Chapter 7: Concentrated Soup Stock

“So, how do we do this essence ranking up thing?” Nara asked.

The group led her into outside, and Nara got her first glance at the grounds of the grounds.

Instead of a house, it was more of a complex. The main building was a large, two story house, like a safari resort house. It was made primarily of wood and stone with accents of brick and large glass windows. Awnings of cloth stretched taut cast a softer light over the perimeter. The same cloth hung down the sides, creating covered verandas shaded from the strong sunlight. Some were rolled up, revealing the woven and wooden furniture inside.

Several other buildings surrounded a main plaza. Beyond the buildings, Nara spotted covered gazebos. There was a lake and forest nearby, within the complex but still outside of the jungle surrounding them. Soft cushions and low tables were set up beneath the shade of the trees and beside the shaded lake, creating a quiet and comfortable location to relax and enjoy nature.

Off to the right was a standout building. As a three-story, octagonal pavilion, more vertical that it was side, it stood out against the rest of the low buildings. Considerable effort had been expended to decorate it, with a streaming waterfall pouring from the side into a fountain below it. Various lush, bright, and leafy jungle plants grew in tiers from the building.

“What’s up with that building?”

“That’s the arrival pavilion,” Amara explained.

“Arrival…for what?” Nara didn’t see any parking spots or a helipad, let alone roads.

“Portals,” Amara said, matter-of-factly. “What else?”

“Oh,” Nara said softly, processing that simple statement for a moment. “Portals, right. I should have known.”

“Your world does not have portals?” Amara asked curiously, noticing her confusion. “What do they use for distance travel?”

“Planes, for people. Ships, for cargo, usually. And stuff like trains and cars for other reasons.”

“Planes?” Amara asked, her intense eyes earning a narrowed glance from Chelsea.

“Vehicles that travel in the sky without magic using life and propulsion.”

“Without magic? That’s possible?” Amara said, suddenly thoughtful. “How fast do these ‘planes’ travel?”

“Around 550 miles per hour.” Nara said. Any units of measurement she used were automatically translated for her, and vice versa. She didn’t know what the people of this world used for measurement, yet.

“That doesn’t attract monsters?” Chelsea said.

“We don’t have monsters?” Nara said, unsure. “No monsters and no magic. Why would that attract monsters?”

“Fast-moving objects irritate monsters.” Amara said. “Fast traveling vehicles have to be reinforced with magic, escorted by adventurers, or built with defenses. Usually a combination of all three.”

“But,” Amara leaned in, her eyes blazing with passion. Nara felt that the light of her eyes was even stronger than before. “We don’t have any vehicle that travels that fast.”

“You have portals,” Nara said. “What would you need planes for?”

“Portals have various restrictions. For one, they require consent. You can’t force someone physically through a portal. You can threaten them…but now isn’t the time for this. Amara. I know you’re very excited about your new Outworlder friend, but let’s try to reach the teaching phase for her, before you pry all the new and interesting information out of her.”

“You’re right,” Amara acknowledged, straightening her posture then patting Nara’s shoulders reassuringly. “The rest can wait. First, we do the most important ritual of your life.”

They headed to a building on the left, close to the main house. It was a single story and on the smaller side, compared to the mansion main building.

“This is the ritual workroom.” Amara said. She pressed a panel on the outside of the building, and a large section of the wall opened up, sliding up like a garage door.

“Sometimes we need to transport large objects into the room.” Amara preemptively explained, this makes it easier to do so. There’s a normal door, if you don’t need it.”

Even though the side of the building was opened up, Nara noticed some sort of transparent barrier stopped stray leaves and dirt from entering the room. It even cleaned away the dirt on their shoes as they stepped through.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

A large section of the room was made of smooth white stone. There were almost no pores in the stone, yet, treated with something (perhaps magically so) that prevented slipping. On the left side of the room was a low table surrounded by couches, a lounging area. Glass cabinets contained drinks, various snacks and fruit, and some simple plates and cups. The right side of a room had a workspace. It had a tall heavy wooden table, at a height appropriate for standing work. Various strange tools hung from racks. Sparkling crystals, jars of materials like pebbles, coins, and powders. Cabinets labeled with material names Nara didn’t recognize. Large, free standing tools wheeled into corners, floated in place, or hung from the ceiling. Despite the large amount of tools and materials, it was impeccably organized, far better than any university or work lab she remembered.

Amara strode to a cabinet, pulling from one a pouch of powdered material. She dipped a pen in the powder, similar to a paint brush. The powder wasn’t a liquid, but it adhered to the brush as Amara began to draw a large circle with the material.

“This is powdered monster cores,” Amara said. “Highly reactive to magic. If your ritual circle is wrong, it won’t light up.”

In the astral, Nara hadn’t used anything in particular to draw a magic circle. She used lines of light, but it may have just been lines of magic.

