Normal ripple like waves, followed by waves of rotating boxes, which would then burst open from the inside by oscillating circular waves, only for the circles themselves to be broken apart, and return the waves to how they were. This was the original combination of the waves that he had used to summon the Mystery, the waves that he had comprehended from the Mystery.

Of them, as Alnea understood, the first set of waves were responsible for the effect of using the thoughts of his enemies to break into their memories, while the second set of waves were responsible for twisting those memories into something beyond recognition, creating a crack in the Heart of his enemies. As for the illusion, it came from the effect of the third set of waves, the oscillating circles. It was obvious that the best effects from the Mystery would come if all three effects were displayed one after another, like a chain reaction.

Unfortunately, that was not how Arcanas worked. Glyphs, maybe, but not Arcanas. If he were to use all three waves, and in consequence, their effects, in his Arcana, then let alone twist the memories of enemies, and drag them into illusions, he would not even be able to break into their thoughts. The next best course of action, as logic dictated, should have been to focus on the three types of waves individually, and create three different Arcanas from them, each focussing on the three different parts of the Mystery.

Logic, however, was not always correct. After all, it was not like he could use just one set of waves, and give up on the rest. His attempts at summoning the Mystery with just one set of waves had taught him what would happen if he were to not use the three waves at the same time. Making use of the Mystery must also have similar restrictions. Thus, the only way to interpret the Mystery, most probably, was to use all three waves together, in a cycle.

Though, if he really wished to, he could still create three different Perfect Grade Arcanas from the Mystery, but that would be overreaching himself. Something that both, his master, and Yuri had warned him about. But it was not like he would have done something so stupid even if they had not warned him. He knew the importance of laying a strong foundation, and progressing step by step. That was what he had been doing for the past year. Improving step by, step.

So, this time as well, Alnea decided to first create an Arcana, and worry about improving its Grade, or creating new Arcanas later. Of course, that did not mean that he would use the most stupid, and direct way of interpreting the Mystery. Even if he was being careful, he could still do experiments. That would not be akin to overreaching himself… Probably... As long as he did not go too far with his experiments.

And so, Alnea reached out to the Oren around him, which were beating in the rhythm of the Mystery, with the intention of making variation to those waves. After all, that was the only method of manipulating Mysteries that he knew of. There could be other, more advanced methods, but he had yet to learn them. And needless experimenting in the Origin Sea would be suicidal. So, for the moment, he had to stick to what his master had taught him.

Reaching out to the Oren around him, Alnea increased the intensity of the ripple like waves, while lowering the intensity of the other waves, while ensuring that their rhythm remained constant. It was not easy, and consumed much more Spirit Power than what interacting with the Mystery had cost. But that was to be expected. After all, he was not just interacting with the Mystery, he was experimenting with it. It was only natural for him to pay a greater price. One that affected not just his Spirit Power, but also his Heart. And… his…. thoughts….

For… some… reasons… his… thoughts… slowed… down… No… not… his… thoughts… plain… good… boxed… not… good… circle… very… bad… plain… good… thoughts… break… plain… keep… keep…

Ernith rubbed his head, glaring at his mother. Was she teaching him about keeping a secret? Should he tell her that he had kept a secret from everyone for more than six years, and how dumb she was for trying to teach him how to keep a secret? Or so Ernith thought, until he saw the look in her eyes. After that, he decided to keep quiet. She may be a little dumb, but she was still stronger than him. For now. Not that he would fight her when he grew stronger. He loved her too much for—

Alnea pulled himself away from the memory before the Origin Sea could twist it, and drag him into an illusion. Though from how easy extricating himself from the memory had been, he did not think that it would have taken much for him to extricate himself from the illusion, if he would have even been pulled into one. Shaking his head, he thought about the experiment that he had just done.

The combination of waves he had just tried, as he had expected, mostly targeted thoughts. Instead of just breaking through them into memories though, it looked like it could also slow down thoughts. But it had taken too much time to reach that combination. And all that time for just slowing down the thoughts of his enemies… Unless he was fighting in groups, it would not be worth it. And if his enemies were so strong that he needed to face them in a group, then the interpretation would probably not even work. So, no matter how he looked, the interpretation could only be deemed as failure.

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The failure of his experiment did not bring down his mood though. He had faced many failures in life. One more failure was nothing. Besides, he had not even intended on creating an Arcana focussed on breaking through the thoughts of his enemies. What was he even going to do with those thoughts? Tease his enemies?

