I Hate Systems

The Attribute Strengthening Spark was an orb the size of his head. It was tremendously tough as Compass Carburettor hacked it repeatedly for more than a minute using his energy blade sword before cracking it.

And in this duration, the surrounding cultivators had indeed noticed his actions, intending to snatch the Attribute Strengthening Spark from him. But, the ethereal creature's body acted as his shield.

And for most, they were unable to enter its body, as it has a corrosive property, enough to melt their bodies. For those with the tower's shield, they noticed that even though they could move through its body by relying on that, the shield lost strength too fast.

It wasn't worth it to waste their shield for something they might not obtain. After all, they still had to fight against Compass Carburettor to snatch the Spark.

Those that managed to think it through went away, hunting for other Sparks, while those without much mental faculty continued to hack into the ethereal creature's body.

In the meantime, he shattered the Attribute Strengthening Spark, absorbing the essence that poured out from within, grunting as he could sense his attributes of Mind and Frog growing stronger, "That's…a lot of essence."

He then thought of something, activating his Origin Art of Ming Connect, establishing a connection with the ethereal creature's mind, noticing that it wasn't dead yet.

He sent a portion of his will into the ethereal creature's mind, noticing that there were only three memories within.

"That's it?" He was surprised, probing through the three memories.

The first memory showed a crack in the ground through which Origin Essence was seeping out. And once a significant quantity of it was ejected out, the Origin Essence condensed into a cloud over time.

The second memory showed the cloud remaining in position for tens of years before slowly gaining meagre sentience, transforming into the ethereal creature. It was where he learnt of its name.

Essence Beast!

The final memory consisted of the Essence Beast interacting with other Essence Beasts, gradually condensing the Sparks around their bodies using the ambient Origin Essence that they absorbed on a daily basis.

And the greater the number of Sparks they condense, the stronger they grew, until the Sparks began to gain special properties. All Sparks were the Essence Increase Spark first. And over time, some of them grew to become the Essence Strengthening Spark.

And once the Essence Beast lived for more than a few decades, it would form a Spirit Strengthening Spark within its body, at the position of its heart/brain, which was the same in its case. And, for every decade it lived after that, it would condense a Spirit Strengthening Spark every time.

Finally, if it lived for a century, the ten Spirit Strengthening Sparks would fuse to become an Attribute Strengthening Spark.

Origin Arts—Mind Transfer!

That was the extent of its memories as Compass Carburettor siphoned them all into his mind, feeling that it was better to obtain them for himself. It was strange, but he sensed that these three memories would prove helpful for him.

'Wait, can I do that here?' He thought suddenly, noticing that the Essence Beast was still alive. Even though it was struggling to yank him out of its body, it was clearly unable to do so as any orb that arrived before him only served to strengthen him.

Origin Arts—Sleeper Cell!

Compass Carburettor planted a Sleeper Cell seed in the Essence Beast's mind, frowning upon seeing that the seed didn't sprout, "This is a strange lifeform."

Origin Arts—Mind Transfer!

He transferred three of his memories into the Essence Beast's mind, subtly sensing a minor reaction in its body as it suddenly took off to the skies once again.

But this time, Compass Carburettor was able to sense that he was instead being treated as its heart/brain. After all, he had absorbed the Attribute Strengthening Spark that acted as its core. And now, it was three of his memories that were in its mind, affecting it.

The Essence Beast lacked any intelligence, only acting based on some primal instinct. And with it now possessing his memories, he was treated as its core.

He wasn't able to control it though as his Sleeper Cell seed had yet to germinate, still remaining as a seed.

"I see, so the Essence Beast's mind hasn't even developed for me to take control of." He muttered, not doing anything else for the time being, wondering just what exactly the Essence Beast was planning to do.

Swish!

A cultivator had been struggling all along, evading the orbs that targeted him as he finally managed to capture one. He attacked it a little, cracking it until the orb became unresponsive.

"Finally, I can absorb it in peace now." He muttered, intending to deliver the final blow when suddenly, the orb seemed to come to life once again, taking off to the skies. But this time, it didn't fly towards its original Essence Beast, rather heading towards an injured Essence Beast, beginning to revolve around it.

"What the heck?" The cultivator was confused, noticing some of the orbs revolving the farthest from the Essence Beasts escaping orbit to be sucked towards the injured Essence Beast.

And slowly, as the number of orbs revolving around the injured Essence Beast increased, its injuries began to heal.

"Hahaha!" Compass Carburettor laughed all of a sudden, noticing a minor increase in the strength of his attributes, 'So, I'm indeed being treated as an Attribute Strengthening Spark.'

'This is good. My attributes would continue to grow stronger as a result.' He smiled at the thought. After all, not every Essence Beast had lived for a hundred years to grow an Attribute Strengthening Spark on its body.

The Folkan Secret Realm opened once every century. And the Essence Derby Palace was the first place everyone arrived at. So, it would be hard for the Essence Beasts to survive through that. After all, even though they were powerful, they didn't have a mind of their own, eventually falling prey to the cultivators.

So, that meant only the Essence Beasts that formed right after the Secret Realm closed previously would have grown an Attribute Strengthening Spark. And based on the memories, there were only a couple dozen Essence Beasts at most that were birthed right at the start.