=== BARRIER TIME ELAPSED: 1 DAY... ===
From the initial burst of primordial mana that infused itself into my very soul out of its own volition, my body began reforming—a process that I knew would normally take a while, but this made things significantly easier.
As my consciousness drifted in and out of awareness, I could feel the changes taking place. The reconstruction was both meticulous and rapid, as if the primordial mana had a perfect blueprint of what I should be. Each cell, each fiber, each neural pathway was being remade with precision that defied conventional understanding.
Primordial mana was a type of mana that was dangerous, volatile, and to most beings across existence, poisonous because of its potency. Even the nova primordial beings called themselves such only because they had surface-level control of said mana, merely being able to store, break down, and control it with the help of specialized nova cores.
For me, however, things were completely and crazily dangerous.
To understand the amount and level of risk I was facing, one needed to understand primordial mana. What was it exactly? From what I'd been taught, it was the energy that made existence itself. It was the energy that even controlled and fueled the timeline itself, thus it was the energy many powerful beings sought to understand at the deepest level they could.
The cave around me had transformed into what could only be described as a nexus of raw power. The previously crystalline walls now pulsed with veins of liquid light that seemed to pump energy into the chamber like a massive heart. The air itself had become thick with potential, each molecule vibrating at frequencies that would have shattered ordinary matter. The pool at the center had transformed into what appeared to be a miniature galaxy, swirling with concentrated mana that bent light around it, creating distortions in visual perception.
For a mortal coming into contact with such energy posed a risk of existential destruction—they would immediately vaporize, and their soul would be erased, not even having a chance at reincarnation whatsoever, since coming into contact with such energy affected not only one's physical body but their actual source of existence, their soul. And this was not only applicable to mortals in the mortal plane; it was a similar case for beings in the immortal plane, dimensions, as well as the very gods that many, if not all, knew. In short, it was a type of energy that could exclusively be used by those at the very top of the hierarchy of existence.
'And now? I actually have control over it,' I thought with a chuckle as I kept my soul senses active, not even daring to try to pay attention to my reforming body.
The sensation was indescribable—like holding a star in the palm of my hand, feeling its immense heat and power but somehow not being consumed by it. The primordial mana responded to my will, flowing through and around me like water finding its level, yet with an intelligence and purpose that suggested it was more than mere energy.
Since my core was now re-generating, it was time to begin solving the core problem...
'Primordial mana fission and fusion... I really hope I survive,' I thought as I glanced below me with my senses to observe my now-forming and compartmentalized core filled with quite the abundant primordial mana.
My core resembled nothing like the conventional cores I'd learned about. Instead of a simple orb or sphere of energy, it was developing into something more akin to a complex machine—a reactor with chambers, channels, and mechanisms that would facilitate the processes I was about to attempt. The outer shell was forming from compressed primordial mana, creating a barrier that glowed with intensity that would have blinded physical eyes.
For me to achieve the concept of having an almost endless amount of energy, I needed to use my soul senses and now-developed mana senses, since my core was forming itself to completion with its outer shell made of compressed primordial mana.
The next step was perhaps the most audacious ever attempted by any being in the history of existence—not because others lacked the imagination, but because they possessed the wisdom to fear what I was about to do.
With careful precision, just like how I had reached out to the primordial mana in the formation above and below me, I did the same to the primordial mana surrounding me, reaching out to it and 'grabbing' a single particle.
The particle itself was a marvel—not truly a particle in any conventional sense, but a condensed point of pure potential. Under my soul's perception, it appeared as a minute star, pulsing with inner multicolored light and trailing wisps of energy as it moved. Its surface wasn't smooth but fractally complex, patterns within patterns that seemed to shift and change even as I observed them.
What I was attempting was the most dangerous task in the whole of existence, since, if even the strongest of beings would catch wind of what I was attempting in not even a controlled environment... well... even such beings would be afraid of my craziness.
Unlucky for them, they were not me with some trump cards.
With the knowledge of formations from one of my variants, I formed a string of thought and sent it to Codex, who then, promptly understanding the situation, set up another inner formation overlapping with the first one that was containing my soul and providing me with a stable channel of primordial mana.
This new formation materialized as intricate patterns of light that seemed to fold into dimensions beyond the three I was accustomed to. Symbols and runes from languages long dead or yet to be born flowed together, creating a network of channels and safeguards that would—hopefully—contain what I was about to unleash.
Using my senses and seeing that it was set up properly, with the primordial mana particle in my 'grasp,' I simply tugged it from different sides, wanting to 'split' it in order to achieve a simpler type of fission.
The resistance was immense—like trying to tear a diamond apart with bare hands. The particle resisted, its internal forces fighting against my will with the strength of fundamental laws of reality. Yet I persisted, applying not physical force but the power of my undivided soul, focusing my intent like a lens concentrating sunlight until it could burn through anything.
At the same time, I 'grabbed' two more particles in the same manner and brought them closer and closer to each other.
These particles repelled each other naturally, like magnets of the same polarity forced together. The closer they came, the stronger the resistance grew, until it felt like trying to push planets together with nothing but sheer will. The energy required to overcome this resistance was staggering, drawing deeply from my soul's reserves.
The resistance I faced was immense. The feeling, however...
Quite literally blew apart whatever form of body I had begun recovering.
The explosion wasn't physical—there was no sound, no flash of light, no shockwave of air. Instead, it was a catastrophic release of pure energy that shredded through my reconstructing form like tissue paper in a hurricane. My partially reformed body, still more concept than reality, was vaporized in an instant, scattered back into the primordial soup from which it had been emerging.
The pain?
'Fuck... fuck... FFUUUUUUUCCKKKKK...' I thought in utter horror and pain.
