Drifting in the quiet, and the calm of his Serenity, while reflecting on his past actions, trying to find, and resolve his inner conflicts, Alnea felt a strange sense of sense of satisfaction, and fulfilment flood the senses of his Spirit. His Spirit Power, it seemed, had recovered completely. And went past its peak. This was not something new to him though. Ever since he had started Forging his Spirit with the Art of Spirit Rebirth, his Spirit Power had experienced a rise after each session. No exception.
As a consequence, within just seven days of reaching the False Rank, his Spirit Power had surged to a hundred and forty three units. Of course, those units were according to the standard of the Seed Rank. In the standard of the False Rank, it was somewhere past the mark of fourteen units. And at the moment, it had increased a little bit once again. Just a couple of more sessions, and his Spirit Power would increase to around fifteen units, and face its first bottleneck of the False Rank.
Maybe, he could even try to reach the Second Level by the end of the day. Seven days to cross a whole level at the False Rank. It may feel like an incomparably fast speed of development that he had never experienced before at the Seed Rank, but he was training with a higher Ranked Art, so that was to be expected. And though the rate of his progress may be high, so were the limits of the False Rank.
According to the standards of the False Rank, his Spirit Power was around fourteen units. And the limit of the Initial Stage of the False Rank was at around five hundred units. If he did not use any special means, or methods, then even by his extreme rate of growth, it would take him a couple of years reach the Intermediate Stage of the False Rank. And that was not even counting the time he would take to break through the bottlenecks between the levels.
A couple of years… Probably around the time he would have to take part in the Rising Wanderer Trials. Participating in the Trials as a fifteen year old Intermediate Stage False Wanderer… If the Lotus clan had been a just, and honourable Orthodoxy, then it would have been enough to fulfil their conditions. However, the Lotus clan was anything but honourable. Believing in them to be fair would be akin to digging his own grave.
Just to get rid of any uncertainties, it would be best if he could become an Advanced Stage False Wanderer before the Trials. That was the goal his master had set for him. A goal, which seemed impossible from his current rate of progress. He could, of course, use his Oaths to quickly increase his Spirit Power. But neither Yuri, nor his master would let him take such needless risks. And yet, if he could not increase his rate of progress, then the goal truly would be impossible to achieve.
But then again, his master would not set an impossible goal for him. She must have some ways to help him quickly raise his Spirit Power. Like the Bone Rotting Plants. Those were things to consider in the future though. At the moment, he had to focus on what he was about to do, Wandering the Origin Sea. Since his Spirit Power had recovered, there was no need for him to wait anymore. Before entering the Origin Sea though, there was still one thing that he needed to do.
“Are you back from the Origin Sea?”
“Almost,” Yuri said. “I went out a little further than usual today… and got entangled by a Mystery.”
“…From the sound of your voice, it looks like you did not like the Mystery you encountered.”
“…Is it that obvious?”
“A bit… How many Oren Beast are you going to kill this time?”
“…Do I look like Cecilia to you?”
“…Cecilia would at most oppress those Beasts, and make them her mounts. You on the other hand…”
“What about me?” Yuri said, snapping back at him, to which, Alnea responded with a laugh.
“Do I need to remind you of what you did twelve days ago?”
“…That was not my fault. I was trying out the new Arcana that I had created.”
“Mysteries of Death… Anyways, which lineage’s Mystery did you encounter this time?”
“…Death.”
“Again? This is like the fifth Mystery of Death of the Intermediate Stage that you encountered... And if we count the Initial Stage ones…”
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“No one is asking for you to show your mathematical prowess.”
“Even when we first went to the Origin Sea…”
“…Don’t make me recall that.”
“…Did you succeed in comprehending the Mystery?”
“…I cannot help it. My Roots have increased my affinity with the Mysteries of Death…”
“Increased affinity? More like made you into an incarnation of Death itself.”
“…Do you want this incarnation of Death to come, give you a visit?”
“Yes, please!”
“You… You are so shameless!”
