My, my, this was unprecedented. For the first time Rene actually knew the answer to a question. “The fifth Monad was called Eternal Recurrence right? She built the walls and split the world into three.” He spoke proudly.

“Well, I guess you could phrase it like that,” Stelle gestured to Rene as she began walking down the stairs. “But no, she didn’t directly create the walls, they were a byproduct of her actions.”

“What did she do?” Rene took the hint to follow her.

“She created three Aspeiral rank 9 formations and spread them near the edge of our continent. These formations would convert a monumental amount of the pure essence surrounding them into the essence of their respective strand, altering the environment that surrounds them.”

“Hold on, Rank 9?” Rene rudely interrupted, “I read that the ranks only go up to 7?”

“7 ranks?” Stelle turned around with a confused expression, before quietly chuckling and walking down the stairs. “Those at the base of the mountain may only see the clouds. From rank 6 onwards, sourcerers leave the realm of mortals and enter the realm of Aspeirals. To us mortals, the distinction between rank 6 and rank 8 is insignificant, similar to how an ant would not discern a difference between a puddle and a lake.”

“There are indeed 9 ranks in total, and so I’m told, the difference between ranks 6-8 are quite significant. Please note that very little restrictions are placed on what books are allowed to be on the first floor of the Sublime Symposium, anyone can be an author these days…”

Rene felt grateful that he was walking behind Stelle and she couldn’t see his face. If only she knew all his knowledge was derived from children’s books…

Rene massaged his temples, Bloody hell… I wonder what else I learnt was wrong…

“Now, as I was saying—the regional walls are formed due to the conflict between different types of essence. Fire cannot coexist with water, light cannot coexist with dark. This concept may also be applied to the walls, they’re the result of essence created by one formation conflicting with the essence created by another.”

That explains why you can’t see the dark wall from inside the dark sector—because there is no dark wall. There’s no white or grey wall either, what I’m looking at are the white and grey sectors themselves!

Rene listened intently as Stelle gave her explanation. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when she assumed he was smart enough to know what a ‘formation’ was. Rene noted this word within his mind; he would ask it later.

Stelle continued without pause, “The formation based on the strand of light created an environment with an abundance of light essence. This has had a profound effect on the flora, fauna, and even the mineral veins and resource deposits.”

“However, as with all things, there are both positives and negatives to this phenomenon. I’m talking about Lustrious of course, the formation at its heart is responsible for all of its characteristics, positive and negative alike. There is a theory that when Eternal Recurrence was giving each region their name, she was actually naming the formations themselves. Either way, it is the Lustrian Formation, and it has shaped the very essence of Lustrious"

“The dark essence stemming from the Aphelion formation makes it an ideal place to cultivate the strand of darkness. An abundance of resources, knowledgeable teachers, as well as our culture make it incredibly convenient to cultivate this strand, which is also why 40% of Aphelion's sorcerers choose to do so.”

“I read somewhere that the appearance of someone would change depending on which region they were born in.” Rene, who could no longer hold on, asked his most pressing question. “Is it because there’s an abundance of one particular type of essence?”

“Hm? No, this happened only in the case of Eternal Recurrence’s handiwork.” Stelle, who had been rudely interrupted, didn’t seem to mind. “It’s not difficult to artificially raise the density of essence of a particular strand in an area, or even find a location with a high concentration of essence in nature. But an earth strand baby wouldn’t come out of a mother giving birth underground, nor would a baby be influenced by the plant strand if they were born in a forest.”

“Nature is a cauldron of competing essences. Why do the mountains not get washed away by the rain? Because its essence of earth conflicts with that of the water’s. Why do the forests succumb to the raging flames? Because its essence of life was no longer able to resist that of the fire’s. All that you see, from the smallest of pebbles, to the sparks of a dying match; you see them, you feel them—they exist, due to the essence that resides within them.”

“And just like the air, the water, or the trees, we people are no different; we have our drive, our desires, our soul. We have our essence of will.”

Soul? Rene expressed surprise upon hearing essentially the antithesis of science being explained as something within ‘phenomenology’, this world’s science/magic system.

