Kael sat cross-legged on his simple bed of moss and leaves, his back pressed against the cool stone wall of the cave. The scent of freshly cooked meat still lingered in his mind from his earlier meal—a hare he had hunted and roasted behind the waterfall before he made his way back. It had been a quiet hunt, and he had taken his time, enjoying the solitude and the scenery as he ate. Now, with his hunger satisfied, he could focus on what truly mattered—his growth.

With an unhurried movement, he extended his hand outward, letting Essence flow from his core to his palm. A faint blue glow emerged, swirling in an almost hypnotic manner before taking the shape of a sphere. The process was smooth, effortless in comparison to the struggle it had once been.

A few levels ago, something like this had taken far more concentration, and there had always been resistance—pushback from the Essence, as if it had a will of its own. Now, with his increased stats, particularly his Essence control, Kael could do this with far greater ease. Still curious, he tested his control further. With a simple thought, the glowing sphere in his palm began to rotate. Slowly at first, then faster. Kael watched with fascination.

Satisfied, he dismissed the sphere, letting the Essence dissipate into the air. Then, with another thought, he pulled up his Status screen.

[ Status ]

Name: Kael Aranthis

Level: 9

EXP: 268 / 600

Rank: Mortal

Stats:

* Strength: 24

* Agility: 26

* Endurance: 22

* Intelligence: 28

* Wisdom: 29

* Essence Control: 33

His gaze swept over his stats, his expression showing pride as he did so. His stats had increased considerably since he last checked, and more importantly, his ability to impose his will on his Essence had improved alongside them.

Closing the screen with a thought, Kael stretched his fingers before gathering Essence once again, shaping it into another sphere. This time, instead of spinning it, he willed it to change shape. The sphere elongated, stretching into something more akin to a rod. Kael’s brow furrowed slightly as he concentrated. The pushback was still there—less than it used to be, but noticeably there. Forcing Essence into new complex shapes required more focus and more effort, than simply keeping it as a sphere.

“This would’ve have been draining just a few days ago,” Kael muttered to himself, keeping the elongated Essence construct stable in his palm. He turned it slowly, examining its structure. The effort it took to hold this form was not much, but it still demanded a portion of his concentration. As he held the construct, his thoughts drifted back to something he had considered for a while.

Essence, when drawn from his body, was intangible—a glowing energy that had no physical form. He had used it to reinforce weapons and enhance their durability, but he had never been able to create something solid. The way his shaper skill was worded hinted at him making objects, and that intrigued him.

Then, today on his way back from the hunt, a thought had struck him—a random musing about the weather. He had yet to see rain in this new world, and he had wondered what it would be like when it finally did. That thought had sparked an idea.

From what little Kael remembered learning, the few times he had the attention to spare in school, was that rain formed when moisture in the air turned from vapor into liquid, and eventually into something solid and big enough to fall to the ground. The idea was, what if he could apply the same principle to Essence? What if, instead of letting it remain as an intangible energy, he could force it into a solid form through pressure?

That was why he had hurried back to his cave the moment the thought struck, impatient to wait testing it out. If he could figure this out, he would be one step closer to creating Essence constructs, rather than simply reinforcing objects he found. His biggest problem so far had been his lack of a reliable weapon. The Gloomkin weapons he used were at this point single-use at best. The cheap, crude, and now due to his growing strength fragile things, often broke after a single fight or just an attack. But if he could create weapons out of his own Essence, ones he could remake when they broke, he would never be unarmed again. That's also not considering the versatility this would offer him.

A grin spread across Kael’s face as he looked down at the construct in his hands. He could already shape Essence into a basic form. Now, he needed to push it further.

Closing his eyes, Kael let more Essence flow from his core and into his body. He then directed it all towards his right arm, having connected a larger tendril—one similar in size to the ones he used when reinforcing all his limbs. But this time, instead of splitting the flow into separate paths, he guided everything into a single stream, channeling it into the Essence construct floating over his palm. The results were immediate.

The construct thickened as more Essence poured out from his hand and into it, the glow intensifying. But unlike when he infused other solid objects, where he had to wait for the material to absorb the energy, this time the Essence simply flowed in as if the construct was an extension of itself, which in a way it was. There was no resistance, no delay. It simply accepted his will.

Well, that’s convenient.”

He had always found it frustrating how difficult it was for materials to absorb his Essence, refusing to allow Kael to will the essence into the objects, and worst of all having to wait for the essence to be absorbed slowly.

This then results in him wasting a lot of essence just venting it out. Organic materials absorbed it slightly better, but things like stones were nearly impossible to reinforce properly without an absurd amount of time. This, however, was different. The thing in question was made from his Essence.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The construct didn’t resist him—it didn’t need to absorb his Essence because it was his Essence. It simply allowed the extra essence to be guided by his will, to join what was there. His mental grip on the construct tightened as he willed it to compress. He could feel resistance increasing slightly, but he pushed forward, applying mental pressure, willing the structure to tighten. The glowing form shrunk slightly, its density increasing. But it wasn’t enough. Kael frowned, feeling the pressure needed to compress it further increasing dramatically, and that it was getting difficult to continue at an alarming rate.

Thinking back, he focused on compression and how it worked, then remembered how it was easier to compress something when there were greater quantities of it. Kael then let out even more Essence to help build pressure, feeling that the more essence he had to hold together outside his body the more difficult it was getting, but also helping in his task.

His grip tightened on his left knee, sweat forming on his brow as he concentrated.

He could feel the construct straining under the pressure of his will, resisting in new ways he hadn't encountered before. His muscles tensed as he pushed harder, forcing the construct to obey his intent. Then, suddenly—

Something shifted.

