Boundless Cultivation-Chapter 62 - Blood Reforging

Alaric was nearly impaled by the massive fangs — each as long as his body — of the giant sandworm as it swallowed him whole. The only reason he survived was that he wedged himself between the bodies of the large desert chameleons that were devoured alongside him.

The massive lizards shrieked in agony as the fangs pierced their bodies. In turn, they crushed against Alaric from all sides. He was out of mana, but the power of the root chakra energy still surged through his body.

With a roar, Alaric heaved against the chameleons’ flesh, fighting to avoid being crushed. Do I have to escape the rift like this? Without his mana, his options were limited. But he refused to surrender.

He forced one arm through the tangle of bodies, seized a fang lining the worm’s mouth, and pulled with all his strength. Inch by inch, he dragged himself out of the writhing mass.

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The giant worm continued to move, occasionally opening its mouth. Brief glimpses of light revealed that it was no longer underground. He waited for the right moment to escape. For now, he clung to one of the fangs to avoid being swallowed further.

Alaric glanced back. The heap of dead chameleons was slowly pulled deeper inside by the worm’s powerful muscle contractions. Its entire body was lined with fangs tipped in black ichor, undoubtedly some type of poison.

He wiped the sweat from his brow. Phew! I managed to survive that. Alaric was eager to get out of this hell hole as soon as possible. The air reeked of rotting flesh, and the worm’s slimy saliva made his skin crawl.

Unwilling to wait any longer, Alaric pulled on the fang with all his might and tore it from its roots. The giant worm wailed in pain, its mouth yawning open.

“Did you like that? I’m just getting started,” Alaric taunted as he drove the fang into the worm’s soft flesh. It thrashed wildly, nearly throwing him off balance, but he kept stabbing the fang deeper into its mouth, again and again.

Suddenly, he felt the worm plummeting toward the ground. It’s trying to burrow again. I have to get out now. Alaric sprinted toward the mouth but stopped short.

It was high above the ground, at least a few hundred feet in the air. He scanned the vast expanse of dunes and rocky cliffs. In the distance, a few pyramids shimmered in the rays of the golden sun.

Making up his mind, he leaped from the worm’s mouth and rolled to the side just as the giant beast plunged into the sand once more.

Alaric was battered, exhausted, and pain racked his body. The [Vital Mana Flow] skill had failed him long ago when his mana was depleted. Yet, he felt exhilarated to have survived the encounter.

After a while, a trickle of mana regenerated, and he activated [Mana Pulse] for a few seconds to survey his surroundings. Just as he suspected, several more chameleons were slowly stalking toward his location.

And, as if that weren’t enough, faint tremors rippled through the ground, growing steadily stronger as the giant sandworm tunneled closer, seeking revenge.

There was little he could do at the moment. Before leaving The Howling Expanse, he locked eyes with each chameleon as they materialized before him. “Just you wait.” He grinned. “I’ll be back for round two.”

***

After a warm bath to cleanse the filth from his body, Alaric finally checked his notifications.

Skills:

[Zen Flow lvl 13 -> Zen Flow lvl 14]

[Mana Blast lvl 9 -> Mana Blast lvl 10]

[Mana Scrambling lvl 9 -> Mana Scrambling lvl 10]

[Mana Shaping lvl 4 -> Mana Shaping lvl 5]

[Layered Mana Shield lvl 1 -> Layered Mana Shield lvl 3 ]

[Mana Pulse lvl 1 -> Mana Pulse lvl 2]

The skill gains from the last dive weren’t substantial since he hadn’t been able to use his abilities efficiently or defeat many monsters. Nevertheless, Alaric felt satisfied because he had unlocked the final mana-based skill.

Now, he could evolve his [Mana Manipulation] ability. But before that, he wanted to verify something. His [Vital Mana Flow] and [Mana Strengthening] skills had already reached level 10 some time ago.

Since they were common skills, he couldn’t level them up any further. However, Alaric had been experimenting with them, hoping to gain the insight needed to evolve them.

He could sense that he was on the verge of acquiring the necessary insight. He only needed a catalyst to propel his growth. It’s only a matter of time. He shook his head and resumed checking the notifications.

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Congratulations! You have acquired 10 mana-based skills and are now eligible for evolving your ability - Mana Manipulation.

Options available:

Advanced Mana Manipulation (Uncommon).Would you like to evolve your ability [Mana Manipulation] (common) to [Advanced Mana Manipulation] (Uncommon) - Yes / No?

Note - This will dissolve your ability - [Mana Manipulation] - into its respective component skills - [Mana Sense], [Mana Absorption], and [Mana Control].

Hah…as if. Alaric chuckled. He knew all too well that the ability's evolution would fail if he attempted it, given that some of his skills had already evolved. Still, he went ahead just to see what would happen.

Initializing Ability Evolution Process…Error. Evolved skills detected. Cannot merge common skills and evolved skills together.

Would you like to remerge the three foundational skills into the [Mana Manipulation] ability? - Yes / No?

