Jacob’s hollow sockets flickered with a golden blaze as he weighed Immortika’s words; no hesitation lingered—only calculation.
’Did Immortika just say an unknown benefit if I choose to do it properly? And all at the cost of pain?’ He thought as his eyes flickered coldly, ’I’ve endured worse than torment. If pain grants me power, I welcome it, especially with my current situation.’
"What kind of benefit are you talking about?" Jacob had to ask as he knew anything Immortika called a ’benefit’ wasn’t a small matter, and he couldn’t take it lightly.
"That actually depends on your luck. I can’t tell you since this information is rather sensitive unless you can really get it!" Immortika cryptically replied without any intention of revealing the truth.
Jacob was naturally unhappy, but he knew better than to waste his time asking anymore. His bony fingers clenched around the galaxy-lit orb, and his voice echoed with unyielding certainty.
"Since that’s the case, I’ll take the second option!"
Immortika chuckled, the sound dripping with sinister glee as usual, "Hehehe~ I knew you’d choose the path of madness. Very well, let me tell you the method..."
The cursed book’s whisper turned sharp at that moment, "You will use your Soul Force as the tether. Draw the orb into your True Soul and direct it towards your Soul Star—not your body, not your mind.
"Once it enters your soul, the Fire Core will awaken and pull the flame with irresistible attraction, and the rest will depend on your willpower and endurance. If you can endure the burning, it will evolve. If you cannot... your soul will burn into a cinder, never to return."
After he heard Immortika’s ’method’, Jacob was startled, but he remained silent; the flare in his eyes was enough. He had already committed.
Since he had decided to follow the second method, the cursed heart pulsed once. The next moment, Jacob’s Soul Force surged like a tidal wave, spiraling outward in invisible threads that wrapped around the sealed orb.
With a mighty pull, he drew it straight towards his apex crown as runic markings on his skeleton surfaced and glowed darkly.
Although Jacob was uncertain about the method’s effectiveness, he trusted Immortika, and the cursed book’s prediction assured him it would work.
At that moment, the orb came in contact with his skull, and as if encountering water, it ripped into his skull without any resistance.
Suddenly, Jacob trembled as he felt intense heat break into his very being the moment the orb entered his true soul. Furthermore, it wasn’t just him as the orb shuddered violently, as though it had been waiting all along for release the moment it entered his true soul.
Before Jacob could react, cracks spiderwebbed across the orb’s crystalline surface. Golden-white light spilled from within, searing brighter with each fracture.
Terrifying heat waves coursed through Jacob’s soul, threatening to burn him, and Jacob finally realized that he had been underestimating the ’pain’ associated with this task.
Nonetheless, now that he had already started, he couldn’t back down, and he could only endure as the orb was about to break. Since Immortika hadn’t said anything, he knew it was all part of the process.
The cracks spread through the entire orb, and whatever was sealed inside could no longer be contained.
BOOM!
At that moment, the orb shattered like brittle glass, and the Yang Flame within erupted free like an ancient beast from slumber.
Almost instantly, a miniature sun blazed in the heart of Jacob’s soul, its light sharp enough to pierce everything. The flame roared, not as a passive fire, but as a living will—a primordial force of creation, destruction, and radiant sovereignty.
It was so strong that Jacob almost lost himself and blanked out. Even his bones were vibrating and turning scarlet as smoke rose, as if he were burning alive.
But it was just the beginning of suffering as the wave of heat slammed into Jacob’s essence like a star exploding. For a moment, even his soul star seemed to tremble with the threat of annihilation. His soul quaked, trembling on the edge of collapse.
However, at that moment, the glyphs on his cursed heart suddenly surfaced, and it started to throb violently, cold and domineering as if it didn’t want to lose to the ancient flame!
Furthermore, the moment Cursed Heart awakened and clashed with the Yang Flame’s energy, from within, his Fire Core stirred!
The ethereal green Fire Core pulsed as if drawn by the cosmic lure of the Yang Flame and powered by the cursed heart.
An intense yet mystical attraction force suddenly enveloped the raging Yang Flame. Like a starving beast, the fire core started to pull the miniature blazing sun harder and harder, dragging it toward itself.
However, the Yang Flame naturally resisted as if it encountered a great enemy—violent, supreme, refusing submission. Every lash of its brilliance scorched Jacob’s soul, threatening to tear it apart.
Even a God might not be able to endure the onslaught of the ancient flame without paying a steep price.
But the ancient flame wasn’t the only supreme entity present in the soul because Jacob wasn’t just anyone, and almost instantly, another presence like the Yang Falme stirred within Jacob’s soul.
All of a sudden, a soft, crystalline chill drifted from deep within. A primordial frost bloomed beside the raging fire, and Jacob instantly felt the heat lessen by a significant degree.
Furthermore, Jacob was very familiar with this chilling sensation, which was extremely destructive before, but now it was soothing.
"The Yin Core has awakened!?"
It was indeed the slumbering Yin Core that seemed to have been stirred by the Yang Flame’s presence.
As if encountering its counterpart, it released its own cold waves, not in opposition, but in harmony.
The Yin Ice suddenly seemed to have its own will as it extended, gently but firmly suppressing the Yang Flame’s violent lashings. The frost did not smother the fire, nor did it clash—it mystically balanced and restrained the Yang Flame!