After recovering his mana with the core, Junhyuk contacted Gongon. A projection of the dragon’s face appeared in the air.

“Gon, how many refurbished cores do you have?”

“Twelve. Did you figure something out?”

“I did, but I used too much mana in the process. I need the energy from the cores.”

“Yeah? Invite me over, and I’ll give you the refurbished ones.”

Junhyuk invited Gongon, and the dragon stared at him when he appeared in the training facility.

“You look the same.”

“Right. I want to show you something, but I’ll pa.s.s out after it.”

“Why would you pa.s.s out?”

Junhyuk smiled and extended his hand. After Gongon gave him a core, Junhyuk asked, “Is there a way to get more energy from the core?”

Gongon held another core and said, “I know the energy within the core is enormous. This single core has more energy than an adult dragon’s heart. There are many types of energy within the core, not just mana. It makes me curious about how they were made.” Staring at him, Gongon added, “There is mana within the core, but it won’t be easy to transfer that amount to a human body. You aren’t a dragon’s heart.”

“But I need to try.”

Shaking his head, Gongon said, “If you insist, do it. However, you can’t a.s.similate all of the energy within the core. If you reach 5 percent, that can be considered a success.”

( ReadNovelFull ) Junhyuk smirked and replied, “So, if we use twenty cores, I can reach 100 percent.”

“You’ll die trying.”

“If possible, let’s start the mana-sapping process.”

“Not yet. We need to do further research on the mana within the core.”

“How long will that take?”

“About three days. Research on the core is ongoing.”

Junhyuk smiled and replied, “OK. Do it for me.”

“The initial process should be simple. I’ll use six cores and try to transfer their mana to you. I want to know if you can a.s.similate it.”

“Sure. I trust you.”

Gongon left, and Junhyuk held the core in his hand. He decided to try using the Dimensional Slash while absorbing the mana within it. Junhyuk split a dimension far away, and while doing that, his own s.p.a.ce should have remained the same.

After using the Dimensional Slash, Junhyuk felt dizzy and shaky. He staggered and collapsed on the ground. Soon, he was able to wake up. He still had the core in his hand, and mana was seeping into him from it. When he got up, he inspected himself and said, “Whew! This is dangerous!”

The Dimensional Slash was an impressive strike, but the cost of it was high. He had no mana left in his body when he woke up, and there was no way he could fight like that.

Junhyuk focused on absorbing the energy from the core. It was taking him less time to absorb mana from it. Looking at it, he wondered if he could really a.s.similate it.

( ReadNovelFull ) Junhyuk was worried, but he would try. He raised his sword.

Junhyuk wanted to get used to the Dimensional Slash. He wanted to make sure he didn’t collapse after using it, so he used it again. This time, he fell to his knees, but he did not pa.s.s out. His ability to absorb mana was improving, so he was able to recover more quickly.

“I’ll craft an item with the core.”

Junhyuk needed an item that replenished his mana quickly. After absorbing enough mana, he used the Dimensional Slash again.

Junhyuk practiced like that for three days, until he finally got a call from Gongon.

He invited Gongon over, and as soon as the dragon got there, he pulled out some gems. Gongon placed the gems on the ground in six different locations and turned to Junhyuk.

“Did you think it over?”

“No. I want to try it.”

Gongon extended his hand then and said, “Magic circles.”

Six magic circles appeared where the gems had been. Junhyuk looked at it and heard, “Place the cores within them.”

He set the cores in the magic circles, and Gongon stepped back.

“Stand at the center of the circles.”

Junhyuk stood at the center of it all. The cores hummed and started to release a large amount of energy. Junhyuk could see that energy concentrated within the circles.

It was an unbelievable quant.i.ty of energy, and Junhyuk wished he could endure the process. The energy suddenly rushed into his body, and not wanting to pa.s.s out, Junhyuk focused on the process.

Mana wasn’t the only energy being released by the cores, so other types of energy were entering him as well. However, Junhyuk could not tell the difference at that moment.

