[Shrubley, the Monster Adventurer] Chapter 32 – Fantastical Foundations

Any doubts Shrubley had about the Countess being unskilled or a poor leader were dashed the moment she started to have them explain their essence powers to her.

For Shrubley and Slyrox, the Countess needed more time and explanation in order to develop a training regimen for them. For Cal, however, she immediately knew what to do.

“But how will that help me command my Red essence?” Cal asked when the Countess had told him to select an offensive style and stick with it.

“You can keep using it as a meager Red essence. You have the default ability [Red Imbue] which allows you to instill any number of attacks, weaponry, even some spells with Red essence, but it’s weak. It’s directionless. All essences start off broad and generic, only by your own training and use do you hone them into a weapon of your choosing.”

“Is like dagger you making with brain-fruit!” Slyrox said.

“Say what?” the oppa asked, shaking his tiny head.

“I didn’t understand a word of that,” the Countess told them with a shrug. “The more powerful an essence is, the more niche it is. Strength comes from specificity. If you start off with an idea in your head of the style and type you want, say, for example, you want the more typical Elemental essence, then you’d keep that in mind and try to force the Red essence into that mold.”

“The more I tell it what I want it to be, the faster it’ll be that thing?” Cal said, looking at his staff curiously.

“Close enough. Most people start off with a simple colored essence, then work from there. You can continue to grow and evolve the essence over time, but your first evolution is the most important. It closes a number of doors and sets you on your path. There is no such thing as a bad essence, just a poorly utilized one. If you want a Blade essence instead, you can still acquire it in the same way you would create an Elemental essence.”

She looked around at the others, even Smudge, who blinked out of sync at her as his tiny body tried to commit the words to memory without a brain. At least, not a brain you’d normally have.

In some ways, Smudge’s [Dumb] racial ability held him back. Though there was a silver lining to it all.

[Dumb]: Lacking a brain, you’re not the brightest bulb in the sock drawer, but because of your lack of brain you cannot be ensorcelled by mind-bending magic.

“Most people who gain their first essence skip this step, but it’s fundamentally important,” the Lady Haalften told them. “I don’t like to repeat myself, but if you take away anything from these teachings, it is to hone your essences immediately. Keep that picture clear and at the front of your mind, your essence wants to mold itself to your channels of power. Let it.”

Cal nodded, though he looked like he might just go to pieces again at any moment. He started to conjure something reddish in the air and then began shifting it toward icy blue crystals, back to swirling wind, and on through various elements. It all seemed to cost him a great deal, but Cal was determined.

I can do it too, Shrubley told himself. Though, since he did not have a standard colored essence, he felt a little lost.

“You two are different,” the Countess told him and Slyrox. “Even I don’t have a Black essence. They are remarkably rare, and the fact that both of you have one is rather astounding. In fact, the only people I’ve regularly heard acquire Black essences are Travelers. People who come from outside this Worldshard.”

“Like Slyrox!” the koblin said. One of her racial abilities was called just that. “It attunes me muchly to Shardscript and lets me learn languages quickly.”

[Traveler]: You can innately sense, perceive and comprehend Shardscript, revealing greater information about yourself, your environment and fellow creatures as well as quickly pick up any and all language on your new home.

“Yes, like you.” The Countess turned to Shrubley. “But you… to say you were born with it? That is most odd indeed and makes some sense why it’s already at tier three. Quite impressive considering you’re still Mundane yourself.”

“But unlike a colored essence, how do we improve or hone ours?” Shrubley asked, eager to find out. “They are already unique or specialized. Can they be specialized further?”

The Countess’ laugh was echoed by Sose in her cleavage, who drummed his paws and cackled alongside her. “You can always specialize,” she told him when she had caught her breath. “Even my own essences are still evolving and improving. You only stop growing when–”

“–you’re dead,” Shrubley finished for her. “The Druid liked to say that. He said the only way to know you’re alive is that you can grow and learn. Only the dead stay static.”

“I should have liked to meet this Druid,” the Countess said. She winked at Shrubley. He reminded her of Halbert Wulfram, a dear old friend whom she hadn’t seen in a very long time.

For a moment, she wondered if they were the same. But there was no way. Wulfram, as a Druid? Never on your life. The man was too fiery, too ambitious by half.

The oppa glanced between the vampyr and Shrubley. He narrowed his beady eyes, then pointed a paw at his face and then threateningly at Shrubley as if to say, “I’m watching you!”.

