Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends

Essence

Eratemus looked at the young Ranker sitting across from him. He had seen his matches in the tournament, as he had stayed in the core as long as he could before transferring to the body that had been with his armies. From those he had seen a… someone who was powerful, yes, but nothing truly special. It was only when one took into account how young he was that things changed. The battle against the dome monsters in the core too, though Eratemus wasn’t there for that and only had second hand information. Still, he did know that there was more to him than he had revealed in the tournament. The masses in the core had granted him a title of a High Ranker, and one highly placed. He was deserving of the title, though the entire list was… not entirely accurate.

He was powerful, he wouldn’t be on this mission otherwise, despite them already having a small pool of people to choose from he was one of the better choices. The second Ranker from his Iteration was too, though many didn’t realize his power quite yet. The perk that he had used to close down the portal shouldn’t have worked, its tier was too low. A low tiered power would not be very effective against one that was high tiered, not unless the person wielding it was able to bridge the gap. Willpower was the main driving force behind Skills, but it was important for all focuses. Yirrel had placed more faith in her warden than most realized. Not many could’ve done that, will a portal that spanned the length of the known world close.

It was interesting that both of the surviving Rankers of the Seventh Iteration were getting strong that fast. Though, if only the two of them survived then they had been forged in fire greater than any other Iteration before them.

Eratemus turned his attention back to his guest.

“What did you want to speak about?” He asked him.

“Essence, and controlling it.”

Eratemus tilted his head, waiting for him to elaborate.

“Every Cultivator can draw in Essence around them,” Ryun started. “We can exert some type of control over any Essence.”

Eratemus kept his eyes on him for a few seconds before answering. “What makes you think that?”

He was certain that the man wouldn’t be able to actually control Essence around him, but he was curious about how he came to that conclusion.

Ryun seemed to think about the way to answer his question for a good ten seconds. And then he spoke. “Because I know that it is possible.”

“How?” Eratemus asked simply.

“You are aware that I visited House Ornn?”

Eratemus nodded his head.

“They owed me a debt, and they resolved it by offering me something of great value. Memories of an Eternal Realm Cultivator that they fought and killed, someone who wandered the Infinite Realm since they arrived here. Growing stronger on their own.”

Eratemus blinked, stunned for a moment. He didn’t detect any sign that the man was lying, nor did he think that he would lie. Memories of an Eternal Realm Cultivator would be… priceless. That they had offered him something like that… Though, the Empire did not rely on Cultivation at all, so perhaps it did not hold the same value for them. Still, for him to have experienced something like that… How much would’ve that helped Eratemus if he had the chance to experience the same. He could’ve glimpsed something to help him with his own inspiration.

“What did you see?”

“The Cultivator was insane, memory and sensations disjointed and jumping around. But I saw enough. There were many different things that felt… odd about her. It was as if her soul was far stronger than anything I have ever experienced, her body and soul forged together in a way. And she could control any type of Essence, as long as it didn’t come from someone else. I attempted to do the same, it… didn’t work. I can draw it in, increase the speed that I draw Essence in even. But I cannot tell it what to do.”

Eratemus wondered what other insights he had gained. A part of him wanted to ask him to tell him everything, but… that was on him to give if he desired, not for Eratemus to take.

“I am not certain what it was,” Ryun continued. “The way that the memory played out makes me think that it is something that any Cultivator should be able to do, but… it could be a perk for all I know.”

Eratemus leaned forward in his seat. “It is not, but it is also not what you think. It is something that every Cultivator has potential to do, or rather learn how to do, a skill that can be practiced and mastered. Though not everyone will be able to do it, and of those that would not all would be able to do it anywhere close to what they will be able to do with their own aspect. You are not yet Peak Evolved?”

“No,” Ryun said.

“You will gain a perk then which will… make it easier to control Essence you possess around you. It is… the Framework’s way of pointing you in the right direction.”

“So it is possible?”

“I don’t know if you can do it now,” Eratemus said honestly. “I’ve only learned how to do it after I’ve reached Peak Evolved Stage.”

