Is that a Wisp?

"Hammer!" Krune shouted as he picked up all the 700+ Nightmare Cores using Mental Energy before making a cluster with them. His Star Hammer then unleashed a powerful gravitational force, siphoning it from the three rings of his Star Ring enveloping the room. 

The gravity was then used to compress the Nightmare Cores as lightning flickered through them, beginning to melt them. A day later, all the Nightmare Cores had been melted and reshaped into a massive core. 

Through Mental Energy, Krune extracted all the negative emotions contained in them, sending them towards the center, where they were condensed to the extent they turned ethereal. 

"Go!" With a start, he sent his Soul Needle flying into the mixture, causing it to pierce through the ethereal condensation of negative emotions. Instantly, the power of the Sun Stone began to attack them while Krune activated the Soul Needle completely through Mental Energy, activating the power that it had absorbed recently. 

Ancient Demon!

The power that he had absorbed from the Ancient Demon quickly flowed out of the Soul Needle, seeping into the negative emotions. Moreover, its ability to grow by absorbing negative emotions took effect when the Soul Needle whirred into life, unleashing the brunt of the Sun Stone's power. 

Through Mental Energy, Krune protected the negative emotions, slowly purifying them using the Sun Stone's power before infusing his own thoughts into it. This way, he was changing its inherent nature of absorbing and growing using negative emotions. 

The type of emotions he infused were just two: Justice and a wish for peace.

The Nightmare Cores were then compressed slowly by the gravity while the lightning arcs continued to purify them, turning them into something grander, more serene. 

For the next couple of weeks, Krune worked solely on purifying all the negative emotions before infusing the emotions of justice and a wish for peace into them. 

He then rested for a week, recovering his Mental Energy to the peak before resuming the process, continuing to strengthen the core first. Thanks to the three rings unleashed by his Star Ring, there was a continuous exertion of gravity onto the core.

Moreover, by drawing the power from nature, lightning bolts constantly slammed into it, tempering it further and further. 

"Activate!" Krune said solemnly, condensing his Cloud Whale around the core, making its heart form around the core. This way, it was treated as if the core was an integral part of the Cloud Whale. 

His Mental Energy then gushed into the Soul Needle that emanated a resonant fluctuation as countless formations were engraved throughout the core and the insides of the Cloud Whale. All the space was used for the same as Krune had summoned it in its maximum size. 

Eight meters!

Thanks to his training, this was the maximum length he was able to summon the Cloud Whale now. Just the sheer amount of power he could exert through it was tremendous, almost on the level of a mini calamity. 

And every time he pushed himself, his Mental Energy reserves continued to grow. It was because his mind was maturing that quickly, thanks to the experiences of four people other than him. With that, his Mental Energy became stronger. 

The lightning bolts acted like a tribulation as they seeped through the Cloud Whale and passed into the core in its heart while the Soul Needle in its center unleashed a mild fluctuation, connecting everything into one. 

The countless formations that he engraved through Mental Energy made the process smooth. 

Eventually, the essence of the Ancient Demon had finished flowing out of the Soul Needle and had completely encapsulated the Cloud Whale. However, through the lightning refinement, its nature had grandly changed.

Bam!

Suddenly, the Soul Needle shattered, for a moment causing Krune to collapse to the ground, falling unconscious. It was as if he had lost an integral part of himself, spitting out blood. 

He retracted his Mental Energy, swallowing a bunch of pills as he recovered his Mental Energy, condensing it into himself as he watched the Soul Needle beginning to form, albeit at a snail's pace.

Sighing in relief, he continued with the refinement. The shattering of the Soul Needle was a necessary process. After all, with that, he had established a firm connection between his creation and himself. 

It was as if the Cloud Whale before him wasn't his own Cloud Whale, but one that shared a connection with him. After all, with a thought, Krune summoned a palm-sized Cloud Whale, sighing in relief. "It's done."

"Now, I'll have to wait for the lightning refinement to continue."

Continuing to cough out blood from time to time, Krune exited the place, meditating daily after work to heal his internal injuries. Thanks to his Mental Energy, this was possible. 

Two years had passed in such a fashion as many batches of students graduated and had taken up work at various posts throughout the Empire. Some of them had even clashed with Yin Beasts already. 

Some performed exceptionally well, but some were unlucky and met their demise. Though, with their influx, the Empire's condition had stabilized somewhat. 

It was also because the Liu Clan was constantly equipping more and more people with the County Arms, allowing the strength of the empire to gradually increase. 

In this span of two years, all Krune had done was work on recovering his Soul Needle and heal his internal injuries. After all, he had taken some serious damage when the Soul Needle had shattered. 

Had he been in his wisp form, this damage wouldn't have been as severe. But as he wasn't, it had taken him so long. 

Ding!

The moment the Soul Needle finished forming, it hummed a resonant sound as Krune arrived underground, gazing at the eight-meter-long Cloud Whale blinking cutely, emanating a dense pressure of peace. 

In its vicinity, even the most bloodthirsty of humans would sit and meditate calmly, throwing away their weapons. 

He gently patted it, smiling as he felt the emotions of justice and peace he felt flow out and gush into the Cloud Whale, continuing to strengthen it like how negative emotions did to Nightmares and Demons. 

"And now, to nail the process completely." Krune retracted his Star Ring and Star Hammer, bringing the Cloud Whale outside before sending it inside a massive building that he had instructed the academy to build—one that took the past two years to finish.

Following that, he arrived at the platform, gazing at the instructors that were teaching the new batches of students, coughing once before gaining the attention of everyone.. "Everyone, your mettle would be tested now."