I shouldn’t be so surprised, I’m standing in front of someone who can literally conjure up a metal hat from their bare– gloved hands.

“We may only live as we do now thanks to our essence of will conflicting with the foreign essences that surround us. Without a soul, we’d succumb to the smallest of flames, or perhaps even become one with the air. However, unlike nature, our will is malleable, and our souls have evolved to allow certain things and restrict others.”

“Oh, talking about this reminds me of a fact I learned two months ago,” Stelle said while abruptly turning around to look at Rene. “We’re normally taught that our souls ward off any and all microscopic lifeforms from our bodies, but you know that certain microscopic lifeforms are good for your digestive system, and that we’ve evolved to allow them to stay?

Wait, this– she’s talking about the immune system! Is the soul the immune system or is it just just functioning like the immune system? Does the soul really exist here or not? Rene tried his best to hide his expression.

“I know right? The thought of small animals living in your stomach is completely insane. So spooky.” Upon seeing Rene’s face, Stelle spoke with a rather out of character tone. “I had the same reaction as you when I first learned this fact. I even went to the hospital to confirm with the doctors, and they all said it was true! Supposedly, there are also named medical conditions that occur when there’s a lack of these stomach critters! Ah, sorry, I digress, back to what we were talking about.” Was she particularly passionate about digestional health? Stelle's excited tone immediately turned to normal upon switching back the topic.

Apparently, information about gut bacteria is considered esoteric knowledge, but information about the soul isn’t. Rene chuckled inwardly.

“When a fetus is developing, they are protected by their mother’s essence of will.” Stelle walked down the stairs with her arms behind her back. “So, unless their mother is dead, the child should experience no influence from the outside.”

“But somehow, the essence released by the three formations are able to bypass the mother’s will, and influence the fetus’ body, all without harming the mother. Normally, this is impossible, but the work of a Monad is mysterious and profound. It doesn’t stop there either, the essence created by the three formations would permeate through any and all defenses, as well as whatever method you can think of.”

“Their influence stretches from the heavens to the very depths of the earth; there isn’t anywhere in the world that is exempt from their reach. The might of a Monad can only be rivaled by another Monad.” Taking a glance at Rene, she continued, “Well, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you the whole story.”

I see, Arthas was Resplendent Paradise’s creation, and it was thanks to his meddling that Artharians aren’t influenced by the three regions.

“I read that no one knows what strand Eternal Recurrence cultivated.” Rene flaunted his wealth of knowledge.

“Indeed, and her three formations are precisely the reason. Due to the conflict between different essences, a sourcerer is normally only able to cultivate one strand. There are instances of people resolving the conflict between two specific strands and cultivating two strands at a time, but such cases are seldom seen. Either way, the formations a sourcerer draws can only reflect whatever strand they have expertise in, but the formations left by Eternal Recurrence… They don’t just consist of a trait from two strands, not even three. We don’t know how many strands are weaved in.”

When I mentioned the strands of the three formations were light, darkness, and aroma, it’s because the main traits of the essence they produced had the effect of those strands.”

“Wait– wait, aroma? Like the smell? The Perenian formation’s strand is aroma?” Rene couldn’t help but blurt out his question.

“The aroma strand does include smell, taste as well. I'm not an expert, but it’s far more complicated than that, at the higher level it can get much more—abstract.”

Rene recalled the description of Perenia, the grey sector from the dictionary.

A land of mist and smoke that obscures your vision, and when breathed in, slowly erases your memory. Breathes in… Strand of aroma… There’s certainly a connection.

“While I’ve heard the food there is fantastic, the Perenian formation is the same as the two others: we only label them based on the main traits they demonstrate. Here, I’ll show you another trait of the Aphelion formation’s.”

“I heard this trick only works on foreigners.” Stelle muttered before spreading her arms, “open your arms.” Despite having no idea of what she planned to do, Rene hesitantly followed her words.

“Do you feel that?” She asked.

“Feel what?”

“The warmth of the sun.”