“You don’t use magic to draw circles?” She asked.

“There are abilities that allow for that,” Amara explained as she drew. “I don’t have one. Ritual magic is a hobby I developed later, so I never aimed for anything that would make it more convenient to perform. Did you want an ability like that? I don’t think you will get one with the combination you’ve chosen.”

“No, its fine,” Nara said, “I can just draw it out like everyone else.” Nara had no idea whether she’d need to cast more rituals in the future. She didn’t know much about them. Chrome only taught her exactly what she needed to known to create that one large ritual, and her memories of her time in the astral were extremely fuzzy in comparison to the sensations she experienced now, as if they had been washed out and faded from strong sunlight.

Eventually, the ritual circle was complete, emitting a soft glow. Amara didn’t need to redraw it at all, a testament to her skill. Amara placed three cubes in an equilateral triangle at locations on the outer circumference of the ritual circle. Nara’s Inspect ability told her which all three were.

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Item: [Dimension Essence] (unranked, legendary)

Classification: Essence, Consumable

Manifested essence of dimension.

Requirements: Less than four absorbed essences

Effect: Imbues one awakened dimension essence ability and four unawakened dimension essence abilities

Item: [Harmonic Essence] (unranked, epic)

Classification: Essence, Consumable

Manifested essence of harmony.

Requirements: Less than four absorbed essences

Effect: Imbues one awakened harmonic essence ability and four unawakened harmonic essence abilities

Item: [Balance Essence] (unranked, uncommon)

Classification: Essence, Consumable

Manifested essence of balance.

Effect: Imbues one awakened balance essence ability and four unawakened balance essence abilities

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The descriptions were identical except for what Nara now guessed was their rarity. The water essence she saw before was common.

The dimension essence looked like looking into the vastness of space. Even as she swiveled her view around it, the interior of the cube extended into infinity. It was like someone had hole-punched a cube out of reality, revealing the universe behind it.

The harmonic essence was completely different. It was a swirl of colors, like dye dropped into milk or water. But the colors never clashed, or formed an ugly indiscriminate brown. Yet, it was not so colorful that it was psychedelic. It resembled more a pleasant oil painting, dappled with smooth, transitioning colors, like an interpretive Van Gogh.

The balance essence was in stark contrast, the cube divided in two. The halves flickered, always represented by things considered opposites or in balance. Fire and water, white and black, blue and orange, ocean and sky.

They really were crystallizations of magic, Nara absentmindedly thought as she was mesmerized by their mesmerizing fluctuations. Who knew that concentrated magic formed cubes? A strange thought entered her head: essences were concentrated soup stock cubes that she’d drop into the unflavored water of her soul.

“What does rarity mean?” Nara asked. It may be self-explanatory, but she may as well seek clarification.

“It’s just how often the essence appears in the right conditions.” Amara explained. “Just to be clear, higher rarity essence aren’t more powerful or better than lower rarity ones. It’s a common misconception with those without formal essence education. Rather,” she continued, “Higher rarity essence can be narrower or more specific, and due to their rarity, possible abilities aren’t as well researched.”

“So its exchanging versatility for specialization?” Nara asked.

“There’s more nuance to it, but that’s the general idea,” Chelsea said.

“Then, is my combination going to be very specialized?” Nara asked.

“You’ll be fine,” Amara reassured her. “The mystic confluence is general, and will round out your powerset. Dimension is one of the less specialized legendary essences. Teleportation and space manipulation always comes in handy, after all.”

A little bit of excitement stirred within Nara over her unease. “So, I might get one of those portals?”

“It’s highly likely and it’d be ridiculous if you didn’t. Your racial abilities mention portals specifically,” Chelsea pointed out.

“Something to look forward to,” Redell said warmly.

*****

“Well? Hop to it,” Chelsea said, gesturing to the circle. “Amara’s already finished. Step inside.”

Nara looked down at the complex magic circle. It was admittedly less complex than the one she had drawn to google search the universe, but she didn’t understand it in the least. Chrome just taught her what was needed to enter reality. He focused more on theory, and not on a wide breadth of rituals. It was like understanding a very narrow field high level physics, but not recognizing a specific formula or adjacent specialties. Not a big deal, and something she could learn later, if she wanted. There were some shapes she recognized, and she realized she had learned a simpler version of the ritual, but for a single essence at a time.

“Is there a reason it’s three at once?” Nara asked.

“It supposedly increases synergy between the first abilities of the essences,” Chelsea said, “but it’s only theory. We can only ever absorb a set of essences once, so experimentation is limited.”

“It won’t be a detriment.” Amara said. “I promise you that. Now hurry up. Even I’m impatient. You only get to see this once per person.”

Chelsea and Amara’s impatience was shared. They looked at her with anticipation clear in their words and body language.

At Amara’s encouragement, she stepped into the center of the ritual circle.