Catching one of the most terrifying ranked beasts within the Mythic Garden was not easy, at least not as long as the rifts' age restriction acted as a limiter for one's cultivation rank.
Humanity's prodigies at and below the age of 20 could at the most break into the Magus-rank or the starting line of the Ligue stage.
After liquefying their mana, everyone's progress would differentiate, but most prodigies would take more than two decades to enter the Grandmagus rank!
However, even if one were to reach the Grandmagus rank at the age of 20, Jason doubted that he or she would be powerful enough to catch the silver-eyed rabbit or any beast of that caliber.
That was because they were no ordinary beasts and simply too strong!
Shaking his head, Jason could tell that the list about the most terrifying beasts was just a warning and not something one could consider catching.
Meanwhile, the important information about possible soulbonds was about other beasts at the Unblemished and low-Magical rank.
Their blessings and curses were weaker than the ones from the most terrifying ranked beasts but that was not surprising to Jason who had already begun to comprehend how exactly the Mythic Garden was constructed.
According to what he understood, the strongest beasts were overlords from certain areas while the weaker beasts could be considered their underlings.
There were probably also zones between the territory of two overlords that would be counted as barriers were other strong beasts, like the Crimson-death Hell Spider and wind elemental songbird, lived.
Jason was not sure if that was the case but he assumpted it to be because the handwritten book about the Mythic Garden hinted that his thought was correct.
That was also the reason why the book warned of all overlord beasts because one of them could be in every area one might enter!
As such it was better to know all beasts in order to prevent acting in certain ways to attract the attention of some of the stronger beasts.
All of that made it more difficult for Jason and every other human to catch and contract a new soulbond because some beasts that cried in despair when they were caught, could ignite some beasts' wrath, even if they might be each other's prey or even predator.
Mankind never understood a few things about beasts and one thing was that beasts hated being bound to someone else.
This might even cause that the greatest arch-enemies to help each other and to defeat the human who wanted to bind one of them.
Jason could tell that almost every beast hated to be restricted in their freedom, which was something he understood too.
He felt also apologetic to his soulbonds that he couldn't provide a better soul world with his current capabilities because he was unable to customize his soul world as of now.
Only after he reached a higher amount of soul energy would he be able to customize everything to a certain degree, but until he was able to do so, time would pass.
Most humans didn't care about customizing their soul world because they found it useless but soulbonds would feel more comfortable within the soul world after it was customized.
As such, Jason understood how these beasts might feel, even if it made everything harder for him and other humans.
On the other hand, Jason had already imagined how he would feel if he were to find a perfectly suitable soulbond, but then, suddenly, right before he was about to bind it, a small horde of beasts or even one of the overlord was to appear in front of him.
How devastating would that be? Jason didn't even want to imagine it and he just shook his head.
'The petrification serpent's weakening effect seems interesting but even if it would be suitable for me to bind, how would I bind one of the strongest, cursed peak-Magical ranked beasts?'
Smiling lightly, Jason decided that it was more important for him to focus on transferring mana to the black origin flame so that it could finish constructing its mana core.
As such, he closed the handwritten book about the Mythic Garden which he already finished reading through once before he decided to focus on his own mana absorption.
Taking out a few mana stones in addition to accelerating everything, Jason closed his eyes before loosening mana threads from every mana stone in his surroundings before he inserted them into his body.
**
More than two weeks had passed in the blink of an eye and Jason's mana core broke through as it reached the 5th Expert rank.
This was as expected and not surprising and Jason didn't pay much attention to his breakthrough.
That was because shortly after that the black origin flame had notified him that it was about to finish constructing the mana core within it.
However, what surprised him was that the black origin flame's thoughts were not only much clearer than before but also that he sensed its joy and fear at the same time.
'Is constructing a mana core something to be afraid of?' Jason asked inwardly and after asking his soulbonds, he figured out that he forgot something extremely important which he already knew long before.
Every beast with a completed mana core was able to reach the magical rank but one couldn't reach the magical rank incomplete mana core!
As such, it was something essential to be qualified to liquefy one's mana.
This itself was not something to be afraid of but what came with this information was different.
'Is the black origin flame even able to absorb its own mana and how does it liquefy the gaseous mana it absorbs? It doesn't have the required organs...or does it?'
Jason was suddenly wondering how Elementals, which seemed to be similar to the sentient origin flame, were liquefying their mana.
The only plausible solution was that their mana core was special which led him to inquire how his black origin flame was thinking of doing something similar.
Its answer made Jason happy and afraid at the same time, which was exactly how the black origin was feeling.
In the end, this was completely understandable!
The black origin had informed him that it would evolve into a Tier-1 flame, which was joyous news.
This evolution would fuse the mana core it had created with the black origin flame and transform the mana core which made it possible for it to liquefy mana to drops.
Initially, Jason thought that this was extremely good news, but after the black origin flame had informed him that it had to feel pain for the first time in its life, Jason's mood soured.
For someone who had never felt pain, it would definitely be extremely painful even if one would just prick one's finger with a needle.
As such, Jason decided that he would transfer the majority of its pain to himself which was possible thanks to the fortified soul conjunction they established.
However, worse was that the black origin flame seemed to think that the pain it had to endure would be extremely painful.
Jason could only frown when he heard that.
As if that was not enough, he knew that he would receive his baptism immediately after the black origin flame would evolve into a Tier-1 Origin flame.
This meant that he would have no time to rest and if his estimation was right, the next few days might be extremely painful and exhausting.
