My journey back was not enjoyable, to be honest. Walking in a marsh while giving someone a piggyback is not easy in the slightest. The extra weight causes the foot to sink much deeper in the mud. The hardest part is to pull your foot back out once it sinks deep enough. Long story short, I did manage to get back to my place safe and sound.

But now that I am here, I was presented with yet another dilemma. If I enter the house with all the dirt and grime, I would be scrubbing the place clean for the next few days. It was especially true for my extra dirty guest, who is still unconscious. Unfortunately, I did not keep any buckets in front of the house. I removed my boots, folded my pants, and rushed inside to get the nearest bucket. I couldn't do much about the dirty set of footprints into and out of the house.

It took me several buckets of water to wash all the dirt and grime off my body. The next in line was my dirty guest. Although the person unconscious, it does not take a genius to figure out that one would prefer to be clean than be a mud monster.

So I unleash buckets of water on my visitor. As the dirt cleared off, what was left underneath was a beauty by any standards. With black hair, delicate lips, and beautiful eyelashes, she would have been drop-dead gorgeous if it were not for all the scratches on the face. The maimed limbs and mangled torso quickly woke me up from the daze. Seeing that she was a cute girl around my age, sympathy swelled inside me. Not that I don't realize the hypocrisy of being partial towards someone just because they are beautiful. No matter how much I don't want to admit it, there is always a bias when it involves good looking people. Sighing and dismissing my thoughts that were going on tangents, I finish cleaning the dirt off her.

Now I was in another quandary regarding her wet clothes. It is not advisable that someone goes to sleep in wet clothes, but the alternative would be for me to change her clothes. Although I do not consider myself a paragon of morality, and chances that she won't attack me due to the oath, I still decide to leave her existing clothes on her. I take as many towels as I can find and start drying her over her clothes, taking special care to avoid her wounds. Hopefully, the fluffy towels will soak up the water without making her too uncomfortable.

The day had left me very exhausted. Although I wanted to ponder a lot more on what transpired today, I decided that a good night's sleep will be much more helpful. With that, I left everything else aside and fell asleep.

I am not sure how long I slept, but I am sure it was much longer than usual. I felt something small and cool wrap around my neck. My eyes fluttered open. What I saw was my guest with her hands around my neck. I did not go into a panic as I could sense her present emotion. She seemed to want to scare me. But what surprised me the most was that she was perfectly healthy. No scars on the face, her hands to be in perfect condition, and I assume it would be the same for the rest of her body.

Knowing that I was completely safe, I pull my hands back and stretch them while letting out a yawn.

"Good morning. Or is it a good afternoon? Either way, did you have a pleasant sleep?" I asked with a slight smile on my face. I also wanted to show her that I was not scared the least.

She kept staring at me with a deadpan expression without saying a word. She brought one of my steel drinking glass towards my face. As she slowly closed her wrist, the glass started deforming as if it was a piece of paper. I was honestly scared at this point, but I couldn't let her know that.

I kept a fake relaxed smile on my face. "That's a good trick. You should tell me how to do it one of these days. But let's be honest, you are in no position to hurt me because of the oath." I said while lifting my body to sit in an upright position. She lets go of my neck and backs off a bit.

"I think some introductions are in order. My name is Shawn. What is yours?" I ask with a toothy grin.

"Alissa," she replied, under her breath, almost like a whisper. I could feel a sense of defeat from her.

"So Alissa, you seem quite energetic today. Honestly, your recovery was much faster than I expected. So how about you start by explaining what happened to you?"

I noticed that although her emotions kept shifting like any normal person's but her expression was static. I started wondering whether she had some disease that caused her face to be impassive.

"You don't need to know," She replied with a voice that carried little emotion, just like her expressions.

"That is no way to thank the person that saved your life, you know?" I said with a small grin on my face.

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"We have a deal, and I will keep my end of the bargain. There is nothing more that you need to know." She says with the same stoic expression.

It did not seem like I would get much information off her. Well, the least she could have done is to satisfy my curiosity. Well, she did have a point. It is not like I had saved her purely out of the kindness of my heart. So she does not owe me anything other than the contents of our deal.

I let out a small sigh. "Okay then, how are you planning to give me supernatural powers?" I ask.

I contemplated for a while whether I should tell her about my existing powers. But then, I felt it was better to be prudent and not tell her at present. What if she takes advantage of some loophole in her oath and decides that I was already a part of the supernatural world, and hence I do not need any additional powers? Furthermore, I hate exposing every card that I have, especially to someone I barely know.

She takes out a silverish rock from her bag. She had washed the bag before waking me up I guess.

"Enlightenment stone of knowledge," She says, holding the stone towards me as if it were to mean something. She also seemed stingy with her words. That, or she does not think it was worthwhile to talk to me. But judging from her emotions that I could read, it was most likely the former rather than the latter as I could not sense too much contempt, at least at this point.

