Kaelan watches as the final arrangement of the energy conversion array locks into place.
The runes settle.
The formation hums—low, deep, and steady, like the breathing of the world itself.
For a brief moment, Kaelan feels it.
An unseen gaze.
Vast.
Ancient.
Impersonal.
It presses against his consciousness, not with hostility, but with scrutiny.
Then it vanishes.
"It must be the will of the world," Kaelan thinks calmly.
Spiritual nodes are vital interests of the world itself.
Any damage to them can disrupt the circulation of energy across continents.
But he has not damaged it.
He has redirected it.
Before him, the spiritual energy within the node shifts.
The silvery-white torrent slows, compresses, and begins to change. Its colour deepens, turning from pale silver into rich, luminous purple.
Spiritual energy becomes magic energy.
When the transformation completes, the node does not immediately erupt.
Instead, it contracts.
The entire cavern seems to inhale.
Then—
It releases.
A surge of pure magic energy explodes outward, flooding the underground chamber like a tidal wave.
The energy washes over Kaelan's body.
His senses dissolve.
His consciousness slips into an ethereal state as magic energy pours through him, refining, saturating, resonating.
And far beyond the cavern—
The night changes.
---
Deep underground, hidden far from the capital, members of the Divine Puppet Sect awaken abruptly.
Some rise from meditation.
Others jerk awake from sleep.
Inside their bodies, puppet components—bones, threads, cores—begin to buzz violently.
Spiritual conduits sputter.
Absorption arrays fail.
They instinctively attempt to draw in free spiritual energy—
—and find almost nothing.
Confusion spreads.
"What's happening?"
"Why can't I absorb?"
"The environment—something's wrong!"
Panic sets in.
The spiritual balance they rely on has shifted beneath their feet.
---
Above ground, within the palace complex, Shen Yuelan sits cross-legged in her cultivation chamber.
Spiritual energy flows smoothly into her body as she refines it, converting it into mana through her wizard pathways.
Then—
Something else enters.
Not spiritual energy.
Magic energy.
It slips into her circulation effortlessly, as if it belongs there.
Her eyes snap open.
She instinctively guides it through one full circulation.
The moment it completes the cycle—
Her will imprints itself upon the energy.
The magic energy becomes her mana.
Stable.
Obedient.
Stronger.
Her breath catches.
She can feel it.
Cultivation becomes easier.
Clearer.
Faster.
Across the city, the same phenomenon unfolds.
Wizards awaken mid-cultivation as magic energy replaces spiritual energy entirely. Their spells stabilise. Their mana pools thicken. Their meditation deepens effortlessly.
But for others—
Qi refiners awaken drenched in sweat, feeling as if the world itself has rejected them.
Martial artists stumble out of bed, senses screaming that something fundamental is missing.
The air feels wrong.
Thin.
Unfamiliar.
Free spiritual energy dwindles to almost nothing.
Fear spreads before dawn.
---
By sunrise, the Parliament is in chaos.
An emergency meeting is called.
Nobles, generals, sect representatives, and officials gather with dark expressions, voices overlapping with confusion and anger.
Shen Yuelan steps forward.
Her voice is calm.
Clear.
"This change is Lord Wuya's doing," she says.
The room quiets.
"He informed me beforehand," she continues.
"The spiritual node beneath the city has been transformed into a magic energy node."
Shock ripples through the chamber.
"This makes wizard cultivation easier," Shen Yuelan says.
"And for Qi refiners and warriors—"
She pauses.
"It turns the city into hell."
Silence follows.
"Lord Wuya has left no middle ground," she continues.
"You either adapt to the Wizard Way—"
"Or leave the city."
For the nobles, the meaning is immediate.
A step backwards.
They had hedged their bets.
One foot in traditional cultivation.
One foot in the Wizard Way.
Now, the balance is gone.
Lord Kong has forced a choice.
Within the parliament hall, the members look at one another—faces pale, expressions drawn tight. They sigh, because they finally understand what has been happening:
Lord Kong has been tightening the noose all along.
First, the flying ship—a spiritual treasure large enough to carry a hundred men and still soar through the sky. Something no other refiner in any human kingdom can accomplish. Others can refine spiritual treasure instruments, yes. But only small ones—blades, pendants, armaments.
A ship?
That was an impossibility.
Until he did it.
That alone placed fear in their hearts.
But now—
He has changed the spiritual energy of an entire capital city.
An act that crushes them more than the flying ship ever did. A spiritual treasure can be battled. But a node? Their world is built on it. Their cultivation relies on it. Their power is derived from it.
If Kong Wuya can change one spiritual node…
He can change every spiritual node in the Chen Kingdom.
And when that happens, only Wizards will be able to cultivate in the entire kingdom.
The nobles slump in their chairs, defeated.
They no longer speak of resistance.
