"To think I, Lord Solarius, would live to see the light of day once more... Hehehe..."
A point of light flashed at the center of Leon's forehead. For a brief moment, a translucent, miniature humanoid figure seemed to stand within it.
With a wave of maniacal laughter, it shot forth and plunged directly into Jake Nickelson's sea of consciousness.
The sea of consciousness is the source of a mage's mental power, located precisely between the brows—the dwelling place of the soul.
From a soul's perspective, this sea resembles an ocean within a boundless space, composed of an expanse of mental energy below and a sky of awareness above, hence why mages call it the "sea of consciousness."
All humans possess mental energy and a sea of consciousness.
However, since magic is the art of channeling magical power guided by mental energy, the sea of consciousness and the Ki-Core are the two most critical areas for a mage's cultivation.
The sea of consciousness between the brows generates mental power.
The Ki-Core, located below the navel, generates magical power.
The higher a mage's realm, the vaster, broader, and deeper their sea of consciousness becomes.
It is naturally protected by a barrier, but this defense becomes vulnerable when the owner loses consciousness. Yet, once an intruder enters this sea, escaping requires seizing dominion over it entirely.
And it was into such a space that the soul of Lord Solarius now intruded.
"HAHAHA—! THUD! ...AAGH!!!"
It happened so fast that Lord Solarius rushed into something rigid,and he saw stars.
He stared in utter disbelief at the barrier inside the sea of consciousness.
He had just rammed into it, completely unprepared, and the impact was… profoundly jarring.
"Didn't I already breach the sea's barrier?! How is there another one?! Am I trapped between two layers?!"
This was a situation he had never encountered before.
Steadying his spiritual form, Lord Solarius carefully examined the obstacle before him.
"Could this be the legendary Mind Fortress? One this thick... Is this brat a once-in-an-aeon prodigy with the Omni-Mind Affinity?
Thankfully, I've lived long enough. If not for that ancient text detailing a countermeasure, I might truly be trapped here until my spirit dissipates!"
Lord Solarius gritted his spectral teeth. "It seems I have no choice. Even at the cost of damaging my divine sense, I must use that technique."
He swiftly formed a series of complex hand seals. Moments later, a single, shimmering golden arrow condensed into existence three inches before him.
The arrow wasn't large, but its presence was overwhelming.
It seemed to concentrate a tremendous amount of energy, hovering in the air and vibrating with a fierce, resonant hum that caused the very space of the mental sea to ripple and warp.
"By the supreme law, BREAK!"
Lord Solarius pointed a finger at a specific point on the mental fortress. With a resonant "VWOOM!", the arrow shot forth like a bolt of lightning.
KABOOOM...!
A violent, silent explosion of spiritual energy erupted. Though it made no sound in the conventional sense, the psychic shockwave roared like a thunderclap inside Lord Solarius's own mind.
The blast sent him tumbling head over heels through the void for several dizzying rotations before he managed to steady himself.
He shook his head to clear the psychic ringing, squinted through the ethereal dust, and saw it: a small, jagged hole had been blown clear through the barrier.
It was progress, but not much.
"Good! Excellent! Splendid! Heaven itself aids me! This is undoubtedly the Omni-Mind Affinity!"
A mix of grievance and sheer delight washed over him. He chose to focus on the delight.
"As long as it works, that's all that matters. I'll grind my way through if I have to... Hehehe..."
The word "discouragement" simply did not exist in Lord Solarius's dictionary. He was, in fact, thrilled.
An immeasurable amount of time passed once more.
A grin of pure triumph spread across Lord Solarius's spectral face. "The final blow! Let's seal the deal!"
It had to be said—Lord Solarius was a quick study. After possessing Leon for only a short while, he'd already mastered all those catchy little phrases from Blue Planet.
KABOOOM...!
Another world-shattering impact in the realm of absolute silence. This time, the Mind Fortress finally, completely, shattered.
"lol... Now, the prize is mine." With a final, triumphant flicker, Lord Solarius's soul plunged into the true depths of Jake Nickelson's sea of consciousness.
[Vast. Boundless. Profound.]
This was Lord Solarius's first sensation. "The Omni-Mind Affinity... is this even real? It's just this ridiculously powerful?"
"Mine! It will all be mine!" Greed instantly overwhelmed his senses.
But just as his excitement peaked, the very heavens and earth within the sea of consciousness shifted violently.
The mental seas raged in a frenzy. Though a soul is formless and colorless, here, it took on shape and substance.
Howling winds and furious thunder materialized.
Lord Solarius felt as if he could be utterly annihilated at any moment under the wrath of the world Jake's soul had constructed.
The tempest of wind and thunder surged toward the breach he had created, swiftly coalescing into a massive tornado wreathed in lightning.
Fortunately, Lord Solarius reacted quickly. With a few rapid, flickering movements, he desperately fled from the epicenter of the storm.
He then hastily formed a hand seal to stabilize his form. Just as he was about to consider his next move, a sharp crack echoed through the void—a sound like shattering glass.
It was a noise that struck directly at the heart of his being. For an instant, Lord Solarius felt he was the glass, on the verge of fragmenting into a million pieces.
