The Agonized Banshee Arrives

AN: This is one of the rare authors notes that has to come before the chap. Excuse me on that.

1. Ramanujan was first introduced in chapter 155 titled Numbers: There was once an immortal administrator who was even famous for it. His name is Srinivasa Ramanujan. Ramanujan was a man who lived on a planet that hadn't even developed metal tools, but some stray fighting cultivators fought. One of them dropped a jade talisman with information on the basics of cultivation technique and the basics of martial arts. The battle resulted in both men cultivators dying.

They were low-level immortals with the lowest level items. These items could only be used by immortal energy so Ramanujan ignored them and cultivated peacefully, barely fighting anyone, until his yuan was so great it was detected by bandit immortals. This event made him more famous because it made Ramanujan a Monarch. This was the title given to a person who killed an immortal as a mortal.

After that battle, he achieved enlightenment under a bodhi tree. He meditated for seven days and broke through to immortality. Within a hundred years he was a high immortal, but due to a tragedy he lost his life, but not before becoming a legend.

2 Will first used the Confusion Concept against Jingsung Ha in chapter 162 titled Formless Concept

3. Conductivity - the ability of a material to conduct electricity or heat

4. Malleability - the property of a material to be easily shaped or formed by rolling, hammering, or pressing without breaking

5. Ductility - the ability of a material to be stretched or drawn into a wire without breaking

....

The moment Will was added to the Mana Pool Connection, Lyra and Achilles immediately experienced an increase in the quality of their vessels. This improvement not only increased their strength but also enhanced their ability to use concepts, primarily because Will's strongest vessels were his mind and soul!

The ratings for Will's vessels were: SS+ for the mind, S+ for the soul, and A+ for his body. The spirit was a combination of the mind and the soul, hence Will's spirit was between S and SS class, resulting in him overwhelmingly mutating the mana pool.

Mana Pool Connection by itself would not have resulted in such an effect. This was a result of multiple factors, such as combining Call of the Forest and Elemental Focus, the physical affinity the trio shared, and Will's application of concepts. The fact that Lyra and Achilles were restructured using Will's blood as the base gave them a unique connection to Will, allowing the trio to link well, similar to how siblings could easily combine skills and spells. 

This was one of the reasons many users sought to have Nations in a Branded dungeon, in the hopes of creating an army linked to their vessels allowing for great combinations of spells and skills.

The last reason why there had been such an improvement in their vessels via Mana Pool Connection had to do with a concept Will had just started applying in his meditative state. Due to the fluctuations of all the large Area of Effect skills Lyra had cast and the horrendous aura of the banshee collective, these fluctuations escaped the notice of the ladies above.

Will had been far from idle the entire hour he had been seated. Narcissus had patiently instructed Will on how to direct and focus mental energy the entire time, but Narcissus' theory was not so easy to apply.

"For a mortal, controlling the mental energy field is often hard because it is something ethereal. That is why condensing your Area earlier on was difficult. Because your control over something you cannot visually comprehend is still weak. Do not look down upon visualization methods; they can make the difference between an average cultivator and a savant-like Ramanujan. [1]

You have a superior mind, so you have not suffered much of a setback. But now I need you to practice what most mental energy users practice before learning anything complicated. And that is releasing mental energy in small amounts.

Your mind was blessed with a vast quantity of mental energy. The quality is even higher. But this high quantity can be a disadvantage. It makes it difficult for you to release your mental energy in small amounts. This is made worse by the fact that your body is of much lower quality. If the vessels are imbalanced, it affects your control.

Ulysses Rijkaard has such a high-quality Soul that his mind fails to control it, resulting in him being unable to control himself. Your vessels are a bit more balanced as it is far better to have an overpowered mind than other vessels since all thought stems from the mind. The mind controls the soul, and the soul controls the body. This is the Waterfall Theory of vessels. Hence your future path is not as uncertain as Ulysses'.

So now you have to learn how to release Mental Energy in extremely small amounts. It's relatively easy to do this for the water element, but metal is rigid and tough, so releasing it in small amounts is a bit more difficult. But if you can master this with metal, you can easily do so with water. To do that you have to imagine…"

Narcissus once again started to lecture Will on visualization methods that allowed him to reduce the amount of Mental Energy he could release. Thanks to Elemental Focus, Will's mind was able to adjust well as the spells also gave one a slight improvement in their mind. Will tried to manipulate only Metal Element's mental energy. After a few dozen minutes, he was capable of releasing it in small amounts.

