Chapter 87: The Shackles

“That movement is wrong! You should twist like this.”

“Your gaze must be firm. Your current wavering eyes are looking up at the sky. I don’t see any courage in that.”

“Follow the natural rhythm, the rhythm! What is this mechanical movement you are doing?”

“Get up! I told you to practice sitting and lying, not practicing falling asleep!”

In this manner, relying on shouting and the lash, Ancestar finally taught Arno the Thought-Flow training method.

“I must leave now, Arno.” Ancestar said to Arno with a melancholic gaze.

“Melancholy Uncle, where are you going?” Arno asked with reluctance. In recent days, Ancestar’s training and care made him feel as if his father had returned to his side.

“I am embarking on a brand new path. Due to certain irresistible reasons, I cannot tell you exactly what it is,” Ancestar glanced at Ollie, who was hiding in the shadows and peeking every day, then continued: “But if you work hard, we will surely meet on that path.”

Arno was somewhat confused. He said, “Melancholy Uncle, stop saying so much! I don’t understand! I only know one thing: do what you say, and press forward with courage! We have a pact. We will definitely meet on the path you speak of!”

“Haha, talking so much with you, I truly am…” Ancestar gently rubbed Arno’s black hair and said, “Hold fast to your creed. Never let negative emotions blind your eyes. When you gaze into the Abyss, you might become the Abyss yourself! Finally, remember our motto!”

“I know, Melancholy Uncle! That enemy is worth a fight!” Arno waved his fist, gesturing excitedly.

“I am leaving!” Ancestar waved his hand, turned, and walked away.

He was going to pursue his own idea, to find a path that would weave together the Thought-Flow and the path of Wizardry.

The mirror image Ace was in the underground laboratory, tending to the plant-type Monsters. Hundreds of Monster Hunters had become contractors, sacrificing massive amounts of magical materials to him.

He returned roughly once every half a month, staying for a week, and then went out again with Daina to hunt Monsters.

Whenever he grew tired of his experiments, he would occasionally observe the state of his contractors to refresh his mind and mood.

He looked at the record about Ancestar and placed a special mark on him.

“Interesting. The way of the Knight?”

“Ancestar is the only person, besides Betti, I have found who achieved Mental Overdrive. Unlike Betti, who was born Overdriven, Ancestar achieved it purely through acquired training, without any potions or ritual assistance. This is a completely different method of overdrive.”

“Following the rhythm of natural Mana—breathing, walking, sitting, and lying. The first person to create this method must have been a naturally Overdriven individual who could observe the Mana rhythm. Truly a genius. It is far superior to my Five-Step Meditation Method and can be used as a starter method for future apprentices.”

The mirror image rode the mechanical magic lift back to the surface. He had arranged to meet Solon at the tavern to drink and continue observing Joanna.

Time returns to a few months ago, the Larr Mountains.

Seven Gale Wolves were chasing Ace. The pack leader had a bright, translucent cyan crystal embedded in its forehead. As Mana condensed, the crystal’s cyan color intensified, then dimmed. The alpha wolf spat out a continuous volley of Wind Blades from its mouth.

The other six Gale Wolves dared not lag behind. They spread out, surrounding Ace, and, like the alpha wolf, spat out slightly smaller, continuous Wind Blades.

Ace’s host body dodged awkwardly using Flash Teleportation. Encountering a single Gale Wolf was not scary, but seven were overwhelming. What made it even worse was the continuous nature of their Wind Blades.

The alpha wolf could launch nearly 30 consecutive Wind Blades, and the other six could each launch over 10 consecutive Wind Blades. The Wind Blades possessed a natural spinning effect. The network of over a hundred continuous cyan Wind Blades was essentially a death trap. Ace, caught in the middle, was practically courting death.

He had no time to activate the Illusion Barrier. Relying on Flash Teleportation and the Mana-Crystal Protection Membrane, he dodged awkwardly, managing to mark every Gale Wolf with a Secret Imprint.

