The Last Dainv

Chapter 295

Gale saw himself floating in space in darkness. Behind him was the outline of his body and the myriad of essence pathways that ran through him. Looking back, he saw a symbol.

The letter Y.

Or something else entirely. The lines were slightly distorted, bending at angles that couldn't possibly have been possible, yet it was as if he'd known this symbol since he was born. No words could describe how he knew what it meant.

Plasma.

It was the meaning of the resource itself. Just by seeing it, that's what the symbol whispered to him that it was.

Slowly, it faded. Another symbol replaced it. This one had no equivalent in the alphabet. A mix of Z, R, and T, but with too many strokes behind the overlapping characters that resembled them.

Matter.

The name of the resource. The tangible that can be compressed, expanded, and most importantly, held within a container.

"Open your eyes," Erin said.

Gale slowly did.

The first thing he noticed was the weight at his side. Turning his head towards the weight, Lira had fallen asleep, leaning against him, her head resting on his arm. Her breathing was rhythmically slow. Her face, still containing the ice glasses conjured by Erin, showed the peace of a sleeping child with drool dripping down the corner of her lips.

Presence Between sent passed through the walls, and saw the sky had gone dark already. "How long was I out for?"

"Approximately 5 hours in Earth time."

However, to Gale, it felt more like an instant of understanding rather than just 5 hours.

"Did you understand the symbols?"

Gale nodded his head. "Plasma and matter. It's like high school science. But what's this going to do with warming up the room?"

"Using one resource to interact with another resource to create an effect. A primitive definition of this 'high school' science you call."

"But matter and plasma are both matters."

"Yet the underlying law that governs plasma is of a different construct based on the fundamental syntax of the Origin System," Erin said. "Although in theory, they might be both matter, the resource access is restricted when matter crosses into plasma. Do you wish for a lecture?"

Gale shook his head immediately. Not a good time when they're trying to solve a rift. At the same time, if Ollie couldn't take her lecture, there's no way he'd be able to keep awake.

"Very well," Erin said. "As of now, digest the knowledge I've imprinted on you. The symbols I've shown you are parts of the foundational objects of the Origin System. Plasma and matter. Plasma accesses raw energy, representing light, fire, lightning, and more. Matter accesses the physical, the tangible; the air you breathe, the stone you sit on, the water you drink. By learning of these two, you can start accessing them and change the necessary essence to match the spell you want to execute."

"How?"

"Imagine the rhombus again. Place the plasma symbol at its centre. Let the string of essence touch the shape."

"Hold on," Gale said, picking up Lira. Carrying her over the bed, he placed her gently under the blanket and tucked her in. Once done, he went back to his position on the stone cold floor and closed his eyes once more.

The rhombus appeared in his mind. A white outline, floating in front of him. He placed the symbol of plasma at its centre. A thread of essence, originating from his spine, touched the pattern. Suddenly, a spike in activity within his essence pathways lit up, heating up where it touched as if resistance was pushing against the tiny pipes within his skin.

He pushed the essence to flow through harder, making it feel like something was boring through the pathways to make it wider except it was more like an abrasive texture.

"Now open your eyes, and watch," Erin said.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and saw the symbol that he imagined right in front of him. The white rhombus with the pattern of plasma in front of him was distinctly made of his own essence.

Raising her hand, Erin created a few symbols and patterns right on top of his. "Child, using your own essence as an external resource, I've added the execution syntax."

Suddenly, her own patterns pulsed, and his essence pathway increased its output through his body. It met with resistance as his essence didn't flow smoothly compared to when he used his 3 innate abilities.

And with another pulse, an air bubble in front was conjured. Distinctly, this warm air bubble was made from his own essence. It was his spell, yet not, as the one executing was Erin.

Gale's mouth gaped. "This warm air is really... mine?"

"Correct, child." Erin smiled. "Is learning not wondrous?"

"It is..." he whispered.

The execution from Erin's patterns stopped, and the warm air dissipated as soon as the pull on his essence stopped. "Children learn of this formula between the ages of 1 and 2 Se."

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"Neat," Gale said. That was around his age too.

"Now watch," Erin said, standing up. Raising her hand, a white magic circle bloomed in front of her. "I will demonstrate the capacity of the Origin System's syntax."

Unlike the simple white rhombus with the symbol of plasma that Gale had conjured, this one she created had multiple patterns all intersecting, with circles upon circles that connected to each other. Each circle connected by thin lines of essence with rhombuses at each end.

Now he understood, those were access links to each other.

Another symbol overlayed on top of matter. This one, Gale didn't recognize the curved parallel series with sharp angles that almost looked like the letter E in script.

"The symbol for air," Erin said.

Below the symbol of air was the symbol of matter that was linked to the symbol of plasma that also somehow held another symbol within it. The shape of it was ragged spikes that looked more blocky than flowing.

"The symbol for fire," Erin said. "Now, child, do you understand what this pattern accomplishes?"

"Heat up the air?"

"Correct."

Then the circle expanded. More symbols appeared, connecting into gear like structures that branched out more from each circle to another, all encased within the largest of the circles.

Erin spoke to Gale as each pattern appeared in the air that signified the meaning. "Size. Shape. Rectangle. Position. Rate increase. Slow. Continuous activation. Construct. Apply. Activate. All linked Access to Essence in storage."

The final symbol locked. A square that contained a spiral.

"This is the simple formula that constructs continuous air heating within a space of this room's size," Erin said. "Our cores take the syntax as input, compile them into the Origin System, which is then executed in reality."

