[Initiating Core Formation Process]
[Likelihood of Success: 99%]
The system's cold voice announced.
David wanted to protest and ask why the chance of success wasn't a hundred percent.
But before he could do anything, he felt the remainder of his mana being pulled up towards his head.
There was a surge of mana, towards the channel that led up to the obelisk.
Laying on the block, David looked up, and the white flames burning on the obelisk suddenly shone brighter, and began to move.
"Haaah!"
The sound of someone being plunged into a freezing bath came from David.
Like a river, the white flames gathered together, pouring down onto David's body, bathing him in flame.
David closed his eyes as the flames washed over him, but he could still see the blinding white light.
David felt like he was thrust into an icy river, the flames didn't burn, instead, they did the opposite, freezing him down to his bones.
At the very center of the cavern, a white bonfire rose towards the sky, at the base of obelisk, and within its depths was David.
The patterns beneath him came alive, wriggling like snakes, they lifted out of the stone, laying all over David's skin.
The flames flooded into David's body, filling it with mana, from the very tips of his fingers to his toes.
All the mana he had used up was refilled in an instant.
All of his hair started to float into the air, the mana concentration in the air rising rapidly.
The pattens over his body all surged came together over his abdomen, and the flames around him grew brighter, closing up around his body..
David's eyes snapped open, his purple and black eyes staring to the sky in shock.
His mouth opened in a silent scream.
All the mana in his body flooded towards an area just below his navel, David felt like something was twisting his insides viciously.
The flames grew thick around him, and his body lifted off of the stone slab. His arms and legs were convulsing, and his eyes had rolled back into his head, the whites staring up into the sky.
The mana spun in a circle, first forming a cloud of mana.
As it spun, the mana grew more and more dense.
David's body shook even more and he started to foam at the mouth.
He started to foam at the mouth, and his breathing became erratic.
All over David's body, purple tentacles were bursting out of his skin. The process was failing, and the system was desperately trying to hold his dying body together.
[User! If you can hear me, please try and pull the mana together!]
The system's cold voice had a hint of desperation.
But David didn't even stir, there was no response from him. His mind was overwhelmed by the shock of the strange mana that filled the ruin.
Within the flames, David was no longer recognizable. Where he had been was now a vaguely human shaped mass of flesh and tentacles, twitching in desperation.
The flames started to fade, and the life faded from David.
But in that moment, the faintest hint of gold appeared in the spinning disc of mana.
Even unknown to the system, tiny golden symbols forced a portion of the mana to form a tiny clump, unnoticed within the spinning disc.
That was all it took. The flames around David surged towards his navel, and the spinning disc converged in on the clump.
The clump collected all the spinning mana together, forming a small spinning red sphere.
David had successfully formed his Red Core.
It had taken the briefest moment for the core to form, and instantly, David's condition stabilized.
The tentacles disappeared, and his body gently fell back onto the stone slab.
He looked virtually unchanged, his eyes closed as though he were asleep.
For a long while, David lay there, his body repairing itself.
When he opened his eyes, the cave was totally dim, all the white flames had disappeared.
Unaware of how close to death he had come, David crossed his legs and focused.
Within his abdomen, he could detect a tiny sphere of red mana, spinning around, sending mana through his body.
"Having mana without a core is like having blood without a heart."
Brogan's voice came back to David. He let out a sigh, if only he could show Brogan, he would have been so proud.
Forming a core was one of the most significant things a human could do, it separated those who could continue on the path to power to those who could not.
Once someone had a core, they were only limited by their mana gathering technique, the core would only continue to grow as it was fed more mana.
And David, with the assistance of the system, was not limited by this.
An idea formed in David's mind as these thoughts ran through his mind. All around this cavern, he had left a treasure trove of mana.
And even better, since these zombies were in a technical sense, still alive, the effectiveness of Consume wouldn't be affected.
'How could I forget to collect my loot?'
David almost laughed out loud, and jumped down from the stone block.
Initially, David headed straight for the three star zombie, not only would it yield the most mana, but he could also now collect the artifact that it wore.
Looking at the CoreScanner, David ran through the dimmed cavern. He was" amazed by how much more fluidly he was able to move, the mana in his body moved almost automatically.
It almost felt like he was flying through the air, if David had a core when he had first encountered these zombies, they would have been a joke.
"Guuuh."
"Guaaa"
The zombie had wriggled quite a distance from where it had fallen.
David landed softly on the ground behind it, and it barely even turned. Another benefit of his red core was that the fine control of mana also allowed David to move even more quietly.
David laid his hand on the zombie's back, and the now familiar purple tentacles burst out and burrowed into its body.
The stream of mana still burned as it flowed into David, but the process had become much faster, David's mana core spun as it absorbed the influx of mana.
Its core reduced to nothing, the body of the zombie crumbled into nothingness.
Clink
The heavy gold necklace that caused David so much trouble fell to the ground, along with the zombie's leather clothing.
David picked up the necklace, taking in the beautiful patterns. The safest place for it would be around his neck, but David was disturbed with the idea of wearing something a zombie had worn.
Tucking it safely away in a pouch on his belt, David made his way around the rest of the cavern.
[User! Please slow down, overusing Consume at this rate may cause an instability in your core.]
[Especially due to the instability in formation!]
"Huh?"
David frowned, his head was fuzzy, as though drunk, so much more mana was coursing through his body.
He didn't know anything about an instability. But he still stopped in his tracks, he had just absorbed the mana from the last of zombies within the cavern.
"Fine, last one. Let's see what I got."
'Status!'