How much time had passed?

Yujin felt his consciousness drifting, his mind hazy. Faint echoes rang in his ears, and he thought he saw hallucinations before him.

As he moved mana and constructed the massive magic formula, his limbs began to spasm.

While mana exhaustion wasn’t an issue—he was drawing directly from Tiamat’s heart—the strain on his body and mind was overwhelming.

"Are you alright?" Tiamat’s voice broke the silence.

"...It’s a bit difficult," Yujin admitted.

Normally, he might have hidden his feelings and feigned composure, but he didn’t have the luxury for that now.

Had it not been for Tiamat’s constant words of encouragement and the spiritual connection she used to soothe his mind, he might have collapsed long ago.

Still, he held on.

He had barely managed to inscribe the magic formula on 30% of the visible bones in the chamber. Considering the buried remains yet untouched, there was still a long way to go.

Thankfully, Yujin was an awakener—a superhuman unlike ordinary people who couldn’t survive more than three days without water.

Moreover, Tiamat occasionally took control of his consciousness to allow him to multitask, even enabling him to create water through magic to sustain himself.

And so, Yujin poured more time into inscribing the magic formula.

More time passed.

At some point, the vast chamber was filled with bones covered in dense inscriptions of the formula.

"Haa... Haa..."

Yujin was on the verge of collapse.

How long had it been? He had lost track of time, but Tiamat estimated that several weeks had passed.

For weeks, Yujin had not eaten. His energy needs were replenished by Tiamat’s mana, while water was conjured through water-based magic.

Waste accumulating in his body was broken down by mana, and his fraying mind was forcibly kept alert by Tiamat.

There was no other choice. If he fell asleep mid-inscription, everything he had worked for would unravel, and the mana he had poured in could run wild, leading to catastrophe.

Weeks passed without rest, and Yujin continued inscribing the formula, his eyes unfocused as they stared into space.

His exhausted mind pleaded for respite. It begged him to stop, to rest, to give up.

It whispered: Was there even a reason to fight so hard to stay alive? Why not simply close his eyes and embrace eternal rest?

For a fleeting moment, Yujin, lost in a trance, was tempted by those whispers.

But then...

"Yujin!"

A voice broke through, calling out to him.

It was a voice he had grown familiar with over the weeks—a voice that had become an anchor for his consciousness.

"...Haha, thank you, Tiamat."

"Are you struggling?"

"...Yes, I am. But..."

As Yujin responded to Tiamat, memories began to surface.

He recalled the day he lost his parents.

Back then, he had believed himself to be the most unfortunate person in the world.

After all, to a twelve-year-old child, parents were everything. For Yujin, the day his parents died was the day his entire world crumbled.

But as he continued to live alone in the world, he came to understand something:

He wasn’t special.

Everyone carried their own pain. Some lost their parents, others their children, and still others their loves.

He wasn’t special.

Everyone bore their own burdens and continued living despite them.

That was life.

Life itself was both the greatest blessing and the heaviest responsibility for those who were alive.

To abandon that responsibility was arrogance and cowardice.

And so...

"I’ve already made a contract; there’s no turning back now."

He had to carry on.

Yujin let out a cracked laugh as he muttered to himself.

He had already made a contract with Tiamat, binding their souls together.

If he died, Tiamat would die as well. His life was no longer his alone.

What’s more, breaking the contract could have consequences worse than his current ordeal.

Not that he hadn’t anticipated hardship. He had known it would be difficult.

Responsibility had to be carried, no matter how heavy.

With that resolve, Yujin continued inscribing the formula. The red circuits spread across the buried bones, illuminating them faintly.

"We’re almost there," Tiamat reassured him. "Just a little more."

"...Of course," Yujin replied, regaining his composure.

The magic formula was nearing completion.

Wooong...!

The mana etched itself onto every bone in the chamber. Tiamat’s voice resonated again.

"Now, the final step. Inscribe the formula onto your own body."

"...Alright."

Taking a deep breath, Yujin channeled Tiamat’s mana to inscribe the circuits onto his own body. Black and crimson mana extended across his skin like branches, forming a network resembling a magical array.

It looked like an intricate web of nerves or a circuit board carved into his flesh.

"Now, cast the spell according to the knowledge I’ve given you."

"Understood."

Crimson mana formed countless overlapping magic circles around Yujin, creating a three-dimensional array that enveloped him like a dome.

The spell array resembled a galaxy, its beauty formed from glowing circuits and runes. Slowly, it expanded, covering the entire chamber.

Fwoooosh!

This was a grand spell—something Yujin could never have cast before.

But the inspiration he gained from inscribing the formula, his heightened mental state thanks to Tiamat’s intervention, and the mana from her heart made it possible.

Magic circles stacked and spread, creating an intricate network under Yujin’s feet and throughout the chamber.