This– His body shook upon hearing her words. It was true. He could feel it—he could feel the sun.

The contacts he wore provided an alternate reality: a bright world. But he could never forget the dark word that entrapped him. The sun was but a pale yellow dot, and he had disregarded it initially, but had it always been so warm?

He wore a buttoned up shirt instead of a t-shirt today, but he had never felt too cold. Now that he thought about it, Aphelion was far too warm for how dark it is. It would only become cold after the sun sets, Rene shivered as he recalled that experience which stained his memory.

Stelle’s deep gaze broke Rene out of his trace, “With that expression—I guess the rumors were true. Just how dark is it here for you guys?”

“E-extremely.”

“Hmm, I see.” Seemingly satisfied with Rene’s vague answer, she turned around and continued walking, “If the Aphelion formation only contained the strand of darkness, there would be no warmth. The essence it produced would block all light along with the warmth it brings.”

“Then, this is the effect of another strand?”

“Precisely—blocking light but allowing its effects to pass through, this is the effect of the strand of apparition, also known as the phantom strand. Supposedly, this strand is present in all three formations. Lustrious at night is as bright as staring at the sun, but Cessa’s sister city: Atarax, is only a bit warmer than here.”

Phantom strand? Today was a great day to forget everything he knew. Rene blew out a gust of air, Darkness exists as a strand, ghosts might as well also exist.

“Could you explain what formations are?” He asked.

Such a question made Stelle noticeably pause for just a moment. They had been talking about formations this entire time, and only now did he reveal he had no idea what formations were. Rene nearly—no, he did feel bad for her.

“Formations– Actually, first of all, are you familiar with traces?

Traces? Traces of what?

“Uh… assume I wasn’t born on this planet…” Rene gave a sigh.

“Traces—well, the stairs are at an end, I’ll explain once we’re inside.” Stelle gave a response without looking back.

S-she avoided the question… Is her polite way of calling me a dumbass?

Thankfully, Stelle gave a follow-up: “Most departments allow visitor access, if I remember correctly, some classrooms also have windows. If we’re lucky, we’ll catch a glimpse of a professor demonstrating with formations.”

With but a few steps until the ending to the stairs, Rene could no longer see the colorful roofs of the buildings. Instead, he now saw their entrances; The rows of buildings were far wider in person, each row spans as broad as Boeing 737 aircrafts from wingtip to wingtip. Laid out side by side, the colorful buildings formed a trail of ever changing colors which spread as far as the eye could see.

The black walls separating the rows of buildings also became more obvious. They were perhaps as thick as a car was wide, each one also included a black door.

A pale marble pathway extended from an imperial silver gate opposite to the buildings. Carrying an innumerable number of people, the pathway flowed like a river before splitting into over a dozen smaller streams, of which connected to the entrance of the colorful buildings.

“The main entrance,” Stelle commented upon noticing Rene’s gaze turn to the gate. “It’s the most accessible entrance, but unfortunately it also has the worst view.”

The white pathway that marked the end of the stairs merged with the main river before the split. There was no path which did not connect to a lane of buildings, anyone who entered the silver gate was forced to decide upon a strand. For Rene, who’s destination was at the end of the rainbow, he would have to choose a path in order to continue.

“What’s your strand?” He asked, having no idea where to go.

“The strand of metal, father and I both.” Stelle pointed to a row near the center of the rainbow, “Represented by that silver lane—there. But for someone who’s unfamiliar with formations… The strand of steel is a bit esoteric. Let's head towards the department of fire instead.”

Seeing Rene nod in agreement, Stelle began walking on the path which led to a bright red lane; it was the third most outer row, meaning it was the third most popular strand in Cessa.

“What strand does the road represent?” Rene curiously asked while pointing at the white cobble pathway they walked on. The floor being white was a common occurrence in this world: The Sublime Symposium had white flooring, his room in Mr. Siluvar’s mansion did as well; now, the campus floor.

