Choosing to keep that warning always at the ready, but shoving away her fear. Nova decided to go into study mode and take mental notes on his descriptions. "Okay, so the land of Ayakashi and Yokai called the Hidden Realm, the land of the Fairies called Yggdrasil--"
"No, Yggdrasil is their tree. It is the land of The Yggdrasil, or the land of the Fairies. Their land is nameless, timeless, far older than ours."
"How is it older?"
"Well how is England older than the United States of America? Some Fay broke away from Yggdrasil and established their own culture, their own races, and they settled on the equivalent of China and Japan as well as several other Asian countries. Time warped their similarities so much that most of them cannot even make offspring with eachother anymore, like Darwin's finches."
Nova was nodding along until that last bit where her confusion radiated throughout their environment. She felt uneducated and seeing her thinking so hard Beil sighed and sat cross-legged.
"You know of Darwinism, yes?"
"Darwin's theory of Evolution, right? Like how humans evolved from monkeys?"
"That is mostly right, they shared a common ancestors, but good, you know the basic principle. Darwin took finches, little birds with fast lives, and separated them on a string of islands too far from each other for the birds to travel, so they were cut off from the rest. The food sources of each island varied enough that each new generation of bird would have a slightly different beak to use for either bug hunting, nut crushing, nectar drinking, or seed collecting. It only took two generations for the beaks to change, but after about ten or so generations a scientist tried to reintroduce one of the variants to another and mate them. While some of the finches were able to do so successfully, a couple of them were too different and most of the offspring died either before hatching or almost immediately after. They had stopped being compatible."
"So you're saying the Fay and either Ayakasi or Yokai cannot mate anymore?"
"To a large degree, yes, but once every hundred years or so their is a lucky pairing. Their children are... odd. Powerful, mostly healthy, but sometimes sickly, and they acted with a bit of eccentricity."
"Is it because they are feared or picked on?"
Beil nodded. "More than likely, either that or they are not the most stable of creatures. An offspring such as that would have to favor Mana over Spirit Energy or the latter over Mana, but their bodies have difficulty determining which to use."
"So why can't they use both?"
Beil thought for a moment before answering. "Using both would rip you apart if you are not already equipped with the mana channels or veins and a core for mana. You have a core, that much is obvious," he said and glanced at it shifting like a lake reflecting the sun next to them, "but it is filled with spirit energy. Any mana you may have had at one point was expunged, and the mana requires channels or veins to spread it through your body for augmentation or collect it for clerical use. You don't have any, hence why your body uses spirit energy and naturally formed pathways and tendrils."
"So does that mean I could still have mana energy in my core along side spirit energy?"
Beil shook his head. "It was forced out immediately the moment your body adapted to spirit energy, not gradually. The energies do not blend well, like oil and water, and they will fight over which would be used first which oftentimes cancels out entire spells and damages the body. When the mana has no channels to pool into or no veins to seep in from, it just sits and builds up in your core so that any spirit energy you could have used is now inaccessible. When a new body is choosing whether to utilize mana or spirit energy, it's usually first come first serve. You ate a rat with spirit energy instead of developing mana channels or veins over several years of training."
"Okay, that makes more sense." She stood up and brushed off her legs and noted that it was completely out of habit. There wasn't any dirt here, in fact the ground was just a solidified darkness. Nova thought about it and even though she wouldn't need to know, her curiosity was burning. "What can Augmentors and Clerics do?"
Beil felt pride. She was definitely wise to wish to understand what mana could do even if she was not able to use it herself. If she were to ever get into a fight with a mana user she would need to know what to expect.
"I suppose," he began and paused to stand back up, "an example could be Chi. Daoists on Earth use Chi to strengthen muscles and highten senses, Augmentors use it in the same way. They use their mana that naturally restores itself from within their core, distribute it with their mana channels throughout their body, and are able to punch harder, run faster, jump higher, and take stronger hits. It can strengthen bones, build muscle, and even harden the skin. They can also augment any weapons they hold as well. Their weakness is how long it takes for their body to restore the used energy.
