188-195

188 Getting Ready To Start My Cultivation

Of course I wasn't that delighted with Wryly. From this mere conversation with him I knew he and his paragon already knew where that human girl was.

Unlike what he promised to me before, he didn't inform me about her location at all! That wasn't something I'd just forgive him and his paragon.

I intended to show them a little rudeness here in response to this. I didn't like someone lying to me, or taking me as a fool!

In the end I closed the chat with him and opened another.

[I need a digging tools]

[Did you find any suitable mine in your world?]

[No, it's just for war]

[Hmm… So you faced a hard city by now? Interesting… Aren't your apocalypse still at quest two or what?]

I wasn't surprised that Lady green nymph figured out about my current situation. After all, such cities were common in any old apocalypse, like they were common in my time.

[I want an effective bunch of tools, can you provide them to me?]

[Compared to your crazy requests, this one is a simple one] her answer made me heave a sigh of relief, [I can provide one hundred thousand dark gold grade digging tools for you in exchange for five bones]

Five? Come on! My bones weren't that cheap at all!

[Two bones are enough] I sent back, cutting the price lower than half in one simple move.

[This…]

[One bone is more than enough in my opinion]

[You don't get it, the tools I'm talking about are beasts in front of any major city… Let me share their description with you]

The next moment a window popped up in front of my face. From what I read, I realised she wasn't fooling me this time.

[Drillers of demons: Dark gold grade items. Made by Bringold impact. They can dig into the ground, removing tons of dirt in less than ten minutes. Need source of energy to operate]

[So you are providing them with the stats needed to operate them for a week?]

[Damn! Are you going to attack one city or an entire kingdom?!!]

[Just a city]

[Then I can provide enough stat points to run these beasts for three days. I believe this is more than enough]

[Barely] I knew this was more than enough. But who said I wouldn't reap any possible benefit off this nymph and her impact?

[Alright, let's make the deal]

The next minute I signed a contract and paid the price she asked for. Five bones were delivered and I received one hundred thousand drilling tools.

I took one out to examine, but the moment I did, a behemoth appeared in front of me, even making my chariot tremble slightly.

My chariot that even the angelic star weapon didn't make it to flinch trembled when I took that thing out. That was enough proof of how beastly this thing was.

"What the hell is that?!!" The girls jumped to the side out of fear and shock while the jumper asked in a serious tone.

They all had the excuse to act like that. The air this machine emitted was really thick and heavy.

It was like a big bulldozer standing in front of me. It had a cubical body with dozens of thick and arched metallic legs, ending up with sharp spear-like endings.

From the four sides of that giant cube that reached twenty metres length, height, and width, a big thick arching arm came out.

Each arm ended up with cupped hand-like broad endings with sharp edges. The air this machine emitted came mainly from these four arms and the centre of that cube.

Looking closely one could notice a well secured and hidden cavity that was camouflage from the world using colour shifting ores.

That space in the heart of that cube was enough to carry five to ten people at least.

"It's the tool we are going to use to dig a tunnel underneath this city," I said in delight, feeling how vital my relationship was with that impact.

"You bought this?" the jumper pointed towards it, "can you give me some?"

"What for?"

"For any future obstacle."

"Just come and plead for some then when that happens," I snorted and he gave me a glaring look. I waited for his signature comment, yet he restrained himself this time and didn't say it.

"So we are going to use this one here to dig underneath that thing?" Isabella asked in doubt, while pointing between my tool and the gigantic wall at the far distance.

"No, I have more than enough to bring that damn wall down," I said in confidence, "just bring your armies here, arrange them into teams to help in the digging process. Then I'll provide these tools for you."

"I hate to say this, but you are truly the worthy enemy of those filthy rich dragons," the jumper shook his head and his comment made everyone smile or laugh.

"Go and get ready," I waved my hand while evading this awkward moment, "I'll take ten hours to get done with something. Be prepared to move once I finish my stuff."

"Another soft session with your girl again?" The jumper threw such a mean comment, and I simply rolled up my eyes while giving him a much meaner comment.

"What? Interested to swap places with her?"

"Do you want to die?"

"Humph, you are most welcomed to replace her whenever you want,"

"Ooooh sh*t!" Everyone's eyes were wide open when I said this, yet the first to show such a funny reaction was no one else but Angelica.

"Shut the hell up!" without waiting for her to add anything else, the jumper glared at her and said in such a threatening tone.

You deserved it pal! Continue harassing me and I'd end up biting you back.

As for the ten hours time I asked for, this was for me to listen to the last record about cultivation.

I listened to two records about it, and only the last one remained. I paid nine million coins for it before starting the last session about cultivation from the old man.

Every single info he said was priceless to me. I might have known parts of what he said earlier in the first two records. But this one here I had to admit… Everything was new to me.

I learnt many secrets regarding cultivation. And the most interesting part was about learning cultivation from other races that didn't suit humans.

After ten hours, I finished that record and understood how things would go at my next cultivation session.

To be honest what he said wasn't a solution but only stating the problems here.

Humans had an ability to accept many cultivation methods from other races, yet they had a major flaw.

Our bodies couldn't sustain strong cultivation. For example the highest we could get was the cultivation methods from drags and Berserkers.

Even taking cultivation from these two was dangerous as well. To be safe one had to learn cultivation from a mediocre member of these two races, or else one would risk his body to explode.

The main problem here is related to how the human body treats cultivation. We had meridians, dantian, and gates to organise this big network. But this was limited greatly by our souls.

We had pure souls, yet fragile and weak compared to other races. Our soul quality was high enough to accept any cultivation, yet it was weak enough to not sustain the strong and special cultivation in the universe.

The old man gave an example of himself, stating that his own race cultivation was considered one of the finest cultivations in the entire universe.

But when he tried once to teach the method to a human, that human exploded. The problem wasn't in the purity of the soul but in its weakness.

Since then the old man never tried to teach anyone his race cultivation. Instead he started to deeply research about this issue and came up with few possible theories to solve this.

One of these theories was to take only a slight portion of the cultivation method. Or learning the early stages and stopping there without going a single step further.

Yet both methods were retarded in my eyes. What was the benefit then from getting a high grade cultivation way and not using it to the fullest?

Another theory of his talked about letting a group learn the single cultivation together to share the burden. It might theoretically work, but it would require this group to always stick together or else they wouldn't be able to use this cultivation at all.

This wasn't an option for me. I had my team members here but I'd never think about doing this. Not only were they needed to disperse and work their best to expand my territory, I didn't like the idea of sharing my cultivation with other people and depending on them entirely to use mine.

This was like getting a deadly weapon yet I wasn't able to use it unless I had a group to help. I wouldn't accept this illogical solution.

Yet this one opened a door for me to solve this. My situation was totally different from the old man's teachings and the regular rules of this universe.

I'd get my cultivation from the bones. That meant I had a way to solve things out, a crazy way but it was logical to me.

But I had to wait until I'd meet up with that system higher up and talk with him about my own theory.

"Oh, you already started the fun!" Just as I finished delving into my thoughts, I noticed loud shots and cries of war coming from many directions.

When I raised my head and took a swift glance, I found a big fighting battle going on all over the place.

The dragons seemed to grow impatient when my armies arrived. I also heard the familiar warcry of Wryly from one direction to see him leading his army and fighting against the dragons.

Yet that dude only brought less than two hundred thousands with him it seemed. The entire battle was all over the place, extending to the horizon in any direction I saw.

"Come forth," as things reached this scale, I had no hesitation to summon my own forces. "Go berserk and kill as free as you wish," I gave them a simple order while standing high and mighty on the top of my chariot.

My warriors and summoners roared before jumping off and directly clashing with the enemy. The deadliest of course were the dragons, the soulers, and the lethal fallen gods.

"What are you doing here?" As everyone went to fight, I noticed a bunch of cowards standing on one side of my chariot on the ground, acting as if nothing of this was related to them.

"Answering lord, we didn't fight until we got the order from you!" one of the illusionists said and I could only sigh. Those bunch of cowards came with my armies and didn't even raise a single blade against the enemy.

"Go then and kill all of them." I shouted in an angry tone. What was the use of having hundreds of those cowards? I seriously considered killing them and turning them into useful souls.

Speaking about souls, I checked on my account and found that I gained a staggering million souls since the last battle. My souls were now over three million, enough to summon more fallen gods.

Yet when I turned and looked at the entire battlefield, the current number of fallen gods were more than enough. The single one of those lightning fallen gods was enough to face a medium sized army by himself.

In such an open and chaotic battle, the bunch of fallen gods I had was more than enough.

"Let me keep them for the cultivation process," I didn't know if what I had in mind would require some price to pay or not. It was better to be prepared than regret later for wasting these souls here.

189 Meeting The System Higher Ups

The fight was already equally matched from the start. As the enemy abandoned the advantage of the city walls and defences, they were in a tight spot after me joining the fight.

