Chapter 167: Essence Refiner

The night passed relatively nicely as nothing unexpected happened with the two on Moon Mountain and they were able to kill every Beast they met with.

Naturally, during this time Khal tried to convince Liza to consume all the Beast Essence they hunted as her Cultivation Base was lower than his, but she stubbornly insisted thus Khal could do nothing but consume the ones he killed.

However, exactly because of this, he made sure to let Liza do the finishing moves on the Beasts as then he could say it was her who delivered the finishing blow, hence the Beast Essence was rightfully hers.

Soon dawn arrived and once the moon descended and the sun rose on the sky once again, the two walked back to Moon City.

After arriving back at Moon Academy the two decided to get some rest thus both went back into their rooms after saying goodbye to each other.

"Under a single night, I was able to improve my Power from 250 to 312 units but..." realizing that he could obtain several new features with his bracelet Khal waved his hand once he was inside Blade Mountain and said, "Show me what I can obtain with my current amount of Body Essence!"

[Understood! Showing unlockable abilities!]

Swish!

• Detector -> Revealer: An ability that detects Cores' together with their unique traits.

• Boosted Magnetism: Holds a bigger radius and can pull more Cores toward the 'Owner' with greater speed.

• Transfiguration -> Essence Refiner: An ability to refine 'Beast Essence' into 'Body Essence' with greater success. (Can refine 1 'Beast Essence' into 20 'Body Essence'!)

• Upgraded Creation Mode: Reduced time limit after usage! (168 hours -> 84 hours)

[Notify! Each of the following abilities needs 750 'Body Essence'!]

Looking over all the abilities, Khal glanced at the Essence Refiner ability and nodded, "I want this."

[Understood!]

[Unlocking ability 'Essence Refiner'!]

In a blink, Khal felt as the Body Essence inside his body began to be sucked away at a rapid pace, but just as he thought he will fall unconscious once again like the previous time the sucking suddenly ended and a voice sounded inside his head.

[Ability 'Essence Refiner' has been successfully unlocked!]

When Khal heard this he couldn't help but form a smile on his kind of exhausted face and ask, "How much Beast Essence do I have currently?"

[Notify! 312 units of 'Beast Essence' detected in the body!]

"How much can I transform?"

[Notify! You can use all 312 units and transform them into 6240 units of 'Body Essence' or you can also choose a specific amount.]

"Can I transform more than that?" asked Khal calmly.

[You can't transform more than 312 units as you can't lower the 'Cores' Cultivation Stages!]

"I guessed so much." thought Khal and said, "Then transform 100 Beast Essence!"

[Notify! Do you really wish to turn 100 units of 'Beast Essence' into 2000 units of 'Body Essence'!]

"Yes." nodded Khal without a second thought.

[Understood!]

Swish!

Right in that instant, Khal felt as though someone pierced a sword right through his chest whilst his heart began to throb like war drums on a battlefield!

"Argh...." holding back the urge to scream as this was way more painful than ever before, Khal fell onto the ground, his fingers tightly clenching his robe above his chest part.

"Schreech!" Rubie seemed to feel worried and landed before Khal, trying to figure out what was happening with him.

Khal, however, couldn't talk nor do anything to make her feel calmer as the pain in his chest became more and more unbearable, almost to the point where he wished to die.

"Fuck! Why is this different from before?" cursed Khal inwardly while his body began to be soaked with cold sweat, feeling as though his heart was about to explode.

[Notify! The more 'Essence' you strive to refine the higher your suffering will be... Obviously.]

"!?" 

Hearing that the voice said 'obviously', Khal frowned as this was the first time it said something like this.

"Obviously... At least I should have been warned, no?! What if I die because of this?!" roared Khal in his heart angrily.

[Notify! You can't die by the 'Refining Process' but a bit of pain is unavoidable!]

'...'

Khal remained silent as he couldn't believe his ears. Did the voice suddenly obtain personality or what? 

It answered him just like any normal being which was strange as so far it never did such a thing! Until this moment it was like a computer, only answered with sentences that was programmed into it beforehand yet now it replied with a bit more... Human-like?

It still had its strict form when answering, but at the same time, it began to use words that it never did before, giving it a kind of feeling as though it had a personality!

"Just what is happening here?" thought Khal waiting for a response, but weirdly he didn't get any.

Just like in the past, the bracelet remained silent, leaving Khal in complete obliviousness.

The pain tortured Khal for around 5 more minutes that in fact seemed hours, but once it ended, everything turned to the best. Khal felt a warm sensation sweep through his whole body, washing his pain away entirely as if it wasn't even there a second ago.

[Notify! Your 'Body Essence' has increased from 50 units to 2050 units!]

Once the voice vanished from his head, Khal felt the pain followed suit too, and his body felt refreshed once again as though he was just dipped in a great hot spring!

"Schreech!"

Slowly pushing his body up from the ground as his head still felt dizzy, Khal glanced at Rubie and patted her gently.

"I am okay, don't worry. But still, get ready for similar spectacles in the future or even worse..."

"?" Rubie tilted her head as she didn't really understand what Khal meant, but this only made Khal smile even more.

However, soon he turned serious and said, "Show me the abilities that I can now unlock."

[Understood!]

Swish!

Before Khal, the previous abilities appeared once again, but this time with 3 extra elements.

• Power Core Holder: An ability to hold and use 3 Power Cores at once. (Can be further strengthened by 'Body Essence'!)

[Warning! Needed 'Body Essence' to unlock this ability - 2000!]

• Essence Path Status: A 'Status' that unlocks further abilities to help open the 24 sealed Essence Paths in the body!

[Warning! Needed 'Body Essence' to unlock this ability - 1000!]

• Spirit Creation Mode: A half-automatic function, able to help the 'Owner' forge, refine and temper any kind of material and their Soul Thread after analysis. (Only usable every 240 hours!) 

[Warning! Needed 'Body Essence' to unlock this ability - 2000!]

"Hmm..." pondering which one he should unlock, Khal shook his head and thought, "Unlocking the 1st and 3rd ability is out of the question. If I do, I will have less Body Essence than a normal Cultivator and lose 70% of my strength. But with the 2nd option..."

Pondering in silence, Khal's eyes flashed with a profound glint and selected the Essence Path Status.

"I want this. I want the Essence Path Status!"

[Understood!]

[Unlocking ability 'Essence Path Status'!]

Swish!

Khal felt as his Essence began to flow into his bracelet like a raging river, but in contrast to the previous time, it wasn't as unbearable, as only half of his Essence had been sucked away.

And soon, as the process stopped, Khal watched as new words began to form around his bracelet while a voice resounded inside his head.

[Ability 'Essence Path Status' has been successfully unlocked!]