Two Types of Essence

Watching the two guards leave through the chapel doors,

Linsey was momentarily unable to make sense of the situation.

Since arriving in town and spending two days bedridden, the only person he had interacted with was the Nun before him.

Yet the two guards had come looking for him specifically.

Clearly, the Nun had informed the Lord here about him.

But why, after the guards came to find him, had the Nun gone against her previous choice and stopped Linsey?

The elderly Nun saw through Linsey's confusion at a glance.

She walked to the altar, put away the documents she had used for prayer, and then explained at an unhurried pace:

"Anrui is the administrator of this town. No matter what, he needs to know of your existence. But a young awakened one should have the right to choose his own path, rather than be led unknowingly onto the road of war."

The road of war! Linsey pondered this, then cautiously asked, "Could this Lord be an awakened one who is keen on war?"

The Nun shook her head.

"He is a proud, good man."

"But like everyone from the War School, he is more accustomed to solving problems with his own strength."

The War School...

Just from hearing the name, Linsey could guess what they excelled at.

The Law Knight he had seen was undoubtedly the most representative example.

Awakened ones who began with the art of war and honed it into extraordinary abilities could easily become as the Nun described.

As Linsey pondered this, the Nun suddenly introduced herself.

"Child, my name is Red Moon."

Then, the elderly Nun hesitated for several rare seconds.

Her gaze remained steady, but she waited a moment before asking Linsey, "Would you be willing to become my godson?"

The instant he heard the question, Linsey answered without hesitation.

"My name is Linsey, and I am willing to become your godson!"

"Good. You may still call me Nun from now on."

Linsey's Godmother smiled and nodded, and a hint of comfort appeared in her clouded eyes.

However, she was exceptionally good at controlling her emotions.

The expression quickly vanished. The Nun rose and led Linsey toward the church's rear courtyard.

"Linsey, follow me."

Linsey followed the Nun into the rear courtyard.

They opened a locked door, beyond which lay the church's underground level.

The Nun did not lead Linsey inside immediately.

She fetched a candlestick from next door, lit it, waited a while longer, and only then descended into the basement with Linsey.

After passing down a short earthen staircase, they found two rooms hidden beneath the church.

A sturdy iron door on the left was sealed with chains. The room on the right stood open, and like any cellar, it held winter Supplies and food.

Linsey asked curiously, "Nun, what are we doing here? Do you need me to carry something upstairs?"

Linsey's Godmother remained silent.

She entered the room on the right, took out a golden key, and unlocked a wooden box in the cellar's corner.

Linsey leaned over to look. The box was not full; rather, it was nearly empty.

Only three pitted, blood-colored stones lay inside. Without an explanation, he might have mistaken them for poorly made whetstones.

"Bloodstone." His Godmother took out the lighter-colored one and placed it in Linsey's hand. "Close your eyes and feel carefully."

Linsey followed her instructions.

Then he sensed a special Essence flowing from the Bloodstone into his body.

At first, Linsey felt no change.

Only after his Godmother took the Bloodstone away

did he check his status panel and discover in astonishment that the red words Disease - Cold had vanished! Looking again at the Bloodstone in his Godmother's hand, its red tint had also dimmed slightly.

"Cough, cough."

Linsey coughed twice out of habit, but his throat neither hurt nor itched.

He was really better! "People revere death, believing it possesses the power to heal disease. Bloodstone is the manifestation of that healing power."

The Nun explained at the right moment.

Holding the Bloodstone she had just taken out, she locked the box again, then took Linsey's hand and led him back aboveground.

"But power from death must not be abused."

"Except on special occasions and in moments of absolute necessity, Bloodstone should be sealed away."

Linsey was certain that his cold had not been a moment of necessity.

Then the only possible explanation was the former.

"Was that just now a special occasion?"

Linsey's Godmother answered in a gentle tone.

"You became my godson and joined my school. That is a special occasion."

This seemed to make Red Moon Lady very happy, and she continued explaining their doctrine to Linsey.

"We revere death, and we take this as the name of our school."

"You must remember this from now on. You must not disregard or profane life."

Linsey nodded seriously, then voiced another doubt. "Don't I need to perform some sort of ceremony to join the school? And why is it called a school rather than a religion?"

His Godmother answered, "Reverence lies in the heart, not in ceremony. This is even more so for death."

"Because we do not worship it, but revere it, feel it, and comprehend it, we are a school rather than a religion. Ordinary people hold religious obsessions toward death, so when facing the public, the school uses a church-based system of inheritance."

After their brief exchange, the two returned to the room where Linsey had been resting.

His Godmother once again had Linsey sit on the bed. Her two aged, withered hands clasped Linsey's young, vigorous right hand.

The next second, his Godmother's Essence began to flow through Linsey's body.

She was an awakened one as well.

Linsey was not particularly surprised. The attitudes of the Villagers, the guards' attitude, and his Godmother's knowledge were all things ordinary people could not possess.

"..."

But his Godmother fell silent.

Red Moon Lady would never rashly examine another person's body without permission.

Thus, only now, during her first examination of Linsey's Essence, did she discover just how unusual the child before her was.

There were actually two types of Essence within Linsey's body!

"Life and willpower..."

Recalling the experiences Linsey had described, his Godmother quickly determined the truth.

"On the night before Harvest Day, you independently awakened Life Source Material. On Harvest Day itself, that Righteous Walker rescued you and triggered the rules of external awakening, granting you the traits of Willpower Source Material."

Could two types of Essence be some kind of innate advantage?

Linsey knew this was the foundation of his existence as an awakened one, something of utmost importance, so he hurriedly asked, "Nun, what is special about having two types of Essence?"

His Godmother's answer was as calm as before. "Under normal circumstances, an awakened one chooses only one type of Essence to cultivate. Dividing one's focus will hinder progress and may even cause the two types of Essence to interfere with each other. I will tell you how to cultivate both, but you must choose for yourself which one to pursue."

Speaking of this, his Godmother suddenly asked a question. "Linsey, can you read?"

If this question were asked of an ordinary person in this world,

they would naturally shake their head.

But Linsey had received an education in another world, so he blushed awkwardly. "I... I'm a rural child. I never received an education."

His Godmother said nothing more.

She stood up and led Linsey to her own room.

It was the same size as Linsey's room, but it felt more lived-in.

Paper and pens sat beside the candlestick on the table. A damp towel hung from a rack beside the washbasin. The cabinet against the wall was filled with books and scrolls, all free of dust and carefully maintained.

His Godmother took out a bundle of scrolls from the cabinet, untied the cord, and spread them open before Linsey.

"From now on, every morning, you will learn letters."

Linsey leaned closer to look.

Sure enough, the pages were filled with unfamiliar words from this other world.

His Godmother pointed to the first character and said, "This is 'I.' You must remember how to write it. You can practice on the ground in the courtyard. Your name, 'Linsey,' should be written like this..."

The first lesson was not demanding.

After teaching him several characters and confirming that Linsey remembered them well enough to practice and reinforce them on his own,

his Godmother left for the time being, saying she had matters to attend to at the cemetery.

Linsey found a branch and obediently practiced writing on the ground with it.

He naturally assumed that learning the unfamiliar writing of another world would trouble him for quite some time.

But when Linsey looked beneath his Attribute Panel

and saw that Common Language, which had just appeared, had a yellow Experience Bar with some progress in it,

he knew his cheat had arrived!

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