Almost 4 months later the basketball court-sized cavern hall was filled with thick mana currents, permeating the air with dense and purified mana.
Suddenly, Jason, Isga, and their soulbonds were flabbergasted by Milan's overjoyed shout.
"I did it! YEAHH!"
Barely being able to prevent disrupting the mana flow within their bodies in order to deter injuring their mana veins or mana core, Jason and Isga took a while to stop absorbing mana as they turned to Milan
"Congratulations! You're only 17-years old and you've already liquefied your first drop of mana!" Jason said and Isga added
"It took you a while but once you know how to liquefy mana drops, it will become much easier! Maybe you can become like Uncle Till Greil and enter the Lord stage in your 50s!"
When Jason heard this, he almost blurted out 'You know Till?', but fortunately he was able to refrain himself from doing so.
According to his estimation, the Mythic Garden rift would remain open for slightly more than 40 days, which meant that they absorbed mana for less than four months.
This was perfect and allowed Jason to search for his perfect soulbond for good.
He felt refreshed and much more powerful than months before while the same applied to everyone within the cavern hall.
It was sad that they had to leave now, but everyone had things to take care of within the Mythic Garden.
While Milan entered the Lowest Lique stage by liquefying his first drop of mana, Isga was able to create his third drop of mana. He was able to absorb enough mana to start liquefying the fourth drop of mana and started the liquefaction process thanks to the enormous amount of mana within the branch of the mana vein that was exposed to them.
It would take some time but Isga was confident that it would take a few weeks at most!
Since he had liquefied his third drop of mana, he figured out that the liquefication process was much easier than he had initially thought.
As such his cultivation progress would accelerate!
Both Milan and Isga's soulbonds received equal benefits, allowing them to liquefy two drops of mana.
Jason and his soulbonds were completely contrary to the others. Artemis and Scorpio had stored lots of mana, allowing them to reach the highest degree of the peak-Unblemished rank.
This meant that not only their mana core was filled to the brim with dense and pure mana but that their mana channels were also flooded with mana.
While this was about to hurt Scorpio, Artemis used the excessive mana to refine her blood that was already infused with mana.
Thanks to that, her strength increased even though her mana core rank didn't change.
Jason was worried about Scorpio for some time, but after he saw that he was fine, Jason could take care of his own matters in relief.
In the end, Jason's strength seemed to have changed the most.
While Isga didn't have a body refining technique, Milan had one.
However, it looked like Milan focused on liquefying his first drop of mana which was exactly what he should do.
Yet, Jason did not only absorbed mana but also refined his physique with the Netherworld's fort body refining technique.
Once in a while, he practiced the Heaven's Hell technique too. It took him several hours, but somehow, it calmed him down.
As such it was not bad for him to change his routine once in a while.
Thanks to that his soul energy reached 30,000 units which Jason wanted to leave for his next soulbond.
Nevertheless, he thought that having 20,000 vacant soul energy units would be enough. As all three of his soulbonds required around 2000 soul energy units each, he had 4,000 soul energy units left to use which he initially wanted to give the black origin flame.
Shocking enough, Jason noticed that something substantially about the black origin flame changed.
Under normal circumstances allowing a beast to annex one soul energy unit would allow a soul-bound beast to take one soul energy unit.
Yet, the black origin flame had to annex four energy units to 'possess' one soul energy unit. When Jason noticed this weird behavior which he couldn't understand in the beginning, and he had to look at it in a detailed manner.
What he didn't expect to see was that the black origin flame burned three soul energy units with its flame to nurture itself in order to be able to take hold of one more soul energy unit.
This was something he never heard about, however, unfortunately, there was nothing he could change about it.
It was not like he was able to force Solaris, which was how he named the black origin flame after it had begun to complain that Artemis and Scorpio had names and it didn't, to not burn the soul energy it annexed.
In the end, it had to burn three soul energy units in order to annex one more.
This means to increase Solaris's soul energy by 1,000 units it had to burn 3,000 units.
As such Jason had to give the black origin flame, Solaris 4,0000 soul energy units to increase its power output.
When Jason noticed this, he was a little bit frustrated about the outcome because his origin flame seemed to burn and destroy much more soul energy than it could obtain.
However, in order to nurture the black origin flame which would also increase the black origin flame's strength, Jason had to accept the deal.
Annexing 4,000 soul energy units, burning 3,000 of them, and taking over the remaining 1,000 soul energy units, the black origin flame, Solaris was now Jason's strongest soulbond with 3,002 soul energy units.
Its affinity with all combined abilities was strong enough to face foes with strong mana based attacks.
