Brightness flooded the open eyes of the whale, bringing with it the characteristic blurry vision of the unbelievable displacement between universes. In that instant, Alm and Bruno took a deep breath, and a second later, they found themselves back in the main hall of the castle, located in the desert city.
Immediately, the first sensation they experienced was an unusual exhaustion. The consequences of the desperate fight and the use of the new technique were still present. It wasn’t a common fatigue; it was something that emanated directly from their souls. The souls of both were on the verge of serious injury. Using that again seemed like a foolish daydream for them.
[Accept the rewards?]
[Yes / No]
Their looks seemed to search for something around them, even if their thoughts weren’t entirely clear. When the green screen appeared, the two didn’t hesitate to respond affirmatively.
[Extra Reward 01: 40 Upgrade Points Acquired.]
[Performance Level 95/100]
[Extra Reward 02: 5 Random Bonus Chests Acquired.]
[Main Reward: Core Formation Realm Cultivation Attained.]
The cold air made the whale’s body shiver suddenly, and an intense heat emerged below its belly button. The QI in the whale’s meridians transitioned from gaseous to liquid quickly, starting to flow toward the belly button. It was at that moment that Alm and Bruno became serious, pushing their physical cultivation to the limit.
A wave of QI erupted from the interior of the round body and crashed against the walls of the room. The principle of physical cultivation was to refine and create new channels of QI, initially in all muscles and viscera, circulating in a completely different way from the meridians. During the initial formation of the core, the main source of its structure that wouldn’t change for quite some time was what was contained inside the body.
Alm and Bruno didn’t hesitate, using the power of their souls together to converge everything they had. QI gathering cultivation and physical cultivation were slowly combined. They felt their whole body and energy being gradually sucked away, their vision darkened, and the body fat was at a scorching temperature. An hour passed until everything in them was used up, a throbbing pain hit their already extremely tired souls. Soon, a muffled sound echoed like thunder, and they felt relief as they realized the core was formed.
’It seems to be three times larger than usual, which suits our giant body. Our QI is now multiple times larger than normal.’ Bruno commented excitedly.
Alm analyzed coldly, ’Cultivating the physique supporting the common cultivation seems to bring, in the long run, great benefits... Perhaps, if we add other types of cultivation, we’ll gain even more?’
’Don’t be greedy. We’ve already decided to focus on what we have; it’s already difficult to the point of despair to cultivate currently.’ Bruno said, recalling the humiliation of almost dying to a copy of himself. The copy used everything more efficiently, making it clear that they needed to concentrate more on what they already had, at least for now.
Then, they turned their attention to the green screen, but quickly felt that their reasoning was slow and difficult, their souls were depleted at alarming levels. In contrast, the whale’s body seemed to be bursting with energy.
’We can’t use our souls again for a while. Even the recovery from the cultivation breakthrough was just a drop in the ocean. We have to rely on luck to recover.’ Bruno commented, sighing.
At that moment, the whale felt movement nearby and turned to a corner of the room. The door opened gently, revealing a small figure, and when their eyes met, hers sparkled like stars.
"Master, you were alone here. The party is lively; the dwarves are almost all passed out drunk," Ruri said, smiling broadly as she approached.
Alm and Bruno felt something stir within them at that moment. A sense of relief washed over their bodies, and all fatigue seemed to subtly ease. They sighed together, realizing that her presence was exactly what they had been looking for since they returned.
Ruri sat next to the whale, getting very close to the point of touching him. Then, she looked into their eyes and spoke.
"Master seems tired. Are you okay?" Obviously, their faces were as impassive as ever, and no one should ever notice anything about them. But Ruri could only look into their eyes and perceive some things.
"I just managed to break through the realm, no need to worry," Bruno replied lightly.
Ruri’s eyes sparkled even more. Almin and Langrum became much stronger after breaking through, so now that their master has advanced, he should be even more exuberant and frightening beyond imagination.
She held their arm while speaking animatedly, as they listened in silence, with no desire to scare her away. Ruri radiated happiness as she mentioned how joyful Alnia was before and continued commenting on how Langrum went drinking with the dwarves, forcing Loeus to follow. In the end, the two fell and passed out quickly, but Ruri couldn’t help but notice how, in the midst of the process, they loosened up and looked at each other even more intensely.
Ruri kept talking non-stop until she realized that she was the only one talking. It seemed like she had learned Alnia’s mannerisms during this time, and Ruri knew that her master disliked that. "Sorry, would you prefer me to be more serious and quiet..."
The whale sighed gently and put his hand on her head, stroking it gently. "What I prefer doesn’t matter. Just be yourself; as long as you’re smiling and happy, I’ll be satisfied."
It was Bruno who spoke, but Alm wholeheartedly agreed. Outwardly, they were calm, but internally, both were extremely excited. All this time, they had been listening, and it didn’t take long for them to feel something strange in their souls. Something inside them seemed to tune in to something close to laws... it wasn’t the laws of the world they knew... it was something beyond, and their souls seemed to be slowly restored!
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Only one certainty existed there: the peace and tranquility they felt, conveyed by Ruri, made them, for the first time, instinctively use their divine souls. This was a unique and mystical door that opened, and the indirect responsible was this little girl.
They felt like they could have done it all along, but never knew how. Now things became clearer. The power of the divine soul was something completely different from everything; it wasn’t something logical and tangible that could be studied and manipulated. The secret to regenerating it or using it fully came from their state of mind... no, both thinking about it, they felt like something was missing.
Alm and Bruno were absorbed in the changes in their souls. But after Ruri heard those words, she fell silent, looking into the whale’s eyes. A second later, her entire face turned as red as an apple. Then, a faint shy moan escaped her lips, and she clung to the whale’s arm, as if she wanted to hide her face.
Time passed, and soon Alm and Bruno found it strange that Ruri didn’t say anything more even after they encouraged her, so they focused even more on that. After a few minutes, they noticed her light breathing and saw that she was sound asleep, already properly clinging to them with a peaceful smile on her lips.
’Hm... maybe sleeping can be a good thing.’ Bruno commented, feeling a strange sleep that shouldn’t be possible, as the body had just broken through. Soon, the whale collapsed.
Time passed, and if someone entered the room, they would see the strange scene of a giant whale lying down, sleeping, and snoring loudly. Its belly rose and fell along with its wild orc snoring, but on top of that belly, a little girl was firmly clinging, sleeping soundly.
In the mid-morning of that day, when they woke up, the whale’s eyes were wide open and turned to Ruri still sleeping, sighing. They had an absolute certainty now.
’The divine soul... it can connect to another soul to restore itself and cultivate together.’ Bruno commented, after remembering clearly feeling as one with Ruri in their dreams.
Alm then spoke, a little dazed. ’This sped up our recovery, and I feel like we’re stronger now. But... now I can feel... yes, I can clearly feel the underworld again!’