By now, he must have looked like a deranged killer, nearly drenched in blood from head to toe. It was clear that half of the blood was his own, and the other half belonged to the monster.

He started taking stock of his injuries. First was the stemming of the blood. A small application mana closed the injury. There should be a first aid kit in the back cabinets which he could use.

Thankfully, the fight was contained within the center of the room, not touching the sides. He didn't touch it in the previous classroom, knowing that it would invite a fight with Tristan.

The medicine would be too slow, but the surgical spirit should lessen the pain, and bandaging would help him to better stem the bleeding.

The beast’s blades had raked a long gash on his midriff and left leg and three additional but slightly smaller ones on his left thigh. There was finally the last wound on his right calf.

While the injuries looked ghastly, it actually did not seem as bad as he feared. The cuts from the serrated blade are not good, but with high intensity fight, it cut clean and straight. The monster too, doesn't know how to clearly use his serrated blades as it used them simply like its previous one. And with the mana application the bleeding had slowed to a trickle.

The ethereal silhouette had already started appearing above the monster's corpse, less solid than Jeremy's. Remembering the last time, he wasn't sure if the monster's soul was strong enough to harm him. Not that it would help, as his health and mana are considerably less.

[ HP: 8% ]

[ MP: 6% ]

Instead he turned his attention to the back cabinets, better to take care of his health.

A short walk filled with agony brought him to the cabinets, and a frantic search resulted in the white plastic box with the red plus sign.

Gritting his teeth, he grabbed the alcohol solution and poured some in the gashes. The wound didn’t look inflamed, but he didn’t dare skip this part, even though it felt like he was being ripped in two from the alcohol. Finally, he took some surgical tape, covered the wound together, and then wrapped some bandages a few rounds around his waist.

The fight was actually a little touch and go, not what he would have expected. It seems that the monsters were upgrading much faster than he anticipated. He checked his watch. Eight twenty. Five minutes to descend the stairs and a ten minute fight. Only forty minutes had passed, and the monster had started evolving.

With the potential in the lightning boy and him, there was a low chance of the monster upgrading. The only one that would garner this reaction from the system would be Natalie's potential.

Hopefully, that meant she had stayed in the world instead of accepting the tutorial. With her amplification abilities, anyone in her party would be able to punch above their level easily, so it was understandable for the system to compensate.

Looking at the time, he was contemplating his next course. Tristan should have realized that he was not coming back and would have tried to move the student faster. But with the advice he gave away, most would be reluctant to leave the classroom until fully ready, which would helpfully consume some time.

Watching the dissipating soul, Zain felt a small itch of money falling through his fingers, but there was nothing he could do. Oh well. Next time, he had to make sure to remain in good condition after the fight.

Instead, his gaze landed on the mantis's head. Right where the Essence crystal should be located.

Going over, Zain's fingers brushed against the spectral essence hovering above the monster corpse. He could feel his skill signaling, but he suppressed it, not activating his skill.

Instead, he used his spear as a lever to crack open the skull and discovered a large Essence crystal, larger than the one absorbed by Tristan. It should be at least twice in size, which means it should be four times more potent. It was time to reap his reward.

Exhaling slowly, he closed his eyes, his body loosening with every breath. At least his mind should be focused on absorbing it more efficiently.

He could feel the smooth surface of the Essence crystal containing pure energy. Power unbound from life now, quite literally, was in his hands, pulsing with potential. There was only one method to free a soul of its Essence and that was through death.

There were many ways to get Essence Crystal. And each method corresponds to giving the Essense crystal different colors.

The colors of the Essence Crystals were telling— reflecting its origin. Crimson red crystals, thick with the residue of slaughter from killing beasts and monsters, green from the demise of plant monsters, echoing the vitality they once held.

There is no change in the Essence stored as it is a pure form other than the changes made by refinement methods.

Sentient species, however don't form Essence Crystal. Instead, their whole body contains the energy while a significant part is held by the soul. What happened to the soul and its energy after death is a highly debatable question in the multiverse. But the most promising is that the system has a hidden way to extract the Essence of sentient beings.

Not that it had stopped others from trying. Blood Path, was also one of the ways to extract energy from people. Though it was highly penalized. The system doesn't like to share the fat pie it consumes.

But the blood path never fully succeeded, and it never would. The body is only part of the equation when it comes to the power held by people.

Death is the only way to create Essence energy. Beasts and plants die, leaving crystals behind. Even dying planets left behind a blue crystal, while a dying star produced different colored crystals sprinkled with light.

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The concept was straightforward but difficult to grasp fully until one sat alone, feeling the essence's weight settle in. Essence was unbridled power born from death.

In the end, numerous refinement methods correspond to different types of crystals responding to different species. The Essence itself remains consistent, but its effectiveness can be increased with the appropriate refinement method.

The System is the only mechanism capable of achieving perfect, one hundred percent refinement.

His entire body ached, his health was so low that he could feel the exhaustion deep in his bones, and his mind was foggy and struggling to focus. Deep down, he was tempted to pour all his energy into leveling up, to escape the fragile, paper-thin confines of his body that felt like it could crumble with a mere touch. But he knew that would be wasting the Essence.

Leveling up at this moment was practically a death sentence. The System's future quests and missions would subject high-leveled individuals to a brutal gauntlet of destruction and chaos.

