Chapter 123: A New Power

Northwatch — Secluded Chamber

After checking on the squad’s progress and satisfied with what he saw, Ethan gave a few final instructions to Iron Wolf and the others before returning to the secluded chamber.

Ethan took both sisters’ hands in his own and quickly wove thin threads of his aura through them, sensing the state of their mana pathways. The brutual, grueling physical training he had imposed on them over the past few days, combined with the recovery elixirs, had cleared the accumulated toxins from their bodies to a considerable degree, and he judged this the right moment to teach them how to sense mana, along with an S-rank breathing and circulation art suited to build their foundation properly.

He was fairly certain Sepharina would awaken a Mage Core, likely paired with some form of alchemy-related talent, based on what he already knew from his previous life. Anna’s path remained far less clear, however. Still, seeing the sheer determination burning in her eyes and the effort she put in without a single complaint, Ethan could only hope she would awaken something equally worthwhile.

Once their cores awakened, he planned to teach them a higher-grade art suited to whatever they turned out to be.

It’s time. Ethan thought silently.

Both Ashwood sisters settled into a cross-legged posture, pulling their spines straight. Ethan had already walked them through the basics, cultivation theory, the nature of mana pathways, and several other foundational concepts, and both had absorbed everything with a speed that slightly surprised him.

"Close your eyes." Ethan said as he guided them to calm their minds and try to sense the mana in the surrounding atmoshpere. He sat beside them, drawing in the mana himself, deliberately thickening its concentration around them so they’d have an easier time perceiving it. Hours passed. They sat in perfect stillness, listening carefully to every word he offered. A day passed, then another. Finally, on the fourth day, Anna sensed the first faint traces, tiny particles drifting almost imperceptibly through the air.

At first, she wasn’t even certain it was real. The sensation was so faint that it seemed almost indistinguishable from the air itself, yet the moment she focused on it, she felt something different, a gentle, almost imperceptible current brushing against her senses. After days of pain, exhaustion, and countless moments when her body had screamed at her to stop, this tiny discovery made everything feel worthwhile.

I see it... Anna gasped internally, her breath catching in her throat. Barely an hour later, Sepharina followed.

Both girls were utterly captivated by the sensation, practically glowing with triumph, as though they’d just accomplished something extraordinary. Sepharina laughed aloud, grabbing her sister’s hands, both of them momentarily forgetting the exhaustion of the past several days entirely. Even Ethan found himself genuinely impressed even. Sensing mana in just four days was a incredible feat, even with his direct assistance. In his previous life, he had needed almost a full day to sense mana for the first time, and most nobles required several weeks of dedicated practice, geniuses among them still typically needed several days to a full week.

Watching the two of them, with no prior exposure to cultivation whatsoever, accomplish it in a fraction of that time was no small thing. Satisfied, Ethan finally allowed himself to relax and moved on to teaching them the breathing techniques and cultivation arts themselves.

He led them to a separate chamber where they could cultivate undisturbed, guiding them carefully through the process of using mana to clear the last remnants of toxins from their bodies while simultaneously strengthening themselves from within. He watched them refine the mana several times over, and once satisfied they’d grasped the process well enough to continue on their own, he left them to it.

Over those same four days, Ethan hadn’t allowed himself a single moment of rest either. Alongside teaching the sisters, he’d continued feeding the unknown energy at every spare opportunity, and the sphere now sat at roughly half full. He made his way back to the center of the chamber, settling into stillness, and turned his focus inward toward it, only to find it refusing to budge no matter how hard he tried to draw it out, as though it were resisting him on purpose.

You’ve got to be kidding me... A tired sigh escaped his lips.

After all these days of consistent feeding, he’d assumed the energy would at least prove useful for something eventually, but watching it sit there, utterly unmoved no matter what he tried, left him feeling almost betrayed by the whole effort. He gathered his focus once more, this time weaving Intent into the attempt, testing whether it would respond any differently. Still nothing. It remained lodged stubbornly inside the sphere, refusing to emerge no matter how many times he tried, hour after hour, until exhaustion finally began creeping into his limbs.

