—30 years before the ascension of the Celestial Monarch.
Ducanor felt a strange energy enter his body following Alana's instructions, as if his body were receiving a pulse of strange power.
That was the power of the True Spirits: lending their powers to their contractors in an exchange, but this obviously had requirements.
Not everyone could be a contractor; they had to have the talent beforehand. The Feynir, for example, by being born with their spiritual roots, could borrow the power of True Spirits more easily, unlike the Feysir who possessed runes, but that didn't prevent them from being able to do it.
As long as they had spiritual energy, they could do it, but for that, a prerequisite had to be met first: opening the Spiritual Space.
The Spiritual Space is a space within the soul of mortals. This is released upon opening the Dantian for the first time, but not the Lower Dantian as in most paths, but the Upper one.
In the Upper Dantian was located the Mind Palace, which guarded the consciousness and memories of mortals, as well as their only immortal spirit.
Each mortal possessed four spirits: three mortal and one immortal. The three mortals were represented by three lamps symbolizing vitality and the life expectancy of living beings, while the immortal spirit represented the mind and soul, which are eternal since they survive the death of the body.
Opening the Spiritual Palace was the first step on the spiritual path, while the second was consolidating the Spiritual Space itself; for that, constant absorption of spiritual energy would be required.
But still, there is a distinction regarding spiritual energy.
The spiritual energy absorbed by the body's pores, which is expelled automatically and is everywhere in the air, is known as Mundane Spiritual Energy, since it is of quite reduced quality and absorbing it practically provides no short-term benefit.
While living beings are born with a fixed portion of spiritual energy in their body that wears out and is preserved inside the soul, isolated from the outside world, making it pristine and uncorrupted by the diluted external spiritual energy. This spiritual energy is known as Vital Energy or Prenatal Energy, since it comes from the soul and originates before birth itself.
Ducanor's spiritual space, which he had formed recently and was the reason he was eligible for the exam, had filled with a mysterious energy that began to swarm through his spiritual space. Normally a large spiritual space wasn't necessary; a space of fifty meters was sufficient, but the Wardens demand a spiritual space of at least two hundred fifty meters.
Ducanor's was four hundred.
Opening his eyes after meditating for a few moments, he discovered that his spiritual space, normally empty, was no longer so, since inside it was a spiritual spark.
The symbol of the opening of his second Dantian in the heart area, the spiritual spark symbolizing the igniting of his mortal spirit beyond its limits. And also, the primary symbol of the Geas between him and Voltia.
"Did you ignite it? Did you ignite it?" asked Voltia with curiosity while circling around him like an immature young girl.
Her appearance didn't seem to exceed twenty in the Fey age scale, but she wasn't a Fey, but a True Spirit; it wouldn't surprise him at all if she had lived many centuries longer than Alana herself. Beside her was a strange small copper-colored bird.
"Yes," replied Ducanor without much enthusiasm. The spiritual spark, which was a sign of a spiritist's bond with a True Spirit, was there.
"Finally we are together. Do you know how many years I waited to...?" but before she could finish, Alana interrupted her.
"There is no time for superfluous conversations, Voltia. Ducanor needs to rest and train for a while," she said while looking strangely menacingly at Voltia, making him feel somewhat disconcerted.
"I'm going to sleep," interrupted Ducanor. "Then I will train for the exam."
His cold words made the duo cast bitter looks at each other, since in an instant he had left, leaving the duo in total solitude.
...
Ducanor spent the following days strengthening his physique and training in the sect's combat area. Accepting a Geas was something that had a price, and that price varied quite a bit.
A true essence pill entered his mouth and flooded Ducanor's body with spiritual energy; he was now in a peak state, his dexterity had probably already surpassed any mortal.
"Let's go," roared Ducanor with a desire for combat while observing the space in front of him. "Give me the best you have, Voltia!"
Suddenly the space in front of him distorted. He was no longer in the individual training room covered in white ceramics and training equipment, but in an arena, and in front of him several interesting opponents had emerged.
"Wardens," Ducanor thought to himself with surprise and excitement. Voltia had used her ability to create illusions and confuse reality with fantasy to create combat opponents for Ducanor.
"Ready or not, here we go, Ducanor! Hehehe, if you win maybe I'll give you a kiss, or maybe I'll let you give me a kiss; after all, I'm a chaste and pure girl, heehee," Voltia's bombastic and high-pitched laughter made Ducanor's head hurt.
Meanwhile, he quickly dodged the sudden attack of an armed shadow. They were Wardens, they carried exosuits as well as various types of equipment, but by their level, they didn't surpass the Noble stage.
But their speed and movements were equal to his.
"I'm waiting for you here," growled Ducanor while igniting the Techno-sword. Sparks flew when a Warden covered in rocks suddenly emerged from beneath the ground.
"First Chakra, Dao of Earth."
The rocks impacted like shrapnel on Ducanor's skin, forcing the air out of his lungs, while sharp pain spread from every area where it hit. But that didn't prevent his enormous sword from making a furrow in the air that forced his attacker to retreat.
"Is that all you have?"
His dharmic rune shone on his chest while his body felt as light in the air as if he were a damn butterfly, but his sword wasn't light.
Unfortunately, that wasn't his only attacker.
"First Chakra, Dao of Fire."
A wall of fire presented itself in front of him with the intention of incinerating him completely, while a second attacker emerged above him. But Ducanor simply changed targets and cut directly through the fire.
