When he opened his eyes again, the nurse’s office was gone. Instead, the entire area was just a vast expanse of green.
Thought it wasn’t a landscape in the traditional sense. There were no trees, no sky, and no discernible horizon. Just an open space of green with faint shimrs of life energy every once and a while.
Beside him, Luna materialized in the sa instant, her form coming into view. For a mont, she looked around before opening her mouth.
"Where—"
"Seems like this space is the inside of the core," he replied comfortably. "A joint area where Mystics can cultivate."
Aren’s gaze slowly lifted.
Encasing them in a wide sphere was a translucent barrier, almost invisible at first glance. Only when he focused did its surface reveal a faint, glass-like distortion.
And beyond that barrier—
The true Core.
A dense cluster of compressed ether churned silently, currents twisting and folding into itself like a living being that couldn’t stand still. The density was staggering.
The only thing that kept the massive force from flooding and consuming them underneath was the glass barrier itself.
So that was what we saw from the outside...the valve.
Luna exhaled slowly. "So this is..."
"The inner workings of the Core," Aren finished quietly.
He stepped closer to the translucent wall, feeling the restrained current just beyond it. Even through the barrier, the pressure pricked against his skin, responding faintly to his presence.
Aren could feel the thinnest point almost imdiately. A section where the current pressed harder than most.
He lowered himself into the lotus position, folding his legs beneath him as Luna mirrored the motion.
Aren kept his gaze on the thinnest point of the translucent wall before speaking.
"So we should—"
Luna followed his line of sight before finishing his sentence. "We should anchor ourselves, right?"
He nodded faintly. Without looking at her directly, he extended his hand between them.
"For stability."
"Y–yeah..."
Luna placed her hand in his, their fingers intertwining naturally as though they’d already been used to it. The instant their skin t, the ether around them shifted.
Luna’s breathing aligned with his almost unconsciously. Their circulation patterns synchronized with surprising ease, ether flowing between them without turbulence.
Aren felt it imdiately.
Our Bloodlines...were this compatible?
His mind drifted off into the possibility. Aren rembered the twins and their Bloodlines, of how they’d used a Fusion Art that caught him off guard.
Fusion Arts were rare, techniques born from perfect compatibility. They erged only when two bloodlines aligned at a foundational level.
Most often among twins. Sotis among families that had engineered compatibility across generations.
Two strangers achieving that level of compatibility, even amongst lovers, were extrely rare.
Seeing that he was unfocused, Luna quickly cleared her throat before tightening her fingers around his.
"Ahem."
"Right, sorry."
Aren steadied his breathing and pushed the stray thoughts aside. This was not the ti to speculate.
He gathered his spiritual pressure, compressing it until it felt sharp and narrow, like a needle ford from his will alone.
Slowly, he extended that refined pressure toward the thinnest section of the glass-like wall. The mont he pressed on it, the surface shook.
Aren took a deep inhale before letting it all out.
"Now or never."
Then, he punctured the barrier.
Currents twisted and rushed toward the disturbance. For a second, nothing happened.
Then ether slipped through, green and abundant. It was no wider than a strand of silk, barely visible. It slipped into the chamber like a gas forced through a crack in the glass.
The first wave struck his senses imdiately. Aren didn’t hesitate, he drew it inward the exact mont it crossed the threshold, absorbing the current before it could even touch the ground.
Through their intertwined hands, he split the flow evenly, guiding half of it into Luna’s body with deliberate control.
The mont the first wave of condensed ether entered his body, Aren understood.
This was the densest life energy he’d ever absorbed. It was brimming with vitality that surged through his channels the instant it touched them. The current spread like warmth into his cold veins, saturating every tunnel and expanding them.
The constriction that had held him at the edge of his bottleneck loosened imdiately. It was overwhelming. In a normal environnt, such density would’ve imdiately destroyed his body.
Aren breathed out a sigh of relief.
Thank god I wasn’t greedy. Really dodged a bullet with that one.
This was more than enough. The bottleneck that had resisted him all night now felt insignificant beneath the torrent of abundance coursing through his system.
There was no need to hesitate.
He summoned his Canvas. It unfolded before him seamlessly, the portrait of his dragon still slept in the waters calmly.
Yet only a part of it was fully visible in dark ink: the First Line.
