Step, step, clank, clank.
After a couple of steps, he entered the metallic structure, his bare feet meeting the cold golden surface as he settled into a meditative position.
Screeeechh.
With a groan of metal, the upper half of the golden structure that rested at the side shook slightly before lifting from the ground. Guided by Mikael's Divine Sense, it rose and aligned itself above the lower half before slowly descending.
Until both parts locked into place and, like pieces of a puzzle, melded together with perfect compatibility—at that moment it looked less like two sections joined and more like a whole that had always been forged as one.
With the structure complete, Mikael was swallowed by total darkness, but it changed nothing for him, as he could see just as clearly in pitch black as under a bright light.
The only thing that shifted was that he now used his Divine Sense to guide the two storage rings, placing them into separate glass containers integrated into the upper half of the golden structure.
"Ahhhhhh…" a deep exhalation escaped Mikael once that was done, his eyes closing as he let himself sink into a meditative state that gradually calmed his mind.
He remained like that for an unknown span of time—it could have been minutes, it could have been hours—but one thing was certain: by the end, his mental state was like a clear lake, unperturbed by anything.
Drip… drip… drip.
Small droplets of Thunder Vein Dew began to fall from their specialized storage ring, colliding with the golden metal floor as a small puddle slowly formed.
Drip-drip-drip.
The rate at which the droplets appeared quickly increased, and with them spread a delicious medicinal fragrance, one so tempting it stirred an overwhelming hunger in Mikael, yet he remained perfectly still.
Plissssh, plasshh.
What had been droplets became a small flow of silver liquid streaked with purple thunder, rapidly spreading across the floor until it began to reach the meditating Mikael.
BOOOM!!!!
An explosion resounded in Mikael's mind as his body twitched and his fist clenched, 'THIS!!!... is… really… overwhelming,' he thought, the hunger he had felt before multiplying tenfold the instant the Thunder Vein Dew touched him.
"Grrrhhh! I control myself!" he growled, repeating the words like a mantra as he forced himself to remain in meditation, refusing to move.
Shhhhhrrrrrrhhhhhhhh!
What had been a small flow turned into a true 'stream' as the Thunder Vein Dew roared, the amount pouring out of the storage ring swelling dramatically until the golden floor rapidly turned silver.
And with that surge came more of it pressing against Mikael's body, each touch multiplying his urges, yet he forcefully suppressed them, staying immobile even as the torrent grew heavier and heavier until—
The final drops of Thunder Vein Dew fell into the golden structure, leaving the storage ring empty while the Heavenly Wonder now filled roughly 5% of the sealed space.
Twitch.
Mikael's body twitched, but he ignored the discomfort as a smile crept across his visage, 'Step 1 done, now time to proceed with step 2!' he thought before, without further ado, activating nearly a third of the runes carved into the interior.
At that instant, small bubbles rose within the Thunder Vein Dew; it was as if it had reached its boiling point, yet more than that—it almost seemed like it wanted to… expand?
It looked like that, but it felt as though it lacked some kind of… catalyst…
Slice.
Using his Sword Intent as a blade, Mikael cut himself in specific locations, letting blood flow profusely into the water, staining it with a reddish tint and then—
Under Mikael's precise control and the aid of the runes on the walls, the amount of Thunder Vein Dew seemed to increase while also growing more attuned to him, allowing for better compatibility during the moment of absorption.
Of course, this method of bleeding himself to increase the amount of liquid wasn't viable, as no matter how great Mikael's vitality as a cultivator—and as one who had practiced the Ninefold Impurity-Free Physique Method to Mastery—it would never be enough to fill the chamber.
Even with the runes and the Thunder Vein Dew's help, he was nowhere close to being able to bleed the tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of liters needed to completely fill the space!
Mikael clearly understood that, and because of that he had prepared supplements—supplements in the form of Spiritual Plants and Cultivation Resources that he would 'eat' to quickly get back his rapidly fading vitality while at the same time—
He would use them in such a way that while 'healing' him they would also help in slightly increasing the Thunder Vein Dew's final potency—something excessively difficult considering how powerful the Heavenly Wonder already was, but even if the increase was minor it was still a gain!!!
Understanding that increasing the Thunder Vein Dew's potency would be difficult, he focused more on increasing his compatibility with the Heavenly Wonder, in a way that would allow him a higher efficiency of absorption, while the increase in power came second in terms of priority.
In this way, after using a lot—tens of thousands worth of Contribution Points on Spiritual Plants and Cultivation Resources—everything was finally ready.
At that instant every inch of the golden structure was filled with a strange mixture, one constituted of Thunder Vein Dew and his own blood and… in the way Mikael had done things it almost seemed like the amount of Thunder Vein Dew had increased…
Still, even though the 'building' was filled to the brim with liquid, because of the structure's exceptional impermeability everything stayed contained, and because of that Mikael was now entirely submerged in the strange mixture.
This was something that would have been truly problematic for a mortal, but it was nothing to Mikael, because as a 'true' cultivator—one at the Foundational Phase and higher—mortal needs like breathing, eating, sleeping and more were entirely optional.
They were the kind of things that he only did out of habit or when he wanted, when they were needed, but for something like breathing, while he usually did it, he didn't really need it and could function without taking a single breath for hours on end!
'Step 2 done, now it's Step 3's turn!' he thought just as, using his Divine Sense, he activated the large formation beneath him which covered the entire floor in its markings.