During these last months, Jason's mana core broke into the 1st Master rank which was a lot faster than he expected.
This allowed him to reach a mana core size of a 3rd Master rank without any amplification as the two baptisms he had received from Solaris were very useful.
Adding his amplification's Jason's mana core reached the size of an average 9th Master while his physique was even stronger.
Thanks to the fact that he was able to refine his physique inside the cavern hall that was filled with dense and pure mana, his body refining progress accelerated by a large margin too!
Everyone was slowly packing up their stuff and Jason began to wonder how high his limit was currently.
'If Artemis or Scorpio enters my mana core I should be comparable to a newly advanced Lowest Lique stage…. Adding my three affinities and the refined physique...I should be strong enough to fight normal Lowest Lique stage beasts too...I think'
Jason's advancement was extremely fast and he was able to reach the goal of attaining the combat prowess of a Lowest Lique stage at the end of the month without any issues.
His prior goal to liquefy his mana before the end of the year might have been a little bit too much but it was always good to be ambitious.
Furthermore, Jason was confident that his progress would accelerate by a large margin as soon as contracted a soul amplifying cursed beast!
After everyone was done packing, Milan, Isga and Jason left the cavern hall with the light meerkat, horned lightning panther, and Scorpio following behind.
Artemis didn't want to walk through the narrow tunnels, thus she entered Jason's soul world without hesitation.
"What are your plans after we're out of the cave?" Jason asked both Isga and Milan, who had to think about it for a moment.
"I'll probably search for a few treasures, and suitable blessed beasts" Isga said without a real goal left. He was not as desperate as Jason to find a suitable soulbond.
He just wanted to adventure through the Mythic Garden a little bit while reaping a few benefits.
Meanwhile, Milan's thought seemed to be a little bit more in-depth as he answered
"Initially, my family told me to overshadow my brother and make me look like I'm more capable than him...but after what you two told me, I don't know if that's something I want to do….Maybe I search for a few other big families and ask them about how the Jual clan really acts. Currently, It looks like everyone wants me not to know anything, but I might be able to change that...at least to a certain degree…
Even if I'm unable to find out more...I want to thank both of you for being honest...I still hope, somehow, that you two lied to me, but I see no reason for you to do so…"
Jason couldn't help but smile apologetically as comforted him by slapping on his shoulders
"Let's get out of the cave first and then you can find out more about your family."
Almost 4 months later the basketball court-sized cavern hall was filled with thick mana currents, permeating the air with dense and purified mana.
Suddenly, Jason, Isga, and their soulbonds were flabbergasted by Milan's overjoyed shout.
"I did it! YEAHH!"
Barely being able to prevent disrupting the mana flow within their bodies in order to deter injuring their mana veins or mana core, Jason and Isga took a while to stop absorbing mana as they turned to Milan
"Congratulations! You're only 17-years old and you've already liquefied your first drop of mana!" Jason said and Isga added
"It took you a while but once you know how to liquefy mana drops, it will become much easier! Maybe you can become like Uncle Till Greil and enter the Lord stage in your 50s!"
When Jason heard this, he almost blurted out 'You know Till?', but fortunately he was able to refrain himself from doing so.
According to his estimation, the Mythic Garden rift would remain open for slightly more than 40 days, which meant that they absorbed mana for less than four months.
This was perfect and allowed Jason to search for his perfect soulbond for good.
He felt refreshed and much more powerful than months before while the same applied to everyone within the cavern hall.
It was sad that they had to leave now, but everyone had things to take care of within the Mythic Garden.
While Milan entered the Lowest Lique stage by liquefying his first drop of mana, Isga was able to create his third drop of mana. He was able to absorb enough mana to start liquefying the fourth drop of mana and started the liquefaction process thanks to the enormous amount of mana within the branch of the mana vein that was exposed to them.
It would take some time but Isga was confident that it would take a few weeks at most!
Since he had liquefied his third drop of mana, he figured out that the liquefication process was much easier than he had initially thought.
As such his cultivation progress would accelerate!
Both Milan and Isga's soulbonds received equal benefits, allowing them to liquefy two drops of mana.
Jason and his soulbonds were completely contrary to the others. Artemis and Scorpio had stored lots of mana, allowing them to reach the highest degree of the peak-Unblemished rank.
This meant that not only their mana core was filled to the brim with dense and pure mana but that their mana channels were also flooded with mana.
While this was about to hurt Scorpio, Artemis used the excessive mana to refine her blood that was already infused with mana.
Thanks to that, her strength increased even though her mana core rank didn't change.
Jason was worried about Scorpio for some time, but after he saw that he was fine, Jason could take care of his own matters in relief.
