The quality of the skeleton's mana essence was the poorest of the bunch. Those were the lowest grade ones one could see at Low-Grade 9. It stemmed from their own level, the quality of mana that moved through some rules in this temple, and what their bodies were able to handle.
It acted with the undead in mind, but perhaps even a living had this choice? Murai couldn't guess it for now, but those undead were enough to provide some answers. Their bodies had a certain amount of mana, which acted under this temple to create an essence out of their body upon their destruction.
He wasn't right to assume how it worked from the get-go, but he wasn't stupid. He saw how they formed when Lorry shattered the undead, and how they came to be. There were a whole lot of rules and laws in this motion, but in a sense, it was akin to some treason and sacrifice towards the temple and his status.
They died at the hands of the Challengers, and their bodies shall become food for them. It was a basic trade of offers, albeit it was a rather surprising action in all truths.
Murai found it surprising from a simple fact.
Creating this sort of action must involve an incredible amount of care and understanding of the flow of mana. Souls may or may not be included, but those were the only undead he killed so far. Perhaps everything in this temple was within this act, and everyone served in this essence-gathering cycle.
Why or what for? The essences may be the best answer, and someone was creating those rules to create a farm for unnatural essences.
That was his basic guess, but as for how right he was, he had no idea. He also questioned that if a Challenger died, then what would happen then? He was on the opposite side of these rules, so could he become part of this strange temple?
It sounded like honest and natural reasoning, and Murai wouldn't find this unreasonable or surprising. However, he felt nothing much about the rules, laws, or any kind of force pushing its way into his body. He would've felt something long ago for sure. Something touching, or savage, but it never happened.
There were 10 low-grade essences from those skeletons that he dealt with in a matter of few seconds. Each shed a small dull sphere.
Skeletons should be at the utmost bottom of the power in this temple, and their worth wasn't a lot. But if combined, they were worth much more in the Core Defining Fusion Technique. As far as Murai knew, he created a basic Breach into this treasured opportunity, and this technique worked like an essence-gathering construct.
After all, what he was doing was unnatural, and creating an Artificial Core was as heaven-defining as it could get. Normally, the mana essences wouldn't fuse together in the way he did under this technique. Outside of his technique, they could fuse under some specific and unique profession or treasures under the mage's hands, or very specific and rare natural settings. Those were special, unique, and hard-to-come-by moments, but mages were Handlers and Shapers of mana, so using and fusing the mana essences wasn't wrong. If there was a rule, or a problem, solving and working around them was fitting.
Exploiting things was one of the things that mages of all kinds loved to do.
As for the Undead High Wolves, Murai considered them more precious and better in quality. They had more mana in their bones and flesh than skeletons. Two of them made up for the 10 Low-Grade 9s, giving him an overall Low-Grade 8 essence fusion towards his Artificial Core. At what stage they were?
According to his memories, the mana essences had grades in their fundamental worth, and they effectively worked as a currency. Grade 9 was the lowest and had Low, Middle, and High stages in their worth. Each was better than the last, while Low-Grade 9 was the poorest.
If combined under the fusion, or an essence-gathering construct, a Low-Grade 9 needed 5 of them to create a single Middle-Grade 9 essence. 5 Middle-Grade 9s were enough to create a single High-Grade 9 essence.
This was common across the beginning Grades of the mana essences, but things got complicated when essences became too rich. Their fusion could become harder, and require much more essences, and requirements for constructs would skyrocket. In Murai's case, he had no such limits since he built it all up with his own Shaping, which was extremely potent, and less limiting.
All he had to do was to be careful of his Artificial Core, and Beast Core, so neither of them would gobble the other. If some mistake happened, it meant the End of his life. Handling magic inside of his body was dangerous. An explosion of either wouldn't leave a feather intact.
Essences could also involve laws, and elemental properties, which would add other variables in fusions and their usefulness.
Also, to create and improve high-grade essences, the next full Grade required more essences. The number depended on the richness, their quality, effects, laws, or elements. For example, 10 High-Grade 9s would make up the Low-Grade 8.
All in all, the Grades up to 5 were relatively manageable to fuse and the required essences weren't that high. Their value and worth were enough for most mages up to level 70.
Alas, they weren't as common to view as currency in the normal world. Instead, they were standard in magical societies where magic was the rule and truth of interest. They were quite useful, albeit often hard to get, since the demands outweighed their farming.
