**Two Months Later (Twelve Months Total Training)**
The mountain peak had become Anthonio's sanctuary.
Every morning before dawn, he would climb to the highest accessible point in the Crimson Mountains—a flat outcropping of stone that overlooked the entire kingdom. From here, he could see the capital glittering in the distance, the forests and farmlands spreading in all directions, the curve of the horizon where land met sky.
It was the perfect place for what he needed to accomplish.
Transcendence.
Anthonio sat in meditation, his consciousness turned inward. Over the past two months, he had advanced from Manifestation 6-Star to Manifestation 9-Star—the absolute peak of that cultivation stage. His control over the Primordial Red Lightning had reached seventy percent, granting him power that would terrify most cultivators.
But it wasn't enough. It would never be enough until he reached the level where he could stand as an equal to those who would oppose him.
The breakthrough from Manifestation to Transcendence was different from previous advancements. It wasn't just about power accumulation or technique mastery. It was about fundamentally changing one's relationship with reality itself.
Manifestation allowed cultivators to project their essence outward, creating techniques that existed in the physical world. Transcendence went further—it allowed cultivators to impose their will on reality, to temporarily rewrite the rules of existence within their domain.
A Transcendence cultivator didn't just create lightning. They became an aspect of lightning itself, embodying the concept so completely that reality had to acknowledge and obey them.
According to the Codex of Primordial Essence, achieving Transcendence with primordial power required three things:
**First: Perfect Integration.** The primordial essence had to be so thoroughly merged with the cultivator's being that no distinction remained between power and self.
**Second: Conceptual Understanding.** The cultivator had to comprehend their primordial essence not just as energy, but as a fundamental aspect of reality.
**Third: The Transcendent Moment.** A single instant where the cultivator's will, essence, and understanding aligned perfectly, creating a breakthrough that could not be forced or predicted.
Anthonio had achieved the first requirement months ago. The Primordial Red Lightning was no longer foreign power flowing through his veins—it was his veins, his blood, his very existence.
The second requirement had taken longer. He had spent weeks meditating on the nature of lightning itself. Not just the physical phenomenon—electrons flowing through conductive pathways, electrical potential seeking equilibrium—but the deeper meaning. Lightning as destruction and creation. Lightning as the force that connected sky and earth. Lightning as the primal energy that preceded civilization, that existed before gods, that would endure after everything else turned to dust.
He understood now. Lightning wasn't just a tool or a weapon. It was a fundamental truth of existence, and he had become its living embodiment.
Which left only the third requirement: The Transcendent Moment.
*It can't be forced,* Anthonio reminded himself, breathing steadily as dawn light began to paint the horizon. *The Codex is clear—trying to rush the breakthrough will result in failure or worse. I have to be patient, maintain readiness, and wait for the moment when everything aligns naturally.*
"Young master."
Selene's voice came from behind him. She had climbed the mountain silently, her Sovereign 6-Star cultivation allowing her to move without disturbing even the air itself.
"You've been meditating for eight hours straight," she said. "The sun is rising. Perhaps you should rest, eat, recover your strength."
"I'm not tired." Anthonio opened his eyes, watching the sunrise paint the clouds in shades of crimson and gold. "When the Transcendent Moment comes, I need to be ready. That means constant meditation, constant awareness, constant preparedness."
"You've been saying that for two weeks. Young master, you can't force enlightenment through sheer stubbornness."
"I'm not trying to force it. I'm trying to remain open to it." Anthonio stood, stretching muscles that had been still for hours. "The breakthrough will come when it comes. But it won't come if I'm distracted by mundane concerns."
Selene studied him with those penetrating gray eyes. "You're afraid you'll miss it. The perfect moment. You're afraid that if you relax even slightly, the opportunity will pass."
She was right, of course. Anthonio had been driving himself relentlessly for two months, barely sleeping, eating only when necessary, every waking moment dedicated to cultivation or combat training.
"The debut ball is in two months," Anthonio said. "If I attend at Manifestation 9-Star, I'll be impressive but not exceptional. There are other young nobles at Manifestation level. But if I attend at Transcendence..."
