After seeing the reaction of his bodyguard Faley said.

“Is everything okay?"

She took a moment to process the question and then answered.

“Yes, everything is okay!"

She then carefully handed the small sack to Faley.

When he opened the sack for himself his eyes also widened in surprise but he recovered quickly returning to his usual calm self.

“These look to be blood cores from second grade beasts, but I'm not sure.

Will you allow me to examine them more closely?"

“Yes."

After getting my affirmation he put on a pair of black gloves and started to examine one of the cores. He touched it trying to confirm something and also took a closer look at it with a monocle.

“So far it seems like the genuine article and I have to complete one last test, but it will damage the core a little."

“It’s fine as long as you are convinced of their authenticity."

Faley threw a look at his male bodyguard which he seemed to have understood because in the next moment he took a dagger from his hip and made a small cut on his arm.

Faley then took the dagger from the bodyguard and scratched off a small amount from the core which he handed to the bodyguard.

The bodyguard then ate the small piece that was scratched off. In less than that one minute the wound had closed leaving behind just a small barely noticeable wire line.

*Huuuuu*

Faley exhaled, seemingly relieved.

“It’s the real deal, a real blood core.

Okay with this I can definitely get identification for the four of you. Is there anything else you want to acquire?"

“Yes, I would like to convert all these into money.

Munnji."

Munnji handed me the sack that was to the side and then I threw it towards Faley.

He opened the sack slowly, but as soon as he saw its contents he immediately rose to his feet in disbelief.

“Impossible! How did you get your hands on such a huge number of blood cores? Did you rob some kind of merchant or something?”

“Of course not, these blood cores were all obtained by me and Munnji during our hunts. Of course it took us a long time and effort to collect them all, but it was a wise choice to collect them in order to be use in times of need such as this one.”

*Sigh*

“Hah...a smart choice indeed!”

Faley was conflicted.

In front of him were at least 30 blood cores which was a great opportunity for any merchant, even for someone such as him that was a branch manager.

.....

Blood cores are a type of commodity that was so rare for normal humans that it could not be bought even if you had money. They were so valuable that they could be considered as a family heirloom to normal people, but the most of the time it was sold out because if someone without the power or backing had one in possession his core would be immediately robed and he would most possibly be killed to keep it a secret.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Blood cores were a product that was very versatile in many fields; one of the most used ones was medicine. The blood core was the vital source of energy starting from second grade beasts and up. The blood core was the vital energy that a mutant beast had compressed and purified in preparation for it to grow to the next stage and form its elemental beast core.

This pure vital energy that the core possessed had little side effects on the human body and if it was used in little amounts over a long period of time there would be completely no side effects. This made it a great medicine for any type of external wounds with its effect of healing wounds many times faster than with conventional ways, especially in times of war.

Blood cores were great if they were used as medicine, but their most agreed upon use was to create elementlists, the mages of this world.

Being an elementalist was not an easy feat that anyone with a meditation technique could achieve. To be an elementalist you had to first achieve the requirement of possessing an abundant soul force to be able to break the soul barrier and then plant an elemental seed in your soul, but it was not that easy in reality.

Human’s innate soul force was not strong enough to be able to break the barrier so they, after countless years of try and error created a way to artificially raise their soul, the meditation techniques. The number of meditation techniques in circulation is not large, but they all have one thing in common. They consume the user’s vitality in order to raise their soul instead, but this was a double edged sword. As you used the meditation technique more and more your body would start to become weaker and weaker as the time passed until you managed to break through or die trying.

You could just stop using the meditation technique altogether in order to preserve your life, but the damage to your body would be irreversible. Some of you may think that if you used the meditation technique over a long period of time but in short bursts, eventually someday you would be able to break through, but you were wrong.

The most optimal age for someone to start meditating was 10 years old and the age that meditating was almost useless was 25 years old. This had to do with the soul being connected to the body somehow.

During your youth especially the time where you had the most growth spur was the time your soul was rapidly expanding until it finally stopped after you had finished growing completely.

Meditating during this period of time was like going with the flow of the rive getting twice the result with half the effort and if you passed this golden period it was like going against a raging river.

....

“I’m not totally convinced of your story, so do you mind if you pas a little tests of mine?”

Knowing what Faley was thinking I smilingly agreed.

“Sure, why not.”