Defiance of the Fall

Turning his attention to the three items on their respective glowing array , Zac guessed they’d be ready in around an hour . He observed the golden metallic root atop the Life-attuned platform for a few seconds before shaking his head . It was a Life-attuned treasure at the top of Peak-quality , but the timing meant it couldn’t be used for his core . He grabbed the half-refined treasure and crushed it , swallowing some while letting the released toxic waves of Life enter through his pores and irradiate his body . It was better than letting it go to waste .

Waves of nausea hit him , but the feeling lessened as Zac dragged the immense energies into his soul and the cracks left by the splinter .

He still had a complicated relationship with Life in his Draugr form , but it wasn’t quite considered poisonous any longer . The infusion of Life ground against the stubborn slivers of Oblivion hidden in the scars , exhausting and erasing them . A similar scene played out inside his Soul Aperture , where the energies nurtured and healed the Life-attuned Soul Core .

Twenty minutes passed until the energy was expended , at which point Zac repeated the process with the Death-attuned treasure on the refinement array . The remaining active array didn’t need much input from him , so he figured he might as well eat some treasures to fix his body . Doing so would leave behind some impurities , but so what? A tribulation was just around the corner .

Zac engraved another Death-attuned treasure with a refinement pattern . The one he just used up would be refined too early . Besides , all the Life-Death treasures he’d prepared were matched up in pairs to ensure every layer would be balanced . Since the Life-attuned treasure had been discarded , the Death-attuned needed to go too . The choice of treasures holding the Dao of Conflict wasn’t as stringent , so the remaining metal would become the first piece of the core’s next layer .

Most cultivators would probably curse Zac for using such precious treasures like they were simple Healing Pills , but he had gathered way more than he needed during his years of collecting Mana . Losing a couple of sets wasn’t a big deal , and he felt a lot better by the time the Death-attuned treasure had been absorbed . Part of it was thanks to his soul being in a better state , and one part was simply relaxing from the pent-up stress .

Twenty minutes later , a spiritual nudge confirmed the War-attuned treasure was done . Zac pulled it over with telekinesis . The array on his stomach had already collapsed , So Zac placed the refined metal onto a sub-array next to him .

The material flickered and suddenly felt illusory—it was ready . Zac pushed it into his side , avoiding the broken tattoo just in case . The piece of metal passed through his body like a ghost until it reached the outer shell formed by the main Core Formation Array . At that time , it turned corporeal again as it entered .

The new piece of Conflict was like a small moon pulled by the gravity of a far greater planet . In fact , the nucleus’ pull was so strong that the new treasure would’ve crashed into its surface like a meteor if not for Zac restraining it . Even then , Zac barely managed to hold the material back while spinning the nucleus to the correct location , at which point he let the blob of Conflict-attuned steel land .

The pressure would merge the materials even if Zac did nothing at that point . Of course , such a creation would only barely follow the patterns of his blueprint thanks to the ambient energies . To avoid such a crude result , Zac used the mental tendrils to reforge and reform the piece of Conflict . Two hours passed until something similar to a silvery spiderweb had been evenly applied to the nucleus .

The process had been quite smooth compared to forming the nucleus , apart from a few eruptions and the general drain of Mental Energy . Only adding one material at a time increased the duration of the process and the overall strain on his mind . In return , the risk of mistakes occurring was far lower , and Zac felt that was more important than saving time .

With the next attuned treasure on its refinement array nearly complete , Zac took out a vial containing a shimmering pill with immense waves of unattuned energy and heat . He swallowed it , and it was like a white sun erupted in his chest .

Zac dragged the ball of energy into the hatch , and the pill needed no guidance from that point , smoothly entering the core . The waning lights of the nucleus rekindled , regaining some of the luster it lost while waiting for Void Heart] to finish . The pill was called Rising Sun Return] , a hot commodity inside Vastness City provided by a powerful alchemy clan in the Multiverse Heartlands .