Shadow remained completely still while the last traces of energy faded through the chamber around him.
The transformation had ended.
But the sensation left behind felt deeply unnatural.
His body thrummed with power while the Astral Core pulsed beside his original neutral core like a second heartbeat deep within his body. Every breath carried more energy than before, and even the world around him felt sharper somehow.
He could hear the faint movement of the fox resting across the chamber.
The slow drip of water deeper within the tunnels.
Even the subtle shifting of mana currents moving through the ancient stone walls.
Shadow slowly clenched and unclenched his hand while trying to steady himself.
Four years ago, he had only stood at the 2nd Stage of the Mortal Plane. Even after years of brutal training beneath Neto, he had only recently reached the peak of the Mortal Plane before entering the Trial World.
Now he had crossed fully into the 2nd Stage of the Awakened Plane.
And none of it felt stable.
The Astral Mana inside him was vastly different from normal mana circulation. It moved violently through his pathways like a living force with its own will, far harder to control than the neutral mana he had cultivated his entire life.
Shadow flexed his fingers again as faint strands of distorted mana flickered briefly across his skin before fading.
The ancient altar suddenly pulsed again.
Shadow's eyes narrowed immediately as faint light spread through the carvings beneath his hand before a deep voice echoed through the chamber once more, calmer now but heavy with exhaustion.
"You survived."
The voice no longer carried the overwhelming pressure from before, yet hearing it this close sent unease crawling down Shadow's spine anyway.
"Most who sought this power perished long before the inheritance could fully awaken. Their bodies failed. Their spirits shattered. But you endured."
A faint distortion shimmered above the altar, forming the vague outline of a man barely held together by fading spiritual energy.
"The power you inherited is known as the Astral Core," the figure continued. "It is not an elemental core, nor does it follow the laws modern cultivators understand. It was created to stand above them."
Shadow listened silently while the Astral Core inside him pulsed violently at the name, almost as though it recognized the words.
"Your natural neutrality allowed the inheritance to stabilize instead of rejecting your body outright. Had you possessed a dominant elemental affinity, this power would have destroyed you the moment it awakened."
Shadow's expression hardened slightly.
So his neutral mana affinity had never been weakness after all.
"But understand this clearly," the figure said. "The Astral Core is not a gift without consequence. Its power is volatile, difficult to control, and feared for good reason. If others discover what you carry before you fully understand it yourself, they will not see opportunity."
The figure's form flickered faintly.
"They will see danger."
The figure's fading eyes settled on Shadow once more.
"The Astral Core was never meant to exist alone. Its instability will only worsen as your cultivation rises. If left unchecked, the volatile mana within it will eventually tear apart your pathways, your spirit, and finally your body."
Shadow's expression darkened slightly.
"Then how do I stop it?" he asked immediately.
"Balance," the figure answered. "The Trial World contains elemental inheritances scattered across its domains. Fire. Water. Earth. Wind. Lightning. Ice. And others long thought lost to time. You must claim them and forge additional elemental cores of your own."
The chamber trembled faintly around them as the Astral Core pulsed inside Shadow's body.
"The Astral Core does not reject other elements as ordinary cultivators do. It devours them. Harmonizes them. Evolves through them. Every elemental core you obtain will stabilize the Astral Core further while increasing its strength."
The figure's form flickered heavily now, beginning to break apart into faint streams of light.
"Fail to balance it… and the Astral Core will eventually consume you instead."
Silence settled heavily through the chamber after the words faded.
Shadow lowered his gaze briefly while countless thoughts raced through his mind.
One thing had already become painfully clear.
No one could know about this.
Shadow slowly closed his eyes and focused inward toward the Astral Core again.
The sight still felt unreal.
Deep within his core space, the Astral Core radiated like a miniature night sky suspended inside his body. Countless strands of astral mana flowed outward from it through his pathways like glowing rivers of starlight, merging beside the calmer presence of his original neutral core.
But unlike ordinary mana circulation, the Astral Core continuously generated its own energy.
Slowly.
Endlessly.
Every pulse strengthened his body while simultaneously placing pressure on his pathways hard enough to make him understand the warning the ancient figure had given him.
This power was unstable by nature.
Even now, Shadow could feel faint traces of astral mana leaking uncontrollably into his circulation whenever his focus slipped for even a moment. The energy itself felt heavier than normal mana, almost alive in the way it moved through his body.
Then something strange happened.
A faint whisper brushed across his consciousness.
Too distorted to understand.
Too distant to properly hear.
Shadow's eyes snapped open immediately.
Shadow stepped away from the altar slowly while the fox lifted its head from across the chamber, golden eyes tracking his movements carefully.
The moment he approached, the creature tensed instinctively despite the injury in its hind leg. Faint yellow mana flickered unevenly through its fur while a low warning growl rumbled in its throat.
Shadow stopped several feet away.
"Relax," he muttered quietly. "If I wanted to hurt you, I already would've."
The fox clearly didn't trust him, but exhaustion seemed to outweigh aggression. Its injured leg trembled slightly whenever it shifted against the stone floor.
Shadow crouched slowly and pulled a small cloth wrap from his satchel along with a few medicinal herbs Neto had forced him to memorize during training.
"You're lucky he made me learn this stuff."
The fox watched him carefully the entire time.
Shadow crushed the herbs between his fingers before mixing them with a small amount of water from his canteen into a rough paste. The moment he moved closer, the fox bared its teeth immediately.
"Yeah, yeah. I know."
He moved carefully anyway.
The fox flinched the instant Shadow touched its leg, but after several tense moments it finally stopped resisting long enough for him to apply the medicine and wrap the wound tightly.
Up close, Shadow could feel the faint pulse of Elite-ranked mana flowing beneath the creature's fur. Even injured, the fox carried far denser energy than most beasts he had encountered so far.
Which meant if it survived to adulthood…
It would become something terrifying.
Once the bandage was secured, Shadow leaned back slightly while the fox immediately retreated several cautious steps away from him again.
But this time, it didn't run.
Shadow eventually moved toward the exit tunnel while the fox cautiously followed several yards behind him.
The deeper he traveled through the ancient tunnels, the more aware he became of the Astral Core reacting to the world around him. Strange currents of mana drifted through the mountain like invisible rivers, and for the first time in his life, Shadow could faintly sense the flow of energy through the environment itself.
The sensation unsettled him immediately. Mana had always been something cultivated internally and sensed indirectly through circulation, yet now the Astral Core allowed him to perceive traces of it moving naturally through the world around him.
Several hours later, the tunnels widened into a massive cavern littered with the remnants of an ancient battle. Cracked bones and rusted weapons lay scattered across the stone floor while deep claw marks carved through walls blackened by old flames.
Shadow crouched beside a shattered blade partially buried beneath rubble as the Astral Core pulsed strangely inside him. The moment his fingers touched the weapon, faint strands of lingering energy seeped into his body before the Astral Core absorbed them almost greedily and redistributed the energy through his pathways.
Shadow's eyes narrowed slightly.
The Astral Core wasn't just generating mana.
It was absorbing it too.