"Weak," he growled while feeling how his body had already passed the limit of a mortal.
Opening the second Dantian meant ceasing to be a mortal and becoming a Noble, an existence incomparable to an ordinary mortal. A Noble could face ten mortals at the same time. And opening the third Dantian meant ceasing to be a Noble and becoming a Mortal Lord, an existence with which even a hundred Nobles weren't capable of comparing, with the capacity to break the limits of the mortal body and take the first true step to transcendence.
Obviously, Ducanor was still far from that.
But he was still a Noble, a weak one among them even, but still, these Warden projections didn't have even ten percent of the true dexterity of an official Warden.
His sword cut the ghostly figures of several Wardens while Ducanor still felt energetic. He hadn't even needed to use the Geas's power yet. For now...
"Well done, Ducanor, you've achieved it, but this is simply the beginning, a warm-up. Now let's start the real battle," Ducanor heard Voltia's voice from all directions with an annoyingly cheerful tone.
"Craw, craw, craw!" shouted in response and with similar joy the strange bird beside Voltia.
"And now, as your first true opponent, we have the legendary Warden from three hundred years ago: Cauca Georgia. Doesn't she look familiar? They say her beauty is as great as Abrial's when she was born from Anatol's seed."
The illusory mist Voltia used to manifest her illusions gathered in front of him forming the tall and cold figure of a woman. She was beautiful and dressed in an exosuit, although it seemed of a different model than the current ones of the Wardens.
Hair of a metallic chestnut like bronze and eyes like emeralds. The woman, with a face expressionless like a statue, looked coldly at Ducanor, a coldness that caused chills in the air, unlike the apathy he had felt before from the previous illusions.
"Voltia's description is exact," thought Ducanor with certain regret that she was an illusion. "She is beautiful and cold like a goddess."
But apart from the excessive coldness of her gaze, a strange feeling arose in Ducanor's heart, a feeling he didn't manage to direct since the attack had begun.
And then she disappeared.
"Shit." He barely managed to move his sword to block the sudden attack and, when he realized, his opponent's weapon was nothing less than her own fist. "You underestimate me."
A snort of anger arose from Ducanor's mouth. His sword roared echoing his emotions while the clash began. The fists and kicks of the ancient Warden were ferocious, as if her limbs were made of steel. And his sword wasn't capable of making even a dent in her, even if it was a weapon capable of shattering rock and iron.
"This is getting hot, Ducanor. Shouldn't you borrow the power of your dear spirit?" said Voltia in a mocking tone.
Meanwhile, the annoying big bird beside her cackled nodding its head up and down at her words.
"First Chakra," murmured Cauca with an indifferent tone, for the first time breaking the silence. "Dao of Metal."
Then her body, as if she were the bronze colossus of legends, covered itself with a metallic aura, while Ducanor felt pressure ten times greater than before.
"Damn it, if this is simply a projection, how strong must the real one have been?" he thought.
Unfortunately, he wouldn't have answers to that question because she had already moved.
His sword moved from one side to another blocking the woman's ferocious attacks. Her strength was absurd; even Talos didn't have such a powerful physique. But the worst was her technique. Her movements were precise and destabilizing, but despite that, he could avoid wasting movements while she dominated him in a combat of strength and skill.
And the worst is that she wasn't alone.
The duo of previous Wardens was still there harassing, while he faced Cauca. A stream of fire clashed against his shoulder propelled by one, but then he seized the opportunity.
"Now it's my turn, son of a bitch!" suddenly his sword flew straight like an arrow at full power towards the unaware Earth Warden.
His figure exploded like the illusion it was, but at the same time, he had lost his only weapon.
"Stupid move," murmured Cauca with surprising clarity, as if inside that illusory projection existed some consciousness.
"Maybe," replied Ducanor expressionless.
Then the figure quick as lightning of the Fire Warden appeared in the corner of his vision. A fist of fire arose in the corner of his vision; even if he was only a mortal, he didn't have the speed to dodge that attack in this position.
But he didn't plan to dodge.
"Intention of Rain," he murmured to himself.
And then the attack never arrived.
As if it were a snake coiling around his attacker's body, the Warden, if he had consciousness, would see stupefied how Ducanor had simply let himself be carried by the attack. The fist's force wasn't deflected, but followed and propelled forward in an instant, making him lose balance while stumbling towards the ground, exploding in flames upon being unable to control the reach of his attack.
He was no longer the attacker, and Ducanor wasn't in front of him, but was in front of Cauca.
"Eat shit," he growled with disdain while attacking the nape of the still stunned Warden.
"Only one left now," growled Ducanor.
But he was surprised to see that his attacker, Cauca, wasn't moving in offense, but was standing looking at him with surprise. A strange emotion on her rigid face.
And taking advantage of that moment of hesitation, Ducanor's figure shot like an arrow towards her and the Techno-sword itself, which was in the distance, reappeared in his hand with a thought.
"That's cheating! How can you use Intention so young? Even you shouldn't be able to!" shouted Voltia's irritated voice, as if she hated losing more than anything in the world.
And then the sword's pommel hit the chest of the stunned Cauca who, although she had managed to react, was too late: the metallic aura around her had fractured.
"You are different from..." she murmured with a melancholic tone, which was interrupted when her figure dispersed in the air.
Leaving Ducanor with a strange sensation of loss, which disappeared quickly before the joy of victory.