“Alex," Jin's voice cut through the heavy silence, "what is that metal thing you have there?"

What to say? he thought, knowing full well that even a hint of the blade's true nature could bring about his end. There’s no room for mistakes here. One wrong word and they’ll turn on me.

“Alex.” Jin's gaze intensified as the metal demon in their midst, Eclipse, stood still. His question hung between them, unspoken. The air in the deep cavern was thick with sulfur and iron, the intense heat rippling through the air, tinged with the scent of blood and distorting the sight of the disciples. The molten river beside them churned lazily, its dull roar bubbling against the rocky walls.

"It's nothing more than a sword, Jin," Alex replied evenly, his voice devoid of the emotions that churned within him. He mentally commanded Eclipse to transform back into a single blade, the thought alone enough to make the demonic weapons manifestation respond. It resisted, for a moment, still hungry. Then the being of living metal twisted, its demonic features—ghastly eyes and jagged teeth—melting away and drew closer, merging into the sleek, obsidian-coloured blade in Alex’s grasp. In seconds, the towering demon was no longer present, and all that remained was something that looked no different from any other well-crafted weapon, albeit one that held a faint, unnatural gleam.

Jin stared at Alex with a look of sheer disbelief.

"It's... complicated," Alex finally replied, his voice intentionally reluctant and appearing almost covetous. He avoided Jin's piercing gaze, instead focusing on the shape of the blade in his grasp, his eyes tracing its fractal designs almost subconsciously.

"Complicated?" Jin's brows rose incredulously. "We are in the depths of a hidden training realm, facing dangers that could kill us with a single misstep, and you think 'complicated' is enough of an explanation? That thing reeks of demonic and mental energy.”

Jin studied Alex carefully, the conflict within him evident.

“Transforming swords are incredibly rare, some would even regard them as divine or sacred artifacts.” Jin queried, his expression turning thoughtful. “How did you get it? And why do you have it?"

Demonic energy? What the hell is he talking about? It’s just a magic blade, Alex thought with confusion and curiosity. Instead of responding directly, Alex offered a nonchalant shrug, his voice calm. "It’s just something I picked up during the start of the trial, at the entrance where all of the disciples had died. My blade was damaged, and this was... available." He chose his words carefully, keeping his tone neutral, as if it were nothing special. “I would have died too without it.”

The words felt hollow, but he hoped they would be enough to satisfy Jin’s curiosity without raising suspicion. The story he had constructed would paint the weapon as either the claimed belonging of a dead disciple or a treasure of the realm, left to be claimed by any who found it. “Besides, this entire place is filled with strange and powerful artifacts.”

He hoped. He wasn’t sure, but he knew that saying such a thing with unwavering confidence would lead others to believe it to be likely. “Why wouldn’t I take advantage of the first one I find.”

Jin smirked. “I see. You’re lucky I have a better weapon or I’d want to take yours,” his eyes held genuine warmth and his tone felt pleasant, but Alex didn’t doubt any part of what he had said. “So what does it do? The blade, I mean.” Jin continued, leaning forward to study the patterns etched into the weapon. “Does it enhance your speed or strength? Or is it perhaps the type to bolster your spirit & mental energy?”

Alex withdrew his arm, causing Jin to finally release his wrist and straighten his posture to face him, eager for an answer. “Uh… I’m not sure, actually. I’m still trying to find out.”

“Well whatever it is,” Jin spoke with relish, stepping closer while eyeing the bloodless corpses that surrounded them, before finally settling his gaze on Alex. “It seems to suit our new constitutions perfectly.”

Jin’s finger pressed against Alex’s navel, the sensation almost foreign as Alex’s muscles tightened reflexively. The cave's heat bore down on them, the sounds of shifting lava echoing softly from the pools nearby. Jin’s eyes gleamed with dark satisfaction, though he kept his expression measured, his voice smooth as oil, a smirk curving his lips.

“You feel that, don’t you?”

Alex swallowed, keeping his expression neutral. He felt the pulsing energy, the foreign power coiled within him like a dormant beast ready to spring. His face remained calm, but his mind was a storm. How does he know? His fingers instinctively twitched, tightening on the hilt of the weapon in his grasp, but he stopped himself short. It wasn’t like him to be so quick to violence, and Jin had done nothing to warrant hostility. But Alex still felt a strong urge to strike down the youth that had held his wrist, a bloodlust that stirred from deep within.

