I Hate Systems

Swich!

Compass Carburettor noticed that he had arrived atop a cliff after entering the tower, seeming as if he had been teleported, frowning immediately as he looked around, 'It seems the space within the tower is many times bigger than I thought.'

[Embolden yourself by absorbing a variety of Sparks without dying]

There was a set of words engraved on a stone pillar before him as Compass Carburettor understood the gist of things, "There isn't any test or the sort here. It's just a…"

"Mindless massacre!" He muttered, gazing at the massive ethereal creature floating in the sky, spanning around thirty metres in length.

It had a serpentine body with a whale-like head and a feathery skin. Revolving around this ethereal creature were hundreds of tiny orbs, each flickering with a mysterious but sharp presence. "Are they the…Sparks?"

"Obtain them!" A cultivator shouted as he leaped into the air, intending to grab one of the revolving orbs when suddenly, an orb slammed into his back, the impact causing him to spit blood. And right at this time, another orb slammed into his chin, shattering it.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Three more orbs slammed into him as the cultivator lost consciousness from the severe injuries. He then fell on the ground, the fall causing him to splatter.

He wasn't alone though as countless cultivators were being killed by the swarm of orbs slamming into them repeatedly. They were at most able to fend off a few being dying from their injuries.

Compass Carburettor also noticed a cultivator possessing a barrier similar to him. An orb slammed into the cultivator before being stunned for a moment due to the barrier. Using the chance, the cultivator attacked the orb, shattering it, causing a mystical essence contained within the orb to flow into his body.

"I feel…stronger!" The cultivator laughed after a moment as he targeted another orb. And even though they were only by a fraction, his attacks were indeed stronger than before.

"I see, that makes sense." Compass Carburettor muttered as he clapped twice, causing the Claw Wolf to begin tunning towards the nearest ethereal creature. They were treated as one unit by the tower and teleported alongside.

The Claw Wolf climbed atop a boulder, leaping high up into the air by compressing Origin Essence in its legs.

Origin Arts—Snag!

Compass Carburettor unleashed the Origin Essence rope like a frog's tongue, causing it to slam into a flying orb, pulling it towards him immediately. The orb wasn't even able to react before it found itself in his hands.

He used Snag once again, but this time, he used its attacking form, causing the tip of the Origin Essence rope to be sharper this time, slamming into the orb to shatter it.

The same mysterious essence flowed into his body as Compass Carburettor noticed the total quantity of Origin Essence in his body rising by a small amount, "This is…amazing!"

Even though the rise in quantity was little, he was amazed as this was akin to exceeding his limits. After all, he had already accumulated the limit of Origin Essence for the Origin Refinement Stage. And these Sparks implied that he could grow further stronger at the same cultivation level.

Origin Arts—Snag!

He captured a second orb, easily shattering it to absorb its essence. A couple of orbs slammed into him to kill him, but they were stunned by the barrier protecting him, allowing him to shatter them easily and absorb their essence.

'I see, so this is the reason.' The barrier given by the tower was different by any Origin Essence shields they could create. Their shields only served in blocking attacks, but the tower's shield also stunned the orbs after impact.

Though, the shield lost a bit of strength with every impact, but it also meant that he could gather a lot of Sparks. After all, the shield he obtained was many times stronger than the other cultivators, giving him significant advantage.

'But, where is he…?' Compass Carburettor frowned, unable to locate Velcorn anywhere nearby. Suddenly, his eyes lit up after shattering an orb, 'This Spark raised the quality of my Origin Essence. Amazing!'

As he continued to hunt for the orbs, he noticed that there were four Sparks in total.

Essence Increasing Spark: It increased the maximum amount of Origin Essence in a cultivator.

Essence Strengthening Spark: It increased a cultivator's Origin Essence quality.

Spirit Strengthening Spark: It strengthened a Martial Spirit.

Attribute Strengthening Spark: It strengthened one's attributes.

They were in the increasing order of rarity as even after hunting for an hour, Compass Carburettor only managed to find one Spirit Strengthening Spark. It was tremendously helpful in that it could strengthen his Martial Spirit a lot. But, he only got one of them, and that too was something he had stolen from another cultivator.

As for the Attribute Strengthening Spark, he had yet to find any.

Boom!

Roar!

As time passed, one of the ethereal creatures roared in pain, crashing into the ground as it had been severely injured by someone.

Compass Carburettor gazed at the culprit, noticing the region surrounded by mist, obscuring the person within.

But, just by judging the aura emanating from the cultivator, Compass Carburettor understood that it was a Heaven Martial Spirit cultivator. Moreover, that cultivator dug out something from the ethereal creature's body, one whose aura caused everyone's heart to skip a beat.

'It seems the strongest of these Sparks is within that creature's body.' Compass Carburettor thought.

"Tch!" He clicked his tongue, making his Claw Wolf leap as he used Frog Leap atop that, guarding against a couple of orbs as he moved high up in the air, slinging forth using the Origin Essence rope as it rapidly pulled him towards the ethereal creature.

"Make way!" He shouted, taking out an energy blade sword that he used to slash through the orbs, noticing that he was able to cut through them easily. His hands hurt at the shock he felt from every slash through the orbs, but that allowed him to grow stronger faster.

He quickly made his way through the sea of orbs, slashing the ethereal creature to create a long gash. And after a moment of hesitation, he entered it, making his way through its body.

'Indeed, this shield protects me from its body's corrosive property.' He thought, quickly making his way through it, reaching its heart to see a massive orb silently pulsing there.

Attribute Strengthening Spark!