Chapter 1102: The secret of Manipulation-ty peskills

Before knowing, or more importantly, coming into contact with the existence of the universal mana and the magic that its existence represented, Bai Zemin had never thought that right in front of him there were so many doors waiting to be opened.

When a normal person walked down the street he would normally see trees, cars, buildings, domestic pets, and all kinds of everyday things that could be seen in a normal way when opening the door of the house. What these people could not see, however, was that there were more doors than just the one to their house, apartment, or workplace right in front of them.

In fact, even though the soul evolvers had such a brilliant opportunity before them they simply overlooked it. Just as the human brain ignored the nose even though it was visible at all times or the smell of the lungs with every breath, soul evolvers at the subconscious level ignored these doors so that they could not see them either even though they had the ability to do so.

This was because even if a soul evolver knew that there were more doors waiting to be opened by them it was normal to ignore them unless one had a lot of free time and lived in a relatively peaceful world at the very least; with laws, armies, and territories firmly in the hands of their kingdoms.

A soul evolver would usually need years to establish the weakest of connections between their Mana and one of the many non-physical gates floating around them. Only after achieving a connection between his Mana and a door could such a soul evolver use their magical power to attempt to open it.

However, doing such a thing was not a simple task at all.

If to establish a simple connection with a door could take tens, and in the worst case hundreds of years, one could only try to imagine how difficult it would be to open that door even if it was just a thin line. Therefore, even the soul evolvers who knew of the existence of all those doors ignored them for the most part.

After all, who in their right mind would rather waste tens and hundreds of years meditating like a temple monk to connect to a door that no one knew where it would lead? They too could strive to raise their levels by killing enemies, stealing treasure, and obtaining skill scrolls.

It was like those Chinese martial artist practitioners. While they were strong after years of training, what good was that strength? Considering that it only took one shot to finish off even the strongest of martial artists, it was normal to think that only an idiot would invest so much time in something so impractical.

Even if you managed to slightly open one of those doors and gained some knowledge and manipulation of a universal law, what was the point if you spent hundreds of years to achieve it? Your level would have fallen behind to the point where it would be difficult to catch up, and when you came out of your meditation you could end up becoming fertilizer for someone who instead of spending all that time trying to connect with a door chose to increase their level.

The only existences that could sit comfortably inside a cave or in their homes were Higher Existences. Only those who did not have to fear to die of old age and were practically invincible could afford to invest centuries and even millennia to connect with a door.

As for Lower Existences? Even a Fourth Order soul evolver could usually only live 5000 years in normal cases. Who would be willing to invest so much of their limited life expectancy in something like that? Doing so was no different than playing Russian roulette, gambling their lives.

In fact, if it wasn't because Bai Zemin had obtained a great treasure from the 9-Headed Immortal Dragon he definitely wouldn't have delved into this kind of meditation even if he had the Collector's Pocket Watch with him. This was because normally the concentration and all the progress made would immediately break down when one opened one's eyes and came out of the meditative state.

[Wise Emperor's Necklace (Legend Grade Treasure): Increases Magic and Mana by +2000 each when equipped. Despite having no active skill and no combat support for the wearer, this Wise Emperor's Necklace increases the wearer's perception by 200% and boosts learning speed by 100%].

Wearing the Wise Emperor's Necklace that not only increased the two stats needed to detect and establish connection with a door, Bai Zemin whose perception and learning speed were already abnormally high managed to do the impossible after receiving the masterful guidance of the most talented magician in the universe.

With Fire Sorrow's guidance as a basis for understanding how to find a door and how to connect to it, with the Wise Emperor's Necklace as an enhancer of his already outstanding natural capabilities, and with some of his skills such as Shadow Blink, Void Fist, and Super Warrior, what Bai Zemin succeeded in doing was something no one had ever achieved before.

In less than a year, he found one of the most difficult doors in the universe, the door that connected to the universal space law. After finding it with great effort, Bai Zemin immediately tried to establish connection with it.

