The Temple of Levandis provided one interesting topic. If it was what Murai considered it to be, then he had all the time to successfully establish some improvements like Lisa deemed it so. Not only his present but also future ones, depending on his challenges, options but also efforts.
It was about the magic too, while the rules he Breached helped a ton more than he would ever know. Surrounding Rules from this temple and the Will of the Battleworld will give him some edge.
However, he had yet to know all about this place and its secrets. This may be far from that, but it was unlike the 5 Origin Dungeons. The context of what this place was, will be revealed to him soon. At that time, he will realize what sort of place Lisa forced him into, and he won't complain. Probably... It may or may not be to his liking, but there was no time to stop this journey from happening.
For now, he kept his worries under his own soul, spreading his Mana Detection forward instead. He didn't find a speck of any potential undead, nor any residues of magic further in the foggy corridor.
There was this encompassing dread, chaos, and threatening feeling encompassing the corridor, and it was unchanging and cold. At least there were no enemies, confusing paths, or puzzles to solve. It was a simple journey through the fog. It felt dangerous, savage, and wild, but so what? Murai had a hunch it was fitting to his journey and he didn't find it disturbing. It was almost welcoming to his mind. Like a Path going onward and that was it.
He didn't feel a soul, but more undead could come around, or they were already hiding or waiting, since if one group came, why would others not appear? He didn't know where they came from before. They must've teleported, or did they come out of the walls of this temple, or stepped out of the fog?
Considering the fog itself, he wasn't sure how that group of 12 undead appeared so close to him without his long-range notice. If anything, his Soul Read was immensely effective, and this fog wasn't stopping it. There were things to be careful about and some that he should be fearful of. Something told him that, and this temple seemed more than his current self could think too deeply about.
The ground was empty and smooth, blue light flickering around the edges, and fog spread throughout the walls and ceiling. It was an eerie atmosphere and he didn't feel right to see this, but he wasn't upset being here. It reminded him of some places for sure—homey and as wild as comforting. But some things were due to happen and the past was in the past.
Lorry seemed willing to tell him something but his mind wavered somewhere else. Finding advantageous options in this temple will have to come from his tries and following the path onwards. That was at least what Murai figured, and these incoming Gates would gift him with fights and gifts that he couldn't guess, but that wasn't up to his current self.
He didn't know this place, while Lisa only hoped it wouldn't be too poor of a variable and nothing else. Lorry, nor Will of the Battleworld told the most detailed information, and there was a whole bunch of important variables hiding below, but also forward.
Murai reconsidered his not-so-long past. Pachi's Gift in the form of that spatial bag was the same thing as any spatial pouch, but bigger and better than most. It spoke of some ridiculous worth, as far as he knew. It was a commission to a Lady Pachi from some Extreme. He wasn't sure what sort of god she was, nor why she gave him that sort of gift.
Well, he had his hunch. That favor ended up starting this whole Encounter, so he was cursing her gift instead, or perhaps it was an excuse? The Encounter would've started regardless of that gift, he also thought. Something would've forced it. Lordis would, Murai bet all his wings on that.
If it were possible, he wished to ditch this Encounter, never ever giving a single feather about some gift that he never asked for. He had some need for that, but no desire for such a thing. He knew it, albeit, it frustrated him from a simple fact. The number of cubic meters Pachi's Bag had was over 10,000, which was a ridiculous amount, and not worth 5,000,000 gold, but much more than that.
Prices and values at that sort of stage were unworthy of any gold numbers. Anything beyond 100 cubic meters was already viewed as precious, forcing many adventures to tough missions, or long contracts. Some could even go to such lengths, that endangering one's life for such a valuable item sounded cheap. It depended on individuals. Some poor adventures would view 100 cubic spatial pouches as gifts from the heavens, while others thought of them as mere tools.
It was just equipment without any offensive or defensive means, one may argue. It wasn't wrong to assume their usefulness, and they were simple supportive equipment, so not a whole lot of high-level being cared about them—some even thought of them as consumer items and storage facilities outside of physical limits.
If a simple little pouch had a building worth of stuff inside, it was prone to some interesting consequences. Businesses, transactions of all kinds, and management of a lot of nations used this type of equipment. No peasant had a chance to have them in most cases, let alone have so many of them.
