Ankit did not need to travel to mountains or hidden caves. Light essence permeated nature everywhere—sunlight, moonlight, starlight, even the subtle radiance of living things. He would simply gather it efficiently.
With a subtle gesture, he formed a Light-Gathering Vyuha around himself: an invisible formation that acted like a lens, drawing and concentrating ambient light essence from the surrounding air, the fortress grounds, and even distant sunlight filtering through the atmosphere. Within moments, the chamber filled with a soft, golden-white glow—pure, high-quality light essence swirling in gentle spirals toward his glabella.
Stage 4: Third Eye Awakening
(Planned in five substages)
Substage 1
Visualize the core at the space between the eyebrows.
Infuse it steadily with the gathered light essence until it stabilizes into a radiant pearl.
Condense the light essence.
Circulate the condensed light essence through the entire body in a gentle wash, cleansing meridians, organs, flesh, and bones—granting a light elemental body and a Third eye clone.
Substage 2
From the stabilized core, extend threads of light essence outward, connecting them, then opening and mapping the full network of subtle energy pathways connected to the third eye.
Ankit estimates around 12,000 energy pathways in total, though the exact count will reveal itself naturally after Substage 1.
He will fill and harmonize these pathways with light essence, creating a luminous web.
Substage 3
Compress the core, refining it into a flawless, diamond-like structure of condensed light.
This will dramatically increase its purity, storage capacity, and penetrative power.
Substage 4
Merge his consciousness and soul directly with the compressed Third Eye Core.
Since the core symbolizes the individual soul's awakening, this fusion will broaden his path immensely—granting instinctive mastery over divine sense, illusion-breaking, and subtle higher elements comprehension.
Substage 5
Integrate the soul-core unity throughout the entire body, linking it harmoniously with lower core (throat, heart, solar, sacral, root).
This final, most challenging step will unify body, soul, and cores into a single whole—laying an unshakable foundation for later stages.
He deliberately postpones the Crown Core. In every research he did, it represents the ultimate union of individual soul with universe. Its complexity demands perfection in all below it. Stage 5 will be its proper realm.
Ankit does not know how long Stage 4 will take—weeks, months, perhaps a year. Time matters little. His foundation is flawless, his resources abundant, his will unwavering.
Slowly, steadily, he will become stronger.
With a final deep breath, he closed his eyes.
The Light-Gathering Vyuha brightened.
Stage 4 began.
_____
While Ankit remained in deep seclusion, pursuing the luminous path of the Third Eye Core, the fortress hummed with quiet but relentless progress.
The clones—each a perfect extension of Ankit's will—worked in parallel, turning the family's mortal foundation into something increasingly extraordinary.
Sacral Clone (Rasa maker, Visa maker, Vyuha Puppet-crafter)
The alchemy halls glowed day and night with pill furnaces. Dozens of new elixirs and pills now lined the shelves:
Body-Tempering Fluid that pushed mortal limits closer to superhuman thresholds.
Meridian-Cleansing Pills that removed hidden impurities, widening meridians making them Powerful.
None yet reached the grade Ankit required for his own use, but for Kamal, Neelam, and Sanya, they were miracles—strength surging, weapon arts flowing smoother, recovery near-instant.
Powerful puppets—humanoid constructs of Essence alloy and essence cores, equivalent to peak Stage 2 human cultivators—had already been dispatched. Three now stood sentinel at the newly discovered oceanic origin points, harvesting ambient essence and warding off curious beasts.
The Sacral clone's most ambitious project: puppets infused with higher elements. Prototypes incorporating crude spatial folds and life essence were already moving. True success would yield guardians capable of rivaling Stage 3 or higher threats.
As for his Visha Maker profession…
A single sealed spatial orb floated in the deepest vault—an experimental continent-destroying toxin, capable of spreading through air and water to annihilate all life in hours. Its antidote sat beside it, perfected the same day.
The clone regarded both with detached curiosity, then sealed the recipe in a separate space pocket.
"No need for such things," he murmured. "Not fan of murder and I have enough power."
From that day forward, all catastrophic poisons would remain theoretical—sealed, unused, unless the world itself demanded it.