The last time that Jon was brought into this imaginary mental space, he noticed the changes manifested due to his integration of a Fragment Of Heart and Fragment Of Marrow. The formation of icebergs and platforms of ice that were scattered about the surface of his Sea Of Knowledge distracted him from his goal of discovering the origins of this imaginary inner world of his.

This time, the changes brought on from the integration of his Fragment Of Spirit and Fragment Of Prana caused Jon to blink in shock, staring at the strange, almost alien world around him.

Jon stood on the surface of his Sea Of Knowledge. The gentle lapping of water and waves filling his ears. The strange, dark blue waters beneath his feet hummed with the memories and experiences that Jon had accumulated over the past eighteen years. The emotions and desires associated with each droplet of information stirred beneath the waves, swirling and gathering in distorted and random patterns.

Taking a step forward, Jon strode across his Sea Of Knowledge, ignoring the infinite possibilities and likelihoods all around him. Each one that Jon stepped through condensed into a minute teardrop-shaped bead of information, falling silently into the depths of his mental construct.

Jon glanced towards the numerous glaciers and icebergs that floated across the surface, occasionally colliding into one another, birthing a minute speck of ice natured spiritual energy. Jon could feel the gentle rhythm of his Seir-Glacial Heart and Murmur-Glacial Marrow from within each frozen structure, soothing his mind and easing his flesh.

With a gentle increase to the rotation of his Ice Mana Core, Jon was able to expand the size and shape of the glaciers within his Sea Of Knowledge, mimicking the manipulations that Schwarz Eis could perform. The small three-millimetre bump on the bottom of his Ice Mana Core caused Jon to smile, feeling his ice natured spiritual energy nurture the form of his Ice Mana Core.

Striding forth across this imaginary landscape, Jon noticed the presence of green wisps scattered across the colourless skies. Immense roiling streams of green lifeforce which stretched from one horizon to the other. Reaching out towards it, Jon could feel his muscles, flesh, and bones saturated with the powerful essence of his Yaochi-Jade Prana.

Jon was not sure if his understanding of an Earthlings concept of prana was enough to describe the mutation to his own lifeforce, but this strange amalgamation of physical lifeforce, wood natured spiritual energy and the power of his existing resistances coursed throughout the entirety of his being.

[Green Shall Become The Ode To Eternity] was perhaps the most mysterious of his six Mutation Trait abilities, although his Yaochi-Jade Prana was perhaps one of the more unique and synergistic mutations that Jon possessed.

Stepping from one small iceberg onto a larger glacier, in the corner of his eye Jon noticed an enormous construct of spear-natured spiritual energy. Shifting its shape and form every few moments, Jon could visibly see his Longinus-Lancea Spirit piercing up through the surface of his Sea Of Knowledge, impaling the nothingness far off in the distance above him.

One moment it was a barred spear reminiscent of Assail. The next moment it possessed three prongs, transforming it into a powerful trident. After a few seconds the shape transformed once again, extending the length of the blade and reducing the length of the polearm.

His Longinus-Lancea Spirit had transformed into some strange sword-spear construct. One that Jon had seen before in video games.

Despite all of the changes to this imaginary space, Jon still focused on the white-black construct off in the distance. Jon wanted to call it a "false black hole", but it did not accurately describe the nature of this unreasonable structure. It did not release spiritual energy, but swallow it hole, nurturing whatever existed within it.

The one that he had seen after integrating his Ice Mana Core, the impossible existence that seemed to fold in on itself, absorbing and integrating everything around it.

Colours seemed to blend together around it, creating vivid and horrifying tones and hues that Jon had no name for.

Knowledge and information grew distorted; the meanings and definitions of words and languages became muddled and incomprehensible.

Ice seemed to form words and symbols, an amalgamation of all the data and knowledge that Jon had accumulated within his memories and experiences.

Wood froze to form enormous glaciers and icebergs, sprouting leaves and branches and fruits of ice and snow. Melting and freezing itself as time passed, revealing words of ice beneath it.

Knowledge took the form of a spear, one that could pierce through lies and falsehoods. An unstoppable force fuelled from its desire to obtain the truth.

Spears grew in a sharp and uncontrollable manner. Trees of jagged metal sprouted in the distance. A veritable forest of silver pierced through whatever dared to sprout within its territory.

Despite this, Jon continued striding forward towards the luminescent construct of collapsing white-black light. He did not know how much longer he had until he would see traces of his red-silver War Mana Core, so Jon walked with an even greater vigour, his eyes gazing towards the origins of this imaginary landscape.

'Is that my Source?' Jon thought to himself, 'Is that how I perceive myself, or has it always possessed such a form?'.

Jon wondered what came first.

Was Jon a result of his Source? Or was the form of his Source a result of Jon?

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The eighteen-year-old was not in the mood to debate philosophical concepts with himself, the young man taking a deep breath as he strode through the chaotic distortions of his spiritual energy. Jon could quite clearly see his four Mana Cores orbiting this white-black existence, raising an eyebrow as he noticed how it influenced the spiritual energy within them.

Jon could see how his Wood Mana Core released spiritual energy, only for it to become entangled in the distortion emanating from this white-black construct. It entwinned with other types of spiritual energy, transforming it into something that was more than the sum of their parts.

Wood that was Knowledge.

Knowledge that was Ice.

Spears that were Wood.

Ice that were Spears.

Jon felt his breath hitch, seeing even more alterations occur to his spiritual energy.

Wood and Ice entwined with Knowledge, manifesting an enormous white coloured tree with fruits containing words and information.

