Chapter 45: First Awakening High Grade

[Spirit of the South Wind]

Kren watched the flickering light twist itself into the familiar stream of pale blue air, spiraling up into his nose on a slow inhale. A cool, cleansing sensation followed it in, and he felt the last traces of his injuries finally fade away. He was not quite at a hundred percent, but he was close enough to stand on his own two feet with confidence. Hopefully, he wouldn’t need to go another round with a Lyndwyrm before the day was through. He was not sure he would win that fight.

He studied his reflection in the mirror propped against the wall. His coat hung loose off one shoulder, a few remaining strips of bandage still visible across his chest and midriff. Good for appearances, if nothing else — it would make anyone watching underestimate exactly how recovered he already was. Still, before heading out, he had a rather significant decision to make. He was sitting on a staggering 195,000 Sovereign Points. Enough, potentially, to push himself into an entirely new tier of power — cultivation, attributes, affinities, maybe even his spells and art besides. Given how cumulative his system’s growth tended to be, he found himself genuinely eager to start spending.

[50,000 Points Have Been Used! Your Cultivation Has Advanced from First Awakening Mid Grade to First Awakening High Grade! The Cost of Raising Your Attributes Has Been Reduced!]

A simple grade increase, on paper — but the ripple of Aura it released was powerful enough to shatter the mirror standing in front of him outright. Once again, that familiar rush of growth hit him, his Aura thickening, purifying, nearly doubling in volume in the span of a single breath. Already impressive before this, considering Kren carried far more raw Aura than most people that shared his grade and realm, had any business holding.

He staggered half a step back, boots striking the floor hard enough that the impact echoed faintly through his own bones as the new Aura finally settled into place. A wave of total clarity washed over him, the world around him sharpening into something far more vivid than it had been a minute ago. He understood, suddenly and completely, exactly how devastating it must have been for his people to spend ten years locked out of cultivation entirely — and worse still, what it must have cost the Storm Eagles, denied for over a century and a half.

Power was intoxicating in a way few other things could match —It was like drinking a thousand-year vintage wine, and spending a night with the most beautiful woman alive, rolled into one. To have that stripped away from an entire people indefinitely was a fate that was rather close to being worse than death itself. Kren shrugged the thought off. Time to keep climbing.

With the fresh reduction applied to his attributes, each one now sat at a flat 5,000 points — a further discount layered on top of the gains the system had already handed him for felling the alpha.

[You Have Spent 15,000 Points to Raise Your Attributes! Your Aura Has Reached First Awakening Ascension Grade. Your Physique and Mind Attributes Have Reached First Awakening Peak Grade.]

The heightened awareness and sensory sharpness that came bundled with his cultivation deepened so dramatically that he could suddenly hear activity happening across the entire village. People gathered just outside his window. Toa’s steady breathing from the hallway beyond his door. Fima, somewhere further off, actively running interference to keep Jomin from barging in to see him. Kren smiled as his senses stretched wider still, picking up the subtle variations of Aura hanging thick in the mountain air itself, each thread distinct if he focused hard enough.

"That’s going to take some getting used to." he muttered under his breath, feeling the flood of information pouring in through [True Earth Resonance] expand dramatically alongside his newly raised cultivation and attributes. But this was hardly the end of his current spending spree — he still had close to two hundred thousand points left to work through, and he’d barely made a dent in it.

[80,000 Sovereign Points Used! Your Black Lion Bloodline Has Advanced from Mid Grade to High Grade. Bond Slots Increased from 3 to 5! Royal Beast Trait Unlocked.]

This one hit differently — closer to an explosion detonating somewhere behind his eyes. Raising his cultivation had mostly expanded the volume and capacity of abilities he already possessed. More Aura. Stronger attributes. Faster reflexes, deeper resilience, more fuel to burn through his arts and spells. Raising his attributes built naturally on top of that same foundation.

But his bloodline operated on an entirely different axis. This wasn’t simply about raw power — it was tied directly to his nature as a beastman, and as king. It marked the quality of his inner beast, the purity of the blood running through him. Where everything else scaled multiplicatively, his bloodline governed quality and authority outright. He could feel it now, humming steadily beneath his skin, threading through every vein, settling deep into bone.

He found himself standing once more within his own inner world — except this time, the darkness surrounding him no longer felt oppressive. It felt like home. He turned, and exactly as he expected, those massive golden eyes waited for him in the dark. But unlike before, he could finally make out the full shape of his inner beast this time.

The mane of swirling darkness he remembered from their last meeting was gone entirely. In its place flowed a mane of purest white, glowing softly like cascading moonlight, illuminating the beast’s entire head and body in a steady, ethereal light.

It was enormous — well over thirty feet even resting, both massive forelimbs crossed one over the other as it watched him with eyes carrying a level of intelligence that went far beyond anything animal. And they were intimidating, genuinely so, because this wasn’t simply the gaze of a beast staring back at him. It was the gaze of a king. A sovereign that had stood at the undisputed peak of its own species, and countless others besides, since the very first crests came into existence. Kren couldn’t help himself.

"I really can’t wait to meet you."

And to his complete shock, for the first time ever, his inner beast actually answered him. A single word, offered back in response to his quiet, fervent wish.

"Soon."