Settled in place, Mikael immediately began circulating the Ninefold Physique Method. As soon as he did, the medicinal properties in the water surged toward him once more, drawn to his body at high speed.
Earlier, the absorption had slowed a little—he hadn't been fully submerged. But now, with his entire body underwater, the body tempering resumed with vengeance.
The pain was sharper than before, more vicious, biting into muscle and bone. But Mikael didn't flinch. Not even a twitch. Behind his closed eyelids, a spark of mad determination burned quietly.
Time slipped by like that. The low murmur of Lyra and Lian'er drifted from the women's side of the spring, a soft background hum to his torment. Mikael acknowledged their presence briefly… then discarded it, diving deeper into the refinement of his body.
In this relentless fashion, another day passed, until—
"Crack."
A chilling sound reverberated from within Mikael's body, dulled only by the muffling embrace of the water.
Hairline fractures spiderwebbed across his skin as blood seeped out, staining the previously blue water a deep, ominous red.
Even as his life force seeped into the spring, he didn't stop. Not for a breath. Not for a heartbeat.
'I can feel it… it's close.'
The thought barely finished when it hit him. His body, trembling on the edge of collapse, crossed the line.
The limit broke.
In an instant, a whirlpool erupted around him, centered on his body. The calm waters turned chaotic as medicinal energy was dragged into him at a rate dozens of times faster than before.
The countless cracks in his flesh and bones began to knit back together, healed rapidly by the surge of raw power flooding his system. The herbs dissolved into his bloodstream like lightning.
"Splash."
Water exploded outward as Mikael launched himself from the hot spring, landing hard on the stone floor with a solid thud.
"Pop."
He clenched his fist, feeling raw power coursing through every fiber of his being.
"Entry of the Ninefold Physique Method!" he exclaimed, his normally composed voice colored by a rare, unmistakable joy.
He turned to grab his clothes but stopped, his gaze catching on the water's surface.
There, in the rippling reflection, was himself—wet, naked… and subtly changed.
His already toned body had been refined. His six-pack now edged closer to eight. Muscles looked sharper, more defined, the lines across his torso and arms cleaner, denser. His entire physique felt like it was inching toward some higher form.
"Didn't expect that… it's a nice addition," he muttered, almost amused, before casually stepping back into the hot spring.
Normally, this would've marked the end of his Ninefold Physique Method training. His goal had been to reach Entry—and he had.
But that was before he noticed something.
Though faint, the hot spring still retained some of its medicinal properties.
And the orphan in him—the part that had learned to scrape together every last scrap—was repulsed by the idea of wasting something so valuable. Especially something as rare as the body-tempering herbs he'd used.
Even if acquiring them was effortless for him with his current status, the idea of letting them go unused rubbed him the wrong way.
So, he shifted his plans.
Rather than stepping out, he stayed immersed in the water for three more days, waiting patiently as his body absorbed the last remnants of medicinal energy.
The change delayed his schedule, sure—but he felt better this way. More comfortable.
And besides, those three days hadn't been wasted.
While the gains were slower, his body still continued to strengthen under the Ninefold Physique Method. Not as drastically as during his first transformation—when he had broken through to Entry—but he'd made clear progress toward the second transformation.
And progress… was progress.
Once the final traces of energy had faded and his training came to an end, Mikael dressed himself and stepped out of the hot spring. He walked in silence toward the Cultivation Manor, his mind turning inward.
'The last two months have been productive. I reached Entry in every Cultivation Art I obtained… pushed the Ninefold Physique Method a bit further… and made major progress in the Moonpiercer Sword Art.'
'That one hit the Small Success Stage. Increasing the quality and quantity of Lunar Qi which consequently strengthened every move I'd unlocked—and opened up the final and strongest move of the style… Celestial Moon's Embrace.'
He pushed open the door to the Cultivation Manor, still deep in thought.
'This rapid progress is definitely at least partly thanks to Renjiro. Without him, I doubt my Sword Art would've advanced past Entry. But those daily thirty-minute sparring sessions kept pushing me forward. Reaching Small Success was almost natural.'
'Renjiro, huh… My first impression of him wasn't amazing, but in the end… the guy's solid.'
He shook his head lightly.
'Anyway, I should let him know I won't be showing up for a while. I'll be entering "closed-door seclusion".'
Not wasting any time, he acted on the thought. With a quick gesture, he activated his identification plaque and sent the message.
Then he turned, entering a side room within the manor. It resembled a study—if the study in question had been designed for cultivation research rather than books and scrolls.
"Thunk."
The wooden door shut behind him with finality.
He had no intention of stepping back out until his research showed real results.
***
"Knock knock."
The sound of knuckles tapping against the wooden door pulled Mikael out of his intense focus. Dozens of papers lay scattered across the desk before him, filled with sketches, formulas, and dense theoretical notes.
"Hum?" He raised an eyebrow, then spoke calmly. "Enter."
The door opened under his quiet gaze, and Lyra stepped into view.
Her purples eyes flicked around, scanning the chaotic scene before settling on the cluttered desk. She took a few curious steps closer, pausing at the edge of the mess. "What are you doing?"
Before he could respond, her curiosity took the lead. She reached out and picked up one of the scattered sheets, tilting her head as she read the title aloud. "Fusion of Different Energy Systems?"
She glanced back at him, clearly intrigued. "What does it mean exactly?"
