The whole preparation process took 8 weeks. Between parsing through the collected information and videos, sending out people to stake out the buildings floor planning, creating magical contraptions and expanding his theoretical knowledge, Lukas barely had enough time to stuff his face full of food to quicken his regeneration.

Sebastian claimed the food cost alone was bigger than all of the other costs combined. Lukas found it funny, Baldie, a little less so. He often frowned whenever Luke would reach for another portion of food during their meetings.

But, it served it's purpose. Luka's body was slowly, bud surely, getting better. His limp almost dissapeared. And his True Form was mostly covered by skin, and the muscles and tendons were at least connected as they should.

The real reason to worry were his magical pathways and his heart. Finally allowing himself a deep dive into his own inner realm of power, he discovered just how utterly fucked he, and it, was.

It is hard to describe using only mortal comprehension how the mythical is expierienced. One does not directly „see” nor „Gaze” into the pathways. They do not hold a shape, per se, nor a place within the body. They seem to be... quite similar, actually, to how the Veil works on the physical.

The cars, for example, Beyond the Veil, only hold solid form if they remain unmoving, when they are used in the Real, they turn incorporal to travel without issues and only remanifest once the car in the Real has stopped for a time. Similar is with bodies, peoples phantoms are traveling in the Veil, following the real mortals forms, showing their pitiful energies and compositions, screaming out their mental contents unrestrained. The magical creatures that travel between are the best representation of how the Magical Pathways would work.

Taking Luke for example, in theory, he posseses two bodies. One distinctly diffrent, powerful, magic infused and quite more sizable than its counterpart, placed Beyond the Veil, the one housing his mind and soul, and the mortal one, weaker, smaller, much more frail, in the Real.

Now, which one was the real one?

Neither.

And both of them.

To understand that, one needs to be aware that they occupy the same conceptual space, and physical space too. Both bodies represent what essentialy is Lukas, they house his mind, fate, possibilities and life. They are seperate from each other, but also co-dependant. While superficial damage like cut skin or even broken bones in the real heals quickly and leaves almost no trace, the same damage, especially magicly infused will take much, much longer Beyond the Veil, as the body requires much more magical power to recreate the energy and matter dense flesh. But both result in the same thing, temporary damage to both vessels.

In his fight with Klaus, Luke hoped to kill him in the Real as it was much harder for magical beings to bring out their full potential there. But, he knew even if that didn't happen the damage he could cause would carry over to the magical realm. Only temporary, and unless it was critical damage, it wouldn't make that much of a diffrence, but stack enough of such damage and the diffrence becomes noticable.

The bodies are entwined with each other, they rely on each others input for cohesion and communication, the transference of forms when crossing the Veil isn't „Switching” them, it's flipping the coin, showing it's other side.

As confusing as that may seem, it's still much easier to understand then what the magical pathways are within a being.

As they hold no true physical form, it's hard to argue about their „position” or „source”, yet, many techniqes can hit certain spots to damage them, or force these spots to manifest to bring out their power.

Meditation, or cultivation, as a widely understood fenomenon highlights these peculiarities. In the myriad of regions it was and is practiced, it tends to focus on enchancement and development of such power spots, often in layered stages.

Tempering of the body, known in martial cultivation, separated into flesh, sinews and bones. Some practice it by simply flooding the body part one by one specifically to enchance it, others simply flood it in equal measure untill it strenghens. Some, focus on tempering of the organs, even fewer actually do it with a proper, focused and more magical than martial method.

Here comes the crux of the issue with the „existance” and fluidity of the magical pathways.

They are influenced by Will. Will of the user, will of the world, group conciousness that wills a certain idea to be true. Based on the Will, the effects of usage change.

One, while tempering the Liver for example, could simply flood it with power until it strenghens. Others, would use magical tonics to enhance it's efficiency. Some, would use special mental techniqe of cultivation to manifest the image or patronage of a creature whose organs they would like to imitate. They superimpose its image over their own and force reality to contort and bend to the image. Of course, sharing something like a bloodline with such creatures will make this process much easier, but it's not that neccesary.

