Mythshaper-Chapter 26: The Colour of Essence

As it turned out, the explanation of the test was far simpler than I had presumed. The pendant was made from a rare ingredient called Holreum, more commonly known as Halostone. It possessed characteristics of both metal and gem. However, what was important here was that Halostone could be used to store one's essence, serving as a top-tier reservoir in times of need. There was essentially no loss of essence, regardless of the time that passed.

For this characteristic alone, Shapers used rings, earrings, or other ornaments made of Halostone as a secondary reserve for their essence. As for its ability to change colour, that was directly related to the essence types.

Transference-type essence was colourless, but Transformation turned it blue, Enhancement made it red, and the last primary colour yellow for Enchantment.

Now, where did green fall into this? According to Mum, Halostone followed the simple rules of primary and secondary colours.

Transference didn’t cause much change, but when the yellow of Enchantment and the blue of Transformation mingled together, they formed green.

“I think I have a book on the theory of essence colour somewhere in there,” Mum said, peering towards her shelf. “Or maybe I gave it to Emi.”

“So, essence colour is practically the same as the colours I see,” I muttered. “If you had just asked me, I could have told you.”

Mum blinked. “That completely slipped off my mind.”

Well, she couldn’t see it the way I did, so it was easy for her to miss the details. Moreover, I believed Mum didn’t fully understand the extent to which I perceived the colours of those threads.

“Shouldn’t your essence be yellow, with Transference and Enchantment?” I asked. “Why is it golden?”

“Because…” She paused, startled, perhaps not expecting me to distinguish the difference. “Subtypes. I have a subtype that adds some healing qualities.”

That was an explanation that brought along more questions, but for now, I was satisfied. What confused me was the peculiar emptiness I had sensed in Father's channels. If it was only transference, at least I could still sense its presence... yet Father's channels felt completely empty of essence. It was like a common folk, except that they didn't even have channels.

I turned to him. “Why isn’t yours red?”

“It isn’t?" Father grinned. "Look again.”

I stared at him suspiciously and prodded Fractal Sight to activate, allowing me to see the essence veins within him. Unlike the last time, when I had seen hollow veins, this time, they were filled with a reddish hue, showing his Enhancement-type essence at full capacity.

As if to show off, Father withheld the essence somewhere within himself. The weaves inside him interlocked, withdrawing the reddish glow, and all his channels became hollow.

“How?!”

“What?” He shot a lopsided grin at me and Mum. “You think only you Shapers know tricks about manipulating essence?”

“What trick?” I asked, my throat a bit sore. “Can you teach me?”

“I probably can’t.” Father exchanged a look with Mum. “This concealment is something of a bonus of Nullification.”

“Oh…” My excitement faded, but then again, it didn’t seem all that important. Most gifted people couldn't see essence anyway. “So if I had Green, there’s purple and orange essence too, right?”

“There is,” Mum said, standing up to pour a glass of water. “Orange is more common than green, but purple is the rarest. It’s practically the best of both worlds for a combat-class Awakened. I think I’ve only known three people with all three—Transference, Transformation, and Enhancement types.”

She handed me the glass and slowly drank it all down, recalling something about the Arch Imperator of the previous generation. He had been of a hybrid class—both a Grand Magus and a true swordsman. He likely had Purple essence to pursue the path. While many combat-type Shapers learned swordsmanship or other ways to protect themselves physically during a fight, none had pursued a hybrid path as he had. One could learn swordsmanship all they wanted, but without a certain type of physical gift, they were doomed against formidable foes.

Which reminded me, should I reduce my sword practice? With my Awakening, I would need to spend more time training my Shaper skills, not to mention artificing. I could finally try my hand at creating fabricators.

“So, the aspects,” Mum said. “The art is easy to wrap your heads around, but time-consuming to be proficient in their Ways. Will, Influence, Weight—you cannot overlook any of them, especially if you want to focus on spell casting moving forward.”

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I didn’t ask questions or interrupt her, knowing she would explain everything perfectly. Mum was a good teacher. Even if she often taught in a roundabout way, it was excellent for driving the lesson home. Instead of giving me straight answers, she always wanted me to find them myself.

"You already know the theory of Will, so we should start with Influence," she said. “Draw your threads, but this time, push them as far away as you can.”

I repeated the process, coaxing my threads of essence out as I thrust my palm forward. Since I didn’t have the same reserves as last time, the threads practically shot out of my fingertips. Uncertain what to do with them, I simply focused on pushing them as far as possible. Soon, I felt a tug at my essence seed, and I could push no further. The tip of my essence threads frayed, withering as they tried to move further.

