Chương 75: Chapter 63 – The First Lesson

"That's pretty much it," he said.

"After the Great Tree shoved the rhizome into my body, I passed out. When I woke up, it wasn't long before I spotted Brahm. Then…" He glanced back at the younger tortoise.

"… you know the rest." Brahm gave a low grunt but said nothing. Vorduun walked on in silence, his massive body moving through the swamp with the same calm certainty he brought to everything else. Cade fell quiet too. He had spent the last few hours spilling out everything that had happened since the System came, everything that mattered anyway. The swamp stretched around them in dense, steamy silence. Thick roots rose from the mud.

Curtains of moss draped from broad-limbed trees, and stagnant water reflected pale slivers of light through the canopy overhead. Yet despite the living jungle pressing in from all sides, nothing came near them. No insects buzzed close. No beasts rustled in the undergrowth. Even the plants seemed to lean away from the two ash tortoises. They walked for days before the jungle finally began to change, taking minimal breaks to rest. Cade noticed the shift gradually. The mud underfoot thinned.

Patches of dark soil gave way to stretches of powdery gray ash. Leaves hanging from the lower branches looked scorched at the edges. Farther ahead, pale haze drifted between the trunks in slow, lazy currents. Then he saw movement. Several squat shapes trudged through the jungle ahead, broad-shelled and low to the ground. They were smaller than Brahm and far smaller than Vorduun, their shells still rough and dull, their steps uneven.

White fire flickered uncertainly from their mouths in sputtering bursts as they moved through the dense growth. Vorduun broke the silence.

"The younglings," he said. Cade slowed slightly, watching as the smaller tortoises spread themselves apart through the jungle. Each gave the others a wide berth, and as they advanced they exhaled white flames into the undergrowth. Plants blackened, curled, and collapsed into drifting pale ash. A moment later the young tortoises inhaled deeply, drawing the ash back into themselves.

"They start at the front," Vorduun said.

"The youngest and least experienced are placed where essence is easiest to gather and most abundant. The jungle is dense with life. It offers them plentiful fuel with which to grow." Cade watched one of the younglings belch out a crooked stream of white flame that only half-consumed a cluster of reeds before sputtering out.

"Their fire is not yet pure," Vorduun continued.

"So they are given the simplest duty. March forward. Burn what they can. Consume as much essence as possible." Ahead of them, beyond the lines of younglings, Cade could make out larger tortoises moving with steadier purpose. Their flames burned cleaner, brighter. Behind them still, deeper within the haze of ash and heat, lumbered even more immense forms.

"The more experienced follow after," Vorduun said.

"They consume what the youngest leave behind. Then come the eldest among the Front. Their flames are more pure. They scour what little remains and refine the residue left by the younger brethren." His ember-lit eyes shifted toward the pale haze drifting through the trees ahead.

"And I follow them to ensure that no life remains." Something in those words sent a faint chill through Cade despite the heat. Vorduun turned his head slightly.

"Brahm. Go ahead. Take your place with the middle ranks." Brahm looked at him sharply, as if he wanted to question the order. But after only a moment he dipped his head.

"Yes, Duke." Without another word, the younger tortoise veered away to rejoin his place amongst the ranks. Cade watched him go, then glanced at Vorduun. Brahm had a temper. That much was obvious. But he obeyed the older tortoise without argument. Cade had the distinct impression that whatever else Brahm felt, he respected Vorduun too much to challenge him openly.

"The most promising student of this Cycle's clutch," Vorduun said after a moment, as though plucking the thought straight from Cade's mind.

"Talented, powerful, and ambitious." Cade looked at him.

"He took it upon himself to move ahead of the Front," Vorduun continued.

"That arrogance should not have been permitted. I should have corrected it sooner." He paused.

"But what is done is done." Then the Duke turned his great head toward Cade, ember-bright eyes resting on him with a quiet, expectant look.

"And besides," Vorduun said, "his arrogance and impatience led me to something interesting." Cade blinked. He wasn't entirely sure what kind of response Vorduun expected from him. The ancient tortoise simply stood there watching him, steady and patient, as if waiting for Cade to say something profound. After a moment that stretched just long enough to grow uncomfortable, he cleared his throat.

"So… uh," Cade said awkwardly.

"What happens next?" Vorduun did not answer immediately. Instead, the Duke tilted his head slightly and regarded Cade with that same expectant look.

"What would you like to happen next?" he eventually asked. Cade opened his mouth, then closed it again. For the first time since the System had dropped him into this nightmare of a realm, he realized something strange. He actually had both time and the mental capacity to decide what he wanted to do. The thought felt almost foreign. Not entirely the first time, he corrected himself. He'd had something like this with the frogs after the body tempering. There had been space to think then too—space to choose.

But his mind had still been fogged over from the reforging, thick and sluggish like he was only half awake in his own body. This was different. For the first time since the System had thrown him into this nightmare, he felt fully present while having the capacity to make his own decisions. They stood at the edge of the advancing Ashen Front while the young tortoises trudged steadily forward, burning their way into the jungle. The scent of scorched vegetation drifting through the trees in slow currents.

