The Nano-Unit felt like it was shrinking. The air, ionized by the colliding energies of the Spirit Spring and the Sky-Rune, had become thick and metallic, tasting like a battery on the tongue. Jin's vision was no longer just blurred; it was fracturing. Through his Runic Eyes, he saw the world in two layers: the crumbling, rusted reality of his 2300-era slum and the blinding, geometric perfection of the higher dimension's source code.
Between these two worlds, his physical body was the bridge. And the bridge was beginning to collapse.
[Warning: Critical Neural Strain.] [Physical Integrity: 42%...] [Bio-Electrical Output: 400% above Human Safety Limits.]
"Jin, stop! Your skin... it's cracking!" Mei's scream sounded like it was coming from miles away, muffled by the roaring thrum in Jin's ears.
He couldn't stop. The [Heavenly Harmonizing Pill] was mid-refinement. The violet Sky-Rune shard had dissolved into a swirling vortex of liquid light, suspended in the air between Jin's palms. The Spirit Spring Essence was trying to bind to it, but the two forces were like polar opposites of a magnet, pushing away with a force that threatened to shatter Jin's ribs.
The "Harmony" script he was trying to etch was incomplete. He needed more "Glue." He needed a power that existed outside the game's logic and the laws of 2300.
My blood... Jin thought, his consciousness flickering like a dying candle. If the essence of the world isn't enough... I'll use the essence of the Primordial.
Jin didn't just push his mana; he reached deeper, past the level of energy, into the very blueprint of his DNA. He ignited his Primordial Bloodline, not to fight, but to consume itself as fuel.
[Notice: Primordial Bloodline (Dormant) is being 'Burned' for Refinement.] [Permanent Sacrifice Detected. Refining Process: Accelerated.]
A soundless explosion of golden light erupted from Jin's chest. The golden veins on his right arm didn't just glow—they surged, the light tearing through his skin and manifesting as actual, physical runes that hovered in the air.
He felt a part of his "Self" being carved away. It was a cold, hollow sensation, as if a piece of his soul was being poured into the vortex of light.
"Brother, no!" Mei lunged forward in her wheelchair, but she was blown back by a sudden gust of wind—a localized gravity well created by the pill's birth.
The vortex began to shrink. The chaotic, violent vibration of the Sky-Rune settled into a low, rhythmic hum that matched the heartbeat of the higher dimension. The violet and gold energies swirled together, faster and faster, until they condensed into a single, marble-sized sphere.
It wasn't a pill of medicine; it was a pill of "Logic."
[Refinement Successful!] [You have created: 'The Star-Seed Harmonizer' (Origin Grade)] [Effect: Permanently repairs Neural Dissociation. Aligns the Soul-Frequency with the Physical Body.]
The light vanished. The gravity well snapped shut.
Jin collapsed. He didn't fall to his knees; he fell like a man whose strings had been cut. He hit the cold, hard floor of the unit, the marble-sized pill rolling out of his hand and stopping at the foot of Mei's wheelchair.
"Jin! Jin, talk to me!" Mei scrambled out of her chair, her weak legs dragging her across the floor until she reached him.
Jin gasped for air, his lungs feeling like they were filled with glass shards. He tried to look at her, but his left eye was clouded with blood. When he raised his hand to wipe it, he froze.
The skin of his right hand and forearm was no longer the pale, sickly tan of a slum-dweller. It was now a shimmering, translucent ivory, with faint golden lines etched deep into the bone—lines that didn't disappear even when his power was off. His hair, which had been a standard black, now had a shock of pure, snowy white at the temple.
The "Burn" had left a permanent mark. He had traded a piece of his human mortality for a piece of the Primordial.
"I'm... fine," Jin managed to whisper, though his voice sounded deeper, older. He looked at the pill on the floor. "Mei... the pill. It's done. Take it."
"I don't care about the pill! Look at you!" Mei was sobbing, her hands hovering over his scarred arm, afraid to touch him.
"Take it," Jin commanded, his golden eyes—now permanently flecked with silver—locking onto hers. "I didn't burn my blood so we could stay in the mud, Mei. Take it before the Seeker-Drones lock onto the residual energy."
Outside, the high-pitched whine of the Thorne Corporation's drones grew closer. The red scanning lasers began to dance across their window shutters, searching for the anomaly that had just lit up the Sector 4 power grid like a supernova.
In the corner, Seraphina's eyes snapped open. She wasn't delirious anymore. She saw the white-haired boy on the floor, the golden-ivory arm, and the crying girl. She saw the price he had paid.
She stood up, her movements fluid and silent, the [Moon-Crest] in her soul reacting to the "Origin" energy still lingering in the room.
"They're outside," Seraphina said, her voice cold and sharp. She looked at the door. "Mei, do what he says. Take the pill. I will buy you the time you need to integrate."
Seraphina didn't have a weapon in the real world, but as she stepped toward the door, the moonlight from the city's neon signs seemed to bend toward her, coating her fingers in a lethal, silvery frost.