Sucking in a breath, Sunny continued to count the seconds in his head, having started from the very moment he had stabbed into Jing Yuan's flesh for the first time.
He was sure that Fu Xuan had been doing the same thing.
A booming thunderclap echoed across the battlefield as pounced in a burst of speed. The claws of his Transcendent form were abnormally long, capable of both slicing and piercing. As the sharp blades hacked against Sunny's spear in a whirlwind of disastrous blows, arms quivering despite his tenacious bones, a portion of his mind was deep in analysis.
Shadowing Nightmare Creatures and shadowing a Saint in their Transcendent form wasn't too different, but not quite the same. Back in the Red Coliseum, Sunny managed to shadow a plethora of the abominations that he and Elyas were forced into bloody warfare against. Their alien minds were meant to be complex and unfathomable, as if they lived with a particular instinct that couldn't really be replicated by a human.
And that was exactly the case. Nightmare Creatures were constantly assaulted by a need for violence and the consumption of souls — human souls, especially.
Saints, on the other hand, were not mindless, Corrupted, insane beasts — most of the time, at least. Rather, they were just as human as anyone else, just shaped around the contours of a natural disaster.
Shadowing a real tiger wasn't the same as shadowing Jing Yuan, who was taking the form of a tiger. Even if he was possessed by a Heliobus, he fought with all the skill and experience expected from a warrior who managed to survive the dreadful Third Nightmare. Moreover, even if his Transcendent form was disregarded, Saints in general fought in a different manner from Ascended.
Sunny was able to understand it best, actually. Between his multiple Shadow Cores and the Divinity enhancing his Essence to a psuedo-Transcendent state, it wasn't too bold to assume that within his Rank, nobody else could compare to his stamina. Despite that, Saints were still beyond him in that regard.
Not only was the quality of their Essence still decently above that of Sunny's own, but despite the fact that they didn't have multiple Cores such as himself, it was still entirely possible for him to reach the bottom of his barrel before them.
And that was due to their nature as Saints.
According to Fu Xuan's information — which she thoughtfully provided so that he could have even a slightly higher chance of surviving Jing Yuan — detailed the secret behind a Transcendent's overwhelming consistency.
Their Source Element.
***
Fu Xuan explained that a Source Element was something that every Awakened had, but only benefited from upon Transcendence. It was... well, it was something. It could be a literal element, such as fire, water, light... shadows... or, it could be something more conceptual. Love, hate, stillness, movement, luck, death.
Supposedly, there was once a Saint whose Source Element was orange. Whether that referred to the color or the fruit is unknown.
In any case, a Transcendent's Source Element was what represented their connection to the world. While Masters merge their soul and body into one upon Ascension, a Saint's soul expands outwards into the world itself, merging with that Source Element.
So, what were the boons of a Source Element?
The answer to that lied in two different things — Spirit Essence, and a Saint's Transcendent Battle Art.
Spirit Essence was not like Soul Essence. Soul Essence was produced by both Awakened and Nightmare Creatures, which they could use to both strengthen themselves, as well as activating their Aspect and Class Abilities.
Spirit Essence, however, did not belong to any living thing.
Instead, it belonged to the world. The world's Soul Essence.
Learning that the world had its own Essence was a little odd for Sunny, but he quickly got past it upon realizing that the world wasn't literally a living thing. It was easier to understand that Spirit Essence was just ambient energy produced by the world, invisible to the naked eye.
Or even Weaver's Eye, until he looked at Jing Yuan's soul, but he digressed.
Spirit Essence, in most situations, did nothing as far as anyone knew. Rather, it only took effect when Saints were 'in' their Source Element.
It fed their Soul Cores, restoring their Soul Essence.
If your Element was fire, then bathing in it would send a surge of Essence back into your soul. If it was something more conceptual, like hate, then feeling that emotion — or producing it in others — would do the same. If it was death, then... well, it was pretty obvious.
As for Jing Yuan, his Source Element was Suddeness.
The moment when a hunter appears before their prey. The moment when lightning strikes. Every time Jing Yuan Suddenly gets the jump on a foe, or Suddenly outmaneuvers a political opponent without any former indication, a trickle of Spirit Essence enters his soul.
Every time Sunny and Fu Xuan missed an attack that seemed like it should have hit, Jing Yuan's Essence reserves become a little less empty.
Thankfully, the two of them were avoiding sustaining any damage, simply due to the impenetrable mobility derived from their Aspects, as well as Fu Xuan's glimpses into the future. Otherwise, the white tiger would have been able to confidently unleash attacks far more powerful and destructive, knowing he'd regain some Essence.
Then, there was the idea of Transcendent Battle Arts.
