Seasoned as he was, Theodore felt next to no pressure whilst navigating his way through the Envelopment Realm. With practised ease, he soon created a perfect 'shell', which he then forced to shrink inwards.
The Compression Realm could pose a slight risk to novices, but to him, it was a mere formality. Approximately forty minutes later, the 'shell' was about to envelop his Foundation, the Energy condensed within it having already grown solid to the point where he needed to mentally exert himself quite significantly to further force it together.
'... it's orders of magnitude more difficult than before. But that's no wonder, my Dantian is also that much larger.'
Chuckling to himself with a few drops of sweat dripping down his forehead, he finally reached the threshold to break through to the Unification Realm. As if a thin film had been pierced, all of the solidified Energy, as well as the 'shell', were sucked towards the Foundation in its centre. At the same time, an almost insignificantly tiny portion of Theodore's soul got mixed up in it all as well.
Completely automatically, these four parts got pulled even closer together and eventually fused, leaving behind an object the size of a tiny marble, which was simply hovering there, at the very centre of his Dantian. It was hard to make out its exact looks or colour, as it seemed to be shrouded in a sort of haze. Fortunately, this veil wouldn't be there for long, as only two realms later, the resonance between cores would lift it.
With his Proto-Core formed, it was time to progress through the Elevation Realm. To do so, he could either allow the Energy within his Dantian to passively wash over it for a long period... or he could take a more active approach, like most cultivators. Naturally, he chose the latter option, forcing increasing amounts of Energy into his Dantian, then sending it straight towards the Proto-Core before directly infusing it into it.
He couldn't do so without a care, though. Based upon how the haze around his core rippled, he needed to adjust the exact spots at which he aimed the Energy, as well as its amount. If he hadn't been through this song and dance on far too many occasions, then this might have proven to be a bit of a headache.
After all, every single time that his actions were suboptimal, he would negatively impact his Proto-Core, possibly undoing quite a lot of the refinement progress which he had already achieved, prolonging the time that he would have to stay in the Elevation Realm for.
Fortunately, breezing through it proved to be no challenge whatsoever. All it required was time–almost three hours of it, in fact. At that point, he finally felt that his core could not withstand any further infusions, causing him to halt in his tracks and exhale a comfortable sigh.
'Only twice more, and I'll finally get to see what my Golden Cores look like!'
Knowing that he was very much no longer the same person from before the Soul Fusion, as well as the Energy Vein Incorporation, he felt considerably excited to discover what the result of all of these fundamental changes would be.
Not letting this get to his head, he steadily repeated what he had done earlier, finally arriving at the much anticipated moment approximately ten hours later.
Immediately after the third Proto-Core had been reinforced to a sufficient degree, all three of them began to hum slightly, an unseen yet direct connection between them being formed. With the Tri-Core Resonance achieved, the doors to the Golden Core Realm opened to him.
Like snow melting underneath the hot sunlight, the haze which had been shrouding his cores was washed away, revealing the sights previously hidden beneath. As to be expected, all three of them looked identical.
In essence, they appeared like dual-coloured marbles, one half of them consisting of a pure white, whilst the other one was flawlessly golden. At parts, they blended together nicely, yet they each still perfectly made up fifty percent of the cores' surface.
Amidst the white side, three familiar spots were present–one red, one black, and one 'empty'. Clearly, this first half represented him as Theodore, while the other one should originate from his John part.
A Golden Core being actually golden in colour was not too rare, it could even be considered somewhat common. The sole reason as to why it was so revered was due to the deceased Heavenly Emperor having had such a core. To be fair, the colours didn't truly matter, all they did was represent the person–there were no straight-up better or worse ones.
But aside from this more superficial aspect of it all, running over the entirety of the cores, there were minuscule 'channels'. They formed natural patterns which Theodore didn't recognize, yet he felt a strange familiarity as soon as he laid eyes upon them.
'Wait a moment... Could it be?'
Focusing more, he directed his gaze towards one of them, his enhanced senses allowing him to properly perceive its exact structure. Yet as soon as he saw it, he immediately realized what they were waiting for: Energy Veins.
Very similarly to what he had done to his meridians' walls, these 'channels' asked for him to weave together many of them into thicker strands, which would then fill them up completely. Needless to say, as he had never encountered this situation before, he had no idea what would happen once he did so.
'... time to try it out!'
Due to being able to fall back on his Regression Talent, he felt that taking a small risk here was acceptable. More importantly, there was no reason for him to even assume that something would go terribly wrong, he was simply being far too overly vigilant. Still, he couldn't necessarily be blamed for that. Every unfamiliar step on the path of cultivation had to be taken with extreme care, lest one potentially invited disaster.
