Mane's eyes were closed as he dedicated a whole half of his attention to the changes occurring within Lily's body. The other half was focused on observing the surroundings to prepare against any sneaky creatures. Lam was a smart young man, and he had drawn close to Mane to make his friend's task of protecting him much easier. Mane had his aura fully unleashed as he helped Lily. And that seemed to be deterrent enough. Besides, Hildegarde was here to prompt him if he lost his concentration on the environment and there was a Magical Beast approaching. The little fairy flew around the group in circles as she looked around vigilantly. It was a strange decision to make, since she could feel the energies of the creatures in the inner region from Mane's shoulder and there was no reason for her to have gotten up in the first place. Of course her explanation,
"I want to give the two of you some space," was neatly ignored by Mane who had long since pushed her to the back of his mind from the moment he used the Devour skill.
Mane guided Edict through Lily's body, a feat he was able to accomplish because he had studied the Star Maps of the twins rigorously over the four days they travelled together through his True Eyes. His amazing eidetic memory allowed him to accurate remember every vessel and body part connected to their Star Maps, but doing so wasn't easy. If this was before his Enlightenment, Mane wouldn't have dared to try since he could have easily hurt the twins. But his control of Edict had grown tremendously after his Enlightenment and his understanding of the Law of Life improved his perception about the human body.
"Can you feel it?" Mane asked after he had successfully guided Edict through Lily's body for the first time. He slowly began the second cycle, helping her gain a bit of familiarity with this strange energy. He had his eyes closed so he could accurately picture the location of the stars in her body.
"I can," Lily responded as she reveled in the strength the strange new energy gave her. She said she wasn't interested in getting stronger, but now that she was gradually being filled with power, she started feeling that maybe being strong wasn't a bad thing.
"Try to take control of it and guide it along the pathways I'm using," Mane nodded his head, his eyes still closed as he instructed Lily on what to do.
"Okay," Lily responded and tried to grab hold of the energy within her body.
When Mane observed the Star Maps of the twins, he noticed that they were just as empty as their Grandfather's. Or at least he thought they were just as empty as Elder Fan's, but he was not entirely right. Mane realised that the twins had stars in their star maps. Both of them had 8 stars each, but they were clouded! Whoever did the masking was much stronger than Ivor or Dan. Maybe it was a Noble. Why was Mane certain of this? Because even his True Eyes couldn't see past the technique! Someone had hidden the stars of the twins and clouded them with a technique that made it difficult for them to be able to store Edict. It did this by 'deceiving Edict' into thinking that there were no means to store it so that the Primordial Energy Source would dissipate. It was an illusion Type technique, and Mane was stunned to realise that there were people on this planet capable of such feats. And maybe that was why Lam had been fed New Type Potions unknowingly and yet had not an iota of Outer Energy modifying his body.
True Eyes weren't omnipotent. They were powerful, but there were restrictions. Mane understood these restrictions during his Enlightenment. Nobles and Ascenders were of a much higher league compared to other wielders, and even True Eyes wouldn't be able to see through their techniques. Mane was deluded into thinking True Eyes could see all because he was able to see through Ananse's disguise when his True Eyes had awakened before her in the True Universe. But upon his Enlightenment he understood that he saw past Ananse because she used a flimsy disguise technique before him, not because True Eyes were that powerful. It was likely that because she was suspicious and wanted to know if Mane had inherited the True Eyes, she had resorted to using such a poor disguise.
Luckily Mane's Enlightenment introduced him to the Laws of Life and Death, and he was able to sense the aura of life from the Star Maps of the twins. It was because of the faint life auras that Mane had been able to go past the illusion and locate their stars. As for the life auras, they came from the stars themselves! This led Mane to a whole new understanding about the stars within their bodies, and he understood that they living beings on their own like he was. Using True Eyes and the Law of Life, he placed markers on the stars and spent the rest of the trip constantly reviewing their stars and understanding them. Unfortunately, he wasn't strong enough to remove the technique, and that was why he had to guide the twins into baptizing their stars with Edict. Mane theorized that if their stars were baptized with Edict, the technique would lose its purpose and disappear. But they had to do it on their own. He could only guide them.
"That's it!" Mane exclaimed involuntarily when Lily finally wrestled control of the Edict in her body. She had done this on her third try! It was amazing how quickly she picked up. She followed Mane's lead and guided Edict through her Star Map. When Edict finally passed through the 8th star and came out, Mane pulled it out of her body. The kind of energy she would store first was meant to belong to a Mythic Class. That way she could start directly from the Profound Realm. The same could be said for Lam. Mane wanted them to start at his level, so that they could grow together. He was tired of always being in front, and felt that the twins' talent and comprehension didn't pale in comparison to his own! This was more of his own selfishness than his need to help them. He wanted them to put pressure on him so that he could grow faster.
"How do you feel?" Mane asked once the entire ordeal was over. Now Lily could be said to be a wielder since her stars had been baptized by Edict. She was a 1st Stage Mortal Realmer now!
"I feel great. And so much lighter than before," Lily responded with a bit of excitement. Mane wasn't surprised. Lily was Wind Attributed. It was rare for people to have attributes, but so far all those Mane was acquainted with had attributes. And though Lily was only in the Mortal Realm and wouldn't be able to use the wind elements, her physical attributes would be skewed towards speed more than strength. As he saw her eyes gleaming in excitement, Mane recalled his own experience of becoming an official wielder in the past. All he had to do was baptize his stars, but it wasn't as tedious. After all, his weren't cloaked. But at the time he didn't have True Eyes to understand that he was baptizing the stars in his Star Map, and thought cycling a string of Edict through his body by following the instructions on the Supreme Manual was all it took to become a 1st Stage Mortal Realmer.
"Maybe that is why it took me so long to break into the Above-Mortal Realm," Mane smiled bitterly when he recalled how long it took for him to break into the Above-Mortal Realm. Comparatively, he didn't spend as long in the Above-Mortal Realm before breaking into the Profound Realm and into the Earth Realm.
"Let's do yours too and then go find some Mythic Class Magical Beasts," Mane nodded at Lam and said.
"Yeah!" Lam exclaimed excitedly as his eyes shined brightly like a pair of night lamps. He had been trying hard to control himself since the time Lily said she felt lighter. Although this wasn't the real thing, it was good enough to show that Mane's ability was real! And Lam couldn't wait to get started.
"Let's move on then," Mane nodded his head and retracted his aura so that he could get more prey. In just fifteen minutes, they had been attacked by no less than 10 Magical Beasts! Unfortunately, none of them were High Level Magical Beasts. Just when Lam was getting impatient, a High Class Magical Beast appeared. It was swiftly dealt with, and Lam went through his baptism successfully as well. Unlike his sister, Lam was Fire Attributed. It seemed that twins really had a connection, because their attributes paired wonderfully with each other.
"Mane, I can sense two Mythic Classes close by. Do you want to make a beeline for them?" Hildegarde asked.
"Yeah. We don't have that much time." Mane responded and moved towards the direction Hildegarde had pointed out.