Long Wu wanted to take the step to become a Transcendent at the Core Formation Realm. To do that, he had to form a core in his body.

  As he created the core, pressure started to form around him. Bruce, Chi Sen and the group felt it the most.

  But they did not disturb the process. Long Wu felt thankful for that and nodded his head in thanks.

  After Long Wu had absorbed all of the Undead Element from the white pill, he felt the presence of a core within his body.

  The vortex that was formed by the Undead Element slowly dissipated as Long Wu stabilized himself. The bck mist that had formed started to disappear as well.

  “It is done.” Long Wu said with a confident tone.

  “Congratutions are due but now is not the time. Let’s move!”

  “Wait a moment!” Long Wu suddenly shouted. All the eyes were on him because of that.

  “What’s the matter?” Bruce asked.

  “We need to eliminate the source of the Undead Element. I know the location now.” Long Wu said firmly.

  “Then you go there and eliminate it. We have to escort the important people out first.” Chi Sen added.

  Long Wu frowned but he nodded. Although there were risks in separating from the group, he believed that the source of the Undead Element had to be eliminated first before they could completely get out of the capital city.

  As of now, Long Wu could perceive the concentration of the Undead Element around him in a kilometer radius. But all he could perceive was the bck mist that floated around the capital city.

  “I return this to you.” Long Wu threw the white pill back to Bruce before he continued, “Let’s meet at the east gate. I perceive that there are fewer obstacles there. It could be a trap but by buying some time I will be back.”

  With that, Long Wu headed in a certain direction leaving Bruce, Chi Sen and the group.

  As for them, they had to head east since the east gate had fewer obstacles according to Long Wu. By obstacles, Bruce understood it as fewer of the creatures which meant good news.

  -

  Long Wu headed in the direction he perceived where there was a dense amount of bck mist. When he came near, he stopped in his tracks and saw that there were lots of Creatures near the bck crystal that was located at the center of the open area.

  ‘Those Abominations are the result of the experiments done by the Heavensend Kingdom’s officials. They came from the reanimated corpses which were moved by the Undead Element. And that crystal…is it the stolen Malicium?’ Long Wu thought as he saw the scene in front of him.

  Of course, Long Wu knew most if not all, of the information regarding the involvement of the officials of the kingdom and the Snatcher.

  For example, the stolen Malicium he had seen was actually the work of the Snatcher in the past when the Snatcher targeted the Transcendent energy source from the Thebes Kingdom.

  As for the Abomination, Long Wu clenched his fist when he saw them and decided to give the physical body a proper rest.

  As someone who had seen human society in its entirety, he had come to accept the afterlife model that was also proposed along with the mental model described by the prodigy from the Hinon Federation.

  For him, the Nafs of the deceased would definitely not want their body to be used like this. He was sure that the majority of the people who died also did not want this.

  That became one of the reasons he acted.

  Long Wu moved closer to one of the Abominations. The Abomination then noticed him and came closer to him.

  Long Wu, with his newfound power from the core inside his body then gracefully spped the Abomination in its face while absorbing the Undead Element emanating from the Abomination.

  The Abomination did not expect it perhaps due to its limited capacity for intelligence. It flew past the crystal and hit a nearby building wall. The wall cracked and a loud noise was produced from the collision.

  “Yep, they are now so much weaker than I thought. Or should I say that I am stronger?” Long Wu smiled when he saw the result.

  “Now, I just need to take care of the rest…” Long Wu said as the nearby Abominations heard the noise and saw a figure standing where there should be one of their kind.

  Their bck eyes stared at Long Wu in a gruesome manner. They devoured any light that came to them, resulting in bck eyes like fish eyes.

  Long Wu did not do anything and just stood there with a menacing aura. Then he saw an Abomination move forward, lunging at him. Long Wu moved slightly to the side, avoiding the creature.

  Then he extended his right arm and used the momentum of the Abomination to strike it in its torso by forming a fist. He did it instantly so that the Abomination took damage the moment the two separated.

  But unfortunately, the Abomination came in waves as another one lunged at Long Wu. Long Wu redirected the attack from the Abomination’s cw attack by using his left hand in a palm. The palm hit the joint of the creature’s arm and the cw attack changed direction.

  Long Wu either redirected the attack or struck it with a fist to the bodies of the Abominations. He took some time to do this to exhaust the Undead Element stored in their body.

  After he did that, he realized that the Abominations did not turn into ash. He already knew the reason. The bck mist was the manifestation of the Undead Element so they entered the Abominations’ bodies, recovering their energy source.

  Long Wu sighed and stepped closer to the crystal in front of him.

  “The result of years of research…Malicium.” Long Wu then extended his right hand and tried to absorb the energy from the crystal.

  But then his brow furrowed as he felt that the energy was so pure almost without the impurities.

