Chapter 61: Amassing Cultivation Resources, Plundering

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At first, his movements were harsh and unnatural. However, as Apollo acclimated to the saber, he began to utilize it better. A sign of his comprehensive ability and dexterity being substantial. Nevertheless, the Dark Shadow Does were no weak opponent. Not to mention, his state wasn't exactly desirable.

Fortunately, how he was now, Apollo's senses were heightened. A dangerous violet gleam danced in the wind as he swayed using the Partial Shade Silhouette sparsely. The black blade blended with this technique.

As a result, many of his strikes were unable to be dodged. Of course, he sustained damage as well. After all, the numbers remained a bit overwhelming. Even then, he never lost sight of his desires.

'Splich!'

The saber pierced the throat of a thinner foe within the masses. Retreating, Apollo glanced at his stamina. 'Thankfully, the pendant is healing me but it's rather but I'm not in the position to complain. My perfected Earth-grade inner talent is contributing to the slowed stamina consumption but… there still remains at least 50 of them. Even if I use 3 stamina on all of them, will I have enough to retreat?'

Throughout the whole spectacle, he had slain upwards of 20 Spirit Beasts. However, in the process, he had used over 100 stamina. Although it wasn't large, it wouldn't sustain him slaying everything here nor was he able to perform another Demonic Massacre Wave.

'If I retreat to recover, it also presents time for them to do so as well. It's known that beasts recover faster than humans. Although I'm not one, my rate has barely increased. Perhaps, my stats haven't reached that level yet,' thought Apollo as he held the saber neutral before him.

Closing his eyes, Apollo exhaled and attempted to clear his mind, 'Will I be able to perform that? According to Azridan's story, he healed me by utilizing the essence of everything that contained it. But to do that… I'd need a deep grasp of Natural Essence on a fundamental level.'

[Execute the circulation pathways, it won't heal you. But it'll neutralize some of your consumption. Although, doing this will present that burning sensation from cultivation. Will you be able to withstand and battle at the same time? As you know, that pain is not to be taken lightly.]

"I can't give you a definitive answer, but I will try," responded Apollo before drawing in trace amounts of Natural Essence. While his state took a turn for the better, the sensation he felt grew worse by the second.

"Tch… this is difficult!" exclaimed Apollo as he dodged a shadowy ember. Landing behind him, it seared a tree. At the same time, a grey glow emitted from the group of [Dark Shadow Does] eyes. When Apollo looked at them, he felt his consciousness shake.

'A mental attack? Why do they possess that?'

[Those of the Dark Element usually have two traits: high agility and disorienting moves. They're trying to overpower your senses. I suggest you battle with your eyes closed. Furthermore, you should try operating by feel; you never know when a situation confronts you when you are robbed of vision.]

Closing his eyes, Apollo relied upon both his senses of hearing and feeling. The shift in the flow of the wind indicated the approach of something. Hence, he dodged whilst his ears twitched at the crack of a branch. Relying on the presence of his other senses, he was opened up to a new world. He felt as if he could see without actually seeing.

He was visualizing the events taking place! In other words, he was forming a faint sea of perception. Despite not attempting Spirit Cultivation, he was already presenting signs of overactive sense. Needless to say, the instant benefit to Spirit Cultivation was sharper senses birthing a concrete perception otherwise known as Spiritual Awareness.

This took Spiritual Vision a step beyond. 1...10...25… The number of enemies he continued to slay increased. In fact, he was growing infinitely closer to Lv.90. What stood between him and obtaining that goal was but a few more kills.

Unable to bear the burning sensation, Apollo canceled the circulation. Luckily, he recovered enough to where his stamina wasn't near the point of exhaustion. Slashing the sharp saber, he created small arcs of weaponized Natural Essence at the expense of stamina.

With this saber, he was capable of doing so. With the properties of Vantablack Knife and not being conducive to Natural Essence, he wasn't able to do this with it. Nevertheless, the material of the knife still remained stronger. The durability of the saber was weakening quicker in comparison to it. Most of which was due to the nature of Apollo's Natural Essence—tyrannical.

Soon enough, Apollo ceased his actions as both all the beasts were slain and he reached Lv.90. At the same time, the single saber he used for the moment broke in half. Tossing it aside, he collected the Essence Core of every present beast. In light of this, he also fished through the pouches and to his surprise finding numerous Essence Cores.

'That's right. I believe they sell these. I assume this collected on this expedition. I guess it's a shame all their efforts went to me. I'll gladly accept,' chuckled Apollo as he counted the total number. In addition, to what he collected—ranging from Rank 2 to Rank 3 there were nearly 1,000 cores in total. But what remained in his sights the entire time was the core of the Storm Colossus Lynx.

Item Name: Superior Essence Core

Element: Wind and Lightning

Rank: III

Purity: Third Cycle

Benefits: Upon completely absorbing the core's essence, it can increase the Agility Attribute by 2.5 to 4.6 points. Additionally, the essence will allow an increase of up to 25 Zuls.

Contained Experience: 49,745/60,000.

Approximation: ~3.9-4.2 Agility and ~16-19 Zuls.

'Hmm? This contains both Zul increase and experience, that's interesting. I'll cultivate with this immediately,' thought Apollo until his excitement was quickly extinguished.

[I don't recommend you do so. The essence of Lightning is amongst the more dangerous few. And the state you're in now. I suggest you first heal up then proceed with those actions. It'll take about a month before you're ready to use that.]

'Tch...just when I was ecstatic. You had to rain on my parade. Nevertheless, we accomplished what we came for. I wish to return back to seclusion. With the pills I received from Irauk and the Essence Cores… it should be enough right?'

[It's possible. We'll have to see. Your body should be requiring more and more essence to evolve and strengthen. Don't forget, you're still within the Earth-Grade. You still have a long road ahead of you.]

"I see, but… why is the experience pool so huge?!" exclaimed the wide-eyed Apollo. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Based on the notification from the level up, it increased significantly!

[I did tell you the aftereffects of entering Lv.90 is rather....confounding, no? Now that you've entered it, you should take a look.]

"Ugh…" groaned Apollo when he saw the progression but even worse, he froze when he learned the limitations of Lv.90!