The past week had been exhausting.

  Every day, as the stone walls dissolved with the sunrise, Lainus pressed himself against the bars and listened. His ears filtered through hundreds of conversations — merchants haggling over beast parts, guards complaining about their shifts, mystics casually discussing techniques and abilities as if supernatural power were as mundane as the weather.

  He had learned more about this world in seven days than the body's original owner had known in his entire short life.

  It wasn't long before Lainus could piece together the shocking truth about the existence of the so-called essence — the foundation of everything, or so the mystics claimed.

  it's universally omnipresent energy that exist in this world, within the air, in the dirt beneath their feet, in living beings, in water, fire, stone, and wind. Every part of creation contained essence, flowing through it like an invisible current.

  Lainus wasn't very convinced, since he couldn't see it yet, but it wouldn't be very shocking to him if it really existed. It would somehow partly explain why there were supernatural things in this world.

  From the pieces of information he had gathered this past week, he could somehow deduce that this so-called essence was the source or the fuel that triggered mystics supernatural powers. Lainus wasn't entirely sure how it was used, because most things about essence came in half-sentences exchanged between people who already understood. But he somehow managed to grasp the basics.

  Flames that existed out of nothing. Transformations that defied biology. Strength that shattered stone. All of it came to exist with the help of essence.

  But the most important thing Lainus had learned was that essence itself was used to form the Spiritual Core, the very thing that made living beings phenomenal in this world and allowed them to evolve into higher beings.

  Through meditation, breathing techniques, and sheer willpower, a person could manually gather essence toward their chest over days, weeks, or months, slowly coaxing the dormant seed into formation.

  This was what Lainus was attempting.

  It required patience. Focus. And most critically, compatibility.

  The hardest part, the step that determined everything, was sensing essence around you for the first time.

  This step was what most living beings in this world feared most; it was a true barrier that separated those who could awaken from those who couldn't.

  If you could sense essence, you had the compatibility to form a spiritual core that could make its user invincible.

  If you couldn't...

  You would forever remain a mortal. Weak. Destined to be used, discarded, or killed.

  And after days of arduous meditation, hours of sitting perfectly still, trying to sense the strange feeling of that unknown existence—

  Lainus had finally felt a strange, faint, invisible warmth drifting through the cold air — it was essence.

  He could sense it, which meant he had the capability to awaken a spiritual core within his chest.

  'Finally! I've overcome the hardest step to form a spiritual core. The next step should be absorbing it into my chest and somehow forcing the essence to form an orb that will become the spiritual core.'

  Lainus's heart felt relief. He didn't want to overthink the consequences of being unable to sense the essence.

  He opened his eyes slowly, analyzing his surroundings. It was dark; the solid walls were still there, and most of the children were still minding their own business, including Tia.

  'Should I try to form a spiritual core now?' The question stuck in his mind like a blade. Since he could still feel the essence, he wondered whether he should attempt it now or wait for the right moment.

  He didn't know exactly how difficult the next step would be or how much time it would take, as he didn't want anyone(especially the slavers) to notice him trying to form a spiritual core.

  He took a few seconds to consider his next action, but in the end, he decided to form the core now. If he didn't do it now, he might not be able to sense the essence the time he tries, or he might never get another chance to even try.

  'Alas, those who wait for the perfect moment die waiting. Tomorrow promises nothing; it never has. Only fools await their demise; no one can be assured of the future. I should try to form a spiritual core now, while I can.' Undoubtedly, he closed his eyes again.

  His breathing deepened, becoming more deliberate

  He was still faintly sensing the feeling of essence, a strange, elusive feeling. He focused inward, trying somehow to pull it toward his chest.

  Hours passed. Or maybe it was minutes. Time had ceased to matter.

  Nothing significant happened.

  The only change was that he could feel more essence around him, circling him strangely, yet doing nothing.

  His mind grew exhausted as he pushed himself to maintain the intent, to pull this strange energy inward.

  After what felt like an eternity, a change began.

  The circling energy started moving faster, drawing closer and closer to Lainus.

  Then, as it entered his body, like water finding a drain, it slipped inside, forming a warm, glowing orb in the center of his chest.

  His entire world narrowed to a single point: the center of his chest, where the essence was slowly(agonizingly slowly) beginning to gather.

  It felt like trying to fill a cup by catching individual raindrops in a storm.

  More essence appeared around him, slowly circling before converging toward his chest.

  This process repeated itself, over and over again, for what felt like an hours.

  And then, suddenly, the essence in his chest — the small, swirling accumulation he'd been painstakingly gathering, suddenly compressed.

  It happened without warning.

  One moment, it was a loose collection of warmth. The next, it collapsed inward on itself, tightening, condensing, becoming denser, more concentrated.

  Lainus's eyes snapped open.

