Chapter 2: Anima and the Grand Plan
In the Celeste Anima Realm, every human being can awaken an Anima when they become six years old and become Anima Users. These Anima can be anything; weapons, beasts, plants, etc. Even in his original timeline, the natives were still uncertain about the origin of Anima. The most widespread and accepted theory was that the Anima were granted to the first humans by the Realm Will to resist the invasion of other Realms.
Gradually, entire bloodlines were formed around these Anima. Anima are divided into five groups and four Natures. The five groups based on Anima traits are; Armament, Beast, Plant, Body, and Peculiar. The three Natures are; Element, Attribute, Spirit, and Rule.
Element Nature refers to the various elements such as fire, water, ice, etc.
Attribute Nature refers to physical qualities such as speed, strength, sharpness, etc.
Spirit Nature refers to anything pertaining to the soul. These Anima can directly affect the soul. The power to create illusions, mind controlling others, etc. Anima Users who have Spirit Nature Anima, have stronger souls and depending on their potential, they are able to unlock their Sea of Knowledge much earlier than other Anima Users.
Rule Nature refers to the Rules of the Realm. Anima with this Nature can directly affect the Rules of the Realm and utilise them. These Anima are very special and rare.
An Anima can have multiple Elements and Attributes except Rule. Only Peculiar Anima can have the Rule Nature.
Armament Anima: Anima such as swords, axes, shields, knives, etc. While all Armament Anima may not have an Element, they all have an Attribute.
Beast Anima: Beast Anima encompass all Anima of the Animal kingdom. Mammals, birds, insects, etc. These Anima could be an ordinary animal, an Anima Beast or even a Demon Beast.
Beast Anima Users can possess their Anima, inheriting the creature's abilities and physical traits. Beast Anima Users are greatly influenced by their Anima. For example, Anima Users with tiger like Anima have ferocious temperaments and so on. Usually, their natural physical strength is also much higher than other Anima groups. Only Body Anima users can compare to them in terms of natural physical strength. Of course, if the Anima is a butterfly like beast, then the Anima user would have weak natural physical strength.
Plant Anima: Plant Anima encompass all the Anima of the plant kingdom. Like Beast Anima, this included ordinary plants, Anima Plants, and Demon Plants. Plant Anima Users usually have a higher vitality than most Anima Users on the same level. Their lifespans are longer and they heal much faster than other Anima Users.
Body Anima: Body Anima are different from other the previous groups. Unlike the previous groups of Anima, that manifest externally, a Body Anima is part of the Anima User's own body. The Anima can be a specific part like hands, eyes, legs, etc, or it can be the complete body. Body Anima Users' natural physical strength is the highest among all Anima groups. They also unlock their middle dantians as soon as they awaken their Anima.
Peculiar Anima: As their name suggests, they are very different from the other Anima groups. None of the Anima traits apply to these Anima. These Anima grouped under this group don't fall under any of the above groups due to either having Anima traits of multiple groups at the same time, or having none of them. For example, summon type Anima, with which the Anima user can summon one or multiple objects or creatures.
The strongest of the Peculiar Anima usually have the Rule Nature. For example, the contract Anima. This Anima can bind two willing creatures by their agreed terms. The involved parties cannot break the contract as it would result in punishment from the Realm itself. One of the downfalls of having a Rule Nature Anima was that the Anima User can only have one Anima Skill.
To awaken their Anima, six year olds need to go through an Anima Awakening Ceremony. All Anima Users have a certain amount of dormant Anima Essence that awakens with their Anima. This Anima Essense is known as Innate Essence. The highest level Innate Essence in an Anima User can have is level 10. The amount of Innate Essence is directly proportionate to the innate potential of the Anima User.
After awakening their Anima, Anima Users can absorb the atmospheric Anima Essence and strengthen themselves. There are a total of twelve stages. Each stage has 10 levels. The first three levels are-
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Anima Novice: Level 1-10
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Anima Soldier: Level 11-20
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Anima Commander: Level 21-30
During these stages, the Anima Essence absorbed by Anima Users gains a body tempering property, passively strengthening their bodies and creates a foundation for them. The more thorough they are during these stages, the more solid their foundation becomes. These stages are collectively known as the Foundation Phase.
The next three stages are-
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Anima General: Level 31-40
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Anima Prince: Level 41-50
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Anima King: Level 51-60
After breaking through to the fourth stage, two major changes take place. First, their Anima Essence turns from gas to liquid, increasing its potency by a large margin. Second, they unlock their middle dantian, also known as the Body Dantian and form their Anima Bloodlines. These three stages are collectively known as the Manipulation Phase. During this phase, Anima Users become intimately familiar with their Anima, constantly finetuning their control over them.
