Otherworld Adventure

Cecil continued to train under the water. In the complete darkness, Cecil didn't know how much time had elapsed, but he didn't care. All he cared about was the increase in the quality of his mana as it circulated through his energy circuits.

After about a few hundred circulations, Cecil felt that the denseness of his mana had reached a peak. When he observed the mana inside his circuits, he felt like it wasn't mana circulating through his circuits, but liquid gold.

The mana had become so thick and dense, but with this new upgrade to his mana, it had also brought with it a small consequence. After having his mana refined and compressed, Cecil felt that his mana levels had dropped by a significant amount.

He was still in the mana core stage, but the amount of mana that he had was reduced to the levels of those still in the mana sea stage. Cecil didn't know what to make of this. He didn't know whether this was good or bad, but what he did find out was that the enhancement to his mana had also influenced his Ki.

After reaching equilibrium, the progress and quantity of his Ki and Mana rose simultaneously. So naturally, when his Mana levels decreased, so did his Ki levels. However, it wasn't without progress.

His Ki had also been similarly upgraded alongside his Mana. The density of his Ki had risen to the same level as his mana and Cecil noticed that the two's compatibility with each other had also risen.

It became much easier and smoother for him to combine the two energies to form Ether.

"This is a good sign. Once I reach transcendence, it'll be easier for me to access ether in the long run. I'll just have to re-cultivate my mana!" Cecil said optimistically.

As optimistic as he was, Cecil didn't know about the numerous troubles he would face from having upgraded his mana and ki to a higher level pre-transcendence. Of course, the foundation he created through this upgrade would be immensely beneficial for him once he was ready to step into the transcendent stage, but the road to get there would be even tougher than before.

This was because the quality of his mana had changed. From now on, he would have to gather and condense his mana to a similar level as to the mana he already had to raise his mana and ki levels.

This meant that he had to cultivate twice or even twenty times more diligently than the average cultivator. Cecil's optimistic thoughts would disappear once he found out about how much effort and struggle he would have to put in to raise his mana levels by even the slightest amount.

Cecil flexed his body after feeling a bit stiff. It was then that he finally noticed something. There was a putrid smell coming from the water all around him.

"Ugh, what the hell?"

He quickly circulated his mana and swam upwards. Cecil didn't notice this, but he didn't have his aura activated, and yet, he was able to directly withstand the water pressure at the 10,000-meter depth mark.

The ocean at these depths was very dark so Cecil couldn't see that the reason for the putrid smell was because his body had slowly been discharging impurities to the water around him as he meditated and circulated his mana.

He also didn't notice that his body had experienced some drastic changes, at least, internally. His organs, muscle fiber, tissue, and cells had received quite the major upgrade. He was slowly stepping away from the realms of a human and he didn't know it yet.

*****

In the tower's administrative subspace, the wisp of light was in a panic. He flew around the subspace erratically as it hollered.

"Why did he do that?!"

"Is this human crazy? Does he have no fear of the consequences?!"

"Damn, this fool! I was right, I was right to execute the plan! Old Tree, you can't blame me now! He's walking down the path of no return! Once he loses those precious to him, he'll slowly descend into madness just like the Old One had predicted!"

The wisp of light began relaying more specific 'quests' to Angelia and her group who was now exploring the underground ruins on the fifth floor.

*****

Cecil quickly arrived at the city which was only at the 1,000-meter mark. Even though he had descended straight down, his sense of direction had been skewed due to the darkness so even though he just swam back upwards, the underwater city had been a few kilometers away from him.

Cecil noticed a great change to his Mana Sense when he had tried to find the ruined city. The maximum range of his Mana Sense had extended 3 times wider than before.

Since one of his techniques had experienced an upgrade, he had great expectations about his other skills.

"Let's go test it out on those monsters~"

Cecil smirked sadistically as he eyed the numerous monsters that were rushing towards him once he got within a 100 meter of the city.

He stretched his arm out and sent a mana volley. Cecil was just about to circulate his mana to activate the technique, but the slight 'intention' was met with an immediate response. His dense mana which he thought would have much more trouble circulating due to its denseness immediately shot out from his mana point to his palm within a millisecond.

The response was immediate, like how he would move an arm or leg. The mana volley that burst out in the next instant was also a marvel to behold.

The golden bolts of mana that had shot out were a bit smaller but denser than usual. The color had also changed and it was now of a deeper golden hue, and also the speed. The speed of the mana bolt was so fast that the first mana bolt had struck the monster at the forefront in the blink of an eye.