***
A scene from the future inserted itself into Sunny's mind, forcing him to change tactics. He was just about to use his polearm in order to launch himself over a ghastly swipe, putting him in a position to stab down upon the limb, but the vision he received helped him understand that it was just a feint.
So, instead of leaping, he imply took the form of a shadow.
Jing Yuans's predatorial gaze lingered as his attack failed to land, but he did not hesitate to correct himself. Instead, he continued with his motion, standing on his hindlegs as he raised both of his front paws. In the distance, Fu Xuan was nimbly keeping his Memories in check as Saint fired arrows all the way from Fyxestroll Garden, preventing them from possibly returning to the grand tiger and solidifying his defenses.
His paws slammed together, bringing with them a deafening thunderclap. A shockwave of electricity exploded from the collision, and as Sunny waited for it to wash over his intangible form—
It didn't.
He felt a piercing shock brush against his abnormally vast soul. If he had a mouth, he would have screamed at the soul-scorching pain.
It was too Sudden.
He retreated, reappearing within an empty cargo container half a kilometer away. He clenched his chest, breath heavy as forced himself to endure the terrible pain of soul damage. Through his shadow sense, Sunny felt Saint firing off another arrow of Light in order to distract Jing Yuan for a moment, not allowing him to focus all his might against Fu Xuan.
Upon attaining Transcendence, between the heightened Essence quality, more intricate control over Essence, and the addition of Spirit Essence, the rate of expenditure between a Saint and a Master grew exponentially larger.
Awakened, and even most Masters, had to be very particular about where and how to utilize their Essence. They couldn't spam their Aspect Abilities or enchantments, otherwise they'd run out and die.
That's what happened to Yanqing in the final round of the Dream Tournament. Projecting Serpent's weapon form so many times, as a mere Awakened, at that, eventually emptied out his Soul Core. Before Transcendence, the most reliable tool was an Awakened's martial prowess.
But Saints were different. With so much energy at their disposal, they could absolutely hammer their enemies with an onslaught of Aspect Abilities and enchantments. Unfortunately, there was no real point in that, as a more skilled Transcendent would easily cut off their head.
And what made a Transcendent skilled was the uniqueness and development of their Transcendent Battle Art.
This was how they intertwined their Aspect with their own fighting style. How they carefully selected Memories to synergize with their strengths and cover for their weaknesses.
It even came down to their specialized Essence technique. Sunny first saw glimpses of it when battling against Kafka, but frankly, she had been holding back so much that he wouldn't go as far as to call it a Transcendent Battle Art.
Against Jing Yuan, however, Sunny was absorbing the knowledge of how he delicately flowed Essence throughout his body like a sponge. Ah, but delicate wasn't really the word for it.
It was like a Sudden pulse of lightning, followed by the roar of thunder. Every particle of Essence was used in a way that it caused a secondary reaction, which chained together with his following movement... infinitely.
It was so oddly complex and unique, but at the same time, Sunny found himself slowly unraveling its secrets.
Then, there was how a Saint's Source Element affected their Transcendent Battle Art. Of course, triggering the conditions of their Element was extremely important, and was the cornerstone of how Jing Yuan fought.
Beyond that, however, was how Transcendent's selected their Memories.
Not only did they try to use Memories that would help them trigger their Element, but...
They also chose those that benefited from that Element.
Each of Jing Yuan's weapons, which darted around at terrifying speeds, all had enchantments that shared a connection with the concept of Suddeness. The guandao forged by Blade, dubbed Starfall Reverie, had an enchantment that increased its speed. It was a very broad enchantment, which worked whether or not the weapon was in the users hand.
More importantly, speed was what brought about Suddeness, feeding Jing Yuan Spirit Essence whenever the enchantment was activated.
At the same time, the enchantment itself received direct benefits, becoming far more powerful. By extension, the entire weapon itself gained a small increase in potency.
One of Jing Yuan's steel swords, on the other hand, had an enchantment related to lightning. Since lightning was Sudden, the enchantment also grew more powerful.
The Source Element of a Saint could enhance the effects of Memories that had some connection to that Element. Supposedly, if someone's Element was literally Sword, a mundane blade would grow much sharper — even if they didn't have an Aspect Ability that could do so.
Clearly, it was only natural for a Saint to want to capitalize on that benefit, integrating specific Memories into their Transcendent Battle Art.
In fact, when Jing Yuan clapped his paws together to unleash a shockwave, he was relying on an enchantment that seemed to turn elemental damage — or perhaps only lightning — into purely soul damage.
The future Fu Xuan showed him revealed him getting physically struck, not spiritually.
A very Sudden switch. One that probably explained why only a few sparks dealt so much damage to his soul.
Sunny grit his teeth, before stepping into the shadows once more.
'Damn it... once I'm a Saint, I'll show you...'
Or, perhaps he could do so at this very moment.