Stelle took a glance at the ground, “It’s a metaphor, but I suppose it represents the strand of light. Yes, white is used to represent light, but in the case of this pathway, it’s meant to symbolize the white of Lustrious. As you know, Cessa is a city built with diversity in mind, whenever you see pale flooring, it means as a welcome for visitors from Lustrious. Conversely, black flooring is common with Atarax.”

What a kind gesture—If only Earth could learn from this planet. Hold on, white represents light?

The white row was the innermost and shortest lane in the rainbow. Thus, according to Stelle, it was also the least popular.

“Why is the white the shortest lane then? Don’t Lustrians not cultivate the strand of light?”

“They do, light is the most cultivated strand in Lustrious, just like darkness in Aphelion. But your question once again leads back to the regional formations.”

She continued. “Do you know the story behind why Eternal Recurrence sundered the world?”

Rene recalled the children’s books he had read, “The book I read said it was to make the world smaller. As a whole, the continent was too vast, and because of this, war was commonplace.”

“That’s certainly what it seems like from the effects of the formations alone… As you know, different essences conflict, but the essence produced by regional formations seem to ignore even this fundamental law. The three formations don’t conflict with anything—apart from each other.”

“Light is the main strand in the Lustrious formation, and thus it is greatly weakened here. Even though Cessa and Atarax are built near the center of the continent, where the three formation’s influence is lightest and the side-effects are least, this suppression is still significant.”

Rene looked towards the white regional wall, it was a landmark that could be seen from anywhere as long as you were outside.

That makes sense, why study the strand of light when Lustrious is right next door?

His eyes trailed over to the left, where a grey wall just as big stood equally imperious.

And Perenia is just as close…

The row representing the second least popular strand was no longer in view, but Rene remembered its color.

The row next to the white lane is yellow… Yellow represents the aroma strand; I see, so the main strand of the Perenian formation is suppressed as well.

But wow, I can see why Cessa is referred to as a ‘bridge’ now. It was built to mend the division set by a megalomaniacal god…

“The white pathways represent Lustrious, but what about Perenia? What’s used to represent them?”

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Stelle continued to walk as if she didn’t hear the question. Her back was faced towards Rene, so the latter couldn’t see her expression. Eventually, she began to speak in a dull voice. "Perenia..." She paused before continuing, "Cessa wasn’t built with Perenia in mind."

Not built with Perenia in mind?

Just as Rene was about to ask further, his face was blasted with a gust of warm air, he held on to his hat so it wouldn’t get blown away. A great fiery red door loomed tall and imposing before him, its surface shimmering with an otherworldly glow. It seemed to be made of some kind of molten metal, its edges blurred and shifted as if it were constantly in motion. People would enter in their normal state and come out with their hair and clothes soaking wet from the sweat.

This was no doubt the department of fire.

“If this place is configured the same way as the department of metal, it would go: markets first, classrooms second, and the residential district is past the department building—so the cultivation chambers are third. Wait here for a second,” After giving a quick summary of the department of fire, Stelle quickly went off to one of the many vendors who had set up stalls at the department’s entrance.

The vendor she went to sold… globs of water? Quite a line had formed in from of the light blue stall, thankfully, it moved quickly.

A few moments later, Rene blinked and saw Stelle holding a translucent glob out to him. After receiving it, they went in.

The first thing to note about the indoors was the heat. It must’ve been over forty degrees celsius. Rene was about to fan his shirt before he reality reminded him that his one working arm was occupied with carrying the glob of water.

“A higher density of fire essence allows for faster cultivation, alongside many other reasons, that’s why it’s so hot here.” Stelle spoke, seemingly unaffected from the heat. In contrast, Rene’s face was already tinged red, his clothes stuck to his skin, and he was halfway off from dying from heatstroke. It had barely been a minute, such was the might of European adaptation.

“Drink the water, it's been imbued with the essence of ice.” The voice came from a vaguely humanoid silver blob at the edge of his vision: Stelle of course; Rene could no longer see her with all the sweat in his eyes.

His lips met with glob of water, and upon applying some suction, the thin membrane was penetrated. After drinking the water, all that was left of the glob was a translucent outer shell, deflated like a balloon.

