Mystical Journey

The outside world

AG, Nasira, and Manasi sat around a burning bonfire silently.

The flames flickered and illuminated the faces of the three people there. There was not much warmth and the atmosphere was somewhat stressful.

“Other than the three-headed, six-limbed monster here, there are definitely other troubles as well,” said AG softly after recuperating for a while.

A strange and undistinguishable air permeated throughout the gloomy woods in their surroundings.

“I wonder what happened to Garen after he entered that monster’s stomach?” Nasira furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the faraway giant. That three-headed, six-limbed monster had stopped moving completely after Garen had entered it earlier.

However, the other three people did not dare to approach it. If the monster were to move again, they might face even worse consequences and would not be able to escape at all in their heavily injured states.

“Don’t forget the reason why we entered this place,” AG stood up and began to stroll through the surrounding undergrowth and woods. His face was grim and slightly ashen from his injuries by the monster earlier. However, looks of happiness occasionally flashed in his eyes.

“If my assumptions were not wrong, this is the true garden of the underground palace.”

He bent down and gently snipped off a piece of black grass that was as dark as ink and as small as a tiny person from the bottom of a large tree. Next, he kept it in his pocket and continued searching for something with his head lowered.

“Since no one has entered this place for so many years, the medicinal herbs that grow here are frighteningly potent!”

Nasira and Manasi looked at each other. Neither of them knew how to use medicinal herbs and could only look on while AG collected these plants from the side and walked further away from them after a while.

After more than half an hour, while the rest of them were eating the baked rations that they had taken out, AG finally returned with a big bag of medicinal herbs.

When they saw the look of sheer joy on his face, they were certain that he had reaped great rewards.

“If I get to go out this time, my cultivation will definitely be able to enter the final phase!” he was able to obtain a large quantity of exotic medicinal herbs effortlessly. No matter how calm he remained, he could not help but show traces of emotions whenever he faced qualitative changes.

As for Manasi and Nasira’s broken limb injuries, the Witch thought that it would not be too difficult to connect them with the limbs of other people.

The important thing was whether or not it was safe now.

After collecting the medicinal herbs, the gazes of all three people turned to the faraway giant’s body again. They did not know when Garen would be coming out and were unsure of whether Garen had fallen into the monster’s snare and was trapped there.

The only thing they could do right now was to wait.

“If my assumptions are not wrong, this monster should be the second guard here. A monster like this is definitely concealing a lot of secrets throughout its body. It’s best that we wait for Garen to come out before making our next move,” AG decided quietly. He took out two bone plates from unknown animals and smashed them on the ground gently before many cracks appeared throughout them at once. This seemed like a divination method as he studied the cracks under the light of the fire carefully.

“I never expected that the three of us would be trapped here while the normal humans would able to…” Nasira forced a smile.

“What do you think of Garen and the Holy Fist Palace?” asked AG quietly.

Nasira smiled bitterly while Manasi shook his head with a look of utter incomprehension on his face.

Manasi glanced at the giant monster that was further away.

“I don’t know how to describe that person, but it’s simply unbelievable that a normal human like himself, neither a Witch nor even a Blood Breed, was able to achieve such great heights.”

He paused for a moment, “As for the Holy Fist Palace, I think that it will definitely play a role in the future Supernatural World!”

His tone was almost resolute and certain by now.

“The Death Apostles will not forgive him. Meanwhile, the Blood Breeds are still dominating,” AG shook his head. “It won’t be so simple.”

“But no one knows everything, right?” although Nasira was seriously injured, her arrogant personality had not been tamed at all. “For some reason, I really dislike standing with Garen. He has a dangerous air around him.”

“Me too. I don’t know what he’s hiding,” AG nodded.

Bang!

Suddenly, the three-headed, six-limbed monster stood up slowly and got up again from its kneeling position while shaking all three of its heads slowly.

“What is it trying to do?!” Nasira and the other two people stood up and warily observed the monster from afar.

*******************

Garen shut his eyes tightly while faint rays of golden light gathered around him slowly. These rays of golden light resembled golden threads that were flying and rotating around him.

He felt as if he had suddenly turned into a golden flying bird that resembled a phoenix and was currently flying through the endless void.

The sound of unclear but unusually ethereal sounding Sanskrit chanting drifted into his ears continuously, as if a crowd of people had gathered around him and were reciting passages quietly.

Holy Phoenix Scriptures… Holy Phoenix’s true intentions!

Garen’s mind sank into a state of ultimate purity in an environment where he was able to truly understand himself. All of his feelings and thoughts were concentrated within himself and the only person who could detect and ponder upon them was himself.

He closed his eyes and looked at the skill pane on his attribute pane and noticed that an additional faint gold symbol had appeared in the skill section of the Secret Techniques that he specialized in.

‘Holy Phoenix Scriptures: Inherited from an unknown civilization. It comprehends the Holy Phoenix’s true intentions and possesses a probability of improving and condensing Soul Seeds, as well as upgrading the strength of the seed.’

The Soul Seed determined the strength of the soul while the strength of the soul determined the limits of the physical qualities of the body.

The current limits of Garen’s physical body was an average of thirty points, and this was after it had been strengthened by the first Soul Seed.

There were three main phases of a soul. According to the Ancient Endorian legacy, phase one was the normal soul, phase two was the Soul Seed, while phase three was the True Soul.

Whenever a Soul Seed was formed, it meant that an awareness that had achieved a certain degree of strength had been condensed. Throughout a lifetime, complete and intact experiences were signs of independence.

In other words, each Soul Seed represented the coagulation of the peak moments of one’s life. It represented the paths and trajectories in one’s life when they tasted success.

