The dawn bells of the Imperial Academy tolled through the mountains deep, metallic, and unhurried. Their echo drifted through marble corridors and mist-drenched courtyards, calling every disciple to their morning cultivation.
Mist coiled low across the training field, pale and weightless like drifting silk. Hundreds of young cultivators had already gathered, sitting cross-legged upon their spirit mats. The air shimmered faintly with energy; Flux patterns pulsed across the courtyard floor, glowing lines carved into stone that formed a vast and living formation.
Each student was connected to it through their Root Seal the mark that bound them to the Empire's Root System. As the formation thrummed, energy flowed through the seals, circulating like blood through countless veins, drawing spirit essence from the ambient air into the students' bodies.
The courtyard became a sea of quiet breathing and golden light.
At the very edge of the field, beneath the shadow of an ancient willow, Rin stood alone.
He watched the glowing network beneath his feet lines of Flux moving through the ground like threads of light. Each thread connected to the Root Seals of the disciples, flowing into their meridians in perfect rhythm. He could even feel the faint hum of the cycle under his soles steady, deliberate, mechanical.
And yet, not a single pulse touched him.
Where the others were bound to the Empire's grand system, so glowing seal shone upon his forehead. No invisible line connected him to the formation. To the Root System, he did not exist.
A few students noticed his presence, whispering quietly."Still no Root Seal?""How does he even train?""Maybe the instructor took pity on him…"
Rin ignored the murmurs. He had long since grown used to being the anomaly among them.
Within his chest, a quiet heartbeat echoed the steady rhythm of his Dantina, the second heart he had forged through forbidden cultivation. Its pulse was warm, alive, and subtly out of sync with the rest of the world.
As the bells faded into silence, a faint shimmer appeared before his eyes translucent text suspended in the air, unseen by anyone else.
[Directive: Vision Training Stage One][Objective: Perceive ambient energy channels and differentiate natural from artificial flows.]
He exhaled softly and walked toward the willow's roots, sitting cross-legged beneath its drooping branches. The willow's bark was dark with age, its roots interwoven with the formation lines below, absorbing the world's quiet rhythm. This corner was usually ignored by others too far from the main array to benefit fully from the Flux circulation. But for Rin, that faint residue was enough.
He closed his eyes.
The sounds of the courtyard murmured chants, wind, the gentle hum of power began to fade, replaced by a deeper resonance.
The Tenebric Vision stirred.
At first, it was subtle a flicker in the darkness behind his eyelids. Then, light began to bloom in shifting colors. Threads of gold, azure, and pale silver wove themselves across his mind's eye, forming streams that curved and flowed through the world around him.
It was as if the air itself breathed in colors unseen by ordinary sight.
He saw the outline of every cultivator luminous silhouettes surrounded by pulsating energy. The Flux formation beneath them shone like a living heart, cycling energy from the academy's spirit core into the students' seals. The harmony was perfect — too perfect. Every breath, every heartbeat was synchronized through the Root System's control.
Except for his.
Rin's Dantina pulsed once a deep, low thrum that rippled through his meridians. His vision sharpened. The illusion of perfection began to crack, and he saw beneath the layer of harmony.
He saw the Hidden Flow.
Flux wasn't merely energy. It was memory layers of ancient resonance woven into matter itself. Every stone, every tree, every gust of wind whispered with echoes of the past. The academy grounds, beneath their polished surfaces, carried scars of something older. Forgotten symbols flickered under the soil glyphs buried under layers of the Empire's newer formation work.
[Tenebric Vision Progress: 4.2%][System Note: Host sensitivity increasing. Caution advised sensory overload possible.]
The warning came too late.
A stab of pain struck through Rin's temples. His breath caught as light flooded his mind too bright, too complex. Countless streams of information rushed in, colors twisting and fracturing until he felt as if the world itself was splitting apart.
