Core Esse

"Why today out of all days….!"

A disheveled appearance vastly different from a few hours ago, Dan Shu clenched her teeth hard as she navigated her way out of the Alchemy Commission. 

It should have been a marvelous day. A day when the promises given to her would have come to life and the day when the arbor would grant her an undying body.

A body free from the 'impurities' that have caused her to live in darkness her entire life.

But that day that she eagerly prepared for had come around to do a complete 180. Leaving her in a mess that was almost impossible to fix.

"First the members are acting abnormal and now the Lord Ravager is changing up plans… Why now…?"

With the Arbor's revival appearing just as planned, it should have been the perfect opportunity for the Sanctus Medicus to come out of hiding and show the Luofu the true power of Abundance. 

Stations ready to be deployed on her signal, Dan Shu was patiently waiting for the right time but it all went downhill when one of her subordinates acted out of line.

[I don't need your leadership anymore Dan Shu. Your plans are way too passive to even think of showing the true power of Abundance.]

[You don't think that you can actually do it yourself, Mauve Moon…]

[Hah! Don't even undermine my strength. Especially after getting a blessing that can make even the strongest General falter…]

Dan Shu felt her blood boil when she remembered the words Mauve Moon said but an ominous feeling grew inside her thinking about the implications that the last part of his sentence had.

'Did the Lord Ravager give him something to do in my place instead of placing the role of keeping the disciples in check…'

Even with the anger surging within her, a hint of bitterness followed shortly behind thinking that there was something she was missing to be indirectly tossed aside by the very person who she hoped to fulfill her wish.

"Head Dan Shu."

"Is the ship ready?"

"Yes, we may need to take a different route however to avoid the Cloud Knights patrolling."

"That is true… security must have increased exponentially due to the Arbor's revival…"

Dan Shu told the two guards to lead the way and in the meantime asked more about the situation she was dumped with.

"How many members have stayed with us?"

"....I can only estimate about less than a quarter.."

The guard flinched when he heard the sound of grinding behind him but he decided not to point it out. In hopes that Dan Shu's anger would dissipate on its own.

"Is this including the members who suddenly decided to go awry or just the ones who followed Mauve Moon?"

"It includes both."

"Just perfect."

Dan Shu's brow refused to relax and all she could think about were the other members who left their positions to go somewhere entirely unknown. 

'There must be another power playing at hand here since this situation is all too sudden.'

Her thoughts continued to attempt and piece together this broken puzzle that haunted her and she didn't even notice her surroundings change.

"Head, we are here."

Snapping out, Dan Shu used her hands to grip the Starskiff parked right next to her and made herself comfortable in the meantime.

Knowing that her destination would bring countless headaches she didn't even want to think about.

"...Bring me to the Council of Preceptors." 

***

–Schwing!

"Lower your stance and raise your elbow."

"Like this?!"

"Better but put more force into it."

Occasionally hearing the faint sounds of air parting Yuuto dodged the sharp blade rapidly approaching his neck. 

Jumping back and using his free hand to adjust his position, he kept his senses firmly locked onto the woman in front of him.

Dense streams of moonlight and sharp red eyes, Jingliu's appearance was spotless in comparison to Yuuto who had his face covered with a mixture of ice and dirt.

"Was it necessary to thrash me that far earlier…?"

"You were distracted so it was. You should have dealt with it when you had the opportunity."

"Fair point."

Covering his body with flames and gradually melting the ice sticking closely to his skin. Yuuto raised his sword and threads of fire continued to grow brighter.

Brushing past the attack that connected with his sword, Yuuto thought about the events that passed after Kafka's interrogation.

After the whole fiasco regarding Kafka, the conversation about the Aeons, and the choice she left him to think about. That could only be considered the prelude to the true confrontation that would soon come.

With Kafka escaping as expected, an object that the Luofu thought to be untouched for years finally found itself being reborn shortly after.

The divine construct, the Ambrosial Arbor.

The plaguemark that was planted on the Xianzhou Luofu by Yaoshi, the Aeon of Abundance. Possessing the power to shape life and subdue death at will.

With the appearance of this very plaguemark, the chaos that it brought was nothing short of an emergency. 

Bringing ship-wide havoc upon its first appearance, Kafka's issue was briefly forgotten as the Cloud Knights needed to control the events that popped up afterward.

The growing roots planted themselves in the heart of the Artisanship Commission, an attack orchestrated by the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus who came out of hiding, and mara-struck soldiers that grew in large numbers.

It felt fiercer than what Yuuto originally remembered.

However, the seeds that he planted earlier seemed to have finally budded as Fu Xuan's expression turned strange when she received a certain report about the Alchemy Commission.

[There has been infighting within the Commission.]

Yuuto's influence extending through Xiao Ju who acted as an insider brought some of the ship-wide attacks to a halt as the countless members of the Sanctus Medicus refused to act.

