The next day, Arran was all but recovered from the journey. Between his Body Refinement techniques and a good night's sleep, all that remained of the ordeal was a vague feeling of weariness, which he took to be an after-effect of Snowcloud's potion.
That the potion had any after-effects at all came as a surprise — with his Essence-strengthened body, even most light injuries normally healed in a matter of hours. That the potion's harm lasted beyond that was worrying, and he resolved not to use it again unless he had no other choice.
Snowcloud was already sitting at the cave's entrance, and as he sat down in front of her, she gave him an appraising look.
"You recovered quickly," she said. "Are you ready to begin?"
"Ready and impatient," he replied.
She responded with a smile. "Let's get started then. The first thing I will have to do is teach you a decent Body Refinement technique."
"I already have several Body Refinement techniques," Arran said.
"The techniques used in the Empire aren't good enough," Snowcloud replied. "You need something that allows you to use every bit of Essence you have available."
Although Arran thought the technique Darkfire had taught him would suffice, he nodded quietly — he would not object to learning something even better.
Yet as Snowcloud began to explain her technique, Arran immediately thought it sounded familiar. A few moments more, he realized that she was describing the technique Darkfire had already taught some months earlier.
"I know this technique," Arran interrupted Snowcloud's explanation. "I learned it several months ago."
Hearing his words, she looked up in surprise. "Are you sure? This is a Shadowflame technique that's not usually shared with outsiders. If someone taught it to you…" She frowned, seeming unhappy with the idea.
"I'm sure," Arran said.
She gave him a studious look, and for a moment, Arran worried there might be trouble. But then, she shrugged.
"I suppose the technique is hardly a secret," she said. "And knowing it will save you a few weeks of training. Alright, we'll move on."
She reached for her void bag, and after a quick search, she took out what looked to be a marble-sized sized piece of crystal, which she handed to Arran.
"What is it?" Arran asked.
He looked at the small crystal in his hand with some curiosity. It was completely clear, and although it could easily be mistaken for a simple piece of glass, he could vaguely feel some power emanating from it — although he could not tell exactly what kind of power.
"It's an Essence Crystal," Snowcloud said. "It's made of Purified Essence."
"Purified Essence? What's that?"
"It's what remains when you purify Essence by cleansing it of all specific properties and attributes," she said. "Like distilling alcohol from wine, or extracting the sap from yellow flax."
Arran nodded, although he wasn't exactly sure how either of those things worked. Right now, he was more interested in what the Purified Essence would do than in how it was created.
"What does it do?" he asked.
"Use it, and you'll find out," Snowcloud answered. "After that, I can explain more."
"Then how do I use it?" Arran asked.
"Hold it in your hand, then take control of the Essence within the crystal and draw it into yourself. Once you've done that, you can circulate it using the Body Refinement technique.
Arran immediately set to work, holding the crystal while trying to take control of the Essence from which it was made.
This proved to be more difficult than he had expected, and just gaining some control over the Essence took him the better part of an hour. Although it didn't resist his control, exactly, he could tell that the Essence wasn't his own.
When he finally succeeded in controlling the Essence within the crystal, drawing it into himself was easy, and he managed to do so on his first try. After that, he immediately began to circulate the Essence within his body using Darkfire's Body Refinement technique.
At once, he could tell that this was different from using Natural Essence or Essence drawn from Realms. Although the Purified Essence wasn't more potent, something about it felt different — gentler, in a way.
If circulating Natural Essence was like drinking ale, circulating Purified Essence was like drinking water. It was nourishing but indistinct, and as Arran absorbed it into his body, he could feel no apparent effects.
Less than half an hour later, Arran had finished taking in the last of the Purified Essence. Yet to his disappointment, he felt no real changes whatsoever.
"Now what?" he asked, at a loss. He had done what Snowcloud said, but as far as he could tell, nothing had happened.
"Try using a spell," she said patiently.
Arran did as she told him, creating a Windblade and sending it at a tree in the distance. Immediately, he was surprised at the effect — although the difference wasn't too large, he could tell that the Windblade was easier to control. Progress that would normally have taken weeks of practice now seemed to have come to him instantly.
He frowned as he considered it, and realized it made no sense. Body Refinement techniques were supposed to strengthen the body, yet now, his control of Essence had increased.
"How is that possible?" he asked, bewildered. "I used a Body Refinement technique, but it increased my control of Essence. What happened?"
"That is the first step on the True Path," Snowcloud replied with a smile. "Your body and your control of Essence are fundamentally linked, and by infusing your body with Purified Essence, you can strengthen your magical power."
"But isn't controlling Essence done with the mind?" Arran asked, still confused.
She shook her head. "The body and mind are one," she said. "And to use magic, you need to be attuned to the magical Realms from which you draw Essence, but also to the natural world you try to manipulate."
"But I've been practicing Body Refinement for years using Natural Essence. Why didn't that have the same effect?"
"Natural Essence belongs to the natural world," she replied. "Infusing your body with Natural Essence strengthens it, but it does little to help you control Essence from other Realms — it can even make it more difficult, by weakening your attunement to the Essence you draw from your Realms."
"But I've also used Body Refinement with Essence from other Realms," Arran said, recalling his time at Lord Jiang's estate. "And that didn't have this kind of effect, either."
"It probably did have an effect, but one too small to notice," Snowcloud said. "Infusing your body with Essence from other Realms strengthens your link to them, but at the cost of weakening your link to the natural world."
"So Natural Essence strengthens your link to the natural world but weakens your link to the magical Realms, while Essence from Realms does the exact opposite?"
"Exactly," Snowcloud replied. "And the only way to grow truly powerful is to be strong in both — because magic requires controlling Essence within the natural world."
Arran nodded, beginning to understand how it worked.
"That is the reason common Academy mages are weak," Snowcloud continued. "Just using magic infuses their bodies with Essence, although more slowly than if they used a refinement technique. But as their affinity to Essence strengthens, their affinity to the natural world weakens, and the result is that each step forward sets them back nearly as much."
"But what about Purified Essence?" Arran asked. "Why does it have so strong an effect?"
"Purified Essence is bound to neither the natural world nor the magical Realms," Snowcloud said. "It directly strengthens your affinity to Essence itself, and that allows you to strengthen your control of Essence."
"Is Purified Essence the only way to grow strong, then?"
Snowcloud shook her head. "You can grow more powerful by carefully balancing your affinity to both the natural world and your Realms, but that's a slow and difficult process. Following the True Path and using Essence Crystals is much easier and faster."
Arran nodded thoughtfully, and he could not help but grin as he thought learning the True Path would be far easier than he had expected.
"Do you have any more Essence Crystals?" he asked, eager to make good use of what seemed like a powerful shortcut.
"I do, but not enough to share freely," Snowcloud replied. "I need them myself as well. And besides, you need to learn how to create them."