Shrubley had no intention of getting between the two of them.

“You said your [Lifelong Student] allows you to take a portion of an essence ability you’ve witnessed, and apply it to your own attacks, right?” the Countess asked.

Shrubley nodded.

“How would you like to change that?”

Slyrox sat down and looked at her mitts thoughtfully.

“This is a question only you can answer,” the Countess told him. “How you create your essences and evolve them is entirely a personal decision. A thousand people starting with the same Red essence will have nearly as many branching pathways through their evolutions. Even the people with the same evolutions will usually have different abilities granted to them.”

Shrubley thought about this for a long time. He was not the brightest or the fastest, but he was dogged in his thinking. He could tease apart nearly any riddle or problem that the Druid had posed to him, provided he had enough time.

The Countess, for once, did not seem inclined to speed him along. She watched him out of the corner of her eye as she turned to the koblin and told her the best ways to work on her lone essence.

What did he want for himself? What purpose did he hold most dear in his heart of hearts?

The Druid had told him that even without a proper heart, he still had one. He had the soul of a Hero, and he wanted to protect people and help them, but he struggled to understand what that meant.

It was easy to say, easy to envision, but when it came down to the details, Shrubley suddenly felt like a tiny bud in the dead of winter where the snows kill off anything that isn’t strong and towering.

He has perhaps the most powerful Black essence I’ve ever seen in centuries, the Countess thought to herself. He could be an ace student in Pandaemonium if he applied himself. If he’s able to survive long enough to make it there.

Her familiar Sose grumbled. He did not want to be outdone by the shrub.

Slyrox, unlike Shrubley, was absolutely certain how she wanted her essence to evolve. She wanted to keep it as close to its original and improve upon it, which made the Countess’ job easy.

“[Rally] is a rare ability,” she told Slyrox. “However, to get the most out of it, you’ll have to get wounded. The ability is highly prized by defense-oriented Classes. It won’t work if you just hit something, but if you’ve taken a little bit of damage and you keep repairing it, you should see some good progress. Of course, you can mold the ability into something more if you try to top off already full health, turning the bonus from [Rally]–hopefully–into something like Shrubley’s [Bark Armor]. The choice is yours.”

Eager to prove herself, the koblin charged forward. Black energy, outlined with the faintest pinpricks of gold, streamed off of Slyrox’s fists striking into the [Dusty Training Dummy].

The vaguely human-shaped dummy was a wheeled contraption of angular limbs and rudimentary weapons jutting out at various angles. With its wheels locked in place, it remained stationary, but its central body could move. With all those weapons and limbs sticking out, it was difficult to get up close.

The koblin ducked beneath the wooden shaft of a spear, then punched up into the joint of an arm. Its body swung around, sweeping all its weapons and limbs with it, making ratcheting sounds like unoiled machinery.

Slyrox dropped to the ground, ducking beneath most of the spinning limbs, but not all of them.

The koblin was sent tumbling end over end, groaning.

“And it’s not even fighting back yet!” the oppa said.

“It isn’t?” Cal asked, trying to juggle three orbs of fire, wind, and water at once.

“Oh, this is just the start!” Sose answered ominously. “Sure, they can react to your hits, just like any good ol’ dummy, but we can do way more with ‘em.”

Slyrox strained with a surge of Braver essence burning off her goblinoid body. She struggled to get up and then attack the [Dusty Training Dummy] again. The more she struck it, the more health she recovered from [Rally].

Shrubley watched closely, fascinated by this new display of Braver essence. Without meaning to, he unintentionally triggered [Lifelong Student].

Looking down at his twiggy hands, he could feel an unfamiliar Black essence feed off his mana.

Am I using a Black essence to capture another Black essence in my mind? Shrubley thought, puzzled.

He didn’t even know it was possible to use [Lifelong Student] with an ally’s essence. However, he was already losing grasp over this unfamiliar Black essence. It was substantially more difficult to hold on to.

Whether that was because he was using [Lifelong Student] on an ally’s essence, or because he wasn’t in the middle of battle, Shrubley didn’t know. It was also possible wielding powers was harder in this mirror realm.

It felt like a lifetime since he last felt the warmth of Solar mana upon his leaves. He checked his body, and his yellow lamplight eyes grew dim with concern.

His leaves were beginning to fade. Already there was an unhealthy yellow tinge to the edges.