5 The Theory of Ether Power

Heather and Ken could immediately sense the changes in Ashley. His skin seemed smoother and he appeared more like he could pass off as Yuri's younger sister... It was truly mystifying, and they believed him instantly when Ashley proclaimed he had evolved.

"We decided not to talk about this because you were unable to cultivate any type of ability or supernatural power... However, you have acquired a power that even threatened your dad here. Therefore, we have to educate you quickly on the matters of the Evolved community! Furthermore, you must swear never to tell anybody about this! As much as possible, you must conceal your power. Nobody is allowed to know that you possess a legacy of an Edict! It's tantamount to bringing calamity on us all if anyone knew." Heather warned Ashley seriously.

Ken nodded patiently on the side. There was no use adding anything more to this. Ashley looked solemn as he took his mother's warning seriously. However, his innermost thoughts betrayed his calm demeanor. He was excited to enter the world as an Evolved human, and not a weak Old One.

While Nemea's consciousness could help Ashley deepen his understanding of the power granted to him by the Edict of the Yellow Emperor, Nemea would most likely not help him on the basics regarding ether powers and abilities, as this was something widely disseminated by humans already. It was just that as he was formerly an Old One, knowing the theory behind Ether Power wouldn't have benefited him at all and on the contrary it would most likely have adverse effects on his mentality.

However, he was now at the point where he could practice and become stronger, definitely with the potential to jump the proverbial Dragon's Gate and soar into the heavens. Ashley went down to the living room with his parents. Yuri had already gone off to manage the flower shop for today, so she would only be hearing about anything later on.

Heather and Ken both took the time to seriously educate Ashley on the Theory of Ether Power. It was a consolidated scientific theory that classified the human capacity to use ether in the form of power levels. The actual powers themselves also had categories.

Heather explained that the categories were rather self-explanatory. People who were able to enhance themselves or others through external and/or internal factors possessed "Enhancement Powers." Those who could manipulate natural phenomena had "Terra Powers." Terra powers were the closest equivalent to the 'magic' often written about in stories, myths and legends. The powers which did not fall under either of the two powers, such as transformation and psychic abilities were classified as Forma Powers.

Generally speaking, an Evolved human only possessed aptitudes in only one of these categories, but it was possible for them to have more than one ability under a single category. The more abilities they had, the higher their aptitude and talent was for that particular category of ether power. This type of concept was relatively easy for Ashley to comprehend.

Those Evolved humans who had mastery over a combination of two categories or all three categories could be considered as "Highborn Evolved" humans. Technically speaking, Ashley inheriting the Edict of the Yellow Emperor had transformed him into a Highborn Evolved human, but he didn't know this yet due to a lack of concrete information about the abilities he could use.

Ken then stepped in to clarify things further. "Classification of powers doesn't stop there. The individual powers themselves are also given a letter ranking since it's possible that many people share the same kind of ability. Yuri's ability to control plant life at a high, granular level is incredibly potent, it could be considered as an A grade Terra Power." Ken spoke with pride for his daughter. Ashley also felt a sense of pride knowing this.

"My ability to become invisible and remain undetected by nearly everything created by man could be considered an S grade Enhancement power!" he tooted his own horn, but he had the rights to. This kind of ability could be considered a cheat code if Ether Resonance and the benefits it brought to those types of Evolved humans didn't exist. Heather seemed awfully quiet, as if she didn't want to talk about her power.

Actually, Heather's ability was a Forma power. She had the ability to directly cause mental shutdowns by using psychic waves to cause controlled forms of brain damage. It was also considered an S grade ability, however it was deemed too dangerous so Heather refused to use it on principle unless her immediate family was ever endangered.

Ashley nodded, absorbing this information. However, these classifications only took up a small portion of the actual "theory." Just as he was about to inquire about it, Ken cleared his throat and continued to talk.

"Now that that's cleared up, we can get into the deep stuff. Ether is the purest form of energy that regular humans can harness internally, not including those so-called freaks of nature such as yourself who could convert the ether into an even crazier form of energy. As a result, the physical body also has to adapt so it could properly make use of the energy not only to nourish oneself but also to be released back into the atmosphere. This converted ether by the human body is what powers these abilities. For example, when I become invisible, I leak small traces of ether into the air. This was most likely the reason why that man was able to detect me - he was absorbing the ether my body created, and since it's different from ether found in the air, he immediately must have known something was up." Ken actually only came to this realization when he saw Ashley attain a state of greater Ether Resonance.

It was proven empirically at that point that ether which was not found in the air could manifest so thickly, therefore if Ashley could absorb all that, then clearly that mysterious man could absorb his thin traces of it!

"Since ether is responsible for nourishing the body and empowering it, it's possible for humans to cultivate the ether around them as a form of training and improvement!" Ken stated. "Once this theory was proven, scientists had formed a committee to try and discuss how one could quantify the progress of the body's evolution as it took in ether and used it not only in combat but also in every day situations! The cycle of using and releasing ether allowed humans to continue its evolution not only in the realm of technology but also in genetic science!" he seemed to be rather passionate at this point, but this talk of cycles immediately brought Ashley to a realization - this was very similar to the cycles he learned about when he comprehended the Edict of the Yellow Emperor! Heather attempted to get Ken to calm down so she forcefully interrupted him.