In this proces, the method of circulating energy is crucial. The breathing excercises, poses, mantras, imagery, body movement and rhythm. All of it influences what is essentialy immaterial. All of it guides the outcome. All of it could be deadly or life changing.

Such spots are often a form of a metaphysical root taking place from the mythical into the physical. They, somehow, connect the magical manifestations into flesh and get stuck in there, influencing the chosen spot.

Some, believe the magical pathways form meridians and meridian lines. Others, that they are connected through the vascular or even nervous system.

All are right.

All are wrong.

It's all your choice how you do it, your decision, your Will.

In Luke's case, those choices were a tad more limited than just not having the proper physique or predisposition.

He had the Void, and the Primordial Chaos coursing through him.

Each one of those alone is a headache and a half, two of them combined? Well, that's the textbook definition of a concotion ready to blow.

In the case of normal power circuit, and normal here is quite a loosely used term, the power has a certain characteristic(it may be mixed in some proportions but one is usually dominant) like fire aspect for egzample. A person with a fire type physique will have fire infused mana/vitality/energy that sustains them. A Pure Fire Adept will slowly, but shurely, infuse himself with fire energies and his/her understanding of them, changing his physical make-up to better fit his imagination of what the perfect vessel for such energies would be.

It is, of course, entirely dependant on one's school of magic and techniques used and knowledge possesed. A Fire Arcane Specialist will turn himself into something as close to a sentient fire elemental as he will be able to, slowly turning his skin to me wreathed in flames, making it imprevious to most fire damage and enviroment.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

(Unlike Luke, who just sets himself on fire from the lack of control while releasing the power ingrained in his circuits, his skin melts of and bubbles as the fat in it gets superheated, scalding his muscles.)

Next would follow the muscles, organs, bones and so on. Everything done in the purpose of being a better vesssel, a conductor for Fire energies at it's purest.

The same person, raised in, let's say, a household that has a long lasting relationship with the deamons and the Hells, might aspire to a Infernal Demonic physique and powers. They too, rule the flames, but theirs is the aspect of sin that fuels the embers. They would drink the succulent ichor of the damned, absorb organs of deamons slain through torturous ways and seek to improve their power by feeding on an aspect of sin to stoke their embers ever brighter.

For the third and last egzample used in the books Luke was reading, Light/Heat Manifested( a rough translation) was used. It peaked Luke's interest as it seemed most closely tied to one of his issues. The one relenting to Chaos energies.

Light/Heat(in the native launguage of wherever this book came from, these words were meant as one and representing a certain idea/aspect unknown to Luke or the person rewriting the book)Manifested were people who took to a deeper understanding of the Primordial concept of Fire and focused on, istead of takin in the whole concept that is Fire or more of them like Fire fueled by Sin, they cut away the fat, portioned their meal and focused on a domain of fire energies.

Light/Heat/Energy as understood by them. And their users, while few in between were a force to be reckoned with. They infuesed their bodies with a sheat of power, a compound mass of fractals multiplied. Supplementing their cells and finally replacing them down to the last one. Quarz like in resemblence, the crystal creatures would communicate through flashes and heat signatures. To Luke, it seemed like two microwaves beeping at each other mid warming his meal, but remembering the cristal conduits his bones were naturally producing, and seeing light glimmer of the ones Stitcher used while making his prosthetic he decided to read on and learn.

They tried to embody the concept while holding it in absolue control. Not just becoming it. They Resonated with it. Apparently, they originated from an enviroment that held no flammable gases in their atmoshpere, so fire was a notion not even known to them for countless generations untill they expanded into the Realms. Theirs was the way of thermal energy transfer, through light and heat.

