“Go to the far ends of the cave.” Avaln indicated to her, calmly, as he sat on the ground. “It’s for your own safety.”

It was true. What he was about to do could very well leave her vegetative, devoid of any will.

Rei couldn’t hide her worried expression, as she was able to tell Avaln was quite exhausted after fighting two demon boars in a row, and a sense of guilt began nesting in her heart at the thought of how the second had probably been her fault.

Avaln turned around enough for her to see his fearless smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Now, hurry! Don’t come out until I call you!”

He didn’t shout, but added intent to his words.

Rei nodded, and after casting him a last glance, ran towards the end of the cave, around fifty feet away. As soon as she left his radius of detection, he began controlling his breathing and focused on his essence circulation.

Soon, it began speeding up.

His seventh sense didn’t pick up any disturbances outside, and the last demon boar he killed didn’t have the chance to make a sound. Besides, given the tracks they found that morning, it was quite unlikely they’d receive more visitors that night.

In any case, he’d have to take the risk.

So, he focused.

What he was about to do was crazy.

He knew it, yet he couldn’t stop smiling.

He felt if he didn’t try to do it now, something inside him would break and make him unable to advance any further. Like a certain will which should never waver.

And besides, he realized something else…

He had a hard time shying away from a challenge.

Night fell on them again, as they reached a large stair carved on the mountain, which rose and lost itself in the darkness.

“From here, we’ll need to climb a few miles before reaching a cave. As we ascend we shouldn’t encounter any demon boars, but once inside we’ll need to be extra careful.” Alary explained to his group, a few steps up. “We’ll proceed with the use of our seventh sense, then we’ll camp mid-way.”

The group gestured their concord. They’ve been fighting demon boars the whole day, and felt their bodies ache with each step. To rest was precisely what they needed right now.

Alice looked up, with a grimace. “Thank Circe I’m wearing boots.”

“Are you a follower of Circe, Miss Dothein?” Inquired Harold, as they began climbing.

The time until they reached a suitable place to set camp would be quite monotonous, so Alice found only normal that the tower shield-bearer would seek some superfluous conversation by asking a question he already knew the answer to.

“That’s right.” She confirmed, then added, “The members of my coven are all followers of Circe, and some consider her the greatest of the twelve. I’m not one of them though. One cannot reach a summit if they think it cannot be reached. Goals should be admired, not worshipped.”

Harold nodded in agreement, while Gallathorn commented in low voice, “Who would follow such a filthy slut of a witch?”

Garry elbowed Gallathorn on the side, hard, provoking him a violent cough. Ever since they departed from Gale, his attitude had taken a turn for the worse, and although he was still a valuable member because of his fighting prowess and aptitude to work as a team, his constant sharp and cowardly remarks were irritating even Garry, who was known to be stoic.

Besides, by hitting him he probably just saved his life, as Alice seemed ready to feed him to her fire snake.

“Gallathorn, another word out of you, and I’ll kick you down the stairs.” Warned Alary from the front.

Alice sighed, and threw a grateful glance towards Alary, then a mischievous smile appeared on her expression. “Dear Aly, do you know your gods?”

Her friend shrugged, as if distracted by something else, constantly turning towards a certain direction. “I always seem to forget one or two. Harold?”

The smooth way in which she deflected her question aroused Alice’s interest, but she didn’t follow it up. It was quite unusual for Alary to just acknowledge ignorance right off the bat.

“Let me see... There is Circe, of course, the first great witch and goddess of wisdom. Then there is Trismeg, the father of alchemy; Equidna, the mother of monsters and owner of the Underworld; Astraea, goddess of justice, innocence and precision, mother of archery; Poseidon, owner of the Split Sea and father of healing arts... “ Harold’s brow frowned as he searched for another one. “Aside from Ares, god of war and martial arts, I’m at a loss.”

“There is also Nemesis, God of vengeance and assassination. Albeit we all know why he is not known to be followed.” Added Garry.

Gallathorn said nothing. No one knew whether he didn’t have anything to say or didn’t want to say anything because of Alary’s threat. In any case, they all felt it was a boon.

“There is Diana, goddess of the moon, the hunt and childbirth.” Alice continued, matter of factly. As a spellcaster, she knew them by hand, as many spells were said to have been designed by them. “Vulcan, god of fire, the forge and artefact crafting; Bracchus, father of celebrations, god of wine and revelry; Venus, goddess of love and sex and orgies. Let’s not forget the last one, that’s her most famous; And finally Apollo, god of the Sun, father of agriculture. All of them form the pantheon of the twelve, and are known as the gods who showed the way of the adventurer to mortals, and taught them how to refine their essence in hope of one day rising to godhood… albeit no one has been able to do so in thousands of years. And of course, they aren’t anywhere near for us to ask them why.”

She finished her class-like comment with a sardonic tone, which picked Alary’s interest, as her friend was clearly hinting at something. “What do you mean by that?”

Alice lifted an eyebrow. She was always up for a good debate. “Don’t you find it weird? How come we can only refine the essence of what we slay?”

