The scent of Etherion-infused herbs thickened the air, wrapping around them like a living force. The heat of the cauldron pulsed in slow, rhythmic bursts, the engraved runes along its surface flickering in tandem with the controlled flames beneath it. The air was heavy, saturated with raw potency, as if reality itself had taken notice of what was being created.
Inside the cauldron, the once-fluid golden mixture had thickened, swirling in hypnotic spirals, its luster deepening with each cycle. It was no longer just a blend of ingredients, it was transforming, condensing into something greater, something refined. The birth of a pill was not a simple process; it was a delicate balance of control, precision, and the absolute mastery of energy.
Aeliana did not blink, her expression unwavering. Every flicker of her Etherion was measured, guiding the alchemical reaction with flawless precision. Silver threads of energy danced between her fingertips, weaving into the concoction, purging any remaining impurities. Sweat formed along her brow, but she remained focused, completely in sync with the process.
This was it. The final stage.
Aeliana raised her hands, her fingers forming intricate seals midair. Her mental energy expanded, seamlessly merging with her Etherion, shaping the forces inside the cauldron.
The golden liquid began to compress.
It shuddered, contracting upon itself, layers of condensed Etherion folding inward, refining, strengthening—Until—
A pulse of raw energy burst outward.
The cauldron trembled.
Aeliana's hands moved faster, forming a final rune—a sigil of Completion & Condensation—before slamming her palm against the cauldron's lid.
A blinding silver glow erupted from within.
Then—
Silence.
A moment passed. Then another.
Slowly, the cauldron exhaled a breath of mist, the air vibrating with a newfound stability.
It was done.
Aeliana let out a slow breath, her body relaxing for the first time in hours. The tension in her shoulders loosened, but the glint in her silver eyes was triumphant as she lifted the cauldron's lid.
A wave of fragrant warmth escaped, carrying an indescribable sweet yet potent aroma—a scent that wasn't just herbal, but Etherion-infused, as if it carried the very essence of the world itself.
Inside, at the very center of the cauldron, three perfectly round pills rested in serene stillness.
They were smooth, polished—flawless. A faint golden glow pulsed within their cores, streaks of deep silver weaving through them like flowing veins of energy.
They were small but dense—condensed power given form.
Aeliana reached in carefully, plucking one between her fingertips. Its warmth thrummed against her skin, humming softly, carrying a refined, concentrated energy eager to be absorbed.
Evolis leaned in slightly, golden eyes sharp. "What grade?"
Aeliana examined the pill closely, rolling it between her fingers before answering.
"High-Grade Origin 4 Pill."
Orion let out a low whistle. "Damn. That's impressive."
Aeliana nodded, pleased. "Peak-Grade would've required higher quality ingredients, but this is more than enough. This will push both of us to the threshold of Advanced Stage."
Evolis twirled one between his fingers, feeling the energy woven into its structure. The pill radiated a soft warmth, carrying an Etherion signature so refined it almost felt alive.
Evolis studied the pill in his palm, feeling the condensed energy thrumming within. "So," he mused, "explain to me again how pill rankings work."
Aeliana shot him an amused glance before rolling the pill between her fingers, its golden hue shimmering under the soft glow of the cauldron's embers. "There are two things to consider when ranking a pill: its Grade and its Purity."
She turned slightly, letting the pill rest against her palm as she continued. "Grades determine how strong a pill is and which stages of cultivation it can support. Each Origin Stage pill is tied directly to its corresponding rank in the Mortal Realm."
Evolis arched a brow. "Meaning?"
"Meaning," Aeliana said, "an Origin 1 Pill is only effective for someone at the Mortal Rank, helping them refine their Etherion and push them towards the Awakened Stage. Similarly, an Origin 2 Pill is designed for those at the Awakened Stage, guiding them toward Novice, and so on."
Evolis hummed, twirling the small pill between his fingers. "So this Origin 4 Pill…?"
Aeliana gave him a knowing look. "Perfectly suited for someone at Novice Stage, guiding them toward Advanced."
