Late that night, Lin sat alone among the trees, smiling as he stared at his right hand, where a bright violet crystal shimred.
It was the Low Soul Shard he had earned by defeating Aran in battle.
He was about to use it to upgrade his skill to the second level!
"I’ve been waiting for this mont for several weeks... I didn’t think the first thing I’d do upon arriving in the Magic World would be to upgrade my skill to level two. Still," he looked down at his knees, where his katana rested, and muttered, "I thought the first thing I’d do would be to make Contact with the katana... But it turns out, that’s not the case."
He sighed.
"Either way, one doesn’t get in the way of the other. I feel that after a few days of focused ditation, I’ll be able to make Contact with the katana. But right now, I need to enhance the skill."
Looking at the Low Soul Shard in his hand, Lin slowly brought it to his forehead and closed his eyes, focusing entirely on it.
As with all the other crystals before, the Low Soul Shard began to glow softly with a violet light that gently spread around, faintly illuminating the forest.
Lin could feel the special energy within the Low Soul Shard rging with his consciousness — or rather, with the Title System, which was already redirecting that energy into his skill.
After so ti, the violet crystal shone brightly. Then it slowly began to dim and shrink in size.
"Just a little more..." Lin fully concentrated on the Low Soul Shard, ignoring the outside world.
When he felt the violet crystal in his right hand completely vanish, Lin heard a ssage from the system:
["Success! Lin Matrix has successfully used five Low Soul Shards to upgrade the skill: "Slow Motion Perception!"]
[If you want to see the changes, open the skill profile and read its updated description!]
Lin slowly opened his eyes and looked at the blue window, carefully reading each word that was written there.
"The skill profile, huh..." Lin first opened his own profile:
[Na: Lin Matrix.]
[Title: Lord of the Ti.]
[Title Category: Abstract.]
[Title Rank: Awakened.]
[Skills:
— "Slow Motion Perception (Lvl.2)".]
[Price: Forgetfulness (Price of Mind).]
[Status:
— Physical health: 78%
— ntal health: 95%
— Distortion: 0%]
[Soul Fragnts: (None).]
[Distorted Items: (None).]
[Quests: (None).]
After carefully reviewing each section, Lin noticed that the tag next to his skill had changed from "(Lvl.1)" to "(Lvl.2)", confirming that he had indeed upgraded the skill to the second level!
Of course, he didn’t really believe the Title System could deceive him, but knowing his luck, Lin still wanted to be sure.
"I guess now I can check the profile of the upgraded skill," Lin couldn’t suppress a bright smile and summoned the skill profile:
[Skill Na: Slow Motion Perception (Lvl.2).]
[Skill Type: Active.]
[Description: This skill can slow the ti of the surrounding environnt. For the skill’s user, ti will feel slowed, while for others, it will remain normal. The user creates a 10x10 ter circle of slowed ti around themselves, in which they can move at normal speed while others are slowed. The circle will remain active for only twenty seconds!]
"A 10x10 ter circle... and twenty seconds of duration... That’s it?" Lin carefully read the skill description but noticed no changes beyond those two.
"The upgrade only doubled the effect... Pretty decent. Now I can maintain the slowed space for twenty seconds, which is twice as long as before. That gives more room for maneuvering, and the area itself increased from five ters to ten."
"Interesting... I wonder if the Distortion effect stays the sa? Or did it increase? I’d like for it to have decreased, but that’s unlikely..."
Lin sighed, realizing that the true changes in the skill could only be felt in another battle.
Without a fight — there would be no understanding.
"The road to that castle keeps getting shorter. Just a few more days, and we’ll reach it. Then we’ll see what it’s all about..." Lin slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep.
The night passed quietly.
...
The next few days passed strangely peacefully.
Although the group was deep within the Dead Lands, they encountered almost no Distorted creatures along the way, and those they did et were extrely weak and dropped nothing.
Overall, it was rather strange, and more and more questions arose in the group’s minds regarding this "castle" marked on the map. But it also stirred strong intrigue — what could be there?
"We’re here," Royal slowly stood up and looked around, realizing that every part of the area matched the map’s depiction.
Aran scanned the surroundings and even ventured deeper into the forest, but found no sign of a "castle."
"Nothing there either," he said in a slightly disappointed tone.
Silia frowned and voiced a thought she didn’t want to consider:
"Maybe... there is no castle at all? And this map — is just an ordinary deception?"
Royal nodded but still held so hope in his heart. He looked at the sky and slowly said:
"Maybe this castle doesn’t have a normal entrance. Let’s spend a few days here — if we don’t find anything by then, we’ll just continue moving forward."
Everyone nodded and began setting up the area to spend the next few days there.
Naturally, this was the perfect ti for Lin to attempt to make Contact with the katana!
Lin sat alone by a small river when Egro approached and asked:
"Trying to make Contact with the katana?" he slowly sat next to him in a lotus position.
Lin nodded.
"Yes. And I feel like I’ll make Contact in a few days, if I ditate and practice actively here."
"That’s good," Egro smiled and looked at the river, saying, "I also feel like I’m slowly making Contact with this stone spear... Though it’s taking a lot more ti than I expected."
Lin shook his head and patted Egro on the shoulder a few tis, smiling.
"I ditated and practiced with the katana for three months too, until soone told I needed to find a special place. And when I ended up here, I made rapid progress toward gaining great power. Don’t be discouraged. Just keep moving forward."
Egro laughed and nodded.
"Good words."
"Now that you get it — go practice!" Lin sent Egro off with a smile and then began ditating with full intensity.
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