He gritted his teeth, forcing his breathing into rhythm. Slowly, the chaos resolved into structure again overlapping networks of energy veins. Some were natural, flowing like rivers through the earth. Others were artificial angular, rigid, forged through human design.
And beneath all of it… something moved.
Deep below the academy, far beneath the visible formations, lay another presence an unseen current of energy, coiled like a sleeping beast.
[Warning: Unknown Flux signature detected.][Origin: Subterranean layer 1.3 kilometers below surface.][Energy classification: Unknown.][Estimated resonance :280 Flux units.]
Rin's eyes flew open. His breath came fast. The courtyard was bright again morning sun glinting off polished stone, disciples murmuring their mantras. Yet his pulse still thundered, his vision still burned with the afterimage of what he had seen.
He knew the story. Everyone did. The academy was said to be built atop the ruins of an ancient cultivation ground a relic of the pre-Root era, when cultivators reached enlightenment through their own will rather than through the Empire's network.
But that had always been legend.
What Rin saw wasn't dead history. It was alive breathing, moving, waiting.
He lifted his hands. For a heartbeat, thin threads of silver light crawled along his skin like veins of mercury before fading away. His Dantina answered with a soft throb.
[Observation: Host perception exceeds baseline parameters.][Synchronization improving.][Advisory: Conceal abnormal resonance. Detection by external Root Seals may trigger defense protocols.]
"Defense protocols?" Rin whispered under his breath.
[Affirmative.][Root System designed to purge anomalies. Non-root entities are classified as existential threats.]
His heart froze.
That meant if anyone realized what he was, if anyone saw how his body pulsed outside the Root System's control they wouldn't just exile him. They would erase him. The Root System, in its perfect logic, did not tolerate deviation.
Rin steadied his breath, forcing the faint silver glow to recede beneath his skin. Around him, the students began ending their cultivation session, stretching and chatting softly. The harmonious glow of their seals faded as the formation's light dimmed to its dormant state.
From the terrace above, a faint movement caught his attention.
A figure stood there, half-hidden by mist tall, wrapped in dark instructor's robes. Karo.
The man who had once handed Rin an ancient book a relic thought lost to time, one that spoke of self-cultivation without reliance on the Root.
Their eyes met briefly. Karo's expression didn't change, but his gaze lingered sharp, measuring, aware. Then, without a word, he turned and disappeared down the stone corridor.
Rin's pulse quickened. He knows something.
The translucent text shimmered again before his eyes.
[Directive Update:][Objective: Stabilize Vision Training and investigate subterranean Flux anomaly.][Warning: Environmental scan limited. Recommend artifact enhancement or external data source.]
The text faded. The second academy bell rang signaling the end of morning cultivation. Laughter echoed through the halls as students departed in groups, their robes swaying, voices filled with pride and competition.
But Rin didn't move.
He stared at the ground beneath the willow. Through his lingering vision, he could still faintly sense the tremor the rhythmic pulse buried deep below the earth, where the ancient energy stirred.
He pressed a hand against the soil. It was warm. Alive.
The Dantina within him pulsed once more, and in that vibration, he felt something like curiosity or perhaps recognition. The same resonance he had sensed below responded faintly, like a distant heartbeat answering his own.
"If that's what the academy is built on…" Rin murmured, his voice barely audible. "Then maybe that's where the answers are."
[Acknowledged.][Traveler Path: Divergent Route Subterranean Access Required.][Cycle Two preparation initializing.]
Wind stirred through the courtyard. The willow's branches swayed, scattering droplets of dew that glimmered like tiny stars. Rin rose slowly, his gaze turning toward the distant spires of the academy towers of light and order built upon the bones of forgotten chaos.
He could feel the shift already the Dantina's pulse growing faster, matching his heartbeat. The air around him thickened, vibrating faintly with spiritual tension. Somewhere deep beneath the earth, the hidden current stirred once more.
And for the first time, the Dantina's pulse felt not merely alive…
…but eager.