Although he had agreed with the second process so readily, he was having second thoughts after Ariha began to explain the whole process. Apparently, she was going to awaken the Radiant core first, then remove it from the suppression of the void core, and finally replace it with his heart construct.
Yes, none of this was possible with a snap of her fingers or casting a spell. She needed to perform open surgery, which ant she was going to open up his chest.
"Don't worry, you won't die," she said reassuringly, though it hardly solved the problem. "Disregarding your superior physique which will be very resilient, I'm arguably the greatest healer in the history of the known realms."
And she wasn't humble at all while claiming that.
"Only the first part of the process will be painful," she said, placing her palm on his abdon. "For the rest of the process, you don't even have to be conscious. Now remain calm..."
Radiant light spilled out from her palm and drew into his skin to absorb into his core. The light penetrated into the mysterious void core as a tearing pain spasd through his being. It wasn't purely physical pain, but sothing much deeper. It felt as though a hot needle pierced into his soul. And what his soul felt, his body reacted to it.
"Don't resist," Ariha said in a calming voice. "I have already located the Radiant core... well, not much of it left as far as I can detect... It only remained in the form of a Radiant Matrix with less than ninety percent of its power consud... Hmm..."
Then her eyes widened as though she noticed the intricacies, even though it was sothing she should be very familiar with.
"What is it?" he croaked.
Ariha didn't answer, her brows furrowed together in a single line. "Now the difficult part..."
While her essence power located the matrix in his void core—which was impossible for him—she laid a series of complicated rune scripts which went beyond master, grandmaster level of mastery...
"Brace yourself," she mumbled as much to herself as for him. The glittering runes shifted around her palm, over his abdon as an ungodly amount of attraction force worked onto his core. It stirred his void core, as void essence surged through his body.
He gritted his teeth to keep his instinct in check. Blood oozed out of his mouth, as his essence nearly went berserk, leaving a terrible residue of power and injuries.
She mumbled sothing he didn't hear clearly, as the attraction force penetrated the void core and began tugging at the radiant matrix.
"Just—"
He scread, his voice resonating with the twirls of the way, causing the wind to shift and the clouds to churn in the promise of lightning and storm...
Ariha didn't even lift her eyebrows as she snapped her fingers, and everything cald down. Everything but his scream. His spirit cried at the piercing agony that ripped through his whole being. No other experience could compare to what it felt like.
On top of everything, he couldn't move even an inch, his muscles twitched under the stress. Thankfully, it didn't last forever, as shortly, he felt the needle withdrawing from his spirit, though this ti it felt more than a needle.
"Got it," Ariha said, and cut his abdon with a sharp spark of light and intent. To compare to the soul-rending agony, the fleshy wound was nothing.
Then out of the cut ca a small marble-shaped glittering radiant core matrix, complicated layers of scripts laid all around it. They weren't new runes Ariha had laid, but probably old ones from the ti of the implant.
"Huh, I knew it," she mumbled, showing the core to him. She hadn't held it in her palm; it was spinning between her palms, still suspended above his abdon. "This is our work..."
It took a mont for him to understand what she ant.
"You can rest easy now, Dear Disciple," she said. "Leave everything to ."
With that, she moved one of her palms over his forehead as a calm radiant essence spilled into his mind, easing his pain and consciousness. Before he knew it, he fell unconscious, with the calming, healing power easing his mind.
Unknown to him, ti flew by. The actual surgery took over half a day, she replacing the heart contract was no small business, considering Ariha wanted to leave no room for fault. All vessels, veins, and channels, she connected them to the Radiant matrix... she even created new channels to ease the passage of the essence.
After all that, she laid multiply layers of transcendent rune scripts, spending another six hours all over and inside his body.
***
He woke up to his own screams as glittering runes ca to life, shifting around his form, trying to calm his rising blood pressure. His chest heaved like pumping air into a balloon, as blood oozed out from his mouth, nostrils, ears, and perhaps even his eyes—he wasn't sure if the liquid was blood or tears.
"It's alright," a calming voice said, embracing him in her presence. Warm arms wrapped around his chest, rubbing and caressing him. "It's fine... You'll be fine in no ti..."
"Ariha?" he husked, clutching her palm. His chest felt like it was burning in fire, while the rest of his body was cold as a corpse.
"Yes," she answered. Her power drew into his body, healing the physical injuries and the surge of void energy created on his body. Even though her figure was diminutive compared to his towering stature, she kept him in place complexly, without force. "Don't move, calm yourself, ditate. You'll be fine."
"Yes," he could barely say, while she kept him in the confines of her embrace.
"It will take so days for your body to adapt to it," she said.
"My chest is burning," he said.
"I know," she said, drawing her palm over his bare chest. "The surgery is successful... you'll be fine in a couple of days."
With her reassurance and soothing presence, he fell into a state of deep ditation.
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