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**When Nym sat on his bed, holding the Frost Lizard's Eye—the one he was about to absorb—he knew that as a novice, he wasn't yet bound. He couldn't harness the World's Essence directly, but he could use his own essence, along with the essence stored within the gemstones. He had nearly eight essence stones left to him by his father as an allowance, though he didn't truly need so many. Four stones would have been enough to last him two months, so he decided to absorb the remaining half to prepare himself.**
At that moment, he stood up, placed the eye on a cloth handkerchief, and glanced around the room. His gaze swept over the pinewood desk, the backless chair that made sitting a torment, and the wardrobe stuffed with heavy coats and long trousers. When his eyes landed on the wardrobe, he walked over, retrieved a thick leather pouch, and took out five World Essence stones. He then returned to the bed, picked up the Frost Lizard's Eye, and set one stone aside. Clutching the remaining four in his right hand, he whispered, *"Let's begin."*
He closed his eyes and let his consciousness sink into his body—starting from his head, descending through his lungs and stomach, until it reached the space between his navel and intestines. There, he found something resembling a cell—small, porous, and incomplete. Its dark hue mirrored the blackness of the night outside. When his awareness settled there, his right hand tightened around the essence stones, and he began absorbing their power.
He felt his fingers grow stronger, his blood surging with renewed vigor, and his body heating up as the World's Essence coursed through him, funneling toward his core and accelerating its formation. When the heat finally subsided, he focused his consciousness inward once more and observed his core. Some of the holes had sealed, and its incomplete sections had filled in significantly. He sighed in relief—this meant he had only wasted about 20% of the stone's essence. Losses were usually far greater for beginners, but Nym had done this over thirty times. He was accustomed to it.
*"Phew… this is exhausting,"* he muttered. The entire process had taken twenty minutes. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the stone had crumbled into dust in his palm. He rose from the bed, tossed the remnants into the waste bin, then sat back down and repeated the process until all the stones were spent.
*"This is too much… I've never absorbed four stones at once before."* He smirked, then checked his core again. It was now 78% complete. *"Huh… better than I expected,"* he mumbled before lying back on the bed, closing his eyes, and drifting into sleep.
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**When Nym woke, he was still weary, but he forced himself up to wash.** As he stepped out of his room, he was met with a lively sight—energetic men and anxious boys all waiting for training. He cast a glance at them and couldn't help but chuckle. *"Their energy is contagious,"* he mused before heading down the hallway to the dining hall.
There, he grabbed a potato bread, mint tea, and last night's leftover soup, then took a seat at the far end of the table beside a group of men discussing rumors and gossip. As he ate, he suddenly heard a loud voice:
*"Who wants their weapon enhanced? I'll do it for half an essence stone!"*
Nym turned and saw Kurash the Obnoxious, his face bruised like he'd lost a brawl.
*"Did you lose a bet and get beaten up, Kurash? Or just broke as usual?"* someone jeered. A few men laughed.
Nym's eyes gleamed.
Once he finished his meal, he washed his dish, left it on the table, and headed to his father's room. Closing the door behind him, he prepared to absorb the Frost Lizard's Eye. First, he lit a fire in an iron pan to keep himself from freezing solid. Then he sat on the bed and picked up the eye with his bare hand.
At first, it wasn't cold—but the moment he channeled his World Essence into it, a terrifying chill shot through his fingers. His thoughts slowed, but he gritted his teeth and pushed more essence into the eye until the numbness began to recede.
Just as relief started to set in, an agonizing pain exploded in his gut—like someone had plunged a serrated, icy dagger into his intestines and twisted.
*"Agh—HAHAHAH!"* Nym let out a crazed scream, halfway between laughter and a sob. The pain was so overwhelming he lost all sense of time; two seconds felt like an hour.
*"Huff… huff… Damn, that was hell! I almost died!"* He shuddered at the memory, his body drenched in sweat. But the torment didn't last. Soon, a refreshing coolness washed over him, soothing his nerves like a balm—only to be replaced by a bone-deep chill that made his teeth chatter before fading entirely.
Nym exhaled slowly. *"Ice and frost are me … and I'm ice and frost."*