The other rosy medic, this one with red flowers, took care of Treacle and Marko, who’d also been torn up pretty badly by the doomhounds.
“All of you, gather at the kill site of the First Cohort. I want to show you something.”
Marko rolled his shoulder as they walked over, the skin knitting together with fresh Apothos. “Damn dog nearly tore off my arm. It was a good workout though.”
Logan had to chuckle. “Yeah, I was very motivated. Too bad my legs are so short and squishy. It’s like running on pasta.”
Marko turned philosophical. “I like pasta. You know, it’s a simple dish, but satisfying. Back on my homeworld, we had this garlic and mussel sauce I liked with a fine white. I guzzled it by the gallon... the wine, not the pasta sauce.”
“Enough!” Rockheart roared. “Your banter is not cute. You both are ridiculous. If you knew how ridiculous you were, you wouldn’t speak a word, ever, for fear of becoming even more ridiculous. It is a shame on your head and a pox on our distinguished clan.”
Treacle raised a hand. “I know I’m ridiculous, sir. I’ll be quiet.”
Inga landed with a whisper of fluttering wings, her antennae going crazy.
Rockheart glared at the minotaur, but held his tongue.
The First Cohort guardians tried to hide their smiles, except for Tet-Akhat, who was examining the black polish on her human fingernails. Cat head. Human hands. She did have a black tail, and it seemed as bored as the rest of her.
The professor nodded at the four dead doomhounds. “Even though these monsters are dead, they still have energy in them that can be cultivated. All life in the universe is filled with Apothos, but there are different kinds of the mystical energy, each with an elemental affinity. Who can name me the thirteen different Meta-Affinities of Apothos?”
Inga raised her hand, but Rockheart called on Lady Elesiel.
Fresh green fire burned around her midnight hair. “Ignis is fire. Magma is the earth/fire mix. Then you have Corrosivus and Toxicus. One devours the world, and one poisons it. Fulgur aligns itself with lightning. Glacies is ice. Aer is the gases we breath. Terra is in the rocky ground under our feet.”
“I like Terra and Magma,” Magmarty growled.
Lady Elesiel went on. “Aqua is the water. Mallus is raw kinetic force. Luminosus is light. I myself am drawn to Umbra, the shadows. Finally, there is Vita and Morta, life and death.”
Logan tried to keep track. He’d expected the classic four elements. This was far more complicated. “How many is that? And why do we have a corrosiveness and a toxicity? I’m not getting this.”
Inga brightened. “I created a mnemonic phrase that helps me remember the thirteen Apothine energies. ‘I make coffee and tea for Grandfather Tiberius and make lemonade under the Velveeta moon.’”
“How do you know about Velveeta?” Logan asked, glancing at her askance.
Inga tilted her head. “The real question is how do you know about the goddess of dairy products?”
“Dairy products—” Logan started.
Rockheart cut him off. “Ignis. Magma. Corrosivus. Toxicus. Fulgur. Glacies. Terra. Aqua. Mallus. Luminosus. Umbra. Vita. Morta. Those are the thirteen meta-energies, and each dungeon and dungeoneer has a predilection for specific energies. For example, Chadrigoth is clearly an Ignis cultivator.”
The demon prince opened his palm and fire burst forth.
The gargoyle-griffin nodded. “The doomhounds are also rich with Ignis Apothos, though it is tempered by Umbra Apothos. Chadrigoth is a creature of like nature—a balance of fire and shadow—so he can cultivate the energy more effectively than Lady Elesiel, for example, who is a Morta cultivator.”
“Can I show them, Professor?” Chadrigoth asked, sounding for all the world like the teacher’s pet he was.
Rockheart nodded, a small grin curling his lips. “Yes, but first, all of you open your internal eye.” He glanced at Logan. “Even you should be able to do this. Just focus on your core as though you’re accessing your Guardian Core Matrix. But instead of pushing that thread of Apothos into your core, direct it up, into your eyes, and then out in an arc.”
Logan did as instructed, channeling a small portion of the energy flowing through him upward, infusing his eyes with a spark of power. He gasped as all around him the world came to life with added color and texture. He felt like he’d been playing one of those old PS1s, only to suddenly upgrade to the newest model. He watched as Chadrigoth bent and touched the skin of the doomhound. The dead creature shriveled as the Abyss Lord’s nostrils flared and a haze of purple and orange light bubbled up, swirling around Chadrigoth, seeping into his skin and clawing at his nose and mouth.
Rockheart described what was happening. “Chadrigoth is absorbing the Ignis and Umbra Apothine energies into his core. He can process it almost immediately since he is aligned with both the fire and shadow energy. If this were Aqua Apothos, it would take him twice as long to cultivate the energy. He would be able to absorb it directly, but then his core would need to refine it, banishing the elemental affinity over the course of minutes, hours, or even days, until it becomes pure Apothos, which is usable by any cultivator. During that time, the energy wouldn’t be accessible to him.”
“Like this one seaweed beer I once drank.” Marko nudged Logan with his elbow. “My stomach is not aligned with kelp-based alcohol. There was a lot of refining involved—though the less generous might call it puking, I suppose.”
The professor ignored the satyr and continued with his lecture. “Any cultivator can harness and absorb any energy, but that energy must be processed in the core and converted into the primary strand of energy that the cultivator utilizes. This process is slow and takes time and focus. Dungeoneer cultivators are drawn to Celestial Nodes that already ‘bleed’ the right type of Apothos for them to cultivate without needing to convert it. That inherently makes some Apothos types more valuable than others, based on how common or rare they happen to be. Ignis, Aqua, Aer, and Terra are the most common elemental affinities amongst dungeoneers, while Mallus and Vita are comparatively the rarest among cultivators.”
Logan had to ponder the different energies for a minute. So each of the dungeons protecting the Celestial Nodes had its own specific flavor—maybe even a couple types of flavor, since Chad was both Ignis and Umbra—which probably came from the guardian of that dungeon. Logan pulled up his Guardian Core Matrix and saw that his primary elemental affinities were Morta and Toxicus. That made sense since mushrooms took advantage of decay. And many mushrooms were highly poisonous. He didn’t quite understand how all this worked. He had so much left to learn.
Rockheart shoved his beak into Logan’s face. “Oh, look, the Urothling is trying to think. It’s adorable watching you attempt higher logic. Do you have questions, then?”
Logan grinned. “I have a ton of questions. First off, can you make beer out of kelp?”
The professor withdrew, scowling.
Inga’s antennae drooped as she adjusted her hair. “Don’t worry, Logan. I can help you with cultivation theory. You’ll get the hang of it.”
Rockheart stood with his arms crossed. “He’d better get the hang of it and quickly. Finals will be here before you know it, and he is a weak Deep Root cultivator—hardly more than a simple dirt digger. Now, Prince Chadrigoth, on the other hand, is already a highly ranked Azure Branch cultivator. He is only here to sharpen his skills and to be a shining example of what all dungeon cores should aspire to.”