Book 1: Never Giving Up – Chapter 38: Origin Energy Lights
As the dots of light entered his body, Su Chen felt a strand of warmth course through him. This feeling was very faint, and Su Chen even wondered if the feeling was a figment of his imagination.
However, following this strand of warmth, Su Chen’s arm began to move slightly.
He could now raise his arm.
Su Chen’s eyes began to gleam.
Could this really be Origin Energy?
But if it was true, how could he see Origin Energy?
Su Chen was mystified.
Su Chen thought of what had happened after he had been rooted and experienced the soul-splitting.
Could it be that after he had received a soul attack, his own eyes had once again evolved?
Could it be because he had absorbed the energy of the soul attack? Or could it be because his mind had received a stimulus of sorts?
Su Chen did not know. He could only wait and slowly mull over it.
Evidently, these Origin Energy dots could not exist for too long in the air. From the moment they appeared, they began to dissipate gradually.
Upon seeing this, Su Chen suddenly realized that it was because Origin Energy could not exist in this form.
These dots of light represented Origin Energy that the ape had cultivated and condensed over countless days and months. Although they appeared simple, in reality they had been constantly refined over a long period of time. They were true condensates of Origin Energy.
When an Origin Energy user died, their Origin Energy would no longer be restricted and would leave their bodies, returning to the world from whence it came. All of the Origin Energy that had been refined would also lose its cohesiveness, and would disperse, reverting to its natural, free state.
The withering away of these dots of light was actually just a natural dispersal of refined energy.
Su Chen’s eyes could not see the true, unadulterated form of Origin Energy. However, Su Chen could at least see the aggregates that it formed.
This was an opportunity!
This thought instantly flashed across his brain.
He knew what he should do.
Su Chen raised his hand, then pointed at a dot of light in the air, focusing his efforts on exercising his absorbance technique.
The dots of light were like drops of water, rolling around on Su Chen’s skin. It was as if they were very unwilling to be absorbed by Su Chen. But with Su Chen’s body constantly emitting an absorptive force, along with his great persistence, the resistance became weaker and weaker. Eventually, the dot entered Su Chen’s body.
That faint yet familiar feeling of warmth appeared once more..
Su Chen also felt his mental and physical strength recover further.
Su Chen yelled in his heart. In terms of the Origin Energy he gained, absorbing just one ball of light was equivalent to what he would gain from cultivating for a few days.
How many days would this save him?
Su Chen did not know, but he did not care. The most important thing was to not waste this opportunity!
Although he had exercised his absorbance technique upon killing the Mirage Lynx, he had not been able to see those dots at the time, so he could only exercise it blindly. As for any extra energy he had absorbed then, it had depended solely on luck.
Now that he had a tangible direction to focus his technique in, his success rate had greatly increased.
Su Chen began to use all his efforts to absorb the motes of light floating in the air.
The Jade-Eyed Ape’s Origin Energy dissipated very quickly. Not long afterwards, it had completely disappeared. Su Chen had only been able to absorb eight dots of Origin Energy.
Even if it was only eight dots of Origin Energy, Su Chen very clearly felt different.
Obviously, the energy that he originally possessed in his body had somewhat recovered.
Normally, if he were to activate the blood aura three times in a row, he would be unable to get up without lying on the ground for more than half the day. Now, although he still felt tired, he could still get up and move around.
However, the true use of Origin Energy was not to simply recover one’s strength. It could also augment and transform one’s body. The feeling of recovery he encountered was actually the body’s natural growth after becoming stronger. If a person’s physique changed, their endurance and recovery rate would also increase. This increase would naturally be manifested in the recovery of their physical strength.
That was also to say that these eight dots of Origin Energy had caused Su Chen’s body to grow much stronger after he absorbed them.
After a moment of analysis, Su Chen concluded that his strength had increased by roughly one White Star.
“Too awesome!” Su Chen excitedly began to yell.
He had only killed one Vicious Beast and his strength had risen by an entire White Star. This was an almost impossible experience. What could be better than this?
An excitement that he had never felt before flooded Su Chen’s heart. For the first time, Su Chen was filled with anticipation and confidence towards the future!
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In the following days, Su Chen continued to train in the Scarlet Mountain Range. He did not let his joy get the best of him and act carelessly. Rather, he continued to prudently hunt in the forest. Su Chen was very clear that although he may possess boundless potential, potential was only potential. At the moment, he was still just a weakling.
A weakling that had to rely on four Origin Tools in order to survive at the most marginal area of the Scarlet Mountain Range.
The slightest bit of overconfidence could ruin any future that he might have. He reminded himself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer.
Thus, Su Chen continued to move carefully, just as before.
On the fifty-ninth day of his journey through the Scarlet Mountain Range, Su Chen once again encountered a Giant Bucktoothed Bear.
Perhaps it was because his own strength had increased, or perhaps it was because he already had experience in fighting the giant bear. In any case, Su Chen was able to more easily take win this battle.
Upon killing the giant bear, Su Chen once again saw the dots of light be released.
Because he was prepared this time, Su Chen absorbed eleven dots of light, three more than last time. All the other ones disappeared.
Su Chen knew that this was probably close to the limit of how much he could absorb at one time.
Su Chen had noted that the Giant Bucktoothed Bear roughly released a thousand dots of light when it died. If every ten dots represented a White Star, then the Giant Bucktoothed Bear’s cultivation base must have been around one hundred White Stars. This was roughly comparable to the strength that regular low-tier Vicious Beasts would possess.
The energy that he had absorbed was about one in one hundred.
To kill a Vicious Beast, then obtain one hundredth of its cultivation base – was there anything better than this?
Perhaps the Heavens were aiding him. In the next few days, Su Chen encountered three Vicious Beasts whose strength was relatively low. They were all easily dealt with.
When Su Chen absorbed the last bit of Origin Energy, he felt as if he had entered some strange state, just like his body was full. No matter how he absorbed, there would not be any increase.
Su Chen knew that he had arrived at the peak of Body Tempering, and had reached a cultivation bottleneck.
Under this kind of condition, no matter how much more he tried to absorb, he would not progress a single step unless he could break through the bottleneck.
Enter the Qi Drawing Realm!
“Whew! I’ve finally reached this point,” Su Chen let out a long sigh.
He originally thought that at most he would be at the peak of Body Tempering once the Scarlet Punishment ended. He never expected that discovering the dots of Origin Energy would greatly increase his pace, causing him to reach this stage a month earlier than he had anticipated.
Next, what he had to do was amass his strength to try and break through into the Qi Drawing Realm.
Humans had already developed for a few tens of thousands of years. Now, their experience towards using Origin Energy could be considered quite good.
Breaking into the Qi Drawing Realm had the lowest threshold, and was also the only realm that did not require drawing on a bloodline to guarantee a successful breakthrough. Thus, there were thousands of different methods just to open one’s Dan Sea.
Because the difficulty was not too great, Su Chen did not plan on returning to his clan to break through. Rather, he decided to make his breakthrough in the Scarlet Mountain Range.