Ivara stood before them, arms crossed, eyes calm.
"To absorb a core," she said, "you don't need to do anything fancy. Just sit, hold it in your palm, and activate your Mark. The essence will flow into your body on its own."
She then looked at everyone present and said, "But, please do it slowly."
It sounded simple enough.
"Then, let's get it started," Cael said. He was too excited to level up.
Everyone sat down, crossing their legs and holding the cores with a kind of quiet reverence.
Raith looked at the blue core in his hand. It pulsed gently, like a slow heartbeat.
'Finally, I can become stronger.'
Beside him, Cael was already impatient.
"Here we go," he said.
He pressed his palm against his core and activated his Mark with a surge of confidence.
A second passed.
Then—"AHH!"
Cael screamed and dropped the core. He quickly pulled his hand back. It was burning. The core clattered to the ground.
Everyone flinched.
Cael grabbed his wrist, teeth clenched. "Damn it! That hurts!"
Ivara gave him a look. "I said absorb slowly. The core's energy isn't meant to be forced in all at once. This isn't a race."
Cael glared at the core on the floor like it had insulted him personally.
The others hadn't begun yet, but the sight of Cael's reaction gave them pause.
Raith glanced at his core once more. If the white core had caused Cael so much pain, how excruciating would his own be?
He was holding a mutated core, and Miss Ivara had mentioned that it contained wild energy. Naturally, it would be more painful.
His fingers tightened. He could not afford to feel afraid right now. He needed to prove to that golden-haired man that he was not weak.
Raith took a breath.
He needed to become stronger.
Not just for himself, but because something significant was happening in this Field. The ruins, the symbols, and the shift in reality beyond the 500-meter mark had to mean something.
And if he didn't grow strong enough, he'd never get the answers he needed.
Ivara's voice brought him back to reality. "Why are you looking at it like it might escape? Start now."
Raith nodded quietly.
He pressed the blue core into his palm and activated his Mark.
It responded instantly.
The Mark began to glow, and the core in his hand pulsed in sync. Essence flowed into him. It was not rushed or painful, but it felt like warm water flowing through his veins.
It was strange yet comforting.
'Why is this so good?'
The warmth started to move from the Mark to his core and spread throughout his body. He believed that this was how his core was refining the essence before absorbing it.
At the same time, something else happened. He didn't realize it at all.
Light began to glow from his body. At first, it was faint.
Then it deepened—a soft gold radiating from his skin like sunlight breaking through fog.
The others paused.
Liria opened her eyes. "What… is that?"
Even Ivara furrowed her brow. "I'm not sure. This is weird. This is not the color it is supposed to be."
She was worried that something might be wrong. However, despite her high level and rank as a Tuner, she could not sense anything amiss.
Everyone stared. They had seen each other glow when absorbing essence, usually white, sometimes tinted with elemental color like blue for Liria.
But this? This was gold.
It was vivid, beautiful, and wrong.
Cael blinked. "Why does Raith get everything?"
Everyone thought the same, but no one had an answer. They just kept watching.
Raith finished absorbing the essence without even knowing what had happened. He opened his eyes and was surprised.
Everyone, including Miss Ivara, was staring at him.
"Why are you guys staring?"
No one answered.
Then he looked at his hand.
The core was gone.
"Huh?" He blinked at his empty palm. "Where did it go?"
He looked at Ivara, unsure.
She was still trying to find the words. "If it's gone, it means… you've fully absorbed it."
Raith stared at his hand. "That was fast."
Ivara nodded. She was lost for words, too. That was way too fast, actually.
Liria tilted her head. "Did you level up?"
Raith paused. "How do I check?"
Cael snorted. "Look at your Mark, genius. It's right there on your palm."
Raith turned his hand over and looked at the bottom of the Mark.
The number still read: 01.
He frowned. "Still Level 1?"
He looked at Ivara again. "That… can't be right... right?"
He was unsure.
Ivara's expression tightened. "It should've gone up. The white core was more than enough to push everyone to at least Level 3. But..."
She paused before adding, "The blue monster core, the essence inside it... maybe even Level 5."
Raith's mind raced. "But I'm still stuck at Level 1. What is actually happening?"
He glanced at his Mark and murmured, "Did I do it wrong?"
There was no way for him to make a mistake in absorbing the core. It was too straightforward, and he could feel the essence circulating in his body.
Then it hit him.
The golden glow of his Mark. There was no Mark with a golden glow. He believed that it might have something to do with that.
He wanted to ask. He really did. But something told him to keep quiet.
He closed his hand.
Then, without waiting or asking, he took the red core and activated his Mark again.
"Wait, Raith!" Ivara called out.
Raith was troubled by not having leveled up and wanted to test something. He couldn't hear his Warden calling him.
Besides, the process had already started. There was no way Ivara would interrupt him.
Once again, the golden light returned, brighter this time.
He shut his eyes, riding out the warmth. It took longer, and he could feel the essence was stronger. But the process still didn't hurt.
When he opened his eyes, he looked down at his Mark.
Still 01.
"This can't be right," he muttered. "Still the same."
He showed it to everyone. Now they were truly stunned.
Even Ivara didn't speak right away.
Then, she asked, "Does your body feel different?"
Raith stood slowly. He moved his arms and rolled his shoulders.
"Yeah," he said. "Stronger. Way stronger. Even without using Force."
He wasn't lying.
His whole body felt lighter yet more solid, as if every muscle had been refined and tuned. He couldn't see it, but his posture had also changed; it was sharper and more grounded.
Even his face had subtly shifted, but nobody noticed because it was covered in dirt and blood.
Ivara narrowed her eyes. "Hand me your measuring disk."
She quickly took it from him and scanned him. Her eyebrows lifted in surprise.
"Your stats are all perfectly balanced. Strength, Speed, Endurance… all at 50 points. And your Flux? 1500 points."
That drew a collective gasp.
"That's like five times my Strength and..." Demitri looked at his disk. "My Flux is 230..."
Cael glanced at his—still grumpy, but now stunned. "I'm at 250."
Raith blinked. "Is that… high?"
"For Level 1?" Ivara said. "It's unheard of."
She shook her head. "I don't know how, but it looks like your body doesn't level up normally. It takes in the essence, but it doesn't work in the way it should."
"So what does that mean?" Raith asked.
Ivara crossed her arms. "It means you'll probably level up much slower than the others… but physically, you're already at the level of someone far above you."
Cael smirked. "He's stuck. Good."
Liria cut him off. "No. His physical attributes were already comparable to Level 5 Tuners. That means..."
She raised her head and met Raith's eyes. "At that same level, he was invincible."
That silenced Cael completely.
Raith, who had been feeling down a moment ago, felt a spark of pride.
He looked at his hands again.
If this was the cost… then maybe it was worth it.
Ivara clapped her hands. "Alright. Enough. We've wasted too much time here already."
She turned to the rest. "Continue your absorption. Finish in the next two hours. After that, we move deeper."
Everyone nodded and returned to their cores.
Except Raith. He had absorbed all the cores given to him.
He sat, still stunned. The golden glow had faded.
Yet another feeling lingered. He sensed his Force eager to be unleashed.
Unbeknownst to him, in the far distance of Shatterveil, a ripple began to move.
Unseen. Unfelt. But definitely… alive.
Something had noticed him.
Something old.
Something waiting.