1 cubic meter was almost negligible, unworthy to take even a spear inside. A small sword, daggers, clothes, and food were usually enough. And it was worth 500 gold, which was a lot of money for any ordinary person. 10 Cubic ones were for up to 5,000 gold—sometimes more, depending on the market, while the bigger they would be, the more useful they became. The price moved along with their usefulness, vision, craftsmanship, and worth. At the lowest point, the point of gold coins was enough for low-grade pouches.
After all, the inner appearance of spatial equipment didn't change much in physical realms. Their outer structure did. Thus, 100 cubic meters were worth more than 500 gold per cubic meter, since a lot of things could fit inside of it. In this regard, spatial rings were the smallest and most expensive spatial equipment one could ever purchase. They were for royalties, or people with so much money, they didn't know much what to do with them. It was a worthy investment since this sort of equipment can support many people in armies and at times of war. They were important for adventurers, and mercenaries would never be the same without them.
Murai's little gift was undoubtedly too much to ask for. Something like that was unworthy of his young status, so whatever reasons were behind Pachi, Murai realized how bad they were in the last week. He had no need to hear Lisa's argument or slacking meanings. Iris and his own findings were enough to breach information and comprehension to another level.
It was a gift worth catering to gods, with its own little livable dimension, but it wasn't something he or Lisa discovered. Even Will of the Battleworld didn't have that information and mentioned very little about it.
That was one of the reasons Murai thought Centralis Kingdom's reach over Pachi's Gift was something insensible and unnatural. Razmund took it from him, but he should've never gotten any clue about it or its inner structure. Only those who had access to the insides could get any idea what worth it had.
And he was sure Razmund never got into it. None should do so, as far as the rules of that bag went, but Will of the Battleworld may be worthy of concern. It could've told Razmund something, but Murai had no idea about it. It was no plot, or it was a rule that even Gods had to follow, like many things above, below, or on the surface.
By all means, it was his treasure, even though it was a curse that created his current disaster. An excuse too.
Murai believed there were many methods to see what may be inside, but none shall take what was there, let alone snatch the bag to one's use. Perhaps Razmund did realize some reasonable guesses about what kind of treasure that bag was. That could be why he took it, but Murai was underestimating the situation and didn't consider one factor. Razmund himself was a Blessed.
There were no doubts that he realized the value of that bag. He tried to destroy it and failed, and his prying eyes were prone to seek out secrets. But Murai had no clue why he took something that was useless to him. It wasn't some theft for values, as that treasure was an unusable piece of fabric that no one else but him would ever use. Did he steal it out of spite for his lack of fight against Velga? Out of spite for value or some other reason?
Back then, he had no clues about the Encounter, yet viewed Murai as a ridiculous duck that he destroyed and tossed to the well, letting it die without a speck of remorse.
When Murai thought of that time, he creaked his teeth and didn't like what he remembered. He changed his stance and glanced at Lorry.
“Fine... Fine. You little weasel. I am listening, and it isn't as if everyone is talking about it. So let me ask you, Lorry. How am I supposed to carry anything around?” Murai stated and then spread his wings. “With those fucking wings!?” he quacked, angrily flapping his wings, slapping the corpse of the headless wolf, and didn't even look at the remains of the skeletons, whose remains were hiding beyond the fog. “What worth do these even have? Undead are undead. They shouldn't be worth even a crack of care to think of them as food. I won't eat them if you are getting to that territory.”
Lorry was silent, glaring at him as if he was an idiot. “So Murai doesn't know of the temple's well-known structure and values?” he stated, surprised. “Lorry knows the temple is famous in many ways, so watching Murai being clueless is surprising.”
Murai glared at his annoying and smug face, appearing serious and staring with obvious refusal to even utter a quack. He wished to try his beak against this skull, in fact.
“Lorry sees the reasons, however.” He said meaningfully as if he found the work he should do. ”Cluelessness is of no surprise since Lisa must've thought of ditching all responsibilities to Lorry anyway. Is that wrong?” he turned to Lisa, who turned her head away, observing the corridor instead, unwilling to talk to him. She was inclined to ignore everything under her own lack of words. It was her usual stubbornness and this time, it was not different.