Alaric ignored the prompt for now and continued reviewing the remaining notifications.

Ding! Insight detected for skill [Mana sense lvl 10] (Common). Skill evolution options available - Advanced Mana Sense (uncommon)

Ding! Insight detected for skill [Mana Absorption lvl 10] (Common). Skill evolution options available - Advanced Mana Absorption (uncommon)

Ding! Insight detected for skill [Mana Control lvl 10] (Common). Skill evolution options available - Advanced Mana Control (uncommon).

The evolution options were limited for the three foundational skills, and he had gained the necessary insight to advance them long ago. Now, he faced two choices — evolve the foundational skills individually or remerge them into the [Mana Manipulation] ability.

Once he evolved any of the foundational skills, there would be no going back. Alaric grinned and selected to remerge the foundational skills into the [Mana Manipulation] ability.

Frankly, he could’ve dissolved the [Mana Manipulation] ability and evolved his foundational skills a long time ago. But there hadn’t been any real need for it. The advantage offered by evolving the three foundational skills wouldn’t be enough to offset the limitation of occupying three skill slots.

He could learn three more skills in the future by keeping those slots free, which would be a significant advantage. Besides, he could always dissolve the ability and evolve them later — right before he was ready to acquire the [Superior Mana Manipulation] ability after evolving his other mana-based skills.

Alaric released a sigh. His failure in The Howling Expanse wasn’t due to a lack of power or strength. He was simply hindered by his mana capacity and physical limitations. The higher-level Tutorial Zone was designed for mid-level Tier 2 cultivators.

Yes, his liquid core granted him exceptional mana capacity. In fact, he doubted there were many Tier 1 cultivators with such a vast reserve of mana. However, his body wasn’t reforged yet and was ill-suited for the harsh conditions of the advanced Tutorial Zones.

As a result, he had wasted an enormous amount of mana just to maintain the [Mana Strengthening] and [Vital Mana Flow] skills. This issue would resolve itself once he reforged his body, but that would take time.

Moreover, he realized that fully exploring and conquering The Howling Expanse would take much longer. The area was far more expansive than he had initially anticipated, judging from his brief time there.

Alaric estimated that he hadn’t even uncovered five percent of the entire region. A grin spread across his face as he sensed someone approaching.

“Are you ready?” asked Edgar.

“Always.” Alaric seized Edgar’s wrist, and they both vanished into thin air.

***

Alaric studied the small vial of crimson liquid as it gleamed under the afternoon sun. It was the Troll's Blood Elixir.

Just as pills were designed to reforge the body up to a certain grade, elixirs were formulated to dramatically accelerate the body reforging process. However, they didn’t guarantee the grade one could achieve. The actual grade depended on the cultivator’s innate talent.

Alaric downed the Troll's Blood Elixir in one swift gulp. The thick liquid tasted sweet like honey but left a cloying, syrupy aftertaste. He funneled mana into his stomach and envisioned the potent energy of the elixir gradually dissolving within.

Once his belly radiated warmth, he directed this heat to spread throughout his body, reaching the farthest corners of his limbs. Gradually, the warmth intensified into searing heat. Alaric gritted his teeth and visualized the scorching energy merging with his blood.

A fiery sensation surged through his arteries and veins, as if his blood were boiling. When the pain reached its peak, Alaric’s consciousness was abruptly pulled from his body, and he felt himself plummeting into an endless void.

All awareness of his physical form vanished, leaving only the intricate network of blood vessels and the blood coursing through them. He could sense the flow, viscosity, and temperature of his blood with startling clarity.

Not only sense but also see, smell, taste, and hear every detail. Blood was the reservoir of life energy. And now, his awareness was completely attuned to this life energy pulsing through his circulatory system.

He descended deeper and deeper until the red blood expanded and unraveled into distinct components — plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.

Alaric observed how each component of blood was distinctly different and how they interacted with mana and the vital energy flowing through his veins.

Many of the components were perfectly preserved, while others were broken, damaged, or decaying — impurities that needed to be purged from his body. He also noticed countless microtears lining his circulatory system.

He had no idea how long he lingered in this state. Once he finished gathering all the insight, he flooded his circulatory system with mana and noticed how effortlessly his blood absorbed it. Purging the old blood cells and mending the microtears felt far easier now.

His skin flushed pink, and steam rose from his body as he infused more mana into his blood. Yet, the excruciating pain was greatly diminished. After exhausting all his mana, he checked his blood reforging progress.

Blood Reforging:

Reforging Progress - 2%

Mana Infusion Potency - 3%

Alaric exhaled deeply and sprawled on the floor. I still have a long way to go, but my progress is sufficient for now.

Stretching his arms, he opened and closed his fists. Edgar raised an eyebrow at the gesture but nevertheless approached him with a stick in hand. Alaric chuckled and grabbed the stick, eager to scrub the grime off his body.

Just before teleporting, Alaric thought he glimpsed a cloaked figure watching them from afar.