Chapter 54: Seed of obsession
"Go that way," Natalia said, and Asher nodded, pushing the wheelchair toward the more open street as they approached the teleportation zone.
"Um, Asher," she suddenly said, breaking the silence once again.
"Yeah?" he replied.
"That thing you did in that... illusionary world. How is it possible?" she asked.
It was an understandable question. The concept of using ether in the body started with a very special organ—the ether core. This core had another organ attached to it, from which ether valves spread throughout the body. The ether core itself was connected to the heart—for humans, at least—and it was from the heart that it generated the minimal initial energy to begin the process of absorbing and purifying atmospheric ether, which was naturally ’contaminated.’
Atmospheric ether was considered contaminated because when a person used their ability or cast a spell, they used the already refined version of ether in their body—ether unique to them. In other words, ether that possessed their signature. After use, this ether dispersed into the atmosphere, and since it still carried that person’s signature, it was considered ’contaminated’ since no one could use ether that wasn’t of their own signature.
Think of signatures like blood types—if someone was type A and another was type B, their blood wasn’t compatible. That was the theory behind ether signatures.
Nature itself purified this ether through trees, grasses, and various other methods, but even the purest form couldn’t be used by humans. Why? Because it still possessed a signature—that of nature itself.
So only ether matching a person’s signature could be used by that person.
The ether core’s job was to draw ether from the surroundings, process it, and convert it to the individual’s signature while removing impurities. That processed ether was then passed to the ether pool attached to the ether core. This pool stored all processed ether, and once an individual reached their full storage capacity, the ether core switched to passive mode—absorbing ether but not processing it, instead dispersing the absorbed ether back into the atmosphere. This was why an unawakened person could still absorb ether passively, though it meant nothing. It was just the ether core reacting to subtle pulses from the heart, which still provided the initial energy for full awakening.
Now, to the ether valves—the reason for her question. The valves connected to the ether pool transported ether throughout the body, and their size varied. This diameter depended on the size of the ether pool itself. A small ether pool meant small valves; a larger pool meant larger valves. These valves directly affected mana output, which influenced the potency of spells or abilities used.