"Ha...hahahaha! Nice!"

Cecil stretched out both his arms and fired a huge mana volley at the monsters rushing at him. He activated Hyper Sensitivity so that he could lock onto the monsters and the world began slowing down. When he unconsciously tried to move his arm, Cecil was shocked to find that he could actually move his body while in this state.

Hyper Sensitivity was a technique that had a minor negative side to it which was that since his mind had sped up, this naturally meant that his mind's perception of time was different from that of his body's.

Before, even if he did try to move his body while in this state, he wouldn't be able to budge a muscle because his body couldn't keep up with the orders that his mind was giving to it while he was in the Hyper Sensitivity state.

The consequences of forcing his body to move while in the Hyper Sensitivity state was that he would experience a momentary stiffness where his body wouldn't respond to him at all. And this was because his nerves had been overloaded and it needed a momentary respite before they could function again.

But now, his body's nerves and muscles had somehow been upgraded to the point where he was able to move while he had his Hyper Sensitivity activated. Cecil immediately knew that there was probably going to be some consequences for this, but he'd find out about it later after the fight.

He rushed towards the monsters with his technique still active. It felt like a long time had passed for him before he finally arrived in front of the shark-shaped monster that he was aiming at. He lifted his arm and sent an uppercut towards the monster's face.

His arm felt heavy but he continued moving it. His fist collided with the monster's face but it felt like he was punching papier-mâché.

Cecil quickly moved towards another monster and struck out with his palm, he then kicked the monster next to it and hammer-fisted the one beside it. He felt like he was moving through a dense liquid while in this state, but the feeling of liberation was uncanny so Cecil didn't deactivate the technique just yet.

He sent a punch, a kick, a palm, an energy blast, and many other attacks at the monsters which had remained stationary in his mind's perception of time. Once he struck the final monster, Cecil quickly deactivated his Hyper Sensitivity, and soon enough, the backlash that he had expected to happen quickly hit him.

He felt his muscles tearing and regenerating repeatedly. Cecil wanted to inhale a sharp breath due to the pain but quickly remembered that he was underwater. What would go into his lungs wasn't air, but water so he quickly closed his mouth and decided to just endure the pain.

Cecil didn't have the time to witness the shocking scene behind him. The monsters which had been rushing forwards earlier had their heads and other body parts that Cecil had struck simultaneously explode in a cloud of blood.

From an outsider's perspective, after Cecil had activated Hyper Sensitivity and began moving, they would only see the after-image of Cecil's body which had suddenly begun to exude golden sparks of mana before they would somehow die in the next instant.

At least, this was what the monsters experienced. They only saw their prey begin to 'electrify' before they suddenly died in the next instant.

The backlash of this upgraded version of Hyper Sensitivity only lasted for a few seconds and Cecil's body recovered. Cecil had been counting how long he had been in that state and from the time it took for him to strike the last monster, only 5-6 minutes had elapsed. At least, that's what he had experienced.

However, the backlash that he experienced was only the pain of his muscles tearing and regenerating which lasted around 25 to 30 seconds. A technique with a backlash was obviously quite dangerous, but this technique's pros far outweighed its cons. Cecil now had a new trump card up his sleeve.

His two 'ultimates', Over Flash and Skyfall, both had a significant backlash. His Over Flash completely depleted his mana while Skyfall would exhaust his mind to the point where he would have trouble continuing the fight. His new 'ultimate', which he still didn��t name, only caused his body to feel a slightly unbearable pain for a few seconds.

It wouldn't cause his combat effectiveness to lower and only after a few seconds, he could continue fighting. The backlash would probably rise in proportion to how long he spent in that state moving around, but if he limited it to only a few minutes or a few seconds, then the backlash wouldn't even be considered a problem for him.

This new technique could probably also be used in tandem with his other two ultimates. Gathering mana, conjuring magic arrays, it would all require time and precision, but with his new technique, he might be able to cut down on the time spent to invoke those two skills.

"I'll have to experiment with it some more. Looks like I'll have some homework to do once I get home!"

Cecil grinned and turned his attention back to the city. He had only wiped out the monsters at the periphery of the city. The transfer gate was located in the heart of the city and there were many monsters that he had to clear.

"I'll go call the others. With the quality of my mana, I think I'll be able to expand my aura out to form a nice water pocket for the entire group."