R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 54

R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 54

(Next Chapter release in a few days)

(These longer chapters take more than 1 day to write, so expect it within ~3 days, ~2.5 if I'm fast.)

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Micheal blinked.

He found himself back in the Third Gate, sitting on the ground next to the table holding several Memory Crystals. The jarring shift of perspective took a moment to adapt to, one of the side-effects of using a Memory Crystal.

After a few seconds, however, he finished adjusting and organized his thoughts.

‘Brutal.’

It was the only word he could think of to describe what he had witnessed.

It was for good reason that killing a Titled Deity was considered the hardest thing in existence to accomplish.

‘It was a brutal fight.’

Kyrui, and his companions, fought as best they could, but failed nevertheless.

‘They broke the Cardinal Rule of challenging a Titled Deity.’

Micheal didn’t blame them for this, he doubted that the Dark Wraiths were even aware of the existence of Sion’s Title. This should have been the first time Tallanoran and his companions ever met a Titled Deity.

‘Never, ever challenge a Titled Deity without a plan.’

Even then, it was best to have multiple contingency plans as well. Study, observe, plan, prepare, and attack, in that order.

That was the only possible way you could stand even a small chance of winning.

“It’s the same for me, too.” Micheal muttered as he looked down at the dull gray crystal in his hand, his eyes darkening.

“If I don’t do my best, I’ll end up like that.” He frowned.

“All of Humanity will end up like that.”

‘Dead.’

It was a sobering thought.

After a few seconds, Micheal shrugged.

There was no point in complaining about how difficult things were. That was life.

It wasn’t fair, and it never would be.

All he could do was learn from the past, focus on the present, and prepare for the future.

Micheal returned his gaze back to the remaining unused Memory Crystals resting on the table.

The Memory Crystal he had just used had taken on a dull appearance and cracked, while the three remaining unused ones glowed ever so faintly.

Without hesitating, Micheal immediately grabbed the first of the three Magic Gems, forming a connection once again.

Unlike the first Memory Crystal, the second one he activated showed a far less violent scene.

Micheal lived through Kyrui’s memories of when he first touched upon the Concept of Space.

Dark Wraiths don’t train Ki. Their half-incorporeal bodies’ makes it nigh impossible to train.

Instead, normal Dark Wraiths channeled Elemental Energy, relying on their unique Physiques.

Kyrui, however, was not a normal Dark Wraith.

The weakest of the Four Masters, Kyrui had been cursed at birth with a defective Physique that left him entirely unable to channel Elemental Energy, turning the power the vast majority of his kind relied on into a deadly poison.

Kyrui didn’t give up, however. Despite being born a veritable cripple, the Dark Wraith sought out the techniques and methods used by one of the other dominant species on the Ancient World: the Blue Drakes.

That was how he first came into contact with Mana.

Ki was a type of energy that usually focused inward, enhancing its user’s body. The energy flowed constantly through its user’s veins, imbuing every inch of one’s body with its strengthening power.

In a general sense, Ki was a very simple power. It could be grown step-by-step, each Tier signifying an increase in energy density and quality.

As a result of its simple nature, Ki was able to serve as a universal energy source for nearly all Abilities.

Mana, on the other hand, could focus equal parts outward and inward.

Where Ki could be trained equally all throughout one’s body, cycling through one's veins, Mana was trained through two methods, each concentrating Mana into a single place: Mana Circles or a Mana Heart.

Mana Circles were formed within one’s Soul and magically connected to a being’s brain. Possessing a Mana Circle allowed one to cast Spells that derived their existence from Conceptual Powers.

A Mana Heart condensed Mana on a being’s heart, and allowed a warrior to spread Mana out anywhere within their body. The operation of Mana using a Mana Heart was, in fact, created by ancient Wizards based on the study of Ki, with both sharing many overlapping attributes. Both could be used as a power source to activate various Abilities and both were used to enhance the body.

The main difference between the two body-focused energy sources, Ki and a Mana Heart, would be how each was limited in terms of growth.

When one attempted to evolve their Ki to a higher Tier, a Heart Trial took place. If one was unable to overcome their Heart Trial, their attempt to evolve their Ki could leave them crippled, or even dead.

The growth of a Mana Heart, conversely, was limited by the quality of the Mana Breathing technique used, one’s Mana sensitivity, and the latent physical talent and Physique of its user.

‘Kyrui studied the Blue Drake’s Mana Breathing Method and adapted it for his own use.’ Micheal realized as he watched the Dark Wraith’s memories unfold.

The Dark Wraith formed a sort of Pseudo-Mana Heart/Mana Circle hybrid, using his Dark Wraith body and Soul as a conduit. It was an extremely innovative creation he made, something that only he himself could pull off.

‘It’s incredible. He’s a real genius.’ Micheal admired as his eyes flashed, returning him to the present.

Without hesitation, he immediately grabbed hold of another of the Memory Crystals, activating it.

This time, Micheal witnessed the memories of Kyrui as he put his newfound control of Mana into practice. The Dark Wraith used Mana to support his crippled Physique, honing his body and his mind.

