Chapter 98: Third Magic Ring
"Calm down and let him, let it embrace you."
In Chronos' words, James suddenly let go of his tightly clutched chest and began to realise the strange sensation that had entered his body.
He realised in a subtle way that the magic in his body was becoming more complex as if something inside him was beginning to evolve, he was able to understand the source of the pain he was feeling directly.
The 'magic' rings around his heart were the main source of the magic in his body and James could now recognise that they were developing and becoming more complex.
As soon as he was back in the cross-legged position and able to relax and focus, he felt that even his breathing could be pleasurable as if every nerve in his body was being activated. The magic rings and his aura were not clashing and instead were trying to help James.
His skin seemed to attract the magic itself, the aura in his body transferred the magic drawn from the outside into his heart and the two rings around his heart vibrated.
After almost an hour of meditation, James slowly became aware of a third ring forming around his heart.
He breathed deeply, inhaling and exhaling, drawing the magic from the field Chronos had created into his body without stopping for an hour. It seemed to take a tremendous burden on James to force a force so superior to him into his body, to acclimatise him to it.
It was at that moment that he became aware of a hand on his back.
"Stay focused, you're doing well, all I ask is that you keep doing what you're doing. If you manage to create the third ring, you will have a small chance against the Fallen Gods." Chronos suddenly said, and as his hand touched James' back, the magical order around James seemed to be fully restored.
James could now feel the enormity of the magical energy, or 'mana' in the language of the world, entering his body, and even though he was doing his best to relax himself, the enormity of this energy was still overwhelming him.
After a short period of time, James realised that the third ring around his heart was slowly becoming more and more tangible, or more precisely, distinct.
Realising what was happening, James suddenly increased the circulation of the aura in his body to a higher level and increased the amount of magical energy coming in succession to an even greater amount. Chronos was shocked by James' bravery, he didn't expect anyone to knowingly put themselves in a situation that could jeopardise their life and burst their heart.
Not since Erebus, a strange character, had he encountered someone capable of such foolish behaviour.
"Well done James, you are doing very well, make the last move, and transfer all the energy you have gathered now to the third ring!" Chronos suddenly shouted, and James, hearing this, suddenly sucked all the energy he had gathered around him into his body.
Blood was pouring out of all the holes in his body, no words could even be created to describe how much pain he was in, yet he could only imagine how much good it would do him.
The third ring officially began to revolve around his heart and joined the first two rings. A ring was formed that was many times stronger and larger than the first two rings.
James suddenly fell to the ground, albeit involuntarily, and Chronos stretched out his body to comfort him.
James could feel the blood flowing from his body, but the smile on his face seemed to indicate that he didn't care. In just an hour and a half his body had formed a magic ring.
"I'm proud of you, who would have thought that the aura itself could help gather magical energy," Chronos said suddenly, his smile showing how much he was enjoying what was happening.
James laughed, showing his teeth, the blood seeming to stop coming out of the holes in his body.
"We still have to stop this, we have inadvertently created a magic ring, what you needed to do was absorb the time element, not create a magic ring," Chronos said, and James seemed confused by these words.
James, his brow furrowed in confusion, turned to the old man who was trying to heal him and then said, "But all I did was absorb the time element, they entered my body as magical energy."
Chronos looked at James as if surprised by what he had heard and then said, "I need to check something."
As he said these words, he placed a gentle hand on James' chest and closed his eyes, James could feel the magical energy gently entering his body, his body was instantly free of all pain and relaxed.
"How come?" Chronos said suddenly, the surprise in his eyes was indescribable.
"Did I do something wrong?" James asked, not realising what was going on:
"I have been living for a very long time, but this is the first time I have encountered such a thing, James. The first ring has no colour, the second ring burns with a colourful flame and the third ring glows with the law of time. The elements you use are engraved into the magic rings. It is incredible."
James smiled when he heard these words and then asked, "How exactly will this help me?"
Hearing the question, Chronos shook his head and said, "I have no idea, I seriously have no idea."
Even a being like Chronos, who could be assumed to have a mindset since the beginning of time, was encountering such a thing for the first time.
Chronos didn't know when he had last been so shocked, yet he was very happy to have this young man standing next to him as his pupil.
His gaze turned to the young man lying next to him with his eyes closed and he smiled, it was impossible not to smile.
James was far too interesting.