The Ocean of Slaughter

Slaughter energy was power stolen by killing lives.

Bearing that power carried the risk of self-destruction, yet the reason Yu Hee remained perfectly fine was not simply the protection of her star or the power of the Status Window. There was a more fundamental reason.

No matter how fiercely the rain poured down like a storm, the sea could never be soaked by rain.

The slaughter energy Yu Hee held was simply too vast.

Even a cultivator who had surpassed Golden Core and formed a Nascent Soul would explode or become polluted and go mad if they tried to contain it in their body—it was so immense it had formed an ocean.

This characteristic ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had arisen from the very first time Yu Hee amassed large quantities of slaughter energy.

In the tutorial Training Ground filled with level 1 scarecrows that possessed neither free will nor the spark of life, she had built a sea of slaughter energy that sat at her core, growing alongside her, drinking in countless streams of slaughter energy like rivers.

If one ground the souls of ordinary Mortals by the hundreds of millions to craft a Dharma Treasure, one would at best produce something usable only at Core Formation or Golden Core.

But the center of the ocean of slaughter energy Yu Hee had amassed had begun as a great sea composed of the slaughter of a few Mortals and will-less scarecrows.

The countless slaughter energies she had drawn in like river water with her Waterwheel were each from cultivators who had accumulated spiritual power and powerful monsters, stacked according to level like tiers, so they never collapsed like flimsy dominoes.

For someone like Yu Hee, no matter how vast the slaughter energy she accumulated, accepting it should have posed no problem—but this was the Training Ground.

A place where she could not raise her stats or level.

Thus, of course, the slaughter energy she piled up had to be fully stored in the Waterwheel and only digested as residual ability points after leaving the Training Ground. Yet with a Waterwheel of mere level 71—no, 71 stars—having been used so much that Double Speed Mod now reached 28x, containing all at once the vast slaughter energy amassed at that accelerated speed had become burdensome.

Until now she had spun the Waterwheel as hard as possible, refining and compressing simultaneously to endure, but even after refining and compressing, the slaughter energy she had built up in the Training Ground overflowed the capacity.

The skill level of the Waterwheel, spinning ever faster, was rising sharply, but the speed and volume at which slaughter energy accumulated were even greater and more vast.

Had she instinctively realized that at this rate the Waterwheel might break?

Even so, Yu Hee, who had been repeatedly toppling and smashing scarecrows in a trance using Spoon and Chopsticks, opened her mouth.

"Transform!"

From the sea of slaughter energy, a small giant rose.

Though its limbs were short and its form was unmistakably that of a young child, its height stretched hundreds of meters—perhaps even a kilometer—its bulk and size were nothing to laugh at.

And the consumption of slaughter energy to maintain such size and bulk was so vast it would dry up the ocean of slaughter Yu Hee had amassed in less than ten minutes—

But this was the Training Ground.

A place where truly infinite numbers of scarecrows were endlessly replenished.

The mere light footfalls of Yu Hee, transformed into a giant, sent shockwaves that tore ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠apart the scarecrows they struck head-on and shattered those nearby with the aftershocks alone.

The Waterwheel, enlarged in tandem with the temporary body of slaughter energy gigantified by the Transform skill, swallowed the massive quantity of slaughter energy that had been overwhelming just moments before as if flaunting its expanded capacity, and still spun slowly behind the giant's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head.

And behind the red giant's back, countless Chopsticks made of slaughter energy rose as if forming a halo of light.

From the halo of Chopsticks orbiting rhythmically in time with the Waterwheel's rotation, countless Chopsticks began to pour down like red rain.

The vast slaughter energy consumed by the Transform was more than compensated by the slaughter created as the scarecrow army was slaughtered in real time by the Chopstick attacks pouring like rain—it began to pile up steadily inside the giant.

And of course, the more slaughter energy filled her, the more the enlarged Waterwheel—grown as large as the enlarged Yu Hee—gradually gained speed in its rotation.

