As the cosmically tiny speck of a Chaos Essence came closer to the pore and the moment it touched the meridian, like a wick of a cracker being lit.
_PAT_
His finger swelled up immediately and then exploded.
"AAAAAHHHHH!" Lu Sheng screamed in agony, the pain sudden and excruciating, his face contorted in a rictus of suffering.
[Are you alright?]
"Does it look like I'm alright?" Lu Sheng snapped, gritting his teeth against the waves of pain radiating from his ruined finger, his expression one of barely contained fury.
[I don't know, the reaction was much stronger than the previous one. Previously at least we were able to pull much further within before any violent reaction like this, so I am not sure what is going on.]
"So, we are in a worse situation, so this new body is way more reactive to Chaos Essence than the previous one? Does it make sense?" Lu Sheng asked, his brow furrowed in confusion and concern as he tried to make sense of the unexpected turn of events.
[Nothing makes sense and we should not experiment anymore.]
Lu Sheng did not want to agree, but the pain convinced him otherwise. However, as he saw his index finger start to heal, regrowing like his body was not made of flesh or as if he were inside some video game, his eyes widened in astonishment.
"Woah, check this out!" he exclaimed, staring with wide eyes.
[I see that.]
"What's going on? This is crazy!" Lu Sheng couldn't believe what he was seeing, staring at his healed finger in disbelief.
[I have no idea. I would have said that this is this Standard Trial's magic but even I am not sure of it now.]
The Automated System admitted, at a loss, to explain the inexplicable healing abilities Lu Sheng seemed to have suddenly acquired, leaving them both confused by the bizarre turn of events.
[Let's not risk further experiments and focus on our original objective. There's nothing here for cultivation, and we lack the resentment needed for the Shinigami Soul Reaper Method.]
"Fine," Lu Sheng agreed begrudgingly, but was clearly not happy about abandoning his experiments, a petulant frown on his face. The lingering pain in his finger stopped him from being daring or stupid for now. "Let's quickly collect and leave this place, Automate it." he said impatiently.
[Automation Initiated.]
His both hands came closer and his fingertips started throbbing as the Chaos Essence in the air around started to get collected at the center point of both hands. A tiny dark dot formed at the center as it started to get bigger.
"How much time will it take?" Lu Sheng asked, unable to hide his impatience.
[On an estimation this will take at least 15 mins and after that some more time to test its stabilization, this is not Neutral Essence so need to make sure it will not explode on our face.]
"This is too long, at this rate we will only be able to make one at most." Lu Sheng pointed out the limited time they have, a hint of frustration in his voice.
[Yeah, we need more time or we need more inflow of Chaos Essence.]
"More Inflow? Do you mean we need to kill some wolves?" Lu Sheng asked, a calculating look in his eyes as his mind raced.
[But we don't have wolves now.]
Lu Sheng looked down on his clone, a sinister idea forming as his gaze landed on the defenseless figure.
[You are thinking about...]
"No, I am not that psycho...do I?" Lu Sheng asked with false innocence, a twisted smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
[What? NO!]
"Okay, okay, just asking." Lu Sheng backtracked with an exaggerated roll of his eyes, but the dark glint in them suggested he was not being entirely truthful about abandoning the idea.
[How can you even ask this?]
"It was just a curious question, it's not like I will do it." Lu Sheng claimed with an unconvincing smirk and a shrug, leaving doubts about the sincerity of his words.
"So this was all a total waste in the end..." Lu Sheng said dejectedly.
[It wouldn't have been if we had just focused on our original goal.]
"Yeah, yeah, blame me." Lu Sheng responded defensively, rolling his eyes in irritation at being scolded. He didn't like being told he was wrong.
[It's not like we can do this only once, after getting out of here, let's try again.]
"NO thanks, I am feeling hungry, let's eat first and..." He tried to stretch his body like he had done hard labor all day, but stopped because Spirit Bead is still forming at the center, "...take a nice long nap."
[...]
"Automate my body too, I am taking a nap anyway." He wanted to take anyway as he decided to take it now when he remembered something. "Wait!"
He quickly checked the spatial ring.
"Our first Spirit Bead, where is it?" He quickly asked, his brow furrowed with concern.
[It was in the robe, right?]
"Yes, where is it?" He stood up abruptly and his sudden movement broke the Spirit Bead forming as the tiny dark dot collapsed at the center with a pop.
[Ahh! Why did you do that?]
"Oh! Sorry! But where is it?" Lu Sheng asked again, his eyes frantically searching around, oblivious to his mistake.
[Just like the Spatial Ring, our Spirit Bead would also be easily detected, in fact, it would attract more than the Spatial Ring...strange.]
"We should look for it." Lu Sheng decided
[Why? It's just a Spirit Bead, we can make more later.]
"You don't have sentiments, right? That was our first Spirit Bead and nobody gave us, we made it. It has value far more than just a Spirit Bead."
Lu Sheng ignored the System words, a determined glint in his eyes. "We still have time, right? The Spirit Bead can't have gone far. Start scanning the area. Every nook and cranny." He stood up and kicks the close on the ground. "Stand up and follow me,"
[Fine, but this is a waste of time. We can make another one later.]