Stygian Mage

Soren’s CP rose very quickly. In just about 30 minutes, his CP had increased by 10%. This was the fastest cultivation speed that Soren had ever experienced. Although it did put some extra burden on him, he was able to endure it. His life depended on this, and so, he could not afford to slack off here.

Time passed by….

His CP had now reached 71%.

Soren decided to take a break at this point as it was getting a little hard for him to continue. In fact, this could be considered an improvement for him. Because of what he had gone through this last month, his ability to endure pain had increased quite a bit. Now, he could keep using ‘Devour’ for around an hour without stopping; this was not possible for him before.

After resting for a bit, Soren started cultivating again. And once more, his CP started rising.

……..

Soren opened his eye as he stopped using the ‘Devour’. His CP had reached 99% just now. The only thing he had to do now was to prepare for his breakthrough to Rank 1. According to the information that he had gathered from the Liston Family’s Information Center, there were multiple methods that could be used to break through from Rank 0 to Rank 1. Some methods included using external help from a higher-ranked Initiator. Other methods included using special items and potions. But all of them had one thing in common; they all were supposed to make it easier for the Mana to turn into a liquid form.

One of the most famous items used in this situation was ‘Frozen Crystal’. This fruit, when ingested, cooled down the Mana to a very low temperature and made it easier for it to change form. Of course, just eating the fruit would only result in a cold Mana and nothing else. This fruit was only a catalyst; the Initiators still had to do all the work by themselves.

As for recruiting external help to compress the Mana, Soren obviously didn’t have that option. So, he had to go for another method. Although this method was also mentioned in the information from that Information Center, its success rate was slightly on the lower end. That was because it required the Initiators to control their Mana Core in a very specific manner. And this was only possible if they could manipulate Mana up to a certain degree; at the very least, they needed to have enough mastery in it for it to turn into a skill. Fortunately, Soren had always practiced manipulating his Mana and was already quite good at it. Let alone the requirement of it turning into a skill, he already had a mastery of Level 4 in it.

Not only that, but he also had one of the best items needed for the breakthrough, the Frozen Crystal, in his possession. Now, the only thing he needed to do was separate the frozen Soul Recovery Potion from the frozen juice of the fruit.

….

It took him some time and effort but Soren was finally able to remove the frozen liquids from his mouth. Although the two liquids were frozen together, it was not that hard to separate them; as the Soul Recovery Potion was pale blue in color while the fruit juice was completely transparent. Soren had to try a few times but, in the end, he separated them into two pieces of frozen ice; one was pale blue and another was crystal clear. He only needed the crystal clear ice right now, so, he put the frozen potion aside for now.

For the frozen juice, he used <Fireball> and melted it until it became a blob of liquid. He then used <Vornea> and brought this blob of clear liquid into his mouth. And with that, he was now ready to start his breakthrough process.

Soren first started his ‘Devour’ and then focused on his Mana Core. He used his Mana Manipulation skill to control his already rotating Mana Core and made it rotate even faster; much faster. The centrifugal force acting on the Core due to this fast rotation made the Mana at the center of the Mana Core move outwards; of course, it couldn’t escape the Core but it produced a bulge in it. Soren then used the new incoming Mana that he was constantly absorbing with the ‘Devour’ and slammed it against that bulge. Due to the pressure coming from both the inside and the outside, the Mana present in the outer layer of bulge slowly started turning into liquid. The inertial force acting on the Core was not enough to move this heavy liquid, so this liquefied Mana then returned back to the center.

The process continued for a while but then it started slowing down as more and more mist Mana turned into the liquid form. Just around this moment, the Frozen Crystal started to take effect. Soren felt the temperature of his Mana go down rapidly as the Mana in the outer layer of the bulge once again started turning into liquid. As Soren saw the effect of the fruit, he increased the speed of the rotation even more and also increased the force at which he slammed the new incoming Mana onto the Core. Although this put a huge burden on his soul, he was willing to endure it all for his success.

.........

Seconds became minutes, and minutes became an hour.

The Mana Core that was made of mist before had now turned into a Core made of liquid. Only a very small part of it was left in the mist form.

When an Initiator wanted to break through a major rank, they had to absorb the Essence of the World; also known as the Mana Essence. This Mana Essence was the thing that actually increased their life level. The huge difference between the major ranks was not because of the state of the Mana or its quantity; it was because of the Mana Essence. It was this Essence that caused the change in quality as an Initiator broke through a major rank.

But this Essence of the World couldn’t be absorbed directly; it needed a medium. This medium could be anything; a Spell Vessel, an Innate Skill, an Innate Spell, or even a Bloodline Talent. Soren had decided to use his <Create Undead> Spell Vessel for this medium.

Although he had already chosen this Spell Vessel before, he had kept an open mind about changing it to something else. But the situation concerning its mastery level had finally made him stick with his first choice. It was because regardless of how much he practiced this spell or how much he studied about the related subject, his mastery level was not going above Level 10. The last five levels seemed to be related to something that Soren had no knowledge about. From what he already knew about the spell, he could at least tell that this knowledge was probably related to the aspects of the Soul and the Spirit.

But regardless of his speculations, it was going to be revealed the moment he used this Spell Vessel as a medium for the Mana Essence.

