The rich aroma of seared meat drifted through the cool night air and tugged him back to consciousness.
Iver blinked slowly. His vision cleared to a vast canopy of twinkling stars against a pitch black sky. The soreness from his clash with the Scorpion still weighed on his muscles, but beneath the fatigue was a profound, unfamiliar lightness, a sense of absolute balance, as if a missing piece of his soul had clicked into place.
"If you’re awake, come and eat," Myrra’s smooth, calm voice called nearby.
He sat up and shook off the haze as reality settled in. It hadn’t been a dream. The fight in the Ash Wastes, the venom, the white realm, the reflection of the Crimson Basilisk. All of it was real. He had reached Tier 3.
’I really almost died,’ he thought, staring at his hands in the moonlight. She wasn’t exaggerating. You have to stand on the knife’s edge between life and death. That state of being conscious and unconscious at once is the key.
Curious about his new power, he focused inward toward his core.
His breath caught. His heart spiked in sharp panic.
’It’s gone?’
He probed deeper into his chest, but the familiar concentrated orb that had rested there since he began cultivating was missing. ’Did I destroy my core when I forced that internal explosion? Did I shatter my own spirit realm? But I can still feel the power.’
Myrra looked up from her spot by a small campfire, a skewer of roasted meat in her hand, a faint, knowing smile on her lips. "Your core did not vanish, Ares. It simply returned to where it belonged. Your soul."
He listened intently.
"Before Tier 3, a cultivator’s core is merely a bowl, a temporary vessel forged to hold raw spiritual energy, because a young body cannot hold it directly," she explained. "When you achieve true completion and bridge the gap between your soul and your spirit animal, the bowl shatters. The energy floods through every cell, bone, and pathway of your body."
He closed his eyes and turned his attention to his physical frame. It was exactly as she said. The localized core was gone, but every drop of his blood, every thread of his nerves, and every inch of muscle was now soaked in a dense, shimmering web of high density spirit energy.
He turned to the Crimson Basilisk. It no longer felt like a dormant presence inside a core. It was him. He could feel its instincts, its heat, and the exact motion needed to change states or unleash its power at a moment’s notice. Find the original chapter at g.com.
’Impressive,’ he thought, a quiet clarity washing over him. No wonder most cultivators stay stuck at Tier 2. They spend their whole lives trying to make the bowl bigger, never realizing they’re supposed to break it.
"Here." Myrra handed him a portion of the roasted meat as he walked over to join her.
"Thank you." He sat on a flat basalt rock and took a bite. The warm nutrients restored his drained stamina.
Myrra watched him quietly, the flames dancing in her sightless eyes. "I admit I almost had my doubts when the venom took hold. But I am glad you proved my deduction right."
He swallowed and met her gaze. "That was thanks to your guidance, Headmaster. Without your explanation of completion, I’d have kept treating my spirit animal as a weapon."
"Do not heap praise on me, little Iver." She shook her head gently. "I merely pointed to the door. You were the one with the resolve to walk through it while staring death in the face. It was entirely your effort."
She stood and dusted off her robes as the small campfire went out under a soft wave of her hand.
"I will not overload you with lectures tonight," she continued, her voice turning firm. "Your priority is to stabilize your new realm. Tier 3 is fundamentally different from anything you have known. The way you control, channel, and carry your attacks must evolve."
She looked down at him sharply. "Having access to many abilities through your absorption trait has its advantages, but it also carries fatal traps. Do not collect techniques like meaningless trinkets. Aim only for abilities that complement your style and strengthen your foundation."
"Understood."
"Good. Let us go back."
With a swift wave of her sleeve, the ash, tracks, and lingering energy across the canyon floor were erased, leaving no trace of the battle. She stepped forward and set a hand on his shoulder.
The space around them warped, folded inward for less than a second, and snapped back into place.
The cold canyon breeze was gone. He found himself standing in the quiet, familiar interior of his private dorm room.
"Take the next few days to gain full control of your new power," Myrra said, stepping back as her figure began to fade into the shadows. "Come to my office later this week once your foundation is stable. Until then, rest."
With a subtle shimmer, she was gone.
He stood in the dark for a long moment and let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
He couldn’t deny it. A rare, genuine spark of excitement surged through his chest. He was twelve years old. In terms of age and generation, he had to be the first in the entire Empire to reach Tier 3 Spirit Manifestation at this age. Even among adults, it was a feat reserved for legends.
He raised his right hand, tempted to manifest the crimson aura of the Basilisk at once, then checked himself. If I let Tier 3 pressure out in here, I’ll blow the roof off the Class S dorms.
Instead he sat cross-legged in the center of the room and closed his eyes, sinking into deep meditation.
He turned inward and felt the vast, boundless sea of power circulating through his body. As his mind mapped the transformed soul realm, he noticed two distinct, empty nodes floating near his spiritual framework: two brand-new ability slots unlocked by the breakthrough.
Everything about this realm is grander, faster, and far more refined.
Accepting her offer was the right choice, he thought, as the dense energy hummed through his veins. With standard training and core absorption alone, it would have taken months. Maybe years.
He closed off all outside senses, submerged his mind into his new foundation, and spent the rest of the night in undisturbed meditation.