A wave of coolness rushed over him, as if whatever he drank had just washed away the scorching heat of his surroundings. It felt as if he was not only transported to the cool outdoors, with the exception of the sweat, Rene felt as if he never entered.

The power of magic drugs.

Wiping his eyes, he saw the red themed hallways slowly curve as it went on. This was indeed a market, stalls and shops made up the walls. A bustle of people, some sweaty, some not, shopped from stall to stall, inspecting their items, and haggling over prices.

“The market, dedicated to their specific strand, sells tools and materials to visitors and students alike.” Hearing Stelle's voice come from beside him, Rene turnend and saw that she was completely unphased by the heat.

“You’re fine? I only saw you buy one of these.”

“Of course,” She said with a smile, “The concentration of essence on the first floor doesn’t even reach rank 1; I’ll survive for some time.”

“It’s even hotter upstairs!?” Rene blurted out.

“If this place is anything similar to the department of metal, then yes, probably. Of the four floors, the first floor was designed for rank 1 students, but rank 2s and above will want a hotter environment. That’s why most visitors aren’t allowed beyond the first, it’d be too dangerous.”

Multiple floors with ascending ranks assigned to them, it’s similar to that library.

“Higher ranked people are able to resist the heat here?”

“Aye.” Stelle responded simply.

“How?” Rene asked simply.

“Through our essence of will.” Stelle said with a smile.

“Normally, our essence only reaches to the edges of our body; but if we extended our influence just a bit past that…” Stelle stopped walking before closing her eyes and relaxed her shoulders. Suddenly, Rene felt a sharp, chilling breeze on his face. “The fire essence won’t even reach the skin.”

Rene shook slightly; wind draws heat away from the body, that’s why it feels cool. However, this was no wind, rather, it felt like the heat surrounding him had vanished for a brief moment—pushed away by some phantom force.

“Woah. That was…”

“My essence,” Stelle smiled before as she started walking again, “To resist this heat, I only need to extend it to just above my skin,” She raised up a pinched hand, leaving only a slight gap between her fingers to show how small the distance is. “But, consider that a demonstration.”

“How do I do that then?” Rene asked with a bright smile, once that immediately vanished upon hearing Stelle’s response: “Unfortunately… You can’t. Manipulation of one’s essence is a privilege given only to those rank 1 and above.”

Tsk.

“What rank are you then?”

“Rank 3.”

Rank 3… uh, I have no idea what this means. Mr. Siluvar is ranked 5, which is supposedly very impressive, and Stelle is two ranks lower than her father, so…

It was awfully pretentious for some rank 0 sod to ask whether he should be impressed with the fact that Stelle was rank 3; Rene decided to probe indirectly.

“If this place has the same rules as the library, then—you can’t visit the fourth floor? What kind of people are allowed?”

“You have to be rank 4 for one, meaning it’s only open to the few professors that have actually reached that rank. Well—they’re allowed to cultivate and conduct their research there for free, anyone not affiliated with the school has to pay a fee.”

‘Few professors’, meaning rank 3 is enough to become a professor? Stelle has a PhD?

The young lady walking beside him didn’t look a day over twenty-five, but she was eligible to teach people his age.

She already has a PhD, and also an executive at some major manufacturing firm—why was she driving him around again? It should be the other way around!

“Dr. Stelle…” Rene mumbled under his breath.

“Hm? Did you say something?”

“Yes– uh,” Rene scratched his cheek, “I mean—what’s the difference between ranks?”

“A sourcerer’s rank is usually a good measure of their abilities, experience, and knowledge; still, these factors will differ depending on the sourcerer. From the perspective of pure power, every change in rank means a ten-fold increase in the concentration of essence—at least below the aspeiral level.”

As the duo walked further on, the amount of people browsing through the halls became fewer, and the ones that did no longer sweated. They were all either students or higher ranked sourcerers like Stelle.

This ranking system operates based on a logarithmic scale, but only below rank 6. Hmm, so Stelle would have 100 times less essence than Mr. Siluvar, and have 1000 times more essence than me?

