Two Days Later:

Constantine stood with his fists clenched, nails digging into his palms. Sweat dripped down his back, cold against his burning skin. Every breath felt like fire. The heat behind his eyes throbbed in sync with his racing heart.

‘I must endure.’ He grated his teeth. His senses had always been his weak point. He forced more mana into his eyes, the energy surging through his veins, rough and unstable. Colors flared, twisting into chaotic patterns. The world around him blurred.

“Ahhh!” The scream tore out before he could stop it. The pain hit its peak, his whole body shaking. He cut the mana flow, and the heat vanished, replaced by a deep, throbbing ache. He gasped for air, his body trembling. His eyes stayed shut.

But there was no time to stop. ‘Too weak. I need power. Not tomorrow—now.’

He drew in a slow breath, held it until his chest hurt, then exhaled. His voice, low and strained, cut through the quiet. “Implant. Start the mana control training. Block out all distractions.”

The world fell away. His senses dimmed one by one until there was nothing—just a void. Silent. Empty. The only thing left was the mana in his body, burning hot, barely contained. The pain kept him grounded, the last link to reality.

‘Control.’ That was the answer. In the darkness, he reached for the energy raging inside him, trying to shape it. The heat twisted under his command, slowly forming into runes and patterns.

‘Implant, convert all training mana to liquid.’

The response hit like a punch. Mana surged wildly, shifting from a gaseous state to a liquid force, violent and uncontrolled. The runes he'd crafted shattered into chaos. Gritting his teeth, Constantine fought for control, wrestling the mana into submission. Slowly, he forced it back into shape, trying again to mold it.

But every time he made progress, the patterns dissolved. Over and over.

He exhaled, body shaking from the effort. ‘Hard, but it has to be done.’

He didn’t stop, repeating the process.

A Couple More Days Later:

Constantine’s eyes snapped open. He lifted his hand and watched as it moved, slow and deliberate. It felt off. He hadn’t noticed it before, but now, even the smallest movement seemed... slower.

‘My perception has improved? Is everything moving slower?’ He glanced at the trees swaying in the wind and at an ant crawling along the ground. It wasn’t a huge difference, but it was enough to be noticeable.

‘Is it finally working?’ He had been infusing mana into his eyes every day, sharpening his vision, and making colors and details clearer with each session. But this—this was the first time his dynamic vision seemed to improve. He blinked. ‘Is it just my sight, or am I thinking faster, too?’

The realization hit him. When he infused his eyes with mana, it flowed through his head, his spine, and his brain. He let out a bitter laugh. He had modified the technique to include brain purification as an experiment—something that could’ve crippled him. Yet, somehow, it seemed to have worked.

‘Mana strengthens muscles, and even things like eyes, so why not the brain?’ He’d never thought of it that way before. But it made sense. Cultivators could move at inhuman speeds and react just as fast.

A sharp laugh burst out of Constantine, the sound echoing through the empty forest. “Of course,” he muttered, voice thick with sudden insight. ‘It makes perfect sense.’ He shook his head at his own oversight, the pieces finally falling into place.

‘If their minds weren’t enhanced, they wouldn’t be able to keep up!’ The thought hit him like a bolt of lightning. All this time, he had been focusing on the effects the cultivation had on a body, muscles, and senses. But without a sharper mind, it wouldn’t matter. He’d been blind to the most obvious answer, and now that it was clear, it was almost laughable.

He shook his head in disbelief. His manual hadn’t mentioned anything like this. ‘It’s missing more than I thought.’ He hadn’t read anything about masking his presence either, but he knew that a technique like that existed. He’d seen the cultivator in the forest use it. ‘A book stolen from a dead man in an alley… no wonder the manual was incomplete.’

His thoughts drifted back to the dead man. Even now, he didn’t seem like a powerful cultivator. His skin was rough, his hair dull. Despite his fine clothes and the full pouch he carried, the only thing of value had been the manual—mysterious, but clearly flawed.

A wave of dread slammed into Constantine, his throat tightening as the realization set in. His heart skipped a beat. ‘I could have killed myself. Or worse.’ Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, his hands trembling despite his attempts to steady them. He stared into the empty.

‘It might even contain harmful techniques.’ His mind reeled. The warning about addiction to monster cores had seemed straightforward, but it had never mentioned the mind-altering side effects he had experienced. ‘What else is missing or wrong?’ He ran a hand through his hair, gripping the strands in frustration.

Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. He had dodged a bullet by choosing his own path instead of blindly following the manual. ‘I have to be careful. I can’t just practice techniques from any random source. They could cripple me, or worse.’

The Next Day:

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Sitting on the dark wolf furs, Constantine stared into space, his mind fixed on the glowing runes that floated in his vision. He studied them intently, pairing them with the ones he already knew.

‘All three are new.’ He swallowed and leaned back into the soft furs. Deciphering them would be a challenge, but that only made him smile. He thrived on challenges, on losing himself in thought.

‘Which one is the starting point?’ Three new runes, and he didn’t even know the activation order. ‘Or maybe I can at least see their connections?’

“Come here,” he muttered, absently gesturing with his hand. The wolf lifted its head from the corner, ears twitching before it padded over to him, its claws tapping against the floor. Constantine’s hand drifted over its fur, barely aware of the creature as his thoughts whirled. ‘I need to figure this out. There’s something I’m missing.’

His thoughts drifted back to the rabbit horn. The mana had flowed through it so smoothly, almost as if it knew what to do on its own. There had been no need to direct the flow, no need to wrestle with control. It had just... worked. ‘Why was it so different then?’ He frowned, his mind gnawing at the inconsistency.

