The familiar white room appeared before Ren’s eyes as they fluttered open. He blinked once, then twice, adjusting to the bright lights that filled the sealed chamber.
He was alone inside this secret room once again, but instead of loneliness, excitent crackled through his chest. His breath ca out in a fog of anticipation. Today was the day.
He sat up fast and swung his legs off the stone slab bed. His bare feet touched the cold tallic floor with a soft thud as he stretched his arms and let out a short yawn.
Then, with a single, eager step, he made his way to the evolution chamber where the Red Evolution Crystal sat like a dormant beast waiting to be fed.
He tapped the side of his black watch. Instantly, a crisp nu appeared, floating above his wrist like a personal assistant. "Upgrade requirents," he muttered.
The list popped up:
• 1x Phoenix Bone Shard
• 2x Worldthread Fiber
• 3x Essence of Thought (Unstable)
• 1x Ink of Forgotten Dreams
Ren’s eyes flicked from the glowing list to the scattered items beside him.
He crouched and began lining them up like puzzle pieces around the base of the crystal.
As he stood back up, Ren’s eyes glead with focused intensity. In his mind, he was already planning the first thing he would evolve once the crystal upgrade was complete; his Chaos ntal Sea.
If he could push its quality into Uncommon grade, he was certain his mind would be stable and powerful enough to finally break through into the Adept Stage.
And once that barrier broke, he was sure he would be able to effortlessly complete the weave he had been practicing for the past week.
That would an another boost to his combat prowess, which he definitely needed if he wanted to survive the battle with Mirabella in the coming week.
But even beyond that, sothing else burned in his chest; a hunger for raw power.
He clenched his fists slightly as his mind wandered to Mirabella’s ice weave, the one that had frozen the entire auditorium in one beautiful, terrifying instant.
That kind of power was what he needed. That impact. That overwhelming display of elental force.
His space affinity was sharp and tricky, perfect for control and movent, but it lacked the kind of oomph that could turn the tide of a battle with one swing.
He needed to decide on a second affinity to show to the world. Sothing chaotic. Sothing explosive.
Sothing that would rge beautifully with the spinning, shredding chaos of his kusarigama and turn him into a monster on the battlefield.
"Sothing like lightning... or destruction," he murmured under his breath. "Or maybe..." His thoughts trailed off. He blinked.
Wait a second.
He looked down. The materials were placed. The crystal was sitting in the center. But nothing was happening.
"...Did it glitch?" he asked aloud.
A flicker ca from his watch. The interface popped up again with a sharp ping and a cold ssage:
[To proceed with evolution, a sacrifice of blood and life force is required.]
Ren’s eyes twitched. "This crap again?" he muttered with a frown, crossing his arms.
He’d already sacrificed blood and life the first ti he used the evolution forge. Why was it asking again?
Was this going to beco a habit anyti a major thing was about to take place? Was his blood so sort of magical favorite sauce for this thing?
But as always... he sighed.
He didn’t really have a choice.
Ren clicked "YES."
Pain hit him imdiately; not sharp or stabbing, but deep. A draining sensation, like his bones were being turned into empty straws and his muscles were deflating from the inside.
His skin lost color almost instantly. A cold sweat broke out across his brow, and his legs wobbled as the strength in them flickered like a dying lamp.
He staggered slightly but caught himself on the shelf, panting softly.
The crystal pulsed once. Then again. A third ti—thump... thump... THUMP!—until the forge chamber was lit in rising waves of brilliant red light.
The Evolution Crystal began to shift. The sharp edges lted into curves. The surface cracked, then glowed, then reford entirely.
What was once a ’rough’ crystal now beca a dazzling red orb, smooth like glass, with a molten light swirling at its center like the trapped fury of a dying star.
Ren stared at it, his face still pale and lips slightly dry. But then, despite his condition, he gave a breathless chuckle and leaned against the stone altar with a small smile tugging at the edge of his lips.
"...Okay. That might’ve been worth it. A bit."
Then his watch chid once more.