I started roaming around with my chariot, taking a wide circular path around the city walls. By doing this, I created a growing vacant area which prevented the enemy reinforcements from reaching the battle.

And at the same time I cut down the road of retreat for those bastards.

The fight continued for four straight hours. During which the death toll created by my private forces was already terrifying! Just during this fight I gained almost close to one million souls.

That was crazy!

I didn't think that such a number was created by my forces alone. The system must have considered Wryly and his forces to be on my side and counted their death toll with mine.

Anyway I didn't have any reason to object. More souls meant more gains for me.

"Bro, this fight was awesome!"

Just after the fight was over, I scattered my warriors and the useless illusionists to collect the dead elites of the drags and other races and bring them to me.

I wouldn't let any spoils be left alone, especially if it was related to the filthy rich dragons.

At the same time, Wryly came onboard with a group of his elites. As for my own teammates, I sent them orders to let our forces take their loot from this fight.

One million dead was a great boost to any of them. I was sure after this battle, each one of them would be able to buy more supplies and might even show a few surprises.

"It was great," I knew how high these berserkers value fighting.

"This city is really magnificent! How come they built it?" Wryly's eyes shone over the heavily defended city. Of course he had to feel this way. After all, such a price was painful even for someone like him.

"They are dragons, they can do that," I shrugged before adding, "now I have something to do. I'll trouble brother Wryly to supervise over things here. Don't forget bro, that drag archlord is coming here."

"I know," he said while his eyes flashed as if he recalled something, "by the way, my paragon says he didn't deliver your message."

"What?!" I looked at him in pure rage and deep surprise. How daring of that paragon to act this way! How naive of Wryly to deliver me his message as well!

"He says the safety of the lady comes first," Wryly helplessly said, "I tried to convince him but… You know…"

"That's insane!" I couldn't control my rage as my body faintly trembled. I took in successive deep breaths while calculating things in my mind. "At least tell me you have eyes over him."

"This…" he paused and from his silence I knew things were doomed to be ugly.

"Damn it!" I punched the side of my chariot, "how can your paragon be this shameless? Is he a coward?"

"Bro, please be more respectful to my paragon," despite him knowing I was speaking logically here, Wryly couldn't tolerate hearing my insults to his paragon.

"He should have acted over the greater good, not for his own sake!" I was still mad. Yet whatever I said or did wouldn't change what happened.

"Alright, go and summon more forces here," I waved to dismiss him, "the next fight is going to be bitter. Also spread out scouts on a wider scale. Last thing we want is to have that bastard raiding us without knowing about his approach."

"I… Will do that," Wryly couldn't argue back against my words. He simply nodded and went off my sight while lowering his head.

I couldn't believe that bastard! What? Was that human girl a piece of jade or a rare beauty to charm him? Don't tell me she was even prettier than those succubus girls!

I sent more instructions to everyone. I trusted Wryly I knew, but I didn't trust his paragon. A man who wouldn't dare to make harsh decisions for a girl wasn't worthy of my trust.

I asked them to send our own scouts to be ready. Also I asked them to be careful. The next fight was going to be more brutal and much bloodier than the one we just had.

After that I started collecting my loot. My boys brought over ten thousand corpses. Most had decent things in their inventories, and a small number of them had literally bullshit stuff.

I put things I didn't need into the market. My coins got inflated again by triple, yet not even close to what I had before.

"You'll stay on guard," I turned to my private army, "if enemies attacked, retaliate without needing me to say anything. Just make sure this chariot is safe like a hard rock in front of raging river waters."

"Roar!"

"Yes lord."

They all responded in their own ways. After finishing that, I had time to start my cultivation.

I just hoped my cultivation wouldn't take a lot of time. That bastard was heading towards me. I was sure that lustful paragon would do anything to save that human girl.

That meant that the dragon archlord would lose sight of his prey. In such a case he would shift his gaze and come to attack us here.

This battle was taking serious detours from the plan I initially put on! Yet it wasn't that desperate to consider it beyond salvage. I still had a chance, and that was directly related to my success in my cultivation.

I took out that big bone again and then activated my separation skill.

[Do you want to integrate this bone with your body?]

[Warning: This bone came from a dark realm monster. Dark realm monsters walk different paths than your race in cultivation. Do you still want to proceed?]

[Warning: This bone's grade is red grade but the cultivation stored within is simply way beyond what your human body can tolerate. Using it will have a certain risk of detonating your body into shreds if failed]

[Warning: you'll need one hundred thousand soul points to integrate with it]

"Take them," I shrugged and then another row of messages popped in front of my eyes.

[You can add another one hundred thousand souls and get the guidance from the system in process]

[Do you agree with that offer?]

"I agree," without hesitation I paid the second hundred thousand souls to the system.

[A higher up is notified about the deal once again]

[He will be with you in ten minutes]

[Before that he asks if you already are familiar with the concept of cultivation]

"I learnt a lot of things but might need his help at some point," I said while taking a peek at the surroundings. Everything down below was like a real war camp.

Many groups were roaming the place all around the city. Many were taking up their loot, while few were just patrolling or setting defences against the city's inner forces.

I used my hawk skill and was glad to see many siege stuff being brought forth by my forces. That was the value of giving them a chance to collect the loot from such wealthy foes.

And it was also a sign of how my team members were adapting fast with the new times we were living in.

[The higher up will be here in ten minutes]

[Be ready to start your merge once he arrives as he has little time to spare]

I knew this seemed like a standard warning but I still was grateful for that head up warning. In addition to my cultivation, I also needed to ask him about a way to obtain a communication system for humans.

Leaving us alone without such communication was a clear biassed move from the system. I was sure this had something to do with those damn angels, but at least I got a chance to complain against that.

And might even have a chance to solve this problem once and for all.

Ten minutes passed in peace without anything happening. I kept myself busy checking over the general layout of our forces.

Per my previous warning, they acted as if Wryly and his forces weren't here. The defences, the arrangements of the forces, everything was done in a way to not show a weakness if the berserkers retreated.

[Start the digging process] I simply said while pointing my hand outside my chariot and then the one hundred thousand digging tools I bought before landed on the ground below.

They were so big that they took a large amount of land. And being in such a large number emitted a very dangerous vibe to everyone looking at them.

[Bro, what are these dangerous things? Are they yours?] Wryly sent this message over but I decided to act ignorant as if I didn't see the message.

[Start working now] I sent to all my team members, [Arrange units to guard these and make sure to have groups ready to take away the dirty]

I knew the drags inside wouldn't sit idle when these machines started working. They weren't like us, as this wasn't their first apocalyptic experience.

So they would instantly recognise the machines I bought. That also would force the dragon archlord to drop the idea of chasing after that human girl and focus on her.

Would my forces be fast enough to dig the tunnels underneath the city walls? Or that bastard would arrive first? Or would I be able to finish my cultivation session faster than him?

This fight held many variables to be honest. I just hoped things wouldn't go south pretty fast before I'd finish from my cultivation.

[Welcome human race Hye] just as I was lost in my own thoughts, this message came with a weird voice.

It wasn't as majestic as I expected, yet it came directly into my mind. It seemed like that dude was using some sort of trick to speak directly towards my mind.

I ignored the message and said instead:

"Thanks for the trouble esteemed higher up, but I need your help here."

[Of course dealing with such dangerous cultivation is something insane. I have to tell you this, you aren't the first to try this approach but none succeeded so far]

"None!!" I was taken aback by such a bold declaration.

[Afraid?]

"Would be a liar if I said no," I shrugged, "but this is the path I selected. So I decided to keep reading it."

[Good luck then… I'm just here to notify you about the obstacles you'll face when you start the merge. You know how cultivation works, right?]

I knew he had a tight schedule, but going directly into this matter was a little surprise for me. If I answered him and he finished telling his things, he might just leave and watch from his own place.

I couldn't do that!

"Please sir, I have another thing to ask you about," I gathered my courage and decided to act bold and direct as him.

[Another? Aren't you going to start merging with this bone?] from his tone I felt little surprise and faint rage. As expected, he directly jumped towards the negative side of the story and thought I was playing him or something.

"I'm going to do that of course, but first there is something I have to complain about."

[You know I have little time to spare with you. So wasting it for other things won't help you at the end]

His threats weren't that light but I had to accept this fate if it happened.

"It's just the unfairness my race is facing compared with others!" As he had little time and acted this aggressively against me, I had to start showing my case instead of coating my way with words.

"Other races have their own private network of communication. Be it dragons, berserkers, even those angels have means to communicate with each other. All but humans have this, and this is unfair!"

[Hmm… Quite an interesting accusation] he spoke in a tone that told me he abandoned his rage but wasn't that excited about my case, [But you have to know this… Each race didn't have this advantage out of bias or something. They earned such privilege with their own effort]

"Earned it?!" I never expected to hear such a response.