They simply walk out, one by one—silent, pale, and resigned.
By dawn, the news spreads.
By noon, the consequences unfold.
Half of the Qi refiners and martial artists leave the city outright.
The remaining half turns to the Wizard Way.
Some try to riot.
They are suppressed—quickly and decisively. Some are imprisoned. Others are killed. By midday, the city is quiet once more.
The Divine Puppet Sect's high-level members leave in despair. Their hidden plans crumble before they even begin. They know now—before they could challenge the kingdom, it had already shifted beyond their reach.
---
High above the city, Soraya and Ariel arrive.
They descend—and frown immediately.
The air is different.
Unfamiliar.
They conceal themselves and land unnoticed, then inquire discreetly.
When Soraya learns the truth, her eyes widen in disbelief.
She knew Kaelan was powerful.
She did not understand that he was capable of altering the very environment of cultivation.
For the first time, she truly considers something she never dared before:
If she embraced the Wizard Way…
And stood beside him…
Could she truly challenge for the leadership of her clan?
Ariel's thoughts move differently.
She does not fear.
She calculates.
Her choice of father for her future child has been affirmed. The world may have geniuses, gods, and monsters—but none appear to hold talent like Kong Wuya at this moment.
Her eyes shine.
She thinks carefully of what she stands to gain.
She wants a child for two reasons:
To pass on her incomplete priesthood of Desire through blood.
And because she possesses a rare innate talent: power sharing.
The first being that she mates with gains a portion of her power.
And she will gain a portion of his.
For six thousand years, she has waited—untouched—not out of chastity, but calculation.
Waiting for the choice that yields the greatest benefit.
Now, she believes she has found it.
---
They reach the Palace Complex.
Soraya reveals her aura.
Ariel follows suit.
They request an audience with Lord Kong.
They are denied.
Shen Yuelan appears at the gate, face cool.
"Lord Kong will not meet anyone for some time."
There is no negotiation.
The gates close.
Soraya and Ariel exchange a look.
Then turn away.
They search for lodging in the city.
The sun sinks.
Golden rays fade into the evening.
Deep beneath the city—hidden in the transformed cavern—Kaelan's eyes open.
Magic energy still dances around him.
The transformation has ended.
And his next step begins.
Originally, Kaelan's plan was clear—turn the node into a complete magic pool and anchor the future wizard tower upon it.
But the moment he transformed the node, something unexpected happened.
The magic energy released from the node did not merely power an array.
It washed his body.
As the torrent surged through him, Kaelan's consciousness slipped into an ethereal state of enlightenment.
He had created the concepts of mana and magic energy, yet his understanding of them had been incomplete.
Now, the gaps begin to close.
Mana is not a single substance.
It is a structured synthesis.
A portion of spiritual energy.
A portion of physical energy.
A portion of spirit.
When these are combined in precise ratios—and then embedded with will—they become mana.
Without will, the same structure remains only magic energy.
This realisation unfolds naturally within his mind, each concept aligning with the next.
More importantly, the enlightenment shows him something deeper.
The transformation from spiritual energy into physical energy and spirit is not a loss.
It is refinement.
It is redistribution.
With this understanding, Kaelan realises that his cultivation will now advance faster and more smoothly—even in places saturated only with spiritual energy. He no longer relies on rare environments. His foundation itself has evolved.
The magic energy washing through his body brings another change.
His physical transformation accelerates.
But not toward storm elementalization.
Instead, his body begins shifting toward mana transformation.
Mana integrates more easily with the body than pure elemental forces.
And once mana transformation reaches a sufficient level, converting it into elemental transformation becomes far easier.
This insight changes his priorities.
Building the magic pool can wait.
What he needs now is more nodes.
More opportunities for his body to be washed in raw magic energy.
To complete the physical criteria, he must repeat this process.
Kaelan makes his decision instantly.
He disperses his presence.
His body turns partially elemental, phasing seamlessly through stone and soil as if they were mist. Rock offers no resistance. Earth cannot slow him.
In moments, he emerges far outside the city.
He does not look back.
He accelerates, moving low to the ground, scanning the land with spirit sense in search of another world node.
If his body can be repeatedly tempered by magic energy—
Then the elementalization criterion will be completed far faster than expected.
---
High above the land, far from the capital, Kaelan's third clone stands on the deck of the flying ship.
Wind tears past him as the ship glides through the sky.
His gaze shifts.
Ahead, a vast mountain range rises like a wall against the horizon.
Ancient.
Solemn.
Oppressive.
The Tianren Mountains.
The clone narrows his eyes slightly as the flying ship alters course, skirting the mountain's edge.
Something about that place draws attention.
Something old.
Something that has watched the world change many times before.
And as the ship passes by, unseen currents begin to stir—
because Kaelan's path and the world's hidden foundations are starting to intersect.