"But the closer you are to the peak, the more you realize how powerless you are."
Noel opened his mouth, wanting to refute it. He had done a lot of things and experienced a lot of victories and defeats. But when he was about to say something, he realized that no words came out.
What his grandfather said was not completely baseless. He might have experienced a lot, but it was nowhere near other people.
Anna had raised her strength to that degree within the same amount of time, but unlike him, Anna had the memory and experience of her past life. In other words, her strength and mastery were perfect.
How about him? He indeed had Ardagan, giving him the complete knowledge and the ability to use it. Whether it was rune or Spirit Abilities, the knowledge entered his mind and it could be said that he could use them in an instant.
However, using them and mastering them were two different things. Noel had been convincing himself that he had experienced a lot, thus shaping his foundation.
But from the eyes of a true expert, it was clear that it wasn't enough.
That was why Noel had no words to refute those words. No matter how tough the challenge, Noel didn't have enough to back up his words.
"…" Noel looked down, not being able to say a single word. He was frustrated. Ardagan was a great system and support. But Anna could also use something great in an instant since she had learned it in her previous life. More importantly, she had the experience Noel was currently lacking.
On the one hand, he wondered why the previous Noel handed that chance to Anna. On the other hand, he wasn't so weak that he could only complain about his circumstances.
Noel clenched his fists. His voice was shaking, but his eyes were clear. He stared at his grandfather and asked, "Grandfather. What should I do? No… Please help me."
Noel even lowered his head, begging his grandfather.
Raincart, who showed him his fatal weakness, was actually dumbstruck. His body had been shuddering because of the action Noel had taken.
'He must have experienced a lot of dangers to get this far. But he realized that it was not enough. There is no one who is more frustrated than him because, despite all his efforts to become one of the peerless geniuses that no one could rival, it's not enough.
'What he is lacking is not something that he can't control. After all, he needs time. Despite all that frustration, he could hide it and even lower his head to ask for help. Being able to acknowledge his weakness and work toward it…' Raincart's eyes glazed. He was proud to the point he wanted to cry. 'My grandson is amazing.'
Raincart placed both hands on Noel's shoulders before saying, "Don't lower your head anymore. I know it must be frustrating, and to be honest, I can't do much about it. You can't stay here for a long time, so I can only help you with this one thing… Every day until the day you return to the Muivell Kingdom, you are going to spar with me. This is going to be the hardest sparring you will experience, but I can assure you that I will teach you everything I know. Are you ready for it?"
Noel raised his head as a smile formed on his face. "Yes, I am."
Raincart nodded, satisfied. He said, "In any case, you are going to complete everything you need first. So, condition yourself and finish it. We'll spar after that."
"Yes." Noel nodded furiously as he immediately continued with his current plan.
Noel decided to take a rest for a whole day, waiting for Ardagan and Heisk to recover their power.
Meanwhile, the soldiers continued filling up the hole. Luckily, they had prepared beforehand, so filling it up didn't take too much time, considering most of them were Spirit Masters and Spirit Wielders.
After having enough rest, Noel finally returned to the field that had just been filled up.
Noel started meditating with the soldiers surrounding him. He asked inwardly, "Ardagan, Heisk, are you ready?"
'Yes.'
[Heisk will be the first to absorb. According to the prescription, one pill is enough to stimulate our potential. But because there are two spirits, we don't know if that's enough.]
Noel had an agreement with the two spirits before. This would be the last transformation he would have during his stay in the Greenwood Kingdom. He wanted to see what kind of scenery only Anna could see.
After conditioning himself for one last time, Noel took out the first pill and put it inside his mouth.
The taste was surprisingly sweet. It felt like he had just eaten a candy.
However, it didn't take too long before the pill started to dissolve. According to Anna, the pill was made with a medicine from the previous civilization as a basis. Because the previous civilization didn't have any Spiritual Energy, there was no Spiritual Energy dissolving in his mouth.
Instead, he experienced something he never expected the moment the pill entered his throat.
All of a sudden, a sharp pain struck his chest.
"!!!" Noel wanted to open his eyes, but he had to remain focused. The sharp pain gradually spread all over his chest as though there were a hundred needles penetrating his heart.
'Kh.' Noel gritted his teeth. The pain was different from the one he experienced with Ardagan, but it was excruciating in one way or another.
Because Noel's eyes remained closed, he didn't realize what was happening around his body.
His Spirit Link glowed brightly to the point the light penetrated his clothes, exposing the location of his Spirit Link.
As soon as everyone witnessed the blue light, the temperature dropped. They felt like winter had just come.
The Spiritual Energy within Noel's body started getting violent, especially the icy energy. It was rampaging all over his body, and surprisingly, Ardagan did nothing to balance it.
Instead, it just let Heisk do whatever she wanted, causing the icy energy to leak out of Noel's body.
Due to the rampaging energy, Noel felt like all his organs were punched in all directions. However, he remembered the description Anna told him. To expand his veins, the pill would use the energy within his body to forcefully stretch it.
This was probably what she meant. The veins were being stretched violently and stuck that way because the energy continued for a few hours.
After becoming a Spirit Grandmaster, Noel could sense his veins extremely well. That was why he knew that his Spirit Link was stretched at least two times its original size. It might continue expanding, but if this continued, more and more Spiritual Energy could flow through his body.
It might be because of what was happening to his body, but Ardagan actually spoke to him.
'True Spirit Body is a kind of assimilation between the human body and the spirit body. However, both of us have a different constitution, so using True Spirit Body is just forcefully assimilating the two bodies. There is a time limit.
'With the current expansion, your veins will be closer to the level of spirit's. This will allow us to send you more power, and the assimilation process will become smoother and longer.
'Once this is done, you might be able to imitate us to a certain degree without True Spirit Body.
'This pill is not a miracle pill that can do wonders to your spirit. Instead, its function is to actually transform your body. It could be said that it's allowing the human body to undergo a mutation. Whether it's bad or good, it depends entirely on you.
'You must still remember that in the past, there were demi-humans created by humans. If you mutate too much, you might become like them or, even worse… something unknown. It will be unrecognizable, and you might even lose your identity as a human.
'That's why even though I agree with the existence of this pill, I will have to reassess your body to see whether your human body can undergo another transformation. I don't want my host to lose all his reasons by becoming a monster.'
Noel remained silent, listening to Ardagan in the middle of this pain. It seemed that Ardagan was silent because he was analyzing the pill.
From his explanation, the pill seemed to be one of the ingredients to become something less human. If he wasn't careful, he might become something he didn't wish to.
'I won't, Ardagan. I indeed seek strength, but that won't be the reason to lose myself. You are awakened after listening to my goal… and that hasn't changed.'
Ardagan appeared to be satisfied with the answer. He replied, 'In that case, I only have one last thing to tell you.'
[Mission: Awakening Pill.]
[Description: Ingest 3 Awakening Pills to completely mutate all your spirit veins.]
[Reward: 1 Ice Ability, 1 Fire Ability, and Spirit Transformation (Fire/Ice)]
Upon hearing the mission, Noel couldn't help but smile. "You sure know how to make me fire up."
