Source Substance

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Source Substance
Original Name	源质
Type	Supernatural material that can be assimilated into living bodies or incorporated into objects 2 22 37.
Origin	Described in The Properties of Source Substance as power from the Upper Realm; Winslow suggests a connection to things spilling out of the Realm of Truth 3 48.
Role	Grants supernatural abilities, produces spirituality, and supports the Essence Hunters’ pursuit of a Divine Body 2 20 28.
First Appearance	Professor Winslow’s public dissection of a Spider Aberrant 1.

Power Progression

Documented Development in Gordon

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Initial assimilation	2	Drinks a potion refined from Unbroken Strings. Gains Synchronized Conduction, improved proprioception, reduced motor-feedback latency, and modest improvements to physique and drug tolerance.
Continued integration	13	Unbroken Strings deepens its integration with his brain while he sleeps.
Outward sensory application	26	Extends the ability beyond bodily coordination to detect subtle vibrations through floors, walls, air, and pipes.
Deepened fusion	27	After repeated training with Vera, spreads his perception across an entire room and dodges her attacks by interpreting connected sensory cues. A notification confirms deeper fusion, accompanied by severe pain and finer sensory discrimination.
Self-Body stage identified; development toward Force Field	48	Vera identifies his existing stage as Self-Body. During roughly ten hours of meditation, he merges more deeply with Unbroken Strings, saturates his body with its power, and feels its properties overflow beyond his skin. His perception and mental strength improve.

Advancement Framework

• Self-Body: Source Substance primarily changes its user’s body; its power remains contained within the flesh 48.
• Force Field: Its influence extends into the surroundings. Vera demonstrates that a stronger field can override Gordon’s perception and force his power back into his body 48.
• Divine Body: Hunter School describes the pursuit and assimilation of Source Substance as the transformation of a human body into a Divine Body 28.
• Demigod: According to Vera, successfully fusing more than six sufficiently powerful, compatible pieces can produce a Demigod. She questions whether the resulting being remains human, and says what follows is not openly discussed 28.

Nature and Properties

Source Substance and Spirituality

• Spirituality is supernatural activity emitted by Source Substance, comparable to radiation. Each kind of Source Substance produces a corresponding kind of spirituality 20.
• Spiritual radiation can leave deposits in surrounding material, including cloth and air 37.
• Aberration indicates that a creature has been permeated by Source Substance power, but not every Aberrant contains an extractable piece 1.
• Source Substance can form under extreme conditions. Winslow confirms that allowing an Aberrant to continue harming people could, in principle, increase the possibility of its formation 43.
• Its effects are not limited to an additional supernatural skill: assimilation can alter perception, habits, and bodily function 19 39.

Aspects and Identification

• Documented descriptions include shining, burning, fragmented, failure, mutated, and contaminated properties. These affect processing or practical use; they are not established as a simple color-based ranking 2 22 35.
• Attractive appearance does not establish safety. Sorrow and Thorns resembles a beautiful gemstone but evokes painful memories 37.
• Size does not reliably indicate danger. Gray warns that even a little contaminated powder can cause a strange disease lasting decades 35.
• Standard tests can miss hidden material: Winslow’s test strips fail to detect Unbroken Strings inside the Spider Aberrant, while Gordon sees its silver glow 1.
• Gordon’s unusual sight can identify names, properties, and activity, but its own relationship to Source Substance remains unresolved 2 37.

