Understanding the breakthrough

Hearing the opening of a door, Protector Avin entered the room and faced the siblings. "Are you feeling better?" he wondered.

"Don't you know better than me?" Freon replied wryly.

"Your body should be fine, but your Channels and Core are heavily damaged. What did you do to them?" Avin frowned. "Tell me about what happened. How did the Whispering Shadow get involved?"

"The Whispering Shadow?" Nassandra repeated with shock and worry. "No one told me about that!"

"You didn't tell her yet?" Freon asked Avin.

"I thought you wouldn't want that of me."

Freon looked at his uncle with sharpness. "I see… The reason the Whispering Shadow attacked me is likely related to the Arcellius Family."

"As expected," Avin clicked his tongue.

"Brother, are you really alright?" Nassandra asked again. "That's the Whispering Shadow we're talking about…"

"You dealt with it, right? Uncle?" Freon said while patting his sister's head.

"That's right. The Whispering Shadow has been temporarily 'dealt' with."

"What about Shirley? Do you know where she is?"

"Oh, that girl…" his uncle thought aloud, remembering the two Perception Realm Masters that assisted her. "She should be safe."

"That's good." A flash of relief crossed Freon's face.

"So, how did you ruin your body like that?" Protector Avin dragged the conversation back to the main topic. "That isn't any normal sort of damage. It must have resulted from an extremely strong backlash. You were too reckless. One wrong step and you would've killed yourself."

"It wasn't something I could avoid," Freon smiled bitterly. "How was I supposed to know that the Third Hand would be involved?"

"And what? You thought you could manage on your own if it weren't? You're too weak for that." A look of scorn appeared. "What were you thinking? There were a lot of things you could've done instead, but you chose to do the stupidest and most suicidal plan. Something must've been wrong with your brain!"

"Huh?" the boy fired back. "Why is this my fault? If you didn't come back and start talking about this Arcellius Family nonsense, would any of this have happened? Take a second to self-reflect before trying to blame me."

"You're really something else," Avin laughed. "In the first place, the only reason that we were attacked was because of your so-called trustworthy friends. They leaked the news out, didn't they?" Seeing Freon's dark but silent expression, he sighed. "I shouldn't have trusted you or them. That was my mistake. I should've just taken you from the capital as soon as possible to avoid this mess, even if I had to force you both."

Upon noticing her brother's fuming face, Nassandra shouted, "Stop it, you two!" The girl turned to her uncle and her eyes were surprisingly piercing. "Don't keep saying bad things about my brother! He tried very hard and he's very hurt right now. Shouldn't you be comforting him instead?"

To her, Freon was less of an older brother and more of a surrogate father. The impact of him on her life was far stronger than even her own parents! Therefore, it was not too surprising that she was ready to bare her fangs on her uncle, which she last saw seven years ago. Compared to her brother, her relationship with Uncle Avin was worth nothing at all! Her aura started to rampage out of control in response to her emotions, stirring the air and unleashing incredible pressure on Avin. This was the power of one of the strongest Arcanists in the Zino Kingdom, a Ten Dawn! Ten Dawn Nassandra did this subconsciously, but Protector Avin merely exchanged a bored glance. Her attack was shattered!

"What?" She muttered confusedly as her aura began to return to normal.

"It's okay, Nassandra. Calm down," Freon said slowly while maintaining his fierce glare on his uncle. If the man dared to raise his hand against Nassandra, Freon was prepared to attack. He would not hesitate to cut off all ties permanently!

"We'll save this conversation for another time, Freon." Avin was not afraid of either of them, but it would be unproductive if they turned hostile. The whole reason he returned to Firecast was to resurrect the Arcellius Family after all. "However, you still didn't explain how you managed to reach Medium Gaseous Fog."

"This… I didn't do anything. My Magic Energy and Core started acting out and rapidly absorbing World Energy from the environment. I don't know why, and it was extremely painful as well." The pain of nearly ripping his body apart from the inside was unlike anything he ever felt before. It was not something he wanted to ever experience again.

"You did nothing? That's impossible. You must've done something to trigger it. What did you do?"

"I'm telling you I did nothing," Freon scowled. "I was trying to regain my strength after the fight at our house. For some reason, I lost control of my Core and I couldn't even cut off my connection until it was almost too late."

Protector Avin held a grim expression. From what he could tell, Freon was not lying or hiding anything, but that made it more unbelievable. Magic was not some mystical or abstract concept. It did not work through guesses or faith. In this regard, it was closer to science than it was miracles. The comparison between Martial and Magic Energies was not just for show. It was meant to emphasize the similarities between the two systems of study. After all, everything had a common origin: World Energy. Of course, Protector Avin would not arrogantly declare he knew everything. There were undoubtedly things beyond his knowledge, such as the Lannisail explosion heard in recent rumors. However, it was unmistakable that his knowledge was near the top.

If one looked at Martial Energy, or more specifically martial arts, then one would realize how strange Freon's explanation was. It was like a man suddenly grew to become a world-class warrior in an hour. That was how ridiculous it sounded! There was no way such a convenient, albeit painful, method existed for boosting an Arcanist through the Core Levels. If that were possible, then the entire world would be flipped upside-down! Therefore, there must be an external stimulus… A force acting on the Core to start it… Avin had no idea no matter how much he pondered on it, even though he had more than a week to reflect on it.

"Unless…" Avin thought aloud. He turned to Freon with a different gaze and spoke, "You said you were trying to regain your strength, so this happened before the fight with the Third Hand? By that reasoning, you fought with your injuries from breaking through to Medium Gaseous Fog?"

"No, it happened when I was headed there. When I started fighting with the Third Hand, although I wouldn't call my state perfectly fine, it was enough to briefly engage in combat."

"Were there any… irregularities during the combat?"

"Irregularities?" Freon repeated. Honestly, the memories from that night were hazy and rough. He acted more on raw emotion and instinct than calculated thoughts, which made it ten times worse to remember. Slowly sorting the events, he began describing the meeting from start to finish.

"You backlashed when you started casting a different magic?" Avin's eyes glowed with a fiery light.

"My memories are a bit jumbled up inside, but I think that's how it went."

His uncle looked toward Nassandra and then back to him in deep thought. "I see. I understand now."

"Did you figure it out, uncle?"

The man took a moment to pause. "From what I can tell… You must be awakening the Arcellius Family's Bloodline Ability!"