Chapter 26: Entering a demonic mental state
As Claude neared him, Han Shuo grimaced and gave a low moan. He ducked his body and head and reached for his ankle, as if inspecting the injury to his ankle.
Next to him, Cal frowned involuntarily as he saw Han Shuo’s actions. He propped Han Shuo up with one hand and said, “Are you alright? Is your ankle injured? Let me take a look.”
“Nothing much, just that I twisted it a bit just now.” Han Shuo responded lowly with a drooped head and a bent over body.
Claude and the other knight students had arrived by this time. The others had come later and did not recognize Han Shuo. There were many present who were wounded or crippled, and so Han Shuo’s performance didn’t attract too much attention.
Claude flicked a glance at Han Shuo and thought nothing of it, passing by Han Shuo as he chatted and laughed with his peers.
Han Shuo’s ankle was indeed twisted, and had swollen up by now. Cal gave a soft gasp upon seeing it, “It’s swollen up so much, let me take you home!”
Seeing that Claude’s footsteps were going further away, Han Shuo stood up straight again and wiggled his ankle, spinning off his toes. He smiled at Cal, “I suddenly feel much better. Thank you Cal, no worries about taking me back!”
Han Shuo’s walking pace picked up after he finished speaking, and he quickly disappeared around the corner without a trace or making another sound.
Cal shook his head, his face utterly perplexed as he watched Han Shuo suddenly become hale and hearty. “What a weird person!”
Han Shuo dragged his battered body back to the necromancy major of the school of magic when the sky was about to turn dark. Now that his necromancy errand duties had been taken over by Carey and Borg, Han Shuo didn’t need to expend too much effort. He lined up for his dinner after returning and went directly to the warehouse. He immediately started using the magical yuan to continually rebuild and reforge his body after he’d locked the door.
There wasn’t a single inch of his body that didn’t cry out in pain. His skin, tendons and bones had all suffered severe damage. The magical yuan circulated his body again and again according to the principles of practicing magic. Han Shuo could feel a bit of his strength return from the fiery mass of pain that was his current body each time the magical yuan completed a circulation.
The magical yuan churned continuously throughout the process, and it seemed to have grown just a tad bigger, bringing a new surprise to Han Shuo. It looked like the time and effort spent on strengthening his body was also a process of gradual improvement for the magical yuan. He would have to endure this kind of injury in the near future in order to fortify his body.
The pain in his body eased up after midnight and Han Shuo switched to practicing the Mystical Glacial Spellfire at this time. He circulated the magical yuan to his fingertips and palms of his hands according to the instructions of the Mystical Glacial Spellfire.
Time flew as Han Shuo sank into a strange, oblivious mindset. There were no distractions in his mind, just the perseverance and tenacity to train. He had long since forgotten the pain and injuries of his body, and just kept circulating his magical yuan according to method prescribed by the Mystical Glacial Spellfire.
Han Shuo had previously restrained himself when practicing magic. He would awaken at a set time, and had never immersed himself like he had today. Han Shuo had lost himself in it today, forgetting the passage of time, forgetting his sense of self, forgetting all mundane distractions.
Bam.
The small door to the warehouse suddenly banged open, startling Han Shuo out of his reverie. He frowned and his eyes shot like cold lightning to Jack’s body.
Jack shuddered in fright under Han Shuo’s stare, only exhaling softly when he saw the cold lightning in Han Shuo’s eyes fade away. “Bryan, so you really were in the warehouse. I thought something happened to you!”
Han Shuo immediately checked his body’s condition after being startled awake. He suddenly realized that his originally heavily injured body had mostly healed, and that the magical yuan circulating within his body was a bit stronger than before. His mental strength also showed more clarity than before.
“What could happen to me. I only slept in one day, that’s all. Borg and Carey are cleaning for me anyway, there’s nothing to do.” Han Shuo cracked his stiff neck as creaking noises sounded. When Han Shuo got up from the small wooden bed and stretched his body, all the bones in his body sounded with crisp pa! pa! sounds, leaving Jack dumbfounded where he stood.
After a while, Jack finally reacted in surprise when the strange sounds had disappeared from Han Shuo’s body. He called out involuntarily, “Uh, Bryan, you didn’t sleep in for just a day. You haven’t appeared in six days! I knocked on your door for a long time without any response from you, I thought something happened to you!”
Han Shuo was also astounded by Jack’s words. Had he trained for six whole days? He creased his brow and then suddenly recalled the mention of ‘entering a demonic mental state’ within Chu Cang Lan’s memories of demonic magic.
