Chapter 243: The First Ring!

[Hi.]

Vaelith’s monotonous voice echoed softly through the space.

Sophie’s head snapped up. Her gaze locked onto the hovering Diamond Core.

She recognized that voice immediately.

It was the same one. The one that had spoken to her two weeks ago, when Bruce had vanished right in front of her. The one that had reassured her that he was alive. That he was safe.

Her lips curved into a gentle smile as understanding dawned fully.

So this was it.

The guardian of the world.

And Bruce. The fact Bruce already knew and was interacting with it. It didn’t surprise her.

If anything, it explained everything. His strength. His growth. The way he always seemed one step ahead of impossible odds.

Standing there, bathed in the glow of Velmora’s core, Sophie felt something else too, a quiet realization she didn’t dwell on. Her own strength had been rising rapidly as well. Faster than she’d ever expected.

She looked back at Bruce, eyes shining, not with doubt, but with trust.

Whatever came next…

She was ready.

… Whatever came next, she was ready.

Sophie lowered herself to the floor without hesitation, movements smooth and deliberate as she settled into a seated position. Her back straightened naturally, shoulders relaxed, presence folding inward as if the world around her had quietly stepped back.

“Give me a moment,” she murmured, voice soft but steady. “I need to clear my mind.”

Bruce nodded, already feeling the shift.

Almost immediately, her breathing changed. It slowed, lengthened, fell into a precise rhythm that carried none of the unevenness of ordinary respiration. Each inhale was measured. Each exhale controlled. It wasn’t simply calm breathing. It was a technique, one honed to strip away distraction, emotion, and stray thought until only clarity remained. Bruce watched her in silence, interest flickering through his focus.

’Interesting.’

When he had formed his own Mana Core, he’d relied on raw willpower alone, gritting his way through instability, forcing his mind into stillness by sheer dominance. With a technique like this, the process would have been smoother, cleaner, almost effortless. But that difference made sense. This was Sophie, an heir of an ancient great family. Preparatory techniques like these were not luxuries to her lineage. They were fundamentals.

He didn’t disturb her. Instead, Bruce turned inward and began his own preparations.

He inhaled gently, drawing in the ambient mana of the region, then released it again moments later. To anyone else, the action would have seemed pointless, almost absentminded. But Bruce’s focus was sharp, deliberate. He wasn’t cultivating. He was shaping the environment.

This time, his plan was risky. Subtle. Almost audacious.

He intended to fool the system, perhaps even the Akashic itself.

If it worked, Sophie’s advancement wouldn’t merely succeed. It would be better. Stronger. Cleaner in a way most cultivators would never experience.

Bruce drew the mana in again.

The Core of Velmora was directly linked to the core of all worlds, which in turn resonated with the core of the universe itself. Through Vaelith, Bruce was effectively touching an infinite reserve. Technically, none of this mana belonged to him. It was Vaelith’s. But Bruce passed it through himself anyway.

Again. And again.

With each cycle, Vaelith’s natural signature was stripped away and replaced by Bruce’s own, his unique, heal-aligned mana imprint. Absorb. Release. Repeat. Slowly, subtly, the region began to change. The mana itself grew warmer, steadier, resonant with his presence, until the air around them felt unmistakably like him.

Why was he doing this?

The answer was complicated.

But the outcome would matter.

Time passed in quiet synchrony, two different preparations unfolding side by side. Sophie remained immersed in her breathing technique, mind sinking deeper into stillness, while Bruce worked with patience and precision, reshaping the invisible fabric of the environment.

After a while, he spoke softly. “Try not to get shocked,” he said calmly. “No matter what happens here, don’t lose focus.”

Sophie didn’t respond, but Bruce knew she heard him. Her mind was already crossing into that absolute state of clarity. Acknowledging him now would only disrupt it.

He raised his palm toward her.

“Heal.”

The effect was immediate.

Sophie’s senses expanded as if a veil had been torn away. Her body opened to the world on a microscopic level, mana veins subtly reconstructed, optimized not through force, but perfect alignment. The mana in the air rushed into her awareness, vivid and overwhelming, no longer distant or abstract but intimate and alive.

And it felt different.

Warm. Familiar. Resonant.

Bruce’s signature.

A surge of euphoria rose sharply, shock flaring in her heart as understanding struck, but Sophie did not panic. She did not cling to the sensation. She acknowledged it, then let it go. One breath. Then another. Her heartbeat slowed, mind returning to stillness as the emotion dissolved, leaving only calm behind.

At the same moment, a notification surfaced before Bruce’s eyes.

[You’ve used Heal on your target: Sophie.]

[Mana Core efficiency boosted.]

[Mana regeneration increased by an additional 100%.]

Bruce nodded faintly. He could push further, but that would be reckless. She wasn’t him. With the ambient mana already amplifying regeneration by over a thousand percent, anything more would flood her system, strain her mana veins, and shatter her control. This was enough.

He returned to his task, continuing to cycle mana through himself, steadily saturating the region with his own imprint.

Then Sophie began absorbing.

With her SSS-class foundation, her mana pool was actually smaller than Bruce’s had been when he first formed his core, before infinite mana entered the equation. As a result, her internal reserves drained rapidly as the process began. But she didn’t falter. Her breathing technique held her mind razor-sharp, her heart steady as glass.

She split her focus cleanly.

One part of her consciousness drew mana from the environment, pulling it inward in controlled streams. The other guided her internal mana, compressing it, refining it, transforming raw energy into a liquid state. Slowly. Carefully. No haste. No force.

At her center, the mana converged.

Pressure mounted.

Then structure followed.

The outline of her first Mana Ring began to take shape.

And through it all, Sophie remained perfectly calm as she guided it into existence.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep