Essence

There are different types of essence according to their origin:

• Soul Essence
  • Shadow Essence
• Spirit Essence

A mystical spirit energy.^[1] It is the power, once contained within an Awakened soul core, broke free, flowing naturally throughout their body, passively saturating their bones and muscles.^[2]

Awakened battles were tactical, with essence restoring itself to its maximum capacity. It was a finite resource, requiring careful use and absorbing soul fragments to increase core capacity.^[2]

As humans walked the Path of Ascension, their control of soul essence became more intricate.^[3] True masters were much more intricate in their control of essence. They could isolate every muscle, every nerve, and every bone in their body and only enhance those parts of it that they needed to perform an action. Their expenditure of essence was more akin to a trickle than a torrent but achieved the same result.^[4]

There is a very rare Aspect trait that is not unheard of among upper echelons of the Awakened. Usually, when an Awakened absorbs soul essence directly, the process leaves the remnants of the soul core empty.^[5]

Note: This is not the case with Sunny as he had shadow essence instead, which leaves the shards brimming with soul essence.^[5] The process of getting his shadow fragments is automatic. He only had to kill an enemy with his own two hands and absorb a part of their shadow to enhance his own core. Shadow fragments could not be stored, bought or traded.^[6]

In the case of Sunny, his soul essence is called Shadow Essence synonymous to his Shadow Core. The color of shadow essence is black.^[7][8]

Spirit Essence cool, flowing energy, similar to Soul Essence but this ambient essence seems to belong to the world or rather an aspect of it. As long as a Transcendent was in their element, they are able to replenish their reserves of essence by borrowing the power of the world.^[10] This is due to their soul which was vaster than their body.^[11]

Note: Unlike Soul Essence, Spirit Essence is not tied to living beings and instead exists naturally as part of the world.

In the Ancient Path of Ascension, the process of refining one's essence involves various methods and techniques passed down through generations. However, only a few succeed, as they must first enter their Soul Sea, which can take many lifetimes to achieve.^[12]

• Every Awakened except for Sunny, received a certain portion of the enemy's accumulated soul essence when killing a fellow human.^[13]
• Nightmare Spell carriers are able to control their essence by instinct but to master and do it efficiently one would have to learn.^[2]

• Divine Aspect
• Aspect
• Aspect Ability