Kai could hear Umbra’s screams echoing deep within his mind, but he had no strength to respond. His body floated slowly upward from the depths of the pond, battered and broken.

  Just before the explosion, he had managed to shield himself behind the python’s massive body. Most of the blast had been absorbed by the snake, but as Kai pushed off and dove into the water, fiery flares still tore through his skin, leaving him scorched and bleeding.

  He tried to shield himself with mana, but it barely helped.

  The blast had driven him to the pond’s floor, where he had instinctively escaped into a narrow underwater tunnel. It led to a small, hidden chamber beneath the cavern. Burnt and barely alive, Kai had lost consciousness.

  He drifted in and out of awareness, Umbra’s voice calling to him, distant and distorted. Her cries tugged at his soul, but his body refused to move.

  He floated in silence, clinging to life by a thread.

  After a full day, he stirred. Somehow, he managed to reach into his bracelet and retrieve a container of healing water. The liquid barely stabilized him; his body needed far more mana to recover fully.

  Then, a voice tore through the depths of his soul.

  “KAI!!!”

  The soul-shaking cry jolted him awake.

  “Umbra… I’m alive. Barely,” he whispered through their bond.

  ***

  On the other side of the collapsed tunnel, Umbra screamed in sorrow, her voice raw and broken.

  Then, she heard him.

  His voice, faint but real, reached her through their bond.

  Her heart calmed. Her breath steadied. Her thoughts began to clear.

  “What happened inside? I was certain you had died,” she said, her voice trembling.

  “Are you okay? Can you find a way out?”

  “I’m badly wounded,” Kai replied. “But I’m safe for now. I’ll try to find a way out. I need a few days to recover… I think I have just enough healing water to pull through.”

  “Please, stay calm,” he added gently. “Try to find some food. Stay close. I’ll find you as soon as I can move.”

  Umbra closed her eyes, her body still trembling, but her soul steadied.

  Kai was alive.

  And that was enough, for now.

  ***

  Kai pulled himself onto the rocky ground, his body trembling violently. Every breath felt like fire scraping through his lungs. He uncorked a container of healing water, drinking deeply and pouring the rest over his scorched wounds. The liquid hissed against his skin, soothing and burning at once. Slowly, his body began to mend, but the pain lingered, deep and stubborn.

  He tried to channel mana to assist with his recovery, but the moment he reached inward, a sharp spike of agony shot through his chest. His core pulsed erratically, like a heart under siege.

  “Come on… just stabilize,” he muttered through clenched teeth. I need you now. Don’t fall apart.

  Then he noticed it.

  The moonlight cocoon cracked and faded.

  In its place, his core now glowed a pale white, soft and cold like starlight. Inside, he saw a small silver snake with three heads.

  “What the hell…!?” Kai’s breath caught.

  As if sensing his awareness, the snake stirred.

  Suddenly, a wave of mana surged through him, wild, unfiltered, and overwhelming. His veins burned with pressure, and his limbs locked up. The snake shone and split.

  The central silver head remained inside the core and curled into sleep. The other two, one light blue, the other dark blue, almost green, slithered outward, circling the core chaotically.

  The serpents spun faster and faster, drawing mana from the air in thick, suffocating waves. Kai’s body convulsed as the energy split into three streams: two flowed into the circling serpents, and the largest stream poured directly into the core.

  “Too much… It’s too much,” he gasped, clutching his chest. I can’t hold this.

  His wounded body was fighting its own core.

  His bones ached. His channels screamed. His heart pounded like a war drum.

  Then the dark blue serpent faltered.

  It twitched violently, its movements erratic. As it sensed the venom in Kai’s blood, it started to absorb the poisonous mana. Kai felt a strange sensation; his venomous blood was influencing the serpent directly. The mana it absorbed changed it, made it part of his body.

  The serpent hissed, its form distorting briefly, as if resisting the transformation.

  Is it… reacting to my blood? Kai thought, eyes wide. Am I poisoning my own mana?

  But then, something shifted.

  The serpent’s movements slowed, then steadied. Its body darkened, veins of black-green light pulsing along its scales. It had adapted. Not just to the poison, but to Kai himself.

  The evolution that was started by the moonlight mana was finally finished. Now onto the second one, he thought.

  Kai clenched his fists, forcing the mana to stabilize. He guided the water element through his body, and it resisted, like a river fighting against its banks. The blue serpent, seeing the other one evolve further, finally responded, guiding the flow, healing his channels, and reinforcing them. They had strained before, when he forced moonlight through them, but now, they adapted, barely.