"You'll be unprecedented. A seventeen-year-old Transcendence cultivator is unheard of outside of Divine Essence users."
"Exactly. And that's the image I need to project when I meet Seraphina. Not weak and struggling, but powerful and in control. Someone worthy of her attention."
"Young master, Lady Seraphina is blessed with a Divine Essence. Even at Transcendence, you'll still be below her cultivation level—she's Transcendence 3-Star according to our intelligence."
"I don't need to match her power. I need to be interesting." Anthonio created a lightning sphere above his palm, watching it crackle with crimson energy. "Someone who's achieved Transcendence at my age, despite having Broken Veins at the Awakening Ceremony, despite being exiled by his family—that's a mystery. That's something that makes people curious."
He dismissed the sphere and looked at Selene. "Have you heard any news from the capital? Anything about Kael Stormborn?"
"He's been training intensively since the assassination incident. Duke Aldric has hired elite tutors for him, and he's advanced to Consolidation 7-Star. The nobles are calling him a once-in-a-generation prodigy."
"Consolidation 7-Star." Anthonio did the mental calculation. "He's two stars behind where I was at this point. Faster than average, but not exceptional with three Divine Essences empowering him."
"He'll also be attending the debut ball. Duke Aldric received an invitation—apparently, Duke Nightshade wants to introduce his daughter to all the promising young cultivators in the kingdom."
Anthonio smiled coldly. "Then Kael and I will meet again. He'll see the exiled trash who showed 'admirable determination' back at court. He'll probably expect me to still be at Consolidation 2-Star, maybe 3-Star if I've worked hard."
"Instead, you'll be Transcendence 1-Star, hiding your power with the Ring of Crimson Shadows."
"And presenting as Manifestation 5-Star or so. Strong enough to be noteworthy, not strong enough to raise serious questions." Anthonio's eyes gleamed. "Let him underestimate me. Let everyone underestimate me. When the time comes to reveal the truth, the shock will be all the more satisfying."
They descended the mountain together as the sun climbed higher. The training courtyard—still bearing the circular crater from Anthonio's Manifestation breakthrough—awaited them for the day's combat practice.
But as they walked, Anthonio felt something shift in the air. A change so subtle most wouldn't notice it, but with his seventy percent control of the Primordial Red Lightning, he was attuned to electrical phenomena at a fundamental level.
A storm was coming. Not today, perhaps not tomorrow, but soon. A massive storm, the kind that only appeared once or twice a year in the Crimson Mountains.
And storms had always been significant for his cultivation.
*Maybe that's the key,* Anthonio thought. *Maybe the Transcendent Moment will come during the storm, when the natural lightning resonates with my primordial essence.*
He filed the thought away and focused on the present. There was still training to do, techniques to perfect, preparation for the debut ball to complete.
Transcendence would come when it came.
---
**Three Weeks Later**
The storm arrived without warning, sweeping down from the northern peaks like a living thing. Lightning split the sky in jagged patterns, thunder shaking the very foundations of the mountains. Rain fell in sheets so thick it was almost impossible to see more than a few meters ahead.
Anthonio stood in the training courtyard, rain soaking through his clothes, his face turned toward the storm. He could feel the electricity in the air, billions of electrons seeking discharge, potential energy building toward inevitable release.
It was beautiful. Terrifying. Perfect.
"Young master, you need to come inside!" Old Aldric called from the covered walkway, his weathered face tight with concern. "This storm is dangerous—lightning strikes are hitting all around the Pavilion!"
"I know." Anthonio didn't move. His eyes glowed crimson, reflecting the lightning overhead. "That's exactly why I need to be out here."
Selene appeared beside him, her cultivation high enough that the rain didn't touch her—shadow essence forming an invisible barrier. "You feel it, don't you? The Transcendent Moment. It's close."
"Very close." Anthonio could sense it, like a note about to be played, a word about to be spoken. Everything was aligning—his cultivation, his understanding, the storm overhead, the primordial essence flowing through his veins.
