Kragthar kept screaming as his marrow essence was painfully extracted by Edward. After several seconds, the extraction was complete, and the marrow essence was compressed into a white, marble-like fluid that hovered silently in the air.
Kragthar was still breathing faintly. That was when Edward raised the goblin commander's blade and drew it back in a finishing arc.
"First your right arm, then your left leg, followed by your left arm, and ending with your head," Edward said calmly, reminding Kragthar of the order of demise he had promised.
Kragthar did not struggle.
At that moment, he had already accepted his fate. Everything felt unreal to him. How could a child be this powerful? He had slaughtered thousands of goblins with nothing but a sword. No magic. Barely any sword arts. Just pure, overwhelming skill.
Such strength could not be achieved within a single lifetime.
Whoosh!
Edward's blade swept forward, clean and precise. Kragthar's head was severed effortlessly, rolling across the stone floor before coming to a stop. The massive body collapsed moments later, lifeless at last.
Edward exhaled softly and sat down cross-legged beside the corpse.
He had achieved two significant milestones today.
The first was the reconstruction of his physique and constitution. By refining the essence of the goblins he had slaughtered, he had tempered his body to a far higher standard, increasing his cultivation speed by more than tenfold. Combined with his refined version of the elven cultivation technique, Edward was already cultivating at a pace thousands of times faster than even the most talented individuals in the Seven Kingdoms.
With his newly tempered body, he could now push that technique even further without fear of backlash or physical collapse.
The second milestone was the extraction of the marrow essence from Kragthar, his father's genetically modified goblin warrior.
In one of his previous regressions, Edward had noticed something unusual in the alchemical process used to create Kragthar. His father had incorporated a rare ingredient into the goblin's creation—life dragon egg essence.
Life dragons were extinct.
Their remains had once been safeguarded by the Church of Light, but corruption had seen those treasures quietly distributed among noble houses throughout the western continent. Over time, they were consumed, wasted, or lost, making life dragon remnants practically nonexistent in the modern era.
Yet traces of that essence still lingered within Kragthar's marrow.
The importance of life dragon egg essence lay in its ability to enhance vitality to an extreme degree. It allowed the body and soul to withstand sudden expansions of the Sea of Consciousness—something absolutely necessary when attempting to break through to the Archmage stage using unconventional methods.
And Edward intended to do exactly that.
The coming civil war would draw predators. Other kingdoms possessed mages and cultivators who had surpassed the initial Archmage stage, and they would not hesitate to strike while the kingdom was weakened. Edward needed to prepare long before that moment arrived.
Slowly, he extended his spiritual sense.
His perception sank into the condensed marrow essence like invisible threads, probing layer by layer. To an ordinary mage, the substance would have appeared uniform, but to Edward's refined senses, it was anything but simple.
Hidden deep within the marrow essence was a faint, almost extinguished azure glow.
There it was.
The remnant of the life dragon egg essence.
Edward carefully isolated it, separating it from the rest of the goblin's marrow using precise spiritual manipulation. The process was delicate. Any mistake could cause the volatile vitality to dissipate completely.
Time passed in silence.
Beads of sweat formed on Edward's brow as he worked methodically, his focus absolute. At last, a thread of luminous blue essence was pulled free, floating gently above his palm like liquid starlight.
Only then did Edward allow himself a small nod.
With the dragon essence safely extracted, he turned his attention back to the remaining marrow. He guided it toward himself and began absorption.
The marrow essence dissolved into his body, spreading warmth through his veins and bones. His muscles tightened, his blood surged, and his internal organs hummed with renewed strength. The process reinforced everything he had already rebuilt, pushing his physique another step closer to perfection.
Once the absorption was complete, Edward opened his eyes.
It was time to refine the dragon essence.
He carved runes into the stone floor using a thin thread of mana—ancient alchemical symbols, layered and interlocking. Vitality-stabilizing arrays. Purification seals. Compression runes. Each one glowed faintly as it activated.
Edward placed the extracted life dragon egg essence at the center of the formation.
Then he began refining.
Mana flowed steadily into the array as the blue essence slowly condensed, impurities burning away under the pressure of the runes. The glow deepened, becoming richer, denser, until it no longer resembled raw energy but something far more tangible.
Minutes turned into hours.
At last, the runes dimmed.
Floating above the array was a small vial filled with a deep blue liquid, faintly luminous and pulsing with life.
Edward reached out and caught it.
"The Blue Marrow Elixir," he said quietly.
An elixir born from a life dragon's essence and a perfected goblin's marrow. A preparation not meant for ordinary cultivators, but for someone walking a path that defied Heaven itself.