Chapter 494 - Forming a core When Liam opened his eyes, he found himself floating in the small pond that had now somehow become even smaller. He looked around and saw that the garden itself was somewhat destroyed. "Hmmm? Did I do this?" Liam only remembered fighting inside that black space so he didn't understand why the outside was so damaged. He thought about it for a moment before his mind wandered back to the person whom he had faced inside that black space. All along he assumed that he was fighting his own mirror image. It made sense because maybe he was fighting his own mental demons to become stronger. But at the last moment, he had unmistakably seen someone else. He only managed to catch a glimpse of that person's face. He could not even remember that face right now but he clearly remembered the feeling. It was as if he had seen him somewhere before but he couldn't quite figure out where. Liam lingered in the same thoughts for a couple of minutes before shaking it off and snapping himself out of the trance. He had more important things to do than worry about an imaginary foe. That's right! He had finally finished the cleansing process that he had worked so hard to accomplish! "Time to form my core." Liam grinned. He was now truly going to step onto the next stage. In his last life, this was such an unimportant process because his condition was like that. While others climbed to the top from this single step, he could only dream of something like that. But now he was here again once more and this time everything was different. Ignoring the garden that was beaten up, he still continued sitting inside the pond water and opened up his system interface first to check the effects of the elixir. ______________ Name: Liam Species: Human being Gender: Male Level: 50 Class: Soulmancer Titles: Rolling in Debt, Perfectionist, Soul Devourer, Pioneer, Gresh Kingdom Duke, Thol City Garrison Leader, Stage 1 Ranker Pet: Luna, Talon Health: 5250/5250 Mana: 5200/ 5200 ______________ Vitality: 160 Stamina: 160 Strength: 160 Intellect: 160 Agility: 160 Physical Defense: 160 Mental Defense: 50 Soul Defense: 50 ______________ Skills: [Mana Manipulation], [Nether Manipulation], [Throat Punch], [Slash], [Sword Dance], [Spirit Slash], [Spirit Wrath], [Stealth], [Pickpocket], [Unlock], [Tame], [Awaken], [Demonic Summon], [Ice Shard], [Lightning Bolt], [Fire Ball], [Lava Rain], [Soul Forging], [Soul Sensing], [Summon Soul Undeads], [Dismiss Soul Undeads], [Nether Fire Storm], [Nether Fire Serpent], [Mana Net], [Frozen Earth], [Trapping vines], [Fire bullets], [Nether Scythe], [Wind Blades], [Ice burst], [Lightning Snake], [Earth Spike], [Venom Burst], [Ice Blanket], [Intermediate Ice Manipulation], [Intermediate Fire Manipulation], [Intermediate Lightning Manipulation], [Black Box] Trade Skills: [Alchemy] (Expert Master Level), [Forging] (Master Level), [Mining] (Intermediate Level), [Herbalism] (Intermediate Level), [Cooking] (Beginner) ______________ Liam continued staring at his stats for an entire minute. He opened his mouth and closed it speechlessly. This time the effects of the elixir were completely beyond his imagination. All of his basic attributes had increased from [145] to [160]. This was a 15 stat points gain per attribute. Each level past Level 50 only gave 3 stat points per attribute when leveling up so a 15 stat point boost was similar to having a 5 level advantage over the same level opponent. This was not taking into account the original advantage he had before consuming the first elixir and not to mention the silverfish. With everything combined together, Liam now almost had the equivalent of a 10 level difference between another player of his same status. And this was before he started forming his mana core. Undoubtedly, this difference was only going to widen now after he establishes his core. Liam rubbed his hands expectantly and cracked his neck. He was excited about this but he was more excited about the two new attributes that had popped up on his status screen. "Mental defense and soul defense…" He mumbled in deep thought. "Did these show up because they became big enough only now?" The only other extra attribute he had seen was when Shen Yue unlocked her hidden class and gained her Charm attribute. "Does this mean these are also going to improve now with every level I gain?" With every level past level 50, a player gained 3 stat points per attribute and he now had 2 additional attributes. So this meant that he was going to get a passive boost of 6 stat points per level. More importantly, he could now assign stat points to these two new types of defense. Liam had already come across unique mental attacks and he personally knew how strong they were. It was good to have some extra stat points saved in case he needed that sort of defense unexpectedly. And as for soul attacks, he was not too worried about that at the moment. If anyone was capable of doing such an attack, it would probably be him because of his Soulmancer class but he himself had no idea how to obtain the knowledge about attacks like that. So putting that aside for now, he continued looking at his status screen for a few more minutes and then closed it. "With this, now I am done with all the prep work. It should be time." He took a few deep breaths and then closed his eyes. "COME!" Liam gritted his teeth and without any warning, he abruptly started pulling in all the mana that he could. The abundant mana rushing into him gave him a pleasant sensation. The mana weaved through his body and the mana particles synergized with the cells in his body. Before he was not able to pull in so much mana but now after the thorough cleansing he was able to take in so much more. Liam himself was startled by the difference he felt but he kept going. He knew that this shouldn't be his limit. After going through so much, he wanted to squeeze inside every last bit of mana that he could and only then establish his core. "MORE!" He stubbornly sucked in everything that he could sense around him. Slowly and steadily, he stuffed wisps after wisps of mana. Soon the space around him started crackling. The amount of mana inside him was no longer pleasant. It was now turbulent. It crashed against his body wanting to create chaos. His newly remolded blood vessels and muscle tissues started tearing from the insides. A wave of pain rippled across his body. Liam gritted his teeth and bore the pain. He knew that it was not over yet. It was just beginning. He needed to bear so much more that was about to come. Taking another big breath, he once again called in a big wave of mana from the surroundings into his body. WHOOSH! Pain instantly blasted him apart. The mana that was turbulent before was now like a raging storm. It was no longer simply crashing against him and tearing him at the seams. It was like a wildfire that wanted to completely consume him. Liam immediately knew that perhaps he had gone a step too far. He should be regretting it or even letting go of some of the mana so that he can conveniently form a core but he stood his ground. He did not want to give up just yet. If he did not give his 100% now to form the core, then later he would surely regret it. Biting his teeth, he held in all the mana forcefully not letting a single wisp get out. From top to bottom, he was now completely flushed with energy. And because of that, from top to bottom he was also burning in pain. Blood was coming out of his eyes, noses, ears, and mouth. His bones cracked. His muscles dissolved. His body shriveled until there was only a set of broken bones and saggy skin. He was now fully covered in blood. With each second that passed, he was in unimaginable pain and torture but Liam knew that this was nothing when compared to feeling useless and weak. Bearing this was still a hundred times better than having to beg someone else for his life, for his sister's life. And he was still not done! "Again!" He shouted and this time a violent tornado-like mana cocoon started forming around him. Liam was on the brink of losing his consciousness so he didn't notice anything anymore, but someone else did. High up on the tower, the old man observed everything and snorted in annoyance. He had actually been impressed with the boy up until now. He had even momentarily considered taking him in under his wing but this last step, it was really… "This greedy scoundrel! Just how much is he planning to eat! There should be a limit to his audacity! A frog wanting to become a dragon?!" "Impossible! You went too far. You should have known when to stop!" He snorted in disdain. Now there was nothing more for him to watch. This was purely self-destruction and foolishness.