However, this wasn’t too surprising for her.
After speaking, she glanced at the blade in her hand. "But this sword is really nice."
Its appearance suited her taste perfectly, and its effects were intriguing. She felt quite proficient in the detailed control of this Coldness.
In her mind, there were already several effects she could achieve using this blade.
"Alright, as long as you like it. It would be a pity if such a fine weapon went unused," Alka said with a nod.
He reasoned that, judging by its appearance alone, one could sense its power. If no one on the ship could wield it and it couldn’t be utilized by the crew, they would have to sell it. That would be a real sha, as such a fine item should ideally be used by their own people.
Then he waved his hand. RATTLE, RATTLE. The sound of Iron Chains turning was heard as the ship’s anchor was raised.
The sails dropped.
He went to the ship’s helm and said to them, "I looked around the Island and found no Treasure as the Church claid, nor does such a thing exist. Next, we head to Snowclad Island, the largest Island in this sea area. We’ll go there first and see what we find."
Upon hearing Alka’s words, everyone nodded without objection. As the captain, he decided their next course.
「At night...」
The sky was thick with stars and clouds. The blizzard had weakened significantly, with only tiny white specks occasionally drifting down from the black sky. The cold wind had also, remarkably, weakened considerably, almost as if holding its breath.
Alka sat in his room, ditating, sweat continuously dripping from his forehead. The surrounding Magic Power was converging into his body.
HUFF.
He exhaled slowly, opened his eyes, and picked up a nearby, previously prepared towel to wipe the sweat from his face. Then he couldn’t help but sigh and say, "What’s going on? It feels like the Magic Power is blocked and can’t increase."
He had started noticing it in his ditation these past few days; the growth of his Magic Power had hit a clear bottleneck. Not only had the absorption speed slowed, but even the efficiency of forming new Magic Circuits during ditation had decreased. The obstacles to his progress had beco increasingly stronger. If this continues, who knows how long it will take to break through Three Spirals and reach the Second Stage.
From the knowledge Lucilia had taught him, advancing from the First Stage to the Second Stage was considered a minor bottleneck. But for Alka, it shouldn’t have been an issue; or rather, even for those with the slightest talent, it shouldn’t have counted as a bottleneck. With Alka’s soul strength and physical talent, there shouldn’t have been such an obstacle. Progress should have been smooth just by following the ditation thod step by step. Instead, he was feeling a noticeable Magic Power blockage and a slowdown in growth. As one’s strength increased with ditation, the speed of Magic Power growth should have only beco faster, since the total amount required also increased. With his physical constitution consuming Magic Power and his Magic Circuits increasing, having stable Runes should have naturally allowed for a more extravagant absorption of surrounding Magic Power. A decrease in the speed of Magic Power enhancent shouldn’t have been happening.
Listening to Alka’s complaint, Lucilia’s soul drifted out, hovering in mid-air as she looked at him.
"Could it be because this is the domain of the Holy Mother?" she asked. "Didn’t the Archbishop’s previous information state that strength would be suppressed in the Holy Mother’s domain? This could be why you’re finding it hard to improve, given that the Archbishop is the only one known to have reached Four Spirals."
At Lucilia’s words, Alka nodded.
Thinking this way made sense. After all, without the ditation thod, the average ti for those living in the Holy Mother’s domain to beco a Toucher and reach Two Spirals was over ten years. And there was no concept of an average ti for reaching Three Spirals; so might never achieve it in their lifeti, and even if they did, it could take over another ten years. Altogether, from becoming a Toucher to reaching Three Spirals would have taken about twenty-five years. And Alka, thanks to the ditation thod, had advanced with incredible speed. Mastering the Treasure, in particular, had swiftly elevated him to Three Spirals. In just a year, he had traversed what took others over twenty years. Even without the ditation thod, an ordinary person couldn’t possibly have taken that long to reach Three Spirals. It was even more inconceivable that beings beyond Three Spirals were so rare.
"Could it be that to break through Three Spirals, one has to wait until leaving the Holy Mother’s domain?" Alka asked.
Lucilia nodded. "Very likely. After all, this is a Rule set by the Holy Mother in this domain, and I don’t think we are capable of violating it yet."
Hearing this, Alka couldn’t help but ponder. He then thought about Julia’s experience upon arriving in the Holand Sea.
Thinking about it, if one’s strength escalated to even more exaggerated levels in the Endless Sea—say, to the Third Stage or Fourth Stage, with dozens or hundreds of Spirals in their body—after experiencing such mighty power, how could one ever think of returning to the Holand Sea? To return to a ti when one only had a few Spirals and feel that weakness within oneself? This might explain why the Holand Sea had so little knowledge of the outside world: because the number of people who returned was so few. This gave the impression of no return, causing people to hesitate more when considering venturing out.
Alka couldn’t help but put himself in their position—would he be willing to return? Clearly, it would be impossible.
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