Steady Heart, Calm Soul

Chapter 22: Steady Heart, Calm Soul

Unfortunately for Mercury, he didn't quite know where to start. I mean, what was there for him to do? He couldn't really stop all evil in the world. He couldn't stop the war. He couldn't start a country.

There was a simple reason for that: His weakness.

He had no money, no connections and little to no strength of his own. In the end, all he had was the effort he was willing to put in.

There was really only training to do. Mental exercises he could repeat eternally in order to improve his multitasking ability. He also had a few things that might help him with that, namely <Talent> and <Tenacious Genius>. Appraisal, please!

[<Talent>: A Skill which provides very subtle buffs. It allows the owner to comprehend things more quickly and improve their mental capacities faster. This allows for slightly faster learning of Abilities. This Skill is rare due to the difficulty of acquiring it and its inability to be trained through usage. The only way to level it up is by receiving said levels as rewards for completing quests or trials.]

[<Tenacious Genius>: A Title given to those who overcome challenges many times through effort and quick thinking. It improves rewards gained from trials by a small amount. In addition, it increases the frequency that the Skill <Talent> will appear as a reward. It also provides slight boni to some mental Skills, such as <Focus>, <Meditate>, and <Multitasking>. This is a non-exhaustive list.]

Okay, this he could work with. The ability to improve his abilities more quickly if he put in effort was exactly what he needed.

Combining these two with <Dreamwalking> might be quite handy for quick improvement. Now all he needed to maximize results was a goal. What was he working towards?

He didn't need fame right now. He would gather that when he was building a kingdom, and founding a town was still his main quest. No, instead of that he needed another goal. It couldn't simply be power, since that was useless without a place to direct it.

So, what was his direction? Mercury thought about it for a while as he laid in the sun, before he decided with a nod to himself. For now, he would seek a way to bring back the dead.

The method didn't really matter that much to be fair. He might be able to do it by exactly recreating their brains. Their DNA and every single cell and neuron they ever had, but then again, he had no way of knowing whether or not human bodies were structured the same way in this world as back on Earth.

He could also see if maybe something like souls existed in this world, and he just needed to create a vessel for them. Otherwise he might be able to research something like artificial souls, even if that was only an esoteric and stupid concept on earth. There was also magic in this world, after all.

If even that didn't work, he'd simply have to set out and look for them. If there was no way to revive the dead, all that was left was to look for them and find them, and heck, if even that didn't work, maybe he'd try ascending to godhood... or something.

Yvette did have angelic looking wings, so being able to attain godhood might not even be that unlikely. And since gods could do pretty much everything, that would maybe allow him to resurrect them.

He could also try selling his own soul to a demon or such to resurrect them if he needed to, but that would require a powerful soul. So in essence he was seeking power with a specific focus on souls, the underworld, if it existed, and powerful beings such as gods and demons.

Alright, that would do. It was a far off goal, yeah, but that didn't matter much. He had made friends. They had acknowledged him as their king and if there was one thing a king did, it was protecting his citizens.

Right. If what he needed to do was ascend to godhood or sell his soul, that was simply another step he needed to take. Another obstacle in his way. And he was absolutely determined to crush anything that stood in his path with every single bit of his effort and focus.

[<Self-Reflection> has levelled up! <Self-Reflection lv. 3 -> 5>]

Yeah, alright, now he had a goal. It was just about goddamn time to actually get working on it.

So, for the first time in a while, Mercury closed his eyes and envisioned his core, sending his mind along all the pathways he had crafted for his mana and renewing the mental picture he had of them. They had rusted a little in the time he hadn't used them, but flushing out the remainder of said "rust" was easily done by flushing them with his mana.

Then, once he had reattained focus over all his muscles, he started working his mana. He renewed the walls separating the different parts of his core. He created multiple basins for it and led some of it down his veins in order to expand them. He also immediately evaporated some of it and used the magical power to warm the injured parts of his body.

There was no longer a need to hold back with his mind. He had found a goal and focused his mind, sharpening it to a point thinner than any knife. This was about efficiency, and trialing himself was the quickest way to improve, so all he had to do was exert himself to the point where he was about to crumble, then grit his teeth and keep going.