"Influence illustrates the area of effect for a Shaper,” she said, turning her gaze to where my essence reached, as though she could see the threads. “In simpler terms, it shows how far your spell would be effective."

“I can only move a couple of feet,” I said, a knit appearing on my brow.

Mum nodded. “That’s about the limit for a newly awakened Shaper.”

“But it's so small,” I cried.

“It will grow as you advance further into the path,” Mum said. “Now, about Weight, did you feel how your control and power diminished the farther your essence moved from your core?”

“That’s because of Weight?”

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“That’s both Influence and Weight,” she said. "While Influence determines the area of effect, Weight depicts the impact your essence will have within that area."

So, Influence was the reach of my essence, and Weight dictated how impactful it was within that range, I determined and felt better about forming my core on my own. That 10% boost from the honour would be so much more impactful in the future.

“The Weight of your essence always concentrates closest to your Essence Seed, and it spreads in all directions within your Influence. The Way of Weight Distribution teaches you how to extend that Weight farther from you… same as Influence Manipulation. And remember, it takes Will to manifest both, though Weight requires more than Influence.”

Now I wondered how much my Will had improved since I awakened. It felt like a significant amount, given how easily I could manipulate my essence now. It could easily be a few folds.

"Additionally, just because you’ve awakened doesn’t mean your journey into Essence Unification ends here. That skill wasn’t just to help you awaken. It is, and will continue to be, crucial no matter how further down the path you advance.”

“Can I practise it on my own now?”

Mum narrowed her eyes at me, considering. “As long as you do it responsibly, why not?”

That was a small victory, though I was more eager to practise my other skills. I was practically itching to try some spell weaving or engraving runes with my own essence.

Mum’s eyes darted to the clock. It was only a couple of hours past evening. "It will take time before you can effectively shape essence outside of your body,” she said. “So in the coming days, you should focus on that. Telekinesis can be a good primer… You’ve been through a lot during your awakening, we should pause the lesson until tomorrow, hmm?”

“No!” I practically shouted. “Teach me now!”

“You do know, with your current control and power, you can barely move a pebble?”

My eagerness faltered, but I refused to show it. “A pebble will do for now,” I said, rising to my feet. “I’ll go pick one up.”

Before she could argue, I darted out of the room and ran outside. Scooping up a smooth pebble from the yard, I hurried back to the study and held it up for Mum.

Mum shook her head and found no other choice but to demonstrate it to me. A thin strand of essence threaded from her palm, much like mine, though far faster and far more solid. Unlike my fragile threads, which trembled with every small movement, hers shot straight for the pebble and connected to it.

She didn’t need to weave a web around it. Her threads latched onto the stone, and she pulled with her essence, causing the pebble to rise into the air effortlessly.

I had seen her do this countless times, and just like before, it looked simple. She connected her essence to the stone, then pulled on her thread to lift it.

"I think you could have figured it out on your own," she mumbled, letting the pebble hover before my eyes. "It’s as simple as it looks. Connect your essence thread to the object, wrap your Will around it, then visualise how you want it to move. Try it.”

She dropped the pebble back into my palm.

“How do I wrap my Will around an object?”

“Try wrapping your essence over it first,” she said. “Your Will is infused with your essence. In time, you will learn to distinguish between the two.”

I needed no further explanation. Connecting my essence threads to the pebble was easy enough, but since I was still new to this, I drew all eight threads for the task, beginning to wrap my essence around it.

“Do not infuse essence,” Mum warned, her voice halting me. “It’s wasteful.”

Although she couldn’t see the essence the way I could, she still knew when I was doing something wrong.

“Focus only on the pebble. Close your eyes and feel the connection.”

I did.

Even with my eyes closed, I could see the connection clearly in my mind’s eye. I latched onto the pebble with my essence threads, pouring all my focus into the act.

“Now, will it to move.”

I poured my all into it.

The pebble shot upwards with surprising speed, easily escaping my area of Influence and soaring metres into the air before hitting the ceiling.

I was about to catch it—either with my palm or my telekinesis. The latter, of course, was doomed to fail due to my lack of experience with the art. But Mum intercepted it effortlessly, returning the pebble to me without lifting a hand with utmost grace.

[A new way is available: Telekinesis I (0/10)]

"Looks like I can move more than just a pebble," I said with a grin, turning the smooth stone in my fingers.

I tried again, but this time, I didn’t give it my all. I used only four essence threads and a smaller portion of my Will.

Moving it was easy, though it drifted unevenly, especially near the boundary of my Influence.

"It will take a lot more training to become a natural at it," Mum said. "Anyone can fling objects around, but very few master the art of moving them with precision. Now, let me show you a few exercises to train your control.”