Bro, I'm not an Undead!

The mana core was different from the soul.

It was quite important, no, very important and essential, but at the end of the day, it had the tendency to grow rigid and basic from the most mundane of uses.

In fact, for most humans and beasts, their cores were formed naturally, having basic traits that usually involved the same general formation of mana and the function of storing said energy crudely.

Such a start was already non-indicative of a powerhouse in the realm of combat.

Mages and skilled fighters from powerful Families and Houses were groomed from their cores, avoiding this basic setup of the core that would eventually stick with time, becoming difficult to change.

Once a specialised flow and formation was created, specific techniques could be used along with more advanced applications of mana.

For Skullius who had devoted himself to the 'study' of mana for a thousands years, such a thing had obviously slipped his notice because of the conditions he had grown in but now...

[Depths of the Core].

A skill Skullius had only ever used once before was activated, but...

"OH!" Skullius exclaimed as he had completely forgotten an important detail!

[Epiphany]'s passive effect of a 90% increase in proficiency and power to all used skills washed over [Depths of the Core]!

VWOOSH!

A wild gush of mana poured from Skullius' core!

The Discount Human's vision shifted from the world atop the staff, digging deep as it sank within him, through bone and other substances before arriving at his core!

Only this time...

...!

"Is this really... my core?" Skullius thought as he saw a massive construct below him in a unique sectional view.

This wasn't how he had seen his core before!

Last time it was as if he had been seeing a puzzle of seemingly innumerable joins that he had to complete before the then time limit of [Depths pf the Core] ended. He had struggled to achieve a blue core within a short span of time, hanging on the description of the skill but to no avail.

Now, the view was vastly different.

What he saw was a three-sectioned sphere that had numerous paths connecting to it and spreading outwards towards a vague, dark mass that Skullius thought to be his body.

At the very centre, on the innermost part, was an extremely bright small white sphere that surged with super condensed mana!

Next came a larger sphere that held what Skullius could only identify as parallel rings of white mana with the outermost part being a thin, shell with a silvery hue.

These segments to the core were open for Skullius to see through, though he imagined that this was a layout that most people wouldn't be able to see unless they could dissect a core.

"It's beautiful..." Skullius said as he looked ahead. It was a gorgeous view and he felt a rush of power tumbling within him eagerly!

An effect of this empowered [Depths of the Core]!

The numerous paths linking to the vague darkness connected to the silvery outer shell of the core, seemingly drawing mana from it to supply to the body in a controlled manner.

Actually, no.

This wasn't a mere assumption or speculation.

Skullius could feel it!

The more he looked at the core, the more information about it naturally stormed into his mind, making him understand every aspect of it!

The effects of [Epiphany] were incredible!

Skullius couldn't even imagine just how much levelling he'd need to get [Depths of the Core] to this level otherwise.

"I see... I understand..." Skullius said as he dug deep into the detail that was brashly exposed before him.

The Centre of the mana core.

A sort of origin where the purest mana of an individual was concentrated. This pure mana's purpose was to act as the raw material for all changes and attributes that an individual would want to attach to their mana after it exited the Centre.

It was like a blank canvas. One was free to draw on it as they liked but if a canvas which was already something drawn on was used, amendments and corrections were either extremely difficult to input or flat out impossible!

"Ah... so that's what it is. But then, there's also levels of purity to the mana. I can't imagine that when my core finally formed in Deadmanland, it was anything good. There's barely any mana in that place so all. It took so many years just to get it to the size of a fist," Skullius said to himself while indulging in these bits of information that he crammed into his own theories, further making his churning mind understand.

The Refinery.

The section between the Shell and the Centre where Skullius could see the tightly packed rings of bright mana.

This was where any modifications to the mana exposed from the centre would be made. The blank and clear mana was morphed into a malleable state, its shift by external means being very possible.

As Skullius looked at this setup, he understood exactly what was wrong.

"This is... way too simple..." he said as he gazed at the rings.

There was nothing special about them. Their form was basic, meaning that this was simply a naturally formed mana core without anything unique (he knew this). The limitations were boundless as a result and it was only now that Skullius was noticing it.

"These rings are the ones that carry basic mana which is then fed to the paths that lead to my body, huh? I see now," Skullius said with piles of disappointment weighing his voice.

The Shell enclosing the Refinery and the Centre was in charge of both containment and distribution.

It literally spelled the entirely of the core in a nutshell.

This was it.

The setup of the core.

Skullius sighed.

After all that he had learned right now, he couldn't help but feel like losing his core wasn't something to cry over anymore.

"This basically means that both of my cores didn't have anything special about them at all," Skullius said.

If cores weren't just batteries as he was learning now, then...

"I was right... Maybe losing my core wasn't such a bad thing after all. Sila probably knew this and intended to form a better one after escaping from Bek."

This was merely a thought though as Skullius didn't intend to ask Sila about it. The old piece of soul was probably still angry from losing his freedom again and probably wouldn't answer his inquiries.

Skullius' vision descended, reaching the Refinery where the multiple rings were arching around the Centre.

These rings weren't merely piles of energy.

They actually had a distinct signature and pattern, different from the pure mana flooding from the Centre.

Still however, this signature and pattern could only be described as basic as well.

Skullius scoffed.

How pathetic.

"Its clear now. This wasn't a loss. This just served to show me that if I want to grow stronger, I need to forge a better core!" Skullius said as he flared with resolve.