I felt a bolt of lightning coursing through my veins and muscles, causing involuntarily movement from my body caused in discomfort, startling my brain for a split second, making an uncomfortable shiver to run wildly around my body, or I guess it was just my mind playing tricks on me, as I laid eyes on the arcs of lightening fiercely coiling and crackling away round me. Wrapping me in a kind of web which threatened to flicker and rip me apart at this every moment.

But at the same, they felt...subservient—their movements and placement around me like a fine maker’s tapestry, which intervened and branched from every spot, connecting every point to every other, as if making adjustments and placing each and every point in piece, in a way that they could be wielded by me which was possible due to my lack of insight—to me. A frown creased passed by brows, but my mind dwelled deeper, going beyond, feeling the essence the paths released. As if I could shatter the space with a snap of my fingers and open a rift which could carry me to the ends of the universe; to the very answers which I demanded about this power even now.

And always at the back of my head, the overwhelming thoughts grew, making me curious—tinged with skepticism every here and there—that mana was able to create such an intricate web for transportation.

Was mana really such a godly existence? I asked, my words mostly directed to myself.

That it could create such complicated concepts and structures in the world, while being a element and power which could easily be accessed and wielded by almost anyone. If these so called ‘paths’ existed, then that meant they could be wielded by someone else other than me? I mean it was usable by an extension and understanding of mana, because mana was what allowed me their use.

Yet there wasn’t! I’d never seen anyone other than me use an ability similar to the paths. Not in both lives.

I hadn’t dwelled passed that point: about if the paths just existed in this world, on some form of a...whim which the world deemed necessary to exist; like how mana did? It just existed! It was available almost everywhere, but it’s amount and potency varied from locations and environments.

As if what I had seen and experienced, I wrapped and confined my mind around to make sense of the peculiarities of the world. Just like how people used an abstract to understand the world around them if they didn’t grasp something, or couldn’t come to comprehend a concept or existence which transcended their beliefs or ideas; what their feeble minds couldn’t concur. I pondered with a cold mask of stoicism enveloping my face.

I could feel my curiosity growing but my face remained a slab of impassiveness.

Like a system—an idea or philosophy—which everyone needed to learn and adapt to in order to understand something in a more articulate way.

Like how we humans had become accustomed to this phenomenon of the status and these skills which became available to us after the first cataclysm happened, which we made a part of our lives and world almost instantly.

We just accepted these happenstances like they were normal, without even questioning them much, as if accepting these unknown concepts was the only right way, because we didn’t understand them all to well.

But I felt my body grow numb as my mind felt like it was filled with cobwebs, making me slightly groan under the vertigo of my sudden actions and thoughts—more out of annoyance than any physical or mental fatigue or pain which could have caused it.

I felt tremors grow through my body, blood pounding inside my head, each nerve inside my body rebelling and protesting against me, as I held back the urge to release the interconnecting web for a moment as the mental strain grew, making a painful scowl to arch my face.

But I merely shrugged the impulse away, like the passing of breeze.

My connection to the paths felt almost absolute, unlike ever before when I needed to see or sense them to allow them to guide me through the space. As if my attention to them before had been crude and almost rudimentary—'No! Worse!’ I snickered with half supressed anger, as I looked at them—,like pleas, the paths only releasing its information to me on it’s own petulant whims, for me to be in control of a broken piece of it. As if the boundary which always stood frim between me and the space around me, obscuring and hindering my senses and control over them had—came undone by some force or limiter finally crumbling away, not being able to hold back the influence I now exerted—finally disappeared.

The countless motes held in this tapestry like web—literal wormholes which worked as gateways between two locations—flickered ever-so-slightly, acknowledging my presence, feeding me the information about the path and space between two places, which connected one spot to another. Which seemed to connect each path to every other.

The interconnecting web shimmered and as if right now I held complete control over this aspect and authority—space—which created and pillared the world. As if I could tear the every fabric which held this world together with my bare hands. But my mind dwelled on the ramifications of such actions as well through the destructiveness of my mania filled thoughts which threatened to consume my mind and tear my sanity away.

