Mystical Journey

Meanwhile, Intelligence was related to nerve responses, memory, understanding and comprehension, imagination and other attributes. If these attributes decreased, it would weaken one's grasp of their own strength, while their body coordination abilities would be insufficient as well. Furthermore, the sudden changes within his body would produce many flaws throughout the smooth Secret Techniques and combat skills that he was once involved with.

In conclusion, all four attributes appeared to be independent and possessed their own important functions in reality. Garen had not fully comprehended it previously but was now beginning to fumble around somewhat clearly. After extensive consideration, he was able to increase all of his attributes equally. He could not exceedingly increase one particular attribute, as this would cause various burdens throughout his body, and was not as beneficial as increasing his powers in a balanced manner.

There were finally 173 Potential Points left, and Garen decided to distribute them equally among his four attributes, adding two points to each of them. All of his attributes increased to seven points and only 13 Potential Points were left while the rest was quickly used up.

He sat on the sofa and felt the changes in his body state.

"Looks like I'll need something to actually test the explosive limit of my strength…" Garen felt that he needed a comprehensive quality test. Strength and speed that were worth seven attribute points each was realistically equivalent to seven times of 460 kilograms, which equaled to 3.2 tons. His speed would probably remain the same, or perhaps it would increase slightly, but Garen would be unable to tell the difference. Frankly, if his agility had not exceeded his strength previously, his speed would not have exceeded certain limits. When he thought about it now, he realized some finer details. Agility was mostly used for increasing his dexterity and lessening his burdens.

The impact force of seven points of strength, when coupled with such speed, would surely cause strength of over a hundred tons to burst forth. The power that was created when strength and speed worked together was not something that could be added and stacked simply.

Garen raised both of his hands and looked at the translucent layer of epidermis that covered his skin. This layer of skin seemed thin but actually possessed extremely strong defensive abilities. This was another effect of upgrading all of his qualities equally.

This was the first time he had carefully calculated the allocation of his attribute points.

One attribute point represented a standard unit of an adult's data limit. This provided a huge help in allowing him to understand his own powers better.

'Have strange changes occurred throughout your body?' The sound of Black Sethe's doubtful voice echoed beside his ear. 'Have you studied a special Secret Method? I can feel that some big changes have happened throughout your body.'

"You could tell as well? This is a Secret Method practice that I came up with on my own," answered Garen casually. "I've been practicing it ever since I was young. It can strengthen one's physical qualities."

Although Black Sethe could tell that Garen was hiding something, he understood that everyone had their own secrets, and decided not to pursue the matter. Frankly, he could only faintly feel that Garen had undergone certain transformations but could not tell what they were clearly, and did not know how big these changes actually were.

Garen moved his fist and stood up from the sofa. The clothes on his back were now wrinkled and puffed, making occasional ruffling noises when he moved.

He returned to his bedroom and changed into an elastic singlet and shorts that he had found there. After that, Garen walked to the pool at the back of the villa and jumped in with a splash, spraying water everywhere before extending his body and swimming slowly.

Swimming was the best way to test his coordination abilities.

'Your body size seems to have changed. Tch tch.' At this moment, it was obvious that Black Sethe had felt the changes throughout Garen's body. 'I feel like you're a humanoid Transformer.' Apparently, he knew what Transformers were.

Garen smiled before pushing his head out of the water and shaking the droplets off himself silently. There were only seven points now. In the Totem World, he was once able to exceed a genetic standard of over twenty points. A strength of that degree was simply considered to be of a terrifying level, allowing him to crush ancient legendary beasts while they were still alive. He was also able to use his strength to tear those powerful Totems apart while they were still breathing.

However, he only had seven points now. It was unfortunate that he did not have any potential points left because he wouldn't have to worry about Void Creatures at all if he could restore himself to his Totem World state.

'It's fine if you don't want to talk about it,' Black Sethe staggered the conversation. 'You have to be more careful now. I can sense that the Void Creatures are about to launch their new attacks soon. How are your technique practices coming along?'

"Still fine. I'm able to move in the Dream World naturally now. However, I can feel that the consumption is quite great, not physical power but a different type of mental attention instead." Garen raised his head and swam across the surface of the water slowly while answering Black Sethe's questions quietly.

'That's normal. The Dream World consumes your subconscious attention. You have not trained yourself enough in that aspect and that's why you get tired easily. It's completely unrelated to physical strength, but is connected to your brain's concentration abilities instead,' Black Sethe explained. 'In order to move naturally, you'll need to move on to the next step. When you're performing activities in your dreams, the important part is to depend on a fixed base and focus all of your concentration and attention there. I noticed that your hands are your base. Now, you'll need to observe the Dream World carefully without focusing your attention on one specific place for too long. Instead, you should scan across the area quickly before focusing on your base and hands again. This way, you won't be affected by strange thoughts that will cause you to break away from your focused state.'