  'What—?'

  Pain.

  It wasn't jsut physical pain. it was Something deeper. A strange, hollow ache in the center of his chest, like something was being carved out from the inside.

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  His breath hitched.

  The essence continued to compress, spiraling inward faster now, drawn toward a single point with increasing intensity.

  'This is it. The core is forming.'

  He forced himself to stay calm. To keep breathing. To not panic.

  The ache intensified, spreading through his torso like invisible fingers digging into his ribs. His hands trembled. Sweat beaded on his forehead despite the cold air.

  And then—

  Crack.

  Not a sound. A sensation. Like something inside him, long sealed, had broken open, shattered, released.

  The essence in his chest collapsed into a single, tiny point, and then exploded outward, filling his entire body in a rush of warmth that made him gasp.

  For a moment, he couldn't breathe.

  His vision blurred.

  His heart pounded so hard he thought it might burst.

  And then—

  Darkness.

  "HUH? If I remember correctly, after you form your core, your consciousness moves inside the spiritual core… this should be it. But why is it empty?"

  Lainus felt anxious. He wasn't sure if his spiritual core had fully formed, inside, it was deep and dark; there was nothing. Is this how a core feels from the inside?

  As he pondered, a sudden surge of bursting energy appeared again, flowing in waves as if dancing toward a single, specific point.

  The returning essence spiraled inward. Tighter, faster, and denser, it collapsed back toward the central point with even greater force than the initial compression.

  The essence condensed.

  Lainus watched patiently in the internal darkness as the compressed essence began to take shape.

  It started as a point. A dot of absolute density. So small it shouldn't have been perceptible, but so concentrated it was impossible to ignore.

  Then the point grew, aided by the surging waves of energy coming from outside.

  The shape emerged gradually. An oval. Slightly wider at the bottom. Tapering at the top.

  It took the shape of a small seedling with no leaves, hollow, colorless, made of a strange energy that didn't feel like essence. It wasn't the same sensation Lainus had felt earlier; it was something entirely new.

  Inside the seedling, something else was forming, a crystalline structure. It took shape as an empty nine-sided crystal, no larger than a grain of rice.

  The remaining, small amount of energy inside the core began to be gathered by the seedling, flowing into it toward the crystalline structure at its center, gradually filling it.

  "Ah... so this is the seed I've always been hearing about, the heart of the mystics' power. And in the center of it should be the Essence Stone. When it finishes filling, it will determine the most important aspect for an mystic's cultivation future, talent... or what the mystics refer to as Core Saturation... I didn't expect it to be this small."

  Lainus observed the process with cold detachment, watching as the essence slowly filled the tiny crystalline structure at the center of the seedling.

  The flow was agonizingly slow, like watching sand trickle through an hourglass grain by grain.

  The crystal began to glow faintly as more essence accumulated inside it—pale, barely visible, but undeniably there.

  Ten percent filled... Twenty percent... Thirty...

  The wavy energies inside the spiritual core grew denser, swirling more intensely around the seedling as if waiting to be absorbed.

  Forty percent.

  Forty-five.

  And then—

  It stopped.

  The essence flow halted abruptly. The crystal, now filled nearly halfway, ceased drawing in any more energy.

  Lainus waited.

  The wavy pale white essence inside the spiritual core continued to swirl, growing even denser, pressing against the seedling as if trying to force their way inside.

  But nothing happened.

  The crystal remained at forty-five percent, unchanged.

  After what felt like several minutes, even the energy from outside stopped coming entirely. The influx that had been steadily feeding the formation process simply... ended.

  The spiritual core settled into stillness.

  The seedling floated in the darkness, hollow and colorless, with its nine-sided crystal glowing pale white faintly at forty-five percent capacity. The remaining energy inside the core drifted aimlessly, no longer being absorbed.

  Lainus stared at the crystal for a long moment.

  'Forty-five percent. That's it. That's my limit.'

  The empty space above the glowing pale white essence, the other fifty-five percent of the crystal, remained dark. Transparent. Hollow.

  'That empty portion... The capacity I can never fill. No matter how hard I cultivate, that space will most probably remain empty forever.'

  He didn't feel disappointment.

  Disappointment required expectations. He'd had none.

  For him, awakening alone was enough. He wasn't an ambitious person. He just needed a Spiritual Core to survive.

  'Well, it's good enough. I thought it would be less. I don't need to be a genius. I just need to be strong enough to stay alive... and maybe have some fun with this new life, I suppose.'

  Lainus had never been one to set grand goals for the future. He never had in his previous life, and he saw no reason to start now. He simply did what felt good to him, what made the tedium of existence bearable.

  He'd never considered himself a good person. Nor a bad one.

  Just... normally neutral. Selfish, uncaring and immoral perhaps. But honest about it.

