Chapter 41: Coal’s Advancement

Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Coal’s Advancement

After handling the morning chores around Sunshine Home and assuring Emily that his training schedule was well on track, Eric locked himself into the Cultivation Chamber of the Riverdale Cultivation Center.

The double mana density in the Premium suite was immediately palpable.

The air within the stone-lined room was thick, cool, and hummed with a quiet static charge. Invisible currents of refined spiritual particles brushed against his skin, carrying none of the harsh, unrefined grit found in the open rifts.

"Coal, you can safely initiate your breakthrough here," Eric said, pointing toward the wide cedar table in the center of the slate floor. "The atmospheric density is completely stable, and the isolation ward guarantees zero outside interference. Take your time, focus on your core, and breach the threshold."

*Caw.*

Coal responded with a low, focused chirp, his pitch-black, intelligent eyes gleaming with unwavering resolve.

Fluttering down onto the cedar surface, the crow folded his obsidian wings tight against his flanks. He lowered his center of gravity, closed his eyelids, and began drawing the rich ambient mana inward through his nostrils and pores, guiding the concentrated currents straight into the core nestled at the center of his chest.

Not wanting to squander a single second of the room’s steep daily rental, Eric crossed the floor to his woven rush mat. Sitting in the lotus posture, he synchronized his breathing cycles and circulated his own neutral mana in quiet rhythm with his beast.

Time dissolved in a blur of focused cultivation.

Five days passed in unbroken, meditative silence. The only sounds within the chamber were the soft hum of the ceiling vents and the rhythmic, synchronized inhalations of tamer and beast.

On the morning of the sixth day, the spiritual pressure inside the suite spiked with violent intensity.

*WHOOSH.*

A miniature, whistling vortex of Shadow-elemental mana flared to life around the cedar table.

Coal’s physical vessel began to undergo a profound biological metamorphosis. Under the agonizing pressure of the breakthrough, his skeletal frame expanded at alarming speed, his wingspan stretching and nearly doubling in width as raw, unbridled energy tore through his tendons, sinews, and bone marrow.

Then, under immense, self-contained internal compression, the swollen frame began to collapse back inward. ℴ

His flesh, muscle fibers, and bones condensed with ferocious density, shrinking down until he was only slightly larger than his former baseline, yet incomparably heavier, denser, and more durable.

His ivory talons elongated, their surfaces hardening into the dark, reflective sheen of polished obsidian jade. His beak took on the matte finish of cold forged iron, and every individual feather along his wings aligned with the razor-sharp precision of layered daggers.

*BOOM!*

A silent shockwave of pure, condensed Shadow mana erupted outward from Coal’s chest, slamming into the reinforced slate walls and sending a low vibration rattling through the floorboards.

*Soldier Rank (Tier 2).*

Across their shared soul tether, Eric felt the monumental phase transition as if it were happening within his own flesh.

A vast, pristinely refined feedback loop of compressed energy surged across the bond and poured directly into Eric’s Mana Heart. The torrent obliterated his remaining spiritual bottlenecks in an instant, surging through his meridians and driving his Level 9 reserves right against the absolute ceiling of the Mortal Stage.

Atop the table, Coal remained completely motionless. His eyes stayed shut, his breathing deep and measured as his reorganized pathways gradually consolidated the explosive breakthrough, acclimating to the staggering density of Tier-2 liquid mana.

Recognizing the delicate nature of the stabilization phase, Eric held his breath, suppressing his own aura so as not to disturb his partner’s transition.

Two more days flowed by in seamless, silent refinement.

Under the combined momentum of the suite’s doubled ambient mana and the monumental surge of Coal’s breakthrough feedback, the final barrier within Eric’s chest gave way with a crisp, internal snap.

*CLICK.*

Eric exhaled a long, dense plume of pressurized white vapor from his lungs, slowly opening his eyes.

A sharp, brilliant gleam flared in his dark pupils before dissolving into calm, glassy stillness.

He called up his personal status panel:

│ STATUS PANEL

│

│ Name: Eric

│ Race: Human

│ Cultivation Stage: Mortal

│ Level: 10

│ Talent: Appraisal (Rank D), Skill Comprehension (Rank C)

│ Skills:

│ - Shadow Steps (Rank D) [Mastery: Minor]

│ - Advanced Swordsmanship (Rank D) [Mastery: Entry]

│ Contracted Beast: 1/1

│

│ [VESSEL SATURATED: Advance to Soldier Rank via Core Condensation]

The percentage bracket had vanished entirely from his level display.

Mortal Stage Level 10 was the absolute biological limit of the unevolved human vessel. The diffuse, gaseous mana swirling within his chest was packed to absolute capacity, swirling with such intense pressure that micro-droplets of vapor were already condensing along the inner lining of his Mana Heart. He had reached the absolute peak of what mortality could support.

The only step remaining was acquiring a *Mana Stabilizing Pill*, compressing that turbulent mist into pure liquid, and stepping into the Soldier realm.

Beside him, Coal stirred.

The crow spread his wide, obsidian wings with a metallic rustle that sounded like shifting steel blades. His dark eyes opened, clear, calm, and brimming with the terrifying predatory aura of a Tier-2 beast. He had thoroughly stabilized his new foundation.

Eric summoned Coal’s status interface across their soul bond:

│ CONTRACTED BEAST STATUS

│

│ Name: Coal

│ Race: Bonepecker Crow

│ Cultivation Stage: Soldier

│ Level: 1 (0%)

│ Rank: D

│ Element: Shadow

│ Skills:

│ - Skystride (Rank C) [Upgraded]

│ - Shadow Talons (Rank D)

│ - Shadow Clone (Rank D)

The transformation was breathtaking.

Coal’s bones, muscle fibers, and internal organs were now completely reinforced by genuine liquid mana. In terms of raw lethality, Coal could tear through a dozen of his former Mortal-tier counterparts without expending a fraction of his stamina.

More remarkably, his innate mastery had triggered a bloodline activation upon crossing the threshold. His foundational mobility technique had evolved into *Skystride (Rank C)*, granting him explosive directional bursts and the supernatural ability to launch and maneuver off ambient air pressure itself.

Eric reached out, gently scratching the cool, metallic plumage along the nape of Coal’s neck.

*Caw.*

Coal let out a deep, resonant trill that vibrated with power, resting his heavy, iron-hard beak affectionately against Eric’s palm.

Feeling the staggering force thrumming through his bonded partner, Eric’s heart pounded with fierce, intoxicating excitement. For the first time since opening his eyes in this brutal world, the looming Beast Taming Academy trials no longer looked like an uphill struggle for survival.

They were an arena waiting to be conquered.

"Look at you, buddy," Eric smiled, his dark eyes burning with focused ambition. "Soldier Rank. Now it’s my turn to catch up. Let’s head out and claim that pill."