Crown Talk

Going back a few moments in time, Lian had been talking with Lugg. 'So, what do you think about all of the things written here?'

-It's a lot more refined than what I did when we arrived in this world. It explains the steps necessary to achieve stable energy usage. Oh, wait. What did they call it again? Errr... ah! Star Energy. Yeah. However, I can also tell that this book is only talking about the basics of the basics. The part that I'm having a hard time dealing with is the Fire Element thing.- Lugg said in response.

'Fire Element, huh?' Lian pondered over it for a bit. 'Another thing that bothers me is that there's nothing mentioning the crowns here. Not only that, even Tuly and his group don't seem to understand that it was the interaction with their own crowns that allowed them to use Star Energy. It's pretty obvious they don't know about their existence. Or, better yet, they probably think it was them who gathered the Star Energy and transformed it into that fire attack.'

-It's not completely wrong,- Lugg mentioned. -As I told you before, it'll be a lot more effective if the one who uses this Star Energy is you. I'm only here to make it possible. The same goes for Tuly's group. Their crowns make it possible for them to use Star Energy. However, it's true that you wouldn't be able to use Star Energy without your crown, and they don't know that.-

Lian sighed as he continued, 'Tuly said that he doesn't expect us to be able to do anything even after looking at it. The reason seems pretty obvious, though.'

-Indeed,- Lugg agreed with Lian again. -This manual doesn't explain the most important part. It doesn't say how you can feel or use Star Energy. Without such a thing, how would anyone be able to do that? However, you obviously have me, so that's not a problem. You can already feel it and draw that energy towards you.-

'You say that, but I haven't tried it yet, you know?' Lian had his doubts. 'So far, I only felt how you did that. Sure, I believe that now that I felt it, I can repeat the same action. But I'm afraid of doing it wrong and exploding right here.'

Lugg didn't seem too concerned, though. -Don't worry. Can't you see the method of using Star Energy in the manual? It's talking about the Star Energy Channels in a person's body. Unlike what I did, which was simply dragging the energy into as many channels as possible, you can do as it says.-

Lian pondered over it for a bit before asking, 'That's fine. However, what about this Fire Element affinity? It talks about using the affinity, but we can't even tell which affinity we have.'

Lugg then looked at the crowns on top of the heads of Tuly's group. -That part, I think it's easy to tell. Look at the colors of their crowns. They're all slightly red. Tuly's is a little bit more apparent, though. Nonetheless, if you think about the moment they used their fire attacks, their crowns shone with Star Energy, which also changed into that same slightly red color.-

Following that, Lugg looked at Duran and Carol. -As for them, Duran's color is yellow while Carol's is purple. Don't you think it's probably related to this affinity thing? It seems too good to be that simple, but it's not like it can't be simple.-

'Now that you say that, haven't you noticed another thing?' Lian asked before continuing, 'The spikes on their crowns as well as ours. Everyone here only has a single spike in their crowns. Well, except for Tuly, who has two. Perhaps this is the so-called level they talked about?'

-Hmm... I also have only a single spike, which means I'm at level one... well, that makes sense. We might be wrong, but we can work with that for the moment. In that case, the fact that Tuly's crown is 'redder' than his companions is also a sign of his higher level. Oh, right! The Lizak happened to have three spikes! Could it be a level three being, then?-

'Probably. It was obvious that it was a lot stronger than just one of Tuly's group members alone. Besides, you heard what Tuly said. The Lizak was just a kid, so it probably hadn't reached its prime yet.'

With that said, Lian returned to the main topic. 'So, let's consider that the red color on Tuly's group represents their elemental affinity. What would be our own?'

-I... don't think we have an elemental affinity...- Lugg mentioned.

Lian kind of expected that. 'Me too. The moment you changed, you became transparent. Well, water is transparent, so could it be that we have Water Element affinity?' Lian shrugged his shoulders. 'Is it me, or does this seem more and more like a game?'

-It sure does,- Lugg replied. -It's just that I don't think my transparent color means water. Anyway, let's try to focus on the elements. Think about the time Tuly used his fire-based attacks. We both could tell how it felt, so perhaps we can imitate that. Try to remember how the Star Energy that Tuly's group gathered suddenly started to get hot through the interaction with their crowns.-

'Before that, we need to discuss these Star Energy Channels. What the hell are those?' Lian had been waiting for a chance to ask it.

-Oh! That I can help with.- Suddenly, Lian felt like the Star Energy began to gather around his body once again. It's just that Lugg was only doing it slightly. -Can you feel it? The energy is entering your body through those channels.-

Indeed, Lian could feel like his body was full of those channels. Each one seemed to be absorbing the Star Energy. 'I get it! Let me try...'

By following the methods in the manual, Lian went through a few trials and errors. However, a few minutes later, he finally caught the gist of the issue.

*Fla!*

It was at that moment that the flame appeared above his hand.