Chapter 12: The metaphysical realm

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Levi opened his eyes. He saw that the sun was already on the horizon and the sky was a bright orange, signifying that the night was approaching. He sat up while massaging his aching temples.

"Ugh....what.. happened?" He asked, his voice still a bit groggy.

'you're finally awake? You passed out just as the process ended'. Grim said.

'what! Please don't tell me....' Levi's voice trailed off as he assumed the worst. His fingers were trembling and his heart was beating rapidly in fear of Grim's answer.

'well, you did your best...' Grim said with a solemn voice.

'no...' Levi said. The weight of Grim's words fell on him like a hammer, he couldn't help but deny it.

'no..no, no, no,no, no! It can't be! All that pain and effort...gone down the drain? No! It's not possible'. Levi thought. .

He couldn't believe what he had heard. More accurately, he didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to believe that he had just wasted all of his time and efforts, the pain he had to go through was straining on not just the body but the mind, he didn't want to believe that it was all for naught.

'please Grim. Please tell me that there's another way!' Levi practically begged.

'i'm sorry....' Grim said.

At this juncture, all the strength that Levi had managed to summon just left him and he fell flat on his back. He cuddled himself as he lay on the floor, he suddenly looked ten years older.

'i...I knew it would end up this way'. Levi entered full self depreciation mode.

'what the hell, did I think that I was some fantasy novel protagonist. Some sort of chosen one...what a joke. Luck has never been on my side, since the very day I was born it has always been me against the world. I'm useless'.

'i'm nothing but a pathetic piece of trash.....this is all I ever-' Levi was cut off by Grim.

'ok that's enough. Damn, I knew it was bad but not THIS bad.....your brand new aether core is alright just....stop with the self cussing'. Grim said.

'what? You're joking....'

'see for yourself'. Grim said.

Levi immediately closed his eyes to look within himself. He saw a blue coloured ball of energy with tinges of light blue here and there. The ball was about the size of an average fist and upon seeing it, Levi practically lit up.

"The aether core. That means..it was successful?" Levi asked, still a bit perplexed by the whole thing.

'yes. Very successful actually as your initial core skipped a stage'. Grim said.

'a stage?'

'that's right. Aether cores have a total of three levels; blue, green, orange, red, purple. The levels are in ascending order, with blue being the lowest and weakest core to purple being the most powerful one. Each of these levels have stages; light, mid and dark. For now, your core is in the mid blue stage, meaning that you completely skipped the light blue stage which is extremely rare'. Grim explained.

Levi couldn't believe it.

'i'm actually....talented?' he was so perplexed.

'yes. Very. Only a handful have ever managed to manifest a core that skipped an entire stage'.

"That's....awesome!" Levi said out. He was quite satisfied with himself.

'i know. Congratulations on successfully forming an aether core, Levi'. Grim congratulated his partner, for which he thanked him.

Levi walked to where he kept the grimoire, underneath a tree. He sat beside said tree and opened the book to where he stopped reading.

[Congratulations! If you are reading this, it means that you have successfully formed an aether core. You are now halfway in to completing the first chapter]. Levi smirked a little, then continued reading.

[You now have an aether core and with it, you can actively transform ambient mana into aether which you can make use of, meaning that you wouldn't need to absorb aether from the atmosphere again. But that would be impossible, without the presence of other parts of the aether structure.

The aether veins or vessels. They are similar to normal blood vessels, but instead of blood they transport aether either from the aether core or to the aether core.]

'blood vessels... oh yeah that reminds me. Grim.' Levi called out.

'hmm?' Grim responded.

'i have a question. Why am I.....ok?' Levi asked.

'what?' Grim replied. His question was simply too vague.

'during the Aether core thing, I remember that my body was in a lot worse state than this. I should have sustained some kind of injury or something, but for some reason, I'm completely fine. In fact, I feel a lot stronger than before. Why is that?' Levi asked.

There was a silence as Grim organized his answer before beginning to speak.

'hmm, I'll try to explain it in the simplest way possible. You see, mana and aether are purely metaphysical, meaning that in their ambient state they can only affect the metaphysical world, unless of course they are harnessed by living creatures.' Grim explained.

'take your aether core for example. You can feel it inside you, but when you peered into yourself, did you see your heat or any of your physical organs?' Grim posed a question of his own.