Narcissus was pleased with Will's progress and moved on to the second phase of this part of training. Now that Will could release mental energy in small amounts, Will was then asked to change the shape of his Area.

"Releasing your mental energy in small amounts achieves the same effect of condensing your Area. The ability to freely control the range of the mental energy field is important because it can affect how you distribute mana and qi. You can more finely control spells and skills.

For example, if you want to cast large-scale Area of Effect skills, you have to be able to expand your mental energy field to a great degree.

You can choose to focus all your strength on a handful of attacks, or you can spread out your energy over multiple small ones. The effect is the same.

But one can also apply concepts to mental energy fields as well. The metal element has multiple concepts that are useful. First, let's take a look at the concepts you have already started to mess around with.

For water, you have Confusion [2], Momentum, Sharpness, Formlessness, and Purity. For Metal, you have used: Sharpness and Armament. Honestly speaking, by nature, you are a swordsman before you are a water cultivator, yet you are more familiar with water concepts. 

The reason is simple, water just has many concepts and they are easier to learn, but conversely, they are also harder to completely master.

Today I will instruct you on two concepts that will change the way you fight because you have been severely underutilizing the metal element concepts despite the fact that you have a Swordborn Constitution. These concepts will allow you to manipulate your Area to frightening degrees. The metal concept elements we will be focusing on are Conductivity [3], Malleability [4], and Ductility [5]!"

Back in the present, Will kept looking at the Banshees approaching with a relieved expression. He could not help but be grateful for Narcissus' instruction. It was only when the Agonised Banshee was in front of him that he realized the difficulty of the task ahead of him.

As the trio watched the Agonised Banshee approach, Will continued to give out instructions, "Listen up, I just added a little extra something to the Mana Pool Connection; this should allow you guys to improve your application of concepts. If you concentrate on the mana pool, you are going to notice what I'm talking about."

Lyra and Achilles quickly focused on the Mana Pool Connection and tried to feel for what Will was referring to. This was a bit difficult for them as the aura of the enemy was bearing down upon them, but they had no choice but to follow his instructions. Thankfully, the recent upgrade to their vessels made this action much, much easier.

Lyra and Achilles only took a few moments to notice something odd. The energies that flowed from the mana pool to their bodies seemed to flow faster for some reason. At first, the duo were a bit confused, but with careful observation, they started to understand.

Will smiled as he saw the looks of comprehension on their faces, "The energies are not flowing faster, but they are facing less resistance. In other words, I didn't simply make the energy move faster; I reduced the resistance it faces and also controlled the rate of flow."

Lyra almost jumped in shock as he exclaimed, "The Conductivity Concept!"

Lyra and Achilles had received tutelage from the knowledgeable Woodsy, who took time to inform him of the more well-known concepts of water and metal. The Conductivity Concept allowed one to control the direction and rate of flow of energy, from mental energy to soul energy to life energy. The applications of this concept were limitless, especially to those that had means of connecting their vessels in some way to others like Lyra with Mana Pool Connection or Achilles with Macedonian Charge.

It also allowed one to manipulate factors that influenced the rate of flow, such as resistance.

"The Mana Pool gives us a temporary hub that we can use. Feel the Conductivity Concept. You can use your connection to the mana pool to help you comprehend the concept. You should have enough theoretical knowledge and experience to grasp it."

Will had been able to grasp this concept easily thanks to its similarity to The Breath. The Breath was a higher sense that allowed one to become a conduit for world energy. If one was able to use the breath and had the metal element or water element, they could easily learn the Conductivity Concept under the right conditions.

Wodin had already informed Will that Lyra and Achilles had talent for the Breath, hence he did not doubt their ability to utilize this concept.

"Roar!"

A loud screech got everyone's attention, forcing them to turn towards the Agonised Banshee. Will smirked and casually raised his sword at the creature.

"It's time for action. Like I said, leave that thing to me. You guys focus on the trash it calls an army."

….