Regaleon: The Forgotten Knight

Fortunately, the group had access to a tremendous source of Aether in the form of the Essence Pool, providing them with more than enough energy for the next stage of their breakthrough.

Had they been any other unfortunate practitioners, they would have been forced to rely on Aether Cores harvested from Animas, creatures powerful enough that hunting them frequently would have been tantamount to courting death; or, worse still, the pitifully meagre amount of ambient Aether lingering within the atmosphere of the Nether Lands.

Thankfully, neither dreadful scenario had come to pass.

Had they been forced to rely upon Aether Cores, who knew how long it would have taken them to accumulate enough energy? Months? Years? Perhaps even longer. And that would have required an enormous expenditure of time, effort, blood, and sweat. In the worst-case scenario, it might even have cost them a few lives.

That was no exaggeration.

As for relying solely upon the ambient Aether of the Nether Lands, that would perhaps have been the most excruciatingly protracted method imaginable. Only Aetherium knew how long it would take them to gather enough energy merely to awaken a single dormant vein.

But thankfully, neither scenario had come to pass.

The Essence Pool was here. And it contained more than enough Aether to facilitate their breakthrough.

Veyrath floated within the pool in a lotus position, his legs crossed beneath him, his eyes tightly shut and his breathing slow and measured.

His aura was surprisingly tranquil.

Anyone seeing him now would have found it difficult to associate this serene figure with the failed Alchemist’s usual eccentricity, erraticism, flamboyance, and absent-mindedness. The youth who could spend hours rambling about obscure alchemical theories or suddenly become fascinated by some completely irrelevant detail was nowhere to be found.

Yet even if Veyrath had somehow been capable of caring about how others perceived him at this moment, it would have made no difference.

This is because he simply had no conscious awareness of the world around him as his entire mind had narrowed to a single objective, finding his dormant Aether Veins.

As an Alchemist, there was one particular location where Veyrath’s Secondary Aether Veins were especially likely to exist. His lungs.

Although the location of Secondary Aether Veins varied from individual to individual, that did not mean their placement was completely arbitrary.

For several millennia, scholars and cultivators had wondered whether the location of a practitioner’s Aether Veins could be predicted. Through countless experiments, observations, and exhaustive research, they eventually reached a fascinating conclusion.

The location of an individual’s Aether Veins was closely associated with their Soul Essence and the cultivation path they had chosen. In other words, one’s path influenced the very architecture of one’s body.

For Veyrath, whose Soul Essence was intrinsically connected to Alchemy, the presence of his Secondary Veins within his lungs was hardly surprising.

The lungs were already regarded as one of the body’s prime organs for Aether absorption, second only to the heart in importance.

Every breath an individual took provided an opportunity for Aether to enter the body through the nose and mouth. From there, the energy could be refined and circulated through the lungs before being distributed throughout the rest of the body.

This particular physiological affinity was precisely why the lungs were regarded as one of the Prime Organs of cultivation. Yet this tremendous advantage came with an equally tremendous disadvantage.

Locating Aether Veins within the lungs was notoriously difficult and it was almost comparable to attempting to ascend the heavens with one’s bare hands.

One wrong movement, or one careless fluctuation, or simply one improperly channelled stream of Aether and any of those could result in Essence Deviation.

And that was perhaps the gentlest consequence.

If Veyrath accidentally damaged his lungs or punctured his diaphragm during the process, then his fate would be all but sealed.

For that reason, despite knowing that his Secondary Veins were almost certainly located within one of the body’s most important organs, Veyrath proceeded with extraordinary caution.

He did not immediately reach for the dormant veins. Instead, he began with what Aelric had instructed them to do, mapping the Primary Aether Veins.

Veyrath directed his consciousness inward.

The world outside gradually disappeared; te crystalline cavern, the Essence Pool, the other six cultivators, and even the sensation of his own physical body.

All of it became distant.

Within the darkness of his inner perception, a faint network gradually emerged. It was almost like looking at a constellation scattered across an endless night.

These were his Primary Aether Veins.

They originated around his heart before extending outward through carefully defined pathways, carrying the refined energy throughout his body.