"Clerics, on the other hand, take in mana from their surroundings through their mana veins and utilize staffs, wands, robes, and other enchantable items that they can pour the mana into. They cast long range elemental attacks such as manipulation of the earth, water, air, or fire. Really strong Clerics can make more complex enchantments and their spells have a much further range of effect with more variety, but I've never really encountered many strong mana users."
Nova had to quietly take it all in. So much important information at once. Could Beil not give it in sections? Okay hang on. Two types of mana users: Augmentors and Clerics. Augmentation is body and weapon strengthening. Clerical use is elemental spells and enchantment. Okay, wait... okay. Well now she had forgotten why they couldn't be both. Had he ever told her? No. he told her why mana and spirit energy couldn't mix, not the two types of mana users.
"Can a mana user be both an Augmentor and a Cleric?"
Beil had opened his mouth to reject the possibility but quickly shut it. Just because he did not know of any did not mean that there did not exist someone who could do both. "There is a chance that one could have both mana channels and veins, but I am sure the mana user's body would naturally favor one over the other."
"Is there a particular kind of spell that spirit energy would make us favor?"
"Very good, Nova, yes. Of course there is. As an example, you yourself are naturally using the infatuation spell. You did not choose it, you were not even aware of it until I brought it to your attention, it was simple active as soon as you awoke in your human form for the first time, correct?"
Nova nodded and Beil nodded right back, stroking what little facial hair his human subconscious had as he paced in front of her, thinking.
"Your first few thoughts as a reborn Kinsoul Ayakashi were most likely following instincts, then the cave troll blessed you with eyes and your first really powerful emotions were feeling indebted to him and devastated that he had sacrificed himself, is that correct?"
Feeling a bit sour about that, she nodded but frowned deeply. He had the decency to look sheepish.
"Ah, yes, I apologize. Please indulge me for just a moment longer, I am going somewhere with this, I promise."
"It's fine, go on," she managed and took a breath to calm down.
"Well then," he cleared his throat and his pacing continued. "From that moment on, a part of you wanted companionship. You sought out people, you found a village but your self doubt prevented you from pursuing your desire, yes?"
"Mostly. It also didn't help that I couldn't communicate yet and I know a lot of people fear snakes."
"Was I really the first person you spoke with after coming here?"
"Unless you don't include being talked to and using motions and head nods as a means to reply, than yes."
"I see. Well, Nova, I fell honored to be the first one to hear your voice. Thank you."
"Why are you thanking me, you plucked me out of the underbrush with the intent to eat me," she said and laughed at his switch from calm joy to such a dramaticly shocked face. It was such a guffaw of a laugh that he actually blushed in shame and embarrassment, drawing out her laugh into painful wheezing until he eventually joined in and they didn't settle for a good couple of minutes.
He sure had a knack for making one of them laugh, if it wasn't him laughing at his own dumb joke it was something he did that set them both off. She was really starting to enjoy him, and she found that it was easy to forgive him for opening up the old wound.
"Do you-", he started and had to catch his breath for a little longer before he tried again. "Do you see where I was going with this by any chance?"
Nova nodded and bent forward to breathe deeper before straightening up and nodding a second time. "Yes. You basically suggested that my desire lead to my development. I wanted a friend, but my body was crafting a spell that made others like me and since you said I was almost stronger than you the spell got out of hand and became something like a love spell?"
"Yes, exactly correct. Very good, child."
"So if I created it, and I can stop it, could I create other kinds of spells by simply wanting them a lot?"
Beil shook his head. "It is not that simple. Your core structures itself off of your deepest set desires. If you had longed for power it might have produced a spell that would have given you incredible phisical strength or something for dominating and controlling other Ayakashi and Yokai. If you had wanted to become smarter it would have either provided instant absorbtion and analysis spells or you would be able to find what you would need to increase your intelligence at a much faster rate with a luck spell."
"That sounds... cheatery."
