"And what does this foundation do?" Caelus was skeptical of what it could do since he didn't expect it to be too powerful.
[Ah, the Supreme Foundation not only increases the amount of Mana you have, but it also makes it two times denser. Not just that, it increases Comprehension, though it isn't something most people can willingly upgrade. If they had the Supreme Foundation, they would be able to. Comprehension is the ability to understand and be able to change techniques faster.]
[Most people's Comprehension is at the First Level, which is the average. Geniuses are at The Third or Fourth, and Super-Geniuses are at The Sixth to Eighth. You, with the Supreme Foundation, are at the Fifth.]
[Along with that, your Foundation will grow with your Realm, so your Foundation can handle Virtuoso attacks and protect your body; even if there is a hole in your body, it has 2 layers of Virtuoso Level barriers.]
"...Ah. Very overpowered, does this have a downside or...?" Caelus continued, not trusting it since he did not expect something like that to have no downside.
[The Downsides are only because the Foundation isn't perfected, yours is, so it's perfect. Only if you try and overcomplicate it even more will it cause problems.]
"...Still don't trust it, but I'll use it and stay with it, I guess I have to find out the weaknesses myself." Caelus sighed.
Holding the pill, he swallowed it, feeling his Foundation grow more powerful. He felt very different, with the Mana flowing inside him, concentrated most at his heart and his brain.
Instead of it just being a lake, he noticed it was full, not as low as before. Especially with the teleportation, it went from 68% to 100%, enough to completely envelop a City.
"If this is the third-lowest realm, then wouldn't the highest realm in this world be able to destroy the planet?" Caelus thought, only to notice his cultivation didn't even increase by a stage from that pill, despite how powerful it was.
But now, he could focus on improving and upgrading his abilities, making them fit his Realm. He did feel it was a little ineffective against Yun, which is why Rupture was much stronger.
"...From the looks of it, I have to make it denser and have something else, a barrage of slashes isn't enough, so maybe..." Caelus thought for a second. Though the slashes were fine on their own, they weren't anything powerful in terms of damage. They could penetrate Mana and the skin easily, but someone durable enough could bypass them.
"...What about one that changes depending on the other person's endurance?" Caelus thought for a second and turned to his pocket, taking out the staff. It felt cool to use, sure, but it wasn't efficient; he could achieve the same effect without a staff. "Something which changes when it's facing an opponent of a different caliber."
Turning towards the mountain he stood on, he shifted Mana up, forcing the stone into a humanoid shape, while coating it with his Mana, and making it about his level, just with less Mana by a near infinite amount, since the amount he used didn't even drop his Mana from 100% to 99.99%. It still stayed 100. "...Now, Simple Cut sounds very bad to say, and also annoying."
"Rend." He pointed his finger towards the figure he made, flying over and striking it, yet doing almost no damage, changing it a bit more, increasing the Mana output instead of simply adding Mana. Keeping the slash thin, yet powerful. As it struck once more, instead of doing nothing, it created a thin space between the Mana, only for it to move and fill the cut space.
[Mana regenerates any part of the body you have a lot quicker; a Virtuoso Cultivator can heal and regenerate entire arms and legs, though not their head, obviously.]
"I see." Caelus listened, then continued with what he was doing. Changing Rend more and more, he finally made it more efficient, taking up less than even half a percent of his Mana. Meaning he could release thousands of them and do incredible damage.
"...But I still have more to do."
[Four Days Later]
Caelus burned up lots of his Mana just to make his attack perfect. Though true perfection wasn't possible, he went for the best he could do, and he was good at it. Using up less Mana but being able to spam his technique whenever. Almost, he still had to think of using it.
"Rend."
His voice rang out as a single slash flew, hitting the figure he'd been seeing regenerate the stone, though lose Mana; he put any amount it lost back onto the stone figure.
The slash cut right through the figure, cleanly, leaving no debris other than the hand that fell down, enough Mana to even enhance its own durability, yet it still cut the figure. On the other hand, the slash itself was almost invisible.
"Wait... How long did I even take fixing a single ability?" Caelus spoke to himself, a little confused, since he was busy doing this, and he lost track of time.
[It has been four days, Caelus :3]
"WH- OH, I have to get back and talk with Tellus, and check up on Elysia. I hope they don't think I just left them behind." Caelus spoke to himself, ready to go back-
[Horizon Step Mastery]
[New Mission!]
[Time Limit - 7 Days]
[Rewards - 1,000 Gold, Creation Artifact Refilling Bottles (2x)]
"...Wait, I-" Caelus only now realized he forgot to use the Vase to make his pill even stronger; it glossed over him because he was too busy with everything else going on.
Caelus reluctantly stayed at the mountain, realizing he hadn't felt hungry or thirsty, despite having eaten only twice before; it felt weird not to go and eat, but it also felt a lot more freeing.
