[A/N: Replacing the Relationship Chart with clarification to the plot and other things.
Lea, Ingrid, Sabrina and Raize will be the ones available in this chapter. They will help you understand the progress thus far.]
________________________________________________________________________________
Ingrid: "So how do we start this thingy??"
Sabrina: "......."
Ingrid: "Don't use up space for your dots, sis~!"
Sabrina: "......................"
Ingrid: "Awwww---"
Raize: "Ignore them. I'll start."
Ingrid: "Wh---"
Lea: "I leave it to you, Raize."
Sabrina: "Hm."
Ingrid: "--at? ...."
Raize: "Why don't we do a Q&A?"
Lea: "Good idea. First question; can essences revive a person? It can be used to repair organic and inorganic things, but bringing the dead to life is..."
Raize: "If we recap, you pretty much revived Imhe in Chapter 99 to 100. How did you do it, Lea?"
Ingrid: "Thaaaat~? Is so simple!"
Lea: ".........."
Ingrid: "What?? You disagree????"
Sabrina: "........Idiot."
Ingrid: "....You are so mean to me, sis! I love you though. Idiocy is just a word!"
Lea: "Well then. If you can, please. Explain how to bring someone back to life."
Ingrid: "Ohhhh! Yes, yes! By---"
Sabrina: "A soul is the lifeline of every living organism. Such as humans, animals and beasts. Plants are the exceptions."
Ingrid: "--th..............."
Sabrina: "Essences can be manipulated to take hold or restrain a soul temporarily, but it requires humongous amount of essences to manage."
Ingrid: "Yes! And the soul must be put within a vessel right away before it becomes----"
Sabrina: "A soul that is not contained becomes part of the environment; the wind, air, ground, trees, everything."
Raize: "So when Lea brought Imhe back to life out of the goodness of her heart, she actually managed to restrain Imhe's soul as well as create a small vessel for it to be contained? I say that is truly a feat. I'm amazed of you as always, Lea."
Ingrid: "Ohhhhh. Look at that smile---"
Lea: "....U-uhmmn....."
Raize: "My turn. How are essences created? Ulla never mentioned what it was in the game, and it is unlikely that players are given a guidebook to its logic."
Sabrina: "What game? Guidebook?"
Ingrid: "Sis. They are food!"
Lea&Raize: "........"
Sabrina: "Something tells me you are wrong.... but not quite...."
Ingrid: "Kyaaaa!! You finally talked to meeee~!"
Sabrina: "........Essences... are.."
Ingrid: "Awwwwee~ Look at her blush!"
Raize: "Restrain yourself before we get caught in your crossfire. So. What are essences, and how are they created? One more thing, how did they come into existence?"
Ingrid: "Waaaan!! So many questions! Slow down, my man! But but, to answer what an essence is... th---"
Sabrina: "We, living Spirits have no idea what the essences truly are nor how they came about. What we do know, from what we learnt from years of living in this world is that essences are the essence of things."
Raize: "I don't understand. Could you elaborate?"
Sabrina: "..........."
Ingrid: "Sis.... you really are being difficult! If you are not gonna finish, you should not have started! Well then, let me----"
Lea: "Everything in this world are constructed and have evolved just like our world, Raize. The difference being that essences are the additional element to every existence that can be manipulated by thought.
When I met Illson, a kind man who resides in Solitario Isle, he told me whatever he could."
Raize: "I'm interested. Go on."
Ingrid: "That happened??!!!"
Lea: "....Oh Ingrid... Back to the topic.
Illson provided me of a brief history on how living Spirits and beasts came into existence."
Raize: "So there weren't any beast at first then. What are Spirits exactly?"
Lea: "It would be best for you to answer that Sabrina. So please."
Ingrid: "What?? What about me? Are you just gonna ke---"
Sabrina: "Fine. Spirits are existences much like essences. It would not be false to assume they are essences themselves, but with will. But even if it is assumed, they have a population and they also posses a soul within, but not a core."
Lea: "Is that why the humans before only could capture the Spirits' soul?"
Sabrina: "Yes."
Raize: "Capture? How?"
Ingrid: "...*Sobs*......."
Sabrina: "A jewel made of an unknown stone can be used to zap a Spirit's soul into it."
Lea: "........."
Raize: "How ominous. That easy?"
Sabrina: "Unfortunately."
Lea: ".... So that's how they were able to process massive amounts of experiments, causing animals to die off by the hands of beasts."
Sabrina: "You've understood it very well."
Ingrid: "So your organization made my home an experimental lab???"
Sabrina: "......I did not know the consequences."
Ingrid: "...Sis...."
Sabrina: ".............."
Raize: "Why can essences be manipulated by thought?"
Lea: "I believe it has to do with connection. We move our body with our brain. We have different types of nerves for different actions, thought process and emotions.
Essences tend to be attracted to our mind, making it possible for us to manipulate them and even force them into our cores. And the higher the intelligence, the easier it is to manipulate and absorb essences as compared to things or beings without or less. Thus beasts and humans that have less knowledge or intellect do not bode well with essence at all."
Raize: "That is another term I would like to be clarified on— what are the cores? Last I checked, I'm just an ordinary human."
Lea: "Ingrid?"
Ingrid: "........."
Lea: "If you don't join in, I'm not gonna piece together your soul."
Sabrina: "Just do that."
Ingrid: "*Sobs*..... Fine... You are the devil, I tell you!!"
