Loch placed his hand upon his own stomach and subconsciously closed his eyes. After only several seconds of calm, he soon found his vision becoming warped, as if he was flying through a tunnel and then mysteriously finding himself floating above an oddly colored river. The water appeared a light purple in color and was flowing effortlessly down towards what appeared to be a small patch of land in the distance. A partially cloud covered statue could only just be made out from where Loch was floating, it was standing in the middle of the small plot of soil. As if he was on a boobing raft, Loch found himself floating down the river. He was unable to control the speed of his movement and was more like a silent passenger. On either side of the river, Loch was traveling down was nothing but empty space, black as midnight and bottomless, with the river bumping up against it like an invisible barrier.
The purple, shimmering water also looked as if it wanted to branch off in many places. The further Loch travelled, the more he saw these possible branches. Despite flowing down the branches, the water didn't go far, stopped after a few feet by a nebulous dam of black sludge. Loch noticed that the black sludge was also flowing along the purple river around him as well and appeared to gravitate more towards those branches, as if attracted by the dams or maybe what was behind the barrier. The sight made Loch frown, but before he was even halfway down the stream and could continue investigating more details about the new world, he had suddenly found himself in. His peaceful journey along the river was broken. Loch felt a force pulling his vision back the way he came, as if a rope was tied around his floating body, retracting him back into the real world. Loch's eyes snapped open and found himself gasping for breath, like he had been underwater the whole time.
Tobias's firm hand was currently on Loch's shoulder, and he was applying a slight pressure, but it wasn't hard enough to hurt. Around Tobias, the air was simmering as if the very oxygen was being cooked. Once he had seen that Loch had awoken from his state, the air turned normal, but Tobias kept his hand on Loch's shoulder. The tight grip felt more as if it was stabilizing Loch's sudden turbid feelings. As the boy had found his vision swimming when he had opened his eyes, making him feel nauseas for several minutes. Tobias gave the boy a critical eye and waited in silence until he felt Loch had regained his bearings. Loch looked up at Tobias, after he felt his sudden vertigo subside and asked, "What happened?" Tobias released his grip from Loch's shoulder and smirked at the boy. "That's supposed to be my question." Tobias looked deep into Loch's eyes, almost ensnaring the boy with his sudden hypnotic gaze. "Tell me, young Loch, what happened just now? Where did you go? I felt your aura gather within yourself and the Aether within the room began to surge towards you. It was odd, to say the least."
Loch rubbed his head for several seconds, gathering his thoughts before he replied honestly, "I don't really understand what happened either. When you pointed toward my stomach, I just had a sudden thought that I wanted to see my core for myself. Before I knew it, I found myself on a purple river. There was nothing on either side, but I could see in the distance a small island with a statue covered in clouds atop it. Before I could get closer, though, the world around me began to ripple, and I felt myself being violently rejected from the space." Tobias kept his calm gaze upon Loch and seeing the boy wasn't lying and having no particular reason to suspect the boy would, he couldn't help mutter, "Incredible. He's already found his path. But a river? I would have expected something more closely related to the sky's lightning." Loch heard Tobias's muttering but couldn't understand what the man was talking about. He felt a little resonance when he heard the Hunter mention his lightning element, but Loch was still unsure about so many things that he decided to not think about it and ask a question directly, "A Path? Are you saying my path is the river I found myself upon? How in hell's name is there a river inside me?"
Tobias grinned at the now agitated child before him and, while patting the air in a calming gesture, he replied, "Once again, the direct answer is a yes. You have found your path, but there is so much more to it than that. Many of the finer details are those which we just don't have time to get into right now. What I can tell you is the reason why you were expelled, which also involves the next topic I was about to discuss with you before you went on your impromptu journey. There is something I also need to make clear to you right now. What you had just done was incredibly dangerous and could have led to some dire consequences. Just like learning a new skill, you must first learn the basics. One should never run before they learn to walk." Hearing the gravity in the other man's words, Loch nodded seriously, as he had also felt that the moment his perception was forcefully dragged out, something inside his stomach pulsed in pain, almost as if it was an instinctual warning.
