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”Good job father. This place is ideal for what I had in mind.” Karna praised her father as his teleportation spell deposited them inside the caldera of an active volcano. The place was surprisingly well illuminated by the glow from the lava. The place was also naturally extremely hot and it was filled with the acrid stench of sulfur. There was a convenient ledge for them to stand on that she suspected was made by Arjuna. The disappearance of the previous inhabitants was likely his work as well. She could still sense the lingering energy of the beings that used to call this place home not too long ago.

Her senses were one of the few things that hadn't deteriorated too badly as a result of her rebirth. Just that the range was much lower due to her inability to fully power them for the time being. She used those very same senses to locate the spiritual center of the fire energy inside the volcano. Naturally, it was deep within the lava, but thanks to the portal to the elemental plane of fire, the focal point was happily almost right below them. The energy from that place would simply need to be gathered upwards towards the ledge they were standing on.

“I still don’t quite understand why you wanted a place with abundant fire energy. So far you haven’t shown any sign that your affinity with that particular element is any higher than the others.” Arjuna probed. Karna wasn’t the type to share her plans unless asked, although she didn’t seem too averse to explaining her thoughts if you did ask and it wasn’t something she specifically refused to explain. He had gotten pretty good at discerning between questions she would answer and those she wouldn’t.

“It isn’t. In fact, there are several other elements that I have a better affinity with.” Karna responded honestly. They had not performed more than a cursory elemental affinity test so far, mostly because she had refused to take one. She had explained that she’d rather find her affinities out by herself, though in reality she already knew her affinities without a test and didn’t want to worry her father further.

“Then why? Creating the second circle is an important step.” He admonished gently. During the process, the prospective mage would need to inscribe a circle of magical symbols inside their magic core. The inscription symbolized the things they had learned and figured out during their time as a first circle mage, the first circle being something that you gained just from having access to mana. The second circle was the first step on the path to becoming a proper mage and could have real consequences if done incorrectly. Conversely, if you knew just the right symbols to use, you could make your future spellcasting much easier, as the second circle would affect every spell you cast in the future. He had given her lessons on the subject so he wasn’t too concerned she’d do something catastrophic, but he still worried.

“You’ll understand when you see it. Have a little faith. When have I been wrong so far? On that note, I need you to make a formation for me. It needs to gather the fire elemental energy from the surroundings and guide it to where I’m sitting. The more energy the better.” She could do the whole thing without the energy, but the result would be better with abundant energy for her use.

“Fine, fine. I’ll trust you. Once again.” He grumbled a bit but started chanting anyway. Glowing lines of power extended from his feet all over the ledge, forming an intricate circle filled with runes and spell inscriptions that seemed to carve themselves into the stone.

"That'll do," Karna said with a smile. It wasn't quite as good as she had hoped, but fire wasn't Arjuna's element and she didn't have enough mana to do such work herself just yet. Maybe once she reached the third circle…

"'That'll do' she says," Arjuna grumbled a bit more. He was actually a bit proud of his work on such short notice. Most mages could whip up a formation like he had done, but few could do it for an element they had little affinity for without preparations.

"Uh, by the way, I think it would be better if you stayed at a safe distance," Karna suggested.

“Seriously? I don’t think there’s anything here that could harm me.” Arjuna pointed out with an incredulous look. The whole mountain could explode and he’d be fine. Still, knowing his daughter, he prepared some defensive spells just in case.

“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She shot back carelessly. She didn’t think this would get violent enough to really threaten someone as strong as him, but one could never be sure with such things. Luck played a significant factor in a person's development after all.

She settled down in the center of the formation in a meditative position and started gathering the fire energy towards herself. At the same time, the power of Aura inside her began to form into a pattern. After it had formed the first complete image, she could sense that she had done enough to Awaken the bloodline, however, her goal was not to do just enough. One pattern after another was formed and the Aura inside her began to go through a qualitative shift, taking on the fiery nature of the energy surrounding her. Image after image the heat inside her built up and started affecting the surroundings.

