章節 53: The Power Of A Divine Body
"Have you gotten grasp of your vision yet? It must be really hard being able to see in all direction while not being able to close your vision, even if you wanted to." Juilam said while looking at me apologetically.
"oh no, that part is completely fine. I'm getting a grasp of the vision thing. My body on the other had has changed a little too much. I'm a whole 2 inches taller than before all of a sudden while my physique is far from being normal. I try to walk normally and I accidentally lunge towards something without even realising it. Having new senses doesn't help either" I groaned while trying to take one step at a time, on top of an elevated platform 6 inches wide and 100 meters long.
"You should keep trying to use your body as if it is normal. I don't want you to keep feeling like your body isn't yours for too long. You only have 7 weeks left after all." replied the white winged wolf while walking away from me.
While Juilam was doing whatever he did for most of the day, I kept trying to walk to the far side of the long planform before failing again and falling face first. This carried on for a few days as I would try to walk and move like I used to, when the sun is high, while trying to comprehend my new mana.
Another week passed by and I slowly started to get the hang of things with moving like I used to before my awakening. On the other hand, my divine energy comprehension had gone down the sh*thole, as I'm not even able to draw out the energy without it dissipating instantly. At a certain point, Juilam had told me to mould my new body to have fighting reflexes, like dodging or foot work.
Since my body was practically brand new, it would be easy to engrave new teaching into the muscle memory. Not only did my muscle memories of my first life get completely deleted, me second try at forming muscle memory had been wiped too, making have to start from scratch once again.
"Don't worry about it too much! I heard that the second time is a lot easier than the first since you already have a lot of experience and knowledge when it comes to fighting the second time." Juilam chimed into my thoughts, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking of.
Wait what? People go through this too? Well, I hope his right! I thought the first time I lost my muscle memory was bad, due to my new body mass and body type as well as sex of the vessel, and it was extremely hard to form the same muscle memories that my last vessel had. Since nothing but my slightly abnormal growth has changed, I should be fine, hopefully...
Me and Juilam sparred together until sunset. My body was extremely rusty, if not even unusable for a real fight. There were too many wasted movements even I could see, while the skill with my sword was more than halved. When I finally gave up at sunset, we decided to enhance my learning speed of learning how to use my new awakened mana. I hadn't told Juilam that it was Divine mana, but I was pretty sure he already knew.
Suddenly, after a few hours of trying to refine and control the divine energy to run through my mana veins, Juilam stopped me to state something horrifying.
"What do you mean I can't become stronger?! How the f*ck do expect me to become dependent of my own strength if I can't even increase it" I preached
"I didn't say permanently dumbass" was the phrase that made me heave a sigh of relief, before he continued by saying "I'm saying your strength will not increase until you at least hit your adolescence years if not the end of your growth spurt. This might seem like a curse, but this might be a blessing in disguise than an actual curse."
"Let's be honest. Humans are physically weaker than you by a large margin unless they have found some body refining techniques to put them at the same level as us. Yet, I'm pretty sure any capable mage would beat you in a fight of magic. What I'm trying to say is, instead of increasing your power to become stronger, you can improve your technique and movements to do so." Juilam continued
"So you are saying instead of trying to increase the power of my attacks, I should first learn to control that power... Makes sense. I have been having a hard time with the whole swordsmanship thing since I couldn't use all my body strength against humans, and now that I awakened, I don't even want to imagine how hard it would become" I whimpered while getting up, losing balance and falling a*s first on the floor.
"Yes, that is what I mean. The reason this is happening is because the flame within you is stopping your growth as to not destroy your body of you become any stronger. I think instead of trying to use your new power, for now see should refine the basics. Can you still use normal magic?" Juilam asked, turning his head to look at me while he was walking out of his cave.
"Yeah. I have around 4 times more mana than before. I should be able to make really strong spells with this so I should be able to hold out for a while" I said with a smirk on my face
"Well, I was able to forge an item able to supress your mana. I want you to wear it until you go back home. Is that understood?" He sneered, looking at my smug grin
"HUH? Wait what?! WHY!?" I shouted in disbelief
"I told you before. I don't want you to rely on having more mana than someone else or getting a timely boost in strength like against Phoebe from before. You should know that better than anyone else, shouldn't you?" Snarled the white winged wolf before he continued by lecturing "If you were more efficient with your use of mana, you would have been able to kill him immediately after you got the earth element. Yet not only were you not able to beat him with the earth element, but you failed with everything else too! Any air element user knows they should take the air out from around a fire element beast to extinguish flames!"
"YES YES! I understand! Now please stop bullying me!" I asked with an apologetic tone
"I'm not doing this out of amusement. I'm doing this so you will not fall in the same trap as you did this time. I want you to live a long and secure life, maybe longer than you would expect" He declared before winking at me.
hmm? Is he saying I'm going to live longer because I'm a Divine being?
