The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion

Damian spent the next couple of hours hunting down more light elemental spirits to obtain their cores, intending to extract the [Light Essence] to increase his reserves.

After that, he extracted the essence from several elemental cores he had, bringing all the elemental essences to the same level.

Next, he spent about 500,000 gold to purchase [Mana Crystals] and [Qi Crystals] from the system shop and another 500,000 gold to acquire a few [Holy Crystals].

He extracted them all, increasing his energy reserves to match the levels of his other energy reserves.

Finally, he succeeded in bringing them all to exactly the same level.

-----

{{Energy Reserves}}

Mana: 350 | Qi: 350

Fire Essence: 350 | Wood Essence: 350

Water Essence: 350 | Earth Essence: 350

Wind Essence: 350 | Ice Essence: 350

Lightning Essence: 350 | Light Essence: 350

Darkness Essence: 350 | Holy Essence: 350

-----

Damian went back to the [Temple of Unity], where all the elemental fairies, along with some monster-shaped spirits, resided.

Even though these spirits looked dangerous, they were peaceful within this area.

The [Temple of Unity] seemed to have a unique effect, as the aggressive spirits of this world, like the ones he had fought, stayed far away from it.

Curious about this, Damian asked the fairies why that was the case.

They explained that only peaceful spirits who coexist harmoniously with others were allowed in this place.

That explained why the aggressive spirits didn't even dare to approach the temple.

After learning a few things from the fairies, Damian retrieved one of his rewards from the inventory.

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[Item: Book of Thaerris]

[A book containing complete records and information about all spirits, territories, environments, climates, atmospheres, nature, and other topics related to the world of elements, spirits, and spiritual beings known as Thaerris.]

-----

A thick, wide, and lengthy book containing thousands of pages manifested from thin air and landed in his hands.

Without wasting any time on irrelevant topics, Damian flipped straight to the [Spirits] section and began reading about the different kinds of spirits that lived in Thaerris.

Thaerris was about three and a half times larger than Earth, with approximately 60% of its surface covered in water.

About 35% of the spirits in Thaerris were fairies, while 50% were elemental spirits.

Elemental spirits were beings that came into existence through the condensation of elemental essence, eventually gaining sentience.

They varied in an immense range of shapes and sizes.

Some resembled snakes, some appeared as winged serpents, and others took the form of cats or birds.

Some elemental spirits lived underground, others underwater, and some even floated freely above the ground.

The remaining 15% of the spirit population consisted of non-elemental spirits.

These spirits were neither fairies nor elemental spirits, and they did not possess elemental essence as their life force.

Instead, they had access to a different type of energy unique to their kind.

Despite their differences, they were peaceful beings who rarely interacted with other spirits.

Even the most hyperactive and friendly fairies typically avoided disturbing them.

Though fairies occasionally annoyed these non-elemental spirits, they never provoked fights or displayed aggression.

Peace was simply in their nature.

These non-elemental spirits also have their own life force, which they cultivate.

Damian read through their information and saw an image of a spirit resembling a giant snake.

He was instantly reminded of seeing such a snake when he was traveling through the forest on his way to the [Temple of Unity].

"Can I even obtain the power these non-elemental spirits possess?" Damian wondered.

These non-elemental spirits are similar to fairies; they do not possess solid cores where they store their energy.

Most importantly, they are not aggressive, and Damian had no desire to kill them just to take their energy for himself.

The book stated that their energy could not be taken and had to be offered.

Even if the spirits willingly gave him their energy and taught him their ways, he was still human, albeit an evolved one.

The energy they possessed was even more mysterious than elemental essence.

It was possible that, despite his talents, he might not be able to attune to it.

"Let's just focus on the elemental essence and the other energies I possess first," Damian decided, pushing aside the persistent thoughts of acquiring the power of the non-elemental spirits.

He refocused his attention on elemental essence.

Damian's mind went over everything he had learned so far about elemental essence, searching for ways to make himself stronger.

There was nothing more important now than growing stronger, especially with the war coming in five days.

His thoughts drifted to the elemental cores within his Inner World.

He could feel the twelve energy cores spinning ethereally, each radiating different colors and distinct presences.

He ignored the [Mana Core], [Qi Core], and [Holy Essence Core] and focused only on the nine elemental cores.

