His eyes landed on the Spark Seed resting nearby.
Almost immediately...
Pulse.
The Spark Seed lit up.
A tiny bolt of lightning flickered across its surface.
Another pulse followed.
Then another.
Damon raised an eyebrow.
The reaction was stronger than anything he had seen before.
The little spirit practically looked hungry.
"Easy."
The Spark Seed pulsed again.
This time even brighter.
Damon laughed.
"Alright, alright. I get it."
Without wasting time, he placed one of the lightning ores beside it.
The reaction was immediate.
The Spark Seed floated upward.
Tiny strands of lightning began flowing from the ore.
They were slowly pulled into the crystal.
The entire room seemed to brighten.
Damon’s eyes widened.
"It actually works."
Excitement rose inside him.
Not because of the result.
Because his guess had been right.
The dormant spirit needed lightning essence.
And the ore contained exactly that.
Quickly, Damon sat down and entered his cultivation posture.
Then he repeated the process he had been practicing.
His Aether flowed through his core.
Into the mysterious second core.
And finally into the Spark Seed.
The effect was immediate.
The absorption speed increased dramatically.
More lightning essence flowed out of the ore.
More energy disappeared into the Spark Seed.
The pulses became stronger.
More stable. More alive.
Damon focused entirely on the process.
Hours passed without him noticing.
The connection between himself and the Spark Seed grew clearer with every passing minute.
At times, it almost felt like he could sense faint emotions.
Curiosity.
Excitement.
Hunger.
Nothing concrete.
Just vague impressions.
Yet it was enough to convince him further.
The mysterious core and the dormant spirit were connected somehow.
Far more than he initially thought.
As the process continued, the lightning ore gradually lost its glow.
Its energy had almost been completely drained.
Meanwhile, the Spark Seed looked brighter than ever.
Damon couldn’t hide his grin.
"This is definitely something."
He finslly felt like he wasn’t blindly chasing hope.
He was making progress, although it was small for now.
But it was real.
Eventually, however, another problem appeared.
His Aether reserves ran dry.
The familiar exhaustion hit him.
The connection weakened.
And almost immediately, the Spark Seed’s absorption slowed to a crawl.
Damon watched carefully.
The ore still contained traces of lightning essence.
Yet the spirit could barely absorb any of it now.
His eyes lit up.
That confirmed it.
His Aether wasn’t just helping.
It was necessary.
Without it, the process almost stopped.
"Interesting."
The Spark Seed pulsed weakly.
Almost as if it agreed.
Unfortunately, Damon had nothing left to give.
His core felt completely drained.
His body wasn’t much better.
So he reluctantly ended the session.
The Spark Seed floated quietly back onto the desk.
Though before settling down, it gave one final pulse.
A small one.
Almost disappointed.
Damon laughed.
"You’re greedier than I am."
This time, the spirit didn’t respond.
Or maybe it was simply too tired.
Either way, Damon stood up and stretched.
Only then did he notice how hungry he was.
The maids had left dinner earlier.
Compared to the meals he received after awakening, the quality had definitely dropped.
Less meat.
Simpler dishes.
Smaller portions.
The difference was obvious.
Still, Damon didn’t complain.
Food was food.
And he had spent enough years surviving on instant noodles in his previous life to appreciate that.
After finishing dinner, he took a quick bath.
The hot water washed away most of his exhaustion.
By the time he reached his bed, his eyelids already felt heavy.
Yet before sleeping, his eyes drifted toward the desk.
The Spark Seed rested there quietly.
No longer looking lifeless.
No longer looking abandoned.
For some reason, that made him smile.
Tomorrow, he would continue.
There was still a long way to go. But he had found a path worth walking.
And that thought followed him all the way into sleep.
....
The days after the Birthground settled into a routine.
Every morning, Damon woke up, ate a quick meal, and immediately got to work.
Cultivation.
Aether control.
Physical training.
And most importantly...
The spark seed.
His life had become surprisingly repetitive, almost like the week before entering the Birthground.
The only difference was that this time, he wasn’t training alone.
The small spark seed floated quietly before him as he sat cross-legged on the floor.
Its faint lightning flickered from time to time while chunks of lightning ore lay scattered around it.
Damon guided Aether from his core.
Then through the mysterious second core.
And finally into the spark seed.
The process had become second nature by now.
At first, he had needed complete concentration just to maintain the connection.
Now he could do it almost effortlessly.
The moment the energy reached the spark seed, it immediately began absorbing the lightning essence from the ores.
As always.
Like a starving beast.
Crack.
Another tiny bolt jumped across its surface.
Damon chuckled.
"You’re still hungry?"
The spark seed pulsed once.
A bright pulse.
As if answering him.
Damon shook his head.
"You eat more than Kane’s serpent probably does."
The spark seed pulsed again.
Stronger this time.
Damon laughed.
Living alone had forced him to start talking to the thing.
Thankfully nobody was around to witness it.
Otherwise they would probably think he had finally lost his mind.
Still...
He enjoyed it.
The process felt strangely satisfying.
Watching something grow because of his own efforts gave him a sense of accomplishment.
Far more than sitting around feeling sorry for himself ever could.
So he continued.
Day after day.
The spark seed absorbed more lightning essence.
And Damon supplied more Aether.
The connection between them gradually deepened.
Sometimes he could almost sense its emotions.
Excitement.
Hunger.
Curiosity.
Simple feelings.
Nothing clear enough to understand completely.
But enough to notice.
As the days passed, changes finally began to appear.
The spark seed no longer looked like a weak flicker of light.
Its body had become clearer.
Tiny threads of silver lightning wrapped around its surface.
The glow it emitted had become brighter.
More stable.
And when it pulsed now, the lightning lingered for several seconds before fading.
It looked alive.
Not truly alive yet.
But closer....
Much closer.