Chapter 57 - Foundation (Part 2)

(AN: Second and probably last part of the info-dump.)

"The Elder? He has no affinities, his Fasha is neutral." Shaya answered with a confused expression.

"But he seemed to be able to manipulate space? What was that then? It doesn't seem that any of you could do that sort of thing…" Spencer asked.

Understanding the source of his confusion, Shaya's face lit up.

"The Elder is very, very strong, much stronger than any of us. He is in a much higher realm, something that we can probably only dream of, but never reach. In the realm he is in, the warriors can use multiple affinities at will, even the three unique ones. Although their comprehension will never be at the level as if they were using their natural-born ones."

"Unique ones? What are those?" Spencer's ears perked and his attention quickly honed in on this key information.

"Uhm, there are three! One is the Space that you also mentioned!" Milo chimed in.

"Yes." Cassa continued. "There are three, special affinities. They are incredibly rare, conceptual affinities. So rare in fact that we don't have a single one in the entire tribe. One is Space as Milo and you guessed already. Warriors born with Space affinity are able to manipulate the element at will, creating wormholes, spatial distortions, sup-dimensions to trap you in… It's hard to actually say what they would be capable of, as we have only seen records about them."

"The next one is Life. Warriors with affinity to life can freely manipulate the life-force themselves. Healing themselves by sapping the energy from their enemies or their surroundings. While this power doesn't sound terrifying at first, beating one such warrior is near impossible as long as there's any life around him." Shaya continued the lecture.

Taking a moment to breathe, she continued.

"And the third and final one recorded in history is the affinity towards Time itself. These mythical existences can manipulate time itself. From the records, we only know that based on the mastery over the affinity the range of their domain increases. Within this domain, they can accelerate, stop, slow, rewinding, or even lopping time."

"They are probably really terrifyingly powerful people…" Cassa shivered at the thought of such beings could have existed at some point in history.

"Is there anyone that has these three affinities today?" Spencer asked.

Shaking their heads, both Cassa and Shaya answered simultaneously.

"No!"

Smiling at each other, Shaya continued.

"There is no one currently with these unique, conceptual affinities recorded to be alive."

Taking a breather, she continued.

"Anyway, to answer your earlier question, we need to now go over the power stages and levels. Before we do that, do any of you have any questions?"

Thinking for a moment, Spencer nodded.

"Yes, it has been bugging me for a while. But what is up with the tattoos all of you seem to have. What does it mean? They seem to lit up and glow whenever you guys use your energies."

Upon hearing this information, spencer acknowledged the concept behind the tattoos he once thought to be tribal in their nature, examining the ones on the bodies of Cassa, Milo, and Shaya, he looked at his own body briefly before closing his eyes momentarily, much to the confusion of the three before him.

Looking into his mindscape, he scanned for the Fachacalli DNA sequence carrying these markings within him, separating them from the rest whilst allowing them to express themselves. Slowly elegant red markings with a dark-tone began to manifest on the surface of his body. He also grew in height, matching Sasha's eye-level. His muscles also grew denser, giving his upper torso a similar, mesomorph shape, similar to what Milo had.

Still standing before him remained the now flabbergasted trio staring at him with a dazed gaze, ignoring them, Spencer analyzed his new features with contentment and spoke.

"This is rather interesting, I think I'll keep these."

Seeing as Shaya was no longer talking, he asked her another question.

"Can you awaken more than one affinity?"

"N-No. You can only awaken one affinity and even that is just a chance," Shaya answered, still slightly shaken from what had just happened.

Spencer couldn't leave this topic. He had plans to merge this energy with his own, but before that, he wanted to gain all the affinities by absorbing the essences of the key people, just like he did with Basir.

"Well…" Cassa was the first to speak up this time. She had already gotten over what had transpired and had more of a thoughtful look as she answered. "In theory, I guess it should be possible to have more than one… Based on the Divinity Realm warriors, it should be possible, I think. But it has never happened before, or at least there are no records about it."

"Divinity realm? I know that! That's the level the Elder is in right?" Milo brushed what happened aside and instead roared out with glee while raising his hand like an (almost) good student.

"Yes, Milo…" Shaya sighed then looked at Spencer. "Okay, now since we already mentioned it, let's talk about the last part that we need to cover.. The three main stages of Power Level."

She stopped for a bit and looked at Spencer. Seeing that he had no questions or any visible fluctuation on his face, she continued.

"As you saw, your current power level is 230 Units. This means that you have just begun cultivating your Fasha, and you should be at the First Main Stage, the Proto Initiation. This is where everybody begins after awakening with more or around at your level of FE. During this stage, you slowly unlock your full potential and learn to properly use your internal force."

After a brief pause, she continued.

"As you strengthen and increase your energy, you will slowly get stronger. We do actually differentiate 5 different sub-levels in this stage all depending on the FE you currently have."

Looking at Cassa then Milo, she added.

"In fact, most of us here in the Champion's Hall, are at level 4 and 5. Unless Milo here has managed to finally break through to the next stage, then only the top two warriors have officially stepped into it."

Seeing as how Spencer wanted to ask something, she stopped and waited for him to voice it.

"If I remember correctly, you changed your appearance during our battle… Is that something I can learn?" Spencer asked. This was the second thing that greatly interested him, it seemed to also drastically boost his power and attributes for the duration.

"Well, officially that's unique to the second stage, but when you get to the peak and are about to breakthrough from the Proto Initiation, you can comprehend it and be able to use an earlier form of it."

"What?! You can transform already? That's great Shaya! You are about to become Chaos Level 1!" Hearing her response, Cassa excitedly exclaimed, grabbing her friend's hands.

"Y-yes, I guess… I don't need that much. I should be able to have a breakthrough in the next week or so. I…" She silenced and didn't want to continue on this topic with the others present. Catching on, Cassa didn't push on the topic for the moment."

Looking at Spencer, Shaya continued after a cough to calm herself.

"As we briefly mentioned, the second stage is the Chaos Path. The main difference, besides the massive increase in the Energy and Power you hold, is that users in this stage will be able to comprehend a signature technique, a form. In my case, it was that transformation you saw. When I use it, I gain a boost to my power and my attributes for a short while. However, the downside is that it drains my energy much faster than normal, so I can't keep it active for a long while."

"What's a typical power level for the second stage?" Spencer inquired. He wanted to understand where he stood with his current seemingly laughable 230 FE.

"Well…" Shaya answered. "Officially, the second stage goes from 30000 FE all the way to 900 000 FE. However, at the peak, the amount of Fasha you have is not the only requirement to step into the next stage."

"Huh? What more is needed then?" Spencer asked.

"It's hard to explain unless you get to that stage yourself. You need to comprehend, understand what the next stage is about, you also need to be stable. You can't just gain a boost in battle and step into the higher realm instantly. It requires time and effort." Shaya answered.

Seeing as there were no follow up questions, she continued.

"For the third and last stage, I don't really know what more you would need to comprehend. The Elder is the only one in that stage actually. It is called Divinity Access. From the records, once your journey through the Chaos path is complete, and you have reached the peak, you can begin to condense your energy down to a purer, more chaotic form. We don't have much information from this, as these records are only accessible by the Elder only. But from what we know, in this path, you will fuse your essence with your Fasha Energy, eventually gaining a godlike existence. You will have to talk with Elder about this once you get to this level… We don't have much knowledge about this stage either."

Hearing this, Spencer's thoughts began to race again. Based on his encounter with the Elder, his power was already competing with him who was at this mythical stage. If he could increase his Fasha, fusing it together with his powers could create something incredible.

Could he become a god by doing it? The mere thought excited him to no end.