Kael realized the hive had been attacked before he ever opened his eyes.
The hum was wrong.
It carried no panic, no disorder, but something had been stripped from it. A thinning. As if a layer of certainty had been carved away during the night. His consciousness brushed outward through the soul bond, and the answer came immediately. Drones lost. Tunnels scarred. Echo awake and watching.
He sat up slowly, the aftertaste of pain still lingering behind his eyes, and understood one thing with absolute clarity.
The hive had survived.
That did not mean it had been safe.
Kael walked slowly through the hive, feeling the subtle thrum of thousands of wings vibrating against the stone. The drones that had survived the attack hovered at attention, their carapaces gleaming faintly in the bioluminescent light. Echo's presence radiated warmth and approval, the rhythm of her pulse echoing in his mind as she monitored her newly laid eggs. He could sense the energy of the magus level monkey still lingering within the special workers, their potential for strengthening the hive unmistakable.
He seated himself on the smooth stone floor of the central chamber and closed his eyes, attempting to reach into his mindscape despite the lingering headache. The migraine persisted, a sharp throb that refused to fade, and he felt his consciousness waver at the edges. The Compendium's warning replayed in his mind, stark and unyielding.
[Compendium Alert: Rune stabilization incomplete. Risk of instability if accessed prematurely.]
Kael exhaled slowly, reminding himself that his upgraded physiology allowed him to endure more than he had previously. The last time he had phased a rune, he would have collapsed under the strain, but now his body and mind had recovered far faster. He resisted the temptation to force access and instead focused on letting the energy settle. Patience was a weapon as much as power.
Rising from the stone floor, he made his way to the dwelling he had carved from the surrounding rock. Steam filled the air as he sank into the hot bath, muscles relaxing and blood flowing freely. He allowed himself a moment of stillness, letting the hive's hum settle into the background of his thoughts. Even without directly accessing his mindscape, he could feel the subtle shift of energy as the rune completed its slow alignment.
Once he emerged, Kael prepared a simple meal from the last of the meat stored in his spatial artifact. The portion was nearly depleted, and he knew he would need to find fresh nourishment soon. He ate deliberately, every bite measured to maintain strength and focus. After finishing, he directed the drones to scavenge for meat, herbs, and any fruits or vegetables in the surrounding tunnels. Their movements were precise and efficient, a testament to the hive's growth and Echo's guidance.
Kael paused to observe them, noting the quiet order that had emerged from the chaos of the previous night. Every loss, every challenge, had added layers to the hive's resilience and his own understanding of manipulation and preparation. Even as he planned his next steps, he allowed himself a small sense of satisfaction: the hive had survived, grown stronger, and he had survived alongside it.
Kael remained motionless amid the wreckage of the hunt, his breath slow as the aftermath settled around him. Where the fury of battle had raged, the vast hive Echo had served now lay unnervingly still, its golden walls washed clean by fresh air and silence. He lowered his gaze to the scattered teeth beneath his boots and the scars crossing his chest, the only witnesses left to the violence that had passed. In that hush, clarity crept in, unwelcome yet sharp. Lilian's voice resurfaced in his thoughts, calm and relentless, whispering of truths hidden inside the human form.
With a twist of wonder edged by anger, he recalled her lesson. Every human was born with thirteen mana gates, yet most mages only ever acknowledged the obvious ones at the hands and feet, the knees, the shoulder blades, and the navel. Of the six Kael had opened, four had been buried deep within him, concealed behind rib and organ where no casual scan could ever reach. Ordinary detection tools would have slid past them without a tremor, just as Lilian had warned. Someone had worked carefully and deliberately to bury that knowledge from the world.
Lilian had been explicit about the lie at the heart of Rank Two. A mage who reached that stage should have been able to sense a cranial gate, yet an unseen barrier had been raised to erase the very idea of it. Initiates were taught never to infuse their organs, only to wrap them in so called protections, all to ensure the gateways inside remained untouched. Now Kael understood the purpose of those gates with chilling clarity. Each one was a keystone that allowed the body to channel ambient mana, and every gate he had opened had sharpened his casting and strengthened his control.
Memory followed memory as the truth settled fully into place. His first gates had torn open in the dungeon through raw instinct, forced wide when survival left no room for restraint. Each opening had made condensation easier, his mana tighter and cleaner than before. Condensation was the foundation of everything that followed, the necessary step toward forging a true mana core. Without it, no Magus could ever rise beyond mediocrity.
Cold resolve replaced the last of his lingering fatigue. He saw now how careless he had been to let fear and distraction steal time from real advancement. This calm was rare, and he would not waste it. Kael drew a steady breath and vowed to open every gate he could reach, patiently and deliberately, until his magic flowed with absolute purity. In the silence of the hive, the path forward felt undeniable, and tonight he would begin.
