"Argh!"

Finally, the boy couldn't resist screaming as the pain assailed him from all directions. The runes from the white line made a sizzling noise as they embedded themselves into his flesh. Countless worm-like runes were visible all over Will's body as Radiant Energy, Bloodlust and Soul Force went to work on his body.

'Primordial Refinement uses energies to break down and rebuild bodies. I thought the pain from using Primordial Refinement along with Flowing Tide Restriction would be too much in this situation, but he is still able to keep control of his Soul Force even though his mind is in a nascent form without stability. His mind is truly monstrous.'

Will had a decent body, a powerful soul, but the true power within him was his mind. It all started with Will materializing two Empyrean Intents and Two totems before he had even reached a level high enough to properly apply the two. Totems aside, just the Empyrean Intents alone were enough to set him apart as a strong warrior for life.

‘Most users focus too much on collecting many skills and abilities or levelling up, but the problem is that their skill proficiency will not match their levels. It’s much better to have a high skill proficiency for one’s level than to have a high level with weak skill proficiency.’

Intent wasn’t just the manifestation of the mind in the physical world, it was also a marker of one's ability to learn and execute skills and abilities. The purer and higher quality one’s intent was, the faster their skill proficiencies would climb. In other words, Will could practice skills with far less effort than others, so long as those skills were of the same attributes as his most powerful Intent.

‘If he trains in metal and water type skills he won’t have much trouble. His Suijin no Ikari is an example. His affinity to water, expressed through Radiant Energy, allowed him to use Intent impression and apply the sharpness concept to a sphere of water. And he did this in mid-battle.

Only someone with a mind as powerful as his, with radiant energy and a class that can freely manipulate water to the molecular level, could pull that off. That was why the skill got such a high rating despite its simplicity. Sometimes, simple is best.’ calmly analysed Adelda after she internalised what Odin had said about Radiant Energy and Bloodlust.

She had been with Will the whole time, quietly observing, so she knew what he was capable of. She was nowhere near as knowledgeable as Odin, but she was no fool. and the former knew it. It was why he allowed her to be in the room.

Wodin had not told Will this, but the former had sealed a lot of the latter's mental power to prevent it from overloading his other two vessels.

'Flowing Tide Restriction forces evolution, but it has limits. The first round is the most intense and has the most benefits in a short period of time, but there is a limit to how much I can upgrade his body and soul. Especially his body. It's too far behind his soul and mind. Primordial Refinement helps but there is a limit to what it can do. That limit will be decided by the boy’s Intent and pain tolerance'

Will was operating Primordial Refinement through Intent. In other words, he was strengthening his body through his mind, so the degree of strengthening did not just rely on his tolerance to pain, but the strength of his mind as a whole and his resolve. Flowing Tide Restriction was still heavily impeding the boy from accessing his mental prowess but Will was exceeding Odin’s expectations.

‘He is a good mortal to work with. Modus might actually be on to something. I really hope he lives long. Just imagining the chaos this boy will bring excites me quite a bit.’

Will's mind had been greatly restricted while his body experienced the most growth. His soul had only been partially restricted while it experienced moderate growth.

'I will slowly release the restrictions on his mental power over time so that it spills over to his soul, which in turn will spill to his body. A trickle-down foundation establishment. As always my work is superb. Even an ant can become a battle deity under my instruction.'

Odin kept praising himself as he observed Will's change. The runes had completely dissolved into his body while blue and red lights from the Primordial Refinement started to fade. The room had entertained a light show but it had slowly come to an end.

Will was on cloud nine despite the horrendous pain he was experiencing.

'This is bad, I might become a masochist.'

As Will felt his three states come into balance, he could feel the qualitative and quantitative upgrade of his entire being.

'Well being a masochist is better than being a fourth-wave feminist.'

Nonsensical thoughts raced through his mind as he tried to regain full control of his body. The pain was gradually subsiding, but he still had a few pieces of his mind that needed sorting out.

Will moved the yuan in his body according to the Solitary Sword Sovereign pathway and tried to gauge his power.

'My mind is smaller in scale, but I feel like I can explore more of it. This was a worthwhile experience.'

Will was confident that his combat ability had increased manifold. Not to mention that a feeling of incredible relief filled him from head to toe.

It wasn't just physical relief, it was spiritual and mental relief as well.

'It's like my mind, soul and body all went through an incredible metaphysical massage. Looks like Dual Mind Propagation had placed a more serious burden on my vessels than I had thought.'

Will had not used any other higher senses or abilities as he was still gathering his bearings, but he was very satisfied with the current state of his being.

'The five hours are almost up. Man, that was unpleasant as f*ck. Necessary, but nasty.'