Chapter 22: The Energy Core: The True Purpose of the Breath Method

“It’s over…”

On the rooftop, Fang Shi stared at the corpse of the Firewing Bird and murmured.

Before his rebirth, this Firewing Bird had hunted him relentlessly on the fourth day of the apocalypse.

In this life, it had died so easily in his hands.

Even in that environment, had Fang Shi been only Level 2, he could still have killed this Firewing Bird.

This was a good start—a perfect start!

The self of this life was utterly different from the one before his rebirth.

No longer a struggling nobody, but a helmsman who had seized direction.

No matter how much suffering lay ahead, he now had more choices than before his rebirth.

Don’t underestimate the Firewing Bird just because Fang Shi killed it alone.

Know that Level 3 is not the same as Level 3.

With this Firewing Bird’s strength, ordinary human survivors would need a full team of Level 3s, fully armed and perfectly coordinated, to kill it.

The reason is simple: even at the same level, differences in attributes, specialties, and skill properties determine combat power.

Even after attribute enhancement, ordinary human survivors remain at a disadvantage against otherworldly creatures.

Not to mention that otherworldly creatures all possess unique supernatural abilities.

Like the Firewing Bird, besides its normal attacks carrying fire damage,

its internal energy could unleash fire three times, with a range of nine meters, inflicting 5d4 fire damage to the target.

An ordinary Level 3 human struck by this would lose most of their life instantly; those with low HP classes would die outright.

Even on Blue Planet, where primal energy is scarce and releasing supernatural abilities demands a greater cost, it was still enough for the Firewing Bird to unleash once.

Had it not been for Fang Shi’s swift, brutal assault in the battle, and his experience allowing him to predict the Firewing Bird’s movement path,

he would not have reached the rooftop edge in time to severely wound it.

This left it no chance to charge up, unable to launch its fire attack.

Of course, Fang Shi wasn’t afraid even if the Firewing Bird had launched its fire attack.

The Firewing Bird’s fire attack could only travel in a straight line; as long as he kept watch on its beak’s direction, his reflexes made dodging easy.

What Fang Shi found harder to deal with was the combo: using fire attacks to force movement, then striking with its talons.

That combination was truly threatening.

Next, Fang Shi dragged the Firewing Bird’s corpse into the rooftop staircase.

Then he began dissecting the corpse with his steel sword.

After some time of searching, Fang Shi pulled from the Firewing Bird’s chest a pearl-sized spherical crystal.

After wiping away the remaining flesh and blood, the crystal’s full form was revealed.

The crystal was fire-red, transparent and beautiful like a ruby, with a tiny flame flickering gently at its center.

Seeing this crystal, Fang Shi finally smiled in satisfaction.

This was why he had gone to the trouble of retrieving the fallen Firewing Bird.

This fiery spherical crystal was the Firewing Bird’s energy core.

It was a trait shared by all otherworldly creatures that wielded supernatural power.

Most of the Firewing Bird’s fire energy was stored within it.

Fortunately, Fang Shi had acted decisively and dispatched the Firewing Bird quickly.

The energy within the core was still nearly full.

As an organ for storing energy, the energy core had many uses.

It could be embedded into weapons to enchant them, supplying corresponding elemental forces.

Or used as a material to refine metals, enhancing their hardness and toughness.

It could also be used to set up arrays, providing energy for their operation.

Of course, it had one most widespread use:

for cultivation.

The simplest method was to carry it, leveraging its natural tendency to release energy from high to low.

Absorb the stray primal energy leaking from the core, using primal energy’s strengthening effect on all things to refine the body, cultivating passively.

A more advanced method was to use the Breath Method to draw out primal energy from the core and cultivate actively.

If confident in one’s digestion, one could even try swallowing it whole—the efficiency depended on digestive capacity.

But no matter the method, all were vastly more efficient than humanity’s old training methods.

Primal energy had a better refining effect on humans with lower base attributes.

Even simply consuming the flesh of otherworldly creatures allowed absorption of primal energy, rapidly increasing base attributes.

Thus, as long as humans could kill a few otherworldly creatures and cultivate a few elite fighters, their strength could grow like a snowball.

This was why, after surviving the initial hardship, humanity quickly stabilized in the apocalypse.

Therefore, energy cores were highly valuable—especially Fang Shi’s, nearly undamaged, one core worth ten others’.

Fully charged cores were rare; most slain otherworldly creatures had fought long, exhausting battles, their energy long since depleted.

The cores harvested afterward naturally held little energy.

Only a powerhouse like Fang Shi could achieve such a harvest.

