Increasing the Core, Death

[Satisfied with your progress, you decide to head down the mountain. You first stop as you enter the city at the base of the mountain range is the Main Pavilion. Here, disciples of the Sect are able to accept and issue tasks in exchange for merit points. With merit points, disciples can then purchase different treasures from the Sect.]

[You figure that as long as you are leaving the Sect, you may as well try to earn some merit points while you are out. You select some random Sect tasks that suit your level and head for the main gate. On your way out, you come across a store that is selling a map for the Northern Region that you are in. You purchase it with the thought that it would come in handy.]

[As you exit from the Sect's main gates, you remember the map telling you that heading East would bring you towards the territory of the nearest Orthodox Sect, the Variant Earth Sect. A Sect specializing in Earth based attributes like Earth, Metal, or Nature elements.]

[Considering that you have an unattributed Core, you don't need to target cultivators with a specific attribute.]

[That was one of the challenges that many cultivators that practice the Core Consuming method face. Most cultivators need to target Cores that hold the same attribute that they have, which makes the collection take even longer.]

[You don't have that problem. The unattributed core that developed from the poison you consumed as a child allows for you to Consume any type of core. The downside of this, however, is that you cannot use any attributed techniques. If you try to grow a seed of an element in the future, you would have a harder time than a cultivator with that attribute. A much harder time.]

Aron's eyebrows furrowed together as he comprehended what the last lines from the simulation had told him.

In reality he has yet to be tested, but, according to the simulator, he has a Minor, unattributed Core. The news that the 'him' in the simulator would have an easier time upgrading his Core was good, and he was pleased to read it. What confused him, however, was that he had been poisoned.

If that was the case, why was he alive? 

If someone had failed to kill him, wouldn't they have tried again.

In the simulation, it wasn't until he was six years old that someone tried to kill him again. And according to Marvin's letter, that was because he had been tested to have poor talent. If his talent was good, nobody would have bothered him within the Perch family. In fact, his standing may have even gone up.

So why would some who poisoned him as a child, leave him alone when he managed to live?

That was something that Aron could only guess about. He would have to leave it up to the future simulations to determine whether he will find out the truth of the matter.

[It took you several months to reach an Empire that belonged to the Variant Earth Sect. Fortunately for you, you hadn't encountered much trouble along the way.]

[After traveling through the territory of the Variant Earth Sect for several days, you come across a small city. The city is not as large as either Kurth or Lomas. Still, you deduce that the size of the city still calls for at least ten of the city guards to have a minor level of cultivation.]

[You begin to spend time in the town. You investigate the routines of all of the guards.]

[Soon, you find the weakest link. They are a new recruit to the guards, only having spent one or two years patrolling the city. After some listening around, you discover that they are only at the 4th layer of Essence Refinement.]

[Though your own cultivation is significantly higher than his, being at the peak of the 9th layer, you decide to take a cautious approach. You take several days to follow him on his patrol, discovering who he talks to, who he dislikes and likes.]

[On your third day of watching, you decide to strike. You wait until his last rotation, before attacking. You know that as long as you take care of him quickly enough, nobody will come running to his aid.]

[Using your Major Achievement Black movement technique, you decide to blade your hand. Your speed as you approach the cultivator is too fast for them to perceive. Before they even realize that they are being attacked, your hand has already pierced their chest.]

[As you take your hand out, the cultivator collapses to their knees and then to the ground, where they lay motionless. Their death was swift.]

[You take a deep look at the first life you have taken. You close your eyes for a brief moment, and as they open, a newfound coldness appears. Slashing your hand, the blood flies off of your arm. You kneel down over the corpse, placing your hand on its abdomen. Reciting the method for Core Consumption, you feel a force enter into your own Core.]

[As you stand back up, you decide to take the body from the scene. You understand that if the other cultivators realize that the body is missing its Core, they would request for more cultivators to assist. Cultivators beyond the realm of Essence Refinement.]

[You decide that the best way to hide the body is to separate it. Upon doing so, you return to your room and analyze the result of the Core Consumption.]

[After inspecting your core, you discover that the cultivator was like you and had a Minor Core. Only 99 more until you are able to advance your own.]

[The next few days were spent gathering more information. Discovering which of the guardsmen had the lowest cultivation, which guardsmen had the most isolated patrols, and so on.]

[After two weeks, you ended up eliminating four more cultivators and absorbing their cores. Unfortunately, they were all Minor Cores, so your progress to the next Core was only at around 5 percent.]

