Sleep wasn't something that he had experienced for years, there was simply no need for it. Even during his games with Selheira, there were enough breaks in between that his focus Qi never truly hit rock bottom.
Ryu had never experienced what it meant to run out of Focus Qi. It could be said that a large part of that reason was because of the prayer mat, but beyond that, he had never been forced to use so many talents and fuse them in such a way at the same time. In addition, maybe the greatest reason was the Unbalance Mantra which constantly forced him to deconstruct the world he was used to and reconstruct it in a completely novel way.
Either way, the fundamental truth of it all was that it had taken a great deal out of Ryu. However, he also knew that he didn't have much time to allow himself to fully reset. If he did, he might as well give his life up now.
Just ten minutes into an incredibly deep sleep, Ryu shot up, one of his hands flying toward his chest. He looked down to find that the hole was gone.
His vision felt like it was spinning, and he couldn't quite see straight as a pounding headache hit him. He was quite used to this feeling. Back when he was a mortal, fatigue was a common occurrence, and when he pushed himself not to sleep for a night or two, this was exactly the kind of backlash his brain would assault him with. This sort of headache wouldn't go away until he had a true and proper rest, and neither would the brain fog, but in this matter, he didn't have much of a choice.
Ryu took deep breaths. He had recovered a percent or two of his Focus Qi, that would have to be enough. Someone else with weaker soul than his own wouldn't have been able to gather up nearly that much with just ten minutes of deep sleep, so Ryu could only thank his Perfect Blackbody Soul for this.
"Are you okay? You should rest more," Mae suddenly spoke.
Ryu turned and now did he realize that Mae was actually so nearby. He shook his head; a lack of Focus QI was truly troublesome. If he wanted to keep himself awake, he would have to restrict himself in several ways and wait for himself to recover.
He wasn't mortal, so he didn't need to sleep necessarily to refuel his Focus Qi. But it would still be faster to do so while asleep. Unfortunately, he didn't have such luxury.
"I'm fine. Let's go. The third phase probably starts within the city limits and the others will catch up soon. The trial to make it here is difficult, but not difficult enough that they'd be denied for more than an hour or so. The fastest of them probably only need half that time."
Ryu forced himself to stand and ignored the spinning of his head. Functionally, his body was in good enough condition to fight, especially after taking the pill. But would have to limit himself in a few ways for at least the next few hours.
For one, he was lucky that he could see out of his eyes now because maybe one of the greatest drains of Focus Qi was Spiritual Sense. If he had to use that to see things, he would have to give up whatever advantage he had gained by coming here so early or else death would be his only path forward.
Secondly, he couldn't use his Dao because if his Spiritual Sense was one of the greatest drains, then his Dao was the greatest drain. This was of course the same of other miscellaneous abilities like fusions and the likes.
His best bet was to rely on his body. If need be, he could activate his Bloodlines and their talents as well, so long as he didn't try fusing his anything other than his lightning flame. His lightning flame was naturally fused, it actually took Focus Qi to separate them. So, he would just have to use it as is.
Unfortunately, maybe the greatest loss was in his Weapons God auras, but he would just have to make do.
No fusing, no Dao, no Spiritual Sense, and no techniques.
Ryu shook his head. He had expected something like this to happen when he chose to go all out but dealing with the fallout was really pissing him off especially since he couldn't succeed in killing Starlight. The greatest benefit out of that fight was learning which Sect he came from, but Ryu didn't dare to try and deduce what Starlight's relationship with Radiant Star Sect was because at this point, even that sort of brain power would drain his Focus Qi to zero.
Ryu grabbed onto his great sword staff which had been pierced into the ground and dragged it along. Usually, it would hover to his back, but for obvious reasons, that wasn't possible now.
Mae blinked for a moment before following after Ryu.
"Are you sure you're okay to hold that? I can carry it for you."
Ryu frowned and looked down at his great sword staff.
"It's not heavy" Ryu said casually, stepping before the large diamond gates.
The gate was separated into several tiers. It was clear that the tier to each you opened the door would dictate something quite important, but Ryu wasn't certain what the criteria was at a glance. Without his Dao or Heavenly Pupils, it was annoying to try and understand things the normal way. He only realized now that he didn't miss his Heavenly Pupils as much as he should only because he had his Dao. But now that he was missing both, there was nothing but frustration.
Ryu took a breath and calmed down. Volatile emotions tended to drain Focus Qi than not. It would be really too foolish of him to allow his emotions to get the best of him here and now.
"It's not heavy...?"
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