“A spirit beast core.” Jin continued with a tone laced with sinister amusement, his gaze distant, as if already imagining the havoc he could wreak with his newfound strength. “I can feel mine too. It’s like a beast waiting to be unleashed, its strength coiled tight, ready to spring.”

Alex didn’t respond immediately, he didn’t need to, sensing the rhetorical nature of Jin’s statement. Jin’s words hung in the heated air between them as Alex found himself savouring the sensation of his new core, the essence of a spirit beast now residing within him, although he wasn’t quite sure of the implications or ramifications of such an acquisition. He could feel the unfamiliar energy pulsing just beneath his skin, a raw and wild thrum of Qi that almost felt untameable. Its every pulse urged him to sprout blades from his palms and cleave his compatriot in two, to destroy anything that crossed his path and spill its blood. It was both exhilarating and a factor that required research, being a power that was now his and yet one he barely understood.

“Shouldn’t it be impossible for us to have the cores of beasts? We already have dantians.”

Jin’s lips curled into the barest hint of a smile as he stepped back, his gaze still fixed on Alex’s midsection as if he could see through the layers of flesh and bone to the core within. "Not impossible. Just rare—extremely rare. Few ever have the opportunity to possess one, less than one percent of the empire, let alone survive the process of merging with it successfully.” Jin’s attention drifted again, this time to his own core, within his condensed domain, Alex could see the energy within him thrumming in sync with his beating heart. “Most fail. Their bodies reject the core, or they’re consumed by it. But not us.” Jin’s voice was low, almost a murmur, the kind of tone one might use when speaking to oneself rather than another. “I didn’t expect to get one so soon.”

Alex quirked an eyebrow at the statement, “Hey, dude, how about you stop being weirdly cryptic and tell me what it doe—“ He caught himself mid-sentence, removing the abrasive impatience that had briefly risen to the surface. “What I meant to say is,” he sighed, “you seem to know a lot about the cores.”

“I know a little.” Jin continued, his tone shifting slightly, not even registering Alex’s brief outburst, but instead becoming more introspective, almost as if he was speaking to himself rather than Alex. “A spirit beast core contains the concentrated essence and power of the beast, which can be overwhelming for almost any cultivator. The process often requires immense skill, unparalleled cultivation, and an extremely resilient body and mind to avoid being consumed or destabilized by the core’s energy.” He rubbed at his chin with his free hand as if in deep thought. “But you somehow bypassed all of the requirements for yourself and them,” Jin gestured with a nod towards the three disciples stumbling in a daze some distance from the two of them.

“With nothing but your new sword.” He paused, a small, satisfied smile crossing his lips as he looked away from Alex, his gaze seemingly focused on something far beyond the molten landscape around them.

“Yes, maybe. And you managed to acquire your core alone, without any help from any tools or treasures” Alex shot back with an accusatory glare.

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“Yes, of course, that’s just because I am capable.”

Alex scoffed, his curiosity at the truth of Jin’s statement growing. How did he survive the transformation, anyway? And exactly how ‘capable’ is he? He wondered. Alex shifted his gaze, viewing and studying Jin’s dantian until he noticed something strange—Jin’s dantian was only slightly larger than Alex’s, though somewhat similar in size, appearing normal and within the expected range Alex had grown to associate with the first stage of Qi gathering, though the Qi it held appeared purer than others. With curiosity, Alex condensed his domain to centre on the two of them, pulling it as far as he could without the aid of mana or the system, barred as he was from it by Mana Burn’s two-hour cooldown. He focused all of his attention and intensity on Jin’s navel to peer beneath the surface of the boy's skin and see what lay beneath. On a hunch, he channelled Qi through the pathways of his breathing technique, sending a surge to his eyes—and Jin’s energy burst into sharp, unfiltered clarity, a combination of Alex’s unique capabilities laying his companion’s secrets bare.

