Now that Ning had decided to learn 8 completely unique essences, he came across another problem.
Not a single one of these were easy to get. Out of the 8 he settled upon, one could barely find Essences to 2 of them in Astoria naturally. As for the rest, there was no way to acquire any source to absorb it.
Given the situation, he couldn't help but frown. "Well, this isn't fun," he said. "System, do you have any idea what I can do?" he asked.
<There is an easy way.>
"Go on," Ning said, surprised that the system said it was easy. If it was so easy, why was he struggling to think of any method?
<Instead of absorbing Essence directly, you will pass it through a conduit and then absorb it. Depending on the conduit, you can absorb any Essence you want.>
"Oh," Ning thought. "That sort of thing is possible as well?"
He had never heard of it being possible to absorb something through a conduit, let alone all of these unique Essences. "I have the Continental Sword. How many of these can I absorb using it?"
<All.>
"All?" Ning frowned. "Are you sure?"
<Absolutely>
Ning frowned even more. "I know I tried to use Void Essence with it, and it did not work at all," he said.
<The Continental Sword is capable of creating Void Essence, but the process for it is not as simple as just wishing it. Void Essence by itself is a harmonious amalgamation of many different Essences that erases any Essence that is present in it.>
<As a result, you cannot just wish to use it, but have to force your sword to use it.>
"Ah!" Ning finally realized. "So there must be some technique then. Actually, I will be absorbing it, so it must be wildly different."
<Yes.>
"Alright, go on. Give me the techniques," Ning said. "I will have to absorb it when I have the time.>
The system created 8 different books for Ning to use. Alongside that, it also created 4 different books, each for the four Essences that Emma was going to learn.
Then, once it created the book for the Shadow Puma cubs to learn Pure Essence, it was done. There was nothing more the system could do to help them. They were all on their own.
Ning wondered for a moment if he should create a new body to learn this, but after thinking for a while, he decided not to.
His current body was more than enough.
Ning settled down a bit away from the Essence pool and started using the technique to split his core in half. Since he had a body that was the best at any and all types of Energy, he could easily pull in Essence to cut his core in half.
What the System had said would take 2 years, was going to take him no more than a month, if that.
Emma's time was more boring than anything as there wasn't much for her to do here at all. All she could do was wait for the Essence to open up her Sea of Essence where she could form her core and then split it.
She helped Umbra and the cubs try and learn about the techniques, but unfortunately for the cubs they were too young to understand anything.
After a day or two, Ning had to create small devices that repelled Essence from around them. That way they would be able to remain here for a long time without their body being affected by the Essence that was already here.
In a few years, they would be smart enough to learn a thing or two. At that time, Ning could even force it into their brain for what exactly they should do to make it an instinctual thing than something they learned.
Everyone there was used to being alone for a long time, so no one really cared how time passed. It moved on in its own pace and none cared for it.
Ning managed to break his cores into two halves and then fully heal them in exactly 1 month and 4 days. Then, he started the next set of splitting.
It was only a month, so the cubs hadn't done anything, and Emma for certain had made even less progress. She was in a place where there was the most amount of Essence, so there wasn't anything else she could do.
All she could do for now was wait.
Umbra on the other hand was the one that made the most progress out of all of them. With a massive Shadow Essence crystal in front of her and a technique that was the peak in Shadow absorption, she was making progress the likes that she wouldn't have expected her to make in the next hundred years.
She had been alive for nearly 200 years, and this was the fastest she had every absorbed any Essence. She had never even considered the possibility of absorbing Essence so fast.
In just a month, her body had grown by 10% or so. It was impossible for her to say just how big she would be by the end, but Divine creatures were known to be massive, so she was ready to be massive.
Thankfully, she could also change her size so there wasn't much to worry about at all.
Time passed even more and soon years passed.
Ning now had 4 cores and was in the process of splitting it into 8. Emma had formed her Sea of Essence and was on the verge of splitting it into 2.
Umbra hadn't reached the Divine realm, but she was incredibly close to it. Just a few more years and she would certainly become one.
The two cubs had started splitting their cores as well. As soon as they were done with that, they could start on their Essence journey as well.
Then, more time passed and soon an entire decade passed since they entered the Origin.
Finally, it was time for them to leave this place and start their journey all over again.
