The storm had long passed. In the deep forest, under the whisper of old trees, Kairyuuha stood in absolute stillness. The air around him was heavy, but no longer crushing. The mana, once wild and untamed, now flowed like a river within him — calm, endless, obedient. His sharp, heterochromatic eyes — one a deep crimson, the other a vivid azure — glinted coldly in the dim light. He raised his hand slowly. Mana condensed around his fingers in a delicate, invisible weave — a scalpel formed from pure control. Without hesitation, Kairyuuha slashed the blade across his chest. The cut was deep — slicing skin, muscle, bone — parting him cleanly down the middle. For a moment, his two halves trembled in the cold wind. But he remained utterly calm. He closed his eyes. Mana spiraled from within, weaving itself in tight, microscopic patterns. Cell by cell. Fiber by fiber. Within seconds, the two halves fused seamlessly back together, without a trace of injury. No scar. No blood. No pain. "Accept. Adapt. Regenerate." The words repeated coldly in his mind, like a mantra. Kairyuuha turned next to an even more brutal theory. He raised the mana scalpel again — and sliced through his own neck. His head fell to the ground with a heavy thud. His body remained standing, bloodless, perfectly still. In the dark grass, his eyes blinked once. Mana bloomed from his chest, spreading outward. In mere heartbeats, the head rose and reattached itself to the body with a clean snap. Breath returned to his lungs. Vision refocused. Kairyuuha rolled his shoulders, testing the reformed muscles. Perfect. Better than perfect. Flawless. [Mana Mastery] He sat down cross-legged beside the glowing egg, his mind moving as sharply as his blades. The real secret, he had discovered, wasn't just "more mana" or "faster regeneration." It was control. Through thousands of experiments on himself, Kairyuuha had finally understood: Mana had to respond only when necessary. Not at maximum, not at minimum — but exactly at the level needed in every moment. It was supply and demand. When cells were damaged, mana multiplication flooded only the damaged areas. When he was at rest, mana slept with him — a silent, swirling current, neither raging nor wasted. No overflow. No exhaustion. No imbalance. A perfect closed system. He opened his palm and watched as a small sphere of mana formed, condensed, and dissolved, all without effort. "This... is what Deyrith could never achieve," he thought, his mouth twisting into a faint smile. "True adaptation. True command." His heart beat slowly, powerfully. He felt it in his blood — the feeling of standing on the threshold between mortal and something far greater. [The Egg] Kairyuuha turned his attention at last to the egg. It pulsed more strongly now — resonating with his mana, sensing his growth. The unborn life inside shifted faintly, almost impatiently. Kairyuuha picked up one of the ancient books again. "To hatch the hybrid dragon egg, stabilize the environment with consistent mana, emotional resonance, and a protective cocoon of compressed energy." He closed the book. His mana now was stable enough. His body was strong enough. His soul, tempered by countless trials. Kairyuuha placed both hands gently on the egg. A soft, steady current of mana flowed from his palms, wrapping the egg in a shimmering light. The ground around him shuddered slightly. Trees bent toward him unconsciously, drawn by the newborn gravitational field of his stabilized energy. The egg responded instantly.
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The glow around it intensified, its heartbeat syncing perfectly with Kairyuuha’s mana.
A crack formed along its shell —
a hair-thin fracture, like a whisper of a future about to be born.
Kairyuuha's sharp gaze never wavered.
"Come forth," he thought silently, his voice not loud but absolute.
"This time... you won't be born as a tool.
You'll be born free."