Cade rolled his shoulders slightly. He was tired. The fight with Brahm had wrung him out, and the trek through the swamp afterward hadn't helped. But somewhere along the way his stamina had returned. They had walked slowly enough and occasionally rested so his body was able to recover what he'd spent. He should probably sleep. But the idea of lying down surrounded by ash tortoises didn't exactly fill him with confidence. Vorduun had said he guaranteed Cade's safety.

That didn't mean Cade trusted the rest of the tribe not to see him as a convenient source of essence. His thoughts drifted inward. The rhizome was still there. He could feel it if he focused—dormant and coiled inside him. Part of him wanted to start training immediately. If Vorduun actually knew how to get rid of the rhizome planted inside of him then Cade shouldn't waste time. But another thought crept in. Aquelion.

The small alligator had been the entire reason Cade ended up in this corrupted dungeon in the first place. The System had practically screamed that the little guy would grow into humanity's ruin inside the Tutorial. And yet Cade hadn't seen a single sign of him since the portal. For all he knew, the little gator was out there somewhere in this enormous realm growing into something monstrous. Or maybe he was dead already. Then there was the dungeon itself.

At some point, Cade was going to have to find a way out of this place. The thought had barely crossed his mind before now—he'd been too busy surviving day by day and trying to learn what he could—but the problem still existed. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. This corrupted realm was massive. Finding an exit could take months. Maybe even years. But it didn't matter how long it took, he'd find the exit and leave this place. Finally, there was the dungeon quest.

Cleanse Cynthia's Legacy. He had already burned out the corruption inside the Stormsap Crucible. That had counted towards completing the quest but it wasn't finished. Corruption still existed somewhere in this realm. The problem was that this place was impossibly huge. The corruption could be anywhere. Anywhere except… His gaze drifted toward the advancing Ashen Front. According to Vorduun, the tortoises' flames purified essence as they consumed it.

If corruption existed in the land, the ash tortoises would eventually burn their way through it. That meant staying near them might be the worst strategy to complete the quest. Cade rubbed the back of his neck. He had always been terrible at making big decisions. There were too many variables. Too many unknowns. But if he stripped away everything that wasn't possible right now, the choice became much simpler. At this moment, Cade had two options. He could ask Vorduun for a safe place to rest and then leave.

Or he could take advantage of the tortoise's generosity and start learning. The frogs' path hadn't worked for him but that didn't mean he'd fail at every path. Maybe this one would fit. Cade turned toward the ancient tortoise.

"I want to learn," he said decisively. Vorduun's head tilted slightly.

"Teach me the ways of the ash tortoises," Cade continued.

"I don't know if I'll actually be good at it. The frogs tried to teach me their Paths and that didn't exactly work out." He shrugged.

"But I'd at least like to try." For a moment, Vorduun simply watched him. Then a faint glimmer of amusement appeared in the ancient tortoise's ember-bright eyes.

"I was hoping that would be your answer," the Duke said quietly.

"Very well. Then we begin with the foundation. The first step toward walking the path of my kind is learning to perceive what already surrounds you." Cade frowned slightly.

"Perceive what?"

"Essence." The word hung in the air between them. Vorduun shifted his weight and gestured subtly toward the jungle around them. The young tortoises continued their slow advance through the trees, white flames sputtering as they burned through clusters of reeds and tangled undergrowth.

"To work with essence," the Duke said calmly, "you must first be able to see it, to sense it." Cade blinked.

"See it?"

"Yes."

"Okay that's the thing I'm still confused about," he admitted.

"You keep talking about essence, but the System's never mentioned anything like that. I've got mana, stamina, and health." He shrugged.

"Nothing called essence." Vorduun let out a quiet rumbling chuckle.

"That is because what you call mana, stamina, and health are merely refined expressions of the same thing." Cade stared at him with a confused expression on his face.

"Essence," Vorduun continued, "is the foundation of all existence." He gestured again, this time sweeping one claw slowly through the air.

"Everything that exists contains essence. Life, stone, water, air, lightning… all of it. Essence is the energy of raw existence itself." Cade followed the motion of the tortoise's claw, his brow furrowing.

"If something exists," Vorduun said, "it possesses essence." The Duke tapped one claw lightly against the ground beneath them.

"The earth beneath your feet is essence held together by the Laws. The air moving through the jungle exists because of essence. The life pulsing in your veins is sustained by essence." He turned his head slightly toward Cade.

"What you call health is essence refined to sustain the body." Another claw lifted.

"What you call stamina is essence refined to fuel the body." A faint white glow began to flicker between the edges of Vorduun's jaws.

"And what you call mana…" The glow brightened.

"…is essence refined to influence reality beyond the body." Cade watched the light carefully until the glow faded, though his focus lingered on where it had been. He turned the explanation over in his mind, piecing it together. Mana, stamina, health… they weren't separate resource pools. Just different expressions of essence.

