A few hours had passed in the morning already and Phoenix finally told me the approximate of how long a day lasts in this world.

It was about 34 Earth hours with 22 hours of day and 12 of night which left me confused as even I didn’t notice it was that different but I guess I hadn’t spent that much time and had other matters to attend to, which left me unable to notice. ‘Weird planet’ was all I could really think of.

I had tried manipulating the core energy to produce a flame but was still only able to control a tiny rice grain size portion of my energy and wasn’t able to get it to do what I needed so had to use Phoenix fire which really sounded cool but ended up being degrading as it was candle light size and used for burning wood. A good thing was that Phoenix did not notice.

With Phoenix helping, I managed to gather a few grass like herbs on the way back that smelled good so that I could test some herbs on the goblizard meat which ended up being not bad as it added a little spicy and sweet flavor to the meat.

What followed was Phoenix reading the book while I sat in meditation in order to get better control of my energy. I could just start working out but compared to summoning the goddamn elements it felt lacking. Maybe muscle heads could go with the repetitive training but I would rather find a way to use my core energy to beat high level monsters and absorb them for the stats. It sounded much simpler and cooler in my head.

I had sat down and adjusted myself to go into a calmer state with some simple breathing and managed to focus all my attention on my stomach where the core energy was.

I heard from Phoenix that the energy itself had many uses as it was really dependent on the user to control it to create the effects. It really did just sound like the mana for magic and had unlimited uses which left me extremely satisfied but a juicy piece of information was shared by Phoenix when we had that discussion. Any and all core energy user may be able to gain an effect from their core energy if they appropriately build a structure for that effect within their core.

What this meant was something like creating a building with a specific purpose like a hospital with several elevators or a police station with jail cells. As long as the building created had a specific structure, your core energy would use that structure to produce a constant effect. Some people had used it to align themselves with a specific element like fire for increased heat or created a unique structure that allowed a user to control lightning which wasn’t the basic elements. As long as a proper structure was used you could technically have it increase your growth rate or even boost your physical body and many more different powers which are all also improved and more powerful versions of the non-structured core energy users’ version. The comparison could be likened to a master swordsman and a versatile jack of all trades.

I didn’t know what effect I wanted to create yet so I pondered on the possibilities while playing with my core energy and trying to grasp a better understanding of it.

This continued about an hour before I noticed a few things. If I moved my core energy around my body, my cells generally felt slightly refreshed which was nice. I also noticed that if I didn’t return that small portion of energy and just kept it elsewhere from the core, eventually it disappeared but I wasn’t sure if the area it was in absorbed it or it was just let loose and lost. The third and most noteworthy thing I found was that my recovery rate for the energy was rather slow but when I did a random test on squeezing my core energy from all around which was extremely hard to even squeeze the whole area a tiny millimeter, my recovery rate boosted for a second before the squeezed core energy returned to normal. I found it odd so I ran some more tests.

I started capturing small rice grains of energy from my core and moving it to my finger to try and attract fire or water which failed miserably every time and when my core energy of 3.5 was halved. I tried the squeezing again which while extremely difficult was still somewhat possible albeit in minuscule proportions.

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The result of repeating these two actions got significant results as the recovery rate before on a regular basis was maybe a tiny rice grain of energy returning after 15 minutes of meditation compared with a tiny rice grain returning within the moment the compression is released. I found it really odd and wanted to see if I could maybe compress the sphere of core energy a bit more so that I could maybe gain more than I used which makes sense as it would draw in more than previously stored and should technically grow his energy reserve.

What Jupiter didn’t realize though was that this was a very dangerous idea to play with.

Compression, followed by a small recovery, and then repeat. Those were the key steps to my idea. I didn’t really know how to gain more core energy and I didn’t see my core growing naturally so I thought it was this was the known way to gain more core energy when meditating.

I kept compressing my core energy and with every compression, a little extra rice grain of energy entered immediately after and I repeated the process with the extra energy included. This kept going for about the rest of the day actually except for when I needed to relieve myself, eat or drink, I repeated the compression again and again.

Phoenix eventually noticed that I was seriously devoted to my core energy and thought that it was a good thing until it started noticing the pained expression and the sweat that started covering me a few hours into it.

Phoenix started getting seriously worried towards the end as it had access to my vitals and was fully aware that whatever I was doing was very dangerous considering the fluctuations of my body, the temperature as well as the high level of activity in my brain. Phoenix had to start crying out to me to stop at some point as it couldn’t access my core energy center but noticed that most of the fluctuations started coming from there but I was too focused to even notice Phoenix mentally calling me out.

Whether it was my improved senses, enhanced mental cognition or my renewed will towards life, they all helped me focus solely on compressing then repeating which kept becoming more and more difficult as eventually the center of the sphere of energy started condensing from a haze to a tiny drops but for some reason I didn’t want to stop as the pain was getting worse, I felt like there was something at the end of this whole process. Either curiosity or the simple desire for absolute power drove me somehow to ignore the pain and just keep compressing.

Phoenix was facing a huge dilemma in the meantime as whatever Jupiter was doing, it had to stop or he could die but Phoenix couldn’t just zap him unconscious again as whatever he was doing may lead to some sort of huge problem if he lost control over it which just worsened the anxiety.

The time spent compressing neared the 11th straight hour since the last break and I was finally able to see the end. The liquid that started forming started getting compressed as well and eventually tiny little crystals started appearing on the ball of compressed core energy which left me quite surprised at my experiment. The pain was savagely shitty but I was able to maintain my consciousness as it felt similar to the constant pain from absorbing that green crystal.

I kept compressing and compressing and eventually I had a small fingernail size white crystal that had a slightly black glow for some reason.

With a huge breath of relief I was finally able to stop compressing as all the energy that entered my core started going towards the crystal and the crystal wasn’t able to get more compressed as it already solidified.

Though what came after the relief was the thunderous roaring of Phoenix…

“What the FUCK were you doing!?”

A little shocked at the language I could barely stutter out “ I was trying to gather extra core energy…?” Albeit in confusion.

“What the fuck kind of gathering made you sweat like that, feel constant pain and cause MASSIVE fluctuations in your core!?” Phoenix was not having it today. It went off on me.

I was still confused as I thought this was normal so I could explain what I did specifically and how I managed to form a tiny white crystal in my core. After having finished my explanation, I was a lot more fearful towards Phoenix as god slime didn’t say anything for a while. A few minutes at least.

Mustering up some courage due to the awkward silence I ask “ Is something…wrong phoenix?”

I almost shat myself when Phoenix didn’t reply but started cursing at me in a completely different language that I had no clue about. This went on for about a minute but the anger in those strange words got through to me 200%. I think I felt some killing intent in some of those words as well which really got me scared and breaking out in cold sweat…