Chapter 195 - Is This Rift A Single...?

Over the last few days, Jason tried to improve his combat prowess as well as possible, while practicing the Heaven's Hell third level which ravished most of his energy, he had to replenish.
Scorpio and Artemis′ demand for soul energy increased once again, causing Jason to frown, even though it should be seen as a good sign.
On one side it was definitely an advantage because higher soul energy indicated that their innate strength increased, while the negligible disadvantage was Artemis, who Jason couldn′t store within his soul world.
His soul energy reached 185 units, while Artemis' demand increased from 140 to 155 units. Scorpio annexed ten more units, totaling his soul energy demand to 70 units, and the Black origin flame was still desiring Jason′s soul energy with its measly 0.01 unit without being allowed to take any.
Due to his exponential increase in soul energy Jason received, he was confident to take over the demanded soul energy from his soulbonds, if he had enough time.
Right now he was merely 40.01 soul energy units away from his goal.
Jason looked at Malia with confidence, without showing any sign of worries, while Malia seemed a little bit hesitant about her expedition into an unknown four-star rift that barely opened for the public.
The public didn't really know anything about the four-star rift, but what she got to know from her teachers shocked her a little bit.
Because the principal knew that Jason and other promising students requested an absence of leave from school due to their mandatory expedition, Old Drake decided to hand out an information sheet to all teams.
As such, Malia and her team were already aware of what they would have to face after entering the rift.
On one side it was shocking while on the other side, it was something they had never heard before which ignited a deep sense of curiosity within them.
Jason was unaware of the information sheet due to Malia′s negligence but it wouldn't really change anything for him.
In the end, his expectations couldn′t be any higher than they already were and he felt like a small child waiting to receive candies.
Rather than worrying needlessly, Jason tested out everything with the Viridi-Starstream daggers which felt like they were extensions of his body.
Due to this new sensation he received from his daggers, martial art techniques improved by leaps and bounds, which astonished him a lot.
He didn't reach a higher mastery, but his moves became smoother, while his mana circulation in accordance with the daggers felt much easier than it already was.
Over the last few days, Shane and Dalia used their whole mana to fill his unique mana sphere bracelet to the brim, shocking both Artemis and Jason extremely.
If he were able to use this mana for himself, Jason wouldn't have the need for mana stones until he would reach the master rank at the bare minimum, while Artemis' desire to absorb his bracelet increased more with each day passing.
Even though he didn't doubt Artemis' ability to absorb stranger′s mana at all but Jason didn't want to test it right now, as he would need the mana for himself.
Furthermore, he didn't want Artemis to take a long hibernation once again, while he had to fight for himself in order to sustain his soulbond′s luxurious life.
When they finished their breakfast, the two of them washed up, before Malia summoned her Nightmare horse that was still at the unblemished rank, gazing at Jason with disgust.
`What have I done to you?` He thought in his mind, as Malia told him to sit behind her.
The Nightmare-horse didn't seem to like this, but she had to obey Malia thanks to the soulbond.
Jumping on the horse's back, Jason felt a burning sensation immediately below, him as it ignited a small flame, where he sat.
It hurt only for a moment until Malia noticed his pained expression, as she laughed out
"Stop teasing him, alright?" Malia said chuckling before they began their short journey through the city.
Not even 20 minutes passed until they entered the devasted area where rubble and destroyed skyscrapers could still be seen all over the place.
Jason held Malia′s waist firmly in order to stay safe on the Nightmare-horse′s back, with his mana eyes activated, gazing straight towards the large ring-shaped compressed mana that released distinct golden, black and silver colors
From further away, he couldn't really detect anything at all, but the closer they came, the more detailed the colors turned out causing him to look shocked at what he saw.
Previously, he thought the golden, black, and silver colors might have been certain elements, causing the rift to materialize.
Apparently, this was not essentially wrong, but the most important fact he could roughly assume was what caused these elements to suddenly appear which created the rift.
If his mana eyes didn't play him any tricks, he could faintly perceive all kinds of mysterious, complex runes around the ring-shaped rift, that were connected with each other.
`Can only I see them?` Jason asked himself, as he could finally see the rift with his bare eyes once buildings didn′t obstruct his view anymore.
However, thinking for a moment, he figured out that others might not be able to see them, because he himself couldn't see them, once he suppressed his mana eyes to the bare minimum.
These runes shone in a black, golden, and silver color, but they were completely different compared to normal runes, due to multiple reasons.
The runes were the most complex ones he had ever seen and one had to say that Jason saw many complex runes inside Shane′s forging-room.
If Shane labeled a pseudo mana grade-3 anvil as average, he had to have a better one and in Jason's opinion, his master had either a pseudo-mana grade-4 anvil or a normal grade-4 anvil, from what his mana eyes told him.
As such, Jason was aware of what grade-4 runes looked like.
However, they seemed to become child's play against the terrifying and profound pressure he perceived from the runes, only he could see.
Malia was unaware of Jason′s shock, as her only thoughts were focused on him holding her waist firmly, causing her to blush, even though she didn't want to.
However the closer they came to the rift, the more hesitant she became, as the mana density and pressure began to overwhelm her, while her thoughts changed.
Looking back, she noticed Jason staring straight at the rift, with shock, fear, and curiosity gleaming in them, as she figured out that he most likely used his mana eyes to inspect the rift thoroughly.
Once they arrived at the security check that was more than one kilometer away from the rift, they stopped and descended from the Nightmare horse that returned into Malia′s soul world, after it glared at Jason fiercely.
However, Jason didn't even notice this, as his focus didn′t leave the rift for a single moment, due to the profoundness of the runes he perceived.
`Are these runes inscribed out of transmuted mana or has the world gathered particular mana particles something to do with this?`
Jason wasn't sure about that, but it seemed like the runes were made by someone or something because they were accurately lined up and connected with each other and he began to doubt that their Argos, their planet could do something like this.
'Is this normal?'
When he noticed that he had to verify his identity, Jason was thrown out of his thoughts and he finished everything as fast as he could.
Once done, Malia led him to her team while Jason tried to burn at least one profound rune into his mind.
However, this feat alone was already extremely difficult, due to the hundreds of connected affinity transmuted mana strings that were thick, thin, long, short, intertwined with each other, and sometimes even fused with the other affinity runes.
`Is this rift a single rune?` He almost shouted out in shock, as Malia dragged him out of his thoughts.
"We are there!" She whispered a little bit annoyed about Jason spacing out all the time.