Without a pause, Aren guided the Brush forward and drew. The second line ford imdiately, extending from the first in a smooth arc, ether reinforcing its structure the mont it touched the Canvas.
There was neither struggle or pushback. It just simply...happened.
Aren was officially a Line 2, Adept-Stage Mystic.
The pressure within his body settled imdiately. He felt stronger, more stable than before. And with the change ca his next decision:
He’d have to pick a Trait.
The Canvas shifted to his will.
Before him, the newly drawn Second Line glowed steadily, its foundation complete. Now, the dragon’s head could be seen in full, dark ink.
Aren picked up his Brush and drew a single character:
[Record]
Instantly, the ink materialized onto his Canvas in title and nurical order.
Na: Aren
Bloodline: Azure Flood Dragon
Lines: 2
Elents: Water (Early Stage 3)
Arts: [Dragon’s Claw], [Aqua Veil]
Huh, I got a new Art. Interesting, I’ll definitely test it later.
Aren used his Brush once more, finally drawing the character for [Pathway].
Instantly, the Canvas was cleared completely blank. Aren dropped a single drop of ink onto it.
As soon as the drop hit, lines branched instantly. Possibilities unfolded like luminous opportunities, each one carrying a direction and cost.
Aren looked at his Water elent. Below its branches, compatible elents unfurled: Wind, Ice, Earth, Steel, and Plant.
They were natural evolutions that took into account compatibility between each other.
Yet his eyes flicked to the side...at the elents that were supposed to be dimd and unreachable: Fire, Lightning, Shadow, Light, Poison, and Curse.
Aren’s grip tightened subtly around the Brush. They glowed faintly, just as reachable as the rest.
Good, the rule still didn’t apply to him.
Aren let his gaze drift from the elental branches and toward the deeper parts of his Canvas.
The Dragon bloodline pulsed faintly beneath the surface. At Line 2, it no longer remained dormant.
Countless traits unfolded before him.
They did not remain as simple lines of text. The dragon’s inked form shifted continuously as his focus drifted across them. The options were simply overwhelming and unlimited in appearance.
Aren filtered through it all.
Traits that focused purely on brute strength were discarded first. Heavy carapace, massive horns, thickened bone plating...they were powerful, but would only serve to slow him down.
Next went the flashy expressions. Partial wings that would only allow gliding and minor breath attacks were gone from the choices.
Gradually, the branching web narrowed until five remained:
Spiral Tail, Slippery Carapace, and Flexible Torque Body. Two others lingered faintly beside them, but required greater commitnt.
Unlike the others, these did not rely alter anatomy...they altered expression.
Manifestation was a power that allowed his dragon to step beyond the body, projecting its presence into the world as a spiritual construct. It would allow him to fight alongside his bloodline itself.
And Morphing, which would allow him to use its scales to reshape into anything he wanted, be it weapons or armor, and they’d have extre durability.
After a mont of thinking, Aren dropped the first three. They were stable and safe, sothing he’d pick in a heartbeat...if their situation were normal.
He was currently hiding from the national terrorist organization, holding the one thing they wanted most.
Safety was out of the question. He’d have to risk it all.
The first three Traits were structural, an additive to what his Dragon’s existing foundation.
Manifestation and Morphing were not.
To choose Manifestation would require him to project the dragon’s presence beyond his body. To visualize it fully and sustain it through his own spiritual will alone. A continuous migraine-like pressure at the base of his skull that would likely drive him insane.
Morphing was no gentler.
It would force the dragon’s anatomy to breach through human flesh whenever called upon. Muscle fibers would have to split and realign. Skin would stretch and harden. The transformation would not be painless. Almost like a physical torture that he’d have to endure every single ti.
He gritted his teeth at the decision.
Both would be able to let him fight above his realm. He’d have to endure and make countless sacrifices, but in a controlled one-on-one exchange with a Practitioner-Stage Defiler...
He’d be able to coin-flip it.
I hate gambling, but it’s hell of a lot better than certain death.
Eventually, Aren settled on one option—Morphing.
In the optimistic case that they’d make it out alive from this encounter, he’d be able to hide his Bloodline. Tell others that he was a Snake-type as not to draw even more attention.
With the decision finalized, Aren let out a soft exhale before confirming his choice with his Brush.
[Trait - Morphing Acquired]
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