NOVEL NEXT Chapter 54: Seed of obsession
[A/N- Not to confuse you guys, I will use <> for his deeper thoughts]
"Go that way," Natalia said, and Asher nodded, pushing the wheelchair towards the more open street as they approached the teleportation zone.
"Um, Asher," she suddenly said, breaking the silence once again.
"Yeah?" he replied.
"... That thing you did in that... illusionary world. How is it possible?" she asked, and it was understandable why she would be confused.
You see, the concept of using ether in the body starts from the presence of a very special organ—the ether core. This ether core had another organ attached to it, from which what we call ether valves spread out through the body. The ether core itself is connected to the heart—for humans, that is—and it is from the heart it generates the minimal and initial energy to begin the process of absorbing and purifying atmospheric ether which is 'contaminated'.
The reason atmospheric ether is seen as contaminated is because when a person uses their ability or a spell, they use the already refined version of ether in their body, unique to them. In other words, ether that now possesses their signature. After this, this ether is dispersed into the atmosphere, and since it still possesses that person's signature, it is considered 'contaminated' as you cannot use an ether not of your signature.
Signature in this context can just be taken as blood type. You might be blood group A and someone falls under B—their blood isn't compatible. That's the theory behind the signature of ether.
Nature itself purifies this ether through trees, grasses, and various other methods, but even that cannot be used even if it's the purest form of ether. Why? Well, it still possesses a signature... that of nature.
So only ether of a person's signature can be used by that person.
Now back to the initial problem. The ether core's job is to draw ether from the surrounding area, process it, and convert it into the individual's signature while removing impurities if there are any. That processed ether is then passed to the ether pool attached to the ether core. It is this ether pool that stores all processed ether, and once an individual reaches their full capacity of ether storage, the ether core then switches to passive mode—absorbing ether but not processing it, instead dispersing the absorbed ether back into the atmosphere.
That was the reason a person unawakened could still absorb ether passively, but that didn't mean anything. It was just the ether core reacting to the subtle pulses from the heart. After all, the heart still provided it the initial energy to fully awaken.
Now, to the ether valves—which was the reason for her question. The valves connected to the ether pool transport ether through the body and vary in size. This size, or rather diameter, is dependent on the size of the ether pool itself. For a small ether pool, the valves would be small, and for a larger ether pool, the valves would be larger.
These valves are directly connected to the output of mana, which then affects the potency of spells or abilities used. You couldn't just force out more mana than your valves permitted—it was impossible. The only way for that to happen was to constantly train in spells and expand the ether pool, which would likewise affect the size of the valves.
So for Asher to just in one attack expend all his ether?
IT DIDN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!
JUST HOW BIG WERE HIS VALVES FOR THAT TO BE EVEN POSSIBLE?!
"I don't know," was all he could say, and honestly speaking, he really didn't know. Perhaps it was because somehow he was bypassing the restrictions his alter placed on him to use ether through the slave bind? Perhaps that was why? Well, he couldn't give a definite explanation, so he would just leave the issue as it was. He would eventually know why.
Wait, suddenly, an idea struck.
What if by some weird chance, the slave bind was allocating him a certain amount of the ether from his enslaved partner?
That... actually makes sense.
[...Perhaps.]
As always, it was cryptic about anything concerning the slave seal. It seemed to delight in him racking his brain thinking and thinking about something which it would have just given the answer to.
"You don't?" she asked, and this time she looked really concerned.
Well, it was a given. Not being able to control your expenditure of ether was suicidal. It wasn't practical in battle at all. Would it be potent? You bet your ass it would, but what if the opponent it was made for somehow dodged that attack? Or what if you were surrounded and your attack only got a portion of the enemies? What next?
"That's why I came here," he responded, and her eyes widened.
So he came to fix his problem, she quickly understood why he was even able to get admission even if he wasn't a noble. He was a special condition that the academy wanted to understand... at least that was what she thought.
"What year were you admitted to?" she asked, a bit apprehensive.
"That?... um, third year," he said, and her expression dropped.
No, she didn't understand why, but that every word killed her mood.
"...Not... second?" she asked.
"No, third," he said, and she frowned even more.
"But you were at the second year dorms when I met you... Are you sure?" she bit her lips again and asked.
Second? Oh, now it makes sense, that was probably the reason he saw her, and him making that mistake stemmed from the fact that he was still in second year before he was expelled. So he completely forgot the third year platinum building was somewhere else entirely. No wonder he didn't see much familiar faces at the hallway of the 'elite lounge'.
"No, I think I just got lost then," he scratched the back of his neck with a nervous smile. But she didn't respond.
He looked at her and frowned.
This was completely unexpected.
"Why are you...?"