The bone-chilling dread of imminent death washed over him. He instinctively touched his chest. "Phew... still in one piece."
Though a being of pure soul, he felt as if a cold sweat had drenched his non-existent back.
As he stared in confusion, he watched the spherical Mind Fortress encapsulating this world begin to fracture from the very point he had breached.
Cracks spiderwebbed outwards, slowly but inexorably spreading across its entire surface.
CRACK—CRACK—CRACK—
The sound grew ever more intense, a series of sharp, percussive reports that resonated directly with the soul itself.
Lord Solarius felt as if he might splinter apart at any moment alongside the fracturing world.
But as a mage of the Archmagus realm, he instantly circulated a life-preserving secret art, fortifying his soul against the dissonance.
Yet, mere moments later, the entire sea of consciousness convulsed with unprecedented violence.
Hurricane-force winds tore through the mental sky, shredding banks of cloud-like thought only to hurl them back together.
The sea below boiled, and heaven and earth seemed on the verge of inverting.
Lord Solarius was like a lone skiff tossed on a furious ocean, moments from being swallowed by the waves.
Insignificance. Helplessness. They were his only sensations now.
"It's over... This is truly the end. A pity, my thousand years of cultivation..."
Just as despair threatened to consume him completely, a brilliant, golden light showered down from the highest dome. Within it, a vast and blurred figure manifested. From its form, it appeared distinctly feminine.
"The brat is male! Why would a female figure appear in his sea of consciousness? No, this is... a Goddess!"
No sooner had the thought formed than an awe-inspiring pressure, akin to the very wrath of heaven itself, descended. The raging, boiling sea gradually began to calm. Lord Solarius dared to feel a flicker of relief.
But in the very next second, he was driven down, crushed into the proverbial dust.
"AGH! SUCH... OVERWHELMING... PRESSURE!!!"
A tiny point of light rose from the turbulent sea of consciousness. It slowly grew in size and altitude, drifting toward the immense feminine figure hovering in the sky.
The Goddess reached out and gathered the ascending sphere into her embrace, now glowing like a miniature sun.
She lowered her head gently, and a single tear, shimmering like liquid gold, fell onto the sphere's surface and seamlessly merged into it.
As the tear was absorbed, her own form began to fade, dissolving into a warm, gentle band of light that slowly, tenderly, coiled around and into the radiant orb.
The sphere shuddered.
Countless points of light erupted across its surface, cracking its outer shell like an egg.
Beams of pure energy shot out, shredding the luminous band that enveloped it. The sphere itself then fractured, and from within, a vast, majestic figure emerged.
He—for it was now clearly masculine—slowly raised his head.
His hand lifted, reaching out as if to grasp the fading motes of light, the last remnants of the shattered band.
He tried several times, but his fingers closed on nothing. The specks of light gradually dimmed and vanished into the void.
"MOTHER!!!!!!"
A heart-rending roar, filled with utter anguish, tore through the very fabric of the mental realm, shaking heaven and earth.
The colossal figure trembled once and then fell completely still.
From his position in the dust, the tiny form of Lord Solarius watched in awe and terror.
He didn't understand what was happening, only that he felt bound, utterly paralyzed and unable to move a single inch.
Time lost all meaning. It could have been an instant, or it could have been a millennium.
"Damn it all! Is the Omni-Mind Affinity truly this terrifying? I fear this ancient one may have reached his end today..."
A wave of self-pity washed over him.
To think of his thousand years of cultivation, reduced to a wisp of a soul clinging to existence, only to face true obliteration on the cusp of his return to the world...
He felt like crying.
SHATTER—CRUMBLE—CRASH...!
A dense, cacophonous symphony of breaking glass echoed endlessly.
The Mind Fortress, which he had breached with such effort and which encased the entire sea of consciousness, finally gave way, disintegrating into countless shimmering fragments.
Lord Solarius opened his bloodshot eyes (a metaphor, but one that felt utterly real) and gazed upon the vast expanse of this inner world.
The sky was still the sky, the sea was still the sea, but now he felt like an ant gazing up at the infinite cosmos.
As he stared in stunned disbelief, a voice, vast and deliberate, boomed through the realm.
"THOU... ART... WHO?"
The words struck Lord Solarius's core like a divine thunderclap.
"Mother of—!" he mentally screamed.
He didn't understand what was happening, but a thousand years of survival instinct screamed one thing and one thing only:
RUN!!!
His soul flickered, attempting to teleport away.
SMACK!
It was over embarrassingly fast.
Lord Solarius was hard-CC'd (Cloned Controlled).
He found himself trapped. The prison wasn't small—a space of over ten cubic meters—but it was a prison nonetheless.
In that single, effortless display of power, Lord Solarius understood the immense gulf between them.
He knew that in this moment of life and death, it was time to bring out his ultimate survival skill.
Without a second word, he brought his hands together in a sharp, decisive motion—CLAP!—so fast!
He knelt.
"Esteemed Senior, your humble servant's name is Gason Solarius, known in the mundane world as Lord Solarius. You may call me... Little Soly."