[Indeed. Or do you think controlling worlds in the apocalypse doesn't come with privileges to those who claim this honour! Your race is the one to be blamed not anyone else]

190 The Chain Quest

On the surface, this man seemed to be accusing my humans of this disadvantage. Yet humans here never participated in any apocalypse before.

But other humans did. What? Did other humans not win any apocalypse before? That was unbelievable!

"Humans on other worlds refused to help us, that's what you mean, right?" I worked my mind fast and found this explanation to be the most logical one.

[You got a sharp mind] and his words confirmed my guess, [Now, shall we return to cultivation?]

"What can I do to fix this?" I wasn't ready yet to start merging with my bones. I had to find a solution for this, or else my efforts would end up in vain.

[You want to fix this? How?]

"That's what I'm asking about," despite expecting this answer before, it still felt bitter to hear it. I knew what he meant by his answer. What could I possibly do to get such a privilege? That was what he asked about.

A privilege given only to those winning an apocalypse wasn't something that could be bought by any price. I understood that.

Before speaking up with him, I thought this communication system was a gift from the system or a thing related to the races' big families. I thought it was bought by wealth or gained by influence and authority.

But I was wrong! It was a privilege gained from achieving such a hard milestone for me. Of course that sat the price for such a thing, a price that I had to match to get what I wanted.

Yet the question here was: What would I possibly have and be on the same calibre of this feat? In fact it was nothing! Yet I threw the ball back to him as I said:

"I can do anything to get it… Isn't there anything I can do in this apocalypse that can grant me such ability?"

[In the apocalypse? You can start working to win it then] His answer didn't give me any hopes at all. Yet I was stubborn to give up just like that.

"Anything else besides this condition," I said while having a faint hope to find another way around. I knew things couldn't be obtained from one route only, that was the nature of the apocalypse.

So there must be other ways around, and I had to keep pushing to know them. "Like heroic calling for example?"

[Heroic Calling? Hahaha, that's just a reward system for those outstanding personnel in the apocalypse] my words seemed to be amusing to him.

"I meant anything like that, like a mission or a quest that can give me such a handsome reward," I kept telling myself to keep pushing and never lose hope. And finally I was rewarded…

[A mission? Of course there are few that can grant you what you want. However they are dangerous, absolutely dangerous]

Yes! I resisted the urge to clench my fists and shout in triumph when I heard his words. I knew there must be other ways to gain this privilege, and I knew they must be very dangerous.

"I won't say no to any challenge."

[This is suicide! Are you this tired of living?]

"I want to help my people and myself on top of that," I shrugged, "without such a communication system, nothing I do or others do will matter."

[Hmm… You indeed have a point here] he paused for a few seconds before adding, [Let me ask you this… Do you know why we devised the apocalypse and spread it across the entire universe?]

Of course I asked myself this question before, but had no info to even guess the answer. Yet him asking me this out of the blue seemed a little weird.

"I dunno about that," I shook my head while honestly replying to him.

[We live in a universe, yet it's not the only universe in the big cosmos] he started saying such heaven shaking news, [And for a long time we have had many enemies trying to crush our universe and dominate it. The apocalypse is set to train capable warriors, strong enough to survive these brutal wars]

"You are training us?!!" I had to admit I never expected such a thing before, "by killing us?"

[The weak shall perish so the strong can survive] he gave me such a lame excuse, yet I couldn't refute that logic. [I have a mission under my jurisdiction, and its reward will be that communication system plus other advantages. Are you interested?]

"It's about this war, right?" This was the only explanation to what he just said. Or else why would he uncover such scary secrets to me?

[Indeed, you have to go and fight for us, for all of us. Achieving the target set up for you will grant you what you want. Overdoing it means more rewards]

"I can't say no," I had to accept this, "what is this mission about? When can I start?"

[Not now of course] his answer was swift and decisive, [You are too weak to survive the journey. First let's finish up with your cultivation, then I'll give you a list of missions you have to achieve here before being able to receive my mission]

"A chain quest is then," I once read in the old records about such types of quests. It started with small quests that would pile up in a long line until leading to the final major quest.

Of course these kinds of quests were the most dangerous ones. After all, the chain nature of these quests was designed to train one's strength and slowly let him achieve it while getting stronger.

[Yes, so you agree?]

"Sure," I instantly accepted.

[Good. The first quest is a test. You have to succeed in merging with this bone of yours. Of course failure will give you death, and success will grant you a good material that will aid you in the early stages of the cultivation]

"I accept."

[Good, then let's start. Tell me, what do you plan to do with this bone? You know it has an immense amount of cultivation power inside]

"Spiritual power, I know about that," I nodded before adding, "I have a theory in mind that I wanted to test here."

[Tell me about it then]

"I know this bone has an amount of spiritual power that's not only immense but also berserk and wild. In normal cases, my soul won't sustain it and will eventually collapse."

[That's true]

"Then I'm thinking about building a pseudo cultivation body with it."

[What is that?]

It was finally time to speak about my theory and learn if I could really do it.

"I want to merge the bone with me, but the energy from it will be channelled and used to build another body that's connected to my soul but it's not literally my body."

[Like a clone?] the higher up seemed to understand my point, [But your race doesn't have such ability. And to build a new body from scratch without the help of your abilities will require a lot of materials, rare and extremely precious materials… It's an impossible feat! Even an entire lifetime might not be enough for you to achieve it]

"You got me wrong, sir," I shook my head, "I don't need to build a new body at all. I already have one."

[Where?] the higher up paused before adding, [I scanned your things. You don't have anything but that Curasee race killed body. Don't tell me you want to use it!]

"I will and won't," I vaguely said, "this body of that race has the ability to parasite anything."

[But it's a dead body! It has no soul at all!]

"That's where I want to ask you about," I came to one of the puzzles I had in my theory, "can I inject a piece of my soul into it?"

[This…] It seemed he never expected me to say this. I knew part of his silence was originating from his refusal to deal with that race.

After all it was a cursed race, a race that worked their best to hinder the sacred mission of the system and the apocalypse.

I now know why such a resistance was treated in such a decisive and oppressive way. Of course the Curasee race weren't just trying to make a stand or declare their viewpoint towards the brutality of the apocalypse like I thought earlier.

They were trying to help our enemies to invade our universe. They were traitors, in soul and bone.

"I don't want anything else but to gain the ability to invade other bodies," I tried to give more explanation so he wouldn't misunderstand me.

But it seemed what I did turned over me as he roared next, in a tone that held lots of rage:

[Do you want to infest other races' bodies and use them to merge with this bone? Are you out of your goddamn mind?]

"No no, that's not what I meant," I hurriedly said, before adding to correct this big misunderstanding, "what I want is to infest my shadow, turning it into a living thing able to sustain the bone's spiritual power."

[Your shadow?!!] His explosive tone calmed down fast.

"Yes, I frankly got the idea from the shadow master I just killed from the illusionist race."

[But… You aren't a reincarnator to begin with]

"I know, that's why I want to use that Curasee useless body in my inventory to make up for this missing step," he finally got what I wanted to do and started to think on the same line with me.

[This… is one of the craziest ideas I ever heard recently…]

"Will it work?" I didn't care if it was crazy or not, "Is there a way to transfer part of my soul into this dead body?"

[There is many ways to do so indeed] he said before pausing for few seconds, [I can get you something but you have to pay a price for it]

"I'll pay."

[One million soul points for it]

"I can pay that," at this moment, I was grateful that I didn't touch my soul point stockpile before starting cultivation. Or else I'd end up regretting that and postponing the entire process.

[It will be painful] the higher up said, [It's a tool to cut part of your soul. You need to be awake, as that part of the soul will decay fast if you didn't use it in five minutes]

"I can handle pain."

[Also you need another item to inject that part into the dead body of the Curasee]

"I'll pay the price," at this point I doubted that this higher up was trying to empty my entire reserve of soul points. And his next price proved that to me.

[You need to pay another million soul points]

I looked at my current soul point reserve… It was slightly over two million points by now. "I'll pay," but I was ready to do anything and get this process done.

[Then your plan is to cut part of your soul, endure the pain before planting it inside that dead body of the Curasee. Then you'll take over his abilities and invade your shadow… Who told you your shadow will be enough to sustain the immense berserk spiritual energy from that bone?]

"My shadow can have many shadows linked to it before," I said what I noticed during my past encounter with that illusionist archlord, "so it must be flexible and have the ability to sustain a dense amount of energy, unlike my true body and soul."

[Interesting…] he just said that without giving me a clear answer, [But you have to know that even the merge will be with your shadow, your true soul will feel everything. If you lost consciousness during this, the entire process will fail and you'll die]

Something told me this higher up was originally a merchant! Without the need for him to say anything else, I figured out that he was trying to sell me another item.