Veyrath studied them carefully. He made sure to memorize their positions, connections, intersections and their points of convergence. Only after he had completely mapped the network did he proceed to the next step which was strengthening them.

And that was easier said than done.

Because, ironically, the very thing that had provided them with the perfect environment for cultivation was also the greatest hazard they had to contend with; the Essence Pool.

The energy contained within it was simply too potent. It was too concentrated and too volatile and if Veyrath were to become impatient and attempted to draw too much of it into his body at once, then his carefully constructed pathway could collapse before he even realized what was happening.

Therefore, he had to exercise absolute restraint.

He began by drawing in the smallest possible amount.

At first, nothing happened. Then... There was a ripple as the surface of the Essence Pool around Veyrath trembled.

A faint disturbance spread outward from his body and another ripple followed. Then another...

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, a strange mist began rising from the water around him. But unlike the luminous mist permeating the cavern, this one was different.

It possessed no brilliant colour, no shimmering radiance, and no obvious physical density; also, it was almost completely translucent. Indeed, if one did not look closely, it would have been nearly indistinguishable from ordinary air.

Yet it wasn’t air. Rather, it was Aether; pure, condensed Aether drawn directly from the depths of the pool. It seemed almost weightless, existing on some ethereal plane between substance and nothingness.

The mist rose slowly, like the tentacles of some eldritch horror rising from the depth. At first, it moved without direction, drifting aimlessly like tendrils of smoke. Then it stopped.

Almost as though an invisible hand had seized it, the translucent mist abruptly changed direction before it began drifting toward Veyrath. It moved closer until...

WHOOSH!

It vanished into his body.

Veyrath’s expression remained unchanged. Yet beneath his closed eyelids, his eyes trembled slightly and a faint sheen of sweat even appeared across his forehead.

The amount of Essence he had drawn in was minuscule. But controlling it had required an astonishing degree of concentration. And that was only the beginning.

The Aether entered his body and immediately began moving toward his heart. Veyrath carefully guided it, slowly and deliberately; one fraction at a time.

The energy flowed through his body like a river being guided through an unfamiliar channel.

Too quickly, and the channel would rupture; too slowly, and the energy would dissipate. So Veyrath ensured that delicate balance was maintained between the two.

Eventually, the first strand of Aether reached his heart. The moment it came into contact with his Primary Aether Veins...

BOOM!

It was not an explosion; not outwardly, at least. But within Veyrath’s perception, it felt as though a thunderclap had erupted inside his chest.

His entire consciousness trembled, his mind reeling so violently as if he has just being blasted by a wave of vertigo. Even his Primary Aether Veins quivered beneath the pressure.

Veyrath immediately halted the influx. Surprisingly, the failed Alchemist did not panic. Rather, he simply waited for the Aether to gradually settle.

Only when the disturbance had completely subsided did he continue, drawing in another strand; then another...

Little by little, his Primary Aether Veins began absorbing the Essence. They expanded and srengthened with their previously faint outlines gradually becoming clearer and more substantial.

And as Veyrath continued his painstaking work, the ripples around him became more frequent.

What had initially been little more than occasional disturbances on the surface of the pool gradually transformed into rhythmic oscillations, almost like the beating of an enormous invisible heart.

RIPPLE!!!

However, the phenomenon wasn’t occurring around Veyrath alone.

Across the vast Essence Pool, the other six cultivators were undergoing the same process.

Each sat in the same meditative posture, their bodies motionless while their consciousnesses descended deep within themselves. Each was exerting a subtle influence upon the pool, and gradually, the Aether responded.

Wisps of translucent mist began rising from the surface. At first it was one... Then another... And then several at once...

Soon, the entire pool seemed to breathe.

The mist no longer resembled the thin tendrils that had surrounded Veyrath earlier. Instead, they rose in broad, flowing sheets resembling curtains of invisible Essence.

They swayed gently above the surface, flickering in and out of perception as though reality itself struggled to decide whether they truly existed.

For several moments, they drifted aimlessly.

Then, without warning, each curtain seemed to find its destination as they moved toward the seven cultivators.

One after another, the translucent curtains converged upon their bodies. And then, they disappeared straight into them...