[Name: Unnamed]
[Titles: Nil]
[Existence Rank: Pre-Existence]
[Cultivation: Early Soul Formation Realm]
[Soul Memoirs: {Spiritual Robe}{Gloves of Manaentic}] (Revoked)
[Soul Manifestations: {Revoked}]
[Trait Cord: {Supreme Foundation}]
The name field was still empty, and Vikram looked at it for a while. For a moment, he considered using his true name, but at the very last second, he dismissed the thought.
"Jake. Jake Rathore," he said aloud.
The panel shifted instantly to reflect his choice. He hadn't bothered to alter the surname. Changing the first name was enough. If anyone in this world could still connect him to Vikram through a last name alone, then there was no point in hiding at all.
"What are you doing here?"
The voice belonged to Jay. He had pushed himself to his feet, breath ragged, though his presence remained as sharp and unyielding as steel.
Then it struck Vikram.
'Why the hell is mana moving like this?'
Mana wasn't drifting toward Jay. It wasn't trickling, seeping, or flowing. It was rushing to him, rivers drawn into the sea. The sheer weight of it widened Vikram's eyes in disbelief.
This wasn't normal.
For him, mana always moved reluctantly, like water straining through a clogged filter. That was why cultivation crawled, why talent separated the blessed from the cursed. The body was a barrier, semi-permeable and stubborn, letting only what it wished pass through. Kayala and Brunus had hammered that truth into him time and time again.
But Jay shattered that truth.
His body drank mana as easily as Vikram devoured cubes. A freak. An anomaly. Something that shouldn't exist.
Vikram's hand twitched. A part of him longed to smash his fist into Jay's face, to wipe away that impossible ease. But the purple orb spinning around Jay's frame was too fast, faster than thought, faster than breath. One wrong move, and Vikram wouldn't even leave ashes behind.
So instead, he sat down, forcing the irritation out of his lungs with a single exhale.
Silence reigned. Only the hum of the distant tower stirred the air. Its black stone walls climbed into the clouds, the spire standing like a tyrant over the land. Each time Vikram's eyes strayed to it, a cold unease wormed through his chest.
Jay's skin grew paler with each passing second. The orb dimmed, growing thinner, more translucent, until at last it flickered out. The gauntlet on his arm pulsed faintly with restored energy, but Jay himself remained unreadable.
When his eyes finally turned on Vikram, on Jake, they were cold. Detached. Like a predator casually sizing up prey.
Vikram looked away first. His chest felt tight, as if he were nothing more than a rat cornered in glass.
But he couldn't afford to dwell on it.
There were more pressing matters at hand.
In the past hours, he had learned something vital. His true consciousness could project into different bodies, each tied to the Game. Even if his real body lay outside, powerless, here he could still fight.
And now his focus had shifted to the [Knight].
he Knight's scripture was deceptively simple. Advancement required only three steps: find the Element most attuned to you, cultivate a breathing technique around it, and break through.
That was it.
For anyone else, perhaps. But not for Vikram.
After countless hours of thought and failed attempts, he uncovered the truth: the Element had to be condensed before the breakthrough, forged into a foundation solid enough to bear the weight of advancement.
And so, he chose Blood.
Blood was more than liquid coursing through veins, it was an Element in its own right, a sub-branch of Water. It could do everything Water did and more. It corroded. It regenerated.
Corrosion and regeneration, two faces of the same coin. Blood excelled at both, making it a natural first Element for him to condense.
But it wasn't enough.
More precisely, Vikram's [Knight] body simply could not withstand the sheer volume of blood essence. If he crossed the threshold of Blood absorbed from the Blood Hearts, pumped endlessly through Blood Essence and Blood Soul, his body would collapse, mutating into nothing but a mindless, blood-crazed demon.
But he wasn't walking blind anymore. The memory of the [Barbarian]'s breakthrough gave him the answer he sought.
[The Breath of Genesis Art]!
A technique that birthed sentience into lifeless matter. Dangerous. Terrifying. But it was his only path forward.
So, with a trembling will and the heavy dread of what might come, Vikram risked everything. The moment the Blood Element within him reached its dangerous limit, he activated the [Breath of Genesis Art], forcing vitality into the crimson flood surging through his veins.
Inside the sealed chamber, the [Knight] body, pale and bound to countless pipes that drew from the nine Blood Hearts, suddenly opened his eyes. They gleamed an unnatural crimson.
The pipes pulsed. Within the glass-encased Hearts, the Blood Essence churned. The nine Blood Souls glimmered faintly, each one infusing the blood with elemental quality, funneling it back into his body.
The Blood Element stirred violently. What had once been scattered within his body now converged toward his heart, compressing with a dreadful inevitability. Vikram clenched his fists until his nails drew blood, his eyes bloodshot as waves of agony tore through him. It felt as though unseen claws were ripping out his very heart, piece by piece.
Yet he did not stop. He poured more of his Breath of Genesis onto the Blood Element.
The Blood began to respond. Slowly, impossibly, it started condensing, gathering form. First a tail. Then the body. Then a predatory head. Crimson scales shimmered into existence, each one etched with a strange luster that reeked of corrosion and life.
When the final scale locked into place, the creature exhaled. Its eyes, brimming with a faint spark of awareness, turned toward the devouring Black Hole looming within Vikram's inner domain.
Its maw opened wide, revealing serrated teeth that promised annihilation, and it roared.
The roar was silent, yet its pulse shook through Vikram's body like thunder. The Black Hole paused for a moment, and after a moment, it slowly retreated into the void.
And then the panel appeared before him.
[Name: Vikram Rathore][Existence: Pre-Existence][Realm: Early Stage of Aura Refining Realm]