CH12 Fated Misfortune of Immeasurable Difficulty
***
In Leo's room, the teenager decided to do something he had not done previously to prepare for the upcoming Fated Misfortune.
He decided to run the Breath Control and Energy Circulation exercise simultaneously with Mediation and Visualisation.
He sat down on one of the sofas in his room and began to control his breathing.
Before long, he sensed the energy/nutrition being released from the special organ conjoined to his stomach due to the Curse of Gluttony technique.
He moved the energy through his blood vessels towards his arms and legs which were sore from sparring with Zora.
Slowly, the energy revitalised the muscles and other flesh in the area such that the sore slowly receded visibly to the naked eye.
Very soon, the sores on his limbs were all gone and they were back to tiptop shape.
However, Leo didn't stop. He channelled more stored energy from his Stomach and used it to revitalise every single path of his body to ensure there wasn't an injury he overlooked.
Soon, he was fully healed with his body being fully refined once more.
Simultaneously in his mind, Energy flooded into his Mindspace from the surroundings, refilling his depleted Mental Energy.
By the time he was done refining his body, his milky white Mental Energy cloud was fully restored.
When Leo looked further, he noticed that the cloud had at some point gotten a hint of blue in it. But it was so small it was negligible.
Below the cloud was a partially complete form of a miniature castle fortress.
The Fortress was about 95% complete with the rest of the 5% being an outline formed from illusionary gaseous Mental Energy.
Under Leo's command, condensed liquid from the Mental Energy cloud rained down specifically onto the illusionary uncompleted areas of the visualised Castle Fortress.
The rain of Mental Energy came together and condensed further, forming the solid block that built up the Castle Fortress.
This continued many more times. Block after block, the miniature Castle Fortress was slowly built up.
About an hour and half later, the Castle Fortress was complete.
It hummed all throughout Leo's Mindspace.
The miniature Castle Fortress expanded to cover the entirety of the Mindspace.
It was like the Castle became Leo's mind.
The border of his mind thickened like the Castle Fortress then after a while, the castle dispersed and the Mental Energy returned to reform an even more condensed cloud.
The bluish tinges in the Mental Energy cloud were even more pronounced.
The coloration was still negligible of course, but it was noticeably more concentrated.
Leo heaved a sigh of relief.
He managed to complete another cycle of the Visualisation technique before the time of the Fated Misfortune.
He looked at the timer in his mind and saw that he had thirty minutes left.
He didn't know what else to do as he had done everything he could to prepare for what the world had to throw at him.
His body and mind were both ready for the Fated Misfortune.
He decided to stretch a bit to kill time.
However just as he was about to do so, he heard a knock on the door.
It was Rowland.
"It is time. Everything is prepared. Let's go." He said after Leo opened the door.
Leo nodded and closed the door behind him as he followed his uncle.
Rowland led Leo to the back exit and into the forested area surrounding the War King Palace.
They arrived at a clearing twenty minutes into walking in the forest.
This was a place Leo had never been to as it was Rowland's reserved training spot.
Not just Leo, perhaps only Jaras amongst the people at the War King Palace had been here as only the old butler was allowed to come here.
And only during an emergency was he allowed to do so.
"This entire area is covered in an isolation array, a Mana gathering Array and a protective array made by a Tier V Grandmaster Runesmith from the Artisan Association.
"There is no better place than here to have your Awakening Ceremony." Rowland said.
Leo nodded in understanding.
They arrived at the centre of the clearing.
There was a translucent blue orb on a pedestal.
"This is an Awakening Core made from the Nest Core of a Tier IV Top-grade Nest, also made by a Grandmaster Runesmith. Along with the energy-gathering Array here, this is the best condition you can get for your awakening ceremony." Rowland revealed.
Leo was left a little speechless and guilty.
Rowland had certainly pulled out all the stops for this Awakening Ceremony, hoping that Leo would awaken a good gift. Perhaps even one that could ameliorate his Mana deficiency condition.
However, Leo knew there was nothing they could do to change the situation.
Things were already set in stone and this so-called ceremony was nothing but a facade so that he wouldn't have to explain the Fated Misfortune that would befall him.
It was clear from how much he invested in this that Rowland placed a lot of hope in this ceremony.
-
Like everything else in this world, Gifts had ranks, or rather classes.
Gifts were divided into nine classes from G-Class Gifts all the way to SS-Class Gifts.
Gifts are determined by the colour they exude when they are activated.
G-Class (Milky White), F-Class (Blood Red), E-Class (Green), D-Class (Blue), C-Class (Violet), B-Class (Black), A-Class (Silver), S-Class (Yellow Gold) and SS-Class (Red Gold).
The higher the Class of the Gift, the higher the Mana Output of the Gift (i.e. the more legally world-breaking the Gift is).
SS-Class Gifts are considered myths as only the first human to awaken their Gift, the first leader of humanity, the Saint, has ever been recorded to have awakened one.
None besides him has ever done so.
As for G-Class Gifts, they are considered trash gifts. They are so useless that their Awakeners barely bother using them.
In fact, the greater bulk of civilians who don't participate in any way in the fight against beasts and monsters have G-Class Gifts.
-
Rowland's preparation was so Leo would potentially awaken a high-class Gift, preferably A-Class and above.
At the very least though, his preparation should in theory prevent Leo from awakening a trash G-Class Milky-White Gift if this were a normal case.
Unfortunately, this was far... as far as can be from a normal awakening.
Leo wondered if the man would be able to handle the disappointment of him not awakening anything.
Just as he was thinking about this, an alarm sounded in his mind.
[⚠️ Warning ⚠️]
[Notice: User has been detected in a place where the influence of the world has been strengthened significantly.
[User is advised to leave the area immediately!]
"What the-?"
Unfortunately, before Leo could react, the timer in his mind elapsed.
Suddenly, Leo felt a presence descend on the area. The teenager could instinctively tell the presence was anything but friendly.
Leo tried to remove his hand from the Awakening Orb but he couldn't. It was stuck firmly in place on the pedestal.
Rowland also noticed the abnormality.
He attempted to rush forward to drag Leo away but he was quickly locked in place as well by the World.
Then, the Awakening Core activated... Or rather the Nest Core activated.
The alarm in Leo's mind suddenly stopped as the Arcane Sanctuary recognised that a warning was too late.
-
[Notice!]
[The favourable environment has allowed the User's world to bypass the conditions of Fated Misfortune. The strength of the Fated Misfortune has significantly increased!]
[Evaluating improved strength of Fate Misfortune]
[Evaluating...]
[Evaluating...]
[Evaluating...]
[Evaluation Error!]
[Diagnostics in progress. Standby...]
[Diagnostics complete!]
[Conclusion: The World Consciousness personally intends to interfere with Fated Misfortune. The strength of Fated Misfortune is... Immeasurable!!!]
-
"F-!" Leo wanted to cuss and spew every profanity he knew from the memories of the Grand Space Pirate King.
It was only due to the cross-influence of the Martial Sovereign that the teenaged boy didn't.
He looked to his uncle as a saying from the Martial Sovereign's memories flashed into his mind.
'No good deed goes unpunished.'
Leo chuckled wryly, 'You may have doomed me, dear uncle of mine...'
(To be continued...)