The Peasant Core was the most common type of Core and could appear in all parts of the world. This Core was seen as the start of magic, for it could hold mana; however, it was vastly limited. Over seventy percent of the planet's population has a Peasant Core, with only a mere thirty percent having Cores based on one of the four Nations.
These other Cores were said to be created by other people, who, in turn, used their vast power to mark a land as their own and give their energy to the people that they looked after.
The first unique Core ever created was forged by the tyrant king, Lord Sylas of the elves. His race were all born with natural Cores, allowing them to be the first population to use true magic. Sylas was said to be a prodigy of his people and was born with a Golden Core. His Core was like a universe reborn; so bright and cosmic was it that it allowed all the elves who came after him to possess this Core. Nowadays, in the land of Gallenth, or those who come from the blood of elves, all have a slight chance to awaken a Golden Core.
The second Core to ever be created was not even a proper Core, for it was lines of energy forcefully built into the body. Han Yuan, founder of the land of Rossum, was said to have discovered an island that the Almighty himself once set foot on. So divine was its grace that it had an energy straight out of this world. He called this energy Qi, and after living in harmony with the spirits of this land, he and his people were able to create Qi lines and further evolve the martial arts they utilized. Those chosen by the spirits are born with these lines years later.
The third Core to be created was a Mask Core. Lord Oda, the first Shogun of the Mordehim region, also known as the God of Swords, became famous for his various duels, such as the time he fought the Dragon Emperor Black Sigurd or the time he came to blows with the five Devils. Most famously, however, Lord Oda is known for doing the impossible. Dragons, elves, humans, giants, angels—it matters not. A single rule binds everyone. A person can only have one type of magic. Haru alone was the exception, for she could use all spells and all forms of mana. A Mask Core is famous for also being able to use spells from other types of mana. This creation allowed Oda to go toe-to-toe with the mighty giant, Loudest Thunder, and win. To this day, his people still use his teaching to make their own Mask Cores.
The fourth Core that humanity has access to is known as a Circuit Core. It was the last official Core to be created. A Circuit Core was developed by Nier Sini, son of Haru Sini. The first king of Esteria was said to have used his vast amount of magic to create lines of Circuits, programming the universe itself to obey him and give his people an edge. Thus, the Circuit Core was born. Only those who are part of the king's kingdom, or those from other lands who join up with him, will be given access to a Circuit Core. All citizens within the Esteria Kingdom have Circuit Cores naturally, unlike every other land, which is filled with mostly Peasant Cores and a few that might awaken into their destined Cores of their homeland.
Mana is, in many ways, alive. Perhaps it doesn't think or feel, but it hears the prayers of the people or what they think and desire, and it obeys those commands.
Each creator of a Core was a famous leader who gained the admiration of their people and shared their power with those they cared for and protected. Even after all of that, though, there still remain other Cores out there in the world that haven't been discovered. Cores found in different lands across the endless sea. Things like the Monster Cores or even the legendary Core Haru was said to have, known as the Heart Core.
Cores are the backbone of Mana. And so, the discovery of a Core was also significant. There was one person who took it upon themselves to learn all that they could about the Cores. Brother of the king of Esteria, the second child of Haru, the one who faded out, also known as the Pilgrim.
They say that it was the Pilgrim who learned the names of all the Cores. It is said he went from land to land, and he was welcomed with open arms, for who could reject Haru's child? His research is what led to the discovery that people can have multiple Cores within their body through the art of fusion. It was he who learned that someone bearing the Mask Core could also receive the king's blessing and have circuits implanted in their body.
It was also the Pilgrim who learned that by mixing bloodlines, it could be easier to create a child with two Cores. If someone became blessed, he discovered that the original Core would be the superior one and would be damaged slightly as bits of the new Core were inserted. It would be an imbalance with no Core equal. When a child was born from a union of mixed Cores, he learned that the fusion would happen right away, and it would have higher odds of being in sync.
The percentage-wise of a Core would always vary. In most cases, a person would have ninety percent of their original Core and ten percent of the Core they were born with. In cases where the bloodline was mixed, this could be close, with fifty-five percent falling into one category and forty-five percent into the other Core.
The higher the percentage, the more that Core could use the unique power that it had. This raised a question. One that the Pilgrim asked before the day he faded away.
'What would happen if someone were born with three or more Cores, and is it possible to make someone have one hundred percent in multiple Cores?'
The answer to this question was never fully discovered, but it was widely believed to be impossible. After all, the more Cores a person had, the more unstable they would become.
What if a person were to manage it, though?
Would they be human still?
