Stumbling out, now soaked to the skin, Roy examined the shallow bowl behind the falls. He’d noticed it a few times when he’d been attempting to cultivate under the rushing water, but hadn’t thought much of it.
“Irusaru Sensei, what are we doing here?”
As far as he could tell, there was nothing behind the falls, so why bother bringing him back here?
“Patience, disciple, and I will show you,” Irusaru replied, pulling his staff from his back.
Roy had noticed that both he and Aika carried the weapons but had never actually seen either use them in combat. Then again, he’d really never seen either of them fighting seriously. Aika did all of her training in the Dungeon, and the only time he’d seen Irusaru fight, was when he’d shredded the Beast that had almost killed him- if what he’d done to the massive cat could even be called a fight.
Irusaru spun the weapon a few times, golden light leaking into ash-colored bow staff and spreading across its length. After only a few rotations, the entire staff was glowing and looked more like a golden wheel of light than an actual staff. Then, in one smooth motion, Irusaru drove one end of the staff into the wall.
To Roy’s surprise, the wall didn’t immediately shatter. Instead, the staff sank into the wall, half its length vanishing in an instant. He could feel Irusaru feeding more Essence into the staff. That, and something else he couldn’t define. It felt similar to Essence, yet different on a level he could not comprehend.
His attention moved away from that when the wall began glowing, the golden light spreading from the staff and rendering runes, invisible until now, in stark detail. Only once the entire wall was glowing with a series of script that he couldn’t hope to make sense of, did Irusaru stop pouring energy into the wall.
With a twist and yank, he pulled the staff free, and a line spread from the small hole where the staff had been just moments before. By the time Irusaru sheathed the staff over his shoulder, the lines had touched both the top and bottom of the hollow wall.
“Stand back,” Irusaru said as the stone began splitting apart with a grinding sound that set his teeth on edge. “That isn’t the only security measure we have in place.”
Following his instructions immediately, Roy took a few steps back, almost stepping back into the waterfall. He had to wonder what secret could be so great that the security would be this tight inside a valley that was guarded and kept hidden by the Tonde clan. Whatever it was, he was eager to find out, and he looked on excitedly as the stone slabs finally opened wide enough to admit the two of them.
As soon as they’d opened, Roy felt a sudden immense pressure settle over his body. It was so intense that it drove him to his knees, gasping for air. He remembered this feeling well. It was what he’d felt when the Crater-cat had exuded pressure from its core, but this felt to be even stronger than that.
He heard Irusaru muttering something, and just managed to lift his head in time to see a scaly tail vanish back between the two doors. A moment later, the pressure lifted, and Roy took in a deep, shuddering breath.
“What… what was that?” he asked, getting shakily to his feet.
Whatever it had been, it was the most terrifying creature he’d ever come across.
“It’s not important. Suffice it to say, that it was the guardian of this chamber. Now, if you’ll follow me,” Irusaru said, walking in through the opening in the stone.
Roy hesitated for a few long moments, before finally following the old man, feeling his heart rate increasing as he entered the room. He hadn’t been sure what to expect of a secret room behind a waterfall that was guarded by a monster, but he most definitely hadn’t expected to see a bare stone room with nothing but a small basin at its center.
“Is that all?” he asked, walking slowly to where Irusaru was standing near the basin.
“Yes. This is all,” his teacher replied. “If you were looking with your Spirit Sense like I showed you, you would understand.”
Along with teaching him how to suppress his core, Irusaru had taught him one other thing involving Essence. This had been an improved version of his actual senses. It was a technique that was accomplished by cycling his Essence up to the eyes and spreading his awareness out at the same time. This would result in a far more powerful and accurate reading on an opponent’s advancement.
It wouldn’t work on those stronger than him if they were attempting to hide by suppressing their cores, but it would show him anyone at the same or lower advancement. It would also show him those stronger, so long as they weren’t attempting to hide. He’d tried this out on Aika and had discovered that it did indeed work far better than his regular senses.
Feeling a bit embarrassed, he walked up to the stone basin, which he saw was half-filled with a lightly glowing golden liquid. When he used his Spirit Sense, he was forced to immediately look away, as he was nearly blinded by the brilliance of the pool.
“Good, I see that you understand,” Irusaru said as he staggered away from the basin, rubbing frantically at his eyes.
“Why didn’t you warn me?” Roy yelled as he opened his eyes, blinking away the multitude of spots dancing before them.
“Because of the disrespect you showed me before,” Irusaru replied with a shrug.
Roy opened his mouth to give an angry retort, but the old man continued talking, cutting him off before he had the chance.
“This,” he said, gesturing to the room around him, “is the real reason this basin is so well guarded. Of all the treasures in this place, this room and its contents are the most valuable. The contents of this small basin are enough to start a continent-wide war, so I hope you understand that no one can know about this room. If I find out that you’ve ever told anyone, I’ll have to kill you.”
Roy felt a chill run down his spine at the casual way Irusaru had just threatened his life. If this water was really that valuable, maybe his caution was well-founded.
“Now, as to the reason why this water is so valuable, I’m sure that the single glance you took was enough to explain it.”
“The Essence is more concentrated than I’ve ever seen before,” Roy replied, still rubbing at his eyes. “Is there an area for the other Essence types as well?”
Irusaru nodded, removing a small glass cup the size of a thumbnail, and dipped it into the basin. He then gestured to a spot on the floor which Roy took reluctantly.
“I would normally wait until you were at least Orange before allowing you to drink even this much from the Power Basin, but seeing as you don’t have much time left, this is our best option to force a breakthrough. I won’t lie, though. This will be one of the most painful experiences of your life. This pure Essence will burn all the impurities from your body. And when I say all of them, I mean all.
“The process which normally occurs over the course of three stages will happen all at once. It won’t give you the Core-Body just yet, but it will strengthen you far more than any White-Belt. Cycling will be a breeze, and advancing will be far easier than it would have been otherwise since your body won’t need to use it to burn away the impurities between each stage. You’ll also be able to start learning Essence techniques without the risk of stunting your future growth.”
“If this water can do so much for me, why not give it to me earlier?” Roy asked as he accepted the glass with perhaps four drops of the water.
“Though this is a very powerful natural resource, there are risks inherent with drinking it,” Irusaru said. “As I mentioned before, I would have liked to wait until you were at least Orange before giving it to you. There is a good reason why there are three stages to forming the Core-Body. The process is extremely taxing on both the body and core.”