I blinked at her, momentarily stunned, though I quickly forced the surprise aside. Vel’s comment lent even more weight to the growing suspicion that humans carried a seed of Natural Force within them from birth, or perhaps awakened it gradually as they matured.
Still, the thought lingered: Does everyone back home have one, too?
“You think so?” I asked, leaning slightly forward. “Does that mean you can distinguish at least two different energies while you train?”
Vel nodded, excitement still shimmering in her eyes from showing off her weapon. “Yeah! There’s definitely something different between them.”
Beside me, Thea sighed with exaggerated weariness, her lips curving into a teasing smile. “We had to claw our way up step by step, and here she is, already breezing into the next stage.”
I shrugged, fully understanding the sentiment; only moments ago, I’d felt the same pang of envy. “Yeah—” I nudged Vel’s shoulder lightly. “But she still has to get through Purification and Body Refinement for this stage. Then there’s Spiritual Refinement waiting beyond that.”
“When do we start?” Mei asked, steering the conversation in a new direction.
I glanced back toward the line of trees, their shadows swaying in the coastal wind. “Guess we could begin when your dad returns, buuut there’s no harm in getting started now.”
Amei gave a small, approving nod, and we all settled into a loose circle on the warm sand. The rhythmic hiss of waves underscored the quiet anticipation between us. I took a slow breath, readying to begin, trusting Thea to fill in any gaps I might leave. Several pairs of eyes watched me, bright with focus and the faint afterglow of excitement.
“First,” I began, “the energies we’re aware of so far: World Force, Animora, and Precursor Energy.” I paused, then shook my head slightly. “But there seem to be others. Maybe subtypes, or perhaps entirely unique forms. For example, I can enter a beast’s mind and influence it through what I call Beast Force.”
“I’ve got a lightning-based subset that amplifies my power,” Thea added smoothly. “And everyone else seems to have their own quirks too.”
I nodded, recalling Sia’s self-strengthening ability, Elric’s near-miraculous healing. Both the gifts from the old man’s spirit sealed in the statue. Only Lyra’s ability remained a mystery. Then there was Drybel’s strange, shadowed energy too.
“There are also the Bloodlines,” Mei interjected thoughtfully. “The system draws from a source that feels different from Animora.”
The exchange was turning into more of a group discussion than a lecture, but I didn’t mind in the slightest.
Across from me, Velea fidgeted—eyes darting, lips parting as if she wanted to speak but couldn’t quite find the courage. I caught her gaze and offered an encouraging nod. “If you’ve got something to add, go ahead. Better to leave nothing unsaid.”
She exhaled sharply, steadying herself. “Well… I’m not sure if this applies to everything, but with Force, there’s also our intent, right? It’s how we got water.”
I blinked, a little stunned. It wasn’t that the statement was outrageous or anything. Actually, the opposite. It was just not something I totally considered all the time. Will as a form of energy was just a strange concept, but it did seem to influence these powers substantially.
“That’s a great point,” I said, smiling. “I’m not sure about Animora, but yeah, our intent absolutely shapes how these abilities act. Though… it feels like each power has its own will, too.”
I waited for any further thoughts, letting the moment stretch. None came. Amei too remained composed and silent.
Clearing my throat, I shifted the topic. “Right, so next up is, um… the roles of Force. Honestly, it’s a little improvised, but—”
I proceeded to explain the roles of both Elemental and Natural Force, laying out what I knew for certain and what I could infer from experience. Fire embodied both creation and destruction.
Water acted as the soothing, harmonizing current, restoring order where chaos reigned. Earth stood as the steadfast foundation, an unshakable anchor.
And my total guess: Air... perhaps change or movement.
Finally, there was Natural Force. The thread tying the others together, binding every element in balance. It was the dark matter of existence, the connective pulse of the universe’s power.
Thea added her own insights afterward, most of which seemed to originate from Griffith’s lofty lectures. They sounded impressive, profound even, but to me they felt more like distant theory than anything I could put into practice.
Aside from Vel, who began to fidget partway through, the others listened intently, their eyes bright with the fascination of discovery.
After covering the elemental roles, I shifted to explaining our training path. How it began, how it evolved, and where we now stood. The steps, the setbacks, and the breakthroughs that had carried us to this stage.
When I reached Body Refinement, Amei inhaled sharply, a quiet gasp breaking through the hush. “Permanent strengthening of your body?” she repeated, her tone caught between awe and disbelief. “Achieving that without a system is—”
“Dangerous,” I interjected, finishing the thought for her, though the flicker in her expression suggested that wasn’t the word she’d intended to use.
I exhaled slowly, the weight of what came next pressing down on me. “I won’t sugarcoat it. Even though Serith claims to have severed his influence over this place, the energy that interferes with Body Refinement still belongs to the Great Ancestor.”
