Golden Fox with System

The next morning, in the Dimensional Room.

Theo looked at a small sandcastle in front of him… but in reality, it was all the Wind Magic Cores he had refined over the long night. They were completely pure, the size of a grain, but if you looked directly at them, you would feel a bit of pain in your eyes. It was even more unpleasant than looking directly at the sun with your bare eyes.

"Ufa~" Theo sighed heavily as he sat on the floor: "That was pretty stressful…"

After getting his mana back, Theo looked through the screen that appeared while he sat on the floor.

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[Faux Heavenly Fire Level 1; Reached: High Advance.]

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"Hrm, I can further increase the fire stage of my affinity this way."

Looking around, he realized that they were still cultivating. "I don't have much to do now, so I guess it's time to increase my System Points."

Looking at the many treasures he "took" from the Kenedy Clan and also from the Beast Sect, Theo walked to the upper east corner of the Dimensional Room where all the treasures were held.

In addition to possessing an exorbitant amount of Mana stones, there were many other treasures. It was mainly five tons of gold bars with a slight trace of metal essence.

"Hrm," Theo pondered for a moment. "These gold bars… should I devour them, or use them to enhance my mastery of forging?"

"But to forge a level 4 weapon, I need to be a formation master," Theo, though he had never forged a level 4 weapon before, was aware that without being at least a level 3 formation master, he couldn't forge a level 4 weapon.

He needed to draw the Mana veins of the weapon and use the formation to connect them to the Core. Therefore, even when he would use a bow and arrows, the arrows that were shot with the bow would have the element that the bow gave them, and that would make it a far stronger attack.

"Hrm, well, even if I need to train first to forge it," Theo thought, "Still, if I increase my level of mastery of the furnace, it will help me a lot in my defence since it is basically a defence technique, too."

Determined to devour some of these gold bars, Theo changed into his greater form. Opening his mouth wide, he began to bite down and chew the gold bars. But, as he was not using the <Devour> skill, the essence of the gold bars did not fill his Lineage Cells but instead strengthened his furnace ability.

Incredibly, Theo had eaten over a ton of gold, but still had no change in the stage of his furnace. It remained in the gold rank. But then, he noticed that his defence increased by a large margin. By being in this form, Theo could easily defend himself without even being scratched by someone from the Wizard Kingdom.

Of course, there are always exceptional cases, where the other person who attacks you possess an item at a level higher than the Wizard Kingdom and can control it in battle. In that situation, not even his strong defence would be able to get away with just a scratch.

"Err," Theo thought, "I guess I will continue to eat these gold bars; if I can raise it by one more stage, I believe my defence will increase by a large margin again. Other than that, it might be easier to forge a weapon with this later."

Theo already knew that the next stage of the furnace is "black gold," he also knew that by reaching the level of black gold with the furnace, his body would be able to rival someone from the Higher Wizard Kingdom.

Theo was uncertain whether eating all these gold bars would allow him to raise the level of his flaming dragon furnace. But still, he approached the pile again, opening his wide mouth. As he used the technique involved to be able to digest and turn it into nutrients, the drool that dribbled from his mouth seemed not too different from a powerful acid on the floor.

Perhaps not even the floor of Theo's workshop, which is a level 6 artifact, would be unscathed if it were exposed to the liquid that was produced in his mouth.

His sharp teeth, which looked like long swords, could exert a force equivalent to one ton, ready to shred everything they met. Theo started biting the gold bars without pause, and in a short time, he consumed another half a ton of gold bars.

The more he ate, the stronger his furnace became in the process, and his teeth and jaws became even stronger. His teeth were now so powerful that for a moment, he thought he was only eating a few pieces of cheese. That's how easy it was now for him to bite through the gold bars.

Only that, after consuming one ton of gold bars, he needed to digest them to fully integrate it all with his furnace.

"There went two tons of gold bars…" If someone were to tell him that there would come a day when he would be eating two tons of gold… he would think that clearly, they had severe mental issues. But there he was, eating gold bars like he's eating slices of pie.

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[Flaming Dragon Furnace; Reached: Black Gold Rank]

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Theo could feel in his body an explosion of force pervading his entire being. All his organs, bones, etc., of his body, were being bathed in black gold, now protected by the defence of the flaming dragon's furnace.

Even a layer of his skin was now protected. Bathed in black gold, the layer just below his visible skin was now shielded, increasing the defence of his skin tremendously.

Now, even if someone cuts through the first layer of Theo's skin, to cut off the second layer… would take someone with a level of force equivalent to someone at the height of the Higher Wizard Kingdom.

This layer of gold-plated skin had now reached a level of defence where it is even more resistant than most levels 5 armour. It could possibly rival some level-six armour.

"Hrm, I'll use the remaining three tons to increase my cultivation." He pondered, "I don't know if it's possible, but I also think that considering everything that's happened so far, if I use <Devour> on these gold bars, there's some chance that I'll get a new affinity with metal. But I'm not quite sure about that."

Even searching on the internet, he couldn't find any reference that mentioned it. Well, he was a weirdo. He couldn't be fairly compared to an ordinary being.

"I guess I need to spend a few of my Points on asking the System." Theo decided to just do it and get a full answer.

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[1,000 System Points were deducted]

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System: It is possible to create a new affinity through metal essences, although the chances are rare.

When the essences are consumed in your body, one of them can survive the force field located in it's center, thus creating a protective layer (known as a neutral field) and preventing it from being digested by the force field. This creates a new affinity.

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"Ohh! That's what happened when I used "Devour" on the Faux Divine Fire?" Theo imagined that this was the explanation, "It is also more likely that the essences of the Magic Cores survive in this force field, and because of that, there are many reports in which others have managed to awaken a new Lineage after consuming Magic Cores."