Rion walked back towards the camp and studied the grade three null core he had just plucked out from the three-horned kareth.

It was twice the size of the grade one, and the purple smoke within it was much denser and darker. The dark purple crystal at the heart of the smoke was the size of a small bead, and it was absorbing the faint light around it like a black hole.

His grip tightened around the grade core, and he stored it in his inventory.

[You have stored a (Tainted Null Core)!]

A smile appeared on his face, and the screen disappeared soon after.

He stopped in his tracks and flexed his hands by clenching and releasing them a few times.

He stood there in silence and felt the changes within him.

Physically, his instincts had become much sharper than before, and his muscles were brimming with the level of strength he had never witnessed.

But the change within his mind or his spiritual and conceptual existence was much greater.

Before this, he didn't have a constant spark to do anything; even if it was urgent, he did it while taking as much time as he could.

His adaptiveness and the thoughts of having limitless time made it hard for him to act instantly, but that was no longer the case because he had overwritten what had changed him in the first place.

His conscious mind knew his worries and his problem, but for his subconscious mind, all of it was useless or something that could be done later.

But by denying the concept of his own immortality, he had forced his subconscious mind to think like a mortal while his conscious mind thought like both a mortal and an immortal, which made him have the spark of improvement that every mortal being held within themselves, while also having his immortality.

The very act of denying a part of oneself was extremely hard, and he didn't just do that; he went beyond and denied one of his self's foundations.

His own logic had tried to stop him, but his willpower pushed through, and he had finally gained his perfect state of self.

He had broken through the shackles that came with immortality or longevity.

The anger, hate, love, happiness, sadness, sorrow and disbelief that used to appear like distant wisps had become much vibrant and for the first time after that day from seven years ago, he was feeling the thrill of existence.

Yet instead of feeling joyous at his achievement, he frowned and mumbled something that didn't suit him at all.

"It took me more than three years to achieve something that I should've done much faster... only if I hadn't wasted my time playing around," his tone was almost self-deprecating.

He clenched his fists to the point of paling and mumbled, "I have to speed up the process of controlling the miasma."

His steps moved, but instead of walking towards the camp, he began to search around for more kareth as he thought, 'I need to obtain as many null cores as I can to brute-force my way into controlling it.'

Unbeknownst to him, the mark of wings on his back had begun to unfurl, but before it could open completely, it stooped, and Rion dashed further inside the purple fog forest.

Golden flames blazed around his body and made him appear like a miniature sun.

He zipped through the dreadful forest like a phantom, and all of two-horned and hornless vanished from his aura alone, leaving nothing but their cores behind, which flew towards him as he used his aura to replicate telekinesis.

Message screens began to bombard his vision.

[You have stored a (Tainted Null Core)!]

[You have stored a (Tainted Null Core)!]

[You have stored a (Tainted Null Core)!]

[You have stored a (Tainted Null Core)!]

[You have stored a (Tainted Null Core)!]

[You have stored a (Tainted Null Core)!]

[You have stored a (Tainted Null Core)!]

[You have stored a (Tainted Null Core)!]

[You have stored a (Tainted Null Core)!]

Just as the bold sun brightened the vast world with its golden light, he returned to his cave and abstained from going back to the camp.

He sat cross-legged under the filtered sunlight and read the screens before him.

————

Item: Null Core

Status: Tainted

Grade: 1 (Lowest)

Description: A null core forged out of the drained life essence by a corrupted Abysmal Flame.

Amount: 69

————

————

Item: Null Core

Status: Tainted

Grade: 2 (Low)

Description: A null core forged out of the drained life essence by a corrupted Abysmal Flame.

Amount: 35

————

————

Item: Null Core

Status: Tainted

Grade: 3 (Mid)

Description: A null core forged out of the drained life essence by a corrupted Abysmal Flame.

Amount: 7

————

He had managed to collect a total of 111 null cores.

He took out one of each grade and channelled his aura into them. The golden aura wrapped them like a blanket before forcing its way inside. The cores trembled, and their outer layer cracked, but unlike before, the smoke didn't seep out; instead, all of it began to converge to the centre as if it were scared of the golden aura.

He raised an eyebrow and mumbled, "What's going on?"

His aura reached the barely visible dark crystal within the grade one null core, and just as they came into contact with each other. The dark crystal cracked, and the purple smoke around it broke out of the core in a frenzy.

The purple smoke spread out instead of condensing into the miasma and disappeared. At the same time, the other two also exploded.

His eyes shone curiously, and he rubbed his chin in thought, "Hmm..."

He took another grade three core and channelled his aura into it, and like before, just as the aura touched the crystal, it exploded.

"So this crystal is what keeps the smoke in control... what if I take out the crystal? Would that allow me to control it?" He concluded and took out another null core.

A few moments later, his aura entered the core and wrapped around the dark crystal.

The glassy wall cracked and fell off, only leaving the dark crystal and the purple smoke trapped inside the orb of golden aura.

'Just have to remove the aura...' he thought and squinted his eyes in focus.

His heart pounded loudly as he slowly moved his aura away from the dark crystal, but just as the aura moved, the dark crystal cracked, and all the smoke vanished.

"Blasted hell!" He cursed and struck the ground in frustration.

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