Pain.
That was all Kyle knew.
It consumed every thought, every breath, every fragment of his consciousness.
Twenty-five minutes...
That was how long the breakthrough lasted.
Yet to Kyle...
It felt like years.
His body convulsed violently as wave after wave of unbearable agony crashed through him.
His muscles tore apart and reformed.
His bones shattered into countless microscopic fractures before knitting themselves back together, denser and stronger than before.
His skin split open as black, foul-smelling impurities poured from every pore.
Fresh flesh quickly replaced the old.
Every organ in his body was being reforged.
At the same time...
The torrent of mana surged through every meridian, washing away every impurity it encountered.
The two breakthroughs fed each other.
The stronger his body became...
The purer his mana grew.
The purer his mana became...
The stronger his body was forged.
Elias watched with widening eyes.
"So this is..."
"A simultaneous first breakthrough..."
He had heard ancient stories of cultivators breaking through both paths at the same time.
But those were experienced cultivators.
Body Rank Four entering Body Rank Five while their mana also advanced.
Or Mana Rank Six entering Mana Rank Seven together with their body.
Those cases, while extremely rare, were not unheard of.
But this...
This was completely different.
Kyle wasn't advancing from one rank to another.
He was beginning both paths simultaneously.
His body had never been tempered.
His mana had never circulated.
Both foundations were being forged from nothing.
Each breakthrough was strengthening the other from the very first moment.
Elias' breathing became uneven.
"I've never..."
"...seen such a thing."
Kyle's scream echoed once more.
"AAARRGGHHH!"
His fingernails dug into the stone floor until they snapped.
Blood stained the ground beneath him.
His consciousness faded in and out.
The pain was simply too much.
His eyelids slowly began to close.
"No!"
Elias immediately pressed two fingers against Kyle's forehead.
Instead of shouting...
He sent his voice directly into Kyle's mind.
"Kyle!"
"Stay awake!"
"You cannot lose consciousness!"
"If you do..."
"The breakthrough will collapse!"
"Your body won't survive the backlash!"
Kyle barely heard him.
Everything was drowning beneath endless pain.
Then...
A familiar face appeared within the darkness.
His mother.
She smiled gently, just as she always had.
"Kyle..."
"Keep moving forward."
Another voice followed.
Elias'.
"My disciple cannot be defeated by mere pain."
Kyle clenched his fists.
His cracked lips trembled.
"I..."
"I won't..."
"...give up."
With every ounce of willpower he possessed...
He endured.
Another minute passed.
Then another.
Finally...
The violent shaking began to slow.
The mana settled.
The pressure gradually faded.
Silence filled the underground chamber.
Kyle's body lay motionless on the stone floor.
Black impurities covered his skin from head to toe.
His breathing was slow...
But steady.
Elias carefully activated his Divine Eye once more.
Golden light filled his pupils.
This time...
He wasn't looking at the breakthrough.
He was examining the result.
His eyes slowly widened.
"The body..."
"It's Rank One..."
His gaze shifted.
"The mana..."
"It also reached Rank One."
Then his expression changed again.
"No..."
"That's impossible..."
The amount of mana inside Kyle's body was exactly what a newly awakened Rank One should possess.
Nothing unusual.
But...
The quality...
The purity...
It was absurd.
It was as though every strand of mana had been refined countless times before it even existed.
Elias swallowed hard.
"No Rank One..."
"...should possess mana this pure."
He quickly examined Kyle's muscles.
His bones.
His organs.
His meridians.
Everything had changed.
Every part of Kyle's body had been forged to an astonishing degree.
Although he had only entered Low Rank One...
His physical body rivaled that of an ordinary Mid Rank One cultivator.
His foundation...
Was simply flawless.
Elias slowly withdrew his Divine Eye.
A smile spread across his face.
"A monster..."
"I've accepted a true monster as my disciple."
Just then...
The air around Kyle suddenly rippled.
