Thinking like this, Illyan felt even more excited.

This thing was perfect for him! At this very moment, he didn’t have the talents, resources, or knowledge to back up his ambitions.

He knew that everything would take a long time and was prepared for it, but he still feared that just effort and time wouldn’t be enough.

Now, though, he was sure that this [Thirteen Layers of Blood Energy] could consolidate his foundation for the future. He believed that once he left this barren land with the right foundation, he would eventually find his own path toward the apex, no matter how much time passed.

‘So these three layers correspond to the Novice Stage that adjusts the body to accommodate the foreign energies… Interesting.’

Thinking so, he started to plan how to begin cultivating this scripture.

At this moment, Illyan’s stage was completely chaotic.

His body strength was around the middle of the Apprentice Stage, but his power was at the peak of this stage.

On the other hand, whether it was mind, mana, or spiritual energy, he was barely at the Novice Stage.

Everyone was gaining their power in a unique way, as there were too many ways to get stronger.

Despite that, there is still a kind of power system built by old sages: thirteen stages and the norm of using mana and mind power to create the Mana Sea, Magic Circuit, and Seat of Consciousness.

Illyan wondered why the power system hadn’t become more developed and felt a strand of suspicion.

But in the end, he couldn’t do anything about it for now, so he focused on himself.

‘I can use this scripture to build my foundation, and from that, I can slowly unify more of the techniques and systems into something mine.’

Despite all of this, Illyan didn’t give up on absorbing everything. It felt as if he wanted to swallow too big of a bite.

But Illyan didn’t fear choking on it.

Whether his stubbornness paid off, only time would tell.

Illyan put the scripture away as he went to train in [The Way of the Body].

From what he understood, since the stages just showed the raw power, you could train in the basic techniques meant for Novices despite being at a much higher stage.

Of course, the stronger one was, the higher the tree on top of the foundation, the more difficult it was to change something at the bottom.

It wasn’t impossible, but it was definitely a difficult and strenuous thing to do.

However, it didn’t apply to completely different power systems.

For example, Illyan could get stronger with the help of mana but could easily start anew with spiritual energy. It would still be more difficult, as the body was molded in some way, but it was still manageable.

The same applied if someone who focused on body tempering decided to learn magic.

And in the first three stages, namely Mortal, Novice, and Apprentice, the foundation was the most malleable.

Because once one reached the Expert Stage through some specialized method, they would metamorphose to a certain extent.

People would usually choose to pursue the Expert Stage through these specialized methods in the fastest manner despite this obvious limitation.

Why? The answer was simple. People found that their strength made a much higher leap of power when one used these methods.

The most important factor, however, was energy recovery.

Worldly energies didn’t recover until they literally became part of one’s being by forever changing the foundation of the body.

Because of all this information, Illyan decided to thoroughly train his power and dispose of most blemishes in his body before he started cultivating this scripture.

Then, he would put all his mind into cultivating each layer as seriously as he could until he reached the peak, where he would decide how to progress further.

He wanted the best foundation he could create. After all, he had as much time as he needed and didn’t have to consider his lifespan like other acolytes…

……..

Days passed slowly as they continued on their way.

Unfortunately, the morale was at its lowest since they met another group of goblins recently. The goblins attacked the rear and managed to hurt some men.

This greatly angered Aziro, as he let his undead soldiers guard the perimeter of the convoy while taking the bodies of goblins for his experiments.

He also harshly punished the scouts who didn’t foresee their enemies and warned others for being useless drags.

Because of that, people were even more stressed than they already were. Not to mention the danger of being ambushed, they also had to be careful around their leader, who held their lives in his hands.

The gloomy atmosphere loomed over the convoy as they carefully marched toward the distant city.

However, Illyan didn’t care about this at all.

He felt that he saw through Ezekiel’s thoughts and believed that no attacks would actually be a threat to the convoy. The only ones falling to these half-hearted ambushes were the weak soldiers.

But this was enough to fulfill the goal Ezekiel had.

At first, Illyan wondered what the goal was, but then realized when he looked at the leaders of this expedition.

Brynjar, the leader of the Blood Heart Gang, was somber, but that didn’t imply anything, as he had acted the same since the beginning.