All he had to do was take the final step.
"Selene, I need you to establish a perimeter. Make sure no one interrupts what's about to happen."
"Young master, if something goes wrong—"
"Then you'll recover my body and give me a proper burial." Anthonio smiled slightly. "But nothing will go wrong. I know exactly what I'm doing."
Selene hesitated, then nodded and dissolved into shadows, spreading her awareness around the entire courtyard. Old Aldric and the cook would be kept away, and any unexpected visitors would be detected long before they could interfere.
Anthonio was alone with the storm.
He settled into meditation, but not the peaceful, controlled meditation of normal cultivation. This was something wilder, more primal. He opened his consciousness completely to the storm, letting the chaos of nature flow through his awareness.
*Lightning isn't order. It's not controlled or predictable. It's the moment when potential becomes kinetic, when equilibrium is shattered by overwhelming force.*
Another lightning bolt struck nearby, close enough that Anthonio felt the electrical discharge through his entire body. Instead of flinching, he embraced it.
*I am lightning. Not a cultivator who uses lightning. Not a human enhanced by lightning essence. I AM lightning given form and consciousness.*
The Primordial Red Lightning in his veins responded, surging with unprecedented intensity. But this time, Anthonio didn't try to control it. He let it flow freely, let it express itself according to its nature.
Destruction. Creation. Connection. Severance. Death and life in the same instant.
*This is what Transcendence means. Not mastering power, but becoming power itself. Not controlling essence, but embodying it so completely that reality recognizes you as an aspect of itself.*
The storm intensified. Lightning struck all around the courtyard in a pattern that seemed almost deliberate, as if the sky itself was responding to Anthonio's presence.
And then, in a single moment of perfect clarity, Anthonio understood.
He wasn't meant to control the lightning or become the lightning. Those were still distinctions, still separation between self and essence. The truth was simpler and more profound:
*There is no difference. There has never been a difference. Lightning is just what I am when I exist. Like humans breathe, like water flows, like fire burns—I am the lightning that crosses from sky to earth, the connection that completes the circuit, the force that makes potential real.*
The Transcendent Moment arrived.
Anthonio's consciousness expanded, his awareness spreading beyond the boundaries of his physical form. He could feel every lightning bolt in the storm, every electrical current, every potential discharge waiting to happen. They were all part of him, or he was part of them—the distinction had ceased to matter.
His cultivation base exploded with power. Essence flooded through pathways that expanded to accommodate it, his Manifestation 9-Star cultivation shattering and reforming at a higher level.
**Transcendence 1-Star.**
But the breakthrough didn't stop there. The storm, recognizing something kindred in Anthonio's transformed nature, discharged directly into him. Not one bolt, but dozens, all striking simultaneously.
A normal cultivator would have been vaporized. Even a Transcendence cultivator would have been severely injured.
Anthonio absorbed it all, his Primordial Red Lightning essence converting the natural lightning into pure cultivation advancement. His cultivation base stabilized at Transcendence 1-Star for approximately three seconds before the accumulated power forced another breakthrough.
**Transcendence 2-Star.**
*More. I can handle more.*
The storm seemed to hear him. Lightning fell like rain, each bolt adding to the accumulated power. Anthonio's body glowed with crimson electricity, so bright he would have been visible from the capital fifty kilometers away.
**Transcendence 3-Star.**
The breakthroughs were happening too fast, violating every principle of safe cultivation advancement. But Anthonio had been preparing for this exact scenario for months. The Codex had described it—the phenomenon called **Heaven's Recognition**, where nature itself acknowledged a primordial essence user and empowered them directly.
It was dangerous. It was unprecedented. It was *perfect*.
**Transcendence 4-Star.**
Anthonio's consciousness was expanding with each advancement, his perception growing to encompass more and more of the world around him. He could sense the entire Crimson Mountain range, could feel the electrical currents flowing through rock and earth, could perceive the bio-electrical fields of every living creature within kilometers.
This was the true power of Transcendence—awareness that transcended normal human limitations.