Kael's eyes closed as he sank deeper into meditation, letting the hum of the hive fade into the background. His focus narrowed entirely onto the Soul Devourer aspect embedded within him, tracing its presence through his consciousness like careful fingers moving across a fragile lattice. The accumulated energies of the monkeys pulsed beneath the surface of his soul, raw and chaotic, waiting to be refined. Among them, the soul of the magus level monkey shone like a concentrated light as it was steadily converted by the Soul Devourer.
He exhaled slowly and allowed the divine technique to flow without interference. Kael knew there was nothing he could do to hasten the conversion, and so he trusted the Soul Devourer to perform its work. Much of the initiate level souls had already been converted into purified soul energy. Using divine energy as a guide, Kael directed that refined power toward his unopened mana gates.
He had opened eight mana gates previously, and he knew that advancement to magus rank required all thirteen to be unlocked. The divine technique resonated within his consciousness and guided him toward the ninth mana gate. Normally, mana would be condensed and its impurities stripped away before a gate could be opened. Kael, however, possessed access to soul energy that was far purer and denser than any mana he had ever used.
The mana gates within his legs remained unopened, and the divine technique guided him to begin with the gate in his right knee, followed by the left. Kael channeled the purified soul energy toward the right knee gate. Unlike mana, no impurity could endure contact with this energy. Wherever the soul energy passed, all residue was erased without a trace. When it struck the sealed gate, the resistance collapsed and the gate opened cleanly.
The moment the ninth mana gate opened, Kael felt the change ripple outward through his body. It was not a surge of raw power, but a shift in responsiveness, as though the space between thought and action had narrowed. Mana no longer pooled sluggishly before obeying his intent. It moved the instant he reached for it, flowing with a smoothness that made his previous control feel crude by comparison.
The improvement was immediate and unsettling. When Kael drew a small thread of mana through his channels to test the change, the flow overshot his intention and spilled outward before he could arrest it. A sharp jolt of pain lanced through his spine, forcing him to grit his teeth as he cut the flow entirely. The new gate had increased capacity, but his control had not yet adapted to the expanded pathways. This was not refinement yet. It was raw potential pressing against untrained restraint.
As he steadied himself, Kael noticed movement within the hive. The ambient mana density in the tunnels had shifted, subtle but undeniable. Bioluminescent veins along the walls brightened for a brief moment before dimming again. Several drones altered their flight patterns mid motion, wings beating faster as if responding to a pressure they did not fully understand. Even Echo stirred within the depths of the hive, her presence brushing against his awareness with a mix of alertness and curiosity.
Kael exhaled slowly and forced his breathing into a steady rhythm. He adjusted his internal circulation, deliberately narrowing the flow until it matched his refined control rather than the gate's expanded capacity. The pain receded, leaving behind a deep awareness of how easily growth could destabilize everything he had built. Power was never free. Every gain demanded adaptation, and the hive itself had felt the echo of his advancement.
Only when the ambient reactions subsided did Kael allow himself to acknowledge the success. His mana was stronger, faster, and more responsive, but also more dangerous than before. This gate was not an endpoint. It was a warning of what awaited him if he advanced without discipline.
The divine technique urged him onward, but Kael ignored it. His attention shifted inward as he assessed the remaining purified soul energy. It was not enough to open another gate, and forcing the attempt would risk catastrophic imbalance. Instead, his focus settled on the soul wound that lingered within him, a scar left behind during Echo's creation that had never truly healed.
Kael hesitated. He knew the risk. Soul energy was volatile by nature, resistant to manipulation beyond the most basic redirection. Yet leaving the energy idle was wasteful, and the wound represented unfinished business that would only worsen over time. With careful intent, he guided the purified soul energy toward the fracture in his soul.
Pain bloomed instantly, but not as an explosion. It spread slowly, like heat seeping into stone. Kael clenched his jaw and held the flow steady, observing rather than reacting. The energy did not mend the wound. Instead, it slipped past the damaged edges and was drawn inward, pulled deeper into his soul by a force he could not resist.
His vision darkened as the sensation deepened. Fragments of memory surfaced, not all at once, but in layers. At first, there was only pressure and sorrow, heavy and suffocating. Then shapes began to form. A vast and empty space. Chains etched into the very fabric of existence. The weight of endless time pressing down on a single unmoving point.
Kael fought to remain detached, analyzing the phenomenon even as the pain intensified. These were not memories in the conventional sense. They were impressions burned directly into the soul, preserved beyond thought or identity. He felt the presence of another will, familiar and devastatingly close, bound to him through affection twisted into obligation.
One fragment sharpened into clarity. A moment of stillness before everything was taken away. Trust given freely. A promise unbroken until it was used as a weapon. Kael's breathing faltered as the emotional weight crashed over him, but he did not let the memory consume him. He anchored himself in the present, forcing the divine technique to maintain stability even as his soul trembled.
