"..."

"..."

The eerie silence shrouded the forest, which was always engulfed in the blanket of darkness. Stale air filled its confines—Ok, wait a minute!

"Blink...!"

'Is this really happening?'

One moment, I was in the air, then in my sister's arms, then suddenly my sister's master, who was responsible for my previous circumstances, started acting weird, which was supposedly caused by my sis, who, according to her, was blackmailing her, a literal DEMIGOD, with someone named "Ms. Jasmine."

But, to save me from her master, who was starting to get creepier due to her unfathomable, unknown, and unattainable smile, my sis didn't follow through with her supposed blackmail.

After which, my sis was teleported to god knows where to do her own "training," resulting in her master and me being alone.

And, right now... I was sitting on a school-style, conjoint bench chair while my sister's master was sitting on a school-type teacher's desk with one hand back and the other holding an apple, which, to be precise, she had been eating for about a minute.

"Crunch...!"

'What the hell?'

I couldn't actually believe this situation. Well, more precisely, the whole situation was weird with the continuous eerie atmosphere of the forest. Not that I could complain, as I was already here yesterday and knew that I would be training here today. Still, I didn't think my sister would leave, or more specifically, be teleported with just "you should also train." And I would be sitting here on a bench chair as if I were in a class.

"Okay, let's start." A voice cut through my inner monologue. She—Seraphine Stormfang—was now looking at me after savoring the apple. "What, feeling lonely?"

"..."

"Your sis is not here." She said, leaning back on both her hands. "So?"

"No," I replied. I didn't feel lonely. I was just—what should I call this feeling?—weird. Yeah, I was just feeling weird. And it wasn't solely because of my sister leaving. The surroundings also contributed to it.

It was true that after coming into this world, I was just surrounded by people who loved Eden—now me. But it didn't mean that I forgot my previous life.

'I am not feeling lonely. Just weird.'

My sister's master kept looking at me for a few moments. Before smiling.

"Good, good." She said, sitting at her desk. After sitting, she rubbed her chin for a few seconds, pondering about something, then spoke up. "Let's start your training, shall we?"

"..."

"Are you not excited?"

"I am," I replied, excitement bubbling inside me.

"Well, you wouldn't be in a few minutes?" She said with a face-splitting grin emerging on her face.

'What the fuck? Shouldn't you motivate me? Why the hell are you scaring me?

"Heh."

Smirking at my reaction, as if enjoying—no, I was pretty sure she was enjoying. She asked, "Have you ever thought about what Essence is?"

"No."

"..."

"Cough-cough, I mean, I have never really thought about it deeply. But according to what Sis told me yesterday. I think of Essence like blood we have in our body." I replied to her question hastily with whatever I could come up with after seeing her reaction to my earlier answer.

However, seeing her piqued interest, I continued. "Blood's one function is that it functions as the medium of delivery of nutrients, and then our body uses those nutrients to produce energy. I think Essence is somewhat the same. As Essence is the medium, we use our powers. And just like blood, it is present in our body, with Essence Core as its storage place."

"It's a good example." She said with a smile. "And you are not wrong about one thing, that Essence is a medium."

She extended one hand, and I felt that something was gathering above her palm. The feeling was subtle but not unnoticeable, causing my brows to furrow unconsciously.

"Can you sense it?" She asked.

"Uh, kind of," I answered, unsure what it was. I could feel it was something familiar, but could not tell exactly what it was. So I guessed.

"Is it Essence?"

"Yes," She confirmed my guess was correct, and the invisible things converging and gathering in her palm were Essence.

"Essence does not have color, smell, taste, or visibility. In simple words, it cannot be seen. It can only be sensed." She said, before taking a dramatic pause and adding. "But."

Abruptly, a sphere of light appeared above her palm, shining brightly like you would expect a sphere of light to shine in a dark forest. It illuminated the surroundings, casting away the ever-present darkness.

"You can't do this," She said, throwing cold water on my burning excitement, full of expectation. "But you can do this."

As her words reached my ears, the sphere of light changed, turning into a burning sphere of fire. After letting me spectate at the cool yet beautiful scene for a few minutes. She closed her palm, snuffing the burning sphere of fire out of existence.

"Let's talk about Essence." She spoke, crossing her legs on the desk. "As you thought of Essence as blood. I will explain it in that way. Consider Aelmyra as a body, then Essence will be the blood. Where do you think Essence is coming from?"

"Er, Goddess," I answered from what I knew from the memories of Eden.

"Fuck no," She said, incredulously, before suddenly asking a question again. "What do you think is the reason behind you getting powers?"

"Uh, Er," I started to stutter unconsciously. There were two reasons behind my stuttering. First, I could feel that she was not satisfied with my earlier answer, and second, the question she just asked was a tough one. The reason—my sis had told me that the powers we have are something we are born with, but what I knew from Eden's memory was that people believed, or more precisely, the church preached, that the power was granted by the goddess.

But I didn't pay much mind to it, as I am a transmigrator and have a system, so only God knows the reason behind it.

However, right now, I was paying mind. But not to the reason behind why and how I got powers. Of that, I was pretty sure that I was not going to uncover shit. So I was thinking about the situation I was in and trying to find a perfect answer. Thinking for a few seconds, something clicked. Not an answer, but a realization dawned on me.

'Does she not like church?'

"What is there to like?" She asked icily before adding. "Let's clear your misunderstanding first."