Orion, lounging nearby with his arms behind his head, smirked. "So basically, if you took an Origin 7 pill while still in the Advanced Stage, your body would probably implode."
Aeliana nodded. "More or less. Etherion refinement is a gradual process. Taking a pill above your cultivation level would overwhelm your core, destabilizing your energy pathways." She gave a small sigh. "Not that it stops reckless people from trying."
Evolis smirked. "Sounds like something Orion would do."
Orion scoffed. "Please. I'm dumb, but I'm not that dumb."
Aeliana ignored him, returning to her explanation. "Beyond the Mortal Realm, no one really knows if higher grades of pills exist. We have no records of anything beyond Origin 7."
Evolis frowned slightly at that. "Why?"
Aeliana hesitated before answering. "Because no one has ever reached beyond Monarch Stage in our world. If higher pills exist, they would only be found in realms beyond our own."
Evolis absorbed the information, his golden eyes narrowing slightly. If that was the case, then there was still a vast, unknown limit to what they could achieve. The Mortal Realm was just the beginning.
But that was a thought for another time.
Right now, they had a breakthrough to focus on.
Aeliana turned the pill slightly, letting the silver streaks within its golden shell catch the dim light. "But beyond Grade, there's also Purity."
Evolis raised a brow. "Purity?"
Aeliana nodded. "How refined a pill is. Higher purity means better absorption. It determines how effectively your body can use the energy inside without wasting any of it."
She gestured toward the pill in her hand. "This is a High-Grade Origin 4 Pill. That means it's well-refined, with almost no residual impurities left. If it had been Peak-Grade, the refinement would have been nearly perfect."
Evolis tilted his head. "And if it were something lower?"
"Then the absorption rate would plummet," Aeliana said simply. "Anything below Mid-Grade is barely worth consuming unless you're desperate."
Orion made a face. "So you're saying there are pills so trash they can actually make you weaker?"
"Not weaker," Aeliana corrected. "Just… toxic. Pills below 10% purity aren't even considered usable. We call those Defiled Pills—practically poison."
Evolis rolled the pill between his fingers thoughtfully. "And what about a pill at 100% purity?"
Aeliana's expression shifted slightly. "That…" she hesitated, then shook her head. "That doesn't exist."
"Why not?" Evolis pressed.
Aeliana sighed. "Because the process of alchemy is never perfect. No matter how skilled the alchemist, no matter how refined the ingredients, there will always be a trace of imperfection left behind. A Peak-Grade Pill at 99% purity is already considered a miracle. But 100%?" She shook her head again. "It's theorized to be impossible."
Evolis frowned. "Impossible, huh?"
Aeliana caught the glint in his golden eyes and sighed. "Yeah. People have tried for years but they were never able to do it."
He narrowed his eyes. "Seriously not even once?"
"We've checked ancient records but there hasn't been any known figure able to accomplish this, but the ones that tried and nearly succeeded said something was missing from the process which prevented them from being able to cross that 100% purity barrier." Aeliana said with a pensive expression.
Orion whistled. "Wow I almost wish as if there was someone who could keep pulling off things which seemed to be impossible." He turned to look at Evolis.
Evolis looked at him with a deadpan face.
Aeliana shook her head before rolling the pill back into her palm. "Regardless, this is High-Grade. That's more than enough."
Evolis leaned back slightly, still twirling the pill. "So what's the highest purity called, then? If someone did somehow make one?"
Aeliana gave him a flat look. "It doesn't exist."
"Yeah, but if it did?" Evolis pushed.
Aeliana exhaled, glaring at him, before finally muttering, "Theoretical alchemists call it a Transcendent Pill."
Orion whistled lowly. "Now that's a name."
Aeliana scoffed. "It's a name no one will ever need."
Evolis simply grinned. "We'll see."
Aeliana groaned. "You are insufferable."
Evolis flicked the pill into the air, catching it effortlessly before tucking it into his palm. "Alright," he said. "Let's find out how long this is gonna take."
