Chương 76: Chapter 64 – The Flow of Essence

At first Cade couldn't focus on anything. Colors bled together in strange, shifting patches that reminded him of watercolors soaked into wet paper. The jungle floor beneath him was a blurred mixture of greens and browns that seemed to flow into each other without clear edges. His head throbbed faintly, but the burning agony from earlier had faded. Ding! Passive Skill Gained: [Essence Sight] [Essence Sight (uncommon)] – Your vision has now been attuned to see pure and life-attuned essence. He blinked again.

Slowly, the colors began to sharpen. The watery smears tightened into clearer forms. What had looked like a blur beneath his leg slowly resolved into the outline of a small plant pushing up through the earth. Cade leaned forward slightly. Something inside the plant caught his attention. A faint streak of green ran through the blur. As he stared, the streak sharpened. The hazy line grew thinner. Finer. More defined. Until finally it came fully into focus.

A needle-thin thread of green extended from the soil beneath the plant, running straight up through its stem. The line glowed faintly, almost too dim to notice unless he was looking directly at it. Cade watched it carefully. A moment later, the line pulsed. The movement was incredibly faint, like a slow heartbeat traveling up a thread. Cade leaned closer, fascinated. Then he heard Vorduun clear his throat. The sound snapped him out of his concentration. He lifted his gaze and immediately froze.

For a moment his brain struggled to reconcile what he was seeing. The large tortoise stood before him. Vorduun's massive frame hadn't changed—leathery skin, ancient limbs, and the brilliant pearlescent shell that reflected the light from above. His ember-lit eyes still burned steadily in the heat of the jungle. But now Cade saw something else layered over that familiar image. Lines. Dozens of them. No—hundreds.

Strands of pale light traced their way across Vorduun's body, weaving through muscle and shell in a complex network. They branched and split and rejoined again, forming intricate pathways that spread through every part of the tortoise's immense frame. And at the center of it all— Cade's eyes widened. A brilliant white light burned deep within Vorduun's body. It sat roughly where the tortoise's stomach would be, but the glow was so intense that Cade instinctively squinted. It was difficult to look at directly.

Lines extended outward from that blinding point. They radiated through Vorduun's body like the roots of an enormous tree. Vorduun watched Cade calmly.

"Judging by your expression," the Duke said, "I assume the world looks somewhat different now." Cade swallowed.

"Yeah," he said quietly. His hands trembled slightly as he continued staring.

"What is this?"

"You can now perceive the flow of essence around you," Vorduun replied.

"At least in part." Cade shook his head slowly, still trying to absorb what he was seeing.

"Is this how all of you see the world?" he asked. Vorduun tilted his head slightly.

"How would I know? I cannot see what you see," the ancient tortoise continued.

"I have no frame of reference for your perception." He lifted one claw and pointed toward his own belly.

"But I can explain what you are looking at." Cade followed the gesture immediately.

"That," Vorduun said, "is my core." Cade stared at the blinding white light.

"It's… bright," he muttered.

"Really bright." He squinted slightly.

"I can see lines coming off it."

"Good," Vorduun said as he gave a small nod.

"Those are my channels." Cade's eyes narrowed slightly as he studied the glowing network. The structure felt familiar, not identical but close enough to stir recognition. In the Stormsap Crucible, he had seen something similar, channels grown into the construct that guided energy through deliberate paths. But Vorduun's channels were different. They were arranged in another configuration entirely, woven through flesh instead of wood.

Cade assumed the difference in pattern was what forced the essence into producing different effects. The white lines spread outward from the core and wove their way through Vorduun's entire body. They ran along his limbs, wrapped through the thick muscles of his neck, and even extended into the massive plates of his shell. The network was everywhere. Cade's gaze followed the channels upward from the core until they reached the tortoise's throat. The lines coming up from the core were thick.

Strong, steady conduits carrying the bright white light upward through Vorduun's body.

"Now," Vorduun said calmly, "look at the channels leading into my mouth." As the lines approached the throat they changed. The channels grew thinner and began twisting together. Splitting and crossing over one another. By the time they reached the tortoise's mouth the network had become a tangled web so dense that Cade struggled to separate one strand from another. It looked almost like a nest of glowing white roots packed tightly into the tortoise's jaw. Vorduun's voice rumbled calmly beside him.

"In order to generate flame, we guide essence from our core through these channels." Cade watched the tangled network carefully. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"One's will, combined with the channels, transforms the essence as it flows," Vorduun continued. His ember-lit eyes flicked toward Cade.

"And what emerges…" A faint white glow began flickering between the edges of the tortoise's jaws.

"…is the fire of our path."

"Now, watch again," Vorduun said. Cade didn't take his eyes off the tortoise. Now that he could see the channels and the core, the entire process felt different. Before, Vorduun's flames had seemed almost effortless—like the tortoise simply breathed destruction into the world. Now Cade realized there was far more happening beneath the surface. Vorduun turned slightly and selected another small plant. It was little more than a cluster of thin leaves pushing through the dark soil.

"Observe." Cade focused. For a brief moment nothing happened. Then the brilliant white light at the center of Vorduun's body flared. At the same time, the channels leading upward from the core brightened. White light surged through them. Cade watched in fascination as the essence rushed upward through the tortoise's body like a current through a network of glowing veins. The streams moved quickly, flowing up the channels that led toward Vorduun's throat.

As the essence reached the tangled mass of channels near his mouth, the light twisted through the dense web. White flames flickered into existence between the corners of the tortoise's jaws. Cade saw the transformation but it was so complex that it was still hard to follow. The flowing essence twisted through the complex web of channels, and as it did, the light changed. It thickened, brightened, transformed and became flame. A moment later Vorduun exhaled.