Knowledge and Spears became entangled with Wood, establishing a grand archive where spears took the form of trees and trees took the form of spears.

Each image lasted for but a handful of seconds before vanishing into the depths of this impossible white-black hole. Everything around itself seemed to transform before being swallowed, recording the existence within itself.

Jon's Sea Of Knowledge imprinted each of these fantasies within itself. The process occurred without him even needed to focus on them, their existence transient, but the knowledge of their existence was recorded within Jon's mind.

Standing before this egregious existence, Jon could not help but feel a subtle pull within him to reach out and touch it. It was not the magnetic pull it seemed to possess urging him to fall into it, but something within himself, urging the white-black hole towards him.

'What the actual hell is a "Source"!? Is it a word? Is it a concept?! Is it something that Mortals are incapable of comprehending!?' Jon screamed in the back of his mind, knowing that both Ashvattha Rana and Schwarz Eis were incapable of telling him the answer.

The Source was something both inherent and inexplainable.

A Source was something unique, contained within each living being but almost always incapable of being interacted with.

The Source of an individual did not produce, refine or absorb spiritual energy. However, Jon could quite clearly see that his own Source swallowed the excess spiritual energy that his four Mana Cores produced!

'My Source entwines the spiritual energy around itself together, transforming it into something more! But these existences are temporary, eventually being absorbed or swallowed by my Source!', Jon thought to himself, staring up at the transformations above him.

Jon felt an unfamiliar emanation of spiritual energy behind him, looking towards the colourless skies and seeing an arc of crimson-silver slash through wisps of Yaochi-Jade Prana. Powerful streams of war natured spiritual energy filled his imaginary mental landscape with concepts of battle and conflict, the sounds of clashing steel entering his ears and the taste of spilt blood on his lips.

The eighteen-year-old felt his eyes widen, any and all semblance of worry or fear vanishing from his mind. Extending his hand towards the enormous white-black hole above him, Jon felt the faintest flickers of resonance between himself and several fragments within him.

The human did not understand why he could feel his fragments echo with the hum of his Source, gazing towards the entwining spiritual energy around him, noticing something different about it.

Jon felt his breath hitch, as he realized part of the nature of his Source.

'It is not transforming spiritual energy… it is mutating it,' Jon could almost not believe his eyes. Although he did not know where the spiritual energy was going, he could see the gradual mutations of spiritual energy, entwining upon each other, as though it was forming a strand of DNA.

Jon wanted to reach out towards it once more but found himself staring at the golden-green leaves of Ashvattha Rana, once again reaching towards something that was no longer in front of him.

His vision consumed with System notifications.

Break

"War" Mana Core successfully integrated.

"Knowledge" Mana Core detected. First Mana Core detected.

"Wood" Mana Core detected. Second Mana Core detected.

"Ice" Mana Core detected. Third Mana Core detected.

"Spear" Mana Core detected. Fourth Mana Core detected.

"War" Mana Core detected. Fifth Mana Core detected.

Spiritual energy has reached the maximum threshold for the Fourth Initiation.

Increasing Tier from Fourth Initiation to Fifth Initiation.

Increasing maximum spiritual energy capacity.

Increasing rate of spiritual energy regeneration.

Increasing compatibility with associated mana.

Congratulations individual! You have taken your next step towards Knighthood!

Jon glanced around, noticing that whatever the System used as a source of light within the small realm had yet to appear over the horizon. Despite Ashvattha Rana remaining manifested in the physical world, Jon noticed that Schwarz Eis had returned to dwelling inside his heart.

Lifting a hand towards his chest, Jon felt the unfamiliar pulse of war natured spiritual energy emanating from within. His Fifth Mana Core, the War Mana Core he received from Avahni as a gift, caused him to smile, knowing that he was one step closer towards reaching the peak of Mortality.

Before that however, Jon noticed a few System notifications in the corner of his vision. The familiar sight of three more Mortal Title Fragments appeared in front of him, both of which interested him more than even "Killer" or "Adept".

Mortal Title Fragment "Mutare Dominus": Increases the effectiveness of all abilities with the Mutation Trait.

Mortal Title Fragment "Maestro": Increases the control an individual possesses over their integrated Mana Cores spiritual energy.

Mortal Title Fragment "Ortus": Increases the presence and strengthens the relationship between an individual and their Source.

In addition to three new Mortal Title Fragments in Jon's possession, there was one more thing that he noticed.

Opening his task reward page and scrolling down almost all the way to the bottom, Jon saw that he had completed another one of his optional tasks. Although he somewhat expected this, the reward was quite the surprise.

Tasks not required before completion of System Introduction

[61]: Touch upon the surface of your Source. Individuals shall receive one fragment and one spiritual item of their choice upon the completion of this task.

Jon did not quite understand what a "spiritual item" was. Although could not help but curiously press on the words "spiritual item", watching as an enormous page filled with hundreds of thousands of different objects and items all around him.

The human blinked, noticing one smack dab in the centre of all the objects listed in front of him.

[Fragment Of Space] [Mortal Ranked Mystic Tent] (Space)

Effect (Mortal): Space within the mystic tent expands in correlation to the amount of spiritual energy poured into its source. Items contained within the mystic tent can be stored within during transit. Spiritual energy expenditure can be shared amongst those tied to its source.

This spiritual item does not reduce the weight of contained items.

This spiritual item cannot contain living beings during transit.

Running out of spiritual energy will result in the mystic tent collapsing and the death of all living beings within.

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