The Guardian’s eyes widened, irises flashing pink for a heartbeat. “His energy is inside you?”
I shook my head. “Not exactly. It’s more like…” The words caught in my throat, trying to find the right way to explain the phenomenon.
“It’s invasive,” Thea said softly, stepping in to clarify. “It enters your body while you train and pushes you to keep cultivating, to keep going until…” She trailed off, her gaze flicking toward the younger ones before she puffed out her cheeks and made a light—pop—sound.
Her comical delivery barely masked the gravity beneath it. For a few seconds, no one spoke.
Then Mei broke it. “But you’re all still here, in one piece,” she said slowly. “So you must have found some kind of solution.”
I nodded, my tone grim. “We did. The solution is simple enough when you have a group. But… that’s where the danger lies.”
Velea gave a nervous laugh. “Exploding isn’t dangerous?”
I tried to return the humor but couldn’t. The truth was, defying that thing—stealing its energy from under its grasp—felt far more perilous than dying quickly.
“We convert the invading power,” I explained. “We take the Precursor Energy and make it ours.”
Mei’s eyes gleamed with intellectual fascination, while Vel absentmindedly twirled a lock of hair, glancing between us with boredom. The thrill of progress seemed to interest her more than the nature of the risk itself.
Amei, however, went still. Her posture stiffened, her focus narrowing. She understood the weight of what I’d just said.
“What did he do?” she asked quietly.
“The first time?” I echoed, my shoulders easing slightly under the release of confession. “He triggered a calamity that fell upon my world and—”
“Peter,” Thea murmured from beside me, her voice tender, urging. Encouraging me to continue.
I drew in a steady breath. “He spread his Bloodline,” I said finally. “Or… it seems that way.”
This world already had its own order. A hierarchy of Guardians and higher beings, the Great Ancestor somehow among them. Direct action against me seemed difficult for him now… yet through servants like Drema, it wouldn’t be impossible.
After all, he had already acted once on my world. Through monsters. Through blood. Perhaps not by his own hand, but his will had reached across worlds all the same.
“The first?” Amei echoed, eyes narrowing. “There was more?”
I nodded quickly. “He tried to give me his Blood. And… I almost accepted it. His influence was overwhelming; resisting his words felt like... Well, it was hard.” I exhaled, the memory leaving a faint chill in my chest. “Serith sealed off her territory afterward. Apparently, that’ll keep something like that from happening again.”
Even so, I couldn’t shake the question of whether the corrupted Precursor Energy itself still posed a deadly threat. The doubt lingered like a splinter beneath my thoughts.
“Waaai-wai-waaait!” Vel suddenly cried out, her voice pitching higher as realization struck. She stared straight into my eyes. “You said your world!”
I blinked, caught mid-thought. “Yeah.”
Beside me, Thea pressed both palms to her temples, fingers massaging the sides of her head, and it finally clicked. She hadn’t been trying to comfort me earlier. She’d been trying to stop me from saying that.
Too late.
Amei didn’t react with alarm, her attention less on the new revelation about me than the much larger threat implied before that. Vel looked scandalized, while Mei’s expression was curious, searching. Their silence pressed in, expectant.
I rubbed the back of my neck, searching for a simple way to frame the impossible. “It’s not exactly a secret that there are other worlds out there,” I said carefully. “I just happen to come from one. There was an accident… and I ended up here. That’s about all there is to it.”
“Ohhh,” Mei said, drawing the word out as comprehension dawned. “That makes so much more sense now! When you talked about your home and then brought me here… I thought you were comparing this island to it.” Her tone lightened, and I could see a quiet relief in her posture, as if a long-held misunderstanding had just dissolved.
“New worlds?!” Vel screeched, her voice leaping almost an octave. “You never told me about that!”
I smiled, unable to help it. “I’ll explain later, I promise. But for now, back to Body Refinement.”
Amei gave a small, dismissive shake of her head. “We can move on. I’ll reflect on it later. For now, keep sharing what you know good or bad. Everything helps.”
I nodded, just beginning to speak again when a shout split the air behind us.
“We’re back!”
Sei’s familiar voice carried over the sound of waves, and as I turned, a full entourage trailed behind him.
Elric, Lyra, and Sia looked refreshed, as though newly charged. Helen, Marcus, and Trevor, on the other hand, wore varying shades of annoyance. Drake and Griffith followed in hushed conversation, their words inaudible over the commotion.
The dogs bounded happily across the sand, tails whipping like banners. A very irritated-looking snake slithered close behind, its scales glinting with restrained fury, followed by the majestic Royal Goldmane—head held high.
And to quite literally top it all off, a lone slime perched proudly atop the snake’s head, Armored, gleaming faintly in the sun, and squishy.