Some practitioners would be able to enter a demonic mental state due to fortuitous coincidence. It varied accordingly, and the demonic mental state was further split into either an aggressive or passive state. Some practitioner’s minds and disposition would drastically change upon entering the demonic mental state, and they would thirst for and feast on blood and murder. Their bodies would feel no pain, and both their magic and physical body would be greatly enhanced upon entering the demonic mental state. They would be unable to pause for even a second, and would only seek to continuously destroy everything and everyone in front of them. This was the aggressive type of a demonic mental state.
The other kind was what Han Shuo had experienced earlier, suddenly entering a demonic mental state during practice. It was a vague, foggy process undetectable by the practitioner, but his internal processes and magical yuan circulation would be greatly heightened compared to typical training conditions. He wouldn’t be able to sense his own training status, but would be able to discern a huge change within his body when he awoke.
The first type of demonic mental state ordinarily occurred after the rational mind had lost itself due to severe interference. If the practitioner didn’t die in the course of the endless killings spurred on by the demonic state, his body’s energies would be greatly harmed along with other side effects. Han Shuo’s peaceful demonic state was the much better option. Most entered this bizarre mental realm during training, and could feel the increase in their strength when they awoke.
“Oh, that’s because I’ve been a bit sleepy lately and slept too deeply. Right, what do you need me for?” Han Shuo realized that his stomach felt empty as he spoke, and immediately understood that his body greatly needed food and nutrition after going six days without eating.
Jack withdrew a large piece of bread for Han Shuo as he looked at Han Shuo rub his stomach. “I was worried about you, and Master Fanny told me to tell you to go to her lab. Oh yes, Lisa was asking about you too. I don’t know if she wants to make trouble for you again.”
“I see. Hmm. I’ll go to Master Fanny’s first. Let’s go!” Han Shuo munched on Jack’s bread as he walked out of the warehouse.
It was a good thing that Han Shuo had shoved the little skeleton underneath the bed during this time. Jack hadn’t seen anything amiss when he’d barged in. After he relocked the door that Jack had come crashing through, Han Shuo made straight for Fanny’s lab.
Knock knock knock.
Han Shuo stood at the entrance to Fanny’s lab and raised his hand to knock.
“Come in!” Fanny’s gentle and soft voice sounded from the lab. Han Shuo opened the door and stepped into the lab upon hearing it.
Several magic scrolls were placed on the pedestal in the middle of the lab. Mysterious and exquisite magic words and diagrams were tattooed on the scrolls. Even someone who had just set foot into the halls of magic, a rookie like Han Shuo, could feel the strong magical currents from the scrolls from a far distance away.
At that moment, Fanny was chanting an incantation as she bent over, tracing beautiful lines on the magic scrolls as she dipped a long, elegant nail into the brown magic solution to the side. Those delicate lines looked random, but also gave a wondrous feeling of extreme harmony.
Fanny finished outlining the scroll after a while and injected magic into the scroll after reciting an incantation. A desolate, lonely and dark aura immediately started emanating from it as a dash of brown light flashed over the scroll. It then rolled itself up automatically.
When she had stored the finished magic scroll, Fanny lifted her head and smiled involuntarily. “Oh it’s Bryan. How’s your back doing?”
“Thank you for your concern Master Fanny. The injuries on my back are all healed.” Han Shuo nodded and responded.
Han Shuo understood he couldn’t continue to play the fool. Although doing so would bring some benefits to him, it would create more trouble sooner or later. Since that was the case, it would be better to slowly change himself, and let everyone unknowingly accept his new self. Therefore, people wouldn’t find it surprising that he had changed, and would actually think that he had suddenly seen reason again after being crazy.
The previous owner this body, Bryan, had suffered greatly in the necromancy major. Han Shuo had vowed to take revenge for Bryan when he climbed out of that tomb. A lesson had been more or less taught to Carey, Borg, Bach and Lisa, enacting quite a bit of revenge for Bryan. Han Shuo still remained in the necromancy major in order to lay the groundwork for future plans.
After gaining a better understanding of this world, Han Shuo realized that he would have to continuously become stronger if he wanted to thrive in this world. The Babylon Academy of Magic and Force was a place to continually improve himself. He remained here in order to take advantage of the school’s resources to further raise all aspects of himself, including strength, knowledge, and a full understanding of this world.
Therefore, Han Shuo knew that he couldn’t continue to be crazy, and needed to change himself bit by bit.
“Oh that’s wonderful. We’re just about to take a field trip and bring students to the outside world. They will be testing themselves on the development of their magic. Come with us! You can pick up after them, and I can take a good gauge of your body condition on the road. What do you say Bryan?” Fanny put down the items she held in her hand and smiled at Han Shuo.
Han Shuo stood motionless, thought for a bit and felt that this was a chance. He nodded involuntarily, “Sure!”