Hugh wanted to react to the sensation and escape the powerful presence. To his surprise, he found that he could no longer move. He could not even open his eyes as he felt the pattern seemed to blur in his senses. He had no idea what was going on, but he felt that he had made a mistake somewhere.

  As the feeling intensified, a searing pain in his gut followed suit. His energy was moving faster and faster in the lines of the diagram he copied. It felt like it shifted up in speed with every pulse inside of him.

  Hugh’s inability to do anything but feel its powerful fluctuations left him feeling helpless once again. If he knew that the pressure he was feeling was felt by Sir Diosk too, Hugh would surely be surprised. Especially with Diosk’s reaction, which left Heron struggling to gasp for air while Hugh himself hadn’t felt a thing.

  With each second that passed, his mind was consumed by the feeling of his insides being slowly destroyed.

  Distracted by that, he could no longer feel what was going on with the energy inside himself. The only thought on his mind was to somehow bear it all. If he survived, he thought that he might not try the pattern again.

  As the feeling of despair crept through his mind, Hugh was brought to the brink of consciousness. All the while, the pattern that he vaguely felt the need to call a symbol now kept it up. Hugh could no longer muster the wherewithal to sense anything internally. What he had created with the ambient energy began to shift around inside of him, perfecting itself as if it knew exactly what form to take.

  On the brink of everything happening, Hugh suddenly felt a disassociation with his body as all the pain stopped and his mind appeared before the seed once again.

  With a blank mind, Hugh saw the lines that he had copied still moving across its surface. He could do no more than watch as they rose up and away from where they were. As it did so, another set of lines off in the distance from all around him shrunk down, approaching quickly. He recognized it instantly as the pattern he had traced inside himself.

  With wide eyes, Hugh continued to observe while the smaller pattern from the seed grew, the larger one condensed, and they met in the middle perfectly merging in the distance.

  The moment the fusion of the two structures was completed, Hugh felt a sort of undulation in his body as he saw a black nothingness now left behind where the diagrams had fused like the space itself was cut out. A rushing sound was echoing in his head with a gap matching his pulsing veins, abruptly cutting everything out with a strange cadence.

  With each pulse, the gap decreased and Hugh’s heart beat with it. The sound it made sent shivers down his spine. Hugh had no idea what he was hearing was the sound of a void being torn in the fabric of reality around him.

  Soon, the pulses grew so close that he could no longer discern anything but a steady thundering sound more terrifying than the aftermath of any lightning he had ever witnessed. An instant later, Hugh dared not shut his eyes as the merged pattern rumbled and flashed one last time before it sped past him like a shooting star. He only caught a glimpse of the pattern dissipating on the seed before the second pattern that was dimly visible shone with a new luster.

  A blink in wonder and Hugh felt himself back inside his body. The first thing he noticed was a wet sensation that ran down both sides of his head, the sides of his nose, and on his upper and lower lips. Hugh’s sense of smell kicked in to tell him it was blood. As he instinctively reached up with a sleeve to wipe his face clean, he realized something new inside himself that he could not place.

  After bloodying his sleeves and having cleaned his face, Hugh sat there in a daze for but a moment before feeling a wave of pressure wash over him, giving him the feeling he was being spied on. It was new to him as he could not feel anything but the pressure before.

  Instinctively reacting, Hugh turned his head and opened his eyes to look in the direction he felt it was coming from. Slightly confused, he wasn’t sure what was going on and thought maybe they knew he made a mistake almost killing himself.

  The feeling disappeared shortly after and Hugh heard Sir Diosks’ voice pierce through the walls.

  “Everybody stay inside and activate the protective array.”

  Hugh was already inside what he considered to be the safest place he could be so he knew there wasn’t much he could do. Going outside to attempt to find out was obviously against the command as well.

  With a sigh, Hugh began to refocus as he sat there trying to figure out what happened with the energy inside himself. Time passed but his thoughts wouldn’t get very far before he heard the door to his training room open as Sir Diosk walked in with Hatia in tow.

  Not sure how to react as he was still seated, Hugh tried to get up but found his body feeling weak. This resulted in a lurch up until he fell forward and onto the ground.

  Hatia frowned at the display, especially with the obvious blood stains on his sleeve and part of his pants from the drops prior. Although Diosk noticed it too, he saw that while the boy seemed weak and exhausted, that was expected after a mass of different pressures washed over him. Diosk brushed it off as one of the others being too close to the house when he gave the command a few moments ago and said, “No need to get up. I have a few questions.”

  Hugh wasn’t sure what was going on, with himself or Diosk. He only knew that he felt like he almost died and now felt extremely weak. It reminded him of one time he was really sick as a kid and even moving was difficult.

