After coming back home, Adyr and Niva shared a quiet, heartfelt dinner as brother and sister. During the meal, he told her about his conversation with Selina and the promise she had made.
Niva seemed visibly relieved after hearing it. Strangely enough, Selina's words seemed to bring her more comfort than anything the STF could offer.
Once dinner and the usual chores were out of the way, Adyr returned to his room, unplugged the game helmet, and logged in.
—
"What are you doing?" When Adyr opened his eyes, he saw Vesha's face close to his, her large, icy-blue eyes staring straight at him.
"You've been sleeping for a long time," she said, pulling back slightly to give him space. Her expression looked genuinely concerned. "Is something wrong?"
Adyr wasn't surprised. Based on his experience, time in the game moved at the same pace as the real world. Since he only spent about three hours per day inside the game, Vesha must have thought he was sleeping the other twenty-one.
"I'm fine. Just... busy in the other world," Adyr replied with a small chuckle. Out of the corner of his eye, he checked on the Dawn Raven, still resting silently in the corner.
"The other world?" Vesha repeated, clearly startled. She didn't understand what he meant.
"Just kidding," he said quickly, seeing her reaction. "It's a curse. Makes me tired, so I sleep all day." He figured this lie would be easier to believe than the truth.
Her tense expression softened slightly, though she still looked worried. "I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?"
Clearly, curses weren't unheard of in this world, and Vesha had accepted it without question.
"I'll manage. But thanks for asking," Adyr said. Then he added, "Have you eaten?"
He noticed the pot from yesterday's meal was completely empty. He also felt hungry, more than usual. Maybe it was the effect of his increased stats, but the portions he was used to back home no longer felt like enough.
"Sorry," Vesha muttered, lowering her head. She had finished the rest while he was gone, bored and with nothing else to do.
"It's fine. I'll cook something new," Adyr said, laughing at how timid she looked.
She wasn't the same woman he had met back in prison. That confident, self-assured presence had faded. Now she seemed hesitant and unsure of herself, speaking less and carrying herself like a burden.
"If you're feeling up to it, you can help me," Adyr said as he stepped out of the carriage.
"Yes," Vesha answered quickly, following behind. She looked eager to be useful again, clearly tired of lying around all day while Adyr handled everything.
Together, they gathered what they needed, built a small fire, and began preparing the meal.
Noticing that Vesha's energy had started to return, Adyr took the opportunity to ask a few questions that had been on his mind.
"What does practitioner mean?" He asked while peeling a vegetable that looked like a potato, though he wasn't entirely sure what it was. It tasted like one, at least.
Isn't this just a potato? He couldn't help but wonder.
Vesha, who was clumsily peeling something that looked like a cucumber but was oddly blue, blinked at the sudden question.
"You don't know?" She asked, glancing at him. It sounded absurd. A practitioner asking what a practitioner was?
"I'm not too sure. I'm just a beginner, you see. I only became one recently," Adyr said, raising his hands slightly, as if to say, Don't look at me like that.
"You're not from the Velari Kingdom, are you?" Vesha narrowed her eyes. Adyr was far taller than anyone she had ever seen, and his clothes and manner of speaking were all different. He probably came from some secluded village hidden in the mountains.
"Yeah," Adyr replied, dodging the details.
Vesha didn't press further. She simply answered, "Practitioner is just what we call entities like you."
Her eyes shifted away as she spoke, but Adyr noticed the flicker in her gaze. There was reverence in it.
"Some races call them Pathfinders. Others say Rule Benders. But the meaning is always the same. They're the only ones born with the ability to use sparks," she explained. At the end of her sentence, she glanced at Adyr and noticed he was quietly peeling his vegetables, showing no reaction. She went on.
"They can also absorb the world's energy into their bodies. Not just to use sparks, but to strengthen themselves—physically and spiritually."
As Adyr listened, he realized the way Vesha described practitioners fit him—and likely the other players as well. He paused for a moment and asked, "How many practitioners are there in your kingdom?"
Vesha stared into the fire for a few seconds, her expression dimming. "There were 11 three years ago," she said quietly. "Now only 4 remain. 7 died over the years while protecting the kingdom. And even 5 of them were in their 3rd-stage evolution."
"From what?" Adyr stopped what he was doing, genuinely curious.
Vesha didn't keep him waiting. "It's a rank 4 Spark. It first appeared near the kingdom's borders three years ago, and since then, it's been attacking every six months."
What the fuck... Adyr cursed inwardly, his eyes instinctively drifting to the harmless-looking Dawn Raven resting nearby.
Is the gap between rank 1 and rank 4 really that massive? He wondered.
To threaten the safety of an entire kingdom—and kill seven of its strongest warriors in the process—that level of power was hard to imagine. Compared to that, his rank 1 raven suddenly felt like a toy.
While Adyr was deep in thought, mentally trying to piece together a power hierarchy, Vesha's voice broke the silence.
"You still haven't completed your first evolution step, right?" This time, it was her turn to ask a question that had clearly been on her mind.
It wasn't hard to tell that Adyr knew almost nothing about what it meant to be a practitioner. No one had taught him anything, and she could see it clearly now.
"No," Adyr replied. He was actually glad she had brought it up without him asking. "Do you know how I'm supposed to do that?"
Vesha shrugged slightly. "Only a practitioner can truly know when it's time," she said. "But what I do know is that for each evolution step, you have to merge with a spark of the appropriate rank. Since this would be your first step, you need to bond with a rank 1 spark to complete it."
She paused before continuing. "But there's something important you should know. With each evolution, you inherit one physical trait and one passive innate talent from the spark you merge with. That's why choosing the right one is important."
Everything Vesha shared was common knowledge in her kingdom—these were the kinds of things regularly mentioned in church sermons when she attended with her family. Beyond that, most of what she knew about practitioners came from books.
After taking it all in, Adyr glanced over at the Dawn Raven resting quietly beside him and asked, "What would happen if I evolved with that one?"
It was a question he was really curious about.