Seeing the serious and frightened expression upon the boy, Tobias didn't continue to reprimand Loch, as he knew the boy hadn't done it on purpose. For Tobias, as a Silver badged Hunter and a man well on his way to his third awakening, knew that what Loch had just accomplished was nothing short of miraculous. With the other things he had seen the boy do before, Tobias felt Loch was a natural born genius when it came to using his Aura. Tobias finished his own introspection and continued his explanation. "Okay, so, basics. Let's first talk about Aether. The most important building block to all life on Aegis is what we humans call Aether. Aether is the number one most necessary component for every cultivator's journey along their path. It is the fuel that powers us. Aether, however, empowers not just cultivators but every living thing in our world. Many great and learned people are always in constant debate and search for the true meaning and existence of Aether. However, for more simple people like me, we just accept it as something that exists. What we do know, though, is that Aether is generated up from the Earth's core in certain places and then travels along the Earth in what we call lay lines. Permeating the air around them. Some places are richer in Aether than others, due to being closer to what is called a rupture point. Which usually leads to the surrounding area having an abundance of naturally made treasures, like Aether infused mines and plants and, of course, they are also rich in higher-cultivated beings of all types."
Loch listened to the man's smooth voice, feeling as if a cloudy haze that covered his eyes was slowly being swept clear. His early feelings of frustration were also eroding, as a more intense thirst for the world being revealed to him began. Tobias saw the look in the boy's eyes, which also made him reminisce in his own mind for a moment. He could also remember vividly the excitement he had felt when, as a child, sitting upon his father's lap and listening to the man, he had always looked up to reveal the mystical world of cultivation before him. Tobias's head was suddenly filled with a vision of a thin whip of a man, dressed in simple scholarly attire. The man looked to be in his later years, with a small head of slicked-back grey hair and several wrinkles upon his face, but his eyes sparkled with vigor as he stood before a smartly dressed child, explaining several of the things Tobias was currently teaching Loch about. With a harsh shake of his head, as if he wanted to physically throw the memory away, Tobias banished the vision and continued his talk with Loch. Just the sight of the older man brought such repulsion to Tobias that he almost couldn't stop his face from gathering into a scowl. The boy, who was either also lost in his own thoughts, or was simply not perceptive enough, didn't see the slight change to Tobias's casual, smiling expression or his tone of voice, and just stared at the man with rapt attention.
"A byproduct of large quantities of Aether permeating certain areas is also something you are much more familiar with and is what is widely referred to as Taint. The so-called Taint is, in fact, Tainted Aether, filled with the impurities of the world. Humans naturally absorb Aether from the day they are born, much like air. It is unavoidable and needs to be consumed. But also, like air, unless deliberately trying to trap it within oneself, Aether is absorbed and then released naturally. Now, there is a myriad of factors that could cause a person to have a large buildup of Tainted Aether, but the most prominent of which is when a Human is born, they hold a defect in their body that doesn't allow Aether to naturally circulate and then release from the body. This leads to a buildup of Tainted Aether in that area. This causes what is known as Tainted Blood." Tobias said, as he looked pointedly at Loch's wrapped left arm. Loch looked down at his arm with a ponderous frown. He didn't know how to feel finding out that the true reason for his tainted arm was not some unnatural deficiency in him or being born cursed, as some more ignorant people say, but was, in fact, just an unpurified Tainted Aether build up.
Loch was also more aware after waking that morning, after having a clear image of his past that was previously foggy, that he didn't have any issues with his left arm when he was younger but shortly after that stormy night and before arriving under the care of Mother Leanne, something had happened to him, leaving him with his ghoulish looking arm. Loch had felt for a long time that his arm wasn't like his friend's own deformities, as they had all told him that as far as they could remember, they had always had them. There was something different about his arm. He just knew it. Loch felt a sudden impulsion to tell the man before him about how his arm differed from others, but he stopped himself. Even though Loch felt the man before him didn't harbor any malicious intent, the last few years growing up inside the orphanage and learning from Granny, he had developed an instinctual distrust for most people.
