I Shall Devour Everything

Mei eagerly explained, "If you take this vial before you complete the Prana Releasing Stage, then it will help you build a good foundation to increase your pranic force."

'Pranic Force? Why did I...Ah, yes, I read that on my status screen!' Arion remembered that the words 'Pranic Force' was mentioned in his status screen, which he didn't pay much mind since he didn't know what it meant, and because his pranic force was 1, he decided to look into it later.

"Right, I haven't told you about pranic force, right?"

Arion nodded, "Yeah, I have no idea what it is. Is it something related to energy or something?"

Mei said with a thoughtful expression, "Hmm, you could say it like that, but it's not simple energy but a very special and unique one. You know how powerful and unique prana can be, right?"

Arion nodded as Mei continued, "Even a fraction of prana is very special and precious since if we learn to manipulate even a tiny bit of it, we could do wonders, just like how I heal people. Whereas normal people would have to buy medicines, pills, or elixirs to cure an ailment or injury, and the treatment might be slower as well compared to what a talented Healifier could do. But from where do you think Healifiers or any Defier gets to use even a tiny amount of prana?"

Arion had the same question in his mind as well, but he guessed that Defiers had some kind of storage organ inside their bodies to store prana. At least that's how it was done in those light novels he read.

So he asked, "Do we have something inside our bodies to store prana?"

Mei gestured, "Hm, you are right, but where in our body do you think it is being stored?"

"In our heart?" Arion asked since that was the only possible answer he could think of, seeing how the pranic heart was the main thing that allowed one to become a Defier.

"You are right. But the amount of prana we can store in our heart is so minute that it wouldn't be sufficient for anything big, like fighting a Dreadling using prana. If you are only fighting physically, then it would depend on your body's stamina. But who fights a Dreadling bare handedly unless they are far stronger?"

Arion got a bit confused and asked, "But people can use weapons, right? I mean, of course, no one would dare to fight using their hands only. But we can use swords, axes, bow and arrow, anything, right?"

Mei softly chuckled, "No, I said bare-handed to mean that one is not using prana at all to fight. Ordinary weapons come under physical ability only unless you infuse them with prana. But of course, again, your pranic heart wouldn't have enough to infuse it continuously."

Arion was surprised, "So how do I store more prana in my heart? Increase my Defity?"

Mei shook her head, "That's a wrong word there, Ari. You don't increase your Defity but develop it. To be more precise, you can increase your Defity within a stage, but for jumping to a higher stage or level of Defity, you need to develop it."

'Huh? Isn't Defity supposed to be something like those in cultivation novels?' Arion asked himself.

Arion thought that prana was just energy like 'mana' or 'ki' as he heard of in many books and that people sort of level up by cultivating that energy. And those who reached the zenith were pretty undefeatable, just like how a level 10 guy can beat a level 1 with just a sneeze.

Seeing Arion's confused expression, Mei smiled and said, "Okay, let me explain with the help of an example. Consider your body as a tree and the various stages of Defity like Prana Binding Stage, Prana Releasing Stage, and so forth as the roots of the tree. Now, what happens if you cut off one root?"

Arion replied naturally, "The tree's ability to take up water and nutrients gets affected. So it can affect the life and vigor of the tree. Oh, I get it!" A spark lit up in his brain as he answered.

He continued with an astonished expression, "So are you telling me that each stage contributes significantly to our Defity? And that it remains significant for the rest of our lives, no matter how powerful we get?"

Mei gave an enchanting smile, "That's it. As brainy as I expected."

Arion proudly smiled, but then he suddenly thought about how quasi-Defiers were always talking about how they wanted to finish the Prana Binding Stage and proceed to the next.

So he asked, "But why do quasi-Defiers like Cayden and the others seem so eager to 'complete' the Prana Binding Stage and move on? I mean, not only them but every potential Defier out there does it, right?"

"You are right. But do you know the difference between a long-living tree and a short living one?"

Arion was no expert in Dendrology, but he replied using his common sense and whatever little of biology he managed to learn from school, "The short-living ones grow faster than the long-living ones?"

"Yes. Since we are faced with the huge threat of Dreadlings, our world needs more Defiers than ever, especially when things don't seem to be getting any better. And this need of having more powerful Defiers had been going on for countless centuries. So, everyone wanted to become a powerful Dreadslayer as fast as possible. But by doing this, they were ignoring some of the 'roots' in their Defity, because of which they were never able to grow to their full potential nor were their lifespans too long to continue to grow."

"But since this practice of developing one's Defity has been going on for countless years, it has become a common practice among people. The reason this practice was faster and easier relatively was that it was what humans are originally capable of. For instance, humans by race are limited to only ten cycles of the Prana Binding Stage. To unlock the true potential of this stage, we would have to take extra efforts that could prove to be tough or impossible." Mei explained.

Her words struck a chord in Arion's mind as if he was slowly making sense of things, "Does that mean that Prana Binding Stage doesn't end at ten cycles? That there's even more?"

"Hmm, yes. There is the eleventh cycle, but since we are humans, our bodies are not built to go through the eleventh, and we would have to make extra efforts to unlock it. And even if we unlock it, completing the subsequent cycles is a whole nother story, as you can imagine. Also, legends say that the Prana Binding Stage can be evolved into something else. But those are just stories and myths."

"Anyways, what I wanted to tell you by explaining this is that you should never ignore the Prana Binding Stage even after completing those ten cycles. Later on, you must find a way to unlock your potential since, I am sure in the future, it will make you a whole lot more powerful. The Prana Binding Stage defines the foundational toughness of your body. But for now, you don't have to focus on it and can continue on to the Prana Releasing Stage after your tenth cycle is complete," Mei said in an instructive tone.

"But why? Didn't you tell me that doing this unlocking process would be beneficial in the long run? So why not do the best I can and then go on to the next? After learning about this, I really don't feel any hurry to jump on to the next stage. In fact, I am quite excited about this unlocking process," Arion said with a flash of eagerness in his eyes.

He never thought that the concept of Defity and prana would be this complicated, profound and vast.

He couldn't begin to imagine how his future was going to be.

Mei sighed and said, "Ari, what I told you now is something not all Defiers know. In fact, not even some of the training schools teach you these since all they care about is nurturing Defiers into Dreadslayers as fast as possible. And because of that, most are ignorant about what I told you while some others learn it too late when their remaining lifespan is too short to do anything about it."

She continued in a reassuring tone, "But you are still young, and you have enough time to do what I said. But first, you must at least become a Defier as fast as possible and then develop your initial stages of Defity. Because in the world we are living in right now, we need to have enough strength to survive first, and time is not a luxury we can afford."

Arion's expression dimmed a bit, but he was still happy that he got to learn about this information before it was too late. And for that, he couldn't help but feel thankful to Mei for telling him this.

He then said with a smile, "Okay. Don't worry. I will follow your instructions. But later on, how do I exactly unlock the next level of Prana Binding Stage?"