Levi's eyes went wide in response as he was slowly beginning to understand.

'another example. When you first sensed aether, you could feel the tiny balls of immense power, but you can't see it with your eyes. That is a world that one can only become aware of when they first learn to sense these transcendent powers. The mana sensing opens up your mind to the existence of the realm beyond the physical. It is good to know this, so that one can draw the line between the metaphysical world and the real world.'

'i see now, so the entire thing.....' Levi was catching on to Grim's explanation.

'..was just an illusion created by aether. It is a normal phenomenon which will happen to anyone that tries to absorb it without a structure.' Grim completed Levi's statement.

'i get it, but that felt way too real.' Levi said. Simply recalling what he wasn't through gave him the shivers.

'i know. I felt it though our telepathic link. From what I know, it is bad, but it wasn't usually that bad. The aether was surprisingly unwelcoming of you.' Grim said.

'huh? Why is that.' Levi asked, but Grim just mind- shrugged. Even he didn't know the cause of it.

After a few more moments of pondering, Levi decided to set the matter aside. There was no point in allowing it to slow down his progress, he would deal with it another time. Little did he know that that time might come a lot sooner than he could ever predict.

He continued reading.

[The aether pores. They are similar to the skin pores. They allow the entrance and exit of aetheric energy into your body and out of it. These two structures are required if one wishes to properly make use of aetheric energy].

Levi, unlike previously, managed to get a grasp of what the book was trying to say.

'if I had those two things, then absorbing aether wouldn't have been as painful'. He accurately deduced.

[Unfortunately though, these two structures cannot be formed artificially like the aether core, they need time. The mana veins and pores will naturally adjust itself to your aether core and with due time, they will transform to aether vessels and pores. You can only hasten the process a little bit by passing aether through them in a training method known as Aether rotation. It will be painful, but it will halve the time required for the rest of your aether structure to naturally form].

Levi was a bit saddened by this fact. He was very eager to learn more about aether, but it seemed that he had reached his first bottleneck.

'no need to feel down. Your mana veins and pores are underdeveloped as hell so it wouldn't take that much time to become aether oriented'. Grim said.

'oh, that makes sense. Anyways, is there anything I can do since I won't be busy for some time?' Levi asked. The eagerness evident in his voice. He sounded like a child who had just gotten his birthday present. But who wouldn't be, after all, he was about to learn magic!

'actually.... yes. Shadow mages usually make use of this time to practice becoming familiar with their aether'.

"Becoming familiar....with aether?" Levi was a bit confused.

'yes. Just because you have an aether core doesn't mean that you suddenly grasp aether. All aether is the same, be it ambient or internal so it is impossible to fully understand it. But to learn how to use it, you have to feel it out. It's like when basketballers from your old world feel up the ball before practice. It will aid you to be capable of more fluidly utilizing aether'. Grim explained. Levi nodded in understanding.

"So I just need to get inside my own core right?"

'yes. Immerse yourself into the aether and just.....feel it. Develop a sort of intimacy with the aether'.

Levi didn't make any sort of response and just focused on the task at hand.

He closed his eyes, again, and concentrated deeply on his aether core. He saw the blue shine of his newly formed aether core and felt it drawing him in, he focused on the feeling and felt himself being drawn towards the aether core itself. His conciousness drifted towards the aether likes moths to a flame.

He felt dizzy for some time, then a huge feeling of pure unabated power washed over him. He saw himself in an expanse filled to it's very essence with aether. The aether was wild, erratic, like lightening but even more untamed.

'woah! So this is aether'. He said as a realization of aether's true power came over him.

'Grim. What do I do next?' Levi asked. He waited for a little while longer, but no reply came back.

'Grim? Grim! Answer me! Grim!' Levi mind-yelled as he couldn't quite comprehend what was happening.

He couldn't understand. Grim only told him to feel the aether, but this aether was...not very welcoming of him, apparently.

The aether became violent. It moved in a dangerous manner as it, for some reason, was not pleased with Levi. Levi, who was doing this for the first time ever, couldn't tell if this was normal or not, but there was definitely that inkling.

's-something's wrong....'. Levi could practically feel it.

A/N:

Special thanks again to Halis_Eren_Balaban for your continued support. Thank you very much!!