Murai looked at the pair of annoying beings of mysteries and meaningful ways but unreasonable Wills. He wondered if it was even worth hearing what Lorry had to tell.
“So, stakes are the following... Watch carefully, lest Murai's eyes pop out of its sockets.” Lorry flickered his Soul Flames back to Murai, flaring their aura and flames alike. In a moment, a raging flame spread to the remains of the undead wolf beside them. Bones and the Soul Flames disintegrated to the ashes. Flames spread on the spot, before puffing into smoke, leaving something distinct and special floating above the ground.
It was a small, bluish orb, undulating intricate mana effects of unquestionable richness. It did seem similar to the Mana Crystals, or Spikes, but it was almost insensibly non-physical and only made of mana that was more often than not, hard to point in a firm state. It was a glowing orb, round like a moon or a sun.
Murai watched what Lorry did with a bothered look, which was then changed to a surprising stare and an awkwardly open beak. He didn't expect this at all.
“Huh? Mana Essence? You crea... What?” Murai exclaimed in shock, unaware of why this sort of thing ended up appearing from the bones of this undead wolf and its Soul Flames.
Lorry smirked and spoke. “Essences are one of the many Murai's chances. The temple gifts them and essences are one of the many fine additions that this temple can reform and gift to the Challengers. 1st fight was a fine victory, for a duck... and the reasons for this temple,” he added, feeling proud that he was the one who talked about this sort of thing to a complete beginner.
“...”
Murai didn't know what to tell, looking back and forth between the single floating orb and the floating skull. Speechless, he got his mind back together, and his Mana Detection flared up, going over the Mana Essence that floated close to the ground.
Lorry remained indifferent, looking at him in wonder and what he would do with this little gift. Maybe both of them wanted to tell something else, but both remained silent.
Sighting after fierce staring, Murai calmed down. He knew exactly what to do, but he didn't expect to see this, let alone feel this mana essence with his Mana Detection. This thing wasn't necessarily rare, but the way it appeared was. This one was not a high-grade treasure, but what Lorry did was suspicious, causing him to be curious about it.
He realized how fine of an opportunity was before him. The kind that he didn't expect at all, and it was about this temple's secrets and something that no other place in this world possessed. Probably... He could never trust his guess unless he had concrete evidence. These mana essences were unlike the Everflower that he saw in Acaman Tower, but they were very close in their structure to those spikes or crystals. One of them was rich by an unfathomable degree, and the other was poor.
This one was minuscule, low in grade, yet it was still an important piece of the magical treasures. In what factor was it important? It wasn't the undead's soul or origin. Its soul flames should've returned to the rightful flow by now, yet it didn't. Something else came up from that since mana essence was no soul. It was one of the secrets of what mana was, but it was no Law either.
Strangely enough, Lorry chuckled, and more beams raged later after he noticed that Murai wasn't doing anything but thinking and realizing some senses.
That was a fine answer. Most Challengers who weren't aware of what this place had, were often disappointing. Being calm was a fine power.
Lorry was glad Murai was no ordinary thing, so he disintegrated the bones and Soul Flames of the remaining undead, forgetting none. They all had some degree of effective mana in their forceful living, stemming from their simple premise of staying in the temple for many years. Albeit without Mana Core or anything substantial, their worth was in the roots of their bones. Mana was prone to them and these essences came from them because of certain rules and possibilities that stemmed from the temple.
They came from their undead bodies that accumulated a certain amount of mana of the world. Temple, Lorry, and his Guide status guided this uniqueness forward by a certain Law of this temple.
It came from their bones, while the wolf had some flesh and blood that held some mana. Small, but finite nonetheless, yet they were already dead, so what did it mean? It was a ridiculous gimmick as far as Murai understood, because he saw and felt how it all happened.
This place seemed lofty enough to surprise him, as Lorry stated before, and Lisa promised.
