The eyes around Max began to spin rapidly the moment the mysterious voice announced that he would be granted a new power.

His whole body tensed at once, every muscle locking as if something invisible had wrapped around him from the inside and tightened around his bones. Even the smallest twitch sent waves of unimaginable pain through him, forcing Max to endure something that tested his body, his mind, and the stubborn will to live that refused to die.

He wanted to scream, but nothing came out of his lungs. Even breathing hurt so much that he would rather have held it in until his chest burst, yet the black mist kept forcing air through him in shallow, broken pulls, making him feel every second of it.

"I shall upgrade your mortal body and increase the limits placed upon your human vessel. No matter how much you train, you would eventually strike the ceiling built into your existence. That is the rule set by the Five Laws. I cannot immediately grant you the power of a god because of those restrictions, but one day, you will reach that threshold on your own."

Max heard the words, but only barely. Half of them slipped past him beneath the pain tearing through his body, while his jaw clenched, his fingers curled uselessly, and the countless pupils around him continued watching every reaction.

Then the hands appeared again.

The same pale hands that had once reached out to disassemble him returned from the darkness, their long black fingertips sliding toward his body with terrifying familiarity. Max’s breath caught in his throat as they touched him, and then, one by one, they began plucking him apart again.

Skin, bone, flesh, nerves, mana veins, and organs were separated with impossible precision, removed as if those hands understood his body better than he ever could.

Unlike last time, the hands did not carry the pieces away to be examined by the eyes.

This time, they began to shine.

An ethereal light bloomed around those bony fingers, soft and cold at first, then growing brighter as it seeped into every separated part of him. Max felt something impossible happen. All the pain vanished at once, so suddenly that the absence of it almost felt worse than the pain itself. He could feel every separated part of his body suspended in the black mist, each one changing, strengthening, and being pushed beyond the limits it was supposed to have. Or at least, that was what he thought was happening. There were too many sensations at once, too many pieces of himself being altered at the same time.

His brain, or whatever remained of it while his body was separated into countless parts, felt as if it had been split into millions of screaming fragments, each one trying to process a different piece of the transformation.

And then, once more, Max was rebuilt into himself.

Piece by piece, every separated part of him returned to its place with terrifying precision, flesh reconnecting to bone, mana veins threading back into his body, organs settling where they belonged as if they had never been removed in the first place. But the black mist that had been holding him down was gone now, no longer wrapped around his limbs or pressing against his throat, leaving his body suspended freely in the endless void.

His skin carried a faint shine that did not look normal, not quite golden, but close enough to make him seem as if something divine had brushed its fingers across him. His features had sharpened as well. Max had already been considered handsome before, but now there was something almost unfair about his face, as if he had been remade from the most perfect imagination of what a man should look like. His muscles had grown slightly larger, his shoulders broader, his back wider, and every line of his body more defined.

His naked body floated in the air, unmoving, while his unfocused eyes stared at nothing.

"Interesting. I expected your mental state to be stronger... but no matter." The ancient voice echoed once more through the endless void, calm and heavy, as if it was judging the result of its own work. "Mortals are not meant to taste the power of the divine. The fact that you are still standing is already better than average."

Max could not hear any of it.

He was gone for a long moment, trapped somewhere deep inside himself, contemplating his own existence without meaning to. During the separation, he had touched something he was never supposed to understand. It felt as if his brain had worked a million times faster, tearing through memories, theories of life and creation, and laws of reality he had never known, all flashing through his mind as if they had always been there, waiting for something to unlock them.

It was impossible to explain.

Divine was the closest word, but even that felt too small.

That experience had not only changed his body. It had carved something into him, something strange and unreachable, leaving him with the feeling that he had seen a corner of the truth behind everything and survived only because he had not been allowed to see more.

"You can return now," the voice called out.

A pale hand manifested from the void, drifting toward him with slow certainty before its palm settled on top of Max’s head.

His consciousness began to clear, and the sight before him slowly turned more vivid. The endless void, the countless eyes, the golden system window, and the pale hand resting on top of his head all sharpened inside his vision, while his mind finally slowed down into something closer to normal.

Yet Max could still feel the difference.

His thoughts were calmer now, but sharper, cleaner, able to process more at once without crashing into each other.

He shook his head slowly, then looked toward the countless eyes surrounding him.

"What exactly have you done to me?" Max asked, his eyes trembling slightly despite the cold glare he tried to keep.

"I have allowed your body to transcend mortality," the ancient voice replied. "You will understand one day, when your Magic Soul reaches the Transcendent Realm."

"Transcendent Realm?" Max’s brows furrowed. "What is that?"

The voice did not answer immediately. For a moment, the endless void fell silent, and even the countless eyes around him seemed to stop moving, as if the being speaking to him was searching through something far away.

"I see..." the voice finally said. "From your memories, I can tell that the system built around Magic Souls has declined. Dragons are not even training in it anymore... no wonder they became so weak."

The pale hand resting on Max’s head suddenly began to shine.

"Here. This should help you a lot." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

A flood of information entered Max’s mind with the force of an entire library being poured into his skull at once. His eyes widened as unfamiliar knowledge unfolded inside him, showing him a forgotten system built around Magic Souls, their stages, their growth, and the way they could be refined beyond ordinary mana control. It felt less like learning and more like memories that had never belonged to him being inserted directly into his brain.

"I do not have much time left," the voice continued, growing fainter than before. "This small strand of me can only stay with you for so long. I must go before they find me. This is my last parting gift until we meet again."

The system window appeared before Max once more, shining with golden light inside the darkness.

[You have received a new ability — Bloodline Fusion.]

"Use it wisely," the ancient voice said. "This ability will help you combine bloodlines that should not mix. You may even use it on others through your own blood, fusing and upgrading what flows inside them."

Max’s eyes sharpened at those words.

Bloodline Fusion.

The name alone told him enough to understand how terrifying the ability could become, especially in his hands.

"Grow fast, Max," the voice continued, now sounding more distant with every word. "And escape this small continent you are standing on. It is only a tiny piece of the vast world. All powers here can only serve as stepping stones for your endless growth. The true danger lies far, far beyond this place."

The countless eyes around him began to tremble.

"The Five Destructions are waiting for my seedling. If they find you while you are still weak, even I will not be able to save you."

"W-wait!" Max shouted, but the voice was already fading.

The eyes began to bleed.

One by one, the countless pupils surrounding him turned crimson, their dark tears dripping into the endless void as cracks spread through the space around him. The black mist twisted violently, the golden screen flickered, and the pale hand on his head vanished as if it had never existed.

In the next moment, the void began to crack apart.

Max felt a powerful pull wrap around his body, dragging him backward with enough force to tear the breath from his lungs.

Reality was calling him back.