Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

It took Rain several days for him to connect the dots. Considering what he heard from the shield and what he knew about all relics, there was one thing that they all had in common… desire.

Even the power of the sins was filled by desire and the system recognized it as another source of power for the dragon. The shield, and the spear offered Rain a great deal of power when it comes water based attacks, and even blocking them, but the shield desired to be used to kill more dragons. That didn't make it stronger, but it certainly would free the guy inside…

At the same time, the golden bow was powerful on itself, but it could become powerful enough to shot down dragons under the right conditions. Those were that the user had valuable things with them. Rain was certain that such a power was connected to the greed… but he wasn't certain if the shield had a conscience like the shield.

"Either way, Isa said that the shield could be the copy of the mind or spirit of someone or maybe someone was sealed in it," Rain thought. "Either way, it looks like their desires and wishes affect their effects and powers."

Just using one's desires wouldn't be enough. Otherwise, a bunch of low lives would be insanely strong… one needed to have great magic power as well. Considering all that, it explained why Rain gained a great deal of power from the greedy vows… that would explain why the parts of some monsters could make great relics.

A sword made with the parts of an ice dragon, would have ice related abilities because they liked that kind of ambient and their bodies eventually began to emit that much energy… at the same time, a relic made through a leviathan dragon would have different effects, even though they originally had been water dragons.

One would have a more clear effect because it was more related to their pride and another was more related to their Gluttony… that would explain why Terra's staff makes her recover faster… she was also eating a bit more than usual.

"Considering that the monsters that sacrificed themselves to make the dungeons had a single desire to create it, the magic circle made of blood was only used to connect their desires," Rain thought. "They used their blood and their own bodies to make them become magic conductors for the spell… still, I can't imagine how someone could control so many of them to make that possible."

Either way, Rain knew that relying on the power of the sins was too risky… because of that, dragons became creatures ruled by their desires, Rain had to maintain logical.

Another thing that Rain realized was that the time that they spent under the dragons control, made the demi humans realize that and use their magic against them. How? He didn't know that yet, but he could experiment with it.

"Just by thinking I can activate a bunch of skills, the equipped ones is easier, but the others can also be used…" Rain thought. "That is also why I level up sometimes unknown skills."

Rain wanted to unlock the path that had the magic boost as soon as possible as well, if that technique is there with that name, Rain will confirm one important thing. The fact that some skills were called unknown and that they had the same name would make him confirm that those techniques didn't exist before and the system accepted them.

Regardless, to start the experiment, Rain focused as much as possible his will and aligned it with his mana. For starters, he used his mana to create a water ball that could work automatically… flying around the garden and watering some flowers.

It goes without saying, but Rain failed a bunch of times… he only succeeded when he created one while he thought about how the whole process was supposed to happen.

"As expected, mana is the power of mind and spirit… when we learn skills, we learn how the skills work and then we use our energy to make the process work," Rain thought.

Armed with this newfound understanding, Rain embarked on a gradual exploration of automating more complex tasks. However, his experimentation encountered an inevitable obstacle: the spells' inherent limitations. The spells, while in operation, could only persist for a finite duration as they couldn't continually draw upon Rain's mana while in action.

Consequently, the water balls lost their water reserves each time they moved and even more when they deployed the water for their intended purposes. This inherent restriction hindered Rain's attempts to sustain continuous, autonomous magical activities.
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The skill Water Manipulation received 100 experience points.

An unknown skill leveled up.

"Is the system assimilating this knowledge?" Rain rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

After witnessing the system's functionality once more, Rain couldn't shake the idea that one of the primary objectives of the system was to accumulate greater knowledge on how mana could be optimized and utilized more efficiently.

Beyond merely enhancing individual abilities, the system likely aimed to safeguard the world as well. This thought led Rain to believe that certain limitations were intentionally imposed by the system.

For instance, the depth to which Rain could delve into certain aspects of magic might be restricted, and drastic measures like the colossal dust storm could be the system's way of protecting the world from unforeseen threats.

"Until now, the system didn't try to make me stop learning new things, so that should be the only thing that I can do fully… come to think of it, when I receive more experience by leveling up skills, isn't that the system rewarding me for reaching some breakthroughs?" Rain thought.

Amidst pondering these concepts, Rain found himself unable to decisively conclude whether the system was inherently an ally or an adversary. Perhaps it was wiser, he surmised, to consider the system as a neutral entity… if it worked for tens of thousands of years, it couldn't be a person behind it...