"Not exactly. See, compared to me you are incredibly gifted, strong willed and talented at a very young age, but compared to an experienced much older creature with a well tuned energy-efficient core and many years of professional practice, we are both not much stronger than humans."
"But you mentioned that I was strong enough to already overpower ten adult men."
"Yes, you are, and that is but a drop in the ocean of your potential and the true strength of this world."
Stunned but burning with curiosity, Nova asked, "then why aren't you so much stronger at seven-hundred years old?"
Beil sighed and touched his sternum with a look on his face that was a strange mix of disappointment and acceptance.
"My soul was transfered to this world as a distortion. I was never supposed to make it here, but in my grief and desperation my soul lingered just barely in time to find a little dead bird to carry it before it moved on for good, and as luck would have it, either good luck or bad, I found myself in the Hidden Realm and was able to morph into an Itsumade after nearly a century."
"That long? Is that why your Nana couldn't get you a human body? Because your soul was distorted?"
Beil just looked at her with a grin that shrouded such a degree of sadness that she found herself hugging him before she realized that she had moved. Beil sat still in shock for a second before one arm raised up to return the hug, but the moment he did she tightened it and he gave in and fully hugged her back. He didn't care if it was out of pity he accepted it wholeheartedly, so long it had been since anyone had showed him such unrestrained sympathy. His tears had long ago dried up, but he truly needed this and he was astounded at how easily she gave it.
When she eventually loosened the hug he let her go and a relaxed smile had blossomed on his face. Seeing that, Nova smiled back and lowered her eyes to her now fidgeting fingers. She had made herself nervous.
"Thank you, Nova. That helped a lot."
She sighed in relief and the anxiousness melted away. "Any time."
She was suddenly very aware that they had just been talking while in her subconscious this whole time. "Oh," she said and looked around. "How long have we been in here? It's felt like an hour."
"About five minutes."
Nova looked up. "Yeah sure, I know I was thinking for much longer than a minute or two after I touched the energy pathway, and you and I have been talking all this time."
"Your subconscious moves at a much faster pace than physical reality. In your meditative state you are thinking extremely quickly, especially after you unlocked your core."
"Well damn, that will be useful if I'm ever in a fight. Oh, speaking of which, is there a city near us?"
Beil blinked.
"Uh, I believe so. There are several cities within nearly equal distance from us. Why do you ask?"
"I've been wanting to catch the bastard that killed me. That energy cleared up some memories I didn't know were still buried."
"But--"
"Yes, you said my core was unlocked, but from how it feels I unlocked a lot of energy and memories."
"Do you feel like they are all unlocked now? I just realized you may not be able to tell, nevermind. It is quite baffling that there are still some that remain unreachable. I will help you pursue your revenge; however," he said and placed a hand on her shoulder," you need training."
"To fight him? Do I need a weapon?"
Beil chuckled. "Not yet. You need energy training. Your, what did you call it? Charm spell? It still needs to be canceled and you need to practice retaining your energy so that you do not relapse into that helpless blind snake that you had become."
Nova surprised herself. Her complete devotion to revenge had overshadowed almost everything else that she should be worried about. As new as the feeling was, and the intensity of it that scared her a bit, she still felt like it was justified, but she also neglected to pay due attention to the threat on her life that the energy draining had caused. She never used to be like this, diving headstrong into whichever emotion dominated her at any given time. When had that changed?
Beil watched her and patted her shoulder before taking a step back. "To begin," he said and she looked at him, focusing back on the present.
"Touch the path again, but this time I need you to search for the source. Just follow this path back into your core and unravel it. You will feel resistance as a spell once cast is difficult to uncast."
Nova nodded and, taking a moment to settle herself into the task, let her fingers sink back into the blue creamy sparking energy. Once again but at a smaller degree, a wave of energy and clarity swam through her. She recognized that she wanted revenge this badly due to how wronged she felt. Ripped away from her life, from her father, simply because she looked the bastard in the eyes? Stuck into a snake carcass to be used as a lazy alternative for an exterminator? Nova grit her teeth and tried to remain focused.