Rise of the Darkness Tycoon

Chapter 5- Awakening the King’s Core

In this world, everyone had an element they were in tune with. But while the majority had only the lowest possible affinity, there were those with strong enough affinities to awaken elemental powers and become Elementalists.

Elementalists cultivated their powers by absorbing their respective elemental energies from the ambient energy permeating the world to increase their Ranks.

They could also do this by absorbing the energy within the elemental cores of dead Elemental Beasts and Monsters that roamed the world.

Just like humans awakened to elemental powers, so did animals, turning them into beasts that had, over thousands of years, mutated and evolved into a variety of new breeds and species.

Dangerous new breeds and species, that is.

Calvin closed his eyes and meditated, trying to feel the elemental energy in the air. Due to the Elemental King’s Core fused in his soul, his elemental energy sensitivity was on a completely different level, so it was easy for him to detect and silently absorb ambient energy into his body to kickstart his own elemental core.

His heartbeat quickened, his blood growing hotter as he absorbed more and more energy into his body, far more elemental energy than an elementalist would normally absorb on their first attempt, but Calvin didn’t stop.

He knew that the dormant Elemental King Core fused with his soul needed a lot of power to awaken, so he didn’t stop until the dark orb manifested physically within his heart.

His body released a burst of energy that would have shattered the ward’s windows and toppled beds, but Calvin controlled that burst and calmly dispersed it into the air, preventing the disturbance that would have followed from happening.

Placing his hand on his chest, he felt the dark elemental energy flow out of his heart and through his energy circuits, pathways for energy that formed alongside his veins.

‘This body’s elemental circuits are wider than the average person. He really was a dormant elementalist. If there’s any difference, then it was the fact that he might have had a different affinity, maybe fire like his mother, and not my darkness.’

Calvin silently controlled the energy to widen the pathways to the limit his body could currently handle, then finally took his hand off his chest.

‘I’m now an F-Rank Elementalist. And my elemental power is of higher quality than it was when I awakened in my previous life, obviously due to the Dark Elemental King’s Core.’

This item he’d braved a ruin of an ancient civilisation in the mountains for had granted him enormous power and had even saved his soul.

‘It was also the main reason behind my death in the first place, though…’

Calvin sighed at the thought, thinking of how things would have been if he hadn’t been wounded badly after acquiring the core and had the time to hide it before his subordinates, fellow members of the Osborn family’s clandestine forces, had found him.

If those subordinates hadn’t reported what they’d seen him with to Warren Osborn while he was unconscious, not knowing it was an Elemental King’s Core, and their actions were dooming Calvin…

‘No point thinking about all that now. All I should focus on is growing my power and money.’

Calvin silently stared at the ceiling as he began to plan his course of action toward attaining those goals, until Martha woke up and called out to him worriedly.

“Calvin?”

“Hmm? You’re awake already? Shouldn’t you sleep more?”

At his question, Martha silently shook her head and sat up on the bed.

“No need. I’m already feeling refreshed.”

She glanced at the clock on the wall in the room, then added, “It’s almost seven pm. What do you want to eat?”

“Anything you cook,” Calvin responded almost instinctively.

He paused for a moment after seeing how quickly he responded, then exhaled softly as he thought of this body’s subconscious reactions.

‘Need to get that under control. It’s fine for small things like this, but it can become a problem when it comes to combat.’

Martha smiled at his fast response, putting on her sandals, then stood up from the bed and headed out.

There was some distance from the hospital to their apartment, so it would take Martha some time to go there, cook, and return, so in that time, Calvin decided to get off the bed and walk around as exercise.

Merely awakening as an elementalist improved one’s physical capabilities, but the boost wasn’t that much and depended on the strength of one’s body before that awakening.

Given Calvin Carter didn’t exactly have a trained, strong body, the boost Calvin got was barely enough to make him a little stronger than the average 18-year-old.

‘Luckily, I can use my darkness energy to enhance my strength.’

Such thoughts crossed Calvin’s mind as he lightly jogged around the ward, then stopped near the door to do a few stretches.

While he was there, he suddenly sensed a strange sensation prickling his skin, followed by a cool feeling as if the temperature had dropped for a moment.

‘!’

Eyes widening in surprise, Calvin immediately turned and grabbed the door, looking out just in time to see a man in a white lab coat bump into two nurses before turning down the corner at the end of the passageway, even knocking one of them down in the process.

He looked like a doctor rushing to an emergency, but the reason Calvin had turned toward him was simple: this doctor was an elementalist.

That cool feeling he gave off meant he was a Water Elementalist, but the glare Calvin had seen in his eyes when the man turned around the corner meant his mental state was far from ‘cool’.

Calvin stared at the corner in silence, somewhat curious as to why the doctor had such a hateful glare, before eventually deciding to follow him.

‘I have a bad feeling about this.’

Calvin casually walked up to the nurse who had fallen, helping her back to her feet, before continuing to trail after the man, sensing his location through the elemental power he radiated.

Though he wasn’t the only one radiating such power in this hospital building, the man was the only one heading up toward the building’s roof.

When Calvin reached the roof and peeked through the metal door, he saw that the man in the lab coat was speaking to someone else, another younger-looking doctor who had a pale face and was slowly backing away from him with each moment.

The younger doctor’s hands trembled slightly, and when Calvin pushed the door a little further to get a better view and trace his gaze, he saw he was looking at a spear of water hovering in the air in front of the elementalist’s outstretched palm.