I followed behind Plot as he took me deep into the building's insides.
Numoral had mentioned 'Own' in passing, but I still had no idea what that meant, so I spoke up, voicing my questions to the one who was guiding me for the second time.
"What is 'Own'?"
My voice reached his ears loud and clear, and he stopped his steps as he faced me.
"Can we walk as we talk?"
He didn't want to be seen as rude, but he was a little scared of delaying Numoral's orders, so he asked my permission.
"Okay."
I didn't care about that.
He heaved a sigh of relief and continued walking.
"An 'Own' as most people refer to it, is the result of a few certain substances and procedures. To put it in the simplest of terms, it is something made from a part of a spirit, to help said spirit."
That sounded interesting.
"Mostly, those are weapons, armor, and the like. Since it's almost exclusive to us spirit soldiers, but there are always exceptions."
"Take Mr.Numoral for example, far as I've heard, he had that visor of his for his first 'Own'."
I interrupted Plot's speech on the 'Own' with a question that arose.
"First?"
Plot looked at me and blinked.
"Yeah."
He chuckled.
"Unlike regular soldiers, those who have above level 8 shell durability and above level 10 'Da' are given the opportunity to create another 'Own'. It has to do with a spirit's ability to withstand its 'Own' power."
I nodded as I looked at him, he had a small smile on his face as he seemed to be expecting a reaction.
"I see." I gave it to him.
Plot looked at me with confusion, a look which I mirrored.
I didn't know that Plot had made a pun, as at this point, I didn't even know what a pun was, and wouldn't discover it until much later.
Unfortunately, I would not recall this moment at that time.
"Anyway," Plot cleared his throat and continued his explanation. "Uh..." He tried to remember where he had left off, and tried to pick up from there.
"Right, so. As I was saying, 'Own's are basically a tool to boost a spirits power, and most of them are weapons, like mine."
An extremely thin sword emerged from his palm.
"This is my 'Own', which I have given the name, 'Burst point'."
It had a large circular handguard, and the hilt took up an entire third of its entire length, which was a meter.
"Most 'Own's gain powers after some time and training, depending on their user."
The tip of the blade started shining.
"My 'Burst point's ability is to 'Explosive mark'. Everything that the tip touches is left with a mark, and I can detonate any mark whenever I want."
As Plot described his 'Own's ability, a thought appeared inside my mind.
"Do it." I said, breaking his flow of words and causing him to get confused.
I raised my palm and held it out to him.
"Use your Own to put a mark on my palm."
Plot looked at me with confusion as he nodded.
"Okay...?"
He brought his blade down to touch my palm.
When it did, I felt something creep into my shell, only to immediately dissipate.
"How did you do that?"
It seemed like Plot had felt the mark disappear as well, if his words and the shocked expression on his face were any indications.
"Automatic."
Plot didn't understand what I meant immediately, but he got it in a few seconds.
"So you can't stop it?" He asked.
I hadn't thought about that, it was something that I would try later.
I shrugged to give him an answer, which he accepted.
The rest of our three-minute journey was quiet, only interrupted by other people walking around and the occasional door.
"Here we are." Plot stopped and waved his hand, introducing me to a four-meter-tall door.
"Show him your mark please." Plot told me to show my mark to the guard who was looking at us with interest.
I pulled down my sleeve for him to get a better view.
The guard nodded and opened the door by sliding a card through something.
The door opened with an extremely loud groaning, which immediately struck me by surprise.
All the other doors had not made any similar sounds, this sounded like it was about to collapse.
"Is this normal?" I asked aloud, not speaking to anyone in particular.
"It is." Plot answered my question.
"In fact." The guard spoke with a surprisingly soft voice. "It has been made to sound like that."
"I see..."
I wondered why that was done as we walked through the doorway into the room.
The room was circular, and the central area was a few meters below the rest.
"Please wait in there." Plot motioned to the lower area.
"Alright."
I walked forward, ignoring the curious gazes of the people who were sitting at various desks in the room, and jumped down.
I couldn't see him, but Plot called out to someone named 'Nog' and told them to prepare the shields.
A minute later, Plot jumped down near me, carrying a few different items.
He placed four black sticks into holes in the ground, equidistant from the center of the area, then he walked up to me.
He held out a large black sphere the size of his head.
"Please hold this with both hands."
I took it.
Plot retreated a step.
"Alright, so here is how it usually goes."
"We inject a blend of 'Da' into you using those."
He gestured to some pointed poles on the ceiling.
"They will do all the work, and it won't hurt, so you don't need to worry about that. These," He gestured to the sticks. "will keep the blend near you, and prevent it from scattering. Finally, this,"
He pointed to the sphere in my hands.
"will keep your shell from being destroyed."
"You may feel various things, but you must keep within this area. The entire process takes less than a minute, are you ready?"
I took a moment to digest his words.
"Hm." I nodded to tell him that I was.
He nodded back and jumped out of the lower area, and a moment later, translucent blue barriers appeared, blocking my vision.
The next moment, a stream of white emerged from the top of the barrier and floated down, spreading out slightly in the process.
The white touched me and got absorbed into my shell.
I felt the change immediately.
I started to glow as I felt a wave of energy erupt from me, almost causing me to drop the sphere.
The rest of the experience was a blur of rushing energy, and the next thing I knew, I was floating above ground, looking at the people around me, who were looking back with expressions of pain, all of their postures slightly bent, as if something was pressing on top of them.
Then I fell to the ground, and their expressions returned to normal.
Plot jumped down to me and offered me a hand, which I took.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
I nodded and was about to open my mouth to ask about the situation when everything shook.
I fell forward as Plot stumbled back as well.
I heard a number of grunts as well, indicating that the others had fallen as well.
Plot was saying something, but I didn't hear, I was busy clutching my head in pain as it felt like something was trying to burrow out.
Then I felt a wave of wind as the building we were in got destroyed.
A minute later, The pain in my head faded, and I looked around to see the remains of the building, and a long patch of black intertwined with purple in the air where the building stood previously, looking as if something had ripped out a part of the world itself.
I got up to my feet, a grey liquid removing itself from my clothes and getting into my shell.
I heard a groan and looked towards its location.
It was the guard I had seen before, without one of his legs, and a part of the building in his arm.
A roar emerged from the fissure, along with a pair of crab claws.
Suddenly, they were cut off as a transparent green barrier covered the crack.
I saw Numoral appear near it, along with a dozen other people.
He noticed me, disappeared from his position, and appeared next to me.
"How do you feel?"
I felt my body.
"There seems to be nothing wrong."
Numoral nodded, and the next second I fell to the ground, my eyes fluttering close as I looked at the crack in the world.