  Usually, Long Wu would encounter some remnant wills inside the Undead Element. Those were the impurities of the Undead Element.

  But he did not even perceive the impurities which meant that the Thebes Kingdom had discovered a method to purify the Undead Element.

  The pure Undead Element was helpful to any Transcendent that had the Necromancer’s Trait. So Long Wu absorbed it without a second thought.

  As he absorbed the Undead Element, the Undead Element went directly to his core. The core inside his body was pitch bck because their source was the Undead Element.

  At this moment, the core absorbed the Undead Element. Long Wu could perceive that he was becoming much stronger faster than before.

  ‘So the purity of the Undead Element affects the increase of strength. That is good to know.’

  Long Wu then accelerated the progress at which he absorbed the Undead Element from the Malicium. Slowly, the crystal started to shake, and cracks appeared on the surface of the bck crystal, which spread to the other part of the crystal.

  Before long, the size of the crystal also decreased. The increasing cracks on the crystal were followed by a decrease in its size before the crystal shattered.

  When it shattered, it released a lot of pure Undead Elements. Long Wu absorbed the rest of the Undead Element by forming a vortex with his body as the center.

  Long Wu realized that the core inside his body increased in its density as well as its size. Previously, the core was as small as a seed but ter it became as big as a fingernail.

  Then he felt that his strength increased once more. It felt like a quantitative increase.

  ‘I think I know this phenomenon. When a Transcendent with a Necromancer’s Trait absorbs the Undead Element, they are actually advanced from Nothingness (T0) and then become a Core Formation Realm(T1). Each major realm actually has a little level which some of the researchers call Heavenstage. I am currently at the second heavenstage of the Core Formation Realm.

  ‘Each major realm has theoretically nine heavenstage. I advanced from the Nothingness Realm seventh heavenstage to become a Core Formation Realm second heavendstage. That is a qualitative jump of my strength.’

  As Long Wu thought about it in detail, he sensed that the commotion caused by his absorption caused the other Abomination to come to his location.

  Long Wu sighed before he went directly to the east gate.

  -

  At the east gate of the capital city.

  Bruce was leading the group along with Chi Sen when suddenly they were obstructed by a few Abominations.

  The group opened fire and gunshots could be heard immediately, incessantly. The Abominations was hit but the effect was not optimal. The Abomination stood still despite the injuries it had.

  “We are using assault rifles here! Why is it not down!?” one of the men grumbled with concern.

  “They are stronger than we thought. What is it that caused them to be able to withstand such a blow?” another added.

  “We previously encountered them at the Forbidden Pace. We can only suppress them but not eliminate them. Fire at will!” the squad leader shouted loudly so that the rest could hear him.

  They could only suppress the enemy without being able to eliminate them. This was the worry of everyone.

  They were evacuating with VIPs but the Abominations were in their way and they could not even eliminate them.

  ‘The creatures can only be eliminated by exhausting their energy sources. Looks like keep firing at them is the best we can do in this situation.’ Bruce thought before he gave an order.

  “Keep firing at a single target!”

  The escorting group fired at one Abomination that looked like it was on its st leg. A rain of bullets fell on the unfortunate creature, its body turned into sieves.

  Then the Abominations roared loudly before it went down and released a rge amount of bck mist. Bruce then used the white pill to absorb the bck mist. His hand was a bit uncomfortable but he at least managed to prevent a rge amount of the Undead Element from coming near the group.

  After he had done that, he realized that the rest of the creatures retreated from the scene. This caused his brow to furrow.

  Just then, a silhouette of a person could be seen at the east gate.

  Bruce carefully aimed his pistol at the figure but Chi Sen looked like he was surprised to see something unexpected.

  “It is you.” Chi Sen said with gritted teeth.

  “Well, it is me alright. You should have battled with the invaders, not capitute to them!” the figure said with a loathsome voice.

  “What can we do against them? You all are making the fight more difficult by still clinging to the old habit you have. Have you no shame!?”

  The figure was silent but Bruce could sense that the king and the figure looked like they were arguing about something.

  But then the figure suddenly moved toward them at a fast speed. Even Bruce did not blink to catch the figure’s movement.

  He pulled the trigger and shot at the figure because it seemed that the figure had turned hostile.

  The figure was apparently shot in its arm but the figure kept moving as if the injury was inconsequential. Bruce kept shooting at the figure as the escort group also gave the figure a rain of bullets.

  But the figure was like the creature that they had encountered, extremely difficult to deal with. The figure’s target was actually Chi Sen. Bruce jumped to the side directly, grabbing the king who was a bit slower in reaction and ducked down.

  The figure missed the target as it flew above Bruce and Chi Sen.

  ‘Looks like what Long Wu said is correct. The east gate is actually a trap. Even the creatures are not interfering which means that someone is controlling them. Is it the figure though?’ Bruce thought as he kept firing his pistol.