But once again the Waterwheel's rotation slowed.

The slaughter energy accumulated inside the enlarged Yu Hee was compressed from within to match her size, reducing the amount the Waterwheel could draw.

Simply put, the level of the Transform skill had risen.

Thus, even under the baptism of Chopsticks pouring like a storm, the speed at which slaughter energy filled her was endlessly slow.

Whether she disliked that or not, the corners of the expressionless Yu Hee's mouth—who could not properly express emotion without emotion expressions—trembled.

Of course she had the Emotion Expression Mod she had made out of spite over why they sold emotion expressions as DLC, but for some reason its level restriction boasted a distant figure of no less than level 500.

"Haaht!"

With a young girl's battle cry utterly unsuited to her giant form, the Chopsticks spread behind the giant began filling the halo even denser, tracing orbits rather than simply pouring from it.

The densely packed Chopsticks settled in a circular ring behind the giant's back and gradually increased their rotational speed.

And the moment that rotational speed surpassed the critical point, the Waterwheel that had been orbiting was forcibly accelerated as if pushed by the Chopsticks' speed.

The Waterwheel, its speed forcibly raised, of course had to have that load fully endured by Yu Hee's small body, so she chewed and swallowed the blood that burst in her mouth and spoke as if grinding the words.

"For.ced.Break.through...!"

The moment the Waterwheel's speed was forced past the critical point by the power of the halo of orbiting Chopsticks, the giant's eyes lit with red light.

The scarecrow army appeared and was crushed to powder by the giant's aura alone the instant it burst forth. Even though they were scarecrows for skill grinding, their level itself was 290, so they should have possessed durability, HP, and defense matching that level—yet still.

Vast slaughter energy was drawn all at once into the Waterwheel forcibly accelerated by the halo, refined and tempered in real time, and piled up inside the giant's body.

And Yu Hee did not miss this moment.

A path of slaughter energy was laid through the giant's body.

Along the path laid between the refined and compressed slaughter energies stacking up like Tetris, the purified slaughter energies began to race.

This was now the path of the Soft Body Technique that had been renamed Transform; as the slaughter energies repeated Great Circulations along it, the aura of slaughter energy surging through Yu Hee's body—even as she simply stood still focusing on cultivation—killed, killed, and killed again the surrounding scarecrow army, harvesting slaughter energy to secure motive power.

And she forcibly failed the realm that was knocking on the threshold of Golden Core several times. Ascending was difficult, but descending was extremely easy; moreover, for Yu Hee who could lower her level with the Waterwheel and raise it again by the same amount, it was not a particularly unfamiliar task.

The reason she had come to the Training Ground was to max out all her ability points and break through her limits, so if she raised her realm now it would all come to nothing—that had been Yu Hee's thought.

But contrary to her rather carefree thoughts, the situation gradually grew serious.

First, even the Training Ground had its limits.

As the respawn time of the scarecrow army grew slower and slower, the slaughter energy being drawn into the transformed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yu Hee gradually decreased, and the balance threatened to collapse.

Second, because this was the Training Ground, no events could occur—and that was the problem.

When a cultivator crossed a realm, they faced the Heavenly Tribulation.

By enduring it and withstanding or accepting the heavenly primordial energy beyond the realm, the cultivator extended their lifespan and advanced to the next realm.

But because it was the Training Ground, the Heavenly Tribulation event was not triggering.

Naturally, Yu Hee's cultivation could only end in failure. Attempting a technique that required perfecting the Soft Body Technique—which even reaching Golden Core might or might not allow success—through the loophole of the Training Ground was significant enough in itself.

"Fucking hell...!"

Of course, unaware of all that, Yu Hee—who had greedily aimed for residual points while grinding Transform skill proficiency as a bonus in the Training Ground, only for her stomach to burst—could only spit out hollow curses.

As always, only the red star looking down on such a Yu Hee simply watched the entire spectacle and sparkled.