Likely not.
All of this was currently being brought up by Ragna! He decided to go into another lesson on the Cores, yet Olivia barely heard a thing he said because she was presently focused on Sieg…
She stood next to Ken, who in turn stood next to Davi, who had Sieg standing next to them, and in front of the four of them was Ragna, who was giving his lecture, but she didn't hear any of it. She just stayed glued to the mysterious boy in the mask.
It had nothing to do with attraction either. That was still a factor; just being near Sieg was causing her to become lightheaded, but what really held her attention was what Davi had said.
This man was his brother?
Davi had said it so casually, and everyone else just went along with it as if it made perfect sense. She honestly didn't know he was alive. Davi brought up Sieg a handful of times, but the way he always spoke and the look in his eyes was always one of sadness. She assumed the brother had died, yet here he was, alive and strangely attractive, wearing a creepy mask, and being placed in the same guild as Davi. Not to mention, he was clearly a mutant based on the scales that grew across his neck.
What was going on?
"So," Ragna stated. "It is thanks to the youngest son of Haru that we know so much about the Cores." The muscular man flexed his arms slightly and nodded to Olivia. "Olivia. Unlike most people in our guild, you should have a pure Core. Why don't you bring it up?"
Olivia snapped out of what she was doing and quickly turned to look back at Ragna. "Oh! Sure! Uh, how?"
"Think about bringing up the status of your Core."
Olivia nodded, and she thought about it as hard as she could. When she swiped her hand down the blue box, the system, appeared. Unlike before, the screen showed an actual picture. In it, there was a large red orb of crackling energy, and several DNA-like helixes circled around it. The thing bubbled and sizzled like a ball of acid, and she recognized it as the thing that had rebuilt her when she swallowed the monster Core. That was her Core. That was her.
Text then began to appear at the bottom of the picture.
'Mary Lot, daughter of Arthur Roads, daughter of Olivia Lot, wielder of the Witch of Red. Blood Core model Circuit Core: Synchronicity—One Hundred Percent.'
Ragna pointed at her Core. "Olivia has a pure Circuit Core. She hasn't been accepted by any other nation and likely can't be either; as such, her Core is pure. Synchronicity being one hundred percent means she can use her Cores' power to the maximum. Typically, having a pure Core is considered superior to having a mixed Core. In fact, mixing a Core is almost never a good idea. Other nations don't tend to accept outsiders, so this rarely happens, but within this kingdom, those from other lands come here seeking a better life and seeking to join the noble Knights. The king forces them to undertake the mixing of a Core because it shows their honesty."
"More like it allows him to keep track of everyone." Sieg rolled his eyes. "The other lands don't trust outsiders and very rarely will accept them into their ranks. When they do, they don't force them to gain a mixed Core because doing so practically shoots that person in the foot. You're weakening their overall Core power for a boost that likely won't matter at all. Yet the king still does it. He doesn't care about making us stronger or giving us a boost. He just wants a way to look into our minds and watch us. Circuit Cores lets that bastard keep his eyes everywhere."
"Keep thoughts like those to yourself." Ragna folded his arms and gave Sieg a cool gaze. "Some people wouldn't like those words coming from a mutant."
"What do you mean by Cores' power?" Ken Yuan questioned, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"He means the power a Core has." Sieg scoffed, and even through the mask, it was apparent he was shooting Ken an unimpressed look. "Depending on the kind of Core you have determines what you can do with it. Circuit Cores are the best when using Enchanted items or crafting new spells. Qi Lines are the most adept at absorbing and lending Qi, or Mana, to others, as well as enhancing the body more effectively than others. Mask Cores can use Core Masks and utilize other spells that they normally can't by masking their Mana type. Lastly, Golden Cores can manifest outside of a mage's body due to how dense and full of Mana they truly are. This allows them to power their iron war machines as well as greatly enhance their strength, speed, and other factors through a form known as 'Burning Up,' where they throw caution to the wind and unleash their dense energy. When you have mixed Cores, it corrupts them slightly, and you lose out on some functionality. You also gain benefits, though."
"Young Sieg is right." Ragna nodded. "There was no need to word it so rudely at the start; mind your manners, Sieg! Either way, yes, he speaks the truth; all Cores have something they can do well depending on where they come from. In order to better train you all, I'm going to need to take a look at your Cores and see what I'm working with."
Davi frowned. "Wait, why didn't you tell me this when we first started training?"
Ragna looked a little sheepish. "Sorry, I forgot."
"You forgot?"
"I am human. I make mistakes."
"..."
