Beyond Gods 38 Your Potential

Johan stood at the center of a room holding a squat with his hands tucked into his side. He took in a deep breath and let the mana from the air pool into his dantian slowly. Although the mana was thick, it was much harder to absorb than the mana from the labyrinth and consequently, it was an hour before his dantian was full.

The room was filled with engravings and intricate carvings making the floor look like an oversized circuit.

Sir Silverblade stood patiently at the entrance to the room, watching Johan in antic.i.p.ation.

With one final deep breath Johan let out a booming yell.

"HIYA!"

Johan's fist flew out punching the air as he blew out all the air he had sucked into his lungs. Slowly, he pulled his fist back to his waist taking in another deep breath.

"HIYA!"

Johan struck out with his other fist.

With this, an electric current seemed to run through the array emitting from Johan. The engravings began to emit grey smoke.

Images of words flickered on walls around Johan.

G.o.dLY MONARCH

Sizzle ...

DIVINE LORD

Sizzle ...

PURPLE BLOOD

Sizzle ...

GREAT EMPEROR

Sizzle ...

DIVINE LORD

Sizzle ...

ORANGE BLOOD

Sizzle ...

Ma.n.a.lESS

Sizzle ...

GREEN BLOOD

Sizzle ...

SUPREMACY

"Strange," muttered Silverblade, "usually, the array is much more decisive. It is as if there was more than one person cultivating in this room, people with different levels of talent. These are ancient arrays pattern I do not completely understand ... perhaps, my understanding of the patterns wasn't as deep as I'd thought."

The words on the wall finally stabilized, and said,

ERROR ... Subject has been contaminated.

Silverblade raised his eyebrow curiously upon seeing this message. Johan opened his eyes and saw the message.

"What does that mean?," said Johan.

"Boy," said Silverblade entered the room and walked up to Johan, "give me your hand."

Johan confused gave Silverblade his hand.

"Hmmm," said Silverblade frowning, "incredible, you've had multiple slave marks embedded in you ... I've never seen such unique and clever methods of concealment before. Most, wouldn't even be able to tell you had one. Whoever did it, must have been a very powerful expert. Their essence is so embedded in you, that it is confusing the array. The array can't distinguish you from the creator of the slave marks."

Johan thought back to the slave mark that Dorlene had removed from him in Neil's abode. Gadra's slave mark. Yet, Silverlight was implying that Gadra had implanted multiple slave marks as if antic.i.p.ating strategically that someone might find the first, even though she had no reason to suspect it. Had Gadra been planning something?

"Well," said Silverblade, "with my current ability, I cannot remove them. Especially, not in the realm. But, I can interfere with them so that the array can do a proper reading. Your meridians and dantian are quite developed for someone who hasn't made a breakthrough to even the lowest of cultivation levels yet. In fact, I've never seen anyone that hasn't even reached the orange blood realm with such thick meridians and large dantian pools before. Your masters must have chosen you prior to the tournament because they saw this."

Silverblade closed his eyes and Johan felt a jolt of energy run from Silverblade into him.

"Done," said Silverblade opening his eyes.

"What should I do now?," asked Johan.

"Cultivate," said Silverblade, "I've added my own mark to interfere with the previous marks."

Johan nodded and walked to the middle of the cultivation room and took a horse stance (stood in a squat). Before long, he was striking out with his fists. Electric ripples could be seen throughout the engravings on the floor and on the walls,

PURPLE BLOOD

appeared clearly. There was no flickering and the message was clear.

"Hmmm," said Silverblade stroking his chin curiously, "Only a purple blood. I am truly surprised by the array's rating of you. That is just the first realm of cultivation. It is basically saying you are a mana r.e.t.a.r.d."

Johan opened his eyes.

"Then it just means I'll have to work harder to get stronger," said Johan, "I have no problem doing this. I've surpa.s.sed expectations countless times before with pure hard work."

Silverblade smiled, "While most lords look for talent, I am a scientist, I believe that the laws that we usually take for truth written by our forefathers can and many times are wrong. Especially, a.s.sessments, young man. Don't let an a.s.sessment stop you from striving for the stars. Mentality, discipline, knowledge, a curious mind and calculated hard work will take you much further than just talent alone. In my long life, I have seen it happen countless times. Furthermore, there might not be a cultivation technique I know currently that is suitable for you, however, that doesn't mean that one doesn't exist or that you cannot create one by indulging in the sciences. After taking a good look at your dantian and merdians, I have a hunch that you are unique. So don't give up, and keep looking for unique avenues of development."

"I am a Flint and man," said Johan, "and we Flints don't give up simply because of a poor a.s.sessment."

Johan thought back to when he had absorbed the ma.s.sive amounts of mana in Neil's abode. He recalled how it had tempered his body. Perhaps, that mana had been remnants from his future self's body. Yet, it hadn't been enough for him to even break through to the lowest of mana cultivation levels? Odd. But, recalling how strong he was in his vision of his future self he knew that he wouldn't be weak regardless, he just had to figure out what had made him strong.

"Come," said Silverlight, "at the moment, I do not know of a cultivation technique that will suit you. But, I'll give you access to my libraries if you are interested. Perhaps, you are not destined to be a man of strength ... rather a man of science. We all have our roles. Plus, I love the company of well mannered and traveled guests and the stories they bring. Meeting new and interesting people, regardless of their status is one of the greatest joys in my life."

Silverlight led Johan out of the room, as Johan pa.s.sed the mysterious map, he once again committed its layout to his memory. As Johan memorized the map, he recalled seeing a room, and in the middle of that room, there sat an alter which had a gold orb on it. It was his future self's memories again. This memory seemed clear, stronger than most of the others.

Perhaps there was more to Silverlight theory of the Looking Gla.s.s Realm than mere hearsay ...

Perhaps, the map was a map of the Labyrinth after all ...