Chapter 1691: Preparations
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The process of Spirit Core absorption was quite simple and rather relaxing. By grabbing a core, I simply closed my eyes and absorbed its energy, letting it flow through my hand and into my body. The Spirit Core would then turn colorless and break down into glass sand, which would simply disappear afterward.
I repeated this process over and over again, until I found a good way to do it en masse, by stretching my hand into a giant wooden hand and grabbing dozens of cores at once.
FLUOSH!
Like this, I could absorb dozens at a time, letting a lot of energy flow through me, and quite honestly, it felt really amazing.
Until finally, I felt I couldn’t do it anymore, as one of the Spirit Cores simply would not turn gray no matter how hard I tried.
"Phew, I think I’m done for today~"
I felt a lot of Spirit Power flowing through my body. It had definitely increased a great deal, as I had absorbed almost a hundred Spirit Cores. I think I was the one who absorbed the most among everyone else.
[Your Spiritual Heart has absorbed 97 Spirit Cores.]
[You have successfully absorbed the Spiritual Energy and converted it into raw Spirit Power, strengthening your Spiritual Heart to a higher rank.]
[You gained +48,500 Spirit Power!]
[Your [Spiritual Heart]: [Tier 1: Rank 4: Heavenly Yggdragon of Time Spirit Heart] has Ranked Up to Tier 1: Rank 8!]
[You gained +20,000 Spirit Power!]
[Your Spiritual Heart has gained a large quantity of Spirit Power and Spirit Energy and cannot absorb any more for some time, unless you risk an overload of energy, which might cripple your Spiritual Heart.]
[Your [Spiritual Arts]: {Spiritual Armor Embodiment Art: Tier 1: Rank 1} has absorbed the energy and increased its Rank automatically, rising to Tier 1: Rank 3!]
[Your Spiritual Heart Beasts have also benefited from all the energy, absorbing it and increasing their Growth Rate exponentially!]
[Your {Spiritual Heart Beast: Golden Thunderbolt Lion (Spirit Larva Rank: 10%)} has increased its Growth to 20%!]
[Your {Spiritual Heart Beast: Volcanic Slime (Spirit Larva Rank: 10%)} has increased its Growth to 20%!]
[Your {Spiritual Heart Beast: White Sky Serpent (Spirit Larva Rank: 10%)} has increased its Growth to 20%!]
"Oh wow! Seems like it worked wonderfully! My Spiritual Heart Ranked up and even my Beasties got stronger..." I said with a smile. "What about everyone else?"
"I also got stronger, yeah," Mark nodded. "The Egg seems to have begun to move around, maybe it will hatch soon?"
"Mine too," Elena said. "I’m quite curious about the critter..."
"And mine!" Anna said. "I wonder what this beastie will look like?"
"Mine better be majestic!" Elisa said, crossing her arms. "Hmm~ Perhaps like a little golden dragon?"
"No way it would be that..." Katherine laughed. "Although Queen Khione gave you powerful Spirit Cores to absorb, none were of such high quality..."
"I just hope it’s born healthy and is nice to me," Monica sighed. "Uh, this Spiritual Heart really resonates quite well with our Nature Soul, huh? I do feel much stronger now... more connected to my elements and nature as a whole."
"Me too, Monica," I nodded. "It’s quite interesting how they all connect eventually, right? Even though they are supposed to be different and separate powers, it makes it all the more amazing."
"We should talk with Grandma Jannis later and ask her more about the past," Mark said. "I’ve been quite curious as well about the connection between the Nature Soul and the Spiritual Heart. Maybe she’ll know something... after all, she even knew about stuff from the Neolithic."
"Hahah, yeah, I wonder how she even learns those things?" I wondered. "Maybe the Druids pass down these tales to their younger generations... for millions of years?!"
"I don’t think it would be that long..." Gabriel said. "Hmm, I don’t need that Spiritual Heart, it’s not even compatible with me! But the Nature Soul was, weirdly enough..."
"I wonder how Angels grow stronger, Gabriel?" Mark asked him. "I’ve been looking at how you fight, and you rely a lot on magic, but where does it even come from?"
"Halos," Gabriel said. "They’re the source of the majority of our power! Based on the good deeds we do, our Halos grow stronger and reward us. Also, slaying evil spirits, specters, ghosts, monsters, and especially demons that threaten humanity. All of that helps us grow."
"So angels are like the guardians of humanity in the end, huh?" Mark said. "That’s really... I guess it makes sense."
"Well, but of course, we protect the Mortal Plane, it is our duty but... Um, well, I can’t quite do it completely yet, I’m... smol," he sighed, feeling a little annoyed. "But I’ve been growing stronger through this journey! Slaying those evil magicians from the Demon King of Death helps!"
"Well, I’m glad for you," I nodded. "And as you said earlier, your Nature Soul did form and was compatible with you... I guess Nature Souls are a completely universal thing? Just, everyone can get one if they’re strong enough or spiritually attuned enough."
"That must be the case," Mark nodded. "Ah, well, aren’t we close? We should go check outside."
"Right, let’s do that," I nodded.
The giant walking house stopped moving, as we stepped out of the comfortable and warm interior, finally reaching the snowy lands surrounding the other side of the mountain.
It didn’t take long for the Ice Spirits wandering around to tell me where the Ice Troll Camp was, so I guided everyone toward that area, and then we glanced from afar, hiding behind huge pine trees.
The camp was rather massive, with more than two hundred Ice Trolls this time. They also had walls, many guards, ballistae, and even magic barriers around the entire camp’s perimeter...
"It’s much larger than the one from before, wow..." Elisa said.
"Mom, how do we do it? Shall we just charge in recklessly or surprise them?" Elena asked.
"Hmm, the element of surprise will do," I said. "Let’s prepare a powerful spell, strong enough that even their puny magic barriers will not be able to protect them."
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