“What in the world is up with this complicated process? Is this temple a playground for mages? Hmm...” Murai walked forward, reaching the first piece of floating glowing matter that spread from the wolf. The bright light of this mana essence appeared pretty, yet its glow was small and not as bright. His own mana was brighter, for example, and also deeper. This one was low-grade mana essence around Grade 8, while Everflower was the peak of what was possible to naturally form from the River of Manaflow.
If it weren't for the darker kind of space in this corridor, one would ignore this orb of light, since its glow was hard to notice. Yet, the sight of even this brightness was the least of Murai's concerns. What was precious was what it was and it was quite a useful thing. Right. A thing, tool, and resource.
It was a treasure since mana essences were hard to manifest, and this sort of creation method was unfathomable. This mana essence was ownerless, lawless, and spotless of mistakes, or any elemental properties. It had some impurities for sure, so it wasn't exactly rich, because it came out of a weak body.
Mana essence can improve the Mana Core in significant ways, and strengthen the magic of any mage. Even Handler could do something with it, but it was much more important for Shapers. Improving quantity, quality, and all other things around the Mana Core was always important. They were useful for empowering spells because they were a small source of mana.
It was an influential resource that was highly regarded by all mages. It was rare to see or meet this sort of unique possibility that stemmed from the River of Manaflow.
Murai knew exactly what he wanted to do since his Beast Core wasn't under his command completely. He wasn't sure why and how long it would last to be this way, but this thing can improve his body, and perhaps even eliminate the unfamiliarity. He thought of it some more, and perhaps he could create something ridiculous out of it. It was obviously useful, since it had no place in the Will of the Battleworld massages, as it was what this temple had, and this sort of treasure was way out of its rules.
It was its separate thing like any kind of treasure was.
And he can exploit it!
Will of the Battleworld had no say about this strange farming method of harvesting the mana essences. This was Levandis' place and well outside of rules that affected the Battleworld's many places of interest.
Many abilities revolved around mana, and this essence was a component of equipment and progression of many Paths. Their most potent feature was charging and cycling them into the core. The potency of that depended on versions of the mana essences and their grade.
Alas, there was a catch. Murai already had three minor affinities. Flame, Sharpness, and Water were up in his Beast Core, already digging into it like little worms. Well, the two of them were useful. All of them were there, without him fully understanding his core. That was a thing he found mildly disturbing, but welcomed at the very end. It may be quite a peculiar thing according to his memories, as affinities usually spoke of talents, but his case was different.
Those affinities came to his core because of the Boost and rules of Will of the Battleworld, much to Murai's questionable overview of his current living.
His Beast Core was full of its fair share of issues, but it held one great aspect. That was a Universal Affinity that was never a focus in the Will of the Battleworld's messages, but he heard of it once when he got his evolution going.
Murai only remembered it because of some remark he heard in his first evolution, and his own past knowledge. Having talent over the mana was a thing in almost all lives within the River of Manaflow. It spoke of what a being can accomplish, handle, and learn, but it was mainly for those who had the core. A person can be born with full Flame Affinity in their Mana Core. Their flaming spells would be much better, and they would usually fail to touch opposite elements, such as water, wood, ice, and so on.
Universal Affinity was neither bad nor good since it had no specialty, but also no limits. The good thing was, that it was a neutral kind of talent, and the source of it all was the Anatidae Bloodline, which had many intricate notions, well outside of Murai's touches and knowledge.
His issue was his unfamiliarity with this sort of body and talent combined together. He wasn't upset about having a universal way to handle affinities. He can work with anything as long as it wasn't a pain in the ass, which.... this partly was. His Beast Core, too. Why would he not view it strangely? If he already handled Laws of Rocks as a pebble, he was glad over any life that had hands and legs. This one included it, albeit he had no hands but wings instead.
This talent still moved behind his own issue, giving his core some advantage, but he couldn't truly use it to its full capacity.
Mana was a power and talent that could move through the bloodline, affecting ancestral instincts, other talents, and all kinds of powers. Beasts who had higher aptitude in mana would give birth to similar prowess of the past, but they had it tougher than human races. It was a common view of the mana and bloodlines, and Murai was no different in this case.
He had the talent of his species in terms of mana. It was just, that his own views weren't ready for such changes, and he couldn't adapt in time. He was no Anatidae in his spirit, and that was an important factor.
