One Last System

'If there isn't enough energy in all those pure mana resources, then why shouldn't I cultivate using pure mana alone?' I thought.

The goal for my current cultivation was to get strong enough to safely keep all the anti-mana scattered on the battlefield in my own system. And while I got considerably stronger just by absorbing the normal monster remains...

Without breaking through my current stage, there was no way I could take care of the small lake of liquified anti-mana all on my own!

'Well then,' I thought, taking a deep breath and closing my eyes to focus on the task. 'Let's crack this nut!'

First came starting the engine. A process that was near impossible to achieve without pure mana already in my system.

Just like building a Dyson sphere for a civilization required so much energy, it was often said to build a Dyson sphere you needed a Dyson sphere, my engine had the same type of paradox.

In order to kickstart a mana engine, I needed to use an equivalent amount of energy to what it could produce.

Thankfully, not even after all the fighting from before did I use all of the pure mana that I produced when my engine was still running.

As such, rather than clashing both mana and anti-mana with all my strength and pushing myself to the limits while doing so... I simply ignited my pure mana before throwing both of the basic components at the fire I already started!

BOOM!

A small shockwave exploded outwards.

It was a mere reaction of the surrounding air to the sudden saturation of my aura with immense energy. And as something purely physical, my formation had no chance of confining it.

"Ugh," Levi moaned in disgust when all the filth I separated from the resources and which stacked on the outline of my outer formation ended up kicked up by the shockwave and thrown all around the place.

His super high level of cultivation raised his senses to their limits, giving him enough time to at least raise his arm and shield his face.

But he was an exception. And everyone else, Mia included, ended up with quite a bit of that disgusting filth covering them from head to toe.

'Shit,' I cursed under my breath, nearly losing my focus when I saw the displeased expression appearing on Mia's face.

I managed to collect myself only with the greatest mental effort. As much as I hated this kind of small incident happening, things would take turn for the worse and they would do so pretty damn quickly if I were to lose control over the energies that continued to ramp up within the formation.

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"Haaa...." I let out a long sigh, forcing all the unnecessary thoughts aside.

And then, I started to do two things at once.

First, I directed all the world's energy still left in my system and one that I gained from cultivation to the mana engine at my heart. Then, I started to add the anti-mana that I pulled inside the ring of my formations, turning both of those opposing energies into fuel for my engine.

And then, as if I didn't try to do it in the past only to find out how stupid of an idea it was, I started to directly absorb the pure energy that came out of the engine.

'FUCK!' I inwardly screamed out.

My entire body tensed up. The influx of this extremely potent energy was something that my body has yet to gain the ability to handle. Yet, rather than simply burning away, the seed of endless growth of cultivation that I sowed by cultivating all the levels before started to finally grow out its stem.

So, when faced with an unprecedented amount of energy now not only flowing through it but also getting absorbed by my very cells and mana system... It started to evolve.

My eyes went wide open. I closed my fists down on themselves so hard the whites of my knuckles started to show through my skin.

My body wasn't burning... but it sure feel like it!

After all, an evolution of this level... was nothing else but every tiniest cell of my body dying, decomposing, and then getting reborn in a form now capable of holding up a tiny amount of the pure mana that coursed through my system.

This kind of thing happened to me in the past. In fact, this was a process I went through back when I cultivated through the very first stage!

The difference lay in the rate at which this process was taking place.

Because back in the first stage, I simply reformed my body. And now, I was doing it thousands of times at once only to start over and over again.

With each evolution, I could feel my body becoming sturdier and more resilient than before.

And then, it struck me. A simple realization that I reached only when going through this torture.

'This kind of progress... isn't the same as all the ones I went through before!'

Unlocking meridians stage, qi tempering stage, core expansion stage... even all the enlightenment stages. All of them and most of the rest weren't about the body.

Up until this point, save for that one encounter with fire energy back in the Tuxi outerpost, all my advancements were focused on improving my mana flow and parts of it that I created by cultivating.

But now that I started to absorb the pure mana at a crazy rate, it wasn't the mana pathways in my flesh that were evolving.

It was my very flesh that had to reform and grow stronger!

'Is this the enlightenment I needed?' I thought, recalling the requirements I always was late to satisfy when cultivating in the enlightenment stage.

So, rather than wasting time trying to come up with the answer on my own, I simply glanced over to my system.

***

Novice Ascendent (73 796B/500 000B)

[

Body Ascendance:  73 796B/200 000B

??? : 1/200 000B

??? :  1/100 000B

]