The days following the inheritance passed in a brutal cycle of experimentation, hunting, and recovery.
Astral Mana proved far more difficult to control than Shadow initially expected. Unlike ordinary mana circulation, the Astral Core reacted violently whenever his concentration slipped, often causing unstable bursts of energy to surge unpredictably through his pathways.
More than once, he nearly injured himself attempting basic control.
The first time he tried condensing Astral Mana into his palm, the energy exploded outward hard enough to crack stone beside him and leave his arm numb for hours afterward.
The fox had immediately fled to the far side of the cavern.
Shadow sat against the wall afterward staring at the lingering sparks dancing across his fingers.
"Alright," he muttered dryly. "Maybe forcing it isn't the answer."
Progress came slowly after that.
Instead of overpowering the Astral Mana, Shadow began learning how to guide it gradually through his circulation the same way Neto taught him to stabilize neutral mana years ago. The process was exhausting, but over time the Astral Core slowly became less erratic.
Slowly being the important word.
Even weeks later, faint distortions still flickered around Shadow whenever he used too much Astral Mana at once.
During that time, the fox never fully left.
It continued appearing near the cavern entrance after hunts, cautiously watching him from a distance while its injured leg gradually healed beneath the bandages Shadow replaced every few days.
Sometimes it stole food from his supplies.
Sometimes it disappeared for hours before returning again without explanation.
But little by little, the creature stopped treating him like a threat.
The region surrounding the cavern slowly became familiar to Shadow over the following weeks.
Jagged rock formations stretched endlessly across the landscape while deep ravines carved through the earth in uneven fractures wide enough to swallow entire forests. Sparse vegetation clung stubbornly to the harsh terrain—gray-green moss, thorned vines, and strange crystalline fungi that pulsed faintly beneath the pale glow of the sky overhead.
Even the heavens above the Trial World felt unnatural.
Violet clouds drifted endlessly across the atmosphere while faint static occasionally crackled through the mist like distant lightning trapped behind the sky itself.
The entire region felt ancient, violent, and alive in a way Shadow still struggled to fully comprehend, but little by little he adapted to it.
Hunts became easier with time as the Astral Core sharpened his senses beyond anything he had experienced before. He learned how to track subtle heat signatures through stone, detect vibrations traveling through the ground, and sense faint mana fluctuations from hidden creatures before they revealed themselves.
At first the constant flood of heightened sensory input nearly overwhelmed him. Every sound, movement, vibration, and mana fluctuation felt unnaturally sharp, but over time Shadow gradually learned how to filter through the noise instead of drowning beneath it.
The fox often shadowed him during those hunts now, though always at a distance. Sometimes Shadow would catch glimpses of silver fur moving silently across nearby cliffs while other times the creature vanished entirely for days before suddenly reappearing beside the cavern entrance like nothing had happened.
It never allowed him too close, but it no longer ran immediately either.
One afternoon, Shadow returned from a hunt carrying a scaled rodent nearly the size of a wolf only to find the fox waiting near the cave entrance again.
Its golden eyes immediately locked onto the fresh kill.
Shadow stared at it for several seconds before tossing part of the carcass toward the creature.
"You could at least pretend you're not using me for food."
The fox snatched the meat instantly before retreating several cautious steps away, though this time Shadow noticed something different.
Its injured leg had almost completely healed.
The creature was recovering fast.
Much faster than any normal animal should have been able to.
By the time Shadow finally tracked the canyon lizard again, several weeks had already passed.
This time, he didn't freeze when he saw it.
The massive beast rested near the lower ravines beneath the canyon cliffs, its scarred scales blending almost perfectly against the jagged stone around it. Steam drifted steadily from its nostrils while old wounds still marked portions of its body from previous territorial battles.
Including the deep scar along its ribs.
Shadow remained crouched high above the creature while Astral Mana circulated carefully through his pathways. The difference between now and their first encounter felt impossible to ignore.
Back then he had barely survived.
Now he could actually follow the creature's movements without panic clouding his thoughts.
The fox rested silently several yards behind him atop the cliffs, golden eyes fixed on the lizard below.
Shadow exhaled slowly before moving.
Mana reinforced his legs as he launched from the cliffside and descended toward the beast with frightening speed. The lizard reacted instantly, roaring hard enough to shake loose stone from the canyon walls as its massive tail swept upward toward him.