Like a stone had fallen into an invisible lake.
One ripple.
Then another.
The surrounding space twisted ever so slightly.
Elias' smile disappeared.
His eyes locked onto Kyle.
"...What?"
The ripples grew stronger.
Even the light inside the underground chamber seemed to bend for the briefest moment.
A look of complete disbelief appeared on Elias' face.
"This feeling..."
"It can't be..."
The invisible ripples continued spreading through the underground chamber.
The lamps hanging on the walls flickered.
Tiny pebbles rolled across the stone floor without anyone touching them.
The air itself seemed unstable.
Elias unconsciously took two steps backward.
His heart pounded.
“No…”
“It can’t be…”
He activated his Divine Eye once more.
Golden light surged into his pupils as he focused entirely on Kyle.
This time…
He wasn’t observing Kyle’s body.
He was observing the mana surrounding him.
The moment his vision pierced through the invisible ripples…
Elias froze.
His pupils shrank to pinpoints.
The mana wasn’t flowing like water.
It wasn’t crackling like lightning.
It wasn’t burning like fire.
It wasn’t dancing like wind.
Instead…
The surrounding space itself was responding to Kyle’s existence.
The very fabric of reality trembled around him.
Elias’ breathing stopped.
“…Space.”
His voice barely escaped his lips.
“The Space Element…”
His hands trembled.
Among the countless elemental affinities known to mankind…
Space was regarded as one of the rarest.
Some cultivators spent their entire lives without seeing a single Space Awakener.
Even among the highest-ranking powerhouses…
Only legends were said to possess such an affinity.
Yet…
His disciple…
The boy who had just been declared a failure…
Had awakened one of the most mysterious elements in existence.
Elias stared silently at Kyle.
Then he slowly laughed.
At first…
It was only a chuckle.
Soon…
It grew louder.
“Hahaha…”
“Hahahaha!”
“The heavens…”
“So this is your answer?”
“You didn’t reject him…”
“You were preparing something extraordinary.”
As his laughter faded, his expression became serious once again.
“No.”
“I can’t let anyone know.”
“If news of this spreads…”
“Kyle won’t live long enough to grow.”
He waved his hand.
A thin layer of mana spread throughout the underground chamber, erasing every trace of the violent breakthrough.
The remaining aura disappeared.
The spatial ripples gradually faded.
Only silence remained.
Several minutes later…
Kyle’s fingers twitched.
His eyelids slowly opened.
The first thing he noticed was the strange lightness of his body.
He slowly sat up.
His clothes were soaked with sweat and stained with black impurities.
Every muscle ached.
Yet…
He had never felt so powerful.
He clenched his fist.
A sharp cracking sound echoed from his knuckles.
Without trying…
He could feel strength flowing through every part of his body.
His senses had become astonishingly clear.
He could hear insects moving outside the dojo.
He could hear the distant conversations of people walking past.
Even the gentle breeze brushing against the roof sounded distinct.
Kyle looked at his hands in disbelief.
“What…”
“What happened to me?”
He raised his head toward Elias.
His voice carried both hope and fear.
“Master…”
“…Did I awaken?”
Elias looked at him for a long moment.
A smile slowly appeared on his face.
“Yes.”
“You awakened.”
Kyle’s breathing stopped.
Relief flooded his heart.
His eyes became moist once more.
“I…”
“I really did it…”
He laughed softly.
Not because he had become stronger…
But because his mother’s promise had not been broken.
He still had a path forward.
He still had the chance to become strong enough to uncover the truth… and one day avenge her.
Elias stepped closer.
“You’ve awakened…”
“But from this moment onward…”
“You must never reveal your true element to anyone.”
Kyle frowned.
“…Why?”
Elias looked into his eyes.
“Because the moment the wrong people discover what you truly are…”
“They won’t try to recruit you.”
“They’ll try to erase you.”
Kyle’s smile slowly disappeared.
He realized…
His real journey had only just begun.