“With this energy core, the progress of the Fang Family Breath Method finally has a foundation.”

“Otherwise, relying on ordinary food for training, how long would it take to reach the fourth level?”

Fang Shi felt joy inside—this Firewing Bird was a treasure trove, solving not only his cultivation problem but also providing food for tomorrow and the day after.

Without electricity, the hot June weather had already spoiled the meat stored in the refrigerator.

Fang Shi didn’t want to eat only dried rations, chocolate, and packaged meats—he still needed cooked food occasionally.

…

“Xiao Xi, did you see that big red bird?”

Zhai Yan’s eyes showed a trace of fear, his voice trembling.

Xiao Xi’s voice quivered: “I know—it’s far more terrifying than the demon on the rooftop.”

Why was this building left with only the two of them?

Because on the second day of the apocalypse, one bold survivor in this building

demonstrated his intelligence, proving that the undead could be manipulated.

He persuaded the remaining survivors to join him in hunting monsters to level up.

Because Xiao Xi was too timid and refused to go out, the man didn’t force him when the group was just forming.

And Zhai Yan needed to stay with Xiao Xi, so on the second day, only they remained inside the building.

Who knew that this single hesitation saved their lives.

They didn’t know what that group had done, but when they returned, it was night.

And half of them were gone—they dragged their exhausted bodies home.

But what awaited them was death.

Ten meters from the building, several large red birds descended from the sky and devoured the survivors whole.

Flesh torn, bones separated, like vultures feasting.

Hearing the commotion, Xiao Xi and Zhai Yan watched in horror from upstairs, their hearts turning cold.

Before this, Xiao Xi had seen this beautiful creature circling the night sky, its body glowing with faint flames.

In the pitch-black night, it looked like a light—he had felt affection for it.

Who knew that the more beautiful something was, the more cruel and savage it could be—the bird’s actions shattered Xiao Xi’s fantasy.

The apocalypse’s cruelty had not changed for humanity.

Now, another beautiful monster appeared below—and worse, during their conversation, the bird flew toward their building.

Xiao Xi screamed in terror.

Even though Zhai Yan trembled with fear, he stepped forward and shielded Xiao Xi with his body.

Unexpectedly, the bird swept past them and flew toward the rooftop.

“It flew to the roof—that man is up there. Could this monster be heading for him?”

Though exhausted, Xiao Xi and Zhai Yan had been closely watching Fang Shi’s actions.

After all, they were weaker—they had to follow Fang Shi’s lead.

Even if Fang Shi said he’d let them go, what if he changed his mind?

Before escaping this hell, they still had to be careful.

“That’s perfect,” Xiao Xi’s tone turned excited, “two demons meet—let them destroy each other.”

Zhai Yan shook his head disapprovingly: “No. The monster’s strength clearly surpasses that man—its speed alone far exceeds his, and this creature can even breathe fire.”

Xiao Xi thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

Their horizons were limited; they couldn’t judge strength accurately.

Besides, Fang Shi had never shown his full power in front of them, and he hadn’t reached Level 3 then.

They could only judge strength based on the Firewing Bird’s speed and supernatural abilities.

And the brutal act of dismembering survivors had biased them toward the Firewing Bird.

“Regardless, once the rooftop demon is dead, tomorrow you go lure the undead for me to farm.”

Xiao Xi spoke sternly to Zhai Yan.

“Alright, alright,” Zhai Yan hurriedly said, afraid that if he hesitated, Xiao Xi would give him the cold shoulder again.

“Bang!”

A loud crash came from the top floor, interrupting the two as they spoke.

It sounded like a heavy object had slammed onto the floor; the building’s poor soundproofing made it feel as if the sky were collapsing.

Both were startled.

“What happened?”

“Maybe they’re fighting?” Zhai Yan guessed.

The two listened closely and heard a series of heavy footsteps.

Then came a piercing bird cry, after which all fell silent.

No, there was still some sound—but it was so faint it was barely noticeable.

“Who do you think won?” Xiao Xi said uncertainly.

“Maybe that man?” Zhai Yan was unnerved.

That final bird cry had been so agonizing that even though they didn’t understand bird language, they could sense its torment.

After some discussion, it was the timid Xiao Xi who suggested going up to check.

The reason was simple: Fang Shi wasn’t a murderous monster; they wouldn’t be in danger going up.

If the survivor was a monster, then there was even less to fear.

They had already noticed the monster’s trait: it dared not attack humans hiding inside buildings.

Still, they wanted to wait a little longer—ten minutes or so—before going up.

Maybe by then, everything would have settled.