Arjuna stared in shock as first his daughter’s clothing all burned away before the stone below her seemed to turn into molten slag, seemingly flowing around her without harming her. Suddenly it seemed like all the heat and air in the area started being sucked towards her. He actually had to pull further away to not get caught in the maelstrom as the air around her seemed to be turning into plasma. He would’ve jumped in to save her if his senses didn’t clearly tell him that she was perfectly fine. It was hard to sense anything about her physically, but he could sense her lifeforce and it didn’t show any signs of abating. On the contrary, it was like her lifeforce was growing larger by several magnitudes every passing moment. The energy around her pulsed, and with every pulse, she seemed to grow stronger.

Finally, Karna finished all the imagery from the Phoenix bloodline that she had gathered, and they all seemed to lock together to form a completed whole. That’s when she could sense the transformation taking her over. It felt like her old self was being burnt away, and she knew that wasn’t just a vague metaphor. Her old self truly was being burnt and refined during the process. The process would be automatic if she allowed it to be, but she didn’t. There were changes she wanted to make now that she had the opportunity.

There was a reason she had been happy with one of her natural bloodlines being that of a Phoenix. It wasn’t the regenerative abilities or the ability to control fire that the magnificent beasts had, although those were nice benefits as well. Instead, it was the ability of the Phoenix to reconstruct and refine itself during the moment of rebirth. The most important part, and the part she could safely allow the process to handle, was the fact that all the impurities in her body that had formed from living in a place other than the Divine Planes were burnt away. She would also be forever immune to such impurities as the fire inside her would now be part of her nature. This was part of the perfect foundation she had in mind, and for that purpose, the Phoenix bloodline was optimal.

The parts that she wanted to make changes to were more mundane in nature. Her body was already an exquisite vessel for her soul, but that didn't mean she couldn’t make some changes and personal preference-type improvements while she was at it. If this was going to be her last life, then she would damn well enjoy it! Some of the changes would be something she would get to enjoy immediately, while others would not become relevant until many years later. This was the benefit of having lived several lives. With knowledge of what was to come, you could prepare. Some changes were utilitarian like the ability to burn away most poisons and diseases in her body, while others were purely for pleasure, such as a greater sense of taste and a more acute sense of touch and hearing. Also, she was going to have some ‘fun’ in this life as well, so might as well make some improvements on that front as well.

There were also many things she couldn't change. Her bloodlines were what they were, and for some reason, her hair stubbornly stayed bluish-white despite her attempts to change it into something a bit more palatable. Luckily there was no need to change most things, as the vessel she had been given was truly exquisite and didn’t need much improvement. She could sense some of the future potential still sleeping inside her, even if she got only a small glance, and she was quite satisfied with what she saw.

The fire elemental energy around her formed into an egg made of almost electric blue flame, which left Arjuna completely baffled. Then he sensed something that made him truly sweat. “Why in the nine blazes is there a tribulation coming at a time like this?!” He had to dash outside the volcano to see what was going on, and he had barely gotten out as a pillar of heavenly fires suddenly crashes straight inside the volcano he had just exited. If he had stayed inside, it would’ve been doubtful that he could’ve gotten out unharmed, even if his survival wouldn’t have been in question. This wasn’t the first tribulation he had faced after all, and as far as tribulations went, this one wasn’t among the most dangerous.

“Karna!” He shouted as panic started to set in but immediately sensed that the fires were not actually harming his daughter. On the contrary, they seemed to be aiding in the process. It was like this was something that was supposed to happen. Was this why she had warned him earlier? She could’ve just told him, as he almost had a heart attack from worry. He had almost thrown all his powers at the mouth of the volcano to prevent the fires from falling on his daughter. The only thing that had stopped him was his trust in Karna.

Suddenly the whole volcano seemed to erupt and a huge form of an electric-blue Phoenix made of what looked like lightning and plasma appeared just for a second before it shrunk back inside the volcano. Arjuna rushed back inside and noticed as a miniature version of the same Phoenix was floating in the place where his daughter had been just moments before. All the fire elemental energy rushed inside the bird and seemed to vanish as if eaten by something. Even the lava below seemed to grow cold and still as the power leaking from the elemental plane through the portal wasn’t enough to keep it going. It was a small portal after all.

