Heavenly Forest Wolf 11 Chapter 11 - Core Principals Of Evolving

The morning sun was rising and the forest was coming alive once again and in the middle of this beautiful morning laid a lifeless ogre with one of its hands loosely resting on its neck. Not too far from it was a wolf creeping up on it with almost no energy left to spare.

After clawing on the chest about twenty times or so, the wolf finally managed to claw out a dark-colored ruby crystal the size of a plum. The wolf licked it clean and then noticed a faint 'III' marked on the center but shrugged it off as if it was just the mark of his claws.

Instead of devouring it, he traveled with it for some distance before placing it on the ground and slept on it. After completing his hard work, the wolf slept for a few hours until he was woken up by a loud screech in the distance.

Jumping up onto his paws, Zaro looked up at the sky and saw a bird circling the forest. The bird looked oddly familiar, it circled once more and then slowly descended onto the ground in front of him.

Zaro looked at the bird and noticed a lot of blood as well as several scars and tears along its body and wings before looking at its eyes, "Sevilus?"

"Yes... it's me... not in the best condition I must say but its nothing but mere scratches."

Zaro looked him up and down before speaking, "You look terrible, how did you find me?"

"I am a 'Scavenger Hawk', meaning that I stand out in the art of tracking down almost everything... anyways I need to ask you for something."

Zaro pushed the ruby-core under him before asking, "For what exactly?"

Sevilus saw this movement and sighed, "I require the core you have right there... you see... I'm currently trying to break through into the emerald stage and I am in dire need of good cores as I don't have the power to acc.u.mulate enough Earth Essence right now."

"So it's not me that you found, but my core?"

"Yes... I sensed a ruby core close-by and was surprised to see that you were here, let alone that it was yours..."

"What's in it for me?"

"Anything you demand, once I evolve I will be able to fulfill most of your wishes."

"I hate to say this but, how can I trust you?"

"You saved my life before, I never hesitated to save yours in return at that time, have the same faith you had back then..."

"Do you have any idea how much effort it took to acquire this core?" Zaro snarled at Sevilus.

"Of course, you took out an entire hunting party of orcs, I saw the corpses..."

"Wait, you didn't touch the cores did you?!" Zaro snapped once more.

"Oh, you've become aggressive as of lately... of course I didn't, they are still intact. Actually, even those cores back there will do instead of the ruby core."

"So, you want the cores belonging to the other four instead of the ruby-core?"

"Well if we are talking quality, the ruby core would be a lot more helpful than the other cores... but in terms of quant.i.ty, if I consumed the bodies and the cores, it would be almost the same as the ruby core."

Zaro went silent for a moment and thought to himself... a lot of the information that was given to him by Sevilus was completely new to him and he figured that if he gave the ruby core, he could ask Sevilus more questions. If there was one thing Zaro knew from his previous life... gathering as much information as possible made his missions a lot easier thus if his current mission was to evolve he would appreciate knowing more about cores and ways of acquiring essence.

Sevilus waited patiently and seemed unconcerned as he wasn't the type to go out of his way and steal from another beast, especially from one that saved his life before.

Zaro finished thinking about it and looked at Sevilus in the eyes before replying, "I will give you this essence core, however, in return... I want you to tell me everything you can about cores and essence as well as repaying me this ruby core once you evolve."

Sevilus stared at Zaro in disbelief, "Yes, yes! Of course! My time is currently limited and I won't have the chance to tell you everything straight away so we will have to meet up a few times... the ruby core won't be a problem also."

"Perfect..." Even though the deal seemed good, Zaro was still reluctant to give up his ruby-core yet, with his teeth clenched tight he slid the ruby core over to Sevilus which immediately swallowed the core and shut his eyes and began to meditate?

Zaro understood that they were many things he did not know and waited patiently for three hours until Sevilus was finished his meditation. Once he was done, you could evidently see that all of Sevlius' wounds were treated and he was looking as spectacular as always.

"The core was of very good quality! I am capable of evolving yet I refuse to rush it as it could stunt my future growth... now, what is it you want to ask me?"

Zaro had begun asking Sevilus questions, ignoring the extra things that were irrelevant, Sevilus had mentioned several things. Firstly, beast cores were divided into various stages; Ruby, Amber, Emerald, Sapphire, and Diamond. In each stage, you would have a total of five breakthroughs with the final one being the entry to the next stage which explained the 'III' mark on the ruby core.

In order to form a core, a beast goes through a stage known as the 'Awakening Stage', where you must collect as much essence as possible before your core awakens and the more you collect the better the stage you can reach in the future. However, since Zaro owned an 'Enlightened Beast Core' he had to reach a certain point before he could finally evolve his core.

According to Sevilus, an Enlightened Core wasn't rare and some creatures would only be able to reach ruby as their limit but Zaro's core was ever-growing and constantly had s.p.a.ce to expand which is why Ausura mentioned that he could become a terrifying existence.

After forming a core, you will rise up through each stage and the more room for expansion you owned, the faster your growth would be. In Sevilus' case, he was nearing his peak core 'Emerald' and after that, he would not be able to reach anything higher.

Upon reaching your limit you begin the refinement process where you improve the power of your core and begin your climb in your core's stages. Sevilus knew little about this area and only heard that there were new stages unlocked after you hit your limit that you can start growing in. To explain it better the first stages were just different seeds and the better the seed the better the plants it grew.

Before Sevilus took off he told Zaro a way of consuming essence as to intake all of it and not lose any. The process was simple, he would have shut his eyes and sit in an upright position and use his unawoken core to absorb it rather than his digestive system. Since the core was the most important part of a creature's body, they would be able to have control over it. The trick was to command the core into doing what you wanted by connecting your mind with it and speak to it telepathically.

Once Sevilus left, Zaro rushed over to the orc bodies and was pleased to see that they were still there with the cores and everything. He consumed an entire orc and then tried to control his core, as the flesh traveled within his digestive system he managed to connect the core with the essence inside the meat and acquire all of the essence while his digestive system broke down the proteins and fats in the meat etc.

He then did the same with the core and began to focus extremely hard, he noticed that he had to have a perfect connection with his core in order to get the most from the essence. This was easier said than done but Zaro felt like he obtained three times more essence than he normally would by letting his stomach digesting the core.

This was an amazing discovery and cursed that he didn't find this out before! Although it took much longer it was much better... Zaro then spent the rest of the day consuming the rest of the orcs which would have usually only taken him less than an hour before!