Monster or Treasure
When a spirit root awakens, one can sense mana, and the circuits that channel it through the body open up. Mana cultivation methods are techniques that circulate the world's mana through these circuits, refining it according to the spirit root's nature and accumulating it in the dantian.
Awakening multiple spirit roots is rare, but having more doesn't necessarily mean it's better.
In a world where mastering even one path is difficult—especially the endless road of martial arts—too many side paths only slow your progress.
Even focusing solely on a single spirit root and pushing forward is daunting enough.
Of course, there are advantages. As mentioned, the range of choices widens, you sense mana more acutely and accumulate it faster with more roots, and the greater number of circuits allows for more flexible mana manipulation than with just one.
But.
Awakening multiple spirit roots expands your options, yet achieving mastery by fully utilizing them all is exceedingly difficult. That's why most with multiple roots pick the one that suits their taste or talent best, learn a matching cultivation method, and rely mainly on the advantage of rapid mana accumulation.
'Having so many circuits is actually quite dangerous.'
As one's realm advances, circuits open as needed. But if you're not at that level yet and your body is riddled with complex circuits, it only hinders mana operation. In the worst case, they could tangle like demonic mana addiction, leading to self-destruction.
A double-edged sword with pros and cons. Julius wasn't even sure himself what he truly expected from his grandson right now.
'Even just awakening a single lightning spirit root would have been fine. But multiple...'
The drawback of multiple spirit roots is that everyone says it's hard and grueling. But overcome that hardship, and you reap immense rewards. While others are bound to one attribute, you wield many; accumulate mana swiftly; manipulate it freely through complex circuits.
But was that truly possible?
'Too early to worry.'
Julius composed his expression and stared at the crystal. Multiple spirit roots was a guess, but exactly which or how many hadn't been confirmed.
Kiiing...!
A faint vibration stirred inside the crystal—not the gentle blue ripples Nelia had demonstrated, but a heavy, turbulent surge.
Pajijik!
The first to appear was a violet flash.
"Lightning...!"
Julius's eyes widened. His grandson hadn't parted from the thunder essence stone for five years, periodically consuming elixirs infused with lightning qi. Julius had sensed that lightning aptitude himself, so its emergence was natural.
This crystal—the spirit root resonator—held pure, concentrated mana. It resonated with the toucher’s spirit root, altering the mana within to match its nature.
In other words, it mirrored the spirit root's 'rank'. Kyle had merely placed his hand on it, yet the mana inside was roiling wildly.
'To agitate the mana this much...!'
Julius himself had touched the crystal at age ten. His lightning spirit root was of unparalleled rank among its kind, yet the lightning now surging in the crystal under Kyle's hand was no less potent.
Hwaruruk!
As the lightning faded, crimson flames flickered in its place—not mere sparks, but a massive blaze filling every crevice of the crystal.
"Flames..."
Julius clenched his fist unconsciously. Lightning and fire—both destructive attributes. Tricky to handle, but their power was undeniable.
Chaeng!
A sharp metallic ring pierced the roaring inferno's heart, as a blade of metal shredded the flames. In the void left behind, white ice crystals bloomed, melting swiftly into towering waves that a massive boulder then rose to block.
"Wha... what in the world..."
Arian, watching from behind, covered her mouth. She'd heard Kyle describe his dream, but couldn't picture it clearly. Now, gazing into the crystal, she instantly grasped how absurd that vision had been.
"My god..."
Nelia murmured, eyes wide. The crystal's interior was utter chaos. Dozens of attributes flickered in and out relentlessly.
The crystal began to vibrate. The mana inside couldn't keep up with the rapid, disordered changes.
Wuuuuu! Manas of clashing natures collided and mingled. Colors swirled into a vortex, birthing a bizarre hue defying definition.
Dull yet clear, dark yet blinding. The light churned, shaking the crystal.
"Chaos..."
Nelia groaned gravely. The roiling mana seemed stable at a glance, but was a powder keg ready to explode. This wasn't just many roots—each had sky-high rank. Their expanding density cracked the crystal's surface: jeejeek!
"Danger! Baby, pull your hand away!"
Nelia cried urgently, but Kyle didn't budge.
He couldn't.
'Huh.'
Kyle stared at the crystal with a peculiar expression. This wasn't his will. The newborn spirit roots in his body, the gaping void of a lower dantian in his abdomen—they greedily craved the crystal's mana. Complex circuits linked to the dantian snaked through his arm to his palm, clinging desperately.
'My own body, yet my will doesn't hold sway. What kind of nonsense is this?'
Unfamiliarity? Spirit roots and dantians still felt ridiculous. Records said spirit roots emerged in humans around 400 years ago, becoming near-universal 200 years ago.
Magic's popularization and mana familiarity had evolved humanity, but Kyle—from a world 500 years prior—questioned if these were truly the same species. The changes felt profound.
Jeejeek, jeejejeek...!
Cracks widened; mana overflowed—not dissipating into the Sword Apex Hall, but sucked into Kyle's palm.
Through it, he sensed his body's circuits: as intricate as nerves, yet not physical like the dantian—engraved on the soul, perhaps. Dizzingly complex, yet instinct and experience guided the mana along them.
This instinct wasn't ten-year-old Kyle's, but the Sword Ghost's from 500 years past. Thus, mana flowed not by this era's methods, but the Sword Ghost's memories.
"Kyle!"
