Invoked Spirits were pretty much lifeless dolls with tremendous potential. The potential stemmed from the content of the Mental Fragments used to create them. But, unless it was realised, this potential meant nothing.
In the example of a Cat Invoked Spirit, it might have the potential to move like a cat and execute extreme actions very rarely exhibited by cats. And the sheer difference originated from the fact that a cat had a flesh and blood body with its limitations while a Cat Invoked Spirit did not.
This meant that, without any limitation, a Cat Invoked Spirit was able to exhibit all traits of cats without any limit. And depending on the way it was created, it might be able to take a cat's abilities to the extreme.
But, this too was only potential. To realise it, the Invoker has to train, just like they did their own body. There were plenty of differences though.
As the Invoked Spirit's body wasn't flesh and blood, but formed from Mental Fragments, its limits too were mentally accumulated. Meaning, they were limited by the extent of the Invoker's imagination.
An Invoked Spirit trained no different from a normal creature in that it repeated the same exercise over and over. But, this only had an effect when done in the Dreamland, which was why it was most important to form a harmonious Dreamland.
Not only does the Dreamland have to be a place where the Invoked Spirit could live comfortably, but it should also serve as its training ground.
It was like a dream a person experienced. The first time, irrespective of how real it felt, the person might forget most of the details when they woke up. But, after going through the same dream many times, they tend to remember everything and also notice the subtle details.
That wasn't all, when the same dream is repeated, even the dream itself is constructed with more details.
By training, the Invoked Spirit becomes more and more complex, rearranging its Mental Fragments into a more efficient form. And, by repeating the training exercises, the Invoker's vision regarding what his Invoked Spirit could do would solidify.
If the Invoker wasn't aware of what his Invoked Spirit could do, he was useless.
Invoked Spirits didn't have any physical senses. So, when an Invoked Spirit touched something, there was no feedback that told the Invoker of the same. Therefore, every action had to be calculated precisely. There was no concept of a reflex with an Invoked Spirit.
And this was what the training meant. The Invoker would have to make the Invoked Spirit repeat the same action hundreds of thousands of times in the Dreamland until even the most minute of its twitching would make sense to the Invoker.
This would imply that if it did the same in reality, the Invoker would be able to understand its pose, the strength it applies in each of its body parts, the extent of its ability being used, the resistance it faced from the opponent, the effect the environment had on it, etc.
All this data would be apparent to the Invoker, allowing them to control the Invoked Spirit perfectly. This was what an Invoker had to train.
And, it was precisely this reason that the middle-aged man was nervous, feeling sweat drench his back. After all, a spear had pierced through the tree beside him in such a way that its shaft had ended up right before his face, close enough for his eyelashes to touch it when he blinked.
This was a startling level of control, something only attained by an expert that had trained his Invoked Spirit for decades.
But what was terrifying was the fact that the source, Pilkan was only a teenager. This only meant one thing. Someone of such a calibre could only be produced from the strongest of Clans. He might probably be the successor to some large Clan.
And despite being part of the Hitlawn criminal organisation, the middle-aged man dared not go against the other party. If he dared do something to the most probable representative of some large force, Hitlawn would simply deliver him on a silver platter to appease the opposing force.
There was no concept of unity in Hitlawn where it was every man for himself, especially since they all cultivated Human Invoked Spirits, which meant they could prey upon their peers.
Even though Pilkan's Invoked Spirit didn't reveal itself, the middle-aged man could observe the sturdiness of the spear before him, realising that the other party's foundation was horrifying. And, it was apparent that Pilkan had a Human Invoked Spirit too, which meant that he could prey upon them all if the need arises.
As Invokers need to imagine and train their Invoked Spirits, controlling Human Invoked Spirits was the easiest, since they correlated with the mental image of themselves. Therefore, the growth of Invokers with Human Invoked Spirits was the fastest, not to mention them being the strongest at the same level just for this reason.
Therefore, the fact that all the guards felt overwhelmed at the mere sight of the spear meant that they couldn't go against this foe.
'Even though he's an Inferior Invoker like me, the arrangement of the Mental Fragments in this spear is perfect.' The middle-aged man thought, adapting to the situation as he bowed, "Does the young master want me to lead the way to our boss?"
"Yep," Pilkan nodded in response before glaring at the middle-aged man's Invoked Spirit, "Keep it out only if you wish to fight me."
"T-That was my mistake." The middle-aged man hurriedly retracted his Invoked Spirit and told the rest of the guards to do the same.
Pilkan then stared at the teenager that had been caught, seeing the other party regaining clarity of mind, "Knock him out before he pulls another shenanigan like before."
"Yes!" The middle-aged man acted no different to Pilkan's lackey, hurriedly doing as told as he motioned at the rest of the guards to focus on transporting the people, including the captured Invoker.
He then motioned for Pilkan to follow him, leading the way through the well, heading in first before welcoming him at the bottom of the well.
"Please follow me." The middle-aged man said, leading the way through the narrow, moist tunnel, at the sides of which were mysterious luminescent gems acting as lamps, lighting up the pathway.
They walked for more than ten minutes in response, going through multiple checkpoints before climbing a flight of stairs as the middle-aged man pointed at the room that appeared, "My boss is here."
Pilkan entered it, shocked to see the other party seated inside, "Why are you here?"
