Chapter 37: Success

'Success!' Andrew exclaimed as he exited the insides of his soul core, just to see it become more massive and shine much brighter.

The previously subtle bond with his soul domain became even stronger as he could actually measure the entire space of his soul domain.

The whole space was like an entire planet in comparison to his tiny soul incarnation. Andrew could now discern the borders of his soul domain!

It was spherical in shape with a soul core in its center.

His soul core passively sent out pulses of energy and the borders of his soul domain expanded and strengthened at the same time!

Those pulses of energy were bits of mana that he had already comprehended. The soul core refined those inputs of data and used this newly gained knowledge to improve itself and the soul domain.

Unfortunately or fortunately, Andrew couldn't control it as the process was fully autonomous.

Andrew marveled at the changes that his soul domain underwent.

After a while, the soul core stopped sending out pulses of energy as it already used up everything that Andrew's recent mana comprehension provided.

'By comprehending mana, my understanding of it deepens and the soul core can use the new knowledge to empower itself and the soul domain!' Andrew figured out the way his soul can improve.

He observed the soul domain for a while until he decided to get back to the physical world. He just had to wish to exit the soul domain to return back to the physical plane.

Yet, after a couple of tries, nothing happened as no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get back to his body!

'What is happening?' Andrew was confused.

From the books he had read, it was stated that by the time mortal breakthroughs the soul domain, the body would have already transformed into the physical shell fitting Initial Apprentice Mage.

'It's strange' Andrew thought about possible methods while his soul incarnation drifted in the vast expanses of his soul domain.

___

Meanwhile, back at the bottom of the blood pool.

A humongous cocoon the size of a small hill embedded itself deep into the floor of the blood pool.

Tentacles stretched from it as they covered over 20% of the floor. They looked extremely ugly and gross and had holes all over them.

They continuously sucked in blood as they pumped massive amounts through the channels which led the blood into the cocoon.

They visibly moved and pulsated as if they were alive.

The cocoon kept expanding, but at some point, its growth stopped.

Then, the tentacles started to retrieve back into the cocoon as the cocoon started to visibly shrink.

The cocoon kept shrinking until it outlined a humanoid form. The layer was extremely thin and each fiber of defined muscle could be seen through it.

Then, the figure in the cocoon started to move!

___

Back in the soul domain.

Andrew felt like something connected to him as it gave off a familiar feeling.

'My body!' Andrew exclaimed as he swiftly thought about returning into his fleshy shell.

The moment he wished for it, his soul incarnation dissipated as he finally took control over his body!

His physical sensations were barraged as strange goo prevented him from moving.

But with a slight extension of his newly-gained power, he easily broke apart the goo as he was submerged in the blood pool once again.

Surprisingly, his sonar ability could now cover over 10 meters in radius as with a thought he got a virtual map of his immediate surroundings with just his physical senses.

Andrew didn't even need to breathe as it seemed like his body now worked way differently than before.

'My body started to feed off mana' Andrew concluded as his body and soul truly consumed mana now. Although, it was only of low-level 1-grade.

'Now, I should be able to use Mana Sense' Andrew remembered as he concentrated on the surrounding mana. Although, he could perfectly feel the surrounding mana to a certain distance, Mana Sense provided a much more detailed outlook on his surroundings rather than plain physical senses.

With just a thought his Mana Sense unruffled!

It wasn't anything material as his Mana Sense was just a manifestation of his soul core's sensory range.

Andrew could perfectly distinguish each dust particle in a radius of 20 meters.

After testing out a couple of more abilities, Andrew finally swam out to the surface as he was surprised to see that exit was over 30 meters higher than the water level of the blood pool!

Suddenly, his mind clicked as he remembered a particular episode in his life.

'After my demonic metamorphosis 10 years ago, I saw the same phenomenon. The amount of blood in the blood pool decreased by about 5 meters that time, but now it's well over 30 meters of reduction. Will it be found out?' Andrew wondered as he looked out for anybody.

Naturally, there was no one except him as there were only skeletons of unsuccessful transformations remaining at the bottom of the blood pool.

With extreme caution and silence, Andrew slowly got out of the blood pool as he sank his nails into the rocky wall to climb out.

Andrew used his physical senses to pick up anyone's presence since unruffling his mana sense might alert other mages.

To his pleasant luck, he found no one as he slowly passed by giant double doors.

Once he passed by, a hand landed on his shoulder from behind as it froze him in place! He couldn't move!

"Stop right here, young man" a threatening voice resounded behind him.

A cold chill ran down his spine as he slowly turned around to look at the same old man that guided him to this place.

"What is the matter?" Andrew asked with a smile.

The old man just coldly looked at him while concentrating his mana sense on Andrew's body.

Shockingly, he found no abnormalities...

Absolutely none!

Andrew's body was like any other newly born mage. He had no deviations nor anomalies in his anatomy. He was plain and standard.

Yet, the old man refused to believe it as he was intent on digging out the truth.

Unfortunately for him, he didn't monitor Andrew's transition into a mage as he deemed Andrew's transformation process will be the same as everyone's else.

Yet, the moment he unruffled his mana sense he discovered that hundreds of thousands of liters of blood went missing. Although, it wasn't uncommon for the blood to be absorbed in order to assist the transformation. The scale at which Andrew did was utterly insane and absurd.

"Young lad, I know that you are the reason behind the massive missing amounts of blood. What technique or method did you use that required for you to absorb such an absurd amount?" the old man coldly asked as he was ready to hand over Andrew to Enforcement Hall the moment he lied.

Andrew looked genuinely confused as he also had no idea how this thing happened.

"Senior, it's a misunderstanding. I didn't use any technique except those that were publicly distributed in libraries of Demonic Abode. Only after waking up from my transformation did I notice the decrease in the amount of blood" Andrew said with the deepest sincerity as he truly meant it.

The old man was surprised to find out that Andrew was actually speaking the truth as the spells that he discretely cast on Andrew confirmed his honesty.

The old man stood there contemplating for a while as he looked for a way to justify such massive spending of precious blood.

Then, an idea popped up in his mind.

"If your words are true, then your transformation was most likely a unique one, tuned to your being. Meaning that your subconsciousness acted on its own to get more energy to achieve greater results. If my guess is true, then you should be stronger than the standards of the newly born mage" the old man coldly stated.

Andrew nodded as he had already read about similar cases from libraries, but they weren't on such a massive scale as his.

"But if you fail to exceed the standards, for the rest of your life, you are going to compensate for each drop of blood" the old man said as his statement was dread-inducing.

Andrew nodded as he really had no other choice.

"Good, now let's go to Existential Hall to examine your state of existence" the old man went towards the tunnel as Andrew followed after him.

As usual, they had to take a long route to the 5 major corps' training grounds.

Eventually, they reached a dead end and the old man knocked on the rocky wall as a slit appeared in it. He took out a silver token and placed it as the entrance to the training grounds opened.

The old man and Andrew went straight to the examination hall without anyone stopping them.

Once they entered Existential Hall they chose a cabin that could fit 2 people and after they entered into it the door closed behind them.

"Place your hand, it will scan you" the old man ordered.

Andrew did as he was told and the information that appeared on the screen caused the old man's eyes to nearly pop out of his sockets...