Ryn burst into the kitchen.

Cold slammed into him immediately, far denser than before. Frost crawled along the walls in jagged veins, the air itself humming as if strained to its limit.

"Jay!"

The icebox shuddered.

Then the pressure eased.

Stabilized, whatever Jay was doing inside is clearly working. The hum deepened, smoothing into a steady rhythm. The frost stopped spreading, disappearing back into vapors.

Ryn slowed.

"…What?"

The icebox door clicked open from the inside.

A wave of cold rolled out, but it was controlled now. Jay stepped forward, breath fogging faintly, sleeves dusted with frost but posture ready.

He looked… fine.

Better than fine.

"Relax," Jay said, waving a hand. "That was just the convergence phase."

Ryn stared at him, using [Enhanced Senses] to find potential injuries.

Jay replied calmly.

"Catalyst tried to overpower the stabilizer. Ethereal Ice said no. Everything screamed for about ten seconds."

Ryn exhaled slowly, tension finally draining from his shoulders. "…You're sure you're okay?"

Jay nodded. "Better than okay."

He opened his palm.

Resting there was a small blue pill, no larger than a pea. Its surface was perfectly smooth, cold to the eye, faint mist curling around it as if the air itself reacted to its presence.

Stable, dense, and complete.

Ryn stared.

Jay closed his hand gently around it.

"You know," he said, glancing up with a cocky grin. "This alchemy thing ain't so hard after all."

Ryn met his gaze.

"Okay, okay, relax. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves."

Jay laughed, the sound coming out a little rougher than before. The adrenaline was fading now, leaving fatigue in its wake. He flexed his fingers once, then closed them slowly.

"…Yeah," he admitted. "I'm spent."

He turned the pill over in his palm one last time before pressing it back into Ryn's hand.

"You should take it soon. The effects are gonna decrease the longer it settles."

Ryn nodded. "I know."

Jay yawned, not bothering to hide it.

"I'm heading to bed. You should know how to absorb it."

"I was planning on the garden," Ryn replied.

"Of course you were," Jay said, already walking away.

Ryn gave him a short nod. "Get some rest."

Jay waved without turning around, footsteps fading down the hall.

Ryn stood alone in the quiet kitchen for a moment longer, the pill resting heavily in his palm.

Then he stepped outside.

The garden was still, moonlight spilling across trimmed greenery and shallow pools that reflected the sky like glass.

Ryn lowered himself onto the stone path and breathed out slowly.

He looked down at the pill one more time.

When Fritz took it in his last life, it had been imperfect. The ingredients used were worse, inferior as it was everything they could scrounge up. It was only created because he was on the verge of death.

Now, things were different. All conditions were optimal. Ryn couldn't push down the expectations rising in his chest.

What effects would this seemingly perfect pill have?

He didn't hesitate any longer.

Ryn closed his fingers around the pill and swallowed.

The moment it passed his throat, the world seemed to change.

Even without opening his eyes, Ryn could see the world clearly. Each blade of grass that was swept along by the wind, each droplet of water that came down from the nearby rocking fountain.

His thoughts sharpened.

Distractions peeled away, leaving only what mattered. His breathing slowed, heartbeat steadying into a rhythm that felt natural. For a fleeting moment, it felt as though his mind and body had finally aligned.

That's when the heat struck.

It didn't creep in, it surged.

Fire roared through his veins, like Essence igniting all at once, burning the impurities inside his bloodstream.

His muscles tensed, skin flushing as blistering warmth pressed outward from his core, demanding release.

Ryn clenched his jaw, refusing to break his focus.

He knew how crucial this step was. If he stopped early, impurities would remain, leading to complications down the line.

If he endured too long, his cold-aligned Essence would respond violently—clashing, destabilizing, tearing him apart from the inside.

The fire kept burning, not explosively, but relentlessly, Essence cycling again and again through the same pathways, scouring deeper each time.

Ryn's jaw locked.

Sweat rolled down his neck, soaking into his clothes as his muscles trembled from holding still. His breathing stayed controlled through what seemed to be hours.

It was a necessary purification.

When the heat finally began to disperse, it didn't fade gently.

It gave way to something else.

Cold slammed into him like a collapsing wall.

The warmth vanished in an instant, replaced by a chill so deep it felt as though it reached straight into his bones. His breath came out in sharp plumes, frost spreading across the stone beneath him as the temperature plunged.

Ryn shuddered—but didn't move.

The cold acted as a slowing agent, allowing his body to naturally recover and strengthen after the purifying effects of the heat. It was a similar concept to taking a cold shower after an intense workout.

Then he sensed another presence.

"…Looks like you're hard at work."

Ryn opened his eyes slightly.

Jay stood at the edge of the garden. He was holding a warming stone, realizing that it helped Ryn from freezing.

"How long?" Ryn asked, voice rough.

"Just checked the shed again. There was about 10 hours left." he answered.

"If we exclude the 6 hours spent before you started absorbing, I'd say you've been at it for 7 hours?"

Ryn let out a shallow breath that might've been a laugh.

"Seven hours," he murmured. "Felt longer."

The last traces of cold finally receded.

Not all at once, but gently, like frost melting off stone beneath the morning sun. The numbness in his limbs faded, replaced by a renewed vitality.

Ryn opened his eyes.

The garden hadn't changed. The moon still hung overhead, the pools still reflected silver light.

But the way his body answered him had.

He clenched his fist and reopened them again.

Essence responded instantly, flowing not around his body but through it. Before, he always had to dedicate a part of his mind to control the Essence flow…now it felt completely natural, like something his body knew how to subconsciously do.

The separation he'd always felt between physical effort and Essence use was simply… gone.

Ryn focused.

The familiar interface surfaced before his eyes.

[Name: Ryn Eden Arctis]

[Title: The Constellation's Blade (Unique)]

[HP: 150/150]

[MP: 110 / 110]

[Essence: 63]

[Essence Rank: High-Trainee]

When Fritz had taken the pill in his first life, he'd described the effects as an increase in his Essence's density, allowing more force to be packed into every technique.

That explanation had always made sense.

Until now.

Nobody knew what the pill actually did. And Ryn wouldn't have either if he didn't have his Unique Panel.

His gaze lingered on the number.

63.

Ryn's breath slowed.

"…So that's it."

The pill hadn't increased his Essence by compressing it or making it denser.

It had fused it.

Every bit of physical capability he'd built, quantified into a number—it hadn't been replaced or discarded. It had been translated into Essence, and bound permanently to it.

Which meant—

Ryn's thoughts sharpened.

There was no longer a separation between physical stats and Essence.

Every time his Essence increased, his body would follow.

Automatically.

Physical stats were notoriously difficult to improve, and impossible to even quantify if one didn't have a Unique Panel.

He let out a slow breath.

In his first life, Fritz had never realized this. That's why he had hit a wall by training the old way.

The pill was a path that removed all bottlenecks from growth itself, combining it all into a single system.

Ryn felt as if a new door had opened before him—one he hadn't even known existed.

This wasn't just power meant for him.

It was a method. A way forward.

If advancement could be simplified to such a scale, then the limits that had crushed so many in his first life weren't absolute after all.

Ryn exhaled slowly, excitement stirring beneath the weight of the realization.

"…This could change everything."

Not just for him.

But for everyone who would stand against the calamity when it came.

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