It took a while for Leon to understand how he should touch the target"s spirit with his mana. As if just pa.s.sing a soul to an object wasn"t unpleasant enough, he kind of had to torture the target"s spirit a little bit… he had to make his mana pierce the desert wolf skin in several parts before he could begin to feel that he was pulling the monster"s spirit to the outside of its body. Just the theory was bone-chilling, but the practice was even more unpleasant. The more Leon tried to force, the more pain the desert wolf felt. It was hard to be certain, but it looked like the monster felt the same pain as when Leon regenerated his limbs. In the end, Leon tried too much, the skill failed, and the beast died."I have to pierce its skin in maybe dozen of places in order to pull a monster"s spirit… this will be hard… I need a break."
Monsters were the enemies of all humans. Still, Leon wasn"t fighting; he was using monsters as test subjects. He wanted to increase the chances of his friends and human survival, but that didn"t make things less unpleasant.
Leon was spending too much time in the training arena. He was still teaching the survivors how to heal wounds, but that only granted him two hours under the light of the sun. Ultimately, he had even been skipping meals just to progress a little bit faster. It was 11:00 AM when Leon arrived in the garden. There he saw his friends relaxing a little, even though they were eager to grow stronger, they knew the importance of taking a break, unlike Leon.
Sasha and Betty were playing with Maya while Gisela was taking a sunbath. It looked like Lennart didn"t know the importance of relaxing now and then either, but he was meditating under a beach umbrella… even though there was no beach nearby.
"Look who has appeared… why did the mad scientist leave the bas.e.m.e.nt so early?" Betty asked.
"Hha, very funny," Leon said. "Where are Amanda and Hector?"
"They are receiving some resources in the Central Plaza," Sasha answered. "Are you struggling in the process of learning your new spell?"
"No, I"m progressing quite a bit," Leon explained. "But, I"m struggling with my conscience."
Controlling his mana while it was outside his body was becoming easy, so in a few days, Leon was sure that he would learn the spell. The only problem was that he was feeling like he was a bit too ruthless practicing that on monsters whenever possible. Not only that, once he learns the spell, Leon was also quite sure he would have to use it hundred of times before it offers decent effects. So… he would have to use even more guinea pigs.
"Well, don"t worry about it too much." Leon forced a smile. "I"m going to enjoy the weather a little bit and take a nap before resuming my practice."
"Try not to overwork yourself," Sasha said.
It was spring, and despite that time of the day, it wasn"t that hot. So, Leon decided to lay on the gra.s.s and close his eyes just like that. After weeks practicing that skill in the training arena, Leon felt like he was a bit too pale, so perhaps it was a good idea to take a sunbath like Gisela. Leon wasn"t sleeping all that much either, so it didn"t take long before he fell asleep. Still, what waiting for him in the dreamland wasn"t a peaceful dream, but a h.e.l.lish nightmare.
"You can"t relax yet…"
Even in his sleep, Leon recognized that voice, it was the same he heard in Fortaleza, but before he could think much about it, Leon felt like he got transported to another world while he was dreaming. Still, that another world was very familiar. He saw himself flying above a destroyed city; countless dragons were flying above that place… it looked like that city had tall and thick steel walls, but that didn"t stop the city and the citizens from being destroyed. Leon couldn"t see anything but fire and rubble. Still, he recognized the landmarks in the distance… he was flying over Las Vegas.
As if he was watching a 3D movie from the point of view of the protagonist, Leon flew to a familiar place, and he saw a familiar but destroyed garden. Nearby, there was Amanda"s house, and Leon saw that the place got so destroyed that it fell apart until it reached Leon"s training arena. Inside of it, Leon saw pools of blood and pieces of flesh everywhere. He recognized those, but he didn"t want to think… he really didn"t want to, but the fact was engraved in his mind. It was his family and friends" remainings.
"This is what will happen if you relax now… you won"t be around forever, do what you can while you can, or will you regret it deeply."
Leon woke up, covered in sweat, and breathing roughly. Not even on the island, he had such realistic nightmares, not even on the days he was most depressed. Sasha and Betty noticed when Leon suddenly got up, he looked like he had the worst nightmare ever, but his next actions confused them. Leon flew upward like a bullet using Telekinesis, once he reached the height he saw in the dream, Leon stopped and looked around, Las Vegas was perfectly fine. However, he wasn"t checking the city; he was checking the surroundings… and then he saw it. A figure in the distance, it was very far away, but Leon could see a dark robe covered that person. Leon flew toward that person, but then a small black hole appeared and sucked that figure.
"This is just the beginning, prepare yourself."