[Congratulations. Red Evolution Crystal upgraded to Stage 2.]
[You have received 1x Supercharge.]
His eyebrows rose. "Supercharge?" he repeated under his breath. That was new.
His gaze lingered on the dazzling new form of the upgraded Red Evolution Crystal, the orb now so brilliantly vivid it looked like it had been stolen from the crown of so fire deity.
He frowned, then tapped the watch with a lazy motion. His tired eyes sharpened as the text unfolded:
[Description: Instantly evolve any eligible item with zero waiting ti, no incubation period required.]
His lips parted, stunned for a heartbeat, and then, just barely, a slow grin curled up the corner of his mouth.
"No wait ti?" he repeated softly, eyes already locked on the shining orb like a lion eyeing its first al in days.
That was quite huge. No need for standing around like a monk ditating in a cave. This... this was VIP treatnt.
"Alright then," he murmured, voice light but tinged with a hungry edge, "Let’s get to it."
He stepped forward, standing once more before the evolution orb.
Ren closed his eyes and reached into himself. ntally, he visualized the familiar form of his Chaos ntal Sea; that swirling, fluid sphere that floated sowhere between a dream and a storm.
It wasn’t water, not really, but it sloshed and surged like it, a chaotic orb made of billions of shimring droplets, each one a different color, each moving in unpredictable orbits.
It was beautiful in the way lightning is beautiful; uncontrolled, wild, and filled with hidden rules Ren still hadn’t entirely mapped out.
But that was about to change.
Instantly, the Chaos ntal Sea vanished from within his spiritual mind and reappeared inside the orb, floating mid-air.
Then, with a sudden convulsion of red light, the orb inhaled the chaos water—siphoning it into its core, and in less than three seconds, the process was done.
That was it. Instant. When the Chaos ntal Sea reappeared before him, its form had changed subtly but undeniably.
It now glowed from within, each drop of multicolored chaos glistening brighter, deeper, with a strange velvet sheen that hadn’t been there before.
The movent was smoother, more synchronized, like an orchestra that had finally found its tempo.
Ren stepped forward without hesitation and reabsorbed it back into his ntal space. The mont it slipped back into his mind, a calm washed over him, but only for a second.
Then ca the clarity. Pure, electric, intoxicating clarity. It wasn’t a gradual shift. It was an explosion.
His entire mind lit up like soone had thrown a galaxy of fireworks into his skull. Thoughts he hadn’t even fully ford seconds ago now danced in full sentences.
Half-baked ideas from days ago connected in clean, logical patterns. Abstract concepts suddenly clicked together like puzzle pieces.
Even his vision sharpened. Everything in the forge beca crystal-clear, from the delicate etchings on the white walls to the subtle threads of light floating through the air.
But most stunning of all... was the Loom. It appeared before him like a hallucination, yet it wasn’t one.
For the first ti, the Loom didn’t just float around him like a sea of threads, it danced.
The threads moved with insane elegance and rhythm, like a cosmic ballet of light and law. Each one shimred with a different rule of reality.
One thread bent gravity. Another made the air slightly heavier. One pulsed with heat, another with silence.
The world was made of these threads, and Ren could see how they curved and twisted around him.
It was srizing. No, it was addictive. His eyes widened, trying to track as many as possible, and yet sohow, he could follow them all.
There was no confusion. No ntal strain. Just perfect clarity. For once, Ren felt like his brain wasn’t trying to process magic. It was built for it. This... this was what it ant to be a weaver!
But then, without warning, a strange pressure rose in his mind. Not painful. Not dangerous. But... building. Expanding.
As if sothing inside him had been coiled too tightly for too long and was now preparing to snap loose.
It felt like a volcano, hot and inevitable, bubbling just beneath his consciousness. His thoughts jolted.
"Thought so," he muttered aloud, voice low. He knew what this was. He recognized this feeling. Everything had lined up at the perfect mont.
"I’m breaking through!" he realized. Adept Stage. Finally. But just as he thought it, everything went black.
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