The next three days were a descent into carefully orchestrated agony. Jace had secured a secondary location, a basement level storage room beneath the warehouse that offered more privacy and, critically, better sound dampening. What he was about to attempt would not be quiet.
Kiri stood guard at the entrance, her posture rigid, her senses extended to detect any approaching threats. Inside the cramped, dimly lit space, Jace sat in the centre of a crude chalk circle he'd drawn on the concrete floor. The pattern was complex, a fusion of the royal cultivation techniques from his past life and the crude, systematic methods used in this era. It was designed to focus and compress his spiritual energy, forcing his Spirit stat to expand beyond its natural limits.
He'd spent the last of his remaining credits on the necessary materials. A vial of distilled Spirit essence, extracted from low-grade mana crystals. A bundle of meditation incense that dulled physical pain but sharpened mental acuity. And a small, wickedly sharp knife for the blood component of the ritual.
The process was simple in theory, brutal in execution. He would consume the Spirit essence, enter a meditative trance, and then use the incense-enhanced focus to manually reshape his spiritual channels. The blood would serve as a physical anchor, preventing his consciousness from fragmenting under the strain. The entire process would take approximately six hours per session, and he would need to repeat it three times to achieve the required stat increase.
Jace took a slow, steadying breath and activated the mental interface.
System: Summoner Status
Name: Jace
Stats: Power 35, Spirit 45, Constitution 40, Speed 38
Warning: Initiating forced Spirit cultivation carries significant risk of permanent spiritual damage.
He dismissed the warning. Risk was irrelevant. Failure was unacceptable. He uncorked the vial of Spirit essence and drank it in one smooth motion. The effect was immediate and violent. Liquid fire poured down his throat, igniting every nerve in his body. His Spirit stat, already strained from sustaining Kiri, flared in protest as the foreign energy flooded his system.
Jace bit down on a strip of leather he'd placed between his teeth, muffling the scream that tried to tear its way out of his lungs. The pain was beyond description, a white-hot agony that made the forced feedback from Kiri's stat increases feel like a gentle massage. His vision blurred, his hands shaking violently as he picked up the knife.
The blood ritual was next. He made a shallow cut across his left palm, letting the blood drip onto the chalk circle. The pattern flared to life, glowing with a faint, sickly green light. The blood activated the cultivation formation, creating a contained space where his spiritual energy could be safely compressed and refined.
Then came the hardest part. Jace closed his eyes and plunged his consciousness inward, into the chaotic maelstrom of his own spiritual core. What he saw was pathetic. His Spirit stat of 45 manifested as a small, flickering flame, barely more than a candle in the vast darkness of his soul. The channels that carried spiritual energy through his body were thin, brittle, and already showing cracks from sustaining Kiri's bond.
He had to break them. Completely. And then rebuild them from scratch.
The Prince's knowledge guided him, cold and merciless. He visualized the channels as physical structures, then mentally applied pressure. The first channel, the one connected to his contract bond with Kiri, resisted. Then it snapped. The pain was indescribable. It felt like someone had driven a burning spike through the centre of his chest. Jace's body convulsed, his back arching off the floor as the forced feedback exploded through the suddenly destabilized bond.
Outside, Kiri felt it too. She staggered, her hand flying to her chest as the contract link flickered and screamed. But she held firm, her Seraph instincts recognizing this as expected pain, not catastrophic failure. She sent a pulse of stabilizing energy back through the bond, just enough to keep Jace from going into complete spiritual shock.
Jace barely registered her help. He was too deep in the cultivation trance, too focused on the brutal, methodical work of destroying and rebuilding his spiritual infrastructure. He broke the second channel. Then the third. Each one felt like dying, like having pieces of his soul torn out by the roots.
But with each break came the opportunity to rebuild. The Spirit essence he'd consumed provided the raw material, flooding the empty spaces with dense, concentrated energy. Jace shaped that energy with brutal precision, forming new channels that were thicker, stronger, and more efficient than the originals. It was like building a house on the bones of a collapsed ruin, except the ruin was his own body and the construction materials were made of liquid agony.
Hours passed. The incense burned down to ash. Jace's blood had long since clotted in his palm, but the chalk circle continued to glow, sustained by the sheer intensity of his spiritual exertion. Finally, after what felt like an eternity compressed into a single, endless moment, the work was done.
Jace opened his eyes. His vision was blurry, his body drenched in cold sweat, and his breathing came in ragged gasps. But he was alive. And more importantly, he was stronger.
System: Summoner Status Updated
Name: Jace
Stats: Power 45, Spirit 65, Constitution 55, Speed 50
Note: Spiritual channels have been successfully restructured. Recovery period recommended before further cultivation attempts.
His Spirit had jumped from 45 to 65. A twenty-point increase achieved through methods that would have killed a lesser summoner. His Constitution had also improved slightly, a side effect of his body adapting to the brutal strain. Even his Power and Speed had seen marginal gains, residual benefits from the overall strengthening of his spiritual foundation.
But the cost was evident. Jace could barely move. His entire body felt like it had been flayed and reassembled incorrectly. The forced feedback from Kiri's bond, which had been a constant low throb, was now a sharp, stabbing pain with every breath. He'd succeeded, but he'd pushed himself to the absolute edge of his capacity.
Kiri was beside him in an instant, her hands hovering uncertainly over his trembling form. "Jace. Can you hear me?"
He managed a weak nod. "Worked," he rasped. "Spirit... sixty-five. Need... rest."
"You need a healer," Kiri corrected, her voice tight with worry. "This level of self-inflicted damage—"
"No healer," Jace interrupted, forcing each word out through gritted teeth. "Can't afford it. Can't risk... questions. Just need... time."
He tried to sit up and immediately collapsed back onto the floor, his Constitution of 55 still woefully inadequate for recovery from this level of trauma. Kiri made a decision. Without asking permission, she carefully lifted Jace into her arms. Her Seraph strength made his weight negligible, and she carried him out of the basement and back into the main warehouse space where he'd set up a makeshift bedroll.
She laid him down gently, then positioned herself beside him, her hand resting lightly on his chest. Through the contract bond, she could feel his spiritual channels slowly, painfully knitting themselves back together. The process would take at least twelve hours before he'd be functional again.
"Two more sessions," Jace whispered, his eyes already closing as exhaustion claimed him. "Two more... then trials."
Kiri's expression hardened with determination. "Then I will keep watch. No one will disturb your recovery. Rest now, partner."
Jace's consciousness faded, dragged down into the black void of forced rest. His last coherent thought was a grim calculation: if the first session had pushed him this hard, the next two would be exponentially worse. His Spirit needed to reach at least 70, ideally 75, to have a comfortable buffer for the Academy trials.
That meant more pain. More risk. More suffering.
But suffering was becoming familiar. And familiar suffering could be endured.
The warehouse fell silent except for Jace's laboured breathing and the quiet, steady rhythm of Kiri's vigil. The city outside continued its indifferent march, unaware that in a forgotten corner, a failed summoner was tearing himself apart and rebuilding himself stronger, one agonizing session at a time.
The Academy trials were now four days away. And Jace had two more descents into spiritual hell before he'd be ready to face them.
System: Training Progress
Day 1: Spirit Cultivation Session 1 Complete
Jace Stats: Power 45, Spirit 65, Constitution 55, Speed 50
Kiri Stats: Power 290, Spirit 295, Constitution 285, Speed 300 (Rare Tier Cap)
Time Remaining Until Academy Trials: 4 Days
The climb continued.