Moyo woke up to find himself inside his core, but this time it was different. He was actually inside the blade. Blinking for a few seconds to actually realize what he was seeing, he felt himself forcefully ejected from the blade core and into the hand holding the blade and instinctively knew something was wrong, the hand was crumbling and it drove the fear of God into him. He grabbed the gigantic hand and felt raw aether slam into him, eyes widening as he realized it was the manifestation of his mantle.

Clueless as to what to do, seeing as he had no understanding of what was going on, he scrambled to use his willpower, his authority, anything to hold the hand together, he couldn’t lose another thing, not after everything he had lost.

He felt a concept click within him as he had that thought, and with helplessness but dreading curiosity, he felt his core dissolve, releasing intent and aether in equal quantities, floating around inside him with nowhere to go.

He still felt his core, or rather the concept of his core, but with a slow realization he began to realize he was expected to build it back, daunted at the task before him, he saw the crumbling hand swirl into aether and aura, coming to rest in his hand and change shapes like a glitching software, it felt physical to the touch and with it came the instinctive knowledge that it was his to use in reshaping his core.

He would have to ask his masters when he got out of this place if this was normal, but he felt a pang at that moment, shame for what he did to the girl. He was supposed to be a protector and, at that moment, he had acted like a savage, to an ally no less. He was the titan blade, even in his culture one didn’t treat women that way, he was supposed to be a shield. Immediately the thought settled in his mind, he felt his spirit resonate with it,

Shield, protect, absorb,

With his willpower that he was currently suffused in, he tried rebuilding his sword core but paused, a sword might defend the weak, but it wasn’t actually used in defense, it was to strike.

Willing his mantle into the shape of a hammer, he moved closer to the intent and aether swirling around where his core was formerly situated, and with a clear thought in mind, he hit the hammer on the aether and intent and with a loud clang, a landscape was created from the aether surrounding him,

Aether is the container that holds our power,

Let the aether he absorbed from that moment forward become the foundation for his new core, let it nourish the intent he intended to use in building his core next,

With another clang he hit the intent in the air and watch it gather on top of the aether, slowly growing into a small mountain, realizing the more he advanced the more It would keep getting enlarged. Without caring about what using all the aether in his body might be doing to him outside, he continued, even as his mountain took shape, he began instinctively adding different aspects of himself into the mountain. His mind and willpower dragging those aspects of himself into the mountain,

The strength of the titan, his mountain would persevere as long as he drew breath,

The endurance of the titan, for whatever comes for his mountain, it would endure it,

The constitution of the titan, his mountain would keep flourishing, absorbing from the aether to grow better,

The intelligence of the titan, his mountain would channel aether and intent the same way mana users channeled it,

Veins of power ran through the mountain to gather in the middle of the mountain inside it. With a brief use of his willpower, he found himself inside the mountain. Glancing around at the bare insides with glowing lines of aether pulsing on the walls, he used his willpower to begin calling his skills to himself.

The greed of the titan came first, a glowing red orb that pulsed with power. He set it down at his side, watching the rest come in too, titans dance, a green orb that kept resounding with the ancient gangan drum of his people in the life before. He would honor his people, he would embody them, he was Moyosore, he was Yoruba, he was the son of the great Ife, the fabled cradle of civilization according to myths and legends and he would make it so.

As all the skills settled around him in a circle, he began to speak, with his authority and willpower together he spoke,

Greed of the titan will take the form of Esu, messenger to the gods and bearer of placations, may you keep taking from my foes,

Titans dance of Ijakadi will become sango, the god of thunder and lightning, even as you grow in guide my steps, let your power course through me the same way your lightning runs across the sky,

Wrath of the titan will become Oya, the queen goddess of the seas, may you flow through my body like the prayers of the innocent, heal my body in battle,

Realm of the titan will become Olorun, the ruler of the heavens, may my realm be just and benevolent, may it strike fear in the hearts of my foes,

Step of the titan will become Ogun, the god of blacksmiths and hunters, may my step take me to wherever I wish, and may it reach wherever my foes may hide,

Voice of the titan will become Eledumare, the supreme being, may the voice of the titan carry the will of the supreme being, to crush whatever voice may oppose mine,

Ferocity of the beast will become oshosi, the god and spirit of lightness, astuteness, and wisdom, may your attributes help me in battle.

As he finished, he began to fill light-headed, he could see his body begin to lose cohesion as his weakening willpower and authority tried pushing him out in order to recuperate. With a growl he gathered back, not yet, he wasn’t done. He imagined his willpower as a vat, held in the hand of a maiden, ignoring the statues of his skills that were slowly forming around him and into the walls of his mountain.

