Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Chapter 176: Serenity Stone

Since the entity receives a huge increase in strength in the form of a name, the brand is essential so as to prevent the receiver from hurting the person who named it.

After all, if the person who named it dies, the brand marking the entity also dissipates but not the name. To put it bluntly, the Naming process marks the entity with a brand of the bestower to control its actions that might be harmful to the bestower.

One needs immaculate control of the mana within them to name others. Also one cannot name an entity many times stronger than it. The reason behind Irene thinking of this method was because of the loyalty and bond displayed by the warhorse towards Simon.

She believed that the Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse would be more than happy to receive a name from Simon. However, since the Naming process needs the bestower that is Simon to be higher ranked than the receiver which is the warhorse, it wasn’t going to work until unless Simon increases his rank and level to the point where he was higher ranked than his summon.

Simon currently was only a Demon Viscount and there was no way he could name an entity on the level of the Bloodthorn Demonic warhorse. Not to mention he would need to perfect his control and manipulation over the mana within him.

He who hasn’t even acquired the [Mana Lines] skill wouldn’t even be able to invoke the Naming process in the first place. which required a complex manipulation of mana. For this reason, Irene didn’t point out this method when she spoke to the Bloodthorn demonic warhorse.

She believed that it was still far too early for them to think of this process when the limit of the warhorse wasn’t even close yet.

While she was caught up in her thoughts, the aura around Simon started welling more and more. Even he didn’t know when but he had reached a transient state where all of the unnecessary thoughts dissipated from his mind increasing his focus and concentration.

A few minutes ago he was desperately trying to recall the sensation and the pattern in which the mana flows in his body when the skill [Ancestral Symbol Ignition] was activated.

Trying to feel the complex network of mana flowing within his body was easier said than done. No matter how he tried to recollect it, he failed at every step as the process was too complex for the current him to remember it in one go.

Seconds ticked away and Simon couldn’t reach anywhere. He had come to an impasse where he couldn’t make any progress. Simon knew that acquiring a skill wouldn’t be this easy not to mention he was trying to get the hang of a Rare skill that was unlike any of the Normal skills that he got after levelling.

There was no way it would that easy to acquire a rare skill or else it wouldn’t be in the possession of the powerful ones. Although Simon was aware of it, the faint hope that his Phantasmal tier skill provided in acquiring the [Mana Lines] made him rush all the more.

Since he knew that once he could recollect the sensation and the path in which mana flows during the activation of the [Ancestral Symbol Ignition skill], he thought that he could recreate it and learn the Rare skill [Mana Lines] faster.

Maybe subconsciously his mind was leaning towards that kind of thinking that he wasn’t making any progress now. PHEW… exhaling a deep breath, Simon calmed his mind and nerves that was trying to get the better of himself.

Unknowing to even him, Simon had willed his mind to reach the self transient state. Where every thought he had was clear, where time had stopped into a crawl.

Feeling the change in his mental state, Simon was surprised by this sudden transformation. This kind of state felt oddly familiar to him and it didn’t take him long to find out that it was his second time experiencing such a transformation.

The first time was when he was facing the Elder Treants at the border of the Ancient treants Territory. At that time, their group of three was overwhelmed by the defence of the Elder treants who happen to be sitting upon a mystical vein.

Every attack at that time, would be easily negated or endured through their [Root] skill and defence. Even Irene’s magic wasn’t able to freeze them albeit he knew that she wasn’t going all out. But the treants were able to thwart out her eyes and regenerate from the damage.

It was because they were stuck in such a situation that Simon took the gamble of trying out the amalgamation between his intermediate tier Flame magic and Novice tier Electro Magic.

At such a dire moment where every second count, he took the initiative to do so which ultimately did work out in his favour. At that time he had reached a self transient state where his focus and concentration was increased manifold.

Thanks to that, he was able to bring out an equilibrium among the two attributes of magic resulting in a new amalgamation magic. The state of mind he had reached now was no different than before.

This means that he was able to enter the self transient state once again. A state where all unnecessary thought disappears and one’s focus and concentration increases manifold was perfectly the opportunity he needed this time.

How could he waste it? To recreate the Mana Lines used when the [Ancestral symbol Igniton] was activated, he needed to first carve the sensation within his body so that he would be able to recall it at any moment. And to do that, what better way than to use the skill first hand.

Although the skill would take a heavy toll on his body and would go into a cooldown once again, Simon didn’t hesitate to activate it. More like the current state of mind he was in was the perfect situation he could ask for to be in while activating the skill.

Now that the concentration and the focus he could put into each detail had increased manifold, there was no way he would be unable to make any progress. What he was aiming for wasn’t to immediately acquire the skill but to try to get the hang of the path the mana takes while the skill was activated.

That is to say, he was trying to feel the sensation of the mana lines that is forcefully established. Perhaps due to this change of mentality, when he activated the [Ancestral symbol Ignition] he was able to feel the mana flow within his body more vividly than before.

Every skill in his arsenal fused together to become the fuel to push his strength forward and a complex network like tributaries of a river crisscrossing around his body from which mana flowed in a set path, was formed.

Simon was astounded when he felt the ferocity and the volume in which mana circulated within the mana lines. The sheer complexity of the mana lines formed from the Phantasmal tier skill was on a completely different level.

The difficulty of even sensing the mana flowing in such an intricate pattern was already exceedingly challenging not to mention he had to recreate it from the scratch.

Simon knew that it would be very tough to acquire such a skill in the short run after all he has to rely on his imperfect sensation and feeling from before to establish the [Mana Lines]. Even when he was in a self-transient state of mind each and every detail of the mana lines was just too overwhelming to remember.

Since that was the case, Simon shifted his focus to try and feel the sensation of as many paths where the mana flowed in as possible. Since he wasn’t pressed for time, there was no need for him to strain his senses on acquiring the skill immediately.

Instead, it would be much more beneficial if he could learn something from this experience. Stabilising his mind, he focused all of his attention on the paths the mana took whenever he made a small movement. He paid attention to the finest details and as to how fast and slow they moved in each of those paths.

Without even him realizing it, Simon was so absorbed that he completely forgot the flow of time and before long six hours had passed. His body was still seating near the pond with his eyes closed.

The outburst of power resulting from the activation of the [Ancestral Symbol Ignition] skill was long gone but Simon was still too riveted on recalling and remembering the sensation. PHEW… exhaling a deep breath, Simon opened his eyes to find himself in the exact same spot.

The mana condensed in the form of mist lingering around the area was as dense as ever. He did not know how long had passed since he entered a special state of mind, but he believed that it must have been quite a while.

While he was looking around trying to make sense of the drift of time, Irene’s figure silently appeared near the pond. She observed him for a while and from his expression, she could tell that Simon must have realised something.

“It has been six hours since you entered the self- transient state. By now you must have realised how difficult it is to acquire the Rare skill [Mana Lines]. But it matters not, as long as you keep on making steady progress, it wouldn’t be long before you acquire the skill” Irene said in a tranquil voice while observing the changes in him.