  The pain dulled, replaced by a cold clarity.

  Kai exhaled shakily, his body drenched in sweat and blood. “I did it… somehow.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  The second pure water serpent was easier to tame, for some reason.

  Both snakes now spun in perfect rhythm around his core, both now truly his own.

  He had split his water element, just as Scry had suggested. And more than that, he had evolved; the core was finally truly his own.

  His mana now held three distinct energies: water, poison, and moonlight.

  A true hybrid core. A new path.

  ***

  Kai continued to absorb mana and sip healing water. Some he drank, some he poured over his wounds. Little by little, his body began to recover, enough to stand and explore the cave.

  There was little to see. The chamber was barren, save for a narrow tunnel, barely wide enough to crawl through. He tried to scan beyond it with his spirit sense, but something blocked his perception. The other side was veiled.

  With no other option, he crawled in.

  The passage was tight and winding. It took him nearly half an hour to reach the other side, his body aching with every movement.

  Then he emerged into something unexpected.

  A hidden valley, nestled between towering mountains. Isolated. Untouched. There was no visible entrance from the outside, no beasts, no birds, no signs of life.

  But the mana here was unlike anything he had felt before.

  It was dense, ancient, and pure. Channeling mana here for a few minutes felt like absorbing it for a day outside. Kai’s heart surged with relief. This was exactly what he needed to heal.

  He tried to reach Umbra through their bond, but something blocked the connection. Still, he could sense she was alive. And she could sense him. That was enough.

  He sat and began channeling.

  The mana flowed into him effortlessly. His core grew denser, and the two elemental serpents began orbiting faster, drawing mist around them as they spun.

  Kai stood and began exploring the valley. The air shimmered with energy. There had to be something here, something mystical, to explain the mana’s potency.

  As he walked, he absorbed more and more. His core pulsed with strength. The serpents spun like twin stars, and the mist thickened, swirling around the core like a cloak.

  As Kai wandered deeper into the secluded valley, the air grew heavier, not with pressure, but with presence. The mana here wasn’t just dense, it was alive, humming through the soil, whispering through the wind, pulsing beneath his feet.

  He followed the flow, letting his spirit sense guide him. The serpents around his core spun faster, drawing mist around him like a veil. The valley itself seemed to respond to his presence, as if recognizing something within him.

  Then he saw it.

  Nestled at the valley’s center was a crystalline tree, unlike anything he had ever seen. Its trunk shimmered with translucent silver, and its branches reached skyward like frozen lightning. No leaves adorned it, only strands of glowing mist that drifted lazily from its limbs, dissolving into the air.

  At its base, the ground was covered in moonlit moss, soft and radiant, and the roots pulsed with a slow, rhythmic glow. The tree wasn’t just absorbing mana; it was generating it, releasing waves of elemental energy into the valley.

  Kai approached slowly, reverently.

  The tree’s aura was familiar. It carried the same cold purity as the Moonveil Soulberry, but deeper, older. He realized this valley was a mana sanctuary, likely formed around this ancient tree. Perhaps it had once been tended by a spirit beast, or even Scry’s master.

  He came closer, placing his hand on the trunk of the small tree. Instantly, his core responded. The serpents spun faster, and the silver snake within stirred. Mana surged into him, not violently, but like a tide rising to meet the shore.

  As the pure mana touched Kai’s core, his eyes turned white. A voice echoed through his soul:

  “I was once a holy warrior of the armies of the Third Moon. We fought the Eldari Court in the name of our gods and our beliefs. The Holy Wars lasted millennia, until we lost. Our legacies scattered, our bloodline terminated. The Eldari became rulers of the world, and our stories faded into silence.

  I fell here in the final days of war. Where my blood spilled, the Moonveil grew. Where my body died, the Moonlight Oak took root.

  I leave this story hidden for the one destined to carry my legacy. Take my skills into your soul and wield them wisely. Take my body and forge it into a weapon. If the day comes when you can avenge us, so be it. If not, I will hold no grudges.

  My successor…”

  The voice faded, and memories flooded Kai’s mind. His silver serpent absorbed the bloodline magic, while his core drank in the tree’s mana. As the energy surged, the tree began to fade.

