Corruption

Wes floated in the dark, his mind wandering through the warm, rhythmic world that cradled him. His attention remained on the tangled knot of mana surrounding his mother's core. He had spent what felt like hours—maybe days—examining it, running the edges of his soul along its intricate web.

Her mana core was high B-rank, maybe even pseudo-A rank, but it was heavily constrained by an external force. The threads of foreign mana wrapped tightly around it, like chains binding a beast, restricting its natural flow and power.

As he studied the core, something else caught his attention—a second core, faint but unmistakable. The signature of a Void Crystal.

Wes's awareness sharpened, curiosity stirring through the fog of his underdeveloped body. He moved closer, focusing on the strange, secondary core. One a human consumed a Void Crystals they would hous a second core, a source of bloodline powers or void-based abilities connected to their mana core. The void core was still in its gaseous state, the telltale sign of an unawakened user, and awakened core would merge into the mana core.

"Not awakened yet," he thought. "Her primary core is high B-rank, maybe even pseudo-A, but the Void Crystal core is still dormant."

Void Crystal users had three stages:

• Unawakened gaseous, typically around C-rank, with only latent potential.

• Awakened, where true powers manifested, sometimes reaching B-rank, merging into their mana core, where corruption became possible.

• The Great Awakening, a term he had heard whispered before but barely understood. It was a mystery to him, Gorrak said little was know about it outside humans.

The transition from unawakened to awakened brought a significant power boost, but it also carried a dangerous drawback—corruption. Wes knew corruption was linked to void-eyed people, over use of your powers led to becoming void eyed. His understanding was limited, especially with Earth just starting to awaken Void Crystals. There were very few examples to draw from.

Humans who overused their Void Crystals were said to risk Void Corruption. Their eyes would turn void-black, and they would become unpredictable, sometimes dangerous. But he didn't know why or how often this happened. On newly awakened worlds like Earth, people were still figuring things out, and corruption was a distant reality.

People who were corrupted by their void crystal powers… there was were lots rumors Wes couldn't confirm, but it was typically seated in weakness or free and finally desperation to be more poweful.

Gorrak had said that void-eyed people were accepted, at least to a degree. They had conflicts with each other, and joined conflicting organizations, and while their paths often led to bloodshed when they installs became void eyed.

Wes's thoughts twisted with old memories, he knew one person who became void eyed.

As a null he didn't have to worry about it but one thing was certain it was an active choice, overuse of your powers caused it.

His first lover had fallen to corruption. She had been strong before, but the transformation had made her terrifying.

Given his history with the void eyed man, Wes was biased, but after she slaughtered a city for personal revenge, it was clear something had changed. It hadn't seemed like her, but then again, she had been desperate at the time.

He had remained apprehensive, even when she still acted like herself after the fact. There was a difference, though, a subtle wrongness he couldn't quite place. She was herself, and yet, she wasn't.

One of the biggest red flags was how she constantly tried to rekindle their relationship. With his history, Wes had kept her at arm's length, polite but distant, unwilling to let her too close.

It hsd been the right call. She had been instrumental in his death, her actions guiding his enemies right to him. Whatever connection they'd once had was gone, replaced by a cold, calculating mentality that mirrored the void-eyed bastards he had seen before.

One thing was for sure—he didn't care what anyone said. The void-eyed bastards were working together, no matter how independent they seemed on the surface.

Wes floated, his mind a storm of questions with too few answers. Like why did the man make him a null if a void crystal gave you void eyes? He had to beleive them targeting him as a pretty isolated incident they way or they would be so accepted in the universe. Ugh questions flaked his brain as he thought about it before finally letting it go.

All he could do was wait, his soul brushing against the edges of the void seed nestled in his own soul. Once the old man awoke, he'd ask him. The laughing bastard had some explaining to do.