Chapter 272: World Within

Victor finally opened his eyes.

The first thing he noticed was that he was still standing in front of Gram.

The second was that his right hand no longer existed.

The sword’s hilt remained pressed against what was left of his palm, but nearly all the flesh from his fingers, hand, and part of his wrist had been destroyed by the energy leaking from the weapon. Bone was exposed in several places, and tiny reddish particles continued dissolving into the air, consumed by the draconic corruption surrounding Gram.

Victor stared at it for a few seconds.

"...Ah."

The pain came immediately afterward, though it was far less relevant than it should have been.

He sighed and simply increased his regeneration.

Blood began flowing backward through his arm. Muscle fibers rebuilt themselves over the bones, tendons reformed, and skin covered everything almost immediately. Within a few seconds, his hand was whole again, still wrapped around the sword’s hilt.

This time, Gram didn’t try to destroy it again.

Victor noticed the difference immediately.

The pressure was still there. Draconic energy still circulated through the weapon, heavy enough to bother even his senses, but that blind hostility had weakened considerably.

It was as though the sword still disliked him, but had stopped trying to tear apart every part of his body simply because he was touching it.

"So it worked."

He raised Gram.

He had expected it to be heavy.

Visually, the sword looked absurd. The blade was broad, far too long for most humans to wield comfortably, and contained enough metal that it should have weighed dozens of kilograms, perhaps much more.

But when Victor rested the weapon on his shoulder, he frowned.

"Light."

He moved his wrist, testing its balance.

Gram responded surprisingly naturally.

"Strange."

The blade almost seemed to follow his movements, as though part of its weight were being nullified by some property of the weapon itself.

Victor looked at the red-and-black metal, curious.

"I’ll figure out what you’re made of later."

There was no time to analyze it now.

He turned his head and found Rowena several meters away, kneeling beside a pile of objects while examining a few scrolls and ancient books.

Apparently, she hadn’t simply stood there waiting for Victor to regain consciousness.

"Rowena."

She turned her head.

Her eyes immediately went to Gram resting on his shoulder.

"You did it."

"I did."

Victor walked toward her.

"How long was I in there?"

"Two minutes."

He stopped.

"Only?"

"Only."

Rowena placed another book on the pile.

"We still have around three minutes before we need to leave."

Victor exhaled through his nose.

"So time really does move differently in there."

"Apparently."

He looked at Gram again.

"Good. At least I didn’t waste all ten minutes arguing with a stubborn dragon."

A female voice appeared directly behind him.

"I can still hear you."

Victor turned his head.

Red energy began leaking from Gram’s blade, gathering in the space beside them.

The shape was initially indistinct, but quickly gained human contours.

Fafnir appeared.

Her projection looked almost exactly like the form Victor had encountered inside the sword.

Golden hair.

Black horns.

Draconic eyes.

And a tail slowly moving behind her body.

The red dress Victor had created inside the sword’s world remained on her as well, although now it seemed to be formed from her own spiritual energy.

She looked first at Victor.

Then at Rowena.

Rowena stared back.

The two remained silent for several seconds.

Victor pointed at one.

"Fafnir."

Then at the other.

"Rowena."

"I know who she is," Fafnir replied.

Rowena raised an eyebrow.

"You do?"

"I could feel her soul from outside."

"Interesting."

Rowena closed the book she was holding.

"Good to know I’m not the only idiot trapped inside an object without knowing exactly how to get out."

Fafnir grimaced slightly.

"I wouldn’t call that good."

"It’s less depressing when it happens to someone else too."

Fafnir remained silent and merely gave a small nod.

Victor looked at her.

"You’re going to have to get a little better at that."

Fafnir glanced at him.

"At what?"

"Talking."

"I’m talking."

"You just replied with three words."

"And they were enough."

Victor sighed.

"You two are probably going to spend quite a lot of time together from now on. It would be good if you opened up a little."

Fafnir crossed her arms.

"I never promised to be friendly."

Rowena shrugged.

"I don’t care either."

Victor looked between them.

"Great. You’re already getting along."

Rowena ignored the comment and pushed a pile of books toward him.

