“So how much Ability power a Mortal can have, like peak Mortal lifeform?” Almond curiously asked.
“Ability Power is the effective utilization of Prana through the sum of your assets + creativity in logic + imagination poured into your magic sequences. There’s no fixed maximum limit to it, even for the Mortal Rank lifeform. Let me explain the stats first, then we’ll get back to ability power and abilities itself.”
“Oh yes, the stats. I guess they would fill up the hole I am feeling about abilities,” Almond nodded as he looked at his stats.
-Stats:
— Body Constitution: 20
— Mental Constitution: 40
— Soul Constitution: 10
— Arcane Constitution: —
“Body Constitution refers to your overall physical capabilities. I don’t need to tell you how this affects your combat power. Those who utilize their bodies better can bring out more power despite having the same stats.”
“The new thing for you to learn is that our bodies create secrets,” Big D grinned. “And we have to uncover them.”
“Body create secrets?” Almond blinked, his eyes curious. “That sounds rather cool.”
“Evolution is wonderful and one of the original secrets, like the soul. That’s why many people obsess over it. Our physical form that births and grows can be just as ethereal as our souls and minds.”
“With that said, you must know how genes have information about one’s past and instructions. They direct how your body will grow and adapt. They erase and renew, incorporating something, deleting something, with each generation.”
“But what can you tell me about the genes of the first ever lifeform?”
Almond fell into thought. “If we can change and adapt because of externalities, then the first ever genes must be extremely minimalistic and highly versatile. They would absorb information about the world around them and grow to adapt to it extremely fast and efficiently to ensure their survival and evolution.”
“Good, that’s correct. Now, I’ll tell you that we can get fresh new evolutionary cells with highly powerful, highly versatile genes…by opening the secrets of our body.”
Almond’s eyes shone. “Frankly, that sounds cool. What are those secrets?”
“Geno Gates.”
“Eh? I feel like I’ve heard that before,” Almond tried to remember and soon recalled it. “Oh yeah, Madam Ruby mentioned it, but just in passing and not as a subject, though I’ve been curious about it.”
“Acquiring a Bloodline automatically opens your first Geno Gate because it sockets the bloodline and provides it with unknown potential. Everyone with Bloodline is capable of growing it further or well, devolving it if they mess up.”
“But some open their first Geno Gate on their own, mostly automatically, once they reach Tier-1 level 10 proficiency of their Body and begin to develop their own Bloodlines. This first bloodline would be based on their assets and their overall experience of life.”
“Tier 1 level 10? I saw this mirror showing me that I am already at Tier 1 level 5 in body proficiency!” Almond exclaimed. “I am close.”
“Indeed,” Big D nodded. “Now that you found that out, we’ll continue about Body Constituion later when you reach that point. Next, it’s time to know about Mental constitution.”
Almond nodded.
“Look at the mirror.”
The mirror suddenly showed complex symbols and patterns.
“By definition, the Mental Constitution represents the upper limit of your cognitive acuity, focus, and mental resilience. It affects reaction times, problem-solving, level of perception, and execution of magical sequences to create or learn abilities. What thinking you produce by seeing these symbols and patterns would be different from another. No two individuals would understand and perceive this entire thing the same.”
“I understand. However, you only said Execution, but not creation?” Almond raised his eyebrows. “I mean, we create abilities based on our mental capabilities, right?”
Big D smirked. “Let’s move to the next stat for now. Once we reach the Arcane constitution, you’ll understand.”
Almond suddenly had a deja vu, and it reminded him of that moment when he found out that this cat was pranking him about his second fight, that he would need to win it or die forever, and making him feel hopeless by introducing old monster Garo’s capabilities.
‘That orc woman couldn’t have been in cahoots with Big D, right? Urgh, whatever. It’s over, but I am going to remember this and pull one hell of a prank on this cat, even if I do that after years.’
‘Good luck with that,’ Big D whispered into his mind.
“…”
“Soul Constitution reflects the size of your Soul Sea, as well as your soul body’s capacity, which means it also dictates the size of your Prana Sea that resides within your soul body”
“Yeah, I get that. And if I want to increase soul constitution, I’ll have to train in Soul Arts.”
Big D nodded as he jumped on Almond’s head and sat while looking at the mirror. “Now, the most juicy stat, Arcane Constitution. Look at the mirror.”
“I already am.”
The mirror rippled like water as the random symbols and patterns vanished, replaced by a board of his assets, and this time, they were more than before.
“This…” Almond was surprised.
“First, forget everything I told you about how to create abilities because that’s not how you are going to do it.”
