Burning or flourishing, at your will

Mack grabbed the hamburger, and to his surprise, it was warm. Mack didnt knew why, but for some reason he was expecting it to be cold.

Mack looked at the hamburger and it indeed looked like one made on earth, it had bread, and something that looked like meat and vegetables, but they all had a peculiar blue color on it, like if someone had sprayed just a tiny blue tint on them.

~sigh~

"Indeed alien stuff. blue burger."

Mack took a bite of the burger, and to his surprise, it was not that bad.

And after another bite, and another bite, he was digging the burger ferociously.

Not even a minute later, the burger was devoured by Mack.

"Oh no, I feel dizzy again."

~stumble~

Mack felt on the ground.

He was several days without eating and the sudden ingestion of so much food made his brain release a torrent of dopamine in his body.

It was a good sleep at least. A deserved one.

[This one really is crazy, master. I hope he can accomplish what you could not.] said the robotic voice like it was talking to someone, but there was no one there, except for the sleeping Mack.

After twelve hours of sleeping like a drunk man, Mack finally woke up.

He felt much better, but was hungry again.

He stood up and went to the machine and took another meal. This time it was a soup. Seeing how he felt after eating something heavy, Mack opted for something more light so he would not pass out after eating.

He was sick and tired of going unconscious, and he needed some liquid in his body, so he opted for a soup.

After eating the soup, Mack could feel much better already, and with some energy in his body. 

Feeling bored and obligated to wait a few hours until the next meal, Mack could only try to kill time talking with this mysterious voice, or Arcane Legacy.

"The aliens indeed are way advanced than us. Such a machine on Earth would be like a treasure."

[...]

"Can you explain a little more about this place now?"

[I can.]

"It was time already."

[Your test to enter the Tower was not only to make you able to feel Essence but also to test your will, and to open the nine gates on your body.]

"Test my will?"

[Yes, The will is the most important part of Essence Manipulation.]

[The gates in your body are a correlation with the nine tattoos. Each one represents a gate, and each one gives permission to enter a floor in the tower too,currently you are in the Hel floor of the Tower of Chaos, the most basic floor. but that is too soon to explain.]

[Different from other kinds of Essence Manipulation like wizardry, or sorcery, A Warlock depends on the Will of the user and follow a different path in practice, a much harder one. Mages, for example, if they practice for a year and have a powerfully crafted artifact, they can cast spells that could easily destroy a building in your world]

"So, there is such a thing as sorcery. It's not just alien tech?"

[Indeed, but you will be trained following the path of a Warlock, and will not be able to use such kind of items]

"Did I not just use the box? Was not that a similar item?"

[No. The cube is a technological device.]

"I still can't fully understand..... You said I will be trained following the Warlock path. Why can't I choose the wizard path?"

[Because that's the wrong path and a short one. It can give you immediate power. However, in the long run it's a dead end.]

"How can you be sure? I mean no offense, but I would love to destroy a building in just a year of training."

[It's too soon to talk about that, but I will give you an explanation of why you should never try to follow other paths]

[Think of Essence like a virus, a virus that is present in everything and resonates with the will of those things. It's a symbiotic virus]

[Mages, Witches, Shamans or even alchemists, they use external tools, like an array, a solvent, or a chant to enforce and amplify their will over the Essence around them.]

"I still don't get it. What's the difference?"

[Everyone has essence inside them. This Essence is usually easier to manipulate since it resonates with you. Now, what if your will is not strong enough? Or what if the spell you want to use was meant to affect the Cube in front of you? You will suffer from Essence depletion and the result would be far from the desired.]

"I see…."

[That's why mages developed these various shortcuts, such as chanting or arrays, to use the Essence inside them as a trigger to manipulate the surrounding essence. They don't use their own Will over the Essence, they use these tools as a means to force the surrounding Essence to be guided by their Essence inside them.]

"I still have a lot of questions, but I think I got a general idea. So they don't use their will over the essence but they use the essence inside them as fuel to manipulate the surrounding essence.... and the way to do that is to use those things to cause an amplification effect? is that it?"

[You will learn everything in due time. What you really need to know is that your path is one where you will only depend on your will to manipulate essence.]

"Why is that? I don't see why I could not do both? I'm still a newbie to all that, but why only go one way?"

[That's because you don't have essence that resonates with you inside your body anymore.]

