18 Outer core

Una turned and conjured up another gust of wind that picked up the chalk, before it went back to the board to draw the same image of a translucent human with an aetherial sea in its chest.

"The soul can roughly be divided into two parts. The inner core which includes within itself the aetherial sea and any pathways you might come to construct." The chalk tapped at the aether sea.

"The inner core is the lifeblood of your being. Without it, you will die."

The chalk then moved on to the 'skin' of the soul.

"If the aetherial sea acts as the heart and the pathways as blood vessels, then the outer core is everything else. The skin, muscles, organs, everything."

"The outer core, contrary to what you might first assume, doesn't exist only to shield the inner core. That is one of its purposes, of course, but not the only one."

She turned to regard the class once more.

"Does anyone know another important purpose it has?" She asked.

Theo glanced around the class, and only a handful of people raised their hands. The rest looked deep in thought, for the most part.

There were a few who were barely paying any attention to what she was saying.

"Go ahead." She pointed at Lucy's younger brother.

"It acts as a bank of memories and knowledge." The boy answered. "The accumulated information then exerts pressure on the inner core to strengthen it."

The professor nodded.

"Everything you experience and learn leaves an imprint on the outer core. It is as he said, it's a bank of knowledge." She said. "Those imprints add weight to the soul, and the inner core modifies and strengthens itself to support the new weight accordingly."

"There's a reason why the most powerful Arcanists and Warriors are also the most knowledgeable people on the planet."

"Yes?" She asked and pointed towards Scarlett

"How do you mean strengthen? Is it different from the absorption of inner cores?" Scarlett asked.

The professor nodded with a pleased smile on her lips. "Good question."

"There indeed exists a distinction between the strengthening an outer core causes and the expansion caused by the absorption of an inner core." Una said. "Absorbing an inner core causes the space and aether within your own aether sea to expand, carrying you forward towards the next rank."

"The strengthening the outer core provides isn't like that. It does not add aether nor does it expand the space itself. What it does do, is act as a mold of sorts to the inner core. It forces the aether sea to modify itself, make itself more efficient."

'Why didn't my parents teach me this?' Theo wondered to himself, annoyed. 'I could have done so much more in preparation if I had known.'

Even if his parents had wanted him to live a normal life, away from all this, they could have still taught him these things just in case.

In case his life spiraled like it did.

"Some techniques have the capability to plunder those imprints, in addition to absorbing the inner core." Una's tone shifted.

Her eyes had a certain gravity to them as she looked over all of them.

"The outer core isn't infinite, it has limits. That's why you sometimes forget things that are deemed unnecessary and pointless, things you haven't recalled in a long time. They get purged to make room for more pertinent information."

"It isn't uncommon for a human who has not sensed their soul to reach that limit, nor is it dangerous. When you reach that stage, you gain new imprints at the same pace you lose the older ones." She said calmly. "Taking that into account, what do you think happens should they try to steal and fuse the outer core of another being onto their own?"

The boy related to Lucy raised his hand, again.

Una nodded towards him, giving him the permission to speak.

"The techniques that allow that are inaccurate, you get a random portion of the outer core. That means that not only are you running the risk of overloading your soul and dying on the spot." He said. "You are gambling on gaining useless information that overrides your own imprints or gaining what you were looking for."

"That's right." Una nodded and looked over every single one of them. "It's a game of chance every time you attempt it. It's not a decision to make on a whim."

A smile appeared on her lips as she clapped her hands. "That's about all of the interesting stuff. Next, I'll need to tell you all about what kind of curriculum you'll be following."

/-/

"It says that you'll be going to a one on one session with a professor to hone your skills in Draph." Theo said as he read through the slip of paper that Una had given to Era.

The professor had given everyone a piece of paper—some got two—that explained in detail what they were going to do, before she had disappeared after dismissing them.

Most were reading through their papers and leaving for their next class. Theo was forced to help Era with his paper, though.

"Good for you." Theo said as he handed the paper back to Era. "It's the only thing you'll be forced to go to until you learn to read and write."

"Huh? That's all he has to do?" Scarlett whined behind him, peeking over his shoulder. "He has it easy."

"All according to plan." Era nodded to himself and closed his eyes as if though he was satisfied with the situation. "I'll just breeze through that class and do what I want afterwards."

Era had recovered back to his 'normal' self after Una had left the class.

"You'll need to go to the library to pick up a spell and a technique like the rest of us, and to learn Eld." Theo broke whatever delusions Era had. "They'll be evaluating our progress by the end of each month."

"Ah, that. Don't worry about it." Era said and waved his hand. "I already have a technique and a spell."

That was slightly surprising. But not too much. Theo himself already had a spell, but he didn't know its name let alone what its full effects were.

The exam had only had the inscription itself and those instructions, nothing more. He would need to go and scour through the library to find the spell.

The class was already relatively empty, only those with more than one page were still lingering behind.

"Theo~" Scarlett rested her chin on his shoulder. "What classes do you have?"

Theo glanced at her from the corner of his eye and placed his paper in front of her eyes. "These."

Scarlett took a moment to read through it. "Huh?"

He took the paper back and shook her off him. "It'll only be like this until we're all ready for the combat training."

"You… you're rather knowledgeable, aren't you?" The surprised tone in her voice ticked him off slightly. "You probably got full marks on those exams, didn't you?"

He definitely didn't. Some of the questions in there had been so difficult that no one who hadn't spent their entire lives glued to a book would have been able to answer them correctly.

The only reason he could think of was because he had succeeded with casting the spell.

He wasn't about to complain, though. The fact that he would have no mandatory classes like literature, or arithmetic meant that he would be able to spend that much more time in the library.

"Maybe." Theo didn't deny her assumption, though. "Shouldn't you all be going already, though? Isn't the next class starting soon?"

Era rose up and Lucy followed suit, while Scarlett slumped against the wooden desk. "But I'll be all alone in my class. It'll be so boring."

Theo raised an eyebrow as he stood up, ready to follow after the two who had already reached the door. "What are you? Seven? You're here to study and learn, not to have fun."

Scarlett turned her head to look at him, smirked and stuck out her tongue.

Theo narrowed his eyes. "You are here to learn… right?"

"Maybe~?" She pushed herself off the desk and walked past him. "Or maybe I came here to have fun~?"

"Hah, as if." Theo let out a little laugh. "Even you're not that stupid."

Theo could see the small smirk on her face as she turned around. He also saw the smirk dropping off her face and the words she was about to say getting stuck in her throat.

"You can smile like that...?" She whispered to herself, staring at him with wide eyes.

'Huh?' Theo was left confused as she continued staring at him, before she suddenly turned around and quickly walked out into the bustling corridor outside without another word.

He brought a hand to his face to feel the contours of his face. It was the same smile he had worn the entire day, right?

Why had she acted so surprised?

Theo shook his head. He had better things to think about. He now had access to the library and the trove of knowledge it held within. He had been excited about it before, but now that he knew that the information itself could strengthen his soul?

Well, suffice to say that it was the most excited he had ever been to visit a library.