He read through the process to set up the Mana Gathering array again and again, letting the instructions burn into his mind. Then, closing his eyes, he visualized the process—over and over—for more than half an hour, rehearsing every motion until he felt it settle into his bones.

  At last, he opened his eyes, tightening his grip over the spear. He found a spot in his room where he could set up the array and sit comfortably after, then he exhaled slowly.

  ‘I don’t want to wait months to finish my Mana Core...’

  ‘I need to do this properly.’

  Tilting his spear toward the floor, he shut his eyes once more and let his awareness sink into the surrounding Mana. Once he felt ready he slowly moved his spear to write the first rune. Even after days of relentless practice, he didn’t rush. In fact, he slowed down.

  Every movement was deliberate—measured—not with hesitation, but with the smooth confidence of someone who had done this countless times.

  Minutes passed.

  Then, the first rune was complete. He couldn’t see it... but he felt it—resonating softly, like a chord struck in perfect harmony.

  It pulsed with life.

  Without breaking focus, he inscribed the second rune a precise distance from the first. As he finished, a faint thrum rippled through the air—the flow of Mana linking seamlessly between them.

  It worked.

  He allowed himself the smallest nod before moving on, spearpoint hovering as he marked the position for the third. Stroke by stroke, rune by rune, he continued.

  With each new rune, his nerves drew taut, his entire being honed into a singular point of focus. One mistake—one misaligned flow—and the entire sequence would unravel. The nine runes had to be perfectly connected, their energies feeding into one another like an unbroken chain.

  By the time he reached the eighth, his concentration wavered—just for a moment.

  A tremor in the current. A slip in the flow.

  But he caught it. Just in time.

  ‘That was close,’ he thought, shoving the doubt from his mind before it could take root.

  With the eighth rune complete, Nova shifted position, guiding his spear toward the final spot.

  He exhaled softly, steadying himself.

  His mind throbbed under the strain of relentless calculations—every angle, every stroke etched with precision. The mental toll was heavy, but he pressed on.

  As the ninth and final rune inched toward completion, he felt it—the subtle tug of Mana converging from the others. Even before the rune was fully formed, the surrounding energy began to thicken, drawing in more Mana with every passing second.

  He could feel it gathering—dense, alive, humming with potential.

  Then, as his spear traced the last line, a faint flash of light flickered across the nine runes. In that instant, something changed.

  They weren’t individual symbols anymore.

  They were one.

  An array.

  A single, unified structure, a sentence spoken directly from the Universe.

  ‘I did it,’ Nova thought, a quiet smile forming at the corners of his lips as a warm bloom of satisfaction rose in his chest.

  He inhaled deeply.

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  ‘This feels just like blacksmithing...’

  The thought struck like a spark in dry tinder—and something new ignited in his mind.

  Confused, he tried to grasp the strange sensation—but it vanished as quickly as it had come.

  He mulled it over, searching for a clue, but nothing came to mind. The spark was gone.

  Eventually, he pushed the thought aside, tucking it into the back of his mind for later.

  Then, with cautious steps, he entered the array.

  The moment his foot crossed the boundary, a surge hit him—Mana flooded into his body at a rate that made his usual intake feel like a trickle. It was like a starving man stumbling upon an open feast in the middle of the street.

  If before he absorbed one strand of Mana per second, now he was pulling in at least ten.

  ‘This is insane,’ he thought, stunned by the sheer volume pouring into him and then absorbed into his Mana Core.

  Doing a quick calculation in his head, his eyes widened.

  ‘At this pace... I’ll be able to unlock my Spine Node in no more than four days.’

  Wonder lit up his expression—equal parts disbelief and exhilaration.

  Until today, Nova would’ve never believed it could happen so quickly. He’d mentally prepared for at least a month and a half of slow, painstaking progress—but now, it was different.

  “If anything comes up, I’m sure the commanders can handle it,” he muttered with a chuckle, settling into a comfortable position within the array. “Just four more days... and then—”

  A grin tugged at his lips.

  “Finally, I might be able to catch up with Humanity’s top talents.”

