I can feel the massive yellow core cycling energy in my chest reach a point where, in the last few sessions, it's been pushing the green threads back despite the immense pressure.
I'm prepared to go for another run, but my core finally hits its critical mass.
Not a single thread of divine energy can be pushed into it without an intense burning sensation rippling through my body.
An eerie sound, like massive metal structures creaking under thousands of tons of pressure, echoes out from my chest.
I take deep breaths and concentrate on healing my flesh from the last cycling session I just finished up, making sure to sit still and allow the process to unfold naturally.
The aura around my body affects the air and sand around me with such incredible force, it looks like I'm sitting on another world with gravity dozens of times greater than where I was days ago.
The hot sensation from my core expands, and I have to keep my entire conscious mind steady on containing this violent energy in my chest.
It feels like it's going to explode, but I use my purple barrier to keep the burning hot yellow threads inside my body.
Everything gets hotter and hotter, and without any extra energy added at all, the core in my chest expands even further.
The yellow threads glow so brightly, they make my whole body almost turn white in color.
The only thing on my mind is containing every bit of energy I have inside my body, and constantly regenerating my bones, blood, and muscles.
My heartbeat speeds up so fast it feels like it's matching the incredibly rapid cycling rate of my core as it expands to grow over two times in size once again.
Then, it happens.
The compression begins.
It feels like a heartbeat that ripples through my entire being, echoing throughout my mind and splitting a massive crack in the sand below me.
The entire universe feels like it's stopped in time, and I can't hear a thing. It's silent, and I have no frame of reference to the outside because I'm sitting inside an insulated dome of obsidian trees.
A full hour could have passed, or maybe it was just a fraction of a second...
But once it passes, all of the yellow threads in my body contract inward toward my core, spinning and weaving together to create a knot perfectly tied together by millions of divine strings.
My chest feels like the life is being squeezed out of me as it twists tighter and tighter, compressing the overinflated core.
All I see is white, and all I can do is stare into this bright void in my mind while allowing the process to continue.
Another echoing heartbeat ripples through my soul once the core shrinks back down to the size it was before it over inflated itself moments ago.
Then the same process repeats itself.
The millions of threads pull down on each other, glowing brighter and brighter the more they compress under each other's weight.
It's like they're collapsing under their own gravity, and every second that passes, the pressure they push down on each other only makes them want to tug tighter with more strength.
I can't fathom the threads ever stopping this chain reaction. It feels as if they'll compress themselves into a single point and disappear.
The soul-rattling heartbeat echoes through my psyche again, and another compression forces the core to glow brighter and brighter, and the distinction between each thread becomes harder to make out.
My mind goes blank as it happens over and over again.
Dozens of heartbeats and compressions echo through my mind and body, and the division becomes blurred between physical threads manifesting a sphere and what feels like pure liquid divine energy filling a shrinking orb in my chest.
I remember the visualization of this part of the process when the Lich King showed me, but it didn't look like it took this long and so many compressions to do it.
Either my core is different because of the extreme accelerated way I'm awakening it, or its manifestation of the event was simplified for teaching purposes.
All I know is, after what felt like an eternity in my mind passes, I finally feel a final heartbeat, and I'm able to feel my body again and take a deep gasp of air.
My eyes widen, and shine bright with yellow and white light as a shockwave ripples from my chest.
I look to the left, then right, then down at my hands, and in the same process get a clean visual of a marble-sized core in my chest.
The energy inside it cycles so fast it just looks like a clear crystal ball with silky wisps of yellow energy emanating from it.
I can hear and see my breath in the air, and without thinking much of it, I leave through the escape route below me out of the obsidian dome.
The sun is beating down on me as I float up through the hundreds of twisting black branches into the air effortlessly.
My [Flight] skill is activated, and silky white and yellow wisps of divine energy flow off of my entire body.
The energy is so dense that it takes hundreds of meters to flow away before it separates enough to appear in thread form and disperse into the atmosphere.
I float higher and higher into the air, looking down at the obsidian forest that has stretched out for about a full kilometer in diameter and over 5 kilometers high up into the sky.
It looks beautiful.
The glossy black leaves of the trees reflect the desert's sunlight, and the furthest edge of the obsidian forest reaches close to the edge of the Abyss.
The dozens of green fruits' worth of energy they consumed really nourished this forest far more than I initially expected.
I would be concerned, but we're over a hundred kilometers away from the Crimson City, and I have much more than just this on my mind.
I feel so much stronger that it almost doesn't feel real...
My enemy detection and natural perception skills activate, pulsing out a bright white and yellow light from my forehead. The overwhelming amount of information that flows into my mind forces a smile onto my face.
The first thing I notice is my teammates sparring in the desert with the Lich King watching; all four of them have fully awakened red cores.
The next thing I notice is the Crimson City, and many surrounding smaller villages I can perceive in full clarity.
This is already a major step up in my perception.
Before this awakening, I could sense the people in my city, but I couldn't see them with such fine detail and ease.
However, this is only the start.
My eyes widen the moment I see all of the Sector 3 farmlands down to each individual blade of grass and am able to perceive a deep scan of Valor City deep inside Sector 1.
The edge of my crystal-clear senses reaches into the outer edges of Sector 4. I can't see into the mainland of the 8 Great Regions far west of here just yet, but this massive jump in strength makes me believe that one day it will be possible.
The outer regions of the Abyss creep into my senses, showing crystal clear depictions of familiar creatures roaming in its darkness and even some new monstrous demonic creatures that make the sand worms seem harmless.
However, the further I try to scan into it, the more I realize this Abyss is even more mysterious than I thought. There is a dark black blind spot in its center that is completely invisible to me despite it being well within my perception's range.
Once I realize this, my mind wanders off to places I'm able to perceive.
I sense the mainland's borders to the west, and high up north, I sense fuzzy intuitive images of a very cold mountainous region. Below me, far to the south, I sense a dangerous volcanic region as well.
These unexplored areas never came onto my radar until just now. I make a mental note of it while I continue to admire my new power.
It's all baffling.
Thousands of kilometers of range just opened up to me in my perception, and my Rising Emperor's Domain has increased to match this upgrade, making the range in which I can share and take power and skills at maximum potential close to 2000 km.
I want to take out my sword, and even activate my greater form to try out some attacks using my full power, but it feels like doing so may put anyone near me in serious danger.
I'll have to travel out to an even more desolate area of desert than this; just a hundred or so kilometers away from the city doesn't feel like it will be enough. Residue from my attacks would surely harm innocent citizens.
Even now, as I slowly float down toward the desert floor away from the obsidian forest, the sand bends away from my feet, making me feel like I'm living on another plane of existence to the real world around me.
To make sure touching down on the desert is possible without destroying the landscape, I contract my perception aura and activate my purple limiter.
By the time my feet touch the ground, all of the divine energy from my new core is contained inside my body, and I make my way toward my teammates, making sure not to let any extra aura slip out.
My mind wanders back to the violent rejection my body and mind gave me when I tried to get close to the green serpent in the sky within the divine construct.
The reaction the ground gave me when I tried to land on it before felt similar, so releasing my full power, even if it's just my natural aura around my teammates, may be unbearable or even deadly.
Even if they've grown stronger, it's not a risk I'm willing to take right now. So, I airstep using only mana as I make my way over, keeping all of my Divine Energy locked away.
The Lich King's words of True Core awakenings all being different, and the possibility of them granting new abilities repeats in my mind as the 5 of them come into view.
There is only one day remaining until I'm scheduled to meet the Apex Region's Director to negotiate our contract, however the curiosity of what unique ability my True Core has granted me is all I can think about right now.
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Author's Note:
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