Having resolved most of the immediate threats before him, the Vice Captain withdrew into the forest.
He trained alone.
Deep within the ancient woods, far from the city walls and political schemes, he stood beneath towering trees whose roots coiled like serpents beneath the soil.
Since that encounter, his understanding of vital energy had changed.
He was no longer merely accumulating power. He was refining it.
The Vital seekers Stage had limits. It required forming and absorbing, drawing vital force from the surroundings into the body, strengthening flesh and meridians. But advancement into the Core Manifestation Stage demanded something entirely different.
Purification.
Integration.
Resonance.
Vital energy had to become thicker, denser, purer, no longer something external forced into the body, but something that flowed in harmony with flesh and soul. Only when body, energy, and spirit moved as one could manifestation occur.
For years, he had struggled.
His body was unusual. Unique. It rejected foreign energy more violently than others. When he forced vital energy into himself, the process was slow and inefficient. Of what he absorbed, only a fraction remained. Of what remained, even less was pure.
The rest accumulated as residue, dense, impure fragments blocking deeper progression.
He had been close to stagnation.
Then the tree spirit showed him something different.
In the spirit's illusionary simulation, he was not instructed to seize energy, but to cease resisting it.
Instead of pulling energy inward by force, he was told to still himself completely. To dissolve the boundary between self and environment. To let his vital aura expand and fuse with the forest around him.
Vital energy did not have to be conquered.
It had to be welcomed.
If the surrounding force recognized him as part of the same current, it would flow naturally, freely, willingly.
A simple principle.
But execution required absolute control.
One month.
He did not eat properly. He barely slept. He remained unmoving for hours at a time, breath nearly imperceptible, heart steady, mind silent.
The forest responded.
The wind brushed his skin and carried vitality with it. The soil beneath him vibrated faintly. Leaves rustled, not in resistance, but in rhythm.
His energy no longer clashed against the world.
It merged.
The impurities inside his body began to melt.
Layers of dense, stagnant vital residue that had blocked his meridians for years dissolved under the new flow. What had once resisted him now refined itself under pressure.
Then...
The breakthrough came.
The stored energy he had accumulated over years surged violently.
A wave of pure, concentrated force erupted outward from his body. The surrounding trees trembled. Leaves burst from branches. The ground cracked in thin lines beneath his feet.
Vital energy condensed at his core.
It no longer circulated aimlessly.
It formed.
The first stage of Core Manifestation.
A smile appeared on his face.
He lifted one hand.
The air trembled.
Vital energy condensed instantly, gathering above his palm in a dense, radiant mass. Within seconds, it shaped itself into a massive sword, solid, tangible, humming with restrained force.
It was not illusion.
It was manifestation.
He flicked his fingers slightly.
The sword dissolved back into his body.
The forest slowly stilled.
The pressure in the air faded, leaves settling, earth quieting as if nothing had happened.
He had broken through.
Core Manifestation - First Stage.
For a brief second, satisfaction touched him.
A rare, private satisfaction.
His breathing steadied. His energy flowed without resistance. The impurities that once clogged his meridians had melted away. His core was denser now. Real. Tangible.
He had stepped into a different realm.
A small smile formed at the corner of his lips.
Then...
A face surfaced in his mind.
Sharp eyes. Calm arrogance. That unbearable composure.
That face.
The smile vanished.
His jaw tightened.
The air around him trembled again, not from cultivation this time, but from restraint.
His skin flushed red. Veins surfaced along his neck and arms, pulsing faintly. His fingers curled into his palm hard enough to draw blood.
He wanted to shout.
He didn't.
Instead, a hoarse whisper slipped out.
"I…"
His teeth clenched.
"I…"
The word stuck in his throat.
Anger flared, not at that man.
At himself.
Core Manifestation.
First Stage.
He had been pleased.
Pleased.
His breathing turned uneven.
"This isn't enough," he muttered.
The trees around him creaked under a sudden surge of pressure.
"This isn't even close."
He looked down at his hand, the same hand that had just formed a giant blade from pure vital force.
It felt small.
Insignificant.
How dare he feel satisfied?
How dare he think this breakthrough meant anything?
His gaze darkened.
In this world, names were not spoken lightly.
Titles existed. Positions existed. Bloodlines existed.
But names?
Names were dangerous.
Names implied existence.
Names implied sovereignty.
Not even the Elf Emperor publicly used his birth name.
Not even the ancient bloodlines dared to declare themselves so boldly.
And yet...
One man did.
One man alone.
The Human Emperor.
The only one arrogant enough to stand above the world and declare:
I am.
Solvaris Sol Magnus
The Vice Captain's breathing slowed again, but the anger did not leave.
It condensed.
Sharpened.
"Alone in this world," he murmured quietly, "he is the only one allowed to have a name."
His fingers dug deeper into his palm.
"And I'm celebrating… Stage One?"
His energy began circulating once more, faster than before.
Core Manifestation was not the goal.
It was the minimum.
If he ever wished to stand before that man
Stage One was laughable.
The irritation faded into something colder.
Determination without noise.
"Next," he said quietly.
And he began cultivating again.