Mimou
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Chapter 212: Four pillars of strength
🕑 Added 2025-02-21 03:34:30 +0000 UTC« Chapter-211 | Index | Chapter-213 »
Sora activated [Alter Ego], restoring the Sword Company to their bodies. He watched them for a moment, noting the feverish glint in their eyes. They were fully committed to their path, completely immersed in their swordsmanship.
'Let them be,' he thought, shaking his head. 'If their belief is strong enough, they might actually prove me wrong.'
With no reason to linger, he turned and moved on to the next group.
Over the next weeks, he moved between the different groups, diving into various fields of study.
He spent time researching Bloodlines and Blood Essence, searching for ways to refine their power and integrate them into his own growth. He delved into elemental mastery, focusing especially on the [Time] element, though progress was slow.
He observed the Body Forging specialists as they tested new ways to refine their endurance and physical power. He joined the Mental Power research, refining his [Thought Acceleration] and mental defenses beyond common measure. Lastly, he guided those focused on pushing all his skills to the limit.
Now, standing at the heart of the dungeon, Sora was excited.
Around him, 890 of his Alter Egos, those who had trained in various disciplines, stood silently. They had learned, experimented, and honed their skills—with or without him. And now, it was time.
"Everyone is here, except for the Sword Company and the ten scouts. Like we discussed before, every few weeks, I'll recall everyone so we can merge our knowledge, and see if you can use what others learned to take inspiration or polish your own skill set, or create new directions for growth."
"Ready?"
Seeing the mix of expressions in front of him, from excitement to boredom, Sora smiled. He thought, 'How can this skill can give birth to so many personalities when they all started from the same point?'
Sora dismissed his thoughts and activated [Alter Ego].
One by one, his Alter Egos dissolved into streams of Soul Power and mana, merging back into him. Knowledge flooded his mind—memories, thoughts and experience. He absorbed countless refinements, insights, and breakthroughs, feeling his understanding of every path deepen.
His body and mind adjusted instinctively, struggling to process it all. Yet, as the last presence vanished, Sora stood alone, his body trembling.
Noticing his state, his [Alter Egos] remained quiet and watched him for the [Soul Palace].
‘This… is too much.’ He held his head in pain.
The paths were too varied, too layered. He had taken in too many perspectives, too many different approaches. He couldn’t just accept them as they were.
It was as if he had read a thousand books, each covering the same dozen topics but written by different hands. Some were incomplete, others redundant, a few outright contradictory. Hidden among them were flashes of brilliance.
‘Before I can use this, I have to refine it. I need to make this knowledge mine.’
He closed his eyes, taking a slow breath, and began sorting through everything.
First, he filtered out the repetitions. Many of his Alter Egos had walked the same path, reaching similar conclusions, using their power in similar ways and reaching the same conclusions.
'I'll discard the weaker versions and focus on the most refined insights.' He decided.
Then, he dealt with the contradictions and dead ends.
Some theories clashed, like opposing views on refining blood essence, different understandings of [Time], conflicting philosophies on how to use mental power. Some were flawed, others simply incomplete. But unlike someone left to study books on his own, Sora wasn’t alone. The authors of these theories still existed within his [Soul Palace], ready to defend, debate, and refine their ideas.
Seated in his inner world, his Alter Egos spoke one by one, each carrying the knowledge they had developed. When Sora questioned the flaws or contradictions in their approaches, they responded.
Sometimes, he even heard others butt in their conversation and fought with others.
Three hundred-Eight argued that bloodlines should be absorbed from other humans for the most efficient results, while Three Hundred-Sixteen berated him and swore they could refine their bloodline much faster by not mixing it with other humans.
They explained their findings, backed them with logic, experience or violence.
Sora listened, debated, with his [Alter Egos] before testing their theories within his mind.
His mental power was so high he could easily simulate their understanding with his Supreme Skill and scrutinize each path without walking it.
Some methods collapsed, proving too inefficient, too slow, or useless in the grand scheme of things.
Nothing was left to luck or fate. If a concept wasn’t useful, it was thrown away. If it had promise, it was reworked. If it was incomplete, it was returned to its creator with a simple command: “Try again.”
When he was done with this step, Sora sighed.
'It took a few days just to sort through all the knowledge and polish it... It's time to release the boys, and let them grow again.'
Sora exhaled, watching as one by one, his clones regained their bodies. The 890 figures around him opened their eyes, taking their first breaths again.
He gave them a moment to adjust before speaking.
“You all know what everyone else knows now. What you do with that knowledge is up to you. Use it. Improve it. Push it beyond its limits. Or slack off and be exposed in a few weeks. You're free.”
There was no need to say more.
Some of the [Alter Egos] immediately gravitated toward familiar groups.
The Soul Company, the Body Forging Company. Some returned to what had once been their obsession. But others broke away, forming new teams, seeking out 'brothers' who pursued different fields.
Sora smiled as he observed them.
