Verus slumped forward in exhaustion as his core finally calmed down. It no longer hummed with uncontrollable power and overwhelming insight. He’d been overwhelmed by his ascension and completely lost track of both time and his surroundings, but now his thoughts were coming together. Had something happened? He felt both powerful and like he’d been kicked in the chest by a horse.

Opening his eyes, Verus looked up and glanced around. He was still in the stone ritual room under the great elder’s mansion, which was where he’d expected to find himself. That was good. It didn’t seem to have changed at all either, although there was one surprise. Elder Caligo was standing not too far away and gazing at Verus with gloomy eyes peeking out from beneath his unkept hair. What was he doing here? Had he been there the entire time Verus had been ascending? Or, had he somehow shown up at the last minute?

“Congratulations on your ascension, young one. Relish the feeling while you can. Every one might be your last. Can you stand?” the elder asked.

“Thank you for your concern. I’m grateful for your attention, elder,” Verus said as he slowly pulled himself to his feet. He was quite surprised at the man’s concern. He didn’t seem like the type to care.

Elder Caligo’s dark eyes narrowed as he leaned forward to study Verus. He didn’t offer to help though. “You had a difficult and complicated ascension, so it was decided that someone should watch over you until you were done.”

Ascension. A grin appeared on Verus’s face as the realisation finally hit him. He’d ascended. He was at the Tempered Realm now. Closing his eyes again, he focused his senses on his own spirit. His ki flowed through his body with far more power than ever before and his core felt heavier and deeper. Even the way his ki flowed was different, more complex. Was that a result of the true tempering? Had the gamble worked?

Suddenly, there was a faint rustling noise, like blowing cloth, as the Lady Nightclaw swept into the room. The diminutive old woman’s deep black eyes were locked on Verus as she glided right up to him.

“Your ascension contained quite a few surprises, whelp. Take a look at your hands.”

Frowning, Verus raised his arms and glanced at his hands like he’d been told. At first, he saw nothing out of place, but as the sleeves of his robes fell, rings of black around his wrists became visible. Surprised, Verus blinked and looked closer. A complex pattern of twisted black lines encircled both his wrists like bracelets. Inscribed on his skin, they looked like tattoos.

“What are these?” he asked anxiously. Had he been marked with some sort of spell? The tattoos did somewhat resemble shackles. The idea of being bound by a great elder was terrifying. Was she going to force him to do something terrible?

The two elders exchanged a meaningful look, and then the great elder frowned. “Your ascension and enlightenment were unexpectedly powerful. As a result, you almost lost control of your ki and suffered a mutation to your flesh. Thankfully, the empire is skilled at dealing with such things and I was able to seal the mutation using Soul Mark Tattoos.”

Mutation? Verus’s eyes went wide with shock. Images of his flesh twisting to resemble that of the disgusting fish demi-human he’d encountered filled his head. “That can happen?”

The great elder nodded. “Yes, it’s not uncommon, but usually only at far higher realms. I myself was given a Soul Mark Tattoo upon reaching the Blood Realm, which is known for causing mutations.”

Her tattoo wasn’t visible, so Verus tried very hard not to imagine where on the old woman’s body it could be.

“What exactly do Soul Mark Tattoos do?” he asked instead. Soul tattoos of any sort sounded very permanent.

“I’ll leave such explanations to Caligo. I’m here only here to inform you that our deal in now complete and that you’ve passed all the tests I laid out for you. Your true tempering was a success, and I’ve taken the opportunity to record every detail of your fascinating new cultivation technique.”

“So… What do I do now?”

The old lady huffed. “Now, you’ll do your best not to shame me with your own inadequacy. I’ve spent enough time on this curiosity. Thus, I’ll leave you in Caligo’s care, as his disciple, although the relationship will only become official upon your entry to the inner sect. You’d draw far too much attention if you had any direct relationship with me. As troubled as he is, he can answer any questions you might have and guide your future cultivation path.”

Elder Caligo frowned sourly in displeasure upon hearing this, but he didn’t dispute his master. Instead, he simply watched as she left the room.

Only once she was gone did he turn to Verus and grimace in frustration. “So, it seems like I’ve been saddled with you, eh? I can’t say I was looking for a brat to follow me around.”

“I will do my best not to disappoint you,” Verus replied as bent at the waist to give him a formal bow. Internally, he cursed his luck. This man was very far from his ideal master as well. He was a drunken layabout whose robe and black hair were always rough looking and unkept. The only spirits he seemed to have a deep understanding of were the alcoholic kind. How as he supposed to help Veus reach enlightenment?

As if sensing Verus’s thoughts, Elder Caligo rolled his eyes. “Regardless, I should probably explain your new situation, if only to get it over with. What do you make of your new core?”

Verus hesitated and then sent his senses inward again. Elder Caligo didn’t wait for him.

“My master and I studied you as you were finishing up your ascension. First of all, you will notice that the outer shell of your core is stronger than before your ascension.”

Verus nodded as he confirmed the elder’s words. “The veins of devotion ki are now far thicker and more numerous.”