"Anyway, I found these."

Victor looked down.

There were at least eight different manuals, some extremely old, others surprisingly well preserved.

"What are they?"

"Everything I found that looks even remotely decent for your fighting style."

Victor picked up the first one.

"You managed to analyze all of these while I was inside the sword?"

"I had two minutes."

"That doesn’t sound like much."

"To read them completely, no. To realize that ninety percent of these techniques are inferior to what Rakshasa already taught you, it was more than enough."

Victor laughed.

"Fair."

Fafnir, however, approached the pile.

She didn’t touch anything immediately.

She simply looked.

Her gaze traveled across the covers one by one, paying attention to the details and symbols.

Then she pointed.

"The fifth."

Victor looked at her.

"What?"

"Fifth book, counting from the top."

He obeyed.

It was a thick manual with a dark blue cover and no visible title.

Victor flipped through several pages and found an energy circulation technique that seemed relatively ordinary.

"This one?"

"Last page."

Victor went to the end.

The page was blank.

He looked at Fafnir.

"There’s nothing here."

"Tear it."

Rowena frowned.

Victor simply grabbed the page.

"Like this?"

"Yes."

He tore it out.

The entire book immediately began to disintegrate.

Victor nearly dropped it on reflex.

The pages turned into white particles, the cover vanished, and all that energy began gathering above his hand.

Within a few seconds, another book appeared in its place.

Much smaller.

Its cover was black, with golden lines forming something resembling a tiny world surrounded by several orbits.

Four words were written across the front.

Supreme World Cultivation.

Victor raised an eyebrow.

Rowena immediately approached.

"That was hidden inside the other manual?"

Fafnir nodded.

"It was mine."

Victor raised his eyes.

"From your nest?"

"Yes. The human who sealed me took several things after I was defeated."

Irritation quickly returned to her voice, but disappeared when she looked at the book again.

"That manual teaches a method for creating an internal world."

Victor became more attentive.

"An internal world?"

"A real space inside the cultivator."

Fafnir pointed at his chest.

"You have too many different energies circulating through that body."

Victor looked down at himself.

She began listing them without waiting for an answer.

"Vampiric energy. Natural Energy. That white thing you call White Fire. Draconic energy, now that you’ve formed a connection with Gram. And there are still other smaller sources mixed into your blood."

Rowena nodded.

"She’s not wrong."

Fafnir continued.

"Your body works like a container where all of these things are forced to coexist. For now, you can maintain the balance because your bloodline is strange and your regeneration fixes many problems before they become serious."

Victor flipped through a few pages.

"And the internal world changes that?"

"It functions like a second center."

Fafnir pointed at one of the diagrams.

There was a human figure with a sphere drawn around the abdominal region. Inside the sphere, several different symbols were separated into distinct areas.

"You create your own space and store your forces there. Instead of leaving everything constantly circulating through your body, each energy can occupy a different region and be summoned whenever necessary."

Victor began to understand.

"Like a management system."

"Basically."

Fafnir nodded.

"It also reduces the risk of overload when two incompatible energies come into conflict."

Victor turned another page.

"That sounds extremely useful."

"It is."

Fafnir pointed at the book again.

"But there’s another advantage."

"What?"

She pointed at herself.

Then at Rowena.

"Us."

Victor fell silent.

Fafnir explained.

"A sufficiently developed internal world can sustain spirits and souls connected to the cultivator. If you manage to create one, I wouldn’t need to remain trapped inside Gram all the time."

Rowena immediately became more serious.

"And me?"

"You could leave that ring too."

Rowena stopped.

She looked at Victor.

Then back at Fafnir.

"You’re sure?"

"If this method still works the same way, yes."

Fafnir pointed toward the book.

"You two could live inside that internal world."

Victor corrected her.

"The two of you."

Fafnir looked at him.

"That’s what I said."

"You said ’you two’ like you weren’t included."

"It doesn’t matter."

Victor smiled.

Rowena took the book from his hands for several seconds, flipping through a few pages with genuine interest.

"This really could work."

Victor watched her.

That manual alone already seemed more valuable to him than practically everything else he had seen inside that vault.