The crimson mana burst like an explosion and spread thick like fog. Inside that blood-red haze, the curled up Isabella slowly rose to her feet. The foggy aura of mana seeped back into her.

Coming back to her senses, Isabella softly gasped and tugged slightly at her white blouse. “Ah...”

On her pale skin, beside the Stigma of Leech, an eleventh stroke pulsed with blood-red light.

“M-Mr. Oh-Jin, I...!” Isabella excitedly leaped at Kwon Oh-Jin.

She wrapped both arms and legs around him like a cicada, rubbing her cheek against his with a squeal.

The usually elegant, well-mannered young lady threw away her refined image and cried out in excitement, “Kyaaa! Eleven stars! I really reached eleven stars!”

Well, it made sense. After all, she had reached the threshold to eleven stars by drinking his blood. However, she had remained stuck there for a long time, unable to break through. Finally, she surpassed it.

Pinned between the overwhelming pressure of Isabella’s peaks as she clung tightly to him, Kwon Oh-Jin struggled to even congratulate her. “Ahem, mmph.”

A rich rose fragrance invaded his nose, and the heavy pressure pressing through her thin blouse made it nearly impossible to breathe. A ridiculous thought crossed his mind that dying like this wouldn’t be so bad.

Cassia frowned and peeled Isabella off him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“C-Cassia?”

“I understand you’re happy about reaching eleven stars, but don’t you think clinging on to him like that will be a disgrace to the Colgrande Family’s name?”

Isabella bit her lip at the sharp statement. “Umm.”

Kwon Oh-Jin lightly patted her shoulder. “Congrats.”

“Ahem. I’m sorry, Mr. Oh-Jin. I got carried away without realizing it...”

“It’s fine. Anyone would be excited to finally reach eleven stars after so long.”

Honestly, it wasn’t an unpleasant experience that required an apology.

“But did you really reach eleven stars?” Song Ha-Eun came closer and slightly tugged down Isabella’s blouse to check her Stigma.

The eleventh stroke beside her Stigma shone clearly.

Song Ha-Eun stomped in protest. “Dang! You touched her boobs once, and now she’s eleven stars? How does that even make sense?!”

“Excuse me, ma’am.”

That wording is a little crude.

“I want it too! Strengthen me with that Black Heaven thing or whatever!”

“Do I look like some power-up NPC to you?”

“Come on. She drank your blood, and you played around with her Stigma a little. Now, she’s suddenly eleven stars. If you’re not a power-up NPC, then what are you?”

“Huh?”

If you put it like that, you might be right.

“Anyway! If you can infuse the Black Heaven’s power into a Stigma, can’t you do it with my Stigma of Draco too?”

“Well...”

It seemed possible since the method of channeling the Black Heaven’s power would be the same. However, Song Ha-Eun would be affected by his ability to use Domination.

Even if she says that it doesn’t matter...

The Heavenly Demon once said that if the Black Heaven perished, every being imbued with it would also die. The same would likely apply to Kwon Oh-Jin’s case.

In other words, Cassia and Isabella would die if Kwon Oh-Jin’s Black Heaven vanished. If he also infused Song Ha-Eun’s Stigma with the Black Heaven, she would be bound to that fate too.

“No, I can’t.”

“Ugh, why not?!”

“You don’t know what side effects there could be. And what if the Celestial of Draco gets angry that I tampered with your Stigma?”

“Pfft, all that Celestial does is sleep inside the temple anyway. Who cares?”

“Still, no.”

He had no choice with Cassia and Isabella since the Heavenly Demon’s Black Heaven had already influenced them. Song Ha-Eun’s Stigma was still pure and radiant. He couldn’t bring himself to shroud it in darkness.

“Hmph.”

“He said no, so stop being stubborn. And just because you receive Black Heaven’s power doesn’t mean you’ll automatically grow stronger,” Vega said.

“But it feels unfair that I’m the only one still stuck at ten stars.”

“Power gained too easily will vanish just as easily. Do not seek shortcuts and work hard to hone your strength like my child.”

“But Oh-Jin also reached eleven stars thanks to absorbing Polaris, didn’t he?”

“T-That’s...” Vega trailed off and glanced nervously at Kwon Oh-Jin.

He chuckled faintly and nodded. “Well, yeah. Honestly, I did get stronger thanks to a shortcut.”

All his training hadn’t been useless, but calling his breakthrough purely his own achievement felt undeserved.

Which is why...

He needed time to fully make that power his own.

No matter how sharp a sword was, it was nothing more than a kitchen knife in the hands of an unskilled wielder.