I could perfectly see through the spaces; where each point connected and intersected, led to or could with the control that I could exercise over them currently. Even the smaller points and intervened paths which branched away from every path, creating this intricate web, I couldn’t have dared to see or sense before were little by little revealed to me, as a subtle shift occurred inside my mind. Some insight bloomed within me as I witnessed the paths which looked like fine artistic cracks in the form of a web, making me soothed and spreading a warmth across my body, as if a metaphorical curtain slowly getting ripped apart from in front of my mind so I could lay eyes on them.

My brows slightly knitted as I felt an uncomfortable wave of pain and panic overcome all of my senses. I tried to feel beyond that power, something was there, where the space ended yet started, as if something which remained in the middle and all around in sequence to the concepts to the fabric of reality, the space warped before me, unravelling it’s mysteries to me—as if there was something more, something that I had yet to grasp and understand, something...otherworldly awaiting on the other side.

A power, a presence, an authority which wasn’t anything like I could have ever felt. Shivers ran wildly through my body as the essence of that otherworldly power leaked a very small and thin part of itself in accordance to my will and made way. I felt my body grow closer to it, but at the same time some repulsion pushed me back. A power which was beyond this world. Something that was the ‘world’ and yet the ‘world’ was it. As if it existed through the world and the world through it, in an interdependence of two forces, existing by and through each other, but one exerting stronger influence over the other. But I couldn’t tell apart which.

It was something that mere mortal and feeble minds could never come to comprehend.

I pushed as space warped from around me, my senses wrapped in a protective weak bubble like barrier, which shook the more I pushed, threatening to burst and engulf me in a maddening state.

I felt a ravenous urge to abandon everything just in pursuit to feel that presence again. To understand it even just a little.

That presence was something enigmatic, yet mysterious and subtle. As if it should exist yet shouldn't. Something I barely sensed or caught notice of before it vanished like a spell being undone from the very mana which held it together, something which I was so familiar with yet distant and unknown, knowing so very little of.

But the harder I pushed the more it repulsed me back. As if rejecting me, sending a very painful tremor across my body, as I was hurtled away.

Just as my body disappeared into the pathways, I felt my mind go still as a wave of static rushed through my body,—the world around me lost colour like when I used Acausality to bound time—the information cut between phases as I felt a heavy force strike my entire body, blanking me in and out of consciousness as the paths dimmed, the web fluctuated and flickered, threating to break as arcs of lightning crackled around me dangerously, as I was left suspected through space.

My eyes opened, yet I didn’t feel or see anything. As far as my eyes stretched, all that appeared was a never ending darkness. As if I had appeared inside a void where nothing existed.

Nothingness. That was all which surrounded me.

The darkness and stillness could have pushed a person to madness if they witnessed it, but yet here I was suspended and floating through this space where there was a lack of anything tangible or sensory. The silence working as a sort of comfort making me tear my mind away from my reverie, yet quickly turning into boredom as I again began pondering.

I don’t know just how long I floated aimlessly in this place, but my mind pondered over several things, to keep me distracted and to quench my boredom, but when that failed as well as, I searched through this void.

I felt like a grain of sand just moving aimlessly through the vast universe. There was no destination, no start or end to this place...just something, yet nothing.

As if it just existed. I couldn’t find a meaning as long as I floated through this nothingness, gripping hard at my mind and thoughts.

I could and couldn’t feel to be in the control of my body. All of my skills dormant except for Ruler’s Authority still protecting my mind from the frigid coldness of this abyss. As if I was just floating through this void, as if I was a part of this...place, but at the same time something, something more. The silence and respite this place provided me with was something which calmed me, yet at the same time a torrent of complex emotions and worries.

But there was nothing. No mana was around me, but there was demonic energy albeit barely an amount so scarce that I couldn’t really tell if it was there or not, but yet again there was a subtlety to this place, as if it held a meaning and some answer that I was looking for.

