Arthur sat cross-legged on the rough rug inside his tent, the thin fabric beneath him doing little to cushion the cold ground of the immortal realm, yet his focus was far removed from such trivial discomforts.
The faint light from the spirit lamps filtering through the fabric of the tent gave the enclosed space a muted glow, and within that quiet isolation, he began taking out the items he had been holding off on using for a long time.
The first was a small vial containing a light blue liquid, it was the mana essence he had obtained earlier from the Ancient Realm, its contents glimmered faintly within the vial as if it was undergoing an exothermic reaction.
The second was a few spirit stones, their pale radiance was a bit muted but no less dense in energy, and finally he took out a few mana essence crystal after casting a sealing rune on his palm, the moment they appeared in his hand he could feel the difference immediately.
Even without actively sensing it, the sheer density of energy contained within the crystal was overwhelming, it was like he was holding a nuclear reactor in his hand.
Arthur studied it for a moment, his mind automatically running calculations, he estimated the energy contained within the mana essence crystal far exceeded the spirit stone by a massive margin, maybe a hundred fold even before absorbing it.
It was not just that, when a cultivator absorbs energy from a spirit stone, they lose nearly half of it in the refining process. But the mana essence Arthur possesses doesn't have that problem, making it far superior since there was no energy loss.
He exhaled slowly, recalling the constraints that had once held him back. Back then, his soul had been unable to withstand further strengthening of his body, forcing him to halt his progress despite having resources at hand.
Now that limitation no longer existed and his soul had evolved, stabilized, and synchronized with his body. The bottleneck that once stood like an immovable wall had finally been broken, and now, for the first time in a long while, he could advance his strength freely again.
Still, Arthur did not rush. He began with the spirit stone first, bringing it close as he activated Energy Absorption. The moment the process began, the difference between him and a normal cultivator became evident.
Where others would require time to refine and convert the spiritual energy, losing nearly half of it in the process, Arthur bypassed that entirely. The energy flowed directly into him, guided seamlessly into his Aether Energy Reactor, where it was converted without the slightest inefficiency; not a single trace of energy was wasted like other cultivators. It was clean, precise, and absolute.
After confirming the efficiency, he moved on to the vial. He uncorked it and drank the mana essence in one smooth motion, the liquid sliding down his throat like cool water before dispersing into pure energy the moment it entered his system, amplifying his reserves almost instantly.
Then he turned to the mana essence crystal. Holding it firmly, he absorbed it as well, and this time even Arthur paused slightly as the influx of energy surged through him. It was controlled, but undeniably massive. When the process ended, he opened his eyes slowly, his mind already analyzing the results.
"As expected…" he murmured under his breath.
The difference was clear, the mana essence crystal contained approximately one hundred and five times the energy of a single spirit stone. Not just in quantity, but also in quality and efficiency. Yet despite that advantage, Arthur did not feel tempted to rely on it. Instead, his expression turned thoughtful as he stored the remaining crystals away.
"These are limited," he concluded quietly. "Using them like this would be wasteful."
He had only a few hundred of them. Compared to the near limitless supply of spirit stones he could obtain through the mines of the immortal realm, the mana essence crystals were far too valuable to consume recklessly. There could be better uses for them in the future, perhaps in crafting, enhancement, or even as a stabilizing core for something greater. For now, spirit stones were enough for him.
Before continuing, Arthur leaned back slightly and closed his eyes, extending his awareness outward, and linking with the network of reconnaissance microbots he had deployed earlier. Through Technopathy, streams of information began flowing into his mind.
There was a lot of information the bots had collected, but most of it was mundane chatter, meaningless conversations, routine movements, and fragmented noise. He sifted through it rapidly, discarding irrelevant data until only useful information remained.
There was information like guard shift rotations, their numbers, patrol timings, rest areas, and more importantly, the storage location of collected spirit stones. He felt the last piece of information was much more useful.
He also confirmed that there were higher grades of spirit stones elsewhere, far more valuable and potent. And this mine was considered a low-level one, meaning the spirit stones here were of the lowest grade.
Arthur opened his eyes again, a faint smile forming on his lips. "So there's more."
The night continued in silence as he began absorbing spirit stones one after another. But at the rate he was absorbing them, the amount of spirit stones he had with him won't last long. He could absorb a spirit stone in fifteen seconds. The pace was absurd by any standard in the immortal realm, yet for him it felt almost slow.
Even so, by the time dawn approached, he had absorbed more than fifteen hundred spirit stones. When he finally stopped, it was not out of exhaustion, but simply because it was already dawn and it was time to start mining again.
In a few minutes he would have to go to the mine, so he decided to check his status panel after a long time. The faint light of morning seeped through the tent as he exhaled slowly and murmured inwardly.
'Status.'
