Tether Core

Arwan couldn't believe what he had just read. Now that he had read Gabriel's feats, he was quiet. Gabriel was very strong!

Gabriel had his back leaning on another box, he was yawning as Arwan spoke but now, he was just holding in laughter. He said, "You don't have to worry. I promise I won't harm or kill any of you. Like I said, I'm a researcher and you guys have piqued my interest."

Arwan raised a brow, "Why and how did we pique your interest?"

Gabriel pointed at Femi, "See him for example, the energy's relationship with him is crazy. That's the first time in 8 years I'm seeing something like this."

Femi tilted his head as he asked the first question that came to his mind, "The energy around me? What's that about?"

The question Femi asked, Gabriel didn't expect it. "You guys don't know about Tether Energy, Bonds and crap? The way it flows in your body isn't how it's supposed to be in someone that's unaware."

Arwan smiled, "We don't… But since our friendly mate here who is a researcher knows about it, why not enlighten us?"

Gabriel sighed as he combed his hair with his hand.

Silence brew…

"Huh? I'm talking to you bozo," Arwan grew impatient.

"It's your type that's always hot-headed. You ask me a question that requires me talking for a long time and you think I wouldn't prepare myself? Just so you know, this is one of the longest conversations I've had in years! Be grateful that I haven't walked out!" Gabriel snapped back.

They both glared at each other, leaving Femi and Eina to watch their charade.

"Anyways, I'll be telling you about the relationship between a living being and Tether Energy," Gabriel leaned back as he began his explanation.

"Every living being has a tether core within their body. The existence of evolved creatures stemmed from the reaction of tether energy from the cores within animals who lack self control.

"Most Animals move on instinct. When the Tether Energy appeared, they instinctively used its true nature of 'Evolving' within their bodies, turning them to what they are today. 

"Over time, people could also use the Tether Energy within them. Many could not sense their Tether Core, some could only sense it and few could use the energy within it.

"When a person first senses and tries to manipulate the energy within their core, they can only feel and use 10% of the energy within it.

"To use the energy, you bring it out of your core and based on how efficiently you control the Tether, it momentarily evolves your body and increases your physical stats.

"The more a person uses that 10% Tether energy to temporarily evolve their body, the more Tether will permanently linger and cause permanent changes to your body. There's a limit to how much Tether can linger for each phase, that's called Tether Threshold.

"So if you fully understand the changes of your body caused by the lingering Tether, you'll have more access to an additional 10% of your core.

"Same thing applies here. Your Tether Threshold will be increased and more Tether will linger on your body in a more complex way compared to the first phase.

"Fully understanding your body changes from that lingering Tether gives another 10% access to your core.

"The cycle continues. A higher Tether Threshold, more lingering Tether causing more complex body changes. 

"The limit of how much of their Tether core people can have access to is 50%. The lingering Tether then is very complex to understand, plus you might never hit your Tether Threshold.

"I'll give an example of the side effect of using more tether than your body can handle. If a person had access to 30% of their tether core and they forcefully try to use 30+ percent of the energy within their core, they won't be able to control the tether energy within them letting the Tether flow in your body uncontrollably and they'll become something we call an Abomination after their body goes through a rapid evolution."

As he ended, Gabriel let out a long sigh as if he just finished a stressful task. 

Following that, with deep yellow eyes, he pointed at Eina and Femi who were seated on a pile of boxes, "Both of you are still at Phase 1, but you guys aren't aware that you subconsciously use Tether to enhance your body. Femi is still a bit normal in this aspect but the cat girl isn't. Her unbalanced body's raw strength is being suppressed . Why and how she's doing it is an interesting topic for any researcher."

Femi assimilated the knowledge, stroking his chin, he muttered, "So the reason my body became stronger after each fight was because during those fights I subconsciously enhanced my body with Tether…"

Gabriel nodded, and faced Arwan, his eyes peering through Arwan's body, "Then we move to you… You're quite–"

Arwan shrugged as he cut Gabriel's statement, and said in self-pity, "I've heard it a lot already. I'm weak and untalented. I got that already."

"In fact you're right. You're so weak that it's also intriguing. I can't even sense your body's Tether Core. That means your current body isn't strong enough to handle 10% of the usual Tether Core." 

Gabriel didn't care if his words hurt Arwan as he continued to explain, "It's not unusual for a person's body to be unable to handle 10% of their core but if they train their body, they'd eventually be able to improve their body.

"Now here's the thing, looking at your feeble body, I'm certain your body is at its limit which is not meant to be. Frankly, the expectations I had for you when I first met you have fallen drastically."

On a normal basis, one would interfere with what Gabriel is saying to stop him from his indirect insults, but Femi couldn't tell that such words would hurt Arwan because of his issues, while Eina was clueless, when it comes to social interactions she wasn't the brightest.

After gritting his teeth hard, Arwan spoke, "Yeah, damn you, really, I don't like you. Still, you've proved you'll be useful to us. The information you just shared with us is valued by everyone in this age and you still say you want to train Femi which I'll be benefiting from eventually."

Gabriel grinned, "Even when you're not yourself, your true nature is still evident. As stressful as it may be to me, I'll help the three of you. I believe I'll gain from that eventually."

"Is that so? Okay then." Arwan said, "By the way. You've still not said exactly what in Femi caught your interest. From your words, Femi's body is similar to others, what exactly is so special to you?"

"Oh that? That deals with the supernatural and otherworldly part of Tether." Gabriel said, preparing himself to explain the most stressful and less known part of Tether Energy.