Born in Blood

Chapter 171 Advancement

Breaking through to the second Rank of the core didn't take much effort from his side.

In the span of five minutes, Liam's core churned with high amounts of world essence as it slowly shrank in size, compressing the solid state 'Ora'.

The process required his constant focus and care, often to push back the walls of his core using his mental energy so it wouldn't collapse.

His abdomen burned and chilled at the same time, but he was accustomed to those feelings.

As it slowly condensed, Liam felt like his core would explode.

To his relief, it didn't. Instead, the solid-state 'Ora' began to melt due to the pressure it faced.

From solid it changed to liquid, and from liquid to gaseous.

It was back to the starting point!

However, the quality of gaseous 'Ora' inside his core was brilliantly pure and dense.

It easily trumped his Rank 1's solid-stage.

His new core walls were sturdier and thicker – even though it was barely the size of a pinhead – and naturally absorbed gaseous 'Ora' that vitalized Liam's body.

'My 'Ora' reserves doubled!'

Without a second of delay, he took out his Shadowfire cultivation technique and memorized it for later.

When his core had filled up to a decent amount, Liam stopped absorbing 'Ora' and prepared to test his darkness.

PHOOF!

At once, his hand burst into dark flames that surged around his palm.

They were pure black, letting no light pass through or escape.

Liam's control over his element was much more precise.

He willed it again, and darkness exploded from his entire body, corroding the wooden planks he stood on and the ceiling above his head.

Liam snuffed out the darkness before he accidentally wrecked the ship.

He couldn't help but let out an excited chuckle for the future.

'Forging should be much easier too. I can purify and cleanse magical beast parts without sacrificing their natural strength and endurance.'

Realizing he didn't have any of his own blades remaining, that's exactly what Liam did.

He took out a preserved wolf type magical beast from his ring and began forging away.

As he expected, he could easily shape the bones, teeth and nails without much difficulty.

In fact, he made both a katana and wakizashi at once, then absorbed the Beast Will.

Liam expected there to be a drastic effect when the Shadow Panther formed in his mental sphere, but thankfully, there wasn't anything alarming – it was just a bit more vicious and enraged than normal.

Liam's goal was to find out what tier his blades were on their own.

Once settled in Ilali, he could try his hand at selling weapons and armor for steady income, even without the Beast Will imbued.

Defeating the wolf that ravaged his mental sphere walls, Liam quickly padded it with mental energy and imbued the Beast Will within the blades.

Examining his blades, Liam pursed his lips.

Unfortunately, his expectations were too high.

The elegant shortsword was close to the upper tier, due to being smaller and easier to imbue with the Beast Will, and the katana was at the low end of the middle-tier.

'If I let the Beast Will cook and used it on one blade at a time, it probably would have pushed past to the second Rank.'

'I should start adding meanings to it.'

///

Another month passed with Liam repeatedly forging, inscribing and cultivating the entire time.

He hadn't gone out from his room since, with Jargon giving him brief updates on their smooth journey.

His attempts to add meanings into his forgings were more complicated than he thought.

Liam's experience with Blood Weaving couldn't be applied to Primordial Forging.

They were different methods and functioned in different ways.

One used blood, and the other used the remnants of a magical beast.

Liam was a complete newbie in that regard, incapable of making anything usable, but he was quickly learning from his mistakes.

Blood Weaving progressed much smoother.

Due to Liam's blood purity going up, he could inscribe blades that neared the middle-tier of Rank 2.

An amazing feat that was completely unthinkable for someone his age.

However, actually reaching the middle-tier was another hurdle Liam had a bit of difficulty with.

He seemed to have reached a bottleneck.

His understanding of the concepts lagged behind his Ink and Linking ability, which was understandable to say the least.

The overall result of his seclusion gave him the freedom to practice other pieces of weaponry and armor.

A Beast Will took whatever form was given to it.

Liam tried his hand in making armor to absorb attacks with, throwing needles and knives, daggers and more.

Obviously, his experience with those items were lacking to say the least, and none went above the middle-tier of the first Rank.

Nonetheless, they were usable, and the Blood Troupe could use them.

On the other hand, the Shadowfire cultivation technique was something Liam was satisfied with.

It made him feel like someone was sticking an acid-coated dagger in his abdomen each time he cultivated, but it was effective as it was painful.

Concluding his forging and cultivation for the day, Liam decided to leave his room.

The Blood Troupe members around his cabin were playing cards and insulting each other when Liam exited.

Their laughs died down as they fumbled and hid the cards, respectfully greeting Liam with their heads lowered.

Liam's aura was chillingly cold due to the migraine he was going through, with his unkempt hair and bloodshot eyes making him look like a wild beast.

With a snort that sounded more like a chuckle, Liam walked past them and entered the main deck.

The Blood Troupe members were rowdy at first, but their voices dwindled down at Liam's arrival.

'Did Revel torture these guys or something? Why are they so timid?'

Seeing his leader finally come out, Jargon left the ship's helm and came to Liam's side with a smile.

"Sir! You've finally come out of seclusion. I was just about to inform you..."

Liam raised a brow. "Of what?"

Jargon's smile broadened as he pointed to the distance.

The Ilalian Lands had come into view.