Godfrey looked down at Eternia for several seconds before opening his storage ring.
A mont later dozens of mana crystals, elixirs, cultivation dicines, and mana-infused herbs crashed onto the stone floor like soone had overturned a treasure vault.
Eternia blinked.
Then blinked again.
Then looked at the mountain of resources.
Then at Godfrey.
Then back at the mountain.
"..."
"..."
"Are we starting a pharmacy?"
Godfrey ignored her.
Typical.
"Form the remaining circles."
Eternia had a bad feeling.
Godfrey pointed at the resources.
"You must reach at least Second Circle before the end of today."
Silence.
"...Today?"
"Today."
"...As in today today?"
"Today."
"..."
Godfrey stared.
Eternia stared back.
Neither moved.
After several seconds Eternia sighed.
There was no talking her way out of this.
Normally she would have tried.
Actually no.
In her previous life as Shatter she would never have tried.
She would have imdiately started training.
But after becoming Eternia she had discovered sothing amazing.
Complaining.
Complaining was wonderful.
Sadly it never worked against Godfrey.
The old monster had the emotional range of a mountain.
A very violent mountain.
Eternia looked at the Celestial Saint standing before her and inwardly groaned.
Even their earlier spar could barely be called a fight.
He had toyed with her.
Completely.
Utterly.
Humiliatingly.
And that was while restricting himself.
How exactly was soone supposed to defeat a Celestial Saint?
Forget defeating.
How was soone supposed to understand a Celestial Saint?
Even using Awakened level physical strength he had treated her like a child.
Actually...
That wasn’t fair.
He treated her like a training dummy.
A very fragile training dummy.
Eternia sighed again.
"Guess I should start."
Godfrey nodded.
"Good."
That was all.
No encouragent.
No advice.
No words of wisdom.
Just good.
Eternia suddenly understood why Leon was so emotionally vulnerable.
If this was what noble ntors were like then she would probably beco emotionally attached to the first person who offered her a cookie.
She sat down cross-legged.
One by one she opened the elixirs.
The sll alone was enough to reveal their quality.
Expensive.
Painfully expensive.
The kind of resources entire branch families would fight over.
The kind that would make rchants cry tears of joy.
Kael would probably pass out if he saw this.
Eternia drank the first elixir.
Heat exploded through her body.
Then the second.
Then the third.
Mana surged violently through her channels.
Without hesitation she crushed several mana crystals.
Crack.
Crack.
Crack.
Pure mana flooded the surroundings.
The air itself beca saturated with energy.
Godfrey watched silently.
Eternia grabbed one of the higher-tier crystals and closed her eyes.
Focus.
Her mana circulation began imdiately.
First Circle.
Her mana heart pulsed steadily.
Mana moved through her body like rivers flowing toward the ocean.
Slowly.
Carefully.
She began guiding more and more mana toward the heart.
Pressure increased.
Pain followed.
Expected.
Normal.
Annoying.
Eternia focused harder.
If she wanted to leave mortality behind...
If she wanted to reach Awakened Rank...
Then she needed more than talent.
She needed circles.
Mana.
Aura.
Ether.
Soul Script.
Every path led upward.
Every path demanded effort.
She rembered Godfrey’s explanation.
Mana and aura.
Both needed.
Neither optional.
And unlike before...
She now had people she wanted to protect.
Leon.
Kael.
Even Etherius despite how annoying he could be.
Her thoughts paused.
Actually.
No.
Etherius was very annoying.
Still.
She wanted strength.
Not for revenge.
Not anymore.
For freedom.
To explore.
To live.
To protect.
Eternia sighed.
"Guess there’s no other way."
Her eyes opened.
"Let’s give it everything."
Mana surged.
Far stronger this ti.
The crystal in her hand began dimming rapidly as energy poured into her body.
Her heart pulsed.
Again.
Again.
Again.
The First Circle trembled.
Cracks appeared.
Expansion began.
Godfrey’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
╰（‵□′）╯
anwhile.
Several estates away.
The atmosphere couldn’t have been more different.
Etherius stood completely still.
For perhaps the first ti since his regression.
He felt genuinely uncomfortable.
Not because of danger.
Not because of power.
Because of uncertainty.
Seraphine Valecross stood before him.
And sohow that was worse.
The woman looked like a living battlefield.
White hair.
Golden eyes.
Countless scars.
Every single scar carried history.
Violence.
Survival.
War.
She wasn’t beautiful in a noble sense.
She was terrifying.
The kind of person who made people instinctively step aside.
The kind of person who could smile and sohow make it feel threatening.
The training hall felt colder.
Darker.
Heavier.
Not because of magic.
Because of her.
Seraphine stared at him.
Then spoke.
"Beco my disciple."
Etherius froze.
Because this had never happened.
Not once.
Not in his previous life.
Not in any mory.
Seraphine had eventually vanished from the Sinclair Family entirely.
So said she left.
So said she was exiled.
So said she died.
Nobody knew.
Yet now...
She stood before him.
Personally recruiting him.
Impossible.
Sothing had changed.
Etherius disliked things changing.
Changes were dangerous.
Changes ant uncertainty.
Uncertainty killed regressors.
Seraphine crossed her arms.
"Thinking too much."
Etherius didn’t answer.
Seraphine continued.
"You know how advancent works."
Etherius remained silent.
She smirked.
"You need both mana and aura."
"To reach Awakened Rank."
"To awaken a Soul Script."
Her golden eyes narrowed.
"And who exactly can teach you aura better than ?"