"Wait what? Isn't that supposed to exist everywhere?"

[Yes, you have essence inside you, but when you opened the nine gates in your body, you released your ownership over it. All the Essence in the world will now pass through your body and not be restricted by it, but at the same time, you can't have Essence that resonates only to you anymore.]

"Isn't it the same as being a cripple in those cultivation novels? How am I supposed to do anything?"

[Following the only true path of Essence Manipulation, and if you practice hard enough, with just a thought, you could burn the entire essence in this room]

"It didn't burn." Mack said, after thinking that he wanted the world to burn.

[Of course not. If was that easy, why would the mages invent so many things to do that?]

"Not even a spark….." Mack said, lamenting his weak will, or the lack of knowledge.

[You are just starting. The path chose by your ancestor is the correct one. One that has no limits. Only you can limit yourself from achieving anything, and will is the source of all that]

[With a powerful enough will, the universe shall be yours to bid his fate]

[Burning or flourishing, at your will]

Mack was still confused about all that was said by the Arcane Legacy, but he guessed that all those mysteries and doubts would unfold themselves if he continued forward.

"How much time can I spend recovering before going to the other door?"

[You can spend all the time you want, but remember, the cube has a limited supply of essence.]

"In other words... The cube is the limiter. When it runs out of fuel, I must go or starve to death again."

Then Mack thought about the darkness from before and the mysterious door and how he could now see it, but still was not sure how all this worked.

"I still don't get. Why I could see the door after those things snapped inside me?"

[There are some advantages and disadvantages to not owning any Essence. This planet doesn't have daylight. So, even now, it's completely dark. You can see around you because the nine gates in your body, responsible for the interaction with Essence around you, have been broken. So the Essence in this world now can flow along your body unhindered and Essence always carries some kind of will, and the most basic will of any animal is to want to see and breath.]

[Just like a recently born child. So we can say you are already influencing the Essence around you to some extent.]

"Hmm... I'm unconsciously telling the surrounding essence to show me what is around me?"

[Correct]

"The other paths you talked about. Mages and stuff. Can they do this too?"

[No. they can't. Because the gates inside their bodies still exist they can't interact this easily with Essence outside them, but they can control the essence inside them way better than you.]

"I still don't see the pros/cons clearly. What can they do that I'm unable to do? I mean, if they don't have those artifacts and stuff..."

[They can, for example, with a few months of practice, strengthen their bodies and jump a few meters high, or they can punch you and break several bones in your body.]

"I see. So all those mages are way stronger in physical terms than me?"

[Yes. If both start practicing at the same time. A mage will beat you a thousand times before you can make a scratch on him. That's why they chose this path. It's more easy and fast at the start and gives them immediate power compared to a normal human.]

"They can beat me to a pulp. But, hey! I can see in the dark! What a splendid start!"

"I guess it will be an extremely long and suffering path."

[Indeed. It's a path with no return. You have no more gates in your body blocking and converting Essence to your own, and because of that, your will flow outside of your body more naturally. That's why you can see the portal even on this planet devoid of light]

"I think I get now. Thanks for the explanation."

Mack could feel in his guts how hard the next tests would be, but he could do nothing to change that. His ancestor seemed to be a ruthless one. Even to his descendants.

After talking a bit with the voice. Mack could finally understand his situation a bit more.

"I need something to kill time. I am still too weak to even walk around, let alone try to exercise my body or try this will stuff."

Saying this, Mack approached the red glowing cube and put his hand.

"Link Start"

"Damm I always wanted to say that." remembering one of his favorites animes when young.

After a few minutes of clicking in the box, a pair of black boots came out of the cube, then a few minutes later a black jacket, jeans, and a t-shirt.

Then Mack pondered for a few seconds and pressed the machine a few more times and a big sized bottle of water came.

Mack then proceeded to take a cat shower. He smelled like death itself, but before continuing, he looked at the corner of the cube to see the Essence remaining in it.

"920/1000. At least those things were not expensive."

"Damm I forgot to buy underwear."

....

After almost a month of boring days inside the same room, Mack was feeling much better. He had also regained his muscular mass and looked normal again, not like skin and bones anymore.

Apart from the daily meals and the cat bath, Mack exercised too. He didn't know what he will be facing when he left the room, and today was finally the day for him to enter the door leading to the next room.

Mack approached the gate and touched.