Conversation (3)

The founder grabbed vexed the flask on the table. With a rough swung of her hand, she quickly downed the wine inside it down her throat. Immediately after that, she coughed heavily, nearly spitting everything she had just drunk out again. She slightly panted before she took a deep breath. Then she wiped her mouth with her hand and began to answer the question anew.

"Well, don't mind what you have just seen. Or better, just forget it. Anyway, the cultivation of the Imaginary World depends mostly on one's mind. The Imaginary World uses intense notions towards something to harness a special type Mana. Even though it mostly converts the Natural Mana into the special type."

The founder paused for a moment. During this break, she repeatedly looked intensely at Libertas' body, up and down, from his head to his feet. Pleased, she nodded once again her head. However, a shiver ran down Libertas' back. Then suddenly, a frown emerged on her expression before she shrugged it off in the next second. An eerily smile briefly flashed by on her face.

Soon she continued to speak, "Well, the special type of Mana had myriad of uses as there are just too many of them. Hence, I won't bother myself to explain anything about them. Anyway, I have drifted far enough away from the main topic. Well, let's go back. Shortly, there are more or less only one condition to breakthrough: The quality of your Mana."

She pointed a finger in the air. Blue mist gathered atop it, gradually they condensed and formed a single crystal ball. At the same time, she explained, "Once you have a breakthrough you will be able to form crystals similar to this. The quality of your Mana depends mostly on two factors. The first is, of course, your mind. The second is your body. Well, I won't explain anything about the mind. There would only rarely be anyone to evoke a qualitative change there."

Following, she pointed her finger at Libertas, "As for having a qualitative change in your body, you only have to infuse your special Mana into your entire body. You can do it through a special technique or just by simply discharging your special Mana. Every single time you discharge your Mana, a little bit of it will is infused into your body. However, it will be terribly slow, and side effects may occur."

Then she paused again for a moment as if she needed to confirm something. Swiftly, she resumed answering, "Well, you need to know, my sister is currently strengthening your body unwittingly for you. Nonetheless, this isn't something you should rejoice on. If you reach the next stage like this, you won't have any hope to survive in your own body. The special Mana of my sister would have already infused into your whole body. Basically, you have lost the right over your body to my sister. Hence, try your best to strengthen your body on your own. Besides that, don't use the special Mana of the Imaginary World."

At that point, she shrugged with her shoulders. With an uncaring smile, she said, "Well, fortunately, I don't know of any technique at all. Be it one to quicken the pace of strengthening your body, or one to infuse the Mana into your body. Hence, I can't and don't have to teach you. As such, you can only try to find a method on your own, once you have learnt to control Mana. Anyway, I believe you should be able to learn how to do it on your own. If you can't, then you are just too stupid…."

Suddenly, she raised a finger to her lips, raising it a little. Then she spoke thoughtfully, "Well. If you are in the end indeed too stupid, you could still stupidly discharge your special Mana. Alternatively, you too could try to deepen and clarify your notion towards that special something of yours. As you have to know, the clearer your notion, the quicker and the more of your special type Mana can be harnessed inside your Imaginary World. Furthermore, whenever it harness or converts the Natural to your special type Mana, a slight bit of it will be infused into your body too."

Then as if she had answered everything, she leisurely summoned a floating flask of fine wine and a hovering goblet. Smoothly, the flask poured the fine wine into the goblet before it disappeared again. Subsequently, a frown once more emerged on her face before it eased again. Then she softly sighed, "Well, how could I forget that? Now, I am doubting, if he could even produce his own Mana Core at all…. All the effort for nothing…. What a shame…."

She sighed briefly, then she gripped the goblet and swivelled it. After she took a sip from it, she asked with a tilted head, "Well, why aren't you continuing with your next question?"

Libertas blinked his eyes. Then he scratched his head, as he hesitatingly said, "Don't you still want to tell me a bit about the side effect that could occur?"

The founder shrugged her shoulders. Then she took another sip from the goblet. She swivelled it again as she said casually, "Well, it is unimportant, but if you use up your last question, I may answer it. However, will you really use it just for some insignificant pieces of information? I wouldn't recommend it, but it is your decision. Well, ask away. I am waiting. I hope you do know that we don't have all the time in the world."

Libertas gazed at her, then he sighed. Waving his hand, he took a deep breath. Following, he spoke after a slight hesitation, "I know. Thank you for telling me this, I will trust your judgement. What is a law demon?"

As she heard the first part, she smiled happily. Pleasantly surprised, she took a further quick sip from her goblet. However, as Libertas said the second part, her expression immediately soured. Vexed, she clicked her tongue, mumbling, "Well, what should I say? Let me think for a while. This should be another variation from the mage system, right? Was it psychosis? Or something else? It should be madness! What was now different between them? What did father say again? It should…"

As Libertas heard her muttering like that, he slowly began to regret having asked that question. Anyway, it was done now, and he could only wait until she had finished muttering. He didn't dare to interrupt he once more like last time. What if she didn't give him any explanation instead of just a shorter one? After all, any explanation was better than none! Hence, he waited while he smiled dryly at her.

The time passed quietly. However, she still muttered to herself. Then suddenly, she jumped up, and the goblet fell to the ground. The fine wine tainted the ground. Nonetheless, she yelled loudly without caring about it, "Yes! Finally! I got it!"