"I'll pay then for any item to help me stay conscious during the process!"

[And that Curasee race body is slightly decayed. You did a great job in killing him but you have to cure it first]

"I'll pay for that as well!"

Damn! Don't tell me he was aiming towards everything I got! Come on! My soul reserve has already hit rock bottom. What? Don't tell me he was aiming at my coins, wealth and my inventory as well? Damn!

191 Hye Is On The Doorsteps Of Death!

[These two items will be paid through coins, do you agree?]

"Yes," what else could I do with such greed higher up. I didn't know why but dealing with him reminded me of the nymph of the Bringold impact.

[Alright, I'll deduct the prices directly and then give you the items] the next moment I saw almost all of my coins gone besides my soul points.

I felt bitter inside yet I had to endure this. Set your eyes to the big reward at the end of the tunnel, I kept telling myself this.

[You got four items from the system higher up]

[You can find them in your inventory]

I opened my inventory and saw four strange looking items there. What caught my sight was the air they exuded even inside my inventory.

The first was a scythe-like weapon. It had black handle and blade made out of silver white thunder arcs that kept dancing and creating the shape of the blade.

The second was a normal looking needle. Yet it exuded green and red air from time to time as if both were rotating and exchanging positions inside it.

The third was a fruit like grape. Unlike grapes, this fruit had elliptical shaped pieces, some were red, some were green, and others were blue.

The fourth was a small bottle that had a swirling fluid, rotating non stop even inside my inventory. The fluid started with white, changed colour gradually to turn into red, then black, and finally white again.

[You got your things] the higher up said and I felt little joy in his tone. What? Were those higher ups this poor or was he excited about making a deal with me?

[You can start first by the body. You got a fruit, take it out and squeeze its parts over the body]

I thought that the fruit was for me and the potion was for the dead Curasee but I was wrong. I took out the killed body of the Curasee race and that fruit.

The moment I held it in my hands, I had a weird feeling. This fruit was in the size of a big fist, like a fist from a giant race like Selvators or Berserkers.

But the odd thing wasn't in its size, but the feeling I got when I grabbed it. It was like it was breathing, like a life thing taking a breath in and out in a regular pattern.

"Squeeze this thing? Is it alive?" I asked in doubt.

[Just squeeze and rub that cursed body with it] the tone of that higher up returned to his impatience and anger. It seemed even by seeing the dead body of the Curasee dude here made him enraged.

*Squish!*

I had to admit, the feeling I got from squeezing this fruit was as disgusting as ever! It brought out a sticky liquid that I didn't want to touch with my hands.

It was sticky green red fluid, having a very awful scent that turned my stomach upside down.

So I just squeezed it and kept it over the body of that Curasee. The fluid fell and covered its body fast like it was a living thing that found meat to eat.

*Sizzle!*

A strange sound came when I finished squeezing the fruit. "Is that supposed to happen?" As that sound appeared, a strange storm of gas appeared from the Curasee body, enveloping it and shielding it from my eyes.

[It's normal] I didn't believe that higher up words, [Now take out the scythe and use it as if you are stabbing your heart]

"Are you sure?" I took the scythe out. Unlike its small image inside my inventory, that thing grew up to become double of my size.

[Just do it] the higher up said, [And try to keep yourself alive. If you can't, just drink that potion]

I didn't know why but from seeing the sharp edge of that scythe I wanted to take the potion now. Yet when I took a peek at the Curasee body enveloped in that gas, I threw away that idea instantly.

I couldn't even raise that scythe as it was so big and heavy. It wasn't as heavy as my glaive, but it wasn't as light as my other two glaives.

So I placed it on the ground, tried to raise its shining blade with dancing tongues of thunder without hurting myself.

At this moment I realised something. That blade seemed as soft as a jelly. Weird! I touched it again and confirmed my previous feeling.

*Rumble!*

Yet when I placed the sharp tip over my chest, my body got a violent tremble. Without controlling anything, that black handle of the scythe rose up in the air while its blade kept going deep inside my body.

I didn't feel it coming out from my back. Yet I wasn't in the mood to examine what was going on with this strange scythe.

As its blade got inside my body, I felt a pain that I never felt before. It was like something was peeling off my skin layer by layer like I was an onion. I didn't know how long it had been, and didn't care about my screams.

Yet when I finished, my voice was hoarse enough to rival that of the jumper.

[Grab the scythe by the handle] If that higher up didn't alarm me with his urging voice, I wouldn't have noticed that blade flying in the air just a metre above my head.

[You got five minutes from now on, don't waste them and take out the needle next]

Just as I extended my hand in a shaky way towards that blade, I felt myself dying. My power was gone! And all I could do was to prevent myself from falling.

I couldn't even take a single step forward. Yet when I extended my hand, that blade flew over, shrunk in size to fit my hand.

Looking at it I noticed a beautifully shining orb of silver white light at the tip of that blade. I felt a strange familiarity and warmth with that orb, and I wanted to grab it, hug it deeply and hide it away from the entire world.

[Focus! This is the piece you cleavaged from your soul] yet the moment I was about to do that, the higher up voice came to shake me awake. [Don't ever touch it! The first body it will touch will get it attached to]

I got what he wanted to do so I took out the needle and held it with my other hand. That needle also grew fast and looked like a dangerous long spear.

"How?" I looked at the Curasee body just metres away from me. It was still covered up by that strange gas.

[Just prick the tip of the needle into its body] the higher up said, [Then place your soul over the needle's shaft. It will carry it deep inside that Curasee body]

"Then?" I could only extend my shaking arm slowly before the spear tip pricked that gas. I felt like it hit something rigid and without waiting for the higher up to answer, I touched that beautiful orb with the needle's shaft.

Then things started to get really ugly!

*Roar!*

I heard an ear deafening roaring sound coming from the entire world before a strange phenomenon appeared. The bright world turned all dark without warning, and I felt like I was the only person living and about to die here.

An ominous feeling filled with pure hatred gushed out from my arm and went deep into my body. I felt my knees hitting the ground without being able to see anything. I was going to die! And with that all the voices in the world vanished.

Without waiting or thinking about anything, I took out that potion from my inventory. I gulped its content without even seeing it at all.

I touched it and opened its lid using my fingers. I hoped it would work, as a cold feeling seeped deeply inside my body.

*Thud!*

The first sound I heard was the sound of my body clashing down on the ground. Time passed while I saw weird scenes flashing in front of me, things I never saw or heard about before.

Weird worlds… Strange races… Words I never heard before in a language that I never understood.

The darkness kept pulsating nonstop. Sometimes it would grow fainter and other times it would be pitch black.

I didn't know how much time passed while I was like this, but when the world returned to look the same, I found myself landing over my back on my chariot, gasping for breath while my clothes were soaked with my cold sweat.

[Take you time to rest] the next thing I heard was the voice of that higher up, [You already placed your soul into that body. You should be able to do that crazy thing later but first you need to regain your strength]

I wanted to say thanks or curse him for what happened. I felt like I was on the doorsteps of death, only one breath separated me from crossing that door.

But that potion also worked and I didn't die. I closed my eyes and reopened them, trying to shake myself awake.

Yet I took almost half an hour to be able to stand up again. When I stood up, I saw the dead body of the Curasee race.

This time it wasn't surrounded with any gas. Also the wounds it had before were gone. Even the missing limbs he had were regenerated and he looked healthy.

He had a face that looked strangely familiar. When I looked closer, it was similar to mine, with few differences here and there.

[Just drop your blood over his head and the connection will be completed] the higher up was still here. I feared that the bastard would leave me behind, stuck in the middle of all this mess.

"Crack!"

Like a surface made of ice that got smashed, I felt the same feeling when my blood fell over that body's head.

Then a beacon of light shone in the middle of my mind, preventing me from taking a single step away.

Many things flashed past my mind. Abilities, information, and even memories of a life I never lived before. Many scenes I saw were similar to the scenes I saw when I was on the verge of dying.

This time my mind was clear and I understood what was going on here. I was getting the memories of the Curasee I killed, alongside all of his abilities as well.

It was shocking to realise that Curasee wasn't fresh to apocalypses. This was his third apocalypse while the previous two ended up destroying the world and leaving it under the rule of the dark realm monsters.

Just knowing that I killed someone as a veteran and successful in doing his dirty tasks like that one made me feel little pride.

The information I gained was mostly useless. After all, everything was said in a different tongue than mine. Yet I might gain to know their language at some point and this useless info would turn into a priceless treasure.

[You can now use that infestation ability of that cursed race] the voice of the higher up came and startled me awake from my thoughts, [Use it over your shadow and let's see if things will work out the way you thought]

"It will," I said with firm determination. I would neve fail after passing all this horror and pain. "I swear I'll make it work!"

