Two hours had passed when Jin finally woke up and left the sleeping capsule. He felt refreshed, re-energised and vigilant. The battle with Ming in his head had allowed him to learn more about his skills. After all, some of the things mentioned in the cultivation manual could not be taught by reading and had to be experienced.

"Finally awake?" Zeru had been sitting around cross legged, waiting for Jin to come out of the sleeping capsule. Greeted by Zeru, who passed him a towel, Jin looked down on himself to realise that his clothes were drenched in the black sludge.

"Has the System removed the black sludge, while I was sleeping?" Jin queried. Zeru nodded and also took this opportunity to explain what the black sludge was capable of. He figured Jin should know the truth about the byproduct of his cultivation. Information which the System had withheld previously.

Surprisingly, Jin was rather open minded about the System keeping secrets. Had it been the him from just a few weeks ago, he would have surely complained. Instead he merely asked the System: "So how exactly does the quality of souls differ between the ones we buy from the market?"

"The Interworld Market only allows the trade of standard souls which have been carefully selected according to the regulations set by the Interworld Market Committee. According to those regulations the sale of High Quality souls is considered illegal. At one point in time before this regulation, the market had been swamped due to necromancers performing taboo rituals in order to sell them. This nearly lead to a market crash. Nowadays not even the black market offers them anymore. Those high quality souls can be used to resurrect a person back properly, provided the right conditions and materials."

"Interworld Market? You mean there is an entity larger than you?" Jin asked with his brows furrowed.

"Negative, the Interworld Market is not an entity. They are governed by a group of Grand Arch Wizards. That market is unaware about the real existence of the System. Most mistake the System for a highly functioning AI used to hide the real identity for someone behind it. However the System consists of the collective will of various elders and generations of Panda Clan Members. Should the User die without managing to resurrect the Panda Clan, his Soul will also be absorbed into the collective as long as doing so will enhance the chances of achieving the goal."

"So System, do you need more of this black sludge for your research?" Jin switched his topic to prevent even more confusion.

"The System has collected a large enough sample of the sludge. Before User reaches another Grade another sample is not necessarily required." The System replied and Jin nodded in response.

"Then you will have to wait. I have plenty of other things to do." Jin excused himself as he exercised his neck a little before heading to the bathroom in his Terrace House. The System had been nice enough to create a portal for him.

After he got naked, he noticed that his skin was glittering with specks of gold and black, but within seconds, the specks disappeared. "System, what are these specks of gold and black?"

"Those are the starting signs from a formation of a sentient astral form." The System answered. Jin was once again astonished. He had read about it in the Nineteen Lazy Astral Pandas cultivation manual. He understood, that he could cultivate an astral form, but he thought it would take a long while for him to reach such a level. It was supposed to be a form from a supposed non-physical realm of existence in which the physical human body was said to have a counterpart. The requirement was for him to be in control of his subconscious, which Kraft had been emphasising in order to create that astral form.

"Hmm, if a sentient astral form has already started to come into existence, does that mean Kraft's subconscious training is paying off?" Jin thought to himself as he soaked himself in a gigantic tub of hot spring water mixed with medicinal herbs, courtesy of the System.

"Mmhmm, though part of the credit also belongs to the usage of the high intensity mode." Kraft's voice suddenly sounded beside him. Without him noticing Kraft had immersed himself into the water while he continued to be fully naked.

"UWAAAA! CAN YOU NOT SCARE ME JUST LIKE THAT!?" Jin momentarily tried to cover his sacred treasures in embarrassment with his hands.

"Not bad, potentially above average size, hard to tell since it's all shrivelled up. I have a trick to enlarge it further if you wish to learn it for yourbedtime activities." Kraft laughed loudly, as he snapped his fingers. The next moment all his foxes went into the bath with Jin. For the first time, Jin saw Tsu, Kai, Ixa, Ixel, Itori and Evon