He could feel the aether in the veins of his mountain almost full, bursting to the seams, he had to find a way to reduce the pressure and with a figuratively face smack, he sent one vein each into his skills as they began to glow, skills fed off aether and he just gave them their own sources, what that would do to his skills, he had no idea, but he didn’t feel any adverse effects from it.

That dealt with, he faced the vat of his willpower and with a whim, he made it gigantic, a bit egotistical but he was the titan, he would keep raising his willpower as he grew stronger till the gigantic vat was filled with what he saw was a purple-colored liquid, he did the same for his authority, watching another vat form opposite of the vat of willpower, tilting them as they both poured into a large circular hole he made at the base of the mountain. Immediately he felt reality begin to restrict him and tilted the guards back up, wincing at the hack he thought he could had accomplished, but with a smile, he knew he was getting there.

With a thought, his mantle removed itself from his hand in the form of the hammer he used and became the runic robe as his aura descended in the form of a cloud he made over the hole. The cloud descended and touched the robe and he immediately felt his body covered with his mantle on the outside. Finally, when his willpower couldn’t hold it again he was ejected, not before he appeqred outside the mountain and saw a lush grassland forming on the aether landscape, his mountain giving off the sharp edge of an intent blade, with a smile he realized he had done it.

His mountain, his core, was born of the need to defend and protect, to show the indomitability of the titan, and it stood tall, emitting intent and aura with force as the lines of aether ran through the grassy landscape, refining itself inside his mountain that glowed. He woke up to see it was night, his body had been wrapped in thick clothing and he was actually shivering, the thought startled him so much that he coughed, alerting those around him as Ajax appeared in front of him, arms folded with a stoic look on his face. Moyos’ throat felt like sandpaper and the croak he made was evidence of it, he felt a hand raise his head up, glancing to the side to see Ulsa raising a cup to his mouth to drink, and he gladly did.

As he calmed down, he cleared his throat to try speaking when he felt the pressure coming from Ajax, sealing his mouth shut as he glanced at his master,

“You are not to speak, you are not to move, you will assume the lotus position and begin meditating, trying to gather the sparse aether in the air while inside this tent that has been fortified to protect against abyssal energy and whose energy would run out faster as you’re drawing aether from its reserves,” Ajax said,

“what you experienced could had killed any simple ascender, it is known as aether deprivation, after your endurance ran out and you fainted, you triggered your realm manifestation and began to draw from your aether reserves, draining your body dry, if it weren’t for Killian who shared his abundant aether with you in minute quantities seeing as the aether of a master can literally cripple you, and even at that it surprised us how much your body can contain, which can only mean you used it in your core manifestation” Ajax explained,

“Now master Urush has so benevolently instructed his disciple Ulsa to teach you all you need to know about ascension from the rank of expert upwards, we were planning to teach you, but I believe any word from our mouth only spurs you on to break some stupid barrier you think we expect you to, when she is done and you can walk, i and the other masters will expect your apology, remember, you utter a word and I would smack your mantle out of your body, and yes, masters can do so,” Ajax said as he disappeared,

The tent became awkward as Ulsa blinked at him like a lab specimen, he was pretty sure she wanted to poke at him. He bowed at her, his head touching the rocky ground as he tried projecting his apology to her,

“uh, no!, no, I understand, no need to apologize, I went out of my way in fighting a junior, and for that, I apologize,” she said,

Moyo sat back up to look at her, shame in his eyes as he couldn’t maintain eye contact, she sighed and sat straight,

“I’m going to ask a series of questions, nod for yes and shake your head from side to side a bit for no, alright?” she said as he nodded once,

“Good, now from what I was told, you’re from a tier 1 world and the only expert?” she asked,

He paused, could he call himself the only expert after the revelation of a dragon on his world of expert rank?, he nodded, for all purposes, he was officially the only expert from earth, or C-102 as it was called,

“Good, you also aren’t aware of the greater archailect and the true ascensions after reaching expert?” she said,

Moyo became serious, sitting straight as his eyes sharpened, what did she mean by true ascension?, he shook his head vehemently”

“Then let us begin from there,” she said,

“In the greater archailect, it is said that true ascension begins from the stage of expert. The other stages are what we call the infant stages and in any civilized planet in the archailect, the stages fledgling to advocate are not to be touched, well they can participate in whatever duel they prefer, as long as it is between themselves, but they rarely have a say when powers are gathered” Ulsa explained,

Moyo blinked at the fact and could understand a bit of what she was saying, advocates for all their show of power couldn’t scratch an expert, not even if a 100 of them gathered to combine their powers. Sure they would get the attention of an expert, but harm the expert?, laughable, that was discounting the fact of if the expert didn’t retaliate immediately and to advocates, they wouldn’t even know they’re dead. He nodded for her to continue,

“So whatever advantage you had over advocates back home is the same in all the tiers of planets in the archailect. Now about tiers, there are 5 tiers of planets, and this might get confusing so I’ll go slowly with your planet as an example” she said,

“Tier 1 worlds can only handle fledglings and initiates, tier 2 acolytes and advocates, tier 3 experts, tier 4 masters, and finally tier 5 rulers, the fabled land of bliss. The only exceptions are nexus points that serve as aether banks and can handle any tier, as you no doubt noticed or saw the presence of the jungle king on that nexus point, we used in getting to this world” she said.