"Moving on!" Ragna cleared his throat. "Ken Yuan, we'll start with you if you don't mind. Let's take a look at your Core."
"Starting with the best first?" Ken smirked and raised her eyebrow.
"Wouldn't I be first then?" Sieg casually asked.
"Fuck you." Ken's smirk vanished. She swiped her hand out and summoned her status window. Unlike Olivia's picture, Ken's was a series of hundreds, maybe even thousands, of lines stretching out across the small box it was in. They all burned with red-hot fire and sizzled with unbridled power.
Also, like Olivia's text, it appeared down at the bottom.
'Ken Yuan Zzhang, daughter of- ERROR, daughter of- ERROR, wielder of the Fire of Justice. Flame Core model Qi Lines: Synchronicity—Ninety-Nine Percent. Flame Core Model Circuit Core: Synchronicity—One Percent.'
"Why does it say error?" Davi asked, a little curious about the weird screen.
"My upbringing is complicated." Ken shrugged.
"Oh. Want to talk about it?"
"No."
Ragna tugged on his burned moustache as he studied her Core status. "You got lucky. Ninety-nine in Qi lines usually doesn't happen. Typically, it'll be bumped down to eighty or, in bad cases, seventy, but your natural Core stayed strong. It shouldn't affect your skills in any way. Sadly, one percent in a Circuit Core means you'll barely be able to draw out even a fraction of a fraction of a magic item. You might as well not worry about enchanted gear."
Ken Yuan folded her arms and scoffed. "As long as I can still fight alongside Yujin, I don't care. I have zero plans to conform to your norms. I'm a Martial Cultivator."
"I see. Well, luckily for you, training in martial arts is what I'm good at." Ragna let out a booming laugh and flexed again, showing off his muscles. "I'll make sure you're the strongest Martial Cultivator in our kingdom!"
Ken looked away, a little embarrassed. Why was everyone so weird in this kingdom? It frustrated her slightly.
"Alright, Sieg, you're up." Ragna gave a nod. "Let me see what I'm working with. I'm very curious about you."
Sieg gave a nod and shifted slightly. "It's not pretty. I'll warn you now." He swiped his finger down and summoned up his status window. "There you go."
Olivia's picture had been a ball of energy that bubbled and swirled. Ken's was a series of lines that formed a pathway. Sieg's was ugly. Like Olivia's, it was a ball, one forged out of golden lightning, but it had specks of black gunk growing out of it like flesh, and various shadowy chains seemed to wrap around it. In the center of the mass was an object. It looked like a mask, but with the amount of energy swirling around it, it was impossible to see what it actually looked like.
It wasn't the only Core either. That was what shocked Olivia the most as she looked at the picture. Next to the big ball of thunder was another ball. It was a lot smaller, barely the size of a baseball, but it swirled with something that wasn't energy. It was flesh. A bundle of milk-white skin and muscle that dripped Haru knows what in the picture.
Vein-like tendrils were coming out of it and slowly wrapping around the bigger Core, and it seemed to be almost eating the large golden one. Very faintly, there were also the lines of DNA swirling around them both.
'Sieg Hawker, son of Orion Hawker, son of Kiyohime Vega, wielder of the Behemoth's Might. Lightning Core model Mask Core: Synchronicity—Eighty Percent. Lightning Core model Circuit Core: Synchronicity—Twenty Percent. Monster Core: Synchronicity Forty Percent.'
Olivia felt a little sick as she read it off. The other Cores all had math that equalled out to one hundred percent, but Sieg's was one hundred and forty. Not to mention, he had three Cores now.
Ragna gave a sad nod. "Forty percent? It's almost halfway. And joining the Knights added another Core to the mix of things. That likely only made it worse. It lowered your potential with using Core Masks. Hopefully, you can still do it, but only time will tell. At the very least, with a twenty in Circuits, you can use some enchanted items, though they won't be the best. It'll allow you to plug your weakened potential a bit at the very least."
"Why does his add up to one hundred and forty?" Ken questioned.
"Monster Cores work differently," Ragna explained. "They're more like a cancer than an additional effect. It feeds off his regular Core and grows stronger. The higher it gets, the more monstrous the effects will be, and when it reaches one hundred…"
"I'll become a full-on monster," Sieg said casually. "With how fast it progresses, I've got about six or seven years left in me. Luckily, I'm in the guild where members die after only five or so years, right? So I don't think it'll be an issue." If it was his attempt at a joke, nobody found it funny.
Everyone looked a bit uncomfortable at the realization that Sieg, as well as the other mutants, all had very real ticking clocks on their life spans. Yet Sieg didn't seem bothered and casually adjusted his mask, toying with it.
