'What!?' Raymond's brain went into overdrive as the wisps entered his chest and made a beeline for his fractured magical core. A pleasant warmth spread throughout his body as the strange cloud of energy nicely wrapped itself around his core. And further showing its appreciation, Phantom Shifter spread around the surface of his core, forming a layer of protection that prevented his mana from leaking out of the cracks.
'Did I just steal an Innate Spirit?' Raymond blinked. Although his plan was to check if he could control the wisps as he did with the heavenly lightning, he ended up taking the Innate Spirit for himself. Obviously, Raymond didn't know it was an Innate Spirit that was around Eldric's body. If he knew he would have wholeheartedly tried to snatch it away.
Either way, the Innate Spirit belonged to him now. A series of information about the spirit entered his mind as the Phantom Shifter nicely settled on the surface of his core.
'Phantom Shifter?' Raymond's hands turned transparent as if made of a gaseous substance. However, Raymond was not paying attention to what was happening to his body on the outside, since his magical core was going under a tremendous change. As soon as the Phantom Shifter formed a layer of protection around his core, the white light in the centre of his core shone with fervour.
The ambient mana surged towards his body, forming eddies of magical energy in the surrounding forest. Raymond was like a huge vortex that was absorbing all the mana in the vicinity.
Raymond's lips quivered in nervous excitement as he realised what was happening with his core. It was being filled for the first time in his life. The fractures were rendered useless by the Innate Spirit and the mana absorbed by his core had no way of leaking outside.
If he could somehow add rotation to his core, he could be called a proper cultivator.
Raymond was too excited to think about the future, his damned core was finally whole, well, as long as the Innate Spirit was providing cover for the cracks, but that didn't deter him from cheering loudly in his mind. He could store mana in his core just as much as others, or maybe even more since he was a demigod.
He called back his Aura and it quickly receded into his body, hovering right above his newly plastered core.
"Aaargghh!"
As soon as the Aura disappeared, Eldric let out a painful shriek as he found himself abruptly stuffed inside the earth. His legs were crushed by the sudden change and Eldric felt his future children dying in front of him as his family jewels were shattered by the force of ground squeezing around him.
If it was someone weaker, they would've already died by the time their body below the waist was completely crushed. Sometimes it was a curse to be strong, such was Eldric's case. He couldn't die instantly but instead held onto his life because of the abundant life force given by his high cultivation level.
Tears mixed with blood streamed down his face. His eyelids became laden with all the sins he had committed. In his mind numbed by the extreme pain, Eldric started to hear the cheering laughs of thousands of souls he had sacrificed for the pyramid summoning ritual.
Raymond was momentarily distracted by the ear-piercing scream of Eldric and his gaze fell on the ring Eldric was wearing. Raymond ruthlessly snatched it away from the screaming elf.
Eldric glared at him in hatred since that was all he could do. His core was split, making it impossible to use magic in retaliation. Eldric was helplessly trapped and could only wait for his death— which arrived sooner than he had thought. Surely, the human hated him enough to let him suffer more, but apparently, that wasn't the case. By the time Eldric realised he was insignificant in the eyes of this human, death was knocking at his door.
Raymond stomped on the head of Eldric and buried him alive deep inside the ground. Since he was in a hurry, Raymond decided to suffocate the thief to death. Eldric's life force was like a candlelight that was about to be snuffed out, so there was little chance of him surviving without breathing.
After that, Raymond's eyes fell on Ronan, who was standing further away from him and observing everything with a sombre face. Raymond smirked at him and jumped towards the sky.
-Mana Blast-
Raymond, for the first time in his life, used a spell. To be honest, the Mana Blast was not considered a proper spell since it didn't require any specified mana circulation to use it, unlike other spells. It was the most basic spell one could perform. In fact, Raymond was perfectly capable of casting this spell before today, but due to the special circumstances with his highly refined mana, he had refrained from doing so for fear of destroying something precious.
-BOOM!
The space rippled like the surface of a lake as he unleashed the little burst of concentrated mana from his hands and changed his direction mid-air, flying off towards the World Tree. Raymond was still cautious about using his mana recklessly, as such he had only used a few drops of it to launch himself in the direction he wanted to go.
The clouds were returning to their original place and slowly converging around the World Tree. Raymond was pleased to see that the tree had started to recover. However, the crown of the tree was twisted in a weird way that spoiled its beauty. Raymond decided to help and with another well-placed Mana Blast, he spiralled towards the thickest branch.
His nails dug into the wood and Raymond used it as leverage to turn around the tree, bringing the branch with him as he swerved around. With several audible crunches— as a result of interlocked branches breaking apart— the World Tree's 'head' turned and returned to its previous state.
Raymond manoeuvred himself and safely landed on the branch, which was big enough for a four-horse carriage to travel easily. Looking at the empty crown of the trees devoid of any leaves, Raymond sighed. He was thinking of quitting the mercenary job since he had found a steady source of income by trading with the elves.
'Maybe I can help it grow back quickly?' Raymond considered for a second and decided to check it. With a thought, a crown appeared on his head. Unlike before, the crown was fully manifested, shimmering golden in the faint moonlight of the evening. Raymond could form the crown within seconds after practising for a few days, provided that he stayed unmoving.
It was because of this reason that he dared to use Mana Blast just now. If he wasn't confident about not destroying the forest with the blast, he wouldn't have used it.
Raymond's back straightened as the crown manifested, as no slouch was worthy to wear the Crown of Supremacy. The sublime feeling of having the world at his fingertips filled his heart. Raymond had never felt so complete as his core was filled to the brim with mana.
He could properly spend his time refining the mana if he stopped doing mercenary work from now on since more mana meant more time needed for refining. If only his core was rotating, he could do it while still doing his work. Raymond did not let that thought ruin his mood.
"Uh…leaves grow back?" Raymond uttered intelligently.
"..."
"Well, this is awkward…" Raymond blinked and looked around to make sure that no one was watching him. "Ahem, I should meditate and get used to the changes before doing anything…"
He sat cross-legged on the branch and closed his eyes to meditate.
-Plop!
However, just as he was about to start meditating, a pleasant scent of wildflowers and fruits invaded his nose and Raymond felt a soft figure plopping down onto his lap.