What he was attempting was somehow different from what he had done in the past. Even though he was not yet sure why. And to make matters worse, it was no easy task channeling energy through his core, as it had once been. It wasn’t just cycling energy anymore, but he had to try to settle the vibrations and distortion that was going haywire whenever his energy passed through it.

  And as he continued, his brow bent atop his fully white eyes. It was because of what he had come for. He felt something. Just beneath the surface of his core. It was… dormant. It was cold, hard, and unresponsive. But his instincts told him it was exactly what he’d come looking for.

  Whatever it was, its positioning was too perfect. Despite only being maybe a tenth of the size of his core, it felt so much bigger. Like the very concept of it was otherworldly. Something beyond what he was capable of understanding.

  With the unknown object at the center of his focus, he began cycling his energy harder than ever before. But this time, instead of using his core as his focal point, he used this dormant object as his focal point, pushing all of his energy toward it, and trying to cycle through it. And as he did, he drained every ounce of his being.

  And he quickly realized that what he had discovered was truly magnificent. Even if his technique was inefficient, hampered by the imbalance between his faux core and his D-grade race, he was still pouring incredible amounts of energy into it. Especially for someone at his level. After all, he had many ways of recovering and cycling new energy, far beyond the average.

  Still, despite this, it didn’t seem enough. Without breaking his meditative stance, he started to consume, eating food from his scabbard and kitchen while his eyes remained shut, and his inner eye remained focused.

  It was through this trinity of energy that he hoped to break the boundaries of what was possible. Calling on his core, his consumption supported by his adipose reserves, and his well trained energy organs that allowed him to summon up terrific amounts of energy.

  But it all seemed so insignificant. No matter how much energy he called up, it paled in comparison to whatever this was. It was as if all of his abundant energy was just disappearing into a void, a void that was endlessly hungry.

  Doubt crept into his mind for a moment. It was just so intensely dense, and everything he did seemed so far and tiny in comparison. But shook that doubt away, and continued defiantly.

  He knew he was close to something. Something powerful, and as such, he wouldn’t give up so easily. Instead, he grew more determined and stubborn than ever before, pulling energy from wherever he could as he attempted to feed the endlessly hungry void within him.

  And it was not long before he was running out of spare ingredients and food. He had left his best ingredients aside for cooking, and as important as this was, he wanted to spare them.

  But he could not stop, either. To do so would be to lose his progress, he knew. No matter what, he needed to maintain this ridiculous energy output. But to do so, he needed to continue feeding it energy, and thus, he needed to continue feeding himself.

  Without breaking his trance, he ordered Sooty to have the goblins prepare whatever they could, and soon there was a train of little goblins passing in and out of his kitchen with prepared meals.

  Luckily, Aaron’s palate was not easily offended, as the meals the goblins carried to him were often items humans might find disturbing. Rats, worms, and other nasty little things were plated up and served, but never did Aaron break his trance as he inhaled the endless line of dishes being served to him.

  It was an industrial effort. His entire camp had come alive, and every goblin was working overtime to ensure that the train of food never halted for even a moment.

  But despite this absurd consumption, Aaron was actually growing thinner, a testament to just how ridiculous the energy needs of the thing within him were.

  And soon, he realized that even this wasn’t enough. If he were to continue down this path, eventually, he would grind himself down to bone and then death.

  He called on aether, trying to pull as much of it from the surrounding atmosphere as he possibly could, and while this was far easier than it had ever been before, it wasn’t enough.

  He was certain that his race evolution into the first step toward becoming a shinigami had helped him in this regard, but even still, it simply wasn’t enough to overcome the hungry void within him.

  His veins popped as his skin tightened like leather around them, his muscles ripped and pressed against an ever-tighter skin shell. His face hollowed out and started to look sickly, and yet, he continued.

  The trance had taken him entirely, and even the threat of death barely registered as he soldiered on toward his goal. But not everyone was so calm. Panic was clear as day, cast all over the expressions of his goblin followers.

  They simply couldn’t hope to understand how someone could be drained so thoroughly, even as they ate in such epic proportions, but that was only because they did not know Aaron well enough yet.

  Luckily, Sooty was around, and he snapped them into order whenever they started to grow too panicked at the disconcerting sight before them.

  Stolen story; please report.

  But as Aaron neared death, he had an epiphany.

  It was an insane idea, and he knew that it wasn’t meant for this. But he had to try, didn’t he? After all, invention is the mother of necessity. And he needed this.

  His hand disappeared into his scabbard, and he withdrew the shard of divinity, and he held it in his hand.

  He could not use the extraordinary energy crackling around the magnificent item directly. But perhaps he could channel it into the void within him?

  He split his focus in a moment of desperation, knowing that his attempt to tame this thing was about to fail.

  But he couldn’t just reach out and pull the divine energy from the shard. However, he had another idea. Using spectral hands and filling his spectral form with whatever aether he could spare, he attempted to drag the energy out of the shard.