Now, watching those 12 glowing orbs, he could forcefully move some things behind incomprehensible limits. This glowing orb before his face was a precious resource that wasn't easy to seek, but not impossible to buy. He can put his Shaping to a test, and his Beast Core could gobble up every one of them with ease. It will get stronger for sure, but was it all it could do?
Cycling essences to the core generated a certain harmony and flow. He could cycle this mana out of those essences into the core and improve and strengthen the stages of his Small Stage of Initialization Beast Core.
It was happening naturally all the time, by cycling and absorbing the worldly mana. Absorbing mana treasures assisted with better speed and effectiveness. It was just, not every mana material was able to provide the kind of mana that could do that.
Those crystals and spikes from his memory were the kind that were finite in their physicality and stubbornly kept in limited shape. Their mana was not in the shape of those essences: free, soft, and a breath away from crashing into the world. They were sturdy enough to use as materials in alchemy, but for cycling, they weren't a great choice.
Any rich and softly issued mana helped with cycling to some degree. A pill or even elixirs from crafted resources rich in many properties were usually the best, since it went through some diluting process, crafting and solving some imperfections and purity issues. In such cases, even Mana Spikes helped, but they needed an Alchemist for that, which was sometimes harder than looking for essences.
Right... I am still in the Initialization stage of the Beast Core. I am still young, all things considered. For a beast, that is, so should I eat more than I can chew, or how about using THAT? It is a gamble... which I am willing to use 99%! Murai thought to himself, as he observed the mana similar in shape to his own core. But it was dull, so he got an interesting idea. Dangerous too. Stupid also.
The lines of mana within the mana essence shifted the appearance of its structure, making nothing but a foggy orb. Yet, the appearance was that—an appearance. Murai long put forth his Mana Detection to good use and observed this essence with the most attention he mustered. That was, to see with an open mind, and not with eyes alone.
What he felt were all sorts of layers, rays, and mysterious lighting particles flowing around its structure but they were huffed and mushed together. His Mana Detection wasn't that great, and he wasn't seeing the truth. But he can guess it. That wasn't surprising, so he was watching the basic structure of the mana. It seemed restrained in place as if it was forced to this state by an external force. It was, as if it was in a cage, unable to go to the world. Some rules restricted it. Laws.
This was a forceful manner of creating a mana essence, and it was rather well accomplished. However, the quality of these particular essences wasn't fantastic. Murai definitely noticed it right away, since he was familiar with these things from a few of his magical lives.
These mana essences wouldn't do much to him by itself, but what if he had 100s of such things? No... What if he created something from them instead and pushed against the rules of the magic itself?
Murai smiled and Conjured his mana forward. Like a mild wave of a river that went from his core, his Conjured mana engulfed the first essence, appearing as if he ate it up. His Beast Core did, right under his care.
This seemed normal, but it wasn't that since this wasn't how usual cycling happened. It should be gradual, like breathing and absorbing the essence in steady steps. One's core should absorb it slowly because essences were brittle, and often weak in their structure. No one wanted to waste them, crack them up, and destroy them. Gulping them down like a gluttonous beast wasn't ideal, and Lorry and Lisa both watched it with some doubts. She even wanted to shout at him and question his intentions, but she restrained herself for some reason.
Murai forced himself to sit and put forth his past as a master Shaper. He could cycle this mana essence apart, turning it into much more important and useful matter than some direct mana improvements. But he had to be quick with that and not make mistakes, or Shape them too quickly or poorly.
Lorry and Lisa were unaware of what he was doing at all. All they saw, was how his mana gulped down the first essence, and it happened without using a common method of improving one's mana—a simple cycling method. Neither of them understood what he was doing, but they noticed how the Conjured mana went back to Murai's core, which wasn't that strange, but not the easiest thing a mage could do.
Any essence was great enough to improve the capacity of the mana, but because Murai's core was so low at its stage, even this low-grade essence would increase the might of his core. That was why Lisa wanted to give him this chance.
The strength of magic was important to enhance. It will never be too much unless one had better essences. In the strange forms of his beliefs, even with the use of this low-grade mana essence, he won't get overpowered. He would need way too many of them, and also equal time to cycle them all. But he wasn't doing that. He won't use the traditional method, since he knew better, great, and dangerous methods.
