A deep breath.
Su Vaen was in absolute stillness, his body stretched on a large, jagged rock near his outpost. His surroundings had lost all meaning.
The wails of the wind, the rustling leaves, the distant cries of beasts. None of it meant anything.
For currently, all his focus was fixed on something. Reaching Rank 2.
The foundation was laid. His bones, meridians, and vessels had been tempered to withstand the leap in power.
His Luminous Heart was strong. His Umbral Respiratory was fully refined. And yet.
He wasn't ranking up.
His eyebrows furrowed.
The feeling was strange, frustrating even. He had done everything correctly, filling up his Umbral Respiratory to its absolute peak. Yet, no transformation occurred. No sign of breakthrough.
Why?
For the first time in ages, he felt doubt creep into his mind.
He took a deep breath, letting his Dimensional Perception course through his body, checking each part of himself.
His Umbral Respiratory was filled to the top, but it was. stagnant. The energy simply rested there, not circulating.
And then—
A voice. A strange, deep whisper insinuated itself into his mind.
"Fill it again."
Su Vaen's body tensed. His instincts stirred, but he sensed no immediate threat.
The voice was not human, nor the snarl of a beast. It was other, it was ancient.
"Fill it more. And then more. Until the limit bends."
His breathing steadied.
There was no hesitation in him—only the desire to know. If his promotion to Rank 2 was blocked, he would find a way through.
He took a deep breath, activating Void Absorption.
Simultaneously, Tenebris Energy surged into him like a shadowy tide, filling his chest with its inflow into his Umbral Respiratory. It reached full in the space of a heartbeat.
And yet, he still didn't stop.
Ignoring the searing pressure in his chest, he forced more energy in. The pain spiked as if his body was going to rupture, his Umbral Respiratory shrieking in protest.
His breathing grew coarse. His whole body screamed at him to stop.
But he didn't.
He drew in more.
Then more.
The energy inside him grew thicker—far thicker. The pure pressure was like his body plunging into the depths of a chasm, but he refused to back off.
And then—
A shift.
His maximally filled Umbral Respiratory began to expand. The energy inside didn't leak or spill out. Instead, it was condensed.
A painful, cruel process occurred as the Tenebris Energy inside him was compressed forcefully, its density increasing by an order of ten. It wasn't Rank 1 energy anymore. It was darker, denser—Rank 2 Tenebris Energy.
The reality struck him like a dagger to the chest.
The breakthrough wasn't about filling the Umbral Respiratory. It was about getting it to forge space, to cleanse itself beyond its natural abilities.
A shudder ran through his body as his own body adapted. His energy pathways stretched, reshaping themselves to accommodate the new level of density.
His Luminous Heart glowed, purifying the condensed energy and forcing it into his meridians.
A surge of power coursed through him. His limbs trembled as the transformation was achieved. His blood boiled, his bones hummed with his new power.
A few months later—
BOOM!
An explosion of Tenebris Energy burst from him, the very force destroying the ground beneath.
The air around him stilled. A profound darkness lingered in the air before dissipating into nothing.
Su Vaen exhaled sharply, his fingers twitching as the new Rank 2 ability settled within him. His very presence seemed heavier, his body stronger, his mind sharper.
He had done it.
He had hit Rank 2.
And now.
He was starving for more.