Lynn held the glowing crystal carefully in his hands, turning it this way and that as he observed it closely. He could feel a faint, pleasant warmth emanating from the object.
"This zombie core contains the essence of the creature's power," Lynn muttered to himself. "But how do I extract and absorb that power?"
He thought back to novels and stories he had read involving crystals and magical cores. Often, the protagonist would consume the core directly or guide the energy into their bodies through focus and concentration.
Lynn closed his eyes and tried to concentrate, attempting to guide the energy from the crystal into his body. At first, nothing happened. But after several minutes, Lynn felt a tiny trickle of energy flow into him. However, it was merely a minuscule fraction of the crystal's overall power.
"At this rate, the trial dungeon will end before I can fully consume this core," Lynn realized. "And I don't even know if this tiny bit of energy is useful."
It was clear that something was missing. Some special technique or method was needed to properly absorb the core. Lynn racked his brain, trying to figure out a solution.
Lynn continued to ponder the problem of how to properly absorb the zombie core's power. "Maybe I should use my talent" Lynn muttered.
Lynn focused his mind and activated his talent.
"Gemini Soul."
His consciousness transferred into the soul of his previous life, floating in the air. The world now seemed distant, and his emotions faded away. His mind became like a processing machine.
Under the effect of [Gemini Soul], his memory and analytical capacity underwent drastic changes.
Unfortunately, he cannot use this talent frequently due to the continuous erasure of emotions during its activation. He fears that frequent use may lead to some permanent effects on himself.
From this higher dimension perspective, Lynn observed his body below, still under his control. With his piercing gaze, he could see through all secrets.
He could see his body below in intricate detail. He could see the flow of energy within his body, the movement of his muscles and bones, and even the subtlest of changes in his physical state.
In this heightened state, Lynn observed the zombie core intently.
Lynn could see that the zombie core was radiating a faint aura of energy. The aura was similar to the energy flowing within his body.
But as he observed it more closely, inside the glowing crystal, he noticed that there were three distinct types of energy swirling together inside of it, but in different quantities.
The largest and most prominent was a warm, white energy that felt pleasant and invigorating. It seemed to pulse with vitality and strength. It was similar to the energy flowing within his body.
In addition to the pleasant white energy, there were also two other types of energy entangled within - a gloomy, black energy and a transparent one. The black energy gave off a sense of decay and degradation, tangling with the transparent energy.
"The combination of these three energies is what constitutes the zombie crystal," Lynn realized.
If he simply consumed the core directly, he would most likely end up transforming into an undead creature due to the black energy.
With the advantage of his higher dimensional perspective, Lynn's memory, analytical ability, and control capacity underwent drastic improvements.
When Lynn repeated the process of absorbing a small fraction of energy from the crystal, it took only a dozen seconds.
But this time, through the eyes of his previous soul, he could see the energy particle clearly. Like watching a slowed-down video, Lynn observed the microscopic energy transfer into his body.
With every successful absorption, he memorized the path taken and tried to modify it to increase the speed.
So, each time he discovered a route that accelerated the absorption, Lynn modified and improved that pathway.
Although nearly half the crystal's energy was wasted in Lynn's experimentation on how to rapidly absorb it, it was worth it.
Now, without activating [Gemini Soul], he could absorb an entire zombie core in only a few minutes. And when he activates it, the absorption process becomes nearly instantaneous.
Through experimentation, Lynn also discovered that he could strengthen specific organs and muscles to increase a specific attribute.
After several minutes of this process, he had absorbed most of the invigorating white energy from the zombie core, while the remaining black and transparent energies dissipated into dust.
[Ding!]
[+1 Strength]
Lynn deactivated [Gemini Soul] state, returning to normal. Though he had only used it for less than 10 minutes, the rewards were incredible. He now had a method to rapidly strengthen himself by absorbing the zombie cores.
In just 10 minutes, the hunters had become the hunted. The zombies were now his prey. Lynn felt a thrill of excitement at this prospect.
As he contemplated his newfound power, Lynn heard a faint sound of footsteps approaching from the other side of the operating room door.
The footsteps were heavy, wandering back and forth.
"It should be a zombie." Muttered Lynn. It seemed to have sensed Lynn's existence and was looking for his location.
Lynn slowly picked up his fire axe and put it on his backpack. The sound of the zombie's pacing footsteps outside the door kept echoing.
He peeked through the operating room's window door, trying to catch a glimpse of the zombie.
A zombie wearing a hospital-patient outfit walked back and forth in the corridor, it seemed to be looking for something.
The door behind the zombie was kicked open heavily. Lynn appeared suddenly behind the zombie with his fire axe in hand. Before the zombie could turn around, Lynn slashed across its head with the axe.
Blood splattered everywhere as the fire axe sank deep into the zombie's skull. The zombie was killed instantly by Lynn's strike.
[+1 Zombie Killed, 2/15]
Lynn took a moment to catch his breath and extract the zombie core from this corpse before continuing down the corridor.
He knew he needed to move quickly before the noise of his previous battles attracted more zombies.