Jacob sat cross-legged in the newly opened cave. His flaming eyes were completely gone, leaving behind two hollow sockets.
He was in this position for hours as he was trying to focus on his cursed heart, which had apparently merged with his spiritual nebula and was currently hidden within his head.
At this moment, suddenly, Jacob could 'see' a spherical nebula filled with ethereal neon mists surrounded by endless darkness.
'I succeed!' Jacob was elated as he knew this nebula was none other than his own soul.
After his last encounter with death, Jacob seemed to have gained some kind of control over his inner self, and he could feel that the soul force had also undergone some peculiar changes. That's why he didn't leave to explore the path of legend; he wanted to comprehend this more. Just as he thought, after focusing his soul force, he was able to track back to its origin, which was also his soul. Utilizing the Eyes of Judge, he seemed to have connected his vision with his soul force as well.
Now, he was able to see his spiritual nebula, but it wasn't enough for Jacob, as he wanted to see the cursed heart and his magic cores' situation. So, upon focusing on the spiritual nebula, Jacob's vision started to draw nearer and nearer until he was within the neon nebula filled with countless particles. It was a very strange experience, as he could feel a sense of familiarity with those particles.
Jacob didn't know how deep he had come or how long it had taken him, but when he seemed to have reached the very center of the nebula, he was able to see a breathtaking, spectacular scene.
He saw the inky black cursed heart pulsing with crimson light, and within one of its lopes was the revolving hex core. But it wasn't all as he found his Fire Core and Water Core revolving around the cursed heart-like planets around its star, and then he finally noticed that it wasn't just his two magic cores; instead, the entire nebula seemed to be revolving around the cursed heart.
Jacob found himself stuck watching this grand scene that was happening right within him. A sense of profoundness washed over him as if he were comprehending something.
More time passed until he lost his sense of time when he suddenly snapped out of that strange state. Even what made Jacob uncertain was that he didn't know what he had just grasped. It was like he knew, but he forgot about it the moment he gained his sense.
At this moment, 'What is that?' Jacob was startled when he noticed that there was something attached to his water magic core.
It was a block of ethereal purple ice that was half absorbed into his water magic core. It was as if it was integrating with his water magic core, which shocked him since it was too strange; there was nothing like this around his fire magic core.
Furthermore, now that he was focusing on his water core, he could actually sense something strange happening to it.
The next moment, Jacob's vision shifted as his empty eye sockets suddenly lit up. His vision returned to the empty cave.
But his eyes were burning with disbelief and a hint of anticipation as he guessed something. Without waiting, Jacob raised his palm in front of him and then channeled water mana.
The next moment, ethereal blue mana swirled on top of his palm, but unlike before, it had a hint of purple mixed in it, and he could feel a terrifying chill from it. Apparently, he had sensed this kind of chillness before.
"Yin Ice!"
Jacob instantly realized that the block of purple ice integrating with his water core was none other than Yin Ice, the main part of the damaged legendary treasure Yin Sky Island. He was supposed to get it but was interfered with by Golden Constant and his goons.
He had almost forgotten about it after he was barely able to keep his life, so he didn't care about some treasure he failed to grab. But now, it seemed that Immortika had not only saved his life and brought him to the path of legend ahead of time, but it had even helped him with Yin Ice.
Jacob felt even more complicated when he realized this. He even wanted to summon the cursed book and questioned why the yin ice was so important and what its effects would be on his magic core once it was successfully assimilated.
But he decided not to and waited until the integration process was complete. He just didn't want to give the cursed book the satisfaction of seeing his current state of mind. Nonetheless, despite his gratefulness, Jacob's vigilance was still the same, or he wouldn't be wasting his time conforming to the changes in his body.
After calming down, Jacob probes another hidden space within his body, the solar plexus, where Autarch is located. The last time he checked, Autarch was still wounded.
But when he investigated his solar plexus, Jacob was astounded because Autarch was fully recovered; even its broken body was completely regenerated.
Jacob's mind raced as he communicated with Autarch, "You recovered?"
"Sir!" Autarch's emotionless voice rang, "I've recovered some time ago, and I'm glad that you are fine. I wasn't able to reach you previously."
"I was unconscious." Jacob stated, "For how long have you been unable to reach me?" Autarch replied without hesitation, "I don't know the exact time, but it took me around 4 years to recover, and I instantly tried to reach you. I think 5 more years have passed since then!"
'I've been out for over nine years!?' Jacob was in utter disbelief. For him, it seemed like only a few hours had passed, but it turned out he had been uncurious for nine years!
Although he was still fine, he still felt surreal that he was still alive despite lying in the middle of Path of Legend for nine years!