“Now when a world is just introduced into the archailect, there is a dump of aether so strong, the world is technically a tier 3 world, but categorized as a tier 1. The aether is dumped in that quantity and is usually full of impurities with the exceptions of dungeons whose aether are usually a bit purer than the one in the atmosphere” she said,

“Due to this, those on the planet can advance to technically expert due to the strength of the aether and those that don’t reach the hypothetical expert stage will become strong advocates, and the ranks below, following?” she asked as he nodded,

“The reason we say expert is hypothetical is the fact that to cross the barrier, the world has to face a calamity, as experts, we become aware of this calamity, but we can never pass the information on what form the calamity would take to the infants beneath us except the known facts that it ould be in the form of abyssal creatures, it is meant to be their introduction to the abyss and its dangers." She said

"As a fellow expert, I can tell you that the calamity comes in the form of a swarm monster over every continent, the swarms are individually peak advocates with access to realms, meaning on the brink of expert rank” she said as Moyos’ eyes widened at the implication,

He was beginning to see why his masters hadn’t told him, not that he asked but they had driven the discussion away from the topic. He wondered if he could pass the message along when he felt his chest become insanely heavy, groaning as he dispersed the thought and the weight lifted, he saw Ulsa smile a little,

“I’m guessing you thought of passing that info to someone below or ascension stage?” she asked, he nodded,

“we’ve all been there, now that we’ve covered the ascensions up to advocate, let us delve into the realm of an expert. It is known as the beginning of the true ascension stage due to the fact that the fast ascensions will slow down to a crawl, a literal crawl, the days of killing a monster higher than you and advancing almost immediately has come to a stop, well, at least till you enter your 160s then you find yourself going into dungeons for months just to get one level. This is due to an evolution known as a core manifestation” she said,

“Core manifestations are the evolution of your core, it evolves from its original stage that signified whatever aspect you were dedicated to, be it intent, mana, or aura. It takes the form of either a blade or a projectile weapon for intent, an orb for mana, and a mist for aura users. When an ascender crosses the stage to expert, the core dissolves as the aether constricts and finally expands into its true form, some call it the purified form but aether is aether to most of us, I’ll let you absorb all of that” she said as she dipped her hand into a small pouch, producing a large ball that felt like concentrated mana,

Moyos’ eyes widened at the amount of aether in the orb, she placed a finger to her lips in silence, her whiskers moving. With one hand she gave him the orb and a jolt of aether began flowing into him like a torrent. Moyo noticed with wide eyes as Ulsa stared at him in shock, watching as the orb filled with blue mist began to decrease at an astonishing rate,

“That is a rare aether orb, it is used to hold aether in large quantities, the orbs come in different tiers starting from rare, seeing as any ascender below expert shouldn’t be anywhere near an area of aether deprivation, plus the fact that they would explode should they so much as touch this orb” she explained,

He raised an eyebrow at her in response to the astonished look on her face,

“That orb was filled with enough aether to fill five experts to the brim, you’ve absorbed half with no sign of stopping,” she said,

Alarm on his face he tried giving her back the orb, Ulsa shook her head,

“No, I’m curious really, let’s see how much aether you can absorb,” she said,

Moyo watched her face go from astonished to jaw-dropping to alarm,

“How deep is your core?!” she shouted,

Moyo was about to reply when masters Killian, Urush, and Ajax appeared inside the tent like they had been there all this while, they could as well had been. He saw their eyes go from the orb to him, eyebrows raised,

“By the supreme beings,” master Urush said,

“Before you drop any more surprises, which I’m sure you would, he always does, let’s see how much of the aether he can absorb,” Ajax said with a twinkle in his eye, Moyo mentally rolled his eyes, sighing as he knew he must had done something again. As he drained every bit of aether from the core, feeling refreshed, his mountain core feeling stable enough. He wondered where all the aether he had seen his mountain channel on the inside had gone to, probably his skills.

