004

After storming off to his room, the 13-year-old Ash lay down on his bed, staring at the roof of his room, lamenting his weakness. Despite his amazing talent, he was just too young.

'Father is right. If I want to become strong enough to protect what I want, I need time to grow. The only way to get this time is with a powerful backer,' thought Ash. 'The only thing I can do for now is to cultivate and hope to get strong as soon as possible.'

Ash, determined to improve, flung himself off his bed and started experimenting with his new power.

He picked up a pen and threw it into the air. Spen surged from his body and rushed towards the pen. He aimed to make just the pen 2 times heavier and make it rush towards the ground.

To his dismay, not only could he not single out, just the pen, everything in front of him became heavier. The pillow in front of him exploded into a cloud of feathers, and the legs of his bed cracked, threatening to shatter.

'This is harder than I thought. Let's put individual control aside for now. Can I make things lighter?'

As he willed it once again, spen rushed out of his body, and the books on the table to his right began to float.

Ash marvelled at the feeling of his spen coating the books, negating the surrounding gravity.

'I'm going to need to practice using this with my body and sword, I could become so much faster if I made the gravity acting on my sword weaker as I fought.'.

'It would make my attacks much more unpredictable too. I can't wait to surprise my opponents with ever-changing gravity.'

'I can't make things heavier than me light enough to flout though,' thought Ash with a frown.

"One more time, gravity at full power," said Ash out loud as spen permeated the room.

'Boom, Crash, Bang'

"What the hell is going on up there," shouted Lionel from downstairs. "Nothing," replied Ash in a guilty shout.

As soon as Ash released his spen and used his power at full strength, everything got 5 times heavier. The bed crashed to the ground, the light bulbs shattered, all the books in the room exploded, and the floor cracked.

'Well, that was unexpected,' thought Ash surprised.

'I probably shouldn't practice in the house anymore. Luckily we have that mini-training facility outside.'

Ash, ignoring the mess sat on the carpet with his legs crossed. 'I've heard sensing and understanding your power helps with getting familiar with its limitations and strengths.'

When Ash focused on himself he felt his mind get sucked into his body. Next thing he knew he was standing on the surface of a serene lake.

Despite there not being any visible source of light it was dazzlingly bright, light reflected off the surface of the lake devoid of even the slightest ripples.

Ash found it creepy in a way to see his reflection so perfectly in the unnaturally calm lake.

'This must be my Sea of Soul, it looks more like a lake to me. I must not have enough mental strength for it to be a real sea,' thought Ash in disappointment.

If any of the Illistrius Level 8 powerhouses were to see Ash's sea of soul, they would be shocked to discover he is in no way inferior to any of them.

Ash however would be disappointed to learn it's only called the Sea of Soul because that name sounds cooler than the soul lake.

If he knew this he would surely question how cultivators with their immense strength could be so vain about something so small.

'That must be the representation of my gravity power,' thought Ash while staring at a floating black ball.

The black ball was about the size of a football but radiated a formless pressure that made Ash feel heavy, despite it being his power.

The ball felt ethereal and noble to Ash as if calling it a ball sullied its majesty.

When Ash sent his consciousness towards the ball he felt like something that had been missing from him his whole life had been returned. His mind seemed to be reinforced as he felt the lake tremble.

The borders of his Sea of Soul expanded by a few meters, taking Ash's mental strength to the level of a peak Level 8 awakener.

As his mental strength got stronger Ash could subtly feel his control over gravity getting more refined even without having to use it.

'I feel like if I tried now I could make just the pen heavier without almost making my whole room explode.'

Ash, quickly realised cultivating while staying in his Sea of Soul would be more beneficial because he could study his gravity orb at the same time. He decided to cultivate while his consciousness stayed in the Sea of Soul.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hours later after Malinda and Camilla returned from their shopping spree.

"I talked with him, he was surprisingly calm." As Ash cultivated Lionel and Malinda could be seen talking in their room.

After coming back from their shopping trip Camilla was exhausted and decided to take a nap, while Malinda wanted to find out how her son took the news.

"Well he has always been a smart boy, I'm sure he understands the reasons," said Malinda to her husband with a sigh.

Truthfully she was quite worried as she knows boys at that age love bragging to their friends. Malinda was worried Ash wouldn't understand and would protest their decision.

"Hahaha, of course, he is smart, he is my son after all," Lionell replied with an uproarious laugh.

"Humph, if you were half as good as your son maybe we wouldn't need to find him a backer and you could take care of him all by yourself," retorted Malinda with a cold snort.

"Whatever it's not like you're any better," said Lionel with a sneer.

The two adults bickering like teenagers quickly stopped when a watch on a table by the bed began to ring.

Lionel promptly reached the watch and answered the call, while Malinda put on a respectful expression.

A hologram of a handsome man with vibrant green hair and steady hazel-coloured eyes displayed itself in front of the couple.

The man who was feared and respected all across the Testfall region calmly looked at the couple. His gaze alone carried an overbearing coercive force that could not be hidden through a measly hologram.

Despite this force, he didn't look like what someone with the moniker Blood Tyrant. The man appeared to only be in his twenties but his aura gave him away as a veteran of the battlefield.

"Hmmm, I hope you two are prepared for tomorrow, I will not tolerate any accidents or mistakes during the hunt, this is too important." Syd 'The Blood Tyrant' Neville spoke with a frighteningly chilly tone.

His deep baritone voice was transmitted to Lionel and Malinda. The two of them knew what would happen if they failed this man. They didn't dare to keep the man waiting for their reply.

" No sir, we both have prepared extensively for this mission. We would not dare to jeopardise such an important undertaking," replied Lionel with fear evident in his expression.

"Good, rest properly we have a long week ahead of us," said Neville nodding to Lionel's reply before hanging up.

" Oh my god, his aura is still so stifling, despite that only being a hologram. Is the difference between high and peak Level 6 so large," Asked Malinda with confusion.

"Let's not talk about this any longer and just go to sleep, you know what our fate would be if this mission failed because of us," replied Lionel with a deep sigh.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Back in Ash's room, all the mess from the earlier power display could be seen floating in the air.

Ash calmly opened his eyes and smiled widely. "Hahaha, the great me has advanced so much from just one day's worth of cultivation, this is amazing," laughed Ash loudly.

"Meditating on your power orb really is the best way to gain an understanding of your power and learn control."

Sending his consciousness back into his Sea of Soul the previously football-sized orb had grown into a basketball size.

As if finally acknowledging Ash as worthy, the water of his Sea of Soul rippled before a brilliant light flashed through the whole realm. Ash swiftly shut his eyes and when he opened them mere moments later he uttered the name of this power of his.

"Void Pressure, truly a fitting name for such a powerful power, hahaha," Ash roared with laughter.