Ryun grimaced, but didn’t seem overly bothered by hearing that. “But you believe that it is still possible before then?”

Eratemus made his undead body shrug. “I don’t see why not,” he answered. “As you’ve said yourself, every Cultivator can call the Essence around them and fill their core.”

“I’ve been unsuccessful in my attempts,” Ryun said slowly.

Eratemus didn’t have a reason to help him, and yet… If there was a chance that he would in turn share something from the memories that could help him advance again, then it was worth it. And it was not like he could teach him what to do.

“A Cultivator’s core is an engine. When we adopt an Aspect we teach it how to create that type of Essence. The better our core is, the more quality Essence it can create. That is all that Qi is, refined and improved Essence, marked and fully under our power. It is why it is so easy to control. But controlling the Essence around us… It is not the same for everyone,” Eratemus started. “I don’t know how the Cultivator whose memories you experienced did it, but for me it had always been about knowledge.”

“Knowledge?”

“Understanding what Essence is, and how different kinds interacted with one another,” he said as he placed a hand over the table in between them. He pulled out a small round plate, perfectly smooth, out of his storage and placed it on the table.

“I am… adept at crafting formations, so I never had the need to learn how to really control other types of Essence around me well. Why waste the time when I can just craft a formation to do it for me.”

Eratemus placed a finger on the plate but didn’t use any of his techniques, he didn’t want to waste his vessel’s resources. Instead, he turned to his skill. With slow, precise movements he carved a set of symbols into the plate with his nail. As soon as he was done the air in the room started to move, creating a weak breeze.

“You see?” He asked Ryun. “I made the air move, using a formation.”

“You didn’t power it with any Qi,” Ryun commented.

“No need for such a small formation, it gets everything it needs from around us. More complicated ones on the other hand would require a power source. You see why I have little need to control Essence around us in the way that you are suggesting, I have no need for it, I have mastered another way. Still, I have experimented.”

He put the plate back inside his storage and the air stilled. Then he focused his will, reached out with his core and soul. The air started moving again slowly. But he let it go quickly, he wasn’t proficient in doing that for Essence other than the two that he possessed as Aspects.

“You used your willpower on it,” Ryun said.

“Partly,” Eratemus told him. “I am unsure how to explain it. In a way I marked it as if it was my own, and then commanded it to move.”

“I’ve tried that, I can only make it move to my core,” Ryun added.

Eratemus tilted his head. “As I said, there are different ways of accomplishing the same thing. My formations, Classers have arrays, Skill users their skills. I think that your issue is ignorance.”

Ryun blinked. “Ignorance?”

“You’ve been in the Infinite Realm a handful of years, you cannot rival the knowledge that people have spent centuries accumulating,” Eratemus told him. “Your eyes can see Essence? Look around, do you see the Air Essence around us?”

“Yes,” Ryun said.

“And is it only the Essence of Air?” Eratemus asked.

Ryun frowned. “No.”

“Of course not, there is the Essence of light coming in from those gemstones,” he pointed at the lamps. “The Essence of dust that floats around us, the Essence of heat, the Essence of sound, and a hundred others tiny Essences that we are giving off, that we are creating in the moment. When you are pulling Essence into your core, you are blanketing the area around you and pulling everything. Controlling just one type of Essence is a lot harder than that. You need to isolate it.”

“I am trying to target specific Essence,” Ryun said.

“But you are obviously not succeeding,” Eratemus said. “Your understanding of the Essence is lacking, how can you grab only what you want when you don’t understand what it is? What its rules are? And trying to command all of that mixed Essence together will never work. Each Essence has a different… temperament. You need to learn how to command them individually.”

“So, how do I do that?”

“I would suggest reaching out to the Seekers of Knowledge, once we return to the Core, if we return to the core. This is not a skill that you can master in the few months that we have left here, nor will it help in our fight. I would put this aside for now. And if we survive, make the time to learn, read what others had written on the topic of Essence.”

Ryun grimaced again. “I am not really a studying type.”

Eratemus shrugged. “Then find another way, this is the one that worked for me. But as with all things, I am sure that there are other ways of doing things.”

