Chapter 77: Astrine Core

Neolan appeared in a completely different location this time, inside the same training room where his father had taught him about the will of his own talent. He looked around and found the room completely empty, while the lights throughout the entire space turned on the moment he appeared.

He then lowered his gaze toward his hand and sighed inwardly, ’I hope Alice isn’t too angry about what just happened. When I return, I know I’ll be in real trouble.’

’I need to build the AEGIS-01, but it will take a considerable amount of time even with the Matter Forge.’ Remembering the core mechanics he needed to implant into the machine, Neolan shook his head as he felt a headache coming on.

Although he possessed Ultimate Comprehension, understanding the necessary principles and actually completing such a complicated task were two different matters. He had no intention of spending hours on that kind of exhausting work when there was another option available to him.

’Sigh, I’ll get the LIM robots to handle it through the Goddess of Niflheim.’ Having reached that decision, Neolan put the matter aside and focused on what he needed to accomplish first. ’I have to evolve now. Maybe I should evolve quickly, just as Alice did?’

He was somewhat skeptical about that approach because his Astrine Blade was the most unique one in the entire world, and even in his previous life, he had been unable to discover the source of its uniqueness.

’Let’s evolve to the first stage, the core.’ Neolan immediately sat down on the white floor of the empty training room and crossed his legs into a lotus position. He closed his eyes and recalled the process required for the evolution before beginning to put his understanding into practice.

Astrine energy started radiating from his body in waves, and a moment later, Bifrost emerged in front of him.

Neolan kept his eyes closed as he sensed the connection between his soul and Bifrost from within his Sea of Consciousness, ’Now, the formation of a core...’ The moment that thought crossed his mind, all the Astrine energy released into the surrounding air began rushing back toward his body.

The energy gathered around his abdomen, where he intended to form the Astrine Energy Core.

As the energy converged in that region, the Astrine energy and Dantian Qi within him continued swirling in harmony. Neolan began forcing the gathered Astrine energy toward a single point in his abdomen, close to the location associated with his Spiritual Dantian.

At first glance, this might have raised a question about whether the Dantian and the Astrine Energy Core would form in the same place, potentially causing them to interfere with each other. However, the answer lay in the nature of the Dantian itself, which did not exist as a physical organ or object inside his abdomen.

The Dantian resided within his spiritual form and functioned as the spiritual center responsible for his cultivation energy. In simple terms, it was different from the physical Astrine Energy Core he was about to form within his body, even though both were connected to the same region.

Since Neolan already understood this distinction, he had no reason to worry about the two structures clashing during the process. With that matter settled, he began concentrating on the formation of his core.

Neolan forced the massive amount of gathered Astrine energy to compress into a single, tiny spherical structure. The moment he began compressing it, sweat trickled down his face as he clenched his teeth and maintained his concentration.

One by one, the Astrine energy pathways that had remained locked until then began opening throughout his body, allowing the energy to circulate through them.

Astrine energy flowed through his veins as it gradually broke the limitations imposed on his current body. At the same time, his veins began undergoing changes to adapt to the energy flowing through them, altering their structure to accommodate its properties.

Neolan clenched his teeth more tightly as he felt pressure building throughout the countless veins inside his body, but he continued the process until the initial stage was complete.

Once the pathways had opened, he focused on stabilizing the spherical mass of Astrine energy and carefully guiding it into position. He controlled its movement with precision, making sure that not even the smallest amount of energy escaped from the forming core.

"Ugh!" Neolan groaned as he felt the internal organs surrounding the core’s location begin to heat up while adapting to the energy.

Although he had already been using Astrine energy throughout his body, he had never concentrated it so densely near his internal organs in this life.

This was the first time he had attempted to form such a structure within his current body, so he needed to ensure that the surrounding organs could withstand the changes, ’Good thing the Qi isn’t reacting like it did in my previous life as both are perfectly harmonized this time.’

Neolan swallowed as he recalled the catastrophic damage his veins had suffered in his previous life because of the interaction between Qi and Astrine energy.

Each time he compressed it further, the spherical structure gradually became denser, moving closer to its final form. Neolan continued repeating the process for several minutes, maintaining control over the energy while preventing it from dispersing throughout his body. It took approximately fifteen minutes before the spherical structure finally transformed into a solid core.

BOOOM!!

The moment the Astrine Energy Core became a solid, pure-white sphere, a massive wave of Astrine energy burst out from Neolan’s body. The energy spread in successive waves, causing even the walls of the training room to vibrate despite being constructed from one of the hardest metals discovered to date.

Neolan’s eyes snapped open as he panted heavily, struggling to recover his breath after completing the process. "Huff..." He lowered his gaze toward his body and noticed that the Astrine energy radiating from him was far denser than before. 𝚏𝗋ℯⅇ

Seeing the result, Neolan smiled with satisfaction. "Success. Now that that’s done, I should focus on absorbing more energy. My capacity has increased again." He spoke to himself before using his wind elemental control to wipe away the sweat covering his face and body.

After refreshing himself, he immediately resumed his work, taking advantage of the dense Astrine energy already present throughout the training room for the same evolutionary purpose.

’Although this might look the same as ’cultivation’ at first glance, it’s actually ’Evolution’ because of the stages that come after the formation of the core.’ Neolan nodded inwardly as he began drawing more Astrine energy into the newly formed core.

He continued absorbing the surrounding energy while compressing it within the core, gradually increasing the amount it could contain and strengthening its structure.

Another ten minutes passed before Neolan finally completed this part of the process and opened his eyes. His entire aura had changed considerably, reflecting the increase in the density of his Astrine energy and the changes his body had undergone.

He clenched and unclenched his fists twice, testing the feeling of his body and assessing his current strength. After the second attempt, he nodded to himself and stood up.

’Now it’s time to experience a real life-and-death battle. I thought fighting Father would be the best option, but... sigh.’ Neolan shook his head as he recalled the overwhelming pressure he had felt in his father’s presence.

Although fighting him might have provided the experience he needed, the difference between their strengths made him reconsider that choice for the time being.

’It’s better to enter a high-ranking Rift instead of wasting time on low-ranking ones that won’t provide the experience I need. After that, I also have to investigate the Empire and the Pope... I’ll leave the task of creating AEGIS-01 to the Goddess of Niflheim.’

Having settled on his next course of action, Neolan stepped forward and vanished from the training room. The room was left empty once again, and its lights automatically turned off after his departure.