It was awful, painful, and honestly, I was even wondering what was the purpose of everything I was trying to achieve. The agony transcended physical experience, reaching into realms of suffering I hadn't known existed. It wasn't merely the pain of a body breaking—it was the pain of existence itself rebelling against what I was attempting, fundamental forces crying out in protest as I violated their most basic principles.
But nonetheless, I held on.
I used the pain to stay awake since it was the only way I and my variants realized I could survive. Each wave of agony became a focus point, a reminder that I was still conscious, still existing despite the forces arrayed against me. I embraced the pain, channeled it, used it as fuel for my determination.
I held on and finally...
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!
An explosion set off.
The detonation wasn't merely energetic—it was conceptual, a rupture in the fabric of reality itself. The very laws that governed existence seemed to waver and distort around the point where I had forced the impossible to happen. Space and time buckled, dimensions blurred, and for a brief, terrifying moment, the boundary between what was real and what was possible became meaningless.
Whatever body and new core I had? Vaporized.
My soul? Shaken to its core and scorched.
The pain I thought would be dulled when in my soul form returned full force and multiplied exponentially by more than a factor of a thousand times. It was no longer merely agony—it was transcendent suffering, pain so absolute that it became a universe unto itself, with me trapped at its center.
'THOSE FUCKING BASTARDS OF ME BETTER MAKE SURE THIS FORMATION WORKS!!!' I yelled to no one in particular, hoping and wishing that everything would simply end quickly.
I even wanted to end my life, honestly, with what pain I was experiencing. Each moment stretched into eternity, each second an age of torment as primordial energies raged through and around what remained of my essence. If there had been any way to simply cease existing, to escape the crucible I had willingly entered, I might have taken it.
My wishes from my insistent and inner screaming were, however, fulfilled.
The formation details I had learned and sent to Codex to deploy were as such: since I was playing the most dangerous experiment of all times, and that inside not even a nova primordial body and merely inside the mortal realm in mortal environs, said experiment could quite literally evaporate the entire universe I was in, considering the actions I was taking.
The split and fusion of the primordial mana particles I had begun with was successful, but with it came the release of so much fucking energy that exploded from within. This energy then began a chain reaction almost immediately after, where the force from splitting and fusion collided with other primordial particles and began a sequence of events that even a nova primordial and even the very civilization out to hunt me would be afraid of to the very depths of their souls.
The chain reaction manifested as a cascade of light—not visible light but something more fundamental, energy so pure and raw that it existed beyond conventional spectrums. It started at the point where I had split the particle, spreading outward in fractal patterns that grew exponentially more complex with each passing microsecond. The energy didn't just move through space but warped it, creating ripples in reality that spread outward like stones dropped in a still pond.
Yes, in short, I was turning myself into a volatile and dangerous being.
Ideally, by now, the universe I was in and the surrounding ones in this sector of the multiverse would have vaporized, but the formation set out came in handy.
For such a release of energy (with this energy actually being newly birthed and weakly but fast-growing primordial mana particles) compounding and contributing to the reaction, a special containment was necessary.
The Container Core formation created a bubble of altered reality around the reaction—a space where normal physical laws were suspended and replaced with parameters specifically designed to contain and channel the energies being released. From within, it appeared as a spherical boundary that shimmered with its own inner light, pulsing as it absorbed and redirected the forces trying to escape.
This type of mana fusion and fission was completely different from what was done by the humans of Earth. And with this, it needed a proper container on two levels:
The first being the core.
The second being my body.
And as such, the second formation I had sent to Codex to form called The Container Core was supposed to be the enclosure of whatever reaction was happening at the current moment.
As it was currently, my soul form, that was still being scorched by the energy being released and compounding on my pain, was in the direct ground zero and middle of it all.
The reactivity and exponential process I had just begun? It was growing and growing fast.
The energies swirled and condensed, creating a miniature version of creation itself within the confines of the formation. Matter and energy blurred, time dilated, and space folded in ways that should have been impossible. At the heart of this chaos was my soul, bathed in energies that should have annihilated it instantly but instead were being forced to conform to a new pattern—my pattern.
It was then that the Container Core formation activated in full since it in itself needed massive and vast energy to work at 100%.
The formation began to glow with an intensity that defied description, symbols and runes burning so brightly they seemed to be etched into reality itself rather than merely manifesting within it. The energy it drew from the ongoing reaction fed back into its systems, strengthening its boundaries, reinforcing its parameters, ensuring that what was happening within could not escape to devastate the world beyond.
As for its actual function? Well, from what I could see, the formation rose up from where it had been deployed and began shrinking in size alongside the reaction that was continuing along... and with me at the center, we were both enclosed with...
A big bang.
BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM...
The explosion wasn't outward but inward, a collapse rather than an expansion. All the unimaginable energies, all the reality-warping forces, condensed toward a single point—toward me. The energy within the formation didn't expand to form a universe as what would have happened normally; instead, it imploded, funneling all its power, all its potential, directly into the space where my core would form, maintaining its state.
In that moment of supreme compression, of ultimate density, something new was born. Not merely a core, not simply a vessel for power, but a self-sustaining system—a reactor that would continue the processes I had initiated in perpetuity, generating limitless energy from the very fabric of existence itself.
And I? I simply lost consciousness, well, I was mostly allowed to...
My awareness flickered like a candle in a hurricane, overwhelmed by the forces I had unleashed. The last thing I perceived before darkness claimed me was a sense of completion—of a process set in motion that would continue without my conscious guidance, of changes too fundamental to be reversed.
I had succeeded, but at what cost? That was a question for when—or if—I awakened.