After staring at the mana lake for a few seconds, Eric gently sat down cross-legged.
After going over the procedure he had read in the book a few more times, he carefully started sipping mana into his core.
Although he was only sipping it in small quantities, the density of the mana was so high that it felt like he was drowning in an ocean.
Then, a slight crack appeared on the isolating membrane.
It struggled to repeat itself, but the core wasn’t giving it that chance.
The cracks spread slowly at first, then faster and faster until it became a web of cracks.
The core pulsed once, then twice before it exploded, its last pulse taking Eric’s body with it.
Eric wasn’t even able to register the pain as his body disintegrated, leaving behind his soul, which was in the form of a pale greenish silhouette in the shape of Eric, and a barely visible shadow that could hardly be noticed.
His soul rose into the air as parts of his core, which were now in the form of electric currents, surrounded him.
The currents gradually coalesced into his human vessel.
First, they formed the brain, then his nerves before being covered by muscles and flesh.
He then landed back on the ground, feeling the currents course through his veins.
But even after all that, he didn’t feel complete.
So he went deeper, reaching into his soul as it flickered, then turned into a semi-liquid state.
It was still incorporeal, but it had attained a less stagnant state.
Then his consciousness spread through the forest in a limited but relatively wide area.
An avalanche of information entered his mind as he sensed their beastial pride and a vague sense of their personalities, as his power was not yet able to piece deeper into their souls.
He did notice something peculiar.
Unlike his soul, theirs didn’t have the semi-liquid state his soul possessed.
That’s when he sensed it.
Two deep, unfathomable souls lay beneath the water.
One felt like a raging storm, ready to sow destruction upon anyone who dared defy him.
While the other was female, Eric could sense a profound presence from her, just as powerful as the first one, but controlled.
She was like a light breeze that had the potential to become a tornado if angered.
He also noticed that their souls had the same semi-liquid state as his.
As soon as the black dragon felt the annoying pest brought by his wife probing his soul, he gazed back in annoyance, causing Eric’s eyes to burst and his brain to be wounded.
The eyes of Eric’s soul eyes quickly separated from it and mended Eric’s physical eyes, causing Eric to be blind even with healthy eyes.
The mana around him then condensed into a greenish form and healed his soul’s eyes.
While Eric was completing his last step of awakening, plants of all kinds began sprouting around the rocky terrain where he was meditating.
After regaining his sight, he stood up and assessed his surroundings.
That was when he saw it.
Everywhere his soul had come into contact with the world, life seemed to sprout.
It was then that he began to deeply ponder the true nature of his power.
“I am life…
or rather, my soul is a breath of life.
It compresses mana, changes its nature, and uses it to breathe life into wastelands.” He paused, looking at the life flourishing around him.
“But such a delicate and beautiful soul cannot be left unprotected.
I am destruction…
or rather, my body is destruction.
My bolts descend from the skies and turn forests and cities into wastelands.” His eyes widened as another thought struck him.
“But what if my body doesn’t just destroy?
What if it protects the things my soul creates?” A faint smile appeared on his face.
“I am balance.” He concluded.
Eric stretched out his right hand and willed the mana to change.
The air seemed to ripple.
Then the mana began to condense.
At first, it turned into drops of liquid mana.
Then the drops moved, gathering at a single point.
Within a minute, more and more drops formed and gathered at that point, eventually forming a large torrent of liquid mana.
It was quite a spectacle, but Eric didn’t intend to stop there.
He poured his innate will into the torrent of liquid mana.
At first, nothing happened.
But he didn’t give up.
He poured more of his will into it until it finally reacted.
A ripple ran across its surface, then the torrent began to compress.
It shrank more and more until it finally condensed into a single drop of green liquid.
To be precise, a Breath of Life.
Eric gasped for breath as he staggered backward.
“Damn…
all that just for a drop?
Lightning God must be immensely powerful to create complete human souls in mass.
Just a drop of a non-sentient Breath of Life has almost exhausted me,” Eric said with a pained expression.
Even though he was mostly spent, he couldn’t rest yet.
He still had to assess the abilities of his body.
He sat down and meditated, searching for clues about what his body could do.
The mistress had already given him a hint, so he only needed to pay attention to the smaller details.
After an hour of trial and error, he finally found it.
He just had to initiate it.
His cells began vibrating rapidly, and his blood flowed dangerously fast.
Even his soul reacted in a similar manner.
Then his body changed state.
His physical form disintegrated into sparks of current before coalescing back into a human form.
Eric stood up and faced a point five meters away.
He activated his ability.
This time, it took less than a second.
His body disintegrated into countless sparks of current and shot forward in an instant, reappearing at the point he had chosen.
Eric blinked in surprise.
It seemed the transformation lasted only a second.
But the incredible speed made up for its short duration.
After confirming everything he needed to know, Eric finally allowed himself to relax.
He collapsed unconscious in front of the lake without a care in the world.