Chapter 110: A source of power

Apis sat back in his chair and fell silent for a good while, tapping his fingers on the desk as a frown was slowly forming on his face.

“Why are you telling me this?”

Edward canceled his spell and sent Azure back into his soul space before saying: “Because in Ashes, everyone’s strength is based on contracts with the tree god and no one has explored any other ways to gain strength, but not here.”

“Considering your love for beast taming in the city and the fact that there are barely any mages or other classes living in here, it’s safe to assume that there is no root passing by Oasis.”

“You’ve been forced to look for other ways to gain strength, so my chances of finding a clue on how to create a source would be here. There must also be quite a few beasts that took human form and can talk. Minx is still young and doesn’t know how her core works, but there must be beasts here that understand a lot more about it.”

“Am I right, Apis?”

Apis fell silent again before nodding with a sigh.

“There are, and if you came looking for me, you must know of my core.” Sitting up from behind the desk, he walked towards a room in the back and said: “Follow me.”

Edward nodded and followed him. Violet and Minx did the same.

The door led to a small corridor. Once the corridor ended, they stepped into a large room filled with cores placed on displays. Edward looked around and could feel the high mana concentration inside.

Apis walked up to one display and opened it to pick up a small, round blue core. He turned around and showed it to Edward while saying nothing.

Edward came closer and looked at the unknown core, but he couldn’t understand why Apis was showing it to him right away.

“This core was created by a demi-human.” Said Apis once he noticed Edward’s expression. “All of them were created by demi-humans. I just showed you this one since it matched the element you showed me.”

Edward’s eyes opened wide as he asked: “Can demi-humans form cores?”

“Yes, and no.” Replied Apis. “They can form them, but there’s no way of keeping them inside their bodies. Some of them had died while others simply amputated the place where the core was formed.”

Edward nodded in understanding and looked up at Apis’s face.

“What about you? You still have yours, don’t you?”

Apis smiled wryly and removed a part of his top. Edward could see black veins extending from the right side of his chest towards the rest of his body. His veins were swollen and the skin next to them looked dried up like it was about to fall off at any moment.

“As you can see, I somehow lived, but I’m still slowly dying. That bastard of a father of mine wants to kill me even in death.” Said Apis with a sigh as he covered his body again.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”, said Seth.

“I didn’t show you this to gain your pity. I wanted you to know what would happen if that thing you showed me didn’t work. The energy would slowly corrupt your body, killing you from the inside.”

Edward frowned and then latched out on something Apis said.

Looking at him with excitement, Edward asked: “Energy? Not mana?”

“That’s what all the humanoid beasts called it. I know you mages call it mana, but they refer to it as energy, even if it’s the same.”

“The cores are formed of energy taken from all around us. The energy is gathered into their body and concentrated as a core. I don’t have all the answers, since I’m not a beast myself, but my companion should be able to answer some of your questions.”

“Your companion?” asked Edward, “Can you let us meet him?”

Apis smiled and said: “She. I can, but I already showed you too much good faith. What do I have to gain by doing that?”

Edward didn’t mind the bartering attempt and nodded. “What do you need?”

“If you successfully find a way for humans and demi-humans to gain strength, I need you to share it with me and Oasis.”

Edward pondered the implications that would have, but realized there was nothing for him to lose. All it would do was piss off Yggdrasil even more. As for what that would mean for the City of Ashes, that was not his problem.

“It’s a deal.” Replied Edward as he extended one hand towards Apis.

Apis took his hand, and they shook on it before he said: “Come. I’ll take you to see Storm.”

They walked out of the building before heading towards a courtyard in the back. Stepping through its gate, Edward was surprised to find a giant bird sleeping peacefully next to a small pond.

The bird opened its eyes and looked at the new arrivals before fixing them on Apis. “Strange of you to walk out of the hall. Did anything happen?”

Apis smiled wryly as he came close to the beast’s head and said: “Indeed it has Storm. I have someone I wanted you to meet and maybe even help.”

Storm looked at the other three arrivals before asking: “Are these two girls the ones whose names I keep hearing from the others?”

“Yes, they are Violet and Minx.” Introduced Apis, at which the girls bowed towards the bird.

Storm then fixed its eyes on Edward and its voice became quite uncertain as it asked: “Why do you feel like a beast and human at the same time? There’s also something else inside you. Something… unclean and savage.”

Edward raised an eyebrow and bowed as well. “My name is Edward Black and…”

“Oh, I know who you are now.” Interrupted Storm before looking at Apis. “Why did you bring him here?”

Apis looked towards Edward for him to explain, and Edward did just that.

Storm fell silent for a moment once the story was done and understood Apis’ thoughts somewhat. Looking at him, she said:” Step back.”

Apis did as he was told, and a peaceful wind started drifting through the courtyard. Storm’s giant body started disappearing slowly until all that was left was a middle-aged woman surrounded by gentle winds. She looked completely human, having no trait of a beast in human form.

A feathery dress covered her body as she slowly walked toward Edward. Storm said nothing as she lifted a hand in front of him.

Her hand slowly dissipated into air and all that was left was a small core revolving in mid-air.

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“This is my rank 8 air core. My accumulation of thousands of years.”

“Rank 8? Thousand years?”