The fragment dissolved, leaving behind echoes of suffering without context. Kael recognized the danger immediately. Probing further could unravel him. He severed the flow of soul energy, cutting it off before the descent could deepen. The pain lingered, but something else remained as well.
Knowledge.
The memory fragments had not surfaced alone. Imprinted within them was a formation, precise and unfamiliar, its structure unlike anything Kael had encountered before. Its purpose eluded him, but the intent behind it felt constrained, almost restrained, as though designed for beings of limited capacity.
Kael did not consider using it on himself. Instead, he condensed a stone platform from the surrounding floor and inscribed the formation carefully onto its surface, reproducing every curve and intersection from memory. The process demanded intense concentration, and more than once his hand faltered as residual pain pulsed through his soul.
When the formation was complete, Kael tested it cautiously. He fed a trace of mana into the stone. The formation responded, but not smoothly. Energy circulated briefly before dispersing in an erratic pattern that left the stone cracked and partially disintegrated. The formation worked, but imperfectly, as though missing a critical component or requiring a living vessel to function as intended.
Frowning, Kael allowed the Compendium access to the formation. The response was delayed, longer than usual.
[Input Received: Unknown soul formation recorded. CP gained 100.]
No classification followed. No explanation. Just acknowledgment.
Kael withdrew his attention, unease settling in his chest. A formation pulled from stolen soul memories, partially functional, and beyond immediate analysis was not a gift. It was a warning. Whatever its true purpose, it was not meant to be used lightly, and certainly not without understanding the cost.
He erased the remaining traces of the formation from the stone and rose slowly to his feet. The sense of incompletion lingered, heavy and insistent, pressing against the edges of his thoughts. Some paths offered power. Others offered answers. This one promised neither without sacrifice.
Kael reached out through the soul bond and directed his thoughts toward Echo, shaping his intent carefully. If he were to activate the formation using one of the drones, would she be able to perceive any change within his soul?
Confusion rippled back through the bond. Echo did not understand the distinction he was trying to make. To her, the drones were not separate entities. They were extensions of herself, fragments of a single whole rather than individuals capable of independent transformation. The idea of isolating one drone from the hive's collective sense did not exist in her awareness.
Kael exhaled softly. His assumptions had been flawed. The hive did not think as he did.
He carved the formation again, this time altering his approach. The stone beneath his hands was condensed and compacted repeatedly, infused with mana until it became receptive rather than inert. Every line was etched with intent, not merely shape. He was no longer recreating a temporary inscription. He was building a structure meant to endure.
The process consumed several hours. By the time he finished, the platform radiated a muted readiness, the formation resting within it like a restrained mechanism awaiting activation.
Kael gestured, and a drone drifted into the center of the formation. At his signal, he activated it using mana. The lines flared briefly, light folding inward around the drone before collapsing entirely. The drone remained motionless, unharmed.
He examined it with mana sight. No distortion. No foreign resonance. Nothing.
Through the bond, he questioned Echo again. Had she sensed anything? Her response was immediate and certain. Nothing had changed.
Kael tested the formation repeatedly. Arcane mana caused a faint reaction. Life mana elicited a brief shimmer. Every other mana type passed through the formation without response, as though the structure did not acknowledge their existence at all. Frustration tightened his chest. He could feel that he stood at the edge of something significant, yet the final piece remained elusive.
Then the Compendium intervened.
[Suggestion: Host should utilize remaining purified soul energy to activate the formation.]
Kael hesitated. Soul energy was finite. Every fragment mattered. Yet the formation had been born from stolen memories and soul bound knowledge. Perhaps mana had never been its intended catalyst.
He followed the suggestion.
When purified soul energy flowed into the formation, the change was immediate. The etched lines ignited in resplendent silver light, far brighter than before. The energy condensed sharply, forming a focused point that struck the drone directly at its core.
Kael tensed, certain he was about to witness a pointless loss.
The drone did not fall.
It remained standing, unbroken and unchanged at a glance. Kael inspected it again, this time more thoroughly, even channeling soul aligned perception alongside his mana sight. Still nothing revealed itself.
He turned to Echo, frustration edging his thoughts, and asked again.
This time her response carried unmistakable delight.
A part of her had expanded.
Kael frowned and asked her to explain.
The drone moved.
It drifted toward another nearby drone and reached out. The moment contact was made, the second drone dissolved into silver light and was drawn into the first. Kael staggered as new imagery flooded his perception. A space had formed within the drone's soul, a hollow that now housed the essence of the other.
Understanding struck him all at once.
He had not created a weapon. He had not altered flesh or mana.
He had opened a soul space.
Excitement surged through Kael, sharp and breathless. The implications raced ahead of him faster than his thoughts could settle. Storage. Integration. Evolution. The hive was no longer bound by physical limits alone.
This formation had not been meant to destroy initiate level beings.
It had been meant to change them.