Chapter 346: Chapter 346. Attempting a ntal Link
Ha Gild brought Amon to the internal courtyard. The entire complex was surrounded by tall walls, so the people outside couldn’t see what was inside. Now that Amon laid eyes on the inside, it was incredibly huge. Its layout made it seem more like a ranch. It had several buildings in its periphery, while the large open space in the middle was divided by fences.
Amon could see so of these fenced areas were occupied by students, so had spirit beasts, and most were empty. The fenced area they were in was empty except for Ha Gild, him, and an assistant. Ha Gild nodded to this assistant, who then entered a nearby building.
Amon looked at the fences surrounding the place. It had words of power inscribed on them. He put his hand above the fence. His hand hit an invisible wall.
"The enchantnt keeps the spirit beasts inside and prevents them from wandering about," Ha Gild inford.
Amon waited there while Ha Gild kept speaking. After a while, the assistant returned. He had a pair of reins in his hand. Towed behind the assistant were two dog-like creatures with bronze-black furs. Amon identified the creatures as the Marsh Howling Hounds. They were classified as lower superior beasts.
"The Marsh Howling Hounds are the standard spirit beasts we use to train beginner beast tars," Ha Gild explained. "They are weak compared to senior class students, so the students should have no problem dominating them. They are also slightly docile for spirit beasts. Aside from that, they are abundant and easy to capture. Hence, they are cheap. We can always buy a new one if sothing goes wrong during the ntal-linking process."
"Why must you catch a new one if the ntal-linking process goes wrong?" Amon asked.
"Because, in the best scenario, the spirit beast will be too distraught to accept another ntal link for quite so while. At worst, the spirit beast dies," Ha Gild answered.
"What about the tar? Will there be a backfire if the process fails?"
"There is, but not as severe as for the spirit beast. The worst a tar can suffer is needing rest for a few days before attempting another ntal link. Still, I have seen cultivators with strong ntal aptitude attempting another ntal link directly after a failure."
Ha Gild slapped Amon’s arm and added, "You scored the best during the third entrance exam, right? So, you should have no problem in that departnt. That’s why I asked my assistant to bring two hounds in case you fail on your first try. Not that I want you to fail, though. Even though they are cheap, it doesn’t an we can waste them for nothing."
"What do I need to do?" Amon asked.
"Eager to learn. I like that!" Ha Gild exclaid. He proceeded to take one of the reins from the assistant. The Marsh Howling Hounds tried to resist, but only mildly. The rein had words of power that soothed the hound and kept it from becoming aggressive.
"Your goal is to exert dominance over this hound," Ha Gild said. "To do that, you need to link with its energy core and use your energy to overwhelm it into submission. First, place your hand on it."
Amon moved his hand above the hound’s head. He channeled his aether and released it in the hound’s direction. The hound tried moving away while whimpering. Ha Gild held the hound and kept it in place.
The hound’s head moved ever lower as Amon’s hand approached. The hound lowered its head until its lower jaw touched the ground. It closed its eyes as its body trembled when Amon’s hand touched its head.
"I need to warn you. You must be careful if you attempt to ta a wild spirit beast out there," Ha Gild said. "As I ntioned, this hound is mostly docile. We can easily control it. Other spirit beasts will most likely attack you when you try to dominate them. The higher the spirit beast’s grades, the more unlikely it is for you to ta them. High-grade spirit beasts had intelligence, and most prefer death over living under submission to a cultivator."
"What should I do next?" Amon asked.
The assistant was rather ticked by Amon’s response. Ha Gild told Amon out of concern, but Amon acted like he didn’t need it.
Ha Gild didn’t seem offended, though. He answered, "To start forming a ntal link with this hound, you need to synchronize your aether with it. Once you do, you will be able to locate and intrude on its energy space."
Amon closed his eyes and focused on doing what Ha Gild instructed. Every cultivator and spirit beast possessed a different frequency in their energy signature. Synchronizing his aether was adjusting his aether frequency to match his target. He had no problem with this because he had done this before when he practiced elental support. Two cultivators needed to synchronize their energy to perform elental support.
Ha Gild was an Interdiate Spirit Stage cultivator. He could sense Amon’s aether and its process of synchronizing with the Marsh Howling Hound. When he sensed that Amon had successfully achieved the objective, he said, "Good, now concentrate on your energy core. Will it to reach out into the spirit beast."
The assistant, who had a sour expression because of his unfavorable opinion of Amon, changed his expression into one that showed surprise. The Marsh Howling Hound might be among the easiest spirit beasts to be tad, but the speed Amon synchronized his aether was still too fast for an inexperienced tar.
Amon was fully focused on the task. His subconsciousness entered his energy space. As he tried to reach out as Ha Gild told him to, he observed thin threads of energy coming out of his energy core. These thin threads rged and beca a thick cord that increased in length.
Following Amon’s will, the energy cord coursed through his arm and into his hand. From there, it attempted to pierce into the Marsh Howling Hound. The hound shivered when that happened. Ha Gild continued to hold it in place.
Amon felt resistance when his energy cord attempted penetration. His aether, which had synchronized with the hound’s, got into work. It blended with the hound’s aether and convinced it that the energy core was not hostile. Eventually, the ntal wall blocking the energy core gave way.
Amon’s consciousness followed the energy core and entered the hound’s energy space. This was the first ti his consciousness went into an alien energy space. He felt strange. It was nothing like when he was navigating his own energy space. It was empty all around. He didn’t know which way to go. He felt lost.
"Don’t worry," he heard Ha Gild’s voice. "The sensation is normal when you perform ntal link for the first ti. Take your ti. Get used to it."
Amon followed the advice. He went into a state of tranquility as he did when he ditated. At the sa ti, he expanded his senses to everything around him. Slowly, he didn’t feel as empty as before. The ntal scenery of how he perceived the hound’s energy space also transford. He now saw his surroundings as a large space covered by reddish clouds. A distance away was a red ball.
’That is the hound’s energy core,’ Amon thought.
He willed himself in that direction. His energy cord followed behind him.
When he arrived, he heard Ha Gild’s voice again. "Very good. Now, slowly insert your energy cord into the energy core."
Amon heeded the instructions. His energy cord moved past him and approached the red energy core. When the core and cord touched, a spark was ignited. An energy shockwave burst from the spark. It slamd into Amon’s ntal body and almost obliterated it.
"Ugh...!" Amon’s ntal body blurred for a while, but it slowly reford and stabilized.
"Impressive! I did hear your ntal capacity is above normal, but I’m still surprised," Amon heard Ha Gild’s voice again. "Most others... No, every student I know who attempted a ntal link failed to withstand the ntal backlash when they experienced it for the first ti."
’Asshole. This ans he expected this backlash and didn’t warn ,’ Amon cursed in his mind.
"Don’t get discouraged. What happened was normal. All spirit beasts tad through force will exhibit such resistance. You just need to be patient and continue your attempt to invade the energy core. Take your ti. Continue exerting force. The energy core has its limits. Eventually, it will run out of energy. Since your cultivation is higher, it will run out of energy before you do. When that happens, you will be able to apply the ntal link."
’So, this is a brute force thod,’ Amon thought. He sent a ntal command for his energy cord to approach the red energy core again.
Since he knew what would happen, he was more prepared. He used his imagination and channeled his aether to form a ntal shield before him. The backlash shockwave erupted again when his energy cord touched the target. The blast slamd into his ntal shield.
The shield held. He wasn’t as disoriented as before.
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