Suddenly a realization hit him. “That’s why you wanted fire energy!” When a mage broke through to the next level, their mage core would grow almost explosively larger. The expansion often dwarfed any expansion the mage achieved during standard daily cultivation. There was a certain amount of luck involved in the process as the expansion was somewhat random, although the talent of the mage in question could ensure a decent result at the very least. You could also force the issue with large amounts of external power like Karna had just done, but that would result in a large amount of impurities and would be difficult for a young mage to handle. Except, for a Phoenix, purifying the fire energy was child’s play and no amount of fire could harm it. The first such breakthrough was also a little special in that it set the baseline for future expansion. No future expansion during formation of a new circle could be smaller than the one you experienced during your first. And Karna had just massively cheated the whole system!

“Well, that worked exceedingly well, don’t you think?” Karna asked rhetorically after the energies started to settle down. Unknown to Arjuna, she had also utilized the fire seed she had gotten from the Spirit World, which allowed her to attune with the element perfectly, further improving the result. She was quite pleased with herself all things considered. Her plans usually worked well, but it was always nice to see something complicated like this come together just right to form synergistic benefits. There was just a tiny little crack in her plan that spoiled her triumph somewhat.

“Why are you so small?” Arjuna couldn’t help but ask. Karna’s voice was normal, but her current form was barely larger than a baby bird.

“Shut it!” Karna retorted, though her cute and ruffled appearance didn’t help matters. “I just Awakened the bloodline, so of course I’m small! The form will grow as I practice my Aura further now that the bloodline is no longer inert.”

“Can you turn back?” Arjuna suddenly realized a possibility.

"Yes, I can. I just don't want to. I'm naked remember. And I don't think we brought any spare clothes. I must admit, I didn't think of that part." Karna admitted grudgingly.

“Oh, so your plans have holes as well?” Her father asked with a teasing voice.

“Nobody’s perfect.” She puffed her tiny chest. “Though I’m damn close.”

“Yes yes, and so very humble.” Arjuna continued his teasing, partly because of the worry she had caused him earlier.

“False humility isn’t an attractive trait. Confidence on the other hand is.” She shot back. “Something you should keep in mind if you want to have more kids one day.”

The two continued teasing each other for a while longer before they got a bit more serious. “A Phoenix, huh? I suppose I should’ve expected it. Any more surprises I should expect?” He asked.

“Well, the next Awakening will be as a Titan, so we'll need a storm and a lot of metal energy. It would be kind of ideal if we could catch something like a lightning tribulation inside a huge smithy or an ore vein.” Karna shamelessly requested.

Arjuna shook his head in exasperation. “That’s all? And you’re saying you have both bloodlines? And that you can Awaken them both? I’m not an expert, but I’m fairly sure that’s not how it’s normally done.”

“Those are the ideal circumstances, not requirements. And as you said, you’re not an expert, so let me handle it. I was just proven right moments ago, right?” She pointed out.

“Yes, but you also showed that your plans have holes in them. Small holes, I’ll grant you, but small holes can grow into major problems.” Arjuna retorted.

“Oh, I know. I’m not blind to that fact.” She admitted freely. “However, you need to take risks in life. Or I should rephrase that since I already know what you’re going to say. Not everyone has to take risks, but I do. Now get teleporting father, I need clothes and this form isn’t quite as fun to stay in as you’d think.”

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Karna gave a sigh of relief once she was back to her old form and in her own chambers in Arjuna’s tower. Despite the fact that Arjuna could essentially conjure up any number of rooms he desired inside the tower, she had wanted only three. One of them was a modest bedroom with very little in the way of decoration or extra items. She had learned to make do with quite little in her previous lives, and she’d slept on worse beds than the quite moderate mattress placed in the corner of the room. The only luxury was the bookshelf with books and scrolls about magic theory and the current situation of the Higher Planes.

The other two rooms were a slightly more decorated sitting room for meeting guests and a fairly large training room that doubled as a meditation area. There was a dedicated training area in the tower, so this one was only so she could practice some things in her own time. The walls were lined with various weapons, and one side of the room had targets made from different materials that would regenerate once damaged or destroyed. She idly lobbed a bolt of blue fire at one of the targets, and the stone model exploded in a shower of shrapnel. It was interesting that her fire almost had an electric quality to it. Probably the result of her Titan bloodline showing.