[It was only after you killed the fifth cultivator that the other guardsmen began to get suspicious of what was happening. Still, you didn't let it stop you. You felt that being dissuaded at this point would be meaningless, and if you were to quit now, you may as well quit forever.]

[Thus, you continued to hunt. You prioritized the guards with the lowest cultivation, but because they had begun to pair up, it was harder and harder to find groups that were both low in cultivation.]

[On one night, you decide that the time to be hesitant is over. You felt that you were not following the words of your master very well, and that a demonic cultivator should be ruthless and decisive. To be wary of challenge would be against what Demonic cultivators strive to do.]

[You first find the group that holds the cultivator with the lowest cultivation. Of the duo, one guard has a cultivation of 6th layer Essence Refinement and the second guard has a cultivation of 8th layer Essence Refinement. Luckily, his aura was unstable, so you could deduce that he was either just entering the 8th layer, or he had a poor foundation.]

[You wait for the two cultivators to enter an isolated area before attacking. Your first target is the cultivator with the higher cultivation. You want to take him down before he has a chance to react. You also feel that the lower level cultivator would have less experience than his partner.]

[As you strike, you use the same method that you had to eliminate the first cultivator, relying on your tremendous speed to overwhelm them from the very start. This time, however, you have a blade; it was something you managed to scavenge off of one of the bodies of the guards.]

[You blade tears across the neck of the first cultivator and their head goes flying. The sight stunned the second cultivator, allowing for you to pounce on them right away. Your already bloody sword plunged through the second guard's heart.]

[As both cultivators died, you absorbed their Cores with the Consuming Sect's cultivation method.]

[Using your blade to shred their bodies, you disguise the fact that their Cores had been stolen. Then, instead of hiding them, you move onto the location of where the next patrol will be.]

[Though you try to use the same method, you are only able to kill the first cultivator swiftly. The second seemed to be experienced and was able to defend against your first strike. All he was able to do, however, was live a few seconds longer. Soon, his head flew through the air as well.]

[Upon absorbing their Cores and destroying their bodies, you move onto the final location: the patrol headquarters.]

[Upon arriving, you take a deep breath to prepare yourself. Your next opponent will be the most difficult one you have faced yet. The only opponent remaining, happens to be the patrol commander, a cultivator at the 9th layer. Luckily, you haven't expended much Essence, which allows for you to jump straight into the fight.]

[As you move around the perimeter of the headquarters, you find that the commander is outside training with some younger recruits, none of which are cultivators.]

[You take this a sign, seeing that the commander is distracted, and leap into action right away. First, you put all of your power into the Perfection mastery of your Field Serpent movement technique.]

[Like a flash, you arrive at the commander before he can turn and draw his weapon. Though he seems to be in the process of turning, you use your offensive technique that you have mastered to the Minor Achievement level. With a few swings of your blade, the commander collapses. His throat has been cut to the spine. His intestines are spilling out in front of you. His eyes are in complete shock, not understanding why someone would directly attack the headquarters.]

[Before you stop to absorb his Core, you kill the recruits in the yard that had seen your face. Then you grab his body and flee to a different spot in the city. You don't want to risk anyone overseeing you absorbing his Core using the method of the Consuming Sect.]

Aron read all of this with a look of shock on his face. It wasn't because the 'him' of the simulation had killed somebody, because he knew that it hadn't actually happened. He also knew that in the world of cultivation, people can die at any time. Challenging the Heavens and one's own mortality always came with a price.

Instead, Aron was simply surprised by how fast he had killed the cultivator that was at the same layer as him. He had expected that the fight would take much longer, but it seems that a combined mixture of an unexpected attack and the use of his ultimate techniques allowed him to put the commander down quickly.

Aron also understood that having killed the commander meant that the simulation would continue on from the city in search of more cultivators. 

Reading about the possible evolution of his Core excited him, for sure, but reading about all of the fights that he was having seemed to be the most exciting to the young Aron.

After all, which young child doesn't imagine themselves as an ultimate master. As a warrior that knows no defeat.

He was also excited to see himself challenge more strong individuals. How far can he go?

[Several months passed by quickly as you traveled from town to town and city to city.]

[As you continued to hunt down cultivators, you always made sure to stay away from cities that would be too big, as you knew that running into a cultivator of a higher realm than yourself would easily spell your doom. Even if they were only a first layer Meridian Establishment cultivator.]

[After traveling through several cities, you had developed your Minor Core about 80 percent of the way to the next level. Because of how close you are, you think that it would be best to find a larger city where you could kill and absorb the rest of the way in one go.]

