The World-Flipping Inner Core Bombshell
Hunter Association HQ, basement level 3. A special training ground reserved for hunters. An empty space surrounded by super-alloy shielding walls said to withstand even a nuclear blast.
He plopped down onto the floor. Unzipped the crossbag he'd brought and pulled out two items. Placed them side by side on the ground.
One was a common low-grade mana stone, easily available on the market. The other was the red orb he'd retrieved from the ashes after incinerating the starfish yokai in China.
"Compare and analyze."
He muttered curtly and picked up the mana stone first. Its surface was rough and irregular. A murky, violent pulse stabbed at his fingertips.
Three years after the Gate Shock. Mana stones had become the perfect alternative energy source for modern society. The gold of the 21st century, replacing oil and nuclear power. Processed mana stones powered power plants, drove the engines of the latest cars, and bizarrely boosted battery efficiency.
But the drawbacks were clear. They absolutely required mechanical processing devices and converters to extract usable energy.
In the early days three years ago, when awakeners were just starting to appear, countless civilians fell into delusions of becoming superhumans. They bought low-grade mana stones on the black market, ground them in blenders to drink, or powdered them and injected them into their veins. The results were gruesome.
Far from awakening, they ended up in the ER with acute heavy metal poisoning, perforated guts, and necrotic veins at best. The human body couldn't absorb mana stone energy. It wasn't sustenance for living beings—just a next-gen power source for machines.
For the experiment, he gripped the mana stone tightly. He injected his own mana, trying to forcibly suck the energy inside directly into his bloodstream.
Tick.
No reaction. It felt like sticking a straw into a sealed iron bucket and sucking at vacuum air. The wavelengths clashed completely, repelling the energy. Direct absorption into the human body was, as expected, impossible.
"Useless rock."
He tossed the mana stone into a corner of the training ground. Turned his gaze to the red orb on the floor.
Its surface was mirror-smooth, a perfect sphere. Qualitatively different from the murky mana stone. Red liquid swirled inside like it was alive and breathing. Just looking at it made his mana resonate faintly, stirring.
He picked up the orb. It was warm. The moment it touched his palm, it didn't feel alien—it felt profoundly familiar.
Neidan.
The crystallized essence of vital energy that spirit beasts in wuxia novels condensed over centuries. In gate worlds based on Western fantasy, mineral-form mana stones dropped. So for a yokai from Eastern legend like the starfish yokai, calling this an Inner Core instead of a mana stone was right.
He injected a tiny bit of mana from his fingertip into the orb. The reaction was completely different from the mana stone. The red energy inside sucked it up like a sponge. Zero repulsive force. It perfectly harmonized with living energy.
"Absorbable."
Intuition flashed through his mind. This was a spiritual elixir for living beings—no machines needed. If mana stones were car fuel, this orb was a high-concentrate nutrient humans could chew and swallow directly.
He steeled himself. Putting an unidentified otherworldly byproduct directly into his body carried risks. But his flesh was a mana-optimized body implemented by the system. Whether poison or lava, as long as it was pure energy, it had the durability to perfectly digest and break it down.
He crossed his legs into lotus position. Gripped the red orb tightly in his right hand. Closed his eyes. Opened his mana circuits to the limit. Took a long, deep breath out, then fiercely pulled the energy in his palm into his bloodstream.
—Shwoooosh!
Intense heat erupted from his palm. The ping-pong-ball-sized red orb, which had maintained its physical form, melted like snow into pure light.
High-density energy poured through his palm's pores. An overwhelming sensation like pouring lava straight into his veins. The boiling red energy surged up his right arm and straight to his heart.
Thump! Thump!
His heart pounded wildly. The energy passing through coursed like a waterfall through his mana circuits across his body. Hot, but not painful. Instead, a profound pleasure, like old fatigue stuck deep in his bones was melting away.
Consciousness gradually blurred. External sounds and sensations cut off completely. He tracked only the path of the red energy circulating in his body. The otherworldly power mixed with his original blue mana, endlessly circling, compressing, refining. A trance where time dissolved.
