Edward returned to floor 18, where the girls were at the moment. Stepping out of the flight of stairs, he found them all eating some food they purchased from the merchants while chatting with each other.
Minx’s ears perked up as she turned towards the entrance and smiled. The other two noticed her reaction and turned to look towards the entrance as well.
“Did you do it?” asked Echo after Edward came in front of them.
Edward lifted his hand while smiling wryly and started focusing a part of his water energy to form a water ball. He then explained to them how strong he was now and what benefits his source brought him.
“You have to train even more?” asked Echo with a sigh.
“Did you expect that once I made a source, I would be invincible?” asked Edward with a chortle.
“No, but…”
“It’s fine. I can do it in the city as well. We can leave this place now, but we need to take some cores with us.” Interrupted Edward before she could complain even more.
They had stayed inside the dungeon for quite a lot longer than they expected, and Edward had no problem going back now. He was still extremely weak, but there was nothing he could do about that.
Edward turned towards Violet as she was biting into a large red fruit and asked: “Violet, any luck in feeling any sort of energy?”
Violet immediately shook her head as she swallowed the food in her mouth and said: “No, I’m sorry.”
“What are you apologizing for? This only means there’s something we’re missing.”, said Edward with a frown. He knew she had some sort of affinity, but he didn’t know towards what energy.
With no clue about how he should figure out what affinity Violet had, and Echo having gained two more levels, Edward had Minx gather him a few cores before they started making their way back towards the first floor.
Minx quickly helped them get across the large underground ocean on the first floor, and they were soon back outside.
“Are you sure 100 cores would be enough for you to increase your strength inside the city?” asked Echo once they were on Minx’s back, traveling towards Oasis.
“Probably not, but we can always get more. There is no point in carrying an even larger amount. I also don’t want someone to get an idea and try to rob us.”
The journey back to Oasis was relatively smooth, with only a few beasts appearing in their path, each of them easily taken care of by Minx. Once they were back inside the city walls, Echo returned to her home, while Edward took Minx and Violet towards theirs.
“What are you thinking about?” asked Violet once she saw him sitting quietly with a deep frown.
“I’ve been away from Ashes for far too long. I want to check up on Kali and see how things are over there, but I’m worried the dragons might still look for me. If they sent a reward increase here in Oasis, they most likely sent one to Ashes as well.”
“Do you want us to go ahead first and see how things are over there?”
Edward shook his head and said: “It is dangerous for you two as well. Here, people didn’t really know who you were, and you can easily pass as a demi-human who wants to become a beast tamer, but in Ashes, you don’t know who you could stumble upon that might have seen us together.”
“I also need Minx by my side right now, since I don’t really have the strength to defend myself. I had made a source, but I’m still far too weak.”
“We’ll remain a while longer here and try to see if we can identify what type of energy you have an affinity for. We’ll visit Apis tomorrow and also seek his opinion about it. I need to let him know I’ve created my source as well.”
Edward spent the rest of the day with Violet and Minx, just casually chatting. At night, he discovered a new use for his source. As he was feeling quite tired and struggling to stay awake, he used a part of the water energy inside his source to remove his need for sleep.
This came as a great boon, meaning he wouldn’t have to deal with his sleeping problems while in the city. He also spent the night, while the others were resting, absorbing the energy inside one core.
As morning cave and Violet woke up, the two rode on Minx’s back and headed for the beast hall. After Violet took care of all the speaking, they were led inside Apis’s office.
Apis looked at them and said: “You’re back quite early from the dungeon. How did it go?”
Edward and Violet sat down on two chairs in front of his office, while Minx lay down on the floor, still in her wolf form.
Once they were seated, Edward created a small ball of water in the palm of his hand before saying: “I created a source for myself, but the progress is quite slow when compared to the speed leveling has.”
Apis nodded absentmindedly as he looked at the small water ball before asking: “Can you show it to me?”
“The source? I can’t. It’s mostly the same as the one I showed you the last time I was here, the only considerable differences being the amount of energy inside and the number of layers surrounding the energy vortex.”
Apis seemed quite excited himself and kept asking Edward questions about his source. Edward had no choice but to explain everything to him and fulfill his end of the deal.
Once he was done and Apis seemed to have understood most about everything, Edward’s expression turned serious and he asked: “Do you have a way to check someone’s affinity, other than using the tree god?”
Apis turned silent for a moment before saying: “There is no other way to check as far as I’m aware of. Why aren’t you using the tablets in Ashes?”
Edward sighed and quickly described Violet’s results when she had her affinities checked. Apis frowned and said: “That is troublesome indeed. The best you can hope for is to find a beast with the same affinities as her, even tho I doubt it would be possible.”
“But how do people, or I guess, beasts, feel the energy they have an affinity to? I know in my case, it happened easily. One day, I just started feeling the water energy around me and gathered it inside my body. I can also feel the other elemental affinities, even tho I have never used them before, but Violet couldn’t feel her energy no matter how much she tried.”
Apis chuckled and shook his head. “For beasts, the core is present from birth or is formed with time as they grow stronger. For humans, demi-humans, and so on, they need to understand that energy they have an affinity towards in order to make use of it.”
“All those cores I showed you, created by demi-humans, were made after careful study of mage knowledge we have gotten from Ashes. If I had to guess, you could feel the energy because you understand it. You know what it feels like. As for Violet, she doesn’t even know what she’s looking for, so how was she supposed to identify it.”
Edward’s eyes opened wide as realization hit him.
“It finally fucking makes sense. It’s almost impossible to use something without having the instructions for it first.”, as more realizations came to him, he stood up and bit Apis goodbye before dragging Violet and Minx back home.
“What happened?” asked Violet once they stepped inside their house.
“I might have figured out a way to check your affinity. If we’re lucky, that is. Fenrir, she has no affinity for chaos, does she?”
[No. You want to try with space?]
“Yes. And if there’s space energy, there might also be time. She shouldn’t have an affinity for life or Yggdrasil would have classified it as a cleric, which only leaves space, time, darkness, and light, from what we know. There are probably more of them, but if we’re lucky enough, we might help her form a source.”
[But are you sure your knowledge from back on Earth is enough for her to feel the energy?]
“I haven’t studied magic for fire, air, and earth, but I could feel those energies, which means my understanding of them is enough. I don’t have that much knowledge about space, time, darkness, and light, but it should be enough for her to get the hang of what to look for. You should be able to patch some things I might miss as well.”
Fenrir’s long life had allowed her to gain knowledge on quite a few subjects as well, so Edward was sure that together they would have no problem with teaching Violet.
Violet listened to their entire conversation with a confused look on her face, but she didn’t interrupt, a feeling of anticipation blossoming up inside her.
She was not initially hungry for power like Edward was, but she knew that if she wanted to remain on his side, she had to grow stronger. This made her develop an interest in gaining power as well.
[I understand your plan, but for that, we need to start from the beginning and create a foundation for her. The education in this world is not that deep. Besides mages, even nobles and other adventurers are at the first few grades' levels of knowledge. It will take quite a lot of time for her to understand everything we’re trying to explain.]
Edward smiled and picked a core from the pile he brought from the dungeon as he said: “Then we take the time to do it. I also need to increase my strength since, with the way I am now, I will just die if I encounter a somewhat difficult foe.”
[What about Kali and the City of Ashes?]
“I can only trust master to take care of them for now. I might even have Minx rush there and check on them. She should be there and back quite quickly.”
[Alright. I’ll help however I can.]
Nodding, Edward turned towards Violet and said with a chuckle: “Get ready. It’s time for you to go to school.”
