Although he had agreed with the second process so readily, he was having second thoughts after Ariha began to exin the whole process. Apparently, she was going to awaken the Radiant core first, then remove it from the suppression of the void core, and finally rece it with his heart construct.


    Yes, none of this was possible with a snap of her fingers or casting a spell. She needed to perform open surgery, which meant she was going to open up his chest.


    "Don''t worry, you won''t die," she said reassuringly, though it hardly solved the problem. "Disregarding your superior physique which will be very resilient, I''m arguably the greatest healer in the history of the known realms."


    And she wasn''t humble at all while iming that.


    "Only the first part of the process will be painful," she said, cing her palm on his abdomen. "For the rest of the process, you don''t even have to be conscious. Now remain calm..."


    Radiant light spilled out from her palm and drew into his skin to absorb into his core. The light prated into the mysterious void core as a tearing pain spasmed through his being. It wasn''t purely physical pain, but something much deeper. It felt as though a hot needle pierced into his soul. And what his soul felt, his body reacted to it. Read more exciting chapters on m vl-e-mpy-r


    "Don''t resist," Ariha said in a calming voice. "I have already located the Radiant core... well, not much of it left as far as I can detect... It only remained in the form of a Radiant Matrix with less than ny percent of its power consumed... Hmm..."


    Then her eyes widened as though she noticed the intricacies, even though it was something she should be very familiar with.


    "What is it?" he croaked.


    Ariha didn''t answer, her brows furrowed together in a single line. "Now the difficult part..."


    While her essence power located the matrix in his void core—which was impossible for him—sheid a series ofplicated rune scripts which went beyond master, grandmaster level of mastery...


    "Brace yourself," she mumbled as much to herself as for him. The glittering runes shifted around her palm, over his abdomen as an ungodly amount of attraction force worked onto his core. It stirred his void core, as void essence surged through his body.


    He gritted his teeth to keep his instinct in check. Blood oozed out of his mouth, as his essence nearly went berserk, leaving a terrible residue of power and injuries.


    She mumbled something he didn''t hear clearly, as the attraction force prated the void core and began tugging at the radiant matrix.


    "Just—"


    He screamed, his voice resonating with the twirls of the way, causing the wind to shift and the clouds to churn in the promise of lightning and storm...


    Ariha didn''t even lift her eyebrows as she snapped her fingers, and everything calmed down. Everything but his scream. His spirit cried at the piercing agony that ripped through his whole being. No other experience couldpare to what it felt like.


    On top of everything, he couldn''t move even an inch, his muscles twitched under the stress. Thankfully, it didn''tst forever, as shortly, he felt the needle withdrawing from his spirit, though this time it felt more than a needle.


    "Got it," Ariha said, and cut his abdomen with a sharp spark of light and intent. Topare to the soul-rending agony, the fleshy wound was nothing.


    Then out of the cut came a small marble-shaped glittering radiant core matrix,plicatedyers of scriptsid all around it. They weren''t new runes Ariha hadid, but probably old ones from the time of the imnt.


    "Huh, I knew it," she mumbled, showing the core to him. She hadn''t held it in her palm; it was spinning between her palms, still suspended above his abdomen. "This is our work..."


    It took a moment for him to understand what she meant.


    "You can rest easy now, Dear Disciple," she said. "Leave everything to me."


    With that, she moved one of her palms over his forehead as a calm radiant essence spilled into his mind, easing his pain and consciousness. Before he knew it, he fell unconscious, with the calming, healing power easing his mind.


    Unknown to him, time flew by. The actual surgery took over half a day, she recing the heart contract was no small business, considering Ariha wanted to leave no room for fault. All vessels, veins, and channels, she connected them to the Radiant matrix... she even created new channels to ease the passage of the essence.


    After all that, sheid multiplyyers of transcendent rune scripts, spending another six hours all over and inside his body.


    ***


    He woke up to his own screams as glittering runes came to life, shifting around his form, trying to calm his rising blood pressure. His chest heaved like pumping air into a balloon, as blood oozed out from his mouth, nostrils, ears, and perhaps even his eyes—he wasn''t sure if the liquid was blood or tears.


    "It''s alright," a calming voice said, embracing him in her presence. Warm arms wrapped around his chest, rubbing and caressing him. "It''s fine... You''ll be fine in no time..."


    "Ariha?" he husked, clutching her palm. His chest felt like it was burning in fire, while the rest of his body was cold as a corpse.


    "Yes," she answered. Her power drew into his body, healing the physical injuries and the surge of void energy created on his body. Even though her figure was diminutivepared to his towering stature, she kept him in ceplexly, without force. "Don''t move, calm yourself, meditate. You''ll be fine."


    "Yes," he could barely say, while she kept him in the confines of her embrace.


    "It will take some days for your body to adapt to it," she said.


    "My chest is burning," he said.


    "I know," she said, drawing her palm over his bare chest. "The surgery is sessful... you''ll be fine in a couple of days."


    With her reassurance and soothing presence, he fell into a state of deep meditation.