Kieran had a strange dream. It was not his usual nightmare where he only saw certain scenes of a bloody war between different races and the crystal beasts.

This time in his dream, Kieran had taken the form of a lycan. He could feel everything that the lycan felt and did, every breath, every slight movement, every contraction of muscles, and every movement of crystal essence that happened in his body.

He could clearly feel everything.

The him in his dream was moving the crystal essence in a specific way. There was no loss of crystal essence in his every move, the giant and wolf abilities were used to their fullest without losing control over a single part of his body.

The lycan in his dream moved quickly into a forest. He used each tree as support to move even faster and freely in this immense forest.

Kieran was amazed at the movements he could do in his dream. He was trying to memorize everything, the path his crystal essence took, the use of his abilities in every part of his body, and even the slight movements his body was making to take support on each tree without losing its balance.

Seconds later, a crystal beast appeared in his vision, the crystal essence in its body began to stir, from a calm pond without any ripples, it suddenly became a raging ocean, its muscles swelled, its long claws were so soaked in crystal essence that it took on a blue hue.

A blue slash sliced through the air, the head of the crystal beast was separated from its body without any resistance.

The lycan approached the corpse of the crystal beast, piercing its abdomen with its claws before pulling them out with a soul crystal in its hand.

Kieran was once again amazed by this form of lycan, the lycan had just extracted a soul crystal from the body of the crystal beast, which meant that the crystal beast was at least Bronze rank, yet Kieran could clearly feel that the lycan was just an Iron rank, but he easily killed a Bronze rank beast as if nothing had happened.

*roars*

The lycan howled skyward, then Kieran's vision went black.

He woke up lying on the ground, slowly raising his body which was hurting him, when he saw a man in his thirties close to him.

"You are awake."

"Who are you?"

"That’s a question I’d rather ask. How did a young Iron rank like you can fight with a bronze goblin on equal terms?"

"Bronze rank? The goblin was Bronze rank?"

"You still don't answer my question. How did you fight him on equal terms?"

"Equal? We don't have the same vision of equality, he only played with me."

The man looked at Kieran, who was struggling to move due to his injuries, with a frown.

'I saw this lycan that could easily fight the goblin, and when he disappeared, there was only this youngster left. Was it a possession or some sort of protective ability? I want to know how he could do that, but if it's some kind of protection I couldn't threaten him, if the lycan reappears I could die with the speed at which he moves.'

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Kieran looked at the man in front of him, who didn't say a word. He looked around when he saw the decapitated goblin.

"Did you help me?"

The man approached the goblin's corpse, grabbing the purse tied around his waist.

"I’ll take this, I’ll leave you his crystal core for holding him back."

As Kieran wanted to say a word, the man disappeared into the shadows.

"Who was that...?"

He didn't understand what was going on.

"Why did he just walk away taking the purse? He’s the one who killed the goblin, a Bronze rank crystal beast. He should have taken the crystal core for himself, he didn’t even look if there was a soul crystal that formed in his body."

Kieran approached the goblin’s body, digging into his body in search of the crystal core and a soul crystal.

He removed his hand a few seconds later with a crystal core as big as his palm inside it.

"How much will my crystal trees improve after absorbing this crystal core? If only he could have formed a soul crystal too."

Taking a look at the goblin’s body, he saw the black wooden club next to him. He tried to lift it but was unable to do so, he had to change into a giant to succeed in lifting the weight of the club, barely managing to hold the club in his hands.

"How much does this thing weigh? How did he even manage to move with that weight!?"

Kieran stored the club in his aurora collar, slowly walking back to the refuge with his bruised body, staggering with every step he took.

***

The shadow reappeared again next to Allen.

"You succeed?"

"Yes, Master Allen, I was able to retrieve the soul crystal."

The man held out a red soul crystal with a flame locked inside. Allen grabbed the soul crystal as soon as he saw it.

"I will be able to breakthrough to the Bronze rank with this soul crystal!"

***

The return to the refuge was long for Kieran, he had to avoid each crystal beast, crossing only one with his wounds could have cost him his life.

Back at the refuge, he sent a message to Darvell, with the injuries he had, he wouldn't be able to hunt with them for several days. Even though it was still early in the day with his injuries he couldn't do anything except cultivate. He returned to his room with the goblin's crystal core in his hand. He began to circulate the crystal essence in his body.

Intense pain swept through Kieran's body as if what he was pushing into his body was not crystal essence but lava, he let go of the crystal core, panting heavily for air.

"What just happened? Can't I use a Bronze rank crystal core?"

He didn't insist on trying to absorb the crystal core from the goblin, he picked it up before placing it back into his aurora collar.

Not having access to the aurora net through the rifts, he could not use it to learn about using a crystal core of a higher rank.

"If I can’t use it right now, I might as well sell it to buy crystal cores that I can use now."

He headed to the material exchange shop where he sold the crystal core and the goblin club for 6200 nova. He learned from the seller that the crystal core of a higher rank could not be absorbed because of his power. To absorb a crystal core of a higher rank, the body would have to be powerful enough to resist the crystal essence within, or he needed the help of a cultivator with a rank high enough to contain this power.

Kieran now understood why the price difference between Iron rank and Bronze rank crystals core was small. If an Iron rank could use a Bronze rank crystal core, their price would certainly increase.

Eventually, he used the money to buy some Iron rank crystals core as well as a healing potion made up of several medicinal herbs that would help heal his wounds.

He stayed the next few days locked in his room to heal his wounds, cultivate and reproduce what the lycan of his dream had done. The days passed slowly.

***

A spaceship navigates through the endless universe in a galaxy far away from the planet Ostrion.

In a chamber of the ship, a young woman was sleeping on a bed. She seemed to have a terrible nightmare as she struggled violently in her sleep, her hands grabbing the sheets, her face was distorted by pain and grief as tears flowed down her cheeks.

The woman struggled violently when purple lightning flashed through her whole body. The lightning on her body became more and more powerful when she suddenly woke up, a loud explosion shook the room.

The bed she was standing on a moment ago had exploded into pieces, burn marks filling the whole room.

She sat in the middle of her room without any scratches, her face was dark. She moved her hand to her face, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

She turned her face towards the window of her room, the myriad of stars in the universe reflected in her eyes.

"Who are you...?"