Hummmmm.
It took a couple of seconds before he felt the massive formation come alive and activate, which instantly brought a smile to his face.
A smile who vanished the next moment as his expression transformed into a mask of absolute focus.
'Let's begin!'
The instant this thought passed through Mikael's mind everything changed, as he immediately stopped holding back the hunger burning within him and began to voraciously absorb the pool of Thunder Vein Dew that surrounded him.
SHHHHRRRROOOOMP!
Like a vacuum tearing through the water, the entirety of the silver-red liquid surged at insane speed toward Mikael, who devoured it without restraint!
Bulge.
Instantly his body swelled under the overwhelming energy contained in the Thunder Vein Dew, as if he had taken on tens of kilos in a single instant, and the next—
His entire body expanded to its limit, like a balloon too full, ready to pop at any moment!
It was clear that the insane pace of his devouring was far, far too much for him, and as the overwhelming energy poured into him it was already rapidly exceeding his capacity to endure, to the point that he should have stopped absorbing it… yesterday!
Unfortunately… Mikael neither saw nor felt his current critical state, and seemingly without fear he continued to devour the Heavenly Wonder.
Which only caused his situation to degrade further, reaching a truly critical state where he looked like he was about to explode from this overdose of energy but then—
Burn.
A talisman plastered on the outside of the golden structure suddenly ignited, vanishing into ash in an instant as Mikael's bloated form returned to normal.
The overwhelming energy rampaging inside him didn't simply vanish into thin air with the talisman's activation.
No!
It was transferred, pulled from Mikael's body and into the Thunder Vein Dew that filled the golden structure.
There the energy spread further into the liquid, slightly enhancing the Thunder Vein Dew's potency while at the same time raising Mikael's compatibility with it.
After all, it was already infused with a large part of his blood, and now the 'returning' energy had just coursed through his body—hard to imagine anything more compatible than that!!!
And so the cycle repeated, again and again, each talisman burning away in turn as the Thunder Vein Dew grew both slightly more potent and far more attuned to him.
As this was happening, numerous notifications flashed before Mikael's eyes, and for once he had the time to examine them, thanks to his Unrestrained Mind which allowed him to split and direct his vast mental force in different ways.
Unfortunately, this time the notifications weren't particularly useful or interesting, since what he was doing now wasn't the 'real' Thunder Vein Dew absorption, and consequently they didn't reveal much.
Still, even then, there was one among them that was particularly interesting:
[Potent energy, classified as a modified, more potent and more compatible 'Thunder Vein Dew', is rampaging through the host body, compatibility and affinity with Thunder being slightly raised]
This message flashed numerous times and brought with it a pleasant surprise. 'Didn't expect that even at this "preparatory step" I would still have some gains… that's good!' he grinned through the pain and his rapidly breaking body.
Which was normal—after all, the rapid expansion and sudden return to normal that his body was continuously enduring was doing catastrophical damage to him.
Damage that was only further amplified because the Thunder Vein Dew wasn't calm—at least not in this amount, nor absorbed with such intensity—it violently rampaged through him, tearing at him even more!
With these two factors, it was almost a miracle that he could still hold on… or at least it looked like that, in truth, there was nothing miraculous about it.
The only reason he was able to endure when he should have fallen dead ten times over was because of the large formation situated beneath him!
This formation was something that—after calculations to wring out the maximum benefits—he had created with the sole purpose of keeping him alive, making sure he wouldn't die midway through the absorption of the Thunder Vein Dew, and if his still-living state was to be believed it was clear that his calculations weren't wrong!!!
This rapid cycle continued on, the number of talismans dwindling further and further.
Rapidly there were only 50% of them still present,
'Not enough,' thought Mikael, knowing he could go further.
40%.
'No,' he still refused to stop there, determined to tear the maximum benefits for himself.
30%.
'Near but no!' he stubbornly pressed on.
20%.
'Now!' A serious glint passed in Mikael's eyes as he knew the moment had come.
Vhmmmmm.
All the elements of the golden structure began to vibrate with power as everything, including the previous 70% of the runes that had remained inactive, suddenly lit up, and with them came a burst of force as the cycle shifted.
Instantly, the amount of Thunder Vein Dew Mikael was absorbing diminished by at least 20 times, probably more, leaving behind only a small trickle of the Heavenly Wonder to be devoured at a time.
At the very same instant the cycle changed, numerous extremely precious Spiritual Plants and Cultivation Resources were dropped into the mixture, rapidly dissolving under the influence of multiple forces.
At that instant the Thunder Vein Dew mixture surged in potency once more before finally 'stabilizing,' reaching a semi-finished state.
But this was only a semi-finished state, and there was still a final transformation to undergo before reaching a 'perfect state'—a state in which Mikael would finally accept to consume the Heavenly Wonder.
Author Note:
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———
This scene in particular of Mikael perfecting the Thunder Vein Dew lasted longer than I expected(like usual so nothing surprising…)
The goal behind it was to make sense for Mikael intelligence, because doing so not only make the Thunder Vein Dew better but actually use the knowledge he gained to his advantage while also using his wealth.
All of that coming together to make his newly acquired Heavenly Wonder better, so this can be considered a kind of 'pay off' for his learning in the Scripture Pavillion
———
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— End of Chapter —