Even more so there was a growing number of disciples who 'disappeared' to a place that the Cloud Knights did not know of. 

"But there's still a variable that popped up despite this outcome that I was aiming for…"

Initially, Dan Shu was the leader who overlooked most of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus. However, after overhearing some of the reports Fu Xuan received there seemed to be another faction that diverged away from her influence.

More so being under an individual named Mauve Moon.

"I have a suspicion that Phantylia played a part in this but I'm wondering what she's up to now…"

"Talking to yourself now? What have I told you about being distracted?"

"W-Wait!---Kugh!!"

Yuuto raised his sword in a hurry but Jingliu's foot was faster and connected to his stomach.

Throwing him a great distance before falling into a body of water that was formed beneath a waterfall.

"I told you if this was necessary…."

Spitting out the mouthful of water he had, Yuuto noticed Jingliu leaning on her sword and all he could do was rub his stomach, seeing her so relaxed.

Now the question, why was he here alone with Jingliu in the first place?

All of it can be thanks to Fu Xuan who had the Astral Express rest for a bit while she did a big divination. One that they needed urgently.

With Yuuto's subtle assistance with the Sanctus Medicus, the Cloud Knights received a bit of breathing room but there was still more that needed to be done.

And of course, being the trusted chore collector that arrived on the Luofu, Fu Xuan asked them if they could help with some of the issues.

They obviously agreed and were currently waiting in a station that was near the Artisanship Commission.

But this location brought a certain thought into Yuuto's mind. As the location where Jingliu and he agreed to meet later tonight was nearby so he decided to check it out quickly.

Possibly as a way to unwind from the amount of things he saw and heard during that interrogation. A change of scenery felt good. 

However, he would have never expected to see Jingliu sitting alone in a booth that was similar to the one he saw in the Fyxestroll Garden.

Staring blankly at the waterfall he was currently swimming in front of.

In the end, their meeting turned into a spar like usual but it went a bit different than usual.

"Do you want to continue sparring or do I have to kick you a few more times?"

"...We should probably stop for now. I feel like having too many thoughts while fighting is not beneficial for the time being."

"That's true, a clear mind reflects a sound body."

Jingliu watched silently as Yuuto made his way out of the water and waves of steam rose from his body. His previously wet clothes turned dry while his sword returned to his hands.

Despite the call for the end of their spar, surprisingly Yuuto chose an empty spot with more than enough room before mindlessly swinging his sword by himself.

Flickers of flames followed with each swing before alternating with streams of moonlight that he was all too familiar with.

Staying silent and watching his form, Jingliu returned to her booth where she originally was and leaned her chin on one of her palms. Intently watching the man who was acting a bit differently than usual.

Even with some of her emotions dulled throughout the years being mara-struck, Jingliu could still infer signs on her own.

But the reason for this change. This was something she didn't know nor how to approach on her own.

"You're not going to ask?"

"Ask what?"

"The reason why I was getting distracted the whole time."

"....."

Jingliu narrowed her eyes a bit seeing the small smile Yuuto had and felt like her thoughts were being read a bit too easily.

"No, I can't read your thoughts. Your face and eyes are just too honest to what you're thinking."

"...Enough. At this point, why should I bother asking?"

"Ehh, come on. Let's just ignore what I said since I like it when someone asks on their own."

"You saying that defeats the whole purpose anyway."

Yuuto chuckled to himself while Jingliu felt even less inclined to ask now.

The brief moment of chatter slowly faded and Jingliu continued to watch Yuuto who blankly swung causing a few drops of sweat to form.

"I learned that I might be part of a bigger picture than what I imagined."

"From the Divinition Commission?"

"Not exactly but they did play some part in it." 

"Then what? Found out that your own goal was being questioned?"

"Nothing that deep so far. It just… invoked some form of self-reflection that I need to ask myself…"

Jingliu felt the shift in tone near the end of his sentence and wondered what he meant.

"Hey."

"..."

"Do you think your actions can dictate your future?"

Yuuto stopped swinging his sword and looked at Jingliu who drank from a small porcelain cup in front of her after hearing his question.

She placed her cup down and asked for something back.

"Do you know why I took up the sword?"

"Not exactly…"

"Me neither."

"What."

An indescribable expression formed on his face after hearing what she said. 'Is her age finally catching up to—-'

—VRRRM

"You're thinking rude thoughts again."

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

A bead of cold sweat instantly appeared when a creeping aura appeared around Jingliu and he kept his poker face on. Trying his best to not let his thoughts appear on his face.

Jingliu scoffed seeing this but she chose to ignore it and move on with her point.

"The future is a river, always flowing. Learning the sword was something I never imagined doing but fate had other plans."