  Diosk eyed Hugh calmly, subtly probing the boy’s body with his senses. He wasn’t shocked that he looked in his direction when he was checking him out, as some people could often differentiate the direction somebody was expelling their energy from even if they couldn’t do it themselves yet.

  That would only be a little surprising if he had not seen others do it before. Diosk was surprised for two reasons. The boy was already in the condensation stage with a body energy density like he had been there for years. It was like he had been holding himself back from the perfect breakthrough. That was something he would usually only see in noble clans that purposefully stalled their children so that their foundation was firm enough to not hinder later progress.

  The second thing Diosk noticed was more puzzling than surprising. When he had first checked on the boy, he could feel something close to the sensations he got when trying to progress by uncovering heaven’s secrets.

  Diosk had been stuck in the shattered stage for so long that he had tried a myriad of things to step into the demigod realms and form his core. He had no idea why it was so difficult when he reached his current realm early in life.

  With how long it had been, Diosk had delved into old stories and records about what lay beyond the known next realm. It was the same thing all his ancestors had done as well in an attempt to reach beyond the boundaries of this world.

  Of all the things he had read about, one always stood out. Far beyond the Core stage was one that required an understanding of the world around you. The different texts always referred to the understanding you had as your dao.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  It was confusing at first, as the way it was described was detailed everything yet nothing, an action but without action, an idea but without direct thought. He had built his own thoughts on what the Dao meant to fit what he could understand.

  It was when he had done that and affirmed his own meaning to himself that he had felt something new for the first time in years.

  It was a fleeting feeling, like a level of presence surrounding him and everything else that he had glimpsed for but a moment, never to forget.

  Now, looking at the boy he had taken in, Hugh had already shot past the mist stage in was well into the condensation stage. If Diosk hadn’t known where the boy was a month ago, he would have assumed the kid was a noble son who was intentionally stunting his growth.

  The most curious thing was a feeling coming from his body that felt very similar to what he had felt back then and could glimpse from time to time under certain circumstances.

  That sensation had disappeared shortly after like the scent of a lone flower caught in the raging winds only to pass by your nose once and then be lost forever. Diosk could vaguely sense it in such close proximity, and that was only because he already knew what it felt like. If he had not had those experiences, he would chalk up something this subtle to the deviations in each person’s presence. A unique flavor stemming from everything about them unavailingly intertwined with any energy they had taken in.

  Hugh felt self-conscious as Diosk seemed to just stare at him for a time. To his relief, Diosk finally spoke.

  “What just happened?”

  While Hatia gave a somewhat bewildered look at her master for the question Diosk just asked, Hugh felt a pressure like his life depended on the next words that came out of his mouth.

  “I… practiced the heritage.”

  Hugh dared not look up at Diosk’s gaze right now. He had just made it through one ordeal and didn’t want to have to go through another again.

  Being met with a moment of silence, Hugh heard Diosk take a step, moving halfway into the room.

  “Attack me.”

  Hugh was dumbfounded as he finally looked up to find Diosk’s piercing gaze. There was no anger there, but he did seem serious about the command.

  Hugh finally straightened himself up to a proper posture, still feeling a little weak from the prior ordeal. Noticing this, Diosk frowned. He could sense the boy’s strength, and there was more to it than just a normal Condensation level expert.

  Although he couldn’t see anything wrong, the boys’ movements showed that was currently not the case. He quickly tossed a small pill to the boy.

  “Here. Take this first.”

  Hugh barely reacted in time but found himself snatching the pill out of the air just before it would have struck his chest.

  Though the movement exacerbated the drained feeling he had, Hugh did not want to irritate Diosk. Tossing it into his mouth, Hugh swallowed it.

  This was the first pill like this that he ever had. Because of this, there was no hiding the surprise on his face as he felt it dissipate into motes of energy before suffusing with the rest of his body.

  Hugh noted that it felt good, and while it did make him feel slightly better, a large chunk of it seemed to vanish into nothingness as it was pulled into a specific part of his body.

  Hugh felt it was the point in the middle of where he had made the pattern earlier. It was because of this that he realized that his body felt extremely weak. All the energy inside of him, and any new energy he drew in was directed to that point.

  Hugh hesitated to speak about it, “I..”

  Diosk could tell the medical efficacy of the pill he gave the boy seemed to be consumed far too quickly and disappeared within a couple of seconds of him taking it.

  In fact, after looking closer, Diosk could see all the energy that the boy took in naturally seemed to disappear into him as well, not nourishing the body like everybody else.