“Tsk. Fine. I’ll give up on receiving the Black Heaven’s power.” Song Ha-Eun sighed and turned around. “Let’s just head back and eat dinner. I’m starving.”

He slowly shook his head. “No.”

“Why? You want to stay a little longer?”

“I’ve been thinking, and I plan to stay here for a while.”

“What?”

“Call it closed-door training or whatever. Since I’ve gained so much power, I want to focus entirely on mastering it until it’s truly mine.” Kwon Oh-Jin’s eyes gleamed as he touched the Stigma engraved on his chest.

No one knew when the Heavenly Demon would make a move again, so he had to claim this power as his own as quickly as possible.

***

After Isabella reached eleven stars, Kwon Oh-Jin pushed his training even harder at a grueling pace of nearly twenty hours a day.

This kind of regimen would break even an Awakener with a superhuman physique in just a few days, yet he kept it up for over two months. He even committed to eating and sleeping inside the training facility, unwilling to waste the fifteen minutes it would take to go home.

Kwon Oh-Jin focused on mastering his Stigma’s new power, controlling the Black Heaven’s twelfth enlightenment, and expanding the range of his Sacred Ground. Despite this exhausting cycle of training, a smile never left his face. How could he not be happy?

Most people found training unbearable because growth was painfully slow and hard to feel. The body broke down with fatigue without any clear signs of improvement, which quickly killed motivation.

Of course, everyone knew that steady effort built the foundation for growth, but humans easily lost the drive to keep going without visible rewards.

For Kwon Oh-Jin, however, training was different. After absorbing Polaris and the Milky Way Spring, just learning how to handle his unfamiliar new power made him noticeably stronger each day. It was like an army with only rusty, outdated weapons suddenly received the latest cutting-edge arsenal.

Even without developing more strength, simply learning how to use it elevated him to new heights.

Fueled by the endorphins pouring through him, Kwon Oh-Jin spent three months in near seclusion. However, even he eventually hit a limit after days and nights in the training facility.

Waking up, Kwon Oh-Jin clutched his head against a crushing headache. “Ugh...”

A soft mattress and blanket wrapped around him.

Where... am I?

This wasn’t the room attached to the training facility that he had used for the past three months. That place didn’t have a bed this comfortable.

Looking around, he realized—

“My room?”

His own room felt strangely unfamiliar after being holed up at the training facility for so long, but he felt certain that this was his room. Not a speck of dust had gathered as if someone had kept it clean during his absence.

Kwon Oh-Jin sat up in bed.

His head throbbed sharply, and he clutched it with a grimace. “Ugh.”

The door opened, and Isabella stepped inside. “You’re awake?”

“Why am I in my room?”

It sounded like a strange question, but it wasn’t so odd from his perspective after training nonstop for three months.

Isabella deeply sighed and glared at him. “Haaa... You really don’t remember?”

“Remember?”

He clearly recalled finishing a Sacred Ground expansion drill, washing up, and lying down for a quick nap.

“After that, we got a report that your vitals were abnormal, so I sent my sister to bring you back home immediately.”

“My vitals were abnormal?”

“Yes. The training facility is equipped with sensors that constantly monitor your physical condition.”

“Oh.”

He hadn’t paid attention, but apparently they had installed something like that.

My body must have suffered some sudden issue while I slept.

Kwon Oh-Jin narrowed his eyes in thought.

“Did expanding my Sacred Ground strain my mana circuits?”

In three months, he had managed to widen its radius to dozens of meters. The increased mana output most likely damaged his circuits.

If not, then maybe it was the Black Heaven’s influence.

Even though he barely kept the Black Heaven under control with the Stigma of Lyra, it remained dangerously unstable and always on the verge of erupting. Maybe it had lashed out while he slept.

Isabella firmly shook her head. “No, that wasn’t it. According to the Colgrande’s medical specialists, neither the Sacred Ground expansion nor the Black Heaven caused it.”

“Then what was it?”

What on earth had happened without him even realizing it? Kwon Oh-Jin swallowed nervously, tension rising on his face.

“It’s because...” After a brief pause, Isabella’s expression twisted. “You’ve overworked yourself.”

“What...?”

“Overwork! Do you think you’re some kind of machine?! Sleeping only two or three hours a day while grinding your body down. Of course, your health is ruined!”

Her scolding poured down on him like rapid fire.

“In any case, you’re on strict bed rest from now on! Understood?!”

Facing Isabella’s furious glare, Kwon Oh-Jin had no choice but to nod obediently.