[Dragons eat less because of the amount they eat. You eat enough that you can go more than two months without eating again. As for water, your body hydrates itself by just turning the Mana into water, hence why you rarely need it.]
"Welp... Sorry, Tellus and Elysia, I have to work on another technique then."
Caelus focused on how his technique worked before, making distance look smaller, almost useless; a single step would make him reach closer even faster.
Mana flooded his legs as he tried to activate Horizon Step, only for it to appear for a split second before disappearing, leaving an indicator so he wouldn't forget whether he was using it.
Thinking of it, the old one was heavily limited, so maybe he wouldn't need to. Walking forward, he realized he needed something more that could keep up and stay as powerful as Virtuoso cultivators.
He could chain the steps, the air brushed against him, becoming stronger, like something was approaching, only then did he notice a Tornado, one forming on land nearby, which Caelus quickly moved, going into the mountain from the hole it had, along with that, he closed it's entrance just so he couldn't be pulled out from there if it got close enough.
Even if he was strong, he had no reason to just disrupt natural occurrences like tornadoes, nor did he think he could yet. With the cold air inside the mountain, he felt it only for it to be drowned out by his body heat, and the blood from the Wyvern earlier had dried even further. Caelus let out his Mana to cover the entire area in a pyramid-like shape. And making it so his Mana lit up the area so he could see.
[Caelus, really? You have Night Vision, above the level of what Owls would see.]
"...I forgot that." Caelus was still preoccupied with how this world worked and testing his abilities, and with the fact that he was a Dragon. He sighed as water dripped from the top of the mountain, landing on his hair and running down his face, cold from the heat of his body. "Look, I've been in this body for only like three weeks, and nineteen years as a human, cut me some slack."
[...Mayyyybeee I will :3]
Caelus took three steps, succeeding on the first try to change Horizon Step and make it better, almost instantly. The fact that he could was suspicious to himself, but he was still optimistic, feeling the ground once more, he remembered he didn't have shoes, and his tail swung side to side.
Moving his Mana back into himself, he blinked, the Night Vision already there and incredibly weird for him. Still, he kept it sure, along with that. As soon as he activated Horizon step, his eyes focused on a bright red, completely red all around, mostly for him to keep as an indicator just in case he activates.
Moving in a straight line, he noticed it was very inconvenient; he couldn't just turn. Taking a moment, he tried to shift his body to the side, only for Horizon Step to completely stop.
Caelus moved his hand, grabbing his chin while thinking, as he did, his tail went still, almost dangerously still, like something was making him react. He didn't know what.
[Caelus, your tail is annoyed you haven't cleaned its scales yet >:C]
"What do you mean ANNOYED???" Caelus thought to himself while replying to Aphro, looking back at his tail; it smacked him lightly on the head, making him do so.
"Okay, Okay, I'll do that. But do I just put water or like something else?"
[Boiling water and letting it stretch out and move around as much as possible. If you were in your Dragon form, you would have to lick it.]
"...I am never going to do that when I need a bath, absolutely not, I'll do the normal way, thank you." Caelus sighed, using his Mana for something so menial, but he didn't mind it. This was faster. Water began boiling just by being near him. Only then did it splash down against his tail, wrapping around so nothing was missed, leaving water on his clothing.
Letting his tail swing around, he continued to mess with Horizon's step, just to tweak it just enough so he could move side to side or something other than a straight line. Only then, he remembered something: the Golden Ratio. He studied it a bit due to going down a rabbit hole before... And he thought about how it worked, only remembering a little bit of it. He knew it spiraled, so he could use that as a basis.
With that, Caelus applied the Golden Ratio alongside the Horizon Step, being able to move in a curved manner, but only a set curved Manner, going from one end to another end of the inside of the mountain.
Though he didn't succeed all the time, he had to stay on the exact way the ratio goes, so he bumped into walls, causing debris to fall down and ruin his hair.
The distance was being crossed almost instantly. Caelus was going double the speed he could go at his level right now, even with Mana Enhanced. If he refined it more and mastered it, then it could be triple or quadruple the speed. Stopping for a moment, Caelus realized that if he chained it along with going as fast as possible, he could reach from the Marou Dynasty to the Holy Tianyun Empire in a matter of a few minutes, if not an hour.
[80% Done with Mastery of Horizon Step, Only thing left is to use it efficiently]
Caelus nodded, hearing what Aphro said. It's just as he thought. Putting his hand against the wall, his tail finally relaxed, getting all of its energy out. It would take longer than the forty minutes of testing he did right now.
With that, Caelus finally let go of the wall and enhanced his hearing. Seeing as nothing was coming from outside, he jumped up, causing the ground to crack and smashing right through the mountain, creating a tiny hole that could fit him and his tail.
Landing outside, he noticed the area shaken up, but the trees still in place, and everything else mostly unaffected.
[Six Days Later]