Levi didn't move from his meditation position for hours after Tobirama left, even when Acnologia came and tried to nudge him to get his attention he just frowned a little which seemed to deliver the message perfectly to the dragon that he was busy.
Hour after hour, he stayed in that position wholly concentrated on clearing his mind and thoughts, he didn't know how but he could feel it, he could feel that his meditation was on the verge of a breakthrough to level 10 and it wasn't far.
He didn't need to eat or sleep which was perfect for his situation as hours turned into days with him not moving from his position, Acnologia went out to god knows where and came back more than once and the parrot guards came to get him a few times at first mostly for his meals before they gave up entirely.
Finally, after twenty days of constant meditation he received the sweet sound of the system notification.
[Ding]
[Meditation leveled up +1]
[Meditation reached level 10.]
[New meditation sub-ability unlocked.]
[Spirit world projection.]
[Meditation (Active) - Level 10: Helps calm the mind and spirit, HP, SP, and Energy recovery increases by 10% during meditation.
Spirit world projection - Level (Max): The user can now use meditation to project his consciousness into the spirit realm.]
[Endurance/Will power +2]
[Wisdom + 2]
Reading through the notification Levi didn't know whether to laugh or cry, this was a pretty useful ability if he was still in the physical world, in fact, some masters and monks spent their entire lives trying and failing to get even a glimpse of such ability but he had achieved it at just 8 years old.
But what good did it do him?
Laughing bitterly Levi consoled himself on getting points in Endurance and Wisdom, which was at least a little bit helpful.
Levi had the vague feeling that if he got his meditation skill high enough then he would be able to project himself into the physical world, and maybe even beyond that, but how long would that take and what use would it have, even if he projected himself he will be nothing but a spirit that most people couldn't see or interact with, he'd rather spend his time on more useful endeavors from now on.
One of those endeavors was searching for a way back home, and staying in the birds territory -No matter how nice, safe, and relaxing it was- wasn't helping, he needed to go out and explore the spirit realm more, to search every nook and cranny of it until he finds something useful, there was bound to be something out there that nobody knew about. And even if there weren't he could get stronger along the way instead of sitting around and doing nothing.
Stretching himself and feeling the euphoric sensation of stretching all over his body Levi jumped to his feet startling Acnologia who was lying beside him and amusing Levi who bent down and patted his head.
“Sorry for ignoring you all these days buddy, I was… training and I couldn't interrupt it.” said Levi apologetically to the small dragon, he really felt bad for ignoring him the past few days.
Acnologia gave him a look up and down before directing a doubtful look his way, Levi understood what he meant perfectly, ‘You say you were training but I don't see any results.’
“Sigh, I did get some pretty good results but sadly they're useless for now.” replied Levi sighing regretfully.
Acnologia only tilted his head in curiosity before ignoring it entirely and looking at Levi with a look that said, “Where to now?.”
“Hehe, now we go explore and have some fun. We've rested enough in here.” said Levi making Acnologia jump and run around in excitement which amused Levi to no end seeing such a fearsome creature acting like your average golden retriever.
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“Come let's go and say our goodbyes to Sage.” said Levi with a smile on his face before turning around and walking towards Sage’s throne room, he suddenly stopped for a second before he continued walking as if nothing had happened, earning him and unimpressed look from Acnologia who seemed to be done questioning his weirdness by now, what Acnologia didn't notice was the slight smile at the corners of Levi’s mouth.
The reason for Levi's abrupt stop and smile was the notification that had suddenly appeared in front of him.
[Ding]
[Spirit body leveled up +1]
[Spirit body (Active/Passive) Level 20:...]
[New ability unlocked: Spiritual bound].
[Spiritual bond (Active) - Level 1: The user can bond with spiritual creatures, store them in his body, control them, and understand and communicate with them, the higher the level the more spirits the user can store, bond with, and control, the user will get access to the spirit’s power and abilities after they're bond]
[The bonded creature must be either equal, weaker than the user, or weakened enough for the skill activation to succeed.]
[If the creature is willing, strength difference won't matter and the user can form an even deeper bond with them.]
[The number of spirits the user can bond with will increase with “Spiritual bond” level and “Spirit body” level.]
His eyes shining in excitement and his heart thumping, Levi Decided to test it later with Acnologia, if he was willing of course.
‘This is the power that I've been looking for, if this ability works like I imagine it does then I am one step closer to going back home.’ thought Levi barely able to hold his excitement as he proceeded to Sage’s throne room.
***
Outside of sage throne room they were blocked by a gray parrot guard who had an awkward expression on his face, ‘I don't know if I should be happy or concerned that I am getting better at reading animal expressions.’ thought Levi his eyebrow twitching.
“Sorry about that Levi, Acnologia, but the lord is currently…..” Before the guard could continue his speech a mix of sounds reached all the way from the inside of the throne room to the outside.
“Ohh, ohhh, Moore, Moore.”
“Yes Daddy, please more.”
“That's right you little slu…..”
After that last sentence, Levi just filtered everything out and held both of Acnologia’s ears -who had a shocked expression- to prevent his young mind from being tainted.
Levi just nodded at the guard who had an awkward expression before turning back, “We will come back later.” He said with an embarrassed expression before turning around and running out of there with Acnologia in his arms.
***
“See Acnologia, that's why it is important to announce yourself first before paying your friends a visit.” said Levi advising Acnologia after they were far away from the palace, he was sitting on a faraway hill looking at the Palace, his expression still twitching.
Acnologia nodded his head so fast that he looked like a chicken eating grains, Levi took a while this time to read Acnologia's expression and when he did he couldn't help but pity the poor little dragon, it was trauma. Apparently even with Levi trying to protect his little mind he wasn't successful.
Levi was 34 years old mentally so it didn't affect him as bad as it did the 8-year-old dragon, deciding to get his mind off it Levi thought about trying his new ability.
“Say buddy.” said Levi, getting Acnologia’s attention,
“I developed this ability not too long ago to Bind myself with other spirits, it allows me to better communicate with them among other things. Do you want to try it?.” he said , and it seemed that it was successful in distracting the little dragon as Acnologia's expression immediately turned into one of curiosity as he tilted his head to the side before nodding.
Levi couldn't help but smile at how much the little ball of scales trusted him, it didn't even appear to be wary of him or even think about the implications of it.
“Haha, good now you need to be completely relaxed for this to work alright ?.” said Levi, which wasn't completely true, it might succeed even if Acnologia was against it as they weren't that far off in terms of power. Acnologia on the other hand only nodded again as if hurrying Levi to be done with it.
Closing his eyes in concentration Levi activated his new ability, he could immediately feel a slight presence in front of him that he knew to be Acnologia, slightly reaching out to that presence Levi enveloped him in his senses completely.
On the outside world, a golden glowing fog seeped out of Levi’s body and slowly started approaching Acnologia who smelled the fog-like substance on instinct, before it completely enveloped him with the latter not showing any resistance at all.
[Ding
[Spiritual bond activated.]
[Bonding with the user’s companion Acnologia, race: Dragon.]
[Bonding in progress: 1%]
[10%]
[50%]
[99%]
As always the percentage stopped at 99% for a while as if to annoy Levi before finally reaching 100%, and the moment it did the fog surrounding Acnologia retracted into Levi’s body so quickly that it disappeared in barely a second, immediately after that Levi received an interesting notification on his screen.
[Ding]
[A spiritual creature invaded the user's body.]
[Gamer’s body self-protection mechanism activated]
[Would the user like to purge the foreign entity? Y/N ]
***
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