When a man is at his lowest.

For the next thirty minutes, all he could do was sit and stare into space. He felt too tired to even do anything. If only he could regain his energy. 

He waves at his AI that was quietly sitting on the couch. 

"Hey...when I was in the elevator earlier I lost some energy because the system detected strange magic. Do you know what it is?" 

His AI jumps forward and places her hand to his chest. She frowns after moving her hand around for a while. "This is weird. The soul you created… it is gone." 

Owen glances at her holographic hand on his chest. She had said that he created a soul just yesterday but he didnt know what she meant by it. 

"Gone? Gone where?" 

"Has been converted to energy and a extracted by an external factor." She moves her hand around a bit and tells him in a weird tone. Almost a scared one."Your core is weak Young Master. Ask the system to strengthen your core." 

"System, strengthen my core." 

'Dear host, for core strengthening, absorb energy from the Calila plant to strengthen core.' 

"Calila plant? What is that?" 

'A plant that grows in the mountain of Calila. Specially found on the walls of the temple in the mountain. Has three colors: white, pink and red. The red coloured plant is poisonous.' 

His AI continues after the system stops. "If someone absorbs the pink of the red coloured plant, only the white coloured plant can deflect the poison. And the pink coloured one is the most tricky. Depending on how strong and adapting your core is, you can either absorb it and be poisoned to death instantly, or absorb it and receive energy strong enough as a stone of Calila." 

Owen seems more interested now. He rests his elbow on his desk and curiously asks. "Is a stone of Calila so powerful?" 

"Young master really knows nothing. Calila stones are not found in Calila mountain lying around. The mountain only produces few stones per year. The highest number of stone produced is twenty in a year. And all the stones are kept in a special room that supplies energy to the temple standing in the middle of the mountain. The stones are one of the cores of the mountain." 

Owen smirks to hinself. "If I absorb all the energy in those stones then…" 

"You will die." His AI informs with a straight face. Her response immediately wiping off the smirk on his face.

"What? Why?" 

"You are in amateur mode. You barely know any martial art that can add to strengthening your core. You havent finished a mission not to talk of understanding how the system works. Basically you are a new born. How is a new born supposed to chew stone?" She explains as if she considered him an idiot.

Owen glares at her and retorts. "Even adults can't chew stones okay? What are we, chickens that have gizzards?" 

His AI couldn't glare back at him. "Anyways, you can't absorb all the energy else you will really die twice. The stones are stored there to be used incase of emergencies and the securities around it is really tight." She appears to be thinking about something before telling him. "Unless you absorb the energy bit by bit. But to do that, you need to be able to manipulate your core to absorb the amount of energy you tell it to." She sighs and looks into his eyes. "Forget it, you wouldnt even be able to get past the security. Even I wouldn't be able to get past it. I am sure they have an holographic AI detector." She completes with a twitch of her lip.

Owen watched her annoyed expression for some seconds before asking. "How can I manipulate my core?" he asks getting excited and feeling motivated to work harder. 

"When you level up to a level 10. Unless, you do that, you can only hope for a system error or virus or a miracle to be able to absorb more than three stones at once." 

Owen sits back into his chair. "So where do we get a Calila plant now? Which am I even to absorb?" 

"The white one is scarce and the red is common but poisonous. You can only absorb the pink. But you just have to hope your system is strong enough to not let it poison your core and instead manipulate it into engery."

Owen pursed his lips and prepares himself. "System tell me which color of Calila plant to absorb?" 

'Dear host, system does not have answer for that." 

Owen stares at his AI who didnt look surprised. His AI could see the systems display so she must have known what his systems response is. 

"Why?" 

'Dear host, system doesn't have an answer to this.' 

Owen face palms himself and then remembers that his system has a sensibility status. "Turn on sensibility and search for the nearest pink coloured Calila plant." 

'Dear host, sensibility is unavailable. Host has used back up sensibility and will have to strengthen senses to acquire more sensibility.'

Owen glances at his AI who shrugs her shoulders. "Do we go to the mountain now? But I am too tired to even drive." 

His AI looks around the room before walking to a slightly pink coloured plant by the window sill. Fron the fading pink colours, it was obvious that it hasnt been watered in days. She points at it and raised a brow. 

"Isnt this what you are looking for?" 

Owen stares at the plant and then looks back at her. "Is that a Calila plant? My mother gave it to me this year for good wealth." 

"Good wealth? Apart from killing or saving, the pink Calila plant is also used to repel bad energy. Judging by how the color is fading already, it must have repelled a lot of bad energy or hasnt been watered in days." She explains. 

"Good good. Bring it here for me to absorb." 

His AI gives him a dead pan look. "Young master is really ignorant. I cant take things that contain engery or have absorbed engery either good or bad." She takes a step back and crosses her arms waiting for Owen to walk forward.  

Owen stares at her mocking expression of how tired he is and shakes his head as he gets on his feets. 

"When a man is at his lowest, he is mocked by even the non-living things."