The more comfortable I started to grow the more I felt my existence merging with this void.

But there was something in here. I barley felt it, but it disappeared just as I was about to point out what it was. Like a shadow which moved away faster than I could realise it was even there to acknowledge it's presence or existence.

But next moment I felt I had been hurled, the space around me warped as my eyes shut as I felt a sharp headache coming my way.

It was unlike anything I could have ever endured as I gritted my teeth tightly subduing the urge to scream. As if my brain, from cell to cell was being struck by lightning and getting destroyed as an uncontrolled amount of information coursed through my mind.

But next moment my perspective shifted as I found myself falling from the sky with my tattered clothes fluttering intensely. The air boomed around me, as my body flailed, but I quickly took a hold over my senses and channelled the mana inside my body in the most efficient way possible.

There barely was a quarter of it left and the damage my body had sustained was being healed very slowly.

But my mind remained like still water, not an ounce of panic or frustration clouding me. When I realised, I saw tendrils of lightning arc around my body which were slowly disappearing, as I remembered what had happened to me just seconds ago.

That void...—

Suddenly I twisted my body, sending a tremor to run wildly throughout as I felt intense pain sear away at my insides.

The left side of my shoulder hurt like I had been struck by a massive outpouring of spells. My shoulder was still dislocated—the bone inside it cracked and broken severely, as what little mana I had helped in it's recovery, as muscles and bones stitched, nerves healing—,blood staining my clothes and face, several of my ribs broken, which sent unbearable aches with each breath I took.

I pushed my body into a diving position mid air taking control of my flailing form which was free falling through the air, as I fell to the ground, the air pushing my hair back and making a slight whistling noise to ring in my ears, as I positioned myself and channelled the mana inside me.

Wind mana rushed to my command, it's movements subservient to my manipulation, thoughts and control as they made way and cushioned my fall on to the ground, as a gust of wind blew a mushroom of dust around me, enveloping me in it.

My legs shook from the effort to stand, my body slightly refused as fatigue took over.

Releasing a breath, I lifted my head as I went to a knee to allow my body to recover and saw the Cephtalurian Chief also crashing from the sky as it's bulk collided with the water’s surface making it rise several feet high, its mass sinking to the depth as I walked closer to the lake.

Each step felt like a burden to cover, despite my body growing number as time passed. My slow stride went on until I stood just a few inches away from the lake.

My reflection was shown clearly on the bright sapphire surface.

My brows knitted momentarily as I looked at my own face, and I looked terrifying.

My eyes had turned a dark shade of lavender—a strange change caused by Ruler’s Authority—as my face was a mask of cold stoicism, with my gaze looking as sharp as the tip of a blade.

But I found amusement somehow seeing myself look just as intimidating and cold-blooded as I had in my past life. I chuckled like a maniac, but my smile didn't quite reach my eyes.

I took a careful look at myself, long glossy black hair grown below shoulder length framing my face which looked as hard and sharp as a blade, the jawline, the curve of the cheeks, the line of the nose, the stillness and viciousness of my eyes. I had grown accustomed to this face which was mine, yet not. But I remembered taking a momentary look at my face after I had killed an entire horde of mana beasts, humans and demons alike in the war in my past life.

My face had looked the same as now back then. But rather the mature and cold face I expected to see, now what I saw in the reflection was a face of an almost seventeen year old teenager, but the sharpness and deadlines resembled and reminded me that of my old face.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

I cracked a grin as if for a moment I’d seen the reflection of my old self in the water.

But a complicated torrent of emotions made pangs of guilt to rise in my chest as my face—Jiwoo’s face—reminded me so much of his father, whom I had barely seen or knew anything about through his shared memories months ago.

Was this guilt and regret my own, or a manifestation and influence of the previous owner? I asked looking aimless.

“Jihye...” I mused almost in a whisper as I ground my teeth. Suddenly my mind was struck by a sharp headache from using Ruler’s Authority, but I took slow breaths as the power came into my control once again.