She narrowed her eyes. Recalling her home, people were screaming, writhing, and rolling in despair. 

As she helplessly watched golden tendrils sprout and grow feverishly in every orifice of those around her. A because of one demonic planet.

"Even now, I might be playing with the tune of fate that was dictated for me but I don't mind." 

"You don't…?"

Yuuto's eyes stared at Jingliu as she just sipped on her cup slowly. Slowly, her voice carried a tone that made his thoughts run.

"What if fate had other plans for you that you don't like?"

"If fate has other plans? Then I don't mind using the sword I was given by them and cutting down even the stars in the sky."

A sentence that sounded foolish but in Yuuto's eyes it was a sentence that gave a part of an answer he tried looking for.

One that made him feel stupid for even thinking so hard about it.

–BAAAM

A shock of pain assaulted his right cheek as he punched himself without holding back and Jingliu looked at him curiously. 

The taste of metal filled his mouth but a smile appeared on his face regardless.

'Player? Pawn? Who cares about that? Let me flip that damn board they enjoy playing on while I'm at it and do my own thing.'

Like finding the light within a deep fog, Yuuto's thoughts about the words Kafka said to him finally settled in.

The choice was already up to him.

"Done beating yourself up?"

"Yeah, all done. Thanks for helping me clear some of my thoughts."

"It's fine, sounds like you won't be getting distracted in our spars going forward."

"Don't worry, that was only a one-time thing. But I was impressed you were so sophisticated in ideology talking about fate."

Yuuto said while spitting the blood out of his mouth and walked towards the booth she was sitting in.

"You learn some things along the way."

"That makes sense. Especially for you since I bet you have a plethora of wisdom based on—-Pffft!?"

"Based on what exactly–."

Yuuto raised his hand hastily and caught the object thrown at him. The small cup she originally had somehow found its way towards him and he coughed awkwardly.

"Based on your amazing mind cultivated through your breathtaking hard work." 

Jingliu only scoffed hearing his words and stood up. "Sly words as usual. Appears you really are back."

Leaving the booth she sat in briefly, she gestured to Yuuto to sit down beside her and he followed along. 

"Are we not going to return to sparring?" he asked, sensing that she was going to do something different.

"Not at the moment since I feel like sparring won't do too much for you right now."

Originally she would have sparred with him and drilled the basics while branching out to polish his [Golden Sun] swordsmanship.

But her plans were thrown out the window when Yuuto managed to absorb her moves faster than she expected. As if he was already accustomed to moonlight for a long time.

So their training would take a different route this time based on a certain discovery she recently made on him.

"Take off your shirt."

"Huh?"

Yuuto crossed his arms and moved back from Jingliu, feeling suspicious as to why she wanted him to do that. 

"You… I need to check if your body is capable of forming a Core Esse."

"Ah! You're going to teach me how to make one?"

Jingliu clenched her fist and tapped Yuuto on the head once he appeared in front of her and waited for him to take off his shirt as instructed.

In an instant, Yuuto had his bare back facing Jingliu and felt a pair of cold hands touch his skin. It felt ticklish at first but after a while, he noticed a form of energy enter his body.

"As I expected… your body has undergone a period of rebirth…"

"Rebirth?"

"I thought it was just standard growth at first but your body has fundamentally changed from what I saw before."

Tougher skin and bones to cells that seem to be invigorated by some form of potent energy. It was all different from the past when she first met back in Solarian.

Now she had no worries to think about.

After teaching him briefly what it meant to form a Core Esse, she released more of her energy.

"Follow my voice and concentrate on your body. I will help you form a Core Esse."

Taking a deep breath, Yuuto blocked the surrounding sounds and focused on her voice while keeping his attention to this energy that roamed his body.

"With the body considered the soil, the breath considered the rain, the two combine to nurture a Core Esse."

Yuuto felt his body heat up as he listened.

"The core spreads its branches before ultimately achieving an Inner Ambrosial Arbor."

Jingliu took her hands off Yuuto's back and she saw how deep golden lines began to appear throughout his body. 

"Now all that's left is to decide what 'breath' you wish to nurture your core…"

Deep inside Yuuto's body, a small seed-like object had formed and he watched as the seed found itself attracted to the [Stellaron] near his heart.

'Based on what Jingliu said I need to choose the soil and water to nurture this seed.'

Such as needing the perfect conditions to grow any plant, Yuuto needed to decide how he wanted to nurture this Core Esse as each one is fundamentally different.

Like how each person experiences different things throughout their lives, it could play a part in how they grow up. 

And this seed will follow Yuuto from now on. So he needed to provide this seed with the best soil and rain he could get.

Figuratively it wasn't 'soil' nor 'rain' he needed to give but it was something more fundamental.

'Soil represents the body as she said but rain as the breath I guess represents something similar to the soul or spirit?'

