While Billy was waiting for news coming from Icarus, he resumed his training. Still, in the end, he wasn't making much progress, so he wondered if he should focus on improving his tools with tech again. To put it mildly, he didn't trust Icarus's ability to stay focused much, so he wondered if he could make some magic drones. While creating a tool that could fly and be controlled didn't seem difficult, making one that could transmit images from very far away was. His radar on the submarine was precise, but he would need something better. It was a pity since it was a recent invention...
In the end, Billy decided to take a break in his garden, and he saw Sarah enjoying the weather with Helen. It seems that his other wives and kids had left and were walking across town. They were doing that a lot lately since Billy was absorbed in his training arena.
"Good timing. Can you hold Helen for me for a bit?" Sarah asked. "I want to do some light physical training."
"Of course!" Billy replied while smiling.
Women tend to get conscious even when they get just a bit fat, and while Billy couldn't see that in Sarah, he agreed with her because holding his kid in his arms while they were at that age was one of the greatest pleasures of being a father. Helen was just three months old, and she couldn't recognize him, but since she was sleeping, she wouldn't make a fuss about it.
When he began to hold Helen in his arms, Billy felt like all his problems didn't matter anymore. No matter how many kids he had, he thought that he would never get tired of that. Billy felt so much at peace that his head began to work much better than before, to the point that he even realized something that he didn't before…
"The difference between golems and humans is the fact that they are like machines when they are fighting, but when they weren't, they are pretty much like trees… They are one with nature," Billy thought. "Is this the secret of Mana Magnetism?"
It seemed too simple to be true… but Billy decided to clear his mind anyway, even more than when he learned or tried to level up Zen. Come to think of it, there were many skills that Billy could improve without just leveling up them. The elemental manipulation skills could evolve into elemental transformation, so it was no surprise.
Naturally, Billy didn't succeed on his first attempts. However, little by little, he felt his consciousness going deep into a state of mind where he stopped thinking about everything. That seemed rather dangerous considering that he was with Helen. Still, Billy used Mind Control on himself to force himself to stop if she something happens.
Billy's senses weakened more and more as he got deeper into the state of Zen until, eventually, he couldn't feel or see anything. However, in that state, where he was completely surrounded by darkness, he could sense his mana flowing like a river around its own existence. At the same time, he could feel a small pond barely moving in front of him. It was Helen's mana.
As Billy stayed in that state for longer, his magic senses improved considerably, and he even began to feel the mana around him. In the air, in the ground, in the plants… The magic presence of everyone around his house and of the neighboring residences. Billy didn't think of controlling their mana, nor did they move to him, and yet, he could tell that he was getting stronger.
You learned the skill Magic Conscience.
Magic Conscience: it drastically improves your magic power and your capacity to sense mana. It passively increases your magic by ten points per level.
Eventually, Billy opened his eyes, and he saw that notification. In the end, he learned something different even though he tried to copy the Golems. That wasn't so bad since he improved his magic, but still… In any case, Billy decided to make the skill level up, and he frowned when he began to feel the presence of hundreds of people, even those that were a hundred meters away from him. It was like Mana Dominion had been upgraded drastically, and Billy didn't have to keep it active anymore…
In the end, Billy stopped with his training for a bit since Helen had woken up, and while she didn't make a fuss about not being in her mother's arms, Billy had a hard time helping her calm down as usual. As expected, the soft arms and chests of their mothers were a lot better than the hugged and rough arms and chest of their father.
"Be good little Helen," Billy said. "Papa is going to take care of you because mama us exercising since she thinks that she has gotten fatter."
"I didn't get fat!" Sarah replied dozens of meters away even though Billy whispered those words.
"Sure, whatever you say," Billy said. "You don't have to prove anything to me. You see, Helen… Mana always tries to play cool, but she is quite insecure."
Billy could hear Sarah clenching her teeth. He didn't recall teaching her Enhanced Hearing, so that was surprising. Regardless, what was the point of her thinking that she had gotten fat? But she didn't want to hear the others say that was what she was thinking… even though Billy had married three times now, women still were a mystery and almost impossible to understand sometimes.
After spending some hours with Sarah and Helen, Billy returned to his training with a more clear mind. Thanks to that, he had a few things he wanted to test. It seemed that Mana Magnetism was something too hard to learn and probably couldn't be used under normal circumstances, so Billy had to get rid of those… until now, Billy focused only on improving himself. Still, perhaps he needed some tools for combat aside from ordinary weapons.
