Regaleon: The Forgotten Knight

In the meantime, the seven of them had already sunk deeply into their cultivation.

Their eyes were closed, their bodies remained motionless beneath the surface of the Essence Pool, and their breathing had gradually settled into a slow, rhythmic cadence. The crystalline radiance surrounding them seemed to have faded from their awareness entirely. So too had the cavern, Aelric, Sylveris, the distant threat of the Animas, and everything else that had occupied their thoughts only moments ago.

At this stage, nothing else mattered. And their sole preoccupation was becoming Etheryeans.

Yet despite the relative ease with which Aelric had described the process, the truth remained that the breakthrough was nowhere near as straightforward as the green-eyed youth had made it sound.

Linguistically, the difference between an Awakener and an Etheryean appeared rather insignificant. The two titles merely described practitioners standing at consecutive stages of cultivation. Even when viewed from the perspective of cultivation itself, the distance between the Awakening Realm and the Initial Stage of the Etheryean Realm seemed deceptively small.

In reality, however, the distance between the two was anything but small. Instead, it was a gulf; a chasm that countless practitioners spent their entire lives attempting to cross, only to perish or grow old without ever reaching the other side.

Most Awakeners never became Etheryeans.

Some lacked the necessary talent. Others possessed insufficient resources. Some damaged their foundations during their attempts, while others simply lacked the understanding required to navigate the perilous transition.

And then there were those who possessed everything they needed yet still failed because of the myriad of unpredictable factors surrounding a breakthrough.

Fortunately for the seven Awakeners, they already possessed something most practitioners could only dream of.

Guidance; they had Aelric and their experiences to call from. And more importantly, they had the Essence Pool, a whole source of Aether to pull from during their cultivation. So, there really was nothing else to worry about in terms of guidance and resources. The only thing left to do now is breaking through.

The Rank One Etheryean Realm was the foundational realm of cultivation; in other words, the stage that truly allowed a practitioner to be considered a cultivator.

It was also known as the Flesh Artificing Realm and Etheryeans at this Realm are called Flesh Artificers.

This was the realm in which an individual began absorbing ambient Aether into their body and using that extraordinary energy to gradually strengthen themselves beyond the limitations of ordinary mortals.

At the Awakening Realm, an individual’s body was still fundamentally mortal. Although their Soul Essence had awakened and granted them access to Aether, their physical vessel remained imperfect.

Their bodies were riddled with blocked pathways, dormant Aether Veins, impurities and countless other limitations that prevented them from utilizing Aether to its fullest potential.

The purpose of the Rank One Etheryean Realm was therefore simple. Transform the body; turn an imperfect mortal vessel into a proper conduit capable of containing, circulating and manipulating increasingly vast quantities of Aether.

Like every other major rank within the Etheryean Realm, Rank One was divided into three stages.

The Initial Stage, also known as the Vein Awakening Stage.

The Middle Stage, known as the Blood Refining Stage.

And finally, the Final Stage, known as the Body Forging Stage.

The latter two were considerably more arduous and painful, involving increasingly profound transformations of the practitioner’s body.

To become a fully fledged Rank One Etheryean, an Awakener had to pass through all three.

But that was not something accomplished during a single cultivation session nor could it be achieved through one breakthrough.

Each stage represented a major transformation and required its own accumulation, refinement and subsequent breakthrough.

For that reason, after an Awakening Ceremony, most Awakeners did not concern themselves with becoming full-fledged Rank One Etheryeans immediately.

Instead, their immediate objective was much simpler. To break through into the Initial Stage, the Vein Awakening Stage and become Vein Awakeners.

As its name suggested, the Vein Awakening Stage revolved around the discovery and awakening of the dormant Aether Veins hidden throughout the body.

In some ways, it could be considered an extension of the Awakening Realm itself.

After awakening their Soul Essence, practitioners naturally awakened their first set of Aether Veins. These were known as the Primary Aether Veins.

They allowed an Awakener to absorb and store Aether within their bodies, thereby providing them with the foundation necessary to manipulate their newfound power.

However, the process remained incomplete as the Primary Veins were merely the beginning.

