Chương 80: Chapter 67 – Holding the Flow

Cade stared down at the beetle's corpse, his grip tightening slightly around the shaft of the wooden spear. The image of that translucent wisp lingered in his mind. It hadn't felt like the essence he absorbed from the ash. It hadn't felt like anything at all. Experience… His brow furrowed. The System had given him the same notification it always did after a kill. But now, for the first time, he had seen what happened. Or at least part of it. The beetle was still full of life essence.

Even now, he could see it—thick strands of green slowly fading as they leaked into the air. But something had been taken the moment it died. Cade exhaled slowly as his thoughts aligned. The System is taking a portion of the essence. It siphoned it off the moment a creature died, stripped away whatever made it life essence, and forced it into him as "experience." He frowned. It fit what he had seen so far but he still wasn't sure what "experience" even was.

"I'll need more data," he murmured. More kills to make more comparisons. More chances to observe the difference between what the System took and what remained in the corpse. His gaze flicked back to the beetle. The lingering essence within it continued to thin, slowly dissipating back into the environment. He couldn't stand here thinking and hypothesising forever. Cade shifted his grip on the spear, then bent down and grabbed one of the beetle's tree-branch-like antlers.

The corpse dragged heavily against the ground as he began pulling it back through the swamp.

"I need get this back to Vorduun before it all leaks out," he muttered. The jungle didn't feel the same on the return trip. Where before it had been alive and vibrant, now it began to feel… desolate. As Cade dragged the beetle through the undergrowth, he began to notice signs of the Ashen Front again. Smaller tortoises moved through the trees ahead of him, their forms slower, less imposing than Vorduun's. White flames flickered unevenly from their jaws as they burned through thick clusters of vegetation.

Large plants collapsed into smoldering ash beneath their efforts. With his new sight, Cade could see the difference immediately. Their flames worked—but not cleanly. Strands of green essence broke apart unevenly, some condensing into pale ash while others scattered and faded into the air, lost before they could be claimed. One of the young tortoises had cornered a massive insect near a pool of stagnant water. It crushed the creature beneath its weight before burning the corpse.

The resulting cloud of essence was uneven—part of it condensed, part of it dissipated into nothingness. Cade adjusted his grip and kept moving. Further along, the jungle shifted again. The next group of tortoises moved with more precision. Their flames burned hotter, cleaner. The plants they consumed left behind less scattered essence, more of it condensing into pure essence held stable in the ash. Still not perfect like Vorduun's demonstration.

Cade glanced around as he dragged the beetle through the thinning jungle. Brahm was nowhere to be seen, even though this should have been the Prodigy of Ash's cohort. He huffed quietly.

"Yeah… it's probably for the best if we don't run into each other out here." Cade wasn't convinced Brahm had let go of the grudge from their fight. He wouldn't have put it past the brazen young tortoise to look for a chance to avenge his loss. Eventually, the dense vegetation gave way to a more barren landscape. The swamp floor was coated in pale ash, broken only by scattered patches of stubborn plant life that had yet to be consumed. Up ahead sat Vorduun.

The massive tortoise rested in stillness, surrounded by the remnants of what the younger tortoises had left behind. Vorduun's eyes opened the moment Cade stepped into the ashen clearing. The ancient tortoise did not move at first. His ember-lit gaze swept over Cade, then shifted to the corpse dragging behind him.

"You've returned," Vorduun said calmly. His gaze lingered briefly on the weapon in Cade's hand before returning to his face.

"It seems you are beginning to understand the Great Tree's 'gift'." Cade glanced down at the wooden spear, his grip tightening slightly.

"Yeah… maybe," he said.

"It has its uses." His expression shifted, faint unease creeping in.

"But I'm still not exactly comfortable with something growing inside of me."

"Discomfort and pain are often the price one pays for power." Cade dropped the beetle's body with a thud against the ash-coated ground. He rolled his shoulder slightly, stretching his muscles after dragging it this far. Vorduun studied the corpse in silence for a moment before giving a small nod.

"This will suffice," he said.

"Though you should have returned sooner. A portion of its essence has already been lost." Vorduun's gaze shifted back to him, lingering with sharper scrutiny.

"And yet," the Duke said, "I sense that you have absorbed more essence since you left. You did not return to me for that and you do not yet possess our flame." He paused.

"So tell me. How did you absorb a portion of the beetle's essence?" Cade exhaled slowly.

"Honestly? I'm not completely sure. When I killed it," he said, gesturing toward the beetle, "I saw part of its essence separate from the rest." His brow furrowed.

"It didn't behave like the other essence I've seen. It lost its color and became almost invisible." Vorduun remained still.

"Then it drifted into me," Cade continued.

"But it didn't feel like the essence from the ash. There was no warmth. No real sensation at all." A brief silence followed as he thought it through.

"So my working hypothesis is that the System intercepted part of the beetle's essence," he said.

"It siphoned that portion away the moment the beetle died, altered it somehow, and then transferred it to me." He glanced at Vorduun.

"Whenever I kill something—or even help kill it—the System grants me experience. Based on what I saw, I think experience might just be essence that the System has processed into a different form." Vorduun lowered his head slightly, studying both Cade and the corpse again.

"I have never heard of the Record performing such a function," he said after a moment. Cade blinked, waiting for him to explain. When no further elaboration came, he was about to ask—"You should be wary of this 'System,'" Vorduun continued.

"What you describe is… imprecise." This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Cade frowned.

"What do you mean?" Vorduun shifted slightly, the ash beneath him stirring.

"To cultivate essence is to act with intent," he said.

"When we take essence into ourselves, we command it. Shape it. Direct it toward purpose. We decide what it becomes. This System of yours appears to do no such thing." Cade's eyes narrowed slightly as he considered the old tortoise's words.

"Yeah…" he said slowly. He crossed his arms, thinking.

"When I level up, I don't choose anything," he added.

"All of my stats just increase. Strength, endurance, vitality, all of them go up." His expression tightened.

"So it probably just… stores the essence in some nebulous space. Or spreads it out evenly until there's enough to boost every stat at once." Vorduun gave a low hum.

"A crude method," he said. Cade huffed faintly.

"Yeah, well. It's what I've got for now." Silence settled between them for a moment. Then Vorduun shifted his weight slightly.

"What is done is done," the Duke said.

"You cannot reclaim what has already been lost. We move forward." Cade nodded.

"Works for me," he said.

"I've done enough guessing for now."

"Good." Vorduun turned his full attention to the beetle's corpse.

"Now, watch." Cade glanced down at the spear in his hand, then planted it in the ashen ground beside him. The wooden shaft sank in with a dull crunch, standing upright within arm's reach. Then he looked back to Vorduun, his focus sharpening. Through his essence sight, he saw Vorduun's core flare. Brilliant white light pulsed outward, flooding into the network of channels running through his body. The energy surged upward, gathering in his throat and jaws. White flames began to flicker into existence.

A moment later they erupted, engulfing the beetle's corpse entirely. His flames devoured it with ruthless efficiency, breaking it down in seconds. Flesh, chitin, and lingering life essence collapsed inward, reduced to a dense cloud of white ash. Cade's eyes widened slightly. The cloud in front of him was thicker, brighter, and far more than anything the plants had produced. Vorduun cut off his breath, the flames dying as quickly as they had come.

Cade instinctively stepped forward— Then froze as Vorduun's voice cut through the moment.

"Stop." Vorduun's gaze shifted to him.

"This time, you will not simply consume it," the Duke continued.

"When the essence enters you, hold it within your channels." Cade frowned slightly.

"Okay…"

"Feel where it begins," Vorduun said.

"And where it travels." His voice remained calm and steady.

"And do not allow it to disperse into your body." Cade glanced at the dense cloud of essence, then back to Vorduun. He nodded once, then took a slow breath and activated [Hyperfocused Meditation] for the first time since his fight with Brahm. The shift was immediate. His perception surged forward, stretching each moment into something longer, sharper, and more defined. The drifting ash, the faint currents of essence in the air, even the subtle pulse of Vorduun's presence—all of it became clearer.

Cade stepped forward and lowered himself toward the dense cloud of white essence. Then he inhaled. The moment it entered his mouth, he felt it. The essence dissolved against his tongue and spread inward as a flowing current. There was too much to draw in all at once, but he pulled in what he could. Most of the dense white cloud remained behind, swirling in place before him. The essence he managed to inhale slipped past his throat and into his body, no longer an abstract sensation of vague warmth.

Cade closed his eyes and turned all of his focus inward. He followed the essence as it flowed through him. The warmth pulsed upward first, brushing against his skull, spreading through his head in a faint, tingling wave before flowing back down. It traced along his neck, then spilled outward into his shoulders and chest. From there, it spread everywhere. Through every muscle, every bone, and every nerve. It followed paths that felt familiar.

The same channels carved open during the Ashen Baptism and reforged by the lightning of the Stormsap Crucible. Cade's breath hitched slightly as he felt it cycle through his heart—then surge upward into his mind again before cascading back down in a continuous loop.