"Okay sure, I'll do what you say, but eill you be teaching me to use magic now? like earth magic?" I questioned
"Of course, why else would you still be here" He snorted before saying "You should get ready for your earth element training. Your body has been refined enough but you must have a sturdy mental strength and fortitude since those are slightly lacking. You must have precision and confidence before you can use earth magic to it's full extent. Only then, can you understand how earth magic really works, how every sediment moves and reacts isntead of clumping a bunch of lava together and hoping for the best."
When Juilam had finished his speech, he was half way out of the cave before he flapped his wings and flew straight into the air.
For the next week, Juilam put me through the most mind breaking tasks, from beating the crap out of me just to heal me a second later, to isolating me within a room, 2 meters cubed, completely dark and without sound other than my own breathing, my heart beat and even the valves within my veins contracting.
On one of those days, I decided to ask the question plaguing my mind. I knew the answer, but speculating and getting an actual an actual answer were two different things.
"You know right? About the golden aura..." I asked with a deadpan expression on my face
"Yes I do, but I'm sure you don't understand it all. Don't ask me about it though, I know about just as much as you do."
"So you know about the divine aura?" I asked
"Yes. I wasn't planning on telling you anything about it if you weren't ready to open up about it, but now that you have, I'll tell you one thing. Even though you cannot stop your Divine Aura from seeping out, you can still supress it to a certain amount." He stated
"So, do you also feel it? I mean the pressure when you are near me?" I asked with a sceptical look
"Yes, but it is way too weak to work on anyone other than those who have never fought before or refined their body. I'm willing to teach you a little trick though after you finish with your mental training."
"Sure" I said, walking back to the cave.
"Oh wait, since you have gotten the hang of your body, I have a task for you." Juilam stated while moving in front of me
"What is it?" I asked with a groan.
"Don't pout about this! This is training too! Take this mask and guard the perimeters of the white paw tribe's land. I want you to keep beasts and animals out with your killing intent while keeping humans out with either the same method or with talking with them. If the beast is intelligent, use the same method you would use with humans. However, the moment any of them pass the perimeters, I want you to kill them!"
"..."
YES! Free meals!
I grinned wildly before declaring with a warm smile "Don't worry, I wont let a single living being get passed me!" before grabbing the pitch black mask and putting it on.
The moment I put it on, I could feel as if it had connected with me and according to all my senses, it had grown a few golden streaks from the eyes holes going to the edges as if they were cracks.
I held the Light Brigade within my hands while turning it into two long sword and putting them on my belt. The rings and bracelet turned into my 'soul catcher' gloves before forming sharp claws on the tip.
"That reminds me..." Juilam sighed and continuing "For being a divine being, your trinkets are really weak"
"Trinkets my a*s! These are the best weapons I have!" I complained, wiping the warm smile off my face
"You will need better weapons in the future that can handle your divine mana. These 'weapons' will deteriorate faster than you can blink when you use your full power" chuckled Juilam at my misery
"Yeah, sure... What ever you say dude!" I sneered while walking towards the perimeters of the forest.
I spent most of my days within the perimeters shadow boxing and practicing the swinging of my sword. I would train my movement by jumping from tree to tree and looking and using my divine senses to find anyone. My eyes were still bandaged and there was a whole mask on my face, yet it didn't impede my vision on bit.
I had slowly started to become less nauseated the more I used my 360° vision and moved around at high speeds, yet the speed I was recovering at was simply too slow, which was the reason Juilam had decided to put me in the real world, to fight real fights.
Animals would usually stroll in before being repelled by killing intent. Beasts would either stroll in casually and either be deterred by my killing intent or my voice that would seemingly come from all sides.
However, today seemed to be slightly different. A group of humans were walking straight towards the village with a savage expression in half of their faces. The other half looked scared, dirty and malnourished, making them most probably slaves.
A lot of them had feline like ears and claws as hands. Others had tails and fur going down their beard area. They looked exactly like the Beastkin race, a race of half beast half humans.
They all had chains around their arms and legs while being connected to each other by one long chain. That chain was connected to a collar at the throats of all them, which had a silver plate displaying their slave numbers.
Others were humans who looked extremely malnourished while finally, there was a single man in the middle of all of them. He was obese at best and wore a red and gold robe.
Disgusting... I'll have fun consuming your soul flames.
My upper lip that had been curled up in disgust extended to become a smile from ear to ear. My hands shook at the memory of the last time I had consumed a soul flame of a human before I held the hilt of my short swords that had turned into daggers.
The left blade erupted with a blue flame while my right blade became so cold it could freeze anything within 8 inches of it. The cold mist that had surrounded my left blade spasmed violently while the blue flame had turned calm while I changed into a reverse grip.
