Chapter 38 - The Three Origin Seeds.
All Levi ever wanted was to absorb sunlight like normal Daywalkers to keep up with their growth. He had never dreamed of absorbing purified sunlight consistently, as he knew that Growth Totems were too pricy and unavailable for Daywalkers with no network.
Now, he was hearing that he had infinite access to the divine light keeping their civilization alive, an energy source a hundred times more potent than natural sunlight. He ought to feel awestruck.
"Though, it looks like you haven't inherited the Radians' heat immunity." Ash'Kral added, "You need to train to absorb it properly to reduce the lightheadedness produced from heatstroke."
"Heatstroke? My temperature did rise immensely." Levi said while touching his hot skin.
"Radians are upper-dimensional entities in tune with stars. You might have inherited their ability to absorb their divine light, but it is not as great without heat immunity."
"Does this mean I will be suffering from heatstrokes or even drop dead if I absorb too much divine light at a time?" Levi asked.
"Unfortunately, yes." Ash'Kral nodded.
"I see." Levi smiled faintly, not voicing a single complaint.
In his eyes, it might not be as optimal as absorbing divine light like the rest of the Radians, but it was a million times better than what he had before. At least now, he had a legitimate chance at feeding his seeds with a quality energy source.
"Don't sell yourself too short." Ash'Kral shared, "You might suffer from heatstrokes each time you absorb the divine light, but just like anything, your resistance can be improved."
"How? Is it through hard work or maybe changing the environment to a cooler one?"
Levi believed that practicing the absorption process through repetition would increase his resistance to heat over time. When combined with training in cold environments, this would definitely prolong his absorption process.
"Those two are standardized improvement methods that are a must. But, they won't be your main method for enhancing your resistance." Ash'Kral pointed his tiny wing at Levi's abdomen and said calmly, "You already have the missing key to negate all the shortcomings of being a mere Half-Radian."
"The Sun Origin Seed." Levi figured it out instantly.
"Yes." Ash'Kral nodded, "As long as you feed it consistently, the seed will reward you with unimaginable powers related to stars...Heat immunity is one of these powers."
"That sounds good and all, but I tried it and failed for some reason."
"Failed?"
"Yes, I followed the exact steps of manual cultivation that I have been practicing my whole life. Yet, the energy disappeared the instant it entered the three seeds' orbital zone. I am sure the Sun seed hasn't absorbed it since it showed no reacti..."
While Levi was explaining the situation earnestly, Ash'Kral was chuckling in front of his face.
"What's so funny?" Levi frowned.
"Check the Nine Senses seed and you will understand."
"Hmm?"
Hearing this, Levi swiftly used his spiritual vision to gaze at the three origin seeds. When his eyes landed on the Crimson seed, he couldn't help but gasp in astonishment.
"There is a tiny crack!"
Levi knew this was massive as it implied that his Nine Senses seed had fed on the divine light and had started the sprouting process!
"How?? I didn't even guide the light to it."
"My fault, I forgot to tell you that my seed is a gluttonous prick, who sucks any source of energy in its vicinity instantly." Ash'Kral chuckled, "I didn't expect you to succeed in your first attempt at absorbing the divine light."
"..." Levi was left speechless.
He was already struggling to understand how he was going to deal with the Three Body Problem, concerning balancing feeding each seed, not to throw a tantrum.
Now, he was being told that one of the origin seeds was a selfish f*ck, who wouldn't hesitate to eat what he threw at the others.
Since it could absorb any source of energy in the universe, the other two origin seeds had no fighting chance at keeping up unless Levi made some changes.
"No wonder you came out like this." Levi sighed helplessly.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing...Now, can you please tell me what the hell is your seed and how can I tame it to avoid angering the other two?"
"Taming my seed?" Ash'Kral shook his head, "If only it were that simple, I wouldn't have had multiple dead partners."
"Are you implying I am forced to feed your seed first until I hit its plateau, then I can share the rest of the energy with the other two?" Levi's eyebrows rose in stupor.
He understood that if he couldn't stop the Nine Senses seed from leeching on all sources of energy, the only thing that would stop it was the plateau at the end of the third stage.
In simpler terms, he had to help it reach 15% before he could consider feeding the other two seeds.
While this wouldn't cause many problems at the beginning of his evolutionary journey, it would become a massive hurdle later on when the roots and branches would start to spread out.
"You catch on quick."
Hearing Ash'Kral's approval left Levi silent for a couple of seconds. He could already envision the agony he would go through when the roots and branches of other seeds started fighting for space following the Nine Senses seed.
"Don't focus too much on the future, we will start thinking of ways to deal with the Three Body Problem after you reach the first plateau of all three origin seeds." Ash'Kral said calmly, "Before the sprouting of seeds, you don't have to worry."
"I see." Levi sighed in relief.
Although this wasn't the most optimal situation, at least he could behave and grow as a normal Daywalker at the lower ranks.
"May I know now what kind of powers you possess and what I can expect to unlock at each stage?" Levi asked again.
He had already analyzed the Nine Senses seed powers. The only thing he came up with was that it had relations to their senses.
However, the fact that it was called the nine senses seed threw him off, as he only knew of the existence of six senses.
Sight (Vision), Hearing (Audition), Smell (Olfaction), Taste (Gustation), Touch (Tactition), and lastly, Spirit Sense (Spiritual Perception).
"I commend the nine senses and anything related to them." Ash'Kral shared calmly, "There are five common senses and four unique senses. You are already somewhat trained in spiritual perception, which is one of the four unique senses."
"What about the other three?" Levi asked eagerly.
"You won't be interacting with them at such a low level, so there is no point in wasting my spit."
"You really will do me like this?"
"Boy, each sense is a world of its own, and if you managed to master a single one and all of its related powers, you should feel blessed." Ash'Kral said.
"It's that difficult?" Levi raised an eyebrow in surprise.
In Levi's mind, he could envision each sense and some of its related powers, but he could not imagine them being so difficult that he would fail to master them.
"Let me put it this way." Ash'Kral smirked, "Out of dozens of partners I trained with, only one managed to master 50% of a single Common Sense."
"50%...That's it?" Levi was left agape.
The fact that Ash'Kral had tens of partners and all of them were extremely talented and filled with potential made this achievement even harder to fathom.
This fixed his perspective about the Nine Senses seed and made him understand that he truly had no reason to learn about the other unique senses when he would most definitely be struggling to master the five common ones.
"If she didn't die due to the failure at solving the Three-Body Problem, she might have gone all the way and mastered 100%." Ash'Kral sighed while pointing a wing to the heavens, "Rest in peace, Attica, you were a good girl."
"..."
Levi's eyebrows twitched, imagining Ash'Kral wishing him to rest in peace after he replaced him with a new victim. But swiftly, he removed such thoughts from his mind and knitted his eyebrows solemnly.
'The more difficult it is, the stronger I will get. To deal with the Duskbound Order, I will need all the strength in the world.'