  His ghostly hands slipped straight through the surface of the shard, and it burned, so very painfully.

  Even a spirit wasn’t meant to mess with the divine, and it was making him suffer for the attempt, and Aaron’s entire self, both his body and his very soul, screamed out in agony as he attempted to go against the natural order of things.

  He could feel his very spirit cracking as the pressure bore down upon it, and within seconds, it was posing a very real threat to his life. At that moment, he considered abandoning his attempt, but then he felt it. His ghostly fingers had grabbed hold of something, and despite the burning that travelled down and deep into the depths of his soul, he could wrap his fingers around it and pull.

  First, it came as a thread. Blinding golden light dragged from the shard, and the goblins scattered in fear of the tiny fraction of divine presence.

  The energy was flowing freely now, no longer completely contained by the shard, and surrounding plants that were touched by the energy suddenly experienced growth spurts before wilting and dying, all within seconds.

  But the madman who was Aaron Dober was determined, despite feeling like his soul was about to shatter into a million pieces.

  And he took that thread of divine energy, and he parsed it into his very own chest.

  The feeling of it was immense, and Aaron knew then and there that if he tried to use this energy directly, he would die within seconds, and his soul would likely be destroyed.

  But he wasn’t trying to use it directly. Such an attempt would be beyond foolish.

  Instead, he tried to pour the incredibly dense divine energy into the void. And the outcome was entirely different from what he had witnessed earlier.

  Within seconds, the divine energy had filled what had felt like an endless well, ready to suck up all the energy in the multiverse. He could feel it. Just like that, its hunger had been satiated.

  He could feel something else too, though, and he quickly pulled away from it, severing the connection but a fraction of a second before the void was completely full.

  And by doing so, he knew that he had just saved his life. If he had let it complete fill the void, it would have exploded in a magnificent display of power, and both killed him and destroyed his soul.

  Beads of sweat ran down his forehead as he realized just how close he had come to death.

  With the thread of divine energy severed, the shard of divinity went back to normal within seconds, and the goblins calmed as they saw the energy retreat back into it.

  Aaron’s mind was elsewhere, though. He could feel this thing, the focus of his attention pulsing with energy within him, and he knew what needed to be done.

  It just needed the final top-up of energy to push it over the edge, and he snapped his fingers at the goblins.

  “Food, now!”

  Blank, confused expressions quickly faded, and the train resumed, and within seconds, he was consuming once more.

  Every bit of energy flowed into the crackling void that pulsed with power. But he had been drained so badly by it all. His soul felt like it was fraying at its corners, and he had to refrain from using aether as he feared that his soul might just shatter.

  Nonetheless, he was getting so close to his goal. Unlike before, the weakening stream of energy wouldn’t send this strange void back into dormancy. The divine energy had well and truly awoken it, and he just had to keep feeding it until it was ready.

  He looked like a cripple, lying there near death as the goblins fed him. And yet, a toothy grin bent his face between greedy mouthfuls, and he could feel himself getting ever closer.

  And eventually, it happened. An explosive rush of power filled him from within, and he felt his veins come alive as the energy flooded out and through him.

  He was still terribly wounded, and his soul badly damaged, but he felt some strength return at that moment, so incredible was the achievement he had made.

  Skill Discarded: [ Reverse Cycle Faux Core ]

  Trait Awoken: Reverse Cycle True Core

  At the heart of every great creature throughout the multiverse is a core. Cores allow for greater levels of energy production and output, and are often seen as gatekeepers to higher grades, as they are impossible to achieve without first awakening one’s core.

  Provides tremendous amounts of energy to the user.

  Title acquired: Core Prodigy

  It requires a great master to form a core, and an incredible one to do it before the grades that are expected for this monumental task to be achieved within.

  Rewarded for successfully forming your core prior to reaching C grade.

  Reward: +25% Fortitude, 25% Vitality, and 25% Willpower

  Aaron shot up and gasped as the titles rolled by his eyes, and then he fell backward. The gains were incredible, but he had pushed his soul to the absolute breaking point, and it wouldn’t recover so quickly.

  Sooty, realizing his condition, rushed to his side.

  “Are ya okay, bossman? Speak to old Sooty! Tell me ya gonna live, dammit!”

  “Yeah, I’m not dead,” Aaron groaned. “But I’m going to need a moment.”

  “Gotcha. Oi, scumbags!” Sooty shouted out to the goblins, who went stiff and silent at his command. “Healers, get ‘em. And anything soul-related! Go, now! Bring it all here!”

  The goblins didn’t need to be told twice, and in an instant, they were running off in all directions.

  Aaron gripped his chest. The power was incredible, and while he might have pushed himself a little too hard, he had a feeling that this power was going to be needed.

  It’s not so bad… A crushing pain flooded through him with that thought, as if punishing him for thinking it.

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