Mental Energy

Mental Energy is generally simply used as fuel during Dao Manipulation and other similar means, but in Zac's case he's far more dependent on specifically controlling mental energy due to his lack of affinities making it so he has no Dao Control. Though the manipulation of mental energy does appear to be bolstered by a good Dao Control, it can be independently improved with practice, but more importantly by upgrading the Soul.

Having a good control over it as well as having large stores also helps when upgrading skills or making new ones.

## References

When he ran low on Cosmic Energy, he took a sip from the lake water and let the burn quickly restore his deficit. He did avoid using the Dao of Heaviness, though, as he didn’t have any means to restore his mental energy apart from sleeping. **B1-P348**

Until now, he’d charged his strike up as he did with Cosmic Energy, starting to infuse the Dao even before the swing started. That both gave the defender a warning and wasted too much mental energy. **B1-P477**

Infusing a skill with Dao was straightforward enough, and it used two components; his Mental Energy and his Dao. The Mental Energy was essentially like Cosmic Energy, flavorless and without any attunement. His insights into his Daos transformed the blank slate of Mental Energy into something with meaning, and this new energy could be used to empower attacks.

Of course, as with everything else, there were varying degrees of skill related to this process. At the moment he only pumped his attacks full of his mental energy, but this skill required far more sophistication. The biggest difference was that it required him to infuse a skill with two Daos at once, something he had never accomplished before. **B3-548**

Zac was afterward unceremoniously thrown out of the Academy, and he walked over to Calrin’s. Thirty minutes later, he left with a tool that could train one’s mental dexterity. It was almost like a toy, where one needed to utilize mental energy to activate the contraption in certain patterns, but the amount of energy and the direction were extremely strict. **B3-584**

Zac didn’t drive this time either, instead opting to sit in the front seat, training with the mental dexterity puzzle. If his mind was slowly being infused with a foreign force, it was more important than ever to have a firm grasp of his mental energy. Perhaps if he could control his mind better, he would be in a better position to contend against the mind-altering effect of the Splinter of Oblivion. **B3-647**

The reaction didn’t come from his body, though, like when he was near a great natural treasure, but it rather was a prickling sensation from his soul. Zac had a pretty good guess what it was after remembering just who had been the owner of the sack, and he could quickly confirm it was some sort of Soul Crystal.

The crystal didn’t seem to be attuned, but instead something that contained mental energy. He had never heard of anything like it before, and it had never been on display in any of the shops in the Base Town. A soothing sensation entered his mind the moment he started absorbing it, and he felt his drained soul rapidly regain its vigor. **B5-P222**

The second node in his soul allowed for an additional outburst of Mental Energy, replacing Dao Braiding or Dao Arrays with additional force. **B6-680**

He was supposed to take charge of the Mental Energy that coursed through the body and merge it with that resonance to form a lasting bond. The problem was that Zac had gone overboard with his energy expenditure, and there was no way that he could control that much Mental Energy in one go. **B7-P374**

This was unfortunately easier said than done for Zac. His energy control wasn’t completely wretched like his Dao control, but it was still not something to write home about. **B7-P529**

Zac suddenly froze as he had a flash of inspiration. Perhaps there was a unique path he could take.

Two thick streams of Mental Energy emerged from the core of his soul, and they moved around in his aperture like two flood dragons, twining around each other as they moved. It was obviously Zac who did it, but his eyes lit up at the result. Wasn’t this Dao Braiding, except that the energy currently lacked any Dao?

Instead of using his Dao as the guide and his Mental Energy as the fuel like normal cultivators, what if he did it the opposite way? Form the braid with streams of Mental Energy with the help of his unusually powerful soul, then infuse the streams with Dao like they were some sort of cables. From there, he could infuse his skills with the newly formed Dao Braid. **B7-P615**

The contents were left in a chaotic jumble that Zac started to organize into piles, something that had become a lot easier since his control over mental energy got stronger. **B8-P171**

However, the skill fractal suddenly started to shake as warning messages appeared next to the hologram, causing Zac to frown with worry. Things weren’t quite out of control, but it was clear his adjustments threatened to destroy the skill fractal’s balance. The fractal had to be constantly filled with Cosmic and Mental Energy to stay malleable, and it was this that made the process so precarious since the energy could go wild and ruin the whole fractal. **B8-P436**

Zac immediately had an idea, and streams of Mental Energy emerged from the eight fully-formed cores. It felt so natural, so easy. Before, he could arduously control two streams, to form his crude Dao braids. But now, he was actually controlling eight of them, though their movements were a bit stiff. **Chapter 801**

The essence of the soul strengthening method was hidden in that dance, and he needed to imprint that essence into the ninth and final core. Zac immediately spread his consciousness, pushing his recently improved control to the limits as he rekindled the conflict between life and death throughout his soul. **Chapter 801**