However, even with all of the above, it was not a simple task to accomplish. Space was one of the most powerful and mysterious laws of the cosmos after all.

Fortunately for Bai Zemin, he had recovered part of his sealed memories not too long ago. It was mostly thanks to the existence of Gravity Manipulation that Bai Zemin managed to connect to the door of space law.

Although Bai Zemin could not yet twist the atmosphere and laws of a world by increasing or decreasing its gravity, the base was there. Therefore, using everything he had and could, he was finally able to connect and open a small line in that door that so few were able to reach, let alone understand.

His strength had increased exponentially even though his level had not changed at all. In fact, he hadn't even learned a new skill.

"Weird..." He muttered as he checked his records, "Shadow Blink evolved directly to the peak of the Second Order... Even the requirements to evolve Void Fist became much lighter now despite not having evolved to the Fourth Order... Then why is it that I don't have Space Manipulation or something?"

According to Bai Zemin's understanding, every ability learned, even a prowess as simple as cooking, would become a skill that would be recorded in that living being's soul.

The current him had already managed to connect with spatial law, and to some extent he could manipulate it. But even after that, he didn't get any of it, which was quite confusing in his opinion.

Fire Sorrow let out a chuckle when she heard his words: "Little boy, do you think it's that easy? If obtaining Manipulation-type skills were that simple then all of us Higher Existences would already have at least a dozen of them."

"Ah?" Bai Zemin blinked in surprise and quickly asked, "But I really can manipulate space now, can't I?"

"Manipulate space?" Fire Sorrow didn't know whether to laugh or cry as she shook her head, "You're just playing with space law a little, that's all. Even I who can open spatial rifts to move through space and shorten the distance between two different points enormously don't have Space Manipulation."

Seeing that Bai Zemin was so puzzled and still failed to grasp the main point, Lilith smiled kindly and instructed, "Zemin, try to find the door that will lead you to the universal blood law."

Bai Zemin hesitated for a moment when he heard Lilith's words.

Although he didn't know how long he had been meditating, Bai Zemin felt that the time limit was probably near if he hadn't already passed it.

To find the space law gate he took several months, he couldn't afford that amount of time right now. His faction needed him and the changes that were occurring on Earth certainly wouldn't wait for him.

As if she knew the source of his apprehension, she explained, "Don't worry, it should be quick for you."

In the end, Bai Zemin who had full confidence in Lilith nodded and closed his eyes.

To his surprise, however, it was just as Lilith said. Not even twenty minutes had passed when Bai Zemin, focused on finding the universal blood law door, found it.

"This..." Bai Zemin opened his eyes in astonishment. A flash of disbelief shone in his gaze and seeing the smiling look on Lilith's face he understood that he didn't need to explain what was going on, "What is this all about??"

Just now, what Bai Zemin saw using his senses shocked him to the core of his bones. However, it was to be expected considering that what he saw was something completely inexplicable from his point of view.

The one who explained was not Lilith but Fire Sorrow: "Bai Zemin, now do you understand why Manipulation-type skills are so precious? By having a Manipulation-type skill you not only skip the process of finding the universal law door which that skill automatically grants you but you also skip the most arduous process of all, which is to slowly connect with said door in order to open it little by little."

"You have Blood Manipulation so the universal blood door is wide open to you. Now, this does not mean that you can use the full power of the law but that you need to increase the power of your skill in order to dig deeper into that huge room whose door was opened for you to discover its secrets. This is also why the soul of any soul evolver would usually collapse if they learned a Manipulation type skill." Lilith stood up and stretched her bewitching body as she said, "Not only Blood Manipulation, the same goes for Gravity Manipulation... Also, since you have Shadow Control it might not be so hard to find and connect with another door."

Another door? Bai Zemin's eyes sparkled at the thought of Darkness Manipulation.

Although shadows and darkness were not the same thing, shadows were generated at points where both light and darkness met depending on the angle of both laws. Therefore, Bai Zemin discovered that just as Lilith had just said, he could open not only the door of Darkness Manipulation but also the door of Light Manipulation!

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