Born In Ashes: The Enigma

—) Mind Stone: A rare treasure formed in a place filled with yin energy, capable of nourishing the soul or giving birth to vengeful spirits and ghosts. Keeping the Mind Stone close to your body accelerates spiritual energy recovery.

(A/N: Spiritual Energy and Mental Energy are the same.)

Azrael raised an eyebrow in surprise after reading the details of the stone Silas had given him.

'The main thing holding me back from refining my primary energy veins faster is the limited amount of spiritual energy I have due to my Unawakened status. But with this thing...' Azrael smiled slightly. Holding the Mind Stone in his hand, he sat down in the training room filled with dense cosmic energy.

Since he was still refining his first energy vein and already knew the location of the second, he didn't waste his spiritual power searching for new ones. Instead, he focused entirely on refining the first vein as quickly as possible.

The Mind Stone worked perfectly to aid his recovery, and after only three hours, he had fully refined his first primary energy vein.

Before refining it, the cosmic energy within Azrael's body had been scattered in an unorganized manner, with no specific place to settle, aimlessly flowing from one part of his body to another.

But the moment the first energy vein was refined, his cosmic energy rushed into it and stabilized.

Although the improvement was minimal—since it was just one vein—Azrael still noticed that it had become slightly easier to control his cosmic energy now that it was no longer spread haphazardly throughout his body.

'I should see a significant improvement after refining twenty primary energy veins and reaching the entry level of the Breathing Method—when a proper pathway for cosmic energy is established within my body.' Azrael thought, and immediately began refining the second vein.

At the same time, he activated both of his traits again and started searching for more primary energy veins.

*****

Two month passed in the blink of an eye since Azrael's conversation with Ashara and Silas.

During that time, Azrael spent most of his hours refining his primary energy veins, occasionally going out with Kael, Ashara, and sometimes with Silas—though the latter was usually too busy with work.

Azrael even suspected that if Silas weren't a Cosmic King-level being, he might've died from overwork by now.

Besides refining his energy veins, Azrael never neglected his physical training—knowing that a strong body was the foundation of everything.

He fully utilized all available resources: the gravity room in the training area, and even trained under Lia, a master of combat.

On top of that, his awesome mom had brought back several rare items for both him and Kael—things that could be used by Unawakened people to enhance their body's talent and potential.

By the end of the month, Azrael's status window had changed quite a bit:

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—) Name: Azrael Thorne

—) Age: 15 Years

—) Level: 0

—) Status: Unawakened

—) Traits: Infinite Comprehension (Eternal Grade), Cold Blooded (White Grade—Evolvable)

—) Attribute: None

—) Rune: None

—) Substance: None

—) Title: ??? [Locked]

—) Bloodline: None

—) Strength: 7.6

—) Agility: 7.3

—) Stamina: 8

—) Cosmic Energy: 104

—) Shop: [Locked]

—) Inventory: [Locked]

—) Current Task: Learn the Cosmic Energy Breathing Method and increase it to a Mid level

—) Task Points: 6

=====

His strength, agility, and stamina had increased by an average of two points due to consistent training, while his cosmic energy had risen by four points thanks to refining energy veins.

The six task points he currently possessed were all rewards from training with Lia.

The first task he received was to land a hit on her during their combat training. The reward for this was one task point.

Because Azrael had been turned into a killing machine on Earth, he was trained in modern weaponry, close combat, daggers, and some other cold weapons optimized for real fights.

Since Lia had restricted herself to his level during training, Azrael had thought it would be easy to complete the task.

However, reality was very different.

Even at the same level, Lia's combat awareness, force-utilization techniques, and decision-making ability were far superior to his.

As a result, during their first spar, he was beaten black and blue—and didn't even manage to touch the hem of her skirt.

But Azrael wasn't discouraged. Instead, he used his Infinite Comprehension trait during their matches to analyze his mistakes, understand Lia's fighting style, and gradually incorporate her techniques into his own evolving style.

After just two days, he completed the first task by landing a successful hit.

The second task was to fight Lia on equal footing. It took him seven days to reach the point where he could battle her without losing.

The reward for this task was two task points.

The third task was to defeat Lia.

That task took him fifteen whole days. At first, Azrael thought that after achieving parity with her, victory would come in a matter of days. With Infinite Comprehension, his fighting ability improved rapidly.

But Lia wasn't one to remain stagnant. She too adapted and enhanced her combat techniques as they sparred, making it difficult for Azrael to surpass her.

Still, an Eternal Grade trait is no joke. Lia's improvements couldn't match the scale of Azrael's rapid evolution.

Eventually, he defeated her and earned three task points.

Rumors said that after being beaten by Azrael, Lia sobbed all night. The next day, she even contemplated resigning and retiring—feeling she was already too old to be beaten by a fifteen-year-old boy.

Of course, had she used her full power, she could've easily crushed Azrael like a bug. Still, the emotional blow of losing while being restricted to his level struck her deeply.

In the end, Ashara personally convinced Lia not to resign.

Apparently, Ashara told her, "You're not bad. It's just that my son is extremely talented—his abilities, his learning speed—they're better than yours. In simple terms, that fifteen-year-old is just better than the older you."

It was said that Lia sobbed even harder after that but ultimately decided not to step down.

Currently, Azrael sat cross-legged inside the training room, filled with cosmic energy. His eyes were closed, and his training suit constantly absorbed and funneled energy into his body to aid in refining his twentieth primary energy vein.

Beneath the suit, his skin glowed faintly with cosmic energy. Upon closer inspection, a dim but distinct pathway was visible along his body.

Suddenly, the faint pathway brightened slightly, and the ambient cosmic energy in the room began seeping into Azrael's body on its own.

At that moment, a notification flashed in front of his eyes.

(You have reached the Entry Level of Breathing Method.)