Chapter 86: Equanimity.
The old man Estrada's words hung inside the room powerfully as the four stood straight.
But then suddenly Falcon opened his eyes wide at the shocking revelation.
'N-No way! Is Mr.Estrada himself going to guide us??', he thought unbelievably as the great founder was going to help them.
The other three didn't know what was going to happen but they were still a bit surprised someone so great was going to be aiding them.
Estrada then looked at Mr.Dealer and nodded while giving him a gesture.
Mr.Dealer nodded back and waved his hand, magically making four small pills appear on his palm.
The four of them turned to look at the pills that Mr.Dealer had brought out from his space ring as he walked toward them.
Estrada turned to instruct them.
"Take those pills right now, they're meant to serve as a limiter so that you won't advance to the first rank, preventing you from being ineligible to take part in those zero-rank battles."
Mr.Dealer handed all four a pill each and walked back, standing behind Estrada with a serious face.
Felix looked at the blue colored pill and questioned.
"We're not yet near to reaching the threshold of first rank, so why do we have to eat this pill?", it didn't make sense to limit themselves when they were still in zero rank.
Falcon, who already knew what was about to happen didn't answer and simply raised the corner of his lips with an excited look in his eyes.
Instead, it was Estrada himself who replied with a strange grin.
"Well, didn't I say it already? I have a solution here for you....."
That didn't answer any of the questions they had, so they just nodded.
"Alright, let's get started. You guys can eat the pill now.", Estrada said as he waved his hand at them.
Falcon was the first one to toss the pill into his mouth without any questions.
And seeing him do that, the other three didn't hesitate and ate the pill too.
They didn't feel anything much after eating the pill except for a cool feeling going throughout their body once.
Seeing that they had taken the pill and put a limit on themselves from advancing to the next rank, Estrada nodded and started.
"Get ready, and yeah...don't get knocked out."
The moment his words ended, and before they could even ask what he meant by it, a sudden wave of energy pressured them.
"Whoosh!!"
The four of them felt the force of gravity getting stronger on them, almost making them fall to their knees.
"Huh! What's this??"
"This energy!"
Confused and shocked, they resisted the force of energy while finding out that it was coming out from Estrada's body.
Suddenly, the force of the energy increased making them turn serious and stop fussing about the situation.
Estrada instructed with his black eyes brimming with radiant power and authority.
"Now close your eyes and start meditating with utmost concentration, feeling the energy molding your veins and body. The longer you resist, the more you'll gain.'
After hearing his words, the four of them realized that this was the help or the solution he had for them.
To put pressure on them until they improved.
Closing their eyes, they focused on meditating even though it very difficult to do so.
Mr.Dealer looked at them from behind Estrada with a strange grow in his eyes.
'You guys are pretty lucky. If it were not for the difficult times that the underworld has come to, then you wouldn't ever have gotten such a rare chance of cleansing your bodies.'
Yes, that's right.
What Estrada was doing was pressuring them with his powerful mana, not in a harmful way but in a very precise manner that very few in this world could do, to gradually release all the impurities in the body.
Although a person would be able to remove the impurities in their body through regular meditation and cultivating, they would feel themselves advancing to the next rank before they could rid of the whole hundred percent of it.
By taking the limiting pill and with the precise mana manipulation from Estrada, the four of them would be able to cleanse all the impurities from their bodies, giving them a solid and perfect foundation that would make them stronger than the regular warriors of the same rank.
And the precious ability to do this was one of the reasons why Estrada Moreza was regarded as a very important member of the Edenmont Underworld.
Now, for the four of them to make the most of it and thoroughly cleanse their body of impurities, it would solely depend on their emotional control, fortitude, and their will.
As time went by, the pressure of the energy increased gradually making them feel more and more out of breath.
But they still preserved and held onto themselves, forcing their mind to relax and breathing in rhythms to concentrate on meditating.
Felix, who was new to all this cultivating and meditating stuff compared to others was having the hardest out of all.
'Shit! If this goes on then I'll pass out in a few minutes now!!'
His mind couldn't focus due to the pressure at all, rendering his meditating useless and instead giving him more difficulty in keeping his consciousness awake.
"Whoosh!!"
The energy suddenly increased making the four of them hard to breath, especially Felix whose face turned red due to abnormal blood pressure inside his body.
'Ughhh! I can't continue anymore....'
As he faced off against the ever-increasing and suffocating energy coming from a cultivator of possibly more than the third rank, Felix realized that he couldn't afford to keep going like this and had to try something else.
Experience the best from m-vl _emp _yr.
'There's no other choice, I have to create a new skill, or else everything's going down the drain.'
Almost on his knees, Felix diverted his mind a bit to think about a suitable skill that could aid him in this problem.
'Let's see...no combat skills as that would be costly and not useful in this particular situation. Now that leaves with..... something like an auxiliary and passive skill I guess....'
Thinking hard about a good skill even though his thoughts weren't straight as of this moment, Felix went through his memories and knowledge, finding something that could be the most suitable to deal with all this pressure.
'Ughh....energy...resist the energy.....I gotta concentrate....focus and then ughh....be calm yeah be calm...wait that's it!', in his jumbled up and mess of a mind, a sudden thought of creating a skill emerged.
'System, quickly create this skill for me right now!', Felix shouted inside his head as his consciousness almost reached its limit and he couldn't hold himself anymore.
[Processing the skill's power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required...skill successfully moduled.]
[Ding!]
[Skill Name: Equanimity
Description:
A passive skill that enables the user to possess an unparalleled serenity, a harmonious balance that allows them to navigate the tumultuous waves of emotions and external pressures with unwavering composure.
This skill is a manifestation of inner peace, granting the user clarity of thought, resilience in the face of adversity, and the ability to turn all of the pressure into a more focused concentration
Cost: 140 Skill Points.]
[Do you wish to use 140 skill points and create the skill 'Equanimity'?]
Felix, who was on the verge of falling down wasn't in the mood to go through the description and his only thought was to keep his mind awake, so when the system processed the skill he didn't waste any time and hurriedly agreed.
'Create it already, can't you see I'm about to go off?...'
....[Ding!]
That was what Felix heard inside his head when his body slowly started falling forward onto the floor....