“Three circles strong even after the restraints I placed on him. How terrifying.”

It was only when Mizuki mentioned that there were restraints placed on him, did the Mokana’s take notice of the cuffs and eye-patch. They weren’t just accessories but restraints.

“Mistress, those aren’t accessories?” Kuro and Blanche asked in unison. “but restraints?”

“They aren’t just ordinary restraints but ancient artifacts which are continuously draining him of his excess life force. If the rate of life force replenishment is lower than the drainage, then the creature will eventually be emptied of their life force…”

The Mokanas frowned, to be drained of your life force meant death. How many such monsters existed which could replenish their life force at such an insane rate?

“Three circles strong after wearing those?” The Mokanas exclaimed together in fright as they moved behind Mizuki. “What kind of monster is he?”

“He isn’t a monster but an Adventurer…”

“Are adventurers that strong?” Blacnhe asked.

“You forget the Demon Lord…” Kuro reminded.

“Yes…even the demon lord is one of them…” Mizuki intervened. “However, even amongst adventurers there are differences just like amongst different monsters. But there is no difference between us and them…Just like him if there were a monster from the fortieth gate or higher these artefacts would be useless…”

The Mokanas shivered – the fortieth Gate was a terrifying place to be. The monsters over there were like no other. A single beast from the fortieth gate could wipe away the entire empire with a single attack – that is how terrifyingly powerful they were. The only respite the creatures of the continent had was for the fact the Gates prevented more powerful beasts to move to a lower plane.

***

When Sora caught the orb, he could immediately sense it was absorbing all the excess life force oozing from him – which is why he fumbled when catching it. It were as if he had touched an ice ball with bare hands.

Thereafter, he followed Mizuki’s instructions and began focusing on the energies – spirits and mana.

At first he could sense only himself but then as he expanded his awareness, he could hear the Mokanas and Mizuki talking. As he expanded it even further, he could sense Ai sleeping in the room behind theirs. This was probably, something Sora could do even in real life – albeit without the clarity he was experiencing right now. However, it was something Sora trained in during his meditation course. However, ever since the ice coffin, something within Sora had changed. Sora could feel / sense it. It was as if something that was blocked before was no longer blocked. It wasn’t like a ki channel as the ones he experienced in Royal Road – it was something different. Just boundless energy – or maybe it appeared boundless to one as weak as him.

As he expanded his consciousness further, he could sense monsters out on the streets. And finally, he was able to reach out to the spirits which Mizuki had mentioned. Sora now could no longer hear what the three were discussing. He was focusing completely on releasing the ‘transient’.

It was a bit more difficult than before because Sora could no longer rely on the huge life force which was gushing through him. The restraints placed on him prevented him from accessing any amount of life force which could be harmful for him.

Normally, mages and other creatures which rely on mana for attacks also use life force to unleash the mana – which is why they would be tired if they were to continuous cast large spells. Though, they rate of exhaustion would be lower than a martial artist but compared to a martial artist their overall capacity to hold life force was also lower and rate of replenishment was also lower. It could be said that while mages spent time mastering mana-output and efficient life-force consumption, martial artists would spend time achieving maximum life-force possible and replenishment. (Author’s note: though a combination of the above was also completely but considered an inefficient way of training)

Right now, Sora could not rely on his life force to assist with reaching out to the spirits. He had to use every ounce of his mental concentration – the spiritual power, to get the spirits to push the ‘transient mana’ through the celestial orb. With great effort Sora succeeded.

It was at that time three dazzling Saturn like rings began revolving around Sora. Sora however could not see these rings. His consciousness was completely focused on pushing more mana through the orb. On its own the orb did not absorb mana but when mana or ki was pushed into the orb, only then would it light up. At the current rate of mana being pushed into it, the orb reflected Sora’s strength at three-cricles of magic. However, if Sora could use his life force, then gathering mana would be easier and it would easily jump to seven circles.

However, Sora had no idea that there were rings revolving around his body right now or what his strength was. He was still carrying out Mizuki’s instructions – push the mana through. Normally, one would get tired from this sort of mental exertion however this was not the case with Sora. Sora who had been blessed with one of the best instructors in the world, Ahn Hyundo, had been training in meditation since the young age of eight. Sora was already considered a genius by Ahn Hyundo then, and meditation was one of the trainings Sora never skipped a single day – mostly because it involved doing nothing more than sitting. Beyond Sora’s incurable lethargy when it came to physical activity, the truth remained the truth – even in his initial days when he travelled through the desert with Maylon and the others, he always meditated sincerely. Having more than a decade’s worth of meditation on his shoulders already, Sora wasn’t going to get tired with only this much of little exercise and stop exerting himself mentally.

Sora was just beginning ~ this couldn't even be considered warm up.

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Author's Note:

1. For those unaware, two days ago Ruler of Rules was amongst the top 50 FF!!! (#50) Yay to us!!

2. This chapter is dedicated to Gantolet!