Understanding the foundation was easy, creating a stronger foundation for a hybrid was something else entirely. The amount of Gi it needed was something his Hub didn't even have, so he had to stay like that for a while.
Not only pouring energy into his foundation but also expanding his Hub at the same time. He was reminded of Lilith calling him a black hole.
'Where the hell did that energy go then?'
Shaking his head, he concentrated on the task at hand. This was the most important, the defining moment of whether he'll make it in the world he was thrown into.
Years went by and he was still in the same position. It was only then that it was coming to him. What he sensed was faint but he followed it.
'Abyss of Divinity? What an inappropriate name for demons. You'd think it would be hellspawn or something like that.'
The moment he recognised what it was the universe felt like it was at the palm of his hands—the world, his oyster, he just needed to take whatever he wanted.
He relished in the power the technique offered him and for a split second he believed it, for but a second he almost lost himself.
"Quite the strong feelings!" He said opening his eyes, he was still in the helix tower.
Levi felt that the foundation he thought he had before and this one were worlds apart. The power made him drunk, almost maddening. As much as he wanted to bring upon chaos within the world he didn't want to lose his sanity in the process.
"I guess I still need the Riel Stones to breakthrough but at least I've built the foundation, next should be a sun walking skill?"
He walked around the library, his luck running thinner every second. Levi still couldn't go up the stairs, opening his eyes in the real world it was clearly going to take him some time and since he was immortal he didn't mind much.
"How have you been Lilith?"
[What do you mea—master, you've grown...]
It took her a while to fully notice the years that went by in the blink of an eye.
"That's right, I should be twelve years old? Wow I had no idea learning techniques could take up so many years."
[Eleven sir...It's the foundation sir. Of course it will take more time than the other stages will, having a good strong foundation will determine your place in this world. What I'm sensing within you is, monstrous.]
His lips flashed a sinister smile, taking out the stones, he absorbed five at a time. He had about a million in his storage, Levi hadn't expected to burn through them.
As Lilith once stated he was a black hole, an insatiable monster. It was only fitting that he learned techniques of such high calibre.
The fact that he didn't show any signs of stopping after a thousandth, scared him a little. But for different reasons, if he were to find civilisation he wanted to have money for it.
If he had to describe the feeling of breaking through to the next gate, it'd have to be like a sneeze. A sneeze that was so far away but you can feel it tickling your nostrils, so you freeze, hold your breathe and try to yank it back, so that you can grasp that satisfying feeling.
The more stones he sucked dry the closer he got to that feeling.
'This is it.'
Opening his eyes once more, only this time they glinted with a bright red and it became faint as seconds ticked by, finally settling into their natural grey colour. Levi could feel the energy coursing through him.
The Novi gate. The power he felt was unimaginable. He thought he could take the might of his old world two times over.
[Don't get too drunk in power.]
"I can't believe I used more than half of the stones I had..."
He could feel that it was about to get dark, a perk of being a nocturnal being. A few hours was nothing compared to the years of living in a cave—eleven years of his new life. He decided to use the few hours left collecting things in the cave.
Since it took him nearly a million stones to get to Novi early stage, he was sure it would take even more to get through the second stage. He wanted to leave the cave completely clean.
"Lilith, what is that?"
[That's a hydra, sir.]
"Why is it on land?"
[Land hydra...]
"Sweet, will I get hydra tears?"
[I doubt you'll be able to extract it]
"So I can sell it, great. I just need a blade." He remembered the bronze hilt and took it out.
"Come on." He begged it closing his eyes, "I need to slay this monster."
But the hydra was too quick on its four limbs. It pounced on the unwelcomed guest. Levi thought his first actual combat would scare him, his heart was beating fast but it was out of excitement.
His eyes popped open at the same time as the blade was growing on the hilt. But it wasn't as long as he remembered, instead of a sword, it birthed a dagger this time.
At least the creature had just one head, unlike the many fictional legends he's read about them. He lightly touched the stone floor with his toes but that made him jump higher than he intended—had the roof of the cave been shorter he would've knocked himself out instead.
Falling back down, he landed on the hydra's head, sandwiching it with the concrete floor. He could feel the bones of its skull crack under his feet, it didn't get up again.
"That was ridiculously easy, did I kill it?"
[It's knocked out, but you'll want it like that. The more intact it is, the higher the price you can get for it.]
Levi felt a pain in his heart, he thought at least he could drain its blood out. While he'd learned to control his starvation he still needed to eat.