  Within Kai’s core, a small silver blade began to form. The silver serpent coiled around it, feeding it mana drawn from the tree. It would take time to fully forge, but the process had begun.

  Kai sat where the tree once stood, circulating his mana, feeding the blade. As the serpent digested the memories, Kai’s mind burned with agony, each fragment of knowledge seared into his soul like molten truth, branding him with the legacy of a forgotten warrior.

  Three skills emerged in Kai’s mind: Soul Sword, Moonlit Dance, and Silver Eclipse Body.

  This holy warrior had used these three skills to dominate the battlefields and was one of the higher-ranked warriors of their clan. Now, many millennia after his death, these skills had finally found a successor.

  Soul Sword was a technique where one would forge a blade of moonlight mana within their core. Once the process was complete, the sword could be summoned and wielded to slay enemies. The longer the wielder lived, the stronger the sword would become, as it would be reforged constantly by the user's mana.

  The second skill could be used with any weapon. By infusing moonlight into the weapon, the user could cut through anything with threads of sharp mana that danced across the battlefield like ribbons of death. This technique, known as Moonlit Dance, had three stages: first, mastering the infusion of moonlight mana into a weapon; second, learning to create and control mana threads; and third, mastering the movement technique to weave through battle like a god of death.

  Kai realized this inheritance was more than power; it was a path to becoming something greater.

  The final ability was known as Silver Eclipse Body, a technique designed to forge the user’s physical form into a vessel of lunar power. By absorbing moonlight mana directly into the skin, a crescent moon tattoo would form, acting as a conduit to continuously channel and store moonlight energy.

  The technique had six levels; each tied to the amount of moonlight mana the user had absorbed. With each level, the body’s durability would triple, beginning at the strength of a Tier 7 beast. At full mastery, the body would glow with a pale silver light, becoming nearly indestructible, resistant to blades, spells, and elemental force.

  But like all things, it had a limit.

  Once the body had endured enough damage, it would begin drawing mana from the tattoo’s reservoir. If that mana was depleted, the user would lose their protection and become vulnerable once more.

  Even with these skills, the warrior who created them had died, forgotten in a quiet corner of the world.

  Kai understood now: power alone wasn’t enough. There was always someone stronger. He would train patiently and relentlessly.

  Silver serpent in his core finally digested the memories of the tree and shared them with Kai.

  Kai could see them, tall, pale-skinned humanoids with bark-like features, branches, and leaves where hair should be: the Thalunids, guardians of the three moons, watchers of Sacra.

  They had lived in peace, distant but vigilant. Until the Eldari came, tall, golden-haired, elf-like beings with eyes like sunlight. Tensions had always simmered between the two races. They had different beliefs, worshipped different gods, but it was never anything more than differences, until one day they invaded. They used portals to move their massive armies and struck suddenly.

  Kai saw a towering oak-like figure standing on a hill, watching his hometown burn. His name was Vaelthar. He didn’t know how it started, only that everything was gone. His family. His people.

  He summoned his silver blade and became a storm.

  One man against thousands.

  He fought battle after battle, earning the title Dawnbreaker, Extinguisher of Suns. But even legends fall. In the last days of war, he was caught by Eldari elites, Vaelthar fled to Sacra, only to be slain over the Beastworld Jungle. His shattered body cratered the small valley. His soul and body became the crystalline tree.

  Kai stood in silence, the weight of history pressing on him.

  He knew it would take years to master the skills he had inherited, but for the first time, he had a path. A purpose.

  And he made a vow.

  “I’ll find out what happened to your people. To the Thalunids. I swear it.” He spoke the words straight from his heart as they echoed into the valley.

  He turned back, his mood somber, his heart cold. This world could take everything, even from someone as powerful as the Dawnbreaker.

  He needed more power. More than anyone.

  This was his second time experiencing death through memory. He felt like he had lived two lifetimes. His spirit aged. His soul deepened.

  Kai returned to the original chamber and reached out to Umbra.

  “I’m coming out.”

  He focused his mana. The twin serpents spun rapidly, releasing a poisonous water membrane around his sword. Then the silver serpent activated, and moonlight slithered across the venomous blade.

  He slashed once, a move from the Moonlit Dance.

  Light burst forth.

  The rubble exploded.

  Kai strode out of the cave, pale light trailing behind him.

  Umbra stood waiting, eyes wide with joy.

  “Welcome back, brother,” she said, her voice warm and proud.

  Kai smiled deeply, his mind stirred with emotions.