Aeliana rolled her eyes. "A proper breakthrough requires a lot of preparation and a lot of time, Evolis."
He smirked. "How long does it usually take to breakthrough to the Advanced Rank?"
Orion looked at him with a narrowed gaze, "Oi kid, don't be getting any funny ideas, even I —an insanely talented and extremely handsome man— needed about 12 hours to breakthrough to the Advanced Stage. It's not some little barrier that you need to bypass."
Evolis looked at him, "Hmm it sounds like that's a challenge, what you say we bet on it?"
Orion contemplated for a bit and then nodded, as if to reassure himself that it really was impossible to not take less than 3 hours, "If you can do it in less than three hours, I'll call you grandpa for a week. But if you can't... hehehe you'll have to be my servant for the next week."
Evolis, who had a fearful look, shivered and pointed at Orion, "Y-you can do anything to my body!"
Orion's face darkened, "Just what stupid thoughts are going on in that head of yours." He cursed Evolis' last three generations in his mind.
"Then don't eat your words, and make sure you pay your respects to your grandfather when the time comes." Evolis had a smile on his face that if someone saw him they would think he had just found a million dollars on his front porch.
Orion looked like he just duped a baby in to giving him its candy.
Aeliana shook her head at the two's antics."Get comfortable," she advised. "This isn't going to be gentle."
Evolis grinned. "Wouldn't want it any other way."
And with that, the breakthrough began.
The air was heavy with anticipation. The shimmering Etherion-infused mist coiled around them like a living force, dense with unrefined energy. The cauldron's faint embers had dimmed, but the three High-Grade Origin 4 Pills pulsed with an inner radiance, their golden-silver glow reflecting the culmination of hours of painstaking effort.
Aeliana set the pills in a small, pristine jade case, sealing their refined essence from leaking into the air.
"This is it," she murmured, exhaling slowly.
Evolis rolled one of the pills between his fingers, feeling its compact weight, the sheer density of power within it. It wasn't just an alchemical creation. It was a condensed gateway to the next stage of cultivation.
Orion stretched lazily, cracking his knuckles as he leaned against a smooth boulder. "Alright, I know you two probably already know this, but let me break it down before you screw up and explode or something."
Aeliana rolled her eyes. "We're not idiots, Orion."
Evolis smirked. "I don't know, Aeliana, he sounds really concerned about us."
Orion ignored them both and gestured toward the Origin 4 Pill in Aeliana's palm. "So here's the deal. Breaking through to Advanced Stage isn't just about gobbling up energy and hoping for the best. Your body's Etherion flow needs to change, permanently."
Evolis tilted his head. "Change how?"
Orion grinned. "Your Etherion Core? That nice little sphere sitting in your dantian, acting like a storage unit? Yeah, it's too basic for real cultivation." He tapped his chest. "At Advanced Stage, your core needs to split in two. Think of it like upgrading from a single well to a dual-pump system—better energy circulation, more efficient control, and a hell of a lot more power at your disposal."
Aeliana nodded. "That's why Advanced Stage cultivators start refining their Etherion more effectively. Two cores mean you can process energy at twice the rate of someone at Novice Stage."
Orion pointed at her. "Exactly. And this is also where you start developing something like a… sixth sense."
Evolis raised an eyebrow. "A weaker version of Divine Sense, you mean?"
Orion gave a shrug. "More like an instinct, rather than a fully conscious ability. You won't be able to see everything like your fancy golden eyes let you, but you'll feel Etherion movements, react to them faster, predict attacks without even thinking."
Evolis hummed. If everyone at Advanced Stage unlocked this ability, that meant his Divine Sense was even more ridiculous in comparison. His perception would now be beyond anyone else's in his realm.
Aeliana folded her arms. "Of course, that's assuming you don't mess up the process."
Evolis grinned. "What, you think I'll fail?"
She ignored his smirk. "Splitting the core isn't easy, Evolis. If you rush it, your core could crack. And if that happens, it won't matter how strong you are—you'll cripple yourself permanently."
