Wouu. Fwaa.

A breath was drawn in through Novus’ nose and exhaled through his mouth. Soon, the actions became a rhythm that coincided with each slow, deep heartbeat.

Wouu. Fwaa.

Novus’ face was expressionless as he cupped his hands slightly above his navel and crossed his legs before his hips.

Wouu. Fwaa.

The mana core held deep within his body was a fragmented husk. Until now, Novus kept most of his internal mana pumping through mana vessels without circulating through his mana core. Should a spell be used in this state, a permanent crippling effect that would be nearly impossible to repair would occur.

I suppose I should thank Edna for sealing my mana.

Of course, Novus had past-life methods for dealing with such internal injuries, but her hidden concern wasn’t something Novus would forget.

Wouu. Fwaa.

Suddenly, Novus took out a wooden box while continuing his rhythmic breathing.

Mino.

Pew...

I’m going to need your help. Have you recovered enough?

Pew!

A joyful tone rang out from Mino, and although Novus was sure Mino hadn’t made a full recovery, it seemed that Mino was well enough to provide some minor support. Minor support was all Novus needed.

Novus’ cupped hands left his navel and gently opened the wooden box. Inside were numerous metallic needles with bright markings that resembled Novus’ earlier formation attempts.

This was Stash's prickly box, a cultivation tool that Novus was thankful for acquiring only a few days ago.

Novus’ hand floated above as he directed his rope-like Divine Sense into the box of needles. In response, the inscriptions on the body of a singular needle let out a dull hum and rose into the air. The needle lightly circled Novus, and he resumed his posture with his eyes closed. The needle was thin enough not to draw blood as it pierced into Novus’ naked torso. Then, another needle let out a hum from the box and floated around Novus.

With each needle guided by Novus’ mental thoughts, the mana coursing through Novus’ body seemed to slow to a crawl.

…

Time passed as Novus felt numerous needles landing inside his body and blocking nodes of mana vessels from coursing mana through them.

…

Eventually, the needles in the box dwindled until only one was left. Then, with a final drop into the crown of his head, Novus felt a sudden exhaustion nearly overwhelm him. It felt like the vitality was taken entirely from him as he awaited the expected results.

…

It took some time, but Novus felt a foreign power breaking inside his body. Initially powered by his mana, Edna’s mana seal was supposedly endless if mana flowed within Novus. However, with the source of its never-ending strength cut off, the seal itself was using its own magic to last this long.

Crack.

However, Edna had met her magical foe as Novus already recognized the ins, outs, ups and downs of all the seals placed by her finger.

Shatter!

Novus heard the muffled sound reminiscent of glass shattering as he felt the constraints of Edna’s mana seal break apart and the white fog filling his mana vessels dissipate. At the same time, the needles stuck inside Novus all turned red.

With the seal gone, Novus was free to circulate mana again, but the cost was that his throbbing body felt like crying out in pain.

Clench.

However, Novus didn’t make a sound against the pain as he continued his rhythmic breathing.

Mino, it’s time.

Novus had a theory. A crazy one at that. But, the more thought he put into the idea, the more plausible it sounded to him.

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There were many approaches to mana core cultivation. Nearly as many as there were mana core cultivators. However, there were recognized cores surpassing many commonly-refined mana cores.

In Angrea, heavenly constitutions enabled variant cores to appear inside talented creatures. For example, Alto’s wind-based mana core was the direct result of absorbing copious amounts of wind-based mana from the Perennial Wind Flower. This train of thought followed Novus as he planned everything in his mind and asked himself one question.

What if there was a Prism Mana Core?

A core capable of handling all sorts of natural mana at a strength that rivalled a specified core of the same type. Novus’ crazy theory was only backed by his knowledge of magic, which was largely draconic but expansive. So, he was willing to gamble with his mana core to prove it.

With a thought, Alto’s mana core appeared between Novus’ cupped hands and gently pressed upon his skin.

Initially, nothing happened. But, after a few moments, a faint breeze flowed into the cave and parted Novus’ dirty crimson locks of hair. Internally, the mana core husk within Novus began to show slight signs of motion as the outer fragments crumbled. Novus nearly winced at the pain of something akin to an organ slowly dissolving, but he continued.

Slowly, the breeze around Novus began to pick up as Alto’s mana core was disturbed. The ambient wind mana brushed against Novus' skin the same way the wind mana inside the core brushed into Novus’ body.

