C176: What is Condensed Essence?
“Ehem.” Arnold coughed lightly, uncertain how to answer this unexpected question.
‘To begin with, where in the world did that come from?’
The question sounded like some cultivation nonsense that had been popular in Izzy’s past life.
“Y… yea, you could say that. Yes, right.” Arnold nodded reluctantly. He could have refused to answer outright, but that would likely create unwarranted distance and suspicion between them, so he decided to go along with the convenient excuse for the time being.
And what could he even say? ‘I’m a vessel of a Curse that can control the dead, residing within a mansion hidden deep in the forest, and you are going to die when the Rite happens?’
"I knew it! No wonder, junior, ya know so little about this place!" He looked around with wide eyes, surveying Arriet, Jack, and Florence, who stood in silent observation at a respectful distance. "So ya all originate from the same clan! A secluded clan that has only just completed their training on the mountain!"
“?”
Why did... Davis suddenly appeared so excited? The man's eyes flashed with enthusiasm, his hands trembling with liveliness.
"And this place constitutes yar first visit! I am frankly astonished ya have survived living inside that forest up to the mountain, junior. Most ordinary people do not even possess the courage to wander around the forest's edges for too long.”
"And I am equally surprised that you possess much knowledge of these matters.." Arnold joked back in an attempt to redirect the conversation.
Davis calmed his excited expression somewhat, assuming a more measured demeanor as he began his explanation.
"Ya must condense your essence to advance to the next stage. That’s the most basic principle of the basics." Davis said with gravity. “When yar essence becomes properly condensed, yar spirituality will increase as well.”
“Hmm.”
Inside Arnold's mind, Izzy tapped her chin rhythmically and descended deep into thought.
Listening to Davis's explanation, and seeking to make the abstract concepts more understandable, she created a chibi version of herself within the mindscape.
A small, adorable chibi blue Izzy, complete with a tiny flower perched upon her head in imitation of their Spiritual Manifestation skill. This miniature figure would serve as the representation of her soul, or her hypothetical Spirit Body.
According to Davis, everything alive possessed a Spirit Body. A plant, a tree, an animal, a bird, a living human... they all carried one within them.
What about Curses? She could not determine the answer. Even Davis himself did not know the answer to that question. It was not as though he had ever observed his own soul through some mystical means. He merely recited the terminology from secret textbooks he had studied long ago, secondhand knowledge at best.
Next, Izzy created a small vein, roughly the size of an earthworm, positioned inside the Spirizzy’s heart.
This would represent Essence, corresponding to the essence vein analogy Davis had just used in his explanation. For the purpose of this test, she designated it as the Entry Stage.
'With this, one can become a Stagefarer.'
The Entry Stage was the process of creating essence within one's body. The resulting essence color depended on what Path the Stagefarer walked. With this newly formed essence established, one could hold spirituality and use extraordinary abilities.
'As for condensed essence...'
Izzy controlled the tiny vein inside the Spirizzy's body and extended it. The extended portion bore a faded, more translucent coloration compared to the original essence section, marking it differently.
Condensing essence was the process of temporarily enlarging the essence vein inside the Spirit Body. With this temporarily enlarged section, a greater volume of spirituality could be stored within those expanded essence veins.
As for why she called it "temporary," the reasoning was twofold.
First, the extension portion was limited to a certain maximum capacity. One could only enlarge the essence to the maximum capacity allowed by their current Stage. If the Entry stage essence limit was 10, then the original part constituted 1, and the extended part could reach a maximum of 9 additional units. There was no exception.
If a Stagefarer wanted to enlarge their essence further, they needed to advance to the next Stage.
And when advancing, say, to the Apprentice stage, their essence would be rebuilt and reshaped from the foundations upward. The ritual temporarily unsealed their essence, exposing the raw, original essence core so that it could be re-forged together with the condensed essence at a higher density. It changed the very architecture of the essence vein, making it permanently larger than before.
Those condensed portions would then be forged into the true original essence, becoming a genuine permanent essence, along with a little additional increase granted by the advancement ritual. To illustrate: if the original essence of the Entry Stage was only 1, with a limit of 10, then the starting essence of the Apprentice Stage might already be 20, with a limit of 50.
