Behind the beautiful light hides a space much like the one Rito once escaped from. There, no sound could be heard, no object is to be seen, only completely nothingness ~ A sight feared by many, perharps even more so than death. Though to Rito, this is practically Heaven.

His dried up Mana veins jump in excitement as the foreign energy approaches it. Unfortunately, his happiness doesn't last long, however, as it is quickly replaced by disappointment when he finds out the identity of this energy, Qi, a combination of Mana and Ki yet is somehow inferior to both.

"Oh well, you know what they say. Beggar couldn't be chooser. Qi is fine I suppose, there are no life threatening dangers nearby anway." Sighing, Rito says to himself as he sits cross-legged, his body floating in the dark space.

Cultivating Qi would undoubtedly ruin all of his plans as it has many restrictions, a flawed energy mostly practiced by jacks-of-all-trades, masters-of-none, but there's no other choice left. Building up Ki by doing bodily exercises is too slow for him to endure, if things continue like this, he might never reach the first circle of Ki.

'As for Mana...' He thinks, a bitter smile creeps its way on his face. Shaking the thoughts out of his mind, Rito closes his eyes and starts to concentrate, slowly slipping into what people from the other universe call the state of nothingness.

Unbeknownst to him, ancient looking runes appear one after another until his entire body is practically covered in them just as he entered the state of nothingness. They then release intense purple light that seems to overwhelm even the dark space, illuminating nothingness itself.

•▪•▪•▪•

Stood before the being was a woman, a very beautiful one at that too. She looked at him lovingly, her smile seemed to cleanse away all of his dark thoughts. Vengeance, rage, pain, none of those things mattered to him in the slightest as he took her hand.

Together, they danced under the moonlight for hours. Their beauty made even the prettiest of gods feel inferior. As they slowed down, the woman reached out to the being, then gently, she kissed him...

The moon turned red, crimson blood flowing down the woman hands dyed the field of white flowers in a ominous black color. The moment she drew her last breath, the being's heart froze in a thick layer of ice, he felt pain, despair then anger.

Forcing down all of his rage, the being roared towards the Heaven where he knew the gods were watching. They must be laughing right now, but they'll pay, he'll make sure of that.

After calming himself, the being slowly turned towards Rito with tears of blood pouring out from his eyes, he said, but Rito didn't hear it, he couldn't. The being said again, this time seemingly louder, yet Rito still couldn't make out his voice. Losing patience, the being shouted, his voice thundered.

•▪•▪•▪•

Rito wakes up, his back drenched in sweat, the voice filled with rage still echoes in his head, unwilling to let go. Alas, to him, the voice only seems to talk in broken, nonsensical words that he can't make out.

"Just who--?" Before he could finish the sentence, Rito's entire body freezes up as he checks his cultivation.

There, laying in his mind are four circle. Two made out of Mana, the other two are obviously formed by Ki. Seeing this, he can't help but let out joyful cries, throwing his hands up. He soon calms down though.

He understands in spite of how it all looks, the current him is weak, incredibly so compared to others. He can't even be counted as a First Circle mage or martial artist. The four circles are not finished, they still haven't taken a concrete shape.

"At least my theory is right." Rito chuckles, the joy in his eyes has yet to subside.

Now you're probably wondering, he already has two circles of Mana and Ki each, why doesn't he count as a First Circle mage / martial artist right? It's very simple, because all four circles are just vague power that have yet to turn into real circles, they're incomplete, the energy around them is moving like wisps of smoke. The image gives others the impression of melting ice.

As for how he managed to create two circles, it's due to his extreme understanding of the two energies. This is normally impossible for newbies as they need time to familiar themselves. There were also old monsters who had thought of this method, creating a smaller circle inside the first, but none succeeded until now.

The reasons are simple, to use this method, one has to start since the First Circle, those old monsters were all powerhouses, they didn't want to cripple their own powers to try a method that may or may not work, to be honest, even Rito himself wouldn't have used this had he still possessed his old power, it's just too risky.

"But I succeeded..." Mutters Rito, a sastified smile once again appears on his face.

With this, his prowess would be doubled when he reaches the First Circle, becoming as strong as a Second Circle mage / martial artist. That said, this method also has many flaws. First of all, it needs doubled the amount of Ki and Mana needed when cultivate using the normal method, which he very much lacks at the moment.

His cultivating speed would also slow down considerably. Worse yet, this is an extremely risky method, one mistake and he could be crippled for life, never be able to cultivate again in this life...

"But that's the problem for future me." Smiling, Rito walks toward the dimensional crack.

Now that he thinks about it, Rito can't help but feel weirded out, the energy he sensed when he came in was definitely Qi, how comes it suddenly turn into Ki and Mana? "Screw it, I ain't one to agrue with a good thing."