It’s destructive impulses were fuelled by my own rage and thoughts. As if it brought out the real me. As if it knew what I wanted.

My face briefly filled by a wave of melancholy as I turned my eyes away from my reflection. I knew I was not Jiwoo. I could never be him! I had only draped myself in the persona of this boy, of how he might have acted toward the people around him. Using him as a front to hide and seal away who I really was—used to be—, but it didn’t seem to work, as from time to time, my real self would take over. I had a new life, new bonds, new experiences and new opportunities. But...despite all that, deep down I knew that I was still Shun.

The persona of Jiwoo was only a shield and mask I had hid myself behind to protect myself from my own desperation, thoughts and weakness which never seemed to leave me.

That was who I truly was! A shell of a man whose heart had been hardened to stone and been made into a cold-blooded killer due to the ruthlessness of going to war and the things he loved and the people he cared about taken away from him one by one. But that's exactly what war did to soldiers. It made them similar to wild beasts ready to make havoc.

I had nothing left, so now I was more fearful in this life, desperate even, that the things and people I held dear and loved would again be taken away from me.

I felt pathetic and miserable. That single thought made me writhe in panic.

A wave of uncomfortable emotions made way, but I bottled them all up and sealed them away into the deepest part of my heart.

Ruler’s Authority helped in that. I didn’t need these useless emotions to stray me from the path I had taken.

My reverie came to a sudden stop as I saw the Cephtalurian Chief swimming out of the water. It stumbled and limped to the shore as it’s body was left in a terrible state, as the side of it torso was perfectly visible to the naked eyes, blood gushed through it like a stream, making it a hideous sight to lay eyes on.

I took a step back, as the water rose high up, as the beast jumped out and growled making me frown in annoyance.

I needed to finish this fight as fast as I could. My thoughts were as such, but what the beast had done to me I must first return the favour in full.

There was at least a thirty meter distance between me and the cephtalurian, but it had been the one that had done so. But this time it made distance not for battle, but for protection from me, unlike before, it’s confidence was completely shattered and vanished like the fleeting night.

It’s body shuddered, as its octopus-like head was lowered ever-so-slightly, not even being able to look me in the eyes like before. Its annoying hissing continued to litter the air as it growled, tongue lolling out as it readied it's two remaining tentacles standing in a sort of crude stance, maw bared.

A demeaning smile pulled at my lips as I looked at the pitiful beast still trying to look intimidating, but it looked nothing but pathetic to me.

It still thinks it could save itself from me, or fight back.

My eyes nonchalantly went from the cephtalurian and at my surroundings to search for my sword. When I had struck that tree’s branch I must have dropped it somewhere, and I didn’t want to go through the hassle of looking for it now.

I sighed as if agitated on my own negligence, the moments of my battle against the cephtalurian replayed inside my mind like a broke tape, reminding me of the beating I had taken from it.

So I did what I could make due with. First of all I shook my shoulder and with a loud twitch and cracking, I set the bone in my shoulder in place as it was almost done healing.

An intense pain akin to skin and muscles being ripped apart rushed through my body as my bones and ribs were now healed, making me grimace and leaving me with even less mana to fight and maintain Ruler’s Authority’s effects.

Just keeping the skill in check was hard enough and taking almost all of my concentration, to barely push the mania of my thoughts down to retain a part of my sanity, unlike in the past when I was left in a more weakened state in the basilisk dungeon where even using the skill had left me vulnerable and nudged at my mind like a maelstrom of destruction threatening to swallow me whole, as if I had slowly sank into a quagmire of tar which numbed and stiffened my senses, making me move and fuelling all my actions simply by pure rage.

I lifted a hand, as I took command of my mana—or of what I had left—which burned and swirled inside me making me feel absolute as the ambient mana in the atmosphere rippled and rushed to the very whims of my thoughts, shimmering and fluctuating around me to bend and mould itself into something I wanted. Waiting for just a word or thought to jump to action.

