Chapter 5: Spirit Congealment Stage

Sitting in a lotus position, Lindiwe is trying hard to concentrate and break through to another magical stage of existence, but she finds it difficult to concentrate while an evil and ominous aura is lurking out there within the endless Eternal Gormandizer.

Lindiwe is truly concerned. That aura was not nice, and living with fear of the unknown is even worse than boredom and depression.

"Sigh! Maybe if I get stronger and gain more magical abilities, I might not fear what is down there. As for now, I should focus on my spiritual energy gathering. Nope, that doesn't sound okay. Hmm, I should focus on my cultivation. Yes, my cultivation. This is a suitable term, of course it is. I can feel that my whole being needs to break through, so let me waste no time and experience what the next stage of evolution holds for me."

Closing her eyes and trying to avoid the feeling of that terrifying aura she sensed earlier, Lindiwe concentrated on breaking through the spiritual ceiling within.

Boom!

Unlike the first satisfying ceiling breakthrough when entering the Spirit Transition Stage, this time the feeling was scary and not very nice. Within, she felt the five spiritual bowls crumbling into particles to form some sort of spiritual structure, and the spiritual liquid that was within the bowls came together to form a golden ball of spiritual liquid.

As the spiritual structure is majestically placed as a foundation, the golden ball of spiritual liquid enters the structure and places itself as a core.

Though this process was uncomfortable and didn't provide a euphoric experience, it was the most unexpected transformation that Lindiwe was amused to see.

"Is it over? That was… I don't know what to think about that. To think that I will have some sort of structure with a golden ball of the spiritual liquid as a core. This is confirmed: I am done being a human. Wait a minute? The more I absorb the spiritual energy, the golden ball of the spiritual liquid solidifies. So, is this what I have to do at this stage? I have to solidify the golden ball of spiritual liquid."

Lindiwe was ecstatic about this discovery. It looks like each stage has a weird transformation, and the process of reaching the ceiling for each stage varies greatly.

"In the first stage, 'Spirit Sensing Stage', I had to gather spiritual energy and fill the five bowls to the brim, in the second stage, 'Spirit Transition Stage', I had to transform the spiritual energy within all the bowls into spiritual liquid, and now in this third stage, which I will name the... I will name this third stage of evolution the 'Spirit Congealment Stage', which is the stage to turn the golden ball of spiritual liquid into a solid golden core. I wonder how long that will take and how much stronger I will be once I reach the ceiling of the Spirit Congealment Stage."

Lindiwe noticed that the speed of her spiritual energy absorption has increased a lot; however, the spiritual golden core is solidifying at the speed of a snail.

"I knew it. The process of reaching the ceiling takes a very long time. I have no choice but to resort to Amaru. Without Amaru, I think it will take centuries to reach this stage and progress to the ceiling. I have no choice but to use my Trump card to speed up the process."

Boom!

This time, Lindiwe had to eat the divine caramel nine times to solidify the spiritual golden core to its solid state. She realised that the next stages take longer to reach their ceiling than the last, and she has to consume more divine caramel in each stage.

"I did it! I have finally reached the ceiling of the Spirit Congealment Stage. It took me a long time, but it was worth it. My senses, strength, and speed have increased seven times, and my lifespan is three hundred and ten now. It is confirmed that I am not a human anymore. I am slowly becoming immortal."

Lindiwe is overjoyed by her increase in power. She is no power-monger or someone who dedicated her life to cultivation, but this new hobby is so rewarding, and her life is changing forever. With power, she could protect herself, and with cultivation, she could keep herself busy from boredom, depression, and harmful thoughts. Finally, she has found a new purpose, and it is truly rewarding with miraculous powers.

"As I expected. From within, I will know when I gain new abilities. Within my soul, I know how much my lifespan has increased, and I will somehow know what kind of new abilities I obtained. In the Spirit Congealment Stage, I only gained the ability to quickly regenerate from injuries, but unfortunately, this ability can't regrow lost limbs. It looks like I am crippled for good, unless...

With a sigh, Lindiwe had a look of melancholy, but a minute later, she smiled with anticipation for the next stage, as she could feel that another breakthrough was upon her.

"What I learned from the Spirit Congealment Stage is that it has four phases. For the liquid to solidify, it went through phases, which I will name: the early phase, advanced phase, final phase, and peak phase. The peak phase is similar to reaching the ceiling of the stage, but I will just give it this simple name so that I won't forget about the experience. Now that my senses have increased seven times, I will have to probe what is down there."

Concentrating her spiritual senses below, Lindiwe searched for a couple of miles away where her senses could currently reach, but unfortunately, she could not sense a thing.

"There's nothing down there? Maybe that thing moved away, or my senses have not increased enough to sense its location. The Eternal Gormandizer is like a bottomless ocean, and I can't sense anything alive in the vicinity of my improved senses. Sigh!"

Lindiwe was still worried about the ominous and evil aura she felt before. What if the thing attacks her during her sleep? Fortunately, her vitality increased a lot, and she doesn't require sleep now. In the same way, she is immune to hunger and mortal diseases; she no longer feels the need to sleep.