章 41: Chapter 41

"What is it? Naz asked curiously.

Agathe's expression turned into a face of excitement after being asked about her discoveries.

"This thing is different from any other creature that I, or probably any person, have ever met. Air-cutting mantis can create air slashes thanks to the incredible fast movements of their arms, but that's not the case with this beast. " Agathe explained.

"Is it not an air-cutting mantis then?" Naz asked.

"It is, and at the same time, it is not. It had abilities almost identical to those of the other air-cutting mantis, but their functioning is completely different. While the normal air-cutting mantis uses their physical strength to create their attacks, this beast's physical power uses energy to create its attacks and to empower its sharpness. As far as I understand, using that method allowed it to lose physical might without losing its offensive capacities, so it received other benefits from its breakthroughs. That's why we had such a difficult time hurting it: it got a much better exoskeleton than it should have for its species in exchange for physical might. " Agathe explained.

"So, because that thing was capable of using martial arts, it got better armor?" Naz asked while tilting his head.

"It is not exactly martial arts, but yes. The idea is pretty similar, but it is something natural to its body, so it could use it as soon as it becomes a part of it. What is more, I have confirmed my theory that the key to that technique is in its arms. It seems like it has evolved to be able to convert energy into something new with different characteristics. " Agathe explained. "It is almost as if it is a completely new kind of energy on its own. I still need to do a lot of testing, but I think that if I manage to learn how the conversion works, cultivators could adapt that new kind of energy to their cultivation techniques and attacks to make them stronger and for them to gain new kinds of effects. "

"Wow, it looks like you have found something pretty interesting," Naz replied with a smile. "Well, if at any point you feel like you need to rest, just know that we are having a party outside and that you can join us whenever you want.

"I still have to do some work, but if I have some time later, I may go out for a bit," Agathe said as she politely refused Naz's offering.

"Ok, it's fine. Have luck with those experiments. " Naz said before leaving the room.

After he left, Agathe continued with her test.

She tried to use her energy to impregnate the arms of the beast with it, and when she did that, she felt how the energy changed its characteristics completely. She continued doing that until she produced enough of that new energy to be able to use some of her spells.

Concentrating her mind on the energy, she created a ball with it. She compressed the ball all she could, as she did when creating an energy projectile, and when she felt that it was ready, she threw it at a chair that was in the room.

The amount of energy that she used was not very large, so the damage shouldn't be too large, but when the ball collided with the piece of furniture, it suddenly went flying toward the wall, breaking completely.

When she saw this, she approached the pieces of the chair and examined them. Usually, an energy projectile like that would burn a bit on the surface of the chair and most likely make it fall to the ground, but instead of that, she found that the projectile made the furniture fly much more, and instead of being burnt, a few little cuts had appeared on the wood.

Seeing this, she continued testing how that new energy reacted to her manipulation and even tried to create the air slashes using the mantis's arms like a sword, which she achieved after a few tries.

"Maybe I could even try and cultivate this energy." Agathe thought for a moment.

She thought about that idea for a few minutes, evaluating the pros and cons that it could bring to her, but in the end, her curiosity was stronger than her possible fears, so she took the mantis' arm in her hands and began to transform the energy around her before using it to cultivate.

At first, everything looked like it was cultivating with normal energy, but she didn't give up. She felt that she was about to make the greatest discovery of her entire life: if she managed to learn how to control that new kind of energy better or even managed to create it herself, it would mean a significant boost to every cultivator's combat power, and her name would be recorded in the story as the young genius that achieved that feat.