Even though I couldn't control my divine energy, my spells would still have hints of divinity within them since my mana heart was pure divinity. Using spells was just a mixture of mana, the elemental particles and my soul flames will, so it only made sense that it would be like this.
I released my killing intent before using tiny amounts of mana to send my voice with the wind, to give them the illusion that I was speaking from all around them.
"Leave! You are not welcome within this area of the forest. If you do not halt your advancements i will be forced to retaliate" A deep, intimidating voice said.
Every single one of them, even the slaves, were startled, before the morbidly obese man cleared his throat and declared with a determined mocking tone "YOU DARE SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT YOU FILTHY BEAST?! SHOW YOUR SELF!"
My grin only grew wider under the mask, already imagining the pain I would inflict on him to get the full use of taking his soul flame.
taking a step forward, my foot hit nothing but air as I plunged down from the branch i had stood on while observing them. My feet hit the ground with the grace of a ballerina even though i weighted more than half a ton.
The moment the man saw me, he grinned slightly before shuddering the instant i revealed my bloodlust, coated in small fluctuations of divine mana. Every single hair on his body had stood uo at the reveal of the golden hue around my body, while his whole body had stiffened at the intention being transferred with it.
"You have made a mistake coming, and that mistake shall be unfortunately, your last" I declared before kicking the ground and lunging forwards with all my strength towards the mages surrounded the obese man.
"Insolence! Mages! Kill her! Slaves, Attack!" The obese man roared, probably hoping that a child like me wouldn't have the heart to kill some slaves.
My smile grew as wide as my face could physically form, as I looked into the slave's eyes.
I'll do you a favour and take you out of your misery.
"But she is just a child..." said one of the mages with reluctance in his voice.
"A CHILD WHO HAD BEEN CORRUPTED BY THE BEASTS! HELP HER GET OUT OF HER MISERY OF BEING CONTRO-"
the obese man had already choked on his own breath, as his eyes widened looking at the scene In front him.
His slaves were being slaughtered without a second thought, as my blades slit their throats and allowed them to bleed out to their heart's content. literally.
"MAGES! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" the obese man snapped.
All four mages grabbed their staffs and started chanting while the knights in front moved forwards, with pitch black blades in their hands. Unfortunately for all of them, the last words they heard were "~Sniper Galore~".
Multiple beams of air, snipers heat rays, compressed stones bullets and icicles. They all whistled before hitting their targets, killing the mages and warriors in a single spell.
The obese man who had sat on a horse the entire time had started to shudder at the scene of his best mages dying in a single spell. None of then were relatively strong, nor did any of them seem to have any experience fighting.
So young yet they threw their lives away for money....
While shaking my head, I walked towards the obese man while releasing bloodlust as the scene of him being torn apart by me flashed within my mind. Every step would feel like an eternity to him, as if he was watching death itself walk towards him. Yet, that was exactly why I walked slowly. The slaves that hadn't died were shaking on the floor, unable to move even after their master had commanded them to attack me. The collars took away their free will, took away their choice yet i didn't take away their fear. Their body had subconsciously overridden the command with a little help from my divine mana seeping in extremely small quantities.
"You really f*cked up this time bro" I chuckled
"p-please! I'll give yo anything! Money! Power!" the man pleaded
"You said I'm a beast right? Why would any of those matter to me?" I questioned while moving even closer
By now, the horse has lost its cool and had thrown the mana off its back before running away at tremendous speeds
"PLEASE! DEMON! I'LL GIVE YOU SOULS! YES, SOULS OF THE INNOCENT! I'LL LET YOU SLAUGHTER THEM JUST LIKE THOSE SLAVES FROM EARLIER!" The man bargained without success
"Yeah, that's cool and all but, the souls of people like you always taste better" I chuckled again. Right now, I was barley 3 feet away from the obese man. He had visibly gone pale at the sight of me in front of him.
"N-NO! PLEASE! I BEG YOU! I DON'T WANT TO DI- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
The obese man had lost on of his arms before he could even finish his sentence. His screams reverberated throughout t he white paw tribe section of the forest, making many creatures turn their heads in the direction of the voice.
The man kept losing limb after limb, from his arms to his legs until he eventually left had nothing left for him to use. I kept sealing the wounds with my blue flame that kept that would make sure no blood was lost and that he would go through excruciating pain.
"Hey! Don't go to sleep on me" I snapped before shooting a ball of water right into his face, breaking his nose
"P-Please! Please I beg! Make it stop! It hurts so much" The man begged.
"hmmm... NAH! HAHAHAHAHAHA! You know what's funny? The irony of this situation! I believe those slaves would have begged the same way you just did, yet you didn't free them. Give me one reason I would pity you since of course, your useless to me" I psychotically laughed at his face
"Okay, time for a little experiment" I cackled
The noises of his screams kept reverberating throughout the forest as I started torturing his soul flame.
-- 收到的禮物