NOVEL WEB Chapter 169: Shocking Realization
Leon, vision blurred by tears, saw a new floating window shimmer into existence before his eyes. Even before he could read its message, a jolt of understanding slammed through his mind—something had changed, and nothing would ever be the same.
His breath caught; his chest ached with every inhale, and a cold sweat prickled on his brow as the aftershocks of pain rippled through his skull.
It started with the metallic taste of blood on his tongue and ended with the world drowning in gold.
He felt that, despite the overwhelming pain hitting his brain, his mind felt an increase, not just a slight increase like before, but a big difference, as he could think much clearly, and previous information about the
Frozen Eclipse Mana Heart Formation Technique had become much clearer to him now.
As he read the system message, it was proof of his feelings.
[Extreme Condition had increased your intelligence]
[Intelligence +14]
[Intelligence +12]
The Intelligence stat, which was the hardest stat to increase, even harder than mana and any other stat, was growing at such a fast pace for him.
He couldn't help but let a broad smile etch on his face; even then, there was a caution-filled look in his eyes and a bit of regret.
Today, he had been too careless, even if he didn't feel anything from the jade slip; at least he should have tried to find something out about it before inspecting it himself. He almost died because of it.
It was etched into his mind now, and from now on, he would be even more cautious.
Wave after wave of information hit Leon's brain; for a while, he couldn't help but scream, yet at the same time, his intelligence stat was increasing at an unprecedented speed.
But after a while, it became like a light pain, and his intelligence stat had only been increasing by 1 or 2 every now and then.
Finally, after 3 whole minutes, which to Leon felt like hours, the jade slip fell to the ground and lay still like a normal piece of jade.
The impact made a soft clack on the ground, and the silence afterwards seemed to ring in his ears, a fragile calm after a storm.
His clothes were bloody, but he was completely healed and still floating inside the golden light.
He attempted to command the holy element to return to his body. Still, it took a few tries with full concentration to succeed. Unlike before, the process was swift, and the aspect entered his body in an instant.
He could feel the holy energy evenly spread across his whole body from the inside, and not a trace of mana was being felt from his own body as he swiftly landed on his feet.
An unnatural warmth tingling in his veins, skin faintly buzzing with every heartbeat, the usual inner hum of mana eerily absent, replaced by a sterile, golden glow.
This holy energy sure does hate mana.
And the same could be said for mana also, as it also tries to devour the holy energy when they collide against each other.
All the information contained inside the jade slip about the Frozen Eclipse Mana Heart Formation Technique was inside his mind.
Yet he had only gone through a part of it; he had to go through it entirely to know all the details.
But before anything, he called out status in his mind as a transparent shimmering golden screen floated in front of him.
He focused entirely on his Intelligence stat.
[Intelligence: 513]
It had triple the previous amount, which was 170. His mind and memory felt almost unparalleled now.
He felt he had reached an entirely new dimension. Looking at the grass, he thought he could even count the small patches just by looking, and he decided to try.
Colours seemed brighter, each blade of grass sharp and distinct. The wind carried distant scents—damp soil, crushed leaves, the faint sweetness of wildflowers—while even the faintest rustle reached his ears as if the world itself was speaking to him.
He counted that in a 20-centimetre square on the ground, there were around 1456 blades of grass. He did that in just a few seconds.
That was not all; he knew the range of his spatial awareness had been increased to a new degree altogether now.
And even the teleportation limit and all the other spatial-related abilities would be improved to a new degree once he practised them for a while to get used to them.
Space element was the special one, as all the elements had a massive increase in output because of his ability to control much, much more at the same time and form spells even faster, as the intelligence stat was the one most responsible for this.
Yet one thing still remained: he couldn't even use mana now because of his holy element.
But he could see the path ahead now.
However, there was another thing he had to give focus to—the tingling sensation of his mind was being kept going for a while, which happens whenever someone messages him in the cosmic chat while tagging him.
It was as if invisible fingers tapped at the base of his skull, the sensation mingling with a faint, persistent chime only he could hear.
At first, he had thought MoonWhoEatsHerself had played a devious plan on him. Still, he was at fault for getting into that situation.
He couldn't blame her for that; instead, he felt he had to say thanks to her for giving him her precious technique.
Something that wasn't being sold at the cosmic shop must be extremely valuable. Yet, she had given it to him—her technique, which she had used herself, just like that, when they were just strangers.
It doesn't matter if it was a kink or not; she deserved his gratitude.
He opened up the cosmic chat once, entering the same thread.
First, he decided to check back the messages which were tagging him.
MoonWhoEatsHerself:
@Elemental Paragon: My Lord, are you satisfied with the technique? Could you please forgive me for my transgression earlier...
MoonWhoEatsHerself:
@Elemental Paragon: Lord, why aren't you answering me? I know I had made a big mistake, but it was only because I didn't know who you were before. Could you please... forgive me just this once... I am an ignorant fool!
And a whole lot of messages in between, which are all about him forgiving her; she also used a lot of desperate and sobbing words, and it landed on her final message.
MoonWhoEatsHerself:
@Elemental Paragon: Sob.. Sob... Please forgive me just this once.
-----
This is getting out of hand...
To Leon, it felt like something was out of control. It didn't feel like a kink anymore, but more and more like she had some mental problem. He didn't feel great taking advantage of her, but what could he do? He needed the technique, and the game is the game.
But it felt a bit unsettling to him.
His fingers drummed restlessly against his thigh, jaw tight with discomfort as he scrolled. A faint chill crept up his spine, unsettled by the desperation in her words.
This is not some fantasy fairy tale but the real world.
He wasn't going to return the jade slip because it holds too much value for him and Seraphine, as well as anyone else important to him in the future.
Still, at the very least, he would forgive her for whatever she was making up for, for a little bit of trash-talking earlier. He couldn't get mad at her about what she had said about his earlier.
But just then, another message came, not from her but someone else.
LimbDealer:
@Elemental Paragon: Great Lord, I didn't know you were one of the Esteemed Lords of the Universe...
Please forgive my pathetic and dirty self for my earlier words...
Even if I get killed, please stop the others from going after my family...
I beg of you... please... I have accepted my fate... just say that no one should touch my family... I would be content, my Lord
You can even burn my soul for thousands of years... for me to make up for my sins...
----
LimbDealer, after sending his family a message to hide in different realms without any context, as he didn't have the time, sent this message: a word from the Lord could change the fate of his family.
He had already accepted his fate, but he couldn't let his family bear the cost of his mistake.
Reading the message from LimbDealer, Leon's mind wobbled in shock and moved in circles and conclusions.
His brain worked like a bullet, trying to make sense of the situation.
Then the sudden realisation hit as he remembered a particular incident that happened to him in the past, which terrified him to his core.
The memory struck like an icy wave, his breath hitching, every muscle tensing as dread twisted in his gut.
It can't be that!