Chapter 12: New Skills (Part 1)
--) Shadow Monarch Physique: One of the forbidden physiques that exist in the world, it allows you to form a monarch core inside your heart. The monarch core can absorb 100% of the power from a core. While absorbing the core, there is a 3% chance that you will receive a skill from the monster the core was extracted from.
Evan read the details of the physique once again to confirm that he hadn't misread them earlier.
After reading the details, Evan took out another core and attempted to absorb it. While absorbing the core he focused on the energy that he was absorbing.
As the energy entered his body, it moved towards his heart, but instead of being absorbed by his monarch core, Evan noticed that it was being absorbed by his prime core.
Similar to monsters, humans also have a core inside their bodies located near their hearts. Unlike monsters, who have cores specific to their types (e.g., fire monsters having a fire core), humans have a white core called the prime core. To improve their rank, humans must refine this core and increase its rank.
Currently, Evan's prime core is ranked F, which is why he is an F rank hunter.
When Evan absorbed the power of the core, he realized that instead of being absorbed by the monarch core, the energy of the core was being absorbed by his prime core.
"How am I supposed to absorb energy with the monarch core?" Evan pondered, puzzled by what he saw. He didn't know how to utilize his monarch core to absorb the energy from the core.
Evan took out another core and held it near his chest, where his heart was located, but nothing happened. He examined the core carefully and suddenly felt the urge to eat it.
"I don't actually have to eat it, right?" Evan questioned in disbelief when he felt the sudden urge to consume the core.
"I would die if I ate a core," he recalled from his two years of learning. Eating a core directly would cause the unrefined energy within it to destroy his body from the inside.
To absorb the energy of a core, one must use mana to refine the core's energy before absorbing it to increase the rank of their core. Eating a core directly without refining it would likely result in death. This made Evan hesitant when he felt the urge to eat the core.
"I won't swallow the core, I'll just put it in my mouth," Evan decided. And while hesitating, he placed a core in his mouth, ensuring not to swallow it because he knew that if his physique didn't work and he swallowed the core, he would die a horrible death.
As soon as Evan put the core inside his mouth and it touched his tongue, the monarch core in his heart, which was previously rotating slowly, suddenly picked up speed, as if it sensed something.
And just as the monarch core started rotating faster, the core in Evan's mouth began to melt.
Evan was shocked by the sudden turn of events, and before he could react, the core he placed in his mouth disappeared and transformed into pure energy that started moving toward his heart.
Evan could feel the energy of the core approaching his heart, but this time, instead of going to the prime core, the energy entered his heart and was absorbed by his rotating monarch core.
As the monarch core absorbed all the energy, Evan felt his body growing stronger. It was evident that the monarch core absorbed all the energy from the core without wasting any, unlike the prime core.
"So, this physique really allows me to absorb 100% of a core's energy," Evan exclaimed with delight after successfully absorbing 100% of the core's energy.
But suddenly, Evan thought about something, and his eyes widened in shock.
"It can't be, right?" Evan said, his voice filled with disbelief. He took out another core and put it into his mouth, just as he had done before. The core transformed into pure energy and was absorbed by his monarch core.
Evan felt his body growing stronger once again after absorbing the core.
Encouraged by his success, Evan took out yet another core.
But this time instead of putting it in his mouth, Evan used his mana to refine it, and the energy of the core was absorbed by his prime core. He felt his body becoming slightly stronger, even though the progress was not even half as effective as with his monarch core.
"I can truly enhance my power by increasing the ranks of both of my cores," Evan said excitedly.
Unlike others who could only grow stronger by increasing the rank of their prime core, Evan possessed two cores and could amplify his power through increasing the rank of both of his cores. This meant he would be far more powerful than a normal hunter of the same rank.
"I will need to use more cores than regular people since I have to improve the ranks of two cores instead of one. But now that I can absorb any core just like others, it won't be a problem for me. Besides..." Evan glanced at the storage ring in his hands and a smile appeared on his face. "I think these cores are enough to increase the rank of my monarch core to D rank, since it can absorb 100% energy from a core."
Evan decided to prioritize increasing the rank of his monarch core first, because unlike his prime core it could absorb 100% of a core's energy. Additionally, there was a 3% chance that he would acquire a skill from a core, further enhancing his power.
With this decision in mind, Evan wasted no time and started putting cores, one after another, into his mouth.
When Evan absorbed the 12th core, the 3% chance of obtaining a skill from the core was finally triggered, and a notification appeared before him.
Chapter 13: New Skills (Part 2)
Evan continued to absorb the cores using his monarch core. When he absorbed his 12th core, which came from a wind-type monster, a notification appeared before him.
[You have learned the skill Haste.]
