Chapter 220 - Theories

“That’s amazing,” Creva said, rubbing her sleepy eyes, “Makes you wake right up.”

She walked closer and examined the painting Adion had just finished. 

“Is that a Soul beast? A member of the Aphelian Apes of Iitha?” Creva asked.

“Oh? You know about them?” Adion asked, suddenly a little dazed. The words ‘Aphelian Ape’ unexpectedly triggered a new set of memories in Adion. 

These days, as his memories returned, he gained a vague sense of what he’d experienced in between those memories, but nothing crystal clear. 

His painting this time depicted Mephina lounging lazily in the trees, looking down at him. It wasn’t the first time he had met a Soul beast, but he was more nervous at that time than when he had met Fellion. Perhaps it was because Sell was with him, so he was nervous not just because his secrets might get exposed, but also because his feelings for Sell might come to light.

All of those emotions could be felt through the painting.

Adion smiled as he looked back to the painting. Thanks to Creva, he remembered what had happened after that meeting. Mephina had followed him and Sell as they walked back to the outpost, and Adion had discovered her. 

Adion had asked if she was some sort of monkey beast, to which she was greatly offended as an ‘Aphelian Ape.’

“Who doesn’t know about the Aphelian Apes?” Creva asked, squatting down next to Adion to take a closer look.

Adion snapped out of his memories, silently deciding to dig through all the details of those days with Sell before they reunited. 

“Are they famous?” Adion asked.

“What do you think? It’s the only Noble family of beasts in all of Shiora, as far as I know. And their bloodline is very powerful, allowing Soul beasts to appear in basically every generation,” Creva said, “Even if they have a hard time advancing to the Hard Soul stage because of that, they have several Soft Soul mages in the family at all times.”

“I see,” Adion said softly. He hadn’t known about that. 

He looked to White and couldn’t help but be curious how far his bloodline could take him now that he had taken that strange blood. 

Maybe White can become to the Remori family what the Aphelian Apes are to the Amyss family in the future.

“That’s right,” Creva said, “The princess of the Amyss family is your little girlfriend, right?”

“Yeah,” Adion said.

“Was she there with you?” Creva asked, looking at the painting.

“She was…You can actually tell?” Adion asked.

“What a strange ability,” Creva muttered, scrutinizing the painting carefully, “How come I’ve never heard of you being a master at painting?”

“I only got the hang of it recently,” Adion said.

“Is that so?” Creva softly murmured, “How are you able to communicate so much through just an image? What kind of magic is at play?”

“I don’t know, actually,” Adion answered.

It only started happening when I began to regain my memories. Could it be some kind of power of the soul?

“Maybe I’ll stick around the Academy for a while once I’ve brought you there,” Creva said, “It’s been a while now, and I’ve built up a lot of questions that need answers.”

“I’m sure the Headmaster will welcome you,” Adion said politely.

“Of course he will,” Creva scoffed, “I might spend most of my time in Deller, but I’m still part of the Scrolls and the Academy.”

She got back on her feet and called to the driver to pack up her tent. 

Adion also packed his painting and got ready to leave. 

He had already mediated earlier in the morning, so his Will was slightly tired. But he didn’t want to use the Profound Water in front of Creva. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her; it was just that he was used to keeping things like these secret. And he had always erred on the side of revealing too much in the past, so he didn’t plan on changing that habit.

Besides, he couldn’t make use of his Will much during their travels anyway. He was planning on learning as much as he could from Creva, and he didn’t need all his Will in order to carry on a conversation.

Adion and Creva got into the carriage and continued their journey. White trailed lazily behind them.

The roads in the Rellen Kingdom were wide and smooth, and Adion could not deny that traveling like this was quite comfortable. 

But as they passed a few other carriages on the way, Adion furrowed his brows in thought.

“Traveling like this might become a problem,” Adion said.

“This again,” Creva muttered.

“I’m not thinking about it being slow,” Adion clarified, “It’s just that my traveling with you seems to have become known by more people than intended. With so many people in the know, it will be impossible to keep quiet. It’s not impossible for Heavenly Light to hear about it…Traveling inside a carriage with the Helmis insignia and White behind us isn’t the most discreet.”

Adion looked to Creva and saw her frowning.

“Haah,” Adion sighed, “Sorry. Forget about it. I’m overthinking things.”

“It’s not that,” Creva said, “You’re right. I didn’t think about it. We’ll have to switch carriages in the next town and travel separately from White. I’ll try to get word back to the Headmaster and have him send a few Soul mages for reinforcement. There’s no point in staying low-key anymore.”

“It’s not that exaggerated, is it?” Adion questioned. 

“It’s unlikely we’ll run into trouble that I can’t handle in the Rellen Kingdom, but it’s far from impossible,” Creva said, “You’re too important to both Heavenly Light and the Academy to ignore a concern like this.”

