(Leoās recap, continued)
Although on the warrior front, things seemed to be going well for Leo, the same could not be said about his emotional state, as it had been a mess ever since he killed the Twelfth Elder three months ago.
The first time when he noticed his unstable state, he attributed it to finally gaining clarity in his life on what he considered important, however, the prolonged emotional swings made him wonder if that theory was right?
Almost everyday, he saw his aura swinging from red, to maroon, to blue to pink, and he could not understand why.
It was as if he suddenly had no control over his emotional state whatsoever, and it bothered him very much that this was the case.
At first he tried to ignore it, as despite his emotional state fluctuating, he still had a clear head and could focus on the task at hand, however, as time progressed, his condition only grew increasingly worse until he found himself unable to focus on a single task at all.
[Fade Step] became the first technique that Veyr mastered before him, not because he found it to be particularly complicated, but because his mind refused to focus on practicing it.
It was in that moment that he realized that he had to confront his wavering emotions before they spiraled into something far worse, and hence decided to visit Charles at once.
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(Present Day, Planet Juxta, Leoās POV)
"LORD FATHERRRRā-"
Came a cry almost as soon as he stepped onto the Juxta Military Base, as Dumpy came flying towards his direction and stuck straight on his face.
*Plop*
"Lord Father, I have missed you so much, the smoking man has tortured me too much! Itās too much! My belly fat is now gone because of him.
Iām a lean frog now.
If I try to find a mate, she will think Iām a bad hunter and canāt feed myself properly.
She wonāt marry me now.
Lord Father, Iām going to die a virgin." Dumpy complained, as Leo pulled him off his face and placed him on his shoulders.
"You look strong, Dumpy, I can sense your powerful aura.
Iām proud of you." Leo replied, as he ignored all other complaints and only focused on the fact that Dumpy had grown stronger since the last time he met him.
"Well.... Well.... Well.... Look who finally decided to visit Juxta again ladies and gentlemen." Charles said when he saw Leo approaching, as all the Lieutenants and soldiers around Charles stopped what they were doing and cast a friendly glance towards Leo.
"Are you lost, boy? Were you planning to visit Vorthas, but accidentally arrived on Juxta?" Charles teased, as Leo chuckled at his question.
"Iāve missed you too, Commander." He replied, as Charles brought out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it up.
*Huff*
"So boy, how long do you plan to be here? You have a lot of technical knowledge to catch up on.
I wasnāt done turning you into a proper military commander before you left for your last deployment." Charles asked, as Leo let out a troubled sigh.
"The Esteemed Council has already assigned a new mission to me, Commander, Iāll be off to conquer Nemo in a month." Leo replied, as Charles raised a cautious eyebrow.
"Do they have a concrete plan? Or is this a whim deployment?" He asked, as Leo shrugged his shoulders in response.
"I donāt know..... last I was informed scouts are working overtime on Nemo trying to bring us useful information on how to disable the planetary shield, but I havenāt heard any good news yet." He shared, as Charles exhaled a long drag from his cigarette.
"Idiots...." Charles muttered, as Leo rubbed the back of his neck and wondered how to broach the important topic he was really here for.
"Can we talk in private for a while, Commander? Thereās something I need to tell you....."
He requested sheepishly, as Charles carefully studied the concerned expression on his face.
"Of course boy, follow me to my cabin." He replied, as Leo followed in tow.
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(Inside Charlesās private cabin)
"What is it, boy? What do you want to talk about in private?" Charles asked, watching as Leo clutched at his hair in frustration.
"Itās my emotional state, Commander. Itās been unstable for the past three months.
My aura changes color every half hour, and itās starting to affect my focus. Lately, Iāve been feeling like a drug addict, Iām either too happy and carefree or too crushed by despair. Thereās no balance, and I canāt figure out why..." Leo confessed, his voice tight with strain.
The moment the words left his mouth, all color drained from Charlesās face.
"How long have you been facing this problem, boy? Three months, you said?" His tone turned grave, as Leo nodded in confirmation.
"Motherfucker!" Charles snarled, slamming his fist on the table.
*BANG*
"We need to hurry, boy. This is serious," he said, as for the first time Leo could hear panic edging into his voice.
"What is? Whatās so serious?" Leo asked, his innocence clashing with the weight in Charlesās eyes.
"Your soul has started to outgrow your body, boy. Your vessel is no longer strong enough to contain it. This only happens when a warrior destined to ascend long ago is still shackled to a lower tier. It is your bodyās way of warning you that you must ascend quickly. If we donāt act soon, you may suffer an episode that will scar your foundations permanently."
Charles explained, as Leo felt a chill crawl down his spine as those words sank in.
He had no idea that his emotional swings were symptoms of something so important, or else he wouldnāt have waited three months to tell Charles about it.
"Where are you lacking for your promotion? Why havenāt you already become a Transcendent?" Charles asked, as Leo thought about every criteria needed to ascend, before pointing out the only field where he still had improvement left to make.
"Itās my meditation manual..... the [SevenFold Revelation Codex] is the only aspect I havenāt mastered for promotion.
Everything else is done, skills, mental threshold, mana threshold, physical threshold.
The only thing left for me to master is intent, and I donāt think I can rush mastering that ...." Leo replied with a troubled voice, as Charles grew even more pale.
This was more problematic than he thought.