At the heart of the densely packed maize plantation was a two-kilometre-wide clearing on which John stood, staring at a floating orb of crimson light: The reason behind his surprise.
Hovering at eye-level with John, this crimson floating orb of light had a full diameter equivalent to a ping-pong ball.
It also emitted frequent pulses as several strands of crimson rays of light swirled around its outer surface.
Despite the ball's seemingly small size, it exuded a distinct energy that convinced John that its small size tremendously belied its true potential.
"It feels... almost alive... like the faint heartbeat of a newlyborn baby,"
John muttered delicately as he slowly reached out to the pulsing ball of light with a mesmerised look on his face.
But the very moment he made contact with it, his vision distorted, and he was back inside the cool dark forest.
'Was that just now my consciousness...?
It felt so... safe to be with... almost as though it knew me... and wanted me.'
No matter how John tried to translate the surreal feeling that had washed over him when he made contact with his primal core, he just couldn't find the right word for it.
Although John hadn't been far from the real truth when he described his primal core to be the material form of his consciousness, he was, however, not entirely accurate because, Yes, his consciousness did have a material form, but it was merely the space comprising of the maize plantation.
***
Preceding John's travel into lahar through the singularity was an extra modification made to his consciousness: The crimson floating ball of light — His primal core.
Primal cores are a common term given to the powerhouse responsible for supporting life and countless internal and external processes in every living thing in Lahar.
Although the heart wasn't rendered utterly useless by the primal core in most living organisms, its functions were, however, mostly diminished to merely supplying blood throughout the body.
And John had just experienced what it was like to be that close to his primal core.
However, that seemingly simple contact he had initiated with his primal core had subtly stirred something within him; something which had been dormant since the moment he entered lahar.
And as time passed, this faint and subtle feeling became more conspicuous than it previously was.
From his frontal vision, John suddenly discerned a strange distortion in the air.
However, he later realized that he had seen wrong, and it wasn't just an atmospheric distortion; It was rather, a series of texts, flashing before his eyes, their glistening golden fonts an enigmatic spectre to behold.
He vigorously rubbed his eyes a few times, labouring under the illusion that he may have been hallucinating.
But as soon as he opened his now-swollen eyeballs, he found that the texts were still there for him to see.
**
Name: [John Carter]
Primal Core Constitution: [Wanderer]
Sire: [Grim Soul Reaper]
Legacy: [Puppet Sage]
Skill: [Synergy]
Traits: [Non-existent]
Mark: --Null--
Grade: [Basic Abeyant]
Affinity: [Non-existent]
**
John blinked several times, trying to make an iota of sense out of what was before him.
But after so long, the only thing that made sense to him was his name, John Carter. Every other thing after that was just plane madness.
'Sire?... Puppe... skill... Abeyant...
What the devil is all this...?'
John thought as he waved his arm before him, in a sorry attempt at banishing the floating texts away from his sight.
But they only proved to be incorporeal, because his fingers phased right through the texts.
He eventually gave up due to exhaustion and stared blankly at the texts that refused to disappear as mysteriously as they had appeared.
However, as he watched the texts in defeat, he was also subconsciously concentrating on the first thing that puzzled him the most: The primal core constitution.
Suddenly, the texts flickered away, and were quickly replaced by a new set of texts:
**
[Wanderer: The mid-scale survivor with several hampering limitations.]
**
At the sight of the new set of texts, John was overwhelmed with a wave of conflict, Not knowing if he should be happy that the strange texts responded after sparing a portion of his concentration to it or if he should be upset that the new text was nothing but another symbol of madness.
However, his ignorance of the factual relevance of the last set of texts hindered the opportunity he had to fully grasp the fundamental causative principle that had steered his life in a different direction.
And that one fundamental principle that had eluded John due to his ignorance was: The Dark Matter.
The Dark matter is basically the pillar that held everything in lahar altogether as one.
It's more akin to the Sun of Earth, which supports life, energy and other natural processes; except this Dark matter went further by supporting more than just life and natural processes; it was the fundamental make-up of primal cores.
Without the Dark Matter, the primal core inside John would be practically useless, and he'd more or less be like any normal human being from his old world.
The Dark matter had only existed within John after his encounter with the reaper.
Being a creature that was originally from Lahar, the reaper John had met on Earth had a distinct amount and nature of Dark matter it exuded. And being so close to John during their brief encounter had exposed him to the Dark matter it emitted, thereby altering almost every aspect of his body and morphing him into a Wanderer — a name for those groups of individuals whose will were partially able to resist the Dark matter inducement during the incursion.
But those whose will was enough to fully withstand the Dark Matter inducement during the incursion were canonically known as The Baulks.
Then, the Mutants were those who posed a negligible amount of resistance against the Dark Matter inducement during the incursion.
These groups of three were the fundamental and constitutional variants of one's primal core.
In addition to the primal core constitution, another basic thing that could determine the nature of one's primal core was the Sires. The Sires are referred to as the creatures who had exposed humans to the Dark matter within them.
For John, it had been the reaper whose Dark matter he had been exposed to. So it explains why his Sire reads: Grim Soul Reaper.