Sanctuary (Part 2)

The reason "Old Hand" was old was simply that he had reached that age—nearing eighty. In this day and age, he could barely still be counted among the "middle-aged and elderly," not yet wholly fallen into the circle of old-age life.

But in essence, he was old.

His energy and physical strength had declined across the board. His memory and ability to absorb new things had worsened as well. Things he had not been good at before were even less likely to improve now.

Mental matters and Soul Power had always been his weak points. It was even more impossible for him to suddenly make progress.

The warm, faint light from the Mental Layer traced out a structural pattern. It did not seem complicated, but it still demanded a certain degree of accuracy. And since this was cooperation, they had to find the right rhythm. Space and time together posed a multidimensional challenge to precision, something profoundly unfriendly to Old Hand, greatly slowing his learning progress.

Once, twice, ten times, twenty times... Gradually, counting lost all meaning.

More precise, more precise!

Old Hand did not know how much longer the person opposite him could hold on. But when even his own concentration was beginning to scatter, the other side's condition was easy enough to imagine.

The more it was like this, the less he could rush... Such a simple principle, yet so hard to put into practice.

Without him noticing, his diving suit was drenched in sweat. At the ends of his outstretched hands, even with buoyancy and water pressure interfering, the weight he was supporting seemed to be increasing.

He knew that was the weight of death.

The situation was getting worse and worse.

After repeated failures, even the light-trails demonstrated by the other side began to develop problems.