"My Dantian... it's fully nourished!" Spes smiled widely, seeing strands of floating Ki within his Dantian. Ki that would usually disappear to nourish the Dantian now remained, meaning his Dantian was fully developed.
"You're now at the peak of the Apprentice Knight's Early Stage. Just one step away from advancing to the Middle Stage," Liber said, sending Spes's current status in the form of a blue prompt.
[[Spes]]
[[Race: Human]]
[[Job: Apprentice Knight - Early Stage (Peak)]]
[[Modules Installed: Automated Ki Redirection Module]]
[[Mana Pool: 0 U]]
[[Meridians: 10% formed]]
[[Ki: 10 U]]
[[Spiritual Sense: Lvl 3 (in sync with Liber)]]
[[Physique: LifeStream Physique (Mortal Stage / Middle Phase)]]
+New: Apprentice Knight - Early Stage => Early Stage (Peak)
+New: Modules Installed: Automated Ki Redirection Module
+New: Mana Pool: 5 U => 0 U
+New: Meridians
+New: Ki: >>nourishing Dantian => 10 U
"Nice! How do we proceed to get to the Middle Stage then?" Spes nodded, smiling broadly after reviewing the blue panel.
"I'm not quite sure of the details, but based on Decus's words, it's the Dantian that opens the Meridians, which will then get you to the Middle Stage once fully opened."
"So, we wait until tomorrow then?"
"Yes."
Spes sighed, unable to contain his enthusiasm, eager to feel what would happen once he broke through to the Middle Stage.
"Guess I have to be patient," he thought, slumping back down on his bed. He could now rest since the Seed was already in charge of increasing the Ki within his Dantian.
"What about you? Any updates?" Spes yawned lazily.
"I thought you'd never ask," Liber laughed, sending his stats.
[[Liber / Spes's other self]]
[[Race: Soul (Complete / 100% mended)]]
[[Seed authority: Lvl 2]]
[[Job: Apprentice Mage]]
[[Mana Pool: 2000 U]]
[[Spiritual Sense (Seeing Sense): Lvl 3]]
[[Mastery]]: >>Tome of the Magician: Full Mastery (Limited to Job's Tier)
[[Soul Abilities]]: Soul Channeling
+New: Mana Pool: 1000 U => 2000 U
+New: Soul Channeling >> Harnessing and directing the soul for combat and detection
"Not only have I fully mended my soul, unlocking new abilities, but I've also doubled my mana!"
"Now I'm 3,000 units of Mana away from having the amount necessary to become a fully fledged Mage!" Liber spoke smugly, flaunting his new exploits.
"You're lucky... I still have to break through the Middle Stage and then the Late Stage before I can become a fully fledged Knight..." Spes smiled wryly.
"Oh, don't be so moody," Liber laughed in response.
"You already have such a cool module installed! With that, you can just laze around and get stronger while I have to personally gather mana!"
"Why don't you make the Seed install a module like it did for me?" Spes rolled his eyes.
"You think I haven't tried?" Liber sneered.
"The Seed is still cross-referencing the Tome of Mages with both my mana and the surrounding mana. It's not as simple as yours, where Ki is a life force literally everywhere. Instead, Mana is a rarer energy that is not only scarcer but also harder to detect and gather."
"Sadly, the estimated remaining time for this new task remains undetermined," Liber sighed.
"That's unfortunate... Is there anything we can do about it?" Spes smiled wryly, scratching his head.
"The only way to make progress is for me to bypass the Seed's security and unlock a higher authority level..."
"Even with my fully mended soul, I'm not confident in breaking through Authority Level 3. We'll have to wait then." Liber sighed again.
"We're already doing much better than yesterday. That's what matters!" Spes smiled, trying to comfort his other self.
"Yeah, way better than before." Liber chuckled.
An orange light then shone through Spes's pupils, drawing his attention to the window beside him.
"The sun... it's setting," Spes whispered, standing up and staring through the glass opening.
"We really have come far..."
"I wonder how Master is doing. You should meet him. I'm sure you'll like him." Spes smiled, recalling his days watching the sunset with the old man.
"If you like him, then I do too. We're one of the same kind, Spes."
"Right..." Spes chuckled in response.
"I hope we all get back home safely then."