Heartpower is a very apt name.
Because once Heartpower is exhausted, one might die suddenly. It truly is a case of being mentally and physically drained.
Recovering Heartpower is also troublesome; one needs to eat and drink sufficiently, and after feeling completely refreshed, meditate and pray to the Holy Spirit.
The immense cost brought immense power.
Simon immediately realized that Heartpower had an excellent amplifying effect on physical strength, comparable to the Lion Appearance Sect's Hard Qigong—and it was an effect that could be enhanced through skill training.
Heartpower had an extremely high viscosity to magic energy, which meant Simon's speed of absorbing magic energy became incredibly fast. However, what was rather amusing was that most of the absorbed magic energy was still drawn away by the Pure Land and Troll Soul. This puzzled Simon; the Pure Land itself could absorb magic energy, so why target a pauper like him? As for the Troll Soul, it had increasingly lost its sense of presence, like a Pixiu, only taking in and never giving out. To this day, it had only extended two bloodline spells, showing extreme laziness.
Fortunately, Simon was a battle mage, allocating his points to Strength, Agility, and Constitution. As for spells, tattoos would suffice; at most, a Candlelight spell would do. Although he couldn't cast fireballs, being able to conjure a flame like a lighter was enough; unable to cast ice spikes, it could still be used to chill beer; a Thunderstorm spell was beyond him, but static electricity could style his hair—oh, the Troll forgot he didn't have hair.
Simon did have a guess about the Pure Land's consumption of magic energy: it was used to nourish something deep within the Pure Land, that area Simon had always been curious about. Normally, the raw magic energy absorbed by the Pure Land was only used to maintain the surface layer; the things in the depths required Simon's own diligent efforts to bear fruit.
As for the Troll Soul, this fellow was very stubborn. As a projection of Simon's soul in a certain part of his subconscious, it always had its own ideas.
Normally, when Simon meditated, the Troll Soul also meditated. When the meditation deepened to its level, the Troll Soul would stand up and walk around. Simon himself had no memory of this, but he could feel the Troll's increasingly rich emotions.
For those afflicted with beast transformation, this was not good news. The growth of wildness would continuously squeeze out their human emotions, including their identification with order and complex morals, because their simple logical thinking could not support the harmonious coexistence of two conflicting personalities. When their behavior and thoughts deviated from their usual patterns, they would involuntarily begin to doubt their essential nature, and slowly, they would identify more with the beast and abandon humanity.
Simon, of course, didn't care much about these things. However, recently, the Troll Soul seemed to have undergone a change, which surprised him quite a bit.
Before investigating the Troll's changes, Simon had to deal with the two peeping rascals.
Dilo and Jonas were whispering to each other, discussing what magic they would get tattooed in the future, when they suddenly felt a tightening around their necks. Cold fingers pinched the skin on the back of their necks and even rubbed it, a chill that went straight to their bones.
"What are you doing here?"
Jonas muttered softly, "This is awkward…"
Dilo spoke bluntly, "I was wrong, but Jona brought me here, please spare me, Mr. Baishan!"
The Breton boy, at this moment, showed responsibility, "It was indeed my idea, I apologize, sir."
The Troll shook his head, "You're quite loyal at a time like this. With this spirit, what can't you achieve? It seems you're too idle. From now on, every day, besides eating, sleeping, and praying, you will practice martial arts."
Jonas gave Dilo a tragic look, with the air of 'the wind howls, the Yi River is cold'. Dilo returned a solemn expression, 'go in peace'.
The Troll watched, shaking his head. Children are just children. Speaking of which, this boy named Dilo is not as mature as Jonas.
He had intended to train him to be Jonas's attendant, but now it seemed his character and qualities needed further testing.
What best reveals true friendship? Not necessarily sharing hardships, but simply whether one can avoid envying a friend is enough to show sincerity.
Leaving the two boys behind, Simon planned to seek out Master Arngeir to learn Dragon Shout.
The Master was sitting silently facing north on the meditation tower in a corner of the courtyard. Simon sat in the center of the small top platform, waiting for Arngeir to finish his practice.
Even until late morning, the Greybeards remained motionless. Jonas asked from below the tower when dinner would be ready, and Simon, helpless, had to go down first to prepare the meal.
Jonas was forced by him to practice martial arts, so his nutrition had to keep up.
The dining place was in the council hall, where there was a spacious stone table and a dozen chairs. The two greedy boys were about to start eating when Simon instructed them to call the four Greybeards to eat together.
Only two came in the end, Master Borri and Master Einarth, who had just finished their meditation.
After eating and drinking their fill, Jonas couldn't help but feel lazy and didn't want to move. After Simon kicked him twice, he lazily ran off to the courtyard to practice his stance.
Since Arngeir was occupied, Simon decided to thoroughly study Heartpower.
It could be determined that Heartpower was not unique to him, as it was, in a sense, a divinely bestowed ability. As long as a believer's will was firm, they could potentially cultivate Heartpower.
Only with Heartpower could one be a master. With Heartpower, even mortals could rival mages who diligently studied. In this world, there were many ways to gain power; it just depended on whether an individual had the fortune and wisdom.
After some research, Simon quickly discovered Heartpower's defensive capabilities. In terms of magic resistance, Heartpower performed excellently, capable of disrupting spell resonance and reducing damage.
Furthermore, Heartpower could also be used for casting spells, though not conventional ones, but rather 'irrational' ones similar to bloodline magic—meaning knowing what it does but not how it does it. Simon successfully activated Rapid Regeneration using Heartpower, forming a regeneration aura that enveloped his body for roughly three feet around. It did not cause the golden skin on his head to spread, which was truly the effect of Heartpower—it replicated a bloodline spell and transformed its release method—the principle was unknown.
There's so much potential, Simon sighed. The application prospects of Heartpower are very broad. He could be certain that the Greybeards possessed Heartpower, and that Dragon Shouts were released using Heartpower.
That being said, characters with Heartpower could all be considered hero units in a game. Ulfric, the Jarl of Windhelm, the future instigator of the civil war, he mastered Dragon Shout. Assuming Simon's judgment was correct, this Jarl also possessed Heartpower.
Since Heartpower was a relatively universal power, why was it not well-known? Simon had also pondered this question. He had never heard of Heartpower before; only in the knowledge of Apocrypha, some books about warriors mentioned a certain mental state—exhilarated, powerful, unafraid of pain. The illusory nature of Heartpower made it easy to be overlooked by people whose souls were not sensitive enough, or perhaps people mistook it for their courage, or some other character trait.
Recalling the heroic deeds from ancient legends, Simon suddenly had a feeling—he was walking on a correct path to becoming a god.
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