Mikael blinked slowly. His eyes were dull from exhaustion, the last seven days of nonstop work having wrung more out of him than he thought possible. He stayed silent for a moment, gathering the pieces of his scattered mind.
"It's a kind of… project, I guess you could call it," he said at last. "That paper's one part of it." He reached for another document and turned it toward her. A rough anatomical diagram filled the page. "This one's more focused on the human body—specifically how it functions in this world of cultivation, where half the rules barely make sense."
Lyra's attention was fixed, absorbing every word. But something caught on her thoughts.
"Project?" she echoed, brows furrowing. "You've never mentioned anything like that before." Her gaze swept over the papers, the notes scrawled in cramped handwriting, the formulas, the arcane symbols. "If you've worked this hard on it… it must be important, right?"
Mikael gave her a small nod. "It is important. This 'project' started as a way for me to break past the limits of our five energies—excluding qi. But as I delved deeper into cultivation theory, it evolved into something more."
He looked directly at her, voice calm but firm.
"Now, I'm researching a way to combine those five energies with qi… and create a single, superior energy. Something even greater than qi itself."
Lyra's eyes widened, but he wasn't done.
"I mean… we spend years mastering five powerful, compatible energies. Train them to perfection." His tone soured slightly. "And then what? Just abandon them because the system says it's time to move on?"
He shook his head, displeased.
"It leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
"I want to find a solution. A way to not only break the limits of these five energies but also merge them into one force that takes the best of each. Something that isn't just equal to the sum, but far beyond it."
The more she listened, the more Lyra's eyes widened—equal parts disbelief and awe.
She stared at him, stunned, trying to wrap her head around the scale of what he was attempting.
"You're ins–" The words slipped out, then cut off mid-thought. But she didn't need to finish. The look in her eyes said the rest.
Mikael gave her a tired yet composed smile, a strange blend of exhaustion and confidence tugging at his expression. "The difference between a madman and a genius is that the genius makes what he says into reality… So whether I end up as a madman or a genius—well, that remains to be see."
"You're right…" she replied, her voice quiet, almost hesitant, as if still caught in the aftermath of his revelation.
Because his 'project'—as he casually called it—was nothing short of lunacy. Maybe Amelia or Kiara wouldn't fully grasp how deep the madness ran, but she did. Lyra, with her 'nerdy soul' and unholy numbers of hours buried in books at the Scripture Pavillion, understood just how insane this really was.
After all, getting just two Cultivation Methods to work in tandem was already an herculean task. Qi systems weren't made to mesh together. Their flows would clash, resits, try to tear each other apart. Three methods or more? That usually meant crippling backlash or worse—and that with energies of the same type.
But Mikael wasn't dealing with anything so tame.
He was trying to fuse six. Six completely different energy types. Not layered, not alternated—fused.
'That's not just reckless… it's pratically suicidal.'
In the absolute best-case scenario, the energies would fail to mix and nothing would happen. In the far more likely one? His body would erupt into a spray of unrecognizable meat.
She blinked, still reeling from it all, then finally looked at him again, her purple eyes now tingled with genuine worry. "You do understand how dangerous this is, right?"
Mikael gave her a calm, deliberate nod. "I'm well aware. Playing with volatile energy systems like these isn't something to take lightly. One misstep, and… well, I'll be decorating the walls in very small pieces." He added that last bit with a light, almost teasing tone—like he was trying to defuse the tension with a joke.
But the worry didn't leave her eyes.
Seeing that, he added, "Don't worry. I'm not planning to actually attempt any kind of fusion for a long, long time. Right now, it's all just theory—a rough framework of how it might work. I'm nowhere near the stage where I could try anything concrete."
His words eased the tension in her chest. Knowing he wasn't about to do anything reckless helped her breathe again. Now that her initial concern had faded, her natural enthusiasm for subjects like this resurfaced. Her eyes lit up the way they always did around old tomes or new discoveries.
"You said you had a rough framework," she said, unable to keep the eagerness out of her voice. "Can I see it?"
"Of course. Look here." He gestured to the cluttered desk, then picked up a stack of notes. "These are all tied to my current model and the second iteration I've been drafting. Here—this one lays out the first viable approach."
Mikael launched into a detailed explanation, shifting effortlessly between diagrams, theoretical pathways, and subtle nuances in energy interaction. Lyra listened intently, nodding along as her curiosity steadily morphed into enthusiasm. Her questions came quickly, layered with excitement, her mind clearly racing ahead as new possibilities opened before her.
As he spoke, Mikael occasionally glanced her way. A small smile tugged at his lips when he saw how her eyes lit up. She was leaning in slightly, almost unaware of how immersed she had become.
Watching her like this—so passionate, so sharp—it was strangely captivating.
'She really is beautiful when she's like this.'
Their conversation continued deep into the night, papers pilling up, theories merging and splitting, until Lyra finally made a decision. She would join him fully in the research.
Part of it was because she was genuinely intrigued. But another, less visible part came from worry. The subject Mikael was working on wasn't just advanced—it was volatile. Dangerous. The kind of thing that could spiral out of control with a single mistake.
And she knew him well enough to realize he'd leap headfirst into danger if he thought the solution was worth the risk.
With two minds working in tandem and the ability to bounce ideas off each other in real time, their research began to accelerate. Complex problems unraveled faster. Experimental pathways were refined and discarded with precision.
By the time a month had passed, they had already made significant progress.
Author Note:
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