Garen did not know how the other Ancient Endorian Warlocks crossed this path, but he was forced to walk on the path of coagulating the entire essence of his lifetime in order to achieve higher levels that would allow him to form a complete seed.

‘When you concentrate and realize things, more Soul Seeds will form and the likeliness of creating a True Soul will increase as well. Each Soul Seed can become a substitute soul that will be able to block one fatal blow towards your soul,’ Black Sethe’s voice echoed beside Garen’s ear.

The Holy Phoenix’s true intentions and the Demonic Book’s realization were already sufficiently powerful to fuse and form a Soul Seed. This was something that Black Sethe was hoping to see as well.

When the second Soul Seed was formed, Garen’s entire body would reach a higher level, and by then…

Hum!!!

Suddenly, the sound of a violent vibration interrupted Black Sethe’s train of thought.

He condensed himself and formed a black smoke figure behind Garen before looking around his surroundings.

He could only see that shrouds of golden gas were permeating inside the monstrous Buddha Mother. The large quantities of golden gas began to gather in front of Garen slowly and solidified before quickly turning into a golden, diamond-shaped gemstone that was suspended in mid-air.

A golden arc of electricity flashed across the surface of the gemstone before pictures of sceneries from the outside world floated upwards slowly.

Garen opened his eyes slowly and felt as if his entire body was enveloped in warmth. It felt as if he was basking under the midday sun or soaking in a steaming hot spring.

Two rays of golden light from the gemstone reflected into his eyes and shone into the center of his pupils as clusters of information and words glided past his eyes quickly.

All of the information regarding this monster was pouring into his eyes in a mere moment.

A look of understanding appeared on Garen’s face at once.

This information explained the origins and source of this monster and the methods of leaving this dangerous situation.

This three-headed, six-limbed monster was called Buddha Mother. It was actually created by an existence known as the Holy Phoenix. Strangely enough, the information regarding this Holy Phoenix was similar to the Waterbird Fist’s Profound: Flight of the Evil Phoenix. Moreover, the Buddha Mother was ancient, had chaotic memories and just a simple consciousness. Therefore, it had mistaken this for the previous Holy Phoenix and had submitted itself without any resistance at all.

‘Is there a way to get out?’ Black Sethe asked.

“Indeed there is. However, it’s somewhat troublesome.” Garen furrowed his eyebrows. “Large quantities of our energy resources will be depleted if we wish to escape. The Buddha Mother itself does not possess enough energy and it’ll require me to burn a part of my life energy on my own.”

‘Life energy?’

“Yes,” Garen nodded, “just like the bioenergy inside the bodies of living creatures, most humans naturally do not have it, but my strength is abundant and my vitality is strong enough. Therefore, it doesn’t matter to me.”

According to his assessment of the Buddha Mother, he estimated that if they were to leave, they would need to abandon the Buddha Mother’s large body while he would need to contribute a portion of his body’s life energy as well. This was equivalent to the vital energy and blood energy in Secret Techniques. It was a good thing that he still had potential points to make up for it. If it were anyone else, he assumed that they would just die in this place.

Garen muttered to himself for awhile. He followed the methods that were recorded by the Buddha Mother while tweaking his state of mind.

Hum…

The entire space began to move faintly.

***************

The gigantic Buddha Mother stood up slowly and swayed its three heads and six limbs. It resembled a little hill that was looking in the direction of AG and the other two people slowly.

On the Buddha Mother’s right shoulder, a blurry figure appeared there suddenly before they realized that it was Garen who was half-naked.

The taut muscles on his body resembled black armor while a terrifyingly ferocious air wafted from his body.

“AG, I’ll need your help if we’re going to leave this place.”

Garen’s voice drifted over from afar and passed through the thick woods before finally arriving at the bonfire where AG and the two others were located.

“Garen…” AG and the two others stood up.

“You know how to get out of here?” a look of surprise and delight flashed across AG’s eyes.

“Of course.” Garen leaped lightly off the body of the Buddha Mother that was over ten meters tall. While the wind made whooshing noises, a banging noise could be heard suddenly when Garen landed on the floor and made a small crater in the ground while he remained half-kneeling there.

After standing up, he took a few steps forward and seemed as if he had crossed over ten meters in less than ten seconds when his figure appeared in front of the trio instantly.

“That monster?” AG glanced fearfully at the monster from afar.

“Its call Buddha Mother and it can help us leave this place,” said Garen without explaining anything in detail.

The Buddha Mother was actually a living creature that possessed simple intelligence. Its absolute loyalty towards the Holy Phoenix caused it to hide here for many years without leaving.

“What do you want us to do?” AG buried his fear of the Buddha Mother before the man in front of him. It was obvious that Garen was currently able to control and influence the extremely powerful and large fellow that stood far away from them.

“Not only do we have to deplete all of this guy’s energy sources in order to leave this place, we will also need to burn a certain amount of energy to support it,” Garen described it as the source of all its energy to simplify the situation and the explanation that followed.

“According to the records, something even more troublesome exists in the depths of Anil’s Garden. However, we don’t have to go deeper because this space is a typical cycle. In order to break this cycle, we need to gather our strongest powers at once and condense them in one area inside the space to form a distorted and temporary hollow space before we can seize the chance to leave.”

Garen continued to explain, saying: “My strength alone will be completely insufficient. Although the Buddha Mother’s energy has occupied a large part of the consumption proportion, we still need to make up for it slightly. However, the additional amount is not something that I can endure alone.”

“Can you prove that the things you’re saying are accurate?” asked Nasira quietly.

“We don’t have any other choice,” said Garen lightly.

“We don’t have to discuss this any further. Make the necessary preparations,” commanded AG at once. He was the leader among the trio. He complied with Garen’s instructions and decided on their direction at once.