Even Lucas was clearly worked up. He kept talking to Kyle on the way home and calling him Stor-en. Apparently, that meant ‘great one’. Kyle eventually asked Ild’engel to give him the words to say that he didn’t feel like speaking now. Lucas bowed humbly, apologized, and then walked back with him in silence.
It wasn’t that Kyle didn’t want to talk, it was that he needed to learn more about his situation and talking to Lucas through a translator wasn’t helping with that. He did start pestering Ild’engel with questions.
“So, I know this body is strong, but how on Earth—or how on Verden—did one blow do all that?” Kyle asked.
He could hear her laughter mocking him, but it was still so sultry he wished she wasn’t just a disembodied voice inside his head. “Did you feel how right that swing felt?”
“Yeah, it was one of the best ever,” he replied.
“That rightness was you instinctively drawing upon the essence within you. It wasn’t just brute force, although your body has plenty of that. It was War Essence channeled through your strike that did all that damage,” she explained.
“War Essence? Wouldn’t it make more sense that it was Earth Essence or something like that? I think you said there is a god of earth or land or whatever. Sorry, that is gonna get confusing in my head, given what my planet was called.”
“I would be shocked if you could utilize Earth Essence. But why wouldn’t War Essence work for this? War Essence is the metaphysical basis for smashing, cutting, piercing, and otherwise destroying. At a higher level, it is also all about tactics and strategy, and courage. Basically, anything that makes for a good warrior. So, think back. What were you feeling as you made that swing?” Ild’engel asked.
Kyle thought for a moment before he replied, “I just felt the perfection of the swing. Everything fell into place, and I was entirely focused on putting my entire being into the force of that swing. I wanted to drive the pickaxe through the entire freaking wall.”
“And that is how you will tap into your War Essence. With practice, you will learn to exercise it with an even finer level of control,” she said and while all he could do was hear her voice, Kyle couldn’t help but feel like she was smiling.
“So, am I the only one that can use War Essence then?” Kyle asked.
In an instant, her invisible smile was gone, and he had the sense she was looking at him wondering if he had the sense to come inside when it was raining. “Of course not. Any mortal can utilize it during combat.”
“Fine. Instead of mocking me, why don’t you just start at the beginning and explain it to me?” Kyle said indignantly.
“There is far more to tell you than we have time now. You will be back to Lucas’ home in just a few more minutes,” Ild’engel said.
“Well then, you better get speaking. I think you said you were bound to me, or to the mantle of the war god. Either way, that means you work for me. So, this would go much better if you were more helpful. Oh, and I can’t keep thinking of you as Ild’engel. That is just too much of a mouthful. So, hmmm… How about Ilde? Or we could go with Hilde. You’ve kinda got that Swedish bikini model sound to your voice.”
Kyle felt that his words had flustered her in some way but said, “Yeah, I like it. Hilde it will be.”
“You are no less frustrating in this incarnation. Just remember that while I need you to be able to manifest on Verden again, you need me to be able to stay alive,” Hilde said.
“Yeah, we’re teammates. And I also help my teammates, but I don’t take shit from them either. So, you said I’m more like a demi-god? That means I am mortal as far as I understand it. Why shouldn’t I be able to use other types of essence?” Kyle asked.
“As you wish, Lord Krig, I will do my best to fill you in on the eternal secrets of essence in the next five minutes. I believe I already explained to you about the eight deities of Verden. So maybe the best place to start would be with an approximation of your current abilities. I have formulated this into what you would call a character sheet.”
Name: Krig (Kyle Hudson)
Race: Demi-god (War God/human)
Stats: (Current/Max)
Strength: 15/42
Agility: 5/42
Constitution: 14/45
Will: 10/45
Mind: 5/39
Charisma: 2/19
Essence: Current/Max
Judgment: -/-
Death: -/-
Love: -/-
Sea: -/-
Deceit: -/-
Air: -/-
Earth: -/-
War: 11/50 – Conversion rate: 1/second
Raw Essence: 1,078
Kyle looked at the screen that appeared in his head. Now this was better. He had always been an analytics guy. He looked over it for a minute before thinking, “Well this isn’t so bad. My strength is already almost one third to my maximum, but what is the overall max? Or is there such a thing?”
Hilde laughed again. “I fear that you misunderstood again. The numbers are not purely linear. There are five tiers of every stat and type of essence, other than raw essence. A strength of one is equivalent to what you would consider a one-hundred-pound bench press, and—”
He interrupted at that point, “Wait. Are you saying I can bench press fifteen hundred pounds now?”
Again, he felt the invisible head shaking.
“Children know more about… but I guess I shouldn’t expect any better from an uppity ape with delusions of grandeur. Even your prior incarnation was overly impressed by strength. But as I was saying, it is not exactly linear. The five tiers are mortal which is 1-10, monster 11-20, spirit 21-30, demi 31-40, and divine 41-50. Nothing on Verden or the associated planes can pass fifty.
“But eleven is twice what
