Return of the Fallen Volume 13 Chapter 13
(Is this the secret as to why Monsuta’s powers no longer grow?)
Kazuki had barely placed a hand on the homemade rock door when he felt an overabundance of aura surrounding it. This wasn’t just anyone’s aura but Monsuta’s. As soon as Kazuki sensed all of this aura, something instantly clicked for him.
“Monsuta, is there a specific reason you put this much of your aura into this rock door?”
The tip of Monsuta’s tail rubbed his chin as he thought for a moment.
“Um, that’s just how it goes. Whenever I make my special rocks, I have to put some of my aura in them, otherwise, it becomes soft and crumbles apart like sand. Why does it matter Kazuki?”
The gears in Kazuki’s mind were turning rapidly as a new theory appeared in his head.
“Why does it matter you ask. Well from where I come from, no, beyond that. Every place I’ve traversed, across the many stars and realms I’ve been to, the soul is very important in the later stages. As your soul grows stronger, so too does your aura. It doesn’t stop there, the magic flowing through you also increases in both quality and quantity. Connecting the soul, mind, and body, the mind becomes clearer and allows one to think and comprehend at higher levels. The body is no exception. Once one’s soul reaches a certain qualitative level, the body can be enhanced as it is connected with the soul.”
Monsuta started to put it together at this point and looked at his door in surprise.
“Are you saying my door can give me strength!?”
Kazuki kept his hand on the rock door and felt the aura within it.
“The amount of aura in this door of yours is far more than what you currently have inside of you. By my estimates, it’s nearly 5 possibly 6 times greater. You said withdrawing your aura from this special rock causes the rock to crumble right, so does that mean this large portion of aura has been separated from you since its inception? In that case, I believe this is the main reason why your strength has not improved. I thought the primordial flame was somehow not compatible or had some type of restriction but it looks like you are the one whos been causing the restriction. Everything you eat causes the primordial flame inside of you to grow little by little. With it, your strength should have grown as well but you’ve been missing a literally piece of your soul this whole time.”
Monsuta was surprised, to say the least.
“Does this mean I’m actually stronger than I think?”
Kazuki shook his head.
“No, if my guess is right, the primordial flame and one’s soul act in conjunction with one another. Because the aura in your door is actually separated from you, the strength that you could have is basically locked away. Basically, it means your potential is more but it won’t belong to you officially until you take your aura back. This is great news, this means you can become much stronger instantly. All you have to do is take back what already belongs to you.”
Monsuta seemed devastated and did not dare break his door.
“What’s the matter? Don’t you wish to be stronger?”
Monsuta became quiet and looked down pitifully.
Kazuki could sense the attachment Monsuta felt deep inside his soul.
(I see. This door has been the only thing to keep him safe during the nights of green fire. This is similar to a security blanket. This rock is literally the thing that keeps the monsters out at night. Even if he took back his aura and gained exceptional power, there’s still no guarantee he could take on those shriekers. People tend to stick to what they know when it comes to safety and the dangers outside.)
Kazuki sighed inwardly but he was not upset. In the end, Monsuta was still a child or at the very least had the mentality of a child.
“Monsuta, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. After all, were just talking about theories and ideas. So long as you’re safe and comfortable, things are fine right?”
Monsuta looked at Kazuki. A sense of warmth flowed from him.
“Really Kazuki, do you really mean it?”
Kazuki found this funny. Monsuta was more like an overgrown puppy than a being equal if not stronger than many gods back where Kazuki was from.
“Of course. It was only a thought and nothing more. In the end, it’s up to you and no one else.”
Kazuki began to think about his own problem now.
(If Monsuta’s strength is blocked due to not enough aura, could that be what’s interfering with my own growth? After eating the same species a few times, my strength seems to stall and come to a grinding halt. My primordial flame continued to grow after every beast I consumed but my aura did not. If the two really do in fact work in conjunction, then my powers would always stop growing after a certain point.)
Kazuki felt confused for a moment.
(How did my powers grow in the first place? If my aura and primordial flame need one another to cause growth how could I have grown in the first place if my soul was not growing already? Does this not mean my soul was in fact growing after each meal?)
Kazuki’s eyes slammed shut as he jumped into his soul world. He quickly went and checked his soul and found that it really had grown slightly. The change was so small and seemingly insignificant that he had not noticed the tiny growth it had undergone. Add the fact that he was trying to decipher this flame in his soul and the growth of his soul just went completely under the radar.
(My soul did grow some. Since this is the case why did my strength stop growing after eating the same type of beast only a handful of times? Wait, the fact that my soul grew at all after eating some beasts is already strange. Why does consuming monsters in this weird world of fire cause my soul to grow…Unless!)
Kazuki changed his sight from his soul tree to his core but all seemed normal. Opening one of his eyes he split his focus between his soul world and the real world. Grabbing a chunk of nearby meat that had been lying around, Kazuki took a big bite and tore off a fat chunk of meat, and forgetting to swallow he roughly swallowed it down with one struggling gulp.
As he did this, he observed his soul world, specifically his core. Just as he thought, he watched as a condensed mass of fire element poured into his soul world. The majority of this fire element entered directly into his core and became his energy. However, a tiny portion split away. It was a fragment of primordial flame. It shot forward and joined the primordial flame in his soul tree, fusing with it, adding on to what already was.
Kazuki was expecting that.
What he guessed also soon followed. After this fire energy entered his core and became his own energy, the energy again split. The majority remained inside his core while a small amount became purer than the rest. Ths tiyn pure ord of power also entered his soul tree. Unlike the primordial flame though, this ball of energy was greedily eaten by Kauzki’s soul, which in turn caused the growth of a few small leaves to sprout from a random branch here or there from his soul tree.
Kazuki saw this and wanted to both laugh and scream. This process was an automatic one that he had no part in. It happened naturally, not just for him but for every living creature of this world.
(How utterly infuriating. The mysterious reason I could no longer grow it was so simple all along. This process is the exact same process I’ve already known of.)
Kazuki felt stupid. He had already known of such a technique and used it many times in the past. Absorbing energy from the outside world, taking it directly into his core. After, he would make the energy his own before purposefully feeding it to his soul tree. In return, his soul would strengthen and so too would his magic.
Now with the added primordial flame, his body would get a nice boost as well. Kazuki in the past would have to do the entire process manually but in this world, everyone got this extreme gift automatically.
Kazuki grabbed a chunk of a beast he had the other day. One in which after consuming his strength had stopped growing. Just like earlier he swallowed down another piece and watched inside his soul world.
The same process began but this time, the moment the energy split but this time the energy that came out of his core was cloudy. It was clearly less pure. The moment this energy tried to automatically enter Kauzki’s soul tree, it couldn’t enter. His soul tree actually blocked it without him knowing.
(So the reason why my strength stalled after eating a handful of the same species is that the fire element inside became less pure and clouded after a few of them. This causes my soul to automatically block this growth-like energy. It’s like a defense mechanism. Not against viruses, but instead it’s preventing weak energy from being added to my soul. Now this is interesting.)
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