Then, he opened his eyes and glanced at the monuments on the wall, depicting images of different spirits living together in harmony.

He then turned his gaze toward the spirits in the [Temple of Unity], where all the fairies of the nine elements played and giggled, alongside the non-elemental spirits who seemed just as comfortable in their presence.

It wasn't just them.

Larger elemental spirits like Firefox, Water Koi, and Cloud Rabbits also coexisted peacefully.

This place... the [Temple of Unity].

Every spirit treated it as their home, without discrimination against other elemental spirits.

"All the elements in one place..." Damian muttered.

Suddenly, his eyes began to glow with a faint white light, and then, all at once, his body started emitting a soft glow of different colors.

The nine elemental energies within him seeped out, surrounding him like swirling clouds of nine distinct colors, yet they did not react with one another.

This phenomenon caught the attention of every nearby spirit, even the non-elemental ones.

Every single spirit that saw him immediately stopped what they were doing and turned their focus toward him.

Damian had entered a state of complete concentration.

He felt as if he were on the verge of achieving something unprecedented.

"Every element in unity... every element in one place..."

Subconsciously, Damian used his incredible control over energy.

He began to manipulate the elemental essence from the nine elemental cores within him, channeling them all toward a single point.

The nine elemental forces, drawn from all directions, gathered and converged toward a single location.

As this happened, his presence grew stronger and stronger.

Spirits from the mountains and the surrounding areas were drawn toward him, gathering to witness what was unfolding.

Just as it seemed like something extraordinary was about to take form within his inner world, just as the nine elemental essences compressed further into a single point, everything suddenly stopped.

The glow in his eyes faded, and the phenomenon disappeared instantly.

"No... I can't do this," Damian murmured, shaking his head as his concentration shattered completely.

"I can't do this, knowing that there are still more powers I could obtain..."

Damian sighed.

No matter how much he wanted to ignore it, he couldn't shake the awareness that non-elemental spirits stood nearby, beings from whom he could potentially acquire even more power.

Knowing that untapped potential was right beside him, he couldn't bring himself to continue halfheartedly.

Moreover, it went against his very nature, his insatiable desire to obtain everything.

He didn't want partial strength.

He wanted the full package.

He wouldn't accept anything less, especially when more power was within his reach.

"Oh god, what should I do now?" Damian muttered, irritation creeping into his voice.

There were many possibilities before him.

He could ask the non-elemental spirits to teach him their powers, but he wasn't sure if that was possible.

From what he had learned in the [Book of Thaerris], the abilities possessed by non-elemental spirits were incredibly mysterious, perhaps even more so than the nine elements of nature.

Not necessarily in terms of raw power, but in the very nature of their existence.

Even if he had the potential to learn these abilities, he didn't know whether these spirits would be willing to teach him.

"Let's see what fate decides is the best path for me," Damian muttered.

He summoned an item from his system inventory, and a silver card materialized in his hand.

-----

[Item: Path Finder Card]

Uses all available information to analyze the potential benefits of each path or decision, then provides the best possible course of action.

-----

"Tell me," Damian crushed the card as a quick, intense flash of silver light painted the [Temple of Unity].

The green-haired woman and Eden watched his actions with calm expressions, as if it were no big deal.

"So close... he could have entered the state of Epiphany. Why did it break?" the green-haired woman asked.

"You can't enter that state half-heartedly. He has a strong will, but it's not strong enough to control his even stronger desire to take everything for himself. He wants all the power there is," Eden sighed.

"How far is he planning to go?"

"Infinite? Hehe," Eden chuckled. "I don't know. I can't predict him because this time, he is so different and beyond my scope of predictability."

"Do you think those spirits will teach him their powers?" Eden asked, rubbing her chin.

"Absolutely, yes. But his spirituality hasn't grown enough yet..." the green-haired woman nodded.

"Then I know which path I should send him on now," Eden smiled as she quietly manipulated the results of the [Path Finder Card] Damian was using.

"What are you doing? You know we are not supposed to directly interfere in his growth. He has to do it on his own," the green-haired woman narrowed her eyes.

"Relax, I didn't do anything. I didn't change the result of his [Path Finder Card]. I just changed the order of things he should do. Moreover, the system wouldn't allow me to do it if it went against the rules," Eden shrugged, grinning from ear to ear.