The mana shimmered, as if responding to my will, the elements in the air grew impatient as if waiting to be used by me. All of them.

I understood my control over wind and fire, but water and earth I didn’t know how I was able to use them. Was this a phenomenon caused by my regression or...?

I shrugged the thoughts away for now. Simply living in the moment of being able to wield so much power. Feeling like a true higher being.

The mana coalesced around, giving a dim ethereal light to envelope my body as the space around me distorted as the mana moved with purpose.

The mana coalesced around me sent tremors running through the space as all four elements converged close to me, protecting me through a dominant impulse akin to serving their lord. I felt connected to the mana which was ambient in the air, swirling and glowing with such a bright radiance as I felt to be in control of everything.

Be it the particles of wind, earth, water or the scarce motes of red, each one of them moved as if reshaping the world and reality to accommodate my passing, to however I deemed it to.

Releasing a breath which left me slightly seethed, whilst hearing a growl from in front of me, I tore my gaze away from my the cephtalurian and at the motes of mana more closely as I saw them take action.

Bright tendrils of winds crackled around me, distorting the space, as if trying to subsume the very air which breezed passed and to pull the oxygen out of my enemies lungs on a thought.

The moisture in the atmosphere shuddered and rippled as a hazy and cold mist grew around me spiralling in warped lines as the atoms in the air froze, the water particles shimmered as it bended itself into a weapon of my desire to freeze or drown my enemies in a tidal wave.

The earth threatened to tear and shatter itself apart, shaking, as the ground cried, to bring forth a disaster to swallow my foes whole and crush them into its depths to appease and kindle my desire for their absolute and total annihilation.

Then the last was the fire. And element so powerful, which was the embodiment and the closet nature’s aspect to true destruction to prickle and burn away the every essence of life, which burned with power despite the scarceness I found it in. But even at that fire was the closest and the most diverse element to being a deviant of its own.

The motes of fire shimmered as if to engulf my enemies in a fiery flame of destruction and burn them away from the very face of reality on my command.

The mana rippled as if it welcomed me, showing it’s respect to it’s king.

I cracked a vicious grin as I steadied my posture, the effort leaving my limbs cranking with fatigue.

The more I rose and exerted and took control over mana, the more the cephtalurian seemed to sink in a pit of fear and helplessness. To my eyes it looked just like any powerless mutt which was waiting for me kill me it, working as prey for my ascension. For me to grow stronger it worked as a foot hold.

Yes! Kill! The murderous intentions of my mind grew stronger as I took action and the mana which had coalesced around me and in my palms finally took form, causing the ground to give way and shatter as it wasn’t able to bear the weight and potency of my mana.

“Let’s play.” I barked in a hoarse tone as I caught the cephtalurian's gaze. It’s six eyes burning dark red which met mine and it seem to pull away. The demonic energy inside it which ravaged with a sinister pulsation dimmed ever-so-slightly, grew weaker, draining the beast off it’s life force but also making it’s stature to mutant and become further horrendous. A dark aura of blood red and black mixed coalescing and oozing around it’s towering bulk as it hissed, it’s body swelling and veins turning outward.

With a flick of a finger, the air boomed and seem to crack and the cephtalurian was hurtled back, sent crashing into the ground as blood splattered all across, burning and melting the roots of a nearby tree as it shrieked and growled in agony.

A few feet away from it in the air a bright luminescent green sword hovered which seemed to pulse and flicker slightly as the mana wrapped around it and gave it a more stable form, which had drawn an arc and severed the beast’s left tentacle.

But this wasn’t enough. I needed it to suffer more until it had served it final purpose.

My gaze tore from the bright blade of pure mana which had taken form on my command, and looked at the particles of water.

They rushed and coalesced around me, like a loyal servant asking their lord as to how it could be of service to him.

I didn’t dwell too much on the fact that I was able to manipulate all four elements, a feat which was considered an almost impossibility amongst humans.

