FLASH!

A blinding detonation of celestial aura erupted within the dome. Seated in her meditative position, Alicia felt a surging sea of ambient energy flood the space around her. Every microscopic particle floating in the air resembled a glowing snowflake infused with boundless, divine force. When Alicia experimentally absorbed a single speck of energy, her internal core overflowed instantly, forcing her to pause and regulate her pathways to stabilize the sudden influx.

The concentration of power contained within those countless specks defied imagination. Is this the special gift Warrior Jiro spoke of? Was our two-month hellish regimen designed entirely to prepare our vessels for this exact moment?

What is this force? Energy from a celestial artifact?!

Realizing the magnitude of the opportunity, Alicia abandoned all hesitation, systematically drawing in the glowing specks surrounding her vessel. She absorbed as much energy as her vessel could tolerate, focusing her intent on synthesizing the celestial essence into her internal core. The integration required absolute precision; she had to regulate the incoming current seamlessly to prevent internal energetic friction or structural cellular damage.

So this was the ultimate purpose behind our daily drills! The exhausting conditioning had been designed specifically to enable them to process, absorb, and stabilize an immense volume of celestial energy without suffering internal collapse.

The rest of the Sky Squad and Aaman experienced the exact same phenomenon. Enveloped by an overwhelming reservoir of divine energy, they were compelled to draw it into their vessels. Never in their lives had they encountered such a dense concentration of pure aura. It functioned like divine nourishment—readily available for consumption, yet requiring meticulous internal filtration to integrate safely into their core pathways.

They finally understood that their two months of grueling physical trials had served a singular purpose: expanding their physical vessels and internal channels to process this boundless reservoir. The more energy their expanded vessels could absorb, the faster their individual cultivation ranks ascended.

Standing at the center of the ring, Warrior Jiro felt a profound wave of awe. Aji’s capabilities exceeded his highest expectations. Though Jiro had previously sparred with Aji and suffered a decisive defeat, witnessing the youth systematically strip the volatile, lethal attributes from the Heart Dragon was something else entirely. Now, the purified essence of the legendary artifact was so refined that any cultivator could absorb it safely according to their individual core capacity.

Aji commanded a realm of power akin to a god walking among mortals. Yet he possessed not a shred of greed, selflessly bestowing this divine fortune upon the Sky Squad and Jiro.

Jiro refused to waste such a rare blessing. Closing his eyes, he drew in vast quantities of the purified essence, channeling it into his core to serve the cause of righteousness—precisely as Aji had intended.

The power sealed within the Heart Dragon was historically unpredictable. An ancient, primeval force condensed into a singular gem, it had long been targeted by dark forces seeking its total destruction.

In truth, the artifact was destined to serve the side of righteousness, yet in this era, Aji was perhaps the only entity capable of flawlessly purifying its volatile attributes. And he was likely the only one who understood how to execute the process.

Warrior Jiro had maintained absolute secrecy, refraining from disclosing Aji's true identity even to his own elder brother, Dasatama. Aji's secrets belonged to him alone, and Jiro respected his wish for silence.

Meanwhile, Gayatri observed the shimmering sea of divine energy fill the isolated domain. Long before joining the Sky Squad, she had possessed the innate ability to manipulate internal circles, having reached the 6th rank through pure talent.

Her rigorous conditioning under Jiro, paired with her extraordinary aptitude for energy manipulation, had allowed her to reach the highest tier of internal circle expansion, opening her vessel's pathways to receive atmospheric mana without restriction.

Yet the energy present in the air today felt fundamentally different. Gayatri’s innate sensory perception far surpassed that of ordinary martial artists. She instantly recognized the energy signature—it belonged to the celestial artifact Aji had previously secured inside her specialized containment sphere.

How did he completely eliminate the lethal recoil from the Heart Dragon? Gayatri’s analytical mind operated at a genius level—a rare intellect that even Advisor Silvi had praised in the past.

Moving with absolute efficiency, Gayatri executed a specialized technique, forming multiple energy clones around her frame. These constructs were sentient aura vessels capable of absorbing environmental mana simultaneously alongside her main body. While her squadmates focused on drawing in energy individually, Gayatri deployed an array of clones to multiply her absorption speed.

She maintained the hovering energy constructs in the air within the perimeter of her barrier.

Aware of the barrier's spatial limits, Gayatri refrained from creating an excessive number. She materialized exactly thirty energy constructs, directing every single clone to begin drawing in the purified essence of the Heart Dragon.

A tremendous shockwave flared around her frame, yet Gayatri maintained total kinetic control. Her absorption velocity multiplied thirtyfold, surpassing every other operative within the dome. She was a true prodigy: harnessing the intake capacity of thirty grandmasters simultaneously, her central core seamlessly processed and refined the influx gathered by her constructs.

Every clone operated under her absolute mental guidance, filtering the incoming current before channeling it directly into her primary core. Her absorption speed defied the recognized boundaries of human cultivation.

As Gayatri reached a new apex of power, a glowing, intricate dragon mark materialized across her forehead—a sign of profound spiritual enlightenment. She felt her physical vessel achieve total resonance with the world itself, enabling her to absorb and discharge ambient energy in a fraction of a second.

A profound realization washed over her: she no longer faced the threat of internal aura exhaustion. Her vessel had synchronized with the infinite reservoir of the natural world. As the dragon mark on her forehead glowed with brilliant radiance, her core completed its ultimate evolution.

Yet a burning question lingered in her mind. Gayatri had thoroughly studied ancient historical archives, and every text agreed on one fundamental truth: the Heart Dragon was a volatile celestial artifact that no human vessel could directly absorb. Any cultivator who attempted to digest its unrefined force suffered total cellular destruction.

Centuries ago, a supreme grandmaster had been reduced to ashes attempting that exact feat. Consequently, the artifact had historically been utilized merely as an auxiliary tool to cast high-tier mental illusions by briefly unsealing its outer array.

Focusing her sharp senses on the lingering energy threads drifting from the shattered gem, Gayatri detected something subtle. Hidden beneath the pure essence being absorbed by the squad lay a faint, residual aura signature. Gayatri recognized that distinct signature instantly—she knew precisely whose life force was woven into every particle of the shattered Heart Dragon.

It was the lingering aura of Aji—the enigmatic youth whose true parameters remained an absolute mystery to her. A master whose power defied conventional measurement, whose aura color could not be categorized by any known cultivation rank.

Was it truly Aji who neutralized the lethal recoil of the Heart Dragon and delivered its purified essence to the Sky Squad and Warrior Jiro?

If that was the case, the process must have drained Aji's internal reserves to their absolute limit. Worse still, he had risked total internal collapse by taking the artifact's destructive recoil directly into his own vessel to purge it for their sakes. If Aji was still standing today, it meant his internal stamina was truly limitless, just as he had claimed.

It meant he truly possessed the combined, unbridled legacy of the Three Legends—the grandmasters he claimed as his personal teachers.

Yet Gayatri could barely comprehend the sheer, unimaginable agony Aji must have endured while absorbing and neutralizing the artifact's violent recoil.

For over a month, while Aji was absent and supposedly undergoing private cultivation inside Dompai... he was actually enduring non-stop physical flaying and cellular destruction just to strip the Heart Dragon of its fatal attributes for us...

Aji...