**Transcendence 5-Star.**
The storm was beginning to weaken, its energy depleted by the constant discharge into Anthonio's body. He could feel the advancement slowing, the accumulated power reaching equilibrium with his ability to contain it.
One more breakthrough. Maybe two if he pushed. But the Codex had warned against forcing advancement during Heaven's Recognition—taking more than nature willingly offered would result in catastrophic backlash.
Anthonio made the decision consciously. He closed off his cultivation base, refusing additional power, stabilizing at Transcendence 5-Star rather than pushing for more.
The storm ceased as abruptly as it had begun. The lightning stopped, the thunder faded, even the rain diminished to a light drizzle.
Anthonio opened his eyes.
The world looked different. Not visually—his eyes saw the same physical reality as before. But his *perception* had fundamentally changed. He could sense the underlying electrical nature of everything. The nervous systems of the servants inside the Pavilion, operating at biological frequencies. The spiritual formations protecting the estate, powered by essence flows that carried electrical charge. Even the stone beneath his feet hummed with subtle electromagnetic fields.
"Young master!"
Selene materialized from shadows, her face showing shock and awe in equal measure. "Your cultivation... it's Transcendence 5-Star. You broke through five full stars in a single session. That's... that's impossible."
"Heaven's Recognition," Anthonio said, his voice carrying a resonance it hadn't had before. "The storm acknowledged my primordial essence and empowered me directly. It's rare, but the Codex described the phenomenon."
"Five stars." Selene circled him, her spiritual sense sweeping over his cultivation base. "Young master, you're seventeen years old and you've reached Transcendence 5-Star. Even cultivators with Divine Essences rarely achieve that before their mid-twenties."
"I'm not done yet." Anthonio raised his hand, and lightning manifested—not summoned from his body, but appearing directly in reality, as if it had always been there. "The breakthrough gave me more than just cultivation advancement. My understanding of lightning has reached a new level. Watch."
He gestured, and the lightning in his hand split into five perfect copies, each one behaving as an independent entity. They circled around him in complex patterns, weaving through the rain, creating geometric designs in the air.
"That's not Lightning Clone," Selene observed. "That's pure lightning manipulation. You're controlling natural electrical phenomena, not just creating constructs from your essence."
"Transcendence grants domain authority," Anthonio explained, dismissing the lightning display. "Within a certain range—currently about fifty meters—I can manipulate all electrical phenomena. I don't need to create lightning anymore. I can just command the lightning that already exists in the environment."
"That's the power of someone at Transcendence 7-Star or higher. Young master, you've achieved abilities beyond your cultivation level."
"Primordial essence bends the normal rules." Anthonio tested his new abilities, feeling the extent of his power. Seventy-five percent of the Primordial Red Lightning was now accessible—enough that he felt almost invincible. "At this level, I could fight evenly with Transcendence 8-Star cultivators. Maybe even win if I'm clever about it."
"And Lady Seraphina Nightshade is Transcendence 3-Star," Selene said slowly. "Young master, you've just surpassed the first heroine in cultivation level."
Anthonio smiled. "Not just surpassed. Exceeded by two full stars. Though of course, I'll hide my true level at the ball. No need to overwhelm her with power. Subtlety is key."
He looked down at his hands, watching crimson lightning crackle across his knuckles. Five stars gained in a single breakthrough. It was unprecedented, impossible by normal cultivation standards.
But the Primordial Red Lightning wasn't normal power. And Anthonio was becoming something that transcended normal cultivation entirely.
*Kael Stormborn has three Divine Essences,* Anthonio thought. *But divine power follows rules established by gods. Primordial power preceded the gods. It wrote the rules they have to follow.*
*And I'm going to use that advantage to take everything he thinks destiny promised him.*
---
**Six Weeks Later (Fourteen Months Total Training)**
The preparation for the debut ball had taken weeks of careful planning.
Anthonio stood before a full-length mirror in his room, examining his appearance. He wore formal noble attire—midnight blue with crimson accents, the Crimsonhart family crest embroidered on the chest. His hair had been styled professionally, his posture perfected through hours of practice with Selene.