[Let's put your will under test then] the higher up seemed to not hold much hopes on my success. But I didn't care about his thoughts.

I extended my arm, pointed towards the direction of my shadow. That body opened his eyes. They had a strange silver-white lustre inside them.

As I did, he did. As I thought, he acted. It was my first time controlling this new body of mine, but things worked out smoother than I expected.

192 Yonker

I thought about infesting the shadow with that body I gained. The moment I thought so, that body became hazy as if it was going incorporeal, then it went directly towards my shadow like a bolt of lightning.

I felt like my mind was opened up in front of the raging ocean waves. I was like a feather in the wind, pushed up and down with each passing pulse.

The shadow I infested wasn't like anything I imagined before. I thought it would be a dead form of energy where I could control using that body easily.

But when that body got into my shadow, I realised how deeply wrong I was!

That shadow of mine was like another world attached to me, hidden from me by a mighty wall that was cracked open at this moment.

Immense waves of energy gushed forth from my shadow, trying their best to control my mind and soul. I gritted my teeth and even bit my tongue to resist the unbelievable desire to sleep.

I knew if I closed my eyes even for one second, I'd be gone! I wouldn't fail! Not after suffering all this!

All I could do was to silently resist and endure. The waves keep crashing at my soul and mind, but I never faulted against them.

I stood erect like a sturdy ancient rocky mountain in front of the tide of time. I wouldn't let that shadow take control over me. It was my shadow, and it belonged to me.

The more I sustained this, the more I noticed something interesting. I felt after the passage of an unknown amount of time that my soul and mind became much stronger.

It was like I was bringing forth everything I got to resist the incoming energy pulses. But now I could relax a little, spare a few of my power to examine that shadow.

It was like an entire galaxy attached to my body. Its darkness was boundless, yet I could spot few shining dots acting like scattered stars.

Yet I failed to determine the source of that energy at first, and also failed to spot the body I sent inside. The link between me and that body was still there, so I didn't panic even when I couldn't find it.

I knew if it was supposed to do something, then it would be going to the source of all this energy and take control over it. This was the only way I had in mind to control such a berserk shadow and put it under my control.

I didn't know why, but when I thought about this idea, a flash of light appeared at some point in my shadow. At this point, my shadow wasn't just that small dark line attached to me through my feet.

It was a colossal thing, seemingly extending beyond the horizon, acting as if it was another version of me, a hellish and scary one.

And somewhere at this colossal thing a flash of bright silver white light appeared. I knew once spotting it that it was my other body, and it was ready to act.

It just needed me to think about a solution to execute it. I didn't know that for sure, yet the sequence of events that happened later proved me right.

That body kept flashing up, seemingly resisting against the darkness of my shadow. Then it started to move.

At first it moved slowly, like it was finding it so hard to wonder in such risky darkness. But after some time, my soul and mind got another upgrade and with this the body connected to me started to roam faster.

It wasn't heading towards the centre of that shadow, or towards its colossal top that was hidden beyond the horizon. I thought the source of energy came from there.

But when I noticed the direction it was going towards, I couldn't help but feel more shocked.

It was going towards my feet! Yes, you read it right! It was going towards the area where that shadow got attached to my body through my feet.

Without thinking too much about it, I decided to endure and keep watching in silence.

What attracted my attention was the fact that the higher up system person was all silent. He didn't speak since I started controlling my shadow, like he was enjoying a good show or something.

Yet what I thought to take not much time for the body to reach my feet seemed to take a lifetime. The closer it got to my feet, the fiercer the energy assaulting my body became.

It seemed my shadow had a will of its own or something. It felt the danger approaching its core and tried to put a final fight against me in a futile attempt to control my body.

Yet I kept enduring and resisting, buying time for my body inside the shadow to reach my feet. The moment it reached that area, a burst of energy appeared as if a mighty clash between the two sides erupted violently there.

I had nothing in my power to do except to keep enduring the shockwaves coming from that clash. At some point, I thought that a star was born in that darkness out of the intense clash that was happening there.

When I thought this would take forever, a sudden rumble occurred. It wasn't that loud, but the moment it happened, that shining star dimmed as if it was dying out.

The remaining shining light prevailed and extended to cover the area connected to my feet. At this point I could clearly see and feel everything that was happening down there.

It wasn't just an area, it was like a planet. The ground, sky, even air was there. Its energy was all dark, even when my body started to emit its dazzling silver white energy, it seemed that darkness prevailed.

Without wasting any more time, I thought again about taking control over the source of that darkness energy. My body in the shadow seemed to dig into the depths of that place, until reaching a strange cavity which held a pitch black ball, acting like a black hole.

And just as that body got near it, it was controlled by an irresistible force that sucked it into the centre of that ball. Damn! It was really a black hole!

All the silver white light that body emitted vanished the next moment. It took only one moment for it to disappear, and it even couldn't put up any fight against such a berserk beast.

Damn! Damn! Damn! What should I do now?!

I felt powerless, frustrated, and helpless when I witnessed what happened. I got no spare bodies of Curasee, and even thinking about finding another gave me an instant headache.

But as I was on the verge of screaming in frustration, a sudden change occurred that gave me hope again.

That piece of land started to quake. I didn't know how but its quaking moves were felt clearly by my perception.

It was like my body was the one that quaked not that land. It kept doing that for a few minutes before A sudden burst of energy erupted from this point, extending to cover the entire shadow space.

And with that I felt like I gained control over that shadow of mine. It wasn't a clear concept of control like what I felt with that body, but it was like I could perceive everything happening in that shadow.

I could feel each spot, see through it if I wanted. The first impression I got was an overwhelming awe.

My shadow… It wasn't just a shadow but a cosmos of its own! It was massive, endlessly able to expand it I wanted. It got energy that made me feel like a dwarf in front of a giant.

"It's done," I took a deep breath before exhaling it. I found that all this time I was closing my eyes, and when I reopened them I felt the world was strangely brighter than before.

[Congratulations! You gained your shadow cosmos seed]

[You gained three points of favour with the system higher ups]

[The system higher up Yonker has a positive impression of you]

[You gained access to the system higher up Yonker in times of need and danger]

Strange system messages popped in front of me. Yet I didn't care about them. All I understood was that I gained that higher up's name and favorability. Something that would grant me his help in times of need.

[You did it! Bravo!] the sound of Yonker came into my mind. Yet somehow it lost a lot of its pressure after what I did.

"Thanks," I said before adding in gratitude, "without your help, I would have never done it."

[It's you who showed great tenacity and strong will at such a challenge, bravo!] He gave me credit for what I did, and I simply smiled and accepted the praise.

"Now it's time to merge with the bone," I said before pondering about something.

[Why are you standing still? Start the merge now]

"There is an issue I have to consider first," I didn't listen to his words, "that shadow of mine absorbed and destroyed the Curasee body I had. So I won't be able to merge the bone with it."

[The body is gone!]

It seemed that what happened in my shadow was shielded from even the eyes of Yonker. It felt great to have my private space, a place where no one else could pry or spy upon.

"It's gone," I nodded in confirmation, "so now I have to merge the bone with me."

[This…] Yonker got the dilemma I had now. If I would merge with that bone, then all I did so far was pointless. [What do you have in mind?]

"I think I can use that shadow of mine in a different way," I started speaking about my thoughts, "I plan to make my body work as a channel, shifting all the energy inside that bone into the shadow."

[That might work provided that your body can endure the first bursting waves of energy]

"That's not the main problem" I shook my head before adding, "that shadow is like a massive place with no physical form. It got my silver white energy without flinching or getting affected by it."

[You are afraid it will absorb that energy?]

"That's the most possible and realistic scenario," I nodded, "if that happened, then I'd gain nothing in the end."

[Well… Then why not try to make something out of that energy?] Yonker said something I didn't get at first, [Like you create your own dantian there. A dantian has the ability to safeguard the energy against anything]

"Creating a dantian?" this came out of the blue. It was out of the area of my knowledge, "is that possible?"

[Possible yes, but costly indeed and quite risky as well] he paused before adding, [You also have to put in mind that once building an outside dantian, you'll doomed to work on it all the time for the rest of your life]

"I don't mind that!" without even flinching, I accepted. "What shall I do?"

[You need a dantian seed, I'll bring it to you but its price is slightly costly]

"How much?" I felt my heart clenched when he mentioned the high price.

[One hundred million souls] and the answer he gave to me was such brutal to leave me all hopeless and depressed, [I can lend it to you but you'll repay me in interest]

"Interest?"

[Of course you don't think I'll lend it to you for free]

I didn't know why but that Yonker was more shameless than that nymph.

But what else could I do? I didn't have any other options but to accept his offer.

"How much interest are we talking about?"

[Not that much… Only one third each one year, with addition of the same amount with each passing half year]

"What?!!" It was such a heavy interest. I'd pay one third twice a year then or what?