Yet here I was, bending all four elements which seemed subservient to me as of this moment, even carefully regarding the whims of my thoughts. At best only the most skilled and talented people could wield up to three elements, but their majority could be counted on both hands alone.

I pulled in the moisture from the atmosphere inside my body as a soothing sensation swirled around me, as the air froze and a vivid mist spiralled in the air. I willed it and the mana took form into several icicle lances hovering and pulsing as they moved above and around my shoulders.

The mana rippled and fluctuated as the lances took aim and lashed out and struck the cephtalurian right into the chest, two in its feet, and all the others pinning it down as it’s loud screams reverberated in the forest.

Annoyance bled from my face as my brows arched in loathing, I took a moment to understand what the earth mana could do for me, or how it could be used. Out of all the elements, the yellow particles was the one power which I was most foreign with.

My quake head teacher was a triple elemental conjurer having two deviances, just like Adam, and one of them was of earth—gravity.

The earth mana jumped and trembled rushing forward and taking a form of a huge boulder just right above the cephtalurian as my mana flared and kept on draining making my insides churn and seethe.

“Kuh!” I gasped, coughing blood as my breath narrowed for a moment, caught in my lungs as I suppressed the pain engulfing and numbing my body.

Keeping two skill active while conjuring spell after spell was still too taxing on me as I still had a hard time narrowing down the right amount of mana I needed to dispatch and use to conjure a spell of any element.

The boulder plummeted through the air, propelled faster as wind converged around it, crashing right on to the cephtalurian’s face and bashing it as blood splattered across it’s face, it’s hoarse shrieks disappearing as it’s mouth was sealed shut, as I took hold over the final element which floated in the air close to the others in a state of harmony.

Four small will-o-wisps of fire took form in front of me which seemed to grow bigger and brighter, positioned in a cross like stance in front of me as my hair swayed by the wind which breezed around me. I barely inclined my head in thought as I regarded it’s use in a more efficient and effective way.

Spears of fire stretched and took aim in front of me. The beast truly looked pitiful as I scoffed, taking pleasure in it’s pathetic circumstances, running a hand through my hair as I ruffled it and remembered just how bad and hard of a time it and it’s tribe had given me.

The fire launched as I concentrated and condensed more mana to the flames as they crackled fiercely. I saw the hungry flames turning inward, they flickered and doused as I took a breath, but a moment later they burst with even more intensity as they changed colour and began to burn with a beautiful and enchanting blue ethereal radiance which spread bright light across the dim forest. Then my arm moved, I slashed it through the air, the air around me scythed. They lurched forward like a tidal wave of destruction ready to devour and consume anything standing in it’s path, to find fuel as I felt the hot fire burn the oxygen in the air as each breath felt warm making my cold and numb body to relax as the cold atmosphere warmed a little.

My grin grew more vicious as I cackled like a maniac. Then started launching spell after spell at the cephtalurian as I was getting the hang of it.

Howling strikes of wind and tendrils of lightning which scythed and whipped passed and destroyed the ground and trees, ice which froze the every atoms which created the beast’s body, earth which seem to hold the beast in it’s tight unyielding clutches.

And fire...which consumed the body and seemed to erase the very essence of it’s being.

But performing a final desperate act to free itself, the demonic energy and mana inside it frenzied further making the aura around the beast to thicken.

For a moment I was felt astound by the beast’s refusal to succumb as it kept on struggling until the every end to keep itself alive.

It’s movements were half stumbling, half rushed as it took aim at me with it maw and single remaining tentacle.

I sighed, seeing the beast struggle as I saw several holes drilled through its body through which blood oozed out, it’s face half punctured as it’s eyes sank.

But it’s attempt was meaningless.

My intent rushed out as mana wheezed and bended to my will. Thick ice took a hold over the beast, layering it in a cage of frost up to it’s waist which halted it's movements.

It winced, trying to nudge itself free but there was no hope for it.

My arms quivered as I repeated what I was doing. I commanded the mana, held it’s shape, took a second to decide what form it needs to take and moulded it right afterward to attack.