To call Jin’s dantian unusual was an understatement, like calling a wall of waves a droplet, or a skyscraper an anthill. Jin’s dantian appeared normal in size and scale, yes. But its energy was condensed, insanely so, to the point that it hummed and shivered to Alex’s senses, sending the barest waves of vibration and sound that would have been impossible to detect without focus and the specialized system skills and organs to do so. Jin stood there, silent, ordinary. But Alex could feel the weight under the mask. Power, tucked away, as if the universe wasn’t meant to notice. Like holding a boulder in a glass jar. Alex couldn’t tell exactly how much Qi and cultivation had been condensed into that little flame that appeared to mimic his own in size, but whatever it was, it far surpassed the stage of a mere provisional disciple.

Jin was hiding his power.

A twitch almost flashed at the corner of Alex’s mouth, gone before it had even begun to appear. Seems like I’m not the only one hiding what I’m capable of, Alex thought with amusement, the feeling creeping up on him as if looking into a mirror reflecting only shadows of truth.

"Secrets have a way of exposing themselves when pressed. When you dig too deep, sometimes your own rise up in the process,” he said quietly, voice steady. “Pull at one, and the rest follow, like a loose thread.”

“Your threads seem pretty big, Jin.”

Like roots growing in all directions, until they tear apart the ground, Alex mused, thoughts of what he had seen in his companion still running through his mind. He let his words settle, waiting for Jin to catch the meaning hidden just beneath the surface.

It’s not a warning, Alex thought. No, not a warning at all—just a fact stated between two… Friends.

Like the heat under the earth that waited to crack the ground. What was hidden within Jin was vast, and deep. Not sure exactly how much of his strength is being hidden, Alex thought, but keeping him around could actually reduce the need for me to expose my access to the system. The Qi compression and concealment he had gleaned within Jin had been impressive. So much so that Alex had decided that rather than attempting to eliminate Jin, it would be better to utilise the young prodigy in facing the demonic cultivator, The Little Demon of Winding Bloods, and any spirit beasts of stages too high for them to feasibly face without revealing his access to mana.

Jin paused, his eyes revealing genuine shock for the second time since their first meeting before his attention swiftly shifted to the other disciples slowly approaching their position. “We’ll have to continue this conversation another time. Those three will know our survival, awakening, and acquisition of cores are unnatural,” he continued, eyeing Alex’s dark blade. “and they will have questions.”

“You’d best be prepared.”

***

Before Jin could press further, a groan from beside them drew both their attentions. Lui Xian, his golden eyes dimmed with confusion, approached slowly, one hand pressed to his forehead. His normally proud posture was slumped, and there was a trace of disorientation in his movements.

Jin disengaged with Alex to turn and approach Lui Xan, engaging him in conversation as Alex stabbed his demonic blade into the ground, allowing notifications he had previously ignored to engulf his vision, rising to the forefront of his thoughts.

For a brief moment, the action caught Lui Xian’s eye. There was something that resembled curiosity in the way Lui Xian looked at the blade, but it passed quickly, masked by an arrogant demeanour as he swiftly turned from Alex, who stood still, leaning on his blade as though resting as he read through panels only he could see.

[You have defeated [Error - Non-System Entities detected - Quantifying…]

[Quantification Accepted.]

[You have defeated level 0̴̰͈͖̊͋0̴͎̟̣̈́̐0̵̠͉̥̔̊̈0̴̰͈͖̊͋0̴͎̟̣̈́̐ Blood Familiar (Qi Gathering: First stage) x 13.]

[You have defeated level 0̴̰͈͖̊͋0̴͎̟̣̈́̐0̵̠͉̥̔̊̈0̴̰͈͖̊͋0̴͎̟̣̈́̐ Blood Familiar (Qi Gathering: Second stage) - additional experience points due to the cultivation difference.]

[Experience Assimilated.]

[Qi 48 > 53]

Wow, that’s… actually not a lot of Qi at all, considering I just killed 13 of them, Alex thought with mild confusion. I had 8 Qi before, and it looks like the spirit beast core gave me an increase of 40, Alex’s brow twitched with realisation. That means that acquiring a spirit beast core increased my cultivation by about 5 times.

That was an increase that Alex found deeply concerning. It was safe to assume that all present disciples— those who had reverted from their blood beast transformations— would have also acquired spirit beast cores for themselves, after having survived a similar ordeal and been saved thanks to the absorption abilities of Alex’s soul-bound blade.