The most efficient way of doing this was by using multitasking to pay attention to as many tasks as possible, so he also added on absorbing mana from his surroundings in addition to simply feeling the magic around him and trying to get a view of his surroundings that way.

It was just a common trope he remembered from media, but he decided to give it a go, since sensing his environment through the mana in it seemed like a good idea. Sadly, he entirely failed at finding out anything about the physical world. Instead, he found that some of the mana had a different feel to it. Some of it felt clear, like drops of liquid glass while others felt thick and dirty, like he was handling mud.

It wasn't anything like an elemental affinity, mana was its own kind of energy after all, so it naturally having an affinity would be weird, at least that's what Yvette said. No, instead it was like… different kinds of water. In some places, water had more iron in it from rust in the pipes, while somewhere else, water may have more chalk dissolved in it. In even other places it may carry harmful bacteria and such.

That's what it felt like. Some of the mana felt like it would taste better. And since Mercury was already improvising, and this was a hard task, he decided that he would from now on scan his environment and only absorb the best mana he could find.

This was… incredibly hard, since he pretty much had to scan each triz of mana by itself. Triz was the smallest unit that mana had, or so Yvette told him at least. And since the surrounding triz only had a minor influence on each other, especially in the form they naturally appeared in, he pretty much had to touch every single one with his mind and then confirm whether or not he could absorb it.

This, of course, was a monumental task, far above anything he should even attempt at his level. Heck, given that one absorbed more mana the more mana one already had, doing this might be a Sisyphean task, no matter how powerful one was.

Absolutely perfect.

This was enough to mentally exhaust Mercury after only minutes of doing it, placing a huge burden on his mind and <Multitasking> alike, since he could use that to check multiple triz at once.

And thus, after only five minutes of practicing, Mercury was mentally fatigued enough to fall over and pass out. But he didn't let himself. The headache hadn't started yet, since this caused fatigue and exhaustion moreso than pain. So, he kept going, fighting off the drowsiness with a growing excitement towards the monumental task he was undertaking.

This was exactly it! This was what he needed! It wasn't pain or a punishment, but it was hard and rewarding. This was absolutely perfectly and exactly what he needed in order to be able to take the next step. To gain the power of saving his friends!

That growing excitement seemed to overpower any and all fatigue. This challenge Mercury had placed in front of himself was far too great to take a break on. He was determined to conquer it before he went to sleep the next time.

He failed. Miserably. Turns out there was a reason as for why Yvette didn't tell him about this, in that it's practically impossible to keep it up for prolonged lengths of time. Five minutes felt like hours with the amount of thinking he had to do.

And while he first just felt fatigue, he started being feverish shortly after. Then, the soreness set in.

This time it wasn't just a simple headache like it had been before, the pain was far less targeted and instead affected his entire body. Every limb of his felt sore and extremely heavy, being pulled to the floor like blocks of lead. By then, even breathing had gotten hard and Mercury only noticed he had stopped when he saw spots of colour flickering behind his eyelids.

He had gotten so caught up in his practice that even his body had forgotten to breathe. Maybe eventually, his heartbeat would have stopped. After a moment of shock, Mercury tried to breathe in, and failed. Then, he attempted it again, trying to draw in air through his nose like he usually did, but his chest didn't move.

For a moment he panicked and felt his heartbeat quicken, but he had just enough sanity left to hold himself back from hyperventilating. Instead, he focused all of his attention on his physical body, pushing against the barrier that stopped his chest from moving with all his mind.

First, it felt like he was pushing up against a stone wall, and his vision was getting more blurry around the edges, but Mercury kept up his efforts. He tried forcing his chest to move as hard as he could, and after just a few more moments, when his sight started to go black, he felt himself spasm, as his muscles wildly regained their function.

He drew in a shaky breath at first, since his chest still wasn't doing entirely what he had wanted it to, but breathing was breathing. After a few seconds the spasms calmed down and Mercury took multiple deep breaths, even though his muscles hurt like hell now.

This short reawakening had been like a full-body cramp for a moment, and while before he felt sore and heavy, now he felt in pain more so than anything else. The usual stinging headache also set in now. It probably had just been built up and the dam had just been released, as the wave of pain made Mercury lose his balance and sense of orientation again.

