Modern Cultivation : The Strongest Couple Bonded by Vampire System-Chapter 593 - 593: Layered Power

Alex flew through the air, heading back to Aira's city.
He had extracted all the information he needed from Cyrith.
In exchange, he allowed Cyrith to control its body again, while leaving the artificial soul inside to judge all its actions.
If Cyrith did anything that could be dangerous or risky to Alex's safety or goals, the artificial soul would send a warning to him.
It was similar to a slave contract, but the judgment system was smarter.
'Based on what Cyrith said, Mingyue and I should be enough to take care of the Mechalyte battleship. The problem is Sigma.'
Sigma was now on the planet where all the human traitors lived.
The world leaders and their people.
The Mechalyte did not know what they were doing, but Alex was sure there was no way they were staying quiet.
'Knowing their greed, either they are already planning to stab Sigma in the back, or Sigma already united them and is using them against the Mechalyte.'
Logically, dealing with Sigma first would give more benefit in the long term.
But Alex knew very well how greed could crush logic.
Once people tasted benefits, they refused to let go.
Even if data and evidence pointed at danger, they would close their eyes.
Just like in the past.
Even when the world was near its end because of dungeons, those people were still busy filling their own pockets and playing politics.
'If I go after the Mechalyte, Sigma will probably escape.
If I go after Sigma, the Mechalyte will be warned.
I can split up with Mingyue, but there is risk.'
He did not know if the Mechalyte were hiding another unknown trump card.
Going alone was not an option unless they had no other choice.
'It's not like I am in a hurry. I should wait for Alice to return first.'
He decided to focus on improving the cultivation system rather than taking unnecessary risks.
Back in the city, Alex did not look for Aira.
Instead, he ordered the city AI to prepare a private room for him.
He swiped his hand and pulled the stag carcass out from his storage.
During the fight, he had made sure to keep the body in one piece and collected a few samples.
'I will capture a living one next time.'
Alex gathered mana into his fingers and began dissecting the body.
He created a thin mana blade at his fingertip and cut along the creature's abdomen.
The dark bark-like armor split open with a clean line.
Beneath it, there were layers of dense muscle, shot through with faint violet lines.
'These are not normal blood vessels.'
He spread the flesh gently with mana and qi, holding it open without damaging anything.
The violet lines ran through the muscles like fibers, and in some places, they branched into tiny crystal shards buried in the tissue.
He moved higher, opening the chest.
The ribs were reinforced with thin crystal plates.
The heart was larger than a normal beast of its size, wrapped in a net of those same violet channels.
'The body is modified around the crystal pathways.
Is this all created by Sigma?'
He checked the lungs, liver, and other organs one by one.
Most of them were similar to a normal beast, but almost every organ had crystals embedded near the main nerves.
He cut open the spine area next.
Along the backbone, he found a continuous strip of crystal dust fused into the bone.
'So the nervous system is linked straight into the crystal network. No wonder the reaction speed and distortion timing were so accurate.'
He moved toward the back of the body and opened the flesh near the base of the tail.
There, buried deep near the tail root, he sensed a stronger fluctuation.
Alex narrowed his eyes and used lifeforce to stabilize the area.
He pushed aside the muscles carefully and exposed a small cavity.
Inside it, a crystal the size of a bean was embedded directly into the bone and nerve cluster.
It pulsed with faint violet light.
'Found you. The main core.'
He wrapped the surrounding nerves with mana, then cut the connection in clean lines so it would not explode or discharge.
Slowly, he lifted the crystal out of the body.
The small crystal floated above his palm, spinning slowly as he infused a bit of mana into it.
The space around his fingers rippled, as if the air turned thicker.
'Same sensation as the space crystal, but more refined.
This one is processed.
Just how did Sigma create this?'
Since the facility was managed by someone from Sigma's side, Alex was sure this did not come from the Mechalyte.
'Is this the result of their joint research with Cyrith?'
Another possibility hit him.
Considering Cyrith's research topic, this outcome made sense.
He glanced back at the dissected stag.
'So they used anomaly beasts from the dark zone, implanted nano machines, then placed a space crystal core as the main power source.'
Alex tightened his grip slightly, letting lifeforce and qi wrap around the bean-sized crystal.
'This is a good design.
The nano machines act as a limiter to control the mutation coming from the crystal core.
The core itself has its power regulated to keep the host alive.'
Seeing this approach gave Alex an idea.
If he could create a technique that could adapt to any kind of power, wouldn't that be the ultimate power system?
The best cultivation method?
Right now, every time someone acquired a new energy type, most power systems forced them to retrain their skills to use it properly.
The other option was to treat it as simple augmentation, but the result was always weaker.
It was the difference between addition and multiplication.
Alex raised his finger and formed a thin layer of mana around it.
After that, he added another layer of qi, then fueled both with lifeforce.
A white flame sphere appeared at his fingertip.
"So far, this is how I use these three energy sources," Alex muttered.
"It's not that my body cannot contain them.
But if I want to use all three in the most effective way, I need to build a new system."