This Is Magic!

The next morning…

Raymond had finished drawing more than he had initially thought. Since both of his wives were busy with meditation, he wasn't disturbed during his work. He was able to draw till dawn without any interruption.

It still wasn't enough. He needed to draw more such samples. But it would take days and Raymond had all the time in the world. There was a reason for him to do this tedious work by himself.

He was afraid he would forget his grandpa's face someday. It had been ten years since he had last seen him.

Raymond didn't want that to happen. He was drawing the portrait as a way to remember his face down to the tiniest of details.

'I might as well draw a few of my father's…' Raymond sighed wistfully and got up from his bed. It was still early in the morning and the whole village was veiled by the mist.

"Good morning, Lyla," Raymond smiled at Lyla who opened her eyes after a long night of meditation. A small smile graced her lips as she greeted him back.

Jasmine was still immersed in meditation and didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. Her recent experience with controlling the daggers must have given her some insights on how to use her element in attacks.

"Lyla, stay here with Jasmine. I am going to take a look around the village and see if there's any empty spot for me to train my mana control." Raymond said and opened the door before disappearing from her view.

It didn't take long for him to run a lap around the village and note down some of the eateries and taverns. He would have to choose one that had the best food available at a low cost, but that wasn't important for now.

His legs turned towards the forest and he ran into the woods without hesitation.

Raymond soon found a boulder resting between two thick trees and nodded in satisfaction. Looking around he found no humans or any animals. He climbed the boulder and sat on it cross legged.

He closed his eyes, his concentration fully focused on drawing his mana. Slowly, his mana started moving along the nodes in his body. It travelled up from his core to his lungs. From there, it went to his heart before moving towards his shoulders.

Raymond willed his mana to gather towards his right hand and it listened to him somewhat unwillingly, gathering at the tip of his fingers like a drop of water.

He still couldn't understand what was so special about his mana. It felt all the more normal to him. If it weren't for Mobi warning him about its nature, it would've taken a long time for him to realise and he would've destroyed a lot more artefacts by then.

Due to his broken core, Raymond didn't have perfect control over his mana like everyone else did. He had to actively try and keep it in check lest it went out of control and rampaged inside his body.

-Thud!

"Huh?" Raymond opened his eyes in surprise as he found himself sitting on the ground instead of the boulder. Even the two trees beside him were nowhere to be seen.

Quickly, he called back his mana before it went berserk. After he did so, Raymond noticed the dust gathered at his feet. Taking some of it in hand, he realised that it was finely powdered rock dust mixed with tree dust.

"Did my mana do this?" Raymond blinked. The last time he had brought out his mana inside the Imperial Prison, the effect wasn't this exaggerated.

Was his mana getting stronger by the day? Or was he holding back subconsciously while inside the prison since there were so many people?

"Urghh! Fuck it, I don't know!" Raymond scratched his chin furiously, trying to make sense of what was happening within his body.

"Oh, that's right!" Raymond suddenly remembered the time when his mana had come out on its own. It was when he was struck by the heavenly lightning during the Phoenix Festival.

Closing his eyes again, he guided his mana. This time towards his glabella.

He recalled what he was feeling back when it happened. He wanted to show everyone how even the heavens couldn't do anything to him. He wanted to show them he was invincible and everything was under his control.

Raymond was unaware of the feeling at that time, but now he realised where it was coming from.

It came from the fact that everything was so easy for him now except cultivation.

He could have whatever he wished. He could take whatever he wanted. No one was strong enough to stop him. He had started looking down on everything in this world.

'Is that why I spared Allen, Mobi, and the Emperor? Heck, I didn't even lay a hand on Felix or Cyril Denver!'

Raymond never dwelled on what he had done to his enemies. He pretty much ignored their existence after dealing with them.

Had he grown too arrogant after realising his prowess?

Raymond shook his head to get rid of such thoughts. He needed to focus on the task at hand. He heard the rustling of leaves and felt the wind softly caressing his cheeks as the drop of mana appeared between his eyebrows.

His eyes shot open and looked around in awe. All the trees in the surrounding area were slightly leaning towards his position. It seemed like they were bowing to him as a show of respect.

Raymond slightly bowed in return and several of the tree tops shook abruptly, showering the land around him with their leaves, almost like telling him not to bow.

'T-this is like that blue lightning!' Raymond realised and outstretched his hands tentatively. His lips were quivering in excitement.

Similar to his prior experience with the lightning, he wanted to see if the trees would listen to his will.

Sure enough, the two branches leaned down towards him and gently nudged his hands. Raymond felt like they were asking for him to pet them.

Tentatively, he started to stroke the branch and the leaves shook themselves to show the tree's appreciation. Another branch from a different tree came towards him from behind and tightly wrapped around his waist.

"Do you want to carry me?" Raymond chuckled good-naturedly and relaxed his body. He was lifted off the ground and carried to the top of the tree.

It was the tallest tree in the vicinity, Raymond realised as he looked towards the mist hovering above the surrounding trees so much so that their crowns were not visible.

Raymond again focused between his eyebrows and the mana surged into his glabella. He imagined the mist clearing away to give some breathing space for the trees.

To his pleasant surprise, the mist hovering over the trees started to move and formed a vortex in the sky. Ever so slowly, they started to disperse as if a mysterious force was sucking them into nothingness.

"This is magic!"

Raymond exclaimed in a stunned stupor before roaring out with laughter.

"Hahahaha! I can do magic!"

As the golden rays of the morning sun pierced through the horizon, enveloping the trees in a comfortable warmth, the whole sky above the forest area near Raymond cleared up for the first time in many years.