'They want more.'
Some looked bitter, their theories and experiments having been discarded in favor of other methods. Their failure wasn’t something they could accept. He watched as some of them immediately returned to work, to prove their worth in the next fusion.
Sora shook his head. 'I knew they wouldn't accept falling behind.'
But he didn’t have time to stand around.
'I can’t slack off while they’re working harder than ever.'
Turning inward, he focused on the vast collection of knowledge he had gathered. His mind buzzed with ideas.
But something intrigued him more than anything—the potential of synergy.
Many paths seemed like they could be fused, creating something greater than the sum of their parts.
Sora closed his eyes, pushing his mind deeper into the endless sea of information.
'What I have is enough... I can use it to create something unique. Something nobody can stop.'
Sora temporarily put aside everything his [Alter Egos] learned and focused on what he had created himself.
'My affinity with [Time] is too low. I can't affect a target beyond a certain level of power with it. And there is no way for me to achieve any results without increasing my affinity. For now, it's a dead end.'
'My control over mana is perfect—I can shape it however I want. But power? That’s another issue. Right now, fueling my skills with raw mana is useless. If I don't condense it to extreme levels, it doesn’t hit hard enough. However, refining takes time, and I can only store so much inside my body before each fight. Against stronger opponents, once my reserves run dry, I’m nothing more than a training dummy waiting to be beaten down.'
'I don't have years between each fight. I need to find a solution to this problem.'
'My two strongest skills relying on mana are my [Elemental Nexus] and [White Dwarf]. However [Elemental Nexus] is lacking in terms of damage output compared to my [White Dwarf] form.'
Then there was his body.
His physical strength had reached a high level, but it wasn't enough. His growth had also slowed to a crawl.
'The mana I’m using for body forging isn’t dense enough. To speed up the process, I have to use my highest-quality mana… but that would drain the very resource I need most for [Eternal Body Craft]. It is unsustainable.'
'On top of that, my battle prowess is nowhere near what it should be. I’m relying on raw power too much because I only recently started adding swordsmanship to my training routine.'
If he had better combat techniques, he wouldn’t need to waste so much energy compensating for inefficiencies.
His Mental Power was another issue.
'The quantity of Mental Power I hold is immense, but I don't have strong enough attacking methods. Without a way to combine it with my other powers, it's lacking, and can barely affect players of Abbott's level...'
And then there was Soul Power.
'Last but not the least, I now have a massive amount of Soul Power. However, I have yet to figure out the best ways to use it. From the guys' discoveries, skills relying on Soul Power seem to have great potential. Relying on it might be the answer I was looking for all this time.'
He exhaled slowly, forcing himself to focus.
His mind replayed his battles, his training, his defeat.
'Four pillars of strength.'
'Mana. Body. Mental Power. Soul Power.'
'Combining Mana and Body resulted in my [Lava] and [White Dwarf] states.'
'Combining Mana and Mental Power resulted in [Sentient Elemental Nexus].'
'Both of these abilities were beyond anything of the same level... What would happen if I used abilities combining everything?'
Just as he was about to dive into the matter, Sora's thoughts were interrupted.
His whole body tensed as he felt something.
'Someone entered the dungeon.'
The whole dungeon was in his [Psychic Hold] and he immediately recognized the figure who had entered. He relaxed. 'Seven is back.'
« Chapter-211 | Index | Chapter-213 »
Author's note.
As I mentioned back in Chapter 210, this past week was spent mostly at the hospital. I had prepared a few unedited chapters in advance, planning to release them one by one after a round of editing.
But things didn’t go exactly as planned.
I won’t go into details regarding my wife's health, so I'll simply say the difficult part is behind us. Now she's smiling again, and even joined the novel's discord to meet this beautiful community that has been growing steadily...
However, I want to apologize for the delays.
More importantly, I want to express my deepest gratitude for all the support and kindness you’ve shown during these days. Your messages, patience, and kind words mean more to me than I can put into words. Thank you for being here.
On a lighter note, this chapter marks the beginning of something I’ve been excited to share. A turning point that will lead to interesting developments.
I hope you’ll enjoy the events that unfold from here.
« Chapter-211 | Index | Chapter-213 »
Comments
mimou
You had no idea! No need to apologize! Thank you for your patience
Will Locke
Happy to hear that your wifey is doing better and things are improving for yall! TFTC!
Tyman
Glad to hear ur wife is doing better. Hopefully everything will work perfectly.
Amari Charles
Glad that the worst of it has passed! Hoping that things continue to look up in that regard
Patrick Hart
exciting chapter, thanks! good to hear about your wife, wishing for a speedy recovery
John D
I'm so happy your wife is doing better! Thank you for keeping us in the loop.
adrien
Hey dude, I just wanted to apologize if I interrupted you during a bad time, or if I offended you at all, in chat, I didn't know as I had just reached that chapter after you mentioned the note
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter! Welcome back!