  Then he realized that the bullets were out and he reloaded his pistol. Chi Sen on the other hand felt thankful to the stranger who was sent here to negotiate with him.

  But since he did not understand what Chi Sen said, Chi Sen held his tongue from saying anything and looked at Bruce gratefully.

  The threat was still there so all of them remained vigint. The figure was actually a young man from what Bruce could tell.

  Bruce also noticed that the Undead Element swirled around him as if he were the ruler of the dead. His frown deepened before he knew it and he positioned himself beside Chi Sen.

  Chi Sen also drew his pistol and aimed it at the figure.

  Then they saw that the Undead Element mist was slightly receding and a gust of wind screamed at them.

  ‘Oh no!’ Bruce realized that the enemy was likely another Transcendent which meant more problems since Long Wu was not present with them.

  But he was a step te in reaction. It could not be bmed on Bruce since he was just an ordinary human.

  The figure moved straight toward Chi Sen. Chi Sen reacted by firing two shots before the figure closed in on him.

  ‘I can feel it, the grip of death on me…is this it?’ Chi Sen had only this thought as the figure was right in front of him. He could only instinctively close his eyes as he waited for the pain that signaled death.

  But he did not feel anything. He felt another wind move in his direction and when he opened his eyes, he saw the back of someone familiar.

  “Right on time! Damn, do you know that the Abominations surround you?” Long Wu clicked his tongue as he held the figure right in front of him, preventing the figure from reaching Chi Sen.

  Chi Sen felt his legs become weak and he fell on his knees.

  “Let go! Who even are you!?” the figure screamed in annoyance as the target was unharmed due to the man in front of him.

  “You’re also in the Core Formation Realm? That’s good, let’s battle it out then!” Long Wu’s eyes sparkled as he perceived the strength of his opponent.

  The figure also realized that Long Wu was also in the Core Formation Realm. It meant that he met another Transcendent!

  Then both of them, as if in tacit understanding, went beyond the east gate, which was already opened wide.

  Bruce then helped Chi Sen up.

  He saw that beyond the gate, a fluctuation of power emanated. He felt afraid when he saw some of the scenes as Long Wu exchanged punches with the figure.

  Winds kicked up, and a noise like something exploding could be heard incessantly beyond the east gate. Bruce ordered the group to break through the encirclement by focusing in the direction of the gate.

  While the group did that, he also looked at the battle which made the earth tremble slightly.

  The rest of the group then forced their fire in one direction, creating a hole in the encirclement. With that hole, they went out directly to the east city gate.

  When they could see the scene fully, they could not believe their eyes.

  The ground was cracking in the area where the two Transcendents battled it out. They also felt the air tremble when the two hit each other.

  Long Wu and the figure had exchanged dozens of moves against each other but there was no result. Long Wu was patiently waiting for the opponent to reveal a weak point for him to exploit.

  When the figure saw that the group had arrived at the east gate, he became anxious and started to hasten his move.

  The figure then kicked at Long Wu which Long Wu evaded with ease. But the figure was then moving by without stopping. Long Wu knew that the opponent had become a bit reckless so he grabbed the colr of the figure as he smmed the figure to the ground.

  An explosion-like voice could be heard as the figure hit the ground hard. But Long Wu did not stop as he swung the figure above his head only to hit him to the ground once again.

  He repeated this several times while releasing a bit of the Undead Element as the source of his strength. The figure screamed in pain as his internal organ was injured.

  Then Long Wu ended the fight by absorbing the Undead Element the figure had, weakening him. Long Wu then grabbed something from the inside of his clothing, revealing a blue-colored rope.

  With that, Long Wu tied the rope to the figure and gave a thumbs-up at Bruce, Chi Sen and the rest of the group.

  Long Wu then moved to the nearest pce of the east gate to eliminate the rest of the Abominations.

  Chi Sen moved to the tied-up figure which had already weakened and injured. Bruce followed behind him as he did not want anything to happen to Chi Sen.

  Chi Sen was silent. He did not utter any word, nothing at all. He just stared at the tied-up figure as if remembering something reted to him through the figure.

  Bruce did not comment as it was not in his pce to say anything. Furthermore, he did not know the person in depth so he was silent too.

  Roars of the Abominations could be heard from the other side of the east gate. Without Long Wu as the protector of the group, they did not dare to move around fearing that another Abomination would be attracted and attack them.

  Then Long Wu walked toward them leisurely. He went straight to the tied-up figure and raised the figure to be carried on his shoulder.

  As for the rest of the group, seeing the superhuman in front of them lifted the figure like that became more acceptable to their mental framework.

  Due to this event, some people outside Thebes Kingdom started to see the capability of the human who embarked on the path of Transcendence.