After buying the required nine elemental stones from the manager, Corey also made a deal with the manager, making his future purchases of elemental stones much easier for him.
Although he was somewhat tempted to explore the Underworld Emporium due to a strange curiosity that appeared in his heart toward the Underworld Emporium the curiosity building up the longer he stayed in the Underworld Emporium. Corey quickly nipped the curiosity in the bud.
Knowing how dangerous it would be if he kept on staying in the Underworld Emporium, Corey decided to leave the Underworld Emporium without wasting a single moment. After leaving, he decided to pay for a room in one of the few hotels that were available in the Outer Area of the City of Sin.
Although it was expensive, Corey did not trust Justin or anybody enough to use the elemental breathing technique in the same environment as them.
Thinking back to the strange curiosity that emerged in his heart, Corey, who was sitting on the bed of the hotel room shirtless, frowned slightly.
'That feeling was definitely not normal… I never had that feeling when I first entered the Underworld Emporium, but the longer I stayed there, the more I wanted to explore the Underworld Emporium and spend my value points.'
'I guess that might be another reason why most people who enter, never want to leave until they've spent all their money.'
Corey's brows furrowed slightly as he pondered on the seemingly harmless ability of the Underworld Emporium.
A few seconds later, he shook his head as he decided to dismiss his thoughts, he would just have to be careful whenever he entered the Underworld Emporium.
He released a sigh and just as he did, a thick fog was released from his lips.
'Fog Manipulation'
Using the skill, Fog Manipulation, the fog which was released from Corey's lips increased in amount and thickness. Its amount and thickness increased to the point that a normal human would not be able to see a single thing.
'This amount of thickness should be enough to blind whatever hidden cameras that are in the room.'
Corey observed his produced fog for a few seconds, and after being satisfied with the thickness and amount, he stopped producing more fog and left the fog as it was.
He spread out his palm and a black box appeared in his right palm. The black box was made of a unique metal which also had unique engravings on its surface.
Corey looked at the box for a few seconds, his eyes containing slight intrigue in the metal and the engravings on its surface.
He exhaled softly then he opened the briefcase and as soon as he did, a heavy gust of a nine-colored wind blew at his face for a few seconds. Corey squinted his eyes as he looked at the nine glowing elemental stones in the box.
His hand moved and he picked up two elemental stones before closing the box.
"So this is an elemental stone."
Corey mumbled as he observed the glowing red and deep blue elemental stones in his hands. The red elemental stone representing the fire elemental stone and the deep blue elemental stone representing the water elemental stone.
Despite it being called an elemental stone, the appearance of the elemental stones could not be compared to a stone. The fire elemental stone looked like a red crystal with a round shape and the water elemental stone looked like a deep blue crystal that had a cubical shape.
"I guess this is why the elemental stones had to be stored in this special box with the unique engraving."
Corey mumbled as he inspected his surrounding which was increasing and reducing in temperature. Some moments later, Corey stopped observing the elemental stones. He took in a deep breath then he closed his eyes.
His breathing pattern changed and the atmosphere surrounding him also changed.
A few seconds later, visible red and deep blue particles of light flowed out of the fire and water elemental stones toward Corey.
The red particles of light moved toward Corey's forehead while the deep blue particles of light moved towards Corey's right side of Corey's chest. As the particles of light touched Corey's body, the particles were absorbed by Corey's body, and with every passing minute, a symbol gradually formed on Corey's forehead and the right side of his chest.
The symbol started as a circle on both parts of Corey's body then after an unknown amount of time, an image began forming in the circles.
In the red circle on Corey's forehead, the image of a flame formed little by little. And in the deep blue circle on the right side of Corey's chest, the image of a rising wave began to form little by little.
Other than the formation of the symbols on Corey's body, Corey also felt a different sensation as the fire and water elemental energies entered his body.
He felt like his veins, arteries, organs, bones, blood, and every other thing that was in his internal system were being steamed and heated to an extremely high degree. But just as the temperature of his internal system kept on increasing, he felt a cooling sensation move throughout his body, relieving Corey's internal system of its high temperature.
But with the relief and decrease in temperature, came a unique heaviness. The heaviness putting immense weight on Corey's internal system…. But luckily for him, he was no longer a normal human. His body had been modified by the blood of the Paragon Ancestor, granting him the ability to resist the heaviness.
This sensation of heating and cooling continued like a cycle as Corey kept on absorbing the fire elemental energy and water elemental energy.
As time went by, the image which was at first faint and incomplete, became more complete and the continuous change in temperature reduced.
Crack
Crack
The soft sound of a crack reverberated in the room and Corey's eyes opened. He brought out a mirror from the storage space in his Tri-Pupil Eyes and with an intrigued expression, he looked at his face.
"So I guess this is the mark that will form after using the elemental breathing technique."
Corey mumbled as he observed the symbol on his forehead which was that of a flame in a red circle. He then looked at his right chest where another symbol could also be seen. The symbol was that of a rising wave inside a deep blue circle.
The Elemental Breathing Technique was a technique that required Corey to absorb the elemental energy from an elemental stone into his body in a specific pattern.
Corey could not just absorb the elemental energy into his body in any manner. He had to direct the elemental energy of certain elements to specific parts of his body. For example:
He had to transfer the fire elemental energy from the fire elemental stone to his glabella, which then formed the flame in a circle symbol on his forehead.
He also had to transfer the water elemental energy from the water elemental stone to his right chest, which eventually formed the rising wave in a circle symbol.
Corey clenched his fist as he reveled in the little increase in his strength, though despite the increase in his strength, his body felt uncomfortable and his instincts tingled repeatedly.
"Seven more to go."
Corey muttered before exhaling softly. He opened the black box and took two more elemental stones.
The earth elemental stone and the lightning elemental stone, which had a brown color and a white color respectively.
As soon as he brought out both elemental stones, the gravity of the room increased by a slight amount. Although the increase in gravity was defined as slight, if a tier one at Corey's level was present in the current environment, they would experience discomfort.
Though Corey felt none, his entire physical structure which was already reformed by the Paragon Ancestor's blood had a much higher durability and toughness compared to the body of a normal human.
Not only did the gravity in the room increase, sparks appeared around Corey's left hand which was holding the lightning elemental stone. The sparks burnt Corey's hand slightly while also passing a current into Corey's body, threatening to cause some damage to his internal system.
But just as his hand got burnt, it also healed. And he could ignore the current passing through his body.
Corey exhaled softly then he closed his eyes and started absorbing the earth and metal elemental energies using the elemental breathing technique.
Brownish and whitish particles of light emerged from both elemental stones, and both particles of light moved toward Corey's right and left hand.
Similar to the water elemental energy but at the same time, different. The earth elemental caused a different type of heaviness on Corey's internal system, putting a high strain on Corey's internal system.
But just as the strain kept on increasing, it decreased as the lightning elemental energy destroyed the earth elemental energy, greatly reducing the strain on Corey's body.
Although it seemed like the lightning elemental energy was helping Corey, whenever there was a reduction in the earth elemental energy, the lightning elemental energy caused damage to Corey's body. Burning and harming whatever was on its way until the earth elemental energy stopped it once again.
This cycle of destruction and disruption continued for an unknown amount of time. And as time went by, two symbols formed on two different parts of his body.
On Corey's right bicep was the symbol of a deep brownish mountain in a brown circle, and on Corey's left calf was the symbol of a white lightning bolt in a white circle.
As Corey kept on absorbing the elemental energy contained in the two elemental stones, the two symbols became more complete and clearer.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m