Chương 78: First Core Layer

[Worker Status] Name: Gebbe Designation: Arcanist Specialist: Inscriptions Professional Status: Beginner Communication: Conversational Monthly Maintenance Cost (MMC): 30, 000 Contract Payment: 2, 500 Alpha Standard Cores After having a delicious dinner, Arthur lay down on the stone floor. He had decided not to send the skeletons to hunt at night. Without him giving proper commands, it would be disastrous if multiple waves of monsters were to attack. Thus, he decided he would start the hunt early in the morning.

While laying down, his eyes moved towards the stone wall and the inscriptions on it. Although he was not interested in it, he simply started to browse for skeletons that could read inscriptions. However, after seeing the first skeleton, he was shellshocked! Just a Beginner skeleton required 2, 500 Cores. He had spent 150 Alpha Cores to hire a Swordsman. Who in the world would pay this much Core for Beginner Skeleton? Even if the skeleton could be communicable, wasn't the contract payment too much?

It was no wonder Coburn couldn't read the inscriptions. These strange symbols may need a superior set of abilities to read; a skeleton who simply had general knowledge couldn't do it.

On every Professional status increase, the contract payment soared through the roof: Intermediate: 5, 000 Alpha Standard Cores Expert: 7, 000 Alpha Standard Cores Master: 8, 500 Alpha Standard Cores Grandmaster: 9, 500 Alpha Standard Cores Great Grandmaster: 10, 000 Alpha Standard Cores With that many Cores, he could hire an army of Beginner Combat Skeletons! Who in their right mind would spend that much? With that thought, he closed the screen. After putting down the makeshift torch, he went to sleep.

Tomorrow, he planned to brew the potion and test the effects of the Faunite Crystal.

[Gained 1 Alpha Standard Core Point.] Arthur sat upright in the cubic cave as his shadow danced on the stone wall. He had continuously absorbed Cores throughout the day. Now, he only needed 5 Core points to evolve his first Core Layer and hopefully get an additional innate ability. He had a somewhat good sleep last night. Because of that, he woke up early. The darkness had started to dissipated; from where he sat, he could see the white clouds in dim darkness. No monster attacks came, either.

He had highly expected to get attacked simply because of the sheer number of monsters that roamed. Fortunately, no monsters came to this almost hidden spot. [Alpha Standard Core Detected. Would you like to Observe the Core?] [Obtained 1 Alpha Standard Core Point.]... Standard: Alpha Core Layer: 0 (499/500)... Only one Core point was required! Suddenly, Arthur felt nervous. It had not even been a week's time since he awakened.

Everyone worked greatly towards this achievement, since once he evolved, his Attributes would improve. This meant one would feel the real strength of an Awakened and officially join the race of the Core Layer evolution. Because of that, Arthur suddenly felt pressure in his heart, simply asking: Was this true? Was he going to be looked up to by people from here on out? In fact, he could actively join battles with his skeletons.

The real life of an Awakened was about to start, and he could not wait anymore as he picked up the Alpha Core. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. [Alpha Standard Core Detected. Would you like to absorb the Core?] Arthur willed to absorb the Core. Immediately, the Core turned into a wisp of white mist particles and directly entered into his chest. As soon as it settled, Arthur felt the sensation of the Core absorption.

Following this, a translucent screen opened before him, and he heard a new message. [Evolution requirements met. Core Layer 0 → 1. Proceed with Alpha Standard evolution?] After reading the message, Arthur stayed still for a moment. Of course he wanted to proceed, but he felt just a little nervous. Throughout his life, he had heard about what kind of experience one would get on their first Core Layer evolution. Thus, he paused to think for a moment, as he was finally going to experience it himself.

All of his yearning and waiting were finally over; it was time for him to evolve and gain power!

"Yes," Arthur willed. Instantly, the screen vanished along with his consciousness. Arthur suddenly found himself standing in the middle of a pitch-black space...

'Where am I?' Arthur thought. As far as he could remember, he had been sitting in the cave. Now, however, he was suddenly in an unknown location, as everywhere he looked was simply darkness. Before he could become any more confused by this pitch-black place, he suddenly saw a small spark of ember. It was not far from where he stood. Noticing this, Arthur tried to move towards that place. Thud! When he took his first step forward, his foot struck something.

Unable to see what was in the darkness, he sidestepped and took another step. However, his foot once again crashed into something invisible. Confused, he put his hand in front of him, but his hand also struck something. It was as if a glass wall had been built in front of him, stopping him from walking forward. While he was struggling to move, the single spark of ember meanwhile multiplied into a small, golf ball-sized sphere. Abandoning the thought of walking towards it, Arthur glued his eyes to the ball of light.

As more and more embers gathered to the ball out of nowhere, it continuously increased in size.

'Is that a Core?' Seeing this phenomenon, Arthur guessed this must be his Core Space, where his first Core was getting constructed. But why was he here? This was not how the evolution happened, and the stories he heard were different. While he pondered about why he was here, the intensity of the embers increased. The tiny ball of light started to increase as the wave of ember particles violently swirled like an hourglass.

Surprisingly, he did not feel any of the violence that was happening, since some kind of barrier protected him from becoming embers himself. The embers swirled in a swayed manner as the Core continuously gathered and increased in size. Within a short moment, the embers that were like a waterspout fully absorbed into the ball of light. Where it started as an ember, it had now grown like a giant ball of light!

It burned with a white light like a sun, brightly lighting the place until the dark place was nowhere to be found. He stood in a brightly lit place, staring at the big ball of light—or the Core, if that was what it was. [Evolution Complete.] [Evolution Rating: Flawless] [Standard: Alpha] [All Basic Attributes Enhanced. Base vitality and physical resilience greatly increased.] [Calculating Core Alignment for Innate Ability awakening... Successful.] [New Innate Ability Acquired: Command Link] [Description: Establishes a mental link with all contracted summons, allowing the user to issue commands over a much greater distance. Commands are transmitted instantly as long as the summon remains within the ability's range. Range: 10 km.] Arthur read all the details of the evolution. Everything seemed to be in order in an overwhelming way.

The evolution rating showed Flawless, where most people got a "Good" or "Excellent" rating; some people even told him that they got an "Average" rating. To think Arthur himself got Flawless, which was the highest rating on evolution! Furthermore, he had even obtained an innate ability, which was truly useful for him! He was much happier about this new Innate Ability than his Flawless Rating. With this innate ability, he could easily communicate with skeletons that were far away from him.

The range of the ability's capacity brought him additional joy. He had access to his skeletons for a total of 10 km, from where he could give orders. What a legendary Innate Ability! Now, he did not even need to send someone to fetch the skeletons from the quarry. He could simply give commands from here. Satisfied with the evolution, Arthur finished checking all the details and looked up at the light ball. It was currently suspended calmly; there was no violent surge, swirling, or any kind of activity on that Core.

Looking around, the place was brightly lit. However, as far as he could see, there was nothing but a white canvas. Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat! This place was eerily similar to the place he usually visited where the notebook existed.

'What should I do now?' Now that the evolution was done, how was he to exit this place? First of all, he did not know how he had ended up here, so naturally, he did not know how to exit. Since he was not physically present here, it was just his consciousness that had come. Therefore, he just had to will his intent to exit. In the next second, he did exactly what he thought. As expected, his vision blurred. When he opened his eyes, he was sitting on the stone floor of the dead-end cave.

"Wow, how long was I out?" he muttered, after seeing the sun was already up and had moved away from the horizon.