Legendary Beast Master: Starting with Contracting SSS Rank Dragon-Chapter 34: The Bizzare Astral World

Kael stayed frozen for a while, staring at the colorful Astral World as if it were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. It was his savior.

[You can zone out later. I'll transfer some knowledge about the Astral World to that little bug... what did you name her again? Alpha?]

'Yes, she is Alpha.'

[Good. I'll give her the information. But if you stay here too long without protection, you'll get lost and turn brain-dead.]

'You're sending me back?' Kael asked.

[Rank up again if you want to stay here longer. The Astral World contains horrors beyond your imagination, kiddo.]

Kael took one last look around before he felt himself being pulled down. His vision blurred, and the next moment, he was back in his body. Everything felt surreal, like waking up from a dream.

He slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a dark, damp cave. His eyes took a moment to adjust before he looked around to assess the situation.

Beside him, a young woman was curled up, her lion ears drooped and her tail wrapped around her leg. He smiled and said, "Having sweet dreams?" novelbuddy.cσ๓

Kiona groggily opened her eyes, raising her head slightly. Her sleepy expression quickly changed when she saw Kael awake.

"Master!!"

She threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. He could feel her trembling.

He sighed softly. She had already lost so much. Seeing him unconscious must have scared her deeply. He was her last bit of hope, and the thought of losing him had shaken her.

He gently stroked her hair and whispered, "I'm safe. I'm not going anywhere, especially not away from you."

Kiona nodded but didn't let go. "What happened?"

"I ranked up," Kael said calmly. "But I'm a little special, so things got a bit intense. Even I didn't expect it."

"Is that all? Any danger?"

"Not really. So don't worry. I'm fine," he reassured her. "Get some rest. We'll talk tomorrow."

She hummed softly. As Kael laid her down, she suddenly grabbed his hand and took his thumb into her mouth.

Kael blinked in surprise as she began sucking on it and quickly fell asleep. She didn't seem to realize what she was doing.

He smiled and let her be if it helped her sleep peacefully. This was probably the first time she had truly rested since she ran from her Pride.

He kissed her forehead gently and laid beside her. His thumb still in her mouth, he thought, 'She's so cute like this.'

Shaking off the thought, he focused again.

'Alpha, tell me everything you know about the Astral World.'

[The information I received from Draven is fragmented. I cannot give you the full picture.]

'Expected. Some of it must be corrupted. Still, tell me what you can.'

[Understood. The Astral World is a transcendental realm that overlaps with the physical world in strange ways.]

'That's the basic part, huh.'

[It's also the source of mana. The physical world has none. Your soul power determines how much mana you can pull from the Astral World.]

'Wait, what?'

[Yes. The physical world is devoid of mana, and everyone draws mana from the Astral World. Since the Astral World overlaps with the physical world, every being has an Astral Projection there, even if it's very small and weak.]

'And that Astral Projection depends on how strong one's soul is?'

[Yes. This is why mana and soul power are different. When you kill others, you gain soul power, not mana. But once you rank up, your soul power grows exponentially, and you can attract and pull mana from the Astral World into the physical world in larger quantities.]

'Interesting! I thought mana was just an energy existing all around me,' Kael's curiosity piqued as he asked, 'What about my mana pool then? Why do I feel like I have such a large amount?'

[It is just a guess of mine based on the information I possess. What potentially happens is that the stronger your soul, the more mana it attracts in the Astral World. That attracted mana becomes your mana pool, since you can pull it into the physical world more easily.]

'And when I finish using it, more mana begins to gather to fill the empty spots around my soul?'

[Something like that.]

Kael rubbed his chin and thought, 'My soul isn't really that powerful, so there should be other factors involved too, like Evolution and Classes.'

[Indeed. They can also be factors affecting it. You being a Legendary Dragon makes your soul of much higher quality, possibly more connected to the Astral World, so you can attract more mana.]

'But I absorbed Draven's mana,' Kael thought. 'Wait! Wasn't his mana in the physical world?'

[Mana is a higher form of energy originating from the Astral World, so the laws of the physical world reject it. That is also the reason why, if you leave mana in the open without control, it'll return to the Astral World.]

'I used to think it just got assimilated with the environmental mana. Well, my guess wasn't that far from the truth.'

[Yes. The individual Draven is an exception to this. His sheer presence defies laws and concepts, so when his mana leaked, it existed both in the Astral World and the physical world and stayed within the physical world unnaturally.]

Kael felt a sliver of excitement just thinking about how strong Draven was, but the thought of him being sealed poured cold water over his excitement.

'If even someone like him can be sealed, then what am I? I need to be careful and work harder to become strong.'

He shook his head and said mentally, 'Continue.'

[The Astral World is layered, from what I sensed, but I don't know anything further on this.]

'Yeah, that reminds me. How do skills and all that actually work?' Kael ignored that bit of information for now since there wasn't anything he could do with it and instead focused on something else he was curious about.

[The majority of skills need mana to be activated, and mana can only come into the physical world through a medium. Usually, when humans use skills, the medium used is their Soul Core and the God's blessings or should I say, the system.]

'What about beasts then? Ain't their God dead? How do they use skills? Only Soul Core?'