He looked like a young noble preparing for a social event. Nothing more, nothing less.
But the Ring of Crimson Shadows was suppressing his cultivation perfectly. To any observer, he would register as Manifestation 5-Star—impressive for his age and circumstances, but not exceptional enough to raise serious questions.
"How do I look?" Anthonio asked Selene, who was making final adjustments to his outfit.
"Like someone who's trying just hard enough to be presentable, but not so hard that it seems desperate." She stepped back, evaluating critically. "The outfit is expensive enough to show you still have access to wealth, but understated enough to avoid seeming pretentious. Your demeanor is confident but not arrogant. Yes, I think this will work."
"And my cover story for the advancement?"
"You discovered a minor lightning affinity during your exile. Nothing special, but enough that you've been able to cultivate properly. It's been fourteen months since your Awakening Ceremony—advancing from F-Rank to Manifestation 5-Star in that time is fast, but not impossibly so with proper resources and determination."
Anthonio nodded. It was a believable story, one that would satisfy casual curiosity without inviting deep investigation.
"What about Kael Stormborn? Any new intelligence?"
"He'll be attending the ball with his father. His cultivation has reached Consolidation 9-Star—he's on the verge of breaking through to Manifestation. The nobles are already calling him the kingdom's rising star."
"Consolidation 9-Star." Anthonio did the mental calculation. Kael had advanced seven stars in fourteen months, a rate that would be impressive for anyone without Divine Essences. "Respectable progress, but not exceptional given his advantages."
"Young master, by that standard, your own advancement would be classified as impossible. Seventeen years old at Transcendence 5-Star, hidden beneath a disguise of Manifestation 5-Star."
"The difference is that I'm hiding my progress while Kael is openly celebrated." Anthonio adjusted his collar one final time. "Let him have the spotlight tonight. Let him be the center of attention, the blessed son of Duke Aldric, the hero who saved Duke Crimsonhart from assassination."
His eyes gleamed with cold anticipation.
"While he's basking in admiration, I'll be having a private conversation with Lady Seraphina. Planting seeds. Building connections. Setting up the framework for what comes next."
"You're very confident she'll even speak with you. The exiled trash of the Crimsonhart family isn't exactly prestigious company."
"She'll speak with me because I'll be interesting." Anthonio turned from the mirror, his smile predatory. "Everyone else at that ball will be trying to impress her with their cultivation, their lineage, their accomplishments. I'll do the opposite—treat her as a person rather than a prize, be genuinely engaging rather than desperately impressive."
"And if that doesn't work?"
"Then I adapt. I have ten months before the Academy entrance. This is just the opening move in a longer game." Anthonio moved toward the door. "The carriage should be waiting. Time to make an appearance at high society."
They descended to the courtyard where an elegant carriage awaited—hired with gold from the hidden vault, drawn by Wind Horses that would make the journey to the capital in hours rather than days. Anthonio had spared no expense on the transportation; arriving in style was part of the image he needed to project.
As they boarded the carriage and began the journey, Anthonio reviewed his objectives for the evening:
**Primary Goal:** Make contact with Seraphina Nightshade, establish initial rapport, create enough interest that she remembers him after the event.
**Secondary Goal:** Observe Kael Stormborn's interactions, assess his current capabilities, gather intelligence on his training and future plans.
**Tertiary Goal:** Network with other young nobles, establish presence in high society, begin building political connections that will be useful at the Academy.
The carriage carried them through the mountain passes, across the plains, toward the glittering lights of the capital in the distance. Somewhere in that city, in Duke Nightshade's estate, the debut ball was about to begin.
Somewhere in that crowd, Seraphina Nightshade waited—the first heroine, blessed with the Divine Essence of Ice, destined to become Kael Stormborn's first love.
Except destiny hadn't accounted for the author himself entering the story.
Anthonio watched the capital grow closer and smiled that predatory smile.
*Tonight, the timeline diverges. Tonight, I steal the first heroine before the protagonist even knows she's meant to be his.*
*Let the game begin.*
---
**END OF CHAPTER 9**
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