[Soon, you come across a medium city. The city still doesn't reach the size of a city like Lomas or Kurth, but it does have a significant number of cultivators. After a week of investigation, mostly eavesdropping and trespassing, you discover that the number of cultivators in the city is close to one hundred. Ten times the number of cultivators in the first city you 'visited'.]

[The worst news you heard, however, was that the commander of the patrol was at the 3rd level of Meridian Establishment. If he was at the 1st level, you would have the confidence to kill them. Unfortunately, as a 3rd level cultivator, they have at least 23 of their meridians open.]

[Furthermore, Meridian Establishment cultivators have longer lifespans of nearly 200 years. As a Meridian Establishment cultivator in a medium city, and not in a large city, capital, or Sect, you are inclined to believe that they are quite old. The older they are, the more time that they have to practice techniques.]

[While you don't know whether they would be able to get their hands on techniques at the upper or peak of Black techniques, you don't want to risk it.]

[Continuing your investigation, you discover that there are 5 other cultivators under the commander that have reached the first level of the Meridian Establishment realm.]

[You decide that it would be best to avoid such figures and focus on the guards that are at your level or below.]

[You continue with your original method of attacking isolated subjects. Because of the size of the city, you also decide to find the lower level cultivators in their homes. The only thing about that is that it is slightly more messy, as you have to kill anyone else in the home, as well.]

[After five days, you kill the 20th cultivator of the city. The patrols have begun to group up in pairs once more, but that doesn't matter to you. After the 20th kill, you had absorbed enough to reach the next level Core, the Lesser Core.]

[You quickly make your way out of the city and find a place that you can seclude yourself in. After finding a large, hollow tree, you begin to meditate and focus on your Core. You follow the method of the Consuming Sect exactly, and after several days, you feel your Core resonate with your body along with a cool sensation course through your bones.]

[You succeeded in upgrading your Core. You decide that with a higher level core, it would be best if you focused on your realm and broke through to the Meridian Establishment realm.]

[If you were to try to break through now, it would take two or three years without aid or influence. Even at the peak of Essence Refinement.]

[Because of this, you decide to seek out a small town. One much like the first that you visited, and use the mortals as fuel to propel your cultivation.]

[You start to back track and find your way to the first town that you had visited. You feel that there would be meaning in returning to this first village now that you have upgraded your core.]

[As you reach the village, you notice that the guards and patrols have been replaced. Despite this, you enter with ease. You begin to use your time in the town investigating once more. You had made it this far with your caution, so you wouldn't stop now.]

[On your second day in the city, as the morning rises, you step out of your hotel and into the town. As you exit, a shadow punches you in the chest and you fly back into the inn.]

[As you struggle to stand, a figure walks over to you and stands over your body. Using their foot, they step on your chest to keep you from moving.]

[As you look to see who it is, you see a beautiful woman. Though it takes you a second, you recognize the woman to be your talented half-sister, Julia. Though their looks had changed over the past 14 years, you could still see the distinct Perch family look in their face.]

[Julia, however, doesn't recognize you. Your face had been mutilated during the assassination attempt you faced when you were 6 and your ear had been removed by a beast after you fled into the forest. You had also aged, and the image of the gentle and kind boy that you once had been, had been shattered over the years as you discovered the cruelty of the world. You also remain unrecognizable to her because she never cared to pay attention to you when you were still with the Perch family. She was the most talented of your generation, and you were the least.]

[As for why she was here, you made some quick guesses. First, you understood that she had been recruited into the Variant Earth Sect sometime after you had left. The map that you had purchased didn't show the Olsen Empire, but after some guessing, you figured out that the Olsen Empire was within the territory of the Variant Earth Sect.]

[Furthermore, Julia was very talented and with her dual attributes, one belonging to Metal, it made sense that she would be welcomed into the Orthodox Sect that controlled the territory her family was in.]

[Finally, it seemed that she was in the town currently to investigate the murder of the former patrols. You guessed that she had either accepted a Sect task, or was assigned it. Either way, she was here.]

[Of the hundreds of thousands of disciples in the Variant Earth Sect, you found it laughable that the one you ran into was your half-sibling. Even more laughable that they didn't recognize you.]

[As for how she had detected and found you. It didn't really matter. You would still be killed or interrogated.]

[Opting to die rather than be tortured for years, you used your right hand to grab your throat. Julia, momentarily confused by your actions, was not able to react as you tore out your own throat. Though it hurt at first, the cool sensation of blood was the last thing you felt before you went numb and your vision went dark.]

[You died.]

[Simulation Finished. Congratulations, Host, on completing your first simulation!]

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