In the memories Micheal was watching, it showed how Kyrui discovered the Inheritance of a Blue Drake Sage named Beryl Fouron.

Beryl was an expert in Spatial Magic and had used that Magic to leave the Ancient World, traveling to other realms. The Inheritance she left behind was created to attest to these facts, and to carry on her legacy.

Micheal watched, awestruck, as Kyrui learned how to channel the power of Space, integrating it into his combat style. Kyrui’s hybrid Mana Heart/Mana Circles didn’t allow him to cast Spells, but the Dark Wraith adapted, creating his own unique techniques to allow himself to manipulate Space directly.

‘He’s a monster.’ If Kyrui hadn’t been born a cripple, there was no telling how powerful he could have become. He might have even rivaled Tallanoran, the strongest Dark Wraith.

Finally, Micheal grabbed ahold of the last Memory Crystal.

In it, he watched Kyrui go on a journey of self-discovery, leaving on a mission to travel the world. The Dark Wraith spent years studying and researching his powers, finding new ways to apply his abilities and growing up until he became a Master, able to project Mana outward and create magical phenomena using the Concept of Space.

Micheal witnessed blips of this journey, days and hours cut from years, a massive amount of information transferring to him supernaturally fast.

Memory Crystals functioned in a way similar to the First Gate. For every second that passes in the real world, hundreds or even thousands of minutes might pass lost in the memories inside a Memory Crystal.

Finally, Kyrui’s journey drew to an end. The Dark Wraith settled down and was in the midst of preparing to establish an academy to share his learnings when disaster struck.

The Torens Ascended, becoming a Tribe of Deities, and war broke out.

Micheal blinked as the memories cut off just as the war between the Dark Wraiths and the Torens began, Kyrui’s teeming emotions sweeping over Micheal’s psyche in a long, shuddering wave.

It took Micheal several seconds to calm down and adjust, separating his identity from the memories that had poured into his brain from the Memory Crystal.

‘Right, I almost forgot about this part.’

Memory Crystal were a wonderful tool, but there was a reason they weren’t used everywhere.

If you immersed yourself in too many Memory Crystals, the swarm of memories could overwhelm your mind and cause personality or identity disorders. There were reports, in the records of Dark Void, of people driven insane after viewing excessive numbers of Memory Crystals.

They were great Artifacts to share information, but should only ever be used when necessary.

After Micheal finished gathering himself, he looked around the Third Gate, narrowing his eyes as he saw glowing light behind him.

On the wall of the room stood a glowing, white portal.

‘The exit.’

This was the ‘end’ of Kyrui’s Inheritance.

The Memory Crystals he’d used had cracked, turning into useless gray shards.

His time in the Third Gate had drawn to a close.

‘In the first place, this Inheritance was created by Tallanoran’s remnant Soul, after all of them had died.’ It was only natural that it would be limited to a certain extent.

Regardless, Micheal couldn’t help but be thankful.

‘It’s a tremendous gift.’

Viewing step-by-step how Kyrui touched upon the Concept of Space, feeling what that entailed as if he was the one doing it, was an incredible blessing.

Conveying such detailed and precise sensations in a Memory Crystal was a daunting task. The more exact a Memory Crystal replicated what someone experienced, the more dangerous it was to extract said memories and form them into a Memory Crystal.

The extraordinary level of detail and exact replication found in Kyrui’s memories, sharing sensations of touching upon the Concept of Space, was only possible because Kyrui was dead. Had he been alive during the process of extraction, it would have surely damaged his brain.

‘However…’ As Micheal sat inside the Third Gate, he realized several things.

‘I can’t just copy what Kyrui did.’

In Yvvtal’s Inheritance, Micheal had the Brand of Janus seared upon his Soul, relying upon Humanity’s Status Screen and Shop to blindly adapt those powers into a useable form, via his Temporal Bubble Ability.

Here, in Kyrui’s Inheritance, he was presented with all the knowledge he would need to draw upon the Concept of Space himself. He was not gifted with an Ability or power, but merely given the knowledge he would need to create it himself.

And that was where he ran into a roadblock.

‘Kyrui’s methods are that of a Dark Wraith.’ Micheal thought, frowning slightly.

It was only natural, given that this was the Inheritance of a Dark Wraith. In the first place, it wasn’t as if Tallanoran could have predicted the existence of Humans, or known that Humanity would one day visit his Inheritance.

‘Not just that… he uses Mana to touch upon the Concept of Space.’ Mana was far better at outwards expression of energy than Ki.

As Micheal recalled the sickening ‘off’ sensation his Soul experienced every time Kyrui touched upon the Concept of Space, he had realized a portion of this came from the fact that Kyrui was using Mana to power his Abilities, not Ki.

The foundation of Micheal’s power was his own refined Ki. It was the bedrock of his strength, a calm, steady, energy he had more than a decade of experience controlling.

Though he considered it for a few moments, Micheal dismissed any possibility of him trying to form a Mana Heart.

‘No matter how stable my Ki is, a Mana Heart would clash with the energy in my body.’ It was a basic fact he’d learned from his first life.