Known Source Substances

Name	Documented Properties	Bearer / Location
Unbroken Strings	Shining minor/small Source Substance. Improves synchronization between nerves and limbs; grants Synchronized Conduction and develops into vibration-based perception 1 2 26 27.	Extracted from the Spider Aberrant and assimilated by Gordon 2.
Golden Lineage	Its power is closely tied to the Montfort family’s reputation; scandal can weaken it 14.	Count Montfort 14.
The Never-Healing Wound	Fragmented minor Source Substance. Wounds it opens do not close 22.	Incorporated into Vera’s sword, Black Piercer 22.
Newborn Yet to Choose Its Form	Immaculate new Source Substance awaiting birth. Gordon seeks a ritual to give it developed traits and power 29 35 41.	Produced by the Silverfish Casket and secretly stored by Gordon 28 29.
Failed Birth	Weak Source Substance with failure aspects, recovered after the pumping-station mission. Unsuitable for assimilation but useful for contamination weapons 34 35.	Sold to Arthur Gray; Sinclair later makes the material into a burst bottle 35 46.
Sorrow and Thorns	Shining small Source Substance imported from the Southern Continent. Evokes sorrowful memories and strengthens the attachment that makes them difficult to release 37.	Examined by Sinclair and Gordon, then made into a police collar 37 46.
Fate-Biting	Vera’s primary Source Substance. Its power can lock onto a target, though she does not use that targeting function when demonstrating her Force Field to Gordon 39 48.	Vera 39.
Unnamed second substance	Already integrated with Fate-Biting when Gordon examines Vera 39.	Vera 39.
Burning Instinct	Unstable and poorly compatible with Vera’s other substances; appears to drive her compulsive hunger and energy-consuming behavior 39.	Near Vera’s stomach and diaphragm 39.
Unidentified Greater Source Substance	Once enshrined in the Silverfish Casket. Gordon theorizes that it had reproductive properties and is the origin of the related water-aspect spirituality 29 41.	Its present location is unknown to Gordon 41.

Assimilation and Training

Potion Refinement

• Assimilation through a refined potion turns Source Substance power into a personal ability, providing a route to becoming an Essence Hunter 2.
• Hunters continually pursue and convert Source Substance into abilities, gaining extraordinary strength, speed, and longevity 2.
• The solvent depends on the material’s aspect: distilled water can be used for shining material, while strong liquor is required for burning material 2.
• Refinement can waste supernatural activity. Retaining twenty percent is considered a good first attempt for an ordinary beginner; even Royal Alchemy Bureau experts cannot guarantee first-attempt success 2.
• By directly observing the material’s condition, Gordon produces approximately ten milliliters of highly potent Unbroken Strings potion with almost no loss of activity 2.
• Absorption can be painful and physically disruptive. Gordon’s potion moves toward his brain and triggers intense pain before fusion begins 2.

Self-Knowledge and Integration

• Hunter School’s first training principle is “Know yourself.” Vera explains that Source Substance amplifies what a person already is rather than changing them arbitrarily 26.
• Practical training develops applications beyond the initial effect. Gordon turns precise bodily coordination into sensory interpretation and combat anticipation 26 27.
• His anticipation is not literal foresight: he connects shoulder movements, floor vibrations, displaced air, and other clues to their likely consequences 26 27.
• The next principle, “Merge Yourself,” reduces the distinction between the user and the substance instead of treating the power as a separate tool to activate 48.
• Users may develop an instinctive affinity for one another. Vera says she gradually recognizes Gordon as someone of her own kind 26.

Pollution and Health Risks

Incompatibility and Overuse

• Powerful pieces must be compatible to fuse into something stronger. Incompatible substances can clash within one body and damage both mind and physique 28.
• Vera’s three substances produce persistent energy expenditure, hunger, sensitivity, and mental disturbance. Gray warns that her reckless assimilation risks eventual loss of control 16 28 39.
• More Source Substance does not automatically mean greater usable strength; poorly integrated material can become a liability 28 39.
• Excessive use can cause collapse from exhaustion. Gordon also suffers acute pain as his fusion deepens and his sensory range expands 27.
• Gordon suspects his growing compulsion to pursue connections between mysteries—and resulting neglect of food and sleep—may be a cost of Unbroken Strings 40.

Treatment Methods

Method	Purpose	Limitations / Evidence
Harmonization	Assimilate another substance to restructure an existing one and alter its properties.	Depends on finding suitable material 39.
Suppression	Use Suppressant Mixture or Clarity Salt to control symptoms.	Treats symptoms rather than the underlying cause; Gordon warns that overuse of suppressant may damage Vera’s brain 34 39.
Behavioral management	Change routines and responses to abnormal urges.	Symptoms of Source Substance Pollution records that appropriate management can lessen or even reverse pollution 39.
Physical removal	Remove troublesome material from the body.	Gordon considers removal of Vera’s integrated substance too dangerous: insufficient depth would fail, while cutting deeper could kill her 39.

• Gordon’s treatment plan tracks Vera’s food intake, hunger, sleep, nightmares, mood, and ability use, alongside regular routines and arithmetic exercises 39.
• Initial exercises coincide with steadier breathing and heartbeat, less hunger, improved mood, and reduced disorientation; these are early observations rather than a demonstrated cure 39 40.

