Black Phoenix Heir

Chapter 34: Chapter 34 — Rebuilding

Chapter 34 — Rebuilding

Victor stepped through the narrow passage behind the waterfall and entered the small cavern he had come to call home.

The familiar sound of rushing water immediately filled his ears, the waterfall masking the entrance behind him and creating a constant barrier between his shelter and the rest of the underground world. The cavern itself was nothing impressive. Bare stone walls surrounded a small open space, illuminated by the faint glow of luminescent minerals scattered throughout the rock. There were no proper furnishings, no decorations, and certainly no comforts from the life Victor had once known.

Still, it was his.

Two weeks of living there had left their mark. In the center of the cavern sat a small fire pit surrounded by stones Victor had gathered from the nearby riverbank. A pile of dried wood rested against one wall, collected during his trips outside. Near the opposite side was a crude bed made from layers of moss, leaves, and soft vegetation. It wasn’t comfortable, but it was enough to sleep on, and after everything Victor had experienced, comfort had become something of a luxury.

Victor lowered the Cavalier from his shoulder and let the creature’s body fall onto the stone floor with a heavy thud.

He looked down at it for a moment before pulling his dagger from its sheath.

The Cavalier was roughly the size of a large pig, its thick hide covering a surprisingly dense body. Its four legs were short and powerful, while its skin had a rough texture that reminded Victor of a giant toad. It hadn’t been particularly difficult to kill, but its meat was valuable enough that Victor hadn’t wanted to waste it.

He crouched beside the carcass and got to work.

The dagger moved carefully through the hide as Victor skinned the creature and separated the useful portions of meat. His movements were no longer clumsy. Two weeks of living alone had forced him to become accustomed to things he had never imagined doing before. Hunting, cleaning monsters, gathering herbs, collecting water, preparing food—everything had slowly become routine.

Once he finished preparing the meat, Victor carried several pieces toward the fire pit.

He gathered a handful of dry moss and placed it beneath the wood. Then he crouched beside the pile and held his fingers near the edge of the flame.

Victor snapped his fingers.

A tiny spark jumped from his fingertips.

It landed against the dry moss.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then a thin orange flame appeared.

Victor smiled faintly.

His control over the Black Phoenix Flame was still crude when it came to small applications like this. He couldn’t simply manipulate the flame with perfect precision, but over the past two weeks he had discovered that he could produce tiny sparks when he concentrated enough.

It wasn’t particularly useful in combat.

But it made lighting a fire much easier.

He pushed several pieces of wood together, feeding the growing flame until it spread across the pile. Once the fire was burning properly, Victor placed the pieces of Cavalier meat onto sharpened sticks and rested them above the flames.

The smell didn’t take long to fill the cavern.

Victor sat down on the stone floor several feet from the fire and rested his back against the wall. He watched the meat slowly cook, listening to the quiet crackling of the flames beneath the distant roar of the waterfall.

For several moments, he simply sat there.

Then Victor closed his eyes and turned his attention inward.

His consciousness entered his Inner World.

The difference was almost impossible to believe.

Two weeks ago, his Core had looked like a dried riverbed on the verge of cracking apart completely. There had barely been enough energy left within it to sustain him, and the Black Phoenix Flame had burned through what little remained during his battle with Leo.

Now, the sight before him was completely different.

Energy surged through the Inner World like a roaring river. His Core floated at the center, surrounded by a dense accumulation of spiritual energy that constantly flowed toward it. The faint black flame beside the Core burned steadily, its dark flames curling around themselves as they absorbed the surrounding energy and refined it before sending it toward the Core.

Victor stared at it quietly.

He had spent the last two weeks cultivating almost obsessively.

Every day had been the same.

He no longer allowed himself the luxury of wasting time.

His Core was already filled to the brim with energy.

Only one final step remained.

Victor slowly began gathering the energy surrounding his Core. The spiritual energy flowed inward, condensing and compressing until the previously turbulent mass became increasingly stable.

His Core trembled.

Victor focused.

The energy continued to gather.

Then, gradually, the barrier separating Rank Five from Rank Six began to break apart.

There was no spectacular explosion.

No violent transformation.

Victor had already reached Rank Six once before.

His body remembered the feeling.

Instead, the breakthrough felt almost like returning to a place he had briefly left behind.

Energy surged through his meridians.

His Core became denser.

The spiritual energy circulating through his body grew stronger, and the pressure surrounding his Core increased as another layer of power settled into place.

Victor continued consolidating his cultivation.

By the time he opened his eyes again, the breakthrough was complete.

Rank Six.

Victor slowly released a breath.

He had returned to where he had been before everything went wrong.

But something still bothered him.

Victor looked inward again.

There were cracks.

They were small compared to what they had once been, but they were still there, scattered across the surface of his Core like thin fractures in glass.

His expression became serious.

Those cracks hadn’t disappeared.

They were healing, but painfully slowly.

Victor could feel the problem whenever he cultivated. Energy didn’t circulate through his Core as smoothly as it should. The further he advanced, the more difficult the process would become if the damage remained.

Eventually, it could become a serious problem.

He didn’t know how to fix it yet.

But he would.

Victor had learned enough during his time in the Tower to understand that there were countless treasures, medicines, techniques, and methods capable of doing things he couldn’t currently imagine.

Somewhere in this world, there had to be a way.

He simply had to find it.

For now, however, survival came first.

Victor withdrew from his Inner World.

His stomach immediately growled.

He blinked.

Then he looked toward the fire.

The meat was done.

Victor almost laughed.

He reached forward and grabbed one of the sticks, extinguishing the remaining flames before bringing the meat toward his mouth.

The moment he took a bite, his eyes widened slightly.

It was delicious.

The meat was tender, juicy, and rich with flavor. The fat running through it melted almost instantly, leaving behind a taste far better than anything Victor had expected from a monster living in an underground cavern.

"Jacob wasn’t exaggerating."

Victor chewed slowly.

He remembered Jacob talking about Cavalier meat back in the Tower. It had apparently been considered expensive enough that ordinary people rarely had the opportunity to eat it. Jacob had mentioned having it only a handful of times during his years in the Tower, usually when someone had managed to acquire some through a merchant or a successful expedition.

Jacob had described it as being incredibly tender, with enough marbling that it almost melted in your mouth.

Victor had assumed the older man was exaggerating.

He wasn’t.

Victor took another bite.

A small laugh escaped him.

"If I knew it was this good, I would’ve hunted one sooner."

The joke disappeared into the cavern without an answer.

Victor finished the rest of the meat quietly.

When the meal was over, he wiped his hands and looked toward his Core again.

There was still work to do.

He sat down beside the extinguished fire and closed his eyes.

Cultivation had already become a ritual.

Every time he returned from hunting, he ate, rested briefly, and then cultivated for several hours. He would continue until his body was exhausted and his Core had absorbed everything it could.

Tonight was no different.

Victor remained seated in meditation for hours.

The spiritual energy within the cavern slowly flowed toward him, drawn into his body before being refined by the Black Phoenix Flame. His Core steadily stabilized as the energy circulated through it again and again.

When he finally opened his eyes, several hours had passed.

His cultivation had settled firmly at Rank Six.

Victor looked toward the waterfall entrance.

His expression hardened slightly.

There was still something he needed to accomplish.

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