Chương 9: Shape

Kal kept slipping in and out of consciousness. His whole body was in agony, and every breath felt as if daggers were cutting his throat. Everything in his mind kept telling him to push. One more time, before darkness enveloped him. It happened again, and again. Every push was a painful struggle, but it had to be done. His mind kept screaming at him to move, to get away from the place he was. The ground beneath him trembled as he dragged himself forward.

Every few moments, something would strike his back, but he barely felt it. He lost count of how many times he'd woken up before the darkness pulled him back into its embrace. Dozens, if not more. His eyes fluttered open. The familiar wind that cooled his body was gone. The ground beneath him was cold and sharp, digging into him. The only difference this time was that light came from behind him, and it wasn't the blue light that had appeared after… his fall? Was he already dead and had entered the halls of Molinr?

No. He wouldn't be in agony if he were dead. Or… perhaps the afterlife wasn't as gentle as the Devout claimed. His blurry vision cleared slightly. In front of him was a dark, uneven surface. At the edges of his vision, he saw light-blue dots floating gently, as if carried by a breeze. Their movement reminded him of ash drifting through the air. Kal tried focusing on one of the blue lights, but as soon as he did, it vanished. As if it had all been his imagination.

Yet the other side of his vision was still filled with them. Then darkness enveloped him again. The next time Kal's eyes opened, everything was brighter. He had a nasty headache. His body was burning, yet he trembled from the cold. The uneven surface was a stone wall, with sharp edges protruding from it. The light came from behind him, illuminating the cave. The blue dots were still floating at the edge of his vision, but this time he could barely see them in the light. He was still alive.

Every breath he took was even more painful than before. He tried moving his body, but it didn't budge. Whatever little strength he had was long gone. His head kept filling with the worst scenarios, but he somehow managed to calm himself. This was the worst time and place to panic. His mind scrambled, trying to find some way to help himself. But… there was nothing. The only thing he kept circling back to was the wyvern's orb in his pocket. If… the fall or the fight hadn't crushed it.

It took Kal a tremendous amount of effort, far more than ever before, but he managed to turn onto his back. Every small movement made him scream out in pain and his vision tunneled at the edges. A small sense of relief washed over Kal. At least he could still move… somewhat. The rough surface poked into him, but the sensation was almost a relief compared to the agony already coursing through his body. It took him a few moments for his vision to return to normal.

The ceiling above him was jagged, with dozens of sharp stalactites hanging from it. A small group of them was directly above him. If they fell, he would be dead. He didn't pay them much attention. He had more pressing concerns than a random stalactite falling on his head. He slowly lifted his head to inspect the condition of his body. It hurt like hell, but he managed to get a glimpse. Dried blood covered his entire body. The worst was his shoulder.

The wound still looked like it was bleeding, as the wet surface shined faintly. Even after enough time had passed for the blood to dry, a wound that was still bleeding wasn't a good sign. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. As time passed, the only way he could think of to survive was to start the awakening process. It was either to awaken and hope that the awakening would help him survive, or wait for death to come.

It was still extremely dangerous, and there was a high chance that he would die if he attempted it. But… he was already dying, so awakening seemed better. Even though he thought of it that way, he still wasn't certain that he would survive even if his awakening was successful. That was mostly because he had no idea what would happen. The awakening process wasn't taught because it was dangerous and it was easy to fail. Failing it would lead to death.

Awakenings always happened beneath the main estate, in a room cultivated for the same reason—to help with the awakening of members of the family. Most of what he actually knew about how to awaken his core came from the old book— Pursuit of Mana. The book said that awakening was best done in a place that was dense with mana. The denser it was, the stronger the core would become. This had led him to ask about the cultivation room beneath the mansion.

If he had a chance to survive, perhaps he wouldn't take the risk of awakening. Since he had already failed his Coming-of-Age, he didn't want to use the wrong cultivation technique and cut his chances of ever becoming a warrior… or a mage. The damned book had never specified what kind of cultivation technique it held. It just described the technique, the best place to attempt it, and how to do it. Even then, he still didn't understand most of what it said.