The sounds of Stelle’s footsteps suddenly stopped, causing Rene to snap out of his trance.

“We’re rather lucky indeed, I think I already see something of interest.” Stelle pointed towards one of the windows on the wall. “That classroom, there. I see the familiar setup of a demonstration.”

The drizzle of market stalls had now completely ceased, now replaced by doors that connected to classrooms and windows that allowed one to look into them.

Rene approached the window Stelle referred to. Through it, he saw a small lecture hall style classroom of teenagers, mostly Aphelian with perhaps one or two Lustrians. The window was at the back of the class, so nothing obstructed him from viewing the professor up front.

On the table the professor stood behind was a thick black plate; the professor said some things, but unfortunately the window blocked all sound, and Rene couldn’t hear him.

Next, the man took out a red rock from under the table and gently placed it on the plate.

“Good, this is what we’re looking for.” Stelle stood beside Rene with her arms crossed. “Currently, he’s setting up a demonstration for how we can record the formation from its source.”

Such a strange sight, Rene couldn’t recognise anything on the table the professor stood behind.

“What’s that red rock?” He asked.

Stelle squinted her eyes, “I’m no expert, but it seems to be some type of firestone… Whatever it may be, it’s likely taking on the role of the ‘source’ in this demonstration.”

“Source?” Rene scanned his memories, “‘Essence stems from source’, from this, I thought the source for fire essence was… fire?”

Stelle gave a small nod, “Fire itself is only the most common source of fire essence, but a source may be many things. In this case however, the lecturer probably intends to stick to the basics; afterall—firestones were named for their famous ability to emit fire.”

I should’ve guessed.

“Then, what’s that black plate under the firestone?”

“So the table doesn’t get burnt.”

I should’ve guessed…

Rene sighed inwardly as Stelle began speaking again: “Before the demonstration starts, let me give you a summary of what traces are. Essentially—they’re remnants of phenomena; pathways carved by essence.”

“Phenomena?”

“Just like essence stems from its source, phenomena stems from essence.” Stelle placed a finger on her chin, “Take fire for example, what are its features?”

Rene’s eyelids fluttered as he was caught off-guard by Stelle’s question. “Uh… it's hot, for one… it emits light… it’s a chemical reaction that consumes oxygen and a fuel into carbon dioxide and water.”

“Water?” Stelle slightly tilted her head, “Well, I’m no expert on this strand, but what you’re describing is the phenomena of fire—a phenomena derived from the essence of fire.”

“Then, the phenomenon of water is that it’s wet and a liquid?”

“Aye, but it’s far from this simple, a sourcerer that specializes in the strand of water will be able to name far more, explain in greater detail, and perhaps may even disagree with you.”

“The study of phenomena—the study of essence—is a journey that spans from earth to the very heavens, one that begins at rank 1, and ends at rank 9; it is a journey that only the nine Monads can claim to have finished.”

It begins at rank 1? Oh good, I don’t have to bother with this then.

“What do you mean by pathways carved by essence?”

Stelle looked at the ground and took a moment to think, “Imagine a lake on top of a mountain; what happens when that lake gains more water than it can hold?”

What kind of a question is this?

Rene rubbed his eyes, “Uh… It overflows?”

“Of course, but how does it overflow? Does the water equally go over the edge of the lake? No, water will flow down the mountain by forming rivers, streams—pathways.

The way water flows down will depend on the mountain; maybe all of the water flows down through a single river? Or perhaps, there are multiple streams of water exiting the lake, curving and swirling, splitting and merging—a network of channels is formed by the water.”

“When the concentration of essence is too high for a material to resist—the lake overflows; and pathways for essence to flow through are carved into it. Once something is burnt, it becomes charred. Once something is drowned, it becomes wet—such are the remnants of phenomena.” Stelle turned to Rene, allowing him to see a pair of black eyes which reflected nothing. “And such are the traces that essence leaves.”

I see, so that’s why they call their magic system ‘phenomenology’—since it’s literally the study of phenomena. What are formations then? Stelle implied they were related somehow.

