52 Early Morning

*DING*

*Desert Horse Beast Core detected. Would you like to absorb? Y/N?*

The moment that it showed up on his eyes again, he immediately thought of absorbing it. Soon, a surge of warm and a chaotic-like stream of energy entered his body.

It was like having small insects continuously nibbling at his veins. It felt a bit funny at first, then it became an itch and then his whole body started hurting like there were cuts on him.

A few hours have passed and Alex can be seen sprawled on the bed still writhing in pain with his back soaked with sweat.

*Absorbing completed!*

*System Update 38%*

'Huff! That seriously didn't feel good. Unlike when I absorbed the Elemental Crystal back then, this hurts like hell.'

With heavy breaths, he tried composing himself as he sat cross legged.

'Hmmm, 38%? That was fast for only one beast core. I'll try to use the other one. Hehehe.' With a crazed laugh, he reached for the other beast core that on the edge of his bed along with his equipments.

As he held it in his hands, the notification from the system appeared once more and came another round of absorbing. The process of absorbing was still the same and the pain was actually much worse.

'Why did it hurt so much?' He wanted to curse, but he thought that he had gained benefits so he didn't dwell too much on it. He simply attributed it to his foolishness of absorbing the cores without rest.

*System Update 43%*

'What happened? Only an increase of 5 percent? That's not right.'

He reviewed all the things that he absorbed until now. First was the 'sands' that he got from the late Emperor which made his system to go into an update. Next was the Gaia's Gem that was very bitter and caused him to be sent to the future. Then lastly, was these two beast cores that wasn't really different and overflowing in mana.

What Alex didn't know was that he absorbed a bit of the Imp's demon core when he was rendered unconscious.

"Eh, maybe it was the bitter fruit back then." he murmurred.

'Sniff Sniff!'

"What's that terrible smell?"

'Sniff Sniff!'

After sniffing for quite some time, he cannot find the source of the putrid smell. So he decided to sleep, for he had to spar against Rezhul in the afternoon. It was then that he noticed black spots all over his body. Whether be it on his clothes or his skin, it was everywhere.

He raised his right hand and touched his cheek, only to be met by many small and sticky liquid.

'Ahhhhhh! My face!' he screamed internally and ran towards the bathroom.

"You're up? Oh, congratulations!" a voice made him stop in his tracks.

Looking towards where the voice came from, the Big Baldie was holding a cup of warm something, probably a cocoa.

"Ah! Yes, thank you!" he thanked the Big Baldie even though he did not know what was there to congratulate. Then he continued to ran towards the bathroom.

"Heh. Kids." the Big Baldie muttered while shaking his head. His eyes sparkled with nostalgia.

Quickly looking at himself in the mirror, there were tiny black spots all over his face. With the use of mana, the darkness inside was not able to obstruct his sight.

Even though he wasn't good looking, still, it was his face that was laced with an unknown substance.

He opened the faucet and washed his face, but most of the spots still remained. Then he realized that the sticky liquid was quite stubborn.

Alex locked the door and opened the light before jumping into the tub that was being filled with warm water.

An hour of rubbing was what he needed. Changing the water a few times was quite a task. So he did not waste his time and used the shower.

After rubbing himself clean, he soaked himself of the warm water. He was very tired and he could feel every inch of his body becoming light.

Just as he was about to enter the dreamland, he forced himself awake and stood up. He stretched his body and it was then his eyes widened in horror.

"Sh*t! I forgot to bring a towel or my clothes!"

He glanced upon the dirty clothes that he used, "I cannot use those."

"Uncle!" he called.

"You forgot to bring a towel?" the Big Baldie chuckled.

"Yes."

When he got back to his room, wore some clothes and prepared himself to sleep, the Big Baldie's voice sounded outside his room, "You should go outside and exercise or train your sword skills. Don't let your breakthrough turn into a waste." Then the sound of footsteps grew faint.

The Big Baldie sounded sincere, so even though he was tired he still went outside. There he saw the big man doing something that looks to be boxing.

"I heard from my son that you will spar later this day?"

"Yes."

"You had any formal training with the sword?" the Big Baldie asked while continuing with his exercise.

"No." then he retells his story to him. As he didn't know any formal exercise or anything with regards to swordplay, he could only watch him do some series of punches.

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"Okay then. I am going to teach you some exercises. Although you're not of the tribe, these simple exercises can be passed to you."

The Big Baldie taught him the movements. At first glance, he thought that it was only punching the air. He did not know that he needed to utilize most of his muscles in order to get the most benefits.

The movements were interchanging. At one moment it was slow, then it was fast and then there was a sudden stop. It was a set of movements that was easy to memorize but hard to master.

At the crack of dawn, Alex's body was covered in sweat, his body had become very stiff and was very hard to move.

He was tired and needed some rest.