Storm nodded and looked at Minx next: “Her source is in the seventh rank, but it must be extremely impure to reach that level while still so young. That’s what happens when you gain strength by devouring cores of other elements different from your own.”

Seeing that Edward still looked confused, Storm pulled her hand back, and the air started drifting around her.

A transparent, human-sized core took form in midair. It was not a real core, but a construct made of air energy. The core was composed of nine smaller ones stuck inside each other.

“This is what a rank 1 core looks like. It has nine layers and energy is stored inside the central layer. As you gain more energy, you break through subsequent layers and increase the amount of energy you can store and use.”

“I broke eight of those layers and I only need to break one more before I reach the peak, the last layer. Since my core was an air one, once I reached the seventh layer, I could see through it and noticed that the inside was full of different energies.”

“Since I can only use air, I slowly removed them all and only remained with pure air before slowly filling it back up and breaking into the eighth rank. The process took me thousands of years. I don’t know if this will help you, but it’s the only information I have.”

Edward sighed and asked out loud: “Fenrir, the sources don’t have layers, do they? I never saw one on Azure or yours.”

[They do not, but we are already at the ninth rank. Azure said that there are lower spirits whose sources are split into layers, the same way a core is. The layers are formed around the energy vortex and will restrict its growth.]

Edward ignored the surprised looks of Storm and Apis, continuing to discuss with Fenrir.

“Nine of them?”

[She doesn’t know, but probably so, since they appear to function in the same way.]

Nodding, Edward looked up at Storm and Apis before asking: “You said all those cores are made by demi-humans. How do they create them?”

Storm canceled the projection and said: “You need to slowly feel the energy you want to form a core for and absorb it inside your body. Once you gathered enough energy, shape it slowly into a core.”

“But how do I feel the energy?…” asked Edward, that being his biggest problem right now.

“We demi-humans can feel the energy with relative ease, but for humans, I do not know.”

Edward sighed and nodded. He hit a wall again, but this meant Violet should be able to feel the energy she had an affinity to. Turning towards her, he asked: “Have you ever felt any energy around you, Violet?”

Violet smiled wryly and shook her head. “I don’t even know what I’m supposed to feel…”

Storm turned towards her and said: “Your affinity doesn’t lie with air. Try to get close to other elements and see if you can feel something. It’s akin to a calling, a comfortable calling from a dear friend. You will understand right away.”

Violet tried to remember if she ever felt that way, but nothing came to mind.

Edward remembered her affinity test at the guild and frowned. Looking at Storm, he asked: “Are there other affinities besides fire, water, earth, and air?”

He knew there was chaos as well, but Fenrir would have felt a chaos affinity. There was also space, but he didn’t know how to identify it.

Storm thought for a moment before shaking her head. “I don’t know. There probably are, but I have no clue about them. We, magic beasts, are only born with one of the affinities you mentioned before.”

After asking a few more questions and not getting other answers, Edward thanked the two and assured Apis that he would share with Oasis if he were to find anything out before taking his leave with the girls.

Storm turned towards Apis once they were gone and said: “Why are you helping that kid? You know who he is.”

Apis smiled wryly and grabbed Storm’s hand before saying: “Is it wrong for this old man to cling onto the hope of survival? This might give me a chance to spend more time with you.”

Storm sighed and lowered her head before saying: “You should go back inside. Being so close to the earth and me would only hurt you.”

“Just a few minutes more.” Replied Apis while squeezing Storm’s hand.

Back inside Violet’s house, Edward was going over everything he had learned with Fenrir. Violet and Minx were also listening from the side, but could not provide any useful input, most of the conversation flying right above their heads.

Edward pulled the core he had received from that unknown god and looked at it while muttering: “If humans, demi-humans, demi-gods, and spirits use sources, while beasts use cores, why did he give me a core? It makes no sense.”

[Maybe humans can also form cores but we missed something?]

“It shouldn’t be. You saw what creating a core or even using one does to demi-humans. Since their beast part allows them to use one, it must be the human part that rejects it. You said you can feel chaos energy coming from inside it, can’t you?”

[Indeed. There is an outrageous amount of pure chaos inside.]

“Then why can’t I feel it? Fusing with your soul gave me a chaos affinity, but even with all this chaos energy in front of my eyes, I can’t feel a thing.”

After pondering about it for a long time, he pulled out his status tablet with a frown.

“Fenrir, what if Yggdrasil also blocks out the ability to feel the energies around when we sign the contract?”

Fenrir fell silent for a moment before saying: [… It would make sense, sort of, but you can’t be thinking of breaking the contract.]

“What would happen if I do?”

[I don’t know, but it’s too risky. Not even considering what would happen with all the life force that tablet provides your body with, there’s still the wolf. Once you lose Yggdrasil’s protection and strength, you will have to sleep every night.]

Edward sighed and absorbed both the core and tablet inside his soul as he pulled Violet into his arms. He said nothing, but his mind was already decided and Fenrir knew it.

After spending some time with Violet, he will do it. If it were successful, it would mean a chance for Violet to gain the strength to follow him forward. It would also give him a way to fight Yggdrasil and the curse.

‘I’ve relied on both Fenrir’s and Yggdrasil’s strength for far too long…’

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