Shadow twisted midair and narrowly avoided the strike before driving a mana-coated elbow directly into the creature's back.
The impact cracked stone beneath them.
The lizard shrieked furiously and lunged again, but this time Shadow met it head-on instead of fleeing. Astral Mana surged violently through his limbs while he moved across the battlefield in short explosive bursts, using the uneven canyon terrain to avoid the creature's heavier attacks.
The Astral Core reacted constantly throughout the fight.
Every movement.
Every weakness.
Every fluctuation of mana.
Shadow could feel it feeding him instincts faster than conscious thought itself.
He ducked beneath another sweeping strike before driving condensed mana into the lizard's wounded ribs. The beast staggered violently, smashing through nearby stone pillars while dust exploded through the canyon in thick waves.
Shadow pressed the advantage immediately.
Weeks of hunting and experimentation had sharpened his control dramatically, and for the first time since awakening the Astral Core, he no longer felt completely overwhelmed while using its power.
Dangerous bursts of Astral Mana still leaked unpredictably during combat, but now he could guide the instability instead of losing control to it entirely.
The battle dragged across the canyon in violent bursts of speed and destruction until Shadow finally saw his opening.
The wounded ribs.
Shadow gathered Astral Mana into his arm and struck with everything he had.
The impact shattered through the weakened section of scales and drove deep into the beast's chest.
The canyon lizard convulsed violently before collapsing against the stone with enough force to shake the surrounding cliffs.
Silence followed shortly afterward.
Shadow stood over the carcass breathing heavily while blood ran down one side of his body from several shallow wounds across his ribs and shoulder.
But he was alive.
And this time, he had won.
Shadow remained still for several moments beside the fallen beast while his breathing gradually slowed.
The fight had left his body battered, but the difference from their first encounter felt impossible to ignore.
Weeks ago, this creature had nearly killed him.
Now it lay motionless beneath his feet.
The Astral Core pulsed slowly inside him as lingering Astral Mana drifted through his circulation. Even after the battle ended, Shadow could still feel traces of heightened awareness stretching through his senses—the faint vibrations traveling through the canyon walls, distant beast cries echoing across the ravines, and subtle mana fluctuations drifting through the air around him.
Everything still felt unnaturally sharp.
The fox eventually climbed down from the cliffs above and approached the carcass cautiously while Shadow began harvesting materials from the beast. Teeth, bones, and sections of reinforced hide were carefully removed one piece at a time as Neto's survival lessons finally proved their value outside simple training exercises.
But when Shadow eventually cut deeper into the creature's chest cavity, his movements slowed slightly. Buried near the center of the beast's body rested a faintly glowing beast core roughly the size of his palm.
Wild mana pulsed visibly inside the orb in uneven currents while the Astral Core inside Shadow reacted immediately the moment he touched it.
Hunger.
That was the only way to describe the sensation.
The Astral Core wanted the energy inside the beast core.
Shadow's expression hardened slightly as he wrapped the core carefully in cloth before storing it inside his satchel.
Whatever this thing could do, experimenting with it carelessly inside the canyon felt like a terrible idea.
By the time Shadow returned to the cavern later that evening, exhaustion weighed heavily through every part of his body.
The battle had pushed him harder than anything since entering the Trial World, yet beneath the fatigue he could still feel the Astral Core circulating steadily through his pathways. The instability remained, but little by little the violent surges had become easier to manage during combat.
For now, at least.
A small fire crackled near the center of the chamber while Shadow roasted strips of meat from the canyon lizard over the flames. Across from him, the fox rested cautiously near the wall with part of the remaining carcass between its paws, though its golden eyes still watched him carefully whenever he moved too suddenly.
Shadow pulled the beast core from his satchel again and studied it beneath the firelight.
The closer it remained to him, the stronger the Astral Core reacted.
Almost like instinct.
Or hunger.
Faint pulses of wild mana drifted visibly beneath the surface of the orb while Astral Mana stirred restlessly through Shadow's circulation in response.
He didn't touch the energy directly this time.
Not yet.
Something told him rushing blindly into another experiment would end badly.
Shadow leaned back against the stone wall and exhaled slowly while the canyon winds echoed faintly through the tunnels outside.
The Trial World still felt dangerous.
But for the first time since entering it, he no longer felt completely helpless within it.