"Now I can scrutinize myself freely" Mane remarked as he stood within the walls of the relatively large bathroom. There was a bucket of water right next to him, and a large rectangular crystal called a Reflection Crystal bound to the wall that served a similar function to a mirror. Although the image that appeared in the crystal wasn't as clear as a mirror image, it was pretty good and would serve the purpose for which Mane wanted it to.
Since Mane couldn't share the secret of the True Eyes with Hildegarde, he couldn't use it liberally around her. Sure it was true that whenever he called upon the ancient eyes that belonged to the Origin King of Old time ceased to exist, but it was very draining to depend on the eyes in that manner. But Mane didn't need long to analyse what he wanted to analyse. He just needed to be alone.
Mane took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He tried willing the True Eyes to appear, but without the Time Stop factor, yet it did not. After trying a few times and failing a few times, Mane understood that if he wanted to be able to use True Eyes without Time Stop, he would need to constantly train every day to get used to the pair of magical eyes. After failing at the nth attempt, Mane gave up for the day, and tried willing the True Eyes to come out. But just as he called for its presence, a blinding headache assaulted his senses and he almost fell to the ground. Luckily he was able to grab onto the bucket that held his bath water right before he could completely fall, and he was only reduced to a bow.
"It seems I cannot call on it indiscriminately," Mane knew that there would definitely be a cooldown. Just like every ability he had gained over the years, he knew that as he used it more over the years, the cooldown period of the skill would shorten.
"I guess it would have to wait," Mane stated and pulled himself up using the bucket as a hold. As he took his bath, he felt increasingly refreshed, and even without the True Eyes he could tell that there were fragments of Edict in the water. Without True Eyes he couldn't see the fragments, and that meant he shouldn't be able to direct the fragments into his body. But Mane was not resigned. He knew that couldn't be the only way he could devour Edict. Cronos definitely wouldn't have given him this ability if its requirements were so high.
"That's it!" Mane suddenly exclaimed and slapped the wall of the bathhouse.
*Boom*
"I should probably tone down my excitement," Mane smiled bitterly seeing the palm imprint on the wall. Along with the baptism of Edict, his abilities were starting to recover. His excited slap looked unimpressive and unthreatening in appearance, but it was strong enough to kill a man. In his joy he had forgotten this.
"I'm also a Scholar," Mane almost slapped himself for forgetting this important fact. Since he had spent over a month without Edict, he had grown used to surviving without the primordial energy. That meant his abilities as an Outer and Inner Energy Wielder, as well as his abilities as a Scholar were unavailable to him. But now things were different. Now that his body had once again received the baptism of Edict, he would be able to – theoretically – use his Scholar abilities.
Mane closed his eyes and opened his mind. He took shallow and quiet breaths, and increased his concentration to the maximum. A month of un-use had left him a rusty Scholar, so it took a lot to tap into his skills again. After a few seconds, he was able to feel his senses heightening. His sense of smell grew so sharp that he could make out the stench of the sewer connected to his bathroom. He could feel things around him clearly, and even the wind felt stronger than before.
"Huuuu" Mane breathed out deeply and further heightened his senses, and that which he sought for was found.
"There you are," Mane leaked out a small smile when he felt the presence of Edict in the water and in the air around him. He sat on the bath stool and swallowed the water and wind elements greedily.
***********************
"It's unbelievable," Old Fan sighed as he listened to Dan recount the events of today's hunt.
"I was there. But even I found it pretty unbelievable," Dan had a wry smile on his face. He and Old Fan were seated shoulder to shoulder, a huge jug of mead between them and a large cup place before each of the men.
"Can you do that?" Old Fan narrowed his eyes and asked.
"Ignore fire and absorb it?" Dan asked as he took a large gulp from his mug. "No. That strange force that empowers me allows me to shield myself with it, so the fire wouldn't touch me in the first place. But I cannot use my flesh to directly intercept such an attack" Dan explained.
"Do you think he also draws on the power of that strange force you speak of?" Old Fan took a sip from his mug an asked. As the mead traveled down his throat a look of intoxication appeared on his face and he exclaimed in a voice full of emotion.
"Good mead"
"As long as you are the one who doesn't have to provide it, every mead is good" Dan taunted mercilessly. Old Fan's brows twitched at the truth of his friend's words, but that was all.