“What?” Almond frowned. “That’s a joke, right?”
“I mean, don’t forget everything. The principles will be the same, but the way you will create them will change once you build your Arcane Board, which is dictated by your Arcane Constitution.”
“Are you saying this board in the mirror is my Arcane Board?” Almond asked, appearing confused as he looked at the mirror. “What are these numbers?”
[Almond Crowshade]
-Elemental Assets:
—> Golden Haze Lightning (S): 10
—> Lumeir (C): 4
—> Wind (B): 6
—> Light (C): 4
—> Sand of Vibrant Wave (C): 4
—> Pseudo Space: 92
—> Pseudo Void: 0.1
-Imaginary Assets:
—> Intent—Spiral Edge: 48
-Applied Knowledge Asset:
—> Body: 59
—> Mind: 118
Enjoy exclusive adventures from My Virtual Library Empire
—> Soul: 1
-Technical Assets:
—> Lightning-Air Particle Drift: —
“First, that single technical asset is just something I added there. It’s that thing you did with your Golden Edge, allowing that blade to move erratically while maintaining its lightning speed to keep increasing kinetic energy. Technical Assets can’t be measured in numbers here because they bring out different amounts of potency from Prana based on which abilities they are being used on.”
“And on that note, these numbers beside your assets represent their power of utilizing Prana and how much potency your abilities could get out of Prana if you were to utilize the said asset.”
“For instance, if you release a Lightning Blade costing 1000 Prana and release a Sand Blade of 1000 Prana, the Lightning Blade would be way superior purely in terms of potency because your mastery of Lightning is higher, hence it is attuned with Prana more.”
Almond nodded, “Yeah, I get that. It’s like if Prana went into my magic sequence based on the Lightning element, Prana would feel happier and party more wildly than it would in my magic sequence based on the Sand element.”
“That’s a rather weird way to put it, but it’s somewhat accurate,” Big D nodded. “So what is Arcane Constitution? Basically, it encompasses the other three things—Body, Mind, and Soul, and, in addition, the utilization of your assets by your way in the Arcane Board.”
“Arcane Board?” Almond blinked. “I suppose this thing is the reason why you told me to forget about the way I created my abilities.”
“Indeed,” Big D nodded sagely. “Arcane Board is your canvas, but not just any canvas, it’s like a computer canvas. You don’t just draw on it, but create apps, A.K.A, the abilities, by directly using your assets like tools with your processes to create magic sequences.”
“The principles will be the same, but the stage and scope will be larger,” Big D added with a grin. “To get your Arcane Board, you need some values in Arcane Constitution.”
“And to get Arcane Constitution, you have to build it.”
“Build it?” Almond raised his eyebrows and looked up at the cat. “How?”
Big D slapped his forehead and pointed ahead. “Look at the mirror.”
The mirror rippled and suddenly showed a complex humanoid structure with magical power that the moment Almond saw it, it appeared in his mind in 5D, able to view his body in several layers and stages down to his genes and atoms.
“Holy shit…Wait, this is my body.”
“Correct,” Big D nodded. “I told you, Arcane is mysterious, and so is Arcane Constitution because it is yours, something you must build. Use your refined liquified Prana and create a body.”
“But not just any random body. You must create a body that is intricately connected with your physical body, your mind, and your soul.”
Almond’s lips twitched and asked, “Am I supposed to figure that out myself by just looking at this crazy 5D detailed image of my body?”
“I would love to have you figure it out on your own, but let’s not waste time like that. It’s not hard with instructions.”
“Oh, please do,” Almond smiled. “I don’t want to waste time as well.”
“Humu,” Big D smiled as he floated in front of Almond’s face. “Just solve a simple puzzle in that image in your body, and it will give you the method of awakening your Arcane Constitution.”
“…”
“Good luck.”
After saying that, Big D vanished.
“Wait, what?” Almond shouted. “Don’t disappear like that. What is the puzzle? There’s a gazillion amount of detail in that 5D image, so what is the puzzle? What am I to fucking solve?”
“Hello?”
“…”
Almond’s face turned red, but there was no use raging on his own.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and focused on that image.
‘It’s my body, so I should be familiar with everything that’s mine. I think Big D wants me to completely analyze and see everything about my body, mind, and soul, and then compare it with this image.’
‘But this image is so fucking detailed, it even shows every single of my darn cell in the last layer, not to mention the brain and that wobbly space layer in the brain part, is that supposed to be my mental scape?’
Almond sighed. ‘This is going to take time.’