Golden Soul Awakening

Focusing his mind and calming his spirit, Muse split his mental energy into tendrils, extending them in all directions like an octopus in nature using its tentacles to sense and capture prey. Muse stretched his mental tendrils as far as possible, probing the surroundings.

The golden magical network gradually dissipated and unraveled.

Slowly, in Muse's perception, colorful specks of light began to appear around him. They varied in size, shimmering with strange hues—red, yellow, blue, cyan… Each speck was a constantly shifting geometric crystal.

At the same time, every speck moved chaotically at incredible speeds. Some darted out of Muse's sensory range during their rapid motion, only for new ones to fly in and take their place.

Occasionally, these specks collided in their erratic dance. More often than not, they vanished in a burst of dazzling light, leaving no trace. But sometimes, once the glow faded, a new speck would emerge in their place—a composite element born anew.

When Muse's senses were filled with these swirling elements, a sudden jolt coursed through him. It was as if boundless radiance erupted within, illuminating his current form completely. Muse had entered the stage of inscribing a spell model onto his soul. Simultaneously, from an observer's perspective, he caught sight of his extraordinary soul—

A form entirely dark gold, with a dark golden crystal embedded in its chest, radiating a steady, solemn glow.

Muse's eyes widened, his mind racing with disbelief. "A divine soul!? No! I've seen divine souls in battle—I've even destroyed quite a few myself. Though it's similar… this feels somehow superior to a divine soul!?"

Despite his shock, Muse instinctively drove his mental energy forward, blending it with the arcane power within him. He began etching the 18 foundational runes of his advanced meditation technique, "Myriad Attractions," onto his soul. Azure threads materialized—straight lines, curves, loops…

Muse meticulously crafted each arcane rune with precision. Every angle, every line's length, and every spatial configuration had to be flawless. Even the slightest error could cause the runes to collapse explosively, potentially damaging his soul.

Once the 18 arcane runes formed a perfect ring on his soul, they flared with a burst of arcane light before settling into operation, autonomously absorbing elements from the elemental planes around them.

A faint smile crossed Muse's lips, though more than half of his mental energy had already been depleted. For an ordinary initiate, this would likely leave insufficient reserves to proceed with crafting an arcane model.

But Muse was undaunted. With a calm bordering on cold detachment, he continued manipulating his mental energy, merging it with arcane power to shape more runes.

Time ticked by, second by second. One by one, arcane runes took form under Muse's exacting craftsmanship, each glowing with arcane brilliance.

But as the number of runes grew, even with the stabilized "Myriad Attractions" technique replenishing his mental energy and arcane power, Muse began to falter. His mental reserves neared complete exhaustion.

Beside his dark golden soul, a hourglass-shaped arcane model was mostly complete. The "hourglass" had its two ends fully formed—only the central, critical connecting node rune remained unfinished.

This was a carefully chosen 1st-level Arcane spell—[Force Shield].

[Force Shield]—Consumes arcane energy to summon a force shield around the body. The shield's strength depends on the amount of arcane energy invested.

Though this 1st-level Arcane seemed simple, Muse knew it was the perfect fit for him.

Suppressing the dizziness clouding his vision, the trembling of his body, and the shaking of his limbs, Muse summoned a final thread of mental energy. Infusing it with arcane power, he began shaping the pivotal connecting node rune.

First, two opposing hexagons formed, followed by lines linking them together, and then the center…

When it was complete, Muse's consciousness blurred. With his last shred of arcane-infused mental energy, he extended a thread from the glowing arcane model, guiding it toward his soul…

The moment the thread touched his soul—

Boom!—The arcane model collapsed inward, condensing.

A violent tremor shook him. For an instant, Muse's mind went blank, but he quickly regained clarity. He witnessed a marvel—a streak of dark gold raced from his soul along the connecting thread, rapidly spreading until the entire arcane model was dyed the same dark golden hue.

Muse didn't know whether this was good or bad, but he soon had no time to ponder it. With the arcane model inscribed, he had officially stepped into the ranks of a formal Arcanist. The vortex formed by the model's collapse stirred the elemental planes, causing the elements swirling around him to multiply several times over in an instant, briefly triggering a "miniature elemental tide."

Seizing the opportunity, Muse's stabilized "Myriad Attractions" technique kicked into high gear, drawing in a flood of elements from the elemental planes to replenish his depleted mental energy and arcane power.

Muse sank into a state of utter relief as his mental energy and arcane power were gradually restored. The overflowing reserves cycled through him, growing stronger with each pass. His overall physical condition began to improve as well.

Just then, as his mental energy flowed through his soul during one of its countless cycles, the dark golden crystal embedded in his soul's chest twitched faintly. Two incredibly familiar presences emanated from it, accompanied by subtle pulses, causing Muse's expression to shift dramatically.

"Iliya! Eliya!"

"They came with me too!?" Overwhelmed with joy, Muse called out within his soul, "Iliya, Eliya, are you there? Can you answer me?"

But his soul's cries received no response…