"Feel it," Vorduun's gravelly voice cut through his concentration.

"Do not let it pass unnoticed." Cade focused harder. He tracked every motion. Every pulse. Every shift. And then he noticed something. The flow wasn't stable. Small fragments of the essence peeled away from the current as it moved, dissolving into his body. Seeping into his tissues.

"Part of it is dissipating into me."

"Good," Vorduun said.

"Now stop it." Cade's brow furrowed.

"How—""Will," Vorduun said simply. The word carried weight.

"Do not allow it to scatter. Hold it." Cade kept his focus inward, tracing the movement of the essence through his body. In his mind's eye, the warmth had shifted into motion. A current flowing through defined pathways. Cade reached out with his will and clamped down on it. The reaction was immediate. The smooth current bucked violently. The flow twisted, turning turbulent as the essence resisted his grip. Pain flared along his channels, sharp and sudden.

"Ah—" Cade hissed under his breath. Some of the essence slipped free, scattering into his body before he could stop it. The flow destabilized, uneven and erratic. He released his grip slightly, breathing hard. That wasn't it.

"Do not let it disperse," Vorduun said again, his voice calm and steady. Cade frowned. Yeah, I got that part. But how the hell am I supposed to do that? His thoughts raced, searching for something—anything—that made sense. Then, unexpectedly, a memory surfaced from the deep recesses of his mind. Flow through a confined space… boundary behavior… the no-slip condition from his fluid mechanics course ages ago. In his mind's eye, the channels within his body shifted.

The essence was no longer just energy—it became a viscous fluid. Flowing through narrow pathways like liquid through pipes. He imagined it slowing at the edges—a thin layer adhering to the walls of his channels and remaining stationary. Cade's will moved again, but this time it was careful. Instead of clamping down on the entire flow, he focused on the outermost layer—the thin film of essence brushing against the walls of his channels. He held that.

Anchored it in place while allowing the rest of the current to continue to move. As it flowed, more essence brushed against the channel walls and joined the layer. A thin coating began to form, clinging to the pathways throughout his body. Cade's breathing steadied as he maintained control, his focus stretched tight. The circulating essence continued its cycle—but now, it left something behind as it passed. A film. Thin and stable. He felt the difference almost immediately. The flow smoothed out.

Where the channels were coated, the current seemed to move faster, more efficiently—like friction had lessened. But it came at a cost. Cade could feel the total volume of circulating essence shrinking. Part of it was being held in place, bound to the channel walls under his will. His mind strained under the effort. Holding that layer across every channel in his body demanded constant attention. Constant control. But the leaking had stopped. Cade exhaled slowly, maintaining the structure.

"Well done," Vorduun said. Cade barely registered the praise. His attention remained turned inward, stretched taut as he focused on the essence moving through his channels.

"Again," Vorduun instructed. The word reached Cade only faintly through the haze of concentration.

"Breathe in again," Vorduun repeated. Cade frowned slightly but didn't have the capacity to argue. He did as instructed and inhaled deeply once more. A second wave of essence surged into him. He had no capacity to question where it came from as he felt it merge with the first current, increasing the volume and adding to the pressure he felt within. The flow thickened, filling more of the channels carved within him. The warmth intensified but Cade held it together and forced the essence to keep moving.

His breathing steadied as he adjusted, maintaining control as the growing current pressed outward against the boundaries of his channels.

"Again," Vorduun commanded. Cade hesitated for half a second then inhaled again. The third intake hit harder. The incoming essence was denser and the moment it entered him, Cade felt the pressure spike. The warmth sharpened into a burning sensation. His body tensed instinctively as the flow surged through him, pushing against the limits of the pathways inside his body. This is too much, Cade thought.

"No," Vorduun's voice cut in sharply, as if the old tortoise had read his thoughts.

"Hold it." Cade's jaw clenched and he doubled down. He forced the current to move faster in his mind, keeping it circulating so it wouldn't settle, all while straining to maintain the thin boundary layer pressed against the walls of his channels. The pressure built. The burning intensified. It felt like trying to force a flood of maple syrup through channels that were only barely large enough to contain it. Cade sucked in a sharp breath through clenched teeth. Keep it moving. The current roared through him.

Every channel strained under the load. Every pathway stretched. But it held. Barely. Cade's entire body felt full—like he had eaten far too much at an all-you-can-eat buffet. It was uncomfortable but as the cycles continued, the flow stabilized.

"Good," Vorduun said. Cade didn't respond. He was too focused on not losing control.

"Now that your channels are full," Vorduun continued calmly, "you may begin learning to shape your internal essence."