  Thinking for a moment, Diosk remembered reading about an ancient training method that would create a seal in part of the body and forcefully condense all the energy they processed into itself. The result was that the person would reach the Encapsulation stage fairly early and the practice was usually performed on young nobles who were lackadaisical about training. That was done so they would have some sort of foundation at the minimum.

  Diosk rubbed his chin with one hand in thought. He figured that maybe the inheritance he had was one that created the seal inside himself.

  It matched up with his observations, and he felt like he knew what was going on now. Thinking that far, and knowing it was a lost ancient technique, Diosk figured it wouldn’t be too far-fetched if the seal was based on a dao, and that was where he was getting the slight feeling from.

  As for the flash of light and sound. He chalked it up to the mysteries of the dao used for the seal. He had read all kinds of inconceivable things being related to it and for now, just assumed this to be one of them. It was often written that a dao reverberates with the heavens.

  Diosk waved his hand as to dismiss the entire situation, “Never mind. Just rest and try to absorb as much energy as possible. With this training room, you should reach encapsulation soon.”

  Hatia was confused by the whole thing. Especially after seeing her master toss a recovery pill that was clumsily caught. Even after that, the boy seemed so weak, like he hadn’t taken it at all. After her master changed his mind and went to leave, Hatia could only follow him out.

  Once they were outside, she began to inquire.

  “Master?”

  “Yes, Hatia.”

  A slight pause later, “What happened?”

  Diosk didn’t answer immediately and only spoke after stopping right before entering the main structure.

  “From what I can tell, the boy got his hands on an ancient inheritance.”

  Diosk could feel the desire grow within Hatia, so he stopped it there.

  “A long time ago, there was a technique nobles used on their children who had no desire to grow. It seems to be an inheritance of a noble lineage from an almost forgotten past. They practiced making seals early on, leaving the child weakened until the seal absorbs enough energy. Once that happens, the seal removes itself, and the person is perfectly boosted up to the encapsulation stage.”

  Hearing the result of only being in the Encapsulation stage, Hatia was let down. She had thought it might be something powerful. She was in the encapsulation stage herself, but she was also closing in on Restructure quickly. This was thanks to all the resources she received following her master’s.

  Seeing Hatias’ reaction and face change after the realization, Diosk chuckled, “It’s not a big deal. He’s already in the condensation stage after this short period, and with his speed, you’ll have a junior brother to teach soon. In fact, it’s amazing that he was able to create the seal on himself. From what I understand, it was usually an elder that performed the technique.”

  Diosk seemed to be lost in thought for a moment.

  “It was probably why the boy had bled so much, as he pushed himself too hard to complete the technique. From now until encapsulation, he will only have to absorb energy and the seal will do all the work.”

  Hatia frowned. She didn’t want a junior brother and figured he would just get in the way.

  Diosk added, “Don’t think that he’ll just be a burden. The only thing he has used so far is the training room. Even if his inheritance only goes so far. He is still one of the youngest to have reached that stage… At least in the current era.”

  While Hatia thought about what her master had just said, Diosk continued into the building and just under his breath mumbled, “Perhaps the youngest since that inheritance disappeared. I hope it doesn’t inhibit further progress.”

  He couldn’t help but worry as there were all kinds of methods to strengthen a person’s cultivation. Though the more extreme ones always had a price. He stepped back into his own training area and could only hope the method the kid used wasn’t one of those that hindered further development.

  -

  Hugh let himself down onto the mat in the middle of the room after Sir Diosk and Hatia had left.

  He felt completely drained from earlier and really didn’t even want to drag his body back to his room.

  Even as he remained still, his current state of being felt exhausting to just exist as he was. The only thing he could do was watch as the surrounding energy entered his body and made its way to an invisible point inside himself where he had replicated the symbol that was on the seed.

  Time steadily passed and he simply sat there until he finally felt the need for sleep and let it take his mind away.

  Outside the training room, Heron had spent a few hours recovering from the waves of pressure he had felt from earlier. He knew that he was helpless and could only watch with his eyes as the man they had followed here appeared for a short moment, not sparing him a glance. The girl following him did the same as they just passed by, going to the training room, he presumed.

  He saw them leave only about a minute later and just as they reached the door, the man paused and Heron felt another pulse of energy. This time though, it wasn’t harmful, but made him feel more alive than ever.

  Heron was just a mortal though so it didn’t do much but dull the aches and pains. It took him about an hour before he moved back onto the couch. It took another six and an extremely hungry stomach before he stumbled his way into the kitchen to grab something to eat.

  By the time he finally went to the training room to see what was going on with Hugh, all he could see was him still sitting in the middle, with his eyes closed and red stained spots on his clothes.

  To his surprise, he could hear Hugh lightly snoring as he shook his head and went to his room to follow suit.