This explained why even a fully-condensed Entry stage Stagefarer could never hope to defeat a newly-advanced Apprentice stage counterpart. The Apprentice possessed inherently greater spirituality reserves and wielded more abilities than the Entry Stage, rendering the gap insurmountable.
Izzy demonstrated this progression visually using her chibi Spirizzy within the theatre of her mind. The faint and translucent essence, representing the extended, condensed portion, through the advancement ritual and progression to the next stage, would transform into cleaner, more vibrant, livelier colors.
One’s maximum spirituality could be illustrated by the total length and capacity of the essence veins they possessed across all stages.
Spirituality was like blood, and the Spirit Body would continuously generate it within those essence veins. This spirituality would then be expended to cast their various abilities, consumed like fuel feeding a flame, and replenished through rest and the natural processes.
And the second reason Izzy called condensed essence only a temporary extension of one’s essence veins was—
"Condensed essence can be employed as a replacement for spirituality. When consuming the condensed essence, yar ability will exhibit strength far beyond normal. However—"
"You lose your progress when you spend it." Izzy spoke through Arnold's mouth, while remaining focused on the chibi Spirizzy dancing within the theatre.
Davis nodded.
“That’s correct, junior. Ya will lose the condensed essence ya spent, which means ya need to condense it again, a process that makes the journey toward the next Stage considerably longer. In addition, there are some side effects. It is analogous to forcefully drawing out yar own blood, and the body naturally rebels against such a violation.”
Condensed essence could serve as an emergency replacement for spirituality when reserves ran dry. Usually, a Stagefarer would have no choice but to use this desperate move when there was no remaining spirituality within their essence veins.
Once consumed, the condensed essence would vanish, forcing them to condense it all over again and considerably extending the time needed for advancement.
“Then, how do you condense your essence?”
"This..." Davis scratched his head. "I am uncertain, junior. We only learn that it will naturally increase over time, and the duration required to condense one’s essence depends on one's constitution. Some fortunate individuals need only a year, while less fortunate ones might take around ten years to accumulate the same amount.”
"Hmmm."
Davis continued.
"There did exist some rare people who knew the forbidden ritual to extract another's condensed essence, absorbing it as their own.
“But such rituals could only be legitimately performed when both parties gave their explicit consent to the exchange. Because the ritual itself was often dangerous, others usually employed it exclusively on newly deceased Stagefarers, harvesting from the recently dead what could serve the living.
“Still, the method remained unique and unethical by mainstream standards, so the technique was kept strictly secret among the underworld and has long since been lost to general knowledge."
"Boss Danz was one of the rare few who knew such a ritual. Yet..." Davis gripped his fist tightly, glaring at the fallen assassin's remains with bloodshot eyes. "That is why he earned his position as our boss.”
While Davis shook his head as if dismissing his vengeful thought, Izzy had a completely different idea.
'Unethical?'
A wild, outlaw Stagefarer spoke about ethics within the criminal underworld. What an irony.
"Hmm."
The fact that Danz knew how to perform such a ritual surprised Izzy.
In her mind, Danz had always seemed like a brute. A caring brute, perhaps, provided one managed to become one of his trusted allies.
Regardless, Izzy knew very little about Danz's history. Maybe his knowledge had something to do with his homeland.
As for why the man had not advanced, Davis was certain it had something to do with the advancement ritual.
"If only... if only he had advanced to the Silver Sky Stage... I am certain he could have..." Davis gritted his teeth, every word carrying deep pain.
Izzy ignored the grieving man's anguish and returned to her theatre.
In the meantime, Isa poked the translucent blue Chibizzy’s cheek. The Chibizzy's face contorted in discomfort; it growled, trying its best to dodge her finger.
“Chibizzy?”
“It’s her name!”
“No, it’s not. It’s Spirizzy.”
“Hmph! Izzy has no naming sense!”
Whatever. Izzy snatched the Spirizzy away from Isa, ignored the young mind, and sank deeper into her thoughts.
*pout pout*
All this talk about essence and condensed essence only applied to Stagefarers, those with Spirit Bodies and defined essence.
But what about Curses?