Sabrina: "Tsk!"
Lea: "I agree. Now, come on."
Ingrid: "Hmmm.... Cores, cores. Ah!"
Lea: "........."
Ingrid: "It is a storage for essences."
Lea: "We know that already. So how come Raize and the others have them?"
Raize: "You too. Pfft."
Lea: "Ah, right. Thanks."
Raize: "Hm."
Ingrid: "....You two... What's with the awkwardness??!!"
Lea&Raize: "Just get on with it."
Sabrina: "Pfft..."
Ingrid: "....Rude, rude! But fine, since I have a benevo---"
Sabrina: "Essences need to be stored somewhere. Naturally, when someone has great potential to manipulate the essences, the essences themselves seem to create their own place within you."
Ingrid: "--lent......."
Lea: "That kinda works. But I guess that will do for now."
Raize: "Right. So people who are aware of essences are not always proficient at it. Does intelligence play a role in this?"
Sabrina: "I'm liking your critical questions more now. Yes, it does."
Lea: "The same goes with experience, yes?"
Sabrina: "Right. Crudely explained, when essences are stored within your cores, they are easily accessible by your will. If you have a strong motivation, you can easily manipulate the essences as you see fit.
And if you lack the imagination or knowledge, you will obviously fail.
The more experience you amass in life, the stronger your core become, and the more essences seem to be absorbed."
Lea: "But you don't exactly know why that is?"
Ingrid: "Its because of... ding ding! Mental age."
Lea: "Huh?"
Sabrina: "You really are no good.... What she means is that, essences will more likely latch unto you the more you've seen of the world. Love, cruelties, pain, beauty, ugliness, injustice, justice, etc.
Exactly why the more you know, the easier it is to manipulate or absorb essences as well. This explains why you two are excellent at it from the start."
Raize: "Well, thanks. That explains a whole lot of things."
Lea: "As long as the mind understands the mechanics of things, the easier they are to manipulate, materialize or summon..."
Ingrid: "You talk in riddles too!!"
Lea: "Next question. Why are there certain beasts that have horns?"
Raize: "Ah...."
Ingrid: "That! I can answer... He he he."
Sabrina: ".....Don't wait for me... Go on."
Ingrid: "*Gasp* O-okay! Well, horns are commonly depicted as strength, but really, it works like antennas.
The more mindless and strong an organism is, the sturdier their horns are. The size and length may vary, but the more one have, the more powerful they are. And the less stable their mentality is."
Lea: "So... since Imhe currently has three horns, she is unstable?"
Ingrid: "I cannot say... I will have to see her, my dear."
Lea: "But you ju---"
Ingrid: "Hushh shhhhh.... The baby's sleeping."
Sabrina&Lea&Raize: "............"
Raize: "....So a war really happened before?"
Ingrid: "Yea, but more of that will---"
Sabrina: "No spoiler."
Ingrid: "Right~"
Lea: "Then what about what we found out in Escarcha?"
Ingrid: "Dear, that was just scraping the surface!"
Lea: "I cannot believe it. No, I refuse to believe so! The King of Wern lost against Sabrina's Apostles, did they not? That was the Great War."
Sabrina: "Not quite."
Lea: "What do you mean...?"
Sabrina: "It is true we had a bout, but that is not how the Great War happened."
Lea: "Ingrid?"
Ingrid: "Not the time~ Find me first!"
Lea: "............"
Ingrid: "Don't burn me with your gaze! Not my fault~!"
Lea: "Sisters alike......"
Raize: "Another question. I understand that the continents were divided for so long and that each of them have their own number of nations.
But I've noticed that Ingrid is seriously lacking of education and any sort of advancement. They appear stuck in medieval times, or Northern Wei dynasty.
Why is that?"
Ingrid: "Uhhh..... well....."
Sabrina: ".....After the Great War, the continent was divided. But the pillar of knowledge was thrown to what is now called Sabrina continent. That pillar was the organization I was in."
Lea: "So they were keeping all the important facts and information?"
Sabrina: "Yes."
Lea: "....I have a feeling they never would have shared anything for the sake of their experiments..."
Sabrina: "......"
Ingrid: "It is not only their fault... Originally, the people in the East did not care about education at all. The land was and still is, divided by tribes and nations."
Lea: "But Mingzhe Dei and Sabio have pretty good books...."
Raize: "Agreed. The latter has a University too."
Lea: "Hm..."
Ingrid: "Really??!!! I wanna go to one~"
Lea: "School huh."
Raize: "Do you want to go too, Lea?"
Lea: "With everyone else? It might not be too bad."
Ingrid: "........."
Lea: "What?"
Ingrid: "....Are you hoping for a murder case...???"
Raize: "......Eh."
Ingrid: "Especially you!!!"
Lea: "...That.."
Sabrina: "..is complicated. Indeed."
[A/N: Alright. Intermission.
Thank you everyone for reading and supporting this book! Your comments and thoughts matter so much, as they serve as my fuel.
If you have any questions, feel free to drop them anywhere and I shall be sure to collect them and provide you with a suitable response!
I do hope some things got cleared up. If not, I'll always be willing to provide you with a continuation. With a different set of characters. Of course not all of them will be ignorant, otherwise, they might just end up chasing one another or eat one another out of boredom.
I hope it has been entertaining thus far!
Hint: "The first reveal of their common enemy is not far from this point."
Happy reading! |Hugs|