A few hours later, several dozen scrolls appeared to Kayden. Each contained a good technique to use, and this moment reminded Kayden of his live broadcast. Their numbers fell to shallow values during these centuries. He left everything aside. Only a few people still accompanied Kayden, and only to see if anything impressive happened.
His constant struggles in raids raised his numbers to more normal values, but they were still low, not even close to the peak he had in the past. Fortunately, it was not possible to drop in rank. Kayden received several techniques. Most were clear and very specific. He couldn’t take anything directly from them, but he learned a little about the subject from each one.
The process would be like many moments in his life: he would have to pave his path again and improve all his techniques with his knowledge. It was a much longer process, but in the end, it would result in a much greater power spike. Again, Kayden just sat back and repeated the cycle of the last few decades. His patience was infinite. As long as there was progress, he would continue doing the same thing. Even without progress, he would continue doing the same thing.
It took Kayden about half a century to learn each of the techniques to an acceptable level. Time changed its value when he found himself in the fifth realm. Simple techniques from the fourth realm would only take a few months, while from the fifth realm, it took a few years.
Each technique was specific to a type of spell. For example, one of them was about increasing the flames without any limit, using divine mana to burn other mana, and causing everything to be burned as fuel. Other techniques had similar or completely different methods. Kayden had two options at this point: improve his attacks and spells, or improve his circles so that they put the excess mana to work for him. He chose the second option, as his entire fighting style was based on this central point.
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Again, it took him a long time to achieve what he sought. It took about another century and a half before he managed to place his circles as something superior. At this time, Kayden placed his circles and mana passed through them before his attacks were launched. This created a disadvantage as he was no longer able to launch the attacks without the circles, at least not at full strength. Therefore, Kayden kept a few dozen circles on his body working at all times. Thus, when mana passed through them, his attacks were launched with strength corresponding to the amount of mana he put out.
Kayden had to take a short leave of absence from his job to test his new skills. He flew a few kilometers away and placed some spells to break the spiritual senses reaching him. His attacks... became monstrous. When he utilized the full range of his spiritual sense and the conversion mana from his domain, he could launch an aura slash strong enough to split a mountain a few dozen kilometers long into two halves.
This level of strength was completely bizarre. Kayden could probably stop one of the wall attacks alone with a well-used aura slash. His lightning also became immensely powerful. He managed to create a crater more than five kilometers long and some deep. He had two types of lightning attacks: a finely tuned one that caused more contained destruction, and another tangle of lightning that clashed in complete chaos and destroyed everything around.
He also managed to increase his dominance to another level of quality. The circles left a few meters around him in total euphoria of mana and density. Any weak attack was automatically undone when they got close. Only attacks using divine mana were dangerous to Kayden; anything else couldn’t even move an inch of its hold. Attacks were converted into mana and reused by him.
Kayden did a few tests on her body. Most demonstrated that he was not able to just put in mana and expect there to be a corresponding increase; most of the time he only got a limited raise. He always used some techniques to camouflage his presence with fake mana that matched his body measurements. But with the circles, he just needed to place a few in an infinite cycle, and his entire domain would be transformed into a representation of him, at least in the first few hundred meters where he had greater control.
Kayden was ready to go somewhere else and look for new things to do. But, again, he decided to be patient and hone his strength to a greater level. He would hope to reach a higher amount of meters that he was able to convert into mana. Perfection could not be rushed. Kayden had already become an icon in the city, and many knew him by name or because they had contact with him during the invasions. But the time he was going to spend now would make even the elders become novices in his eyes.
Kayden spent an entire millennium in the same position, becoming the oldest man on the first and second walls. Only a few madmen from the third wall had spent more time in this place than him. The vampire who had been their leader a long time ago had already been changed twice. Every time a new leader arrived, he came to greet him. His long service created a certain invisible respect that everyone had for him.
All of this happened unconsciously, as Kayden was just cultivating his skills and, at the same time, using attacks to train. It had been a few centuries since he had been able to get rid of more than half of his attackers by himself. Currently, he could instantly convert around 700 meters into mana, a very high number, equivalent to more than his entire spiritual sense in one attack.
Kayden only performed one test with his full strength and was able to create a gash in the ground that went deeper than 30 kilometers and extended for almost 50 kilometers. The width of the cut was at least a kilometer. This monstrous attack caused a complete annihilation of the environment converted into mana: everything within a radius of 700 meters ceased to exist, from the air to living beings. His attack was so strong that it caught the attention of some hermits in the city, but Kayden managed to escape shortly after attacking. The leaders’ hesitation, as they thought it was a trap, saved his life.
Finally, Kayden became a true powerhouse of the fifth realm. He doubted that someone with seven lightning bolts would have a destructive ability as strong as his, and he wasn’t even at his peak yet. Kayden still had a lot of points to grow in his mana conversion. Furthermore, he needed to learn how to utilize divine mana in his full-power attacks. When all of this was done, he would truly reach his peak in the fifth realm.
"Are you resigning from the walls?" The current leader couldn’t believe Kayden’s words. The person in front of him had saved the image of all previous leaders with perfect results for centuries.
"Yes, I want my full salary." Kayden didn’t even know what the currency of this city was, but a few minutes later, dozens of gold coins containing an unknown man appeared to him. It was a mountain bigger than Kayden, practically a small fortune that most people wouldn’t see in their lifetime, as they ended up spending their savings over time.
After that, he walked around the city for a bit, and after a few questions, he found a huge library where all of the city’s techniques were stored. Anyone could pay a fee and enter the library. The real price was hiring a librarian to help him, as the amount of books in this place was ridiculously large. A person could spend years in there and not know even 1% of everything.
"Hello, dear customer, do you happen to need any help?" A woman appeared wearing the library uniform. Kayden asked for books about divine mana and paid the corresponding amount for the service.
He made the right decision. It was placed on one of the library tables with around two hundred books in front of it, all extremely thick.
"How many books are there in this library?" Kayden couldn’t help but ask.