"Hoo."
How much time had passed? He exhaled a lungful of stale breath. White vapor puffed from his lips. He slowly raised his heavy eyelids. An alien glow flickered once in his red irises, then faded.
He opened his right hand. The red orb was gone without a trace. Completely absorbed into his body, not a speck of dust left.
He quietly checked his inner state. Total mana quantity confirmed.
"...Slightly increased."
The energy in the starfish yokai's Inner Core was absurdly massive. Bigger than dozens of typical A-rank hunters combined. But once inside him, that vast power shrank to a bucket of water in a huge tank. His original mana reserves were ocean-sized. Pouring in a bucket wouldn't noticeably raise the level. Quantitative growth was under 1%.
But the real change was qualitative.
He drew a point of mana to the tip of his right index finger. Smoothly. It formed at his fingertip simultaneously with—or even before—the thought. The blue mana's density was far clearer and more transparent than before.
"Mana handling feels smoother."
Friction in his mana flowing through his veins dropped near zero. Like slathering top-grade lubricant on gears. Previously, massively compressing mana required conscious control and calculations. Now, it emerged naturally optimized, like breathing. Output efficiency itself had evolved.
"Hm. Not bad."
A satisfying result. Worth the risk of absorption. He lightly rolled his neck and stood. Kicked the rolling mana stone into a trash bin.
Grabbed his jacket from the corner and checked his smartphone. His brows furrowed at the number on the screen. 11:45 PM. He'd entered the training ground around 2 PM.
"Crazy. Nine hours sitting there."
He hadn't expected refining the energy to eat up so much time. Crushing fatigue hit. He slung on the crossbag haphazardly and left the training ground.
He wrapped himself in a mana barrier and crossed the night sky. Landed silently on the penthouse balcony.
The living room was pitch black. The family deep asleep. Perfect silence, no interruptions. Nice and quiet.
Straight to the bathroom, turned on the hot water. Washed away the faint lingering heat without regret.
Drying his hair roughly with a towel, he sat at the desk. Powered on the laptop to access the secure folder.
He finished the warm shower. Washed away all the faint heat remaining on his body. Dried his hair roughly with a towel and sat at the desk. Powered on the secured laptop.
Tap. Tap tap.
He typed on the keyboard, creating a new document. To record the organized data from his mind as text.
Drop Item: Not a typical mana stone. Form of neidan from wuxia concepts.
Mana Stone vs. Neidan Differences
Mana Stone: External power source. Repels human bio-energy (mana), absolute impossibility of absorption. Requires mechanical processing.
Neidan: Internal consumable. Perfectly resonates with bio-energy (mana). Directly absorbable without mechanical processing.
Absorption Effect: Massive energy accumulation. Reduces mana circuit friction coefficient and maximizes output efficiency.
He stopped typing and stared at the monitor. A serious fact.
If beyond the gates, there were not just Western fantasy settings but mixed Eastern wulin ecosystems. And if monsters emerging from there carried neidans instead of mana stones.
This was the detonator to flip the world order. Until now, hunters entered gates to farm mana stones for money. But if neidans became known, it changed. Not for money, but for personal power growth and evolution—they'd hunt monsters, and hunters would prey on each other's neidans in a law-of-the-jungle era.
"Gonna get tiring."
He leaned deep into the chair backrest. National power balances or world chaos? Not his problem. But if this got out and splashed onto his peaceful penthouse convalescence life? Absolutely not. He hated noise around him.
He shoved the document into the encrypted folder. Saved. For now, best to take this info to the grave alone. For the report to the Association President, just say no loot left, only ashes.
Closed the laptop screen. Silence settled in the room. Today's tasks truly done. Crawled into bed, pulled the fluffy blanket over his head.
Tomorrow's lunch: order two chickens for sure. More important than world fate or hunter society collapse. The moment he closed his eyes, he plunged into deep sleep.