Etherius couldn’t deny it.
She wasn’t boasting.
It was simply true.
Seraphine Valecross.
Future Void Monarch.
The strongest commoner in Solaris history.
The woman who shattered countless noble records.
The woman called the World Favored.
The woman who reached heights most bloodlines spent millennia chasing.
Even future Etherius had respected her.
Which made this situation troubleso.
Very troubleso.
Because Etherius was a regressor.
He already possessed knowledge.
Future knowledge.
Experience.
Secrets.
Connections.
In theory he didn’t need a ntor.
Yet...
If he refused.
Seraphine would rember him.
And that alone was dangerous.
If he accepted.
He gained access to her techniques.
Her influence.
Her future network.
The future monsters she would eventually train.
Potential generals.
Potential commanders.
Potential allies.
The future empire he planned to build needed powerful people.
And powerful people followed strength.
Not titles.
Not promises.
Strength.
Seraphine possessed exactly that.
Etherius sighed internally.
The benefits outweighed the risks.
Barely.
Still.
Enough.
He looked up.
"I accept."
Seraphine smiled.
A small smile.
Sohow that smile felt more frightening than most people’s killing intent.
"Good."
The training hall suddenly felt colder.
Far colder.
Because while Etherius believed he was making a calculated decision...
Seraphine’s thoughts moved elsewhere entirely.
Toward a conversation that happened weeks ago.
A conversation impossible by all logic.
A conversation with soone who should not exist.
Darkness.
Ruins.
Ancient underground halls.
A man wearing black robes.
Red eyes.
A smile that seed wrong.
Too wide.
Too calm.
Too knowing.
One of the Eleven Axis
Axis of Revelation.
A monster among monsters.
A future-returned priest.
His na still echoed within her mories.
Malachar Veyn.
The Hollow Prophet.
The Axis of Revelation.
One who saw truths others were never ant to witness.
Their eting had lasted less than ten minutes.
Yet it haunted her still.
Because during that eting...
Malachar had spoken nas.
Dates.
Wars.
Deaths.
Every prediction beca reality.
Every warning proved true.
Every impossible statent happened.
And before leaving...
The priest had spoken one final ssage.
A mission.
A command.
Protect the Axis of Gateway.
Keep him away from the Vessel.
At all costs.
Because if Gateway and Vessel united early...
The future would beco unknowable.
Seraphine rembered the words perfectly.
The mory alone made her skin crawl.
Not because of fear.
Because of certainty.
The certainty that sothing vast was moving behind the world.
Sothing older than kingdoms.
Older than empires.
Older than history.
The First Dream.
Her deity.
Her faith.
Her purpose.
And now...
Standing before her...
Was Etherius.
One of the Axis.
The Axis of Gateway.
One of eleven beings holding the axis capable of reshaping reality itself.
He didn’t know.
Not yet.
Probably.
Hopefully.
Because if he did...
Things would beco complicated.
Seraphine looked at him quietly.
The Vessel must never reach him.
Not yet.
Not until the First Dream fully gains the control of the vessel.
Her smile widened slightly.
Etherius imdiately felt uneasy.
"Why are you smiling?"
Seraphine answered honestly.
"Thinking."
"About?"
"Training."
Etherius suddenly felt concerned.
ᓚᘏᗢ
anwhile.
Back at Godfrey’s private training grounds.
Eternia was suffering.
Greatly.
The problem wasn’t pain.
Pain was normal.
Expected.
The problem was quantity.
There was simply too much mana.
Way too much.
Enough mana to make several First Circle mages explode.
Possibly literally.
Her channels burned.
Her heart pounded.
Her Second Circle struggled to form.
Yet she refused to stop.
Mana continued pouring inward.
Faster.
Faster.
Faster.
Cracks expanded.
Pressure mounted.
Godfrey watched silently.
Minutes passed.
Then an hour.
Sweat covered Eternia’s face.
Her breathing beca heavier.
Still she continued.
More mana.
More pressure.
More refinent.
The Second Circle slowly erged around the First.
A beautiful ring of condensed mana.
Incomplete.
But forming.
Eternia smiled slightly.
Progress.
Finally.
Then imdiately vomited blood.
"..."
"..."
"...Progress hurts."
Godfrey nodded.
"Good."
Eternia stared.
"What part of that was good?"
"You haven’t died."
"..."
Reasonable.
Unfortunately.
Very reasonable.
She hated that.
Hours passed.
Mana continued gathering.
The Second Circle stabilized further.
Each second felt like dragging a mountain uphill.
Yet she endured.
Because she had done worse.
Far worse.
And unlike before...
She wasn’t alone anymore.
That thought sohow made everything easier.
Even while suffering.
Even while training.
Even while dealing with Godfrey.
Though admittedly nothing could make dealing with Godfrey easy.
The old man was terrifying.
Yet strangely reliable.
Which sohow made him scarier.
Eventually.
A loud pulse echoed outward.
BOOOOM.
Mana surged.
The surrounding crystals shattered.
Wind exploded outward.
Eternia opened her eyes.
Golden light flickered around her body.
Second Circle.
Achieved.
Silence followed.
Then Godfrey nodded once.
"Good."
Eternia smiled proudly.
Finally.
Praise.
Recognition.
Validation.
Then Godfrey spoke again.
"Now begin aura training."
Her smile disappeared.
"..."
"..."
"...Can I rest first?"
"No."
Eternia looked toward the heavens.
"Why does every powerful person hate happiness?"
No answer ca.
Which honestly felt fitting.
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