Drifting in the Serenity of his Heart, Alnea instinctively knew when his Spirit Power had recovered to its peak. A total of two hundred and fifty three units, or twenty five units according to the standards of the False Rank. An improvement of around ten units in ten days, with two bottlenecks in between. Much greater improvement than what he had thought he would make.
Some of that improvement came from the Mystery he had comprehended. That had come as a pleasant surprise. He had not known that comprehending Mysteries could increase his Spirit Power. His master had not told him about it earlier, because she did not think that he would be able to comprehend a Mystery just seven days after reaching the False Rank. Most of the improvement though, had come from the Art of Spirit Rebirth, and his constant battles.
Ten days of constant battles, constant searching of prey, without becoming a prey himself, with barely any rest in between, had put immense pressure on him, both mentally, and physically. And though that physical pressure had yet to show any noticeable, or tangible result, the mental pressure had started showing its effects right from the first day.
Spirits, after all, were inextricably linked with the realm of thoughts, and consciousness. As for how that worked, he did not know. Neither did he need to know. He still had so much of his foundations to fill. Why would he care about such advanced problems, which even Grand, and Supreme Wanderers often argued about?
In any case, suffering from constant mental pressure had allowed him to increase his Spirit Power at an even greater rate than before. Not directly, of course. He still had to keep Forging his Spirit with the Art of Spirit Rebirth. And before he knew it, his Spirit Power was already at the Third Level of the Initial Stage, inching towards the Fourth Stage.
However, Spirit Power was just one of the things that he had to focus on. After all, he did not wish to become like the Wanderers who just had a higher Spirit Power, but no corresponding abilities. What would be the difference between him, and the Seeds in that case? And so, as he felt his Spirit Power reach its peak, Alnea reached towards the golden, black thread connecting his Spirit to the Origin Sea, and pulled on it, travelling through it to reach his Domain.
A dark, and mostly empty world, with just a small cloud of dark blue Oren drifting in that darkness. For the moment, that was. Soon, he would be comprehending another Mystery, and would then be able condense another cloud of Oren, transforming his Domain once again. Doing that, of course, was not necessary in any way. All it did was give him assurance that his comprehension of the Mystery was recognised by the Origin Sea. And that he would not be devoured by the Origin Sea if he tried to interpret into an Arcana. Probably.
The Origin Sea could still devour him if he made some mistakes, or was too overconfident of himself. But once the Origin Sea had approved of his comprehension of the Mysteries, it would become much easier to interpret it into Arcanas. Still, that was not strictly needed. One could even try to create Arcanas without comprehending the Mysteries. The end result would almost certainly be that of the Wanderers getting devoured, but there was nothing stopping them from trying it.
However, other than experimenting with the Mysteries, there was another reason why transforming Domains was necessary. Otherwise, why would Wanderers needlessly risk their lives? His master may not have told him about it yet, but Alnea could guess. It probably had something to do with advancing on the path of Wanderers. Especially after the True Rank. It may even be one of the major reasons why there were no Origin Wanderers yet. But such hurdles were not enough to stop him. Rather, his guess only made him more confident of creating a path to the Rank of Origin Wanderers.
After all, his Oaths could strengthen his Roots indefinitely. Or at least he had yet to encounter a ceiling for its growth. And though he had begun to cut back on his Oaths, getting exceedingly cautious in taking them, he still took them whenever he could. Like when training with his sword. Even though the strengthening effect to his Roots from those Oaths was minimal, it was there. Bit by bit, he was strengthening his Roots every day, ceaselessly strengthening his Domain.
In any case, his Domain would not prove to be a hurdle when he would have to cross the bottleneck to the Origin Rank. Or so Alnea believed. As for the other barriers to the Origin Rank, he would find a way to overcome them as well. Because he had already taken an Oath to do so. And he was Alnea Oathkeeper. He always kept his Oaths. Besides, both his master, and Yuri had said that they would help him with creating a path to the Rank of Origin Wanderer. So, what did he have to be afraid of?
Tearing his eyes away from the cloud of Oren, Alnea reached into the depths of his Domain, and pulled on the door that existed in the realm of thoughts, and will, bringing it into existence in front of him. A blazing golden light, that pierced through the darkness of Domain, before coalescing into a giant ring, roughly twice his height, which in time, soon turned into a giant golden disc, as the light from the ring bled inwards into the ring, meeting at its centre, to form the door the Origin Sea.
