So this is mana condensation, Sam thought as he watched the aura around Lena grow stabler and stronger with hunger in his eyes. He too, wanted to ascend and take his first steps on his paragon path.

One by one he ground herbs until they were an even paste before placing them in a crucible that he passed on to his mother for purification. As he had no mana, he could not properly extract the essence from the herbs.

Slowly and carefully, he diligently performed his assistant duties as his mother prepped the furnace for another pill refinement.

Sam felt his blood agitate and his acupoints widen to suck in the heavenly delicacy that permeated the air as the essences merged and mingled inside the furnace. Neva heated the small furnace and the air around it vibrated as if a constipated volcano that could erupt at any moment.

This was the mana eruption pill.

Sam had read of it. According to his mother, it was an old obsolete pill that weaklings used as a crutch for a burst of power beyond their level. It would forcefully suck mana into the core before agitating and compressing it and finally exploding it through the meridians for a burst of strength. The sequela would leave the user with their meridians crippled at best and at worst, their mana core shattered.

All in all, a trash pill.

Sam didn’t know why his mother insisted that using a ‘trash’ pill would be perfect to jump start his ascension to mana condensation but he trusted her.

“Even poison, in the right amounts, can cure the vilest of maladies,” She would say. He didn’t understand, but it was fine he supposed. He trusted his mother.

Looking around, he saw big sis Rose who had finished her cultivation and was bowing to his father. Will was performing some practice movements, similar to the movements of his halberd techniques when they sparred earlier. Sam could see small amounts of impurities seep out of his acupoints. The purification wasn’t as efficient as when he performed the dance of the Lotus movements with his mother but he could see the progress.

As for Lena, she was still refining the effects of the elixir his mother had given her.

By the time the refinement was finished, Aziel and Rose had made their way to the workbench.

Rose looked at Lena with bright eyes as she scanned her with her mana sense. She could see her soul visibly strengthen and before long, all the damage it had suffered was gone. Yet her soul continued to strengthen.

As Rose was only a 9th rank mage, she could not directly perceive another’s soul. She could, however, glean some clues based on the smoothness and control at which the mana inside Lena’s body was flowing. Despite the small mana reserves the girl had, they were condensed from the normal gaseous state expected of someone in the early stages of mana condensation, to a gas-liquid equilibrium, expected of someone more into the mid to late stages.

This was a feat not even the most monstrous of geniuses could accomplish. Conventional geniuses anyway.

A prodigy would have a more robust mana core that could accommodate more mana reserves, but they would still be in the usual gaseous state. They would simply overwhelm opponents with sheer quantity. A genius on the other hand, would have average or lower mana reserves but they would have superior and refined control over it that they would defeat enemies with quality. A by-product of such control, would be the strengthening of the soul.

And yet for Lena’s case, non quite fit. No one entered mana condensation knowing how to manipulate mana. Not to mention Lena’s soul had been injured making it significantly more difficult to cycle her mana. The only people who took abnormally short times to reach the level of dexterity and skill in mana refinement as Lena was now, were people with abnormally strong souls. It wasn’t a common occurrence but also wasn’t unheard of.

That was how Rose knew that Lena’s soul was strengthening. And when she remembered that the pill had been watered down…she shuddered.

Rose was in awe. She was the second strongest mage in Aurum, aside from the Tower master. She knew the repercussions of a great mage shade backlash on someone barely into mana condensation more than Faust. And it was because she knew that she was in awe.

Rose turned her attention to Neva, who had just finished her pill refinement and was extracting the batch from the furnace.

Maybe it would be for the best if little Lena studied under this mage. Rose thought.

Rose wasn’t like Lena who hadn’t seen the world. Neva was an alchemist as well as a powerful Great Mage. One more powerful than even the Tower Master. Of that, Rose was certain. Rose even entertained the barest of hopes that Neva was an almighty Arch Mage. An invincible existence on this continent.

She was sure the Woodland elves had Arch Mages as well but she wasn’t optimistic of their chances of meeting such august personages let alone getting one to take an outsider as a disciple.

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“This is the mana eruption pill,” Neva told Sam using sign language. “If you were to take this pill under normal circumstances as you were, you would undoubtedly explode.”

Sam inhaled a sharp breath.

Will also exclaimed when he heard the voice transmission. As for Rose, she had heard of the pill and its effects so she was mostly composed.

“But,” Neva continued. “If you were to powder it and dissolve a pink in any regeneration elixir, what do you think would happen?”

“It would depend on the elixir,” Sam answered immediately.

“Then how about if you mixed in the 86th variation of Roloth’s life essence potion?”

Sam scrunched his brow as he rubbed his chin in concentration. “Then… The violent nature of the pill would be suppressed. I think. If you use a tiny amount of the mana eruption pill or a lot of potion. Maybe?” Sam gave his mother a tentative glance.

Neva smiled.

Sam thought some more as he muttered to himself. “But… wouldn’t that also destroy the potion’s regeneration properties? In fact, its integrity would degrade faster and may cause unexpected side effects.”