"Davi," Sieg spoke up. "You're next."
"Huh? Oh, right." Davi shook his head and pushed away any bad thoughts. He flicked his hand out and brought his Core up.
Olivia flinched slightly when she saw his. It was just as she remembered. A ball of purple fire. It was cracked and small, and dozens of ghostly blue swords were stabbed into it. Chains ran along it, and shadowy black and blue hands were wrapped tightly around the orb in a hug. What looked like ink constantly dripped out of the many cracks, and as the ink spilled, it formed the strands of DNA that were present in all Circuit Cores, and those also splintered off into hundreds of lines.
They were like a black river, forming a shape around the Core. Masks could come in all sorts of forms, and they weren't always actual masks. In Davi's case, his shape formed into the image of a bird.
A hawk, with its wings spread wide, made of ink and DNA, and that tiny broken Core was placed in the eye of the bird, staring up into the endless sky. Then the text appeared.
'Davi Hawker, son of Orion Hawker, son of Titania Midsummer, child of the Abyss. Shadow Core model Mask Core: Synchronicity—Fifty Percent. Shadow Core model Qi Lines: Synchronicity Twenty-Five Percent. Shadow Core model Circuit Core: Synchronicity Twenty-Five Percent.'
Ken looked baffled as she stared at the Core, and Ragna joined her in her confusion. "You have Qi Lines?" Ken demanded.
Davi gave a lazy shrug. "My mom was from Rossum, and my dad lived in Mordheim."
"Three Core types isn't good." Ragna bit his lip. "That explains why your Core is covered in cracks and all those swords. Sieg's situation is different because it is a Monster Core. It's an additional thing, but all your Cores are piled into one entity that clearly can't hold all that power in. Your synchronicity is worse than I thought, also. Fifty-Five is the lowest a Core can get and still have access to its power. Fifty means you can't use Core Mask at all, and with how low Qi Lines are, you won't be even half as good as Martial Cultivators, nor will you be able to absorb spirits. The Circuit being low was expected, but twenty-five isn't good for using enchanted gear either. I thought you might be able to at least partially manifest a Core Mask or use Enchanted gear to mimic the effect, but with Synchronicity levels this low, you might as well have a Peasant Core…"
"Is that bad?" Davi asked.
"It's a miracle your Core is even holding together," Ragna said sadly. "Does it hurt? Mentally? Physically? Are you okay?"
"I feel like I always do," Davi said flatly.
Ragna gave another slight nod. "I'll have to do more research. I think we'll just stick to improving the basics for you. You lack many things that mages typically have. No Destruction, no Restoration, and no properly built Core."
"It's like your existence is a mess…" Olivia spoke up suddenly as she also studied Davi's sad Core state.
Davi was both strong and broken. It was as if everything was conspiring to bring him down. Why was he cursed so badly?
Why couldn't her friend have a break?
He deserved it more than anyone else she knew.
Good people deserved good things to happen to them. So why did it seem like his existence was nothing but a suffering mess?
"I'm fine." Davi folded his arms and shook his head at the worried looks he got. "I'll just become strong enough to get around whatever obstacles are in my way."
Ragna let out a sigh but gave a weary smile. "I'm glad you're still in good spirits. You're amazing, Davi. Most mages couldn't hold up with three Cores. It strains their bodies and minds and does things to them. You're strong-willed." Ragna glanced at the others. "I'm going to do everything I can to help you all out. Each of you has a gift. Something that makes you all amazing. We'll draw your power out. Sieg, I don't know much about Core Masks, but I'll research them to help you refine yours. Ken, I'll do my best to show you all the martial arts I know and give you tips on how to train Yujin. Olivia, we'll work on your blood magic and find a good enchanted weapon for you to use. Lastly, Davi, I'll figure out where we can go with you. I'm not going to give up on any of you as long as you're all willing to train. From this day on, you four are the newest members of this guild and its future. Phoenix Flight is on your back."
Four Squires.
Four Squires were now official Arcane Knights and members of a guild. Four Squires, around whom this story revolved. Four Squires who would know great suffering.
"Ragna!"
The mood was suddenly destroyed as Falco appeared. He had left earlier but returned now, a worried look on his face. He was pale and shaking. Ghost followed after him, looking just as sick.
"What is it?" Ragna grew serious, instantly detecting the tension.
Falco stopped, and he shook as he tried to collect his thoughts. "L-Lotus City."
"Lotus City?" Ragna frowned. "What about it?"
"It's been destroyed."