“What? You’ve never heard about Sorcery either?” Castor was affronted. It wasn’t even funny anymore. “How could you not have heard about the taboo?”

Arlosse was suddenly defensive.

“I know about Sorcery!” he barked. And indeed, he did.

He had seen it with his own eyes, the product of the power the Queen of the Ainfidd Kingdom had sought from the Baniale`. After declaring herself a Sorceress, she had gone on to use her dreadful powers – her Sorcery – to enslave her husband and her children to a thankless, eternal life where they were tied and married to rot.

But Arlosse didn’t think this was enough for him to declare himself knowledgeable about Sorcery. What was this Castor mentioned about it empowering Dark Bloods?

“What do you know about it?” Castor said suspiciously. He grew bolder the longer he was allowed to hear his own voice in lengthy explanations. “You don’t sound all that confident. Do you even understand what Spirit Essence is?”

Arlosse scowled. He was reminded that he could stab this little brat with his Fickle Viper if he so wished. He cooled himself though. Yes, he had the strength to kill as he wished now, but he refused to let it change him, to smother his previous self who could learn from even the littlest things, even if he had a poor potential for growth.

The Incarnate sighed.

“I have a limited understanding of what these powers are. Spirit Essence, Kanva, Far Ji, SeiJo. Explain it to me,” he said. “Explain all there is. This should be far more helpful to me than that little bedtime story of yours.”

Castor’s face was kneaded dough, but he didn’t dare go against Arlosse’s command for him to elaborate on the power of this world.

“It’s not just about Spirit Essence, Kanva, Far Ji, and SeiJo,” he said. “It’s about how far they feed into the four ways to extend your strength. Even someone as ignorant as you must have seen some of these at work.”

“There are three recognized pathways to great power. Refinement is the most popular. It simply involves familiarising yourself with the Kanva you have to the point where your Spirit Essence absorbs the traits of the Kanva, allowing you to use them with very limited cost. You must have seen combatants with Spirit Essence that’s a bizarre color, right?”

It dawned on Arlosse right then. He had seen that on multiple occasions. He had seen ebony Spirit Essence from Alabas and other darker hues of it from different warriors on this battlefield – here in the Crucible of Twin-Faced Hope.

‘I see. So that was Refinement.’

Castor continued. He nearly shook his head when he saw Arlosse digesting this information. It was new to him alright.

“The second has to do with Bloodlines. It is mostly applicable to you demons. Royal and Dark Bloods all have natural traits that give them handsome advantages over humans. They can sometimes manifest as naturally earned Far Ji, but that’s rare, as far as I have read.”

“Bloodline, huh? What about Hybrids? Do they not get such powers too?” Arlosse asked.

“Most don’t. Their genes are diluted by the human properties within them, and that usually suppresses Bloodline powers.”

Arlosse clicked his tongue.

If that really was the case, then demon and human blood really was incompatible. If humans had to rely on normal physical attributes and the common ways to get strength when demons could have free advantages from birth, it was a miracle that they were able to contend at all.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

But perhaps not.

Arlosse remembered the Verdance and how the Clerics used their power on the battlefield.

No.

The humans had advantages of their own. Great advantages.

The Incarnate cursed.

‘Being a Hybrid really is only a little bit better than being a Scatter Blood,’ he thought and suddenly, the image of a certain caterpillar-mantis swam into mind. ‘So that thing was a Scatter Blood, I imagine. But it seemed to regard me very well like I was some prize. Why w—’

The thought died in his brain at once.

Arlosse’s eyes went round.

Of course.

Of course!

The Bloodline power. He had one!

He was the Hollow Demonling!

When fighting Kadyas back then, Arlosse had received a message from the golden tablet telling him that he yearned for a double portion of everything. That had been the effect of his race, his Bloodline, Hollow Demonling.

He could earn twice the portion where others were limited to one, which was why he had two Far Ji when only one was allowed per individual.

“I see,” Arlosse said, excited. “What else is there besides Bloodlines and Refinement.”

Castor was taken aback by his smile.

“Well, there’s Sacrifice. Some warriors who feel as though they have reached their full potential and can’t grow anymore than they have – at least physically – often use this. They sacrifice all their Kanva in exchange for physical attributes.”

Arlosse reeled.

All Kanva?

“That’s possible?”

“Very. But not that many people have ever chosen this path. The raw physical power established by sacrificing hundreds or even thousands of Kanva can rupture every fiber and bone in a body and destroy it. There have been those who survived and made names for themselves, but on this continent, they can only be counted on one hand. Most people aren’t willing to part with their Spirit Essence.”

“Part with their Spirit Essence? You mean… after using Sacrifice, you lose your ability to use Spirit Essence too?”

“That’s right,” said Castor. He was starting to sink into the teacher role and perhaps even enjoy it a little. “This path is often referred to by some as another kind of taboo, but it’s never officially been restricted as a method of growth.”

Arlosse scratched his chin. In his indulgence, he had almost stolen his right hand from the white horse’s chest. It had closed its eyes and turned its ears flaccid, flat against its head. It didn’t want to hear more of Castor and Arlosse’s conversation.

Arlosse was keen to ask about the taboo that Castor kept referencing, which he knew was related to Sorcery, but in light of the revelation about this path to power, Sacrifice, the Incarnate found himself wondering just what Spirit Essence was supposed to be. Why it could be discarded so easily. Where it came from.

When he asked, Castor looked a little uncertain.

“Spirit Essence is still a subject of contention There are many unknowns about it. However, it is one of the key elements in explaining many phenomena that scholars of our time grapple with. Spirit Essence is attracted to the ground – the land. Or rather, it just might be the ground. Some of our most educated scholars have surmised that Spirit Essence is the lifeblood of the land. When the two are united, the greatest phenomena known to man and demonkind thrive.”

“Far Ji are born in the natural elements of the world and are plucked by men and demons alike. One of our elders once said that all Spirit Essence seeks to return to the land from whence it came; that the death of evil souls who wield Spirit Essence satiates the land – the world’s thirst. I’ve heard it happens often for strong warriors. The blood they spill earns them merit with the world.”

Arlosse narrowed his eyes.

He wondered…

‘Is that tied to why these two races decided to meet with huge armies?’ he thought and again, he reeled, realizing something. ‘Is that why I received all those Spirit Essence points after I unleashed the Immaterial Slash earlier?’

He had killed a lot of warriors earlier and had received a significant amount of Spirit Essence for it.

But Arlosse didn’t like it. Castor’s folktale was starting to make a bit of sense. It connected rather well at the seams.

If man and demon were indeed germinated from the ground, it stood to reason that when they were expended, the land was more than glad to take them back along with the Spirit Essence gushing through their bodies – their blood, flesh, and bones.

But even better than that, this revelation about Far Ji being phenomena that mostly occurred through natural elements of the world, also made a lot of sense to Arlosse.

Maybe Marar’bel’s Hermetic Vault was not a good example, but Alabas’ Reform certainly was. That flame which had projected the light of the Far Ji was definitely plucked from somewhere. Perhaps some wildfire burning in the woods. Arlosse’s imagination with the supernatural was still budding, so he found it hard to imagine exactly where the original Reform came from, but nevertheless…

“How do people normally awaken Spirit Essence?” he asked Castor, very eager. He felt as though he had closed in on something truly profound, building in the back of his mind.