For a moment , it looked like Zac had built a bomb rather than a core , but that didn’t mean he stopped infusing the nucleus . There was no going back now . Either he finished the job , or he’d blow himself and the surrounding mountains to kingdom come . It only took a few seconds , but it felt like an eternity as he desperately applied the Void to every nook and cranny .
Then , the shaking stopped , and the energies turned docile after hours of madness . Zac looked on with bated breath until it seemed like his vantage shifted . Zac felt like he was looking at one of those images that changed motif depending on the angle from which you looked . A moment ago , the nucleus felt like a fake core , like someone had slapped a new coat of paint on a rotting house .
Now , it was perfect—an Evolutionary Core holding the shadow of Inexorability .
Well , almost perfect . Seven imperfections marred the complex structure after he’d been forced to excise the unstable sections , creating some disturbances in the energy flow . However , that level of damage was no worse than him getting a couple of cuts . He’d still be able to fight in that state , and his Cosmic Core would still work with issues this small .
Part of Zac just wanted to look at his creation and marvel , but he had to keep going . He swapped to his Draugr form and began the process anew with the other half of the Void Cloud . Inverting the core destabilized it again , but having one completed half made it sturdier . Even then , Zac filled the sections with extreme meticulousness until a complete Inexorable Core was born .
Zac just sat there staring at his creation with an immense sense of satisfaction .
Fifteen years it’d taken him to reach this point . Fifteen years of struggle , wracking his brain for a solution . A solution that would prove to the world they were wrong . That it was possible to form a core with Life and Death . Yet , even as he began this final process , he hadn’t been entirely sure whether he was chasing a wild fantasy or if he was really onto something .
Today , uncertainty finally turned into truth .
80
TOLL OF HEGEMONY
Zac released a heavy breath . Forming a nucleus obviously wasn’t the same as forming a core , but it was the step that worried him the most .
With that hurdle out of the way , Zac grabbed one of the Void Cores to extract its energy . A storm of chaotic energy entered his body , dragged straight into his heart before it could cause damage or create a mess . Infusing the cloud had drained him of most of his Void Energy , and he needed to recover some while he worked on the refinement arrays .
Turning his attention to the three items on their respective glowing array , Zac guessed they’d be ready in around an hour . He observed the golden metallic root atop the Life-attuned platform for a few seconds before shaking his head . It was a Life-attuned treasure at the top of Peak-quality , but the timing meant it couldn’t be used for his core . He grabbed the half-refined treasure and crushed it , swallowing some while letting the released toxic waves of Life enter through his pores and irradiate his body . It was better than letting it go to waste .
Waves of nausea hit him , but the feeling lessened as Zac dragged the immense energies into his soul and the cracks left by the splinter .
He still had a complicated relationship with Life in his Draugr form , but it wasn’t quite considered poisonous any longer . The infusion of Life ground against the stubborn slivers of Oblivion hidden in the scars , exhausting and erasing them . A similar scene played out inside his Soul Aperture , where the energies nurtured and healed the Life-attuned Soul Core .
Twenty minutes passed until the energy was expended , at which point Zac repeated the process with the Death-attuned treasure on the refinement array . The remaining active array didn’t need much input from him , so he figured he might as well eat some treasures to fix his body . Doing so would leave behind some impurities , but so what? A tribulation was just around the corner .
Zac engraved another Death-attuned treasure with a refinement pattern . The one he just used up would be refined too early . Besides , all the Life-Death treasures he’d prepared were matched up in pairs to ensure every layer would be balanced . Since the Life-attuned treasure had been discarded , the Death-attuned needed to go too . The choice of treasures holding the Dao of Conflict wasn’t as stringent , so the remaining metal would become the first piece of the core’s next layer .
Most cultivators would probably curse Zac for using such precious treasures like they were simple Healing Pills , but he had gathered way more than he needed during his years of collecting Mana . Losing a couple of sets wasn’t a big deal , and he felt a lot better by the time the Death-attuned treasure had been absorbed . Part of it was thanks to his soul being in a better state , and one part was simply relaxing from the pent-up stress .
Twenty minutes later , a spiritual nudge confirmed the War-attuned treasure was done . Zac pulled it over with telekinesis . The array on his stomach had already collapsed , So Zac placed the refined metal onto a sub-array next to him .
The material flickered and suddenly felt illusory—it was ready . Zac pushed it into his side , avoiding the broken tattoo just in case . The piece of metal passed through his body like a ghost until it reached the outer shell formed by the main Core Formation Array . At that time , it turned corporeal again as it entered .
The new piece of Conflict was like a small moon pulled by the gravity of a far greater planet . In fact , the nucleus’ pull was so strong that the new treasure would’ve crashed into its surface like a meteor if not for Zac restraining it . Even then , Zac barely managed to hold the material back while spinning the nucleus to the correct location , at which point he let the blob of Conflict-attuned steel land .
The pressure would merge the materials even if Zac did nothing at that point . Of course , such a creation would only barely follow the patterns of his blueprint thanks to the ambient energies . To avoid such a crude result , Zac used the mental tendrils to reforge and reform the piece of Conflict . Two hours passed until something similar to a silvery spiderweb had been evenly applied to the nucleus .
The process had been quite smooth compared to forming the nucleus , apart from a few eruptions and the general drain of Mental Energy . Only adding one material at a time increased the duration of the process and the overall strain on his mind . In return , the risk of mistakes occurring was far lower , and Zac felt that was more important than saving time .
With the next attuned treasure on its refinement array nearly complete , Zac took out a vial containing a shimmering pill with immense waves of unattuned energy and heat . He swallowed it , and it was like a white sun erupted in his chest .
Zac dragged the ball of energy into the hatch , and the pill needed no guidance from that point , smoothly entering the core . The waning lights of the nucleus rekindled , regaining some of the luster it lost while waiting for Void Heart] to finish . The pill was called Rising Sun Return] , a hot commodity inside Vastness City provided by a powerful alchemy clan in the Multiverse Heartlands .
Its effect was simple : returning some malleability to a budding core . Sometimes , delays or mistakes make you fall behind schedule , which could lead to a negative spiral of accumulating mistakes . The Rising Sun Return] acted as a second lifeline , where you’d get the opportunity to fix the problem or catch up . One could only eat three such pills during Core Formation , and its effect would be halved after every use . Yet Zac felt it warranted after the earlier delay .
With his nucleus once more resembling a magmatic ball , Zac dragged over the next treasure—this one Death-attuned—adding another layer . The addition of more Death-attuned material affected the stability of the core , but the thin outer layer wasn’t enough to push the nucleus off-balance . It just resulted in a few more discharges of energy .