Then she noticed the gaze from Libertas. Blushing a little, she coughed, "You better never to anyone what you have just seen, do you understand!"

After she saw him nodding, she calmed down a bit. Snapping her fingers, the fine wine on the ground, and the goblet floated up. With another snap of fingers, they vanished. As she slightly smiled at Libertas stunned expression, she spoke, "Well, a law demon is, simply said, another cultivator like your or my sister. However, they lost themselves in their notion about something. It is similar to the psychosis by us mages."

Gradually towards the end, her voice grew softer as if she had just remembered something and was now reminiscing over it. Soon following, she shook her head, while sighing. She resumed explaining, "Sorry for just now. I was thinking of something about my sister. Well, after the mage got psychosis, they usually became deranged and lost their touch on reality. You have to know that unlike cultivators with their law demons, only the high ranking mages can get psychosis."

At this point, she began to smile mischievously, as she paused in her explanation. Behind her back, a thick blue mist gathered. Swiftly one rune after another formed, and promptly one circle emerged. However, it didn't stop creating runes, and soon the second, third, and fourth circle floated behind here. Quickly, they interlocked with each other to form a grander spell circle. Instantly it vanished.

Everything had happened in only a short second. In the next, the room distorted. Libertas frowned as he looked around. As he glared towards the founder, he couldn't discern the mischievous smile. Calmly, he tried to step back, but he fell instead. Nonetheless, he smiled and closed his eyes. Still, he felt indignant towards the founder. After all, who could have done this to him except for her? Clenching his fist, he cursed inwardly. He was too weak. Other played with him around, but he can only endure it silently.

The founder laughed out loudly as she saw Libertas falling to the floor. However, she didn't laugh for long as Libertas didn't continue to struggle. Clicking her tongue, she began to speak again, "In return to their madness, the psychotic mages attains the ability to distort reality. As for the law demons, they get something else in return for losing themselves."

As she spoke, the distortion in the room gradually faded away. Libertas patted the dust from his clothes while he stood up. Then he glared at the founder. She smiled back.

Following, she said, "What they will get varies based on their notion about something, and their cultivation level. However, in general, they have an increase in physical fitness and the ability to influence the people around them. Furthermore, their cultivation speed will raise, and their affinity towards at least one law will surge immensely."

She clapped in her hand. Then she walked towards Libertas. Seeing this, Libertas took a step back, but it didn't change anything. She was already standing in front of him. He gulped as she grabbed him by the shoulders. Once more, the eerily smile emerged on her face. She spoke excitedly, "Well, now, the question is time over. Let us move on to the fun part. I believe you don't want to become a vampire, right? Then let me help you!"

Instantly, a blue mist gathered around Libertas. Quickly, both of them disappeared under a thick mist. Libertas clenched his fists and teeth. He didn't speak as the blue mist pressed forcefully against his body, slowly boring itself through his skin. The skin broke, the blue mist seeped deeper into the body. A red mist quickly escaped out of the cracks, but as they touched the broken skin, it recovered. The cycle began new. Gradually, the mist penetrated through his whole body.

Even as his whole body shivered in pain, he didn't dare to cry. Whenever he saw up, the founder overlapped shortly with the mother of his old life. At the same time, he remembers something else. If he cried, he would just be hit harder. However, the pain still grew without needing him to cry. He only starred with a distorted expression at the founder. Inwardly, he could only curse at his weakness. If he were only stronger….

During all his suffering, the founder stared curiously at him with a slightly tilted head. She walked around him as she looked at him from different directions. Eventually, she frowned a little. Her gaze puzzled. Unnoticed, she muttered softly, "Is he angry? Fearful? Why? Shouldn't he be happy?"

Soon, all of the blue mist penetrated through his body. He panted heavily as a blue vapour constantly escaped from all of his pores. Immediately after he breathed out the last blue vapour, he collapsed to the ground. While he gasped after air, he asked, "Why… did… you… do… that?"

She shrugged her shoulders. Leisurely, she walked back to her chair. Sitting back down, she remarked, "Well, I helped you. Or did you want to forsake yourself as human and wished to be a vampire?"

Hearing this, Libertas shook his head. When the founder saw this, she smiled and fetched a sheet out of a drawer. Then she took a quill laying on the table before she dabbed it in ink. Subsequently, she began to write.

After a while, she laid the quill back down. Smiling at him, she snapped her fingers once more. The sheet floated up and moved towards Libertas. After he received it, she said a bit wearily, "Give that to my butler. Furthermore, don't enter the Imaginary World. I have sealed that. Although it will still absorb and covert the Natural Mana due to my sister, it will at least slow down her reawakening. Well, and don't ever try entering your Imaginary World. You will only get a backlash. Don't stand there any longer. Leave. Haven't you heard what I said? I said, LEAVE!"

The door clicked. Finally, Libertas had left. Tired, the founder slumped back in her chair. Soon, Mana dispersed from her body. After a while, the body of a young girl revealed itself on the chair. She raised a hand sluggish to her neck, touching it. There was a light blue scale resembling ice. Then she sighed wearily.

"Emotions, such an annoyance."