That was what came to mind when Yuuto heard Jingliu's explanation of what the Core Esse is.

Luckily for him, two things instantly came to mind as he had some of the best soil and rain he could give.

Who was he? A person who has the energy close to a miniature sun inside him and can control one of the most enigmatic elements in the universe.

'Let's have the [Stellaron] act as the soil and have… memories act as the rain…'

With this thought in mind, the Core Esse within his body began to change. Dense golden energy began to seep inside the seed which instantly dyed the object in its color.

With more than enough energy the seed set itself on the right side of Yuuto's chest and now waited for the 'rain' to come.

But something odd occurred as he placed a memory fragment by the seed.

'The [Stellaron] is overwhelming the memory…'

As if placing a shard of glass in a pit of lava, the seed was currently being dominated by the potent energy of the Stellaron. He thought of using some excess memories he had stored in the [Memory of the World].

But he was unsure if that would be enough.

'Doesn't hurt to try…'

Little by little he placed excess memories inside the seed. While it didn't show a big change at first, after the 20th memory he began to feel a strong connection to the seed.

More so, he began to feel like his perceptions of his surroundings changed.

As if he was beginning to feel the flow of an element that he wasn't conscious of sooner.

Mixing the potent color of gold and a mystic color of pure white, the seed sucked up these two elements. Mingling together before digging its roots on the right side of his chest.

"I think I'm finished…"

"Let me see."

A surge of gold and white rose from Yuuto but quickly faded away as he opened his eyes. At the same time, he noticed a pair of hands suddenly roam his chest and he almost jumped up.

"You seem to be having fun there…"

"Interesting… Are you sure you're not an Xianzhou native? You formed the core faster than expected. There's also the nature of how you nurtured the seed in the initial stage…" 

"I only used the things I deemed were good enough. So I'm guessing the Core Esse I made is stable?"

"Stable…" Jingliu placed her hand on the right side of his chest and saw the two energies spirling in a circle. "It's more than stable, it already appears to be setting its branches."

"I'm not sure what that means but I guess that's a good thing."

Yuuto nodded to himself and felt satisfied while Jingliu stared at him hard. Trying to decipher what exactly he was once more.

"Currently it's in its initial stage so there won't be much changes but you'll feel a stronger harmony between your body and mind."

After checking one last time for any abnormalities, Jingliu told him about some of the changes he would get. 

Yuuto could only nod as it felt like a second organ had formed and he was even more curious about the potential this thing had. Especially knowing that some of her strongest attacks were formed through this object. 

"Follow me. I have some things that can help you."

"You're really going all out in helping me with this core~~"

Jingliu ignored the flowery words Yuuto began to spit out as he expressed his appreciation but it began to change when saw a hidden compartment within the booth she sat in. 

'I'll ignore that bat with spikes on it…'

Turning his head, he waited patiently while thinking about the possible uses that bat may have had and prayed for the unfortunate victim that may have received the opposing end of that weapon.

Now reaching deep into the compartment that had even more ominous items Yuuto didn't want to think about. Jingliu reached for a box that contained four metal cuffs.

It had an obsidian sheen with faint patterns that faded with time but he could tell that this object was once a beautiful piece of art.

"Use this when you train but I prefer you have it on the majority of the time."

"What is this— Heavy!?"

As soon as Yuuto held onto the box he felt the weight of the object exceed what he expected and wondered how Jingliu could act so casually holding it with one hand.

"An artisan made this out of meteorite for me. He bragged about his work but I was unimpressed so he continued to modify it until I deemed it acceptable."

"You must have a tough criterion."

"Or the artisan's ego was too big compared to his abilities."

Reminiscing briefly about her long past, she explained how to control these cuffs and how there were ten levels in total.

And the current level it was set on was three.

"Damn, this is level three? I can't imagine what level ten is."

"The Vidyadhara High Elder at the time could only reach level eight."

"And I'm guessing you can reach ten?"

"Of course."

Yuuto eyed Jingliu and wondered how her slender arms could contain so much strength. 

Jingliu noticed the stare she was getting but she didn't mind as it took her years to perfect this object that the arrogant artisan of the past made for her.

As she was about to close the compartment seeing as Yuuto got what he needed, she noticed some movement that wasn't originally there.

Her arm flashed as she grabbed the object that was digging through the compartment and what appeared in her hand was a small blue fox.

Digging its face into a jar of wine.

[Let go of me!!]

"Star? How and what are you doing there?" Yuuto took the fox Jingliu suddenly found and placed them on his shoulder.

[I smelt something good so I went inside. But this woman suddenly grabbed me when I was about to finish my treat!!]

"You know this noisy thing."

[I'm not noisy! You stinky fossil!]

"Hah."

"Both of you calm down…"

***

Will try to get a chap out tomorrow or later today at the earliest.