The best way to get steady and high-quality essences was in natural ways. That was the mines, high-grade Celestial Pools, Ponds, or Rivers, with naturally occurring mana essences that took some time to grow. Under more unique circumstances, certain flowers could also form essence. They were all complicated in their vision and form and often seemed different from those orbs Murai saw. Those were unnatural ones, forged under the temple's strange ways so they wouldn't dissipate away.
In nature, they formed because of the River of Manaflow, and its flow would shatter, and affect the natural rocks or other materials to create mana essences over time. It could even affect dead plants and animals, water, or the earth. Thus creating a natural mana essence with some unique elements and effects. It also depended on the setting, as there may be some forest, mountains, or other unique places where there may be a huge surge of natural elements. These things all affected the natural creation of the essence on the surface and underground alike.
Mages preferred very pure ones, but some Paths wouldn't mind some irregular essences, filled with weird or dangerous elements, or laws. Some of them could be much more precious than pure ones since their creation could be much rarer, and harder to come by.
The requirements for their creation would be quite wild and could change in a heartbeat. Demand was usually much higher for them than they were found in the world. And this Battleworld was no different from the norm Murai was used to. In fact, it was much wilder and crazier than his own considerations, since he was yet to see much of this world.
All in all, 12 of these essences weren't enough to do much but were enough to start the Artificial Core.
Grade 9s weren't worth a lot, and Murai needed a lot of them to raise his Artificial Core to a passable degree. Of course, he could also absorb essences to his normal core, but that would mean the inability to shatter his limits by the use of Core Defining Fusion.
Murai thought it through, and in order to fuse the cores together, he needed a high quantity of essence. The better qualities helped too, but in such a low stage, the quantity was more important. After all, his technique helped a ton with one issue. He can fuse them straight away, which was impossible in normal cycling techniques.
He knew how everything all worked with the Core Defining Fusion since it wasn't his first time using it. Creating the Artificial Core proved an interesting fact already, and this body didn't impact the rules of this ridiculous technique. He felt that nothing was wrong with either of his cores and right now, since he worked on them himself. A tiny and weak orb of mana was swirling before his Beast Core. He restrained them both to not affect each other and it was passable.
It worked in this life and body. This world was the same as in others, so that was one of the rare good news he got in this life. As a proper Shaper, one must know how to work with mana essences, let alone the mana itself. Murai held high efficiency in all of them, but the issue about his body was like a worm in his head.
He was a bit fearful that the starting process of the Core Defining Fusion would fail, but it didn't. That was the first good step, and the Artificial Core was stabilized. However, there was a problem. This core won't be an issue, but what about the final overlapping in the fusion? Things around his body and mana could become a problem since he feared some instabilities at later stages.
Beast Core and the origin of his body was that of a demonic beast, and it wasn't holding that kind of mana that was comforting towards the rich essences.
It was vivid and hard to tame. Murai had to use a lot of his attention and power to let his restraints be as little as possible. It allowed him to work and get some basic Shaping up to his standards, but it was like leashing a wild dog. The collar or leash can snap, and things would get nasty.
For now, he was at the beginning stages of any spell Shaping, but what about later? That was one of the worries he had, while his main worry was much more apparent. Core Defining Fusion will affect his body later on for sure, but it was mainly for his Beast Core. It will surely give rise to the issue of his demonic origin, yet could he change something about that?
He can't change his body or the origin of his New Beginning.
This issue of his body was only an issue in theory since he never heard of any beast performing the Core Defining Fusion. It will be like a shot in the dark. He didn't know what would happen further down the line, but he had certain expectations because of his knowledge.
For now, he had to forget any issues, since he already did everything he could.
How much is needed is a question though. Grades range from 9 to 1, and... higher. Nevermind. The higher ones are not for me. Unimportant stuff. My current time needs a proper start. Grades depend on the might of what my version of Core Defining Fusion can take. This is... for once, in the starting grade of Initialization, which isn't as common from my memory, but I heard many mages who worked with it. I did so in later stages, but this one wasn't so different after all. So much for the initialization stage core like mine. Using this technique to shatter the cores to form new ones will be a challenge, because of my body and Beast Core.
I guess Grades shouldn't be that high in my case because of them, which is good news. Middle-Grade 5, or even Low-Grade 5 should do the best job, but those are limited above very pure or even lawful essences. Could I take better ones with this body? That sounds ridiculous... Maybe Grade 6 should satisfy my requirements? Murai through as he finished the final touches to his Artificial Core.
