Chapter 486: Extracting The Monsters

"Can you actually communicate with it?"

"That’s what I’m trying to find out."

Caelus waited a little longer, hoping that mentioning Axiom Origin would attract its attention.

Unfortunately, none of the panels showed any changes.

From what he understood, Axiom Origin had played a role in the creation of the Akashic Records.

Considering their connection, the Akashic Records might possess information that even Axiom Origin hadn’t told him.

Especially concerning the third power.

There had originally been three powers. Axiom Origin was one of them, while another was responsible for Endless Extraction.

As for the third, it had apparently created the Primordial World before eventually going mad.

Caelus still didn’t know much about that particular power, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the creatures that had emerged from the portals.

Their appearance was strange even by the standards of the Primordial World, and their ability to multiply so rapidly made them even more suspicious.

He had encountered all sorts of monsters since entering the Origin Ascension Domain, but those creatures were different.

Could they have been connected to the third power?

Or perhaps they were its creations?

If that were true, it would explain why the Akashic Records had rewarded everyone for eliminating them.

Of course, he didn’t have enough information to reach a conclusion, which was precisely why he wanted to speak with the Akashic Records.

"Those creatures that appeared earlier. You know what they are, don’t you? Are they related to the third power?"

Caelus waited for an answer, but the panels remained unchanged.

"Come on. I’m not asking you to give me anything for free. I just want to ask a few questions."

Sylvia remained beside him while he continued attempting to communicate.

However, after receiving no response despite mentioning Axiom Origin and the third power, Caelus began wondering whether the Akashic Records could actually understand what he was saying.

After all, every notification he had received so far could have been generated automatically.

But considering how powerful the Akashic Records was, surely it possessed some form of intelligence?

At least, that was what he believed.

"Hey, can you at least tell me whether you’re listening? I’ll take anything at this point."

As Caelus was preparing to ask another question, a notification finally appeared.

[Reward distribution complete.]

[Participants will now return.]

"..."

Caelus stared at the notification in disbelief.

"Seriously? I’m trying to talk to you here!"

Golden light appeared beneath his feet and gradually grew brighter.

"Wait, I haven’t finished!"

Before he could say anything else, the teleportation activated, transporting him and Sylvia back to the ruined plaza.

Caelus stood there for a moment, still annoyed that he hadn’t received a single answer.

"It actually kicked me out. Can you believe that?"

Sylvia couldn’t help smiling at his complaint.

"Maybe it doesn’t want to talk to you."

"Then it could’ve just told me that instead of ignoring everything I said."

"Would you have stopped asking if it did?"

Caelus considered her question for a moment.

"Well, probably not. But that’s not the point."

Sylvia laughed while Caelus glanced toward the sky.

He was beginning to have doubts about whether the Akashic Records was truly a conscious existence.

Until now, he had always assumed it was intelligent because of how complicated its functions were.

However, thinking back on his experiences, he realized that he had never received an actual response to any of his questions.

Everything had been communicated through notifications.

Perhaps it was simply an enormous system operating according to predetermined rules, or maybe it was deliberately ignoring him.

Either way, he had no way of knowing without obtaining more information.

"Whatever. I’ll figure it out eventually."

Caelus decided to put the matter aside for now, since continuing to think about it wasn’t going to get him anywhere.

However, just as he was preparing to leave, several familiar notifications appeared in front of him.

[Ding! Extractable remains detected.]

[Ding! Would you like to Extract?]

"Oh?"

Caelus stopped walking and examined the surrounding plaza.

Several corpses were still lying among the rubble, belonging to the strange creatures that had attacked earlier.

Although many of their bodies had been completely destroyed during the battle, some were still relatively intact.

And apparently, Endless Extraction could still extract something from them.

"Right, I almost forgot about these."

Caelus immediately accepted the extraction request.

[Talent Activated: Endless Extraction.]

Dark strands began emerging from the nearby corpses before flowing toward him.

As the extracted power entered his body, Caelus felt a strange sensation spreading through his cells.

It wasn’t painful, but it was quite different from the Primordial Cell Energy he had absorbed earlier.

At the same time, information began appearing in his mind, allowing him to understand how those creatures had been able to reproduce so quickly.

Their bodies possessed an unusual ability that allowed them to create additional bodies under certain conditions.

And apparently, that ability was something Endless Extraction could obtain.

[Ding! You obtained the Authority of Multiplication!]

"Authority of Multiplication?"

Caelus was immediately interested in his newly acquired authority.

"So that’s how those things kept multiplying. No wonder there were so many of them."

During the battle, he had wondered how the creatures managed to keep increasing their numbers despite suffering so many casualties.

If the Authority of Multiplication was responsible for that, then it was definitely something worth examining.

However, before he could inspect the authority, another notification appeared.

[Ding! Primordial Cell Energy extracted.]

"Huh? There’s more?"

A second stream of energy entered his body, immediately causing his Primordial Core to react.

The energy began flowing toward his World Cells, and Caelus quickly focused on absorbing it.

However, he soon noticed something unusual.

Unlike the reward he had received earlier, this energy wasn’t causing his remaining World Cells to develop.

Instead, it was being absorbed by the World Cells that had already developed, increasing the amount of energy contained within them.

And as more energy accumulated inside those cells, his strength began rising.

"Wait a minute. Why isn’t my development increasing?"

Caelus concentrated on the changes happening inside his body.

His developed World Cells were becoming more powerful, yet the cells that hadn’t developed were showing no signs of progress.

That was strange.

He had assumed that absorbing more Primordial Cell Energy would naturally increase his World Cell Development, just like the reward he had received earlier.

But apparently, that wasn’t always the case.

As the remaining corpses continued losing their energy, more dark strands entered Caelus’s body.

He continued absorbing everything until the final corpse had been completely drained.

[Ding! Extraction complete.]

[Power: 40 → 80.]

[World Cell Development: 40%.]

Caelus examined his status with growing surprise.

His Power had doubled.

He had gone from forty to eighty simply by extracting the remains of those creatures, yet his World Cell Development remained at forty percent.

"Hold on. So I can increase my Power without developing more World Cells?"

He checked the numbers again, wondering whether he had misunderstood something.

[Power: 80.]

[World Cell Development: 40%.]

There was no mistake.

The Primordial Cell Energy he received as a reward had developed more World Cells, while the energy obtained through Endless Extraction had strengthened the ones that were already developed.

Both increased his Power, but they worked differently.

And that meant his cultivation progress wasn’t the only factor determining how strong he could become.

Caelus couldn’t help smiling as he realized what this meant.

He had just doubled his Power without advancing his World Cell Development by a single percent.

"Now this is interesting."

He glanced at the corpses that had already been drained, wondering how much stronger he could become if he continued obtaining Primordial Cell Energy through Endless Extraction.