Before he could ask, the professor grabbed a white box and placed it on the desk.

“Inside that box is recording paper, we use that to record traces.” Stelle casually remarked, recrossing her arms.

The professor then grabbed a long thin stick from the desk and turned to the board behind him.

“Oh, I think he’s gonna draw what the formation looks like beforehand.” Stelle remarked.

With the stick in hand, the professor traced out a large red circle.

“That’s the outer ring, he’ll begin drawing the traces that make up the formation next.” Stelle commented.

From the outer ring, the professor began drawing lines that stemmed inwards. They appeared at equal intervals, spiraling inwards in a curvy, jagged nature; connecting at the center to form a symmetrical, snowflake-like shape.

An overflowing lake atop a mountain…

Upon witnessing this, Rene asked to confirm with Stelle: “That’s a formation?”

“A rank 1 formation, you can tell what rank a formation is by counting how many rings it has.”

“Then, a rank 2 formation would have two rings…”

“That’s right. The number of rings determines how much essence can traverse through its traces.” Stelle replied.

Once he was done, the professor snapped his fingers, and the firestone suddenly lit aflame. Next, he opened the lid of the white box and took out a black piece of paper; hastily closing the lid, the professor then slowly lowered the paper over the flame, before pulling it away a few moments later.

So… his goal was to burn the paper? What the hell is going on…

Just as Rene was about to ask Stelle, the professor lifted the paper and displayed it to the class. There were markings on it, but not in the way Rene expected, no—they were not burn marks. It was small, but even then it was obvious: a series of lines had formed on the recording paper, and the lines—the traces, perfectly matched what the professor had drawn earlier. Every detail, every trace was a match. Except for the outer ring, the formation had been perfectly recreated by the fire.

What.

A million questions immediately downloaded themselves into his mind, Rene looked to Stelle for answers.

“Traces are pathways carved by an abundance of essence, do you get it now?” Seeing Rene’s confused expression not change, Stelle continued: “If you put your hand in that flame, you’d get burned right?”

Rene gave a nod.

“Burns are caused by the fire essence carving into your skin when it can no longer resist the pressure, just like how a lake overflows when there's too much water. Specifically, for us, rank 1 concentration of essence is just barely enough to leave traces in our skin. Rank 1 fire essence would burn; any concentration below that would only feel very hot, and not leave any lasting damage.”

“Wait, but burn wounds look nothing like what was on that… recording paper.”

“That’s because of the soul, our essence conflicts with the essence of fire; but if the fire essence was ranked high enough, the soul’s resistance would no longer make a difference.” Stelle gave a shrug, “Cook a man long enough and he’d look no different from a charred piece of wood.”

Stelle directed her gaze back into the classroom, “Normally, this would also be the case for traces in nature: they’d be a jumbled, incoherent mess due to the disturbance of ambient essence. However, in this unique environment, and with that recording paper, what you see is the traces of a phenomenon captured in its cleanest state.”

The professor held the recording paper and walked around the class, showing it to every student; he even came to the back and waved at Rene, who waved by with an awkward smile.

Rene looked back to the drawing on the board. “But how did he know what it would look like beforehand?”

“If the phenomena were the same, why would the traces it leaves be different?”

“Then…”

“Aye, that firestone will always create the same traces.” Stelle finished Rene’s sentence.

“It may not seem like it, but plenty of information can be derived from a burn wound; the

intensity of the fire, the size of the flame, its shape, type, rank, etc. And that’s after the traces affected by a person’s essence.”

Stelle looked to Rene, “So how much information can be derived from the traces when there’s no external influence?”

Rene scratched his chin, “Uh, plenty?”

“More than plenty.” Stelle replied, “Everything.”

“Everything?”

“Don’t be fooled by those simple curves and jagged lines, they are the pathways carved by the essence of the firestone’s flame: every bend, every turn, every fine detail, make up a portion of the identity of the phenomenon that produced it. Much like a mirror shows your reflection, an identical copy of the firestone’s flame has been inscribed onto that recording paper.”

