Chapter 14: Liquefaction
Reynolds, George, and Yale stared dumbfounded at this stone sculpture, completely awestruck by it. In their eyes, the five human figures in the stone seemed to possess souls—
The figure on the far left exuded a softness and fragility that was utterly pitiable.
The second figure radiated a lively cuteness that stirred the heart.
The third figure resembled a girl blushing shyly before them.
…
The five figures in this sculpture each had their own distinct spirit.
Linley gazed at the sculpture, feeling as if he were dreaming. These five graceful silhouettes were memories from a dream, and now the dream had ended.
“Linley.” Doehring Cowart walked over, his moon-white robe still spotless.
Linley turned to look at Doehring Cowart.
A hint of satisfaction appeared on Doehring Cowart’s face. “Your stone carving skills have reached the level of a master. This work of yours can be considered a representative piece of our ‘Flat Blade School of Stone Carving.’ After this experience, you must have gained a deeper understanding of stone carving.”
Linley nodded slightly.
Having truly completed such a piece, Linley finally understood why some master stone carvers only left behind one or two works that were remembered through the ages. It wasn’t that those masters lacked skill, but rather that truly ‘divine’ works were things you could only encounter by chance, not by seeking them out.
For example, Linley could complete the sculpture ‘Dream Awakening,’ but if you asked him to carve another like it, that would be forcing the impossible.
A truly ‘divine’ work required exquisite skill, brilliant inspiration, and unrestrained passion. Only by pouring in absolute passion, giving it one hundred percent, holding back nothing of one’s emotions, could one complete a piece that shook the soul.
Linley had now finished the sculpture ‘Dream Awakening,’ but to create another work comparable to it—who knew how many years it would take?
However—
After ten days and ten nights of devoted carving, Linley’s heart had clearly memorized that wonderful state. In terms of carving skill, Linley had actually improved. If he were to carve another piece now, though it wouldn’t match ‘Dream Awakening,’ it would still be far better than a sculpture worth five or six thousand gold coins.
“Linley, do you sense the change in your spiritual energy?” Doehring Cowart said with a smug grin.
Linley was startled.
Spiritual energy?
The surging spiritual energy within him was now far more vast than before, its intensity many times greater. If Linley’s spiritual energy ten days ago had been like a small sapling, now it was like a towering, lush tree.
“How did it increase so much?” Linley’s heart was shaken.
Doehring Cowart chuckled proudly, his white beard twitching. “Ten times! Your spiritual energy has undergone a terrifying boost in just ten days, reaching ten times what it was! In a mere ten days, you’ve caught up to decades of cultivation for others. Your spiritual energy has jumped from the level of a beginner sixth-rank mage straight to a seventh-rank mage.”
Linley found it hard to believe.
The increase was too much—ten times!
“Great effect, isn’t it? Hmph, the Flat Blade School of carving I founded has undeniable results. But… I really envy you.” Doehring Cowart squinted with a smile. “Linley, you should know that entering a state where you pour in absolute emotion, letting your soul fully harmonize with nature, is extremely rare, extremely rare.”
Linley nodded in agreement.
If that state were easy to enter, ‘divine’ works wouldn’t be so rare.
“In my nearly thirteen hundred years of life, I only entered that state three times, completing my three proudest works.” Doehring Cowart’s face showed a hint of pride, then he continued, “But carving those three pieces took me two days, four days, and three days respectively. That’s only nine days total, less than your single session.”
Linley had heard Doehring Cowart say earlier that his carving had taken a full ten days and ten nights.
“This state is the fastest way to increase spiritual energy in the Flat Blade School. In that state, the speed is probably over a thousand times faster than normal! It’s a state we all dream of. The longer you maintain it, the greater the benefits you gain. That’s why the larger the ‘sculpture’ you carve, the more you gain.”
Linley admitted this in his heart.
The sculpture ‘Dream Awakening’ was a massive piece, carving five entire figures—a very rare large-scale work.
Doehring Cowart sighed deeply. “But when inspiration and passion strike, the model is already in your mind. You have no choice.”
Linley understood this too.
Just like when he saw that massive boulder, with its markings, combined with his own emotions, the image of five human figures naturally formed in his mind. When that passion came, he forgot the world, forgot himself, and only knew the sculpture!
All his spirit, all his emotions, were poured into the stone.
When entering that state, there was no mental energy left to think, ‘I want to carve a giant sculpture.’ You couldn’t be distracted—once distracted, the state was broken.
“Linley, I’d like to ask, what is this piece called?” Doehring Cowart inquired.
“Dream Awakening,” Linley replied.
Doehring Cowart savored the name for a moment, then nodded slightly. “Good, a fine name.”
The rare heavy snow had long stopped. The world was a blanket of white, with thick snow on the ground of the rear mountain deep enough to reach the knees. Such a heavy snowfall was uncommon. After the snow, the temperature had plummeted.
In this freezing weather, Yale, George, and Reynolds had set up a tent nearby. Yale ordered some servants to bring food, and they stood guard over Linley.
Now, the three of them were marveling at Linley’s work.
“Yale, big brother, third brother has finished carving, but why is he still standing in front of the sculpture?” Reynolds asked worriedly. They had no idea that Linley was communicating soul-to-soul with Doehring Cowart, who existed as a spirit and was invisible to them.
