Grasping a black heart in his hand Hildebrant observed it with great interest.

The bed he sat on was the same as before and even the room belonged to the old one. Right now, it was tattered and broken in many places but each one of them was cowered by additional wood he could salvage from the debris of the destroyed vessel.

While fighting he lured the creature further away from this room so that in the end, he could still hide in it, and for once his luck held.

Squeezing the heart of the black horse, it left a weird sound, and many holes in it let black blood flow out down his finger and then drip on the floor. It was a beautiful piece of work done by long years of evolution and the advice of God.

Such a thing had many uses for example there was a hint leg of the creature that he had time to sharpen in the meantime while he waited for the pain to sublime.

His old marble sword was thrown into debris, forgotten and destroyed by his own hands.

It already outgrew its usefulness and thanks to the strong body of the monster he was able to find even better.

The heart in his hand was however something much more useful for an ascender like him.

Staying in the sanctuary taught him many things but one of the most important was knowledge of refining.

Each ascender could refine objects around them and merge them with their powers or just use their residential power. The refining had many uses, so many Hildebrant could not even count them, but the main focus was used for ascending.

To ascend to a higher level person needs to refine their powers, body or mind, or anything else that could help them to ascend.

Most of the time it was related to the illness the ascender was born with, but refinement was almost instinctive, and even if the ascender did not discover how to refine things from others they would still ascend but extremely slowly.

That was the reason why Hildebrant felt so good in the presence of the sun. It was not just because he was able to get through his fear or that he belonged to the sun virus but because his body instinctively refined sunlight and replenished his energy without him even knowing.

But knowing about it was the line between master and normal ascender.

Learning how to refine was basic of basic and Hildebrant was happy he discovered it even if by chance and by long days of observation of David's body.

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The heart in his hands was one thing he could refine to strengthen his power. There were also other organs and also the body of being outside of his room but refining it without thinking could turn him into something he did not want to even consider.

The words David said still rang in his head and his warning even more so.

Slowly.

He said to himself and squeezed black heart tighter.

Its texture was soft and tender, unusual for the creature of such swiftness and thickness that did not allow him to leave even a scratch before he augmented his hands on its exoskeleton.

It was also one of the reasons why he thought about refining it.

If his fire gained similar power, it would be harder to extinguish, and the speed of their spreading would make it hard for his opponent to run away but if something went wrong and his fire didn’t merge his flames would explode and kill him.

Mixing primordial illnesses without any recipe pathway had its pros and cons and death was one of the best failure options.

Worse?

Hildebrant did not want to even think about that. He had already watched one man turn into a madman and consume his friend because of his wrong choice in refining.

If he had more patience and deduced the right recipe he could have lived.

There was still a risk of unseen paths but also benefits.

Contemplating Hildebrant sighed and in the end, he put black heart down.

This was maybe also one of the reasons why not even four lords dared to ascend and became transcendent barons. It was just too dangerous and risky if a person took a path that was not destined for him.

If he just waited for a decade and was able to find a way to leave this place or dodge the rules, he could have easily become a transcendent barron, but did he have time?

Today he stood above the monster but maybe tomorrow he would be one who was under its feet.

White sand did not discriminate, and he would disappear under its pure shifting body without even giving his permission.

Sitting on the bed he listened to the otherworldly sound of sand shifting, steps echoing all around.

The night became lively with numerous sharp legs touching the remaining part of his ship and rocks.

Dark Horse was not the only abomination that began to move through the white sand and on the day of the full moon it was time for the monster to move and fight for new positions in this harrowing place.

At least that was what he hoped.

There was also another possibility that all these steps belonged to the same type of species he just killed and numerous dark horses now tried to find their way into the ship, kill him, and eat his organs while howling to the moon.

There was no way to confirm without looking out of the cowered hole and looking out meant death.

Waiting patiently for the sun to set out Hildebrant used his flames to slowly refine the air around him and with each layer of heavenly will burned, strength in his body grew in an unseen way. There was something he tried to replicate after he observed Icarus using blood vessels to harm all things around him.

He tried to refine his missing memories back using his flames but found himself unable to do it. Even when his flames flowed into his brain they did not connect with his mind, they just burned flesh and made him feel pain he never did before.

That day he tore his blood out but today he just waited for the sun to finally come out and the moon to disappear.

But in that time, he kept finding a new way to refine his memories, while reciting the names of his uncle family and his promise to them. He would return home, and nothing would stop him, not even blood that began to pour out of his closed eyes and nose.