Varel was also leisurely with his group, even after his son reported to him what happened to him after he climbed the cliff.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Only the vice-mayor and officers were nervous.

But it wasn’t because of Ezekiel. Rather, it was because of Aziro, who became paranoid about everything.

This man seemed to be obsessed with Ezekiel, and this was driving him crazy.

His eyes turned red while he was barking commands at others now and then in an angry tone.

Seeing the man he considered a powerhouse fold like this after such a simple trick made Illyan sigh in disappointment.

“What is the matter, Kaoran?” Korin, who was recently teaching him one-on-one the mysteries of geometry, asked softly.

Illyan pondered what to say but chose to be truthful in the end.

“It is just a shock that someone with such sinister and great powers would be so easily beaten in mental warfare.”

Korin smiled teasingly at Illyan’s honesty.

“You know that saying this out loud could cost you your head, right?”

“Who is gonna tell on me? You?” Illyan cast a side-eye at the man.

“Haha, of course not. You just need to be more careful.” Korin laughed.

At this moment, others were not in the carriage as they were out preparing their dinners around the small fire pit.

Korin, as the head of the group, didn’t need to make his meal himself, while Illyan, who had to treat patients that day, was excluded from the work.

So, they used the opportunity to get into deeper learning. Illyan was like a sponge as he absorbed all the new information.

The more he learned, the more he felt like mathematics was one of the main aspects this world was composed of. He started to see the patterns that no one else noticed and began to use the knowledge in his everyday life.

Especially in medicine creation, as he started to adjust his medicine recipes by using different proportions of herbs and other ingredients.

In the Bakur Tribe, they usually just measured things by eye, which could cause loss of efficacy and even different outcomes. But now, he had proper tools for measurement and could slowly calculate what ratio was best for each recipe, giving him a great sense of accomplishment.

Of course, it was mostly to douse his boredom on his way, as most of his effort went into understanding the [Thirteen Layers of Blood Energy].

He could revise its content whenever he wanted since he remembered each word from that scripture thanks to his mnemonic memory.

While he decided to postpone the cultivation for the time being, he felt that there was much information hidden in that scripture. Aurelia didn’t hide anything, as she wrote her thoughts and the origin of her inspirations when she was creating this scripture.

Everything was written down.

Illyan could once again read about the wondrous lands beyond the Vanaras Kingdom.

The Primal Skull Demon Mountain Range divided the Oberuan Continent in half and was a place where people trained mainly in Blood Energy, or the Forest of Dark Stillness, where people opened their seven apertures to avoid falling victim to any dreadful creature or plant that lived there.

These were the places from which Aurelia drew inspiration to make this scripture, and Illyan loved it.

Reading about these places made him feel almost sad that he still sat here on his bum learning mathematics.

However, Illyan didn’t feel that way for long. In fact, he actually liked this type of lifestyle, where he could leisurely study and experiment in his laboratory.

It was just that the adventurous spirit within him was begging him for some action.

Thankfully, Illyan was sure that these shenanigans of Ezekiel’s now were actually the calm before the storm, as the real stuff would happen once they arrived at the destination.

Thinking so, he scrolled the parchments on mathematics and stood up.

“I am going out for a bit,” he said coolly as he left the caravan.

“Are you hungry that much?” Vanda, who sat in front of the firepit stirring the pot, turned around to smile teasingly.

“I am going to check if there are some people to treat,” Illyan stated curtly.

“These small wounds and diseases could be treated by apprentices, no?” Tami asked curiously.

“Yeah, but I promised one of my friends that I would help out one of the apprentices and show him a bit of my knowledge to broaden his horizon.” Illyan shook his head as he turned away and left promptly.

Vanda snorted cutely while others just waved their hands.

“Come back in an hour for a meal, lest you get to eat it cold!”

After leaving, Illyan went through the camp as he watched the numerous fires being lit up with people sitting close to them, trying to warm themselves.

The leaders didn’t stop them from making fires, as they were sure Ezekiel was aware of them either way.

Not letting soldiers eat warm meals would just hit their morale even more, and that was the last thing they wanted to see.

Along the way, he also visited Cara and Nord, who were reading some parchments.