He reconsidered a couple of things, and something crazy became clear. For once more, this was just the beginning of something greater, like many of his previous lives. He heard Lorry, so he guessed these essences were the start of a whole lot of things the temple could offer. More essences will come his way, the deeper he will go. He decided to be savage to him more than to his enemies.
For now, using them for his core wasn't enough to change his status quo, but gradual flow and cycling can change in the future. It was slow, which also provided a bunch of interesting questions.
What kind of mana essence was of high quality and enough for his needs? The Everflower? What use that would gift him? Murai would be able to improve his capabilities so damn fast because of his past experience, that he wouldn't care one bit about problems of his Beast Core, or his body. He had no qualms his universal affinity would stand its ground, and growth would gradually widen. Some God's Trial would better be forgotten and Encounter can fuck off to obscurity.
Alas, it was impossible to think of this lofty idea, since Everflower would've shattered his body and head the moment he tried to handle its truths. Even if he had that sort of thing further down the line, it would be as hazardous as what he was about to do.
Inside his flow of mana, in a place known as mana space, his core resided. A change began to occur by his own brutal decision when he felt his mana ate up the essence. The azure particles of the essence were duller than his own mana in his Beast Core, so he distinguished them easily.
But only a crazy master Shaper would be able to do what he was about to do. Murai planned to extract them apart, and put this mana essence close to his Beast Core, not letting it fuse or cycle with it. He was planning to create something else. This poor essence wouldn't do much for him anyway, so Murai ate up the other essences around the floor with other waves of his mana. Then he absorbed them into his mana space, leaving his Beast Core shaking.
It went well, and no troubles occurred at this stage, which spoke no good or bad ideas. In fact, it was more confusing to him than he thought, since things moved... surprisingly well. Perhaps too well.
A change occurred after a few minutes of the first experiment before he even started the true deal. With the gradual flow and no problems apart from general shaky mana space, he decided to continue. The mash of essences jolted together, forming a clear mass of essences close to his Beast Core. Mana surged around the mana space, and this mash of essence ended up floating way too close to his core.
It seemed the Beast Core was having some idea on its own and felt the surge of the essence in its proximity. It wanted to devour that thing on its own, and like a hungry dog, a surge of mana flew out of it, waiting to devour the essences. Mana space trembled as they closed forward, and stress and mana turned Murai's insides to mush.
His body was way too particular with the mana, so he felt it in the physical realms way too much.
Still, he didn't cry.
Murai squeezed his core like an annoying squirrel, put some use to his Shaping, and steadied his heartbeat. He took a breath and wanted to cry, but he tried his best to calm the surging mana. A weird resonance echoed throughout both of the swirling masses of mana, but he managed to ease the essences from going too close to his core.
He stopped his damned Beast Core too. A standoff between two mana forces happened in a blink, and he was the master of both. Allegedly.
Peculiar, again... He mumbled in his head. ..But manageable. What is up with this core of mine anyway? Mana is brighter than the low-grade essence, which isn't surprising, but is it that achievable? Essences are rich no matter the grade, but there are truths and jokes, and then, the treasures. Is mine that different? Core, I mean... Am I truly at the Initialization stage? I am fairly sure Small Success is still under my nose. But who am I questioning...
Anyway, this damned process depends on every intricate and complex thing, under my self. It isn't about the Beast Core alone, but Shaping takes the cake. Both of those orbs are calm, but it took some effort. Neither is destabilized, so I need to be careful in the future, and not let one devour the other. This will put me in shackles, but those will be mine, for once.
Murai wasn't too harsh about him and didn't look for answers to good things. He created and honed the mana essences close to his Beast Core, creating a revolving storm out of them. It was a small orb, about half the size of his Beast Core. It was a precious swirling object under his Shaping alone. Control and care provided unfathomable ideas, and the essences no longer wanted to dissipate and move to what they should go into.
