The Mysterious Black Magician

"First, throw the monster core inside. Then drop your blood. After that, let it absorb your mana. Just remember that the densest mana it absorbed the better the result. There is also your luck. If you are lucky, then maybe just maybe you\'ll get the rarest result, and if not, then you\'ll probably get the lowest quality," Rea was giving him instructions regarding the Cauldron of Identification.

He was sitting on the ground matted with a checkered cloth. The blue cauldron was placed in front of him, and beside him was the flickering bonfire. He was listening with Rea while also following her instructions.

Currently, he is in resonance with Sistela.

"Hm, okay," then as she instructed, he threw one of the monster\'s inner core inside the cauldron. The mouth of the cauldron glowed faintly.. Then he cut a little on his fingertip and let the blood drop inside the magical cauldron.

When the drop of blood hit inside the cauldron, the faint glow of yellowish color had turned into reddish and yellowish.

"Now your mana."

Rea said to remind him.

"Mhm." He stared at the cauldron and did as he was told. He placed his hands on the sides of the magical cauldron and summoned his crimson mana with a mixture of white.

"Keep going…"

She said. 

He let his mana be absorbed by the cauldron. The tiny carves on the cauldron\'s surface had glowed with bright crimson.

While his mana was being absorbed, he heard a faint hissing coming from the cauldron. The next second, the cauldron was filled with... liquid? No. It wasn\'t liquid, it was magical energy that seemed like liquid pouring the cauldron. It was rotating inside, like mixing everything.

The process of letting it absorb his mana continued for a while until the pouring of magical energy subsided.

"Focus on the mana density and not the quantity."

Rea said it clearly and he did her instruction. Well, he was a master at mana controlling so it was easy peasy for him. Even Rea secretly admired his mana control. She never saw a person who could control his or her mana as smooth as him. She wondered if it was his reason for his strength.

In reality, Yman and the others in the HCZ7 mastered the mana controlling first, with this regard, they were good at this aspect. Unexpectedly, out of all the trainees out there, he was the first one who achieved it. 

He wasn\'t bragging about this achievement. Besides, he had three types of mana within him. So it wasn\'t a surprise that he could control his mana better than the rest.

Mana was gushing out from his hand and crawled towards the magical cauldron. Just then, after a burst of brightness coming from the cauldron, together with a puffing sound-effect, Rea stopped him. "It\'s fine now," she said normally.

"Okay," then, he stopped. "Take it," she said. After nodding, he dipped his right hand inside the cauldron. Then his finger touched something warm and solid.

Deliberately, he took it.

When he retreated his hand, he was already holding a small object in the form of a ring.

Yman put it on his palm and observed. He wondered how that inner core changed into this. Looks like this magical cauldron was something. Something beyond his comprehension. Ah well, it was magical, so be it.

It just, the empire had much weird magical stuff. He probably means Artefacts. The ring had a smooth surface of emerald color.

"Let me check," She asked him. He then handed it to her. After gazing at it for a couple of seconds, she sighed. "Nothing special. But it will increase your dexterity for a little."

"How little?"

"Hmm….. about 1.5 percent?"

\'I see, little indeed.\' He thought.

Honestly, it was actually little. Although that inner core wasn\'t from a high-ranking beast, it could earn him quite a sum of money if he decided to sell it raw. Because the price of inner core was quite high in the market recently. Oh, speaking of it. Yman finally understood the reason for its high demand. The empire was behind it. They had many artefacts that needed the inner core, such as the 5d-Seer and this cauldron.

And no wonder, the empire was known for their artefacts.

While Yman lost in thought, "If you are uncertain and felt doubtful with my words, you can also use your 5d-Seer to appraise it accurately." Seemingly because he did not reply, Rea thought that he doubted her words.

"Uhm, I trusted you more than my words, eh," he said in haste and unintentionally caused a warm sensation on her face, though she tried to hide it by looking away. She wondered why Crimson said such words. "Uh, I mean…" realizing he said something that could be misunderstood, he wanted to explain but gave up in the end. 

"Sorry for the silence. I was thinking that this cauldron was an interesting device," he gave up rephrasing himself and said the reason for his silence. "Regardless, thank you for telling me, but can you teach me how to appraise it via 5d-Seer?" He said as returned his gaze to her.

".....", "Sure," she nodded and started explaining to him. After a minute, "I see, it\'s only as simple as that. Hah!" He said and sighed. Then, he added, "I never thought." 

He took his 5d-Seer and his gaze landed on the time that could be seen in it "Ah, it was already late. I think you should rest. We are going to depart early tomorrow."

"I-is that so?", "Mhm!" He nodded.

She stared at him for a brief moment before opening her mouth. "O-okay…"

After her reply, she stood up and skeptically turned her back towards him. But, "Uhm, Rea!" she stopped and glanced at him in a little haste. "What?"

"Good night," he said while smiling. Rea inhaled a little deeper. "Okay. You too." She quickly looked away as she felt her face start to feel warm.

Yman continued using the cauldron. He had no idea from what monster the inner core he was using as he had no time to check every detail of them when he fought them.

It was the cores that his collector enhanced fire dolls had collected after defeating those monsters that surrounded him on the mountain near the Encantasia campus.

He threw another core into the Cauldron of Identification and started identifying it by following the process of doing it.

A moment later, he took a ring from inside the cauldron. Then place it on his palm. Like the first one, it was emerald color with a smooth-looking surface.

Using his 5d-Seer, he faced the camera-like object on it towards the ring. The process of appraising it through 5d-Seer was just the same when he absorbed the soul energy from it to recharge the 5d-Seer.

A moment later,

—- A piece of item —- normal item — Increase one\'s defense by 1% — no additional effect — transformable.

Based on the appraisal result, it could be transformed to any items. This ring form must be the default form of it. But the owner could transform it, depending on one\'s desired item. Like turning it into a sword, armor, or any item. Though you needed to hire a professional to do it for you if you wanted to transform it to your desired item.

Well, it could also be used as a ring, since it was already in the ring form. However, the only problem was the size. If it won\'t fit then use it as a pendant right?m

Such a thing….. easy peasy.

Regardless, this was the other use of inner cores huh. Very identical to Magic Cryst for some reason. In fact, Magic Cryst and Inner Core were almost identical to each other. Some even said that Magic Cryst is the Outer Core because most of the time, it was attached to the body surface. It formed through accumulation of combat experience of a monster or beast, while the Inner Core was the main source of its power and life.

Hmmm…. he decided to continue.

He continued identifying the other inner cores. But most of the time, the result wasn\'t better than the first one.

Until it came to the point that he lost interest in identifying the lower rank inner cores. The result of them wasn\'t so good. Well, he could sell them later.

Right, right, he also has that Demonic Core and the core from the Abnormality. Those two were on another level. But, he was a little skeptical after all it could be sold for a huge price.

However, what was he skeptical for? He already acquired the medicine for his sister. His adventure to search for the medicine was already half-finished.

But money though.

Yman was a little skeptical and found himself wasting his time staring at the empty space. \'Dammit, it wasn\'t good.\' He thought and slapped his face to awaken himself from a daze.

He forced himself and threw the Abnormality inner core to the cauldron. But, ha? It was bigger than the cauldron\'s mouth! However, before he could take it back, it was sucked inside. "!!", What the hell!" He was stupefied.