Ascension of the elder

Chapter 64: Breakthrough or a breakdown

"Well it's about damn time."

Hearing Bruno Kyle looked at him and could swear he could see a shadow of him in a few years chewing on a cigar looking like a human hulk. Shaking off this weird image Kyle returned his attention to Miranda.

As this was the first time he was guiding someone else in doing this Kyle wanted everything to go perfectly. He had Bruno and Clara stand at a distance of about 10 feet away so they weren't crowding Miranda and they would be able to prevent anyone from accidentally wondering to close.

This may have been an unnecessary worry as everyone was aware of what was going on so rather than carry on with their duties or training everyone was standing in the surrounding area watching what was going to happen.

Kyle had Miranda sit on a blanket he had laid out on the ground while he sat in front of her. What he was doing seemed almost ritualistic but it was more so that in Miranda's mind she realised how important this was.

Once everything was prepared Kyle spoke to Miranda.

"Okay Miranda I'm going to dive into your spirit realm to keep a check on what's happening to you. I'll only help if I think there is a need, while I don't foresee any problems this is a different form of progress than most people follow. Now do you have any questions before we begin?"

"No sir we can start whenever."

"Okay now I need you to pay attention to all sensations and feelings you have during this process, anything may be helpful so don't dismiss anything. Firstly I want you to compress your mana as tightly as you can, pull in as much as you consciously can from your body as well. It should be located here."

Kyle indicated somewhere close to Miranda's heart. Although the spirit realm was not physically present in the body, there was still a connection so by indicating a specific area relative to the area where mana entered the channel would help in focusing.

Miranda nodded indicating her understanding before she closed her eyes and began concentrating. Kyle looked over her shoulder and could see Liam and Iris standing there looking a little concerned but not worried. Even if they trusted Kyle and believed he wouldn't do anything to hurt their daughter, she was still their little girl so they would still be concerned when she did something they hadn't done themselves.

Kyle dove into her spirit realm to check on how she was doing. The mana in her channel was gradually being force into a smaller and smaller area which was increasing the pressure on her while more mana was being drawn from her nodes. This was similar to what happened during Kyle's breakthrough but this was much gentler as she didn't have the same issues as Kyle did.

On the outside everyone was watching in silence. They could see Miranda had begun to sweat from the strain and her face was scrunched up from the slight pain she was feeling. Everyone was rooting for her as they had seen how this young girl had been training and she had become the little princess of the mansion. Even if she was a commoner everyone felt she had the best chance of being married to Kyle later in life.

Bruno was particularly worried as he had spent more time with Miranda and Kyle than the rest and he saw them as more than friends instead he felt they were his siblings. As he was fretting he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Looking over he saw his mother, his father had to leave to open the shop but his mother had hung around to see what would happen and seeing his worry she came over to offer her support. Clara was in a similar state when her parents came over and gave her their support.

It was arguably worse for Clara as she was aware that if this worked her father would be up next and there were more variables to her father's progress. Kyle had been totally open about what he was planning and the fact it was untried beyond what he had done to himself.

Back in the spirit realm Kyle was watching as the mana in Miranda's channel began to change slightly and began to take on a slightly different colour than the previous glistening mist. It took on a slight blue hue, which Kyle's mana didn't. This could lead to a whole new area of study because if the nature of mana was different between people or could be changed under certain stimulus it may answer some questions with regards to natural proficiency.

This was a point for another time however, Kyle decided now would be the best time to attempt to breakthrough. Kyle used his soul force and projected a command to Miranda, it was simple and only used one word.

'Now!'

At Kyle's command Miranda unleashed all the compressed mana which blasted out like water from a water cannon. This blast of mana flowed along the channel at a ridiculous rate while more mana was being pulled in like a vacuum.

On the outside the people who were watching suddenly saw Miranda's face relax when a sudden gust of wind occurred. The wind was blowing through from behind everyone, even though they were stood in a loose circle around the pair. This was the mana being drawn in and adding to what was already in Miranda's channel.

All the more experienced members were shocked by this as mana shouldn't be able to physically interact with the real world until it was converted by spells or skills. But here and now was something showing them it could which changed their perspective on what they knew.

Landon and Maria were still present and as the highest rated people here they knew this was bigger than what the others believed. This changed a fundamental facet of their understanding with just one breakthrough everything was different. How does the world work and what part does mana have in it?

Kyle was still monitoring Miranda and as the wave of mana was approaching her bottleneck he couldn't help but cross his fingers and hope for the best. He could do nothing now to help or hinder this process, he could only wait and watch.

The mana was fast approaching and had even begun to speed up, until *bang* it slammed into the gate which represented the bottleneck. Unlike what happened with Kyle it didn't take multiple hit's to break open this path, instead the gate burst open all the way. Once the gate was fully open it simply dissolved.

'Success' Kyle was happy and began to look for any changes or damage. Like what happened with him, once the gate was open the mana began to flow back and all of it changed to the denser and higher quality first level mana. The only difference he could discern was the banks of her channel dipped in a bit where the gate was previously but this blockage had already begun to shrink back and in a little while it would be totally gone.

Kyle pulled back from Miranda's spirit realm and looked at the young girl. She was still cultivating at the moment as her mana reserve felt rather low now but this was simply because when she levelled up the mana was compressed and now filled a channel 3 times longer than previously. It would take a little while for her to get used to this new feeling but she was now much more powerful.

She woke up shortly and seeing Kyle standing there smiling at her couldn't help but stand up and hug him. What greeted her after that was some wolf whistles from the crowd and a certain family member shouting out.

"You go girl get him now."

This made her go really red and she let go of Kyle before retreating several steps. Kyle didn't worry about it but instead began to check on her and get some details about the process and feeling of the breakthrough. Trying to marry it up with what he felt when he progressed.

It was largely the same, pain when they compressed the mana down and when it was blasted out it caused a suction which drained the mana from the nodes. As the nodes emptied mana was drawn from the atmosphere through the sub-nodes. Even though Miranda's sub-nodes weren't fully clear yet this didn't impede the mana flow.

Kyle checked her sub-nodes and found they were now completely clear. It appeared the influx of mana at her breakthrough had cleared them without having to wait. Kyle was happy with this and was now ready to try helping Ash clear his first gate. As he looked around for Ash, Kyle saw Dylan was still present.

"Dylan I thought you were going to see about the ruin after training?"

"Sir I'll go right away."

With that Dylan sprinted out of the mansion without even looking back. Kyle began to feel a little guilty when Ash came up to him and said something which made him feel even worse.

"I think you broke him."