The first phase of Adam's training had hardened his body, forging him into a weapon of sheer endurance and physical might. Now, the second phase would take him beyond that, into the mastery of his power.
Kaelrik stood before Adam in the training yard, arms crossed. The morning sun barely touched the clearing, yet the air was thick with anticipation.
"You've built the body," Kaelrik began, his sharp gaze locked on Adam. "Now it's time to harness the power inside you."
"Your nuclear core is like a raging fire," he explained, arms crossed as Adam stood in the clearing. "But fire burns indiscriminately. You need to become the furnace, something that contains, channels, and refines that heat."
Adam clenched his fists. He had grown stronger, far stronger, but he still felt like something was missing. His energy control was crude, his techniques wasteful, his combat instincts clashing with his new reality.
Kaelrik gestured to the forest. "Destroy that tree."
Adam didn't hesitate. He raised his hand, channeled a surge of golden nuclear energy into his palm, and fired. A blazing projectile tore through the air, striking the tree dead center and reducing it to splinters in an instant.
The force shook the ground, sending a gust of heated wind over them.
The sheer power of the attack was undeniable, but Kaelrik sighed.
"Wasteful."
Adam frowned. "Wasteful? That was a clean shot."
Kaelrik shook his head. "That was brute force. You didn't shape it, didn't compress it. You just threw out raw energy and hoped for the best."
Adam scowled. "Then what am I supposed to do?"
Kaelrik nodded. "Your energy spills out like a broken dam. Uncontrolled, chaotic. If you learn how to circulate and compress it, you'll unlock more of it—and make it ten times more efficient."
Adam exhaled slowly. "So… I've been holding myself back this whole time?"
Kaelrik smirked. "More than you know."
Kaelrik's first lesson was on breathing techniques and energy circulation.
"For warriors, mana is breathed in and cycled through the body like blood," Kaelrik explained. "But your energy—it doesn't flow like the lifeforce of this world. It's volatile. Unnatural. However, I'll teach you a breathing and mana circulation technique that will help you gain more control over your energy."
Adam sat cross-legged, eyes closed, as Kaelrik instructed him to find his flow.
"Breathe."
"Feel your core; feel the raging energy within."
"If you can sense it right now, it should feel like a raging sea clashing uncontrollably."
"You need to grab all the leaking energy, compress it, and keep it confined in the core, and then guide it carefully through your whole body, and circulate it back to your core."
"The same way blood doesn't just gush out of your heart but is guided to other parts of the body through specific routes using the veins and arteries, that is basically how it works. Once you create a circulation path and repeat it long enough, it becomes its own circulatory system."
Hours passed.
Then days.
At first, nothing happened. Adam could sense his nuclear core, but whenever he tried to control it, it felt like forcing a river through a pinhole.
Frustration crept in.
Seren, who had been practicing aura meditation nearby, opened one eye. "You're thinking too hard."
Adam exhaled sharply. "Easy for you to say. You're not trying to untangle a ball of raw power in your gut."
Seren smirked. "Maybe not. But you're fighting yourself."
Adam frowned. "What?"
Seren leaned forward. "You're trying to force it, but you simply need to guide it. Instead of trying to grab the water, just forge a path for it, and it'll flow through naturally."
Adam blinked. That actually made sense.
He took a deep breath and stopped forcing his energy.
Instead, he let it move naturally.
Slowly, he felt it shift—just slightly.
Kaelrik, who had been watching silently, finally spoke.
"There you go," he said. "Now do it a thousand more times."
Adam groaned. "You just can't let me have this moment, can you?"
Kaelrik smirked. "Not if you want to survive."
Adam persisted. Eventually, he learned how to mimic the breathing and mana circulation technique that warriors used and applied it to his nuclear core. The more he does this, the more he chips away at the restriction on his core as he gradually advances towards the evolution of his core to the next stage.
His regular survival training continued in parallel. This time, however, he was restricted to using only his special abilities so he could master control.
The Scarlet Swordsman
Meanwhile, far from the Shadowspire Mountains, one of the Crimson Veil Cult's strongholds, Ebonhold buzzed with activity.
In a dimly lit chamber, High Overseer Maldrak stood before a gathering of cult captains.
High Overseers and Overseers are mid-level cult elites usually in the service of high-level cult officials. They have a bunch of captains under their command, each commanding their own team of cult soldiers. Maldrak is specifically a subordinate of Veyron of the Ascended Seven, a peak cult elite and the maniacal swordmaster who murdered Adam's companion, Duncan, in the past. He had ordered Adam to be watched.
"Report," Maldrak ordered.
One of his lieutenants bowed. "Adam Vaelor was last seen in Veltras. Our spies tracked him to Drakenfell."
Maldrak frowned. "Drakenfell… near Shadowspire."
The captain hesitated. "Yes, sir. It seems he has entered the mountains. If you give us the order, we will go af—"
"Are you crazy?" Maldrak said. "Don't you know why the cult has halted all activities around the Shadowspire mountains all these years?"
The captain swallowed hard. "I...I've always wondered, but if it's about the place being filled with dangerous beasts, we're not afraid of beasts."
"You fool! It's because he's there, that monster, Kaelrik the Dancing Blade. That disaster of a man. Do you know why he was later known as Kaelrik the Scarlet Blade?"
"W...why?"
A hush fell over the room.
Maldrak's voice dropped lower, more venomous. "That man slaughtered entire noble houses, wiped out armies single-handedly."
"I was still just an overseer then when it happened." Maldrak continued. "That man had been a pain in the ass for the cult, he blocked alot of our operations, discovered and pressured the nobles under our influence. The cult had to get rid of him, but he was too strong; every means to execute him failed."
"Then the cult took another approach," Maldrak smirked. "Three of the cult's puppet nobles were used to create a scheme to frame Kaelrik as a war criminal. False evidence was provided, so Kaelrik had to go to the capital to clear his name with the king. And when Kaelrik was successfully lured away, these three noble houses combined their armies to attack Kaelrik's domain, desecrated it, and murdered his whole family."
"When he came back, it was too late. The cult's plan to take everything from him was a success, however, Kaelrik's vengeance was disastrous. He gave chase, caught up with the army alliance and slaughtered every one of them, but he didn't stop there, he went on to the three noble houses that were involved and wiped them out one by one, and then he disappeared."
"He didn't stop until his sword was dyed scarlet with the blood of his enemies, and he did all of this single-handedly."
"He's in the top three of the cult's list of dangerous individuals. You do not go into his domain."
A different captain spoke up. "Then what do we do?"
Maldrak smirked. "We wait. Either Adam leaves… or we find a way to draw him out."