From there, he turned his gaze towards distance.
The air here carried decent Heart Essence, but it still wasn't enough for a full awakening. In his mind, there was only one obvious place where air‑type Essence might gather in truly massive quantities.
The Himalayas.
Ankit blurred into motion.
His body cut through the sky like a silent arrow, speed tearing thin white lines in the air.
He didn't use Short Step Fold this time; that technique burned through Essence so quickly he could only safely cast it thrice before needing a short recovery.
In a short time he reached the towering wall of mountains and climbed higher and higher until he stood on one of the snow‑capped crowns.
The cold here was vicious—thin, slicing wind that could freeze exposed flesh in moments. To normal humans, it was a killing environment.
To Ankit, it was just crisp air. His body didn't even bother to raise a defence; his skin and blood treated the cold as a mild discomfort at best.
He closed his eyes and expanded his senses.
He scanned the entire Himalayan range, searching for a place where air essence thickened unnaturally.
He found more than that.
Deep within the mountains, near a vast, mirror‑smooth lake, the Essence Flow was unnaturally dense—thicker than anywhere around it, and slowly, steadily growing stronger with every passing moment.
It was the unmistakable characteristic of an Origin Point—a natural spring where Essence Flow welled up from the depths of the world.
Ankit smiled slightly. Through Root Clone's memories he knew this region had never been visited in detail.
Root clone had only swept the Himalayas' surface when hunting terrorist bases; there had been no activity here, so he'd never bothered to dive into the true depths. This Origin Point was a completely new and unexpected discovery.
Around it, life had responded.
Ankit sensed beasts and birds far stronger than normal animals, their bodies tempered by long exposure to dense Essence.
Herbs clung to cliffs, radiating vitality. Ores and metals slumbered under the snow, veins richer and purer than anything found in ordinary mines.
He nodded to himself. The Origin Point explained everything. More Essence meant stronger creatures, better resources, and, most importantly for him, far stronger air‑type Essence.
He sent a brief message to Sacral Clone through their link, marking the coordinates and instructing him to dispatch puppets here to collect herbs, ores, and other materials.
Once that was done, Ankit let all thoughts of resources fade into the background.
He descended to a rocky outcrop directly above the densest knot of air Essence.
There, the wind howled as if trying to strip the mountains bare. Air currents tangled and clashed, then settled into a roaring vortex that only someone like Ankit could stand in comfortably.
To his senses, this spot shone like a white flame, overflowing with the exact energy his Heart Core needed.
He sat down, legs folded, spine straight, hands resting lightly on his knees.
Then, in the heart of the Himalayas, with Essence Flow rising beneath him and storm‑wind screaming around him, Ankit closed his eyes and began the awakening of his Heart Core.
He first spun a tight cyclone around the translucent core in his chest, a whirl of air‑aligned Essence that dragged every stray thread of air essence flow in the region toward him.
When the vortex thickened to the limit, he gently inverted it, guiding the raging air Essence inward, funneling it straight into the waiting Heart Core.
Under that flood, the pale sphere shuddered and lit up.
Its nature, half‑asleep until now, cracked open all at once. Every heartbeat pushed air Essence out; every breath pulled more back in, forming a continuous loop between lungs and core. Only when that rhythm stabilised did Ankit move to the next step.
Just as he had done with Root, Sacral, and Solar, he began filling the Heart Core to the brim. Air Essence rushed in, layer upon layer, until the core felt heavy and bright, like a compressed storm cloud.
He did not stop at saturation. Once it was full, he deliberately condensed the air Essence inside, until his core was fully filled with condensed air essence.
Then he turned that condensed air Essence outward and washed his entire body with it.
Invisible wind scoured his flesh and bones, clearing hidden blockages, smoothing joints, and polishing nerves. At the peak of that cleanse, a familiar feeling appeared: part of his power separated from him, coalescing into an independent echo.
A new Heart Clone stepped out of his body, calm and light, carrying the Heart Core's air‑aligned traits, just as his Solar Clone had once stepped out.
And he also gained an air elemental body.
Ankit sent this new clone back toward Dark Haven Fortress; here in the Himalayas, it would not be much help, but at home it could guard, coordinate, and support the family.
That completed Substage 1 of Stage 3.