'Swoosh'

Inside the guest room, Henrick was consuming the rich fire-related cultivation resources and using the special flame, he filled his energy pillars one by one and after a couple of hours, he filled 18 energy pillars.

​​

'The fire energy required to fill the last four energy pillars are more than I thought.'

Henrick shook his head as he looked at the emptied storage ring.

Originally, he thought he could fill 19 energy pillars; however, he was barely able to fill 18 energy pillars.

'Should I use the energy pill to instantly fill the 19th energy pillar or store it for the last energy pillar?'

Before he could finish his thoughts, Henrick decided to use the energy pill now because the last two energy pillars required the same amount of fire energy.

So, without any hesitation, he tossed the energy pill into his mouth.

'Swoosh'

Within no time, his dantian was completely filled with pure internal fire energy and on its own accord, it moved towards Henrick's mind before entering the 19th energy pillar.

'Ding,

Congratulations to the host for filling the penultimate energy pillar in his mind.

Soon, he got the usual system notification informing him about his energy pillar.

'Time to go out.'

Since his strength had greatly increased, Henrick could not wait to test his battle prowess.

So, he walked out of the city master's castle.

"Henrick, you are here."

Just when he was looking at the commotion in front of him, Henrick heard a familiar voice and turned back to see Master Valen.

"Master Valen, what is happening?"

Henrick looked at the soldiers running towards the training grounds and could not help but ask Master Valen about it.

"There is something we found inside the bug warriors bodies."

While saying that, Master Valen threw a small orb at Henrick.

'Huh?'

Henrick looked at the orb in his hand and soon the information relating to it appeared in his head.

'Ding,

Item name:- Bug core (Energy condensation).

Effect:- Has the purest universal energy inside it that helps any being in their cultivation.

'Ding,

Do you want to absorb the energy inside it?

'Th..this is...'

Seeing the system notifications, Henrick was surprised and soon he became excited because, with the help of these bug cores, he could enter the energy transformation realm.

"That's right! It is a bug core where the purest energy of a bug warrior is stored."

Master Valen explained with a face full of smiles because as long as he could get the bug cores from the master realm bug warriors, he could enter the grandmaster realm.

As long as he became a grandmaster, he could take care of the otherworldly invasion on his own.

"Since you killed more than 1000 bug warriors, you will be rewarded with 1000 bug cores. So, don't worry."

Master Valen was not an unreasonable person and with a look, he could tell what Henrick was thinking and before Henrick could ask for the bug cores, he explained to him that he would be given his shares of bug cores.

"Thank you, Master Valen."

Henrick hurriedly thanked Master Valen and muttered, 'If only everyone was like Master Valen, I would have been in the sect preparing for the yearly outer sect tournament.'

Even though he thought like that, Henrick felt his current life was still better because he got many cultivation resources and will reach the energy transformation realm in no time.

"Let's go."

Soon, Master Valen and Henrick walked towards the training grounds.

By the time they reached the training grounds, the entire army of the Valen city was standing in an orderly manner.

"Everyone, the reason we gathered here is to reward everyone with something."

Since there was no time for speeches, Master Valen directly came to the point and announced the reason for their gathering.

"Old man Li, distribute those orbs to them."

After that, he looked at the old man from the earlier before saying to the soldiers in front of them, "These are called Bug cores. They are just lke beast cores; however, they have much more pure internal energy compared to the beast cores."

"Every one of you will get three of these orbs and use them properly to increase your strength before the next enemy invasion."

As soon as he finished his words, Master Valen left along with Zaid and Henrick.

As for the other commanders, they received their own share of 100 orbs each and left to their rooms without wasting any time.

"Everyone, let's cultivate here. So, no one should disturb each other."

"Yeah. Going to our houses to cultivate is a waste of time. So, let's just absorb the energy from these bug cores here itself."

"Yes. Also, we can get the scout's information very quickly if we stay here."

