Adrian cast Starbreaker repeatedly, erasing every lance of green-gold light that surged toward them. The white-grey spheres streaked through the air, each one consuming the divine attacks without collision or detonation. He could clearly feel the strain of the mana consumption accumulating. His Mana Sea currently held around forty thousand mana units, and it had even expanded slightly thanks to the Devour-based divine domain continuously refining and consuming ambient chaotic essence before. Even so, repeatedly casting a spell that consumed roughly one thousand mana units per use quickly became a significant expenditure over time.

  There was nothing Adrian could do about the cost at this moment. He understood very well that increasing the purity of his Source and reducing the cost of Starbreaker for the same output would take a long time. That was not something he could solve instantly.

  Still, he did not worry. His gaze swept across the flowers surrounding them. Every single plant in this inner region contained nearly three hundred thousand mana units. If even one of those were refined into a mana pill and consumed, it could increase his Mana Sea by roughly thirty thousand units. And that was from a single plant.

  Lara destroyed a lance that came towards her, "We're close," she called out. "The attacks are intensifying."

  Adrian saw this and was well aware that these resources did not belong to him alone. They needed to be shared with the Crimson Vital Sect. In the end, he would soon become part of that sect himself. His share would naturally be limited, but even that limited portion could increase his mana reserves multiple times over. More importantly, it would allow him to strengthen his people as well. Once his total reserves grew larger, the cost he felt now would become negligible.

  Another barrage erupted. Six lances this time, converging from different angles.

  Adrian formed three Starbreakers simultaneously, releasing them in quick succession. Each sphere erased its target cleanly. The remaining lances were intercepted by Torvain and Maelis.

  And for the moment, he was not fighting alone.

  Together, they pressed forward.

  Time passed as they advanced deeper into the garden, enduring wave after wave of lance attacks. The formations grew more aggressive, launching coordinated strikes that forced the group to split their attention. Even the elders began to feel the strain, but none of them slowed down. They took mana pills to restore their mana. Adrian also used the mana pills he purchased in the UNI-Hub.

  The pill dissolved on his tongue, flooding his channels with pure mana. His Mana Sea rippled, replenishing instantly. Intaking the mana pill instantly restored the mana, so they didn't even need to meditate slowly or anything.

  Maelis consumed her third pill, grimacing at the bitter aftertaste. "These things are efficient, but they taste like ash."

  "Better than dying," Torvain muttered.

  Eventually, the garden opened into a vast clearing.

  The clearing stretched for hundreds of metres, its borders lined with ancient stone markers worn smooth by time. At its center stood a single massive tree, its trunk thick and gnarled, its branches spreading wide enough to cast shadows over the entire clearing. Beneath the tree lay a pool of crystalline water, its surface reflecting the sky above like polished glass.

  Floating on the pool's surface was a lotus. Its petals were translucent, shifting between faint gold and soft crimson hues with every subtle movement of air. The plant pulsed rhythmically, releasing waves of essence that rippled across the water.

  Lara's voice dropped to a whisper. "That's it."

  Torvain drifted forward slightly, his eyes wide with awe. "The Core-Reforging Lotus."

  Adrian studied the lotus through his Source Eyes. The translucent petals became transparent under his gaze, revealing an impossibly intricate network of rule symbols woven through the plant's structure. Its internal structure was impossibly complex, far beyond anything he had encountered before. Rules governing reconstruction, reintegration, and stabilization wove through the plant in dense, overlapping patterns. They coexisted in harmony but were not merged together like a divine concept. Each symbol retained its individual identity whilst contributing to the whole.

  Seeing this, Adrian immediately understood its purpose.

  A Rule Core was formed from fused Essence Seeds, and Essence Seeds themselves were crystallized manifestations of one's comprehension. That meant a damaged Rule Core was not a physical injury, but damage to crystallized understanding itself.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  The rules within this lotus addressed exactly that. The reconstruction symbols identified fractures in comprehension and mapped the original structure. The reintegration symbols pulled scattered fragments back into alignment. The stabilization symbols prevented further collapse during the delicate process. The Core-Reforging Lotus did not heal through material means. The rules within it acted directly upon comprehension itself. When refined into a pill, it would use reconstruction to rebuild fractured understanding, reintegration to restore lost coherence, and stabilization to prevent collapse during the process.

  It was conceptual medicine.

  Adrian found the universe endlessly fascinating. Even this single expedition had exposed him to countless truths he had never known before. To the part of him that longed to uncover the secrets of existence itself, this was pure ecstasy.

  Maelis exhaled slowly. "We found it."

