"Blades are core crystals," Asch says. He taps his chest for emphasis, where his own core lies under the layers of clothing. "There's two kinds of death for us; the kind where you go back to your core crystal, and the kind where your core is destroyed. In the case of the first? A blade out in the wilderness, who didn't get picked up by a human capable of being a driver, of providing the other half of the bond blades needed to live... Would just remain a core crystal until someone did."

He pauses, and then says, "Not that we're conscious like that. I doubt anyone could survive a thousand years on a forest floor with their mind intact. It's more like a coma than sleep."