Master of the Stars

Chapter 143: Invisible Barrier (Part 2/2)

Translator: Strivon

Luo Nan calmed down and fiddled with the small paper man with his fingers. Then he tossed it onto the table several seconds later. "It is because the pyramid structure needs a certain tensile strength in order to work. If the strength you can bestow is equivalent to a steel structure, the most I can do are cobwebs."

"Strength.... True, it’s about the strength."

Papercut felt helpless. He obviously knew that the crux of the issue was in the structural strength. The root of the problem was still Luo Nan’s inadequate mental interference ability towards the physical plane. But interfering with the material plane was just skimming the surface for a mentally enhanced ability user!

Luo Nan’s mental senses had reached near perfection. Transitioning into an out-of-body state was routine for Luo Nan. He was a mentally enhanced ability user who had already reached B-Rank in mental cultivation. Yet Luo Nan couldn’t do the most basic thing of all: telekinesis. What the heck was up with this? Who could answer this for Luo Nan?

Ultimately, this question had no answer.

Luo Nan was unable to get an answer from Papercut. Soon, night fell and he returned to the hospital for treatment. Bai Xinyan, who long since knew of his problems, avoided mentioning the topic completely. She did not give Luo Nan any reference information at all.

Luo Nan wanted to ask He Yueyin some more about his situation, but he put these intentions to rest after a moment’s thought. This issue with his mental plane largely had to do with self-awareness. If he couldn’t clear up this matter on his own and relied on others, his situation would become even more hopeless.

It was unavoidable for Luo Nan’s terrible situation to affect his mood. The following exercises at Frost River Waterway were simply catastrophic; his performance was extremely bad. The amount of time he could endure was much less than in the morning, and it was a straight 20% drop from last night.

Luo Nan looked at his performance results and geared up for another run. However, Bai Xinyan showed no expression whatsoever at his results. She let Luo Nan steadily conclude his session within the treatment pod.

"You also need to learn something new tonight, so you’d best take a nap and relax. Oh right, don’t be late." Bai Xinyan waved her hand as she created medical records, dismissing Luo Nan.

In the past, Luo Nan would have likely been rejoicing, but after thinking it over more thoroughly, wasn’t this attitude too happy-go-lucky? Was anything fine if a person was going to die anyway?

Luo Nan thought of how he had eavesdropped on Bai Xinyan and He Yueyin’s conversation two days ago, and his mood turned even worse. He really wanted to crack open Bai Xinyan’s skull to see just what her perspective was on his situation. Or maybe he should listen in on their conversation once more.... The problem was, how could such an opportunity to eavesdrop come about daily?

Luo Nan left Renai Hospital in a storm of messy emotions. Tonight was already booked. He was to go to Boshan Building and learn breathing techniques from Gym Master Xiu.

Last time Luo Nan had the flying car Phantom take him to the daoguan. He already returned the flying car to Xie Junping. Today, he sat in the low-altitude public transport. He made his way over to the River Wu District under the curtain of the night.

The first thing Luo Nan did upon sitting in the vehicle was give his aunt a call. He notified her that he was going to spend the night at the daoguan.

Actually, he had relied greatly on Xue Lei in confirming with his aunt that he could stay out all night. But he was very familiar with his aunt’s temperament. Though she had already approved of his schedule, Luo Nan still needed to give his aunt a call to ease her worries. If things were to go Mrs. Luo Shuqing’s way, Luo Nan’s first day of formal study would have Mrs. Luo Shuqing come personally to the daoguan and greet Gym Master Xiu.

By the time Luo Nan finished the call, Luo Nan was already halfway to the daoguan. At this time, the public transport vehicle wasn’t as crowded as it was in the day. A few ten or so people were on it. They were all either sleepy or looking down at their wrist bands playing games or the like.

Luo Nan sat at the back. His head was also down as he fiddled around. However, he was different from the others. He was fiddling not with an electronic device, but with a thin piece of yellowish green paper.

