章節 4: Energy Training

Matt woke up some undetermined amount of time later. Though he continued to feel groggy and tired, he knew every second counted. In his past life, he had learned somewhere that even at the 32-week mark of pregnancy, babies still spend 90-95% of their time asleep. He didn't know how devil biology differed from a human's, but he doubted the difference would be great enough to allow for vast amounts of training time in the womb, particularly when he was only roughly 16 weeks developed.

(System, how do I use the energy sensing and manipulation manuals? I'm assuming I don't have to physically summon and read them, right?) He could only imagine how horrible it would be if a fat manual were summoned with him in the womb. Not a pretty picture.

[Similar to the eidetic memory ability you gained yesterday, skills resulting from either scrolls or manuals may be integrated directly into your being.]

(Will I gain full mastery of it then?)

[Negative. You gained complete use of eidetic memory upon obtaining it because it is an ability. You either have it or you don't, there is no leveling it up.]

[Skill scrolls always contain less rare skills. While such skills may be powerful if used properly, they fall short of the power that can be used by skills found in manuals. The lesser power and complexity of such skills is what allows them to be integrated at a level above 1. The awarded level on a skill scroll is determined by the gacha, meaning your singing skill at level 100 is rare in and of itself.]

[For manuals, because their skill possess such potential, they will only ever be obtained at a level of one. It falls to the user to uncover the knowledge and reveal the paths that lead to full use of the skill and its power.]

(Hmmm, alright then. In that case, please integrate both skill manuals. Oh, and might as well do the singing skill at the same time.)

[Understood. Be advised that you will experience a brief amount of pain as the skills are integrated.]

Pain lanced through his head. It wasn't as bad as when he got eidetic memory, but it was still severe enough to cause his tiny body to jerk and flail around.

Knowledge flood his brain. He gained access to the very rudimentary information about sensing and control. Simultaneously, he gained a complete knowledge of singing and was amazed at how in depth and intricate the skill really was. Pitch, rhythm, breathing, voice, and diction were all deeply profound.

However, the level 100 skill singing skill did not just consist of perfect knowledge. Matt also felt his vocal cords develop a bit more, beings strengthened and changed to give him more control over it. He somehow knew that his vocal cords would develop faster than other children and youth and that he could come into his true voice at a younger age.

Then the pain and flood of information ceased, everything being integrated.

As his mind cleared, he could once again sense the anxiety of his mother. Unfortunately, he could only smile wryly at all the problems he was causing her.

Fully calming himself, Matt proceeded to sift through and organize the information about energy sensing and manipulation. Being the very basics and therefore what all devil children were taught at a young age, there was actually very little information and it only took him several minutes to memorize it all.

That is not to say, however, that the information was not valuable. It was. Extremely. Concentrating, he began to practice what he had learned.

First, he had to extend his sensing to feel the energy within himself.

Though he felt that 'extending his senses' was a very ambiguous instruction, he did his best. Focusing his mind, he paid attention to what every part of his body was feeling, from his head to his toes. He felt the warmth and comfort from being in a womb. He felt a general lack of control of his muscles. He felt his own weakness.

But finally, as his consciousness sunk deeper into experiencing what his body was feeling, he felt something new. In his mind's eye he saw tiny particles of light, highly energized, roaming around his body. These tiny, excited lights had a variety of colors, though most of them had a shade of crimson.

Continuing to observe what he knew to be demonic energy, he found that while the energy could be found in all parts of his body, there were certain paths they tended to follow. And, towards the center of his body he found a pool of energy. Matt knew that these were what eastern cultures called one's meridians and dantian.

Matt then reached out his senses and consciousness and brushed up against a crimson light of demonic energy. Upon contact, he received a shock as his mind became more exhilarated. Surprised at the reaction, he retreated from the energy and observed it for a bit more.

Determining the feeling hadn't caused anything negative, he reached out to it once more and kept in contact with it. His mind initially felt the exhilaration once more, but slowly began to acclimate to it.

Upon feeling in control of his senses, he then proceeding to try controlling the energy. He nudged it in the along the path of his meridians. He exercised clumsy control at first, but as seconds turned into minutes, he managed to navigate the small ball of demonic energy around his body at a consistent speed. When he felt comfortable with his control of it, he finally dragged it into his dantian and released it, adding it to the existing pool.

At this point, he felt some mental exhaustion and knew he would fall asleep soon. However, he still wanted to attempt sensing and manipulating the energy outside his body.

Extending his senses beyond himself, he searched for the lights of demonic energy. Being new at this, his untrained senses could only reach so far beyond his body. But, when he looked around at his surroundings, he was shocked.

His whole vision lit up!

Thousands upon thousands of energy lights surrounded him, dancing around in the womb. Almost all of them were red. It was practically blinding.

It was at that moment he reflected more upon his mother's background. She was Venelana. Though the anime never spoke much about her, he had read in some wiki sites that she carried the name of Brown-haired Ruin Princess. Being from the Bael clan, she had a strong innate talent for destructions magic, a gene she passed down to Sirzech and Rias and hopefully himself.

Matt knew destruction magic had a crimson coloring. Therefore, he could only assume all the surrounded red demonic energy was tied to that magic and represented Venelana's power.

Delving his senses into the red energy surrounding his body, he quickly found an even more condensed area of energy which connected himself to his mother. His umbilical cord. Beyond the physical nutrients it carried to him, Matt was interested to see another tract built into it that specifically carried energy.

As he further inspected it, however, he found that the energy channel was constricted, making it difficult for demonic energy to pass through into his body. Metaphorically scrunching his brow in concentration, he grabbed a piece of demonic energy and carefully pressed it against the constriction.

There was no reaction.

He put more and more force behind the energy and saw the constriction ease up slightly.

At this point, he was exhausted and could already feel sleep coming. So, making one last effort, Matt put everything he had behind pushing the energy through the opening and into him.

(Go, damn you!)

The constriction opened and the demonic energy passed through, entering the pathways of his meridians.

Giving a large sigh, he performed one more scan of the area and pleasantly found that the constriction was permanently loosened and the flow from the umbilical cord to himself had been established. The flow was extremely slow – probably so that it wouldn't overload his body – but he was happy knowing that his body could passively increase its energy while in the womb.

Withdrawing his senses, he called out, (Status.)

The system called up the status screen.

==========

Name: Matthew McKnight (temporary)

Age: Unborn

Race: Pure-blood Devil

Rank: Gremory Clan (Duchy) – High-class Devil

Health: 11/11

Energy: 3/24

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ABILITIES

Eidetic Memory

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SKILLS

Energy Sensing Lv. 2

Energy Manipulation Lv. 2

Singing Lv. 100

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EQUIPMENT

None

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GACHA TICKETS

Ordinary: 0

Premium: 0

Special: 0

==========

He was happy to see his energy and skill growth. The process had been very exciting to Matt, and though the progress had been small, but it was progress nonetheless. Besides, he knew that he would steadily become more proficient and the gains would become greater over time.

Satisfied, Matt fell asleep.