Without any instruction, Mino activated his power and a translucent membrane of prism mana formed around the mana core husk. Then, like a strawberry dipping into chocolate, the wind mana particle that managed to enter through Novus’ skin and contact the barrier was coated. Along its travel to the mana core husk, the wind mana particle began to alter and change into a prism mana particle.

Changing the essence of mana was one of Mino's greatest gifts.

The initial wind mana particle was followed by many more as glittering black prism mana particles appeared around the husk and were instantly attracted to it.

Munch. Munch. Munch.

The transformed prism mana particles flowed past and touched upon the mana husk. At the same time, a sharp pain travelled across Novus’ body. Sweat appeared on his brows as he focused on observing the process. Slowly, the particles dissolved and bonded with the mana core husk.

With Mino’s powers acting as a transfuser and Novus immediately tending to any discrepancies, absorbing the mana core was exceptionally smooth. Of course, it didn’t take long before Novus met his first challenge of the cultivation process.

The core within Novus’ hand was slowly shrinking, but the wind gathering inside the cave had turned wildly chaotic. The sharp gusts of wind battered against the walls around Novus.

Screech!

Had Novus been watching Alto’s mana core with his eyes, he would have seen the phantom of an eagle soaring on the inside. This soaring eagle was the remaining beast will of the Mountain Eagle King, Alto.

The remaining beast will wasn’t fully intelligent, more like an instinct given enough mental energy and mana to take form. However, the will could call upon physical manifestations to stop using the mana core and scare away many beginner cultivators.

The sharp gusts circled Alto’s mana core once, then lashed across Novus’ skin. Or at least, it tried to.

Humm.

The inscriptions on the needles inserted into Novus’ body activated, and a translucent barrier shielded Novus from harm. The wild wind mana particles were blocked and forced into the needles as they channelled their power into Novus.

Screech!

Alto’s beast will revolted and charged into Novus as a push of wind mana particles.

Pew!

Mino’s wrathful tone reverberated inside Novus as it sensed the threat attempting to enter Novus’ body and ruin any efforts. The tattoo at the crown of Novus’ head glittered as Mino’s soul power surged. However, Mino’s defence wasn’t necessary as more than one tattoo activated on Novus’ body.

Hiss.

Get away!

A pair of sharp fox eyes opened inside Novus’ mana core area, causing Alto's beast will to slow down like a 100x strengthened gravity chamber. The beast will’s phantom wings faltered further as a pair of phantom-like fangs extended out of the blue and viciously bit into the eagle’s neck.

Scree…

Alto’s beast will withered away as the fangs began to sap away at its strength and within moments, the will dissipated into pure wind mana that was slowly absorbed by either Aeon or the barrier of black prism mana.

Ack!

Novus’ breathing was interrupted as he spat out a mouthful of blood from his mouth. The brief battle between Novus’ Soul Partners and Alto’s beast will caused some internal injuries. Usually, Novus would have frowned or been upset by the unruly actions, but this time he was thrilled to have their aid. Now, there was only one last challenge for Novus.

The reforming stage.

Having absorbed much of the mana within Alto’s wind mana core, the expanded core had physically shrunk from the size of a hockey puck to the size of a peanut.

At this point, the prism mana roaming around Novus’ mana core area was like a collection of bugs, all trying to escape at once. As a result, particles bounced off the prism mana barrier and rebounded off each other before repeating the cycle endlessly.

The needles in Novus’ skin were beginning to vibrate as Novus’ skin turned red. If he could not control the rampaging mana particles, Novus would find himself swearing at the priest in Avalan’s church again.

And so, Novus began to use his soul power as a convenient method to move the particles inside himself. But, a bizarre incident occurred when Novus started to manipulate the mana. The barrier that surrounded Novus’ mana core area began to rotate. At first, it was hardly noticeable. But, as more time passed in the windy cave, the rotation grew faster and faster.

Wouu. Fwaa.

Wouu. Fwaa.

Novus’ breathing didn’t change as the black prism mana barrier shrunk with each rotation. As the barrier shrunk, particles clashing against each other began to meld and attach themselves to either the mana core husk, which had also been shrunk into a small ball, or the prism mana barrier.

As time passed, the wind gathering around Novus was no longer about the vanished mana core that was once in his hand. Instead, it was due to the immense pressure of mana particles rushing in from the mist outside. It was like pressure trying to equalize as the particles clashed against the needle’s barrier and were led into Novus’ body.

What’s happening!?