Yale shook his head slightly. “I don’t know. But third brother’s work can definitely rival Master Prox’s pieces.”
At least in Yale’s eyes, Linley’s sculpture was profoundly moving.
“Big brother, second brother, fourth brother.”
Linley’s voice suddenly rang out, startling Yale, George, and Reynolds. Reynolds excitedly shouted, “Linley, you finally spoke! Eleven whole days—eleven days! You haven’t eaten or drunk for eleven days!”
Linley had stood still before the boulder for a day, then carved for ten days and ten nights—eleven days in total.
If he were an ordinary person, eleven days without food or drink would have killed him. Even a typical fourth- or fifth-rank mage would be weak and barely conscious. But Linley only felt a slight hunger, with no other discomfort.
Because when he entered that special state, fully harmonizing with nature, earth and wind elements constantly flowed into his body, replenishing his energy and steadily improving his physique.
“Eleven days, huh. I am a bit hungry,” Linley said with a smile.
“Hungry?”
George eagerly ran to the nearby tent and brought out two large boxes wrapped in fur. The fur was for insulation. Unwrapping it revealed iron boxes. Opening them, inside were sumptuous dishes.
“Hold on, how can we eat without drinking?” Yale laughed heartily.
Linley watched his three good brothers—one setting out the dishes, another preparing rice, and the third pouring wine. Seeing them bustling about, Linley suddenly felt a warmth in his heart.
They had stayed with him for eleven days. How could he not be moved?
But Linley buried everything deep inside, very deep.
“Big brother, second brother, fourth brother, we’ll be brothers for life,” Linley vowed silently.
“Third brother, come on, eat up,” George said warmly.
“Alright.”
Linley, with his three good brothers, ate and drank heartily on the snowy rear mountain, their laughter and chatter unceasing. The Shadowmouse ‘Bebe’ also joined in, eating and drinking excitedly.
After the meal.
“Yale, big brother, please keep this sculpture for me.” Linley stood up, looking around at the vast snowy landscape. “When I was fifteen, I went to the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts for training. By the rules, I should have gone again in July or August of my sixteenth year, but because of Alice, I didn’t. Now, I’ve decided to go to the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts for a good training session.”
Yale, George, and Reynolds were taken aback.
“Third brother, you’re going to the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts?” Yale was anxious, and so were George and Reynolds.
In their eyes, Linley had just gone through a blow, hadn’t eaten for eleven days, and was only now in a better mood. To head to the most dangerous place in the entire Yulan continent, the ‘Mountain Range of Magical Beasts,’ worried them deeply.
Linley smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I’m clear-headed now. If I hadn’t moved past the shadow, I would have destroyed this sculpture ‘Dream Awakening.’”
He turned to look at the sculpture.
Gazing at it, Linley felt as if he were seeing the past year of his life. Now, his heart was calmer than ever.
“That was just a memory, just a setback in life. Because of Alice, my training pace has slowed. I can’t delay any longer.” Linley smiled at the three of them, slung his pack over his shoulder, and said, “I won’t go back to the academy. I’ll set off directly.”
“Big brother, second brother, fourth brother.”
Linley fixed his gaze on his three good brothers, smiled, and said, “Thank you all, truly. I, Linley, am fortunate to have brothers like you.”
With that, Linley shouldered his pack, led Bebe, and trudged through the snow toward the east.
Yale, Reynolds, and George watched his figure grow smaller and smaller until it vanished into the snowy horizon.
******
Inside the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.
Towering trees, dense thorns, scattered wildflowers and weeds, and decaying leaves—the mountain range remained as primal as ever. Linley sat cross-legged in a patch of grass, absorbing earth and wind elements from the outside to refine his magical power.
Although his spiritual energy had reached the level of a seventh-rank mage, his magical power was still at the sixth-rank level.
Linley had been in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts for a full month.
During this month, he occasionally killed some magical beasts. The rest of the time, he either studied the seventh-rank wind spell ‘Flight Technique’ or meditated to train his magical power.
Ernst Academy didn’t teach seventh-rank or higher magic. But ‘Flight Technique’ and ‘Levitation Spell’ were almost simple extensions. Based on books about wind magic principles he’d read in the academy library, Linley had been experimenting with the incantation for Flight Technique.
After a full month of experimentation, Linley could now fly freely through the sky.
Even though he didn’t know if his self-developed incantation matched the standard ‘Flight Technique’ incantation, he was fairly satisfied with his current flying speed.
The leap from sixth-rank to seventh-rank mage was a major hurdle, and the hardest part was the increase in spiritual energy. Linley had already achieved that; refining his magical power just required enough time.
With his super-grade elemental affinity, his magical power refinement was extremely fast.
The Shadowmouse ‘Bebe’ kept watch beside Linley, cautiously guarding him, while Linley sat cross-legged, quietly refining his magical power.
Inside Linley’s body, at the dantian in his chest.
The yellow-brown mist and the cyan mist had become terrifyingly dense. Yet, yellow-brown and cyan gases continued to flow into the dantian. As the density increased, it finally reached a limit.
A single drop of yellow-brown liquid and a single drop of cyan liquid appeared in Linley’s dantian.
Then, more and more liquid drops formed—from one to ten, to a hundred, to a thousand…
One of the key differences between a sixth-rank and a seventh-rank mage was—the liquefaction of magical power!