He knew he would need more than mana to fight, so he absorbed everything that was coming his way. Mana was the easiest to a.s.similate, but the other energies entered his body as well.

Suddenly, Junhyuk frowned. The mana capacity within him was filling up, and soon, the amount of mana within him overflowed. He couldn’t withstand the process.

“Argh!”

The well within him shattered and expanded, but the expansion process was painful, and the well was filled with more than just mana.

The well couldn’t withstand the other types of energy. Junhyuk felt his veins bulging. The mana well wasn’t the problem. The energies from the core had gotten into his veins, and they might tear everything apart.

At that moment, Junhyuk drove all of the energies back into the mana well. The mana well had to withstand it all if he was going to survive.

The mana well expanded again, and Junhyuk barely maintained consciousness during the process. Even with the second expansion of the mana well, it still couldn’t withstand the other energy types within it. It was overflowing. Junhyuk couldn’t handle the pain anymore.

He opened his mouth, but he couldn’t scream. Gongon shouted at him, but he couldn’t hear.

Junhyuk gave up then. The plan had been to expand the mana well and acquire more mana, but now, things were out of his control. He reached a state of tranquility and tried to control the energies within his body.

The energies circulated through his body and expanded into territories. Junhyuk’s veins ruptured, and the mana well expanded several times over. Gongon tried to stop the process but was unable to.

Barely managing to open his mouth, Junhyuk said, “Wait.”

“Are you OK?”

“No.”

He was bleeding from every hole in his body. He was extremely damaged, but he wasn’t dead yet. The flow of energy coming from the six cores stopped then.

When all the cores stopped sending him energy, Junhyuk fell to the ground. After checking on him, Gongon cast some sort of recovery spell.

Junhyuk inspected himself. The different types of energy had changed his muscles. He had barely managed to survive.

When he got up, he asked, “How are the cores?”

“That’s not the issue.”

“Check them.”

Gongon checked on one core and said, “Energy levels are at 60 percent.”

“Then, each core spent 40 percent of energy?”

“That’s right. If you can only absorb 5 percent of that total, you must’ve absorbed 2 percent of the total energy of each core for a total of 12 percent. The rest dissipated into the air.”

“So, all six cores released a total of 240 percent of energy, but I only absorbed 12 percent?”

“Not only.” Gongon inspected him and said, “Right now, you have more mana within your body than there is mana within a dragon’s heart.”

“Really?”

Junhyuk inspected himself. Gongon had told him the quant.i.ty of mana within his body, but the hatchling had missed something. Mana was only one of the energy types within him.

His mana well was larger than ever before, and it seemed like there was no longer a limit to how much it could contain, and how much could pa.s.s through his veins. How powerful was the core?

Junhyuk trusted the mana within him and used the Dimensional Slash. Normally, he would pa.s.s out before, but that was not the case now. Now, he knew he could use it at least ten times without issue.

“Unbelievable.”

Junhyuk had ten times the amount of mana he had had before. It wasn’t a crazy amount by some standards, but he had become stronger.

Junhyuk knew that quality was more important than quant.i.ty, and he also knew he had to make that quant.i.ty of mana his own.

Gongon interjected then, “What the h.e.l.l did you just do?”

“I tore through a dimension.”

“What?!”

“I completed the Dimensional Slash.”

Gongon stared at him blankly and said, “Just like that?”

“I only managed to cut through it.”

“You aren’t making any sense. Humans shouldn’t even be able to interfere with s.p.a.ce, but now, you can control dimensions?”

“I can only cut through dimensions. I can’t attack anyone yet.”

Gongon folded his arms and said, “So, you can control the sword, but you are blind.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“Nudra. You should tell Artlan about this.”

Junhyuk nodded. He had completed the Dimensional Slash, and his mana well had gotten bigger, but he couldn’t find his target yet.

He should ask the masters for clues.