Jin and the others still stumbling in the background all seemed alive and well, and all slightly more powerful than they had appeared during the spirit root test, though Alex sensed that the other three were somewhat disfigured and not as completely unscathed as himself and Jin appeared to be.

Defeating the second stage bloodbeast should have given me 2 Qi— like the one I faced at the entrance. If that’s the case I’ll have to assume the other 13 first-stage blood beasts gave less than 2 each… what’s 3 divided by 13?

Around 0.2? That’s roughly ten times less Qi than a first-stage cultivator… But wouldn’t that mean a second-stage bloodbeast should have ten times more Qi than something at the first stage? Then why the hell didn’t the first blood beast at the entrance use any of its Qi, or techniques? It was stronger than me, sure, faster too. But it was pretty dumb, and kinda simple in its attacks and methods… Maybe it had just evolved into the second stage after consuming a few disciples? That would explain why it had barely even used its vast Qi reserves outside of its blood and body manipulation. Besides, the creatures were simply low-level familiars without true knowledge, experience, or even any real intelligence outside of their instincts, only gaining status and intelligence as spirit beasts due to using disciples as fertiliser and consuming other beasts within the realm, judging by the memories Alex retained from his brief time spent traversing the testing realm, whilst in his mindscape conquering his blood beast’s psyche.

Alex's grip tightened around the welded sword given to him by Eclipse, the demonic blade’s detached counterpart pulsing faintly with a strange energy Alex couldn’t quite recognise— one he had never seen before. It felt as though the blade was resonating with something deep within him, its unreadable energy surging through him to impact with something deep inside before bouncing back even stronger, amplifying in power to grow in intensity with each pulse of energy.

[Skill ‘Bloodforged’ has utilised soulbound weapon ‘Eclipse’ to ritualistically absorb a fragment of their essence (0.001%). A faint infinitesimal imprint of the prowess displayed by the defeated enemies during combat has been imprinted.]

Alex felt a rush of bloodlust and desire flow through him.

[Skill ‘Absolution’ has utilised soulbound weapon ‘Eclipse’ to absorb unique and higher blood types: Spirit beast - “level 0̴̰͈͖̊͋0̴͎̟̣̈́̐0̵̠͉̥̔̊̈0̴̰͈͖̊͋0̴͎̟̣̈́̐ Blood Familiars (Qi Gathering: First/Second stage) x14]

Strength +64, Endurance +64, intelligence+20, Wisdom +20, Dexterity +10

He could feel the blade’s hunger, its desire to cut, to drink deep of Qi and blood. It was a need he was becoming too familiar with. His heart pounded, but he forced his face to remain neutral and calm.

Perhaps he had fed the weapon too much blood.

Alex dismissed the notifications, sensing through his domain the attention settling on him, all eyes within the cave focused, led by Lui Xan. He recognized him immediately. Lui Xan—the only other person besides Jin to possess a golden spirit root of supreme potential during the spirit root test earlier that day. The sect held him in high regard, coveted by factions, groups, instructors, and elders alike. Standing this close, Alex could see why. The youth’s Qi was pure—almost as pure as Jin’s and almost as pure as his own. Almost.

But there was something off. Alex noticed that Lui Xan’s transformation and reversion hadn’t been smooth, unlike his own. The youth and two other survivors, besides Jin, bore the marks of the process, their bodies twisted. Behind Lui Xan, a girl had claws sprouting from her body, identical to the bloodbeasts they had encountered. Another survivor had a twisted limb, grotesque and unnatural, appearing as if it belonged to one of the creatures.

Lui Xan himself was worse. His face, arms, and legs were covered in sharp bone spurs and warped muscle, bloody and distorted. But the most disturbing part was his Qi. It flared gold and red within his dantian under Alex’s gaze, larger than it should have been, a cauldron of chaos, mixing purity with corruption. Just above it, a dark, solid core of deep maroon red blazed with Qi identical to the bloodbeasts.

Lui Xan’s cold eyes locked onto Alex before drifting to the dark blade stabbed into the ground beside him.

“You’re a fool if you think you’re keeping that weapon,” Lui Xan’s voice came, devoid of any emotion.

“Hand it over, or I’ll take it from your corpse.”