"For a typical, ordinary Evolved person, their journey starts not that long after birth. During a person's formative years, we can consider them to have entered the state of Ether Nourishment. In game terms, you can call this the First Level." Heather explained. "There are several levels and each level is split into three stages - entry stage, intermediate stage and terminal stage. After reaching the pinnacle of the terminal stage, it would become possible for a person to attempt to activate their innate potential and go a step further, progressing to the next level." Heather explained more gently and less passionately than Ken, taking a nurturing approach. Ashley listened intently. Feeling the ether in him, he smiled.

"We can run tests on you to check your current level, but we'll do that later," Heather said. "For now, just know these levels - life starts at the Ether Nourishment level. When a person reaches their teenage years, it's possible for them to break into the level of Ether Aura Formation. Most people in general reach the Ether Aura Formation level without a problem, but that's where the commonalities end. In general, most people live only to the terminal stage of the Ether Aura Formation. From the name itself, for the human's body to unlock the next level of their potential, they needed to be able to control the flow of ether in their body. Since humans could release their converted ether back into the environment, their bodies would evolve to the state where they could exude this ether in the form of an aura. That is, through their skin pores! The pinnacle of the terminal stage in this level meant a human could control the ether coming out from their skin with a mere thought. Many people actually can't do this. It's not only talent but genetics, too." Heather had to stop to catch her breath.

"The truly strong who were able to get past the limitations of the Ether Aura Formation level ended up typically charging through the third level - Primordial Transition. It was named after the Primogenitor, who explained that ether was not just a source of power and energy but also a source of mental refreshment." Heather explained, clearly intimate with the Primogenitor's theories and ideas, being Harriet Li's daughter. Ashley could also understand this part far more clearly than the other portions of the Theory of Ether Power since he already knew that the Primogenitor's race communicated through the Ether as they literally used Ether Resonance to breath!

"The Primordial Transition was a less demanding part of ether nourishment where humans who achieved the third level would concentrate on meditation and directing the flow of ether into their brains and minds. Since they were genetically capable enough to control their ether aura with their minds, their brains could withstand the energy that was provided by the ether their bodies processed. Thus, many people who reached Primordial Transition were able to quickly reach the terminal stage and attain what the Primogenitor called 'Ethereal Enlightenment.'"

Ashley gasped. "What was Ethereal Enlightenment?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Ethereal Enlightenment was a brief period of time where an individual could unlock the deepest recesses of their inner mind - their desires, their unique abilities... This locked part of their mind is what many described as the origin of the old phrase 'special snowflake.'" Heather heaved out. "Ethereal Enlightenment was also what allowed a human's power to develop in strange ways. These changes were usually negligible but of course, there were some people who managed to evolve their power into terrifying heights!" Heather immediately looked at Ken, who blushed in embarrassment. From this reaction, Ashley immediately knew that Ken was a human who had evolved at the very least to the pinnacle of the third level! Absolutely insane.

"If a human could attain Ethereal Enlightenment, then they immediately would end up breaking into the fourth, penultimate level - Etherforged Stage! Actually, both your dad over there and I are in this stage." Heather smiled faintly. Ashley was stunned. He actually didn't know how powerful his parents were simply because they never actually fought anybody. As the children of the legendary team of Harriet Li, why would anyone want to mess with them? They only picked on Ashley because he was an Old One. However, he was already Evolved. Ashley inwardly wondered how he could take revenge on those that bullied him.

"By the time you reach this Etherforged Stage, your entire body had already been tempered by ether and could be considered to be among the pinnacle of mankind. Regular weaponry won't do anything to you anymore, you'd basically be a man of steel." Heather explained. "Of course, if someone battled you with ether abilities or techniques, that's a different story. Most of Humanity's strongest people are either in the intermediate Etherforged Stage or the terminal Etherforged Stage.

The final level at the moment is merely only scientific conjecture - the fifth level, or Godhood, is something that was only alluded to in the materials given to us by the Primogenitor. It was suggested that the Primogenitor himself was at this level, but that due to the unfavourable living conditions on Earth at the time, his power was weakened by a lot."

Ken finally calmed down at this point and took over. "Finally, the last thing the Theory of Ether Power stipulates other than the stratification of ether evolution and the classification of raw ether powers is the mental capacity for humans to learn techniques or special arts that made use of ether. The quickest comparison would be to compare them to the mysticism of ancient martial arts techniques. It was a topic often written about during the time period in the form of fantasy novels. Who would have known that over a hundred years in the future from that time we could really do that." Ken smiled, chuckling.

"Of course, these ether techniques are also dependent on the proficiency and aptitudes of the Evolved human trying to learn them. A human trying to learn something like 'fire magic' without being able to manipulate fire himself is just a joke, yet he might possess a powerful enhancement ability that allowed him to excel in techniques that used the body, such as deadly martial arts." Ken continued. "Heather doesn't like using her power in its pure unadulterated form, so she has learned a lot of special psionic and mind-related techniques in order to downplay her ability while also being able to defend us and herself." Ken shamelessly threw Heather under the bus to display a crucial point.

Ether techniques were also incredibly important to know about too, and he cared a lot for Ashley being new to this whole thing. Heather smiled and didn't seem too angry about it as she recognized the importance of telling Ashley about these techniques.

Ashley also figured it out. "So you mean to say that using Ether techniques could also allow people to conceal their actual power!"

"That's right." Heather pet Ashley. "So that's the gist of the Theory of Ether Power. Would you like to get tested now?"

"Yes!" Ashley said with affirmation and gusto.