As Gale stared at Erin, all he could think of was 'what the hell...'. The way she said it sounded so simple. But in front of him, a myriad of billions of patterns swirled, shifted, and rotated like a machine.

His brain hurt just by looking at them. Not literally. Figuratively. He wasn't smart. Heck, he didn't even have his G.E.D. yet.

"Put your palm before the circle," Erin instructed.

Before he could move, another circle activated beside the first one. Smaller, more compact. Rhombuses overlapped with symbols, which looked like she wasn't going to explain this one.

"What's that one?" Gale asked.

"A knowledge conduit. Do as I say."

Gale extended his palm toward the larger circle.

"Push 5 essence onto the circle marked with the square and spiral."

Five essence coming right up. Gale focused on his pathways, pushing exactly 5 threads into his palm, which sent out 5 threads of essence that swayed towards the pattern.

The moment his essence touched the pattern, his mind flashed with images and language that felt like he had known it since forever.

Information flooded him. The meaning of size and how it depended on the boundaries set by the user. The meaning of multiple shapes that encompassed the 3 dimensional space of the rectangle that they occupied. The warmth that seeped from the plasma symbol and the breeze from the air symbol. All of them locked into the position that was set in this very space. Erin had even put an increase rate, otherwise, a sudden spike might cause an adverse effect. She set it as a slow increase rather than a sudden one.

The knowledge entered him like a sledgehammer that hit his head. Although he knew he got hit, he could understand what they were, but it was still blurry. He knew full well that he couldn't just do what she did. Maybe in a millennia, he could begin to create spells on his own just by understanding the syntax.

When the input of essence finished, the circle pulsed once. The room began to warm at a slow rate. The chill receded, and the breeze that came from the shoddy shutters stopped entering, blocked by the coordinate lock.

Instead of a slightly cold room, it was starting to become a warm sunny day. A bit dry, but that was fine.

Lira stirred under her thin blanket. Sitting up, the first thing she did was wave her hand around as she noticed the warmed air.

She kicked off the blanket that she no longer needed, looking around at the now-comfortable room. A smile grew on her face as she laughed and got up from her bed. Running around the room, she ran in circles around Gale and Erin.

"Careful, don't hurt yourself," Gale said.

As Lira was about to tumble from running too much in circles, he caught her and carried her up to his arms in a hug. Looking at her smiling mouth and eyes, this was what Gale wanted to protect.

"This formula is rather simple," Erin said. "Although more complex than the one we executed earlier. You should be thankful that the Dainvs of Vianne's lineage possess the ability to create knowledge conduits at will that allow you to skip meaningless chatter."

"Right... meaningless chatter," Gale chuckled. "Thanks, Erin."

"Your gratitude is meaningless," Erin said. "Knowledge is meant to be learned."

Gale chuckled once more, "You hear that, Lira? The grumpy floating bluey over there is very very smart."

Lira looked back at Erin from Gale's arms. "Thank you, Ms. Erin."

Erin nodded, but her face was as blank as ever. But the nod was enough for Lira to give her a big smile.

"Can you also make water?" Lira asked.

"Of course, child. Water is the primary element of Vianne. Do you wish for water?" Erin asked.

"Yes, please."

Erin conjured up a cup made of ice. Water filled it up to the brim, and she gave it to Lira.

Lira took it, hesitating due to the glass made of ice. However, when she took it, it didn't seem to be freezing cold. Taking a sip, her eyes widened. "This water is so good!"

But to Gale, he saw it was just water. He did notice that the soup they drank had water of poor quality. No wonder Lira would think the conjured water would be good.

"Is that ok to drink?"

"It is distilled water," Erin said.

"What's distilled water?"

"Water that is pure."

"But didn't it come from your essence?"

"The essence was used to cast the conjuration of the cup and water. What of it, child?"

"Nothing. How come I didn't see any of the fancy magic circle things?"

"Do your innate abilities need them?"

"No..."

"You have your answer," Erin said. "In addition, you will learn how to construct simpler syntax inside your heart rather than externally."

"What's the difference between internal and external construction?"

"You will learn soon enough."

Lira gave back the cup to Erin, and she took it back.

The ice glass cup in Erin's hand melted and turned into mist, causing Lira to clap at the magic show.

Gale started laughing as the display was treated like a magic show. If it weren't for Lira in her arms, he probably would've also clapped. There was probably no need for Erin to turn the cup into mist. Just letting it melt naturally would've sufficed as well.

As he was laughing, Lira started to giggle too. Even though she probably had no idea what he was laughing at, it was funny.

When his laugh subsided, Gale looked at Lira. "Lira, do you know my aide's name?"

Lira shook her head.

"Call her by her full title. Grand Researcher Grand General Erin Weber."

Turning her head to Erin, Lira repeated the words. "Grand Researcher Grand General Erin Weber."

Erin smiled, raising her hand up to pat Lira's head. "This child understands respect. She will grow up strong."

A yawn escaped Gale's mouth. "Shall we sleep?"

Lira nodded.

Walking over to the bed, Gale gently laid her back on the bed, this time covering only her stomach with the blanket. "Erin, you sleeping too?"

"I shall," Erin said. Then her body floated horizontally, and she closed her eyes.

A weird way of sleeping, but if it works for her, then that's fine. Then Gale himself took the blanket from the other bed. Lying on the comfortable literal stone floor, he snugged himself in with the blanket and closed his eyes.

Presence Between saw Lira's head tilting at his display. However, she then went back to laying her head down on her pillow.

"Goodnight, Dark Hunter."

"Goodnight, Lira."

"Goodnight, Grand Researcher Grand General Erin Weber."

"May you rest well, child."