  While Nova focused intently on drawing in Mana to fuel his Mana Core, several hundred kilometers away—still on the southern side of Quarath—in an underground space, a meeting was taking place.

  A massive round table, at least five meters across, sat at the center of the room. Around it, eight figures had gathered— each carrying a different expression.

  “Is it finally time?” asked a young man, his tone light, almost playful.

  He wore what looked like blue silk pajamas—comfortable, almost out of place. His shoulder-length black hair framed a clean-shaven face, and his brown eyes held a spark of mischief beneath an easygoing smile.

  A middle-aged man, dressed in a black yukata that made him look like he’d stepped out of a centuries-old movie, his long black hair tied into a ponytail—hair that would likely fall to his lower back if left loose said casually “I don’t think we should act yet,” he continued “If we fail now, all our years of planning, scheming, and laying low would’ve been for nothing. And…”

  His brown eyes sharpened as he swept his gaze across the other seven, pausing momentarily on each of them before continuing.

  “I won’t allow that.”

  “Oh no, Ren, I’m terrified,” said a woman in a voice as sweet as her smile was sharp. Her expression was playful, but her eyes held a dangerous gleam. She appeared to be in her late twenties, with sleek black hair streaked with fiery red, and wore a tailored black blazer dress that ended just above her knees.

  Ren shot Sophia, the woman who had just spoken, a sidelong glance but didn’t respond. He knew better. Engaging with her would only drag the conversation into needless theatrics.

  Another voice broke the tension.

  "While acting now may be riskier than our original plan, the potential rewards far exceed what we anticipated. At the current pace, the Federation—and by extension, Humanity—will stabilize the situation within a few years, not the decades we initially projected," said a woman in her mid-twenties, her tone matter-of-fact. She idly twirled a lock of her long white hair between her fingers, blue eyes fixed on the sheet of paper in front of her. Her outfit was unremarkable in style, but striking in color—pure white from head to toe, including her accessories, perfectly complementing her hair.

  “Heh,” scoffed a man nearby, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “And remind me again—who exactly are we supposed to pay a visit to?”

  He looked unremarkable—short brown hair, matching eyes, dressed in a plain grey t-shirt and shorts. The kind of man you’d overlook in a crowd without a second thought. Entirely forgettable.

  “A few college students,” another voice chimed in, mocking and lazy. The speaker lay half-reclined in his chair, long red hair partially veiling his eyes as he stared up at the ceiling. Then, shifting his gaze toward the man in grey, he said. “Micah, why don’t you handle it?”

  The teasing hung in the air, but it didn’t last.

  A calm male voice sliced cleanly through the conversation.

  “Enough, Carter. Micah, you're not going anywhere.”

  Then, turning his attention toward Hannah—the white-haired woman—he gave her a small nod of acknowledgment before letting his gaze sweep slowly across the rest of the room before it soon settled on the first speaker, the young man who wore pajamas.

  He calmly asked “Colin, do you want to move?”

  Colin smiled, waving his hands in mock surrender. “Leader, I was just asking.”

  “Mhm.”

  The leader was a man with long black hair, dressed in an unassuming black sweater and sweatpants—nothing about him suggested he was the head of any organization. What set him apart, however, were his eyes. Though mostly black, they occasionally flashed with subtle tints of red. It took a moment of focused attention to notice, but once seen, they were impossible to ignore.

  Turning away from Colin he looked back at the rest.

  “What Hannah said is correct,” he said, his voice steady, deliberate. “We’re standing at a crossroads. We can act now—accept the higher risks in exchange for potentially greater rewards—or wait. Play it safe, but settle for less.”

  He paused, giving everyone a moment to consider their choices.

  Then, he turned to the only person who had remained silent throughout the discussion.

  “Slade,” he said, voice low but firm. “You haven’t spoken. What’s your take on all this?”

  Bonus Chapter Count: 0

  Extra chapter for each milestone              Ratings 55/200

  ?????????? 40%

  Reviews 5/20

  Followers 424/500

  Whoever wants to help and read advanced chapters can check out my .

  Thank you for reading.