Settling in

Ultimately, Jody decided it didn't really matter to him what they were doing. Even if they had disobeyed a direct order to sneak around like two high school children. Even if Charlotte had already promised herself to him. He would get over it. Overcoming heartache was another part of growing up. Jody stood up and looked around the room, ignoring the intrusive gaze of the now-standing Sek Si.

Her gaze seemed to be permanently trained on himself.

Jody was in a large and magnificent transformation room within the palace. It had a meditation platform that could use the formation inscribed on it to draw in the primary energies of the heavens and the earth, or what was known as Ambient Mana. It also had a side room where one could practice martial arts, specifically Sage Arts.

There were even a couple of saunas and restrooms on this palace wing and in the sleeping quarters. Jody noticed some wine, juices, and fruits containing potent spiritual energies. Everything one needed was within reach, and there were plenty of things he couldn't identify at all. Jody immediately decided to take all these things with him once he left. After all, what was the point of having a space ring if he didn't use it?

This felt like a paradise under the earth to the current Jody, whose only thought was to grow older and get stronger. Once he had sufficient strength, he believed his parents would let him roam the world outside of the estate. After all, this was Jody's first time ever leaving his home since coming to this world! Minus the ceremony where he became a medjay and the time his mother's family tried to kill him.

How lame was that? Why was death involved whenever he left home?

Jody made his way over to the platform and sat cross-legged in the center of it. Sek Si followed behind his every movement, silently, like a shadow, before sitting cross-legged next to Jody. It was unknown what she thought as she stared at him.

Thus, he had to ask her, "What's the matter? Are you feeling unsatisfied?"

"No, young master, not at all," Sek frantically shook her head. She seemed slightly in a panic. Her handsome face turned beet red as she mumbled another response, "It's...I'm sure it is just a side-effect of the blood pact. Please continue to do your own things."

Inwardly, she was thinking, 'Why does my heart feel so unsettled when I remove my eyes from him? Is this really the blood pact? How terrifying.'

Jody glanced at Sek Si, causing her to blush slightly. He noticed that his natural sense of caution didn't seem to apply to this young girl anymore. He couldn't raise a guard against her if he tried, which he had actively been trying to do. He trusted Sek Si completely. Although incomprehensible, this was instinctive. In fact, it was similar to how it was with Sylvester. So many things had happened today Jody barely had any time to process everything. He quietly sighed before flipping his palm, where a shiny blue book covered in runes appeared with a flash of light.

This was none other than the Bright Star: Battle Book, the energy guide given to Jody by Grandpa Geb!

"Formulation is the refinement and manipulation of energy. More importantly, creating a mental formula is about becoming one with not just your current environment, but to understand that all of us are part of the reality of the universe. We are from it. We merge with it and will be reborn from within it," Jody read to himself.

The Titanic Rage Law is an immortal body transformation art. Titanic Rage focuses on astral energies, body refinement, and Twilight's power. It follows the Truth of Supreme Might, the Immortal Truth, and the Truth of Twilight. It couldn't help Jody refine ambient mana. It only converted the primary forces into star power, which constantly tempered his blood and flesh, allowing him to gain powerful strength and life essence. He could form a twilight class in addition to his energy art by pushing his life rating to the next level.

The Bright Star: Battle Book was different. It could teach Jody to absorb and manipulate origin force and extract origin force from the pure spiritual powers of the sky and the land. Flipping through the first couple of pages, Jody felt enlightened and terrified. He had apparently been thinking about things all wrong.

"According to the Bright Star: Battle Book, an imbalance of different energies causes all the energy to turn cancerous. How scary!" Jody's goosebumps crawl all over his skin. Hadn't Sly and himself been recklessly absorbing ambient mana? Hadn't he subsequently done the same with crazy amounts of spiritual sources? To think that he had almost caused his own death made his back wet with cold sweat.

"It is not quite that easy for energy to turn cancerous, Trill loser. You're far too weak to be concerned with such a thing," commentated Sylvester, rudely interrupting Jody's inner monologue. "Anyway, less of that, yes? Hurry up and use your spiritual sense to memorize this force guide. Pay special attention to the breath control and the method of force circulation. These are the crucial elements. Everything else is secondary."

"Got it," Jody spoke out loud, startling Sek Si, who was already formulating next to him. This platform was just too useful, and she didn't want to waste even a second of this opportunity. She presumed her new master would do the same. Unfortunately, this boy enjoyed talking to those voices in his head...

The boy in question was completely unaware of disturbing Sek Si as if he had forgotten that he wasn't alone.

In fact, he had.

Whether it was Josiah or Sek, their auras had already blended. They were impossible to distinguish from each other within a certain range. This was one of the useful qualities of the Si clan. After an hour had passed, Jody had already committed the entire contents of the Bright Star: Battle Book to his memory.

Though he couldn't comprehend all of it, Jody discovered that when he used the spirit source of his right eye, he could at least remember the force guide in its entirety. It was like he was looking at it for the first time all over again. He could slowly study it over time, even without the book.

For now, Jody closed his eyes in meditation and immediately entered his Host Space. He entered the high state inside the Host Space, causing the outside world to be reflected in the Host Space. He then cast his perception inward and observed the energy flow in his body before nodding at Sylvester.

"Hmph. Alright then. Let us begin."