Due to finally being capable of manipulating Energy properly, when it came time to controlling the veins, it felt effortless. Within moments, a single one of them arrived in front of each of the 'entrances' to the three Dantians, then they followed the Energy surging inwards and appeared inside. There was no feeling of rejection, as he had feared.
Manoeuvring them to exactly the same spot next to their respective Golden Cores, he chose to wait and gather more Energy Veins first. When hundreds of them had arrived in each Dantian, he wove them into a singular thicker strand each, which he then inlaid in one of the 'channels'.
They fit like a glove, as if they had always existed for this purpose–because that was exactly the case. Right before his eyes, his cores trembled, then the strands of Energy Veins fused seamlessly with the 'channels', until only a smooth surface was left behind.
Closing his eyes, he stopped for a while, patiently feeling for any changes which he could detect. Yet, except for his Golden Cores seeming a bit more 'divine' and sacred than before, nothing else happened. But that alone was already enough.
'If I'm right, then by completely filling in these 'channels', my cores will transform fully into divine ones–thereby elevating a part of me into a higher, 'divine' lifeform this early on. That should be a good thing, but we shall see...'
Cautiously optimistic, he sped up and continued to 'fill in the blanks', dedicating nearly an hour to this endeavour. When he finally finished, a shiver ran all throughout his Dantians, his body, his mind and his very soul.
It was as if a layer that had been placed upon his eyes was suddenly lifted and the way in which he saw the world underwent a fundamental change. Yet, when he tried to figure out the details of what was actually different, he came up empty. At most, he felt a bit more removed from all that he was perceiving, as if he was looking down upon the lives of regular folk from an elevated perspective.
'... it's exactly like I suspected. This is approaching the state of mind achieved after becoming a 'divine' lifeform. I haven't fully made it there yet, but I'm well on my way. I can also feel an embryonic form of my Numen stirring, an entire three cultivation stages early!'
Pleasantly surprised by this last part, he attempted to utilize his Divine Will, yet found himself unable to manipulate it at all. That was to be expected, though, as it hadn't fully taken shape yet.
During his illusory lives, the cultivation stages which he had experienced went far beyond simply ascending to become 'divine', therefore he didn't feel strange about his outlook on the world having changed. Rather, it felt as if he had partially returned to normalcy.
The detachment inherent to it all was something deeply rooted in the bones of all properly trained Named Family members, especially those originating from Pillars or Supreme Pillars. This didn't mean that they viewed the world through a veil of malice–it simply allowed them to remove themselves a bit further from regular mortal existence.
There was an inherent cruelty to this, as the lives of the ordinary folk would become less valuable in their eyes. They would make more rational decisions, not shying away from necessary sacrifices. This was an important mental development to undergo, as it was outright impossible to ascend even further while remaining as innocently naïve as everyone started off as at the very beginning of their journey.
Naturally, some of them would retain more of their 'humanity' than others, and not all would become fully cold-blooded butchers. It all differed from person to person. Theodore, however, wouldn't experience much of a transformation in this regard, as he had already undergone too many of them in the past.
'It's late in the afternoon right now. I suppose I'll continue for a little longer.'
Checking the current time, he chose to further refine his Golden Cores today until dinner was ready. Dealing with the Soul Sculpting Stage could be left for tomorrow and the days after, as it wouldn't be as fast or simple as the Energy Refinement and Core Formation Stages.
'Speaking of, everyone likely experienced quite a few surges in Standard Attributes. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them are a bit breathless by now as a result.'
Smirking in amusement, he refrained from stealing a glance at the outside world, instead preferring to see how well everyone was faring in person afterwards. Nothing major should have happened, as they all at most would have felt a doubling of their power each time–exactly like a regular breakthrough. Still, so many of them in a short period might have been a bit overwhelming.
A few hours later, when he arrived in the dining room, dozens of complicated gazes were sent his way. Although nobody would be unhappy about growing stronger, the extremely frequent increases in power had left many of them mentally exhausted and unable to properly adapt yet. Some were also speechless to see him make this much progress in so little time.
"I suppose congratulations are in order. Still, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth to see the bonus received from Coattail Ascension vastly eclipse everything I've accomplished on my own so far."
Sighing helplessly, Vigdis walked up to him and patted his shoulder, her expression mostly jovial despite the joking complaint which she had added on. Clearly, she had long been prepared for this day.
"Stop your whining already! Well done, my love! Congrats on making it to the Golden Core Realm!"
Rolling her eyes at her, Xie Mei darted to his side, elatedly hugging him. It hadn't been difficult to figure out his current realm, as they all simply needed to count how often they felt themselves grow more powerful.
"Thanks, Mei'er. And don't worry, everyone. Today was an exception. I can't keep up this improvement speed much longer."
Taking his seat, he joined them all for their meal. Eventually, the conversation topics returned to normal, casual ones. But then, Cheong Suhyeon privately sent him a message. After having read through it, the two of them exchanged a glance.