The idea seemed childish even to him, but Luke really wanted to shoot lasers. His previous attempt at it, using the technique of Ostatnie Tchnienie was not not something he could repeat. He barely remembered the whole oread through the fog of pain, madness and rage that filled him at the time but he knew the price for it was what essentialy killed him for that sparse moment.

Also, it wasn't a laser per se, but a focused superheated plasma beam. Still cool, but not the same. Plus, it hurt him extremely. Just thinking about it made him subconciously rub on the newly regenerated throat. That thing was something worth exploring, but only when he was only to tame it more reliantly. And not exchange his life's essence for a shot.

The Heat/Lighters used frequencies of light and energy waves to emit a powerful and rapidly rising beams and waves of energies, at the start of their cultiation they could barely do it by touch and it took alot of focus to even pass on heat in their homeworld.

Once they fully converted, they melted steel and rock as if fresh snow under boiling water. Stone turned to molten glass, it evaporated into their peculiar, thick atmosfere.

Their eyes could create lazers that cut through metals like cutting through air.

The creatures that reigned supreme on their world, huge, armor covered behemoths untouchable by most magic nor physical damage became their pray.

Their armors became boiling pots for their innards, and they had to suffer slow, gradually increasing boiling of their innards as they laid unable to escape, with their limbs cut off with surgical precision and wounds cautarised, prolonging the death throws of the majestic beasts.

The Heat/Light Adepts learned and expanded as their race crossed the stars. They increased their understading of frequency manipulation using light and energy. They resonated with diffrent power sources and became a focal point of primordial energies as they evolved further.

Lukas wanted that. Wanted these abilities for himself. And wanted to learn that precision and reign over his own energies.

The problem with his power, the Primordial Chaos, is that it is, at it's base nature, constantly changing aspects, and quite volatile.

Chaos is the birth place of order, the driving force that gives momentum to fate. From Chaos, worlds are born and Civilisations start. Chaotic energy that fuels Luke not only influences his mind but also is quite versetile as it is, one of, the most basic energies that others evolve from as they focus on other aspects.

Chaos, to put it simply, is a Jack-of-all-trades kind of power. Luke's usage of it so far, focusing on heat and electricity and telekinesis as main methods of using this power simply came from the need for extreme prejudice in his attacks, and these were the things that allowed him to do so.

If it wasn't for his own image and mentality, he could probably sheath on another form during battle. Maybe a rock covered titan of defense? Or etheral specter that is gone with the wind?

Alas, Lukas chose to ignite the Chaos within into, what he could imagine was, the most volatile and powerful version of it. A burning star within his flooded his channels with hot plasma, with heat and power that then spilled into his body, forcing it to be stronger and more efficient.

It also burned through him, both mentally, physically and magically.

The channels, while not physical, can still be perceived as such. A pipe work running through the very being of Luke.

So, when he opened the tap of his power reservoir to it's fullest, the piping received an amount of power flowing through it, it couldn't possibly handle.

Lukes power circuits are still fresh, he is barely an innitiate of the magical. They barely had the time to become active, not to even mention develop. While fighting at his fullest, he made the pipes, which were already of low quality, be filled to it's fullest, blasting non stop currents that ripped them to pieces and soldered them.

The power that escaped burned and maimed the physical and the magical. The pathways became scarred. Fragile. Some became blocked off, while others resemble a sive and are unable to properly guide his power further.

To sum the issues up: Lukas's power network is fucked, his power source is too much for him and he has no true and concrete way to reign those problems quickly or at all, the energies are frying his vessel with each use and will do so even more untill they heal.

Now, that was just one part of the problem. The other one that really brought a headache to Luke was the Void Taint. A problem that haunted him from his awekening in the sewers. The literature Monsoon managed to gather on the problem was sparse and didn't provide any concrete information. Most of it were just tales of battles where the Void Tainted took a part in. It did give him some ideas, and the mentions of Concept Eaters really called to him, but he was far, far away from that. Only one book contained some proper info, a somewhat scientific article of a strategist from the Last War, that described the troops and how their powers influenced them and their fighting methods and for how long they could be used before they burned out or had to be put down like rabid dogs.

