Ray had been hunting every day. He had collected over a hundred soul fragments in the last three months they had spent down here. Every battle was a brutal contest against creatures that should have torn him apart, yet somehow, he endured. He was no match for them in strength, nor in speed—but through desperation, through sheer force of will, he had survived. And with each victory, his body absorbed more of their essence, bringing him closer to the threshold.

  He made his way back to their shelter, muscles aching from exhaustion. Inside, Alkan was training. Even with his left arm gone and his sight stripped away, he refused to remain idle. Every movement was calculated, slow at first, then faster, as he forced his body to adjust. The ability that had once been a blessing—his foresight into the immediate future—was now his only vision. But predicting an attack and reacting to it in real-time were entirely different things. He struggled, failing over and over again, but each time, he forced himself to try again.

  Alkan turned his head slightly as Ray entered.

  "You're back. How was it today?"

  Ray sighed, tossing the soul fragment he had collected onto the rough stone floor. "It was alright. It’s getting easier… but only if I kill them in a single strike. Fighting them head-on is still something a mortal like me isn’t meant to do."

  Alkan picked up the fragment, running his fingers over its smooth surface. "That makes it the hundred and twenty-seventh. You should have more than enough soul essence to reach saturation now."

  Ray nodded, stretching his tired limbs. "Yeah… I think I’m ready. But even if I awaken, we still can’t get out of here. Your vision showed that much."

  Alkan fell silent for a moment, his expression unreadable. He had received another vision. This time, it was of a door—massive, bleak, and rotting, yet sealed tight. In his vision, he held five soul fragments, each radiating with a power far beyond the ones they had gathered. When he placed them into the grooves carved into the door, something shifted. It began to draw on his soul essence, the ancient runes covering its surface flickering to life. Then, it finally moved. He stepped through… and the vision ended.

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  "You’re right," Alkan admitted. "I need to reawaken. That door… it won’t open without the soul essence of a Champion."

  Ray frowned. "But you think that’s not possible, don't you? No one has ever done it before. You even said reawakening isn’t something humans are capable of."

  Alkan exhaled sharply. "It isn’t. I’ve seen people try. They forced more essence into themselves, thinking they could break past their limits. Every last one of them died, Ray. Their bodies couldn’t handle it. Their cores ruptured, their souls were torn apart. It’s not something we were meant to do."

  Ray studied him quietly, then shook his head. 'That’s where you’re wrong. I know it’s possible. Because I’ve seen it. The waking world has champion ranked awakens, many of them at that.'

  Ray thought to himself before saying, "I think it's possible. We have seen it happen as well. Those outer creatures, they become fallen from a dormant outer. Don't you think there is a difference between them becoming a higher rank than just increasing their soul essence amount with another soul core and rising in class?"

  Alkan tilted his head slightly, considering Ray’s words. "You’re saying… we’ve been looking at this the wrong way."

  Ray nodded. "Think about it. The difference between a dormant beast and a fallen one isn’t just power. We’ve seen them evolve here—some by forming more cores, others by refining what they already have. It’s the same for us. Humans aren’t meant to have multiple cores like Outers. We’re meant to refine."

  Alkan remained silent, his expression unreadable. Then, slowly, a small smirk tugged at his lips. "So you’re saying that instead of trying to expand my soul essence, I need to compress it—to make it denser, more potent."

  Ray met his gaze. "Exactly. Maybe that’s why those who tried before failed. They tried to force more in without making space for it first. They weren’t prepared."

  Alkan leaned back, running a hand through his hair. "If you’re right… then the answer isn’t more soul soul. It’s control."

  Ray exhaled. "Yeah. And you’ll need time to figure it out. While you do that, I need to keep hunting."

  Alkan chuckled, shaking his head. "It’s insane. But at this point, it’s our only way forward."

  Ray clenched his fists. For the first time since stepping into this cursed trial, they had a real plan. A way forward. If Alkan could succeed in reawakening, and if Ray could finally awaken for the first time, then maybe—just maybe—they could survive what came next.

  And so he started breaking and absorbing the essence from all the soul fragment he had collected so far.