Traces are a reflection of a Phenomenon’s essence…

Rene took a moment to think, “What’s a formation then?”

Stelle pointed towards what the professor had drawn on the board. “That’s a formation.”

Next, the tip of her finger glided to the piece of recording paper the professor was holding. “And those are traces.”

They look exactly the same… no, wait, the outer ring!

Indeed, while most of the two patterns appeared identical, the professor had drawn a circle outlining the traces on the board. The recorded traces however, were missing this circle—this ‘outer ring’.

To give a visual analogy, if the traces on the recording paper appeared similar to a lake overflowing on a mountain, then the formation on the board looked as if someone had dug a circular moat around the base of the mountain.

The outer ring is what differentiates a formation from its traces?

Now that everyone had seen the recording paper, the professor went back to the desk and took out some type of dark stone slab.

Isn’t the demonstration done? There’s more?

“He’ll redraw the formation on that slab next.” Stelle said cryptically.

Just like she said he would, the professor hunched over the slab and held his index finger like a pencil; a series of red lines then quickly appeared following the strokes of his finger.

“Another hemostylus…” Rene muttered out loud.

“Indeed, while I’m not sure how common they are on Arthas, you’ll see them everywhere here.” Stelle said.

“Do you have one?” Rene looked to Stelle’s gloved hands.

“Of course! A hemostylus is as necessary for a sorcerer as water is to fish. Well, for us at least.”

“M-may I see it?” Rene shyly asked.

Upon hearing his request, Stelle uncrossed her arms and took off the glove from her right hand, revealing a set of pale, slender fingers.

“The tip of the index, can you see it?”

Rene leaned in to take a closer look, indeed, there was something there: A small hole, as large as the eye of a needle. Stelle then squeezed her index with her other fingers like she was gripping a pencil, and suddenly, a metal tip emerged from the hole, similar to the tip of a pen. Once she stopped squeezing, the tip immediately retracted back into her index.

“Does it hurt?”

“Only if you use too much blood.” Stelle shrugged while putting her glove back on.

A tool on your finger that draws in your blood…

“W-why?”

“The formations created by Eternal Recurrence didn’t only alter our appearances; between the three regions, our cultivation styles also differ.” Stelle quickly opened and closed her hand repeatedly, simultaneously pulling the glove back on with her other arm to ensure a snug fit. “For Aphelians, our unique ability is to remotely transfer our essence through blood.”

“Transfer essence through blood?”

By now, the professor had finished drawing on the slab; he held it up and displayed it to the class. The vibrant red blood contrasted greatly with the dark stone slab, it made it easy to see what he drew was identical to the traces on the recording paper: it was also missing the ring.

“Traces form from a single point and grow by spreading outwards. The traces on that recording paper also formed like this.” Stelle spoke, seemingly ignoring Rene’s question. “Think back to the lake analogy; where does the water overflow from? It flows from the lake. And essence? Essence is derived from the source.”

“As just as water flows down a mountain from the lake, pathways carved by essence begin at source, flowing outwards until a reflection of the phenomenon that produced it has been captured.”

The professor didn’t walk around the class this time; once he was done displaying the slab, he placed it back on the table.

“So what do you think would happen if we were to reverse the flow of water? Could we recreate the lake?”

The professor then hunched over the slab, once again holding his index finger like a pen.

“And what if we reversed the direction of the essence?” Stelle asked while carrying a mysterious smile, “Could we recreate the source?”

The professor’s finger traced a circle on the slab, forming a red outer ring that outlined the webbing of pathways.

“The outer ring isn’t something that’s left by natural phenomenon.” Stelle’s voice echoed through his ears, “It’s our trace—a trace of our will.”

“So that’s what transferring essence through blood means…” Rene muttered in a low voice.

As soon as the outer ring was complete, the entire formation began glowing a steady red.

“Essence stems from source.” Stelle declared in a bold voice.

The professor snapped his fingers, and a flame ignited from the center of the formation—it was identical to the firestone’s flame.

“And with our will, so may source stem from essence.”