A narrow jet of white fire burst from his mouth and engulfed the small plant. Cade followed the flames with his eyes, but they were almost too bright to perceive clearly. They appeared as a dense splash of white against the plant's green tendrils. The flames wrapped around the plant entirely. Within that glowing cloud Cade could still see the plant's life essence. The needle-thin green thread that had run through its stem was now completely surrounded by the white blaze. Then the thread vanished.

Consumed by the white flames that swallowed it whole. A second later the flames receded and a loose cloud of pale white essence drifted lazily through the air. Cade leaned forward slightly. In his old sight it would have looked like nothing more than a faint puff of ash. But with his new vision he saw something entirely different. Soft white clouds floated above the soil—patches of pure essence hanging in the air. As he watched, the clouds began to shift. Vorduun's voice rumbled beside him.

"My flames enveloped the plant completely," the Duke said.

"The one I chose was simple. Its life essence was weak." Cade continued staring at the drifting white shapes.

"As the flames consume the plant," Vorduun continued, "they break down the structure of its essence." The clouds slowly began shrinking.

"The life attuned essence is dismantled and, by my will, it is reduced to its most fundamental form. Pure essence." The drifting patches of light tightened, condensing down as it shrank further. What had once been soft clouds of pale light began pulling together into smaller and smaller clusters. Then the clusters began changing shape. The hazy watercolor patches sharpened. Edges formed and the essence within grew brighter. Until finally the drifting clouds collapsed into tiny, brilliant points of light.

Bright white pinpricks floating gently through the air. Cade stared, fascinated with Vorduun's display. Each tiny point shone with a clean white brilliance. They were nowhere near as bright as the blazing core within Vorduun's body, but compared to the faint green thread he had seen inside the plant earlier, they were dazzling.

"With the plant's structure gone," Vorduun said calmly, "its essence now responds only to my will." Vorduun inhaled. The particles stirred then lifted from the air and flowed toward the tortoise's open jaws. Cade followed them closely. The glowing specks passed into Vorduun's mouth and vanished as they merged seamlessly with the network of bright channels inside his body. Added to the blazing white core burning at the center of the ancient tortoise. Cade sat back on his heels.

"That was incredible," he said. But fascination quickly gave way to another thought. He glanced up at the ancient tortoise.

"Okay," Cade said.

"That was amazing to watch… but how am I supposed to do something like that?" Vorduun let out a deep rumbling chuckle.

"Patience," the Duke said.

"One step at a time." He shifted his weight slightly, the glowing lines of essence within his body moving like slow rivers beneath his skin.

"What I demonstrated," Vorduun continued, "is what lies ahead on this path." Cade frowned slightly.

"You are not there yet," the tortoise went on calmly.

"Right now you are little more than a hatchling. And hatchlings cannot liberate their own flame without enough essence." He gestured with one claw toward the scorched patch of ground.

"In the beginning, you must rely on others to generate pure essence for you to absorb," Vorduun finished. The Duke stepped toward another plant growing nearby. This one was even smaller than the last—little more than a thin sprout with a pair of tiny leaves pushing its way out of the soil. Cade's new sight focused on it immediately. A faint green line extended upward from the ground through the plant's stem. It was so thin he almost missed it.

"This one will suffice," Vorduun said. He turned his head slightly toward Cade.

"I will break the plant down into pure essence. Afterward, you will absorb what remains."

"Wait." Vorduun paused.

"Before we do that can you explain how I'm supposed to absorb it?" The ancient tortoise looked mildly surprised.

"If you were the one who destroyed the plant," Vorduun said slowly, "you would simply guide the essence into yourself." He tapped his chest lightly with one claw.

"You would extend a tendril of your own essence. Wrap it around the condensed particles. Then draw them inward." Cade stared at him.

"I have absolutely no idea how to do that." Vorduun made a small tsk sound.

"The frogs truly taught you nothing, did they?" Cade gave a weak shrug.

"Not about this." The Duke sighed.

"Very well." Vorduun turned back toward the tiny plant.

"For now we will use a simpler method." He gestured toward the ground in front of the plant.

"When the essence is condensed, you will simply breathe it in." Cade blinked.

"Seriously?"

"Yes." Vorduun's voice remained completely matter-of-fact.

"The condensed essence will enter your body and merge with your own." Cade eyed the tiny plant again.

"That sounds… suspiciously easy."

"It is the method used by our hatchlings, of course it is going to be easy." Vorduun's jaws began glowing faintly once more.

"Lean down," he instructed.

"When the essence forms, inhale it." Cade hesitated for a moment before he crouched lower, bringing his face closer to where the plant met the ground.

"Alright," he muttered.

"I guess I'm ready." White flames flickered between the corners of Vorduun's mouth. Cade watched carefully as the brilliant light from the tortoise's Core surged through the glowing channels once more. A moment later the flames erupted forward. The tiny plant vanished inside a bloom of white fire. Cade's new sight tracked the process closely. The thin green strand running through the plant was swallowed instantly by the bright white cloud.

The life essence unraveled within the flames and broke apart into soft drifting patches of pale light. Just like before, the clouds shrank. Condensed down as they collapsed inward until only tiny white points remained floating in the air.

"Now," Vorduun said.

"Breathe." Cade leaned forward, shoving his face into the drifting cloud and inhaled sharply. The tiny particles lifted from the air immediately. They floated toward his mouth and slipped past his lips as he breathed them in. For a brief moment Cade felt nothing. Then the essence touched his tongue and warmth spread through his body. The sensation flowed down his throat and dispersed through his chest like a gentle current moving through still water. The essence dissolved into him. Merged with him.

Cade blinked in surprise as the warmth spread through his limbs. Then a familiar notification flickered into existence in the corner of his vision. You have gained experience.