The next three stages are-
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Anima Emperor: Level 61-70
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Anima Ancestor: Level 71-80
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Anima Sage: Level 81-90
After breaking through to the seventh stage, the essence in the lower dantian, also known as Essence Dantian, solidifies into an Anima Core. They also open their Sea of Knowledge, also known as the Spirit Dantian. This leads to an evolution of the soul, granting Anima Users the ability to sense and comprehend the Rules of the Realm. These three stages are collectively known as the Rule Phase.
There were three more stages but they were too far ahead in the future to care about them now. Nyx continued to review all of the information he had about the three phases.
Every native of the Celeste Anima Realm has something known as Anima Origin. It is the core of their existence and their limiter. For humans, their Anima Origin only allows them to cultivate up to level 10. To break through to level 11, they have to visit Celestria, an accompanying Minor Realm of Celeste Anima.
Celestria is filled with Anima Beasts and Plants of all kinds. Collectively known as the Animakin, they are a terrifying race that grows stronger as they age. According to their strength, the Animakin can be divided into 7 stages. 10 year old, 100 year old, 1000 year old, 10K year old, 100K year old, 1 million year old, and finally, 10 million year old.
When Anima Users reach level 10 and every tenth level afterwards, they can enter Celestria with the help of the Realm Will. With them, they can take two additional Anima Users that are within 20 levels of them. For example, a level 10 Anima Novice can at most take two level 30 Anima Commanders with him. The time dialation between the two Realms is 1:1000. One hour in Celeste Anima is 1000 hours in Celestria.
After entering Celestria, they need to hunt a suitable and compatible Animakin. Suitable as in the age of the Animakin, and compatible as in they must have compatible Natures. If the age is too high, it can lead to the collapse of the Anima User's Anima Origin. Similarly, if the Natures conflict with each other, the clash can also lead to the collapse of the Anima Origin. These limits differ on the basis of physical and soul strength of the Anima User, as well as the potential of the Anima.
The Anima User that wants to breakthrough must land the killing blow. After their death, the bodies of Animakin dissolve into Anima Essence, only leaving an Origin Bead behind. Depending upon the age of the Animakin, the color of the Origin Beads change. From lowest to the highest, they are; Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. After absorbing the Origin Bead of the Animakin, they obtain one of that particular Animakin's skills. These skills are known as Anima Skills.
Anima made disguising oneself very difficult. Unless it was a Spirit Nature Anima, or an Anima geared towards disguise like a mask or a cloak, one would easily be recognised through their Anima. This is why Nyx made a grand plan that would help him in becoming a true hidden boss. This plan had many phases. Phase 1 would begin here, in his mother's womb. He needed to create a perfect disguise for himself, one that he would show to the world.
For that, he would need another Anima. Although rare, there were Anima Users that awoke two Anima instead of one. They are called Gemini Anima Users. According to the data collected over the years, two conditions needed to be fulfilled for Gemini Anima Users to appear. The first and most important is the strength of the Anima Bloodline.
The parents' Anima Bloodlines needed to be equal or almost equal in strength or else, the stronger one would just devour the weaker one. Second, they needed to stay separate, allowing two Anima to form. If they didn't, they would clash, slowly devouring each other, finally fusing into one mutated bloodline. The first condition could still be achieved by most people, but the second condition was completely up to luck and couldn't be controlled.
In Nyx's case, his father was a level 34 Anima General and his mother a level 29 Anima Soldier. His mother hadn't unlocked her Body Dantian yet, and thus, hadn't created an Anima Bloodline. His father, on the other hand, had a Body Anima, making his Anima Bloodline much stronger. If things were left as they were, he would only inherit his father's Anima Bloodline, a mutated version at that, and only awaken one Anima.
To change that, he needed to help his mother unlock her Body Dantian so that she could form her Anima Bloodline, nourish her Anima Bloodline so that the two bloodlines are almost equal in strength, and finally, keep them separate so that two Anima could form inside him instead of one.
To unlock his mother's Body Dantian, he would need to use some of his Innate Essence to temper her body. It wasn't much of an issue for him as he was still in the womb and his Innate Essence could easily be recovered. The Body and Spirit Dantians can be opened at any stage, as long as the body and soul of the Anima User were strong enough respectively. The earlier they are opened, the more stronger they become.
Author's Note:
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