Arcane Realm

"Let's not dwell on these matters. Tell me how to increase my control instead." Raymond stopped the conversation from deviating and said: "No matter how difficult the task is, I will do it!"

"Ahh, I have no doubt about it, Raymond." Celestia smiled faintly. "Let's start with your mana circulation, I suppose it must be very time-consuming for you."

"Yes."

"First, start by getting yourself familiar with the process. If you keep circulating your mana under normal circumstances, then you are not going to see much of an improvement in that regard." Celestia suggested.

"Then, what do you think I should do?"

"Start by circulating your mana between two or three nodes while you're busy with something like running, jumping, swimming, or any other activities that don't fully need your attention. Something you can do while still maintaining your concentration on circulating your mana.

"And when you're fairly used to this method and can do it without conscious effort, start by circulating between more than three nodes— preferably, below or at most nine nodes."

"I see..." Raymond nodded. There were more than 2,000 nodes in one's body, and by his estimation, it would take a long time to familiarise himself with all of them.

However, that didn't deter him in the least. If Raymond had anything in abundance, it was time. So, he set off to do his practice.

"Alright, I will get started."

"Wait!" Celestia hurriedly stopped him. She didn't want to get crushed by his mana if he slipped up. "I will observe from a distance and will call out if you miss anything." She ran towards the corner of the chamber and placed her hands on the wall to invoke spatial runes.

To her surprise, the runes rejected her mana. Celestia's forehead creased in annoyance.

Talk about being petty!

"Uhm, Raymond, can you ask Mother to activate the spatial runes?" She asked, her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. Thankfully, there was no one from her tribe here or else she would've had to bury her head in the sand to save herself from this shame.

Raymond didn't understand the significance of what had just transpired, so Celestia drew some comfort from that fact.

"Ahh, sure!" Raymond agreed. "Activate the spatial runes!"

He had already done his fair share of experiments on giving commands to the Sacred Chamber. It didn't require his mana to activate any of the runes which was a plus point.

As if to prove his point, the runes corresponding to spatial expansion lit up and a thin yellow film made of mana covered their bodies before the distance between him and Celestia increased dramatically.

"Ohh, this is nice!" Raymond exclaimed. These runes seemed to be pretty advanced. Usually, spatial runes wouldn't activate if there was a living being present as a safety measure. As expected of the World Tree, it had the ability to protect those inside while also expanding the space.

"It certainly is," said Celestia as she stepped back further.

Raymond chuckled at her antics. "Why are you so scared? I am not going to bring out my mana, hmmm…?" He paused. Now that he thought about it, whenever he brought mana into his glabella, the effects weren't as exaggerated as usual.

Instead of destroying everything around him, it had the effect of making things servile to him.

"Uh… do you perhaps know anything about this?" Raymond closed his eyes and started gathering mana between his eyebrows. 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 and climbing towards his head.

As the mystical energy pooled between his eyebrows in the shape of a teardrop, Raymond opened his eyes and asked Celestia:

"When I do this, there is no pressure exerted by the refined mana. Care to explain the reason?"

"Th-That's the Crown!" Celestia's knees almost buckled under the majesty of the ethereal crown that vaguely manifested above his head. Her lord looked so majestic and mysterious. To the normal, untrained eyes the crown may not be visible until it is fully manifested.

But Celestia's eyes were different as they shone brilliantly, flooding her brain with his visage of wearing the Crown of Supremacy.

"What Crown?" Raymond touched his head, hoping to find whatever she was saying.

"The Crown of Supremacy!" Celestia replied hazily, her eyes glued to his head.

Raymond raised his eyebrows as if asking her to continue.

"I-It's one of the paths… to reach godhood. If you can fully manifest it, then you can start your Divine Transformation to become a God!"

"Hold down, Lady! You're going too fast!" Raymond didn't understand half of the jargon she was spitting out. "Can you explain from the start?"

"Ahem, yes, sorry. It's not every day that you see the Crown! I became a little too excited. Do you know what is beyond the realm of Martial Supreme?"

"No."

"Martial Supreme is the pinnacle of what you can achieve through regular elemental cultivation. Then comes the realm of the arcane entity within us— the soul! Only by looking into your soul and realising the many aspects of life can you move forward in your path of cultivation.

