Awakening

"Pass this letter to uncle Fang. Tell him that I hope he can get it passed within a week." Asher, sitting behind a desk with a bunch of documents gathered before him, handed an envelope to Raven.

"Understand, young master." Raven nodded and left the room.

"Would you like something to drink, young master?" Isabella asked.

"Hmm. Just a glass of iced tea."

"Alright, young master."

'It's been a week since then.'

Asher laid back on his chair as Isabella left to prepare his beverage.

Seven days ago, Asher was going through the items he got from the soul fragment underneath the Vermont mine. When he was inspecting the object within the white box, Asher experienced an unexpected incident and was put in severe pain. At the same time, a phenomenon occurred in the skies of the Kilin continent with even the Upper land caught under its range. Although Asher managed to recover before his personal guards and servants appeared, someone happened to see him in that situation, but there was not much of a problem with that.

Asher unbuttoned his shirt and glanced at his bare chest, right where his heart should be.

'A week now and I still don't know what the heck happened to me.'

Asher shook his head before fixing back his clothes and facing the documents before him. With both his father and uncle gone, someone needed to take charge of the family. Although Ol' Fang was there, the absence of the Arnhaunt bloodline in his veins limited what he could do. In other to prevent any mishaps, Asher decided to get involved in running the family. Nonetheless, Ol' Fang had limited what he could do to prevent harming Asher's health.

Just as Asher placed the pen down on the paper, he suddenly froze.

Boom.

An explosion rang within his head.

"Yin and Yang, Chaos and Origin. The world is yours to destroy, or yours to create."

'It's that voice again.' Asher narrowed his eyes.

Although he didn't hear what it said last time, Asher still recalled the voice that spoke in his head.

Just when he was about to look for any changes in his body, Asher noticed that the flow of mana in his meridians had positively changed, and it didn't seem to be stopping any time soon.

'What's this?'

Asher discovered that his power was also increasing alongside the increased mana flow in his body.

Peak rank, Mid-Human stage.

Late Human Stage,

Early rank, Late Human stage[1].

Mid-rank, Late Human stage.

Peak rank, Late Human stage.

The power increase seemed to slow down as it approached the boundary between the Human stage and the Guardian stage. It almost seemed as if the boundary was too difficult to cross. In the blink of an eye though, the situation suddenly changed.

Boom.

First stage Guardian realm.

Asher's body felt refreshed, like a dried sponge being soaked in a pond of water.

The Guardian stage was the first realm in mana cultivation. The Human stage was more like the realm where the body was being prepared. At the Guardian stage, one would possess more mana than a Human stage mage and in turn, become stronger. In the case of those who focus on physical development, their abilities would be twice that of a Human stage mage. The gap between the Human stage and the Guardian stage wasn't just limited to physical and magical abilities but also fundamentals After reaching the Guardian stage, Asher could now practice some of the cultivation techniques from his past as long as he manages to transcribe them to suit the foundations of mana cultivation.

'But that's not a problem.' Asher thought.

Just as he believed all was over, the mana in Asher's body was still pulsing with great waves.

Early rank, First stage Guardian realm.

Mid-rank, First stage Guardian realm.

Peak rank, First stage Guardian realm.

The mana finally calmed down as Asher reached a whole new peak of power.

'That was insane.' Asher thought.

Asher further inspected his body and realized that the changes weren't only limited to his power level. Even the speed mana flowed in his body was increased. The greater the circulation speed, the faster one can cast techniques and mobilize the mana in the body. By his estimates, it was now more than eight times what it previously was. The Seven Dragons manual had already helped him level the playing fields with averagely talented mages, but this mysterious change had increased the gap and put him on the level of extremely talented mages.

Apart from that, even the speed at which mana was absorbed into his body and also refined had increased. This meant that Asher would be able to cultivate faster than others.

'This talent, this is already on the level of a heaven-defying constitution. Has my Chaos-Origin body awakened?' Asher easily determined an explanation for what had taken place.

The Chaos-Origin body was a beyond heaven-defying constitution. Possessing this type of constitution meant that one was destined to always be above others no matter the scenario. People with such a constitution were said to be able to grow stronger simply by eating, drinking or sleeping. Putting effort into cultivation would easily widen the gap between them and others. For Asher's body to suddenly change like this, he believed that his constitution had awakened, albeit not completely. If this were true, it would make sense as to why his constitution seemed useless at the start. This would also explain why the flow of mana in his body and also his speed of absorption and refinement had increased drastically. As for why his power level had increased, the large number of potent drugs and herbs he had taken since birth had inevitably left behind some potential in his body. The awakening of his constitution had turned this herbal potential into raw power.

Another reason he believed his constitution to be guilty was because of those words spoken by the bizarre voice.

Yin and Yang, Chaos and Origin. The world is yours to destroy, or yours to create.

Chaos and Origin were the two names of his constitution while Yin and Yang, according to the legends of the 33 heavenly world, was the name of the line of constitutions that contained two extremes. In summary, the Chaos-Origin body belonged to the Yin-Yang line of constitutions and was the strongest in the line.

For all four words to be mentioned in one line by some mysterious voice felt like no coincidence to Asher.

'That sphere, what was it?' Asher couldn't help but be curious once again.

An object that could hold the energy of two Celestial Emperors, a ton load of mana, and could even awaken a beyond heaven-defying body was no ordinary item.

'No matter what it is, it looks to be harmless for now and pretty useful.' Asher opened and closed his fist continuously.

'I can move ahead with my plans now.'