  'As long as I'm alive, I can do whatever I want. That's enough. That's always been enough.'

  He observed the spiritual core one last time before he decided to leave — the hollow seedling with no leaves, the partially filled crystal, the drifting energy that had nowhere left to go.

  'This is what I have to work with. So be it.'

  And with that thought, he simply pulled his consciousness back, snapping from the spiritual world to the living world.

  Lainus eyes slowly opened.

  Sunlight. Blinding and harsh after the darkness of his spiritual core.

  The stone walls had already dissolved, it was daytime. Iron bars let the morning light flood into the cell, illuminating everything in sharp detail.

  But something was wrong.

  Lainus's vision focused slowly, adjusting to the sudden brightness. The first thing he saw was a pair of shoes directly in front of him.

  Leather boots. Expensive-looking. Clean. These were surely not the boots of a slave.

  His heart went cold.

  He raised his head slowly, his body still numb from the awakening, and found himself staring up at a familiar face.

  Master Vek.

  The overseer stood over him, corpulent body blocking the sunlight, his piggy eyes gleaming with curiosity and barely-contained excitement. He was resting on his wooden cane.

  Behind him, the cage door stood open.

  For the first time since Lainus had arrived in this hellhole, the iron gate was unlocked, swung wide, and two armored guards stood just beyond it, watching him with expressionless faces.

  Vek's lips curled into a sly, greedy smile.

  "Well, well, well..." His voice was sickeningly pleased, like a merchant who'd just discovered hidden treasure. "Looks like one of my little rats finally grew some teeth."

  Lainus's eyes darkened as his mind raced.

  'He knows. He knows I awakened. How? I made sure to start forming the core right after the food was thrown... The other kids in the cage would never dare talk to the guards. How long was I unconscious? A day? Two days

  Too many questions. No answers.

  He needed to get out of this situation somehow.

  He opened his mouth to speak—

  Pain.

  A strange, searing heat erupted in his throat, like his vocal cords were being reformed from the inside. The words died before they could form.

  He couldn't speak.

  'What—?'

  Before he could process what was happening, Vek's fat hand descended toward his head.

  Lainus went cold.

  The overseer's fingers pressed against his skull, not roughly, but deliberately, as if feeling for something beneath the surface. His touch was clinical. Assessing.

  Lainus's entire body tensed, but he didn't move. The guards were right there. Fighting back would be suicide.

  After what felt like an eternity to him, Vek withdrew his hand.

  "Uncommon-grade Core Saturation," he said, his voice dripping with satisfaction. "Forty-five percent. Not bad. Not bad at all. It'll do nicely."

  He turned toward the guards outside without looking at Lainus again.

  "Take him to Nina. He'll be trained for the colosseum."

  One of the guards stepped forward immediately, grabbing Lainus by the arm with an iron grip.

  Lainus's mind reeled.

  Nina? The Colosseum? Am I going to fight?

  But before he could process any of it, the guard yanked him to his feet and began dragging him toward the open cage door.

  Behind them, a weak voice came in.

  "P-Please... don't take my brother..." The words were barely audible.

  Lainus turned his head slightly and saw her.

  It came from another slave inside the cage, a girl with black hair and hazel eyes.

  It was Tia — her face looked even more gaunt now, her cheekbones jutting out sharply beneath hollow eyes. Her skin was pale, almost translucent, and her small frame seemed even smaller, as if she had shrunk in on herself.

  She most likely hadn't been eating anything lately.

  Her hands clutched her ragged clothes so tightly her knuckles had gone white. She bit down on her lower lip, hard enough that it looked like it might bleed.

  The guard holding Lainus didn't slow. He pulled him forward with mechanical efficiency, heading straight for the iron gate.

  The guard almost got out the iron gate when—

  A small hand reached out from behind, grasping weakly at the guard's arm.

  The guard stopped abruptly and turned back, his eyes narrowing as he saw a small, petite girl — it was Tia.

  She'd stumbled forward, barely managing to stay upright, and now her thin fingers were wrapped around the guard's wrist.

  "Please..." Her voice cracked. Tears streamed down her face. "Don't take my brother away. Please..."

  The guard's expression twisted into irritation.

  BAM!

  His boot shot out mercilessly, striking Tia square in the chest.

  The force of the kick was devastating, sending the girl flying backward. Her frail body crumpled as she slammed into the ground several feet away, the sickening thud echoing in the air.

  Lainus watched the scene unfolding in front of him indifferently. 'How boorish. At least try harder, be somewhat useful... To think I almost used you as bait.'

  The guard didn't even look back.

  He simply continued dragging Lainus toward the gate, his grip never loosening.

  Lainus glanced over his shoulder one last time.

  Tia lay on the ground, unmoving.