Orion clapped a hand on Evolis' shoulder. "No pressure, huh?"
Evolis shot him a flat look.
Aeliana continued. "The Origin 4 Pill will speed things up, but it won't do the work for you. You'll need to guide the energy, force the core to split naturally, and stabilize it before it collapses."
Orion leaned back with a smirk. "That's why most people lock themselves away for days when breaking through. This isn't something you can rush. Even for geniuses, it takes time."
"But for some reason you think you can do it in less than three hours."
Evolis grinned, "Just start practicing saying grandpa instead of Evolis in the meantime."
Evolis then got serious, as he really didn't want to be this stupid man's slave.
Aeliana exhaled, then lifted the pill to her lips.
Evolis followed suit.
---
Aeliana sat cross-legged, her silver eyes closed in deep focus as the Origin 4 Pill dissolved within her body.
A wave of pure, refined Etherion flooded through her system, expanding through her pathways, filling every fiber of her being with a power that demanded transformation.
Her Etherion Core trembled under the surge, forced to accommodate a greater level of refinement. Unlike Evolis, she already knew what to expect.
She didn't fight the process.
She guided it.
She felt her core pulsing, the steady rhythm growing erratic as the transformation began. It wasn't painful—not like she imagined it would be. Instead, it felt like something natural, something her body had been waiting for.
Her core shuddered, and then—
CRACK.
The smooth sphere of Etherion in her dantian fractured, splitting apart in perfect symmetry.
A second core formed instantly, stabilizing alongside the first, their energies weaving together in a seamless flow. The transition was flawless—like two rivers meeting at their source, merging and separating in a constant cycle of motion.
Her Etherion surged, circulating through her now dual-core system, flowing faster, refining itself naturally.
She could feel it.
Her Wind Affinity became more than just something she used—it was part of her, its movements as natural as breathing. The air around her responded without conscious effort, swirling at her command, no longer requiring active control.
And her mysterious Silver Affinity—that strange, elusive force—awakened further.
A pulse of energy spread through her veins.
She felt something instinctive, something primal, blooming within her mind.
She couldn't explain it—not yet—but it was there, lingering beneath the surface.
Aeliana inhaled sharply.
Her senses had changed.
She could feel the Etherion in the air—not just see or manipulate it, but perceive it in a way she never had before. It was an instinct, an awareness of the world's flow, of the power moving through all things.
Her refinement was complete.
She had broken through.
Her body thrummed with stability, her new power settling into place.
Advanced Stage.
Not Half-Step. Not on the cusp.
She had fully stepped into a new realm of strength.
Her control had sharpened. Her affinities had deepened.
This was what true progression felt like.
She opened her eyes.
Her silver irises flashed, their depths shimmering with newfound power.
Aeliana exhaled slowly. More refined. More stable. More powerful.
Not enough.
But close.
It seemed like she'd taken about 5 hours to finish her breakthrough as she checked the position of the sun.
She smirked to herself as she thought about how Evolis, the man who for some reason still hasn't made any further moves after their river incident, would react when he learnt how little time she needed.
She turned to him—
And froze.
---
[5 hours earlier]
The Origin 4 Pill dissolved on his tongue, and the world around Evolis detonated.
A tidal wave of raw, condensed Etherion crashed through his veins, scorching his pathways as it tore through his system like liquid fire. His core—his very center of power—began thrumming violently, drinking in the energy with an insatiable hunger.
His muscles tightened as his body rebelled against the sheer force of the transformation. It wasn't just power—it was too much power, compressed into a single moment, demanding evolution.
Then, the pain hit.
It wasn't just discomfort. It was agony.
His Etherion Core shuddered inside his lower dantian, the once-stable sphere of energy straining under the immense influx of force. It wasn't meant to contain this much. The pill was forcing it apart, commanding it to evolve—to ascend beyond what it had always been.
Evolis' hands dug into the ground as his entire being burned from the inside out. Every nerve felt like it was unraveling, every muscle locked in place, his body caught between destruction and rebirth. His heart pounded like a war drum, sending echoes of energy crashing through him.