The instant the overwhelmed crystal shattered, Arian screamed and lunged. Hwaaak! Wind spirits answered, enveloping him.
"How can he be so lovable?"
A soft voice reached him amid the gentle winds. Arian's contracted wind spirit—a massive bird with six wings spread wide—chuckled faintly.
"Arian's son... If I'd met you sooner, I might not have contracted with her..."
Regret dripped from the voice.
Kwaaang!
The crystal exploded. Julius's timely gesture quelled the mana storm; Nelia's barrier shielded Kyle beyond the wind wings.
"Kyle, are you okay?!"
Arian merged with the winds, hugging him tightly. In her embrace, Kyle's eyes sparkled. He was observing the events within his body.
The absorbed mana had crystallized in his heart. His lower dantian ached like being squeezed—the void howling for food.
'I get the gist.'
Kyle moved the mana as the Sword Ghost once had. From the heart crystal, it cycled through circuits to the lower dantian. As droplets filled it, the pain ebbed rapidly.
Circulating between heart and lower dantian, Kyle concluded.
It was like hunger. Not felt until a delicious scent wafts by, then a fierce craving grips the stomach.
This empty vessel had smelled mana's 'aroma'—tasted a bit. Now it clamored desperately.
"Hm."
Enough pondering. Kyle looked around. The shattered crystal dissolved into light particles without fragments; its mana vanished under Julius's intervention.
"Seems like it broke because of me."
Kyle scratched his head with an awkward smile.
"Was it expensive?"
Julius let out a hollow laugh at the nonchalant tone; Nelia sighed, shaking her head.
"Expens... yes, very. Of course it was."
A magic tool woven from multiple spells. Valuable in itself, but purifying the pristine, concentrated mana inside took ages. In simple terms, Kyle had just obliterated a castle's worth.
"But baby, is any tool worth more than a drop of your blood?"
Nelia gazed at him with dripping affection.
"I've managed the resonator for years, testing countless Alastor children's roots and potential. But... I've never seen anything like yours today."
"Nelia."
Julius spoke.
"What exactly is Kyle's spirit root?"
"Hard to say... You saw it too, family head."
"I did."
"What did you see?"
"Everything."
A tremor laced Julius's voice, unhideable.
"Not one or two elements. All of them. It was like..."
"The world itself."
Nelia nodded.
"No records of this. Even two roots are rare... a world-like spirit root."
"It wasn't harmonious."
"But it embraced all, seeming capable of anything. Chaos, perhaps..."
Julius and Nelia's gazes turned to Kyle.
"Incredibly dangerous, yet boundless potential dwells in that small body."
"..."
"He can learn any cultivation method, wield any sword art. If he desires lightning, aura becomes lightning; fire, then fire; ice, then ice. Or perhaps not bound to one form. If he can bear it."
"Absurd."
Julius chuckled dryly, shaking his head.
"Absurd. A chaos spirit root? Never heard of it in my life."
"Me neither. But we saw the resonator shatter from a child who just awakened today."
"Not just that."
Julius strode to Kyle.
"As the crystal cracked, its mana... got sucked into your hand."
"Yes."
"Answering so casually makes it sound intentional...?"
"Not quite intentional... it just happened."
Hard to admit it was past-life instinct. Julius chuckled again.
"What happened to that mana?"
"Hm..."
Kyle hesitated, then offered his hand.
"I don't really know either. Better if Grandpa judges."
In five years, Kyle had only grasped 5th-grade sword manuals from the grand library—to avoid bad habits before awakening.
But he suspected.
This era's martial arts began with lower dantian and circuits awakening alongside roots, but didn't end there. As achievement rose, the lower dantian grew; circuits multiplied.
'If there was only one, they'd just call it the dantian.'
Calling it lower implied more above. Kyle eyed Julius expectantly.
Julius couldn't read the sincerity in those eyes fully, but grasped the offered hand. Closing his, he sent his mana in.
"...!"
Julius's brows twitched.
'What... is this?'
Innumerable circuits, labyrinthine—unthinkable for a ten-year-old. More shocking: faint mana already flowed through them.
'Unbelievable...'
Guided instinctively to the dantian already? Without even a cultivation method?
'No, the mana... isn't in the dantian. It's elsewhere.'
Surely not. Julius swallowed, probing further.
Then another realization.
'It's pulling my mana. Like it wants to devour it.'
Julius controlled his perfectly, yet the grandson's greedy talent stunned him.
'My god.'
Where the mana formed a crystal after traversing the maze. Confirming it, Julius's eyes snapped open.
"The middle dantian is already open...?"
Kyle's eyes sparkled. As suspected—not just the lower.
"What's the middle dantian?"
He feigned innocence.
"The second dantian, near the heart."
Julius withdrew his mana carefully.
"You fully develop the lower first before opening the middle bit by bit. Yet yours... is already open."
This defied Julius's—no, the world's—common sense.
"Kyle."
Julius reached with trembling hand, gripping his shoulder.
"Remember what I said five years ago? That Arian bore a treasure with you."
"Yes."
"I take it back."
Julius's gaze wavered.
"What Arian bore wasn't a treasure... but a monster."
"Hm..."
Kyle blinked, then spoke.
"Calling your grandson a monster? Isn't that a bit harsh?"
"..."
Word choice was off on second thought.
"A treasure-like monster... no, a monster-like treasure."
Julius corrected himself.