Shang went into the dark cave. He thought that his mind was focusing on his surroundings and how to find a powerful beast, but he noticed several times that his attention was slipping.
'I'm not focused!' he thought with frustration.
'I made my choice!'
'I don't have time to think about these feelings!'
'Fucking focus!'
Shang's mind kept passively inspecting his surroundings as he went deeper into the cave.
First, Shang walked upwards, but he noticed that the beasts he found only became weaker.
So, he decided to walk down.
'The higher I go outside the mountain, the stronger the beasts, but it's the opposite in this cave.'
As Shang found the first Commander Stage beasts, his focus increased.
The danger of his surroundings was pulling his mind away from its painful thoughts to focus on staying alive.
After a while, Shang reached a place where he could see Early Commander Stage beasts, but he went further.
'Everything for my goal! Even if absorbing a more powerful beast is way more dangerous, the increased efficiency is worth it!'
'It's all for my goal!'
But was that the true reason?
Was the increased efficiency really the reason why he was seeking out a Mid Commander Stage beast to absorb?
Shang kept descending until his Darkness Vision picked up a beast.
It was lying in wait on the top of the cave. Its gigantic pincers were ready to strike at anything that came close to it.
It was a beast with a Darkness Affinity.
BANG!
Shang charged upward with an Ice Blast.
He arrived so quickly that the beast barely had time to react.
If an ambush hunter got the opportunity to strike first, it would be able to unleash a terrifying amount of power.
However, if that same ambush hunter got ambushed, it would find itself in a lot of trouble.
The majority of the beast was buried inside the ceiling, with only its gigantic pincers peeking out.
This was not a good position to evade an incoming attack.
BANG!
Sword punched through the pincers, cutting them off the beast's head.
The beast screeched and exploded out of the ceiling.
BANG!
Shang released another blast with his left leg and kicked the approaching beast with his right.
BOOOOM!
Shang's leg broke in several places, but the beast was violently thrown into the hole it had created to wait for its prey.
BANG!
Shang released another Fire Blast and cut through the entire beast with his sword.
The beast was dead.
The corpse fell to the ground, and Shang looked for its heart with more aggression than usual.
And then, he found the heart...
Both halves.
Shang took both halves into his hand and looked at them with gritted teeth.
BANG!
The heart was destroyed as his grip tightened.
"Useless!" he shouted.
"What am I supposed to do with a destroyed heart?!"
"I need a complete one!"
BANG!
Shang's healed leg broke again as he violently kicked the corpse to the side, into the wall.
Then, he followed the corpse and continued punching and kicking it.
He was accumulating one injury after the other, but he didn't care.
He was frustrated!
He was angry!
He hated that corpse!
He hated the destroyed heart!
He hated this mountain!
He hated this cave!
He hated the Mages waiting outside for him!
He hated...
Then, Shang suddenly stopped.
His Mana was mostly depleted, but it was still enough to heal his injuries.
For a while, Shang didn't move.
'I should get an actually useful heart,' Shang thought with surprisingly calm thoughts.
Shang walked through the cave with loud steps. It was almost like he wanted to get noticed.
His right eye was narrowed, and his brows were scrunched into an expression of cold and deep hatred.
Shang was doing his best to bury all his negative feelings, but they still made their presence known.
'Focus on power!'
'Focus on power!'
'Focus on power!'
Shang kept repeating this thought to himself.
After some minutes, Shang found another Mid Commander Stage beast.
'Focus on power!'
BANG!
Shang shot at the beast, which was currently sitting on top of some eggs.
BANG! CRACK!
Sword punched through the beast's powerful armor, but the attack wasn't enough to kill it.
The beast roared in anger.
It had to protect its eggs!
BANG!
Shang reached it again and killed it with his next attack.
'Focus on power!'
Then, Shang saw the eggs.
'Focus on power!'
BANG!
The eggs were burned to ash with a powerful Fire Blast.
'Focus on power!'
Shang dug through the corpse until he found its heart.
'Focus on power!'
Shang shoved all the Mana inside his body outside.
'Focus on power!'
Then, he rammed the heart into his throat, essentially forcing it into his stomach.
The heart was too big to be eaten in one bite, but Shang didn't care.
He just shoved it right in.
The pain was unimportant!
'Focus on power!'
Then, Shang walked back up the cave as his entire mind focused on tearing out the Mana of the heart.
This was his Mana!
This Mana would help him become more powerful, and he was going to take it!
Shang's body exploded in several places as he continued walking upward.
He had to injure his body to properly absorb the Mana.
However, no matter how injured Shang became, he only continued walking upward.
'Focus on power!'
While his body became more injured, Shang kept tearing the Mana out of the heart.
The previous times he had strengthened his body could be compared to a tactical assault. It was like a precise machine that perfectly took something apart and distributed its gains.
But this time, it was like Shang was a raging beast.
His mind violently tore chunks of Mana out of the heart and just rammed them into suitable parts of his body.
'Focus on power!'
Part of Shang's body began to cramp up, and the veins on his head began to throb aggressively.
His vision began to swim, but he barely noticed.
Shang only continued walking, his right eye filled with hatred.
After an hour of slow walking, Shang arrived back at the spot where he had sat earlier, between the light outside and the dark inside.
The will of the dead beast had awakened, and it was fighting Shang at this moment.
The will itself was far weaker than all the previous times Shang had strengthened his body.
However, this wasn't a good thing.
As the will awakened, the undigested Mana inside his body began to revolt.
Usually, the foreign Mana was detained inside Shang's stomach, but this time, he had absorbed too much to digest.
Shang fell to his knees as insane pain assaulted him.
Then, he puked out a fountain of blood, guts, and muscles.
He kept puking for nearly ten minutes.
It was like he was puking more than his entire weight.
It was ridiculously painful.
Eventually, the puking stopped, and Shang focused on his body.
When he saw the result, his entire body tensed with frustration.
"Useless!" he shouted with hatred.
His body had been strengthened by barely 1.5 times the normal amount of absorbing a beast on an equal level, but he needed to wait about 1.8 times as long to absorb another beast!
This was supposed to increase his efficiency, not decrease it!
'I'm a fucking idiot!'
'Why can't I do anything right?!' he thought aggressively.
Shang sat down at the wall to deal with the foreign Mana inside his body.
It would take over 20 days.
And in those 20 days, he would have plenty of time to think about why this strengthening process had been so much less effective than the other ones.