Neva chuckled. “Indeed, it is as you say. If it was anyone else other than your mother, I reckon you would find yourself growing a second head.”

Sam shuddered. “Then…”

“Don’t worry,” Neva chuckled. “That won’t happen.”

Neva had finished the preparation by now and despite the sweet smell wafting out of the vial when she opened the cork, Sam couldn’t stop the cold sweat on his brow as he looked at the vile concoction with trepidation.

“Just take the elixir and cycle the Transformations of the Lotus complete with the movements. I will be here to guide you in case anything goes wrong.” Neva consoled.

Sam hardened his nerves and swallowed the elixir in one swift gulp. Then he began to perform the ‘dance’ movements.

Sam felt the sweetness on his tongue as the liquid went down his throat. He calmed his breathing as he inhaled and exhaled in the way described by his mother’s technique. The liquid slid down his throat before diffusing throughout his entire body before it reached his stomach.

Then the movements began. Sam felt a fire light up in the pit of his center and his muscles and veins heated up. His heartbeat quickened and he had to grit his teeth and increase the speed at which he performed the Lotus movements to abate the rising temperatures in his body that were quickly reaching dangerous levels. His meridians expanded and hardened. Then his blood flow increased. Slowly at first, but soon he could feel the thumping of his heartbeat reverberate through his whole body. Then the pain began.

Sam’s entire body felt constricted. Like his blood wanted to flow but there was something blocking its movement and it just kept ramming against the barrier. His head throbbed. His teeth gnashed together as his closed eyelids tightened further in concentration.

From an outsider’s perspective, Sam was a harrowing sight. A face scrunched up in pain and clothes that clung to his body not with sweat but blood. The blood wasn’t a healthy crimson but a darker shade. And its thickness… that thickness was not something that should come out of a person’s skin. The excrement was more sludge than it was liquid.

Will was horrified as he looked at the blood demon in front of him.

Lena, who had refined most of her soul nourishing elixir, was pale.

Rose had a serious look on her face as her eyes darted back and forth from the boy to his mother wondering if the woman hadn’t accidently killed her own son.

Aziel just leaned on the wall beside the exit door of the workshop with a placid expression.

As for Neva… she was calm. She knew her son must be in considerable pain which caused her heart to ache but children must grow. Things were still going as planned and so she just watched. It was only the colour that looked bad, if it was a brown-black sludge, the three guests would not be so animated.

Neva then pointed an open palm in Sam’s direction. Globules of a dark brown substance were extracted from the boy’s ‘blood sweat.’ The darkness of the blood seemed to abate as the ‘sweat’ took a healthier crimson hue. Neva cast a simple spell and the extracted impurities were set aflame before disintegrating the next moment.

The ambient mana then began to funnel towards Sam and a small vortex was formed as the mana rushed into the boy’s body through his mouth, nose, ears and skin. Neva waved her hands as she calmed down the mana that was beginning to turn turbulent.

Sam began to feel it. The energy of heaven and earth forcing its way into his body. Each intake of breath threatening to explode his lungs. His movements became strained and he began to make mistakes.

Sam suddenly felt a foreign type of energy wrap around his body. He knew this energy. It was his mother’s energy. The one that nourished his sore muscles whenever he finished his practise with his father. The energy gave him strength as it guided his movements and pushed him forward stopping his crack laden meridians from shattering. Instead, they healed as another type of energy from the elixir begun to regenerate them.

But it was still painful.

Pain wracked Sam’s body but as the energy of heaven and earth suffused his meridians, he felt the agony abate slightly. The mana entered his soul chamber and he felt himself calm. The pain was still there but it was no longer at the forefront of his mind.

Sam concentrated on performing the movements of his mother’s technique as the mana roared through his meridians. What was once on the brink of shattering was swiftly mended as blood was replaced with mana. The excess mana coagulated in his lower dantian to form his mana core. He was still absorbing obscene amounts of mana from the world but he directed it towards his core where he churned and compressed it till a few drops of liquid began to form from the gaseous cloud.

The process felt intuitive, like kneading the dough for bread. One drop became two. Two became four. Before long Sam’s newly formed mana core was filled to saturation.

“Refine the core,” Sam’s father, Aziel’s voice drifted into his ears as he felt himself abruptly stop taking in mana from the outside.

Sam did as told. He cycled the mana in his core as he forced it into the core’s walls. At first, it was difficult. But then he got the hang of it. Slowly, the liquid mana in his core reduced as it slowly seeped into its walls and before long, his mana core was empty once more.

All the power Sam had felt flowing through his body disappeared as tiredness overcame him. But the endeavour was not finished. The regeneration effects of the elixir had not worn off. He had simply been too preoccupied to notice them. His meridians that were only slowly repairing themselves begun to regenerate and heal as new tissue mana infused tissue reinforced the degraded meridians. His acupoints…

Sam’s eyes widened.

His acupoints were all opened. He scanned his body but he could not find a single closed acupoint. All his 361 acupoints were opened. Some were weak and fragile but still… They were opened!

He smiled.

He had finally taken the first step to Violet Heaven. And it was a mighty one!