[You have no other way anyway] he shamelessly said, [Without my help, you won't be able to finish what you started]

193 [Bonus chapter] Opening Meridians

I knew he was right, but such extravagant interest would turn me into a slave for Yonker. "I can agree on the interest, but lower it to half," that was what I could do.

[That won't do] but that dude knew he held the upper hand here, [Don't try to bargain with me. You simply have no capital to do that]

He was right again, yet that told me how rude and brutal the life outside the system was. Such a higher up was fighting with me over such low things as my souls.

"Ok," against my will, I agreed. I had no other choice but to do that.

[Great, you'll get a contract now]

"What for? You didn't do that with any item before!"

[You are a human race, and humans known for their shamelessness]

"Are you sure you aren't a human?"

[Hahaha, no, I'm not]

I found a contract in front of me with everything he spoke about. That interest was calculated for the next five years. Just looking at the number at the end of it made my scalp numb.

"Are these numbers right?" I couldn't help but ask. The debt started with one hundred million souls and ended up by almost two billion souls!

[This is a compound interest rate Hye, just calculate it and make sure by yourself]

"I suck at math!"

[Then trust the system, after all these numbers came up from the system and not me]

I looked again and as he said, the system stated that it ran the numbers and were provided by him.

"Ok," I felt more bitter than before when I saw these numbers. At this point I knew I had to work my ass literally for the first six months or else that scary number would be my fate.

Two billion souls? Damn! How many fallen gods could I summon with them? How many drugs? Damn!

[The item is coming to you now] the tone of Yonker told me how excited he was. [You won't regret this deal]

"I won't delay the payment beyond the six months time," I said in determination, "I won't wait to see that number."

[Good luck then]

His tone was so annoying, as if he was laughing at my words and decision. That tone and attitude made me more determined to pay at least most of this debt by the end of the first six months.

The thing wasn't in the great toll I had to pay, but that huge number would put all my plans into a pause for a long time.

I had to be more careful now when dealing with soul points. Sigh, sorry my summoned fallen gods, I wouldn't be able to summon lots of you in the next six months or even an entire year.

*Flash!*

Just as I was lost in my bitter thoughts, something flashed in front of me. It looked like a small ball made out of pure milky liquid.

I didn't consider it milk as it floated with any help at all. Besides it emitted flashes of lights in the shape of curved lines from time to time.

[It's in front of you, just swallow it and it will create a new dantian in your body] Yonker said before adding, [This new dantian will be perfectly identical to yours. Also it will be connected with it as if it was a twin of your dantian]

"I eat that?" I asked while grabbing that floating ball of milk and drew it closer to me. I felt like I was holding a piece of jelly, so soft and squishy to be honest.

[Just do it and you'll see the changes instantly]

I shrugged. For this little thing here, my next six months or even years were about to be consumed in repaying its price.

It should be good, it ought to be.

The moment I put it into my mouth, it melted right away. Then a surge of heat erupted that engulfed my entire body, before a strange sensation started to emerge from my belly.

I never had such an awareness before. The belly region began to change, evolve and develop a new sense there, enabling me to see through everything there.

And there I found a small circular void that was all silver white in colour. Without the need to ask, I knew it was my dantian. That thing just awakened my dantian without any delay.

That was a good start.

Then things started to develop faster.

From that dantian, I felt a severe pain that made me even close my eyes partially. I endured for a few minutes, wanting to scream but didn't.

Then a new smaller dantian appeared next to the bigger one. This one was identical to my dantian, yet it had free mobility and lied completely under my control.

I thought and it moved right and left, allowing me to notice that small and yet stable thread that linked the two dantian together.

"The new dantian appeared," I said, "what should I do now?"

[Simply move it towards your shadow]

I looked at my feet, where my shadow was connected with my body. With a simple thought, that smaller dantian flashed and appeared at my feet before finally crossing to the shadow region.

The moment it passed, I felt a new change in my shadow area. That deeply rooted black hole seemed to sense my dantian, and instantly reacted.

A surging energy wave appeared, trying to smash my dantian. Yet while I grew anxious over my weak and small dantian, all the waves of energy that came at it got absorbed and turned into pure spiritual energy.

The amount of my silver white spiritual energy there increased. And that wasn't all. I also felt the intensity of its brightness intensified as well.

That meant my energy was getting increased in quantity and quality.

"I dare you to keep attacking it!" At this point, all the worries inside me vanished and instead a sense of confidence surged.

I wanted my dantian to deplete the entire dark energy of that shadow, ending up devouring that black hole as well.

Yet after half an hour of constantly attacking and failing at the edge of my dantian, that black hole seemed to reach a realisation.

It couldn't break my dantian. This was its losing war.

So I saw the dark energy recede back, only leaving an area of safety around my dantian.

"Now what?" I waited and hoped for my dantian to do the impossible, yet nothing else happened.

[You shall start merging with your bone now] Yonker mistook my comment to be for him. I didn't mean him by that, yet he reminded me about the next step.

Everything was ready. The shadow already got the Curasee race body with part of my soul in it. Also it got my second dantian, which was connected to my primary one.

So it was time for me to start absorbing that bone. It was finally the moment of truth.

Would I be able to do it?

I knew it would be a hellish experience for me. I had to endure the full power of that bone's berserk spiritual energy, guide it towards my dantian before pushing all the energy into the secondary dantian.

Yet the main problem I could see was the weakness and limit of the thread-like link between the two dantian.

I knew this would delay the movement speed of that berserk spiritual energy towards my secondary dantian. And when I thought about that, I knew I had not only to endure that pain, but also try to find a way to deal with the extra energy until I expand that link.

The only way I thought of was to open my meridian network. It was the only thing I had to fight against that brutal energy. However, according to the old man's teachings, the newly developed meridians would be fragile at first.

"Is there a way to strengthen my meridians?" as I had zero idea about what to do about this, I asked Yonker, praying I'd not pay another hefty price to that stingy greedy dude.

[What do you think that item is doing in your body right now? It's strengthening the meridians once you opened them]

Phew! I heaved a silent sigh of relief. Thinking back to the extravagant price of that milky liquid ball, I realised it wouldn't make any sense to only work for making a new dantian for me.

So it also worked at my meridians. That was perfect.

"Activate the separation skill," as everything was settled, I loudly said, "merge this damn bone with my body!"

[The merge will start now]

[One hundred thousand soul points are deducted for the merge]

[The merge process will start now]

[One percent completion of the merge]

[Two percent completion of the merge]

[Three percent completion of the merge]

It wasn't the first time for me to see a countdown from the system, but I wasn't in the mood to count with it. The moment the merge started, my body felt like it was thrown from ice into the depth of hell itself.

"Ahhhh!"

I gritted my teeth, and roared like a real monster. I thought the influx of the energy would start after the bone merge. I was prepared for pain in my arms, but that didn't happen.

What really happened was for that bone to turn into strange black dust, swirling around me in torrents before it started to dissipate inside my body.

And from that moment, my entire body felt like it was burning with hellish fire.

The pain was simply unbearable! Yet I tried my best to focus on the main task at hand.

"Keep moving that damned energy," I kept yelling to myself, trying to muster up any will hidden inside me. The energy that assaulted my body was so violent and yet so thick and heavy.

Just trying to force it to move towards my dantian was a torture. Then when it reached there, I tried to push it outside before I felt a strong blow to my belly.

My dantian started shaking, and I even felt cracks appearing all over it. Damn! If I didn't act fast, then that dantian of mine would explode and I'd end up crippled.

Just at this crucial moment, something flared up. It felt like I got a cool shower of cold water while standing in the depths of hell.

I saw a milky white energy appearing from my entire body, circulating and surrounding that dark energy before it made it more flexible to my orders.

It was that milky ball I took from Yonker. Just seeing what it did here made me realise it was worth every single soul point I paid for it.

The dark energy lost a lot of its aggressiveness and became much easier to follow my orders. The cracks that appeared before inside my dantian started to get healed on a rate visible to my naked eye.

It was making my dantian stronger. It wasn't fast, but it was noticeable at least. That told me how valuable this thing was, and how vital its role to play up ahead would be.

"Time to get you opened!" I heard the description of the old man about the meridian network inside our bodies.

According to him, there was a very complicated and dense network of meridians that would even reach the level of each cell of my body.

Opening more meridians meant the more powerful my cultivation would be. Yet opening lots of meridians at first would be a hellish task.

To open meridians, one had to obtain a dense and enough spiritual power to crack open and pass through the isolation membrane surrounding each meridian.

That also required a lot of tenacity and much work and endurance.

I have an insane amount of energy at the moment. I also had the will and desire to do it. So why wouldn't I go all out and try to open as many meridians as possible?

