Divine Tempering

Meanwhile, back in Lylian's courtyard, Jody was unaware of the topic of the two women's discussion and couldn't even fathom what was happening to his eldest brother. Well, he couldn't even fathom the appearance of said brother. It was unknown whether Jody would be concerned if he did know. After all, he had yet to meet the fellow, and his first experience with brotherly love in the last few weeks had been...let's call it underwhelming.

His father made him come to this courtyard to train because Vivian was an excellent botanist and Lylian a beginner-level alchemist. The spiritual energies in this courtyard were heavier than even the House Lord's private manor. Not to mention that the pond he was currently floating on was full of water from the deepest part of Lake Nicaea.

Before his twilight rebirth, as Jody had decided to call it, he learned that this milky white water could barely be considered water at all. It was an elixir of nature, altered by the overwhelmingly dense presence of origin within Lake Nicaea. It was literally liquid mana. The lotus seat Jody was sitting on was refined by an Inscription Master for Lylian's personal use. It accelerated the rate at which the body was able to purify energy.

"Sheesh. Pops sure knows how to treat his women," Jody was impressed by how well off this family was.

The resources were abundant, allowing him to focus on raising his strength. He was excited because this was his first time coming into contact with an inscription tool. Jupiter Titan was an excellent Runic Master from a very young age. This indirectly resulted in Jody's knowledge of runes and formations, which had become vast like the ocean. He couldn't wait to dissect this thing to understand its makeup.

He knew instinctively that Inscription Masters were less knowledgeable than Runic Masters.

"Focus, kid!" a cold and overbearing voice rings in Jody's mind.

Grimacing, Jody closed his eyes and returned to the Host Space. Inside of his consciousness, he was seated in his throne-shaped host seat. Floating in front of him was a sky puppy. Its one black wing was extended but wasn't in motion.

"Okay, now enter the high state with your mind's eye. I'll start absorbing the surrounding mana. In the meantime, you're going to filter it through the lotus seat and into your doors of mana," Sylvester spoke with a calculating tone. "Guiding it through the proper doors will control the mana refinement."

"Okay, but how exactly should I do that?" Jody struggled with this problem the most.

When controlling origin energy, Jody felt like a toddler riding a wild bull. He didn't have this problem with astral light. This made him reevaluate how ingrained his master's memories were with him.

"This time, focus on one door. You must slowly travel a path with the origin energy. Think of it like exploring a cave. The origin energy is both your flashlight and your shovel. Continue digging for a way forward!

'So, it's similar to the astral refinement method recorded in the Titanic Rage Law.' Thought Jody silently.

Of course, Sly and X heard his thoughts loud and clear.

"Hmm, I agree it is pretty much the same process," Sylvester said after hearing Jody's thoughts, silently perusing through the leading soul's memories. "Once you reach a spiritual aiguille, open the next door and light that spiritual vein with the power of origin."

"How is that different from what I'm doing?" Jody mumbled, even though he knew how different they were.

"Don't play coy, you old brat! Quit trying to absorb everything all at once. You are far too weak to control that much energy at once!" Sylvester barked out impatiently.

"You could've said this days ago, though!" Jody replied in annoyance.

Sylvester's words inspired Jody, but after thinking for a bit, he was immediately furious. This jerk just watched him struggle futilely for how many days?

"It's not very complicated, kid. You need to expand your mind. Didn't that galactic muscle-head give you anything useful? Like a mental formula or something of that nature? He is your master, not I. Besides, did you ask me before today?" Sylvester responded indifferently. "You asked, and I answered. Is this my thanks?"

"Why would I have to...whatever, yo," Jody drove his throne over to Pharaoh's law.

He didn't want to care about Sly anymore. He would check the Twilight system later. Of course, there was some merit to what the sky pup said.

He thought deeply, sifting through his memories before responding, "Okay, I've got it! There really is a formula. The Cosmic Vision Scripture! This high-level soul formula is well-suited for truists practicing multiple paths."

"The...Cosmic Vision Scripture?" Sylvester was astounded.

His younger brother practiced the Cosmic Might Scripture and was also given this formula by the progeny of Titans old. Did fate have to be so creepy?

"Yeah! This path is under the sky of the divine source. If I can enter the first stage of this Cosmic Vision Scripture, my spiritual sense will evolve into a divine sense! That will make my high state reach all new levels of sensitivity. In theory, I should be able to manipulate the energies with ease in that state."

Wondering why things were silent, Jody glanced over at the other side of the space. He was shocked to find Sylvester staring at him with wide eyes and his jaw hanging down. The jet-black sky pup looked quite comical, as Jody had never seen his face alter this much before now.

"Did you just say...divine soul formula? And...that...just by entering the first stage of this imperial scripture... the very FIRST stage... you will refine pure source and develop the legendary divine consciousness!? So good? Is this some kind of a joke?" Sylvester's pitch kept rising as he was on the verge of screaming.

Divine source inheritances would be worth planets in Sylvester's last life. His own divine sense took 200 years to fully develop. Were such inheritances really free like candy in the ancient past? Were Titans always so extravagant for their disciples?

"Is divine source so amazing?" asked Xavier from below.

"Amazing?" The sky puppy shook his head, "It is more than amazing, X. The Spiritual sense of the land can be easily detected, yet is incompatible with the physical plane. Divine Sense, however, is of the sky and can not be detected unless someone possesses a stronger divine sense. Furthermore, divine sense can affect all planes of existence if one's competence is high enough! What kind of forbidden secret art did that titanic madman give you? The Cosmic Vision...ah."