“That’s because of the soul imprint we leave on them. It makes it possible for us to absorb their essence and for no one to steal our kills.” Explained Alary, still not understanding her point.

“Then how come I can’t refine the essence of a tree? They are living beings too, and I have burned a couple of them during my practices.” Alice argued.

“You know that’s not proven. Many think that’s precisely because they are not living beings.” Retorted Alary, her ponytail swaying as she shook her head.

Her friend nodded, taking the hit as she puffed out her chest. “Alright, bad example. But listen… we are quite literally surrounded by essence, how come we can’t refine it? We are born with it, so there must be a way!”

“That’s the law of equality. As everything in this world usually falls to the ground, the world’s essence fills our bodies until we reach the initial level, that is, Nascent Essence third stage.” Explained Alary as she took another step with a sway of her hip.

“Exactly my point! If the world’s essence, which is not a living being nor bears our soul imprint, enters our bodies without us doing anything… Why can’t we intentionally refine it? We are surrounded by essence!” Alice extended her arms, covering the entire mountain, the entire forest, the entire world.

Alary smiled, mischievously “You are right! I think I’ll go down and try to refine a tree, what’s the worst that could happen? Getting a morning wood?”

Both laughed at this, the trio behind them lost to the conversation long ago.

Alice cleared a couple of tears from her eyes, “Oh, alright. And then I’m the incorregible one… “ She muttered, and after calming down, added the last note to the discussion, “But imagine; what would happen if someone were able to refine the essence around them? Or let’s take it a step further… what if they could refine the environment and the creatures they slay?”

Silence fell on the group like a thick curtain, some with a worried expression, while both women’s eyes flashed with a greed only they could understand.

“Still, even if it was possible, how would they harbor so much essence at once? They’d die from the backlash. And let’s not forget the number of different attributes they’d need to adjust at once, unless they were to draw from the world’s essence, but even then… how? There is no record of anything like that ever happening. The soul imprint we leave on our kills is just that important.” Alary couldn’t but shrug, at which her friend’s pretty lips played with a few rebuttals before closing without muttering a word.

For she was right. No matter what, a cup can’t contain an ocean, and the process of refining essence was much more complex than simply filling a vessel.

Alice sighed as the conversation turned to more simple things, her gaze staring at the moon, whose picture was but a thin white line.

Avaln’s smile showed pure madness.

There were two things pulling at his mind right now. One, the huge hunger for essence he still felt, like a caged beast running in circles, full of violence and yearning. Second, the two demon boar corpses which now wore his soul imprint and were in front of him.

Normally, what he was about to attempt would be regarded as insane.

He further sped up his essence circulation, sensing its chaotic pulse because of his recent overexertion. He knew losing focus right now would result in a huge backlash which could quite easily leave him crippled, and keeping his circulation under control was like driving a cart downhill.

The world essence began to gather around him, still too thin, still too passive.

He needed it wild, he needed it like a river, like an ocean.

Only then it would serve his purpose.

His mind went over one of the requirements for his essence refinement secret art.

Elementless. Otherwise, the essence attribute would be overwhelmed and washed away.

That meant the same as being stripped from it, regressing it to an elementless state.

What Avaln wanted now was to take advantage of that principle to strip the demonic attribute from the corpses in front of him, and turn it into elementless essence he could absorb easily, together with the world’s.

The essence of a demon boar was rich, richer than what he could gather from the world with his meager skills, but more than anything, he couldn’t absorb it with the normal use of his secret art. Yet his greed and hunger were pulling at him relentlessly, and the risk and gain he saw there were constantly being put on a scale in his mind.

Then he thought about his goal, and understood risk was a must.

The summit he wanted to reach wasn’t sitting quietly there for him. Sgithe was surely becoming even stronger with each passing breath.

And he was already years behind.

How was he supposed to catch up if he took the easy path?

Besides, it wasn’t like he was taking the risk while blind. There were two reasons why he thought it was plausible: first, after ten years of not receiving essence, his body and soul were craving for it, yet his essence circulation was far above the average, that is to say, the size of his vessel was wider than most.

Second, he had just exerted himself to his limits, which meant his being was almost devoid of essence, and he wanted to make use of that emptiness.

And so, he rode the cart downhill, he sped up towards the unknown end, feeling the world’s essence swirling and thickening as a wave about to crash against the land.

Half an incense stick later, Avaln opened his eyes.

It was time.

He stimulated his seventh sense, and began absorbing the world’s essence as he watched how it went through the demonic attribute inside the demon boars, attacking it, eroding its black as a river erodes a rock, a hundred years in a few breaths.

Soon, their essence turned as grey as the rest, yet seemed much denser. Avaln pulled at them with his circulation, speeding it up, letting that hunger inside him satiate its thirst freely, jaws open wide.

A pulse, reaching every corner of his body.

Another pulse, strong, reverberating, filling. His soul shook.

This time, the world’s essence didn’t attack him, yet he still felt that nurturing, hot milk run through his veins, reforming his body, enhancing his senses.

And soon, he laughed.

The corpses in front of him laid empty, yet he could not feel more satisfied.

He had just advanced to the Nascent Essence third stage.