The two cores began to repel each other as the qi chain loosened and the creature, in the midst of the pain, hurried to fix the loosened chains, but the distance increased as the pain increased exponentially, causing the creature to scream inwardly, and it felt like his body was being torn apart from every direction, causing an overwhelming sense of pain, he even subconsiously cast regeneration to ease his mental strain and the shadow and the blade were confused from the action, but decided not to disturb the creature.
After hours of pain, the two cores finally moved as a new core formed in the middle and dark chains of qi latched out and merged with the other chains, reforming the balance. The sudden formation changed his body as if the outside changes began to form rapidly, the flesh began to blacken with lines throughout the room, causing both the half awake shadow and the blade who was guarding to become alert.
The lines spread throughout the body as it began to condense at the centre of the wall, as a large mark appeared, and from within an eye came out, it was larger than both of them and stared directly at them, causing them both to feel an uncomfortable sense of dread, and the Blade couldn't help but bow to it with its resting weapon out of fear, while the shadow couldn't dare make eye contact with it.
The creature slowly regained its consciousness as the pain slowly subsided and was baffled again as it looked at the two scared and wrote "What happened again? Why do you both keep acting like that? Am I that scary?" but Blade couldn't help but speak "master its not that you are scary but rather..." and paused as the shadow spoke "Terrifying, that large eye is terrifying for us to gaze at, if it's not impossible, please close it"
The creature was confused as he used his consciousness, and as they spoke, a large eye-like organ had opened at the centre of the wall and was making them feel fear, so without hesitation, he closed it as he wrote "Ah, I am unsure of what this eye provides so until then i won't be using it. You may leave for now" and the two both left still slowly recovering from their previous experience.
After confirming their leaving, the creature didn't wait and summoned the panel in front of him to see his current power, but he was greeted by a surprise.
[User: ???
Cultivation: Vessalous Realm(Entry Stage)
Mentality: 4th circle(Master Rank)
Core: Heaven, Earth, and Darkness
Core Trait: Predator's Gaze]
The creature was interested as he decided to view the details of "Predator's Gaze", and the panel expanded.
[Trait: Predator's Gaze
Description: "You are the predator and the predator is you"
All who have a weaker mentality or cultivation level than the user would experience extreme fear and dread; those far weaker than the user will suffer from mental abnormalities ranging from Hallucinations, Extreme Trauma, nightmare induction and others
The user can choose to turn the skill on and off; those with a part of the user will be immune to all debuffs under the skill's activation permanently once the User reaches the Quasi-Tri Realm]
The creature read and understood as he spoke inwardly, "So that's why they were this afraid, no wonder, I should give that guy a part of me as he comes here often, it would be a hassle if he feels fear after all, I have yet to completely control this trait..."
The creature signalled blade as he rushed inside. The creature wrote, "Where is the man? Did they leave?" and Blade replied, "Master, they were originally here for a quest nearby and had stopped for your condition after all. He said he had some time before his due date ends, and now that he confirmed you are in a stable state, he has left," and the creature couldn't help but nod inwardly as he dismissed Blade.
"It seems that I should first try to get to the Quasi-Tri Realm before I can experiment with this trait", as he went back to the inner space and, using his mentality, he began to turn the chains of the qi cores clockwise from the three sides, and the qi quickly filled up.
He entered the inner consciousness. The three cores were positioned with their chains intact. His mentality extended, gripping each chain from three sides. He rotated them clockwise, maintaining equal speed.
Qi circulated through the cores. The pressure increased as they filled. He monitored the flow, adjusting the rotation speed to keep the circulation stable.
The Heaven and Earth cores began to repel. The chains loosened under the strain. He reinforced them with more mentality, tightening the links. The Darkness core wavered but held. He compressed the rotation inward. The resistance increased, and pain spread through his body, but he maintained control. The repulsion intensified, forcing him to lock the chains tighter.
The distance between the cores decreased slowly. A point of energy formed at the centre. He directed qi from all three cores into that point. The pressure rose sharply, forcing him to endure the strain.
The point expanded into a new core. Dark chains extended outward, merging with the existing lattice. The three cores are connected through the central node. He increased the rotation speed to test the balance. The lattice held, the chains remained locked, the cores rotated in harmony, and the central node maintained stability.