Chapter 56:The Awakening
As the moon crept higher into the sky, Philip suddenly remembered ether—the strange energy source pulsing faintly in his chest.
He hadn't used it for anything yet.
It felt… alive. But passive.
Out of curiosity, he let a small wisp of it drift out of his body. The air shimmered as it dissolved like mist. But when it brushed against a leaf, nothing happened.
He still didn't fully understand how to use it.
But then his mind returned to Amaka—his sister.
She had begged him for days to help her awaken. Ever since he returned home two days ago, she hadn't let up.
They were in the yard. She was asleep now, exhausted and sleeping on his lap.
Nathaniel had gone to his house he had work the next day.
Philip focused.
He gathered mana in his palms and gently infused her body. But there was no reaction.
"Still nothing," he muttered.
Then, he hesitated.
What if he tried something deeper?
Ether.
He conjured a microscopic drop—barely the size of a grain of sand—and gently guided it into her core.
The moment it entered her, her body lit up.
Veins glowed like neon circuitry. Her eyes opened—briefly glowing a soft silver—then shut again as her body floated slightly above the ground before easing back down.
Philip took a sharp breath.
"It worked…"
He stepped back in awe, watching her body draw mana from the air around her like a magnet.
She was awakening.
In her sleep, her breathing became deeper, calmer. The ether he had introduced was converting into mana, slowly flooding her core.
Ether… is a purer form of mana. Denser. Thicker. But compatible…
So while his sister awakened he practiced using earth and metal element and noticed if he used a lot of mana he could transmute a normal stone to gold and the moe mana the more pure the gold becomes.
That realization shook him.
Maybe that was why the supernatural beings back at the pyramid party didn't even glance at the gold on the ground. Gold could be created and transmuted.
He now understood the disdain in their eyes when he and Frank had scrambled to pick up jewels like fools.
As Amaka slept, stabilizing, Philip sat beside her—watching.
A stray thought floated through his mind.
I haven't even been back to the penthouse.
Nathaniel had mentioned someone was still cleaning it every day, but Philip hadn't checked. He was grateful.
He planned to visit it soon—just to gather what he needed. After that, he'd sell it. Too much had changed.
His safe was still there. Full of gold. Gold he could now create with precision using transmutation.
But is it real gold?
He wasn't even sure. If he bent it too many times, the structure shifted, and the transmuted material lost stability.
But in the end, it didn't matter.
Gold was no longer the currency he lived by.
It was still useful he wondered what the awakened used as currency.