194 The Silver-White Hole Called My Dantian!

The first impact from the dark energy guided by the milky white ball material wasn't as easy as I thought.

The membrane separating the dantian from the first meridian was so thick and resilient. It took me almost ten minutes to crack that membrane open.

Yet the moment it happened, the dark energy finally flooded the meridian. The momentum of it pushed open a lot of secondary meridians attached to that one.

Under my guidance, the dark energy kept opening more smaller meridians. I didn't hurry to open more bigger meridians and first focused on saturating those smaller ones and the smallest ones after that.

It felt like I was pouring water on a desert. The meridians I opened sucked away a lot of the dark energy I pushed, but who said I didn't have more?

The energy coming from that bone finally got a chance to grow calmer. I took such a chance and opened another big meridian. As the last one, I also pushed open a lot of smaller ones, slowly and steadily expanding my meridian network.

It took me roughly one hour to completely open the entire meridian dense network around the dantian alone. At this moment, the dantian region didn't look like anything before.

It was now like a dense bright net made entirely out of brightly shining spider webs. I opened just an area of the size of half my belly, but to me it was like I opened an ocean in there.

The dark energy became less aggressive and more agile and flexible than the first time it gushed into my body. This was all thanks to the vast area I opened using my meridians.

The meridians I opened were like hungry beasts. They kept devouring the dark energy like they had no limit at all.

Yet I didn't let them have all the fun alone. As the dark energy kept accumulating fast inside my body once again, I started to open a big meridian.

It was the one linking my dantian with my legs. According to the old man this was the biggest one in my body.

Yet when I opened this one, I soon discovered it wasn't as big as the one in my belly.

It wasn't just the matter of its size or thickness, but the amount of smaller meridians connected to it. Compared to my belly, the one linking to both legs weren't on par in terms of quantity.

But as I opened these, I kept pushing them beyond the limit. I soon opened all the meridians I could reach at this current stage.

Then as the energy kept doing the rest down there with itself, I started focusing over another region; my chest.

I held high hopes for it. In my opinion, the highest areas with meridians would be my belly and my chest.

And that area didn't let me down!

Just opening the first couple of big meridians there gave me a lot more of the smaller meridians that the ones I opened in both legs added together.

I kept pushing the dark energy using my past experience in my belly region for that. After a couple of hours, my chest turned into a world of dense and interlinked net of light.

"Now it's time for my arms and head," I examined the amount of dark energy gushing into my body to feel satisfied.

That bone kept increasing the amount of energy coming into my body as if it was rising up to the challenge. I smiled when I felt the insane amount of energy gushed into my body at this moment.

Without such a dense and immense amount of energy, I would never be able to open more meridians. Hell! I would have never been able to open even one tenth of the meridians I opened so far!

Armed with such energy, I started working on all fronts this time. My body was slowly turning from its dull and dark state into a shining thriving body filled with a dense net of light.

I had already filled my lower half with opened meridians, and I had an unexhausted amount of energy gushing into my body each passing second.

So opening meridians at my arms and head didn't seem that hard. At first I could do it perfectly fine, until I entered the maze of my mind!

I never expected that my mind would prove to be this hard. It wasn't just a simple area filled with meridians, but it gave me the same impression I had when I first opened my shadow and discovered it.

My mind… It was boundless!

The more I opened, the more it expanded! At some point I even felt helpless towards this. In my head, my mind started to develop a wider transparent mass of energy that kept expanding beyond the limits of my skull.

Yet strangely as it might seem, I also felt my mind to still be confined within my skull. It was a weird experience and feeling, but all I could do was to give up after wasting five hours straight working on my mind alone.

I didn't know why, but when it came down to cultivation I felt like time entirely stopped to lose its meaning. Hours passed out like running water. I even felt that spending days, weeks, months, and even years later on wouldn't be that surprising at all!

As I finally gave up on expanding my mind, I started to focus over the last area I never touched so far; that link between the two dantians.

I left this to the last moment. I needed first to prepare my body, dantian, and my meridians. Now I could start building my second dantian.

But the main problem I had now was an answered question. I had meridians inside my body lying dormant and waited to be opened.

So what about my shadow? Would it also have the same dense meridian network or what? If not, then how I'd be able to expand that dantian?

I didn't know anything at all to even guess. The only thing I could do now was to start expanding and pushing dark energy into that link and see how things would turn out.

And that was also one of the reasons I decided to delay such a step to the last. If this failed, at least my body wouldn't explode right away and I'd have more time to find another solution with Yonker.

Yet when I started opening that thread, it felt like I was cutting a stone with bare hands! It was so sturdy, resilient, and hard to push my dark energy forward.

But my body was now a dense net of meridians filled with energy. The dark energy once completed a circle around even a small part of my body would turn completely shiny, becoming a silver white energy.

I didn't have time before to examine or appreciate this. And surely I didn't have time for this right now. But that allowed me to change the way I was using the dark energy to open that stubborn thread.

I recalled back all the dark energy and instead let them pass through my body first. Then I used the extra silver white energy and pushed it through that thread.

This time the movement speed improved at a rate visible to my naked eye. The past resistance got a lot better, and that thread turned into a calm stream of water.

I didn't hesitate and pushed more energy into it. I didn't think too much about the reason and only thought this was thanks to the nature of this thread.

After all, it was developed after replicating my dantian.

The moment my energy passed through the part inside the shadow, a rumbling sound echoed all across that shadow, assaulting me with a violent shockwave.

I felt like my entire body was breaking down at this moment. But thanks to my dantian and dense net of meridians, my body sustained this unexplained wave of attack and even revolted against it.

A sudden gush of the dark energy came fiercely from the bone, turning into a massive amount of silver white energy in no time. This energy found its way without the need for me to guide it, attacking that shadow back and forcing it to taste from its own medicine.

After this the shadow never revolted again and the energy all reached at the same time at the small dantian inside that shadow.

Then a mind blowing thing happened.

Just as I was worried about the nature of that shadow, an amazing phenomenon occurred once my energy reached that dantian.

Like a dried up root of an ancient tree, the moment my energy touched that dantian it shook, started to expand at a fast rate before many threads started to grow out of it.

"What is that?" I looked closer and tried to not miss any single moment of this awesome moment. The dantian kept shaking, expanding, and releasing more threads that kept interlinking together as if they were programmed on creating something.

The more energy arrived at it, the faster this happened. At some point, I got the feeling that something was odd considering the dark energy coming from that bone.

The energy started to gush into my body at an unprecedented rate that gave me a scare. This amount of energy was even beyond the ability of my dantian and meridians to handle.

Yet as I felt that, I also felt another astonishing thing in my shadow. That dantian changed by somehow and started to act like the thing in the depth of that shadow.

It became like a black hole, yet it didn't seem right to give it such a name. After all this dantian of mine was shining with silver white energy and not black at all.

But it had the ability to devour anything thrown in its way. It turned into an unceasingly rotating swirl that kept fiercely drawing any energy from my body.

In response to that, the energy coming into my body grew to such a terrifying scale. I now realised there was no danger here at this moment.

But what if that bone's energy got depleted at some point? What would happen if that little silver white beast didn't get satisfied? Would it also attack my body and devour my energy to the last drop?

Damn!

Without further hesitation, I opened my eyes, took out another bone from that beast. It was a black graded bone, one lesser than the red bone I just used.

I had two more of such bones in my inventory, and much more of the dark gold grade as well. Yet I decided to start with these two before going to exhaust the other ones.

*Rumble!* *Boom!*

"Kill them all!"

"Don't falter!"

Just as I briefly interrupted my cultivation, I noticed loud echoing rumblings, explosions, and even shouts from everywhere!

I only extended my neck and saw a brutal fight going all over the place. Dragons were leading a grander army, trying to push back my forces which were still drilling under the walls of the city.

It happened for many parts to lose their digging machines. But there were still many more places with my forces working on the walls.

"They don't need me yet," I only needed a few seconds to reach such a conclusion. Yet I couldn't be sure that the dragon archlord wasn't close by now.

So I instantly activated the full throttle force of my chariot, letting that shield of her to protect me during my next cultivation session.

I even took out two hundred million stat points, threw them without batting an eye over the beating heart of it.

I didn't know how long I'd be immersed in the last step of my cultivation. I was in such a delicate moment that stopping was much riskier than sitting here while enemies hammered down at my chariot.

Two hundred million stat points were enough to sustain my chariot for a long time. I also summoned back ten fallen gods, all were lightning gods, and also a hundred soulers to further ensure my safety.

I had to see this through till the end, no matter how bitter or difficult that end would be. This cultivation fight inside my body wouldn't end up by my loss. And this fight here wouldn't end up losing that city.

I decided to risk everything, to take everything at the end. Victory favoured the brave, and the bold ones as well.

Let the gods of luck be on my side in this fight, let me end up the victor at the end.

