Ning teleported back inside the flying spaceship that still roamed the open ocean.
"Papa!" Emma called out. "You're back."
Ning chuckled hearing his daughter's voice. She sounded so very bored when on earth, and yet out here she was more excited than anyone else.
"Are you guys bored yet from flying everywhere?" Ning asked her.
"No," Emma said. "I've been showing Umbra the various different locations in the ocean, and she is fascinated by the different types of islands there ice."
"Earlier, she was surprised when I showed her snow for the first time."
"I was quite surprised when I saw snow for the first time as well," Ning said. "It happens."
Emma nodded. "So, what do we do now? We are going somewhere important, right?" she asked.
"Yes," Ning said. "We are indeed going somewhere important. We are going to try and find the Origin of this planet."
Emma smiled wide. "Let's go!" she said. "Where is it?"
Ning shrugged. "I have no idea," he said.
Emma's smile lowered a bit. "But you can ask your system, right? It should know," she said.
Ning shook his head. "The system will never tell me anything about a planet's Origin because of how important it is as a location for that planet," he said. "Either that or because it's worried I might try to do something to the thing that leads to the different realm."
"Different realm?" Emma asked, confused as to what her father was trying to say.
"You don't have to know," Ning said.
"Ok," Emma frowned a bit. "So, how do we find the Origin if that is so difficult."
Ning thought for a moment. "Generally, I would try to sense the origin of the unique energy, in this case Essence, and see which place has it the thickest of all. From there, the system would tell me where a location that the Origin could be in was around there.."
"However, given that I don't really have a concrete idea of where the Origin is, I will have to change my strategy this time around," Ning said. "I will have to recruit outside help."
His eyes moved toward Umbra, who was surprised to see him looking at her. "M-me?" she asked.
"Yes, you," Ning said. "I know for a fact that the Origin is in the south and not the north, so we will have to start at the south. Emma, take the ship to the Southern pole of the continent. We will start from there.
"Okay," Emma said and quickly turned the ship around and instantly sped it up so much that everything became a blur. A few seconds later, they were on the very south of the planet.
The south of the planet was a small cluster of ice islands that were considered part of the Springwind continent. Once the group arrived there, Ning looked toward Emma.
"Take care of the kids,' he said.
Emma held the two asleep cubs in her arm and nodded toward her father. Ning nodded back and in the next moment took away the ship.
Emma floated in the sky, holding the two cubs with her while keeping them away from the cold. She created warmth from nowhere, letting the two cubs sleep in nearly no perceived change in temperature.
Ning held onto Umbra who desperately tried to not fall on her own and flailed around. "Don't worry, you're fine," he told her.
Umbra finally held onto herself and was surprised to find that she could continue flying without any support. She looked toward Ning and realized that he was helping her.
"Don't worry," he said. "While we are around, nothing will happen to you."
Umbra gulped and nodded.
"Now, calm down and try to sense the Essence around here," Ning said. "As a Stellar Harmony beast, you must have quite the Essence sense."
Umbra nodded. "I can do that," she said and closed her eyes to sense the Essence around her. "It's strong around here. Not as strong as the Shadow Essence back in my cave, but still strong."
"Good," Ning said. "Now, just remember this feeling."
Ning grabbed onto everyone and teleported some 50 kilometers away from where they were. When they arrived, he asked Umbra to sense it again.
"It's… a little weaker," Umbra said.
"Weaker, huh?" Ning thought. "Let's go to another place."
He took her somewhere else and let her sense it again.
"This place has stronger Essence," she said. "Just a tiny bit more than the first location, but it's stronger."
"Good. Let's try a few more places."
He teleported around this location with large gaps and quickly established a mental map of where the stronger Essence was.
After just 6 different locations, he managed to figure out the general direction of where the Origin could be. He flew in that direction, letting Umbra sense it all slowly.
"Let me know if it ever gets weaker, okay?" he asked and Umbra nodded.
After flying around for a bit, Umbra passed a location with the thickest Essence she had sensed yet. The group backtracked and started moving around to sense if there was a location that was stronger.
They arrived on a sparse island where the Essence was somehow the strongest.
"This is the Origin?" Emma asked.
"Most likely," Ning said. "But an origin would usually be hidden. System, is there a spatial pocket around here?"
<There is one about 200 meters in front of you.>
Ning smiled. "Teleport us inside that location, please," he asked.
They were instantly teleported from the mostly barren island to a luscious rain-forest filled with gigantic plants. The trees were overgrown thanks to the lack of natural enemies to keep them in check.
Large mountain covered the land and Ning quickly flew into the sky to find the location at the center where pure Essence pooled up.
"Such strong Essence," Umbra couldn't help but say. "How does a place like this even exist?"
"This is called the Origin," Ning said. "This is the place where Essence is created, the place where we will be staying for the foreseeable future."