Spiritual Craftsmanship

Objects and Weapons

• Spiritual artisans process Source Substance into equipment, allowing material unsuitable for bodily assimilation to remain useful 37 46.
• Spiritual Fumigation attaches supernatural properties to ordinary objects using small quantities of spiritual powder. Winslow developed the method, which later became an industry 20.
• Gordon uses fish-derived powder to create the Living Water Compass. It responds to related spirituality rather than north and detects the Silverfish Casket from about twenty meters away 20.
• Contaminated material can be made into bullets, explosive bottles, or traps that release vicious anomalous reactions over a short period 35.
• Sinclair converts Sorrow and Thorns into a collar that repeatedly evokes criminals’ painful memories, selling it to the Lundenim Police Station 46.
• Wondrous items can also channel a user’s power. Gordon’s blackthorn cane conducts and radiates Source Substance, returning ground vibrations from dozens or hundreds of meters away 49 50.

Artificial Gestation

Gordon interprets the Tidal Birth-Rite as a form of supernatural bioengineering capable of developing a blank Source Substance through five required elements 41.

Required Element	Function / Gordon’s Preparation
Embryo	The untainted Newborn Yet to Choose Its Form supplies the undeveloped Source Substance 41.
Womb	A gestation vessel; Gordon commissions an artificial version through spiritual craftsmanship 41 45 47.
Amniotic fluid	Womb amniotic fluid from the Silverfish Casket; Gordon has stored half a crate at the university 41.
Supernatural vitality	Requires substantial water-aspect spirit crystals, which Gordon plans to extract from the Blackwater River 41.
Genetic template	Directs development. Gordon identifies a recovered Siren Demon scale as a possible template 40 41.

• Gordon expects the Siren scale might produce properties associated with the sea, tides, or singing; these effects are predictions, not completed results 41.
• He estimates that the ritual would take about ten days and require secrecy, ample water, and a defensible site or reliable escape route 41.
• He theorizes that prolonged radiation from Greater Source Substance permanently transformed the Silverfish Casket into a vessel capable of producing secretions and Source Substance embryos 41.

Blackwater River Contamination

• Gordon extracts minute spiritual traces from altered river fish, producing powder described as residue from something greater 19.
• Winslow identifies spirituality as the apparent pollutant in the river. Gordon suspects it accumulates in living creatures and could affect people as well as fish 20.
• Gordon infers that spiritualities sharing an origin attract one another, connecting the altered fish’s response to bait with Deepclaw Demons’ attraction to the casket’s secretions 19.
• Controlled extract doses draw Deepclaw Demons toward the riverbank; after the dose dissipates, they lose interest and retreat 19.
• The casket is ultimately distinguished from the underlying spiritual source. Winslow redirects the investigation toward the river’s continuing contamination and its possible threat to residents 29.

Research and Trade

Academic Study

Discipline	Foundational Book
Supernatural anatomy	The Aberrant Dissection Atlas 38
Source-substance natural history	The Properties of Source Substance 38
Spiritual craftsmanship	Introduction to Spiritual Craftsmanship: Commanding Source Substance 38
Pollution pathology	Symptoms of Source Substance Pollution 38

• Saint Joshua is credited with distinguishing Source Substance from ordinary things and Aberrants from animals, helping lead humanity out of the Dark Ages 22.
• Winslow seeks to establish a lasting school of study across the four disciplines. Gordon undertakes all four partly to understand and treat Vera’s condition 38.
• Gordon and Winslow’s research into precipitate-induced Deepclaw Demon behavior is accepted by the Journal of the Royal Society of Logris. Gordon initially requests anonymous credit 37 43.

Value and Risk

• Small pieces are estimated to sell for fifty to two hundred gold pounds, with valuation partly dependent on the appraiser 2.
• Even weak failure-aspect material has buyers: Gordon sells Failed Birth to Gray for twenty gold pounds and one future intervention in a fight 35.
• Discovery can expose the finder to predatory dealers, criminal markets, hunters, and official scrutiny. Both Gordon and Winslow treat secrecy as a practical safeguard 2 20.
• Winslow explicitly rejects sacrificing human lives to obtain valuable material 43.

“Humans pursue source substance to make human lives better. If you treat other people as an expendable price merely to obtain source substance, prepare yourselves to become someone else's expendable price someday.” 43