Deciding to adopt a wait and see an approach regarding Tobias, Loch swept his thoughts clear and began thinking about what he had just heard. 'Rupture points, where are they?' Loch thought, with the little amount of geography he knew, where these so-called Eruption points would be. After several minutes of silence, Loch found himself thinking about the ringed city he lived in and the similarity of all the nine cities of humanity, which were built in the same way, just differing in size and shape somewhat. Loch then broke the silence and asked Tobias, "Sir, is the reason that all nine cities are built with several walled areas not only for defense and status but because it also has something to do with Aether eruption points?"
Tobias, small smile, turned into a large grin as he patted the boy on the back and replied, "Very good, Loch. At least your head isn't just a hat rack. That's exactly the case. All the cities of humanity are built on what we call major eruption points. Taking Empyrium, for example, the Nest, where his Grace and his family live, is directly over a major eruption point. Leading to the Aether quality being almost perfectly pure and far denser than anywhere else in the city. Through numerous other devices, that we don't need to go into detail about just yet, the Aether quality is further amplified and then spread out from that point. Making the Crown district, which houses all higher rank noble houses and organizations, the next best spot in Aether quality. After that is the Stem district, then the Shambles. Once the Aether reaches the Shambles, it is close to the quality of the majority of lands outside the walls being around thirty percent Taint to Aether. That is why the land close to the Nest cannot be brought with just money but also requires status, as it's not just about living in nicer surroundings, but it also means being in a purer Aether environment for cultivation making the time required for a person to purify the Aether within themselves much shorter."
"I can already see you're about to ask why being around pure Aether is so important," Tobias stated with a small smirk, as he saw Loch open his mouth to ask a question just as he finished. "Considering I only know a handful of people who suffer from Tainted Blood in the Shambles. Compared to the population in the hundreds of thousands in our district alone, the impure Aether doesn't appear to affect normal people much. So, yeah, why is it so important?" Loch clarified. After hearing the explanation in regard to Aether purity, he had some guesses to why people who cultivated the mysterious powers of cultivation wanted it, but not why the average person should care about Aether purity. Tobias smiled and slapped Loch's back again, leading the boy to worry if he would find his back covered in bruises after their talk today, as he winced. "Another good question, and the answer will also encompass one of the reasons I have sought you out today. I also think it's about time we speed this along. We are running out of time." Tobias said, as he took out a silver pocket watch with delicate engravings of what looked to be a multi-headed, serpentine creature on the back of it, and checked the time.
Loch found himself sitting up straight at the words from Tobias and couldn't help his heart galloping wildly within his chest, like a thousand runaway horses. "A person living and, in fact, just being born in a purer Aether environment helps in numerous ways. Most people are a lot healthier on average, and their general physical strength will also be greater. Children will also have a larger chance of awakening their cores or being born with a better grade Core when growing up in a denser Aether environment. For adults already stepping on the path of Cultivation being around an area that is rich in pure Aether means that when they absorb their Aether to nurture their cores, they will have to spend less time ridding themselves of the Tainted Aether. Cultivating is a little similar to being born with a Tainted appendage, however instead of Aether being trapped unconsciously, we specifically trap Aether and then direct it towards our path. This is done by specially crafted Cultivation Techniques. But the main reason people can forcefully direct the intangible Aether is that after Awakening their core, one will be able to control their Aura Appendage. This is something that usually takes half a year to full a year on average and several months for a genius in cultivation. However, when it comes to you, this seems to not matter, as regardless of whether you're trying to or not, you seemed to be already have partial control of your Aura appendages." Tobias said, while giving Loch a pointed grin.
"I can?" Loch breathed out, as his face scrunched in confusion. He didn't feel as if he could control this so-called Aura appendage. Besides his new colored eyes and the odd way he could move his vision within himself, much like he had done in his nightmare previously, Loch hadn't seen or felt a new appendage on his person. And he was pretty confident he would have noticed if he had woken up with some weird new limb dangling from his body. "Stop thinking so literally, boy." Tobias laughed and couldn't help gently cuffing Loch on his head when he saw the boy attempting to look at his own butt, as if he was expecting to suddenly find a tail or something there.