"But back to what you were saying, I don't know. However, I reckon that it should be that same energy that gave him such power. After all, I don't truly understand that force to be able to postulate its limits" Dan explained
Old Fan nodded his head in response. Over the years, he and Dan grew closer to each other. And along with the closeness they shared, the walls that held their secrets were gradually broken down. Dan learnt about the secret of Old Fan and his family, and the mystery of the swords that gave even him a sense of danger; and Dan told Old Fan about his ancestry and the power that he drew upon.
Dan didn't know how he was able to perform the feats that he was capable of, but he knew that it stemmed from the power of a strange energy. Whenever he dug deep within himself, this energy nourished his bones and muscles, and allowed him to perform great feats. Old Fan learnt how Dan was able to do what he did. And the elder understood how Dan was able to kill a Pseudo Legendary Class Magical Beast with just a slap. It was because Dan had unleashed that strange force towards the unwitting beast and killed it. Dan explained that at the time he thought of slicing the Resurrection Cat with a thousand blades, and that was exactly what had happened. The strange force Dan could call upon was unleashed from his body and transformed into several formless and invisible blades that shredded the beast into nothingness.
Unfortunately, Old Fan seemed to have no luck with this strange force. Over the years Dan had unleashed a gentler portion of the force and surrounded Old Fan with it several times in the hope that the man would be able to sense and use this power, but to no avail. They both concluded that this force couldn't be used by just anyone. But now Mane seemed to be able to use this power.
"I see," Old Fan nodded and gulped down a large mug of mead. He would be lying if he said he wasn't envious. He had been trying to gain this ability for years without succeeding, yet Mane had seemingly chanced upon it even without trying.
"Is it a bloodline relation?" Old Fan wondered as he took another large gulp of mead.
"No," Dan shook his head. "Mane and I aren't related by blood," Dan added, and began to explain just how he had run into Mane.
****************************
"Huuuu," Mane breathed out deeply and stood up. He balled his fists as he felt power coursing through his veins and every sinew of his body. Usually when one meditated, they would draw in Edict and refine it before keeping it within their bodies. But because of the Devour skill Cronos had given him, he was able to skip the refinement process. The fragments of Edict that he 'swallowed' were not refined outside his body, but inside. So he could take in Edict indiscriminately without worrying about it being impure. His body did that without his prompting now. This meant that his harvest in just a few hours of meditation was equivalent to several days' worth of meditation now!
"I should be able to use it now," Mane murmured as he felt inner energy rolling within his blood vessels and bone marrow, and outer energy nestling within his muscles and enforcing his bones. He closed his eyes and called upon the power of True Eyes, and this time it did not fail him. His blue eyes were no more once his eyes were opened, and the beautiful True Eyes took their place. Time screeched to a halt once the True Eyes appeared, displaying its loyalty to the one that ruled over it. Mane looked into the Reflection Crystal and his figure appeared before his eyes. Only that this time, it was his internal energy map that was displayed.
"It is similar to Dan's, but I have no red stars," Mane narrowed his eyes when he saw what was displayed in the mirror. Unlike Dan who had 14 stars – 7 white and 7 red – Mane had only 9; and they were all white stars. And of the nine stars, only 4 were filled. However the 4th star wasn't completely full, but half empty.
"But mine aren't colorless," Mane noted as he scrutinized his star map. Dan white stars were filled with Edict alright, but the Edict in his stars were colorless like water. If not because of the clarity that True Eyes provided, Mane would have even thought them empty. But Mane's were different. Unlike Dan's, Mane's were silvery white. It looked far purer and more refined compared to Dan's. And Mane felt that the color white incorporated everything.
"Fire," Mane willed, and the silvery white Edict that filled his star map became crimson red as a small fire ball appeared on his palm.
"Just as I thought. White is a color obtained by mixing all the colors into one. Silvery White must mean that I am capable of using most, if not all, of the elements" Mane murmured and dispersed the flames.
Once the flames disappeared, the Edict contained within his star map returned to its silvery white color. For the next few seconds Mane experimented with his star map. He noticed that he had absorbed Wind, Water, Fire and Earth elements. That was because those were the elements he had been in contact with so far. As for lightning and darkness, he didn't have them. He could try for darkness at night, but he wasn't sure about how he would get lightning without rain.
"I guess that would have to wait," Mane muttered and dispersed the power of True Eyes. Immediately time returned to normalcy and the headache that came with using the ability assaulted Mane once again.
Gritting his teeth Mane endured the pain and proceeded to do what he told Hildegarde he was coming to do – take a bath.