"This is really interesting." Leegaain said while showing Milea the scene unfolding inside Scarlett's lab. The moment he had perceived the anomaly, he requested Tyris to share her vision.
"What does this mean?" Milea asked. "He's just going from cyan to blue, it's no big deal. Why the light pillar? It didn't happen to me."
"That's because you are human while he is not. What baffles me is that silver light. You see, back when I refined my mana core from cyan to blue, evolving from a Salamander into a Drake, I produced a black pillar. Tyris generated a white one and Salaark a red one."
The Dragon's words left her in a stupor.
"Are you saying that…"
"No, I'm not." Leegaain cut her short. "A different colored pillar means nothing until all tribulations have been overcome. What I'm saying is that a human never achieved Guardianhood and if I'm right they never will. Because whatever he is, he's not human."
From their respective viewpoints, Salaark and Tyris watched an enormous pillar of silver light descending from the sky above Lith's position. Until that moment, they had always dismissed his existence as an oddity. Now their interest was piqued.
***
If Lith knew what was about to happen, he would be grateful for being unconscious. Every major breakthrough was always more excruciating than the previous ones. Luckily, his body was refined along with his mana core, making it more resistant to pain.
So, when his nails fell off like invisible pliers had pulled them out, he didn't wake up. Neither he did when his bones broke or his flesh was turned inside out. It had already happened in the past, Solus was more worried about Nyka than about Lith's condition.
'I don't know what could happen if the vampire attacks him during the core refinement process. Maybe I should go back keeping watch.' Solus thought, yet found herself unable to move, just like everyone else in the room.
The magic lab that Scarlett the Scorpicore had borrowed Kalla was several meters underground, shielded from external influences by some of her best arrays. Nonetheless, the gigantic silver light pillar descending from the skies passed through them like they were thin air.
Solus had observed the evolution process of magical beasts several times and it always made her think of a giant finger of some god that came down to breathe new life in the evolving creature.
This time things went differently.
When the light pillar from the sky met the one originating from Lith, his heart withered at a speed visible at the naked eye until it resembled a giant dried plume. The blood flow stopped. The resulting agony was so intense that Lith woke up clenching his chest.
Solus could see impurities flow out of it like an invisible hand was squeezing them out. Then, when Lith was an inch from death, his heart absorbed the blood surrounding it and mixed it with the silver light, returning to its original size.
Solus noticed with mana sense that the renewed heart pumped not only blood, but also mana. She also used Scanner, to check Lith's life force for anomalies. The result was just as amazing.
'After his heart has been restored, Lith's life force's started to flow. It's no more static, maybe that's the secret behind the ability to shapeshift.' She thought.
Then, the same thing happened to the lungs. Lith opened his mouth to scream, it was like countless scorching daggers had pierced his flesh, but no voice came out. One by one, all of his internal organs underwent the refining process.
The flow of his mana and life force increased each time. When his brain shrunk to the size of an apple, Lith thought his life was over. He found himself wandering in a place where there was no light, no pain, nothing.
Only the quiet stillness he had experienced in death.
Everything was quiet, the time stood still. He had no idea how long it lasted, the only thing that gave him hope was the appearance of a small light representing his bond with Solus.
'If I can still feel her trying to reach me, then I'm not dead yet.' He thought.
When his brain recovered, Lith had no time to feel relieved or thank Solus. He knew the refinement wasn't over yet. All the impurities were now stored in his skin.
'This is going to hurt.' Lith clenched his teeth. He didn't know what would follow, but he was sure it wouldn't be nice. He took off the Skinwalker armor with a thought, to avoid it interfering with the process.
The impurities flooded Lith's skin until it turned black. They hardened on contact with air, making him resemble an obsidian statue. Cracks appeared all over its surface. He felt like every inch of his body was being dipped into burning oil.
Then, the black skin crumbled and fell. His flesh and muscles remained exposed for a long, agonizing second before a new one grew to cover him again before he could start screaming in pain.
"What the heck was that?" Solus yelled while checking Lith's condition. He was unconscious again. His physique was apparently the same, but the reality was quite different. The density of his body was on a new level, making it almost impossible to harm him with conventional means.
Solus could see him breathe mana and life force just like he normally did with air. Lith's mana core was now of a deep blue color. The amount of mana it stored hadn't changed much, but its quality had further improved.
With every breath he took, he would absorb a little amount of world energy, even without the use of Invigoration. His life force flowed freely through his every fiber, speeding up the recovery of his injuries.
"I have no clue." Kalla replied. "Magical beasts just evolve. Their body is like a cocoon they have to get freed from to reach the next stage. In Lith's case, it seemed more like torture. Like someone was forcefully replacing defective parts."
"Can't you help him?" Solus was the better Healer among the two, but she drew her strength from Lith and she didn't want to increase his burden.
"I never heard about this 'life force' Lith kept talking about and my children always shut me up. My body feels like is held together with leaves and spit. I'm afraid that if I use magic, I may fall apart." Kalla shook her head.
"My studies are more oriented towards Necromancy rather than Healing, but light and darkness magic are two sides of the same coin. I'm also a fast learner, so if you could explain to me what he did, I may be able to find a way to help us both."
Solus explained to Kalla the foundations of Body Sculpting and how to cast Scanner with true magic.
"Fascinating!" Kalla replied after a few hours of lecturing. "I have no idea what you have just said but sure sounds impressing. Maybe I have underestimated the importance of light magic in Necromancy.
"Seems I will have to start over from scratch. If my hypothesis is right, I failed because I have no control over my life force. I need to learn light magic before trying again."
Kalla asked Solus several questions, to which she replied as well as she could.
Solus was trying to describe to her how to manipulate the mana to achieve the Scanner spell when Lith woke up.