And then...

"It’s ready!" Tiamat exclaimed.

Rumble...!

The spell activated.

Wooong!

The massive bones, engraved with the formula, began to glow before disintegrating into black and crimson mana.

A furnace of mana formed around Yujin, enclosing him entirely.

Everything was in place.

Now, it was up to him.

The disintegrated remains of the bones were drawn into the furnace, where they were refined and melded with his body.

Flames consumed Yujin, tearing apart his flesh and rebuilding it anew.

Pain. Agony. Searing torment.

His body burned and regenerated in an endless cycle of destruction and rebirth.

Was this what it felt like to temper steel?

The excruciating pain made Yujin’s vision flicker white.

And yet, he smiled.

Just as he had mastered the art of hiding his emotions, he was adept at concealing his pain.

In that moment, he felt a strange sense of relief. After all the suffering, the end was finally in sight.

With that thought, he closed his eyes...

***

A Strange Sensation.

An odd feeling of weightlessness.

In a hazy state of consciousness, I saw a scene unfold.

I saw my father’s face.
I saw my mother’s face.

Both of them were smiling as they ate, holding their utensils in hand.

Before I realized it, I too was smiling, eating alongside them. While we were eating together, my father suddenly spoke.

“So, son, when are you planning to wake up?”
“Yes, dear. It’s time to wake up now.”

“…What?”

Abruptly, I heard my father’s and mother’s voices.

No, hadn’t I already been hearing them? Or was this the first time I heard them?
Or was it the first time I spoke?

“Yujin, wake up.”

Then, another voice called out beside me.

A voice so beautiful, so sweet it resonated deeply. It was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

When I turned my head, drawn by that mesmerizing voice, I saw a woman with flowing black hair and striking red eyes staring at me.

Her beauty, even more than her voice, momentarily left me dazed. Noticing my state, the woman spoke again.

“Come on now, wake up.”

“…What?”

Thud.

With those words, the woman pushed me.

Seated in a chair, I fell backward.

And then, I plummeted.

Endlessly, endlessly downward.

To the depths of the abyss.

As my consciousness dimmed to black...

***

"…Ah."

When I opened my eyes again—

"Yujin! Are you awake?"

“…Tiamat?”

What appeared before me was Tiamat, visible only in her spectral form.

Seeing her face, I realized that everything I had just experienced was a dream.

"…Hmm… What exactly happened?"

"You lost consciousness while your body was being restructured. For quite a long time."

As I muttered while trying to sit up, Tiamat explained. Quite a long time, she said...

"How much time has passed?"

"About a month."

"...That’s not as long as I expected."

I had thought that, by Tiamat’s standards, "a long time" would mean a century or more.

"I was using your standard of time, of course."

"Haha, I didn’t expect such consideration. Well, I must admit, I’m surprised. For someone who’s been unconscious for a whole month, I feel remarkably refreshed."

Indeed, my mind was clearer than ever, and my body felt more energized than it had in my entire life.

"How did things progress?" I asked.

"The restructuring was successful. Try moving around a bit."

"Alright."

I stood up—

Boom!

"..."

The ground shook violently as if it were about to collapse, and the chamber trembled.

"…It seems I’ve become much stronger."

"Strength is just the beginning. Even though your body hasn’t fully transformed into a dragon yet, and your heart isn’t fully integrated, your current abilities already far surpass those of a human."

"…It seems controlling this strength will be a challenge."

Even a slight movement of my hand caused a loud bang as a sonic boom echoed. Watching this, Tiamat reassured me.

"Don’t worry. Once you fully become a dragon, you’ll adapt to your physical abilities instantly."

"So, I’m not a dragon yet?"

"Of course not. A dragon’s core is essential, and your body isn’t complete without the heart. Right now, your physical capabilities are comparable to… let’s say, a fledgling dragon—perhaps a wyvern or drake."

"...Hmm."

Those creatures would be considered catastrophic monsters back on Earth.

Even in the Labyrinth Academy, drakes and wyverns were set up as extremely powerful monsters. Yet, to a dragon, they were mere fledglings.

"The process you just went through was the first stage of restructuring. Once you integrate the heart, the second stage will begin. While the first stage merely involved embedding my bones into your body, the second stage will refine and reshape your form into a truly efficient vessel. The magic formula was designed for this purpose."

"Fascinating..."

I glanced down at Tiamat’s heart in my hand.

"So, what’s next?"

"It’s simple. Swallow my heart."

"…That’s it?"

"That’s it."

Surprisingly anticlimactic. Looking at the heart, I noted how small it seemed for something belonging to such a massive creature—it was only about the size of my fist.

Bringing it to my mouth, I thought for a moment, then...

Gulp.

I swallowed it whole.

Thud!

"Ugh!"

The process of restructuring my body began anew.