The only reason he had even bothered to try out the ripple like waves first was because he was trying it out to see how experimenting with the Mystery would feel like. That was the least invasive part of the Mystery after all. And since he was done experimenting with it, Alnea chose to move on with his second experiment. Increasing the intensity of the box like waves, while lowering the intensity of the other waves.

In consequence, as he had expected, he did not feel his thoughts being slowed down at all. In fact, he did not even feel like his thoughts were being broken through. That made him wonder about how the Mystery will dig into his memories then. Without his thoughts as the breaking point, where was the Mystery going to find an entry point into his memories? And if it could not dig into any memories, then how was it going to twist it? Was it even going to twist his memories?

Why did it need to twist his memories though? What was even the point of digging into memories? What were even memories in the first place? Just mere snippets of life… Records of the past… So, in essence, were they like Mysteries of Time? Had he somehow, while trying to create an Arcana, comprehended a Mystery of time? He—

Alnea barely managed to pull himself away from the effects of Mystery before it could twist his thoughts any further. At the same time, he also got his answer. Unable to dig into his memories, the Mystery had just chosen to twist his thoughts instead. A much dangerous alternative than just slowing down the thoughts of his enemies.

Still, that was not the effect he was looking for either. Though twisting the thoughts of his enemies would be a good way to distract them, it would probably not do much against them if they were aware of his attacks, or had a strong enough mental fortitude. Not to mention that his Arcana would be probably useless against enemies stronger than himself. Besides, if his enemies were Oren Beasts, and Thralls, then what good would twisting their thoughts be anyway?

So, in the end, Alnea had to go in for another experiment. He did not have much Spirit Power left. Just about thirty units or so. Normally, with such low amount of Spirit Power, he would have begun heading back to his Domain. Thankfully, this time, for safety reason, and having foreseen the expense of his Spirit Power early, he had chosen to experiment right beside the entrance to his Domain. As long as the experiment did not completely dry out his Spirit Power, he was not afraid of being stranded within the Origin Sea.

Of course, experimenting within the shallow regions of the Origin Sea had its own downsides as well. Like difficulty in connecting with the Mystery, or vagueness in experiencing the effects of the Mystery. But Alnea knew his limits. Even though he could be reckless at times, he knew when to control himself… in most cases.

Anyways, after making sure that his Heart was still in its Serene State, he reached towards the layer of Oren closest to him, and began manipulating it once again, this time, choosing to increase the intensity of the oscillating circles, while waiting for the Mystery to take its effect. The effect that he had been looking forward to the most. An illusion. Even if it was a psychological one, just the thought of being able to entrap his enemies in illusions, before finishing them off, made him feel a little smug about himself.

However, the smug smile from his face soon vanished when he noticed that nothing had happened. Despite him having waited long enough for his Spirit Power to almost run dry, nothing had happened. He had failed, once again. This was not his first time failing in experiments. But somehow, this failure hit him more any other failure ever had.

Was it because his Spirit Power was low? He was feeling extremely lethargic. The headache that was beginning to mount was not helping him either. And adding his failure to his current state only made him feel more miserable. Where had he gone wrong? Where exactly had he failed?

Failure was expected. But not learning from failure was not. Yet he did not even know why he had failed… Did that not mean that he would not be learning from his failure? That he would not be acceptable? That he… would be cast off? Would his master abandon him? And Yuri…? Would she abandon him too? After all, he could not even create an Arcana… Big sis Serena had already abandoned him… and so had his mother… in the end, even Cecilia would abandon him. And he would be—

Alnea opened his eyes, panting heavily, while hastily withdrawing away from the influence of the Mystery, before letting it dissipate back into the Origin Sea. When had he fallen in the illusion? Was it when he had begun doubting himself? Or was everything an illusion to begin with? Alnea shook his head, tearing himself away from his thoughts. The experiment… it could be regarded as a success.

However, that success had come at the price of draining almost all of his Spirit Power. He could not afford to stay in the Origin Sea any longer. And so, after bidding a quick farewell to the Aspects, he made his way back into his Domain. Back to a place where he could finally relax, and think about all that he had experienced. And also, about what his experiences implied.

He still had to decide how to employ the Mystery against his enemies, and of course, conduct some fine tuning, before he could connect all three stages together to form a whole, but the most difficult parts were over. In essence, he had all, but already created his first Arcana. He, Alnea Oathkeeper, had finally become an Arcanist.