Are you hiding something?

Gen and Raja went down the trapdoor, and when they arrived at the floor, Raja said, "Gen, isn't there a torch here or something? I can't see anything."

And Gen said, "Wait a minute, we'll get some light soon.", and after a few seconds passed, some lights appeared, illuminating the place.

Raja then looked around and asked, "What are those lights?"

And Gen said, "I don't know either. They were already with the house when I first rented it."

Dehji then said, in Gen's head, 'They are light sources.'

And Gen asked, 'Light sources?'

'Yes, they are made of essence stones and are imbued with the essence of light.'

'What is an essence stone?'

'They are special stones that absorb essences, and after absorbing a certain amount, they replicate it.'

'I've never heard of this stone. It must be hard to find, right?'

'Not really, since you don't find them, you produce them.'

'They are produced?'

'Yes, they are made by people who have essences related to stones. The process is very simple, they take the essence that was previously in a rock, and voila, you have an essence stone.'

'Interesting, and you said essence of light? If I'm not mistaken, that's a difficult essence to understand, right? Considering the stones and the essence used, I imagine these light sources must be worth quite a bit of money.'

'Maybe today they have a high value, but back in the time of the empire, they were quite common, to the point that every house had a few of them, and even the streets had a few too.'

'Really? Were they that common?'

'Yes.'

'Why don't we use them anywhere nowadays?'

'It's very simple, Gen. You don't have people today who can supply the raw materials. At the time of the empire, there were many awakened people with essences related to stones who lived in the desert, and there was a place east of the desert called the Temple of Light. There were thousands of people there who only focused on understanding the essence of light, so it was quite easy to find awakened people with the essence of light to imbue the stones.'

'Temple of light? I've never heard of this place.'

'That's to be expected. Even the empire has ceased to exist with all this time that has passed. It is quite likely that the temple has also disappeared with time.'

'That really makes sense.'

Gen then looked at the light source and caught a glimpse of Raja looking at him.

He then asked, "What is it, Raja?"

And Raja said, "Nothing, I was just waiting for you to finish talking to your essence."

"How do you know I was talking to it?"

"I don't know, Gen. Maybe it was male intuition, or who knows, maybe it's the fact that you get a blank stare and don't respond to anyone when they call you."

"Is it that obvious?"

"Yes."

"Hmm, I have to work on this."

"True, but will you tell me what you were talking to your essence about? Or is it something private?"

"Not really. My essence was telling me that these lights that appeared are called light sources."

"Light sources?"

"Yeah, they are made ...", and then Gen told Raja everything he had heard from Dehji.

Raja then said, "Interesting. Temple of Light is a nice name. I didn't know that a force of this level ever existed here."

And Gen said, "It really is impressive."

"Based on what you said, they must have had some awakened ones with the essence of light. They must have been pretty strong in their day."

Dehji then said, 'They were a little above average.'

And Gen said, "Dehji said they were above average."

"I see, but who is Dehji?"

"Oh, I forgot you don't know his name. Dehji is the name of my essence of the endless."

"You named your essence?"

"No, when I understood Dehji's essence, it already had a name. So I didn't have to name it like the other two."

"Do all your essences have a name, Gen?"

"Yes, why?"

"Why name them? In the case of Dehji, which is an essence with consciousness, I can understand it having a name, but why name the others?"

"Raja, what are you talking about? All my essences have consciousness. If they don't have a name, how can I talk to them?"

"What?! Do all your essences have consciousness?"

"Yes, yours don't?"

"No, it is very rare for an essence to have consciousness."

'Is this true, Dehji?'

'Yes, most essences don't have a consciousness.'

'Then why do all of mine have consciousness?'

'How would I know? If I had to guess, I'd say it's because you're weird.'

'Hey Dehji!'

'But it's true, nothing makes sense around you.'

Raja then said, "Damn, Gen, it's always one surprise after another with you around. Nothing I know applies to you. It's weird."

And Gen said, "Easy there, Raja, saying nothing is too much."

"Well, there's the fact that you have three essences when, in theory, you can only have one."

"Yeah, you're right about that, but that just makes me a little off the mark."

"There is also the fact that you have reached the level of Half King, which I didn't even know existed."

"I wasn't expecting that either. It was just a coincidence."

"And to close, for now, all your essences have a consciousness. Is there something else I don't know? Because the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if you told me that you have some special lineage or that you were someone powerful who reincarnated."

"Where did you get that from Raja? You're exaggerating a lot. I didn't know that any of the things you said about me were special."

"And since when does that change anything? Don't try to change the subject. Are you still hiding something?"

Dehji then said, 'I agree with Raja, Gen. Everything around you is very strange. Do you have some secret that I don't know about?'

And Gen said, "Pay attention. Of course, I have secrets. Everybody has secrets. If I could talk about them, I would, but right now, because of the situation my brother is in, I can't talk about it, and besides, you won't tell me that you don't have any secrets, will you, Raja?"

Raja then said, "Hahaha, very clever of you, Gen. The old tactic of returning the question asked to avoid answering it. Used daily by women all over the world. It really is a mighty weapon. It's too bad you chose the wrong opponent to use it on. I have been in this situation more times than any man in the world, hahaha! My answer is simple. I am an open book, Gen! You can ask me anything you want. I have nothing to hide."

Gen then said, "Oh yeah? So tell me what you did last night?"

"Hahaha, that's easy. I came home after drinking in several bars, as usual, and then went to bed."

"And what did you do in the bars?"

"Well, I drank a fair amount of alcohol and chatted with the people there."

"When you say people, you mean women, right?"

"Why do you ask if you already know the answer?"

"And how many of them did you stay with?"

"Hmm, yesterday there were about three."

"Three?!"

"Ahh ... I know, not many, right? Yesterday, the movement was a little weak in the bars."

"... And these three women, what were they like?"

"Well, the first one I stayed with had short blond hair. She was a great kisser. You had to see what she could do with her tongue, Gen, it was like-"

"Enough! I've already understood that you are an open book. You don't have to tell me anymore."

"Easy there, Gen. I was just getting started. I didn't even get to the part where we-"

"That's enough, Raja, I don't want to know!"

" ... It's okay, I understand you.", and then Raja thought, 'I must be reminding him of the Kiss he had with Lina, and he must be upset that he hasn't been able to kiss her in a week.'

Gen then said, "Enough of this talk of secrecy. Come with me, let's go inside."

And Raja said, "Okay."

The two of them had descended into a place that looked like the main hall of an adventurers' guild.

Raja then said, "Now that I'm looking closer, why is this place so big?"

"I don't know either. The person who rented it to me told me that since she started renting this house, it's always been like this."

The two then proceeded to a door that was on the wall farthest from where they came down.

Gen was about to open the door when Dehji said, 'Gen, is this where you live?'

And Gen said, 'Yes, why? Something wrong?'

'What do you mean something wrong, Gen? This isn't a house, it's a sand gate!'

'A sand gate?'