The bolt of energy had taken almost no mana thanks to her perfectly purified mana and new attunement with the fire element. The bloodline also helped quite a bit. As she settled down on the floor in a comfortable position, she explored some of the changes that had happened. Despite being one of the highest-ranked magical beings in the multiverse, the form of a Phoenix wasn't actually optimized for combat. Especially the tiny baby-bird sized form she had access to currently. Sure, it was dangerous to fight a grown Phoenix, and few beings would come out alive from such an encounter. However, that was due to the other abilities that the majestic beings possessed, not because their physical forms excelled in combat. Now, for travel the form was perfect. Phoenixes had some of the highest speeds in flight, and some Phoenixes had the ability to Shift between worlds and planes. Thanks to her completed bloodline, she too would have that ability, but it was still out of her reach due to lack of power.

Orbs of fire danced around her palm as she played with the element. That was one of the main abilities Phoenixes had, control over fire. They had the ability to turn entire countries into storms of fire and flames. That said, she didn’t yet have the power to do something even close to that either, and it wasn’t like she didn’t know enough spells to do the same anyway, so the utility of the ability was a little suspect. She wasn’t even all that fond of the element due to its nature for being imprecise in its destructive power, though she had to admit that with the bloodline and the attunement, fire was currently her third strongest element.

Still, the changes she had undergone were extremely beneficial, even if their combat application was somewhat limited. That’s why she had chosen the bloodline as her first to Awaken. Phoenixes were not immortal, and neither was she, but they were hard to get rid of, and just the cleansing power of her internal flames would be more useful than any combat abilities almost any other bloodline could offer. As she was a Godling outside the Divine Planes, she would naturally need to take some measures to cleanse the impure power that would hinder her development, but with the Phoenix bloodline that became unnecessary. Now her development could match those Godlings that grew on the Divine Planes with their parents.

There was also the fringe benefit of the flames within her being extremely useful for the purposes of trade skills such as alchemy and smithing. Most such skills required the use of high-quality flames, and it was hard to beat the flames of a Phoenix in that regard. She would have to dedicate some time for those skills at some point in the near future anyway. Currently, Arjuna had only barely glossed over those subjects, so she couldn't really whip out a furnace and start producing pills and weapons without raising some eyebrows. There were limits to being a supposed genius after all.

That was one of the reasons she wanted to attend the Academy. The place offered lessons on most things. Besides the mandatory lessons in subjects like magic, politics, mathematics, history, and other basic subjects, the Academy also offered lessons in trade professions, spirit handling, and a thousand other subjects. Since she would be able to easily pass most of the basic subjects without any effort, she was hoping that she could take some more unconventional classes to give a plausible explanation for her sudden new skills in a variety of subjects. No one on the outside would be able to tell what exactly she was learning, so it would be hard for them to become suspicious if she suddenly showed aptitude in areas Arjuna didn’t give her lessons in.

Karna had long since learned that while a wise person hid some of their abilities in case of emergencies, she would not be able to avoid attention. She simply knew too much and was too skilled in too many things to hide her abilities. She also refused to play a complete idiot for a large part of her life. It was fine to show off enough to be labeled a genius, but it would become a problem if she displayed so much skill that her knowledge could be deemed impossible. That would create problems and draw attention of another kind.

Since this universe saw so many reincarnators, it had long ago started paying a certain amount of attention to such people. As even the reincarnators were prevented from discussing their nature, even under torture or mental intrusions, the exact nature of their existence had remained a mystery. However, there existed a term for the type of child that exhibited knowledge and skills well beyond what was possible. They were called Blessed Children. Karna had run into the term in her previous visits to this universe.

The Blessed Children were not common enough that the term would be used lightly, but there would be consequences once one was identified. Some parties wanted to protect them, while others wanted to use them for their own advantage. For that reason, Karna wanted to avoid that label by barely presenting herself within the limits of a normal genius. She would not be able to keep it up for too long, but hopefully long enough that it would no longer matter. And the first step was to create plausible deniability by attending the Academy.