They all stared at him with various looks that ranged from Ulsa staring at him like some weird creature, to master Urush who kept staring at the orb, and then Moyo with a clear expression of puzzlement, wondering where all the aether had gone. Ajax stared at him like he had seen this scenario play out before and master Killian just stared at him, his mind probably calculating different angles,

“Disciple, are you aware of core manifestation?” Killian asked him,

Moyo glanced at his master Ajax who nodded to him,

“you’re released of your silence, you may speak,” Ajax said,

Moyo stood up, wobbled as he got his bearing, turned to face the masters, and bowed,

“I apologize for my conduct, it was not befitting of a duel and I humbly apologize,” he said,

“Accepted,” master Urush said,

Mater Killian rolled his hand as a gesture for him to continue, he nodded,

“Expert Ulsa was gracious to start with me, but I believe we haven’t gotten to the min points” he replied,

“What do you know?” Killian asked,

“That when an ascender reaches the rank of expert, their cores break down from whatever form it had before,” he said,

“Expert Ulsa, you may continue,” Killian said as Ulsa bowed,

“As I explained, once the core has been broken down, it is then shaped by whatever form the expert views themselves as, except at this stage, they can now take aether in to settle around whatever form their core has now taken, the aether is then used to power their core directly, the core refining it internally into whatever aspect is prevalent in them, in a scale of 2:1. For example two aether orbs equals 1 orb of intent,” Ulsa said,

“So, for this orb I absorbed, I can produce intent enough for 2 experts?” he asked,

“Exactly, however, core size depends on the depth of the core which is usually influenced by the willpower, authority, and mantle used in shaping their cores. Some experts with enough willpower and authority add their skills into building their cores, this makes for a stronger core in general, therefore experts are always told to wait till they increase the strength of their willpower and authority before undertaking the core manifestation, but since yours triggered when you were unconscious, you may not had added it, I’m sorry” Ulsa said, master Urush kept staring at him,

“Oh, I wouldn’t jump to conclusions just yet though, you aren’t factoring in how deep his core must be to be able to absorb that much an aether,” Killian said,

Ulsa glanced at him, same with Ajax grinning, Moyo felt irritation at the fact that Ajax seemed to always think the worst of him, not that he wasn’t always right though,

“So?, what form did you mold your core into?’ Ajax asked,

Moyo wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell them all, despite the gracious and benevolent nature of the frozen tigers, he barely knew them. Killian saw the look of doubt,

“Have no fear, house Garuda and thousand blades have been allies for centuries, your core form is safe with them” he said,

Moyo didn’t consider himself under house thousand blades, he owed their ruler a debt and would be repaying it by participating in the coming tournament, what if his sect became a house one day and they had the knowledge of the form of his path?, it was bad enough they had the name of his path and how he created it, granted that it would be public. Still seeing his doubt, Killian stood straight, eyes cold as Ajax and Urush snapped their heads to him, feeling the aura emanating from him,

“I Killian stellar blade, descendant of the ruler of the thousand blades, with the power vested in me swear to not disclose the name of the core type of Moyosore titan blade to anyone, ruler or lesser, this I swear on the archailect,” he said,

Moyo felt the oath snap between him and Killian, whose eyes were still cold, Moyo bowed nonetheless,

“Thank you, it meant a lot” Moyo replied,

“I hope your core is something that’s worth it, for your sake,” Killian said, a hint of a threat in the sentence that had Moyo snapping his head to the master whose hands were crossed,

“To question the words of a master as a new expert is an insult great enough to warrant execution young titan blade, but I’ll let it slide once, I swear the same terms as Killian stellar blade as regards the information concerning the core form of the titan blade, this I swear on the archailect” master Urush rumbled,

Ulsa made the same oath as Ajax just for formalities since he was technically a member of house thousand blades. Moyo breathed in and explained what happened to him when he was unconscious, watching again as their expressions went from surprise to shock, with the exception of Ajax who burst out in laughter,

“to be clear, your core is now a mountain, filled with your attributes infused into it, a landscape of aether and your skills each planted inside the mountain with your willpower and authority large enough to potentially fill two separate vats?,” master Killian said,

“Yeah,” he replied,

Master Urush and Ulsa just kept staring at him in disbelief, Killian brought out a shard, tossing it to him as he caught it, it felt empty,

“That’s an intent shard, rare tier, fill it. Usually, it takes 2 expert swordsmen using their entire intents to get it to half” Killian said,

Moyo channeled his intent into it, watching as it went from empty to brimming in less than five minutes, he hadn’t felt a thing from within him signaling his core was empty. As he tossed the shard back to Killian, the master glancing from him to the shard, master Urush in thought, Ajax clapped his hand, laughing,

“Perfect! perfect, what we need, our ace against those damned serpents, Moyo, rest, recuperate your aether, hell I’d give you an aether orb, fill it up and training continues, that goes for both you and Ulsa,” he said.