"Should I just destroy this sphere...?" Ethan muttered internally, rubbing at his temples in frustration. "It’s completely useless anyway."

The instant the thought crossed his mind, the energy moved. A faint ripple passed through the sphere.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed.

It shifted again, almost reluctantly, as though it had suddenly realized what he intended and had no intention of being separated from him after all.

Huh... what the hell?

Ethan caught the slight movement. Thinking his senses were playing tricks on him due to fatigue, he rubbed his face. But as if recognizing his thoughts, the familiar, comforting warmth it produced whenever he fed it radiated through his chest once more.

Curious, Ethan focused inward again, testing whether it would actually respond to him now. He was amused that it only reacted after he threatened to destroy the sphere, but he set the thought aside for the moment, needing his full concentration for what came next.

Slowly and carefully, Ethan guided the energy through his mana pathways, forward until it finally gathered at his fingertips. He studied the obsidian-dark energy pooling there, sensing a faint strain settle across his fingers the moment it fully gathered, but he pushed further regardless, drawing more of it out to properly test its nature.

Suddenly the energy began pulling in the surrounding ambient mana at a steady, constant pace, functioning almost like a small vacuum given form. Watching the phenomenon unfold, Ethan’s eyes widened. It wasn’t simply gathering mana and increasing its own density in his palm, a portion of what it drew in was being redirected straight back toward the sphere resting within him.

This energy was unlike anything he’d encountered before. Superficially, it resembled aura, but its true nature felt fundamentally different, by a vast margin.

Let’s test it... Ethan murmured, unsheathing the Eternal Sovereign Blade and imbuing it with the unknown energy.

He raised the blade and brought it down against the stone floor in a single, clean strike.

The hardened floor, renowned for its sheer durability, split apart instantly, clean fissures racing outward from the point of impact. Ethan’s eyes narrowed in genuine surprise. The power behind that single strike was several times greater than what the same amount of aura could produce.

Yet the greater power came with an equally obvious drawback. The energy wasn’t simply stronger than aura, it was far more demanding on the body wielding it.

He spent the next several hours pushing himself to use it effectively, testing its limits again and again, but the enormous physical toll became impossible to ignore. Unlike his own aura, this energy placed a severe and mounting burden on his body the longer he sustained it. By the time he finally stopped, his hands trembled faintly and a dull ache had settled deep into his bones.

Even with his physical strength already crossing the threshold of Peak Knight Commander, his body struggled to withstand prolonged use of the energy. Its destructive power was extraordinary, but controlling it was clearly another matter entirely.

Let’s see how much we gained this time... Ethan summoned the notification he’d received recently, having delayed checking it until now while he’d been occupied teaching the Ashwood sisters.

———

[Blood Essence Acquired]

Knights — 450

Great Knights — 3,200

Knight Commanders — 400

Knight Lord — 350

Total Blood Essence — 4,400

———

[Note: This is the Blood Essence acquired from the recent war]

Hmm... this is less than I expected. Ethan studied the panel calmly.

With a thought, Ethan assigned the Blood Essence, settling into a cross-legged posture in the training chamber, and let it begin its work.

A few hours passed in silence, until finally Ethan rose to his feet, clenching his fists as he felt the fresh strength surging steadily through his body.

Let’s begin.

———

A few days later, in the Command Barracks — Inner Fortress, Marcus’s Office

Marcus sat at his desk, sorting through the usual stack of reports, finally setting the last one down and letting out a long breath as he stretched his neck, joints popping faintly from having sat still too long. He put on a kettle for tea, the familiar routine doing little to ease the restless energy that had been building in him all week. Just as he lifted the cup to take his first sip, he caught the sound of hurried footsteps approaching from far down the corridor, moving far too quickly for anything routine.

Within seconds, three urgent knocks struck the heavy door.

"Enter."