For the body to truly become a vessel capable of supporting Etheryean cultivation, the remaining dormant Aether Veins had to be discovered, awakened and reinforced.

And that was where the true difficulty began.

On the surface, there appeared to be little difference between an Awakener and someone who had just entered the Initial Stage of Rank One.

In reality, the difference was enormous.

A Rank One Etheryean possessed a vastly greater capacity for storing Aether. Their body could continuously draw in, circulate and retain quantities of energy that would overwhelm an ordinary Awakener.

In a prolonged confrontation between practitioners of comparable strength, Aether reserves could very easily determine the victor.

A person might possess a powerful Soul Essence and formidable Essence Runes, but once their Aether reserves were exhausted, those advantages became considerably less meaningful.

Thus, the first and most important step toward becoming an Etheryean was the awakening of the dormant Aether Veins.

This was precisely where countless Awakeners failed.

Aether Veins were, as their name suggested, almost invisible pathways responsible for absorbing, transporting and distributing Aether throughout the body.

Their function was somewhat analogous to the veins of the human circulatory system. But the difference was that instead of blood, they carried Aether.

Yet unlike ordinary veins, Aether Veins did not exist uniformly throughout the body. They occupied specific locations; some relatively ordinary, others extraordinarily vital.

And tampering with them carelessly was an excellent way for a cultivator to regret their actions for the rest of their exceedingly short life.

The Primary Aether Veins awakened during the Awakening Ceremony were located near the heart.

Because of this, they were commonly referred to as the Heart Veins.

Their importance could hardly be overstated.

Not only were they the first Aether Veins an individual possessed, they would eventually become the central network involved when a practitioner attempted to progress from the Vein Awakening Stage into the Blood Refining Stage.

The Secondary Aether Veins, however, were considerably more unpredictable.

Unlike the Primary Veins, which possessed a relatively consistent location, Secondary Veins could be distributed throughout different organs and regions of the body.

One cultivator might possess a set within the spleen. Another might discover theirs within the lungs. Some might find them near the brain.

And, in rarer and considerably more uncomfortable cases, the Veins could manifest in extremely sensitive regions of the body, like their genitals.

The location varied from cultivator to cultivator. And once discovered, those locations remained unique to the individual.

And for the overwhelming majority of practitioners, the number and arrangement of their Secondary Veins were fixed for life.

However, there were exceptions. Rare cases existed in which a practitioner possessed multiple sets of Secondary Veins scattered across several regions of their body.

Such individuals were often referred to as geniuses among geniuses.

Their potential was extraordinary. But so too was the difficulty of their breakthroughs.

The greater the number of dormant veins one possessed, the more complicated the process of discovering and awakening them became.

For that reason, possessing extraordinary talent could sometimes become something of a double-edged sword.

But all of that was a matter for another time.

Right now, the seven had only one objective.

Breaking through to the Initial Stage and become Vein Awakeners

Within the Essence Pool, the seven cultivators had already begun drawing its extraordinarily concentrated energy into their bodies.

Their task was deceptively simple. They had to use that energy to locate their dormant Secondary Aether Veins.

Simple in theory. Anything but simple in practice.

The amount of Aether they absorbed had to be carefully regulated. Too little, and the energy would be insufficient to properly locate the dormant veins. Too much, and the dormant pathways could become overwhelmed.

And if an Aether Vein ruptured beneath such circumstances, it causes Essence Deviation. And the consequences were something none of them wanted to experience.

That was precisely why the Saturation Process existed. Before attempting the breakthrough, an Awakener had to ensure that their internal Aether reserves had reached the threshold required for advancement.

Without sufficient accumulation, attempting the breakthrough was equivalent to building the upper floors of a tower before completing its foundation.

It might stand for a while. But eventually, it would collapse.

Fortunately, the seven had already crossed that hurdle. Through Aelric’s guidance, they had learned that they had long since reached the absolute limit of the Awakening Realm.

There was therefore no need for further accumulation; no need to fill their reserves and no need to wonder whether their foundations were sufficiently prepared.

The only thing remaining was to find what had remained hidden within their bodies since the moment of their Awakening. And one by one, beneath the shimmering surface of the Essence Pool, the seven began their search...