I See No Silver Pond?

Starting with the first rune, and ending with the last, James used his fingers to inscribe the patterns on his soul avatar with his own fingers, with each complete rune causing a searing pain as it branded itself into his very soul, in the position of the 7 chakras, and along his arms.

That's right, this automata was using his very soul as a base. It's purpose was naturally also very grand; as described by the rabbit in verbose terms, James was a "mortal kid" and thus had no way to process energies in his body.

The Heptagonal Gathering Array was created in a time immemorial, by an unknown author; considered a myth by the few alive who know of its existence, it's purpose is to simulate the existence of energy gathering and processing organs present in the people of this world, by refactoring the user's soul as a medium.

As the final stone of the final rune burned itself into James' Crown chakra atop his head, the burnt scars on his soul writhed and coalesced into a single tiny dot; a small tattoo of a black dragon, barely visible at the highest point between his shoulder blades.

Flash. The dark interior of the library disappeared in a flash as James' perception returned to his body; his vision barely extending 50cm through the thick silver pond.

"To activate that array, I just focus on the spot on my back right?" thought James, focusing as hard as he could on the spot between his shoulder blades - no reaction. Mind you, that was only the array, James himself had a big reaction to this; one of sheer panic; 'That isn't going to do me much help here'.

Running out of limited oxygen in his lungs, and any other realistic options, he continued to focus.

5 seconds. 10 seconds. 15 seconds. 30 seconds.

Outside of the pond, the rabbit continued to look at the pond with interest. "Is he really a Child o' Heaven? I would'a expected him to have skedaddled sooner…" he pondered to himself out loud.

At this point, James had fallen to a point of near unconsciousness, clinging onto his last threads of life with tenacity he'd not displayed since his younger years, he kept pushing his limits further and further; he had a will to survive.

As James' will to survive grew stronger, the spot of his focus grew hotter, the water around it spiralling into 2 counter-rotating elliptical vortices, bringing in silver, energy-dense water, and leaving at a much higher velocity as black sludge, filled with impurities from his body.

Soon enough, the entire pond had gone from silver to grayish-black sludge, and the energy within it had been completely dissipated. Throughout this process, a small portion of the energy had been used to substitute for the lack of oxygen in his system, leaving James to wade out of the depleted pond to the sight of the rabbit, shocked beyond belief.

"Wait. Kid. YOU'RE ALIVE?!"

"I'm right here, aren't I?" said James, responding with a slight smirk on his face.

The rabbit didn't even wait for James to fully finish his sentence before interjecting with a loud "But you went, into an Ironsoul Pond. As a mortal. And you're alive!".

James looked behind him at the now tar-like pond and in a tone of feigned confusion simply said: "I see no silver pond?"

"Ah well…" mused the rabbit, "Forget about it".

"Wait, weren't you going on about how crazy it was that I survived as a 'mortal'; and all that Child of Heaven crap: you owe me an explanation after you just dunked me into that pond, you damn rabbit!" yelled James at the funny creature hopping away from him.

The rabbit paused. "I have a name you know, Antonio Tempesta, don't you forget it kiddo!" he yelled, turning around. With a sigh, Antonio continued, "Fine, let's start with what a mortal means ya hear" to which James responded with a slow expectant nod.

"A mortal is a bozo with no internal energies, usually these are small teeny kiddos who don't got the body to start training yet, but sometimes you get a few unfortunate fellas who are born without what's called a 'vessel' - an organ used to store those energies and refine 'em from outside sources."

"Ya see, a mortal lacks that, so they're weak and frail - at least compared to non-mortals who're called cultivators. Hell, even a wee kid cultivator could stomp on pretty much any mortal. Mind you, most o' the folk around these parts are mortal, so I ain't surprised that you are."

"Cultivators are ranked by strength, in this world, they go from being a mortal, to the first stage: called the Lower stage - don't get fooled by the name ya see, they can crack open a mortal's skull with a single punch!"

James looked horrified, imagining the carnage one of these people could unleash in the mortal world if left unchecked: and that was only the first stage! Antonio continued, a slight look of pride on his face, as if he were an imperial scholar revealing divine knowledge on the ignorant masses.

"The second stage is called the Middle stage, these guys make those bozos in the Lower stage look like babies, they could kill 'em with a punch just like the Lower stage can do to mortals."

"Then you got the third stage, the Higher stage, these fellas really pack a punch - they can break down a building with a kick, so imagine what they could do to a person!"

"Mind you, there's a progression within the stages too - every stage has 9 ranks you need to get through in order to unlock the next stage."

"But see, what really got me was you bein' a Child of Heaven. That means anyone with an intrinsic ability, called a Trait, beyond what mortals can accomplish. As an example: me. My ability is a common one, a transformation into a stronger form."

James looked him up and down, opening his mouth and starting to say, "Stronger? You're a rabbit, I'm not sure how that could be stronger than -", but before he could finish his sentence, Antonio flickered out of his sight, leaving behind a small afterimage.

A voice sounded from behind James. "Not stronger you say? Can a mortal do this?". James turned around to see Antonio perched atop a branch, 20 metres in the air with a smug grin plastered across his face. "I don't think they can…" said James, visibly shocked by the sheer speed Antonio had displayed, trumping even his newfound reaction time.