A translucent blue panel appeared before him.
//--------------------//
[STATUS]
Name: Arthur Sully
Power Tier: High 6-A (Multi-Continent Level)
Age: 29
Height: 6'3"
Aether Capacity: 3.15 M Units
Strength: 6-A
Speed: Sub-Relativistic (Mach 9709)
Durability: High 6-A
[ABILITIES]
[Reactive Evolution] [Superior Regeneration] [Toxin Immunity] [Gene Lock] [Aether Manipulation (Lv2)] [Pain Tolerance] [Lightning Manipulation (Lv7)] [Mana Manipulation (Lv6)] [Chi Manipulation (Lv7)] [Technopathy (Lv4)] [Energy Absorption (Lv8)] [Elemental Manipulation (Lv3)] [Matter Manipulation (Lv2)] [Spatial Manipulation (Lv2)] [Aether Energy Reactor (Lv2)] [Animakinesis (Lv1)]
[SPELLS]
[Telekinesis] [Telepathy]
[TECHNIQUES]
[Divine Domain: Density Manipulation]
//--------------------//
Arthur studied it for a moment before nodding slightly. The increase in strength was steady, and most importantly, stable. He felt no imbalances, or strain on his soul, everything was progressing exactly as he intended.
But he felt he would need more Immortal soul crystals in the future or similar resources that could strengthen his soul as his metamorphosis was not a one time thing. So, he decided to look for them in the coming days.
The following days passed quickly and gradually blurred into routine. Each morning he would enter the mine, moving deeper than the others, excavate spirit stones in massive quantities while keeping most of them inside his Sea of Consciousness and submitting just over a hundred.
Each evening he submitted just enough spirit stones to avoid suspicion, and then spent the night absorbing what he had gathered. At the same time, his network of microbots expanded, quietly feeding him information about the mine, the guards, and the broader structure of the sect.
He had expected the thugs to return but it looked like they had learned their lesson, and no one disturbed him in the following days. The incident with the Iron Blade Gang had spread among the miners, causing everyone to leave him and his group alone.
By the end of the week, Arthur had accumulated more than fifty thousand spirit stones. When the seventh morning arrived, he stepped out of his tent as usual and began walking toward the mine, only to be stopped midway by a guard.
"Is your name Arthur?" the guard asked.
Arthur looked at him briefly before nodding.
Seeing that the guard continued, "Follow me. Sir Chen is asking for you."
From the information he collected throughout the week, he came to know who this Sir Chen was, he was the leader of the guards of the mine.
Arthur did not show any reaction, but internally he had already guessed the reason for this summon. The fight from a week ago had likely reached the ears of someone higher up. Without questioning further, he followed the guard toward the administrative section of the mine.
The path led them away from the tents and toward a more structured area, where stone buildings stood in contrast to the rough environment of the mining grounds.
They eventually stopped in front of a large hall, and the guard knocked once.
"Come in," a voice responded from inside.
The guard opened the door and motioned Arthur to go inside, so he stepped in.
The interior was far more refined than anything else in the mine. The space was clean, organized, and carried a faint scent of incense. Two figures were present inside the hall. One of them Arthur recognized immediately, Chen Fenghao, the leader of the guards stationed in the mine.
But his eyes were on the second person inside the room as he could clearly feel he was the stronger out of the two. The man stood there quietly, his presence was restrained but unmistakably powerful.
The unknown man looked at Arthur with narrowed eyes before speaking in a calm but probing tone. "Are you sure this is the person you were talking about?"
Chen Fenghao nodded respectfully. "Yes, Elder Tianfeng. I've investigated it thoroughly, so I am sure he is the one."
Elder Tianfeng stepped forward slightly and released his divine sense toward Arthur. The invisible pressure swept over him, probing, and searching for any irregularities. Arthur remained completely still, allowing it to pass over him without resistance, while his expression remained unchanged.
The elder frowned slightly, then… he smiled. "Interesting," he muttered.
While this was going on Arthur was also scrutinizing Elder Tianfeng, he used 'Analyze' on him and a familiar blue panel appeared before him.
//--------------------//
Name: ?? Tianfeng
Designation: Sect Elder
Cultivation Realm: Peak Golden Immortal
Power Tier: 6A- (Continent Level)
//--------------------//
Arthur's eyes sharpened slightly. 'So, this is the level of a Golden Immortal…' he thought.
For the first time since arriving in the immortal realm, he was standing face to face with someone who could actually be considered dangerous.
[A/N: There's a reason there's a question mark where there should be the full name of the elder. And you might have noticed earlier I used question marks in the status of a few people. Arthur's system is not omniscient, it gathers information from the surrounding be it in any form. And currently there was no information about the elder's full name, which is the reason for the question mark.]
***
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