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C351 - Depth Mastery

Auspicious Air. Ancient Aura. Heavenly Enlightenment.

It went by many names across just as many worlds. But, regardless of what it was called, the rarity of it didn't change at all. Even the normally calm and unflustered Heira couldn't help but be shocked at this moment. It was to the point her eyes widened uncontrollably.

"Sist –"

Heira raised her slender finger to her pink lips, shushing Syl. It seemed that she was afraid of waking Leonel from such a rare state. It was clear that she had no idea that Leonel had entered this state by choice and it wasn't a mere rare chance… It was something beyond that.

A few minutes later, the air around Leonel suddenly vanished and he woke up within his Dream World. At that moment, he too was stunned.

'Three minutes… It took three minutes…'

Leonel was shocked. Usually, it would take him a few hours to master a spear if he went all out.

In truth, this was already shockingly fast. If others came to know he could do this, there was no telling what kind of sensation it would cause.

However, Leonel came to realize that as he climbed the hill, the more difficult it became and the more hours he had to pour in to master these spears. Before he realized it, a few months had passed and he had only mastered 300 or so of the over 2000 he needed to.

But, this took him only three minutes?!

The most shocking part was that he had only comprehended with one mind. What if he split his mind eight ways and reflected on the Force Art from eight different directions at once?

…

Heira sighed. 'It only lasted a few minutes, but that would be enough for him to meditate on for a lifetime. He's quite a lucky child --.'

Heira almost choked. Leonel entered the state again.

Her elegant demeanor was suddenly thrust out the window.

…

Leonel began to experiment. Would it be more efficient to comprehend numerous spells at once? Or meditate on the same spear? What about if he spent four mind splits on one spear and four on another? What if he spent two on each spear?

Leonel exhausted all this options, hopping into and out of a state Heira thought was nearly impossible to touch in the first place. By the end of it all, she felt so numb that she may very well have been close to losing her mind.

Syl and Rie watched this scene play out from the side, completely stunned. They didn't know what had happened to their elegant and refined sister-in-law to make her act like this.

In truth, Heira's reactions weren't very exaggerated. To other people, they could only be considered to be a slight reaction. Maybe a slight opening of her pink lips, a slight raise of her brows, a slight twitch at the corner of her eyes and lashes… However, for Heira, this was the equivalent of her jaw dropping to the floor.

Of course, Leonel had no idea what these women were feeling. He wouldn't care even if he knew. After all, the Force Art was within his Dream World which was essentially just a projection of his memories in his mind. It was impossible for anyone to take from him.

…

'Is this his ability…?' Heira finally concluded.

When Heira came to this conclusion, she sucked in a cold breath. She suddenly understood why Leonel would disdain to be a bodyguard.

Though Heira had already seen through Leonel's potential, it seemed that even her own evaluation was too low. Someone with such an ability wouldn't be restricted by… anything!

Of course, Heira was technically incorrect, but also could be considered to be correct in a way as well. Without his ability, it would truly be impossible for Leonel to do what he was doing now.

'… If this is truly the case, we have picked up a treasure… But… This treasure will be difficult to control…'

Mistress Heira regained her calm. No matter how one looked, it had become impossible to read her thoughts from her expression.

…

'So that's how things are…'

Leonel realized several things through countless experiments.

For one, it was far more efficient to split his mind and meditate on the same spear.

From Leonel's trials, for a spear at the bottom of the hill, it took about a single minute to master while meditating on the Natural Force Art. For one nearer the middle, it took about five minutes. For one near the top, it took upwards of ten minutes.

However, if he meditated on a spear with two minds at once, the time was lowered by a factor of three. A lower tier spear would take 20 seconds and so on…

The more minds Leonel used, the efficiency became greater and greater. Eventually, when he used all eight minds, it took him no more than a second or two for a lower tier spear and not even a third of a minute for a higher tier one.

Still, even this wasn't the greatest realization Leonel had made.

When he went back to the base of the Spear Peak in order to experiment with lower tier spears, he realized that masteries could be separated into tiers.

Leonel personally chose to split masteries into two tiers. One, the lower, was what he called 'Shallow Mastery', while the higher was named 'Depth Mastery' by him.

Shallow Mastery was all Leonel had grasped until now. In order to evoke this mastery, he had to recall the memories and project the image of the spear consciousness outward. This was why whenever he battled with his spear, the images of the spear owners would pop up.

However, when he reached Depth Mastery, this evocation was no longer necessary. It became ingrained into his very bones.

In order to reach Depth Mastery, the requirement was ten times the time.

This meant for a lower level spear, it would take about 20 seconds. For a middle level spear, it would around two minutes. For a higher tier spear, it would take around four to five minutes.

But for Leonel, this was well worth it because he realized that when he reached Depth Mastery…

The stamina it took him to use his Dreamscape Battle Sense plummeted!

To be continued