But Mercury simply let it wash over him, still focused on his breathing. He had panicked a little bit when his breath stopped, but now he was more in awe at the sheer size of his task. Then, he flashed a small, toothy smile.

He didn't quite know yet what he was even getting himself into, but he could tell there were many different possibilities. Maybe what he was practicing was some sort of fine mana control. Maybe he was practicing some sort of scanning or superveillance with this. Heck, it might even be that he was just learning to differentiate types of mana, but whatever it was, it was goddamn hard.

Hard enough for Yvette not to mention, in fact. And given her ruthless training, that meant that she either considered it too dangerous, which, admittedly, it seemed to be, or that she didn't know about it, which was unlikely. Mercury thus concluded that this was an exercise many had failed at before and that thought alone excited him.

See, Mercury didn't need to be the greatest in the world at something. He didn't even need to be in the top three, in his opinion, as long as he himself thought he was really good at something. He only needed to be good enough to be better than anyone among his immediate contacts.

If he was able to surpass all of them, he'd have the bragging rights, which really was the most important thing.

This task would also be just as hard if he was better at magic, so it was an opportunity to learn something that even great wizards might not manage to do because of its sheer difficulty. And, while easily ignoring the pain with his pleasant thoughts Mercury licked his lips.

He had found exactly what he wanted. A task he could spend all his time on without worry, since he wouldn't be making too much progress at any one time.

But it wasn't like he could really spend all of his time on it. Especially now, when his mind was fatigued and his thoughts were slow and incoherent at best, he needed something else. So, he decided to do the first thing that came to mind.

He wanted to run.

Not because of any special reason, either. He simply thought it would be fun to also exercise his muscles, even if they still hurt a little from the cramps and his breathing was laboured. And so, with a smile on his face, Mercury got up from his lying position, the sun glistening on his fur.

He looked out into the alley in front of him and took a slow step. Soon, he took another, and then one more. And before he knew it, Mercury was running. Flying along the alleyways of the street, some large, some small, some bustling and some empty, some with walls at their ends or ladders to the roofs.

And Mercury ran along all of them. He ran, with heavy breathing and a bright look as he chased down the sun, scaling walls and roofs, weaving in between the legs of humans as he kept moving and moving.

There was no longer a need to stop and no longer a need to hold back. If his path was one never walked, he would walk it until he reached its end. And if he reached the end and didn't get the result he wanted, he would start down another one. If anything, he had time on his side.

And so, when he was standing on a rooftop, staring at the sun rising ever higher in the sky, Mercury smiled.

[By braving extraordinary circumstances and pain the individual has received additional rewards. Get: <Calm> Skill.]

[<Calm lv. 1> is fusing with one of your existing Skills.]

[<Calm lv. 1> has fused with <Self-Reflection lv. 5>.]

[Acquired the Skill <Steady Heart lv. 2>!]

[<Steady Heart>: A Skill that can be used passively and actively in order to clear the user's mind. It can help them calm down in tense situations, keep their head clear in emotional situations and allow for more accurate self-reflection by removing preconceived notions of oneself. In addition it can be used to focus one's mind more sharply, like the <Focus> Skill. Furthermore, it also gives bonuses to perception based Skills, such as <Appraisal>, as the calming effect allows the user to assess things more accurately. It's a rare Skill, as it is hard to attain, given that it requires the user to experience extensive doubt in one's own abilities and then overcome said doubt.]

And then, after reading Mercury smiled and kept running.

He ran around the city like he was attempting to get lost, but this time it didn't matter. He knew what the guild smelled like, so he was confident in tracking his way back. And after a while of running, he did just that.

And then, he sat down and focused on his mana again. Afterwards, he went for another long run, going until his legs hurt and then some more.

Before he knew it, he wasn't just running but also carving runes in his breaks or when passing over the same spots. And just a few days later, he was also doing muscle practice the best way he knew to, by climbing and doing push-ups, or at least trying to.

Mercury was preparing to come back.

And if there was one thing he knew well, it was how to make a good entrance.