The 8 Sunhearts before Alex were all of the same shape, but slightly different size. He took the one that was the smallest and took a moment to think if this was a good idea or not, what he was doing.
His body was giving no signs of this being something that it wanted, which made him worry a bit that he was getting ahead of himself. But, with how much he had been waiting for this, he couldn’t wait any longer.
‘I have enough Qi to heal myself if anything goes wrong,’ Alex thought and ate the Sunheart.
The moment he placed the Sunheart into his mouth, he felt it cool to the touch in his mouth. The Sunheart drew heat from his tongue, making it sense a lower temperature despite that not being the case.
Alex forced himself to swallow the teardrop-shaped gem, which traveled down to his stomach. He waited for anything to change other than the coolness he felt at the pit of his stomach.
For a moment, Alex wondered if anything was even going to happen, good or bad. But then, he began noticing a change.
The coldness in his stomach gradually faded away, with any presence of it no longer being able to be sensed. Then it went one step further, and Alex began feeling a pit of heat in his stomach.
Then, it began burning hot.
At that point, it wasn’t just his stomach that felt this way. The heat traveled through his veins to all over his body, burning away everything within him.
At that moment, Alex finally remembered something that he had foolishly forgotten. The process of consuming a Yang stone had always been terribly painful, like a person being dumped into a tub of lava.
This was painful in the same way, perhaps even more so. In fact, Alex had never sensed something this painful happening to his body with just heat alone. He had believed he had long since gone beyond any chances of feeling heat as anything more than bothersome, but it appeared he was extremely wrong.
Alex fell from his chair, struggling to keep his wits on the ground while the heat ate away at his body. He didn’t believe he was going to die, but perhaps cutting off his own head at the moment would make everything continue to be more painless.
Alex wasn’t sure how long it had been before the pain finally subsided. When it did, he was left with a body full of vigor and power. He also felt his dantian, which was now full of Qi, to the point that he began feeling discomfort because of how much there was.
From what Alex could feel, his Qi had also become entirely Yang Qi. Although, the Yin bead seemed to be bringing it back from becoming too extreme. Seeing the change made Alex wonder: could his battle power improve still?
He was already strong enough to fight someone on an entirely different cultivation realm, so if his Qi continued to get stronger thanks to his body, he feared he might become able to do much more.
It made him want to eat the next few Sunhearts right away. But upon thinking about it, he realized that it might be a good idea to pace it out. The one thing he worried about now was the change that would come for his body if he upgraded it too far.
He didn’t want to suffer in the same way he had previously, with a body that constantly heated up everything around him, ruining everything he did because it could find no balance.
So, the rest would have to wait.
After considering the changes in him for some time, Alex came to understand that he truly would not be needing any beast cores going further. He could rely entirely on the Sunhearts to fill his dantian. That was, if he was prepared for the painful few minutes that would come with it.
The remaining 7 Sunhearts still lay on the table before him, along with the 20 other beast cores. When Alex heard movements from outside the house, he quickly swiped them all away and placed them into his storage bag.
Tala walked in, followed by Mabi, another man in his 30s, and a young boy of about 11. He was quickly introduced to them, who turned out to be Mabi’s husband and son.
Alex hadn’t realized she was married the entire time he had talked with her. She had managed to keep that part about her to herself.
“We’ve brought the stuff. Where do you want it placed?”
They quickly began arranging the stuff around the place, placing furniture in different rooms, along with setting up what would be a workstation for Alex to make his pastes in.
He got acquainted with Mabi’s husband, Gorang, and her son, Tuli.
Gorang was an instructor, in charge of teaching the young men and women to become warriors. Tuli was a young warrior apprentice himself, only just starting to learn how to fight.
“I would love to see where you guys train your warriors. Would it be possible for me to watch? I hear warriors have many rules and all, so I wouldn’t want to step in where I’m not welcomed.”
“Hah! No such thing exists. Come and watch as much as you want. It is only when you question a warrior’s honor that you would have stepped too far in. Just watching it alone is no problem at all.”
Alex smiled. “I will have to rest today, so I’ll have to see it tomorrow.”
“There’s no time for it today anyway. Most of the training ends by afternoon, so it is already too late,” Gorang said. “The young warrior apprentices will have gathered in the training ground at the northern edge tomorrow morning before sunrise. If you wish to watch, come there tomorrow.”
Tala’s people stayed in Alex’s place for half an hour or so before leaving back to their own.
Once they were gone, Alex looked back at his fully furnished house, realizing that he would have to stay at least a few more months in this place.
He decided to make the best of it.