“I cannot keep dodging like this. If I fly up, I’ll be a sitting duck. I must burrow into the ground!”

Ace thought this while activating the Soul Spell Flash Teleportation, plunging underground.

He then transformed into a beetle and quietly moved away from the surrounding network of Wind Blades.

The seven Gale Wolves, realizing Ace had vanished, began looking around, incessantly sniffing the ground.

Ace took advantage of the wolves’ search, pulled out several Glycerin Magic Tubes he had prepared earlier, and began guiding the spell.

Ultra-Long Air Pressure Railgun, combined with the guidance Spell Model, used the Glycerin Magic Tubes as Casting Material and fired a massive Tracking Inferno Missile that pursued the Secret Imprint.

“Boom!”

The enormous Tracking Inferno Missile, carrying destructive power, whistled through the air, heading straight for the alpha wolf.

The alpha wolf heard the huge whistling sound and also sensed the intense Mana disturbance. It leaped fiercely. Wind Element Mana gathered, forming a jet-like propulsion that made it fly away from Ace’s remote location at ultra-high speed.

“Again!”

Ace spat out saliva, maintained the Air Pressure Railgun, and loaded another Glycerin Magic Tube. A second Tracking Inferno Missile, the size of the alpha wolf, whistled through the air.

After firing, Ace didn’t even look. He launched three more consecutively.

The alpha wolf, flying through the air, maneuvered several times but was ultimately roasted into charcoal by the five Inferno Missiles.

The other six wolves, which had been rushing toward Ace, saw the alpha wolf’s brutal demise and began to retreat. They howled, sniffing Ace’s scent, seemingly plotting revenge later.

Ace was in no mood to let them escape. Flash Teleportation whistled. He continuously fired Tracking Inferno Missiles in the air, successfully leaving all six Gale Wolves there.

He rushed fiercely toward the sole heavily wounded, dying Gale Wolf. He used Magical Trickery to perform a slight healing on the wolf, then used a Mana Crystal rope, shaped with the Mana Crystal Shaping spell he learned from Daina, to tie it up. This was a very useful spell.

“Experimental material successfully captured. This is the most tactical, team-oriented, and agile powerful low-level Monster I have seen recently. It might be good material for enhancing mental power and agility.”

“I need to check the roasted ones too. I might find something useful.”

Ace muttered to himself while checking the other roasted Gale Wolves. He found that the alpha wolf’s head was mostly intact. Ace sealed the head.

He also used Magical Trickery to apply a quasi-spell effect: “Organ Preservation,” which kept an organ preserved independently for 24 hours without rotting.

Blurry spirit essences floated from the bodies of the dead Gale Wolves. Ace used a Spell Hand to capture a few of the spirit essences, then tried to burn them with Fire Element Magic.

The burning had no effect, but the Luminous effect was surprisingly potent.

The spirit essences quickly turned into foam under the intense light.

“Pop!”

The foam burst, leaving only star-like spiritual fragments.

Ace collected the fragments one by one, wrapping them in specialized magical parchment.

“The Transformation Spell is very useful, but the transformed button still retains the original mass. I am essentially carrying a heavy load. Fortunately, the Lesser Airiness spell can alleviate the weight. I hope to find space-related runes.”

Ace muttered to himself while tallying his harvest.

He analyzed the Soul Rune within the Gale Wolf’s cyan crystal, preparing to replicate the few useful runes into his Soul Sanctuary space.

When he successfully constructed the rune in the air and replicated it into the Soul Sanctuary space, the rune suddenly dissolved on its own.

Initially, Ace thought his analysis and deconstruction were flawed. Later, his brow furrowed intensely. The number of Soul Runes stored in the Soul Sanctuary space seemed to have a limit. He could no longer replicate new Soul Runes into the space.

The existing Soul Runes could still be replicated within the Soul Sanctuary space to form Spell Models, but no new Soul Runes could be added.