He closed his eyes as he tried to recall the passage from the book. Awakening the core within is the first step toward achieving a state in which the body and mind are closely related to mana. To wield mana—one must first understand its nature and principles. Every living creature has a dormant core, and awakening it is the first step toward understanding mana. Awakening is the process of forming the core and giving it shape using mana from outside one's body.

The book talked about the different shapes the core could take, which were limited by imagination. It didn't dwell too deeply on the shapes. It just stated that the closer one felt to the shapes, the more powerful the shape would be. It also mentioned other things, things that Kal didn't quite understand. Most people, as he understood from the book, formed a shape that was closely related to their cultivation manual. The main problem was that the cultivation manual the book offered didn't mention a shape.

It only said that one should form the shape they had a close familiarity with. Would he make a grave mistake while choosing the shape? Would it limit his potential? He had no idea. At the same time, his mind was blurry, and his vision kept darkening at the edges. More questions arose in his head. Did he even remember the information correctly? Would making the wrong choice cut the path he was already on—the path of a warrior? Or… the path he dreamed of—the pursuit of mana?

"Whatever," he muttered. It wasn't like his choice mattered if he died on the mountain as the first Lunvale to fail their Coming-of-Age quest. Or… if his wyvern's core had already been broken. With a grimace, he moved his right hand—the only one that he could still feel—into his pocket and slowly grabbed the core. It was warm to his touch. He took a deep breath that felt as if he'd swallowed needles and pulled his hand out. In his trembling hand lay a fragile core that looked like it had been made of glass.

A calm, blue light swayed inside it, as if being carried by the wind. Mana cores were powerful, but at the same time, they were very fragile when pulled out of the body. And yet, somehow, after the battle with the demon and the fall, it was still intact. He let out a relieved breath he didn't know he was holding as he stared at the core. At least, he still had the chance to ruin his future. He would have laughed out loud, but… he couldn't. He was barely breathing, and his body was shaking without pause.

Ever since he'd read the book, he'd wondered what shape he would take when the day arrived. He'd never made a decision, since he expected to take the shape of whatever cultivation method his family followed. And now, he had to make a decision. An uninformed and reckless one, made during a moment of desperation. What was the worst thing that could happen? His mind wandered toward taking the shape of a sword, since that was the path of a warrior.

He was familiar enough with his sword, as it was the same shape and length as the training sword he'd used for the last three years. But was that all he had to do? Then he thought about taking some kind of element, but how did one take the shape of an element? What shape would the wind be? Or even fire? He had no answer as his mind seemed to be shutting down and his vision seemed to be darkening at the edges. Would he even wake up again if he allowed the darkness to take him now?

His mind searched for the appropriate shape, something that his fleeing consciousness was intimately familiar with, as he didn't trust himself not to fall unconscious during the process. Dozens of shapes passed through his head. From the strange shapes he'd imagined the elements taking, to some weird shapes he thought of mana as. But he felt that choosing any of them would be a mistake, since he couldn't even determine if that was their real shape.

Then he saw a sword piercing a dark orb—the symbol of House Lunvale. He didn't know what the symbol represented, but he'd been around it his whole life. It was something he was intimately familiar with, and it was also a symbol that represented his family. Even if it was the wrong choice for the shape, at least it was meaningful to him. There was also that… it was the easiest form to imagine or shape. Whatever that meant. The only thing he decided to change was the sword from the symbol.

Instead of using Demonbane—the Lunvale family's sword—he would use his own sword, in hopes that even if he chose wrongly, its potential would be much higher because of it. It was getting more difficult for Kal to keep himself from slipping out of consciousness. He didn't have much time and had to start his awakening. Slowly, with great effort, he managed to bring his trembling hand holding the core over his mouth and closed it around the core.

As soon as the core touched his tongue, a cooling sensation spread throughout his entire being before the orb disappeared and a warm energy flooded his chest.