Buzz~
His brain buzzed as the berserk energy invaded his mind. Within a second, he was drenched in cold sweat and his body was in so much pain that he could faint. It was unbearable.
He tried to endure it but was unable to and wanted to jump out of the pool, but to his horror, he could not do it no matter how hard he tried. It was as if his body were glued to the pool.
[Don't bother kid. You won't be able to go out for now. Now what you need to do is to get used to it, take control of this wild energy flowing inside you, and temper your inner organs with it. Once you are done doing it, you'll be able to go out or walk further toward the pool's centre.] The system informed.
It then added in indifferent tone, [Oh, yes. I forgot to tell you there is also pure demon energy here. But you don't need to worry about it for 3 days. If you can't get used to the raging blood energy here in this period, the demon energy will invade you and turn you into an idiot.]
"How do I control this energy?" Max asked through gritted teeth, trying to endure the raging pain in his body and mind.
[Just like you control your mana.] System briefly said before going silent.
Huuu…
Max took a deep breath to calm his mind and started to control the rampaging blood energy. However, it wasn't easy to do.
Whenever he willed to take control of the blood energy, his mind would have a splitting pain. It was as if his will was being constantly destroyed as soon as it touched the blood energy.
'How the hell am I supposed to…' Just as he was feeling hopeless, he suddenly thought of something.
Wasting no time, he mobilised his mana and sent it toward the raging blood energy in his veins.
Boom!
As the two different energies came into contact, a boom sounded.
Pffftt!
Although the blast wasn't too strong, because it occurred within his body, he got internal injuries and spat out a mouthful of blood.
'It was a bad idea, huh?' He thought, a wry smile on his face when suddenly, he noticed that after the initial explosion, a little bit of his mana and the blood energy had merged, causing blood energy to calm down and now he could control that part of blood energy without any problem.
'Let's continue.' He gritted his teeth and sent more of his mana toward unadulterated the blood energy.
Boom!
Just like before, the energy exploded upon contact and causing him to spit out another mouthful of blood. Thankfully, just like before, the leftover mana and the blood energy from the explosion had merged.
'Continue!' Ignoring the injuries, he continued with the same process.
…
In an underground palace somewhere in the human continent, a huge blood lake surrounded the raised platform from all sides.
There were many round stones arranged in the circular formation around the platform. Around 20% stones were lit while the rest were still dim.
A pale young man was lying at the centre of the platform. His blood-red eyes were half open. A yellowish egg was hovering above him and wisps of energy from the blood lake, 20 lit stones and the young man's fingertips were constantly entering it.
Suddenly, the corner of his lips lifted into a smile and he murmured, "Hehe, the kid has guts to use such a self-harming method to control the blood energy."
…
As Max continued to use his mana to calm and control the blood energy, his face continued to turn paler because of the internal injuries and the loss of blood.
However, there was a determined glint in his eyes which didn't let him stop.
After half a day, he had taken control of more than one forth of the blood energy raging in his body. However, what made him anxious was that the blood energy was still unceasingly gushing into his body.
Right now, he was extremely bloated. It looked like he would explode if this continued.
Just then, system's mocking voice sounded in his head. [Stupid kid, since you can't handle it anymore, use your mana and seal your pores so more blood energy doesn't enter you. Sigh! I've to tell you everything.]
Max had a constipated expression when he heard this and cursed, "Damn you! If I could, I already would have done that. This blood energy is too strong. My mana can't stop it."
[Oh, I forgot you are still too weak.] The system chuckled before adding, [Try using your mana that has blood energy mixed in. That should do the trick.]
Max didn't respond and immediately mobilised his blood and mana energy and sealed off his pores.
After doing that, he waited for a few seconds because when he used his mana to do the same previously, it would only last for a few second before the seals would be blasted apart and the blood energy would rush into him.
This time, however, even after more than half a minute passed, the seals remained intact and no extra blood energy entered his body, causing him to sigh in relief.
After catching his breath, he once again started sending his mana toward the unadulterated blood energy, and muffled bangs continued to sound in his body.
After two days, all the blood energy was under his control while his bloating had reduced by half, but he still looked unnaturally fat.
Splash!
He sat down in the pool, heaving deep breaths. He didn't have any energy left and was barely conscious right now. However, he had yet to temper his body and system's 3-day deadline was about to expire.
While taking out some grade three healing pills to heal his internal injuries, he asked, "Tell me, how should I temper my body now?"
[First, don't eat any healing pills.] System said.
Hearing this, Max frowned. His body was a mess now, and he had to recover his injuries as soon as possible lest they left lasting side effects on him. But he knew the system wouldn't say anything without reason. So, he asked,
"Why?"
[Although your childish method of controlling the blood energy injured your internal organs quite a bit, I've to say it'll help you better temper your body. Now, I'm going to give you a body strengthening technique. Use it and temper your body with the blood energy in your body.] System answered.
A moment later, information about a body strengthening technique called [Barbarian god physique] appeared in his mind. This skill had five levels, but he could only access first level right now.
After seeing how complicated this skill was, Max asked with a confused frown on his face, "Why are you asking me to temper my body? Wouldn't it be better to learn some magic spells instead?"
Although he asked this, he very much wanted to learn this skill because according to its description, after he successfully reached the peak of first level, his body would be strong enough to take almost every two-star magic or physical attack head on and suffer some minor injuries at most.
