The battlefield was silent. The stench of blood and burnt earth still hung thick in the air, but the roars and screams had faded into memory. Only the crackle of distant embers and the slow drip of blood from broken blades remained.
I stood over the corpse of the berserk beast, my blade still warm from the kill. My hands trembled—not from fear, but exhaustion. Every muscle burned. Every breath reminded me that I was still alive.
Beside me, Alex crouched near the beast's chest, his expression unreadable. "The core," he murmured, voice soft but steady.
I nodded. Together, we worked in silence, carving open the beast's hide with precise, practiced cuts. Steam rose from the wound, carrying a faint glow that pulsed with life. Deep inside, embedded near its heart, was a crystal the size of a man's fist—the advanced-tier beast core. It shone with a deep crimson light, veins of gold swirling through it like molten fire.
Alex's hands shook slightly as he lifted it free. "It's… alive," he whispered.
"Not alive," I said quietly, "but powerful."
We repeated the process with the second beast—the one that had fallen earlier in the chaos. Its core was a deep sapphire blue, cool and calm where the first was wild and violent. The contrast was striking: two halves of power, destruction and serenity.
After gathering the cores, we turned to the fallen soldiers. It felt strange, looting men who had once served my father, but necessity left no room for guilt. Their armor, weapons, and supplies would have to serve us now. I found pouches filled with smaller cores—basic-tier and intermediate-tier, likely harvested from earlier hunts.
By the time we were done, we had counted two hundred basic-tier cores, forty intermediate-tier cores, and the two advanced-tier ones.
Alex whistled softly. "If we use them all… we might actually reach the next stage."
I looked toward the horizon where the sky was beginning to pale with dawn. "Then we'd better find shelter first. Absorbing this much energy in the open would be suicide."
We found a cave not far from the battleground, half-hidden behind a curtain of hanging vines. The air inside was cool and damp, the faint sound of dripping water echoing from somewhere deep within. I used a small mana flame to light the way, revealing smooth walls lined with faint luminescent moss.
"This will do," I said, setting down my pack.
Alex nodded, sitting cross-legged beside me. The faint glow of the beast cores bathed the cave in shifting hues of red and blue, dancing across the walls like living light.
We divided the haul evenly: one advanced-tier core each, twenty intermediate, and a hundred basic-tier. Enough to push us far beyond where we were.
I held the crimson core in my hands, feeling its pulse resonate with my own. My mana stirred restlessly in response, eager and hungry.
"Ready?" I asked.
Alex took a deep breath, the blue core cradled in his palms. "Always."
We began at once.
The first wave of energy from the basic cores was gentle—a steady stream of mana flowing through my body, clearing impurities, strengthening my pathways. My veins glowed faintly beneath my skin, like rivers of light. The air thrummed with power.
Hours passed in silence. One by one, the cores dissolved into motes of light that sank into our bodies. The pressure built gradually, heat coiling in my core as my meridians expanded. Sweat dripped down my face, the strain immense but exhilarating.
When the last of the intermediate cores shattered, the real test began.
I placed the advanced-tier core before me and pressed my hands to it. Instantly, a surge of raw, untamed energy erupted—wild, violent, divine. My vision blurred; my body felt like it was being torn apart and reforged at once.
I guided the torrent through my meridians, letting it crash and flow, tempering my body and soul in equal measure. Every circuit completed sent a shiver through me, each pulse of mana reshaping me from the inside out.
I don't know how long it lasted—minutes or hours—but when the last spark faded, I opened my eyes to find the cave awash in blue and gold light.
The air shimmered around me. My mana had deepened, richer and denser than ever before. I could feel the Mystic Realm flowing through me, my control sharper, my strength multiplied severalfold. But it didn't stop there—the surge kept rising, building, until it reached the peak of the Mystic Realm.
Across from me, Alex sat glowing faintly, his expression serene. His aura had stabilized in the seventh layer, his healing mana flowing through the air like a gentle breeze, soothing the cave's harsh edges.
We sat in silence for a long time, the weight of our breakthroughs settling in.
Alex broke the quiet first. "We actually did it."
"Yeah," I said softly, flexing my fingers, feeling the raw power humming beneath my skin. "We're not the same people who ran seven months ago."
He smiled faintly, tired but content. "Father would've been proud."
I didn't answer immediately. My gaze drifted to the mouth of the cave, where the first light of dawn was spilling through the vines. The wind carried the scent of blood and rain, mingling into something bittersweet.
"Maybe," I finally said. "But pride can wait. We still have a promise to keep."
We spent another day there, letting our bodies and minds adjust to the newfound strength. Every breath felt cleaner, every movement lighter. The world itself seemed sharper, as though I could sense every ripple of mana in the air.
When night fell again, I stood outside the cave, looking up at the stars. The same constellations that had watched my family die now watched us rise anew.
Tomorrow, we'd move toward the heart of this cursed forest—the place where Father's treasure was said to rest.
But tonight, we were no longer just survivors.
We were warriors reborn, tempered in blood, loss, and resolve.