  Marivelle hovered nearby, silent. She did not know how to feel. Her gaze drifted across the clearing, searching the shadows between the ancient stones. She looked around and saw no trace of Casmir or any other Everlasting Pill Sect members. It was clear that the Crimson Vital Sect had gained the advantage by locating the lotus first. She pushed those thoughts aside. She was Adrian's mercenary now. The Everlasting Pill Sect no longer mattered to her.

  Lara gestured, "Maelis, left flank. Torvain, right. Marivelle, rear guard. Adrian, with me. The moment we harvest it, anything could happen. We have no idea how the formation mind will react, so stay alert."

  They descended slowly, every one of them activating their domains and compressing them tightly around their bodies. Authority stood ready, prepared to be unleashed at any moment.

  Adrian felt the air change as they sank lower. The mana density around the pool was staggering, far denser than anything they had encountered in the outer zones. It pressed against his senses like a physical weight.

  The instant Lara's foot touched the edge of the pool, the water rippled violently.

  Adrian's Source Eyes flared.

  The formation mind had activated.

  The entire clearing changed in that instant.

  The pool beneath the Core-Reforging Lotus began to glow intensely as lines of formation light surfaced from beneath the water. Radiant threads of green-gold essence spread outward like a web, pulsing in synchronized rhythm. The crystalline water churned violently, not from heat, but from extreme mana turbulence. Waves crashed against the stone edges, sending spray into the air that evaporated into raw essence before it could fall. The lotus itself remained perfectly still, untouched and isolated from the chaos around it.

  Adrian could see it clearly. The formation mind had switched from defense mode to preservation mode.

  This formation was no longer attempting to repel intruders. It was now prioritizing the Core-Reforging Lotus above everything else.

  The soil around the pool split open with a grinding sound, thick streams of green-gold essence erupting upward to form a circular barrier around the lotus. The barrier solidified into a translucent dome, shimmering with layered defensive symbols. At the same time, countless formation nodes throughout the garden synchronized, redirecting massive flows of life and growth essence toward the core zone.

  Almost immediately, the surrounding plants reacted. Every plant within several hundred metres began to collapse, their vibrant colours draining away as their stored mana was forcibly extracted. Petals withered. Stems curled inward. Leaves turned brittle and fell. The air thickened with raw mana so dense it distorted perception itself, bending light and sound. The inner zone of the garden screamed silently as life was stripped away to serve a single objective.

  The moment the formation prioritized the lotus, it began sacrificing the surrounding plants as fuel.

  Maelis clenched her fists, her voice rising with alarm. "It's sacrificing the nearby plants!"

  "Yes," Adrian replied, his tone steady despite the escalating chaos. "The formation was never designed to preserve everything equally. The formation core is beneath this pool, and I can see its logic. This entire inner zone exists to feed the Core-Reforging Lotus when necessary."

  Through his Source Eyes, Adrian could see the logic nodes beneath the pool clearly. Intricate rule symbols formed decision trees, branching pathways that dictated every response. The core of the formation lay here, and its logic treated the lotus as its absolute priority.

  Lara cursed under her breath. "If we don't stop it now, it'll drain the whole garden."

  "Yes. Cover me, I will take care of this formation." Adrian said.

  Adrian moved instantly. He could not allow the formation to continue unchecked. For now, only a small number of nearby plants had been drained, but if this continued, the formation would sacrifice the entire garden.

  The moment Adrian entered the pool's inner radius, the formation reacted violently.

  Dozens of green-gold constructs erupted from the water. These were no longer simple lances, but complex life-aspected divine spells. Vines of condensed essence lashed toward him, each one thick as a man's torso and covered in thorns that glowed with concentrated mana. Roots solidified into spear-like structures, bursting from the soil with enough force to shatter stone. The water itself rose in serpentine coils, attempting to bind his limbs and drag him under.

  Lara, Torvain, Maelis, and Marivelle responded instantly. Their domains expanded outward in unison, authority flaring as they intercepted the incoming attacks.

  Torvain shattered incoming constructs with explosive divine spells, each detonation sending shockwaves rippling across the clearing. "There's too many!"

  Maelis carved apart binding vines using a condensed energy blade. Severed pieces fell into the water, dissolving instantly. "Adrian, hurry!"

  Marivelle burned through multiple spells with her own divine attacks.

  Lara stood closest to Adrian. She expanded her domain further and issued a direct authority command, forcibly suppressing the formation's interference in their immediate vicinity.

  The pressure skyrocketed.

  Adrian could feel the formation mind escalating yet again. It was no longer probing or warning.

  It had classified this as a terminal threat event.

  And it was preparing to respond accordingly.