"An Aura appendage in the Awakening stage is not something one can conjure into physical being, that is only possible after the next stage and coming into contact with Elemental Aether. Which is not something you have any need to know about at the moment. Now watch." Tobias instructed as he looked to have flexed some invisible muscle with a face of concentration. Right before Loch's widening eyes, behind Tobias's head and over his shoulders, appeared five swaying monsters. They had the appearance of thick snakes, like an anaconda with matching needle teeth filled mouth snapping heads. They were clearly not real serpents though, as they looked to be made up of green-colored fog, being tangible one second and then not the next. A part of Loch recoiled at the sight before him, but a larger part of him was enraptured by the sudden showing of power from Tobias.
Tobias raised one of his hands towards a serpentine head that was just to the left of his shoulder, and right when Loch thought he would see the hand go through the snake's head like smoke, he saw Tobias pat the head as if it was a solid object. The older man couldn't help chuckle at the wide-eyed look upon Loch's face, and with another mental flex, the swaying serpents behind him disappeared. "Even for me, making my Aura appendages semi-corporeal for only a short minute costs a significant amount of Aether. Even though they have disappeared from view, they've not fully disappeared and have instead returned to the state of what we call One with the Aether. This is the state that allows us access to forcefully consume Aether and place it under our control. They also have several other uses, but one of the most important and the one that you can already attain is the ability to look within our core area. This place can't be found in the real world. It's also in a state of One with the Aether. If you cut open a cultivator's stomach, you wouldn't be able to see anything besides normal human biology and your core, of course. Following?" Tobias asked. After receiving a shiny eyed nod from Loch, he continued.
"We call this unseen area, only seen by the use of one's Aura, a cultivator's Inner World. It's also what we alleviate in our cultivation. So, besides the fact you've told me you've already seen your own Inner World and I believe you. The fact that you are currently unconsciously flaring your Aura tells me that you are only a few short steps from controlling your Aura and will be able to start cultivating properly." After Tobias finished with a smile, Loch was startled and asked in a rush. "I'm flaring my Aura? But I don't feel anything?"
"You definitely are, although it is not overly strong, and if one wasn't paying attention, they might miss it, I can safely say that you've been flaring your Aura this whole time we talked and I would also bet that it was something you had been doing since you had awoken this morning." Tobias said. Then, while Loch was pondering over Tobias's words and feeling within himself for this unseen Aura, Tobias got up from his seat upon Loch's bed and stood in front of the boy. Tobias's friendly older brother's attitude suddenly changed, breaking Loch's thoughts and drawing his attention back to the man standing before him.
Tobias now stood in front of Loch, looking every bit the serious and deadly Hunter the young boy had read so many stories about. The older man, that was previously smiling and speaking in soft comforting words, now held a majestic and weighty presence. Making Loch subconsciously lower his head in deference but also feel that he was unable to look anywhere else but up at Tobias. "I'm sorry Loch. I must cut this conversation short, but depending on your answer to my next question, we'll have a lot more time to talk in greater detail about the subjects we had just spoken of. The fact that you are already partially able to conjure your Aura is both good and bad. The main thing, though, is that some things that could have been done slowly need to be done as soon as possible, making the need for haste. I can also sense that the others that have come today are soon to be wrapping up with the other children and knowing a couple of them, I don't want them butting in on this next part. Loch, although you still must have thousands of questions you want answers too, I first need an answer to a question of mine." Tobias spoke, his rich voice filled with a substantial power, that to Loch, felt as if the whole world had quieted down to also hear the man's next words.
"Loch, I would like to formally invite you to become my disciple on your path to cultivation. As your master, I swear upon the Blessed Earth that I will train you to the best of my abilities, care for you as if one would a parent to their child, harbor no maliciousness in my heart for you and keep your safety and growth as paramount only under my own. If you accept to be my disciple, you will leave this place today and come under my care to live with me inside the Stem district. Do you accept me as your Master from this day forward and until one of us returns to the soil?" Tobias solemnly asked. The older man was also surprised to find that he was feeling almost as nervous and expectant as the boy looked before him now.