Before going outside, I entered the kitchen and took out a bottle of beer from the fridge. I walked down a plight of stairs, and reached outside.
I looked towards the ogre general's body which was now rotting. I drank the entire bottle as I progressed towards the corpse. To make a weapon, I tore through his flesh, and pulled out his rib cage. A few other organs were removed alongside. His ribs were slightly wider than the width of my arm. This made it perfect for use as a weapon.
I brushed off the other organs that were removed along with the rib cage, and put the rib cage away from the rotting body. I then proceeded to look through his flesh for a core. A core contained the life force of a monster. After killing the monster, his life would end. However, the core would retain the rest of his life, that he would have lived through if he hadn't died at the moment. In the case of natural deaths, the monster's core was deemed useless.
After searching through his flesh for a few seconds, I found a green coloured core the size of my hand. Cores were found to be of different colours. Back on the beta realm, they assessed each core, and determined its importance. The lowest and the least valuable core was red, then above that, was an orange core. The ascending order of the cores determined by their quality and differentiated by their colours was known to be; Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Purple, Black and White. A white core was in the purest form and was only found in rare and strong creatures. A DG500 contained a purple core, however, it wasn't usable in its broken state.
A core contained the remainder of a monster's life. This was contained in the form of MP. Using the core of a monster, would replenish some amount of the user's MP. Based on which colour it was, it
would serve to replenish a different amount of MP. A core was useful for Mages, and served as an easy way to level up their stats. A Mage rich enough, would buy several cores and kill several monsters using the MP present in the core. While this was useful for Mages, for me, a man without a system, it served no purpose on the beta realm.
However, after coming back to Earth, I gained the prowess of the system. And with the system, I also gained a considerably large amount of MP. An amount, large enough to make me a God. With the help of cores, I could use my MP without any disadvantages. Obtaining a large amount of cores meant that I would be able to use a large amount of MP, alongside the power of Godhood after replenishing my MP. Cores were definitely useful in this situation, however, this wasn't the main feature of a core.
With the help of the system, cores could be attached to any material to reinforce them. The reason why this feature was regarded as the main feature, was because of how effective it was. It could make blades sharper, it could increase the endurance of a shield, and it could also strengthen certain items. To use this feature, it was necessary to specify how you wanted to enhance your item. After mentioning the specific details, the system would store the item and the core, and would combine the two. After the combination, the stored item could be withdrawn on command.
The only disadvantage of the core was that if it was used to enhance an item, the item would break after the core would be depleted. Thus, not many people in the beta realm enhanced their primary weapons. However, since I had no weapon to fight with, I found it feasible to use the core for this purpose.
I broke the rib cage in such a way, that the ribs separated from one another. I then proceeded to take two of the biggest ribs and sharpened them from one corner with the help of the core. The reason why I was sharpening the bones with the core was that monsters were usually strong enough to deflect bullets. This is exactly the reason why it was necessary to use weapons made out of other worldly elements. After sharpening the bones, the ribs looked like sharpened sticks.
"System open. System use core and ogre bones. Enhance endurance and strength."
[Items have been absorbed.]
[Now synchronising...]
[Item complete.]
"Show me the list of items."
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Item List:
1. Gold Adamantium Belt - Rank B
2. Goblin King's Crown - Rank D
3. Gold Coins x31 - Rank F
4. Pouch - Rank F
5. Ogre General's Bones
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"Withdraw item number 5."
Within a second, the bones appeared in front of me. The bones were now polished and looked whiter. The yellowish tinge along with the blood covering the bones was now gone. In the centre of the bones, the green core was present. After my newly formed weapons were made, I had to find a way to latch them on to my hands.
I thought carefully about the situation, and finally arrived to a solution. I began to tear the tendon of the ogre general. After separating the tendon, I tore them into small strips. I then placed one of the enhanced bones on my right hand. The sharp end pointed forward meanwhile, the blunt end of the bone was near my elbow. I used the tendon strips to tie the bone to my arm.
I followed the same procedure with my right hand and looked at the final results. The bones looked like claws and seemed feasible to be used as defensive bracers as well. Satisfied with the weapon, I sighed after an hour of work.
I then started to pluck the tusks of the three ogres. After storing them in the system, I tore through the flesh of the other two ogres and removed their cores. Unfortunately, both of those cores were orange.
Nonetheless, I now possessed quite a large amount of items.
"System, show me the list of items once more."
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Item List:
1. Gold Adamantium Belt - Rank B
2. Goblin King's Crown - Rank D
3. Gold Coins x31 - Rank F
4. Pouch - Rank F
5. Orange Core - Rank E
6. Ogre Tusk x4 - Rank E
7. Ogre Tusk x2 - Rank D
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After looking at the screen, I looked down in the rift to ensure that the fallen ogres were dead, but to my surprise, I saw yet another portal.
"By the Gods... An underground portal..."