Senses

"Yo, you good? You're the one supposed to be comforting me yk." Alfie teased. 

"Yeah, I'm alright. You've just confirmed many things I've been in the dark about." Ivory sighed. 

"Just how powerful were you at your peak?" Alfie asked. 

"At my peak? I could probably destroy a few galaxies. Never did it though if you're wondering. Too much bad karma comes from stuff like that." Ivory explained. 

"You serious?" Alfie asked.

"Yeah, don't get too excited though. You gotta reach at least 7 stars if you want that kinda strength." Ivory. 

"You only reached the 7th star??" Alfie exclaimed. 

Ivory looked surprised before pinching Alife's cheeks in anger.

"You don't even realize how rude that sounds huh, you brat." Ivory hissed. 

"Oww oww alright alright my bad," Alfie said while rubbing his cheeks. 

"But yes, I only reached the 7th star. Back then we didn't have guides on how to properly handle spiritual energy. By the time I realized I had already made too many mistakes, and my foundation was too shaky to ever go past the 7th star." Ivory explained. 

"You've got a second chance now though." Alfie comforted. 

"Yup, I've been preparing for this day since I realized I couldn't grow." Ivory grinned. 

"By chance, you wanna share some advice with me?" Alfie pleaded. 

"There's only one thing you need to know. Your lord's talent is the key to everything." Ivory advised. 

"Everything else you can probably find from the people who are backing you." 

"Speaking of that, have you got any advice for me now that you know the whole truth?" Alfie asked. 

Ivory looked to be in thought before his eyes flashed a golden glow. 

"Awaken your lord's talent and you'll find your way out," Ivory smirked. 

"Anything else? Anything specific?" Alfie pleaded. 

"You know my ability. I've only got a feeling that awakening your gift is the only way out. As for the specifics that's on you." Ivory shrugged. 

"Better than going in blind I suppose." Alfie thanked. 

"Oh and before I forget. Take this." Ivory said while throwing him a brown pouch. 

"Hey wait, I thought I left these on the ground. Why'd you pick them up?" Alfie said, confused. 

 Curious as to why Ivory handed him the bag, he pulled on the little string that wrapped around the opening. 

A sudden force erupted from the bag, causing Alfie to stumble. Looking up he saw hundreds of carcasses flying through the air. 

Animal corpses Alife had never seen before littered the group around the two of them. 

The commotions had caused a ruckus among the 100 subjects who were building a bit away. 

Looking towards the source they saw their lord and another subject they hadn't seen before. 

Some among the crowd were able to identify the monsters, they had been 2-star monsters that would've proved detrimental to most lords. 

A swelling of excitement infected the crowd. They had someone among them that could kill 2 stars. Their worries about being defenseless were over. The prospects of their nation were high.

Ivory's face palmed at Alfie's complete stupidity. 

"Don't just open things when you have no idea what's inside." Ivory sighed. 

"Lesson learned." Alfie lamented. 

"Here help me clean up. I'll teach a basic technique that'll be insanely useful." Ivory directed. 

Dirtying their hands the two began cleaning up the mess that Alfie had made. For the most part, it was Ivory who lifted the larger creatures back into the brown pouch. 

Whereas Alfie on the other hand, only handled the smaller creatures. Although small they weighed a lot more than he anticipated. 

Their muscles seemed to be much denser than those of anything Alfie had seen. In the new body Alfie possessed, his strength probably didn't even allow him to lift 100 pounds. 

It was a clear contrast from the trained body he had back in Gaia. But even that couldn't compare to the weight Ivory was lifting. 

He was casually holding hundreds of pounds with just his hands. It was quite mind-boggling to the ignorant Alfie. 

"Alright, so I'm gonna teach you Spiritual sense. More accurately the basic application of spiritual sense." 

"The most basic usage is being able to sense spiritual energy but you should already know that. The more advanced applications include spiritual sight, being able to gauge someone's strength, and even seeing through illusions." 

"The most basic principle for spiritual sight is akin to echolocation. When controlling spiritual energy you can sense if it touches something physical. Simply send out a wave of spiritual energy you can control in pulses and you can get a good mental image of what you wanna know." 

"The faster you do it, the more accurate it'll be but usually that's in exchange for the range. Oh, and other people with spiritual sense can detect you if you're trying to use spiritual sight." 

"As for gauging people's strength, it can only tell you if their spiritual energy is weaker, similar, or stronger than yours. It's not all-knowing but it gives basic info." 

"You got that?" Ivory finished. 

"Makes sense. I think I'm gonna test it out once we're done cleaning." Alfie claimed. 

"Don't get ahead of yourself. Just because you can control a particle of spiritual energy doesn't mean you can start." Ivory mocked. 

"I can control a decent amount. I think it should be enough." Alfie countered. 

"Yeah? Why don't you show me then." 

Alfie stopped for a moment to concentrate on the tiny particles. Having sensed them before, it took less than a second before he sensed and gained control over a large portion. 

Alfie wanted to wipe the demeaning smile off Ivory's face so he sent off a pulse of spiritual energy. Within a radius of 5 feet, Alfie could feel nearly every little thing around him. 

When the information surged into his mind, he felt a slight pang from the massive amount of data. 

"Ah, what the hell.." Alfie groaned. 

"What the fuck." Ivory blurted. 

"You've only been here for a few hours right?" Ivory asked. 

"Yeah, man. Ugh, you didn't tell me I'd be feeling such a headache." Alfie complained. 

***

'A monster. He was a complete monster.' Ivory thought. 

Although Ivory had been stuck at the 7th star, he was a monster who had pioneered the cultivation of spiritual power. 

Although he didn't know of the existence of spiritual energy when he first got sucked into the source world, others with similar talents to him who knew better still needed at least a day or two. 

Even prodigies who had been trained couldn't gain spiritual sense that fast. Although he'd been here for a few hours, he certainly hadn't been spending all that time solely focusing on sensing spiritual energy. 

When had he actually sensed and controlled spiritual energy? That's when Ivory remembered the Orb of self. 

He held it in his hands for barely a moment before he put it away. Was it possible that in that small moment, he had actually been able to input enough energy to see its content? 

It should've been impossible but it was only a short time later that he had that feeling of being watched. 

He knew the feeling came from Alfie but let it go since something urged him it would be better that way. 

Although Alfie wasn't from this universe his real age was barely 26. And from everything Alfie admitted he knew he wasn't lying. 

Someone with no experience dealing with higher planes of energy was able to sense and control that amount of energy in an instant? 

Ivory wasn't dealing with a prodigy. He was face to face with a monster.