Cara noticed him and smiled.

“Kaoran! Good to see you!” Cara and Nord nodded in greeting as they smiled.

Illyan noticed that lately, they had become closer together. Always together, always smiling.

It was obvious to him that they were becoming more intimate.

He wasn’t ignorant of this part of life but felt that he didn’t understand it.

Even back then, when Zers met his wife, he couldn’t understand the appeal of it.

So, he guessed this was some deep-rooted problem because of his childhood trauma.

But he was content with it, as he wasn’t distracted by vixens.

Like Vanda, for example.

That girl was always trying something on him.

In the end, he just made some small talk with them before leaving them be.

As he left, he pondered over their words.

The parchments were copies of the books in the library.

They were some records of the city they were visiting.

It was called the City of Dust and Iron, as the place was built mainly to mine iron in the mountains, but its real name was Faruin City.

Illyan absorbed the knowledge of the city that the duo told him as he went toward the patients’ tent.

There, people who were hurt or sick went to get some medicine or rest under the care of physician apprentices.

Once Illyan entered, people inside politely greeted him.

Illyan just nodded as he went toward Aurelia.

It was easy to spot her every time he went looking for her. Her bright red hair made her location almost instantly recognizable.

She was, at this moment, tending to one of the history apprentices who seemed to be sick.

When he came to her, she didn’t even turn her head and continued working.

Illyan didn’t mind. Instead, he took some of the needles and asked:

“What is the illness?”

“Lastur illness,” Aurelia said expressionlessly as she looked at Illyan.

Illyan handed her the needle.

“On her neck, there are several acupoints. Considering the illness, I believe that once you put pressure on them in quick succession, it would relieve the patient’s pain.”

Illyan said calmly.

Aurelia stopped for a moment as she pondered this option. Then her eyes shone.

“That might work.” She immediately tried it on the man, who was already unconscious.

Normally, it wouldn’t be good for either of them to experiment on their patients with newfound knowledge, but Illyan didn’t really care for the patient’s well-being.

He didn’t know if Aurelia felt the same way, but he could feel the confidence emanating from her as she worked with the needle.

‘She is even more precise than me, despite not learning [The Way of the Body].’ Illyan felt dejected when he started to teach her for the first time.

The moment he taught her something, it was immediately absorbed by her without any problem. She was what he considered a genius.

Illyan stared in awe.

However, as she started to prick the acupoints, she began to hum a soothing song that made Illyan nostalgic.

On the other hand, she suddenly became more focused as she started to pierce the needle into the patient.

Illyan watched as he listened to the sometimes fast and sometimes slow song, feeling as if he were flying.

She was humming in a low voice so others didn’t hear, but Illyan heard every change in her humming. The song was almost perfect but, at the same time, felt extremely discordant, which should have ruined the song but made it even more unique.

Eventually, she stopped as she finished.

Illyan, who was in the afterglow, suddenly woke up.

“That’s a good song. What is the name?” Illyan asked curiously. He hadn’t heard it before.

“It doesn’t have a name. I just started humming this when I was younger to remind myself that sometimes less is more,” she said with a small smile.

Illyan felt his mouth dry up. ‘Of course, she made it…’

In the end, he showed her some other acupoints and what he found about them before rushing back to his group. They didn’t talk much, but Illyan felt that her humming of that song made him understand her more than before.

He could understand what she meant by ‘less is more.’

He didn’t know exactly what power she had, but he knew it was of immense usefulness just from reading the scripture.

If she really could see imperfection, then the obvious result would be her trying to remedy it and turn everything around to perfection.

But nothing is perfect. And trying to achieve that would just end in failure.

Thus, she made imperfect songs that kept her mind calm.

But Illyan felt the song was already perfect, as he remembered his days when he wondered about the value of life.

Life was valuable because it was limited.

Did that mean that his own life was worthless?

No, it wasn’t.

His gift was just like hers. It gave him something others could only envy, but it also took some things from him. Illyan had to accept this imperfect life to truly live to the fullest.

Feeling his mind lighter, Illyan felt a little enlightened as, unknowingly, the Mind Power in his head stirred as he condensed another droplet without using the Mind Strengthening Runes…