Soon, the 700 plus soldiers sat in the training ground to absorb the energy from the bug cores.

...

Inside the main hall of the castle,

"Zaid, you take one master realm bug core as for the other one, I will use it for myself."

As soon as they entered the main hall, Master Valen threw a huge shining bug core to his most trusted senior commander.

"Master….."

"Henrick, you can take 300 bug cores taken from the energy transformation bug warriors and 700 bug cores of energy condensation realm bug warriors."

Master Valen didn't wait for Zaid's reply because he knew what Zaid would say. So, he threw a storage ring at Henrick and interrupted Zaid.

"Thank you, Master Valen."

Unlike Zaid, Henrick thanked Master Valen before walking out of the hall.

"Master Valen, you need…."

"Master Valen….Master Valen."

Inside the main hall, when Zaid was about to say something, he was once again interrupted by the anxious shouts of a soldier.

"What happened?"

Zaid was annoyed for a moment; however, he knew that there must be something very important for a soldier to barge into the main hall. So, he asked for the reason.

"Commander Zaid, our scout returned in a terrible state and at the same time, they brought terrible news for us...huff huff."

The soldier was breathing heavily while explaining the reason for his anxiety.

"Did the otherworldly invaders come once again?"

It was very easy for Master Valen and Zaid to guess what the terrible news was. So, before the soldier could explain it, they asked him.

"Yes...and there were more than 40000 bug warriors with more than 5 master realm bug warriors."

After taking a deep breath, that soldier explained the terrible news in a more detailed way.

"What? More than 40000 bug warriors?"

"More than drive master realm bug warriors?"

Senior commander Zaid and Master Valen were shocked.

"How much time will it take for them to reach the vicinity of our city?"

Suddenly, Henrick asked that soldier about the time.

Earlier, when he was about to leave the main hall, Henrick saw a soldier hurriedly running into the main hall with a face full of seriousness.

So, he quietly walked into the main hall and listened to the entire thing.

The most important thing right now is 'Time'.

As long as they have enough time, everyone could increase their strength including Henrick.

However, if there was not enough time, then they would have to go to the war without any power-ups.

Moreover, the army of the bug warriors was more than 40000 along with five master realm bug warriors. So, it is going to be a tough thing.

"According to the scouts, it will take at least one hour for them to reach the city."

The soldier was one among many who was impressed by Henrick's battle prowess. So, when Henrick asked him a question, he replied with a respectful look on his face.

"Master Valen, one hour is enough time for us to slightly increase our strength. If there is any energy gathering circle or formation in the city, please activate it."

Even though the trial was for him to survive for 24 hours, Henrick wanted to try his best in stopping the bug warriors from destroying the world. So that he could get some good rewards from the trial.

So, he asked Master Valen about the formation that could help everyone inside it to cultivate at a faster pace.

However, it required an astronomical amount of spirit stones. Nevertheless, Master Valen was willing to use everything to defend his city.

'Spirit stones will be used up? So be it. I can ask my citizens to mine it for me from the nearby spirit stone mines.'

Master Valen was not only a reasonable person but he was a thoughtful person. So, he decided to activate the energy gathering formation to increase the cultivation speed of his soldier.

"By the way, is there any news about the mercenaries, who went on an expedition a month ago?"

As nodded his head, Master Valen asked that soldier about the mercenaries.

In Valen city, other than the army, there were hundreds of mercenaries who like to explore the wilderness and unexplored regions in this world.

So, a month ago, they went on an expedition in order to search for some ancient items. If nothing goes wrong, they should have been returned to the city a week ago.

However, there was no news from them.

Master Valen expected that they would come back in time because there is one level 5 master realm cultivator in the mercenaries along with many energy transformation realm cultivators.

So, if they returned in time, it would be a great help for the city and them.

"No news from them yet, Master Valen."

'Sigh'

Hearing that reply, Master Valen bitterly shook his head.