Swallowing the Soul Pearl was less like taking medicine and more like swallowing a live hornet's nest made of pure anxiety.
The instant it passed his throat, Lin Ming's world ceased to be his own. It became a boardroom meeting for several thousand angry, traumatized ghosts, and everyone was shouting at once.
His consciousness wasn't in his body anymore; it was adrift in a chaotic, screeching void. Tendrils of pure fear, remnants of civilians caught in blasts, tried to trigger his fight-or-flight response.
Roaring echoes of slain Madakaros warriors charged him, full of sound and fury but signifying absolutely nothing.
This wasn't a fight. It was a cleanup job.
Lin Ming had faced down alien assassins, arrogant young masters, and his aunt's terrible matchmaking. A few thousand noisy ghosts weren't going to make him lose his composure.
He anchored his mind on a single, practical thought: This is messy.
He began to work, not as a warrior, but as a janitor facing a monumental spill. He didn't fight the raging emotions; he sorted them.
The fear was bundled up and filed under 'Past Traumas, To Be Processed.' The mindless rage was contained and labeled 'Aggressive Complaints Dept.'
He worked with a calm, detached efficiency, bringing a quiet order to the storm within his own spirit.
It was exhausting, soul-deep work. Time stretched and compressed. In the outside world, twenty-four hours crawled by. Inside his mind, he felt like he'd worked a thousand years of overtime with no breaks.
Finally, the last screaming echo was quieted. The chaotic tempest had been tamed into a vast, dark, and perfectly still ocean of pure spiritual energy. His own soul, once a small island, was now the master of this new sea. The raw material was his. Now, he had to build something with it.
The breakthrough to the Golden Core realm was a matter of pressure. It required crushing one's entire liquid Qi sea into a single, solid point. His own reserves had been insufficient for the task. But with this new ocean of refined soul energy as fuel...
He poured the new power into his dantian. The vast energy, now cleansed and obedient, acted as a cosmic piston. Under its immense weight, his own liquid Fairy Qi began to compress.
The pressure built to an unthinkable degree. The world inside him contracted, shrinking towards a single point of infinite density.
Then, with a quiet click that was felt rather than heard, the transformation was complete.
Where a roiling sea had been, there was now only one thing: a single, perfect sphere. It was the size of a marble, the color of lustrous gold, with a thin, swirling line of obsidian black captured in its heart—the last trace of the pearl's origin. It pulsed with a quiet, terrifying power.
Lin Ming's eyes snapped open.
He was back. He was in his room. And he smelled absolutely atrocious. A second, deeper Marrow Cleansing had coated his body in a layer of black grime.
[Congratulations, Host. You have reached Golden Core - Early Stage.]
[Spiritual foundation solidified. All attributes have undergone a qualitative evolution.]
[Divine Sense unlocked. Range: 5 kilometers.]
[System notes: Host's soul now has a +5 resistance to existential dread and whiny ghosts.]
He felt a deep, resonant power thrumming through his body. The world seemed to move a little slower. He felt... solid. A private comms message chimed softly in his ear.
Minerva: Welcome back, Commander. Vital signs are stable. We are approaching the designated insertion zone. I have also taken the liberty of scheduling a hazmat team for your room upon our return.
Good old Minerva. Always practical.
He stood up and cracked his neck, the dried grime flaking off. The psychic Inquisitor wanted to achieve the Nascent Soul realm? He was ambitious, but he was taking the long way around.
Lin Ming had just powered through a breakthrough on a diet of pure tragedy and will power.
He caught his reflection. Same face. Same perpetually tired eyes. But now, deep within them, was a faint, golden shimmer.
It was time to get to work. Another mess to sweep clean.