"I don't think they can, I get the feeling that I'm in a different space from you. In order to cast spells while inside I would have to make a hole or have some method of getting around the barrier. Maybe through another plane?"
"That's too risky. Many creatures on other planes are hostile to those in the material plane. The laws here hurt them just from coming in contact with this plane. It's like trying to survive in the sky without any wings." Lyla explained.
"Hm, that won't work then. The description says that I can train it to take on other forms but that might take a while. You going to stick around and test them with me?" Chronos asked.
"Might as well. I need to master my [Axiom of Dominance] too."
"Alright."
Sitting down inside the barrier Chronos remembered that he had been given The Divine Beast method that he needed to study too.
For half the day he cast [Isolate] repeatedly while Lyla would attempt and sometimes succeed in destroying them. Close to noon Chronos managed to have [Isolate] take the form of a shield but it was too weak and Lyla shattered it almost immediately.
From this they discovered that Chronos' barriers would float when they were made in the air. Maybe he could create a moving [Isolate] by focusing on it after it was created.
Lyla had also managed to perform a full transformation with the [Divine Form], it caused a rotating halo filled with divine sigils to appear above her and a pale-gold lattice faintly glowed just beneath her skin.
The effects were a rank suppression of one minor rank within ten meters of her per her rank, so thirty meters right now. In addition, her physical and magical power increased by 50% allowing her to reach 7.5 points in both physique and spirit.
That was almost half as strong as Chronos' maximum power! With that much power she could rival a fourth rank human lord.
It only took her two swings of her mace to shatter a full-strength [Isolate] without any other enhancements, from this they determined that [Isolate] could block one full strength attack from a normal fourth rank Lord.
Unfortunately, there was a cost to be paid for using this form. For an hour after its use her spirit regeneration speed was cut in half, and her physical abilities were 10% weaker than before. All in all, being able to fight almost a full rank above yourself for a temporary weakness was a good trade.
The training had exhausted both of them, so they decided to stop for lunch. After lunch Chronos was too tired to continue practicing [Isolate], instead he began to review the Divine Beast method.
After several hours he was both shocked and impressed with the Divine Beast method. In order to become a divine beast this method requires you to concentrate all of your bloodline power into a single point in your body.
The second heart.
It was a dangerous move, as the power could tear apart the second heart, or any body part it touched, but the key to surviving was to compress that power at the critical moment. Doing so would expel the impure Bloodline energy from your body while elevating what remained to a higher level.
It was such a simple method that Chronos was surprised. However, he had never heard of the second heart before now.
Reading the Divine Beast method, it explained that the second heart was an organ that was incorporeal yet existed in the same space as a physical heart.
It was composed of multiple chambers, just like a normal heart, but instead of pumping blood it pumped energy through the body. Depending on which chamber was open it would pump different forms of energy.
The aura chamber could be opened with rigorous training while there was no known method of opening the magic chamber. This was why only some people could use magic while others relied on aura.
A beast's bloodline power was also the result of a chamber in the second heart overlapping perfectly with the physical heart. This fused their power with their blood both limiting the growth of the beast and determining what sort of powers it would have.
The stronger the beast was, the more its second heart overlapped with its physical heart. If a beast managed to break through its bloodline the second heart would develop a new chamber or enlarge one that already existed. Break through enough times and it would become a divine beast.
Unfortunately, intelligent beings had it a bit more difficult as they not only had to achieve enough power to reach divinity they also had to comprehend a law whereas a beast did so naturally. Additionally, most intelligent beings lacked the durability that beasts possessed making it difficult if not impossible for them to use the Divine Beast method.
Chronos didn't have to worry about that as werewolves were quite durable.
Continuing his reading Chronos found out that there was a shortcut within the Divine Beast method. By fusing divine power or strong holy power into your bloodline when compressing all of the bloodline energy together you could achieve a divine bloodline.
Once you obtained a shred of divine bloodline you could train it to grow stronger and develop techniques for your bloodline.
But there was a chance that doing so would attract the attention of whatever being had originally developed that divinity. Attracting a divine being's curiosity or wrath could be lethal if you couldn't satisfy them.
Luckily Chronos already had a divine bloodline! It was very impure and unconcentrated, but it would serve as a suitable base for training the Divine Beast method. In order to reach the next level of bloodline power, he would need to purify it at least once with this method.
It would be risky to do before he had more time to practice with his bloodline power and sense the second heart. If he couldn't even sense the second heart, then he would never be able to purify his bloodline.
For now, he decided to sense his bloodline as often as he could and practice his abilities whenever he had free time.
With that decision made he cast [Isolate] and settled down for a long boring session of meditation.
...
After a couple hours Chronos gave up. Even with his eyes closed he could smell and hear nearly everything going on inside of the fortress. If he was going to sense an incorporeal heart he needed to dull his other senses.
Standing up he went to look for Sariah, maybe she knew a curse that could shut off his senses.
Asking around he found out that she was with Vessin right now, probably discussing alchemy and magic. Heading underground he found Vessin's chambers and knocked on the wall as there were no doors amongst the naga.
"Enter." Came Vessin's voice.
Stepping inside Chronos saw that both Sariah and Lyla were present.
"Sorry for interrupting girl talk but I have a request for Sariah. Can you cast a blindness curse on me?"
"No, why do you want to be blind?"
"I'm training a new method, and it requires me to sense an incorporeal object. My senses are too strong, so sight, sound, and smell all interfere with my training. I need a way to dull or silence all of them until I'm finished with my training." Chronos explained.
Looking a bit concerned, Sariah gave him some advice. "Don't go using curses to do that, they might strip you of your senses permanently. In the first place using curses to take away a person's senses is incredibly difficult. Normal curses only interfere with a person's senses by causing hallucinations, ghost sounds, or throwing off timing. To completely strip away a sense requires an extensive ritual or great power."
Cocking his head to the side he said, "So it's possible but there are often long-term effects?"
"Yes, it's also not a fast process which makes such rituals unusable in combat. That's why combat curses only interfere with and don't strip away a sense, at least low and mid-ranking combat curses don't."
"My tribe uses a potion to erase our scent when we are outside, if I alter the recipe some, we can use it to erase your sense of smell. Unfortunately, I don't know of any way to help with sight or sound." Vessin offered.
Lyla had a thoughtful look on her face as she added her thoughts to the discussion.
"I have seen cursed objects brought into the temple before, what if you use a ritual to curse a blindfold and give that to Chronos?"
"There is a risk of the curse jumping to Chronos when he wears it. We would need to somehow limit its movement or permanently bind its effects to the blindfold." Sariah dismissed the idea as too dangerous.
Looking at Lyla, Chronos had a sudden thought.
"What if Lyla places sigils of order on the blindfold? It would keep the power contained as order hates things not following the rules and still have the effect of blinding those who wear it."
"You want to make a holy object that causes blindness?" Lyla was perplexed by the thought.
"If it helps with my training then yes." Chronos said.