Lyren's head snapped towards the hall and his eyes almost bulged out. Sweat droplets fell from his forehead and when his eyes were fixated at the hall, he saw a sight that made his already racing heart almost stop.
A pair of eyes appeared and replaced the hall for a moment. Each eye smoldered like burning wood and the darkness around them gave the illusion of smoke. One would have thought they were a flame dragon's.
It was only for a moment and they instantly disappeared as the hall appeared once again. Lyren wiped the sweat and looked at his palm once again. That pair of eyes had appeared immediately after he had noticed the patterns in his palm. What was the catch here?
Lyren spent the rest of his time meditating as he waited for his mind to restore to its peak. He waited for a while until he felt he could light up another pattern which he did immediately. But this time something happened.
He was sure that his mind was at a state capable to light up one more but this time, he had felt his mind attacked. It almost felt like a backlash. When he thought of backlash, he could not understand why a backlash until he realized that he had mis-visualized.
And yet another accident totally avoidable had he been careful. His head hurt and his palm hurt more. More than when the pattern was being imprinted. He looked at his hand as he supported it with the other and saw the pattern in his palm glowing.
It was glowing differently and not like the same golden that the ones on the ground were. It was red, almost like magma. The pain was unbearable as he grit his teeth so as not to scream but the more he fought back the urge to scream, the more the palm hurt. He even forgot about the pain in his mind.
Lyren could feel his entire hand burning up. The heat was almost like it was only supposed to subject him pain because his hand did not catch fire or melt but it continued to turn red. Even the left hand he was using to support his right hand could not take the heat anymore and he let go.
He let the hand fall on the stone below and his endurance reached a limit as he let out a scream in pain. He wanted to pass out but whenever he thought about it, he would feel the pain increase and he would get even more alert.
This went on for almost five minutes . When the pattern stopped glowing, it did not take the pain away immediately and he had to wait for a long time for the pain to reside. He was sweating all over but luckily the pain stopped soon.
He looked at his palm to see whether there were changes and the only changes he saw was that the pattern had even become clearer in his palm. The pain in his mind was still there but it was also rescinding too.
Lyren realized that he was not just dealing with some random patterns but they also had a side effect to the user if they were used wrongly. This happened just because he had mis-visualized the pattern. He looked at the pattern on the ground and to his dismay, it was cracked at the core almost like a spider web.
This was more a big blow than the pain he had felt. The pains were lessons he was willing to accept but the loss of just one of these patterns left him with an even difficult position. Still, he could not ignore the backlash.
It was both a lesson and a warning. He had to be careful when drawing them. He had learned that the hard way and that pain he had experienced made his vow to never make an error when drawing them.
He studied the broken core and realized that if he wanted to light it up, he would have to draw it personally. Something he was not sure he could do, yet. He accepted his loss begrudgingly and moved on to the next pattern.
He studied it thoroughly and thought.
'I had become arrogant…'
He had spent the least time on that pattern and he had mistaken his arrogance for confidence. When he was sure that he had the correct visual of the pattern, he placed his palm on the core and lit up this pattern.
After he was done, he wanted to take a rest but his mind was unexpectedly calm and sharp after the pain went away.
'That's fishy.'
Lyren thought as he was surprised by this fact. Could it be he could light up another pattern? This thought made his heart skip a beat as he felt… excited?
He quickly memorized the next pattern and lit it up. Yet, his mind was unexpectedly sharp. Something had happened. Next, he went to the next pattern and he realized that he could easily memorize it.
What had happened?
He lit up three more patterns before he felt fatigue start crawling. Still, he felt he could light up one more pattern in this state and if he pushed himself, he could do two but he would be on the verge of passing out
Lyren realized that he had not even counted how many patterns were in the first row and after he was done, he realized that there were a total 16 patterns on the first row. That was a very small number of stairs he could climb.
That was only 80 steps and he had to deduct the one he had destroyed which dropped them to 75. He sighed as he waited for his mind to cool down and fell in thoughts as to why his limit had increased.
He did not know how many patterns he could light up at a go. He would have to wait until he fell asleep again and he woke up so that he could test it.
Still, he wanted to know the exact reason he had increased the limit but since there was no one to tell him, he would have to discover on his own. He had noticed a huge catch here and he was not willing to accept it yet.
The realization was a cold splash of water: his growth was tied to brutalizing his own mind. To advance, he had to willingly walk to the edge of collapse, again and again.
When he felt his mind had become sharp and clear after all that pain, he realized that his thoughts were faster and even he did not have to go in round-about ways to come to an answer. He would just directly follow his logic to the correct answer.
Now when his mind was slow, he realized that it was the fastest speed and clarity his mind had when he came to this place. And that was the reason he felt that he could light up two more patterns but the second one would leave him on the verge of blacking out.
This was huge and he could not just believe that this sloppy state of his mind was the one he had once called his peak. It was unbelievable! Even the rate that he felt his mind recovering was twice as much as it had been before.
He felt tempted to light up the next two patterns. He had realized that whenever he was completely drained, he would refresh his mind and he would be even sharper. Without second thoughts, he lit up another pattern.
His heart beat as though he was just starting a run and sweat beads were already forming on his forehead. He went to the second pattern and his sloppy mind took longer to visualize the pattern and he lit it up.
Sweat was now dripping like he had ran for almost thirty minutes and his heartbeat was a complete wild horse galloping. His vision pulsed with each wild beat of his heart. A low, persistent ringing filled his ears.
He retracted his hand as the pattern glowed. He took in deeper breaths and fell on his back with his hands apart and mouth open as he took in deep breaths. He was still alert and kicking though and that was exciting in its own way.
That was fun…