PSTH: Chapter Thirteen

The question ‘are essence hearts sapient, or just sentient with weird abilities to connect to primals and people’, is a difficult one that’s been debated among philosophers – both armchair and full researchers? Nah. Let me be very clear. That’s a bunch of nonsense. I don’t care how many people like to give out anecdotes of essence hearts acting strange, or attempting to use the Primals they command to communicate pain. They’re just really complex biological machines. Before you even say that’s all that humans are, no, we aren’t. You’re just wrong!

-

Start of a thirty paragraph long argument between users on a forum dedicated to casual home baking, shortly before the exchange was archived and removed, 449 Modern-Era

-

Normally, Hex had to be conservative with the Shadow Cloud spell. It cost a lot of anima to maintain, though it did make for a very dramatic entrance to a fight, and could be used to make some subtle movements inside of a smaller cloud in order to dodge attacks. 

With the power stored in the anima reserves, she was able to maintain it longer than she ever had before. We shaped it into new forms, worked to create thin screens of the shadowy cloud, to condense it in specific regions while leaving others untouched, and spun it into specific shapes. 

When the part of her spirit that contained that particular core spell started to feel sore, we moved onto casting Shade Bites like wild, bounding from spot to spot and letting the magic flow through her. Despite the name, she was capable of channeling it through her claws as well as her teeth, and we worked to concentrate it into one claw at a time, or to unleash the largest attack possible with the pattern of the shade anima spell.

Her spirit was a blend of shade and toxin, so the powerful influx of anima was slowly converted into toxin anima as well, and once her Shade Bite pattern was getting sore from the training, we moved onto the Weakening Smog spell. It was normally a high cost, single use spell. Much like the Paralyzing Spores spell, it sank into the pneuma shell of an opponent, lingering until the shell was dismissed and re-summoned, which would lose the fight. 

Unlike Paralyzing Spores, the effect of Weakening Smog was a lot simpler. It reduced the effectiveness of pneuma dedicated to physical power, reducing the effectiveness of physical blows and attacks that relied more on using muscular force as a delivery for a smaller amount of magical power – like Shade Bite or Frosted Bite. 

We experimented with the smog spell, trying to spread it out in a wider area, concentrate it into a stronger form, and more. These experiments were a lot less successful than the shaping of the Shadow Cloud were, since Shade Cloud was built to rely more on anima manipulation than Weakening Smog, but we still drained a good bit of power. 

Once that part of her spirit was also feeling sore, we stopped to take a break. There was a temptation, when training, to cycle back to the start. After all, the Shade Cloud spell didn’t feel strained anymore. Surely it had to be good to train with again. 

Except that was a lie. Essence was, in many ways, like a muscle. When training a spell, you could push it until it started to burn, then back off. But like lifting weights, just because the burn was gone, it didn’t mean that it was safe to go back to lifting in the same position. You had to let your muscle, or in this case spirit, rest. 

Failing to rest meant that not only would you likely wind up losing the gains that you’d made, but you might actually wind up hurting yourself. The endless grind of constantly working with no stop to rest was the sort of idea that had crippled countless people’s cultivation, and I had no plans to do that to me or to any of my primals. 

Thus, we rested. We took a brief nap, and River took over draining the battery with the Convert Anima spell. It was much less efficient than having Hex drain it was, but every little bit helped. After our nap, River teleported everyone up, and we left to set up a camp site on the lawn of the mansion. I cooked us some food, using the trail rations, and as everyone relaxed, I felt a tiny trickle of essence start to flow into my spirit. 

Unlike the essence that came from a fight, this wasn’t a single deluge of power entering my spirit all at once. The power that came from training was a slow, steady stream, one that was almost impossible to notice unless you were looking for it. Despite that, it was steady, and one of the most reliable ways to increase your power. It wasn’t strictly better than cycling was, but it was reliant on the person, rather than ambient essence levels. 

That evening, I went up to Vince with a sheepish look in my eye, and he grinned, as if he knew what I was going to ask. Come to think of it, there was probably a good chance he did know what I was going to ask, given his fame. As I was working up the courage, he spared me from needing to ask. 

“You want a picture, Aiden?” 

“Yeah. Sorry, I know it’s probably something you get asked all the time, and if you don’t want to–” 

“It’s fine, I promise,” Vince said, shaking his head and grinning in an attempt to suppress some laughter. “If I wanted to avoid attention, I would have kept my battles in an anonymous mode, wouldn’t ever have opened up for donations, and definitely wouldn’t have become a Regent.” 

He plucked the augpad I was awkwardly holding and held it up, then we took a couple of pictures. The entire thing felt unbearably awkward to me, especially some of the supposedly relaxed poses that Vince told me to take, but I supposed he was the expert. 

Pictures in hand, I boosted the signal of my augpad to connect to the global net again, and sent a message to my mom, explaining that we’d run into a snag on the island and would be a couple of days, and sending the picture to Rane. 

The next order of business I had was to hand over the essence stone I’d found to Hex, who picked it up with her teeth and scampered around with it, like a cat holding a toy. After a bit of dashing wildly around the camp, the stone vanished and she integrated the essence into her.

