Destroyer of Ice and Fire

Chapter 84: Condensing arcane particles

Translated by: Reiji

At night, in the Huge Beasts Enclosure.

Under a giant baobab tree, three half-human demon wolves standing erect frantically tore a spotless-white unicorn to pieces.

The three demon wolves already killed the pure-white unicorn; blood now flowed on its spotlessly white body. The three demon wolves, taller than two men put together, tore its flesh then swallowed it, making strange sounds, painting a ghastly picture in the starry night.

They went away with only a third of the broken unicorn body left, disappearing in the woods nearby, fully contented, their furs covered in blood.

All of a sudden, the wind seemed to carry an even thicker smell of blood. A silhouette, blood-red from head to toe, slowly appeared in the night haze and walked under this baobab tree without a sound.

This blood-red figure was impressively Belo.

He seemed a little more slender than before, and there were scars showing on his exposed skin. Some of these scares seemed from stabs, from claw scratches, some looked like mosquito bites, some even scars of putrefaction. These scars looked just like the tattoos of some special clans during their rites of adulthood!

His clothes were full of dried bloodstains. It was hard to tell whether it was his blood or blood from the giant beasts inside this enclosure.

Belo walked forward without the slightest hesitation when he saw the unicorn's broken limbs under the baobab tree. He tore off fresh meat from them and started immediately swallowing, mouthful after big mouthful.

He still wore his glasses, but his eyes once again gradually turned blood-red, emitting a disturbing red light.

He lifted his head all of a sudden.

Above his head, on top of the baobab tree, a pair of huge, blood-red, disturbing eyes appeared out of nowhere.

These huge red eyes watched him, and suddenly said, “You did very well.”

“Who are you!” Belo shouted in shock.

“You can consider me your ancestor, or you consider me the consciousness hidden deep within your bloodline. In other words, I am the voice you were searching for, the power of your bloodline.” The huge red eyes watched him. “Many people possessing our bloodline can open these arcane gates, but very few of them can release me from the depths within these gates.”

“You're the deepest consciousness of the beastmen bloodlines I want to rouse?” Excitement suddenly took a hold of Belo. He shouted, “Are you going to help me?!”

“I am but a part of you.” The huge red eyes told him, “You have to remember... A long long time ago, the reason why we were called beastmen wasn't because our nation sat among giant mountains in the company of ferocious beasts and giant monsters. It was because of our savagery, because we can recklessly ignite our very lives in the midst of battle, because we possess a genuine heart of wildness. Only people with a genuine heart of wildness can achieve the genuine Wild Transformation.”

“Recklessly ignite our very lives... Genuine heart of wildness... Genuine Wild Transformation?”

The pair of huge blood-red eyes vanished from the treetop, but Belo seemed to sense and understand something. He stretched his hands out. All his spirit concentrated densely around his two hands, as if the extremely dangerous Huge Beasts Enclosure, the whole outside world, ceased to exist.

Blood-red primordial energy appeared around his hands and entered his body like a stream of energy. His face suddenly twisted in pain. The muscles of his arms shifted and distorted.

His eyes became an even deeper blood-red. His hair stood up on end, strand by strand.

The primordial energy gushing into his arms merged with his spiritual strength and the power inside every tiny particle of his body, then compressed itself, transforming into grain after grain of tiny arcane particles rushing into his first arcane gate!

His first arcane gate, like a great gate battered by the flow of a river, opened wide.

“Awoo...”

He started howling like a wild beast some time later. Dazzling arcane particles flowed out of his hands, then abruptly ignited and transformed into a blood-red stream of energy coiling around his body.

His body hair grew longer, and even his nails became sharper. Even the scars on his skin seemed to ignite.

...

Almost at the same time, Ayrin was anxiously facing an extremely exquisite transparent disc.

This exquisite transparent disc looking like a crystal artwork was precisely a dwarven benchmark tool that could measure spiritual strength.

“I'm starting!” Ayrin said to Carter and Ciaran standing in front of him, then he squeezed his finger inside the hole on the dwarven benchmark tool.

“Ah!”

Together with Ayrin's pained shout, a circle of green light lit up on the surface of the tool.

“Thirty-five!”

Ayrin counted for all he was worth. After counting twice and making sure he wasn't mistaken, he jumped up in excitement. “Teacher Carter! Teacher Ciaran! My spiritual strength tests so high on the benchmark tool, did I already reach the level needed to condense arcane particles? Can I condense arcane particles now?”

“It's more or less what I expected.” Carter smiled and turned his head around, looking at Ciaran beside him. “I thought he was already close to the required stage when he managed to invoke the Crown of Ice and Snow. He really crossed over the hump after the match.”