After he saw that the black origin flame's mana core was completed, Jason took a deep breath
'I guess the torture can begin now…'
Catching one of the most terrifying ranked beasts within the Mythic Garden was not easy, at least not as long as the rifts' age restriction acted as a limiter for one's cultivation rank.
Humanity's prodigies at and below the age of 20 could at the most break into the Magus-rank or the starting line of the Ligue stage.
After liquefying their mana, everyone's progress would differentiate, but most prodigies would take more than two decades to enter the Grandmagus rank!
However, even if one were to reach the Grandmagus rank at the age of 20, Jason doubted that he or she would be powerful enough to catch the silver-eyed rabbit or any beast of that caliber.
That was because they were no ordinary beasts and simply too strong!
Shaking his head, Jason could tell that the list about the most terrifying beasts was just a warning and not something one could consider catching.
Meanwhile, the important information about possible soulbonds was about other beasts at the Unblemished and low-Magical rank.
Their blessings and curses were weaker than the ones from the most terrifying ranked beasts but that was not surprising to Jason who had already begun to comprehend how exactly the Mythic Garden was constructed.
According to what he understood, the strongest beasts were overlords from certain areas while the weaker beasts could be considered their underlings.
There were probably also zones between the territory of two overlords that would be counted as barriers were other strong beasts, like the Crimson-death Hell Spider and wind elemental songbird, lived.
Jason was not sure if that was the case but he assumpted it to be because the handwritten book about the Mythic Garden hinted that his thought was correct.
That was also the reason why the book warned of all overlord beasts because one of them could be in every area one might enter!
As such it was better to know all beasts in order to prevent acting in certain ways to attract the attention of some of the stronger beasts.
All of that made it more difficult for Jason and every other human to catch and contract a new soulbond because some beasts that cried in despair when they were caught, could ignite some beasts' wrath, even if they might be each other's prey or even predator.
Mankind never understood a few things about beasts and one thing was that beasts hated being bound to someone else.
This might even cause that the greatest arch-enemies to help each other and to defeat the human who wanted to bind one of them.
Jason could tell that almost every beast hated to be restricted in their freedom, which was something he understood too.
He felt also apologetic to his soulbonds that he couldn't provide a better soul world with his current capabilities because he was unable to customize his soul world as of now.
Only after he reached a higher amount of soul energy would he be able to customize everything to a certain degree, but until he was able to do so, time would pass.
Most humans didn't care about customizing their soul world because they found it useless but soulbonds would feel more comfortable within the soul world after it was customized.
As such, Jason understood how these beasts might feel, even if it made everything harder for him and other humans.
On the other hand, Jason had already imagined how he would feel if he were to find a perfectly suitable soulbond, but then, suddenly, right before he was about to bind it, a small horde of beasts or even one of the overlord was to appear in front of him.
How devastating would that be? Jason didn't even want to imagine it and he just shook his head.
'The petrification serpent's weakening effect seems interesting but even if it would be suitable for me to bind, how would I bind one of the strongest, cursed peak-Magical ranked beasts?'
Smiling lightly, Jason decided that it was more important for him to focus on transferring mana to the black origin flame so that it could finish constructing its mana core.
As such, he closed the handwritten book about the Mythic Garden which he already finished reading through once before he decided to focus on his own mana absorption.
Taking out a few mana stones in addition to accelerating everything, Jason closed his eyes before loosening mana threads from every mana stone in his surroundings before he inserted them into his body.
**
More than two weeks had passed in the blink of an eye and Jason's mana core broke through as it reached the 5th Expert rank.
This was as expected and not surprising and Jason didn't pay much attention to his breakthrough.
That was because shortly after that the black origin flame had notified him that it was about to finish constructing the mana core within it.
However, what surprised him was that the black origin flame's thoughts were not only much clearer than before but also that he sensed its joy and fear at the same time.
'Is constructing a mana core something to be afraid of?' Jason asked inwardly and after asking his soulbonds, he figured out that he forgot something extremely important which he already knew long before.
Every beast with a completed mana core was able to reach the magical rank but one couldn't reach the magical rank incomplete mana core!
As such, it was something essential to be qualified to liquefy one's mana.
This itself was not something to be afraid of but what came with this information was different.
'Is the black origin flame even able to absorb its own mana and how does it liquefy the gaseous mana it absorbs? It doesn't have the required organs...or does it?'
Jason was suddenly wondering how Elementals, which seemed to be similar to the sentient origin flame, were liquefying their mana.
The only plausible solution was that their mana core was special which led him to inquire how his black origin flame was thinking of doing something similar.
Its answer made Jason happy and afraid at the same time, which was exactly how the black origin was feeling.
In the end, this was completely understandable!
The black origin had informed him that it would evolve into a Tier-1 flame, which was joyous news.
This evolution would fuse the mana core it had created with the black origin flame and transform the mana core which made it possible for it to liquefy mana to drops.
Initially, Jason thought that this was extremely good news, but after the black origin flame had informed him that it had to feel pain for the first time in its life, Jason's mood soured.
For someone who had never felt pain, it would definitely be extremely painful even if one would just prick one's finger with a needle.
As such, Jason decided that he would transfer the majority of its pain to himself which was possible thanks to the fortified soul conjunction they established.
However, worse was that the black origin flame seemed to think that the pain it had to endure would be extremely painful.
Jason could only frown when he heard that.
As if that was not enough, he knew that he would receive his baptism immediately after the black origin flame would evolve into a Tier-1 Origin flame.
This meant that he would have no time to rest and if his estimation was right, the next few days might be extremely painful and exhausting.
After he saw that the black origin flame's mana core was completed, Jason took a deep breath
'I guess the torture can begin now…'