"A soul has many shades or forms, shaped by the experiences one goes through in their life. Through self-reflection and deep meditation, one can imbue their element with different aspects and break through to the next realm.

"In simpler terms," Celestia explained. "A man with a fire affinity who has only known kindness throughout his life can bring out that aspect in his fire, making it gentle instead of burning everything in its path. Similarly, a man with a water affinity who has traversed a path of war and destruction can bring out that aspect in his water element and wreak havoc in the world."

"Is that for real!?" Raymond looked at her dubiously. "Then, the possibilities are simply limitless.

"There will be no elemental advantage. A fire user can easily defeat a water user and a water user can easily defeat an earth user!"

"Yes, " Celestia nodded. "It all depends on a person's experience, how much introspection he has gone through, and the multitude of aspects he has successfully attached to his element. It will no longer be a matter of fire being weak against water."

"So what's the realm after Martial Supreme called?" Raymond asked curiously. After all, he wanted to know how many levels he had skipped to reach the demigod state.

"After Martial Supreme, we delve into the realm of soul and its effects on our element. Hence it is called the Arcane Realm. By applying an aspect to your element, you can become an Arcane Lord and step into the Arcane Realm."

"Hmmm? Arcane Realm? ...interesting." Raymond, for the first time in a long while, didn't feel like punching his Grandpa after finding him. He seriously had to reconsider everything he knew about him.

By following his simple instructions Raymond had skipped all the complicated process of cultivation levels and directly became a demigod. It spoke volumes about his Grandpa's capabilities.

'Was he some kind of god or something?' Raymond shook his head. He couldn't associate his goofy grandfather with any godly being.

'Look at yourself in the mirror!'

Raymond's lips twitched. A voice similar to Jasmine's echoed out in a corner of his mind.

"And what about this Crown?" He asked.

"A demigod is born after reaching beyond the Arcane Realm. When you reach the pinnacle of Arcane Realm, you can be said to have mastered your element and its many aspects to near perfection.

"A Crown is the proof of that perfection! It will manifest over your head and allow you to bend the laws of the element in your favour. Simply put, having a crown means you own your element and its aspects!"

"Ohh, what if two people with the same element manifested a crown?"

"Like I said before, every person will go through different experiences in their life and learn different things from that experience. There is no such thing as identical souls. Even if their elemental affinity is the same, their aspects will vastly differ from each other."

"So, one with more experience is powerful?" Raymond thought it was fair. Good thing the upper realm wasn't solely based on bullshit talents that are inherited at birth.

"Well, that's one way to say it. Martial Realms is where one heavily relies on their talent and resources to advance whereas the Arcane Realm is more profound and requires extensive introspection and self-reflection to advance along with one's talent.

"You should not worry about these things for now. It is best to concentrate on the task at hand. As for your crown, I suppose having better control might allow you to manifest it entirely!" Celestia suggested. She had no doubt he would succeed.

"You're right! I better start controlling my mana before looking into these things." Raymond was really impressed with this priestess. She sure knew her stuff.

It would be nice if he kept her close to get answers whenever he had any doubts regarding his cultivation.

With that being said, Raymond sat cross-legged on the floor and closed his eyes to concentrate on drawing his mana through the initial two nodes.

Slowly, as he drew his mana, Raymond opened his eyes and stood up to walk around the place. Just as he took the first few steps, his control slipped and the mana went to a nearby node instead of the one he intended it to go.

Raymond wanted to replicate the process of drawing mana towards the place between his eyebrows without much concentration and reduce the time required for it as much as possible.

If he could form the crown or whatever at the drop of a hat, wouldn't he be able to use the surrounding nature to attack his opponents? It would be pretty cool if he could do something like that in mid-battle and shock his opponents.

However, his love for thrashing people with bare hands didn't dwindle in the least. Nothing could beat the feeling of his fist making contact with their fragile bodies, blasting through their defences, and sending them hurtling towards the sky.

It was the best feeling in the world!

The satisfaction he felt from it was nothing short of having an orgasm. There were just not enough words to describe that feeling.

'Damn! I sound like a sadistic pervert!'

Raymond had a strange realisation which he quickly pushed to the back of his mind in favour of focusing on his training.

After all, it was not yet time for his self-reflection.