Inner world

Gen then stood up and said, "I will always remember this year we spent together."

He then turned his back to the door to wait for the exit to open when he heard Dehji's voice speaking in his head, 'Thank you, Gen. It makes me very emotional to see how important I am to you.'

Hearing the voice, Gen said, "What was that? Did I start hearing voices?"

The voice then replied, 'What voices, Gen? I'm not hearing anything. It's pretty quiet in here, which explains some of your stupidity.'

Gen then said, "Dehji!? What are you doing in my head? Weren't you dead?"

'Who? Me?'

"Yes! I just saw you disappear in front of me."

'Oh, I was disappearing so I could enter your inner world.'

"My what?"

'Inner world, Gen. Don't you know what it is? Didn't you have an essence before? You've never come here?'

"Where? I don't know what you're talking about."

'I'll show you then, close your eyes.'

"Okay."

As Gen closed his eyes, he felt his consciousness being pulled somewhere inside his body, and when he awoke, he was facing Dehji in a place he had never seen before.

He then said, "What is this place?"

"This is your inner world, Gen."

Gen looked around and could only see an empty lot. There was nothing on the ground, not even grass. The only thing there was a small wooden house.

He then asked Dehji, "You said inner world. Do you mean that this is inside of me?"

"Exactly, Gen, it seems that you really don't know what it is. Let me explain it to you. The inner world is nothing more than the place where the essences you understand stay. Based on your understanding of new essences, that world will become more and more like the real world."

"In theory, if you can understand enough essences, it would be possible to make a new world, but of course, it's only a theory because there's no way for one person to understand all the essences of the world."

Gen then asked, "And what is it good for? Is it just a place for essences like you to live? Or does it have some special function?"

"As far as I know, Gen, it doesn't have any special function."

"I see, but you said that this is the place where the essences I master live. Then how come you are here, Dehji?"

"It's very simple, Gen. I am an essence."

"What?! You are an essence?"

"To be more specific, I am the consciousness of an essence."

Gen then began to think, 'Dehji is an essence? Essences can't have human forms ...'

He then widened his eyes and said, "If you really are an essence, maybe I've already come inside here."

"What do you mean, Gen?"

"It's easier if I show you. Did you find anything strange in here?"

"What do you mean strange?"

"I don't know, somewhere that's different from here."

"No, but I haven't explored the place yet either. I just walked around a bit."

"Hm, come with me then. Let's see if we find him."

"Find who?"

"My other essence."

"Ah, your spear essence."

"...", Gen then said nothing and moved on.

Gen then started walking towards the horizon, and upon seeing this, Dehji spoke, "What are you doing, Gen?"

"What do you mean? We need to go in some direction if we want to find something."

"Gen, I don't think you quite understand what I told you when you came in here. As the name 'inner world' says, this place here is a world, which means it's huge. If you were to go all over it looking for something, who knows how many years it would take."

Gen then asked, "What? Are you telling me that this place is the same size as the real world?"

"Almost that, its size is based on your perception of the world. If, for you, the world is huge, this place will also be huge."

"I don't have a formed image of the size of the world. What happens in that case?"

"I don't know."

"Well, then, how do we find my other essence?"

"Well, in theory, you have total control over this world, so all you have to do is want to go somewhere, and you'll get there instantly, but since you don't know where your essence is, we'll have to find it first."

"And how do we do that?"

"It's pretty easy. You just have to feel its presence."

"What do you mean feel her presence?"

"Well ... I'd better show you first. Close your eyes."

"Okay."

"Now imagine yourself using my essence."

"Okay."

Gen then began to imagine himself using the essence of the 'Endless', and then asked, "Now what?"

"Now keep imagining, and try to touch me. I'll be walking around you."

"How am I going to find you with my eyes closed?"

"Just try Gen."

Gen then focused and began to walk around, trying to find Dehji while continuing to imagine himself using his essence. After a few seconds of doing this, Gen started to get a strange feeling. It was as if something was calling him back to it.

Gen then started to walk towards it until he reached out and touched something with his hands.

Gen opened his eyes and then saw Dehji in front of him. Dehji then said, "Do you understand now?"

"Yes, I was feeling your presence. It was as if something was calling me in your direction."

"Yes, this is called resonance."

"When you use this, you begin to feel the essence you are imagining around you, even if it is not yours. The strength of that call is based on the level your essence is at."

Gen then said, "Got it, so that's how I will find my essence."

"Exactly."

"Ok, I'll try it then."

Gen then closed his eyes and began to imagine himself using his other essence.

After a while, he opened them and said, "There.", as he pointed in a direction and continued, "Now, how do I get there instantly as you said?"

"It's easy. Just think that you want to go there, and don't forget to take me with you."

"Ok."

Gen then looked in the direction he wanted to go and thought, 'I want to go there, together with Dehji.'

Right after thinking this, he and Dehji were teleported to the place he was looking at. Gen then said, "It really worked."

"Yes, I told you. In here, in theory, you control everything."

"Well, let me confirm the direction again."

Gen then closed his eyes and, after a while, said, "It's still in the same direction, and the strength of the call hasn't increased. It looks like we're pretty far away."

"Let's not waste time then. Teleport us to the next location."

"Yes."

Gen then continued teleporting along with Dehji for quite a while until they began to see something on the horizon, and then he said, "Looks like we're almost there."

"Finally."

Gen teleported them a few more times, and the two arrived at their destination.

When they arrived, the two looked around, and their eyes widened when they saw a massive structure that was covered by a black fog.

Gen then said, "A castle?"

"Yes, it seems that you are at a very advanced level in your spear essence."

"How so?", "Well, the house in which your essences live improves with each level you advance with them. What level is your spear essence at?"

"External as far as I can remember."

"That's impossible, Gen. My essence is also at the External level, and I live in a wooden hut. You must be at least at the Influence level for the home of this essence to be a castle, or you hate me and are making me live in that hut on purpose."

Dehji then looked at Gen with frowning eyes, and Gen said, "What? I didn't even know this place existed. How could I decide something like that?"

"True, its level must really be higher than you said, then."

"But I lost her almost four years ago. How is it possible that she has risen in level?"

"Gen, this is something normal. It's not only through training and the use of essence that it levels up. There are also other factors. For example, after you lost your essence, did you stop using your spear?"

"No, I kept using it, why?"

"So that's probably how you leveled it up. Four years is an okay time to level up once, even more so at the lower levels."

Gen then said, "I get it, but then why don't I feel like my essence is stronger?"

"Probably because you never had the time to practice with it after it leveled up."

"Hmm, that makes sense."

"Well, we've already talked too much. Let's go inside so I can see if there's anything I can do to help you."

"Okay, let's go then."

Gen and Dehji then headed towards the door and entered the castle.