A perfect awakened mortal body and a perfect awakened mind, further enhanced by the ruthlessness of the tribulations.
Or as Samael had decided to call them—Perfect Mortal Tribulation Body and Mind.
Standing at six feet six, Samael truly towered. He wasn't as bulky as he liked yet, but for now, this would suffice. He still had a few years left to truly grow into his body and attain his physical prime.
Clenching and unclenching his fists a few times, Samael nodded to himself before he sat back down, not immediately leaving just yet.
Though mentally, he was absolutely drained and needed rest, he couldn't let this opportunity go. The aftermath of the tribulation had left a ridiculous amount of pure qi he could use to further cultivate.
So, he immediately refocused.
After achieving natural awakening, those of the Awakening Realm would then move onto the first stage of awakening—a stage known as the Qi Circle stage.
And it was rather simple.
Here, Samael would have to harmonize the flow of qi inside his body with the flow of qi in the outside world, to birth a tool known as a Qi Ring.
The Qi Circle was a tool of control—a tool of control that allowed one to possess perfect manipulation of qi, the body, and also the mind—atop the fact that it massively enhanced one's physical and mental power, of course.
The reason why most failed in this stage was due to the simple fact that the flow of qi in the world was ridiculously complex—an endless amount of qis floated through the air, each further branching into different streams of density, purity, and volatility, further underlined by the fact that living beings, cultivators or not, affected the flows of qi in the world.
When attuning both flows, one had to take it all into account and form a sort of algorithm within their minds—an algorithm that'd constantly correct and re-attune the flow of qi inside them with the one outside, or inversely, forcefully attune the qi flow of the external world to that of their body.
Only then—only when one reached this state of harmony—could the Qi Ring be born, which would sear into both their body and mind.
And evidently enough, such a task wasn't hard in the slightest for Samael, not only because he'd been through this stage countless times before, but also because his body and mind had reached a perfect state of qi harmony.
And to top it all off, the qi around him was so pure that there was no resistance or difficulty—not that it'd have mattered.
SHAH!
To Samael's back, a white ring appeared, illusory and faint, but suddenly, it solidified—becoming tangible and real. The ring then began to spin, sucking in the qi around him as its color started to oscillate and change.
It cycled through all colors before settling with a deep and rich amethyst hue. Once all the qi from the tribulation was absorbed by the ring, it soared toward Samael, searing into his back like a runic tattoo, then diving further down and etching itself into the intangible fabric of his mind.
A rush of power flooded his body—pure and holistic—overshadowing the pain of his still-aching mind, and in moments, he reached the peak of the Qi Circle stage of awakening.
Again, Samael exhaled a breath—steaming and hot—reflecting the bubbling heat inside of him. A gnawing headache suddenly began to thump and pulse at his temples, reflecting his mental fatigue.
Looking at his palms again, he took a few moments to assess whether he could handle the strain of breaking into the second stage in awakening.
'If I push a bit, I'll be out for a day more. It'll strain the schedule more, but if I can reach the peak of the second stage in a single go, I'll be able to…'
A resolute light flashed through his eyes, and his plans shifted and restructured. Closing his eyes again, he continued to press on.
His Qi Ring manifested behind him, sucking in waves of atmospheric qi and funnelling it into his flesh—and in moments, he broke past the Qi Circle stage and into the Elemental Spark stage.
The Elemental Spark stage, unlike the prior stage, didn't require nearly as much mental calculation and load—in fact, it didn't require any.
By cycling and absorbing enough qi to reach a state of absolute saturation, one's Qi Ring would evolve, allowing the cultivator to awaken their affinities, thus allowing them to control them and tap into a branch of qi control known as Mancy.
Not only did this stage further and massively strengthen one's flesh through absolute saturation, it also granted yet another vital tool and asset—via the control of their affinities and the evolution of their ring.
It would grant Samael just the right amount of power to carry out what he would do next, so without waiting, he immediately began.
And it took much less time than he'd expected, as in mere moments, his skin began to glisten like reflective glass, its slightly sun-kissed tone glowing like golden solar flares. His muscles tightened, and his bones further densified.
The process only grew more intense as the seconds passed, more qi concentrating into him to elevate his physical power over and over again—until suddenly, he seemed to reach a limit and a click echoed through his ears.
SHA!
Seamlessly, his affinities awakened, and around him, a storm of colors erupted.
Furiously, runes began to manifest all over his skin, assembling into runic tattoos that joined the one on his back.
The runes dug deeper, searing across his flesh, then bones, and finally, organs—qi furiously swam around him, chaotic yet unable to harm him.
As this happened, Samael stood up, releasing a light groan—more of a moan than a groan—as he then spoke.
"Aegon."
A rune appeared in front of him, and from it, Aegon's voice was projected.
"Oh? You didn't die?"
Samael shook his head, then closed his eyes—not because he was focusing, but simply because he couldn't keep them open anymore.
"Catch me."
Samael passed out and tipped over the platform, free-falling from the skies and toward the capital.
"Catch you from—IS THAT—!"
A light chuckle escaped Samael's lips as everything went dark.