I Shall Devour Everything

Arion still didn't understand one thing, "But can't we decide our own stakes? I mean, I can just play it safe at first and bet a small amount, right?"

Old Zi shook his head and explained, "No, there is a minimum stake you have to place, and the way the whole arena works might be different than you think. Winning just once is not enough. You have to win a set number of matches to collect all the earnings you won. If you even lose one before winning the required number of matches, then you will lose everything you earned before and what you bet as well."

Arion took a deep breath as now he at least got some idea why the Zero Arena was so dangerous and could also make someone leave the arena with "zero" assets.

Not only would one have to risk injuries and keep on fighting, but at the same time make sure that they don't lose a single game. 

Since this was the case, Arion couldn't imagine how crazed everyone would be to persevere for the win since losing a single game could be a devastating blow while winning would be quite rewarding.

He then slightly bowed and said, "Then I will be relying on you, Master, to make me ready for it. So what would I be learning first?"

Old Zi stroked his beard as he said, "First, we have to focus on the basics. I will train you to connect with your prana faster so that it would be quite helpful when your Defity develops later. So many young people had ignored this simple part, and thus when their Defity reached a higher level, they had to slow down their development since their connection to their prana was still 'immature', which made them unfit to fight Dreadlings unless they relied on physical strength."

"But we all know that when it comes to fighting powerful Dreadlings, physical strength can only help so much while prana can do wonders and even turn the tide. So I think throughout our training we can focus on improving your connection to prana while training on other things as well."

Arion got confused, wondering what this stuff about connection to prana faster was. Because he already knew that he was able to connect to his prana in just an instant without having to focus too much.

Only the first few times, he had to concentrate and focus a lot to connect to his prana. But after that, at some point, he was able to connect to it within just a second as if it was second nature.

He felt that it was quite normal and might well be the same for others as well.

So he asked Old Zi, "But Master, I am already able to connect to my prana within a second. Is there any need for it to be faster?"

Old Zi's brows raised, "You what? Can you already form a connection within a second? Without even concentrating for a while or trying to resonate with your prana?"

Arion casually said, "No. At first, I had to, but then it became easy, and with just a thought, I was able to form a connection."

Old Zi had a look of disbelief as he grabbed Arion's wrist and said, "Okay. Now try connecting to your prana."

Arion simply thought of drawing upon the prana in his heart, and instantly the link was established.

Old Zi also sensed this as he felt Arion's prana circulating along with his blood no matter how minute it was.

"Incredible...this...this is so wonderful." He then looked at Arion as if he was looking at a monster and said, "You...I can't believe I got such a monstrous genius as my disciple, hoho."

Old Zi, who rarely laughed or was expressive about his thoughts, couldn't help but heartedly laugh upon realizing that he had indeed come upon an unpolished gem with boundless potential as his disciple.

Arion awkwardly smiled, not knowing what to say, but at the same time, he felt a sense of pride, knowing that he was indeed gifted and things were looking bright for him.

"I guess your ability to form a connection so fast is related to your pranic echo gift. Since those with this gift are said to be loved by prana, it makes complete sense why you don't face many difficulties in linking with it," Old Zi said with a thoughtful expression.

Arion also felt that it made sense, but he still didn't understand the concept of being 'loved by prana'.

Old Zi saw through his confusion and said, "Being loved by prana means you are innately more attuned with prana, especially your pranic heart. You resonate better with prana than others, and it's more like prana favors you, with one of them being allowing you to hear the pranic echoes. This is just one of the gifts that prana offers to those it favors, and there could be many more out there."

Arion felt as if his horizon got broadened a bit and wondered if there were people with special gifts like him but gifts that were different from his and if so, what were they exactly?

He felt that he would be learning a lot of things once he goes to a training school and comes upon people with power beyond his imagination. He was also eager to find an expert with the same gift as him and learn more about how to use it since he felt that his gift was quite useful.

At the same time, he also wanted to find someone whom he could ask about bloodlines and the Devour Aspect or at least a place of knowledge where he could learn about them on his own.

He wanted to ask Old Zi about the bloodline stuff, but he was afraid whether Mei might come to know about it through Old Zi or if even Old Zi might find it surprising that he knows about such stuff considering how the farthest place he had ever been to was the Central Ward in the Rimefall Village.

Since the day Arion found that his Devour Aspect was a taboo or forbidden thing, he had been feeling paranoid about even asking anything remotely to others lest anyone suspects anything about him.

Because all it would take was one mistake for people to suspect him, and then there wouldn't be any turning back.

"Well then, even if you are able to link with prana with just a thought, you will still have to meditate and focus on comprehending the profundities of prana. Forming a connection is just one part but making sure the prana circulates through our body well and fast is another matter. At your present Defity, maybe this point might not seem significant, but once you build your pranic force, then you will realize its importance," Old Zi explained.

"So you mean I have to make sure my body resonates with my prana well enough for it to circulate through every part of my body fast enough?" Arion asked.

Old Zi nodded, "Yes. You are already at the 10th Cycle, but still, only your body has toughened, but it might not be used to the flow of prana along with your blood. This could lead to a lot of hiccups in the future, especially when you use your prana."

He continued, "But we could do the meditation part during the morning when the prana flow is the most tranquil in this place which would allow you to resonate with your prana easily. Then we have to focus on developing your Defity, and that involves you completing your Prana Binding Stage as fast as possible so that we could move on to the Prana Releasing Stage."

"So, to fight in that Zero Arena, I would have to be at least in the Prana Releasing Stage?"

"Yes. Of course, one can also fight while they are in the Prana Binding Stage, but they usually don't last long enough, even if they win the first few matches somehow. Because once you are in the Prana Releasing Stage, you can learn to use your prana to carry out attacks. It is the beginning step to how one goes on to become a Dreadslayer and use their prana to fight Dreadlings. Most of all, it helps build your pranic force as well, and you will become a Defier finally," Old Zi explained.

Arion took in a deep breath as he felt that he was quite close to becoming a Defier and fighting it out in the Zero Arena. 

But he was confident about jumping into the Prana Releasing Stage quickly since he had his pranic food items to rely on. Now all he wondered was how powerful he would become after a year.

'I wonder if that shorty is still alive…' A sudden thought popped up in his mind.

*Thud!*

Hearing the sudden sound of something heavy falling on the ground, Arion pushed away his thoughts as he turned around to see what it was.