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The door was not yet open though. So, he drifted towards the door, towards the giant disc, and pushed his against it. Very lightly, as if he was just brushing it. But that light touch was enough. Moments later, all the light of disc, except for that at its edge, collapsed in on itself, disappearing without a trace, to reveal a world that lay beyond the ring, on the other side of the giant hole in his Domain. The Origin Sea.
“Is everything alright out there?”
“Don’t worry,” Yuri said. “No Beasts have come within two hundred metres of the cave. What about you? Your Spirit Power should have recovered by now. Are you about to begin your Wandering?”
“Yes,” Alnea said, as he looked at the countless Aspects, swirling around on the other side of the gate, rushing around, some crashing into each other, while others were just simply being on their way. “Yes, I am.”
“Then what are you doing worrying about me?”
“Am I not allowed to worry about you anymore?”
“…Fool, go and do your job. Go, Wander the Origin Sea.”
“Alright, I will be on my way,” Alnea said, and stepped into the Origin Sea, the world where everything began, even the concept of existence itself, or so it was said. Alnea did not know if that was true or not—it most probably was— but the Origin Sea surely did have all the sensations that were possible in existence, along with those that did not exist as well. And the moment he stepped into the Origin Sea, all of them assaulted his senses.
Already used to them though, he took only a few moments to reorient himself. Especially since his Heart had just evolved a little. The sensations were still a little annoying, especially when they overlapped with each other, ruining some of his good memories, but they were not enough to ruin his Serenity. They were not enough to break past the love he had for the people in his Heart. They were not enough for the love—
Alnea stopped himself from going further down that train of thought, suppressing it inside his Heart, before moving towards the greater depths of the Origin Sea. Before he could move even a single step though, the Aspects all noticed his presence, and came rushing towards him, greeting him in their usual excited manner, playing with him, teasing him, taunting him, daring him.
Bound by his Oath, and compelled by his Heart, he laughed along with the Aspects, and swam around the Origin Sea, signing songs, making poems, doing all sorts of things he could. Sometimes, he even teamed up with a few Aspects to make fun of a group of other Aspects, only to have those group of Aspects chase them around. At other times, he was the one being made fun of, and as their play dictated, chased after them to have his revenge. It was only after nearly a hundred units of his Spirit Power had been expended that he came to a stop, looking at the Aspects with a reluctant, but a determined smile.
“It is time,” Alnea said. “My Heart has evolved a little. As such, I was thinking of Wandering a little further in the Origin Sea. I will need my Spirit Power for that though, so we will have to stop our play here today.”
WANDERING THE ORIGIN SEA.
IT IS A MUST.
TO KEEP YOUR OATH.
TO BE OATHKEEPER.
YOU MUST WANDER.
WE UNDERSTAND.
BUT YOU MUST COME TOMORROW.
TOMORROW, WE PLAY ONCE AGAIN.
“We will,” Alnea said, chuckling at the Aspects, before beginning to Wander into the Origin Sea. Into the depths of the countless sensations attacking his senses, trudging deeper, and deeper into the endless layers of Oren. The more he Wandered, the greater the pressure his Spirit, and his Heart had to bear. The deeper he went into the Origin Sea, the more his Spirit Power drained.
Yet Alnea braved it all, and accepted everything with an open Heart. With his Heart, evolved, with his thoughts, and resolve. With his desires, and selfishness. With his master, and the two girls he—
A pressure so great, that it shook his Spirit itself, hit Alnea, breaking him out of his trance. No, not a trance, but just a special state where he was examining himself, and his Heart. However, it looked like the Origin Sea did not like him being so blatantly arrogant in his Wanderings. So, the moment he was about gain some inspiration in his Heart, it sent down a Mystery on him. One that did not play by the rules, and attacked him the moment it manifested.
No, the Origin Sea would never have allowed that. So, what the Mystery did was within the rules. But that did not make sense. The Mystery should not have affected him unless he interacted with it. But it did affect him. So much so, that it even jolted his Heart. How could that have happened? Unless…
Alnea reached deep within himself, and as he had expected, his Roots, the golden black thread connecting his Spirit with the Origin Sea, was releasing a golden glow, resonating with the Mystery around him, confirming his guess. The Mystery that had manifested was around him was from the lineage of Day. And it was related to his Roots.