Myriad Devils-Chapter 75: Five tasks, realizing the truth

Completely submerged under water, Anon and Seth both sat as unmoving statues in meditative postures. Atop the lake’s bed, neither seemed to be part of the living world. Interestingly enough, serpentine creatures with glowing bodies swam past, near, and even circled them without any aggression towards these two human-like figures.

Most notably, their palms, which rested on their knees, were open and faced upwards, each holding fist-sized beads with striking beauty. These beads resembled delicate, elongated buds with a shimmering and electric, crystal blue hue to them.

The outer petals were smooth and glossy, almost translucent, allowing soft, flickering lights to emanate from within, reminiscent of lightning flashes. They were called Lightning Flower Buds, and these mystic treasures were what gave birth to Lightning Snakes.

In fact, there were several more such buds in the duo’s nearby vicinity.

The duo completely emptied their minds, allowing their spirits to become more alert and sensitive towards the high amounts of nurturing energy contained within them.

And as their spirits relaxed fully, it created an attractive force that descended onto the flower buds which then slowly bloomed, allowing for the flowers to reveal intricate patterns that carried mystic allure resembling lightning bolts.

In the bottom of the lake water, crystal blue particles rose from the blooming buds and slowly drifted towards the space between the duo’s brows, before then making contact and seeping into those spaces.

However, this was just the beginning, as soon after, the mystic patterns that decorated the petals rose, detaching themselves from the flower buds, thereafter, rushing towards the duo’s glabellas, penetrating their skin, and entering their foreheads.

The Lightning Flower Buds in their hands quickly dulled, and withered away as the duo opened their eyes almost simultaneously. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

For a short moment, a hazy blue hue coated their colored pupils before they returned to normal. Then, they grabbed two more buds each, not even glancing at the other, before returning to their previous state.

Their sudden movements startled the serpentine creatures that swam around them, as the dumb beasts hurriedly moved away from these two previously unmoving entities that seemingly returned from the dead.

On the other hand, the duo continued nurturing their spirits via the energy within the Lightning Flower Buds which were littered around them.

Finally, when there was no more remaining, they returned to the surface of the lake, but not before seeking out even more Lightning Flower Buds. Only, these weren’t for themselves.

...

Lightning Flower Buds had multiple stages even after reaching maturity, that directly affected how valuable they were.

The act of giving birth to Lightning Snakes resulted in their value plummeting. In fact, it was obvious when a Lightning Flower Bud had given birth to one.

Since they could only give birth to three in their lifetime, after giving birth to a Lightning Snake, the divine light that they released would dull noticeably, and it would continue to dull after giving birth to the second, before the bud itself would wither away at the birth of a third Lightning Snake.

What Anon and Seth absorbed were Lightning Flower Buds that they had sought out, each reaching maturity yet not giving birth to a single Lightning Snake just yet.

Within these buds contained the purest form of energy that could nurture their spirit. But they were of the second world, and just like the Lightning Snakes, which weren’t a threat to them, the nurturing that a Lightning Flower Bud could give them, was quite limited.

Naturally, they were much more valuable to first world stellar fighters like Andrew and the others. And it was indeed Andrew, Melissa, and the others who the two had sought out Lightning Flower Buds for.

When they returned to the surface of the lake, both Anon and Seth took deep breaths of air, but right after, Anon burst out in laughter. He took a deep glance at his reflection and mused: "I can’t even begin to imagine life in the earth of old."

"Did you feel the need for it? Air?" Anon glanced at Seth and asked.

Amused by his excitement, Seth replied: "Not really." He said in a flat tone: "I’d assume the first generation of stellar fighters who experienced living as average mortals before, to be excited over not needing air. But you?"

"Heh." Giggling to himself, Anon shifted his focus away from Seth whilst muttering: "It’s a pity that you don’t find it fascinating. But there’re so many things that are, so many things..."

The ants that once walked alongside the water had retreated.

But the unconscious members of this group had not yet grasped consciousness. In all fairness, not much time had passed since they fell unconscious. It didn’t take Anon and Seth long to completely absorb the benefits from those mystic treasures.

They did not need to speak to each other to go on and actively bring their companions out of the lake. They both had a conscious, well, at least Anon felt that he was someone who held an attachment toward other living beings.

So, after laying down their companions that were out cold, the duo sought out separate secluded spots to relax their minds and spread out their wills.

After entering the second world, he was quite capable of drawing four completely different yet similarly complex patterns and characters utilizing stellar cosmic energies.

But improving his spirit’s ability to complete five simple tasks, from four complex tasks, had proved to be very difficult. He was stuck in a small bottleneck for over a month.

