Chapter 41 - Metal Essence
The human body was something that was still shrouded in a sea of mysteries; Even scientists of modern times still hadn't managed to discover everything about the secrets of the human body.
One popular myth even stated about how an average human only utilizes 10 percent of their brain's capabilities. This means that humans only utilize 1/10th of their brain's capability throughout their entire life.
It is also a fact that scientists of the modern day never managed to find the secret behind the ancestry of human DNA.
Even with all the vast advancement of modern knowledge, only 2% of the secrets were revealed leaving the remaining still obscured by mystery.
The question is, what else could they find in the remaining.
In the end, there is still no precise, accurate, nor scientific answer to that.
Now, the fog obscuring the mystery within Viktor's body has been partially lifted without him realizing it the moment he broke through into the next realm.
Magic!
The [All Might] skill he received could still be explained by a scientific term known as adrenaline. Even then, he knew that he already stretched things a bit too far. As for magic? That is a whole different can of worms.
This was what flashed into Viktor's mind as he received the notification of him being able to control his spirit force, and followed by the appearance of a new skill he received.
At the same time, he could feel a warm sensation on the area just under his chest and gradually, the sensation spreaded in all directions and eventually flooded all over his body. It didn't take long for Viktor to feel the sensation as if he was unstoppable.
He then started to wonder about the meaning beyond the notification he just received.
"Spirit core of Anvil? What kind of name is that?"
The word upgrade does sound very interesting, but why an anvil? Is that really the thing whose image immediately appeared when he heard the word? A heavy, useless lump of metal? Why not some kind of metal dragon instead? Not only would it sound much cooler, it would look cool too.
<Kekeke. You don't know how lucky you are, people would kill millions for an upgraded core like that?>
"People? What people?"
Once again, the Djinn went silent and refused to answer. Thanks to that, Viktor was pissed; but on the other hand, all the secrets the former tried to pull off were starting to feel really anticlimactic.
"Alright then," Viktor sighed. "At least, tell me how this Anvil core works."
As if he didn't just ignore the question earlier, Djinn's voice was heard once again.
<Each person with talent in spirit, or what you people called magic, have a spirit core as the base of power. And this spirit core of Anvil you have has its own unique qualities, it would allow you to extract, bend or temper any metal you found>
"Okay…" responded Viktor hesitantly. "That doesn't help me at all.. how do you expect me to do that?!"
<Wait… now that you have advanced in rank, I can actually help you more.>
At this point, Viktor had already lost with what the Djinn was trying to convey.
"Djinn.. what are you saying?"
Before Viktor could understand what the Djinn was trying to tell him, the Persian lamp hanging on his waist shook. He was about to ask what was going on when he was once again shook by the sight of blue smoke seeping out from the opening.
The smoke kept on spilling out for a few seconds before it started to coalesce into a figure. Two hands, two feet, and furry skin…
It's a monkey, or to be exact, a blue-furred monkey.
"...What the hell?" said Viktor as he stared dumbfoundedly at the monkey in front of him.
"Ookk ookk ookk!" The monkey making some noises, but the same annoying voice he was familiar with came into his mind.
<How do you like my new form? This is the form I previously used to be discreet.>
Viktor swore he could hear some smugness in the Djinn's voice, but he really couldn't put his hand on which part of the latter's appearance that he could be proud of.
"... Did you say discreet?. "...Seriously? A blue monkey pet… in Russia?
"Oookk..okkk.okkk"
<Alright, I concede that point, I guess things are different indeed after 1,000 years. Let me find an appropriately discreet form for you…>
A monkey, a reference to something that happened 1,000 years ago, a Persian lamp. Everything he knew about the Djinn so far made Viktor start to think about the kids' fairytale of Arabian Nights. Maybe, just maybe, some parts of those outlandish stories could actually be derived from reality and were true.
As he was thinking, the blue monkey dissipated into smoke and reformed, this time into an animal with four legs. A dog, or to be exact, a Siberian Husky with light blue fur.
This time, even though Viktor still thought the striking blue fur was a little over the top, he actually liked it. It sort of reminded him of his dog, Max. The Djinn must have scanned his brain for this exact purpose.
"Woof woof… woof!"
<I am amazing, aren't I?> the Djinn asked, sounding very confident as if the choice he made this time could definitely not go wrong.
"Really?" asked Viktor with his eyebrow raised. "Well, it depends. Will you be able to help me fight monsters in that form?"
<Of course, I am the all-powerful Djinn, after all.>
"Now, that is amazing!" Viktor's attitude changed to the other way almost immediately. "Now, tell me, what can I do with this? The metal anvil thingy, I mean."
"Woof woof!"
The blue dog didn't answer, as it ran to the front of the hut before Viktor could follow him. A moment after, it returned with a worn-out hammer in its mouth and threw it on the ground right in front of Viktor.
"Woof woof"
<Here, try to extract this hammer.>
At first, Viktor stared at the hammer, unable to figure out what the Djinn meant. He picked up the hammer and as soon as he was thinking about absorbing the lump of metal on the hammer, a flash of golden light shone in his mind, before a word appeared in his thoughts.
[Metal Extraction]
It was as if he could see through the million particles inside the metal and sense a particular essence inside that he managed to pull out of it.
[10 Low-level metal essence extracted]
[0.1% progress to stage one Anvil core]
[Core of Anvil stage one : 0.1%]
As soon as he finished, Viktor saw the hammer slowly turn to dust leaving only the wooden handle left. It was as if the one thing that linked the metal together was taken apart and broke the other to crumble.
<Each metal has a certain energy in form of a mineral, this metal was the worst of them all, but still enough to help you upgrade your current stage>
Viktor could quickly get the gist of it, and in excitement, he ran to the entrance of the hut, peeked in, and said to everyone.
"Stay here for one more day, don't come out unless it is important, alright?"
Then, he gave each of the group members 6 spirit stones to consume, and just before leaving, Viktor glared at the little golden rat with another warning but the lemming was just ignoring him enjoying the comfortable sensation of it's fur being stroked by the beautiful princess.
"Time to find some metal to extract!"
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