A sharp sensation ran through him, almost like a snap, and the Essence construct in his palm solidified.

Kael’s eyes snapped open. The bright glow that was being released by the construct was gone, replaced by something solid, something tangible. It wasn’t floating anymore either, the construct had weight now, and as such had dropped into his hand.

Staring at it in stunned silence, Kael slowly turned it over, inspecting the shape. He had compressed it to look like a crude knife, roughly shaped as if someone had cut it from a metal sheet. It wasn’t sharp, wasn’t well-formed, but it existed. Kael also felt a strange connection to the object as if the Essence within it was tethered to him in some deep way. He tightened his grip, testing its solidity. It felt light, fragile even, as if it could break apart under too much strain. But still, it was there. A slow smile crept onto Kael’s face. He had done it.

For the first time, he had successfully shaped an Essence construct.

Not reinforcement. Not infusion. Not an enhancement of something that already existed.

This was his own creation.

Kael rotated the crude knife in his hand, still marveling at the weight of the situation. Now that he wasn't actively holding it together he could also sense something else. The construct wanted to hold together, even though he wasn’t actively forcing it to do so anymore. There seemed to be a residual will within it as if the Essence itself had taken on his intent while he was shaping it, and continuing to act upon it. Kael let out a quiet "Yes!", a mix of amazement and satisfaction getting the hold of him.

----------------------------------------

He let the moment settle before moving on to the testing phase. Kael turned his grip and flicked the knife lightly against the stone floor of the cave. Clink.

The sound was faint, but it was there. The Essence construct felt like a solid object when it made contact. But Kael could feel the structure’s fragility through his connection to it. He knew that while it had a shape, it lacked durability. It was too brittle, too easily breakable to be a reliable weapon. Still, it was progress.

Kael focused inward, reaching for the thin connection between himself and the knife. He could feel the faint will within the construct—the lingering echo of his intent that was holding it together. It was an odd sensation, one that told him this was still his Essence even after it had solidified.

Curious, Kael tested his next theory. Focusing on that connection he overwrote the echo of his will to stop holding the construct together.

Immediately, the knife crumbled into nothing, dissolving into the air as if it had never existed. There was no resistance, no explosion of energy—just a quiet disappearance. The Essence joined the world, untethered now that his will no longer held it together.

That… was interesting.

He hadn’t needed to use any extra effort to break it apart—simply deciding it was no longer necessary had been enough. It wasn’t like a normal weapon that needed to be physically destroyed. As long as it was made from his Essence, his will would be enough.

He took a deep breath, then started regenerating his Essence from the recent effort. He hadn’t used an amount that he was empty, but this process was draining on his core. Given how much Essence was needed to make the construct.

After some time of regenerating Kael was ready again, he wasn’t done experimenting yet.

This time he decided to see what happened when he left a construct alone. Could it maintain itself without his influence? If so how long?

Not wasting time Kael shaped another crude knife. This time, instead of dispelling it, he set it down on the cave floor and simply watched.

Minutes passed.

At first, the construct remained exactly as he had left it. But then, Kael felt something change. The connection between himself and the knife began to fade as the remnant of his will started becoming too weak to hold it together, and at the same time, the Essence within the construct started to dissolve on its own. It was slow, much slower than when he actively broke it apart, but the process was undeniable.

It took nearly ten minutes, but eventually, the construct lost its shape entirely, vanishing into the air just like before. Kael let out a hum of understanding. The construct had a lifespan, due to the echo of his will becoming weaker over time, and leading to the essence evaporating as it did so.

Kael wondered if his will was stronger when shaping future constructs, would that make it so they lasted longer?

He also noted how this process was similar to when he reinforced a weapon, like one of the Gloomkin's spears. The reinforcement would slowly evaporate over time. Thinking on it now, Kael did not fully understand how objects like the spear or the antler blade, held essence that long to begin with, given that he could not use his will to infuse essence into them. The objects technically getting reinforced as a by-product of it just slowly absorbed the free Essence he released around it.

Not going anywhere with this train of thought, kael moved on.

His next test was durability. He needed to know how much force his constructs could withstand before breaking. Testing first with the knife shape, and finding it just too fragile, breaking after just one hard tap on the wall.

Instead, in his next test he compressed more Essence into a short, thick rod. It took a little longer to shape—about twice as long as before—but he could already feel the difference in its structure. It was denser, more sturdy than the knife had been, and also longer. The knife was roughly the length of a kitchen knife, the rod being one and a half times as long.

Kael took the rod and gave it a small tap against the cave wall. Thud.

No cracks. No immediate signs of weakness. Encouraged, he swung harder. This time, a faint fracture ran along the surface. It still held together, but barely. Kael took another mental note. It was more durable than the knife, but his constructs still weren't ready for battle. Not yet.

For the next several hours, Kael repeated the process. He experimented with different amounts of Essence, testing how thickness and shape impacted the structure.

By the time the sun was beginning to set, Kael had learned a lot. Kael also learned that detail work was difficult. Making a rough knife was one thing, but actually crafting a sharp edge was much harder.

Kael leaned against the cave wall, breathing steadily. He had exhausted a decent chunk of his Essence reserves several times and was feeling the effect of it, but the progress he had made was worth it.

He had made real strides in understanding how his Essence worked. This wasn’t just theory anymore. He could actually create things. They weren’t perfect yet, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that he had a foundation to build on.

Kael let out a quiet chuckle, shaking his head. It was funny in a way—he had gotten this skill so long ago, and yet he was only just now figuring it out.

But that was fine. He was stronger now than he had ever been before. And with this discovery, he had an entirely new path forward. Kael flexed his fingers, feeling the faint hum of Essence still lingering in his arms.