Eratemus saw him think that over, and then nod. “Thank you for your time.”

As Ryun walked out of the room, Eratemus thought back on something that Ryun mentioned, a forging of body and soul.

Zach was sitting in a large, dimly lit room, with his table illuminated by a gemstone lamp. All around him were shelves filled with books and scrolls. The Citadel’s library was extensive, covering dozens of floors. It was at least twice the size of the Warden’s library, and much more densely packed. His table was filled with open books and scrolls, as well as his own paper filled with notes.

The Empire held meticulous records of every threat they had encountered, and those that they had defeated. Zach was focusing only on the Ethereal Realm, and the denizens that they had encountered there. They had been exploring the Ethereal Realm that occupied the same area as their city for centuries, but they had unfortunately also been killing off any big threats.

Still, the Ethereal Realm has been never truly static, not even with an entire city here to anchor it. Parts of it would move, or change. Zach was looking for any clues regarding spirits, shades, or elementals that would suit his purpose. He had already spent two days reading, and he felt like he wasn’t getting anywhere. Any spirit that would be useful had either been a threat and was already dead, or it was peaceful. And Zach wasn’t about to kill a spirit that wasn’t a threat to anyone.

So, what Zach had turned his focus on was not the lists of spirits that the Empire had encountered, but rather reports from their scouting teams. He was looking for anything that might indicate a powerful spirit, even if they didn’t have a confirmation. Though he still felt like he was getting nowhere, especially since he only had himself and Naha to rely on. The Empire’s people were just too occupied to give him people to go through these reports.

And there were reports that dated hundreds of years ago, which mentioned powerful spirits, but then there would be no other mentions of them in the other reports. There were also reports of missing scout groups, and of others that returned with only a few survivors. He was hoping to find a spirit that wouldn’t be too strong for him and Naha to handle.

Zach was skimming through what seemed like thousands of reports when a few caught his attention. They were spread out across almost two hundred years, and the latest report was from only twenty years ago.

Each report spoke about survivors of a scouting group returning, usually only one or two with the rest of their team dead. In each case the survivors spoke of being ambushed, some spoke of seeing a spirit, while others mentioned a shade. The reports didn’t quite align perfectly with the data that they provided, but all agreed that air and light powers were used to attack their groups.

Now, with the discrepancies not even that was certain, some powers could resemble something else entirely to those who had no idea what they were seeing. And in high stress situations like that… He couldn’t trust the information fully. But one thing was certain; subsequent groups that were sent after it couldn’t even find the area that the survivors described. It seemed that the area was only found every few decades.

He read deeper, looking at any reports from groups that had been scouting the same area. In most of them the area they described was the same, a mountainous region filled with caves. It took Zach another two days to figure out that there were discrepancies in the reports. It was the small things that made him dig deeper. People mentioning paths through the mountains that the other groups didn’t. On the surface, it might not seem like much, but Zach knew the Ethereal Realm. It could change depending on a variety of factors, a path that was there one day might not be there the next.

Or the pass was being concealed by a powerful spirit.

It wasn’t much, but… He placed those reports to the top of the pile he had to the side.

“You found something?” Naha asked from the table across from his.

“Maybe,” Zach said. “Can you look for any reports on spirits and shades in this area of the Ethereal?”

He reached over with his hand, offering her a map.

She took it and looked it over. “Sure, you think that there is something powerful enough there?”

“There is something there for sure,” Zach said. “I just don’t know what.”

Naha nodded and stood, walking over to a shelf and started pulling down more scrolls.

The reason why he wanted her to look for reports on spirits and shades in that area was simple. Whatever was there could’ve been already documented, but not linked to the right reports. Or, if nothing else, seeing what kinds of spirits lived in that area would give him an idea of what to expect. Spirits in an area were all generally related, as far as their power was concerned. You wouldn’t be able to find fire and water spirits living in the same area of the Ethereal.

Learning about the lesser spirits found there could inform his decision, and tell him how to fight a stronger spirit. The Empire had many reports and recommendations on how best to fight certain kinds of spirits.

And Zach was going to take full advantage of it all.