Lucian sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, his hands still tied behind his back. Damaging the beast and taking some pirates down with it was a small victory in his eyes. Nobody accused him of causing havoc with the beast, so it must have looked like an unfortunate coincidence.
Taking a deep breath, he removed the astral shield that prevented the blessings from reaching him.
One after another, the blessings came rushing in, his gold rank close to breaking through to the emerald rank. The energy strengthened his body, sharpened his vision, and heightened his senses.
Then he cut the connection again, becoming blind to the outside world, not letting anything influence his actions.
'How do you meditate in situations like these?' He had no idea. He had been practicing astral manipulation with chaos as his practice ground, which made it difficult to progress.
He learned that things in the astral plane didn't have a sense of distance, but they were separated by barriers.
So far, he had been able to push his astral energy outward, transferring what his body could do outside his physical form, heating the air, creating pressure waves that mimicked the ones in his body, stuff like that. These barriers were the weakest, and easier to break through.
As a northerner, his biggest affinity was with the earth's core, so he logically continued from there.
Similarly to how northerners passed blessings to each other, the astral plane acted as a medium, the energy traveling from one place to another through it.
The textbooks Lady Lily read out for him called it 'Astral tunneling'.
All Lucian had to do was find the right frequency to connect to the earth's core, tunnel through the barrier, and move some of the gravitational force to his astral projection. Which was why meditation and a high rank were essential.
When he finally felt a pull, he latched onto it and yanked it toward himself. The ship beneath him rumbled. He was doing it; he was pulling the Earth core's force closer to the surface─.
"Ack!" An invisible punch to his jaw made him lose his concentration and the connection.
Lucian stumbled back. He regained his balance before his head hit the wall. The trials and errors of learning astral manipulation on his own were rough.
Voice never taught him, making him wonder if there was a barrier which prevented it from taking over his body completely. And if he could strengthen that barrier to cut off the shackles' influence, maybe he could regain his freedom.
It also never encouraged Lucian to go to school. The less knowledge he had, the easier it was to control him.
'I'm sure Voice wanted to end me.'
Lucian tilted his head, no longer able to meditate. He was sure it wasn't a simple threat. If Voice had the choice, it would have ended his life, and it tried, with the help of other Voices.
'What rules are making them keep me alive? The will of the other entities... or should I call them invaders? They want me to live, but also want me to follow their agenda.'
Lucian swatted away the interruptions that were trying to make him focus on something else. Like calling him stupid for trying to meditate on the enemy's ship, or tempting him to break out and kill everyone, or reminding him of Celine, and how she might be with someone else now.
He couldn't even remember what he was thinking about after a while, despite remembering his business's financial records. He never forgot a face or a name. Yet with his own thoughts, they were all jumbled up.
"Hey," one guard whispered, "You are a priest, right? Can you bless me? I'll share my food with you."
Lucian's eyes shifted to the guard, who was peeking at him through the small window of his cell. He could rip his ropes apart , only because they thought he was a weak hay head, "Ah, yes. Come in, I will bless you."
Another guard elbowed the first one.
"What's the harm in getting blessed?"
The second guard rolled his eyes. "Be careful." He leaned against the wall and watched as the first one opened the door.
Lucian looked up at him with gentle eyes, putting on his best priestly act. He used the darkness of his cell to his advantage, keeping his face hidden.
The guard untied his hands, and Lucian rubbed his wrists, "What priest rank are you?"
"You will find out soon enough, my child," Lucian said in a low voice, "Now kneel."
The guard hesitated, looking back at his friend, who shrugged. He then knelt in front of Lucian, offering a gold ingot.
Voice never taught him how to bless people. It was one of the 'useless' talents they thought he would never need. When, in truth, it was using the astral tunneling technique. Some were more proficient in it than others, like Goblin and the courtesans.
Lucian placed his right hand on the guard's shoulder, his other hand took the gold ingot, repeating the prayer he heard in the church. "May the Gods watch over you and guide you on your path..."
The guard looked at him expectantly, waiting for the blessing to take effect.
Lucian patted his shoulder. Searching through the astral plane, he found the gold ingot's frequency and tunneled through it, pulling the astral energy from the ingot and pushing it into the guard's body.
The guard's eyes widened as the gold ingot in Lucian's hand glowed and then disintegrated into dust, "T-thank you... Father."
Lucian nodded, asking for a bucket of water to wash his hands. It was something that even his underlings could do. He just had to brainwash himself into being the guards' worshipper, and it worked. He saw his people doing it and talking about it so many times, that he knew the process, just not the theory behind it.
"Did it work?" the second guard asked after his friend closed the door.
"Yes, I'm close to advancing to silver rank and leaving this damn ship."
The strongest pirates usually went on a solo journey after they reached a certain rank. Lucian's ferals were all third-ranked when they ambushed Woodheart's ship. The Woodhearts had a few strong individuals, but the rest were weaker. And as Lucian had noticed, it was the lone wolves who were the strongest in pirate society.
"Let me ask him to bless you too."
The second guard wanted to, but he didn't have enough money. "Nah, I'm good for now."
The first guard shrugged and returned with a bucket of water, "Here you go, Father. Are you hungry?"
"Very," Lucian said, washing his hands, "A razor and a comb would also be appreciated."
"I will try to sneak you some meat," the guard said, his attitude completely different toward Lucian now. "My name is Nilo, by the way."
"Thank you, Nilo. You have been blessed by the Gods themselves."
"Whoa, thank you, Father." Nilo smiled from ear to ear, his head bowed low as he left to get more food.