Angele would feel greatly delighted if his hypothesis turned out to be correct.
Blue light flashed in his eyes.
‘Zero, create task. Check if you can search the name of the creature in front of me from the database.’
‘Task created…Checking…Data found…Matching the characteristics…completed…Possible names: 2.’
‘Show me the names.’ Angele was excited upon finally advancing to the next rank, but he was currently more interested in his second body.
Zero did not immediately respond. For some reason, the biochip somehow hung up.
‘Warning…Loading failed…Checking…Searching for errors…Unknown bug detected…System update initialized…’
It was a familiar warning message. Every time the chip found a new update, the message would pop up.
Angele had already advanced to rank 2 and successfully infused his mentality with the elements, so the biochip started to have a new update. This time’s situation was a tad different, however. Usually, it would only take seconds for Zero to complete the update.
His body condition was soon slowly displayed in front of his eyes.
‘Angele Rio: Strength, 12.0. Agility, 11.5. Stamina, 16.0. Mentality, 123.7. Mana, 57.2. Genetic limitation reached. Healthy.’
Angele’s mentality had increased significantly, from approximately 90 units to 123 units, through the usage of the energy conversion magic circle.
The only drawback of him infusing his mentality with fire energy particles was that he could no longer cast any other elemental category spells apart from fire category, or he needed to discover a way to infuse the spells with fire energy particles. Nevertheless, all his fire category spells’ power and area of effect would be tremendously improved.
He could still activate his bloodline signet as always since it would not be affected by the changes in his mentality.
Angele started observing the bird that was flying around in the center of the magic circle while he waited for the system update to be completed. He was trying to compare it with the creatures he knew of.
"It certainly looks like the Phoenix…" This was his initial impression.
The Molten Core River technique itself seemed to form his second body basing on his soul pattern and personality.
In other words, the bird most likely had similar characteristics that of Angele’s ancestor. It was not simply a second body randomly created from the advanced meditation technique.
Angele’s mother was said to be a tree elf, but it was possible that his ancestor was a phoenix.
Interestingly enough, there was another name for the Molten Core River technique’s second body—Ancestral Spirit.
His Ancestral Spirit had its own physical form. Even though it could be kept within Angele in order to sustain it, it still needed to be fed with food and water.
Angele found a few ‘nutritious’ worms and grass and placed them in front of the bird.
The bird only glanced at the food for a moment before turning its head away, indicating that it did not like the food he had given to it.
Angele noticed that there was a red scorpion mark on the bird’s forehead, identical to the one he had.
The bird suddenly stretched out its wings and started singing. It spun several times as it sang as though it was dancing.
It completely ignored Angele and only continued singing and dancing.
‘Don’t tell me that is my true personality…’
As Angele continued to observe the bird as it moved, he felt confused.
The bird was completely engrossed in its own voice that it even had a satisfied look on its face. It then raised its wings and slightly shook its head.
Somehow the bird was not interested in Angele and the food he provided in the slightest.
Goosebumps arose from Angele’s skin. He immediately checked the information related to Ancestral Spirits.
‘One’s Ancestral Spirit will manifest the true thoughts of its owner through its behavior. It neither has a soul nor is it intelligent. If the owner does not learn to properly control their Ancestral Spirit. It will only act on its own instincts.’
Angele was rendered speechless as he looked at the dancing bird again after checking the information.
The red bird started to groom itself with its beak after it finished dancing and singing, just like how a narcissist would.
Angele pursed his lips. He could not believe that the bird’s instinctual behavior represented his true personality.
This bird looked like a narcissistic person who only cared about their own self.
"Well, let me try to manipulate the bird." The scene was too unbearable to watch. Angele sent his mentality into the bird.
Angele felt like he had two bodies that could be controlled at the same time.
However, the mentality he sent out into the bird’s body did not seem to be enough.
The red bird started singing again…
*BAM*
"What the hell!" Angele stumbled two steps backward and smashed into the wall. White dust had fallen to the floor. Angele knew something was not right, but he had realized this too late.