"Thanks for the explanation," Cade said after a moment.

"Would've been nice if the frogs had just said all that instead of giving me relics and telling me to figure it out myself." Vorduun chuckled.

"The frogs do not explain such things," he said.

"They know them instinctively. As do most creatures of this realm." His gaze rested on Cade.

"But you are not from this realm. To begin working with essence you must first learn to sense it. To see it for yourself." Cade glanced around the jungle.

"And I can't do that right now."

"No." Vorduun's gaze sharpened slightly.

"You were baptized by the Ashen Emperor. That much is clear. But that does not mean your body was perfectly refined. It is likely that some impurities remain. They cloud your perception and prevent you from seeing essence clearly." Cade crossed his arms.

"I thought my body was already… fixed," he said.

"The System even said I have a Perfectly Reforged Body—at least until I reach [E] rank." Vorduun's expression didn't change.

"Perfection," the Duke said calmly, "is a myth." His ember-lit eyes held Cade's.

"There is always something to be improved. Only those who stop looking believe they have reached perfection." At that, the ancient tortoise's expression shifted. A faint, almost mischievous smile crept into the corner of Vorduun's mouth.

"Watch closely," the Duke said. He turned his head toward a small plant growing beside the path. White flames began to flicker once more between the edges of his jaws. As they did, Vorduun continued speaking.

"Essence within the body responds to will and intent." The white flames grew brighter.

"I gather the essence inside myself and guide it through my channels." The air around his mouth shimmered faintly as the energy gathered.

"As the essence flows, it changes form according to my channels and my intent." The white flames now danced across the inside of his mouth like living fire.

"My intent, in this moment," Vorduun said calmly, "is to sever the connections within the life essence of that plant." The flames brightened further.

"So as my essence travels through my channels, it becomes flame." Cade watched carefully. Then a thought clicked.

"Because it's your essence," he said slowly, "it doesn't hurt you." Vorduun's ember-lit eyes shifted toward him.

"That is correct." The Duke gave a faint nod.

"A good observation. Now watch." Vorduun exhaled. A narrow stream of concentrated white flame rushed from between his jaws and struck the plant beside the path. The effect was instantaneous. The leaves shriveled and collapsed before the fire had even fully touched them. The stem blackened, then disintegrated entirely. In less than a second the entire plant had been reduced to a small cloud of pale ash drifting gently through the air. Cade barely had time to blink.

The ash hovered where the plant had stood, swirling lazily above the scorched patch of earth. Vorduun did not inhale this time. Instead, the Duke continued speaking.

"Because I was the one who severed the plant's life essence," he said calmly, "the condensed essence responds to my will." The floating ash stirred slightly.

"It follows my intent." Cade watched the drifting cloud carefully, waiting to see what the tortoise would do next. Then the ash moved. Cade had just enough time to realize something was wrong. The cloud of condensed essence shot forward in a sudden burst of motion straight at his face.

"What—" The ash slammed into his eyes. Cade staggered back with a strangled cry, hands flying to his face as agony tore through his skull. It felt as if molten needles had been driven straight through his eyes and into his brain. He dropped to his knees in the dirt.

"Feel it," Vorduun's voice said calmly somewhere above him.

"Do not resist." Cade barely heard the words. Pain roared through his head, drowning out everything else. His eyes burned as his pain ran deeper—through the nerves behind his eyes and back into the occipital lobe of his brain. It felt horribly familiar. Cade clenched his teeth, forcing himself not to scream as the burning sensation pushed deeper. His eyes tried to water, but nothing came out. The essence burrowed inward. Through his eyes. Through the nerves behind them.

Through the pathways that carried sight itself.

"Trace it," Vorduun instructed.

"Follow where it moves." Cade forced himself to focus through the pain. The essence was moving. He could feel it. Thin streams of energy pushed along delicate pathways behind his eyes, threading through nerves and spreading deeper into the lattice of connections that fed into his brain. The sensation was nearly unbearable but even through the pain, Cade understood what Vorduun meant. The essence was carving paths through him. Burning them open just as it had done during the Ashen Baptism.

He felt something warm trickle down his cheeks. Cade blinked blindly. Dark droplets splattered onto the ashen ground beneath him. Thick, dark, almost oily blood seeped from the corners of his eyes and dripped steadily onto the soil. Vorduun observed the sight calmly.

"As expected," the Duke said. Cade barely managed to hear him through the roaring in his skull.

"The Ashen Emperor's baptism cleansed you," Vorduun continued, "but you were likely near death when it occurred. Survival was your body's priority. Not refinement." Another wave of burning surged through Cade's vision.

"You endured the rite," the Duke said, "but you did not receive its full benefits." Cade dug his fingers into the dirt as the essence continued to burn through his nerves. More blackened blood slid down his face.

"Consider this a correction," Vorduun finished calmly.