Kiro guided the flow of his mana through his channels, building up to a rushing torrent the likes of which he had never controlled before. He was this close to the peak, but as soon as he had broken through to late Infusion, his growth had slowed to a crawl. Memories of what had happened to Rynn a few days ago flashed in his mind, but he disregarded them — Aer herself had told him that he'd be fine with these cycles, and pushing his spirit past his comfort zone would only help him advance. Fire seeped deep into his core, and a tingling warmth permeated his body. Was this it? He was sure that he had thoroughly saturated it this time, but that was how he always felt. Just as he started another cycle, a weird feeling settled on him. He couldn't quite place it, but ever since he and Seira had started consistently feeling the flow of battle, it was almost as if he could feel when someone was watching him.

He cracked open an eyelid, and Seira was standing next to him, staring at his core with interest. "Wow, you're almost there, arent you?"

"Yeah. It'll still be a day or two until I reach the peak, though. I don't want to leave even a little bit of instability in my foundation."

She smiled at him. "Still, I'm proud of you. You're doing so well!"

He grinned back. "Thanks. I think that the new elixir has been really helping."

On top of the mana pills that Aer seemed to have an infinite supply of, he was also supplementing their cultivation with resources of his own. While he had been pondering the fundamental properties of mana, he had finally been able to make another breakthrough in his alchemy.

A person's perception of their aspect always tainted their aspect, and while this could sometimes result in negative side-effects, it also meant that he had a way to imbue his will into his concoctions, similar to how he would need to imbue his will into his core to form his soul.

He downed another elixir, letting his transformed mana meet his naturally generated energy. The two merged back into one, and his elixir slowly started affecting his core. This would temporarily make the fire mana more docile and easy to control, though it did weaken the actual power output. However, in these cycles, power was the least of his concern.

Seira closed her eyes again, letting him get back to his cultivation.

Using the calm of the elixir, he ramped his cycle back up to the previous intensity. This time, though, instead of fighting against his control like a raging river, it simply flowed along like a peaceful stream. Yet, it was still just as dense as before, and as it washed over his core, he could feel the benefits of the elixir. This could be it — his core was so packed full of aspect that he doubted that he could fit another bit. But... he had thought this for the past three hours, and every time that he had tried, he had succeeded.

There was no use stopping before he had truly, completely, finished his foundation. If he failed to do so, and then ascended on a foundation that was even slightly unstable, it could have incredibly dangerous consequences down the road. Still, he was just happy that he was this close. Aer no longer needed to use her aura to protect them from anything, and he was finally starting to see the results of his cultivation in real time.

The exercises that Aer had assigned them now needed to be complemented by her actually pressing down on them with her aura, which Kiro took to be a huge success. They were almost at what she called the "base level" of this world, the stage that you needed to be considered a worthy mystic.

Another cycle flowed to his core, and then a third. Finally, when he ran out of mana from his core, he opened his eyes.

Seira was still sitting with her eyes closed, though she actually didn't need to assume that position anymore. She had reached the peak a day after their duel with Rynn, so now all she had to do was gain enlightenment on the actual process of forming a soul. Ironically, he had already done that.

He tapped her shoulder, rousing her from her trance. "Hey, do you want me to try and explain souls again?"

She nodded gratefully. "Please! I just can't get past that will part, and I'm literally seeing its effects on my core as we speak. I —"

She stopped, turning her head towards the door.

"Rynn."

The man stepped inside, his slumped shoulders and tired eyes a stark contrast to what he had displayed less than a week ago.

"I… I believe that I owe you an apology."