The next morning, we started the process all over again, burning through the stores of anima. Scales got in on the training this time, battling against Hex in order to help bring both of their skills to the next level. He didn’t have the benefit of a vast reserve of anima to draw on, but with his reserves no longer taxed from taking a three story fall, he was able to put up a solid fight. After all, massive reserves only mattered if you could unleash all of them, and Hex’s spells were still fairly simple. She had more endurance in the magical front, but her pneuma wasn’t nearly as tough as Scales’ was, even discounting the level gap. She was faster, but much more of her power was focused on magic than physical power.

Laurel approached me after Scales tired out, Ella floating in the air behind her, while Zaza curled around her shoulder as usual. 

“Would you mind if we trained against you? I’ve never fought a Felimalio before, let alone one in such a strange position.” 

“Of course!” I agreed. The battles between Hex and Laruel’s Primals were interesting in their own right. Zaza was even faster than Hex was, and also hit harder, while having access to more potent magic. That was dangerous, true, but Hex was a support and debuffing Primal, and when we leaned into that, things evened out a bit. If Hex managed to envelop Zaza in shadows and slowly weaken the Serest before Zaza could take her out, Hex was able to pull out a win, while if Zaza could get some solid hits in quickly, it went to the serpentine Primal. 

Ella the Procella on the other hand was an entirely different situation. The living storm floated around in the air, forcing Hex to leap for attacks and project out her Shade Bite in thin blades. Without the flight spell, the Procella wasn’t nimble or fast in the air to me, but it was still an advantage. The Procella’s attacks weren’t especially powerful, as she didn’t have access to any particularly potent spells yet, but she was able to pepper Hex with them at range. If Hex couldn’t close the gap and cut the storm Primal down, then she couldn’t win. If Hex could, then Ella rarely lasted more than a few cuts. 

For the next two days we did nothing but train with the stored anima, relax, eat, and sleep. On the second day, River snapped. 

“Mystic jewels!”

I looked up and my eyes widened. I’d gotten so caught up in the excitement of finding the egg, the horror of what had been done to the essence heart, and the work of training, that the mystic jewels had completely slipped my mind. I was glad that I wasn’t the only one, though, as Laurel’s eyes went wide. 

“Mystic jewels!” she repeated. 

River spun and raised his hands. This close to the formation left by the long-dead Obsidian King, his spells only lasted an instant, but it was enough. With the same towels that I’d used to go through the slop that had once been the box containing the egg, River reached in and withdrew four glowing stones. They were rough and jagged, and they matched the four unknown stones that I’d seen in the picture, which caused me to frown. 

“Those are mystic jewels? They don’t look anything like the ones I’ve seen online.”

“They haven’t been broken open yet, but they’re definitely mystic jewels,” River said, turning them over in his hand. “Heart’s truth, we’re lucky to find them.” 

“We absolutely are!” Laurel said. “Four. Do you want a second one, Vince, or should we put it up for sale?” 

“If you don’t mind, I’ll donate it to the Tamer’s Consortium, and put it up as the prize for a local tournament. I think there’s supposed to be a mid-sized one in Tourmaline City in a few months that a lot of up and coming tamers are going to. Mystic jewels make great prizes.” 

There were no objections, so River tossed one to me, another to Vince, and passed the third to Laurel. I looked around, awkwardly clearing my throat. 

“I, uh. How do we break it open?” 

In response, River lifted the jagged glowing rock and smashed it against the ground as hard as he could. Three smashes later, and the rock shattered, revealing the mystic jewel as I knew them. The jewel was teardrop shaped, and slightly blue-ish, with streaks of pink, green, yellow, and virtually every other color. It shifted as the light caught it, and as River turned it over in his hands. He let out a soft whistle, then shook his head and grinned. 

Laurel and I both lifted our rocks and did the same. A few good hits later, my rock cracked apart, revealing the softly glowing mystic jewel within. I rolled it between my fingers, then stowed it as securely as I could in my pack, not wanting to risk losing the rare natural treasure. Then I looked up at Vince, who was watching us with a look of amusement. 

“Do you have any advice on activating it?” I asked. The older tamer let out a hum, then shifted his head back and forth. 

“For River, not really. I’m not a magian. Other than the fact that most people don’t have enough essence to activate the stones until their Primals are around level forty? The best way I’ve found to use them is to follow the Bond Primal link to my Primals and then to be in tune with what the Primal wants. It requires a deep, genuine connection to that Primal. That’s one of the reasons that so many of the heroes who slew Obsidian Kings were able to use them, while most Obsidian Kings couldn’t. If you’re only concerned about yourself, greed, and power, you’re not going to be able to tap into their magic. Become one with your Primal, and you can amplify them with the jewel.” 

“There’s a similar consensus in most of the magian forums I’m on,” River said. “Instead of resonating with a Primal, you’re supposed to resonate with yourself and others. Only when you’re acting in line with what you want, and for the good of others, can you upgrade your spells.”

I made careful mental notes of that, and despite knowing that I wouldn’t have enough essence, tried to reach into the jewel for power a handful of times with Scales. Nothing happened, naturally, but it was fun to try. Unlike with overtraining, there wasn’t any real risk to attempting to activate something you couldn’t, at least not in most cases, so all it really cost me was a bit of time. Given the spikes of anima I felt coming off of Laurel and River, I was certain that they were also trying to activate the jewels. 

With the digression of locating and opening the mystic jewels completed, Hex, Scales, and I settled down and returned to training and draining the anima reserve. It took us another full day, but eventually River declared that the reserve had reached low enough levels that he was comfortable breaking the spells holding the essence heart in check.