Alden closed his eyes again—this time, not to rest, but to rise.
Forming the light core would be far more dangerous than forming the first.
Not because he lacked the skill—but because his body already had a fully functional core.
In this world, all mana cores were formed in the dantian. Many had attempted to form a second one.
Their bodies exploded.
Some even tried forming a core in other organs—the brain, the heart, the lungs—thinking they'd found a workaround.
None lived to try again. They all died gruesome deaths.
The human body, once attuned to a single element, rejected all others like a virus.
And Alden's situation? It was worse than most.
His current core was of Shadow—mana that naturally repelled Light.
To others, what he was doing would be classified under one word: suicide.
And maybe they were right.
Even the tiniest misstep might cripple him—or worse, it would kill him before he even realised what went wrong.
But Alden wasn't aiming for his dantian this time. His second core would be forged directly inside his heart.
No human had ever done that. Not successfully.
There were rumours—ancient dragons, perhaps—but for humans, it was uncharted territory.
Still, Alden didn't hesitate. His eclipse codex provided him a way to forge the core.
He pushed the noise in his mind aside. Now wasn't the time for distractions.
Everything depended on it.
He activated his [Spirit Domain] for observation of his physical body and acceleration of his mind.
All his senses focused on his heart.
The initial steps were similar. Just the circulation was vastly different.
Alden took a huge breath ... and released it after a few seconds.
He circulated his excessive energy within his shadow core in a reverse direction. His Monarch of Mana assisted him in flawless control over the mana.
Reversing the shadow mana hurt him like hell.
The pain was enough to even make Alden grit his teeth.
The shadow mana he had reversed started to change colour.
From inky black to glowing golden. Shadow and light were two different sides of the same concept.
The now-converted light mana travelled to his heart.
He condensed the light mana into the shape of a sphere. Its shape was distorting, and it took every ounce of Alden's focus to maintain it.
At the same time, he had to focus to not let the supply of mana from his shadow core stop.
He was reversing shadow mana continuously and releasing it into his heart, where it was being condensed.
Slowly but surely a spherical core was forming inside his heart. Its size was that of a small marble.
Finally, after exhausting nearly all his shadowy mana. He was done with the first step of the process.
A small core had formed within his heart.
Alden wiped sweat off his forehead.
But he still didn't relax. It was only halfway done.
Now was the time for the real part.
He had to continuously explode and reform the core two times to make it reach Apprentice Rank.
Right now it was only at Novice Rank, and if it was left alone, it would be devoured by his Shadow Mana.
To balance both cores, he has to make them reach similar levels.
By destroying the unstable novice core and allowing it to reform under greater pressure, the mana density would double—reforging it into a stable Apprentice Core.
And he was already at Apprentice Rank, so making his other core reach that rank was actually easy.
Alden braced himself.
He started breathing in ambient mana. Followed the circulation pattern to convert it directly into light mana. Its final destination was his heart.
The converted mana burnt through his mana vessels, filling his core.
The core was small, so it was filled fairly quickly.
Once it was done, he willed the mana to explode.
The mana trembled, and following his will, exploded.
The core shattered like glass before he reformed it into a stronger one.
He followed the same process again.
With a final breath, he ignited the mana within. Light bloomed in his chest like a miniature sun. His heart surged—then shattered—then reformed.
A radiant pulse rippled through his body. It was done.
The Light Core had awakened.
The moment passed, the pressure faded. His body ached, but he was alive. Against all odds, he had done it.
Alden's boys felt light.
Many notifications flooded his view.
[CONGRATULATIONS, USER HAS FORMED LIGHT MANA CORE]
[ALL OTHER STATS ARE INCREASED BY ONE MINOR LEVEL]
[SPELL: LIGHT MANIPULATION IS RECEIVED]
[A NEW ABILITY OF SWORD OF CHAOS IS UNLOCKED]
Alden dismissed them without even looking.
His body was covered in a dark sticky substance. It was impurities within his body.
His whole body smelt like shit.
He was excited to check his status window immediately. But he knew himself better.
If he checked it right now, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from testing his new abilities out.
So he decided to take a shower first.
Just then his stomach rumbled as well.
Didn't I eat just before attempting breakthrough?
Well, I'll just order something after I'm done with the shower.
He picked up the ManaSync beside him to check the time.
Six hours had passed from the moment he had begun his breakthrough.
It didn't surprise him. He had already expected it to that much time at least.
He got up from his position and walked towards the bathroom.
After thoroughly cleaning himself and making sure he wasn't smelling anymore, he walked out of the bathroom.
As always, taking a cold shower made him feel refreshed.
He ordered something to eat.
The room service delivered his order almost instantly.
He calmly ate his meal while scrolling through social media. It didn't have anything new.
Still the same recycled posts blaming Amyra—misinformed rage wrapped in baseless rumours.
He ignored them and finished his meal.
He excitedly sat on his bed.
The time has come finally.
The time to check his status.
He muttered, "Status".
He didn't really need to say it out loud, but he still did it in excitement.
Soon the familiar blue screen popped up in front of him, showcasing his growth.
Time to see how much I've grown.
[NAME] – ALDEN DRAVEN
And then, something unexpected caught his eye.