped her ax and laid on the ground. She was panting immensely, as if she had been running a marathon.
“Man, Corrigan…” Annalise chokingly replied. “You are really something. I was so sure that I was able to catch you off guard with my feint.”
“Ahahahahaha!” bellowed Corrigan. “You are 1000 years too young to fool me with that trick; however, I must commend you from breaking the clash and gaining your foothold during our battle. You have adapted quite well.”
“Thank you, Master!” Annalise looked proud of herself.
Corrigan dematerialized the Swampsnout, and it disappeared into a plume of black smoke. She then started to shrink, and eventually turned back into her spirit form.
“Let’s have lunch.”
“Oh boy, I am ready for that!” Annalise exclaimed with a smile.
Corrigan then flew over to Annalise and sat down on her head. She looked gleeful and excited.
They both made their way to the small cottage and got ready to prepare lunch.
In the last couple of months since their training had begun, the cottage looks virtually the same as it had before.
Since Corrigan was training Annalise how to fend for herself in the world, the daily ritual of cleaning and taking care of the homestead was critical in becoming a great warrior.
The state of the house directly reflected the teachings that Annalise had learned.
As well with undertaking tasks in maintaining the cottage, Annalise was taught a great deal about cooking from Corrigan, and she had become a capable amateur cook in the few short months under her tutelage.
Corrigan started tending to the fire and put on a pot to boil.
Annalise, on the other hand, was preparing onions from the backyard garden at the small kitchenette.
“So, Corrigan…” Annalise spoke quietly. “Are there any more planets like ours that exist?”
“Hmm…this is the only thing that I will disclose to you. There are in fact other “planets”.; however, in the state that you are now, there is nothing that you can do about them.” Corrigan sternly responded.
Welp, it was a worth a shot. Annalise shrugged to herself and decided not to push the matter further.
Annalise went ahead and finished up with the cooking preparations and added the onions and various other small vegetables and herbs into the pot.
As the hour passed, the soup was finally ready. Both Corrigan and Annalise helped themselves to the freshy made dinner.
***
As the day ended, the sun set into the beautiful gaze of the colossal ocean. The night sky was clear, and a multitude of different constellations shone like dazzling gems.
Annalise was sitting upright on her bed, practicing her spiritual meditation. Her eyes were closed, and her body was as still as a tree.
On the other side of the room, Corrigan was laying in the other bed.
She could be heard snoring away loudly, like a grizzly bear. She was in her human form as it was more comfortable to rest in. Her whole body was sprawled on the bed, and the covers were strewn about.
As Annalise tried her best to focus on the task at hand, she made a conscious effort to keep her body still. Ignoring Corrigan’s loud snores was incredibly difficult.
Her world then went blank.
There it was again. The abyss of nothingness.
As she looked at this familiar place, a black screen showed up in front of her displaying what she yearned to know for the past 3 months.
[Spiritual Core Age]: 11 Years
[Individual]: Annalise C. Stormhaven
[Race]: Corruptor Human [LV. 4]
{Modifiers} - +2 Ability Tokens per Racial Level, Variable Life Drain
[Elemental Power]:
(Water Style) – Apprentice [-/-]
(Darkness Style) – Adept [+]
[Combat Art]:
(Serpent Lord Style) – Journeyman
[Skills]:
(Uncommon)
Elemental Water Resistance [+1% Damage]
(Rare)
Elemental Darkness Resistance
(Special)
Spiritual Assimilation
[Afflictions]:
(~Legendary~)
Curse of the Void– Hunger Rate x250%, Affinity – Darkness Style, Vulnerable – Light Style, Call of the Void, All of Destruction, Call Lesser Elemental
[Remaining Balance: 6 Tokens Available.]
Use ability tokens to evolve? [Y/N]
There it was again. Those ability tokens… or whatever they were. Annalise was surprised that she was able to advance her racial level to LV. 4 in 3 months. The training that Corrigan was putting her through made a difference when it came to her technical knowledge.
Annalise clicked Yes.
Confirming action… [Yes]. Distributing [6] Ability Tokens to [Skills], [Elemental Power], [Combat Art] and [Race].
Success.
Race: [Corruptor Human] has evolved into [Corruptor Human] (+).
Elemental Power: Water Style (Apprentice) [-/-] has evolved into (Adept) [-/-]
Darkness Style (Adept) [+] has evolved into (Semi-Pro) [-]
Combat Art: Serpent Lord Style (Journeyman) has evolved into (Adept) [-/-]
Skills: (Common) Elemental Water Resistance evolved into (Rare) Elemental Water Resistance [+]
(Rare) Elemental Darkness Resistance has evolved into (Elite) Elemental Darkness Resistance [+]
Annalise was excited for her new growth, but she didn’t understand what all these new terms mean. Some of them had pluses and some of them did not have any symbols.
Void—called Annalise instinctively. Explain these words and symbols to me!
Certainly---responded the Void.
Each Elemental Power and Combat Art are separated through a classification of level of proficiency. These are known as the base-modifiers.
And further onto these base-modifiers are sub-modifiers that show a more precise grasp on a base-modifier. Although only Elemental Power and Combat Arts have base-modifiers, Skills have sub-modifiers.
The base-modifiers are listed as: Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Adept, Semi-Pro, Pro, Expert, Grand Expert, Exalted, Colossal.
The sub-modifiers are listed as: Negative Power [-], Neutral Power ( ), Evolved Neutral Power[-/-], Positive Power [+], Evolved Positive Power [++], True Evolved Positive Power, [+++]
Skills are categorized by the rarity, power, and usage of the ability. These are known as Skill Classes.
Skills Classes are listed as: Shoddy, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Elite, Masterclass, Legendary, Gargantuan.
Annalise just stared at the screen and the explanation of what all her new powers meant. She didn’t really have an idea as to what was going on, but she had a vague understanding of how her powers had evolved.
As she finished up with the explanation of the Base-Modifiers, Sub-Modifiers, and Skill Classes, she took a gander over at the screen.
[Spiritual Core Age]: 11 Years
[Individual]: Annalise C. Stormhaven
[Race]: Corruptor Human (+) [LV. 4]
{Modifiers} - +2 Ability Tokens per Racial Level, Variable Life Drain
[Elemental Power]:
(Water Style) – Adept [-/-]
(Darkness Style) – Semi-Pro [-]
[Combat Art]:
(Serpent Lord Style) – Adept [-]
[Skills]:
(Rare)
Elemental Water Resistance [+]
(Elite)
Elemental Darkness Resistance [+]
(Special)
Spiritual Assimilation
[Afflictions]:
(~Legendary~)
Curse of the Void– Hunger Rate x250%, Affinity – Darkness Style, Vulnerable – Light Style, Call of the Void, All of Destruction, Call Lesser Elemental
Remaining Ability Tokens: 0
Huh??!---Annalise finally realized. Why am I a Corruptor Human? Wasn’t I a High Human a couple of months ago?
She then remembered to the explanation that Corrigan had given her. If the Curse of the Void was slowly sapping her life force, and corrupting her spirit core, then it would have made sense that she had changed her race from a High Human into a Corruptor Human.
Variable Life Drain? What the hell is that?
Damn this stupid place…she thought. The Void explains some concepts and disregards others.
She cleared her head. It was pointless in getting worked up about some mystical void voice that explained to her how her skills worked.
If it was that important, then it would show during her journey.
Annalise started materializing from the abyss and headed back to her body.