He shook his head. He was sure of it, but whatever it was, he didn’t have a real hog skin on his hand so it wouldn’t help him.

He turned his focus back to the three new runes, still absentmindedly petting the wolf. One of the runes struck him as familiar. Its shape, its angles—it reminded him of the fire and lightning runes.

‘It shares the same base as the elemental runes I know.’ He furrowed his brow. ‘Could this also be an elemental rune? Maybe earth?’ He thought back to the petrifying hog’s powers. ‘If its power is to harden its skin, maybe it infused earth element into it, or maybe it summoned a new layer of stone around its body.’

Constantine lifted his hand, two of the runes flaring to life. As the core within his bracelet warmed, heat surged through him, igniting the runes. Dusty particles erupted into the air like sand in a storm, piling at his feet. He cut off the flow, his head spinning.

His heart raced as the dust piled at his feet, a surge of excitement rushing through him. ‘Mana can be transformed into solid objects.’ His fingers twitched with nervous energy. ‘I wonder, where is the limit?.’ For a moment, he let himself revel in the thrill, feeling the power coursing through him.

But then, just as quickly, the dust shimmered—and started to dissolve. He reached out instinctively, taking it into his hand. But the pile disintegrated, crumbling to nothingness before his eyes. His hand dropped, the momentary triumph slipping away. ‘Of course,’ he thought bitterly. ‘Mana is still inherently unstable and things created through it are temporary. Well, except for the cores. I wonder why.’

It was hard to notice with elements like fire or lightning, but the earth element showed it clearly. The creations wouldn’t last.

Constantine wiped the back of his hand across his brow, brushing away the sweat that had formed. His eyes locked onto the two remaining unfamiliar runes, still floating in his vision.

‘One down,’ he thought, focusing on the next rune in line. ‘But what about the others? Let's call them gama and beta’ He had to try. The earth rune wasn’t the starting point, so one of the other two was. His fingers twitched with anticipation, already guiding mana to redraw the runes—gama rune and earth rune.

‘Alright, let’s try again.’ He drew in a deep breath, steadying his racing mind. This time, he lifted his palm with more care, channeling mana slowly toward the first of the gama rune. It flickered, dim at first, but as he pushed more energy into it, the glow intensified. His fingers twitched with anticipation. ‘Slow and steady,’ he reminded himself. Then, with a deliberate push, he linked it to the earth rune. They pulsed together, and for a moment, nothing happened.

Constantine’s brow furrowed. ‘Is this—’

A sharp, searing pain exploded from his hand, shooting up his arm like wildfire. The two runes warped, their liens twisting and bending. His veins throbbed as the mana backfired, surging chaotically through his body.

"Ahhh!" Constantine cleaned his teeth, staring at the collapsing runes, his hand trembling violently as the energy pulsed erratically.

With a desperate grunt, he severed the mana flow, the glowing runes instantly flickering out. The pain didn’t vanish, though—it lingered, a dull, throbbing ache that settled into his bones. Constantine sucked in a shaky breath, his hand still trembling.

‘Not this combination.’ He flexed his fingers, clearing his mind to cast the second combination.

‘It’s not the first one either,’ he thought, his frustration building. ‘That leaves one more.’

After a few moments of catching his breath, Constantine guided mana again. First beta rune and then once more earth rune.

‘Now.’ The lines between them flared brightly as he sent a stream of concentrated liquid mana into them. His muscles tensed as he braced for whatever might happen next.

Then, the mana jolted violently.

The runes flickered—then cracked. He cut off mana faster than before, stopping it before it could blow up and cause him too much pain.

‘Not this one either?’ It puzzled him. Something like that never happened before. The process of gradually testing combinations never failed him. His eye gleamed in realization at the new observation, ‘That could only mean it requires all three runes to even work.

Following his thought, blue lines of light drew across his skin, slowly forming into a new rune. It felt easier and snappier than ever, his practice with liquid mana paying off. He sent a thread of liquid mana through the runes. First the gama rune and then simultaneously beta and earth runes lit up.

An itchy sensation spread up his arm. He watched in interest as his skin grayed wherever the mana radiating out of the runes touched it. He didn’t panic, already knowing due to his earlier discovery the effect was only temporary.

‘It works, and this time I hit the right combination. Maybe luck is finally on my side.’ He pushed even more mana into runes, watching as the itchy sensation moved from his hand to his torso and up his neck. He didn’t even blink, enjoying the warmth he felt.

Reaching with his second hand, he ran his fingers over his greyish skin. It scrapped, feeling hard and harsh as if he ran them over a wall. He flexed his fingers, watching as they moved stiffly, each joint slower than normal but still bendable. ‘It hardened,’ he mused, pressing his thumb into the grayed skin. The surface felt like stone, but underneath, there was give, and flexibility. ‘The inner layers are still soft enough to move.’

With a sweep of his hand, mana dissipated, yet his skin remained hardened. His expression didn’t flinch—he already knew it wouldn’t revert instantly.

‘One. Two.’ He counted silently, watching and waiting for the effect to dissipate. Finally, his fingers softened, the color of his skin reverting back. Gradually more and more of his skin softened.

‘It takes over ten seconds for the effect to vanish.’ He mused, already seeing how he could use the new runes. He didn’t yet know the exact meaning of each and every one of them, but he at least knew the overall effect of their combination.

‘Ten seconds isn’t a lot. But, maybe it can be extended by increasing the amount of mana used.’ Rubbing his temple, he sighed—it wasn’t perfect, the spell reducing his flexibility, taking too long to cover any significant portion of his body, and dissipating relatively quickly.