While advancing in levels was straightforward, leveraging those levels effectively was the real challenge.

Most people in the world were left to fend for themselves, possessing only a vague desire for the Crystal if it was within reach. This was a result of the protocol changes implemented by the High Council of Earth. A change that would solidify all the Councilors power base. Blind the masses, and you could illuminate them toward you…

The System also provided a basic refinement method freely to the tutorial participants. It couldn't let them perish before they even learned how to level up, after all. However, the process was... sterilized. It was efficient, clean, and devoid of any soul. Blunt in its operations, it offered only the bare minimum— one stat increase per level.

But those with ancestors—those like Tristan— would know that it was a suboptimal method. There was more to gain from the essence if you implemented some simple changes, a few simple tweaks could give you the edge in the apocalyptic world.

And if his hunch was right, Tristan had already practiced that out on his first try.

Lucky bastards.

And yet, now he was one of them. All his previous knowledge shimmering under the surface waiting to be used. But he had to be more careful. There are old men waiting for the Integration to progress to later stages. As time passed, more restrictions in the Integration would loosen, and he had to be ready at the same power level as the old monster waiting for their chance.

Looking at the dismembered body parts and the stark gray tiles now marred by pooling blood, the center resembling a post-battlefield scene, Zain's eyes flashed with determination as he decided on the Essence refinement method.

With his past history being very familiar with blood, it was a perfect place for him to refine the essence crystal.

With a grim face, he knelt beside the mantis corpse, his hands slick with blood—part his, part monster's. Drawing from the dark pool beneath him, he dipped his fingers into the blood, starting to trace arcane runes. The blood, thick and coagulating under his touch, served as his ink.

Runes are the language of the world, governed and used by the system to control the multiverse. It had taken him hundreds of years just to get a basic understanding of them. A familiar structure formed as he used the mana to write them. It formed a conduit of power, providing him better control of the Essence energy during refinement.

Zain's movements were precise and deliberate as he continued his intricate work. After the first symbol, he crossed the room at a specific location forming a ritual circle. Each symbol pulsed with an eerie glow as he infused them with his mana, the air thickening with power.

Zain stood back for a moment, observing the glowing circuit of runes. Each one was a testament to his understanding and control over a language that had once seemed impenetrable. Hundreds of years of study and practice had brought him to this point, where he could wield a scrape of those symbols.

Carefully, he positioned himself at the center of the makeshift ritual circle, his eyes reflecting the crimson glyphs that surrounded him. He placed the essence crystal—the dense, shimmering red stone that seemed to throb with a life of its own—before him. This crystal, forged from the very life force of the beast, held the potential to catapult his abilities to new heights.

With each passing second, the bloodied symbols around him started to glow, creating a vortex of spectral energy that hummed with power. The air grew colder,

The crystal at the center of the circle responded, pulsating rapidly as if eager to release its bound energy. Zain clutched the stone tightly, his palms facing down as he channeled his own life force into the ritual. The boundary between the crystal and his soul blurred, a conduit forming that began to siphon the Essence into his being.

The soul, which usually felt like a distinct, faint flickering in the edge, a separate part of his being, now resonated with a more pronounced vigor, perfectly synced with his physical state.

It was as if the essence refinement had acted as a catalyst, stirring a deeper, more potent layer of his soul.

With a lurch, he felt his soul, acting on its own. What.

The Essence energy he was absorbing paused for a second than resumed in a different path.

Visions of the monster's past battles and its primal fury flashed through Zain's mind, each memory flashing into his consciousness.

Zain almost forced back control, but he stopped at the last second. The energy he was absorbing was more potent then his previous method. It was a pleasant surprise, but he filed the thought away. Research would come later as he had to focus on the Essence energy coursing through him.

Essence that was once unbound now fused with his being, nestling deep into his soul, eroding and mending with what was already there until it became inseparable. It was now a part of him, and a part of his power over the world.

He could feel his body absorbing the essence, his muscles tensing, his senses sharpening. The pain of his wounds began to dull, overshadowed by the surging power that filled him. He could feel his soul directing the energy to increase his levels.

He wrestled back control over his soul, a little fearful of the changes that it was potent enough to command the Essence. Zain hated not being in control, especially of his own body, and his mind flashed with reasons.

His skin didn’t stop tingling, however. He was still charged, the power vibrating within him, making him feel bloated. He needed an outlet for this energy before the sensation would subside.

Zain’s attention went to his stat. Arcane. If Essence was at the heart of existence, then stats were its lifeblood. They enabled him to exert any influence over the world. It was only by refining that Essence into his stats that his arcane power grew and allowed him to gain even more.

Arcane.

He recalled the swirling vortex of mana, a chaotic tempest that had raged inside him during the battle. Every fiber of his being had been stretched to its limits, channeling raw mana. His hands trembled as he brute forced his way to higher reaction speed and stronger attacking power.

He could still feel the relentless pull of the magic as it surged through him, the mana inside him humming with power and his vision blurring as he focused on every minuscule fluctuation of the power into his body— all the while calculating how to stabilize it. It had taken concentration, it had taken control, it had taken Arcane.

As the ritual reached its crescendo, the symbols flared a blinding red before extinguishing in a sudden rush of darkness, turning into ashes.

His eyes snapped open.

[ Essence has been consumed by Arcana! ]

[ Arcana increased by 7 ]