Born In Ashes: The Enigma

As the light motes from the crystal seeped into his body, an overwhelming amount of information flooded into Azrael's brain.

Sensing the chaotic torrent of data invading his mind, Azrael immediately activated his trait—Cold Blooded—to suppress every distracting thought.

Simultaneously, he invoked his Eternal Grade trait—Infinite Comprehension—to rapidly sort through the mass of incoming information.

Generally speaking, skill crystals were an advanced form of the skill books commonly used by people to learn new skills.

While learning a skill through a skill book typically required a considerable amount of time and effort, converting that book into a skill crystal using high-end materials and complex techniques allowed a person to acquire the skill in a much shorter time.

By using a skill crystal, a person could directly attain the entry level of a skill.

A skill has five levels. From low to high they are: Entry-level, Mid level, High Level, Peak Level and Perfection.

However, the Cosmic Energy Breathing Method was vastly different from other conventional skills.

Even with a skill crystal, one could not immediately reach the entry level of this technique.

The reason was simple—unlike standard skills that directly utilized cosmic energy to conjure spells, the Cosmic Energy Breathing Method was focused on reshaping the body itself to maximize the efficiency of cosmic energy absorption and circulation.

For example, consider a person who uses a skill crystal to learn the Fireball skill.

Once they absorb the crystal, it directly injects the method of using Fireball into their brain, making them feel as if they've practiced it for a long time.

By channeling cosmic energy in the specific way taught by the crystal, they would be able to cast a basic Fireball.

Of course, they would only be able to use the Fireball at an entry level. To progress further, they would need to train and refine the skill in accordance with the method implanted into their mind by the crystal.

In contrast, the Cosmic Energy Breathing Method was more akin to a foundational technique used to refine and optimize the human body itself.

Within a human body, there existed one hundred Primary Cosmic Energy Veins, and the position of these veins differed from person to person.

To reach the entry level of the breathing method, a practitioner needed to refine twenty of these primary veins using their own cosmic energy.

The primary cosmic energy veins functioned as internal pathways that facilitated the smooth circulation of cosmic energy throughout the body.

Refining them not only improved the efficiency of energy flow but also enhanced the user's ability to control and utilize their power.

Among the challenges faced in mastering the breathing method, the greatest obstacle was locating the primary energy veins amidst the body's vast network.

Aside from the hundred primary veins, there were hundreds of thousands of secondary veins spread throughout the human body.

Identifying the primary ones among so many was an incredibly tedious and difficult task.

From what Azrael had read on the Internet, even beings at the Planetary or Star level struggled to achieve perfection in the Cosmic Energy Breathing Method.

And yet, the task Azrael had received was to reach mid level of mastery in this method before his awakening—

In other words, he had to refine forty primary energy veins in less than a year.

With both of his traits activated, Azrael managed to sort through all the information injected into his brain by the skill crystal within just a few seconds.

In truth, the data wasn't very complex.

Aside from detailed instructions on how to identify and refine primary energy veins, there were also warnings on what to avoid and an overview of the benefits gained from refining them.

With his eyes closed, Azrael kept both traits activated and began following the steps described in the crystal to locate the primary energy veins.

Suddenly, he felt as if his consciousness sank into a bottomless abyss, swallowed by infinite darkness.

Amidst that void, countless bright dots—like stars—began to appear.

These stars filled the darkness, illuminating the abyss like a galaxy in space.

'I was worried I might not have cosmic energy veins, since I wasn't born in this world,' Azrael thought.

'But it seems the Cosmic Energy Affinity Pills did more than just help my body adapt to cosmic energy.'

He stared at the millions of stars surrounding him, realizing that they represented the energy veins within his body and his gaze narrowed.

"Search for one hundred primary veins among these millions, huh…" He muttered as he recalled the information he had just absorbed.

'Primary energy veins have a slightly brighter hue than secondary ones. They are about five to ten percent larger, and contain more cosmic energy compared to normal veins.'

With both of his traits working at full capacity, Cold Blooded removed every irrelevant thought from his mind, allowing him to focus solely on locating the primary veins.

Infinite Comprehension worked in perfect synergy with it as his gaze swept across the energy veins within his internal world.

As his gaze swept across the veins, his mind began processing every minute detail—brightness, size, energy density—like a hyper-speed supercomputer.

No subtle detail escaped his scrutiny.

Just after a few minutes, like a system detecting a deviation, his eyes froze on one particular star that seemed almost indistinguishable from the others.

But under the influence of Infinite Comprehension, the differences became clear.

The star shone slightly brighter than the rest.

Its size was approximately six percent larger than the surrounding ones, and the amount of cosmic energy it contained was noticeably higher.

Since this entire galaxy-like space was inside his own body, it took only a thought for Azrael to instantly move before the target star.

Without the slightest change in his expression, he followed the refining method described in the crystal and began the process.

Inside the room filled with cosmic energy, Azrael's physical body glowed faintly—like a newborn star flickering into existence.

The training suit he wore began to absorb the surrounding cosmic energy, providing him with enough energy to refine the primary energy vein he had just identified.

'Mid level of the breathing method, huh… Let's complete it as soon as possible.'