From what he read, and he was chukling in dread as he actually understood it, Lukas didn't have it that bad on the Void front. One could be said, that he was blessed in his misery.

The toll the Void took on him became a daily torture that turned to a routine, segmentation and partialization of mental and physical sorrow is something he learned early, and subconciously he used his mental state and the Chaos powers to balance out the infection that the power of Entropy was inflicting on him.

If it wasn't for Chaos, Lukas doubted if he would survive past the sewer encounted with the Rat.

His fragmented state of his inner world, and the missing pieces that were still yet to be found were not mentioned or explained in any of the literature, so he gave up on that for now.

What was explained, was how terryfingly corruptive the Void was to other of its carriers.

The treaty on the Void tainted noted down, with excruciating detail, their descent into madness as the markings spread. He could easily symphatise with the described subjects. The howl inducing pain that invaded the edges of his mind, the blankness of the world when the Void ran rampart within. The pure distaste for everything that was. Every being, every building, item, every molecule that dared to exist and mess with the calmness of the Empty.

What he wasn't aware of, is just how much the Primordial Chaos actually balanced out the onset of the infection and created a status quo that allowed him to survive.

The Void infected were quick to loose their humanity. Not suprising, as their sanity was eaten away each breathing moment. The Void was ruthless, it hooked onto what burned the brightest and drained at it untill nothing remained. In most, it was their hope, their humanity, their will to live and their love.

With each use, it chipped away, at the body and mind of the user. The body was tattered and flushed of natural energies. Becoming more reliant on the Void. It was destroyed cell by cell, fiber by fiber and only the numbing, ice cold touch of the Void released the pain the aftereffects brought.

And so, while loosing any warmth and need to live, they started relying on the Embrace of Void more and more, and it cost them dearly.

The Void, being a devourer unmatched, stole away at the concepts important to them and made it possible for others to fill out the void, as such a person that valued their strenght would loose pure strenght quickly and their body would fill out the missing pieces trying to adapt to other factors. Defence, pure magical power, speed, it was all seemingly random and unique to each person. The only constant was, it turned them all into battle crazed monster.

In Luke's memory, the Call of the Void still lingered and he could easily see, how without the constant flame of Chaos fueling him, he would heed the Call.

Another issue with the Void was, that it actively ate away the fine parts of one's will, and as such, magic and magic pathways. It eroded the will, it eroded one's control over magic in exchange for increased power and resistance to it.

The stronger it was, the stronger it's effects. As such, if a Void Infected became enhanced in the field of magic, at the start he may still be able to cast fine tuned spells like Homing Fire Lances in the hundreds. With prolonged use, the amount of them would lessen in exchange for power, untill even the formation of a spell matrix would become impossible and only pure manifestation would be possible. Casting away flames at his enemies without shape, rhyme or reason.

Luke knew this is something he will have to tackle himself, the Void may seem contained so far but fine tuning of spells was extremely hard to him, and he preferred to think it was because of that, then from a lack of talent. The Chaos, while being versetile, was not exactly helpfull in delicate applications of Power. It was meant to be untamed, overflowing and unstoppable.

Closing the book he was reading with a loud snap, he exhaled deeply. Worried thoughts storming in his head. Absorbing it into the ring mid motion, he swung his hands over his head and sprawled out on the chair.

Absorbtion of the Magical text drained him mentaly, the mana infused with intent that was layered on the ink allowed the concepts and ideas to be passed on much better than just normal text, but it was extremely taxing on concentration and the mind.

Lukas gathered as much knowledge in the 8 weeks as he could, regenerated his body as well as possible and started sketching out some forms and guidelines for himself to repair his power and what to do next.

But first, tomorrow was the day of delivery in one of the dealers houses. Luke decided to rest well before the Big Event tomorrow and after checking that everything was packed and prepared as best as it could be, he dozed off into a dreamless sleep.