Eclipse over the Mortal World

The gentle hum of the woods surrounded Su Vaen as he sat cross-legged on a curved boulder near his outpost, deep within the interior of the forest.

His weary body ached from the incessant fights of the day before, but his mind was calm. He had pushed himself to the point of breaking, hunting until his reserves of energy were exhausted.

And now, it was time to progress ; hardening his body in order to be capable of containing Rank 2 energy.

This wasn't about getting stronger; it was about survival.

If he didn't have a strong base, his body would crack under the pressure of Tenebris Energy. The more he progressed, the riskier it was.

He had to restrain himself, to shape his body into something that would be strong enough to contain the power he coveted.

He gasped, diverting his Tenebris Energy into his skeletal system. Tenebris Energy was coarse, dense, and numbing as opposed to silky smoothness of Origin Qi flowing through him as liquid. The energy flooded downward in him like a hole into which he was trapped, forever unable to climb out, unable to repair.

Crack.

A numbing ache started spreading in his arms and legs as the energy seeped into the lower depths of his anatomy.

His bones groaned under the tension, but shattered not. Instead, they solidified, weighed more.

Tenebris Reinforcement tended to harden his body, but this was not the same. This was true tempering, shattering and reforming himself on a cellular basis.

The agony was horrific, but Su Vaen clamped his jaws shut.

He had lost his fear of pain many years ago. It was simply another challenge to be met.

The years passed. His body trembled with shudders, drenched in sweat, but his bones had grown tougher. With each burst of energy, they were harder, tougher, more resilient, more unbreakable.

He took a deep breath in. The first step is achieved.

While bones, being made to be hard, were resistant, the meridians were delicate.

They were the channels of power, the canals that carry energy within the body. If they were not resilient enough, Rank 2 energy would annihilate them.

Su Vaen took a deep breath, channelling a controlled amount of Tenebris Energy into his meridians. A searing cold coursed through him in an instant. It felt as if ice in fluid form coursed through his body, freezing and expanding at the same time.

He focused. With measured precision, he forced the energy gradually, letting his meridians adjust.

He couldn't rush this. Not if he intended to stay operational.

It had been throbbing. A gradual one. With each strand of his Dimensional Perception, he could sense the tiniest cracks forming within his meridians. He compensated, shoring them up with a tempered release of energy.

Seven days had gone by, and he could feel it—the growth. His meridians were stronger, wider, better capable of carrying larger currents of Tenebris Energy.

A sneer creased the edge of his mouth. One step further.

The final stage—the blood vessels, the tubes along which energy is carried around the body. If he didn't strengthen them, his stamina and strength would shatter when he was carrying great quantities of power.

This was the most dangerous part. Overloading his vessels would damage him irrevocably within. He needed to be cautious.

He stored a measured amount of Tenebris Energy into his Luminous Heart. The energy beat such as a black star, flowing through his veins. It flowed through his blood, toughening them, making them suppler, stronger.

His heart pounded. His body burned as black-purple hued energy flowed within him, stressing his body's limits. With the perfection of the dimensions he won't have the capacity for this high placed energy.

Hang in there.

Vein after vein, artery after artery, his circulatory system groaned, adapting to the constant tension. His physiology adapted to the shift, tolerating the magnitude of his energy.

Finally, as the first light of day crept across the horizon, Su Vaen woke.

A lungful of air filled him, his body full but refined. He clenched his fists, his untrained energy waiting hidden beneath his skin.

He wasn't Rank 2 yet, but now.

Now, his body could handle it.