The samurai Haunt died, but since Phantom Spark didn't purify it, the Haunt's body broke down and shrank before turning into a round sphere filled with curse energy.
[This is a Haunt core. It forms after killing a Haunt and there are two main uses of a Haunt core.]
Aeron went to pick up the core while Lapis continued.
[First, Curse Absorption. You can send this core to your source region with your will after you infuse a bit of curse energy in it.]
[There, you can put this core above your curse source and let it absorb it. The speed of absorption and amount of increase to your curse power depends on a single factor.]
Lapis's expression turned serious as she added.
[Your ability to withstand mental and physical pain—because when your curse source purifies a Haunt core, you will receive negative effects like mental attacks and curse marks on your body depending on the Haunt core.]
[If you resist and endure better, the speed of your absorption and the amount of curse power you gain will increase. C-grade Haunt cores can give you curse power up to 500, but only a few can achieve a high-level absorption rate because this pain is related to your soul, not your brain.]
Aeron looked at the glassy black core with flame-like red patterns on it. 'Is it like the higher the grade of the core, the more powerful the negative effects?'
[Exactly. Next the 2nd use of a Haunt core—Spirit Training. You can focus and send your consciousness into a Haunt core with spirit power. You'll basically enter into a nightmare.]
[You will experience terrible things depending on the Haunt core's nature and its power, and also a lot of will grinding that's painful. To increase your spirit power, you have to do that.]
[The more powerful Haunt core you choose for your Spirit Training, the better the result of the training.]
[However, if your consciousness gets injured and you can't handle yourself in the nightmare, you can even lose your spirit power.]
'Sounds exciting,' Aeron grinned.
[And well, you can also sell this core, which you will do for some quick money for food.]
'Can I store this core in my magical inventory of Phantom Spark?' Aeron wondered as he looked at the core and willed it to vanish.
It indeed disappeared to his surprise. 'Great, it works on things that Phantom Spark didn't produce as well.'
[Just take a look at it. You don't have much space at the moment, but it's based on singular quantity.]
Aeron nodded.
[Phantom Inventory]
_Slots: [46/50]
—> Haunt Cores: 1 x C-grade.
—> Phantom Gears: 3
'So I can put fifty things total, eh? Of any size?'
[I don't know. It's your boon. You have to experiment and discover. You should be able to increase the slots as well.]
'Alright,' Aeron nodded before he stretched his arms and legs. 'It's been a while since I felt such a physical pain, haha.'
Aeron then looked for a good tree trunk to use as a ride on the river.
[Search this hilly forest thoroughly first. I sensed a resource when you activated the field.]
'Oh yeah, you mean that spot?' Aeron started walking deeper into the hilly forest away from the river.
Roughly a hundred meters away, he had sensed some strange aura within his Field when he activated it to attract that samurai Haunt.
[Yes, that's it!]
Lapis's eyes slightly shone as she chuckled.
[You got your first Mystic resource from a Dark Ruin. This must have grown recently or mutated because of the current state of this Dark Ruin thanks to Lady Shear's arrival. Usually, the whole periphery area of the forest is void of resources since Phantom Hunters regularly come here and take everything.]
Aeron walked behind a boulder and bent down, looking at the arm-long magical plant with a flower. It was a glowing white-petaled flower with cyan and red patterns.
'Magic flower,' Aeron chuckled. 'What can you do with this?'
[You can use these Mystic Resources from Dark Ruins for multiple things. First—Phantom Ability Potions: These are the most demanding things in the market aside from food, but also the hardest to produce.]
[You must use resources and your mastery of Spirit and Curse powers to brew ability potions that grant magic abilities to people.]
'I do want to create flashy magic powers because that's fun and exciting,' Aeron grinned. 'That Lady Shear is so damn powerful and magical. I want that level of power.'
Lapis wryly smiled.
[You have to work hard for that.]
'Working hard is not new for me,' Aeron shrugged. 'I've worked hard every day ever since I was five.'
Lapis nodded. She had seen Aeron's memories and how he lived from 5 years of age to 19 and became a little terror like that.
[Second—Phantom Gears: Mystic Resources can be used to craft items as well. The knowledge of ancient crafting and forging combined with discovered knowledge of curse and spirit powers and these resources allowed humanity to create Phantom Gears after years of trials and errors.]
'Interesting.'
[Gear Crafters are still seeking to craft stronger gears to survive and win against the reigning terror of Haunts. You can definitely expand this field with your Phantom Spark's boons.]
Lapis's eyes glinted.
[Phantom Spark is a cosmic boon. Its potential is unknown, though it's also wholly dependent on you to unlock and discover it.]
[Lastly—Mystic Pills: You can also use Mystic resources to concoct Pills that grant various temporary magic effects. These are the highest in demand for regular Phantom Hunters, and they are also produced the highest.]
[This field is explored and progressed by more people than the previous two because it's relatively easier to learn, but hard to master and pioneer further nonetheless.]
'Gotcha. So it's like those medical pills that cure illness, but these ones give magical effects.'
[Recovery-type pills are also used to heal, remove curses, and recover from illness as well.]
'Oh...multiple types and uses, eh? Got it,' Aeron nodded before asking. 'Do I pull this flower-plant from the root, or just cut off the flower from its plant?'
[Take the whole plant from the root. If you only cut the flower, it will quickly lose its power.]
'Gotcha.'
Aeron was about to dig his hand into the ground to root out the plant, but then he paused and rubbed his chin. 'What if….'
He touched the plant and willed it to put it inside his Phantom Spark's inventory.
In the next moment, the plant vanished and entered his inventory.
[…alright, that works as well. I didn't know.]
'Experiment and explore,' Aeron chuckled before standing up and looking around for a good tree.
After finding a solid tree, Aeron cut it off, shaved its trunk off the branches, and also cut the upper part a bit for standing space to make it look like a crude trunk-boat.
'Alright, our next ride is ready. I also recovered my energy thanks to the fear aura of other Haunts that ran away from that samurai, haha. We are good to go.'
[Mhmm.]
…
After crossing five kilometers more on the river and farming 230 Phantom Points, with the majority of Haunts being E-grade, Aeron jumped off the river again.
He didn't walk but ran fast as he was hungry, and wanted to reach the city fast.
He used all applications of Curse and Spirit power on the way, increasing his proficiency by practicing all the time and killing the Haunts when encountered them. But this time, he deactivated Phantom Spark's effect again to gather Haunt cores.
Aeron didn't have to worry about recovering his energy as he got close to his destination since the amount of fear aura in the atmosphere increased as he neared the Fourth Sanctuary city. 'It looks like people are scared because of this anomaly happening in the forest.'
[Yep. Especially because if Lady Shear decides to attack the city, they won't have any way to save themselves. She won't even kill everyone, but only according to her whims. Do you see that mountain range? The city starts at its south area's base. Behind the range is the city, but you can't see it because of the mountains.]
[The river went to the north, and it will pass by the northern mountain in the range before entering the city's back area.]
Aeron nodded. 'The mountain range acts as a good wall I guess.'
[Wall and also a spot for low-grade resources.]
As Aeron was moving southeast toward the city's entry area, he suddenly sensed a bunch of familiar types of auras, different from Haunts.
'Humans.'
[They also discovered you if you discovered them because at this time, only Phantom Hunters would be outside of the city.]
'Nice. I guess I am back home then,' Aeron cheekily grinned.