It wasn't long before Ash had returned to the underground proving grounds belonging to the past Seraphiel Kingdom.
The same vast chamber greeted him, walls scarred from his last three-day rampage, air still thick with the scent of scorched stone.
He stood in the familiar room that he had just recently spent three days training, every crack in the floor now a memory etched into his muscles.
He deactivated his disguise and showed his true form.
Short black hair that was messy with white streaks fell across his brow like spilled ink and starlight. A lean compact frame that looked to be carved like a deity caught the faint torchlight and turned it into liquid gold across sharp collarbones and corded arms.
His beauty all in all was unparalleled, the kind that made the eyes ache and the heart stutter without understanding why.
However now was not the time for that. It was time for a real grind.
He took a look at his Existence Level which was now at 201.5.
Due to his physique, he was constantly increasing his strength without even having to do anything. It would rise .5 every day, a slow, relentless tide that never slept.
"I just need 300 before I can access the Lesser Chamber." He muttered before activating the orb spawning two training dummies.
Both were at the C rank, one higher than his, hulking figures of living iron and runic muscle that locked glowing red eyes on him the instant they materialized.
Ash rolled his shoulders once, cracked his neck, and stepped forward.
The first dummy lunged, its fist as big as his head hurtling toward his face. He slid inside its reach, his palm snapping up to catch the wrist. Then he unleashed his talent, black paradox-like flames dancing over his knuckles.
|Inferno Dominion|
He spoke, and the flames turned so cold they bit like absolute zero. The dummy's arm froze solid in his grasp before shattering a heartbeat later into glittering dust.
[EL +20]
The notification went ignored by Ash as old flashes shot through his mind.
Aster's face flickered in his mind—the eldest brother's flawless, emotionless smile. Years earlier, when Ash was nine, Aster had taught him that very wristlock… only to use it a year later to slam his face into marble as a "lesson in weakness."
Ash kept moving, his next punch striking harder, knuckles singing, his gaze turning to ice.
The second dummy lunged in for a grapple, and Ash let the iron arms clamp around his torso before unleashing another skill.
|Absolute Null Zone|
Every rune on the construct's body went dark, its mana vanishing like breath on frosty glass. As it froze in confusion, he slammed an elbow into its chest.
|Absolute Density|
BANG!
Metal shrieked, crumpled, and then shattered.
[EL +20]
Standing in the middle of the proving ground, Shia's laughter rang in his mind—sweet yet venomous—recalling the day she smiled at court ladies, maids, and butlers while whispering that Ash's birth had angered the gods and cursed the bloodline.
He never quite understood why his siblings had issues with him…
'Was weakness really such a terrible sin?' he wondered, his smile sharpening to a razor's edge.
Both dummies respawned at once, this time attacking together.
Ash exhaled, and the torches along the walls flickered as every photon and flame in the chamber bent toward him like metal drawn to a magnet.
|Absolute Sol Invictus Sovereign|
The dummies' own glowing cores dimmed, with their light stolen.
He flashed between them, fists wreathed in white-gold starfire that burned hotter than any sun. One head burst into molten rain, while the other torso vanished entirely, erased from both sight and memory.
[EL +40]
Another wave of old memories washed over—Draven's booming laughter when Ash was just eleven, Draven already awakened and ranked D, yet still inviting him to "spar."
That so-called spar had ended in a beating, leaving Ash with three broken ribs. His eyes turned ice-cold.
The orb pulsed again—new dummies appeared, stronger and faster, and he welcomed them.
Though his body fought, his mind drifted elsewhere, haunted by visions. He saw, again and again, Caelum's indifferent back in the throne room, never once sparing a glance for the son deemed too weak.
BANG!
A spinning kick, charged with Absolute Density, sent the dummy's head flying.
Then came flashes of the Queen—his mother.
Memories of her warmth, only to watch her slowly turn away from him. In his lowest moments, she couldn't even meet his eyes...
BANG!
His final uppercut punched straight through a dummy's chest and kept going, cracking the far wall fifty meters away.
[EL +40]
[You have ranked up. Rank C (Existence Level - 321.5)]
The proving grounds fell silent except for the soft drip of molten metal and Ash's steady breathing.
[Ever-Calm Haven's Lesser Chamber unlocked.]
He flexed his fingers, flames and stolen light flickering between them. The smile that curved his lips no longer belonged to the boy the forgotten prince once was.
It was the smile of something the world had forged after breaking him too many times—sharp, cold, and hungry.
"Well, that came quicker than expected…"
The words left his lips like a satisfied exhale.
He closed his eyes, reached inward, and felt the gentle tug of the Haven, warm and familiar as a lover's hand at the back of his neck. The underground chamber dissolved in a ripple of soft green light.
When his feet touched grass again, the world had changed.
Endless sky the color of pale jade stretched overhead, soft sunlight pouring down without source or shadow.
A breeze carrying the scent of moon-lilies and distant rain brushed his skin.
The field itself seemed to breathe with him, every blade of grass shimmering faintly as the dense ambient mana flowed into his pores like warm water into parched earth.
As his physique naturally drank in the mana, he felt all his past worries and stress vanish, melting away layer by layer until only crystal clarity remained.
"This place is truly amazing…" The words slipped out on a quiet breath, reverent, almost disbelieving.
He rolled his shoulders, felt the pleasant weight of limitless time settle over him like a cloak.
"Alright," he said, his voice steady and low. "Six months outside, about eighteen months in here... I'm aiming for at least A-rank. That should give me a solid chance to move forward with my plans."
Eighteen months was just a rough estimate though. Because although he was currently only strong enough to enter the Lesser Chamber, once he reached the appropriate rank, he had no intention of waiting to step into the other Chamber.
His gaze swept over the tranquil horizon, a slow, wicked grin tugging at his lips.
"However, before that, I think it's time I finally meet Vaeloria."
He spoke her name like it was both a promise and a threat, the sly smile deepening as silver moonlight began to pool in the air before him, thick, sweet, and waiting.