"Just to clarify, I know nothing about the supernatural other than it exists. You need to explain the basics."

"Secular humans are annoying," She whispered, and this time with enough contempt for me to sense. It seems like she doesn't consider herself a normal human. Maybe she considers herself something beyond human, which would explain her annoyance when I was negotiating for my demands, and her contempt now. She does not seem like a bad person, judging from whatever emotions I felt till now. But it would seem that the notion of superiority is ingrained deep as a part of her personality. I wonder whether all her acquaintances were supernatural, which would explain her attitude towards non-supernatural beings.

"There are four Domains of powers. They are Knowledge, Energy, Fate, and Soul. Let's consider them one at a time." she said.

"Knowledge Domain, as the name implies, deals with the acquisition and application of knowledge. It can be further divided into two: Arcana and Mysticism. Arcana deals with the study and understanding of secrets behind the physical phenomenons in the world. It also involves the use of that knowledge to manipulate such powers. Mysticism deals with the mystical aspects of the world that cannot be understood or explained by logic or reason. A common use of mysticism is rituals. Since mysticism involves contacting powers and existences we do not completely understand, it carries certain risks. Mysticism, other than a few popular and well-known rituals, is not widely used or recommended. They say that the gods of the old have fallen asleep and do not respond anymore, and a lot of rituals were dependent on the gods."

"Energy Domain deals with the manipulation of energy. It can be classified into two categories as well. Internal and External. Internal energy makes people physically stronger and lets them perform feats that are considered superhuman. It also gives enhanced reflexes and agility. The external energy domain allows you to manipulate objects by using energy as a conduit." she said while levitating the steel drinking glass that she has crumbled earlier. "As you can see, I am of the Energy Domain. I could have used my powers to open the bag and treat myself if I were slightly less injured or slightly less exhausted." She continued, in clearly what is an attempt to salvage her pride on the receipt of my help.

I was too engrossed in what she was saying and thought that it would not be wise to tease her. So I just nod, indicating that I understood and she could continue.

"The Fate Domain is very rare and mysterious. It has no further divisions as far as I know. The divisions that I told you about earlier for Knowledge and Energy domains are something men came up with to make their lives easier. Such divisions allow one to concentrate and specialize in certain aspects of the Domain, rather than the entire thing. Each Domain is vast and deep, and by studying only one aspect of the Domain, you can make sure that you can progress at a reasonable pace. Coming back to the Fate Domain, I know very little about it. It is shrouded in mystery as very few are willing to master it. It is said to give users prophetic abilities among other powers. One thing that the Fate Domain is known for is the extreme difficulty in killing one of its users."

"The last one is the Soul Domain. There is no point in talking about it as it no longer exists. They were all killed and all the enlightenment stones of the Soul Domain were destroyed as per the edict of the gods, or at least that is what the legend says. They say it had to do with the final war between the gods."

"The enlightenment stone is required for initiation to any of the Domains. Without that, it is not possible to start the journey in mastering the powers." She seemed like she was done with the explanation.

I was quite surprised by her verbosity. From what little interaction I had with her, she did not seem the type of person who would speak so much of her own volition. Maybe it was the oath that was compelling her to speak so much, or it could be her way of trying to help me.

"We will move on to the assimilation of the enlightenment soul of Knowledge Domain for you now. This is the only one I have at hand." She said, without giving me a chance to follow up with questions.

Not that I knew where to even start. But since I would be risking the headache again if I go against it, it did not hurt to do what she says for now.

"Okay, let's begin then," I said.

The assimilation process was not as complicated as I thought. I just had to close my eyes as she brought the stone to my forehead and touched it. There was a sensation that originated from my forehead and then spread throughout my body. As if I was getting wrapped up in some sort of cocoon. By the end of it, I had already assimilated the stone.

Once I woke up, I could feel the changes in my body and my perception. For one, I could almost feel the entire world made up of something. I am not quite sure how to put it or explain it. I feel like the whole world is made of equations and formulas. Not that I understand any of it, but I am getting an intuitive feeling for it. The second thing that I observed is that there seems to be a non-trivial improvement in my physical condition. I could feel my newfound strength. If there is such a clear improvement in physical attributes for the Knowledge Domain, I wonder how much the improvement would be for the energy domain. The third thing that I noticed is the improvement in my mind, which had stagnated for a long time. It seems much more potent than it was earlier, although I do not know the extent to which it improved. From her previous explanation, I think my mental powers may be related to the Soul Domain. Although it is just a conjecture, I think it is a reasonable deduction. I further fortify my conviction of not telling her, or for that matter, anybody else about my mental powers, at least until I could confirm my conjectures.

"The new sensations you feel should be related to the Knowledge Domain. The sensations you feel now should be different from what I feel as a practitioner of the Energy Domain. Remember the sensation. That is how you will feel and exert the influence of your powers." She said.