With a calm breath and a cold smile, she did the unthinkable—she changed the flow. The mana she had been feeding into her dantian, into the growing core, she split in half—diverting half of it toward her heart.
From her left hand, mana surged inward, spiraling toward her heart like a blazing tide. From her right hand, it poured into the spinning core within her dantian.
It was like two rivers of molten light—one feeding her core, one flooding her heart.
She couldn't even breathe anymore. Her lungs were full of mana, her body trembling from pressure. She was no longer breathing air. She was breathing raw mana.
And she smiled.
It was working.
She created a small dot of condensed mana outside her heart—just like she had for the core.
The dot spun faintly.
And then… it stretched.
Slowly. Painfully. Carefully.
For hours, she sat in that state—forcing the mana around her heart to bend into a perfect loop. A thread. A strand of divine calculation. It felt like pulling a wire through solid stone, one millimeter at a time.
Her lips bled. Her nose dripped red onto the stone.
Her gloves sparked with raw demonic heat. The vampire orb, now return to its normal state its purplish hue now gone.
The mana in the area thinned drastically…
but it had already done its job.
And finally…
After endless, silent torment—her circle was an inch away from closing. Just a little more… and the loop would connect. A perfect ring.
She glanced inward, toward her core. It had expanded, now the size of a bowl, rotating furiously in her dantian, greedily devouring mana like a beast unleashed. Faster. Hungrier. Stronger.
Rie exhaled slowly, a long breath saturated with pure mana. If she stopped here, she would have both—a completed core and a nearly formed circle. That alone would have been enough for most.
Rie didn't have to continue.
There was no need to risk her life.
With this alone she can be considered genius born in a millennium.
A true prodigy
But she wasn't satisfied.
She wanted more.
She craved the power of corruption, the forbidden strength.
She yearned to walk the Path of the Soul, the most dangerous road a mortal could take.
A path that was buried in history, a power that led to the destruction of the ancient civilization
In her previous life, she had succeeded only by luck—barely grasping the soul path before fate took its toll. But this time, she was prepared. With enough knowledge, right method, and high rank artifact, she reduces the risk to a considerable level. It was all for this moment. And still, she knew her odds were slim.
But so what?
If she died today, she would die without regret. She had done everything she could. She would walk this path not because she must, but because she chose to. Because this time, she wanted to be free.
As if responding to her resolve, her circle pulsed—almost complete. Her core, too, surged with finality, teetering on the edge of breakthrough.
Rie smiled.
Then, from her ring, she drew a vial containing a single drop of dragon blood.
Just one drop.
But it was enough.
She placed it on her tongue and swallowed.
The moment the blood touched her throat; she stopped gathering mana. Instantly, her core slowed.
The circle paused. Every force inside her seemed to hold its breath, frozen in anticipation, as the dragon blood traveled down into her.
And then—
With a calm, steady exhale, Rie made her choice.
She shattered both the core and the circle.
BOOOOOOOM.