Using the concepts he broached inside the Testament of Dying Blood, namely the passing thought regarding Mystic Blood, Kieran utilized the nearly inexhaustible blood supply to his advantage.

Of course, as one of the most complicated concepts he had pondered to date, it was not something he could perform presently. He could opt for an inferior imitation, though.

Which was his current outlook.

Unaware of how much time was passing inside this interim landscape between the Trial replication and the outside world, Kieran devoured the newly imparted information, gaining a rudimentary understanding of runes.

Compared to the Supreme Letters, they were simple symbols. And unlike the Syllables that operated on the mystic and the arcane… runes were a vessel for pure or attuned Mana depending on its spellforms.

That reminded Kieran of how Aerys weaved spellforms in his palms and the air but did so through a tangible link to his Mana Pool. Perhaps if he weren’t in such a limited environment, borrowing from the ambient Mana surrounding all could have elevated his blood spells to a new height.

‘It’s possible…’

The possibility led Kieran to dissect and study the concepts Aerys used.

Kieran was no Mage, nor did he claim to have a consummate understanding of the basics of spells and magic. However, that didn’t mean he couldn’t employ Mana or borrow ideas from the school of thought grandfathers by legendary sorcerers and archmages.

As an inexhaustible energy source lauded for its versatility, Mana weaved its way into daily life, making it accessible to all on some level. Those with remarkable affinities simply had an easier time sensing the worldly energy.

While he had yet to establish proper affinities — likely something Kieran wasn’t too keen on — his blood could assimilate Mana.

That was his ability gained from drinking the Quintessential Aether. It had refined his blood, unshackling his ichor.

Their potential was immense… but it was neglected. That was partly because Kieran hadn’t spared much time to delve into the meaning but mainly because the description… didn’t speak to their applications at all, leaving Kieran to do all the heavy lifting to reap the benefits of their high ranking.

His circumstances thus far hadn’t been conducive to unearthing their hidden potential, lacking the challenge and pressure needed to eke out what he couldn’t comprehend in its comfortable state.

But Kieran didn’t want comfort at all. Comfort meant he was becoming complacent, and complacency ultimately led to stagnation.

Answers didn’t come from stagnant people. Truthseeking was an endless journey with an unknown endpoint.

‘So according to the book… runes are simply pathways for Mana… created with Mana. Convoluted, no doubt. But I guess what they mean.’

The runes themselves had to be made of something. And then, once made, they still required power to run. Reviewing all the information in his mind, Kieran identified what he needed to do while focusing on his blood.

‘What if I become the pressure that makes my blood act accordingly?’

Continuing to recount his experiences, Kieran couldn’t help but remember how his blood had been at his beck and call by the Trial’s end. It had nothing to do with Mana and everything to do with the force of resentment and what he desired of it.

The problem was the lack of resentment to forge him and his physique as a Novice. Would he have enough blood to carry out his hastily thought-up plan?

The Mana Pool dispersed across his blood was finite, painfully so.

‘What if… wait…’

Kieran pushed aside his doubtful thoughts, focusing on the spellforms Aerys created. Slowing down the memory, Kieran realized it had all begun with a single drop of blood, which he ballooned with an astronomical amount of Mana.

His Mana Pool paled compared to Aerys, but had the Son of Blood drunk Quintessential Aether? Was his blood as receptive to energy as Kieran’s?

‘No, he didn’t. It was plain old Mana.’

Aether was superior to Mana in every way, be it purity, density, and conductivity of elements. That wasn’t surprising, considering Mana was deemed the byproduct of Aether that fell to lower Boundaries.

Only after years of accumulation and refining could Mana become Aether. But that advantage lay dormant in Kieran’s blood now, and he was eager to learn the effects of its awakening.

“Okay, first… rune-work… with blood. So, blood work? Doctor things, of course.”

Having spent enough time theorizing, Kieran was itching to acquire practical knowledge.

Inside the rune records was a glut of formations. Much was lost upon Kieran, leaving him to focus on the absolute basics. And, repeated ad nauseam within the information were notes of pentagrams, which apparently was the most stable runic formation.

Mention of that reminded Kieran of the First Syllable, the Supreme Letter Born, which was shaped like a star… or a person, depending on how your mind worked.

‘Arm, leg, leg, arm, head, and what have you.’

Since it was stable, it was the path of least resistance. As a new endeavor, taking the easy way was his only option. It wasn’t time to be overzealous and believe himself to be a peerless genius.

But Kieran liked its superior even more. The ring encircling a pentacle reminded him of a cipher through which mysticism could be carried out. It was the safer bet, in his opinion.

Then, he got to work, attempting to make theory reality.

The first attempt resulted in a horrifying failure. The blood burst, injected with too much far too fast. But control wasn’t his strong suit, evident by… everything he had endured.

All of his subsequent attempts ended in failure. The injected Mana was too much of a wild torrent to endure.

What stumped Kieran was that he only imbued a fifth of the available Mana Pool. Granted, accounting for the fact that Aether-touched blood might have altered its density slipped his mind.

One point of the blood’s Mana Pool might not be the same as his standard Mana Pool.

Kieran could have let Blood Mania handle the injection process to avoid the hassle, but that felt silly. It defeated the purpose of learning to control energies at the level of an Adept.

The repeated failures led to Kieran’s expression growing severe, his rapt immersion deepening each second. He reviewed his mistakes, noting the inconsistency in flow through his perception.

He had learned to relish the teaching moments of each failure, which kept him from erupting furiously.

Eventually, Kieran realized his mistake was using a single drop of blood like Aerys had. His fear of inadequate volume was subconsciously sabotaging his attempts.

Once the understanding dawned upon him, Kieran let his blood flow freely until he stood at the precipice of death. His attraction to his blood wasn’t as strong as inside the Trial, but he banked on that.

Everything blended as one inside the encompassing sea of gore.

Dealing in vast volumes neutralized the need for exceptional energy control, allowing Kieran to open the floodgates on the Will. His use was primitive, a far cry from what the Flame, Hekaina, Argexes, and Agrianos managed, but he was alerted to its importance nonetheless.

Soon, he formed two rudimentary crimson spellforms at his palm, inspired by his Ciphers.

The blood surged, creating a large circle first, then came the star-shaped infrastructure with smaller loops beneath their vertices. Then, as if in a trance… the rest bled from Kieran’s soul, guiding him to carve out a rune of unknown meaning in the empty spheres.

That was the finishing touch.

For a time, there was nothing but stillness and silence, leading Kieran to believe he failed in this attempt, too.

Then… pure chaos erupted within this strange sea of blood.

The runes Kieran created on a whim produced massive orbs from which rapidly moving projectiles shot down, bounced against the pentacle’s currently invisible platform, and then rejoined another sphere in a chaotic volley.

A fusillade if Kieran had seen one — beautifully destructive at that, with an incredible range of roughly twelve meters in diameter.

What came as a surprise was the grand finale.

Kieran was sent reeling backward in the sea when the orbs collided, forming a massive sphere of ruinous energies. It fell suddenly, smashing into the pentacle to produce an artful explosion.

“Whoa…”