Sylvester suddenly remembered the first thing he had ever seen of the Titan: that enormous and beautifully massive eye, that light, those colors. He realized something in this moment as he looked at Jody.

"What? What else, what!?" asked Jody in suspense, but Sylvester gave him an odd look.

"It's nothing," Sylvester slowly shook his head.

The prince actually felt shocked. This kid had cosmic-powered combat souls in himself and Xavier. Jody also had a physique that astral forces and nirvana flames had tempered since he was an infant. As if that wasn't enough, he even has a twilight-level soul formula? You couldn't buy these things even in the Legendary Domain, yet where were they currently? This was definitely not the place where this great fortune would be recognized, so telling Jody about it didn't seem like a wise decision.

"Fate, huh? The Hero race is indeed unmatched in this aspect," said Sylvester, but he had already lost Jody's attention completely at 'it's nothing.'

Jody already opened his mind's eye, changing the Host Space around him into the reflection of what was shown through his mind's eye.

"Epic," shouted Xavier from below, who hadn't expected such a scene.

"To enter the first stage of the Cosmic Vision Scripture, I would have to refine my right eye with pure divinity or the so-called 'source.' Only, if I mess up even a little, I will either blind myself or become retarded because of the backlash."

"No pain, no gain, brah," shouted Xavier from below.

"Does it specifically have to be the right eye?" asked Sylvester, as he definitely remembered Jody thinking it was the left eye.

"Yeah. After all, I'm not a sky-slaughterer. The spiritual vessels in the right eye connect to the part of the hero's brain that controls reason and logical thought processes, easily resonating with the serenity laws," explained Jody absentmindedly.

Finding this response shockingly reasonable, Sylvester remained quiet this time. He allowed Jody to focus. This would be a recklessly dangerous endeavor. Sylvester found himself impressed with how brutal this kid could be to himself. The lad didn't fear pain at all! Jody didn't hesitate in the slightest despite the risk involved. He was also a lot smarter than Sylvester initially believed.

Jody started to chant in an ancient language neither prince could understand. It boomed through the space with a terrifying majesty that Jody was unaware he had released. Using his mind's eye, he latched onto a wisp of source energy, slowly drawing it towards his right eye. Source energy was formless and obscure. It had to be felt with the soul and likewise brought in by the soul. This was very difficult, but luckily, Jody had 'experience' to guide him.

Actually, he found he also didn't have an issue sensing with his soul. It was easy. The brave fang collar around his neck showed its effectiveness at this moment, as Jody felt incomparably focused. His presence in the host space made him confident enough to try once.

However, unexpected by Jody and the princes, the moment the wisp of the source made contact with his eye, endless streams of divine spirit source invaded the void of this plane, from only ghosts knew where. These streams of source flooded into Jody's right eye, breaking his meditative state and forcing him out of the host space, causing him to scream in pain inadvertently.

[Imp: "The True Pharaoh of Twilight is watching you!"]

[Imp: "Twenty twilight stars will be rewarded upon completion of this divine tempering session."]

"Divine tempering?" Sylvester mused within the host space, having heard Imp's announcements.

The pain of soul tempering was like every inch of his flesh and muscles being slowly peeled off. It was absolutely excruciating. Jody was screaming like a maniac. The pain was far beyond anything he had experienced. Startled by the sudden scream, Vivian rushed out from a pavilion, and Lylian glided over her balcony, landing on the top of the pond. Vivian anxiously observed this stepson's movements.

"What do we do?" Vivian asked her sister. "Should we take him to the medical wards?

"Don't touch!" Lylian urgently spoke.

Jody was screaming and squirming, but Lylian could sense that the inscription formation within the lotus seat was still active.

This meant that rashly removing the boy from his position could cause him more harm than good.

In Lylian's opinion, Jody must have suffered a formula backlash. This often happened to young truists at the early stages of their particular paths. She could only curse the Lord in her mind for being so irresponsible. Why would he let the boy train blindly? In her mind, the boy being able to endure may only be because of the lotus seat. Her assumption was, more or less, correct.

As Jody screamed and writhed in pain, he was actually forcefully maintaining his mind's eye. He used his spiritual sense to repeatedly form barriers of soul power in front of his eye. The spirit source first had to tear through these barriers, slowing its momentum. This action was instinctual, as he reacted to the feeling that his life was being threatened. Blood had already started to trail out from his right eye like shining crimson tears. Jody's eye was losing its vision, and he felt his mind collapsing. However, in the last instant, green and black fire erupted and surrounded his body in emerald flames.

"The Sky Fall Flame!" thought Jody excitedly.

After a few breaths, the flame quickly receded. The devouring black flames absorbed the remnant energies surrounding his body, including the spirit source. The regenerative powers of the Nirvana flame invigorated him with those same energies as he stopped screaming and slowly resumed his meditative posture, with his face twisted ugly. He had only just noticed that the black flame and the nirvana flame were actually not the same. Merely, he had no time to ask about this.

"Let's continue!"

On the side, Lylian and Vivian were shocked to see the boy spontaneously combust into emerald flames again and then sit up straight as if he intended to continue with his practice. This caused Vivian, who already had a serene sound mirror in her hand, to be at a loss for what to do.