Getting back to his feet, he had a lot to consider now. In this temple, he will butcher everything in his way for better quality essences.
“So? Are you satisfied with these little things, Murai Hisagi?” Lisa asked after he got up. She was noticing what Murai's mind thought, but even she didn't know what went on with that core.
Murai forgot about one thing. After a full week away from Lisa, he started to think freely, unhindered by her presence. Just now, and even before, his whole thought process was noticed by her mindful connection to his soul space, but he was not thinking much of it.
He was late to be aware of that, but that may not be bad or good. However, not like Lisa knew much of what Murai was doing, or did she? She at least didn't make it obvious, and rather voiced her wonder in different ways.
Hearing her words, Murai couldn't help but turn his head towards her. “I guess it is something that digs deep into my care, and I am honestly surprised you didn't tell me about those essences. I would be much more understanding if you told me about them! You see... it is like candy. I would take this bait.”
Lisa smiled and nodded to herself. “I had my reasons... and doubts.”
“Then do you have more of those reasons? Have you experienced this temple to better your head, or are your memories and head wrong after being in this Soul Form? You said you went here twice, so I am curious” he said to her head.
“Maybe...“ she mumbled and didn't care about speaking out loud. Lorry ended up confused, but it didn't matter to him. “I did well in here before, and many desires fold over themselves over this temple. In various ways, and unique waves to many Challengers. Mine is not yours, as I said.”
“You weren't a beast, or mage but a demonic succubus, right?”
“It doesn't matter what I was. Now, I don't care about the past and care about what I could.” She said, dismissing Murai's wonders. “That is to have your path in my head, and you need to think of it. Advance forth, use this chance better, and whatever you do with those essences is up to you. It seems you already did something, so how about continuing forward? Gate 1 is there and gives more essence, the further you go. Undead do, not the temple. You are a taker of them yourself. That is all.”
Hearing her unwillingness to continue the topic, Murai turned to Lorry.
“Now, you damned skull...” he started by quacking out loud. “I have no idea how your head works, or how we understand each other, but she said what she did, but you are different. This temple has rather interesting gifts to convey the rules and laws. It seems much better than I thought, so should I think of every being in this temple having these forged essences?”
Lorry was also observing everything from his position and had his own thoughts.
“Essences are true gifts indeed. As A Guide, Lorry will explain it further to the best of Lorry's aptitude. What Murai killed weren't necessarily the weakest forms of enemies, but the skeletons were indeed the weakest. As for the wolves, wolves have been living in this place for decades, slowly becoming stronger under the Mark of the Mindarch, their End, and the rules of the depth of this temple. A treasure deep in the temple is an answer to various Murai's through that Murai is curious about.”
“Oh? You mention it so freely? Wait... what is that Mark of the Mindarch?”
“An important piece to the puzzle. Lorry speaks because it doesn't matter if Challengers knows about it or not. There is nothing to get out of being clueless, and Murai is a fine challenger who is due to much better care.”
“Who says so and why?”
“Murai accomplished a rather harsh Welcoming Party. Mindarch is what makes the rules, and allows certain information to Murai, through Lorry. Gifts are what worthy gets, and Murai is worthy.”
Murai accepted this sort of reason, but the way he spoke about it was still weird.
“So this treasure or Mindarch is one that is channeling this enormous amount of mana throughout the temple? I feel a constant rush of mana through those walls, affecting everything in a way that isn't natural. Esesenec form because of it, or they form from some rules and laws. It also strengthens the monsters under some rules and only something extraordinary could do it. Those essences are either aftereffects of this treasure or the true purpose, aren't they?”
Lorry laughed like a maniac, finding Murai's ideas pretty spot on, and quite funny for some reason.
“Yes. Yes. Murai is right to think of the temple in this way. Skeletons outside were rather weaker, Lorry presumes?”
“Not at all. Most of them had this sort of Mark as you said, and all of them were strong because of that. They were bodies of former challenges or enemies of the temple, or... they were exactly the opposite of that. All must be under the care of this temple, and Levandis. They may, or may be nothing more than some guarding dogs. Most of them aren't, I bet.”
“Indeed so.” Lorry nodded.
