The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 1022: Power Matrix

Niall chuckled and got to his feet. ”Thank you for breakfast and the gifts for your countrymen. I canʼt say that Iʼve ever heard of exiles finding a way to still help out after they were sent away, but I appreciate it.”

Karl patted him on the shoulder. ”I would volunteer to come back and help keep everyone in line, but it sounds like you have it all under control.”

The Inquisitor smirked. ”You think now that youʼre a Totem that you can flex on the other nationsʼ leadership?”

Karl winked at him and leaned in to whisper conspiratorially. ”I was rewarded with a special Epic Grade constitution. At this point, I can reliably solo a Totem Ranked Dungeon Boss, without bringing my beasts to assist.

If you have a problem with the others, let me know. Even five on one, itʼs unlikely that they can do significant damage to me, and Iʼve got so much damage reduction that even a direct meteor strike wouldnʼt do it.”

Niall shook his head in dismay. ”You live up to your reputation, monster man. Warn me before you send Rae so that I can shield my quarters and not alert anyone that she has arrived.”

Then he turned and returned to his office, so Karl could close the portal.

”We never did find out what the exact date was.” Dana noted a few seconds after he was gone.

”Well, we can sort that later. Once Rae wakes up, we can get back to our hunting patrols. If we canʼt pin down the exact date, then we can just pick one to celebrate.” Karl suggested.

Now that the excitement was over, Remi returned to her lab to work, and Hawk went outside to take a loop around the area, looking for threats.

Rae was going to need all day to recover, and she would likely only wake up once the sun was down again. That was her natural active time, and each of the advancements was a bit harder to recover from.

They took a lot out of the spider, even though it was an advancement.

”Can we expect the others to advance soon?” Lotus asked, meaning the rest of the beasts.

”Thor still has a ways to go until he reaches the bottleneck, but he also advanced last, so heʼs still on pace. Remi has a bit more work to do as well, but Cara is close.

She just prioritizes amusement to power growth, so you never know when sheʼs actually going to advance.” Karl joked.

Cara shrugged. She was powerful enough for what she wanted to do. When she wasnʼt, she would advance.

That was just how it worked.

A soft mental nudge caught Karlʼs attention. ”Oh, I think the Butterfly is almost ready to advance as well. Perhaps once she reaches Totem Rank, she will be stabilized enough that she can come out and socialize.”

Karl felt the mental nod, and that she was learning from Rae, and planned to make a grand entrance to introduce herself to the rest of the group properly.

They were all aware of her work, and she had interacted with them in her dreamlike state, but it would be the first time that she got to meet them all in person. That was a big thing, even bigger than just an advancement, so she had to make it grand.

With nothing important to do, everyone settled into their daily tasks.

The three Priestesses spent most of the day in prayers, Ophelia and Thor went to spar, while Dana mediated to improve her mana pool and the stability of her new advancement.

Karl did the same, but he had another goal.

One of his class skills improved his Soul Power based on his Power Matrix. He currently had it at nine points, and that had been excellent for his progression, but he had a solid vision for the twenty-seven point formation.

In theory, that should triple his growth rate, and the amount of mana that he could transfer to the beast spaces, up to his personal limit.

So, keeping the focus on Supreme Lady Matilda, whose image he had used for the nine point formation, Karl began focusing on filling in the extra spaces and rearranging the focal points into a much larger matrix.

While he worked, he couldnʼt move any mana at all to the beasts. But the whole process only took a few hours of intense concentration, and left him with a pounding headache that faded after a few minutes.

Then, Karl gently began to flow mana through the new formation, checking for imperfections before everything settled into a permanent position that he would have to destroy to alter.

He didnʼt find any bottlenecks or instabilities as he pulled mana through to his limits. So, he focused on the Blade of Champions and the life energy that it had stored. The Haint had absorbed almost all that it had stored when it awakened, so he let it keep what little soul energy it had left.

He had enough work to do just with the Blade of Champions and the beast spaces.

Working on advancing them was his highest priority, as only the two were actually at the Totem Rank. The rest were close, but not quite past the breaking point yet.

That would change tonight.

The spaces were improving much more rapidly than Karl had expected, now that his level wasnʼt a limiter on their advancement.

Something outside would surely notice the mana imbalance from the amount that he was pulling, but Karl was careful not to mess with the mana balance inside the Tiny World so that it didnʼt interfere with the othersʼ work.

That was another thing that Karl realized he should work on later. He was much more powerful than he had been when he formed the Tiny World. If he wanted to, he could greatly increase the limits of the space.

However, there was plenty of room, even for dragons who wished to fly around and relax.

So, Karl focused on a different project.

He created a massive crystal near the Guild House, in an unused hilly section that Thor and Ophelia had deemed unsuitable for practice. As he formed it, Karl coated the entire thing in mana storage runes.

He could use it as a massive mana battery, like the Lich Lords had done with the crystal in their wagon.

Twenty tonnes of Totem Ranked Runic stone would be able to slowly collect an absolutely enormous amount of mana. That should be enough to power not only the space, but all the practice that was done inside and the training of the others.

Flooding the body with higher Rank mana was an effective method of pushing toward an advancement, and once this was full, everyone else should be able to drag themselves toward Overlord.

It might not be the most effective way to pull lower level companions toward the highest group memberʼs standard, but it was hundreds of times better than just letting them fumble along on their own.

In a way, it was like having a mentor, as the Spellblade Clans did.

Someone who could teach you and help your growth progress smoothly. Only, it wasnʼt limited to just one Class, but to members of the Darklight Host and others that Karl trusted enough to bring into this space.

Perhaps he should put some protective Runes on the crystal, or the platform it was sitting on, to prevent theft attempts or misuse if someone broke in.