The Visitor (4)
Firmo. Aurio. Morore. These three systems for manipulating essence might seem distinct, but they are deeply intertwined theories. Morore is particularly vital because one must be able to hold essence in a desired area to maintain Firmo, and furthermore, to use Aurio to keep essence outside the body.
While Morore is the training method for holding and gathering essence, one can also hone Morore through Firmo. Both methods inherently contain the concept of Morore.
And now, with Akasa’s Firmo becoming somewhat fluid, Urnil spoke in a satisfied tone.
“What is?”
For Akasa, it was as if his heart had just dropped into his stomach.
“Uh, that’s not good... What do we do?”
Akasa blinked for a few seconds before letting out a sigh of relief.
“Then there’s no problem at all, right?”
Urnil added, sounding regretful.
“Fill the essence?”
“I’m not an exceptional practitioner.”
Laughter echoed in his mind.
Akasa, speechless, opened his mouth wide.
Akasa nodded, his face still etched with surprise.
Akasa shriveled his shoulders at the threat Urnil was about to follow up with.
The deity grumbled in a very disappointed voice before adding:
“As if,” Akasa replied, barely suppressing his laughter.
Winter is a desolate season. To survive within it, one must learn to stockpile abundance. Akasa spent his time attaching the hides of wild animals he had caught using a natural adhesive made from tree sap. Recently, the adhesive on his leather shoes had lost its grip, leaving them ragged.
Akasa repaired his shoes with movements that were no longer entirely unfamiliar, then put them on and stomped his feet. Honestly, they looked more like bundles of leather than actual shoes.
“What’s a bear?”
“A tiger?”
Akasa’s eyes widened.
Tigers, with their powerful, sharp claws and teeth, and bodies covered in majestic stripes, inhabited cold regions due to their thick fur. Akasa knew what they looked like because Cellabris had once imported tiger pelts as luxury items. The hides were used as carpets, with the skin still attached to the skull, preserved as taxidermy.
Akasa remembered asking a court official once.
‘To hunt a tiger safely, you need ten skilled hunters. ...What? You ask if it doesn't fall with one arrow? Haha, a person might, but a large beast is very difficult to take down that way.’
Because of this, Akasa found it unimaginable that there was a beast capable of defeating such a tiger.
“If it can beat a tiger, it must be incredibly dangerous. And my feet look like that beast’s?”
Akasa asked, wiggling his thick, leather-clad feet back and forth.
“I don’t like that...”
After chatting back and forth, the shoe repairs were finished. Akasa, planning his next move while counting the remaining food, reached for the weapons he had leaned against the wall.
His hand hesitated for a moment before picking up the sword and staff given to him by the Sun’s Priest, rather than the Cheomgeom.
Urnil spoke up.
“I think so. There’s almost no jerky left, and I’ve eaten most of the frozen meat.”
Akasa nodded, his gaze lingering on the Cheomgeom resting quietly in the corner. As a one-handed sword crafted for an adult, it was a weapon Akasa couldn't even use yet. However, at Akasa’s insistence that he couldn't just leave it alone, Urnil had taught him only how to maintain it.
“...How long do I have to wait?”
It was the first time he had asked for a deadline. His inner heart was boiling with an impatience he didn't even understand himself. Urnil spoke in a calm, soothing voice.
That couldn't be. Akasa shook his head.
“Yes.”
When he stepped out of the cave, snow was falling in thick flakes. The sky was a hazy white, so dense the sun was nowhere to be seen.
Though he spoke like a parent sending their child out into the world, Urnil never left Akasa’s side.
Akasa answered energetically, wearing his soft leather shoes and a poncho made of crudely stitched animal hides, and stepped out of the cave. A forest of deep white. Beyond it, he could see the Laoras River, flowing vigorously even in the winter snow.
“Come to think of it, you said Mr. Hisoral used essence too, right?”
“That’s amazing.”
Akasa said it with pure admiration, but Urnil burst into laughter. A puzzled Akasa asked:
“Why are you laughing?”
“What?”
Akasa looked down at his own body. He had gained a bit of muscle, but he was still scrawny.
“I-is that so?”
Snow piled precariously on the passing blades of grass, shattering as it fell onto the footprints the boy left behind.
Since crossing the river, he had completely changed his way of life. It wasn't that he didn't use fish traps, but expecting a harvest from the river in mid-winter was close to a gamble. The fish tended to congregate at the deep bottom rather than the surface.
For Akasa, there was no option but to master his hunting skills.
“I don’t see anything.”
Akasa said, having walked in the opposite direction of the river for quite some time.
As Urnil said, Akasa ventured deep into the forest. He had gone much deeper than usual, but there were no signs of prey. After crossing between some magnificent trees, a valley terrain spread out wide before him.
“The water is frozen. It wasn't frozen even a few days ago.”
“Ah?”
Leaving Akasa to his thoughtless exclamation, Urnil observed quietly and said:
“Is there a problem?”
“Over there.”
At Urnil’s words, Akasa’s gaze turned in one direction.
Akasa began to cross the valley and climb upward. As he kept walking, his body heat rose despite the cold weather. It wasn't noticeable because of his lightly tanned skin.
Following the frozen stream up the valley, he saw a very shallow waterfall and a slope formed to allow him to climb around it. And Akasa realized why the water had frozen and stopped flowing.
“My god...”
Water pooled slightly at the waterfall and connected to the stream. But in the middle, there was a huge, long tree branch that had fallen, unable to bear the weight of the accumulated snow. It had created a ledge that slowly froze over, and eventually, the water blocked by the wall leaked to the side, freezing again to create a new path.
In Akasa’s eyes, the water falling from the waterfall looked as if it were spreading out to the side like wings.
“So that’s why there was so little water downstream.”
At Urnil’s words, tension began to fill Akasa’s body. He had been doing this for half a year, but hunting was still enough to make the boy nervous.
Now far from his nest, nothing was more dangerous in mid-winter than getting his feet wet.
“I’ll be careful.”
Akasa, steeling his resolve, lightly crossed the split stream and moved toward the upper reaches. He didn't forget to pick up a few suitable stones along the way.
How far had he climbed?
The sand dune terrain he had seen from across the river over half a year ago spread out before him. The stream, flowing down into the gentle valley, was drawing a winding path over the complex dunes.
Akasa tensed his body a little more. It was for a slightly different reason than hunting.
The stream was also a tributary extending from the upper reaches of the river. Naturally, it had to be close to Cellabris.
No matter how vast the forest looked, he couldn't assert that it wasn't the territory of the desert people.
Urnil reminded him of the fact he had heard several times, sharpening his vigilance.
Answering with a quiet nod, he began to walk, keeping enough distance to visually confirm the water’s edge.
Not long after he started, Akasa stopped. He had found signs of prey.
But soon, Akasa made a strange expression as he looked at the prey.
A stag with antlers growing like large branches was there. The deer had collapsed. Akasa, approaching closely, could see an arrow stuck in the back of the deer’s neck. It was a position that couldn't have been discovered from the spot where Akasa had first sighted the deer.
But there was something even more bizarre. Even with an arrow stuck in the back of its head, the owner of the arrow hadn't taken the deer. Akasa soon realized the reason. The deer’s stomach had been torn open. It wasn't the clean work of a knife, but signs of being torn apart by wild teeth and claws.
The corpse, bearing the traces of both a hunter and a predator, was enough to make Akasa’s body stiffen.