“What then lays under the further Gates?” Murai grinned at Lorry, hoping to hear what he wanted to know.
“An opportunity, of course. Gates aren't just for mana essences. Every Gate gives a deserved chance, and things will get worthy, the further the challenger goes. There are a lot of other things that Murai will find fitting to taste.” Lorry said like a proper Guide, and unhinged haggler that worked for this temple, Levandis and Mindarch. Lisa heard that comment, and almost laughed but followed him along.
One way or another, her worries were diminished, because of Murai's power and flexibility. She was glad for Murai to go along this journey uninterrupted, albeit she wasn't the one who would usher in this one kind of place. In the past, it was different, and fine as far as she thought, but her mind remained serene and deeply interested in what will Murai accomplish in this place.
A lot of things happened in this temple in the past, and what she did here wasn't important. She remembered most of it, so she will be a secondary Guide to Murai's interest.
All of it was clear, and Murai decided to follow this path and go deeper. Seeing Murai's back, Lisa assumed her dreams to still be hers, but whether it was a dream or a curse was another question altogether.
***
Time flowed, and they ventured deeper and deeper into Gate 1. Murai periodically fought the waves of undead enemies and fused their essences to his Artificial Core. Lisa could also fuse and use them for her current Soul Form, but she never mentioned she could, fearing that Murai would get angry at her. She wanted them, but it was only fitting she remained silent after she had stolen rather important surges of worldly care from him.
As they ventured deeper, fights were getting tougher. Corridors slowly changed, becoming harsher in fog and aura, but Murai couldn't care less about both of these issues. Through his fights which usually took up to 5 minutes or more, he cared only about essences.
Sometimes, the walls were regular stones, other times, there were bricks or wooded walls akin to old mines, or old buildings that seemed somewhat detached from this temple. Yet, nothing changed about the fog, the bluish light from torches, and the deadly feelings around. It was how this Undead Wing of Gate 1 was. A place for the undead to rise and fight.
There was a lot to be desired about this place, and the corridors also changed to other corridors a few times. It was either a choice to go left or right, but they didn't go to the other wing, as Murai figured. Lorry explained to him that every decision mattered, and no one could take them back. He had chosen this part of Gate 1, and he will get full of it, or die trying.
That was the rule of this place, and that won't change. So, Murai had no choice but to continue his efforts and flap his feet forward.
***
Far above, the spar between Thar and Razmund ended by now, and Razmund moved toward the dark entrance. He didn't care about the success or failure of the rest of his group. They had their own purpose, care, and plan. Well, he would lie to himself if he didn't care, but he preferred to walk his own path.
He did so with all of his heart, but his focus was on something far beyond some care. The majority of his helpers will fight against the Undead from Thar's army but among the group, there was one man he especially paid a high price for. From the whole group, he was one of the two people, who he somewhat respected.
“Well, they will be fine, if it's him. I already explained the situation, so he will do fine with his own desires. I suppose it is time to see those stupid skulls, once more. I wonder who will I get.” Razmund mumbled to himself, uncaring about the lack of sight or sounds in the darkness. It was eerie, but he kept walking, clutching the claymore's handle that protruded from his pouch.
On the other side of this waist, he opened his personal pouch and shoved a jacket out of its space. It was a spatial pouch of almost 1000 cubic meters, which he kept for his many needs. He wasn't willing to stay barechested, unlike the unnamed hooligans who took more than half of his group. They were a group of savages under his command, however.
No, that wasn't correct. Razmund wasn't a savage. Gordfiend was, and they were his responsibility. Not his.
Any Falconer had to have proper etiquette and demeanor to go along with it. That was, forgetting the fact that their hidden demons weren't always as apparent as their appearances, and Razmund was a prime example of that.
Outside of this temple was prudent to a large tide of forces clashing against one another. Battles will fill the desert plain with Ends and hopes. It will be nothing but fitting time in the lower plains, overseer by many Divine Kingdoms.
That kind of stuff was already behind Razmund, who arrived at the huge gate littered with all types of runes, hieroglyphs, and sculptured symbols.
Like many before him, he didn't know what sort of gate this used to be for, or why it was here in this manner. He noted its mysterious and undeniable mass, thinking it was a treasure of some sort. That was years ago. It wasn't interesting to him any longer, since what it was, was lost in time and ancient memories.