This was a special paper talisman given to him by Papercut. It was made personally by Mr. Gao. The material it was made from was quite special as it was fairly suitable for channeling energy and information. It could easily deal with an enemy in the hands of a real expert. It was a bit luxurious for Luo Nan to use it for training.

But if he wanted to train to get a true feel for it, it was absolutely fine!

Luo Nan followed the techniques Papercut passed on to him; slowly working with the paper, ripping the paper into a paper man the size of a palm. The supporting incorporeal pyramid structure was then wholly formed.

At the same time, Luo Nan’s overflowing soul strength poured down to completely drown the paper man. The details were exquisite and meticulous: the grains of the paper, the roughness of the ripped edges, the vertical and horizontal folds. No detail could escape him.

But under the effect of his soul strength, the paper man could only roll over once within the palm of his hand in a half-dead, half-alive manner. It moved once, but never moved again. Luo Nan’s soul strength, which was crushing his own physical body, seemed to have no practical effect on the paper man.

"It’s still like this.... Why?"

Back in Frost River Reality, he had given Xue Weilun and the special forces a reinforcing buff without any problems. He had real, concrete results when controlling the Wraith Sign, influencing Cat Eyes, and unleashing mental attacks. But why couldn’t he affect material objects?

Luo Nan looked outside the window at the bright lights of the city. The scene looked like a fluttering cloth. It was desolate, and it was hard to see substance. Luo Nan’s mind naturally reached out to cross the depth of the void. His mind flowed within the sea of city lights, and his sensations became more real.

Within his senses and clairvoyance, the myriad of living beings was like a convergence of stars. It was akin to the winding milky way, with marvelous layers divided within. The star river was majestic and hazy, like a grand world, gorgeous and magnificent.

But such a vast star river frame couldn’t stimulate even a bit of an ocean’s spray when cast upon the small paper man. The tensile strength of the pyramid structure was still like cobwebs. Things were so bad that Luo Nan couldn’t even feel a connection between the pyramid structure and the star river frame.

There was an invisible, glacial barrier that blocked his consciousness from material objects. It made his consciousness infinitely close to, but unable to truly fuse with a material object.

The situation was comparable to the divide between dreams and reality.

Was this power just a fabrication? Was it like the crazed ravings of his grandfather? Did they only exist on an imaginary level?

No, no! This made no sense!

Luo Nan’s beam of consciousness cut through the star river, his senses covering a radius exceeding two kilometers. Within the metropolis, there were normal people, the Awakened, Oblatum Knights, crows, and Darksider life forms. They existed as additional fulcrums for him.

They were real and true, and they gave him feedback at all times.

How could such perceptions be an illusion?

Luo Nan was in a hazy trance when he arrived at the Divine Yu Gym in Boshan Building. It was already nine o’clock in the evening. The students of the daoguan had all gone home. Only Xue Lei remained. He had come out to welcome Luo Nan.

"Nanster. The gym master is waiting for you inside."

Luo Nan stifled his chaotic thoughts and emotions, and spoke with a bit of embarrassment, "I’m late."

"No way. The daoguan isn’t taking on new business, so we finished at eight o’clock. You’ve actually come early, all things considered. What is important to remember is that learning something new will require a bit of time. Relax; I’ll back you up tonight."

Xue Lei pulled Luo Nan inside. The lights were off for both the front courtyard and the middle courtyard of the daoguan at this time. The late autumn night made walking through the winding corridor feel distinctly desolate and cold. Luckily, Xue Lei had a loud voice, diluting this feeling quite a bit.

Luo Nan asked curiously, "Are you staying overnight at the daoguan too?"

"Of course. I’ve always been the gym master’s assistant... hmm, and his interpreter."

"Huh?"

In Luo Nan’s daze, he and Xue Lei had already reached the back courtyard. The humanoid stone lanterns illuminated the entrance to the courtyard, dividing light and shadow, making the place look like an exquisite oil painting.

Xiu Shenyu wasn’t in this painting.