Experimentation and Study

The boy woke from his deep sleep and, with bleary eyes, gazed out the window of the humble room.

Dusk was deepening, and the sunset glow was faint.

Ye Chen stared blankly for a long while at the dim clouds lingering on the horizon before realizing that it had already been dark when he went to bed. Now the sun was setting again. Did that mean he had slept for an entire day?

After tidying himself up, Ye Chen went to the Prayer Hall. Lyle was still sitting quietly before the Statue of God as usual. When Ye Chen asked him about it, he learned that he had lain in bed and slept for three whole days straight—several times longer than he had expected.

"Don't be so surprised. You only awakened your Spirit Art a few days ago, and you've just fought two high-intensity battles in a row. Naturally, that put a heavy strain on your body."

Lyle sat on a bench and explained in an even tone.

"But it was all worth it, because actual combat is the most effective way to train. After a day of fighting and three days of rest, the compatibility between your body and your Auling Power has surely improved considerably."

Ye Chen nodded. After waking up, he had indeed sensed the Auling Power flowing actively through his body right away. It was far more abundant than before, and his body had grown stronger as a result.

"Now it's time for you to learn General Spirit Art. This will also be your final Hunter lesson. Once you've learned the most basic General Spirit Arts, we'll continue with the Third Trial. After that, you'll be able to leave this Eternal Winter Hidden Domain."

Ye Chen listened to Lyle in silence, his fingers clenching unconsciously.

"Spirit Arts are advanced ways of using Auling Power. They're divided into Innate Spirit Arts and General Spirit Arts."

"Everyone acquires an Innate Spirit Art after experiencing a Labyrinth Nightmare. Its abilities manifest differently according to each person's spiritual nature—like your blood, for example. In general, each person can only have one. They're easy to learn but hard to master."

"General Spirit Arts, on the other hand, are skills that any Sensor who has experienced a Labyrinth Nightmare can potentially learn. They're a vast and complex system with a high barrier to entry. They're hard to learn but easy to master."

"What I want you to learn now are the most basic General Spirit Arts. Once you've taken what's inside this scroll out, come find me."

With that, Lyle handed Ye Chen a white handkerchief.

Ye Chen took it and examined it closely. A strange rune, drawn in blue ink, was printed on its surface. It seemed to give off an unusual field of force, making the Auling Power flowing through his body surge and waver as though drawn toward it.

Back in his room, the boy curiously studied the thin handkerchief. Then he clutched it tightly and channeled his surging Auling Power through his fingertips into its surface.

He discovered that the strange rune instantly absorbed all that energy, then quickly began to glow.

Ye Chen was both surprised and delighted as he waited quietly.

But the rune's glow lasted only a little while before fading. The room remained silent, and nothing happened.

Confused, Ye Chen scratched his head and channeled Auling Power into the strange rune again.

This time, he deliberately increased the amount of Auling Power he sent in. But aside from making the rune glow a little longer, he still got no results.

"Huh?"

With his curiosity completely aroused, the boy began trying all sorts of things with the handkerchief. Yet even after draining nearly all the Auling Power from his body, he couldn't make the handkerchief change in any way.

Ye Chen rested his chin in his hand, unwilling to give up. But his power was spent, and no matter how reluctant he felt, all he could do for the day was go to bed in a state of frustration.

When dawn broke the next day, a full night's sleep had restored Ye Chen's Auling Power completely, giving him the means to continue exploring the mysterious handkerchief.

But Ye Chen was like a gambler. Before long, he had squandered all his newly replenished power, while the handkerchief remained unmoved.

"This doesn't work. And neither does that."

With his energy depleted, the boy sat on the edge of his bed, staring intently at the little handkerchief that had wasted so much of his time and effort. He sank into deep thought, trying one approach after another as he sought the key to solving its mystery.

As the sky darkened, Ye Chen knew he would have to stop for the day. He did some simple physical training, then climbed back into bed to replenish his Auling Power through sleep.

This energy from dreams seemed to be replenished only through dreams.

On the third day, Ye Chen tried something bold: he poured all the Auling Power he had stored up overnight into the white handkerchief at once.

That risky idea finally led to a major discovery. The brightness of the rune's glow varied according to how much Auling Power was fed into the handkerchief per unit of time.

The differences were extremely subtle. Ye Chen could only observe changes in the rune's brightness when he poured all his Auling Power into it at once.

At the same time, Ye Chen noticed that the rune didn't glow brightest when the amount of Auling Power fed into it per unit of time was at its highest.

The haze gradually lifted, and the way forward became clear. Now that the boy knew what he needed to do, he rested for a night to replenish his experimental resources. On the fourth day, he immediately began recording the precise amount of Auling Power per unit of time required to make the rune shine brightest, while also trying to keep it at peak brightness.

On the afternoon of the fifth day, the nervous Ye Chen fed Auling Power into the white handkerchief at a precise speed, steadily and evenly. After keeping the strange rune shining brightly for a full three seconds, he finally saw it change in a way beyond simply glowing.

In an instant, a Circle Array covered in obscure writing appeared above it. At the same time, a shadow far larger than the handkerchief emerged out of thin air from the array's center and fell toward Ye Chen.

"Ugh!?"

Ye Chen cried out and hurriedly reached out to catch it.

As he felt how light it was in his hands, he examined the mysterious object that had emerged from the thin handkerchief. He then discovered that it was a pure black cloak decorated with golden patterns.

The boy stared dumbfounded at the treasure from the void, and soon the corners of his mouth lifted with barely contained joy.

After five full days of experimentation, he had finally solved the handkerchief's mystery and achieved a proper result.

Just as Ye Chen was about to report his success to Lyle, eager to share the joy of cracking the mystery, his fingertips—resting against the cloak and unconsciously releasing Auling Power—suddenly felt a distinct vibration.

The cloak then floated up and slipped from the boy's hands on its own, hovering slowly before him as though it had suddenly come to life.