Chapter 46: Meditative State

"A-ahem. As I was saying, I focused on that feeling of blood or life force leaking out and then coated myself in it. I haven't done enough testing with it, so I can't be sure of its limits, but at the very least, it enhanced a normal stick with enough extra durability and sharpness to draw blood."

"Control the blood leaving your body. I'm a Goddess, not Dracula. How did that old fogey control his blood anyway?" Alchemy sighed.

Closing her eyes, Alchemy began trying to feel her body in a sort of fantastical, corny martial arts way, from her muscles to her bones to her blood.

Naturally, this did nothing but show her how pointless this approach would be. However, she didn't entirely get rid of the idea. Who knows, whenever she got stronger, maybe she would gain such acute control over her body.

'That feeling of blood rushing out of your body. Is there a way to mimic it without using skills?' Alchemy hummed.

The most apparent method Alchemy came up with was simply copying Nera, that is to say, using something that consumed SP like a skill and then finding a way to mold that power from there. Unfortunately, she lacked any skills with a low enough SP expenditure.

"Might as well see if it works, anyway, I guess."

Reaching out her arms, Alchemy focused on the chains from her [IDOL]

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At first, her SP only decreased by 100, the base cost for summoning her rusty bronze chains, but three seconds later, she lost another hundred and then another.

Regardless of the drain on her stamina, she felt that feeling of some form of energy rushing out of her body. It was faint; no wonder she couldn't notice it in combat.

Closing her eyes, she tried focusing her attention on the areas where the leakage was most prominent, such as her major orifices, such as her eye sockets, ears, etc. A much smaller amount also leaked out of each pore, but she couldn't pinpoint that energy.

She had already recalled her chains at this point, and some of the energy had already vanished. However, with what little she had to work with, it was like she could see it despite having her eyes closed.

Flickering lights, dozens of them, like fireflies dancing in the vast darkness. She tried to capture the lights, much like you would capture stray lightning bugs in a jar.

It wasn't such a simple task, as the lights ran away from her. They looked scared, mortified that something bad would happen if they got caught.

When she finally got ahold of one, it felt warm and kind, if an emotion could have a physical feeling.

Unfortunately, that warmth was brief, as the light flickered out nearly immediately after she touched it. She attempted this a few more times, but each attempt gave her much the same result. Each light lasted a truly minuscule amount of time, but each lasted a little longer than the last.

The amount was undetectable, an infinitesimal improvement, but an improvement nonetheless.

Upon opening her eyes, Alchemy was greeted by the system.

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"Hmm? Failsafe? What's that all about?"

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"My WHAT has increased?" Alchemy blinked twice as if the system message would change or go away.

Faith was easily the hardest stat to raise in A.O.A. Divine Factions were far too powerful during the early game, so Faith could only be raised through specific ways instead of leveling up.

Gaining certain population milestones, evolving, and occasionally missions. But hers just increased by 6 for closing her eyes for a few seconds?

"Ah! Mother Goddess, you're awake!" Nera said, walking out of the hut only to begin running once she saw Alchemy.

"Awake? What do you-?" 

Before finishing her words, she cut herself off while looking into the sky.

The sun had gained quite a bit of distance from where it once was in the sky.

A few hours, apparently, but the point remained the same.

"Woah… What happened?" Alchemy questioned.

"I'm not entirely sure. My best guess was that you entered into some form of deep meditation. Three hours have passed." Nera gladly answered.

"Three hours? No, but I definitely only closed my eyes for a couple of seconds. Is it truly so easy to enter into a meditative state?"

As she got up, Alchemy felt how stiff her body had gotten from giving her best statue impression for a few hours.

Even sitting down for half days at a time for gaming sessions, she could at least fidget around to stop her body from stifening up.

"Meditation, huh? Oddly, I do feel quite well rested. Although I gotta wonder how monks manage this." She said as she stretched.

"Did I miss anything?" She questioned, looking at the other two notifications she got.

'Why does the system sometimes say "Notice," but other times it doesn't…'

"The R&D buildings have finished, and I also ordered my siblings to get back to work as they grew idle while worrying about you."

'No response? Really. What's your angle, system? Features I should have access to by now, like the Alliances, have been locked, and there are new bonuses and such that you haven't told me about, like gaining Faith through not just Non-Verminae, but non-Divine Species.'

"Ah- good work. I'll go check them out in a bit." Alchemy off-handedly mentioned as she realized she was spacing out.

'I'm willing to chalk up so much to the change from game to reality, but this is too much.'

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Once again, the system didn't respond. At least, not until she began moving toward her two Nexuses.

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'Yeah, like how you didn't tell me that naming a being of Mana would consume my Divine Power when I only had around 80 left. Surely, you're acting in my best interest.' Alchemy rolled her eyes.

As irritated as she was, this was a nitpick. The system has been nothing but helpful, if a little annoying. It even gave her rewards after she refused to run for safety. The mission's name was words of encouragement.

But that was precisely the problem. She didn't like relying on this force, which she didn't understand. To an extent, she had to. This world was more unfamiliar to her than the system was, so it was the lesser of two evils, but that didn't make her feel any better.