In the end, Jason's strength seemed to have changed the most.
While Isga didn't have a body refining technique, Milan had one.
However, it looked like Milan focused on liquefying his first drop of mana which was exactly what he should do.
Yet, Jason did not only absorbed mana but also refined his physique with the Netherworld's fort body refining technique.
Once in a while, he practiced the Heaven's Hell technique too. It took him several hours, but somehow, it calmed him down.
As such it was not bad for him to change his routine once in a while.
Thanks to that his soul energy reached 30,000 units which Jason wanted to leave for his next soulbond.
Nevertheless, he thought that having 20,000 vacant soul energy units would be enough. As all three of his soulbonds required around 2000 soul energy units each, he had 4,000 soul energy units left to use which he initially wanted to give the black origin flame.
Shocking enough, Jason noticed that something substantially about the black origin flame changed.
Under normal circumstances allowing a beast to annex one soul energy unit would allow a soul-bound beast to take one soul energy unit.
Yet, the black origin flame had to annex four energy units to 'possess' one soul energy unit. When Jason noticed this weird behavior which he couldn't understand in the beginning, and he had to look at it in a detailed manner.
What he didn't expect to see was that the black origin flame burned three soul energy units with its flame to nurture itself in order to be able to take hold of one more soul energy unit.
This was something he never heard about, however, unfortunately, there was nothing he could change about it.
It was not like he was able to force Solaris, which was how he named the black origin flame after it had begun to complain that Artemis and Scorpio had names and it didn't, to not burn the soul energy it annexed.
In the end, it had to burn three soul energy units in order to annex one more.
This means to increase Solaris's soul energy by 1,000 units it had to burn 3,000 units.
As such Jason had to give the black origin flame, Solaris 4,0000 soul energy units to increase its power output.
When Jason noticed this, he was a little bit frustrated about the outcome because his origin flame seemed to burn and destroy much more soul energy than it could obtain.
However, in order to nurture the black origin flame which would also increase the black origin flame's strength, Jason had to accept the deal.
Annexing 4,000 soul energy units, burning 3,000 of them, and taking over the remaining 1,000 soul energy units, the black origin flame, Solaris was now Jason's strongest soulbond with 3,002 soul energy units.
Its affinity with all combined abilities was strong enough to face foes with strong mana based attacks.
During these last months, Jason's mana core broke into the 1st Master rank which was a lot faster than he expected.
This allowed him to reach a mana core size of a 3rd Master rank without any amplification as the two baptisms he had received from Solaris were very useful.
Adding his amplification's Jason's mana core reached the size of an average 9th Master while his physique was even stronger.
Thanks to the fact that he was able to refine his physique inside the cavern hall that was filled with dense and pure mana, his body refining progress accelerated by a large margin too!
Everyone was slowly packing up their stuff and Jason began to wonder how high his limit was currently.
'If Artemis or Scorpio enters my mana core I should be comparable to a newly advanced Lowest Lique stage…. Adding my three affinities and the refined physique...I should be strong enough to fight normal Lowest Lique stage beasts too...I think'
Jason's advancement was extremely fast and he was able to reach the goal of attaining the combat prowess of a Lowest Lique stage at the end of the month without any issues.
His prior goal to liquefy his mana before the end of the year might have been a little bit too much but it was always good to be ambitious.
Furthermore, Jason was confident that his progress would accelerate by a large margin as soon as contracted a soul amplifying cursed beast!
After everyone was done packing, Milan, Isga and Jason left the cavern hall with the light meerkat, horned lightning panther, and Scorpio following behind.
Artemis didn't want to walk through the narrow tunnels, thus she entered Jason's soul world without hesitation.
"What are your plans after we're out of the cave?" Jason asked both Isga and Milan, who had to think about it for a moment.
"I'll probably search for a few treasures, and suitable blessed beasts" Isga said without a real goal left. He was not as desperate as Jason to find a suitable soulbond.
He just wanted to adventure through the Mythic Garden a little bit while reaping a few benefits.
Meanwhile, Milan's thought seemed to be a little bit more in-depth as he answered
"Initially, my family told me to overshadow my brother and make me look like I'm more capable than him...but after what you two told me, I don't know if that's something I want to do….Maybe I search for a few other big families and ask them about how the Jual clan really acts. Currently, It looks like everyone wants me not to know anything, but I might be able to change that...at least to a certain degree…
Even if I'm unable to find out more...I want to thank both of you for being honest...I still hope, somehow, that you two lied to me, but I see no reason for you to do so…"
Jason couldn't help but smile apologetically as comforted him by slapping on his shoulders
"Let's get out of the cave first and then you can find out more about your family."
