"Wait, wait, wait! What do you mean by the Great Emperor?" Kai curiously asked.
The old man looked at Kai with a frown before sighing. "Just how ignorant can one be? Even if you have been living under a rock your whole life you should have heard of a Great Emperor."
"Forget it! I will answer your question if you pass my trials." The old man shook his head, he could feel more than just a slight headache now.
'Curse you Legacy door!' He internally cursed.
The old man then opened his palm and a small orb of light appeared on it. The orb then quickly flew towards Kai and directly penetrated his mind.
"Remember that you have 72 hours to comprehend the cultivation method. If you are able to even comprehend 0.1% of the method, you will pass the trial!"
Kai felt dizzy as he closed his eyes and held his head due to the slight pain. The next moment when he opened his eyes he was in a different place.
He found himself in the middle of the boundless starry sky. Stars shimmered all around, giving off an eerie yet profound feeling. In front of the vast sky which stretched endlessly, Kai couldn't help but feel like an insignificant creature.
Kai floated and drifted around the space without being able to control where he was going. All he could do was move his body, but that didn't help.
"Woahhh…" Kai couldn't help but be astounded.
"This game is truly awesome! When did technology develop so much to create such things with this level of details and profoundness?" Kai praised.
"I should focus on the task given to me right now." Kai said and searched around for some kind of book or manual.
After thirty minutes have passed. "The hell! Did the old man forget to give me the method or what? How I am supposed to comprehend something I don't even have?" Kai cursed. Kai couldn't find a method anywhere he searched for.
"Old man! I think you forgot to give me the method you wanted me to study!" He shouted.
Seeing there was no response, Kai hopelessly sat cross-legged as he drifted around. "What should I do?" Kai pondered for what seemed like hours as he looked around for anything strange.
"*Boom*"
Kai was startled by the sudden explosion; he turned around only to see a star a few miles away from him has been completely destroyed into pieces.
Kai looked on with his mouth wide open with amazement.
Kai raised an eyebrow before squinting his eyes and stared at an shattered rock. He could see faint light bluish thread like things which were constantly leaving the rock and escaping into the starry sky.
After properly examining for several minutes, he could see that these threads left the rock in not just an amount of a few, but in the millions or perhaps even the billions!!!
Kai looked at the other rocks and without an exception every single rock consisted of these threads.
Kai noticed that after leaving the rock and moving several miles away, they abruptly stop and move back in a particular direction as if influenced by something.
He traced back the direction and found out it was a gigantic rock; its size was more than hundred times when compared to the ordinary rocks.
The rock consisted of these threads in such an amount that it outwardly made the rock look completely blue. All the threads from the other rocks were attracted towards it and the gigantic rock accumulated even more of these, as time passed the color started changing.
Kai looked at his body and he could find that even he was attracting a few threads towards him. He concluded this to be part of the comprehension process, and he carefully studied the giant rock and tried to figure out its properties and why all these threads were attracted to it like a magnet.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on the feeling he got from these threads.
As he grew accustomed to the feeling, many incomprehensible things became clearer.
He could tell that the giant rock was the core of the destroyed star. Its property was to naturally absorb the surrounding energy and strengthen itself, gradually forming another gigantic star.
Kai could feel many resemblances between the giant rock and his own body.
Many hours passed by, Kai's body now just like the giant stone glowed complete dark blue.
These blue threads were mana. As the mana grew more concentrated it darkened, and its purity and power increased as its density grew.
Abruptly all the mana around his body started entering within his body at a terrifying rate. It travelled to his naval region inside his dantian.
Kai's face started distorting as signs of pain became clear. Kai gritted his teeth and endured the pain.
Within his dantian the mana concentrated at a particular point as it condensed further to the point of showing signs of becoming solid. It started changing its shape into a large crystal-like sphere.
'Compress!' Kai internally shouted.
The sphere trembled as it started compressing, the density slightly grew as the purity of the mana grew by leaps and bounds. Faint pitch-black mana left his body in the form of impurities.
'Compress!' 'Compress!' 'Compress!' 'Compress!'
'Compress!' 'Compress!'
'Compress....'
Kai repeated the process for many hours as he started sweating profusely, even his breathing grew heavy and he let out low growls from time to time. He continued enduring the hellish pain with unwavering determination.
He had a feeling that if he left midway through the process, he would lose something very precious and irreplaceable to him.
Outside the space.
The old man had his eyes wide open and his mouth completely open in a big O-shape as he stared at the projection in front of him and then glanced at the painful expression of the young man who sat cross-legged on the ground sweating buckets.
Meanwhile Lilith clenched her fists with anxiousness. She was worried that she would lose the one and only person capable of helping her! But more than that she worried that she would lose... Kai!?
Her heart was beating rapidly and her body was slightly trembling with the powerlessness she was feeling.
This was a strange feeling for her… Why would she care about a random stranger she met just today to this extent?
Maybe because he is the only one who could notice her?
Or maybe… it is something else…
What are these conflicting feelings???
Her mind was a mess as she tried to sort her thoughts and at the same time helplessly wait for Kai.
Inside the space. After many hellish hours.
Kai could feel his body overflowing with energy. Although completely tired mentally, he has never felt so good physically, as of now he felt invincible!!!
Still with his eyes closed, Kai smiled weakly as he muttered in a low tone "Ah... what a nice feeling!"
Inside Kai's dantian a finger nailed size crystal sphere was present. It radiated boundless power and incredibly dense and pure mana. His surroundings were pitch black with the amount of impurities released.
His surroundings changed the next moment as he came back to place where the old man and Lilith were present.
Kai slowly opened his eyes, he felt as if an eternity has passed.
The old man looked at Kai with a complicated gaze.
"Kai!! Are you okay?" Lilith's anxious voice entered Kai's ears.
He turned his head slowly towards her as he smiled weakly and gave her a little nod.
He turned back to the old man and spoke. "So, Senior. Did I pass?" He asked in a low and weak tone.
The old man head was going through complete chaos at this time and when he heard Kai's voice he subconsciously nodded.
Kai smiled weakly seeing this.
"*Thud*"
As if losing all his strength he fell down on the floor and lost consciousness!!!
[Host has formed a Mana Core]
...
[Host has broken through the shackles of Mortality]
...
[Host has reached the 1st Core Formation Stage]