It was like holding two, no, several thoughts at once in my mind to conjure the spell in near instances. Just as one crumbled away after serving it’s purpose another took form and replaced it.

I kind of now understood what the quake head had so hardly been trying to teach me.

In another way, that was why conjurers and mages used the help of incantations when forming a spell, to focus their mind towards the convergence of a spell.

But what I was doing was something only one of the highest ranked or strongest mages could do. Incantation less spell forming.

But honestly what I was doing was something not even most would be able to perform normally. It did indeed bring a burden of it’s own along the way.

I had really underestimated mages who could wield mana and form them into spell. It was really a tough job to keep the mana stable while also using the atmospheric mana to empower those spells to quickly fill the spaces where the spells took form.

One powerful spell launched after the other, raining down like a storm, causing a mushroom of dust to rise from where the cephtalurian was being pinned, as it's horrendous shrieks and whisper like groans filled the air.

I released a growing laugh welled inside my chest. This is how conjures’ felt. How Adam and my quake head teacher must have felt to, when they can have control over so much mana.

It was such a good feeling to be in control. I clenched my hand as the allure of the power kept growing and consuming my mind.

When I realised, my chest was on fire as a searing pain made my insides lurch, I heaved for breath as sweat poured down the sides of my face, adrenaline rushing through every vein making me feel euphoric as my thoughts were further intoxicated by the allure of Ruler’s Authority.

But my legs shook sending a tremor throughout my body, no longer being able to carry and support my weight. I was very close to reaching backlash. I had used up all of the mana I had.

Suddenly the maelstrom of spells ceased, lances of ice suspended in the air, scythes of wind rippled and shimmered, the force of the earth pulling away and the spears of blue fire disintegrating as they flashed out.

Several windows popped open in front of me as I realised shortly after that the cephtalurian chief had met it’s end. I could already feel my strength enhancing as I levelled up.

The curtain of dust subsidised and I saw it’s body, which was left in an even gut-wrenching state. There was almost nothing left of the beast.

I covered slow steps toward it. My arm reached out and thrust right into the beast's battered corpse as I pulled out something.

I focused and saw a bright core, about the same size of my palm shimmering with dim light, cold to the touch.

But my brows knitted as I saw demonic energy crumbling away which had been coalesced around the surface of the core, which had allowed the beast to mutate further enhancing it's strength. It was strange, just how come the Cephtalurian chief had been able to wield demonic energy which was only accessible to demons’ or either the ones whom had made covenants with them. In order to receive their strength. The more I thought the more puzzled I became.

But even holding a single train of thought was tougher than anything for me.

I pondered and studied the core for a few more minutes, but afterwards I stored it inside the inventory as there were no changes to it. It was merely an object now, brimming with pure mana. I silently stood in place looking at the mana through Mind’s Eye.

Due to my attention pulled away, I wasn’t able to see the fluctuations in the air with the awareness I had of mana.

But now that my mind was slightly cleared I saw a very strong source of it hundreds of meters away. It was strong and somewhat familiar.

Leap flared again, no longer being rejected as the paths appeared. My body wheezed in pain, face frowning and a streak of blood rushed down my nose.

With what little mana I had left, I empowered the paths and stepped into the ebony tendrils which crackled around me in a form of a web.

The paths carried me where I needed to go. This time the transition was smooth. There was no delay or rejection like last time as I appeared where I had felt the enormous amount of mana converge.

My eyes shot open as I stumbled on the ground, blood gushing through my mouth as an unimaginable pain made it's way toward me.

After taking a few minutes to recover I slowly stood and spun as I laid eyes over the thing which had been releasing the pure mana I sensed and saw.

I slightly cracked a grin looking at the display before me. The ethereal light which submerged the area around me in it’s beauty as well the density of the condensed mana which was available around me left me tingling in my bones.

“With this I might finally be able to it. I can feel it.” I said with a keen eye observing the relic in front of me, as I clenched my hands into fist as I breathed impatiently.

“To break through!"