Chapter 80 - Concepts (1/2)
After rethinking a bit about the past, Bao Bei resumed her speech.
'Okay, I explained to you how Elemental Laws work, but there is one thing I didn't tell you. Regarding the influence of what is called Concepts have on the Laws. The Concepts can be defined to be similar to the laws, but at the same time, they are different. Elemental Laws allow you to control one element; they practically add another type of weapon to your arsenal. Concepts, on the other hand, change the very nature of your attacks.
There is a multitude of Concepts, and they vary according to the character of the user. They can be awakened at any time. There are no precise conditions. Normally, I would have waited to talk to you about it. But I thought it necessary to tell you now because two of you have already awakened their Concepts.'
”Two of us?” All of them asked simultaneously.
Although they didn't know what a Concept was, they would have felt it if something had changed in them.
'Yes, I'm talking about you, Ye, Xing.
Initially, I thought it was the Concept of Devouring, but then I realized that it was the Digestion one. It is because of it that you, Ye, can eat poisonous substances and then reproduce their effects. If you can learn how to use it properly, you could get to eat your enemy attacks and digest their energy. Thus, it could guarantee you an infinite source of spirit power. But remember that it doesn't heal your wounds, so you will still need to be careful.
Xing instead has awakened the Concept of Toxicity. It has no supportive effects like the Concept of Digestion, having instead a simple but extremely dangerous effect. With the increase of toxicity, your poison will always be more and more lethal, arriving to make any possible antidote vain. You'll even exceed your father and me regarding venomousness. You could consider as a higher version of the Poison Law.'
Hearing their mother's revelation, Hei hastened to ask.
”And what about Lian and me?”
'For you two, there is still no trace. No, in Lian, I started to see something. But I will refrain from saying it to avoid that she won't manage awakening it. Concepts are difficult to grasp and understand. Even among the strongest martial artists or divine beasts, many haven't awakened their Concept. Your father also awakened it up very late, after he had become a divine beast.'
”Did Father also take so long to discover his Concept? What was his concept? And yours, mother?” Hei asked quickly.
He was happy to have inherited the same Elemental Laws as his parents and to possess his mother's bloodline. But now he had discovered that there was another way to be more like them. So how could he not be excited?
'Calm down, my little one. Yes, your father has awakened his Concept late. Perhaps, it was because he had been lost for so long before finding his right path in the end. Your Father's Concept was that of Hope. It doesn't provide any offensive or defensive help, nor does it produce supportive effects such as Ye's. All it does is give to the user confidence in himself and the future, even when it appears to be no way out. Although it seems useless, in that dark period, it was probably the strongest concept among all those possessed by us divine beasts.
As for me, I have the Concept of Reality. I don't remember precisely when I awaken it. I only know that every moment with your father seemed like a dream. And before going to sleep, I always prayed that all I was experiencing was the reality and not just a dream. That's probably, why I've awakened that kind of concept. As for its use, it does nothing but materializes what doesn't exist — converting the illusion into reality. Albeit, the effect remains as long as I have enough spirit power to sustain its consumption.
In any case, you and Lian won't have to hurry. When the time comes, you will find out what your Concept is.'
At his mother's words, Hei closed his eyes for a moment before nodding. She was right; he didn't have to hurry. If she said he would awaken it at the right time, then it was the truth. So he would leave the issue of the concepts aside for now and would focus on his training as usual.
After the lengthy explanation and determined what elements they had, Hei and the others now had to begin the elemental conversion process. But to be able to do so, they had first to consolidate their foundation as they recently used pills and spirit cores.
So, while waiting for their body to be able to absorb external substances again, Hei, with the help of Lian and his two little sisters, decided to create pills. That was in order to speed up their elemental conversion rate.
As far as the poison element was concerned, there were no problems. He had been growing poisonous plants for some time, making them mate with each other by artificial pollination. In this way, he obtained flowers containing more and more poison, making them also the most suitable material for the pills he had to create.
Regarding the element of darkness instead, he had long ago obtained the seeds of several Black Flowers, a variant of flowers that grew by absorbing darkness instead of sunlight. Even here, through artificial pollination, he had created generations of flowers containing more and more darkness.
The problem was instead the Law of Water of Lian and the Metal one of Ye. Since they couldn't predict what their element would be, they had no way of preserving in advance the material needed to create suitable pills.
Fortunately, as the name suggested, the Flower Sect was a sect specializing in growing flowers and plants of all kinds. The sect, therefore, had all the necessary material available.
As they had permission from the sect leader herself, there were also no budget problems. He obviously wouldn't behave like a greedy person and exaggerated with the resources he would take away. But, at the same time, he would make no compliments on taking what he needed and in the quantities he needed.
As a result, Hei decided to go shopping in the exchange point, taking Shui and the other buffaloes with him to transport all the needed material. Because he would work a lot on the pills, he didn't want to come and go from the inner sect and his house. So he took advantage of his visit to the exchange point to get various cauldrons and other alchemical tools.
Lian instead began to draw a large formation on the ground. With the silk of Bao Bei, they would create an alchemical laboratory for Hei. But to increase its efficiency, she planned to enhance the structure itself by giving it various effects.
Regulation of humidity and temperature, isolation from the external environment... These were some of the effects she had in mind to add. Although they were simple effects, in a process as delicate as alchemy, they would have a significant impact. She also planned to include these effects in each of Hei's alchemical tools.
Considering the significant price increase that these instruments would gain, it wasn't so bad for the sect to let them borrow the alchemical sets from the exchange point for a while.
Ye and Xing also worked hard to help Hei and Lian. Even though it didn't appear so for outsiders, the two little spirit beasts had a vast knowledge of their respective subjects. In all the lessons they had attended, they always paid attention and took notes diligently. If Hei and Lian had managed to improve so much in alchemy and formation, it was also thanks to them.