42 Ingesting Cold Energy

Kael nearly wanted to roll his eyes. This Richard Duran sure knows how to change his attitude quickly. Seeing how he decided not to pursue the matter, the next thing Richard Duran thought of was the continued business and profits the forging technique will bring to Fledgling City.

However, Kael didn't mind. "Yup, let's keep it as this way. Sooner or later the whole Myriad Lower Region will be saturated with our weapons and armours. By then Fledgling City could be said to truly be the overlord in the Myriad Lower Region."

"Haha I don't aim to become the overlord of the region. After all I'm only a Herald Rank Lower Phase cultivator. As you said, only true strength matters. It doesn't hurt to be richer and more influential though. We even made a powerful connection to Alwick Castle in the Middle Region thanks to you."

"Yup, hopefully we can solve this pressing matter of the continued demonic beast horde invasion. By then even the neighboring cities wouldn't just buy items from you all, but engage in a deeper diplomatic relationship with Fledgling City. By then the city wouldn't just be surviving, but prospering infinitely within the confines of this Lower Region."

"I certainly look forward to that day." Richard Duran flashed a wide smile.

"Alright then City Lord. I believe the conversation ends here. I'll take my leave now." Kael thought of something that he wanted to do during these two weeks and he decided to leave now.

Richard Duran nodded and called for Patten Eagle to escort Kael out.

As Kael left, Richard Duran thought to himself, "Truly the fortune of Fledgling City rises and falls on this young man. I wonder just how far he can climb in this road of cultivation. He's merely a Commoner Rank Lower Phase cultivator, yet his actions and achievements are this shocking. One can only imagine how terrifying he can be once he breaks through to the Guardian Rank…"

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In the private suite in the tavern. Kael sat on the bed and took out the Ice Artifice from his item bag.

The Ice Artifice was hovering in the air, emitting a chilling aura that caused the temperature in the room to drop drastically. The previous times when Kael used the Ice Artifice to cultivate, he had managed to assimilate a bit of the coldness into his own aura. He had also used the power of the Ice Artifice to hatch the five Black Lined Drakes which was now hibernating in the monster cores kept in the item bag.

Now, Kael intended to assimilate more of the coldness into his aurasea. He wanted to change his body constitution to have a basic ice constitution. This was so that he could finally use the Ice attribute Spirit Arts that he had learnt during his past life as the Invoker.

In the past, he was able to wield three elements to a great degree; ice, fire and lightning. However, his starting point in this life was too low. Now, he had to take baby steps. He had to start small with manipulating basic Ice attribute Spirit Arts first.

Kael directed the Ice Artifice to hover right above his head. Next, he muttered a certain incantation that engineered the Ice Artifice to start exuding cold energy and channeling it into his body through his head.

Instantly, Kael felt his blood turn cold as the cold energy pervaded through all his meridians, organs and bones as it churned continuously.

Next, Kael didn't let this situation persist for long. He summoned the spiritual energy in his body to redirect the cold energy into his aurasea that was found in the area right above his stomach.

The cold energy didn't seem to comply, instead it wanted to wreck havoc and go rampant within Kael's body. Obviously Kael wouldn't allow that to happen, if not he would suffer dire consequences. He mustered the spiritual energy to chase the cold energy towards the middle throughout all his limbs and body parts.

Under the unyielding 'guidance' of the spiritual energy, the cold energy finally channeled itself into the aurasea. Next, Kael had to assimilate the cold energy with his own spiritual energy. To that very end and purpose, he had to merge the two energies forcefully.

"Bam!" The two energies collided with each other forcefully, causing excruciating pain to Kael. This kind of pain wasn't physical in nature, but stemmed from the very fact that Kael's aurasea was suffering immense pressure. The aurasea was where all the spiritual energy was held. It's very nature was diametrically opposed to the properties of the cold energy. Hence to forcefully assimilate them required a certain degree of tenacity and endurance, as well as endless pain.

After the initial collision, Kael used all the spiritual energy in his aurasea to 'swallow' the persisting cold energy. The cold energy instinctively wanted to escape such a fate, however it was cornered by Kael's spiritual energy in all four corners, thus it had nowhere to run. The aurasea then proceeded to 'swallow' the cold energy, attempting to ingest it and making it its own.

This was different from how Kael used to assimilate the cold energy from the Ice Artifice on previous occasions. In the past, he will let the cold energy run alongside the spiritual energy through certain meridians, getting them to be 'friendly' with one another. That was why Kael's aura had a slight chill to it. However, now, Kael wanted to be the owner of the cold energy, hence the resistance from it was strong.

In the end, the cold energy couldn't prevail against the torrential waves of spiritual energy in the aurasea. It gave up and was 'swallowed'. It's properties were also transmitted into the spiritual energy. After the first wave of cold energy was ingested, Kael felt his aura experiencing a slight increase, and there was an additional coldness to it.

Kael gave a slight grin. "Come! Let me see just how much I can ingest and transform my spiritual energy!" With that, Kael once again summoned the Ice Artifice to channel cold energy into his body. The second wave of ingesting thus began…