His eyes beamed with delight when he established the first stage of this ridiculous technique that required Shaping to perfection. He shaped the essence into a separate core, which was outside of his own, and had a similar style and appearance. It spun like a Revolving Core would, but it was like a child before the real deal. Both of the Cores swirled in a revolving manner one way or another since this motion proved they were taking mana in, and their essence was calm.
Initialization Cores spun in the slowest manner, and the further in the stage it got, the stronger it was. Small, Medium, and Peak stages were all better one after the other. At the Revolving Core, the power and speed of the revolving were harsher and broader, providing strength many times the Peak Success of the Initialization Core.
Murai never expected this sort of opportunity to occur in this life. Considering his luck, it was always issue after issue, pain after other problems. His strength wasn't a lot to this unusual New Beginning, so any good news was delightful. He even ended up wounded, and almost met his End, while more setbacks pushed against his little life. A literal Hunt too...
This was a welcomed situation since worse times can push him over the edge,e and provide his memories and life with something new. His power didn't solve it all. Everything would've been different if he had the strength.
Luck was also part of one's destiny, and it seemed, a rather peculiar power was taking a form in Murai's mana space. And it was thanks to Lisa, which he thought of for a moment. It was a brief motion in his mind, but it dispersed fast. He focused on this mash of essences instead and remembered what he was doing.
Core Defining Fusion was the name of the technique he was following right now. It was something that moved against common sense and created an Artificial Mana Core without influencing the flow of his own core. It was an independent, sophisticated technique that was incredulous in its premise and facts.
The first stage of this technique was Overlapping—using the slivers, and power of the mana essence to take a proper form of the Artificial Core. Through the Shaping, Murai will keep this ball of essence in one place, not close but far enough from his own Core to firm two independent forces. Then he will nourish the Artificial Core to become better, and then, fuse it with his own Core and rise in stages rapidly.
It had very clever and nice usage. It was essentially completely made up for the user's needs, and Shaped up so one can do anything with it. Often, the original cores were difficult to use, while Artifical Core's usage and power were often different and easier to work with. Of course, that came after the fact that creating it wasn't one bit easy.
And there were a whole bunch of reasons to be worried about. When it would be ready to harvest wasn't something Murai was sure about, but its worth and position were apparent. It was a peculiar item, but directly under his touch. He will move it to fuse with the Beast Core further into the future and maybe then, the true power of his Beast Core will be unleashed.
Now, it was a question of how to get enough mana essences, and he knew the answer. There were two ways to get them: this sort of place, which had some special rules, formations, laws, or unknown mysteries to form unnatural essences. They shrouded every resident of this place, creating them out of their bodies. As for those reasons, and how this temple managed this, Murai didn't know how.
He rather didn't care about the answer to these problems, since the status of mana essence vastly destroyed his care to know the answers.
The second choice was to find a natural source of mana essences. That was a rather vague term. Finding and also natural.
Sometimes, the River of Manaflow gave birth to many kinds of wonders. Everflower was the closing peak of what was possible, but there were as many lower kinds of mana essences and countless other treasures. For once, a situation where the mana wouldn't dissipate away in the shape of essences was rare, but considering the vastness of any world, it was by no means impossible. At some point and lands, it was almost common.
Mana can take shape in many ways. Ores? Shards? Spikes from the Celestial Pool which Murai saw? They weren't the kind to be mana essences, but they weren't far from the level of quality that some low-grade essences provided. Their creation, setting, and worth were something different.
Those weren't the true mana essence, even in the middle or high range of grades. Their structure worked in different principles. Many mana materials simply yielded mana in the basic state or unique affinities of elements. Mana essences were more of a truth. A rule that made them rich, and special, because their forming was taking longer, and their structure was soft and richer.
Naturally occurring essences were part of extraordinary places that can be worth a lot of money. Those places enriched a deep concept of the River of Manaflow and formed lakes, ponds, flowers, and so on. They were rarer to see for sure, so the artificial kind of essence-gathering constructs were much more widespread and easier to manage. Mages can Shape and move the mana, so why not the essences? They can create them if they happen naturally and Murai was watching that kind of essence before his eyes.
He understood those facts, and this temple was doing a very unconventional style of essence gathering. As for the quality of the essence he got from these undead skeletons, they were around the Low-Grade 8 in total, but those wolves were better.