These harmful substances, to both Nyx's body and soul, were directed towards her bowels and kidney, however, as they passed through the blood vessels close to the skin, the weaker, smaller toxins and impurities stared to seep through the pores.

Within minutes, a sticky, tar-like substance started to cover Nyx's skin, sticking to the itchy robe, while releasing a disgusting smell. While she would usually instantly clean herself, with the lack of water, and a subconscious desire to appeal as undesirable as possible, Nyx had no other option but to endure.

Luckily for Nyx, as this body hadn't cultivated before, there was little to no resistance at this stage, making the speed of progress enough to shock even the most strong-hearted of experts.

Soon, even the other essences that had been naturally absorbed by her body over its lifetime were being extracted causing Nyx's body to shudder in joy. While she had already confirmed that it was possible earlier, there was still the niggling effect that it was a fluke.

Now that she was cleansing her body while channelling the energy to circuit her body, Nyx could finally relax. She had successfully started the first stage of any cultivation technique, to attune the body with essence, prepping it for the later stages.

After a while, Nyx was shocked to realise that her body had already reached around thirty per cent affinity, the stage where a cultivator could first consider creating their core, and couldn't help but release a bright, unbridled laugh.

The creation of the core was the last hurdle a mortal would have to face in being considered a cultivator. With it, not only would one's natural energy and power skyrocket, so would their lifespan. It was also the time when cultivators could start to learn and practice cultivation techniques and arts.

The desire to build her core now, was extremely tempting to Nyx yet, just like before she refused to rush and continued to guide the ever diminishing energy around her body.

While she could create a core now, her body would only have thirty per cent compatibility with her, and so, in the future, seventy per cent of her essence would be wasted when cultivating or using a technique.

Seeing that it would already be difficult to progress, Nyx wasn't prepared to take any shortcuts now, especially one that could have disastrous consequences.

However, once again, Nyx was displaying her weirdness.

Regular cultivators would build their cores around the thirty per cent mark, while geniuses or those supported by substantial, dominant sects and organisations would wait until they reached fifty. Even those legends who had shaken the foundations of the world had only reach sixty to seventy per cent and that was after destroying their first cultivations and started again, using the knowledge they had gained over very long lives to improve by leaps and bounds.

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Nyx didn't know how high her affinity could go, but before it stagnated for some time, she wouldn't even consider building her core unless she had been forced into the direst of straights.

It was at this moment that Nyx realised another adverse side effect. While those legends had cultivated their body's attunement to high levels, they had done so in the traditional sense.

This balance amongst elements, while weakening their effectiveness, also provided resistance. To Nyx, that focused only on one, she could only describe her future as a situational glass cannon.

In certain environments or when facing cultivators that focused on the essences that were darkness' inherent weaknesses, she would be put at a significant disadvantage.

Still, Nyx didn't give the problem much thought. There more considerable the benefit, the more significant the drawback. It was the same with any cultivation technique or ability.

While in a battle between cultivators, a slight disadvantage could be deadly, Nyx was confident that she would be able to overcome it with her mind and raw power if given enough time to develop. After all, even if she had to expend double or even triple the amount of essence to overpower her foe, as long as she had the power to achieve that, it wouldn't be a problem.

Plus it wasn't as if Nyx liked to play fair. She saw herself as darkness after all. A frontal attack, in plain view of your opponent, was not only silly but extremely wasteful and dangerous in her eyes.

However, it wasn't all negatives. On the opposite side of the coin, in the right circumstances or conditions, even if Nyx couldn't beat her opponent, they could only dream about causing any harm to her.

This would still remain true even if her opponent were three of four realms stronger than Nyx. And if that were the case, as long as they didn't specialise in darkness like her, then they couldn't think about stopping Nyx if she wanted to escape.

A twisted, evil grin appeared on Nyx' delicate features as she started to fantasise about the power she would be able to wield when she condensed her core into a Cultivator's Gem.

However, even though the Gem realm was nowhere near the peak of power, it was still a long time away. Nyx could only hesitantly push the thoughts from her mind as she focused on the immediate future.

After Nyx had reached her maximum attunement, she planned to condense her core then, just like traditional cultivators, start building layers around it. It was a similar process to adding layers to an onion, before slowly compressing it into the dark Cultivator Gem of her dreams.

Once again, this process could be, and was often, rushed.

The only limit to the number of layers a cultivator could add to their core was their soul's affinity, yet most stopped after reaching three or four layers before attempting to condense their Gem.

While everyone knew that more layers made it exceedingly easier to condense a Cultivator's Gem, each layer took double the amount of essence to create. If their bodies attunement weren't strong enough, each segment would become increasingly unstable, even to the point where it could collapse and cause the cultivator to die.

However, there were a few dedicated individuals that realised the significant jumps in strength they could gain with each layer and cultivated as many as they thought was safe.

While they still wouldn't be able to challenge someone at the Gem stage, almost everyone in the core rank would be easy pickings for them if they cultivated to the fifth or sixth layer, giving those with the time and resources, an opportunity to stand out amongst their peers.