Old Tale to Tell

Welcome back again to the wild, definitely not the west. Like a normal jog in the woods with your 'dog' and ghostly doppelganger floating around to create a ragtag team of rather peculiar individuals.

Only a few meters left to the nearest mark, the excessive use of your exo-muscle has actually made a peculiar red crystal core planted near the lake of your mana sea. You planned to ask Chronos or Lues about it later.

"Oh yeah, Lues, do you know anything about this colorful crystal?' you say as you showed the Elemental Crystal to her.

Drifting on air as if she was lazily lying on a mattress, your reflection raises her head as if she were hanging by the edge of the bed. Her bangs flips, red eyes equally dazzlingly sharp as the crystal she gaze upon. A row of teeth reveals themselves from her smile.

"Ohoho, such a treasure you got there! That was an Elemental Crystal. A 'Usurper' usually used it to extract elemental essence to assimilate a spell or an array, but those people are fools. The best way to use it is shoving it up into your 'Athenaeum'." says Lues.

"Usurper? Athenaeum? You mean a formation?"

"Formation? What is that?"

Recalling Chronos' words, only the old generation use an 'array'. Which means that Lues is indeed some kind of ancient spirit locked by the original Long Leggy, if there is one to begin with, as far as you know.

Lues begins to exude her theatrical attitude, conjuring a visual animation using her crimson cloud as she tells a tale of the old pantheon and how they find a hidden realm inside their body located on their belly near the button. Curious, the ancient then began to learn that they can store many specific matters and even knowledge inside, so they named it 'Athenaeum'.

Not long after 'Athenaeum' was founded, a noble human prodigy in the name of Ethera Mana developed the consciousness theory and how that it was all a one dimensional string that can exude frequency to affect other matter. Using the said 'string', Ethera managed to create a revolutionary energy-conversion using consciousness.

Ethera named the energy as 'Mana'. It was then used for many technological breakthroughs including unraveling the mystery of 'Athenaeum'. Because of the ongoing war with the Angels, warrior after warrior arise to usurp the menace from above. Those people who cultivate the mana to become inhuman and powerful are then known as 'Usurper'.

Lues then ends the visual smoke screen like a closed book. "Now youngin' started to call those kinds of folk a Cultivator cause the new generation is so driven by their greed and ego to become powerful for their own gain."

"That is kinda sad actually, but realistic."

Your ragtag party has reached the nearest mark you deployed, only a few meters left to the campsite!

"As curious as I was, don't you think that it would be better if you plant that Elemental Crystal now?" says Lues.

"How you do that?"

She gets close to grab the crystal on your hand to turn it into sparkling dust. Coating them with her crimson haze, she shoves all the dust down to your throat until it meets into the exterior of your mana sea. As if someone is infiltrating, the Chrolings are on high alert immediately as Lues forces her consciousness inside.

"I see that you're doing fine nurturing your 'Athenaeum', have you explored the inside yet?"

"Exploring?"

She then puts the Elemental Crystal into the bottom of the lake, the liquid mana beginning to sparkle in different colors as if the crystal dissolved. Lues then puts a large array at the bottom of the sea to maintain the crystal from solvating, resulting in an almost infinite amount of elemental essence. With it, you now can cast more elemental spells more cost-effectively!

Lues peeks at the cautious Chrolings before smirking. She instantly creates one exact replica of her in chibi shape, increasing the dweller population inside your mana sea by one. Though, the Chrolings are still wary of the new inhabitant.

'Lueling' acquired.

"I'm not sure why you all are putting a smaller version of yourself inside me," you rant.

"Just in case something happens! Disaster often comes at great cavalcades, you know?"

"Your verbose is too much for me to handle."

While Lues is still within your mana sea coincidentally, you tried to ask about the red crystal planted near the mana lake.

"Lues, do you know anything about the red crystal?"

"Hmm? Honey, that is your 'technique core'. It was created by the repetitive use of circuit processing. This kind of core contains the proficiency and knowledge of certain techniques. You will become more and more competent at executing them the more dense the core is."

"How to make them denser?"

"By using the technique again and again!"

Basically, it was the fruits of your effort you did on the blood bending technique by using them as a motoric movement replacement of your muscle.

Being a cripple doesn't sound too bad now. Although, something is bugging your mind.

"Can someone steal my technique's core?"

"Yes! If they can absorb it, they will be able to learn the skill more quickly!"

'Ah this is bad', you're anxious if someone will snatch your hard work and effort from you.

"H-how to prevent them!?"

"You need to install a defense mechanism, these tiny critters are part of those."

Chronos also mentioned that the Chrolings are able to fend off invaders, but the fact that they didn't drive Lues away immediately shows that either they are scared of her, or they know that Lues means no ill intention but still in the suspicious area.

You will research more of these when you have the time. As of now, you've actually reached the promised campsite!