SHK CH 595 (Patreon)

For some people, the body was akin to an entire universe. Filled with enigmatic treasures and seemingly endless.


Up to a few days ago, Sol had never really taken the time to observe and understand his own body despite the fact that it was one of his greatest weapons. 


Now though, as he followed the flow of energy Echidna was transmitting to him, he realized his own ignorance and marveled at the beauty that was his body.


72000 nodes, 114 pathways, and 7 chakras. which translated to hundreds of thousands of combinations possible. Out of all of those combinations, many were wrong and would lead to death or destruction, while only a few would bring clear and positive results.


Sol remembered the notes Echidna had given him. She had created many derivative techniques that focused on the different chakra since most races only had a few of them open. The number of combinations was vastly inferior after all.


Some of the techniques she created could tremendously increase the dexterity of the user or they could increase their speed or strength. But when the seven chakras were open, things changed completely and the results were an all-around boost to all physical ability and an increase in physical attack resistance.


If Echidna's results were to be believed, it would be possible for someone with the seven chakras to grow with their physical body alone and without needing any enlightenment they would be able to reach the King or even the demigod rank in terms of pure power.


Of course, truthfully thinking such things seemed superfluous. After all, while having a powerful body was important, a powerful realm was even more so as the usage of laws became the main way of fighting.


Sol understood this more than anything as he had been able to manhandle Surtr and Nihil thanks to his superior control of the laws while he used his dimension.


It didn’t matter that Surtr was stronger than him. He was simply rendered helpless. 


Since learning physical body enhancement was useless, few people dedicated themselves to this practice and Echidna could be said to be a true pioneer in the domain.

I feel warm.


The energy of Echidna was warm but at the same time extremely heavy. There was a hunger to it, an all-encompassing feeling similar to the hunger he had felt when he met Gula, the goddess of Gluttony.


“You should be able to use this power, right? Feel it and move it. Use your core to absorb the energy in your body and use the power of devouring to digest the purest essence.”


Sol did not bother answering and simply did as he was told. Indeed. His union with Milia had brought him quite a surprise. While he had not been able to obtain directly the power of Devouring from the contract itself and only obtained the power of Earth, he realized the startling fact that he was able to copy and use all the power and technique Milia had.


This went both ways as Milia had received many minor boosts to her physical prowess and even obtained resistance to magic that was similar to his Chaos Dragon body. Finally, even her shadow seemed to have become something akin to a Minor dimension and while she could not use skills such as dimension encroachment as the dimension itself was too small, she was able to keep things in it.


She called it the shadow dimension.


“I am about to take back my energy. Are you ready? Once the circulation starts, you cannot stop, you will have to expel all the impurities accumulated in your body and reach a perfect union between body and mind. I believe once you succeed you will become the best punching bag a King could dream to have. ”


Sol breathed deeply and relaxed while ignoring the Joke Echidna threw at him. Reaching the King level with his physical body would not make him strong enough to face the threats but it would certainly give him more confidence.


It seems like the path of being a cockroach and expert at survival is something I can never escape from.


He allowed himself one last laugh before his mind emptied and the flow of energy in his body became like a torrent rushing in his ears.


It did not take long for a complete map of his internal mana veins to appear in his mind as he followed the flow given by Echidna and as this flow slowly vanished, Sol replaced it with his own flow, slowly filling one node after another.


Ugh…


Sol groaned and the sweet taste of blood filled his throat. His energy thread was akin to a needle poking and piercing through everything on its way. Each opening brought an excruciating pain and the thought that he had to do it 71690 more times made him feel like he should stop.


Why does it have to be painful every time? For once couldn’t we get something sweet and easy? 


Sol fought the urge to curse. Be it the first time when he grew his core or when he advanced his body with the dragon blood. Each and every time had felt like hell on earth and now it looked like he was on a new road trip to hell. One that was beyond anything that he had ever felt.


Thankfully, after all the beating Sol went through in his short but intense adventures, he had developed quite a high pain resistance and was able to go through the worst of this situation easily. 


When the last node was connected and the cycle began anew, Sol knew that he had already done the greatest part of the work and now, he moved the energy and started sending it to his Chakra.