Looking at Zack walking along quietly while staring at the ground incessantly, I explained, “Don’t worry, he usually isn’t like that. He just got angry because we disturbed his concentration. Usually he has a lot more laid back attitude, given we go there when he is not in the middle of forging and whatever he does.”

“Ah, okay. It’s just that…” Zack said, stuttering. Taking in a deep breath, he continued, “He looked quite amazing, as if lost in his craft! Are all blacksmiths that cool?”

His words, instead of being something along the lines of ‘I’m scared’ or ‘He’s weird’, were totally out of my expectations. Without thinking, I blurted, “Are you alright?”

Furrowing his brows, he replied, “Yeah? What happened?”

He did have weird tastes alright. Seems like not all things change even after losing memory. Heaving a sigh, I said, “No, it’s nothing. It’s good that your legs are holding on fine. We’re almost there, it’s just a bit further, so keep hanging in there for a little more.”

“Alright!” He nodded while walking and looking around.

Similar to his, my gaze wandered around, catching various insects and birds playing on the trees or enjoying the breeze. The path ahead was grassy and there weren’t a lot of footsteps on the path we were following. Rather, I was sure that almost all of those were mine and mine alone, carving a fresh path into the forest.

The walk went past in the blink of an eye, and we stopped at a small patch of clearing. Sounds of flowing water and the scent of flowers filled the air. Peeking through the trees, I could see a clear stream with fishes racing within.

The ground beneath our feet had barely any grass, filled with dirt and sand, atop which lay what looked like dummies made of hay. Some of those had arrows jabbed within, while others had what looked like cuts. Training weapons made of wood like wooden swords, bows, spears and such were littered on the ground. Some looked to be in good condition, while others looked as if they would fall apart if swung around even once.

A smile spread across my face as I breathed in.

“So, Zack, how’s this place?” I asked.

“It’s… beautiful,” He replied. He was looking up at the sky with clouds drifting in the winds, looking mesmerised.

Smiling, I sat down cross-legged on one of the bigger stumps in the surroundings, and closed my eyes.

“I’ll try to meditate, so remember to not go too far from here,” I instructed.

With furrowed brows, Zack asked, “The same thing as that mentioned in the book? For developing the core?”

“Yeah, mom told me to focus on that until when I’ll be leaving and hopefully get an advancement or something to show my progress because over there I most likely won’t have any time for this,” I explained. “Mom said it was something like filling a pond and using water to make it bigger or something. I don’t really remember much of it.”

Opening my eye a crack, I saw Zack sitting on one stump cross-legged, trying his best to imitate me.

Holding back my laugh, I took in a deep breath before concentrating.

Taking in a deep breath, I felt around me for strands of arcana in the atmosphere which I could gather and assimilate. Before long, I could feel countless tiny threads wrapping the area around me. Yet, they twisted and turned, merged into one another, separated into multiple parts, like an ever-flowing stream.

Latching onto one of the countless threads before dragging it in, I thus began to gather the arcana in the atmosphere. The amount of arcana flowing within increased before plateauing out.

The feeling was akin to small tendrils drilling into my skin, crawling to a little below my sternum — to where my core was. Like most people, I too had chosen to form my core a little below my sternum, mostly due to it being a central location, making it highly accessible by different parts of the body.

As the fibres of arcana reached near my core, I cleaned them of their attributes and removed impurities. Following the breathing technique I was following — an unknown technique called `Deity of Desolation Technique` — I removed the impurities from my body through exhalation.

The breathing technique was simple in theory, using an Inhalation to gather arcana and use exhalation to expel impurities. The difficulty lay in achieving the theoretical concept because of stringent requirements of concentration and speed. Going too fast could expel the arcana, whereas going too slow could cause impurities to settle in the body and become a poison. Not to mention the current condition of my body, especially the pain flooding my chest.

Thinking about the technique, a thought flashed through my mind while a wry smile crept up my face. This technique sure is as ridiculous as it sounds. Which maniac made this. And why on earth did he come up with such a name?

While commenting about the technique, I kept focusing on maintaining my breath so as to not shoot myself in the foot more than I already had.

This technique was known for its three major characteristics — speed of someone who could successfully practice it, if at all, given its difficulty; for it’s sheer audacity to take things to the extreme; and at last, for how it’s one of the first counterfeits of the original techniques in era of gods and devils. As to why I am using this counterfeit and not anything better, I blame that on my younger self.

The technique itself spoke of concepts which every technique did. However, it took the implementations to a whole nother level. For starters, the technique is split into two parts — `Earth Erasing Art`, and `Sky Shattering Art`, both pertaining to arts of Ki, and Arcana respectively. The technique required one to practice both at the same time. The first focused on improving body, while the latter improved upon one’s magic skill.

It mentions how the strength of a core depends upon its stability, solidity and the number of rings around it, with the limit being nine rings at most.

For making rings, a person would absorb arcana, and form a cloud of arcana around their core. And when the cloud is dense enough, they would solidify it to make a circle around the core using it, the process being known as forging. Usually, someone would make one ring at a time and in such a way that it wouldn’t affect and interfere with other rings. Although every additional ring adds strain to the body, the growth in power is well worth the price.

Coming back to my technique, to attain the ‘solidarity’, it in particular needs a person to absorb enough Arcana to form three whole rings, all together in one piece, in one single go. Naturally, this added a requirement for more time, an added amount of difficulty and a strain on the body, which far exceeded making three rings one at a time. Not to mention the difference in power with a jump of three rings at once, which would require a considerable amount of time to get accustomed to.

For this, a person absorbs enough arcana using which three people could form their cores from scratch, keep it in a non-solidified state around the core and then make three whole rings in one go, exponentially raising the effort required. All while assuming the person’s chest didn’t burst into a fountain of blood, the arcana didn’t disperse over time and other rings didn’t break while a ring was being built on top of them.

Now, one might think that the first issue is easy to tackle. Just practice some Ki to strengthen your body and come back.

But, like oil and water, arcana naturally repels Ki.

With a chest-full of Arcana, the flow of Ki becomes a lot slower, to the point its flow feels halted. Not to mention doing so forcefully, although won’t damage the body directly, could stir the ticking explosive within my chest, with best-case scenario being a few broken bones, damaged organs, and a shattered core.

And now, one may ask why I chose this technique. The fun fact is, I don’t know. I picked it up when I was six, guided by a dream where I got a really sturdy black rod of rock. Hell, I don’t even know how the heck could a child of age six be so dumb. Especially someone as smart as Lord Samuel.

And, the funny thing is, if I want to switch, I can’t do it. Not until I create the three damned circles. Screw my younger self.

And even then, there are issues with being able to make a successful switch and the drop in combat potential. Bridging the gap between two different techniques requires having a certain understanding of both, which I do not, at least not of the `Sky Shattering Art`. And then there’s the `Earth Erasing` Art — more like mind erasing — I hope that the moron who created this art gets struck by lightning, lighting his hair on fire as he slowly goes bald.

While I was nagging and cursing, a surge of heat washed over my body. I could feel my face growing hotter. A smell of burnt hair entered my nostrils. Before I could ponder over it, my heart skipped a beat as I was left in a state of shock, disbelief and… ecstasy.