This was it.
The threshold.
And he had to cross it.
Split.
The command thundered through his mind, an instinct that came from somewhere deeper than conscious thought.
His golden eyes flickered with energy as he summoned every ounce of willpower, forcing his mind inward, focusing entirely on the trembling core within his dantian.
It resisted.
Of course it resisted.
A single, solid sphere of condensed Etherion, the very foundation of his cultivation—it refused to break. It had been formed this way for a reason, and now he was commanding it to fracture?
The struggle between his will and his body's natural resistance reached its peak.
Then—
CRACK.
A sharp fissure tore through his core, and white-hot pain erupted through his body.
Evolis' vision blurred. His veins burned as if molten steel had been poured through them. His soul itself felt like it was splitting apart.
But he didn't stop.
The pain was meaningless.
This was his path.
CRACK.
The fissure widened.
His Etherion surged, and then—
BOOM.
The core tore itself in two.
A shockwave of energy exploded outward.
Evolis' lungs seized as a rush of new power flooded his body, like a second heart had just started beating inside him.
Everything was sharper.
His Etherion circulated faster, refined itself instantly. His energy doubled, expanding through him with perfect flow, no longer bottlenecked by a single point of failure.
His senses expanded.
His power evolved.
But something was wrong.
The transformation wasn't stopping.
Evolis' breath hitched.
His core didn't just settle into two halves.
His Etherion surged again—violently, uncontrollably—as his body demanded more.
No, no, no.
It wasn't over.
A new force awakened inside him, something deeper, something beyond the natural limit.
His two newly split cores trembled.
Then they started pulling apart again.
Evolis grit his teeth as another wave of indescribable pain ripped through his dantian.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
He had already split his core. That should have been the end of it.
But it wasn't.
His Etherion wasn't satisfied.
It was demanding another transformation.
The two cores started shifting—stretching further—breaking apart once more.
No one had ever done this.
There were no records, no texts, no knowledge of someone attempting to split their core again.
But Evolis wasn't normal.
His Novaris Energy flared violently within him, awakening for the second time since his awakening, it mixed with his energy and forcefully tore open the barrier which prevented him from splitting his cores again.
CRACK.
The two cores fractured again.
His entire body convulsed, his Etherion pathways screaming in protest, his soul threatening to rupture from the unbearable strain.
He was tearing himself apart.
But he endured.
His mind sharpened into a razor's edge, his willpower an unbreakable force.
He reached into the storm, commanding his energy, shaping the spiraling chaos into order.
The two cores finally separated—
And then a third core emerged, seamlessly stabilizing into a perfect trinity.
The Tri-Core System.
A perfect equilibrium.
As the last surge of pain faded, Evolis gasped—his entire body trembling.
He had done it.
Where there had once been a single core, there were now three, each one a pulsing source of raw power, forming a triangular circuit within him.
His energy flow was flawless.
His Etherion moved without resistance, circulating through his body with impossible smoothness.
No bottleneck. No inefficiency. No limitations.
The transformation was absolute.
And then—
BOOM.
His Divine Sense exploded outward.
Not 20 meters.
Not 50 meters.
A full 100 meters.
For the first time, he could see the world in absolute clarity.
Every pulse of Etherion. Every shift in energy. Every subtle movement of life.
It wasn't just perception.
It was control.
It was understanding.
And it was his.
[Congrarulations! You've ranked up!]
Evolis' golden eyes snapped open.
Light flared within them, his irises glowing like twin suns.
A overwhelming aura spread out from him, as the plants and trees around him started groaning, which he quickly controlled so as not to disturb Aeliana as he realised she was still busy breaking through.
He lifted a hand, watching the power coil at his fingertips—perfect, effortless, waiting to be unleashed.
Then he turned to look at Orion who's face was contorted as if he had just swallowed a mouthful of shit.
With a massive grin on his face he said, "Ah would you look at that, it's only been 2 and a half hours, you haven't forgotten our deal right Orion?"