And now… It was the time to finish this cultivation fight inside my body.

195 Finishing Cultivation To Welcome A Disaster!

I only closed my eyes and left the fight with little hopes that it would end with our win. The next moment I returned to the raging fight inside my shadow.

That silver white whirlpool was now getting fiercer than before! The amount of energy it sucked away was accelerating at a terrifying rate.

If this really continued, then forget about my entire bone reserve, nothing could satisfy the gluttony of that silver white hole of mine.

Yet I kept directing energy without pause towards my shadow. After some time, what I feared became true.

That silver white hole's absorption power became higher than the rate of energy that bone could provide! And when that happened, a new change occurred.

I feared that it would work towards my body's energy first. But what happened was for this white hole to clash with the black hole in the feet region of my shadow.

The fight started without warning. Just when my energy supply became unsatisfactory, that white hole moved its attention directly towards that black hole.

And like a world war, the fight between the two holes was epic!

The two were as fierce as hungry tigers. They didn't show any signs of backing off, creating massive shockwaves of energy that started to hit my body.

And again my dantian and meridians were pressured and on the verge of collapse. Yet the energy coming from the bone helped in repairing any damage happening to my spiritual power net.

At this point, the black energy coming from the bone was mostly consumed by my body. It was turned into silver white energy and started repairing any damage happening to my dantian and meridians.

At first I worried that my newly awakened dantian and newly opened meridians would crash under such tedious battle.

But as time passed, I noticed something interesting. With each shock and repair, my dantian became wider and my meridians got thicker and sturdier.

It was like my body was getting tempered with all this. It wasn't a disaster as I mistook before, it was an opportunity.

Returning back to the clash ongoing in my shadow, I could tell the two holes wouldn't concede until one of them would exhaust the other's power reserve.

Yet the end result energy of this clash was so beneficial to me. So I left this clash going without even thinking about stepping in.

I could have pushed more energy again into that white whirlpool of mine. Yet that would prove to be pointless. If I did that, would my whirlpool stop clashing with that black hole then?

Would I lose such a rare tempering opportunity?

I kept my eyes focused over my body instead. Every crack created and repaired left my dantian and meridians stronger than before.

I didn't know how long this continued. But at some point, the black energy coming from that bone became scarce, before a kick in happened and another rise occurred.

I knew that another bone was added to the mix at this point. And I didn't even bother with opening my eyes at all to check what was going on outside.

I had no objection to using the two bones I got out. I needed their energy to help my body to sustain much longer.

But what would happen when the two bones got consumed? Would I get more bones out? Or shouldn't I do that?

What would happen if I didn't do that? Would that clash start hurting my body then?

I got questions without answers, but despite that I decided to stop.

Cultivation seemed to be like a bottomless pit! This clash seemed to take forever to end. So delaying time wouldn't do me any good. Especially when a big fight was going on outside.

I had to put an end to this fight after the two bones got consumed. The noticeable thing here was the fact that the newly added bone was releasing a dense amount of energy into my body.

The rate it started with wasn't even close to the rate the first bone started gushing its energy into my body. It started pouring energy at the highest last rate of the first bone.

That meant this bone wouldn't last as long as the first one! After all, its grade was also weaker by one grade than the first bone.

And my estimations proved to be right! This bone didn't last even for two hours before its energy became scarce again and another gush appeared.

The third bone was added to the mix.

Like the second one, this bone didn't last for a couple hours.

Then by its energy going scarce, this cultivation process of mine reached an abrupt end!

Everything happened so fast. Just when the energy going into my body ceased to exist, the fierce clash that lasted for hours stopped without warning.

It was like the two holes reached a conclusion and agreement together. Once there was no gush of energy into my body, the clash stopped and the two holes called back their forces.

When that happened, I finally got to see the end result of all this. My cloned dantian wasn't as small as before. It was already the size of my closed fist.

But that wasn't the remarkable thing. What was remarkable though was the presence of such a net around that dantian.

It looked as if this dantian was surrounded with a net of light. It was similar to my meridians, yet it wasn't as dense as my body meridians.

Also these meridians were thin and weak. My meridians now were thick and strong, enough to be called tubes and not threads.

Just watching this site made me see through it. I realised after some point that I had the ability to draw energy from my body to here. I also had the power to add more meridians, making this simple looking net turn into a far more complex one.

I wanted to try, but I knew I wasted so much time here. So I just got a fast tour around my dense meridian network and dantian, making sure things were alright there.

Then I opened my eyes and returned to the real world.

The moment I did that, I was met with a shocking scene. The world all around was filled with thick tongues of thunder, created by a gigantic axe that kept hammering over my chariot's shield.

I found tons of messages in front of my eyes, but I had no time to check them. As I took a swift glance over the chariot, I saw tons of enemies standing and surrounding my chariot, attacking me with everything they got!

Arrows, darts, and even grenades and bullet like projectiles were used. Yet my chariot's shield stood erect and firm in front of all these.

That axe was really big. It was also held by a more gigantic creature made entirely out of golden mist.

All over the chariot, my dragons and fallen gods were there. Luckily I didn't lose much of them, but I could clearly notice I lost a few at least.

They were fighting back. The dragons targeted the ground troops while the fallen gods attacked that gigantic figure.

That figure was like a giant, a real giant made out of golden mist. It wore a double horned, leather made helmet. His body was cladded in golden white thick armour.

Yet the thing that shielded him from all my fallen gods' attacks wasn't that armour, but his body.

The attacks of my gods passed through it like his body wasn't even real! I narrowed my eyes and looked closely for a few seconds until I figured out what was going on here.

That giant seemed to have a unique ability to turn his body hazy, evading all the attacks coming at him. But when he landed his axe over my chariot, his body would turn real, allowing him to receive an attack or two from my fallen gods.

Yet such a low number of attacks didn't matter to him. His armour managed to absorb most of the shock and only little damage was left over his body.

The first thing I did was to take a deep breath. I just ended up a long and stressful cultivation session. My thoughts were chaotic and my will was tired.

So I had to first calm myself down. From the look of things here, my entire army got rooted and lost this battle.

It still was within my calculations. The second thing I did was to check my chariot's stat point reserve.

One hundred and fifty million stat points or even more were consumed! That was insane! But without even dwelling over this, I took out another two hundred million stat points and added them to my chariot's heart.

By doing that, my safety was considered secure for the time being.

*Rumble!* *Rumble!* *Rumble!*

Yet the rumbling annoying noise coming from the repeated attacks of that axe still worried me. Each strike of it took away one million stat points without any trouble.

But that also meant I was safe for now. So I shifted my eyes, and started examining the current state of war.

"We didn't lose out then," as I extended my vision beyond the current army surrounding my chariot, I found many places looking exactly like mine.

My forces and Wryly were scattered, segmented and separated by densely packed enemies. Each group was surrounded, fighting back to back with each other, facing tons of enemies.

The situation looked dire! But at least we didn't lose this fight yet.

As I roamed the battlefield with my eyes, I finally spotted that leader of the dragon forces here.

He was standing on the top of a flying beast. It looked like a dragon yet it had a long cylindrical neck. That dragon race archlord was sitting on the back of that beast, over a big golden seat.

I used my hawk skill and saw his face for the first time. Confidence and arrogance were the first things I felt from his face.

It seemed like he put nothing in his eyes, not a single enemy here seemed to be worth his attention. The look on his eyes told me that, and the way he placed himself close to me told me more about what he felt towards me.

He seemed to put me as his priority target. At this point, I noticed a leesh of golden energy extending from his right hand all the way to the giant who was hammering my chariot.

"So you are the one to summon that dude," when our eyes met, I muttered these words slowly and then his eyes shone with golden light.

He seemed to read my lips or heard my low voice. The next moment he smirked, like saying: Yes, it was me. What can you do about that?

If it was before, then I'd just decide to turn around and run away. Fighting against such odds was futile before.

But that was before I got my cultivation opened. I now had a sheer amount of strength running through my body. Strength gave me confidence, like the one one would have in front of ants.

I didn't know why I felt that way. Fear was supposed to dominate me, not the will to fight and even looking down on such enemies like they didn't pose any threat at all.

[Congratulation on your success in the merge]

At this point, and before I could think about what I would do to win this fight, the voice of Yonker came all of sudden to startle me.

"You are still here?!!" I was surprised by this. I thought he was long gone. After all, he previously said he had little time to waste, and I actually wasted a lot of time.

[I had to see the end result of this] he gave me such a logical explanation, that told me a lot about what feat I did here. [Also I need to warn you about something]

"About that dragon archlord?" I pointed towards that dragon dude as if he was a mere fly, "I won't bother with him. I'll kill him soon."

[Who cares about that piece of sh*t!] yet the answer from Yonker was this close to make me laugh, [I'm talking about the cultivation you just created]