"I didn't expect to learn a skill so soon," Evan said with a delighted voice as he looked at the details of his new skill.
---) Haste: While using the skill your agility will be increased by 20%.
Although Evan had hoped to acquire an attack-type skill, he wasn't disappointed with Haste. It was a simple yet excellent skill for enhancing his agility. And there were still many cores left for him to absorb.
After learning the skill, Evan continued to absorb more cores. Just as he absorbed two more cores after acquiring Haste, he felt his monarch core start to rotate faster and faster.
Suddenly, the mana from the surroundings began to flow towards him and enter his body.
A whirlpool of mana appeared above Evan's head as the surrounding mana moved towards him. After entering his body, the mana moved towards his heart and was absorbed by his monarch core.
Evan felt a slight pain in his heart, but he easily endured it.
The mana whirlpool above his head continued to gather mana near his body. After a minute, Evan felt his monarch core stop rotating.
Suddenly, his monarch core released a burst of energy, refining his body. Evan felt his body being strengthened to another level, and his mana capacity greatly increased.
Name: Evan
Rank: F
Monarch Core Rank: E
Strength: F
Agility: F
Mana: F
Stamina: F+
Intelligence: F
Luck: E+
Charm: D+
Skills: Shadow Walk, Haste
Physique: Shadow Monarch Physique
Title: ???
Job: None
"My monarch core directly advanced to E rank instead of F+ rank," Evan said when he saw his status window.
"But why haven't my stats changed? I can clearly feel that my strength, agility, and other attributes have greatly improved after my monarch core advanced to E rank."
Evan was confused when he saw that his stats hadn't changed, even after his monarch core advanced.
After thinking about it for some time, he reasoned that his stats will only change when his prime core advance.
It made sense to him because even before his monarch core formed inside his heart, his status window showed the level of his prime core. Since it was still F rank, it wasn't surprising that his stats hadn't changed.
"Even if my status window doesn't show it, I can clearly feel that my body is much stronger now, and my mana capacity has increased significantly," Evan said, not dwelling too much on it since it didn't negatively affect him.
Evan glanced at his status window once again and his mouth twitched a little when he saw that his charm had increased to D+ after his monarch core advanced.
"I wonder what those useless male students would do if they saw that I've become even more handsome," he mused.
Evan had often been bullied by both male and female students due to his handsome face.
For some reason, his charm was too high, even as an F ranker, causing many male students to be jealous. Being weak, he was often bullied because of it.
"Well, I don't think anyone will be able to do anything to me now, since I can also improve my power," Evan said confidently. He closed his status window and continued absorbing more cores to further enhance his monarch core to D rank.
Suddenly, when Evan finished absorbing a core, a notification appeared before him. His eyes lit up with excitement as he saw he got another skill.
This time he got skill after absorbing a shadow core.
You have learned the skill Shadow Bullet.]
---) Shadow Bullet: You can shoot a bullet made of shadow using mana. The power of the bullet depends on how much mana you use to cast it. There is a 5% chance that the target will become blind for two seconds after being hit by Shadow Bullet.
Evan's eyes instantly lit up when he saw the details of the skill.
"Awesome!" he exclaimed after reading the details of the skill.
He had been hoping to acquire a skill that could help him with long-range attacks, and Shadow Bullet was just perfect for that.
Evan didn't stop after obtaining the skill. He continued absorbing more cores, and suddenly, when he had only eight cores left, he once again felt a slight pain in his heart.
A mana whirlpool which was larger than the previous whirlpool formed above his head, and mana started moving towards his body, being absorbed by his monarch core once again. The monarch core rotated faster and absorbed the mana from the whirlpool.
After some time, the monarch core stopped absorbing mana and released a burst of energy.
Evan felt his body being strengthened to a new level, and his mana capacity increased greatly. But it didn't end there. As his monarch core advanced to D rank, another notification appeared before him.
[Monarch core advanced to D rank. You have received the skill Shadow Storage.]
---) Shadow Storage: A special shadow space where you can store anything that is not alive. The size of the shadow storage depends on your core rank.
"I can even acquire skills by advancing my monarch core level," Evan said in disbelief.
Obtaining a skill is very difficult, and only a few people had more than one skill. Yet here he was, having acquired three skills simply by absorbing some cores.
Evan looked at the remaining eight cores and, after careful consideration, decided to absorb them through his monarch core.
However, when he tried to absorb the core, he felt severe pain in his chest. The energy of the core approached his monarch core, but this time, his monarch core didn't absorb it.
When his monarch core did not absorbed the energy, the energy of the core moved towards his prime core and was absorbed by it.
And to Evan's horror, just as his prime core absorbed the energy, he noticed cracks started to appear all over his prime core, and he felt intense pain in his chest area.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
14 Power
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