Cultivation

Kyel thought about calling the system. "System!" he said.

A voice responded promptly, "Yes, Host. I'm here if you have any inquiries!"

Kyel asked, "Those demonic cores… do they have anything special about them?"

The system answered, "Generally, demonic cores contain a high density of mana, functioning much like mana crystals—but even better. Absorbing their energy is easy, though efficiency varies by individual. Currently, you can absorb 75% of the energy, but the remaining 25% will dissipate."

Kyel pondered this, then asked, "When Simon devoured and ate Redderen's remains back then, there was no core left. Why was that?"

The system explained, "Unlike demonic cores, Equilibrium cores must fully form before they gain a physical shape. The Equilibrium core formation occurs under the 'Light of Combination.' Only when an Equilibrium core takes shape is it fully developed. This means that your own Equilibrium core hasn't yet formed."

"There's something else the Host should know," the system added. "In rare cases, some individuals are born with a core, while magical beasts naturally acquire a core from birth. Humans, however, must cultivate and form theirs."

Listening intently, Kyel understood why Redderen's corpse had shown no core. Without overthinking it, he picked up a vial containing demonic cores and moved to another room—the bedroom—where he planned to cultivate for the rest of the night.

He asked the system, "What do you think?"

As if anticipating his thoughts, the system replied, "I would advise the Host to focus on cultivating the Equilibrium core rather than the demonic core. For stability, cultivating a demonic core here could be risky, especially if any demonic energy were to leak."

Kyel considered this for a moment, then said, "I understand, but cultivating the Equilibrium core takes much longer, especially for minor breakthroughs. That's why I'm going to cultivate using the demonic core; it provides a significant boost in both physical and magical power. As for energy leaks, I'm not too worried. Twenty-five demons trained here for years without being caught. Besides, our demonic forms were what got us noticed, as their aura attracts attention. Without that aura, I can cultivate the demonic core without drawing too much trouble."

The system simply replied, "As the Host wishes."

Kyel now had 50 refined mana crystals and 19 demonic cores—a good resource to start cultivating with. He sat on the bed and closed his eyes.

He began to focus. In that pitch-black darkness, he couldn't see anything. He knew he had to concentrate more. He regulated his breathing and gathered mana around him in a rhythmic pattern, inhaling and exhaling, and repeated the process. He didn't know if he was doing it right or wrong, but this was all he had learned about cultivation from the memories of Jules and Redderen.

He knew he had to focus more, clear his mind, and enter a state free of impurities. Fortunately, Redderen's apartment was in a quiet place with no external disturbances, which meant that all he had to focus on was within him. Additionally, the smell wouldn't bother him since his sense of smell was gone.

Little by little, for a quarter of an hour, through regulating his breathing and constant focus, two faint lines appeared in the pitch-black darkness: a crimson red light and a golden-white light. Kyel knew what this meant; he did not focus on the golden-white light.

His entire focus was directed towards the crimson red light. Kyel held the mana crystal and began absorbing energy from it, concentrating it on that crimson red light. This process continued like this; each time, there was a slight change in that crimson red light, and that line grew a little.

Every time Kyel absorbed a mana crystal, he discarded it, and another one appeared in his hand. He repeated this process with precision, trying to extract every bit of mana from it without wasting any energy. He performed this operation with great caution to avoid losing his focus.

To reach the high level of focus that Kyel was in would take hours, even for the most experienced and brilliant people. But Kyel, due to his dominant feeling of indifference and his sealed emotions, found that there was nothing that could disturb him from within.

This is what contributed to his current state: he had no sense of time passing or feelings of fatigue and pain. So, Kyel remained in this state for an unknown period, until he finished all the mana crystals he had bought and had started with the demonic cores.

Every time he felt that he didn't absorb mana but rather a monster, adding it to his insides, and every time that crimson red light grew, cracks of blood color began to appear inside him in the pitch-black darkness. The white-golden light was nowhere to be found; it had disappeared. Only that crimson red light and the dark shadow, which began to crack with blood-colored fissures, remained.

Kyel was about to finish his stock of demonic cores when he felt something—as if he had been transported to another place, to a distant place, a place he didn't want to be in, a place he had distanced himself from a long time ago.

He was standing high in the sky, watching two people on the roof of a building. One pushed the other and sent him falling off the building. It was Kyel and Talys.

Kyel was staring at his old self, his old body, as he pushed Talys off the rooftop and killed him. Kyel stared with empty eyes at that scene, his old self, but there was a third person on the rooftop.

A shadow. A black shadow of smoke surrounded Kyel as if whispering something in his ear, as if telling him to push Talys and forcing him to kill him. A black shadow embodied the meaning of jealousy and envy that took control of Kyel at that moment, catching him off guard to kill Talys. A black shadow carrying all the feelings and sins, whispering.

Then, in a hoarse voice, the shadow whispered in his ear, "Jump. You can't live with this guilt chasing you behind. Jump towards salvation, towards eternal rest."

Kyel soon jumped afterwards and ended his life as well. The shadow then stared at the sky as if it felt someone watching it. It saw a face identical to Kyel's, who had jumped—a copy of him staring with eyes devoid of any meaning of life.

Eyes that carried none of what the shadow carried.

Eyes that wanted to possess what the shadow possessed.

Eyes that wanted to seize the feelings and sins carried by the shadow.

Eyes that wanted to fill that void within them.

Kyel smiled at the shadow and thanked it. "Thank you."