There were some madmen who attempted to control both Ki and a Mana Heart, but nigh every story Micheal had heard of those attempts came in the form of obituaries. The few that did succeed typically had deformed bodies that failed to make full use of either power.

‘Can I use my Ki as a substitute for Mana?’ Micheal pondered, steadily working through his options.

‘It’s possible… but it would take far too long.’

If he tried to replicate Kyrui’s experiences using Ki, much of the path he would walk would be new territory. Even if he was a genius, it would probably take him years to achieve even basic results.

‘What if I purchased an Ability from the Shop related to Space?’

What he lacked, presently, was a way to connect his Ki to the Concept of Space.

Micheal was like a toddler, struggling to reach the handle of the door that was the Concept of Space.

If he could just reach the handle, he might stand a chance of opening the door and gaining the powers behind it. However, without a way to touch that handle, he was helpless. It didn’t matter how good he was at lockpicking when he couldn’t even reach the door’s handle in the first place.

‘There’s no guarantee.’ He shook his head.

Micheal’s Temporal Bubble Ability touched upon the Concept of Time, but he was still far from a Master of Time. He could use his Ki to operate the Ability, to fine-tune it and control it, but he himself was not able to freely draw upon Time. He was reliant upon his Status and the Shop, using the Abilities as if they were natural powers he possessed.

The only Concept he had independently touched upon was that of the Sword, in the form of his Grandmaster Sword Mastery. Micheal’s ability to manipulate and control Weapon Energy came from his comprehension of Sword Energy, and the powers it contained.

‘If I truly want to comprehend the Concept of Space, to make the fullest use of Kyrui’s Inheritance, I only have one real option.’

Micheal’s eyes glinted.

‘I need to form a Mana Circle.’

The reason Ki clashed with a Mana Heart was because both energies were constantly flowing within one’s body. The physical manifestations of both Mana and Ki were volatile when they came into contact with other energy forms.

When it came to Mana Circles, however… those were formed inside their user’s Soul.

‘My Ki is inseparable from my Soul, but that won’t interfere with me forming a Mana Circle.’

The two energy sources would only clash when physically manifested inside his body, not in his Soul.

‘As long as I’m careful when I use Mana, it should be possible.’ He could never form a Mana Heart, but Mana Circles were doable.

While there weren’t exactly common, Micheal was aware of several people from his first life who possessed Mana Circles and Ki, or Mana Circles and a Mana Heart, at the same time. A few were Human, but most were other Races he encountered, traveling up the 7 Layers.

‘Magic Swordsmen’ or ‘Magic Warriors’ is what they were known as.

‘I only ever encountered them on the 3rd, 5th, and 6th Layers.’ Micheal thought, recalling the reasons why.

Controlling both energies was hard. Very, very, hard. And it was dangerous.

Controlling both Ki and Mana at the same time was a daunting task. It required either extraordinary talent or extraordinary skill, with no in-between.

‘If it was me from the first timeline, I’d give up.’ Micheal nodded. He knew better than to overestimate his capabilities.

‘But the me here and now has controlled Ki for more than 10 years.’ He was incredibly skilled at it, simply because he had spent countless hours practicing, day in and day out, without fail, as if his life depended on it. Which, it did.

‘No, in fact. It’s even better.’

Micheal’s eyes widened as he focused, relying upon the function of his Eyes of the Deep Ability that gifted him with a perfect memory.

‘Where is it… where is it… where is it…’

Micheal scanned backwards in time through his memories, going back to the days where he scrambled on the 6th Layer, browsing the records of Dark Void. He spent countless days here, reading everything he could get his hands on that stood a chance of making him stronger.

‘Surely I remember… no I’m sure I did. Where is it…’

‘There!’

Micheal sat up straight, distinct memories flowing into his brain.

Memories of a paper Micheal had read through, 38 days before he died.

‘Research Records of the Purgatory Church - Magic Addendum p4.’

Secret records that were released in the end times, as Humanity’s Last Army was formed.

‘Complete Catalog of all Mana Breathing techniques, categorized by Layer discovered, - Rank A - Rank SSS.’

At the time, Micheal had searched for any method he could to speed up his breakthrough of Ki from King-Tier to Emperor-Tier, the 2nd to last stage of Ki density. These records were among the many he had dedicated himself to reading.

‘Yes, no, this is- this can work!’ Micheal smiled, his eyes lighting up.

Kyrui relied upon the Mana Breathing techniques of the Blue Drakes to form his hybrid Mana Circles.

However, that didn’t mean Micheal needed to do the same.

‘As long as I form a Mana Circle, I can draw on Kyrui’s experiences and touch upon the Concept of Space.’ He wouldn't need to rely on an unreliable Mana Breathing Method, but could utilize the highest ranking Mana Breathing Methods discovered in his first life.

It was an opportunity he had not expected to find.

Kyrui’s memories and experiences could save him years of time and effort.

‘Forming a Mana Circle won’t be easy, but I have everything I need to make my 1st Circle without any issue.’ Micheal thought as he got to his feet.

‘All I need is time to practice…’ His eyes drew forward, staring at the exit to the Third Gate.

‘And I know just the place for that.’

.