Thane's eyes blinked open to the dim glow of the Celestial TV. A dull ache lingered in his skull, but no more pain followed. Instead, the familiar jolt of the system kept nudging his nerves awake.
[Are you still watching?]
The prompt pulsed gently in front of him.
Thane sat upright, rubbing his head. His fingers touched dry blood, cracked and flaking against his skin. No fresh pain. No throbbing. Just the faint echo of where the goblin's club had slammed him.
"I... am healed." He exhaled in wonder, his voice rasping in the quiet cavern.
Another prompt flickered.
[Time Remaining: 00h:58m]
[Total available time watching TV: 14h:42m]
"Five hours..." Thane muttered, rubbing his eyes.
"So I've been out for over five hours... But in reality, I must have been unconscious for about twenty minutes..."
The corpses of goblins sprawled in awkward heaps across the cave floor. Their twisted arms and grotesque bulging cores beneath the ribs told the tale of the fight he'd barely survived.
Strangely, there was no foul, rotten stench. Instead, the air carried a damp, earthy musk, like freshly overturned mud after rain.
For a moment, Thane just stared at the bodies. His first kills. He expected nausea, guilt, or even horror to claw at him. Instead, he only felt a heavy quiet.
"So this... is the world I'm in. Dangerous. Fun... but dangerous..." He sighed, brushing dirt from his clothes.
"I should have known. Even in this reward as a Good and Faithful Servant, there are still obstacles that I might face. I've already forgotten that there can be no joy without tribulation. No peace, without war. No rest, without work. And no victory without overcoming." Thane muttered a truth he had learned while alive.
"For now..." Thane glanced at the corpse.
The Celestial TV dimmed, closing with a soft fwip as he stood.
But then a stray thought struck him as the Celestial TV was about to close.
"...Wasn't there a show about Monster Core farming?"
His eyes lit up for half a second, then dimmed with suspicion.
"No. Not now. That's dangerous. Can't binge myself into another ambush."
The temptation was gnawing at him, but he knew that if not for the prompts, he would have ignored the approach of the goblins.
After checking the tunnels with his perception and confirming no goblins lurked nearby, Thane dragged a pile of roots and moss together from the ceiling. He arranged them into a crude cushion against the cave wall.
"Alright... This cushion should prevent me from being noticed... And in the meantime, since I attacked their core, then I should be able to extract it! " Thane excitedly turned on the TV.
He raised the remote.
[Discovery Wild Fantasy: Monster Core Harvesting — From Slimes to Serpents!]
The logo of the channel shimmered to life, followed by a booming narrator's voice.
"Welcome, adventurers! Today, we uncover the beating forms that birth these monsters... I'm talking about the heart of each beast... the monster cores!"
The scene cut to a handsome, wild-haired adventurer with a scar running down his cheek. He grinned at the camera, raising a curved dagger.
"My name's Garron Duskbane, and today I'll be showing you how to properly harvest and preserve monster cores. We all know that these things are any adventurer's bread and butter. These cores, have value!"
Garron crouched beside the body of a massive lizard beast, his dagger already tracing lines across its belly.
"First things first: monster cores aren't just shiny gemstones. They are condensed knots of mana, crystallized from a creature's life force. Some even has this instead of a heart! Break them carelessly, and all that energy leaks away. But preserve them, and you've got treasure worth more than gold. In fact... these things have a lot of uses!"
Text flashed across the screen:
Uses of Monster Cores:
– Level advancement & cultivation boosters
– Alchemical catalysts for potions and enchantments
– Infused recipes for stamina, strength, or resistance
– Forging into magical ores for weapons & armor
– Awakening latent abilities or traits
Thane was not surprised.
He had read stories and watched numerous fantasy shows and anime and was aware that since this universe was created for him, it would have traits that Thane would be familiar with.
Garron began to cleanly slice through the lizard's hide. With practiced ease, he pulled free a glowing, marble-sized gem which he squired deep within the guts of the lizard.
"The trick is knowing where to cut. For most humanoid creatures, it follows where our Dantian generally is. Goblins, in particular, have their cores settle near the stomach. But they can shift depending on the beast's strain, size, or hunger. Always look for the bulge."
"But I used Spirit to disrupt the Core and paralyzed the beast... I wonder if I broke it..." Thane glanced at the corpses. All of them, save for one that relieved a skull-crushing stomp, had spirit-piercing attacks.
"If you know where they are, and you are particularly skilled in Spirit techniques, I suggest you use them. Spirit users are rare. Perhaps the rarest type of people in this entire world. Many train their bodies and fuse with mana, creating physically powerful attacks. Some concentrate on magic, but for every hundred might and magic user, is one skilled Spirit user. This is why, mercenaries hire spirit users! Disrupting the monster core with Spirit seals the mana flow. It not only paralyzes the beasts for a time, but the life source of the beast is contained in the core as it dies!"
[Suggested Episode- Episode 8: Goblins, Orcs, and other Demi-Humans]
A prompt appeared as Garron continued to speak.
Thane hesitated at clicking it. He wanted to watch the full episode.
"No! I must control! I have a Celestial TV, but I must not give in to my base desire!" Thane told himself and clicked on the episode.
Sure enough, the episode shifted to a segment specifically on goblins. Garron dragged a corpse into view.
"Here's one of the little pests. With goblins, it's messy business. This here is the weakest of the goblin evolutionary line. They are Groundling!"
"Groundling?" Thane mimicked.
"They are extremely weak as their cores have not yet stabilized. So a simple Spirit strikes to the core, knocks 'em down faster, and when you open them up..."
He sliced cleanly along the ribcage, pulling free a faintly pulsing green gem.
"You get one of these..." The core was revealed.
The camera zoomed in on the core as Garron held it up.
"Mana density like this is best for beginner alchemy recipes or basic cultivation. Don't underestimate 'em. Stack enough goblin cores, and you've got a foundation most rookies would kill for. Especially if you attacked it with Spirit."
Garron wiped his blade on the goblin's ragged shirt and crouched lower.
"Now, pay attention. Harvesting goblin cores is delicate work. It isn't just slicing and pulling. Think of it like untangling veins from a heart — messy, fragile, and if you tug wrong, you'll lose everything."
The camera zoomed close to his hands as the adventurer pressed his palm against the goblin's chest. A faint shimmer of Spirit energy pulsed from his fingertips.
"This is called... Spirit Incision. Oh, and this isn't a skill that is quite common here in Velithra. My home continent has more. I was rather a good, maybe an above average Wayfinder and Core Extractor there, but here, I'm the king!" Garron bragged.
"As they say, Spirit users make excellent doctors... But more so, for core extractors! You'll need to guide the mana. See here? The core's connected by threads to the organs. If you rip them apart, the mana disperses. What you want... is to slowly push the flow from one organ to the next, until it all folds into the core. That's how you preserve the full density."
On the Celestial TV, a glowing diagram appeared.
A goblin's body is outlined with threads of light converging on the stomach bulge. The narration synced perfectly with the image.
"Take it step by step. Breathe. Move the mana. Seal it. Then, cut."
Thane was trying to mimic the motion of Garron.
A new prompt flickered in front of Thane.
[Activate TV Guide Mode?]
[Note: In this mode, Celestial TV will overlay step-by-step instructions.]
[Warning: time will flow as normal.]