Shang looked at the fish for some time.
'It would be a matter of luck to get the right beast, and I don't want to accidentally run into something too powerful. I think I should try it.'
Shang slowly dug out the fish's heart and started to consume it.
After he had eaten around half the heart, his brows furrowed.
'The Mana is not activating. I thought I could eat half of the heart, but apparently, I need to eat the entire thing to strengthen my body. I think it has something to do with the beast's will.'
Shang looked at the remaining heart, narrowed his eye, and consumed it as well.
When Shang swallowed the last bite, he felt his body heat up.
He was reminded of the time he had consumed the Earth Fruit Hedgehog's first fruit.
'Speaking of,' Shang thought. 'I think I am powerful enough to fight the Earth Fruit Hedgehog equally now. Duke Whirlwind said that it reached the Mid Commander Stage after consuming the Old Ice Octopus.'
The insurmountable gap of power Shang felt whenever he had looked at the Earth Fruit Hedgehog had vanished.
'Can't get distracted now. Need to deal with the Mana.'
Shang decided that he had to take drastic measures. After all, if there were too much Mana remaining inside his body, it would become troublesome.
BANG! BANG!
Shang released two opposing Blasts, one after the other, severely injuring his body.
Shang quickly shoved all his own Mana into healing his body, and his body was consuming the beast's Mana to regain its old storage.
Shang hadn't cleared his Mana before swallowing the heart since he didn't need to. He had already experimented a couple of times. Thanks to his warrior body, he had the ability to use up his own Mana at terrifying rates.
The beast's Mana was entering Shang's being at rapid rates, but that wasn't nearly fast enough.
BANG! BANG!
Shang injured his own body even more, the pain starting to face him.
His body was trying to heal rapidly, but controlling foreign Mana wasn't very easy.
But Shang noticed that his body was absorbing the Mana a tiny bit faster.
'I have to try it! It's too risky having so much foreign Mana inside myself!'
BANG!
Shang released another two blasts, his organs spreading over the surroundings.
He was out of his own Mana, and his natural regeneration might not be fast enough to heal him in time.
Shang gritted his teeth as he tried to stay awake.
The darkness of death was calling for him.
'If you don't absorb faster, I will die!'
Shang's body began to shiver at several places, and he resisted the urge to convulse.
Steam came out of Shang's body as the Mana got absorbed even faster.
But at the same time, Shang noticed that his Mana had become imbalanced. It was like his body was starting to mutate violently.
His organs were regenerating in the wrong places and in wrong sizes.
BANG!
Shang destroyed parts of the incorrect organs, doing his best not to accidentally kill himself.
It was a constant battle of death on the tiny tightrope above a cliff.
One wrong step and Shang would die.
The beast's Mana was rapidly being consumed under Shang's controlled destruction.
It was incredibly painful, but Shang kept an iron grip on his focus.
This was probably one of the most panic-inducing and painful experiences in Shang's life, only superseded by the Procedure and the time he had consumed the first fruit from the Earth Fruit Hedgehog.
Blood and guts gathered around Shang, and he wanted to do nothing more but lose consciousness.
However, Shang kept going.
Eventually, an hour later, Shang stopped.
The will of the beast had returned, and it became impossible to absorb the remaining Mana now.
Shang allowed foreign Mana to enter his being again and fully focused on recovering.
Shang felt some kind of foreign will attack his mind. It felt very similar to fighting unconsciousness.
As he fought against the foreign will, Shang sat down and closed his eye, focusing on the mental battle.
It was like he was desperately leaning against a door as someone tried to open it with force.
It was a battle of attrition.
Shang had to put his full focus on resisting the enemy's will.
Every moment was difficult.
Shang didn't know how long he kept fighting off the will, but he was sure that a long time had gone by.
At some point, the assault grew weaker, and Shang could actually relax a little.
Some more time later, Shang didn't need to focus on the battle anymore.
The beast's will had grown so weak that it was no longer a threat.
For the first time in a long while, Shang opened his eye.
The first thing he did was look at the big stone in his inner world.
"73 days remain," Shang read in shock.
'I have been battling the beast's will for 13 days?!'
Shang took a deep breath.
Right now, the will was only slightly more powerful than when he had strengthened himself the normal way.
'With enough work, I can clear the beast's will in about twelve days.'
'It seems like it's possible to strengthen myself with a beast heart a level stronger than me, but it will take longer to recover in total.'
Shang took out his sword and tested his power.
After a bit of testing, he could estimate his newfound power.
It wasn't as good as he had hoped.
He had hoped for some kind of boost after going through so much danger, but the efficiency seemed to only be a little bit better than if he were to do it the normal way.
'If an Initial Commander Stage beast gives me one unit of power, this one gave me 2.4 units. A normal beast takes me about twelve days to recover, while this will take me a total of about 26 days. It's a net gain of about 0.2 units, but it's extremely dangerous, and I am essentially completely helpless for two weeks after consuming one.'
'It's not worth it.'
'If I have a normal one, I should use the normal one. I should only go for Early Commander Stage beasts if I don't find anything else.'
Shang remained sitting for some time longer to relax.
His mind had been strained for a long time.
Eventually, Shang stood up.
"I have about twelve days to kill," he said as he looked at Sword. "I think we need to strengthen you. How about I dig into the Plague Rat Zone deep underground, and you tell me if you feel any useful ore? I think the Plague Rat should have calmed down by now. On top of that, it lives many kilometers to the east."
"I'm fine with that," Sword answered.
Shang nodded.
Then, he left his inner world and went back into his real body, which had been buried inside the sand for nearly two weeks.
Shang's real body felt quite stiff, but that wasn't really an issue.
After opening his eye, Shang continued digging deeper into the wall.
About a minute later, he felt the earth becoming harder.
Then, he continued digging through the hard earth.
And just three hours later, Sword told Shang that it felt something useful.
This would be Shang's new life for the next three months.
Strengthening and digging.
