Chapter 2. Water
Consciousness slowly returned, and I felt a slight tension in my body, but it wasn't unpleasant—more like the satisfying soreness after a good workout, when your muscles feel lighter and stronger.
Opening my eyes—or what served as them—I saw Wong watching me with concern. Right, I remembered the residual energy from the dark spirit entering my body.
I began assessing my condition. No thirst or other signs of succumbing to dark spirits, but plenty of other changes.
First, some of the lines wrapping my body had turned blue. Second, my energy density and quantity had increased significantly. My body had grown larger, more humanoid, with a head, arms, and legs forming. I might regain my human form as I level up. That's reassuring.
Diving deeper into myself, I saw my energy source—or sources. Beside the transparent sphere floated a blue energy orb, like water. So, this is the "elephant in the room." I hope adding a new element won't cause issues.
*Cough, cough*—Wong's light cough interrupted my thoughts.
I stopped examining myself and noticed him shifting nervously, waiting for my response.
"I'm fine, Wong. I still feel neutral," I assured the worried baboon.
"Guess I overreacted," he said with a relieved smile. "I sense water chi in you. You're anomalous even for this place, where strange things happen."
"I'm still figuring things out, as you know. I only recently became self-aware here," I said with a crooked smile. "Help me understand what happened."
As he knows, even in the spirit realm, there are laws upheld by the world itself. Wong has spoken with relatively sane dark spirits, who claim only about 25% of a defeated spirit's energy can be taken, and even less is absorbed. The rest is consumed by the world. What the world takes often lacks intent or emotion, safer for dark spirits. Many high-ranking dark spirits try to bypass this, but none have succeeded.