After eating, the whole family moved to rest in the garden greenhouse.
Inside, the world felt different.
The herbs and trees were no longer ordinary plants. Months of bathing in Essence Flow had twisted and uplifted them; leaves shone with a faint inner gloss, flowers carried colours that didn't exist in normal palettes, and several shrubs now hummed with a vitality that brushed against the skin like static.
Some trees had driven their roots almost a hundred metres into the ground, greedily drinking from the hidden rivers of Essence beneath Dark Haven.
The air was cool and clean, laced with a fragrance that cleared the lungs and quieted the mind. Under the soft light and layered greenery, the greenhouse looked less like a building and more like a fragment of some small heaven.
Solar Clone even caught himself designing a cultivation system just for plants—roots as meridians, leaves as arrays, fruits as pills—but he already had enough work, so he shelved the idea for later.
Being here relaxed everyone. The family stretched out on the soft grass and between the beds, lulled by the faint Essence breeze and the gentle rustle of mutated leaves. One by one, they drifted into sleep.
About an hour later they woke naturally, bodies lighter, minds clearer. After a bit of lazy conversation, Kamal, Neelam, Sanya, and the clones went off to their own tasks.
Ankit stayed.
He lay on his back among the glowing plants, watching the glass roof and drifting motes of light. Rudra toddled over and flopped beside him, chubby fingers poking at his arm until a small wrestling match broke out on the grass.
In the middle of play, Ankit noticed it clearly: Rudra's body had changed. Living in an Essence‑rich environment, eating meals cooked from mutated herbs, and drinking milk from a cow that had stepped into cultivation—each of those factors stacked together.
At only one and a half years old, Rudra's strength and resilience were already comparable to, or beyond, a fit fifteen‑year‑old boy.
"Monster kid," Ankit muttered with quiet pride.
When Rudra finally tired himself out, Ankit sat cross‑legged, closed his eyes, and sank into meditation. Surrounded by the gentle pulse of the greenhouse, he reviewed his current state.
After completing Substage 4 of Stage 2—the full compression of Root, Sacral, and Solar Cores—his power had surged:
- Strength around 450 tons.
- Defence and destructive power each near 80 Megajoules.
- Burst speed touching 10,000 km/hr.
- Sensing range stretching to roughly 160 km.
- Lifespan extended to about 7,500 years.
The jump was reasonable. Substage 4 had only refined the Root Core; this latest breakthrough had compressed both Sacral and Solar. Solar's blazing Essence fed his destructive power and explosive speed. Sacral's deep, water‑dark Essence nourished organs and blood, stretching his potential lifespan far beyond normal.
He had completed the foundational trio. Root gave him anchoring strength, Sacral gave him control and regeneration, Solar gave him power and drive.
Now it was time to move toward the next core.
The sequence was clear in his mind: after Solar came Heart, then later Throat, before he would even think about touching Third Eye and Crown.
Among these, Heart was the critical bridge—linking the lower cores with the future upper ones and turning scattered strength into a unified flow.
Its nature, by design, was air.
Where Root anchored, Sacral flowed, and Solar burned, Heart would breathe. It would circulate Essence like wind through a valley, carry intent, and connect every part of him into a single rhythm.
To awaken it, Ankit would have to draw on what he already had:
- Let Sacral slowly nourish and shape a new core around his physical heart, using refined Essence and deep control.
- Let Solar temper and stabilise that forming core with steady warmth and power, syncing it with his heartbeat and breath.
- Let Root hold everything down so that nothing cracked when pressure rose.
Only when those three worked perfectly together would the Heart Core truly form as an air‑bright node in his chest, capable of breathing with him and sending power upward to the realms still waiting above.
He opened his eyes again, feeling the greenhouse's living air move in and out of his lungs.
It would not be quick.
Even with his current foundations, bringing a new core to life between the old ones would demand patience, precision, and endless cycles of trial and adjustment.
By his estimate, just reaching a stable, fully formed Heart Core would take almost two months.