“I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry,” Adion said, agreeing. Now that he was so close to reaching home, he didn’t want any accidents to happen.

“Well, nothing should go wrong in the coming days, at least. Heavenly Light can’t move that quickly, so there’s nothing to worry about for now,” Creva said, casting the matter from her mind. “So tell me, what’s the result of your homework last night?”

“About that…I’m guessing if you want to advance to the Soul stage before peak Diamond, you would have to have a Will strong enough to break your core instead of compressing it,” Adion said, having given the matter some thought, “That should replicate the circumstances for when someone advances to the Soul stage, but I don’t know if it would actually work. A safer method would be to devout their time to understanding the soul and integrate their core to the soul without making use of any risky methods.”

“That’s right,” Creva said with an intrigued smile, “It’s very risky which is why no one has dared try it. As for understanding the soul enough to advance without using the method of threatening ot break the mana core, I don’t have much hope. No one has advanced that way to the Soft Soul stage as far as I’m aware. So it’s even less likely someone weaker with a shorter lifespan would be able to.”

There is always a first. Adion thought. He would never risk breaking his core to try something never tested before, but if he was able to grasp that special power of his soul without risking anything, he might be willing to give it a try.

“Has really no one tried it?” Adion asked, “Once I thought about it, it didn’t sound like a ridiculous theory. A peak Gold core mage should be able to advance to low Diamond through the same method as a peak Diamond to the Soft Soul stage. If you succeed in integrating the core into your soul early, there should be immense benefits.”

“I think so too,” Creva said, “A person like that would surely be able to reach the stage beyond. Unfortunately, it really is the case that no one has tried it. And no one probably ever will. You have to realize that this isn’t something you can use just anyone to experiment with. You might be able to find a lot of mages willing to give it a try, but those mages wouldn’t have the talent to succeed, so it’s useless. It might be a challenge even finding someone talented enough in the first place, let alone someone willing to try something this risky. 

“Let’s say we want to see what happens when a peak Gold core tries to advance to Diamond through the process of integrated the core into the soul. You would first of all need someone talented enough to reach Diamond in the first place. But not only that, they would have to be able to sharpen their Will enough that not only makes it possible to compress a Diamond core, but actually threaten to break it. Someone with a Will like that would surely be able to reach the Soft Soul stage at the very least, why would they stay at the Gold stage and sharpen their Will, wasting their time, and risk everything for something so uncertain? They could just advance the regular way and reach the peak of the world.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Adion said. 

“You just might be talented enough to give it a try,” Creva said with a teasing smile, “Are you brave enough to try?”

“I might be willing to try to integrate my mana core early,” Adion said, “But not through the process of risk breaking my core. I’d have to find a way to make my soul grasp my core through another method.”

“Wait, you’re not actually planning on doing it, are you?” Creva asked, looking a little stumped.

“It’s worth thinking about,” Adion said with a shrug. He wouldn’t be too sad if he couldn’t advance early to the Soul stage, but he thought the idea was worth giving some effort. Worst case, he’ll learn a lot about the soul in the process. That’s always valuable.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Creva said, shaking her hands in front of Adion’s thoughtful eyes, “Don’t take it so serious. This is just an idea without any actual evidense. It’s probably impossible. And even if it works, there is nothing to say that you would come out stronger. You might just advance to the Soul stage with a much weaker core than if you had advanced like normal, with no way to rectify it later.”

“I guess that’s a worrisome thought,” Adion admitted.

“Yeah, so let’s forget about it,” Creva said, looking stressed out, “Ganta. I would be the sinner of humans if I messed you up. You are the only space mage in the world, and you are the most talented student in the history in the Academy’s history. There is no need to listen to the words of a crazy scholar. Don’t let any of the other fellows at the Academy steer you wrong in the future either.”

“Alright, alright,” Adion said, “Don’t worry. I won’t act carelessly.”

I guess I got a little swept away by the thought of power. I shouldn’t do anything like that unless I have to, or I have absolute confidence. 

But I should learn more about these kinds of things. I can’t underestimate knowledge. 

It would be a shame if I disregarded this only to find out later on that I wasted an opportunity.

“Why does the core only manage to advance after its integrated into the soul? Can a more powerful core than Diamond really not exist otherwise?” Adion asked. He thought about the beast core he and Shindo had found. It was well above the Diamond stage, and it existed without relying on any soul. It might be slightly different from the core of a living being, but it still beat any Diamond core even in a dead state.

“It’s just the way things are,” Creva answered with a shrug, “I don’t have the answers. No one does, probably. It’s a shame that there is so much we don’t know, but it’s also a blessing. Imagine how boring it would be if everything in the world already had a clear answer.”

“I guess that’s true,” Adion said, smiling.

It’s a bit of a bother. But I can’t lie, nothing is quite as exciting as unraveling the unknown.