It happened in the middle of the night.
Ashen woke from dreamless sleep to a sensation he couldn't immediately identify. Not pain—his Primordial Physique wouldn't allow something as crude as pain from his own development. More like... awareness expanding beyond what should be possible.
His eyes opened in the darkness of the nursery, and the world changed.
Everything was visible.
Not in the sense of illumination—though he could see perfectly despite the absence of light—but in layers upon layers of reality stacked on top of each other. The walls of the nursery weren't just stone and essence-reinforced material. They were spatial structures with dimensional anchors, temporal flow patterns moving through them like invisible rivers, microscopic essence currents following optimization paths that someone had deliberately designed centuries ago.
He could see it all.
The wooden crib beneath him wasn't just wood. It was compressed organic matter with cellular structure still visible at microscopic scale, growth rings showing seasonal variation from decades past, trace essence absorbed from years of proximity to cultivators.
His own hands, held up before his face, were universes of information. Blood flow visible through skin, essence pathways lighting up his meridians like luminescent highways, cellular division happening in real-time, the Primordial Physique's influence radiating from his core like ripples in a pond.
Ashen sat up slowly, processing the overwhelming influx of data.
His Primordial Sovereign Eyes had awakened.
The nursery door was closed, but he could see through it. Not x-ray vision exactly—more like his perception simply included what was behind physical barriers. The hallway beyond. The guards stationed at intervals, their essence signatures distinct as fingerprints. Mira sleeping in the servants' quarters three floors down. His parents in their chambers, Aldric's B-Rank essence burning like a controlled bonfire while Seraphina's gentler light-affinity glow pulsed in steady rhythm.
He could see all of it. Simultaneously. Without effort.
The castle's defensive enchantments were visible as geometric patterns woven through walls and foundations. He could trace each line, understand the mathematical principles behind their construction, identify the three subtle flaws where essence flow created minor inefficiencies.
Outside, he perceived the northern mountains miles away. The spatial distortions where the rift had appeared days ago—the dimensional boundary still weakened, reality's fabric stretched thin like old cloth ready to tear. He could see how the rift had formed, what made that location vulnerable, the probability vectors for where another might appear.
Time itself flowed past his vision like a visible stream. Not that he could manipulate it—he was two and a half years old with zero cultivation—but he could perceive it. See how temporal flow moved faster in some areas, slower in others. Watch causality chains connecting events in branching paths of possibility.
And woven through everything, like a third layer underlying the spatial and temporal, was the sword concept. Every edge in existence suddenly visible as a potential cutting line. Every structure had points where a blade could divide it most efficiently. Every living being showed vulnerable spots where a sword strike would be absolutely lethal.
Space. Time. Sword. All three perception layers active simultaneously, feeding him information faster than any normal mind could process.
But his Primordial Physique handled it effortlessly. His brain adapted in real-time, processing infinite data streams without strain or fatigue.
This wasn't temporary. These eyes would never close, never rest, never stop perceiving reality in its full complexity.
Ashen looked down at his small hands again, watching essence flow through meridians not yet opened for cultivation, seeing the Primordial-grade potential coiled dormant in his core.
He stood up in his crib—easily, with perfect balance, because his eyes showed him exactly where his center of gravity was and how to maintain equilibrium—and walked to the window.
The night sky was transformed. Stars weren't just points of light but sources of various essence types, each broadcasting subtle influences across vast distances. He could see the moon's gravitational essence affecting tidal patterns in bodies of water miles away. Spatial currents moving through the atmosphere like wind but on a dimensional level.
He could watch a bird flying in the distance and see not just its physical form but the biomechanical perfection of its wing structure, the air current optimization in its flight path, the essence it unconsciously absorbed with each breath.
A smile crossed Ashen's face. Not a child's innocent smile, but something colder, more satisfied.
This was power. Real, tangible, incredible power.
Not combat strength—he was still a toddler with no cultivation base. But knowledge power. Understanding power. The ability to perceive reality's fundamental structure and learn from mere observation.
He turned his gaze toward the training yard where Kael often practiced. Even now, in the middle of the night, his brother was there, going through sword forms by moonlight. Ashen watched through walls and distance, his enhanced vision making it seem like he stood right beside his brother.
Kael's technique was visible in ways it had never been before. Each sword movement created essence flow patterns. The [Blazing Strike] technique channeled fire-affinity essence along optimal pathways, but Kael deviated from perfect efficiency by three degrees on his backswing. The [Defensive Whirl] created a barrier of spinning essence, but the coverage had two small gaps where a sufficiently fast opponent could penetrate.
Ashenunderstood these techniques. Not just observed them—he comprehended the fundamental principles that made them work. Could see exactly how essence needed to flow, what physical movements optimized power generation, where the techniques could be improved.
He couldn't perform them himself yet. His body was too small, his cultivation non-existent. But he knew them. Perfectly. Completely.
And more importantly, he could see the underlying principles that would let him develop far superior techniques when he finally began cultivation.
His perception shifted to his father's chambers. Aldric was awake too, apparently unable to sleep, sitting at his desk reviewing reports about the spatial rift. Ashen watched his father's essence signature, the way lightning-affinity energy moved through his B-Rank cultivation base.
The [Storm Splitting Sword Art] his father practiced—Ashen could see its complete structure now. All seven forms, the essence circulation patterns, the spatial manipulation techniques woven through advanced strikes. Everything that had been mysterious before was now transparent, understandable.
His mother slept peacefully nearby, her light-affinity essence radiating gentle healing properties even in rest. Ashen could see how her cultivation worked, the way she unconsciously maintained that healing field, the technique's efficiency rating, where she could improve her essence control.
He wasn't trying to analyze them. The information simply existed in his awareness, as natural as breathing.