“Yes, it’s a little odd that the composition of the shell changed like that, but I suppose true tempering is always unpredictable. That’s the point. You reach for understanding beyond your own.”

“My void essence also feels very different,” Verus remarked as he mentally prodded his core. It felt odd. He barely recognized it even though it was a part of him.

Elder Caligo chuckled darkly. “Yes, it was the main target of the true tempering after all. That change happened when the great elder was trying to apply your new tattoos, and it certainly made the process more complicated. You’re a beacon for trouble, you are. We had to add a new ward to the floor. It’s still there, so you’ll have to step out of the circle.”

Confused, Verus did as he was told. The moment he was outside the ritual circle on the floor, his core shuddered and his body grew weak. He stumbled, barely managing to catch himself. This couldn’t be good.

Sending his senses inward again, Verus tried to understand what was going on. The orb of void essence within his core felt much heavier than before. Not only did the suction effect it created feel more powerful, it felt very different as well. Hungrier and endless, like a pit. The pull of the void essence within him was actually seeping into his ki channels and throwing his internal ki into turmoil. It seemed to be sucking the ki out of his body and into his core.

Verus grimaced and immediately tried to seal his core. Thankfully, he quickly figured out how, and the sucking sensation stopped. Strength then flowed back into his muscles as the ki drain was halted.

Elder Caligo watched and nodded when he was finished. “Oh good. I was a little worried you’d be unable to stop that and die right in front of me.”

Verus couldn’t resist throwing him a dark look, but the man just smiled. “Your true tempering was powerful enough to grant your cultivation technique an odd special ability, somewhat like that of the Way of Gathering Storms. It seems like the void essence within your core is now acting as some sort of permanent and inexhaustible seal. It’s constantly trying to devour all ki that isn’t of the void. Fortunately for you, it appears your core and channels can contain the effect, otherwise it would drain away the human ki you need to live, and that would be the end of my poor little disciple.”

“What do you mean it’s a permanent seal?” Verus asked as he held his frustration in check. He didn’t know that much about those sorts of advanced techniques.

“Sealing techniques involve binding either ki or matter by drawing it into the eternal plane, either partially or fully. For instance, ice sealing techniques are common and involve more than just physical freezing. The ice ki phases their target partially out of the physical plane and into the eternal, beyond normal time and space. The spirit I retrieved earlier was sealed into a small pocket plane that was tied to the crystal sphere,” the elder explained. “Your core works slightly differently. It appears to have become a small gateway into an area of the eternal plane full of void ki.”

Verus thought that through. “So, my true tempering has altered my core so that the void essence at its center is endlessly trying to suck ki into the eternal void.”

Elder Caligo chuckled. “The eternal void, eh? I suppose it’s as good a name as any. Very poetic.”

The elder sure was more talkative and less respectful when his master wasn’t around. “How can I use this ability? I don’t think I actually benefit from sucking up ki this way. It doesn’t get added to my core and it seem like a difficult thing to use in a fight.”

“Ha, now you’re thinking like a proper cultivator. How can I use the power of heavenly enlightenment to bash people over the head and take their stuff! You’ll have to experiment and practice to see what you can do. After you’ve done that, I can give you some advice, but let’s get out of here. I’d prefer not to hang around my master’s manor any longer.”

That said, Elder Caligo led Verus out of the manor and back toward the outer disciple area. It had been a while since Verus had been outside, and the light of the sun made him blink. He was glad to get away from the empty hallways and moving shadows of Lady Nightclaw’s manor.

“So, have you decided on what to call your way? Such techniques are traditionally named by the people who create them,” the elder asked as they walked through the restricted area of the sect.

Verus perked up. He got to name a cultivation technique? That probably wasn’t something most elders got to do, let alone disciples. The only problem was he had no idea what to call it. Really, it didn’t seem quite right to name it at the moment. He had a vague impression that he was missing something important. Maybe something properly wise and deep would come to him after he got familiar with it.

“Apologies, but nothing strikes me at the moment.”

“It’s your choice. Regardless, I’m sure you have many more questions. Ask what you will, but don’t waste my time with trivial nonsense.”

Verus lifted his hands up and studied the black lines around his wrists. “Pardon me, but what exactly did you mean when you mentioned a mutation earlier, and what does it have to do with these tattoos?”

As he walked, Elder Caligo glanced over at his tattoos for a second. “Sometimes during an ascension, or whenever unusually large amounts of ki flow through the body in an uncontrolled manner, the ki can cause a cultivator’s flesh to mutate. It’s extremely rare for this to happen before the Blood Realm, but I suppose your enlightenment was rather deep. The Soul Mark Tattoos are an old secret art of the empire that are applied during such mutations to prevent the manifestation of any physical changes. You’re lucky my master was capable of applying them, or your hands would have become permanently deformed.”

Again, the gruesome image of the fishman appeared in Verus’s mind. It seemed he’d been very lucky to avoid a terrible fate and needed to thank Lady Nightclaw for her treatment.