“A few months, not even half a year. This must be the fastest record in the history of Holy Dawn Academy.” Ciaran couldn't help but shake her head. She was mentally prepared already, but she still felt a little speechless when faced with the facts.

“Can I condense arcane particles now can I start now?” Ayrin kept shouting, unable to repress his excitement any longer.

“You can.” Ciaran nodded. “Just follow the method I taught you.”

“Alright! Logic Fingers!” Ayrin shouted loudly. He lifted his hands straight away and moved his fingers at flying speed.

“Most people wouldn't even be able to grasp Logic Fingers. This guy actually reached this level of proficiency after such a short amount of training.” Watching Aryin's fingers move as if they were flying, Carter couldn't resist shaking his head and exclaiming in marvel in his mind.

“What's the matter?”

This finger skill was one that affected the tiny nerves and neurons in the body with the finger motions. It could make someone naturally forget everything around them, gathering a high intensity of focus on the hands. One could say that as long the spiritual strength was sufficient and the finger skill operated with sufficient proficiency, then condensing arcane particles presented no difficulty at all. But time went by, and Ayrin had a feeling, as if the power was there but he couldn't use it. He could clearly feel arcane power revolve around his fingertips, but he couldn't seem to draw it inside his body.

Failure!

Failure!

Another failure!

Ayrin's spirit was a little exhausted after trying many times in succession for close to an hour, but he still couldn't succeed in condensing arcane particles.

“Teacher Cater, teacher Ciaran, what's the matter, why can't I condense arcane particles at all?” Ayrin shouted in a loud, anxious voice.

“How's that possible?” Carter had simply no idea either. “Even I can feel the high degree of concentration of spiritual strength... Does it have something to do with the peculiarness of his bloodline?”

“That's impossible, physical strength and spiritual strength are the only two factors when it comes to arcane particles. His physical and spiritual strength are already enough to compress arcane particles.” Ciaran frowned, carefully thinking through every detail.

Ayrin could absorb arcane particles from someone else hitting him, but as an arcane master, it would be a disaster if he couldn't gather arcane particles by himself, because one needed to preserve an abundant amount of arcane particles when going out on a mission with an arcane team. Even if a teammate could attack him and provide him with some, that rested on the premise of the teammate losing arcane particles themselves. It was especially true for prolonged, consecutive battles, or when going on a solo mission. It would be even more of a tragedy then if he couldn't replenish his arcane particles himself.

“His spiritual strength and body seem a little disjoined...” All of a suddenly, a thought lit up in Ciaran's mind after some persistent thinking. “I understand now!”

“You understand?”

“Teacher Ciaran, you know the reason?”

Carter and Ayrin spoke at the same time.

“It's because the state of excitement of his body isn't sufficient enough. It's still a matter of bloodline and constitution. His body is so much stronger than ordinary arcane masters. Right now, quietly standing here, the burden is too low for his body, it's simply as if it were hibernating. That's why you have to wake up your body at the very least...” Ciaran breathed in deeply and said, “It should be fine if you add some stimulation.”

“I understand now!”

“Let me try! Logic Fingers!”

Ayrin shouted excited, appearing as if he immediately understood. Then his hands started moving at flying speed once again.

“Huuuu....”

The sound of the wind rose around his fingers. Small streams of air looking like small whirlwinds appeared all of a sudden, then spun and gushed into his ten fingers.

“It works!”

That thought flashed in Ayrin's mind. His arms seemed to inflate all of a sudden, as if they were about to crack and explode. The next moment, he felt the energy channels inside his body brimming with energy, and his entire body seemed about to split open.

“Bloody compress already! Come, arcane particles!”

He roared madly in his mind. In this precise instant, he could sense countless threads of warm energy flowing among the tiny particles inside his body, blending with the primordial energy flowing inside him, then going through a strange compression and transformation.

Grains of resplendent minute particles grew inside him, seemingly closely linked to his body, incomparably intimate. They converged on their own toward his first arcane gate.

He stopped his movements and jumped out of happiness, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Success!”

“I really succeeded!”

“I really condensed arcane particles.”

Carter and Ciaran couldn't repress a shake either. Ayrin didn't merely open the great gates to the road of an arcane master, he was also setting a glorious record.

“What method did you use to rouse your body just now?” Carter couldn't resist asking, still a little puzzled.

“Just now, I imagined there was a great pile of barbecue meat and chicken legs piled outside, and I could immediately rush out and eat them. After that my body became instantly excited, every tiny particle inside my body seemed to thoroughly come to life.” Ayrin answered with elation.

“...” Carter turned speechless once again.