“If there is anything I have learnt from big sis Serena,” Alnea said, teasing Yuri with a laugh. “It is that only shameless people can get what they want.”
“…Big sis Serena… Do you miss her?”
“Sometimes,” Alnea said, recalling the ever smiling, and laughing face of big sis Serena. There was only one time when he had seen her serious, and angry side. When she was surrounded by more than a hundred Heterodox Wanderers, who had later all turned into Enthralled Wanderers. Of them, she, by herself, had fought off more twenty Enthralled Wanderers. And that was what he had seen. She must have dealt with even more of those abominable creatures later on. With strength like that, even if she had gone to the Grand Chasm, there should be no problem with her safety.
“I wonder how she is doing.”
“Me too… things often feel a little dull without her.”
“You have just comprehended another Mystery… And you say things are dull for you… Whom are you trying to fool?”
“…You know what I trying to say, so stop diverting the topic.”
“…Well, things are indeed a little dull without her. Especially for Cecilia.”
“Cecilia… must be feeling very torn inside,” Yuri said, adding a bit of laugh with her voice. “Two years… I hope that big sis Serena will be fine.”
“I know that she is fine,” Alnea said, in a rather firm voice. Maybe more to himself, rather than to Yuri. “We do not need to worry about her.”
“…You are the one worrying most about her.”
“I am not!”
“Right,” Yuri said, laughing even more at his reaction. The laughter soon died out though, only to be replaced by a solemn voice. “I am about to head back into my Domain. You can go ahead, and enter the Origin Sea now.”
“…Are you going to create a new Arcana?”
“…I have already comprehended the Mystery. What else am I going to do with it?”
“…You have just shifted into a new canyon. It will be a little dangerous there. Try not to make too big of a ruckus.”
“…Stop worrying about me. You are going to the Origin Sea now, so take care of yourself.”
“…I will. You take care of yourself too.”
Taking his attention away from the Divine Treasure on his finger, Alnea focussed on his Spirit, reaching towards his Roots, the golden black thread. Compared to his Spirit Power, it had not grown much over the past few days. After all, most of the growth in his Spirit Power was coming from Forging his Spirit, and not from his Oaths. Still, being able to grow his Roots, at all, was already quite special. There were not many people who could do that.
Unfortunately, the benefits of constantly strengthening his Roots were not apparent at lower Ranks. At higher Ranks though, where crossing a bottleneck, especially one between Ranks, depended as much on the Domains of Wanderers as any other factors, the advantage of having an ever growing Roots would finally reveal itself. But that was going to take a long, long time. Decades, if not centuries. So, Alnea was not too focussed on the growth of his Roots.
Instead, he focussed more on his Roots itself, and its connection with the Origin Sea, tugging on it, not to borrow Oren, but to travel alongside the thread, and cross the barriers between his world, and the Origin Sea. Consequently, he soon found his senses shifting to the thread, and travelling along its length, in a timeless, and meaningless existence. But that did not make him panic. This was his eighth time going into the Origin Sea. And if he counted the times he had experienced Yuri entering the Origin Sea…
In any case, he was not new to the experience, and knew how to handle himself. All he had to do was wait… How long exactly did that wait last, he did not know. Neither did it matter. The more important thing was that he had finally entered his Domain, the blank, empty expanse of darkness, of nothingness. He had yet to comprehend any Mysteries, after all. But that was not his fault. Or maybe it was… But he did not regret it.
Shaking his head to himself, while chuckling to his thoughts, Alnea reached out to the empty darkness of his Domain with his thoughts, and pulled at it, dragging out a golden ring, twice his height, that soon turned into a disc of golden light. A light so bright, that even the darkness of his Domain failed to drown. Not that it was supposed to.
Drifting forwards, Alnea reached towards the disc, physically, and pressed his hands against it, pushing it lightly. Yet the disc acted as if some giant force, like the weight of a mountain, had been pressed against it, forcing it to collapse within itself. However, instead of making way for the darkness around it, around them, the collapsing disc of golden light instead opened the way to world full of bright, and colourful lights. It opened the way to the Origin Sea.