This was what Primordial Sovereign Eyes meant. Not just enhanced vision, but perfect perception of reality's structure across multiple conceptual layers simultaneously.
Ashen returned to his crib and lay down, still processing the transformation. His eyes remained open—they'd never truly close again, not in the sense of stopping their perception. Sleep would come, but the awareness would persist, a constant background process his Primordial Physique maintained effortlessly.
He thought about implications.
With these eyes, he could learn any technique by observation. Master principles without practicing. Understand cultivation methods perfectly before ever attempting them. See through deceptions, read micro-expressions, detect lies, predict movements.
And it would be active constantly, feeding him information every waking moment for the rest of his life.
Most people would go insane from that much input. But his Primordial Physique was built to handle it. This was part of what made his body fundamentally different from normal humans—the ability to process and utilize information streams that would shatter ordinary minds.
The social implications were concerning, though. His eyes had always been distinctive—golden like captured lightning. But now they had depth. Not in the emotional sense, but in the literal perception of infinite layers visible within them.
Anyone who looked directly into his eyes would see... what? Abyss? Infinity? Something their instincts recognized as fundamentally dangerous?
He'd need to be careful. More careful than ever about maintaining his appearance as a merely gifted child rather than something impossible.
But the benefits vastly outweighed the risks.
Dawn arrived, sunlight streaming through the window in visible wavelengths Ashen could now perceive and categorize. He heard Mira approaching before her footsteps became audible to normal hearing, sensed her essence signature through walls.
She opened the door, already smiling. "Good morning, young master. Did you sleep—"
She stopped mid-sentence, her smile faltering.
Ashen looked at her, making eye contact for perhaps two seconds before she glanced away, suddenly uncomfortable.
"I... your eyes..." Mira shook her head slightly, as if dismissing her own reaction. "Must still be waking up myself. Let's get you dressed for breakfast."
But her hands trembled slightly as she helped him from the crib.
He'd made eye contact for two seconds. That was all it took for her instincts to register something wrong—or perhaps something too right, a perfection of perception that shouldn't exist in a toddler's gaze.
At breakfast, the family gathered as usual. Ashen sat in his high chair, eating his porridge while watching essence flow through every person at the table.
Kael was excited about something, gesturing animatedly. "—and then I realized if I adjust the angle by just a few degrees, the essence flow becomes thirty percent more efficient! It's revolutionary!"
Three degrees, actually. And the improvement is closer to twenty-eight percent. But close enough for someone learning through trial and error rather than perfect perception.
Elara was reviewing documents while eating, her attention split between food and work. Administrative reports about essence stone output, if the content he could read from this distance was accurate.
Reikan ate in his usual silence, but Ashen noticed something interesting—his eldest brother's gaze kept drifting toward him, then away, then back. As if trying to determine what had changed.
Seraphina was mid-sentence about her plans for the day when she made eye contact with Ashen.
She stopped talking. Just for a moment—barely half a second—before continuing smoothly. But Ashen had seen the micro-expression, the slight widening of her eyes, the involuntary step back her body almost took before she controlled it.
Aldric noticed his wife's reaction and looked at Ashen directly.
Father and son held eye contact for three full seconds.
Aldric's expression didn't change, but Ashen saw the tension enter his father's shoulders, the subtle shift in his essence signature that indicated heightened alertness.
Then Aldric looked away casually, as if nothing had happened, and resumed eating.
But Ashen had seen the recognition in his father's eyes. Not understanding—Aldric had no way to comprehend what he'd glimpsed. But recognition that something fundamental had changed about his youngest son's gaze.
The Duke had seen many dangerous things in his decades of combat. He recognized a predator's eyes when he encountered them.
"Ashen," Seraphina said gently, forcing her voice to remain calm. "Did you sleep well last night?"
"Yes, Mama." He kept his answer simple, childlike.
She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Not because she feared him—a mother's love didn't vanish that easily—but because some part of her instincts had registered something impossible in her two-and-a-half-year-old son's gaze.
The breakfast continued with slightly strained normalcy.
Ashen made a mental note: minimize direct eye contact with everyone except when absolutely necessary. His eyes were now too revealing, carrying too much depth for people to comfortably meet.
It would isolate him socially. People would instinctively avoid sustained eye contact. Children would find him unsettling. Even his family would feel subconscious discomfort.
That was fine. He'd never planned to be particularly social anyway.
After breakfast, Master Corvin arrived for the morning lesson. The elderly scholar set up today's materials—more advanced reading comprehension exercises.
"Good morning, young master. Shall we—"
Their eyes met.
Corvin went very still, his own eyes widening fractionally. For a moment that stretched longer than comfortable, teacher and student looked at each other.
Then Corvin very deliberately looked down at his materials, hands moving with slightly less steadiness than usual.
"Let's... begin with this passage," he said quietly.
The lesson proceeded, but Corvin never made direct eye contact again. He addressed his comments to the space slightly beside Ashen, taught while looking at materials, maintained careful visual avoidance.
And through it all, Ashen absorbed the lesson effortlessly, his enhanced perception making the educational content almost trivially simple while simultaneously observing Corvin's essence signature, reading his emotional state, cataloguing his cultivated base (C-Rank Peak, water affinity, primarily scholarly cultivation rather than combat-focused).
Information flowed endlessly, a river that never stopped, feeding into a mind capable of processing it all without effort or strain.
This was his new normal.
Perfect perception of reality, forever active, isolating him from comfortable human interaction while granting understanding beyond what any normal cultivator could achieve.
Ashen smiled slightly during the lesson—a genuine expression of satisfaction.
The sacrifice of normal social interaction was a small price to pay for power like this.
His Primordial Sovereign Eyes had awakened.
And with them, his true journey toward absolute freedom had finally begun.