Omni-Mastery

"Oh, you are finally here! I see that you have come for your daily lesson, let's start at once!"

"Yes…" 

I uncontrollably replied as I looked at the bearded elder before me, who had a bright and kind smile on his face, as his hands got closer to my… forehead.

"Now, let me guide you on practicing 'Aerial Sword'..."

`~~`~~`~~`

A few minutes earlier…

After I was done picking up tomes at the three libraries, I had already returned to the central division, which didn't take much time with Wind dropping me there as I took my stack of covered tomes and went into my own courtyard with haste as I started testing immediately.

Firstly, I started with confirming the established fact that opening the tome again didn't activate 'Archaic Guidance' anymore, which seemed to be completely true yet not easily explainable. Just why was such a process of the 'Archaic Guidance' only activating when someone opened a tome for the very first time? 

It naturally didn't make sense for a special inherited tool to have a function that has no use whatsoever.

Of course, I didn't dwell on this fact much as I started with using my 'Telekinetic Force' to check up the Wind technique tome.

Probing the book in its closed state immediately proved useless as the cover itself didn't seem to hold anything special, there wasn't even a hint of mental energy on it, however…

That was only the case for its outer part!

As soon as I flipped the cover open, the inner paper padded part of it immediately invoked a reaction!

Particles of mental energy started to latch into my own mental energy as they seemed to be moving at light speed and heading directly to the place where all the mental energy was stored, my mind space.

While the reaction was fast, it wasn't at the speed which I couldn't react to, but I didn't do anything in hope not to screw it especially after I received a reaction at the very first try. It wasn't like I wouldn't be capable of destroying these mentality particles once they entered my mind space in the case they were hostile like I did to the cult's representative after all.

Observing the particles' behaviour once they entered my mind space made me a lot worried, as they seemed to be under an inhibition or a weakening of some sort, apparently losing the hyperactivity that appeared with the first interaction.

'It can't be that my 'Telekinetic Force' is too much for it, right…?'

I quickly shot down my first assumption as it felt too unbelievable. After all, this was supposed to be an ancient tome that invaded my mind space earlier and even transmitted a whole mental vision without me even noticing it till I was inside of it, so why would that prove to be so hard now all of the sudden. 

It was true that the mental energy stored in the tome could have weakened with time, but that forced mental vision was applied for so many times just today, which meant…

Shshshsh!

'This…'

Hearing a strange noise in my head, I suddenly noticed that something foreign was moving within my own mind space, and it wasn't the particles that entered just now!

However, as if it was exactly waiting for this moment, the particles followed the same pattern as they seemed to restore their energetic behaviour as they met with the source of the other foreign movement.

This time, the speed was actually beyond my own control, but it still didn't seem to carry any hostile intent either so I observed once more as both foreign particles fused with each other before receiving a strange sensation signal…

It was the lock and key sequence!

It was only at this point that I realized the source of the other foreign particles as well as the answer to my recent question as my body had once again entered a mental vision state…

`~~`~~`~~`

"Hah… hah…"

'This is slightly different than I expected…'

Having just gone through what seemed to be the true 'Archaic Guidance', I confirmed my initial guess about what Wind described as the 'Archaic Guidance' itself...

It was actually a signing up session!

The flash of realization that I received as soon as I opened a book was the source of the other foreign mentality particles that were sitting still inside my mind space before I even tried using my mental energy to probe the tome.

The way that lock and key sequence of both mentality particles operated seemed to be similar to the act of an ID verifier who was verifying a new ID, and considering the fact that I was immediately sent into that mental vision as soon as that process was done confirmed it even more.

Furthermore, the first part of the mental vision itself worked as if it was a short recorded introductory video as the nice seeming elder just greeted me with a general message before putting his hand on my forehead, which sent me into the body that wasn't mine…

The body was naturally practicing the technique in the tome and fighting actual targets using it, as if it was an extended version of the 'one-second' version that applied once opened the book for the very first time.

The concept was surely very similar to the preview and full video scheme of 'Metube' videos back from reality, and the idea itself seemed very refreshing.

'It has been exactly one hour…'

Checking the time on the status panel, I couldn't help but reach a somewhat bold assumption…

Considering how the whole true 'Archaic Guidance' operated, with it even lasting for exactly 1 hour… couldn't it be that this was actually the standard teaching method that the old powerhouses, which these tomes were inherited from, employed to teach their own apprentices?

What if they actually made these tomes so that they wouldn't have to do the repeated 'Mental Guidance Sessions' themselves like the elders did in the 'Elemental Blade Sect' and instead made them self-learnable to exchange for efficiency?

In a sense, if that assumption was true, then it would make sense that the system just degraded as the current elders and division masters were barely using the original method of guidance due to all apprentices being unable to use the tomes.

As for why they weren't, the only way I could think of was that they possibly because they didn't manage to obtain the complete ID as they didn't last for a whole second during the 'Archaic Guidance' preview, which seemed to at least contain one full execution of the technique!

'The 'Archaic Guidance' itself is so much more helpful as well…'

Unlike the one-second preview during which I was unable to even remember the circulation sequence of elements and weapon energy, this time, although I didn't get the whole experience due to the detached feeling of being in someone else's body, I could say that I already obtained some of the basics of the starting up sequence!

'Let's test the other tomes first then!'

After discovering this method's brilliance, I was naturally more eager to confirm its general effectiveness, and since I wasn't so much in a hurry anymore with this method to help, knowing more about it undoubtedly came first!