It was not a pleasant experience. He had failed to gain full control of his Ancestral Spirit.
Soon finally, Zero’s system update had been completed and the chip immediately reported back.
‘Update complete. System checks complete. Continuing task. Do you want to see the result?’ The familiar mechanical voice echoed in Angele’s ears.
‘Yes.’ Angele took a deep breath and left the bird alone.
‘Ancestral Spirit of Molten Core River. Possible matches of the creature: (1) Five-colored Phoenix: A red bird that has the head of a goose. Special ability: Rebirth by fire. The bird enjoys singing and dancing and does not like to be controlled.’
Angele shook his head and looked at the red bird in annoyance.
"Well, at least it might be a phoenix…"
He looked at the information again.
‘Possible matches of the creature: (2) Sun: Five-colored Phoenix’s sister. A golden bird that only lives in certain areas and feeds on specific types of food. It must be fed with high-quality food and spring water.’
"Wait…now I am confused…" Angele was speechless. He had initially thought that the bird somehow acquired a soul, but the bird seemed to be acting by its own instinct.
"This is my true personality…?" Angele could not believe that he might be one selfish narcissist that sang and danced.
"They are both related to the Phoenix. Guess I will just name it Phoenix." Angele immediately decided.
Although the bird’s voice was not ear-friendly, it was impossible for him to modify the appearance of his Ancestral Spirit.
"Whatever, let me just keep it within my body for now." Angele grabbed the red bird and pushed it into his chest. The bird turned into a ball of flames and sank into his body.
It was a special characteristic of the Molten Core River technique. One’s Ancestral Spirit could live within the owner’s body and be summoned instantly.
Angele resolved himself not to summon it in front of others temporarily. He wanted to learn more about its abilities and learn how to fully control it first. Otherwise, the people who would see the bird would just laugh at him.
He definitely would never admit that the bird’s instinctual behavior represented his true personality.
Angele calmed down and started cleaning the room.
He walked to the broken window and looked outside after everything was done.
The morning sunlight reflected on the surface of the river. There were several tiny fairies that looked like dragonflies flying above the water.
The fairies had translucent wings and bodies that usually lived near bodies of water around the Nightmare Realm.
Angele had never caught any of them. The fairies’ body was not formed out of energy particles or physical materials, and they could only be seen in the morning. Moreover, their appearances would change every single day, so it was impossible for Angele to know whether the ones he saw yesterday were the same ones he was looking at.
‘It must be a natural phenomenon just like thunder and lightning,’ Angele thought.
He slowly raised his hands and formed a ball of lava between his palms. The lava ball was crimson and covered in cracks that had golden lava moving within.
This was the special ability Lyn had demonstrated to him back on the mountain. After mastering the third stage, he could now release a lava ball the size of a head that dealt area damage.
‘Lava Ball. Effective range: Within a radius of 10 meters. Average area damage: 134 degrees.’ Zero scanned the lava ball and reported back.
Wizards who were training in the Molten Core River technique would focus on training their Ancestral Spirit after fully mastering the third stage. Ancestral Spirits of different wizards had different special abilities. They needed enough time to figure everything out.
There was no point for Angele to learn new spells after completely mastering the third stage. If he could strengthen his Ancestral Spirit, he would be able to acquire different fire-related abilities that did not require any incantation.
In the later stages of the Molten Core River technique, Angele would be able to gain more special abilities by mastering the successive stages and training his Ancestral Spirit. For wizards who trained in this technique, their ultimate goal was to give up their physical forms and contain their own souls into their Ancestral Spirit so that they could become the mythical creatures of the legends, creatures that had an infinite lifespan.
This was why the Molten Core River technique was considered as one of the strongest advanced meditation techniques.
Angele thought for a while and turned away, then he wiped off the dust from his robe sat down with his legs crossed.
He soon decided to check what special abilities the bird had.
Under normal circumstances, Ancestral Spirits were intrinsically born with one or two special abilities. The Phoenix was a mythical creature of the legends. Angele believed that the bird would not disappoint him.