28 Gainz
As I laid in my bed , wrapped in so many bandages I looked like more like a mummy that a human being , I couldn't help but think that my seemingly reckless stunt had been completely worth it.
Sure , I wasted hours getting treated by healers , then getting congratulations for my 'epic fight' from my ,,father,, , my fake uncle , my dwarf uncle , my siblings ,Lord Stark , his children, yada yada yada.
My mother though just hugged me for like five minutes straight and then left. All without saying a single word.
That's weird AF but maybe seeing her child being brutally beaten by an old man shook her marbles a bit.
Speaking of Ser Barristan, if he didn't give up when he did , I would have had to resign. There was only so much blood I could lose until someone started screaming "impostor!" and I was thrown out of the spacecraft.
*Cough* *Cough*
Still , I didn't really care that I won .
What was truly important was that I had š“šæš¼šš».
.
What I tested during the fight was if doing an action related to what I was actually focusing my soul energy into would increase my "gainz" .
And it did indeed!
By trying my damned hardest to concentrate my very essence on "winning" , I felt my battered body go plus ultra and beyond.
I think I managed to reach about 50% hysterical strength for a brief time and almost broke the hilt of my sword.
Also , I started to "see" Barristan's moves extremely clearly, and I could "understand" each and every one of them.
His swordsmanship was sublime , the best in the realm for a reason.
And I managed to copy a few of his moves as he smacked me around.
Still , maybe the fact that he was serious about fighting me , coupled with the fight being watched by a big crowd , made me able to truly forget about anything and everything else besides defeating the old man.
That's not really a good thing , you know?
Losing track of what's in front of me would prove very detrimental, and I didn't like the fact that this was needed to squeeze a higher efficiency from my magic/reality warping.
Still , I now had a new goal in my pursuit of growth.
Threading my own mind.
Or in normal human terms...
Parallel processing.
Doing different tasks at the same time .
I needed to have a part of my consciousness completely and utterly focused on the magic I wanted to bring into reality , that was for sure.
But how good would it be if I could, at the same time , think logically about my situation and truly control the magic I was trying to cast?
I wouldn't be unstoppable, that's for sure , but my strength would rise quite a bit.
It didn't even seem like a far fetched ideea , seeing how my stronger than normal soul already gave me a stronger than normal computational power.
With my mind now made up , I let my flesh golem close it's eyes and slowly floated my soul body above the bed it was resting on.
Now.... let's show that piece of paper who's boss around here...
.
.
.
.
It's been ten hours.
Ten.
Fucking.
Hours.
Of nonstop training.
Granted , it didn't seem like much , and my results were not all that bad to be honest.
I could , without thinking about literally anything else , move the piece of paper freely in the air .
I was also using a normal human's amount of generated soul energy , which I decided to name mana for convenience.
It was not "really" mana , though, it was just a residual energy my soul produced for some reason. A fixed amount each second .
And if I didn't manually control it , it just sinked into my flesh golem , presumably making it stronger as per my subconscious desire.
I could also gather it around me or expell it into my surroundings , merging it with the surrounding "mana" , using it to boost my soul sensing capabilities like I did when I sensed where the Nightwatch deserter's soul was.
All in all , it was a weird substance.
.
Anyway , I could move that God Damn piece of paper easily when my focus was literally on 100% , but when I allowed even the tiniest amount of stray thoughts to enter my mind , the damn thing refused to move.
At all.
Sure , it moved just fine , if I supercharged it with my mana , but what good would a flying paper do me in a fight?
"Well , it could blind an oponent or...."
No , no , no
That's loser thinking right there.
I will not settle with moving a god damn paper airplane around a battlefield when I knew that I could do so much more if I could just keep perfect focus while also thinking about my next moves.
.
Let's try another way though.
.
The very definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again , expecting different results.
Sure a bit of madness from time to time didn't hurt anyone...
But allowing stray thoughts to trickle inside my mind seemed like a no go , at least for now.
Let's try the next best thing.
.
TWO PIECES OF PAPER!
.
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Third person pov :
In the dimly lit room of Prince Joffrey, Negary's demonic soul swirled with a malevolent energy as he focused his power on the two pieces of paper suspended in the air before him. The air itself seemed to distort and quiver with his presence, an eerie atmosphere that spoke of his supernatural origins.
His dark essence pulsed with a sinister undertone, a manifestation of the otherworldly forces that coursed through his being.
As he channeled his abilities, tendrils of shadowy energy wrapped around the papers, manipulating them with an uncanny precision that defied the laws of nature.
The pieces of paper danced and floated in the air as if held by invisible threads, responding to Negary's every thought and gesture.
His concentration was palpable, his focus unyielding as he controlled their movements
Suddenly, a shiver of anticipation ran through Negary's soul as he abruptly ceased his manipulation of the floating papers. The air around him seemed to crackle with an unsettling energy, and his senses heightened, attuned to the subtle shifts in the surrounding mana.
His resonated with energy as he wove his own mana into the fabric of his surroundings, merging his essence with the unseen currents of magic that flowed around him. With a focused exhale, he released his ethereal energy, allowing it to blend seamlessly with the ambient mana, creating a symbiotic connection that heightened his senses and extended his reach into the arcane.
As his mana intermingled with the forces around him, he felt the subtle tremors of the disturbance reverberate through the strands of magic.
It was as if he had cast a pebble into a still pond, sending ripples that unveiled the intricacies of the disturbance's source.
His awareness expanded, a vast web of energy reaching into the corners of the room, probing the very essence of his environment.
A sinister smile curled at the corners of his ephemeral form as his senses latched onto the presence he sought.
Amidst the ebb and flow of mana, he detected a distinct pattern, a trace of ancient magic interwoven with the very essence of the room itself.
"Come out, Forest Spawn," his voice echoed, carrying a mix of command and amusement, as if he had expected the entity's presence all along. "There is no use in hiding."
Negary's words hung in the air, the room seemingly holding its breath in anticipation.
His connection to the arcane world had granted him the insight to recognize the presence of a being that might remain concealed to others.
From the very heart of the room, where the mana currents converged and intertwined, a small and delicate form emerged.
It was a soul, but not just any soulāit bore the essence of a child, ethereal and ageless.
This soul was an amalgamation of a youthful figure and the verdant essence of nature, seamlessly blending together in an otherworldly dance.
The child's form extended downward, merging with the very floor itself, where the ethereal body dissolved into the trunk of a tree. The tree was a vision of vitality, adorned with leaves that whispered in the unseen breeze, and roots that stretched and tangled through the mystical currents of the earth.
"Demon Negary," the voice resonated, carrying an air of both ancient knowledge and childlike wonder. "I am here in accordance with the pact you made with the Three Eyed Raven. You can call me Leaf."
The presence radiated a sense of tranquility and power, a fusion of the natural world and a deeper, mystical understanding.
As Leaf stood before Negary, their essence bridging the gap between worlds, the room seemed to hold its breath in reverence for the two enigmatic souls.
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A.N :
""People have the ability to make choices," I said.
"To decide how they want to act and live-and that carries with it the potential to make mistakes and do the wrong thing.
Whatever your soul might say about you, who you are as a person matters as well-it's why the same soul can take the form of completely different people.
Your actions, your decisions...they make you who you are."
-The Games We Play by Ryugi
