Chapter 57: Another World
She crossed her arms. "I meant: never tell anyone what your ability is."
"So it’s not about the spirit stone?" Matthew asked. She was talking about the stones, so he thought the rule was about it.
"No. The stone is just your fuel. But the rule—the one rule all Nexians follow—is this: never tell anyone what your ability is."
Matthew tilted his head slightly but didn’t speak. He waited.
"Every Nexian has a core," she explained. "We call it the Nexus Core. It’s like your spiritual engine. It’s unique to you. Your ability, your affinity, everything branches from it. That includes your class—Binder, Conduit, whatever. But the thing is, once someone knows what kind of core you have... they can target it."
She floated downward, stopping just in front of him. "Some Nexians, especially advanced ones, can extract energy straight from another person’s core as long as it’s compatible with theirs. They use it. Drain it. Hijack it. Sometimes it’s just temporary. Other times... it’s permanent."
Matthew stared at her.
"There’s a black market for cores," she continued. "Some people don’t just harvest spirit stones. They harvest Nexians. That’s why you don’t share your abilities or secrets. Not even with your allies. Because if someone figures out what your core does, it’s like handing them the blueprint to dismantle you."
He said nothing.
Instead, he stared at the stone in his hand again. Its glow pulsed faintly, the same as it had since he touched it. His fingers closed around it slowly, not to protect it, but to ground himself.
It wasn’t just about spirit stones. Or being able to see ghosts. That was surface-level stuff.