It wasn't as if none were curious about it, but there was a catch to this gate. No one ought to understand it, because what was beyond it was a much more intricate, and interesting subject of interest than this gate. That was at least how the present words intercepted this, even though it was wrong.
His time and hope were here, right behind this gate.
“Here I am again, after 5 years of postponing and hoping to shatter this mess. The situation is unlike what I wanted, and this place would rather wait for me, than me for it, but I don't have a choice. I would rather not walk here for a couple of years to let my Path become stronger, yet here I am.” Razmund sighed to himself, ignoring the fact of utmost darkness. He didn't find it that bad, as his unblinking eyes were more than capable of seeing a couple of meters into this darkness. Anything more was impossible.
This wasn't so bad, he thought. Walking closer to the gate, he touched it with his palm. Nothing happened, apart from the light that went from below, all the way up. The temple shook, dust swirled around and a rumbling sound echoed into the terrifying darkness that hid the unknown.
The gate opened, revealing a light to guide a Challenger inside.
The opening was enough for him to walk through, but not enough for 2 people to walk side by side. Each step he took was wide, full of his desires, albeit this temple had its own course of actions and he wasn't one to question it. None should dare to do it.
What greeted him was a familiar sight. A huge demonic skeleton at the front, and 4 torches at each corner of this rectangular room that wasn't too big, nor too small. It was just tall, but that was it. Looking around, he was looking for a familiar of this place. Front? At the corners? No. There wasn't a soul around.
“Up?” Razmund looked up and saw a smiling skull, with a residual torso and a single bony arm. It was yet another Guide, and a personal stake of this temple, which this place had more than enough of. Cases when multiple Challengers came here at the same time weren't rare. Multiple Guides were for that.
“Heheheh.” Half skeleton laughed, giggling as Lorry did, but in a bit deeper tone. “Oh, and yet another soul comes, quenching the desires and hopes in a place to this temple? What a day!” he chuckled, hovering in mid-air about 4 meters above him. It resembled Lorry, but unlike him, this one had a neck, spine, and part of the torso under the skull itself. In fact, it even had one workable bony hand, which was great, unlike Lorry who had nothing but his head.
This half-skeleton was a male and gestured with his hand as if he were a poet wondering about fate itself.
“I don't think we've met,” Razmund stated, uncaring about his singing words, or his words about the temple.
“Precisely. Precisely. You aren't new here. A 3rd timer, in fact. That is a rare occasion and I like hearing the melody of the death surrounding your soul.” he said, and flew down to face Razmund like a proper Guide. He even bowed, and let his Soul Flames show. They were glowing in warm light and had quite some power. “It is nice to meet you, Challenger. My name is Lint, a precious Guide of the temple, as you must know.” Lint graciously introduced himself before him, sounding nice and polite, unlike Lorry.
He was even bigger than Razmund, and he was missing legs and part of the torso. It was a wonder, what sort of race Lint was, but all that remained from him were bones, which indicated nothing about his race, other than horns in his head. There were 2 pairs, and neither was too twisted and thick. They protruded from his skull like spikes.
Other than his size and horns, he had no specialties over the normal human skeleton, which may depict some devilish race or a humanoid demon.
“Let's get this over with already... I am in a hurry.” Razmund argued.
“Hurry towards the End? Ohohoho. How spectacular! You are a seeker of the death!” Lint laughed, gesturing with his hand towards the heavens. This was already getting to Razmund's nerves, so he grunted, unwilling to get this going even longer. He did the simplest thing one would do in this situation. He grabbed the laughing skull and shoved it in front of his face.
“Listen here, buddy. I am not interested in any shenanigans of the demons like you. You have no place in this world and live just for the sake of this place anyway. Desires, and things going on in the depths are for nothing but the Hells. You can keep hiding in this temple like rats you are, but act like a damned Guide. Get this act out of your fucking mind, and work with the purpose of your soul.”
Lint's eyes had the flames of any undead, and they fearfully flickered upon hearing this open threat.
“You are... horrible,” Lint mumbled, disappointed but unafraid anyway.
“Do you want to try my patience? I've never killed a guide before, but some things may come for the first time, and I am doubtful it will be anything hard. You... are around level 75? Hm?! No... Wrong. A necromancer demon hidden under a mask?” Razmund guessed, uncertain if he was right, as his vision uncovered the power that was hiding behind Lint, or was it something else? His Soul Flames flickered, or was there something else in his head?