The vicious smile froze Silas for a few moments. It was the first time he had ever seen the Shadowheart smile inside the Time Mind World.

More importantly, the entity did nothing else.

It merely stared at him from above, not attempting to seize control of his body. Even so, Silas instinctively retreated, putting as much distance as possible between himself and that terrifying being. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

For a while, the two simply observed each other, yet the smile never faded.

’Weird...’

The smile unsettled him far more than the crimson eyes ever had.

’Was it affected by my meditation somehow?’

Whatever the reason, Silas had the strange feeling that he was safe. At the same time, an overwhelming exhaustion weighed on him, leaving him with little desire to remain in this bizarre state any longer.

So he opened his eyes and exited the Time Mind World. The moment he did, a shocking sight greeted him.

Whenever Silas entered the Time Mind World, he filled the bathtub with warm water beforehand. Normally, the water remained crystal clear. Now, however, it looked filthy, dark, and opaque. It was no longer water at all, but something resembling liquid tar.

Startled, Silas jumped out of the bathtub. In his panic, he failed to notice how effortlessly he moved or how much faster his body seemed to respond.

For several long minutes, he stood there staring at the blackened water. He even crouched down to touch it, trying to understand what had happened. It felt as though an enormous amount of dirt had been mixed into it, turning the water into mud.

"I have... no explanation for this..."

With a troubled expression, he cleaned the bathtub before stepping into the hallway. As he passed a mirror, he stopped abruptly.

Usually, whenever he exited the bathtub experience, a white towel would cover his lower body. And now it wasn’t different; the difference actually was how his upper body looked.

Before entering the academy, he had been small and frail, his body shaped by years of malnourishment in the orphanage. Now, however, his frame appeared healthier. Thin muscles had thickened, his shoulders seemed broader, and even his once-flat abdomen showed the early definition of growing strength.

Silas immediately lowered the towel, and the changes extended far beyond his upper body. His entire physique had transformed. He even looked slightly taller, slightly broader, and far healthier than he had any right to be after a single night.

Silas reached out almost unconsciously, pressing his fingers against the newly formed muscle. For a moment, he simply stared. He had spent most of his life looking fragile enough for a strong wind to knock him over. The reflection staring back at him felt strangely unfamiliar.

"It’s morning already..."

Realising he was inspecting his body for far too long, he hurriedly shifted his gaze and glanced through the window at the brightly lit world outside.

"I spent the entire night inside the Time Mind World, yet I don’t feel tired at all. If anything, I feel like I slept for an entire day."

Clenching his fists, he felt a surge of strength that hadn’t been there before. And a faint smile appeared on his face. The timing could not have been better.

While preparing a bowl of instant noodles, Silas continued reviewing everything he had experienced. At the very least, he had confirmed one important fact: his meditation method worked. The Shadowheart had clearly failed to gain control over him.

"As for that thing... it seems to follow a pattern."

He grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen, absentmindedly filling the page with meaningless symbols while organising his thoughts.

After careful consideration, he concluded that the Shadowheart was not some mindless beast. It behaved according to a rhythm of its own. More importantly, it seemed far more intelligent than he had initially assumed.

"After taking control of my body, it appears to enter some sort of dormant state..."

Calculating the time between the assassination attempt and today, Silas estimated the period to be roughly a week.

Every time he remembered those crimson eyes or the black hand hovering above his head, his body shivered involuntarily. Still, the fear was no longer as overwhelming as before.

That alone felt like progress.

"As for what happened during the second meditation..."

His pen continued moving across the paper.

"...that was both incredible and bizarre."

He knew he had succeeded in creating the three canals and forming the triplet petals within his body.

"If I’m connecting things correctly, the dirt in the bathtub was probably caused by that process. It’s the only variable that changed."

What puzzled him was why. His gaze drifted to his body.

"How could there have been that much dirt inside me in the first place?"

A ridiculous thought surfaced.

"Don’t tell me that barren land from the meditation wasn’t just a metaphor..."

The possibility caught him off guard. However, he quickly dismissed it. Meditation was a journey of the mind, not the body. At least, that was what Laros had taught him.

Yet one detail refused to leave his thoughts: the white well.

"After digging the three canals, I could clearly sense it..."

His eyes narrowed.

"The well grew dimmer."

The more he recalled the experience, the more certain he became. Combined with the exhaustion he had felt afterwards, the conclusion became difficult to ignore.

"Did creating the canals drain the well somehow?"

Another possibility emerged.

"Perhaps not the digging itself... but what happened afterwards."

His thoughts returned to the barren landscape he had seen during meditation. A desert could only be transformed by water. Likewise, the only thing capable of changing his barren body was the Mana stored within his Mana Heart.

"By creating larger and deeper canals, my body might have absorbed more Mana. That Mana strengthened my body, which means the reserves inside the Mana Heart must have been depleted in exchange."

The moment he reached that conclusion, lots of things started to make sense. The exhaustion he had experienced felt remarkably similar to the fatigue that followed excessive Mana consumption.

Yet one inconsistency remained.

"Whenever I exhaust my Mana, I end up sleeping for hours. This time, I feel more energetic than ever."

The thought should have reassured him; instead, it did the opposite. For some reason, the image of the dimming white well refused to leave his mind.

Silas rubbed his forehead. He knew that no amount of speculation would answer that question. Eventually, he put the pen down and examined the chaotic mess of small and weird symbols covering the paper.

"I could have a future as a terrible artist."

A small smile tugged at his lips. Then he shoved the paper into a drawer and headed toward his wardrobe.

Fortunately, the academy provided uniforms in multiple sizes. Considering how quickly students developed during adolescence, that was hardly surprising.

Once dressed, he strapped his daggers to his belt and fastened his wristwatch. Out of habit, he checked the time. Then his face froze.

A red icon was flashing on the screen.

"Shit."

The icon indicated a high-priority message.

Opening it, Silas discovered that the academy sent the upcoming mission details only and directly to each team leader. The message outlined their upcoming assignment, precise time for the mission, various details about it, and ended with a simple note informing all team members to report to their leader as soon as possible for a briefing.

Silas glanced at the timestamp. The message had been sent at seven in the morning, while it was now eleven.

A chill ran down his spine.

"Cher is going to kill me."

Without wasting another second, he rushed out of the dormitory and sprinted toward the team’s meeting place.