As a second world stellar fighter, the very act of spreading out the will was smoother and more natural.

Instinctively, he could bring an illusory cloud of thoughts out of an enclosed space. This space was his head and bringing it out meant to carry it into the real world to manipulate stellar cosmic energies.

Like this, he entered a state of cultivation, but his sense of sight was distinctively different. Perceiving the world via this cloud of thought allowed him to order stellar cosmic energies.

A cluster of stellar cosmic energy gathered above his head before splitting into four groups.

One group went to his left, and the other went to his right.

One went up, and the other went downwards.

When they came to a halt, they all simultaneously formed an O before this circle became a ring, therein, miniscule letters took shape within.

Each ring had formed the necessary characters that made up his surname; X.E.R.X.E.S.

At that moment, right before Anon’s eyes, a fifth group of stellar cosmic energies slowly began taking shape.

A fifth ring made up of stellar cosmic energy formed in the air.

’Huh?!’

Just then, the fifth ring trembled.

So too did the other four rings before they all disbursed into the surroundings.

Anon abruptly opened his eyes as he took to his feet.

Some distance away, Bolan was slowly coming to.

’Oh,’ Anon smiled, musing inwardly, ’I was able to sense Bolan’s movements even amidst the forming of a fifth ring.’

Though forming the fifth ring was a simple task, he was previously attempting to do it whilst already completing four other more complex tasks. More than that, when reaching one’s limit, the spirit had no room to sense other things.

The fact that Anon could still sense Bolan’s movements meant that he hadn’t reached his limit. It possibly meant that he was at a stage where he could even complete five complex tasks!

Obviously, this needed to be tested before it could be confirmed, but still.

’I didn’t think that the effects of the Lightning Flower Buds were great, and yet this is the result.’ Anon’s lips curved upwards: ’What if I could prepare a magic ritual? Wouldn’t I just step into the second or even third layer of the second world in one step?’

Previously, he didn’t rate mystic treasures highly.

Divine weapons were used for combat, and magical items were, well, as its title implied, magical items that could complete quite ridiculous feats.

On the other hand, mystic treasures and magic rituals directly affected one’s spirit and overall strength, but genuinely, mystic treasures were, in essence, simpler, and less effective, magic rituals.

But with the Lightning Flower Buds as an example, Anon was rather excited in his heart.

The Blood-Drip Jungle was naturally a place filled with mystic treasures. Suddenly realizing that he was well-suited to absorbing the essence of mystic treasures, it made his view of the Blood-Drip Jungle alter considerably.

’Maybe I’ll be able to surpass Seth much quicker than I thought.’ He mused inwardly, shaking his head right after: ’I am still yet to know how effective mystic treasures are for him.’

Reaching this point, he sighed whilst approaching a slowly awakening Bolan: ’More than that, I don’t even know where he’s at. How many tasks can he complete? Is he even in the first layer of the second world?’

Anon was yet to grasp Seth’s true strength.

Luckily, the latter was yet to grasp Anon’s full strength either. After all, Anon was very unwilling to reveal it, only showing portions even in the confrontation with Felix.

"Y-You..."

As Bolan opened his eyes, or more accurately, as intelligence returned to him, staring at Anon, his usually indifferent abyssal orbs expressed a complexity of emotions.

"The last thing I remember was Felix going mad?" He sighed, "Then both you and him clashed."

One of his hands held his forehead, as if in pain. As he recalled the previous events, he couldn’t help but turn to Anon with a quizzical gaze, asking: "The clash between him and you... It was enough to generate a repulsive force in the water so powerful that it knocked me out."

To this, Anon understood exactly what he truly meant.

It wasn’t direct, instead, to knock out a first world stellar genius almost immediately, from merely the aftereffects of a confrontation, it certainly made little sense to even entertain the idea that this was possible for another first world stellar genius.

The strength necessary for such a feat, and Anon’s principle, these two facts did not align.

No matter how freakish Anon was.

One could go on to ask, wasn’t Felix of the first world?

But this was Felix’s strength.

Anon observed Bolan silently. For a moment, he did not reply, instead thinking inwardly: ’To Bolan, my principle is a grace-related principle which amplifies all my physical stats. So, whilst Felix’s principle could allow his raw strength to touch on the boundaries of the second world, it makes little sense for mines to also be this way.’

"Indeed."

Saying this, Anon did not imply anything, and yet, by nodding his head, it was enough for Bolan to affirm his thoughts.

Neither Anon nor Bolan were dumb.

Very quickly, Bolan realized that Anon had entered the second world, and similarly as quickly, Anon perceived Bolan’s realization.