And so, after deciding to stick with this initial decision, Soren finally gave his Mana Core that last push which transformed all the remaining mist form of Mana into liquid. The first phase of his breakthrough was finished. Now, only the second phase remained.

As soon as Soren finished transforming his Core, he felt a very weak connection being established with something ethereal. This connection only lasted for a moment but it left him feeling amazed. He couldn’t tell what it was on the other side of the connection but it made him feel like it was the source and the beginning of everything. Soren had no idea why he felt that way but the feeling was indeed there, even if it was very vague.

Just as Soren was trying to make sense of this vague feeling, dark green mist suddenly came out of nowhere and surrounded him. From the information that he had gathered about the breakthrough, he knew that this dark green mist was exactly the thing that he needed to complete his transition from Rank 0 to Rank 1; it was the Mana Essence. As the mist revolved around Soren, he started feeling like he was standing in the middle of a luscious jungle with the smell of the trees and the morning dew hitting his nose. Although he was inside an actual jungle right now, this feeling was completely different. This normal jungle that he was in right now couldn’t even begin to compare to what he was feeling.

Of course, regardless of his feelings, he knew what he needed to do. And so, he focused his mind once again and cast his <Create Undead>. The moment he finished casting the spell, the dark green mist that was around him rushed towards the magic circle which was formed as a result of the spell. As soon as the mist touched the magic circle, Soren felt a jolt run through his body. A sense of clarity enveloped him as heaps of knowledge rushed into his mind; it was very enlightening. And as he had guessed previously, this knowledge was indeed related to the Souls and the Spirits. This was what he was lacking for the complete mastery of this spell.

…

Things continued like that for some time but as soon as the last bit of the Mana Essence was absorbed by his body through the Spell Vessel, everything ended.

Soren was well aware that the amount of the Mana Essence differed from one major breakthrough to another. It meant that the amount of Mana Essence present for the Initiator breaking through from Rank 1 to Rank 2 would be much higher than it would be for someone breaking through from Rank 0 to Rank 1; in other words, the amount of the Mana Essence was directly proportional to the ranks of the Initiator.

This, in turn, meant that the amount of knowledge an Initiator could obtain also differed from one major breakthrough to another.

For Soren, though, this amount of Mana Essence was more than enough for the knowledge he needed.

And with that, his breakthrough ended with a grand success. He was finally a Rank 1 Initiator; a being of a higher life level. It took him a moment of time, but very soon, the exhilaration started setting in. A huge smile appeared on his face as he made a fist pump with excitement filling his heart. The happiness that he was feeling right now was something that he hadn’t felt since the day he arrived in this world.

It took him quite a while to calm down from the excitement that he was feeling. Although the little fox beside him understood the gravity of the situation and had stayed still from the moment Soren had started his breakthrough, he now looked very confused as he looked at the excited Soren with his innocent eyes. He was very young right now and still didn’t know what Soren had just achieved.

But Soren didn’t care for the confusion of this little Beast right now. He just quickly opened his status screen and checked out the huge amount of system notifications that he had received during his breakthrough.

[Unknown substance detected! Checking through the database…..]

[Determined to be the Mana Essence. Also known as the Essence of the World.]

[Insufficient Authorization: Unable to interfere.]

[Passive Monitoring already in effect.]

[Recording the process as per Master’s prior orders.]

[……]

[……]

[……]

[Extreme changes detected in Master’s body.]

[Determined to be the effect of the Mana Essence.]

[Insufficient Authorization: Unable to interfere.]

[……]

[Foreign information detected.]

[Determined to be the knowledge related to the Spell Vessel ‘Create Undead: Low Tier’.]

[Insufficient Authorization: Unable to interfere.]

[Passive Monitoring already in effect.]

[……]

[……]

[……]

[Process Finished. Recording Terminated.]

[Saving the File…..]

[File Saved.]

[……]

[Changes detected in the Soul Form. Evolution in process.]

[……]

[……]

[……]

[Process Finished. The Soul Form – Stygian Grimoire has finished its First Evolution.]

[Gathering data regarding the effects of the Evolution…..]

[……]

[The amplifying effect that the Stygian Grimoire had on the spell casting abilities of Master has now been increased by a significant amount.]

[……]

[The effects of the Bloodline Talent: Devour has been modified.]

[Devour – First Evolution: Master can absorb Mana directly from the atmosphere using the Stygian Grimoire. It will also purify the Mana, and modify it according to Master’s attributes. Additionally, it can also be used to directly plunder the Quintessence from a Mana Source. This Quintessence will then be purified by the Stygian Grimoire, and will turn into a pure and normal Quintessence that Master can absorb.]

[……]

[The limit for the amount of Spell Vessels has now been increased to 10.]

“Spell Mastery Increased. Create Undead: Low Tier – Level 15/15.”

“Spell Vessel Assimilated. Innate Spell Learned: Create Undead: Low Tier – Level 15/15.”

“Spell Evolution Possible.”

“Spell Mastery Increased. Dead Rising – Level 10/10.”

“Spell Evolution Possible.”

“Innate Skill Learned. Powered Vision – Level --/--”

“Innate Skill Learned. Vornea: Basic Form – Level --/--”