"Base?" Garen repeated the important points once again.

'Of course. Didn't you notice? Everyone -- pay attention -- everyone can be easily taken to different and unknown places by their messy and wandering thoughts in their dreams. Sometimes, strange sensations will form mysteriously which will suddenly take you from one place to another. Your Dream World is decided by your thoughts. Since your thoughts often change in your dreams, you will often form connections when you see something, and these associated things will quickly become the reality of your Dream World,' Black Sethe explained.

'But, did you notice?'

"What?"

'When we're dreaming, whenever our thoughts associate with something negative such as our fears and the things that scare us, those things or scenarios often show up faster, and may even approach you.'

Garen leaned against the side of the pool while his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"Are you talking about how the things we fear end up becoming real?"

'That's a suitable description. You're right. In our dreams, the things we fear will often occur. When a worry appears while we are dreaming, it's very likely that these worries will amplify quickly before becoming a real part of our dreams.'

"What are you trying to say?" Garen raised his furrowed eyebrows.

'There's actually a reason behind this,' Black Sethe explained. 'The Dream World is formed by the brains of living creatures like ourselves because of a reaction between the external and internal consciousness. When both of these combine together, it forms an unpredictable and uncertain environment. It will produce certain reflections and manifestations both externally and internally. For instance, when the surrounding temperature increases while you're asleep, it affects your body temperature as well. In your dreams, you may think that you're in a hot environment such as a desert or a dry and humid house. These are the effects of the external world on the body. Meanwhile, harmful effects will not just appear instantly. If the occurrences are too intense at any moment, you will be startled awake at once. Of course, other than external influences, your own consciousness will affect your Dream World as well.'

Garen nodded his head slowly and pensively.

Meanwhile, Black Sethe continued speaking. 'Our Dream Worlds will quickly alternate and manifest different things when it is influenced by the minute changes in our bodies and consciousness. This creates infinite changes within our Dream Worlds despite their seemingly illogical characteristics. These things happen because the changes influence these two aspects extremely quickly. Moreover, the things we fear are more likely to happen, and whenever these things peep into our Dream Worlds, they will quickly produce specific effects when they discover your weaknesses and loopholes that will drown you within your own fears. Most of these things are Invisible Creatures which resemble spiders that specialize in seizing your consciousness.'

"So what does this have to do with the next step of the technique you were talking about?" Garen asked in response.

'You need to understand this principle clearly,' informed Black Sethe. 'As long as you understand this principle, anyone can achieve perfect control of themselves in their environments through step-by-step self-exercises. You're like a normal human being in these aspects and areas. Actually, you're not even equivalent to a normal human in that respect. Our Ancient Endor race has the slowest progression speed…'

"Go on." Garen was unconcerned about this personal attack. If his talents were insufficient, he would make up for it with hard work.

'In the Dream World, the most subtle effects towards your body from the outside world such as your sleeping position, comfort levels of your pillow, temperature of the weather, or even things like mosquito bites, bodily illnesses, and even the effect of cosmic rays passing through your body, earth's magnetic field and the slightest change in air flow will form changes in your Dream World. Your senses will cause everything to appear. Therefore, you must understand that our Dream Worlds will be influenced by our association abilities and imaginations, including external stimuli. Your next step is to distinguish these influences in your Dream World and separate out the harmful ones that don't belong there.'

"That's possible?" Garen felt that this was all very complicated. There were so many effects that were interwoven with one another, and distinguishing one from the rest would be an extremely difficult task.

'It's obviously very difficult, but this is an ability that a Void Pursuer must possess. You must do this, or else you will be eaten by the Void Creatures until no part of you will be left,' explained Black Sethe calmly. 'If you're able to do this by practicing it for long periods of time, you will be able to form physical instincts slowly. Your body will then be able to use its instincts to naturally remove and get rid of all of the harmful influences including cosmic rays and magnetic fields, allowing it to enter a brand new, pure level. Even regular people with normal lives will be able to experience certain changes.'

"Is there a method to do that?" Garen continued asking.

'You can try using your memory. Each person's own Dream World is based on the changes that are created within their own memories. We will often produce a natural sense of familiarity even when we encounter our subconscious memories. However, if people or objects that you've never seen before appear, you'll need to watch out.'

"Watch out for what?"

'They could be an external influence from certain harmful things like Void Creatures… Of course, it could still be something that we know as Invisible Creatures.'

"Invisible Creatures?" Garen noticed that this was the second time that he had heard Black Sethe mention them.