章 14: Let Me Ask

Lian couldn't help but remember the crowns detaching from the bodies and absorbing the remnant energy. Naturally, he immediately asked Lugg about it. 'Now that I think about it, that means you guys work like leeches, no?'

-Leeches, your ass! Don't forget that I'm you as well. Well, kind of.-

'Me?' Lian asked, somewhat confused.

-Weren't we born together? The moment your soul took form, so did I. Unfortunately, I didn't have sentience back then. Anyways, I truly think we're somehow the same.-

'But you'll still absorb my body, won't you? In case I die...' Lian asked back.

-Hmm... to be honest, even I don't understand it very well. How can I explain this... ah! Think of it as if I'm a computer program. I've been programmed to take your body away once you die. Well, to be more specific, the energy which your body is transformed into.-

Lian nodded in response. He couldn't tell why, but his connection with his own crown allowed him to know whether Lugg was lying or not. 'I see... so, where do you crowns bring the energy from the transformed bodies to?'

-All I can say is that I have something like coordinates in the middle of this program I told you about.- Lugg explained. -If you really die, I will absorb your body's energy and use part of it to head to this coordinate. Unfortunately, even I don't know where these coordinates will lead me. I also have no idea what happens to me and you there. Simply put, the 'program' ends here. It has nothing about the outcome after your death. I can't even tell if I'm also dead at that point or not.-

Lian narrowed his eyes in response. Those were quite some weird things. 'It feels like all of this is happening for a reason. However, I can't understand why.'

-There's no point thinking about it either,- Lugg mentioned. -It simply doesn't matter whether your body transforms into energy for me to absorb or not. Even if your body didn't, do you think the dead you would care? I've never seen dead people caring about anything.-

Lian had to admit Lugg was right. 'Well, that's true. I have no intent to die either, so...'

-And, that's pretty much it. Don't think about things you have no power over to change.-

Well, the city was still a few hours away. In the case of Tuly's group, they could have made this distance in less than one hour if they had used Star Energy. However, since Lian's group didn't know how to do it, there was no way to do that. Besides, no one wanted to carry Lian and the others on their backs.

Lian kept following the methods in the manual as he created several small balls of fire. In response, Tuly got more and more shocked as he looked at Lian's work. It was as if Lian improved his control over Star Energy every time he tried to use it.

Little did he know that the main reason for that was Lian's sentient crown. In fact, Lian and Lugg weren't just following the methods described in the manual but also improving them.

-That's it. Did you see it? The Star Energy Channels described in the manual for this type of control over your hands were useful.-

Lian nodded, replying, 'Yes. However, the changes we made work even better. In the end, this is a basic manual made for beginners. It takes the average body of everyone as a base for its methods.'

-Indeed. Around 99% of the Star Energy Channels in your body aren't even close to what the manual describes. However, the Star Energy Channels that it asks you to use are not far from the real you. The problem is...-

Lian bitterly smiled as he knew what the problem Lugg mentioned was. 'This shitty body of mine has way too many channels! I can't even count them! Is everyone supposed to have this many? Just how many different patterns can I create? Elements, Star Energy, the reason for each use, etc... the possible combinations are pretty much endless.'

-For your information, your body has a total of 10982 Star Energy Channels. Many of them are connected to each other once they go further down into your body. But ultimately, they're all connected to the main vein.-

Lian knew that was that vein Lugg talked about. 'The vein that connects my body to you, right?'

-Correct. The main vein is at the center of your body and extends all the way to your head, ultimately connecting to me. Well, that only increases the ways of using Star Energy even more.-

That's why Lian could learn it quickly. Lugg could show Lian what was wrong, and Lian could fix it accordingly to Lugg's explanations. How could any Star Energy user possibly improve faster than that? Lian was the only one who knew about the crowns, after all.

Lian also noticed another thing as he practiced Star Energy. 'Am I wrong, or are you absorbing part of the Star Energy I take from the environment?'

-You're not wrong,- Lugg confirmed Lian's words. -This phenomenon started to happen after we followed the manual's Star Energy training.- The manual didn't only explain how to transform Star Energy into Fire Element. The manual was, in fact, a training method to increase one's power as a Star Energy User. Well, to be more specific, to increase the Star Energy User's level. -I believe this is what will bring me to grow one more spike, just like Tuly's crown.- As mentioned before, Tuly's crown had two spikes. They believed that it was connected to his level since he was stronger than the others.

'Well, that just means I can use this Star Energy for something else other than just creating fire. Should I try to increase the amount of Star Energy I'm sending to you?'

-There's no need. I'm already at the limit of what I can absorb.- Lugg refused. -Instead, I want you to do something else.-

'What is it?' Lian asked.

-Ask Tuly where the energy he absorbs to increase his level goes to.-

Lian was quite confused. 'Isn't that obvious? It goes to his cr-' Suddenly, Lian stopped as he understood what Lugg meant. 'I see... they don't know about the crowns... Alright, let me ask.'