No matter how hard he tried, how much he studied, no path opened for him. Elevating his path was completely impossible because of his mind. The years ended up turning into decades. It was funny how time had lost its meaning for Kayden as his kingdom grew. When he was just an apprentice, a year represented a large amount of time to him, but now a decade or a century was barely valuable in his eyes.
"I knew you were special, but I didn’t think you were that crazy." Kayden heard Eros’s voice and when he opened his eyes, he saw the man sitting on his bed. "You’ve been in here for four centuries, you haven’t even come out for a minute. What exactly are you looking for, Kayden?"
The situation was very sudden. Kayden needed a few minutes in silence to get his ideas in order and be able to respond to Eros. It had been a long time since he had spoken to another living being.
"I look for something unique, that’s all." Eros felt Kayden’s sincerity and began tapping his fingers on the bed.
"What moves you? Power? Revenge?" Eros was restless. He never made a mistake when choosing one of those selected, but Kayden gave him a strange feeling.
"The power." Kayden had asked himself this question thousands of times and the answer was always the same.
"Power without purpose is useless. What do you seek?"
"Nothing. Power is the beginning, the middle, and the end." Kayden’s sincerity left Eros with a flea behind his ear. He had met a few people like that in his life, they were few and far between.
"We will leave in four centuries. You have three to continue your quest, and then advance and get used to the fifth realm. With your current strength, you are one of the weakest in our retinue. Get better." With that, Eros disappeared.
Kayden didn’t feel any pressure from this conversation and just continued his cultivation normally. Time passed quickly. He could see the world as mana instantly and didn’t even expend any will to do so. He was able to select and analyze thousands of parts instantly, but even then he was never able to break the mana chains, at least until one random day a few decades later.
Kayden was watching the sun slowly destroy vegetation from too much sunlight. It was a ridiculously slow process, he needed months to understand the change, but...
The mana from the grass disappeared into thin air and turned into free mana. This small interaction was minuscule and even a fifth realm mage wouldn’t be able to observe this if he hadn’t spent months observing it. In that instant, Kayden understood that the sun did not break mana interactions. In fact, he changed them, using a small expenditure of energy and, in return, he received another part of slightly larger energy.
At that moment, Kayden simulated the sun with his mana and was able to see the same interaction on a much larger scale. It took another long month for him to achieve it, but it was a success. Kayden made a six-foot area of grass disappear by a certain percentage and a minuscule amount of mana was released. It was very similar to what he had done previously, with just one crucial difference.
The mana that was being released was much less, as what Kayden was doing was just destroying the entire tangle of mana to the point that it naturally collapsed and the rest was transformed into free mana. It was an exchange where he lost 80% of all the mana in the grass and only 20% was transformed into free mana. The time required was also terribly long, but this situation was a success as it opened a new path for Kayden.
As the years went by, he got better and better and didn’t need more than a few seconds to destroy the grass. The amount of mana he could release became a little higher, but not by much. It took him two decades to maximize this to a perfect point. He could destroy grass almost instantly and release 30% of the mana in it. It was little if done in isolation, but when he applied it to large areas, it was a different situation.
This entire process made Kayden understand what he needed to do. Each material was unique and, as he could not break them down quickly, he needed to learn the small details just like he did with the sun.
The problem was that everything had to be studied a lot before he could get anything useful. The light was a coincidence, and it took a long time. Kayden spent the next few decades searching for anything of the sort and was unsuccessful.
Two centuries have passed since the encounter with Eros, and Kayden has finally arrived at a new clue. Instead of using sunlight or other things related to reality, he realized that he had to use what he had been ignoring all this time: his mana.
It took him a while to come to this conclusion and even longer to understand what he needed to do. At the moment, he was pouring his mana directly onto other things and causing it to melt the tangle. It was easier said than done. It took him nine decades to have the first sign of success. His mana, at this moment, was capable of destroying anything around him, but it took a long time for this to have an effect.
The winning percentage was only 20%. Kayden felt like he was getting close to the end of his life too. He would probably be the same age as a 70-year-old in his first life. He had gone through this process before and it was something he never got used to. The feeling of impending death and low vitality was one of the most unique things he had ever seen in his entire life.
Kayden had understood that he no longer had time to develop his research. The moment for a breakthrough has finally arrived. As much as his mind and personality screamed at him to drop everything and continue on this path, he knew it wasn’t right.
Outside, Kayden was floating on clouds. The advancement process this time was a little different. His crown began to resonate and magnificent golden clouds appeared. It was strange as there were clouds below and above Kayden. The ones above had strong pressure. The first ray came, and Kayden was surprised by its shape. It was unlike anything he had ever seen, as it was golden and, at the same time, colorless. He didn’t even need to use anything against this attack; just his grip was enough to easily hold him back.
After that, he put up some defenses and some circles to defend himself. The mana around him was far superior to anything he had ever seen and the world was helping him through this situation. The situation caught the attention of the people in the castle. No one knew Kayden, but everyone called him crazy. Eros has changed many people over the years. He didn’t make mistakes when choosing those selected, but people could make mistakes with him over time.
Kayden was one of the oldest in this place and at the same time one of the most unknown. The second beam was easily defended by the aura slash attack. The third came soon after and suffered the same fate. There was no difficulty in these weak rays. Only in the fourth did Kayden have to pile up circles and attack directly. His strength had indeed fallen over the years, even though he was at the peak of his power.
The fifth ray came with absurd force, tearing everything around it. Kayden saw how beautifully the mana around the lightning was shattered and destroyed. He had to use 90% of all his mana in several dozen circles and lightning and slashing attacks. His action took him several seconds. The shock wave was gigantic and reached the tip of the castle, causing it to shake slightly. Kayden sighed as he saw that his strength was not enough and saw his domain being torn apart.
Fortunately, it had layers of wear and expansion and other factors that meant the lightning was not able to advance very far toward it. The problem was that only the fifth beam destroyed all of his defenses and went through all of his attacks. The clouds seemed sad to see a champion falling to the level Kayden was at at that moment. It was a tone of palpable sadness. Kayden was given mana and time to withstand the next beam.
His defenses have fully recovered. He again raised his next attacks against the sixth ray. It was a huge attack and one of the most beautiful things Kayden had ever seen. His attacks were destroyed in just a few seconds. His dominance was even worse and lasted only a short time, but it was enough for him to launch a wave of attacks again.
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