The Dread of Damned-Chapter 158: Slow

"What is it that you wish to discuss?" Victor asked.

"Now that all five houses have announced their heirs, it is time to call the Grand Summit," Sophia replied.

"Four houses have already voted in favor of the gathering," she continued.

"Even House Noctarion?" Kai asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. Given the impending danger, we believe collaboration among the five houses is inevitable. Establishing a hierarchy beforehand would be in everyone's best interest," Draven answered.

House Noctarion had always thrived in secrecy, rarely participating in the Grand Summit—a gathering held once every hundred years where each house sent its heir to compete. Their willingness to attend this time spoke volumes.

"House Aestherisin has missed the last three summits due to a lack of an heir," Malrik remarked.

Even Elara, who was only born within this last century, had been too young to attend the previous one.

The four of them turned their eyes to me.

"It has been almost three hundred years," Father said, his voice heavy with meaning.

He had been the last from House Aestherisin to attend, back when he was still the crown prince—before he ascended the throne.

After a moment of silence, he finally declared, "His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Caelan Aestherisin, will represent House Aestherisin this time."

I had expected this. If House Aestherisin refused once more, we would be branded the weakest of the Great Houses—a humiliation that would severely damage our standing in the coming war.

"We are delighted by this news and will be sure to inform our houses," Draven said as they bowed in respect.

Victor offered them the courtesy of staying, even suggesting a banquet in their honor, but they declined. Urgent matters awaited them back at their castle.

Once they had departed, Victor turned to us. "We need to select ten of our finest warriors, all below the rank of Supreme One."

"Start by choosing the best fifty," I said. "Lucian will make the final selection from among them."

The Grand Summit would be held at the Detached Shore, a remote palace overseen by the Trinity. No one ranked higher than Supreme One was permitted entry.

Only the heir of each house—accompanied by ten warriors—would be allowed inside during the days of the competition, making for a total of fifty-five participants. No elders, no supervisors. The Trinity guaranteed the heirs' safety, but for the warriors, it was a different story. They could fight, fall, or die.

Any house that disobeyed the rules faced disqualification—an offense that amounted to making an enemy of the Trinity. A foolish mistake, to say the least.

"The Summit will be held at the beginning of next month," Kai Rylan reminded us.

Which meant I had almost no time left.

"I will not be attending the next meetings. I will focus on my refinement," I declared as the meeting came to an end. Rising from my seat, I left the hall without looking back.

After freshening up, I lay on my bed for a moment, exhaling slowly.

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The moon was about to rise.

Refinement after true awakening was painfully slow. Even with unwavering diligence—performing it every night without fail—the result had been nothing more than a minuscule white spot forming on my liver.

It was frustrating. The quality and quantity of essence I used for refinement had increased exponentially, yet my progress had slowed almost proportionally.

And now, after becoming truly awakened, I could sense something else—the resistance of my mind realm.

It was faint. Obscure. But undeniable.

After reaching true awakening, the next rank was divided into four stages:

Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced, and Peak.

I had already reached the Beginning stage, thanks to my heart, veins, and blood turning silver when my body had burst apart during previous breakthroughs—three times now, each coinciding with the peculiar addition of pure moonlight.

But now, only after all my organs became silver would I advance to Intermediate.Then, by refining my bones, I would reach the Advanced rank.Finally, at the Peak stage, I would refine my mind and mind realm.

Only after that would I be eligible to step into the rank of a Supreme One.

The process itself was not too different from the previous stages—except for the addition of the mind realm at the end. However, each level in this stage brought a tremendous leap in strength, unlike the gradual progress of the awakened stage.

I let these thoughts settle in my mind as the sun dipped beyond the horizon, and the moon rose in all its silent glory.

Sitting up, I attuned myself to the essence in the air, feeling it swirl around me.

Slowly, I began condensing it, guiding the gathered tendrils of energy into my body. But just as the stream of essence was about to be absorbed by my liver, something stirred—

My heart.

Or rather, the translucent, liquid-like cage surrounding it.

It pulsed, glowing faintly, and in the next instant, all the gathered essence was sucked into it.

I frowned. This could be a problem.

I tried again. The same thing happened.

Again. And again.

By the fifth attempt, I noticed something—an extremely minute presence of purified essence slipping through the cage, seeping into my heart, then into my blood, which finally carried it to my liver.

I focused.

The tiny silver dot within my liver became ever so slightly more pronounced.

And suddenly, I understood.

The cage—formed when I drank the relic—was purifying the essence. Stripping away its impurities, refining it before it entered my body.

Just as it had done to the river in the Lunar Council Cave.

A slow grin spread across my face. This is incredible.

I resumed my refinement, more determined than ever.

Hours passed. The first rays of sunlight stretched over the horizon.

I opened my eyes.

"DAMMIT."

This didn't make the process faster at all.

I had spent an entire night supplying essence to that damn relic, only for it to produce a barely perceptible stream of purified energy at the end.

Yes, the results were slightly better than normal refinement—but the speed? Painfully slow.

In all those hours, I had only managed to make the silver dot within my liver slightly more distinct.

This was going to take forever.