Kael awoke to pain, not the sharp, tearing agony from before but a deep, lingering soreness that clung to his bones and muscles as though he had been broken apart and reassembled incorrectly.
His eyelids fluttered open as the familiar wooden ceiling of the academy dorm greeted him.
For several long seconds, Kael simply lay there, staring upward, unsure if what he remembered had truly happened. The underground chamber, the ancient runes, the floating ring and the voice that had called him the only one.
Was it a dream?
He shifted slightly and hissed as every part of his body protested.
"No," he murmured hoarsely. "It wasn't a dream."
He could feel it.
Deep within his chest, beneath the ache and exhaustion, there was a presence. It was quiet, steady and observing.
"You are awake."
The voice resonated directly in his mind, clearer than before.
Kael exhaled slowly.
"So I didn't imagine you."
"No."
There was no emotion in the reply, but it no longer sounded distant. The relic spirit's presence felt closer now, it was anchored and inseparable.
Kael sat up carefully, swinging his legs over the side of the narrow dormitory bed. The motion sent a wave of dizziness through him, but something else followed it... an unfamiliar sensation of stability.
His body felt… heavier and even denser as though his bones carried more weight than before.
He flexed his fingers. The movement was slow and deliberate. Each joint responded smoothly, without the weakness he had grown used to.
"This is because of the binding?" he asked quietly.
"Partially."
Kael frowned. "Only partially?"
"Your body has not grown stronger yet," the relic explained.
"It has become capable of growing stronger."
Kael absorbed that in silence.
Outside the dormitory window, the academy bell rang, sharp and clear. It was a call for the start of morning classes.
He stiffened. "If I don't show up..."
"You will draw attention," the relic finished.
"Attention invites examination. Examination invites discovery."
Kael nodded grimly. "So I act the same."
"Correct."
He stood up, steadying himself against the bedpost as another wave of fatigue rolled through him.
"How bad is it?" he asked. "My condition... I mean."
There was a brief pause.
"Your Dual Core framework exists," the relic said.
"But it is unstable. Your Qi pathways have only begun to open and your Mana heart remains suppressed by residual seals."
Kael grimaced. "That sounds… bad."
"It is survivable."
"…Comforting." Kael said nodding his head.
For the first time, Kael sensed something faint beneath the spirit's words, it wasn't humor... it was something older and subtler, maybe... approval?
He dressed quickly, choosing loose academy robes that hid his frame. As he did so, he became aware of something else... his breathing. Each inhale felt deeper and each exhale… deliberate.
Without him meaning to, Kael slowed his breath, falling into a steady rhythm. The moment he did, a faint warmth spread through his abdomen.
He froze.
"That... that was... Qi?"
"Yes," the relic replied.
"Unrefined. Weak. But real."
Kael's heart immediately started racing. For sixteen years, he had never felt anything like this.
He forced himself to breathe normally again, and the warmth faded.
"Why did it stop?" He asked, confused
"Because you are untrained," the relic said.
"And because this is not the place."
Kael clenched his fists.
"So what do I do?"
"You endure."
~~~
The academy grounds buzzed with activity as students gathered in groups, discussing yesterday's examination results with excitement or bitterness. Mana flared openly as some practiced spells even while walking, eager to display their aptitude.
Kael moved among them unnoticed or rather, noticed only as usual, whispering among themselves.
"There goes Zero Resonance."
"Isn't this his last term?"
"I heard even servants can sense mana faster than him."
But the words slid off him differently now. They still hurt but they no longer defined him.
He took his usual seat in the back of the lecture hall as the instructor began a discourse on Mana Circulation Theory. Diagrams of mana hearts and spell channels appeared in the air, glowing blue.
Kael listened carefully and for the first time, the lecture didn't feel abstract. He could feel the truth in the theory.
As the instructor spoke about mana flow stabilizing through repetition, Kael sensed a faint echo inside his own chest, his mana heart responding sluggishly, as if wrapped in layers of fog.
"You perceive it now," the relic murmured.
"This is the advantage of Dual potential. Understanding precedes execution."
Kael kept his expression neutral, but inside, his mind raced.
So this is what everyone else felt from the start…
When the class ended, Kael avoided lingering and immediately returned to his dormitory. He locked the door, drew the curtains, and sat cross-legged on the floor.
"Teach me," he whispered.
The relic's presence expanded slightly.
" Then, We begin with restraint."
Kael blinked. "Restraint?"
"Power without control is suicide," the relic said.
"Your first training is not cultivation, but endurance."
A sensation spread through Kael's body as the relic guided his awareness inward.
Suddenly, he could sense them, his meridians, they were thin and fragile. Most were still sealed, visible only as faint outlines. His mana heart pulsed weakly, suppressed beneath invisible bindings.
"You will not force them open," the relic instructed.
"You will breathe, you will feel, you will endure discomfort without acting."
Kael's jaw tightened.
"How long?"
"Until your body accepts coexistence."
He closed his eyes.
Minutes passed.
Then hours.
Sweat soaked through his robes as waves of heat and cold alternated within him. Sometimes the Qi stirred too strongly, causing sharp pain in his limbs and other times, mana surged unpredictably, making his heart race.
Each time, his instinct was to do something but each time, the relic stopped him.
"Endure."
By the time the sun dipped low, Kael collapsed onto his back, utterly exhausted.
"I didn't… do anything," he muttered.
"You did everything," the relic replied.
"You survived the first day."
Kael laughed weakly.
"That's the bar now?"
> "For you," the relic said, "survival is progress."
Night fell.
As Kael drifted toward sleep, he felt it again, the faint dual rhythm in his chest. It was weak and unstable, but alive.
"Rest," the relic said quietly.
"Tomorrow, we begin true cultivation."
Kael's lips curved into a tired smile and for the first time in his life, tomorrow felt like a promise.