While I continue to think, I eat another yellow fragment to continue the process. Even though it's not quite perfect yet, it's still close to 100 times as efficient as just eating a gem in the open desert without the aid of the trees or my limiter. Over the next hour or so, I repeat the process, cycling the energy from four more fragments. It feels as though I've consumed hundreds of yellow cores, and finally, I sense a tiny noticeable difference in the size of my own core. It appears to have grown in size by a fraction of a millimeter in diameter. While it's not much, and it would take tens of thousands of identical sessions to match the size of growth the Lich King's display showed me, I feel like I'm moving in the right direction. Even so, I have just under 300 total yellow gems left in my storage. At this rate, consuming them all in this manner wouldn't get me anywhere close to the Sun God's level. This dormant purple barrier and the obsidian trees are what set me apart from that Director in our cultivation processes. Even so, I need something that will set us apart even further. With the new realization from the construct's creator, telling me the abyss in the Dark Continent could potentially become the end of the world if I'm not the strongest one to conquer the trials once it awakens really puts things into a far greater perspective. On top of that, a being tens of times stronger than me, The Sun God, is actively sending their army to try and take me out. I need to get stronger by any means and not waste any resources. My eyes practically sparkle as I cut down the green and yellow fruits to repeat the cycle again. Over two hours, I manage to consume five yellow fragments in total. I start each cycling session by saturating my body with as many green threads as I can, then consume as many yellow threads as I can afterward. Thousands of cycles go by, recycling almost all of a fragment's energy in just two rounds. Hardly any of the yellow fragment's energy is being absorbed by the trees anymore; it's mostly all being cycled back into my core until it stays. There is a satisfying hot burn in my chest, and my divine core has grown by a noticeable amount. Its diameter has increased by a few millimeters, giving me confidence that this method of cultivation is exactly the method I need to use to push me far ahead of what should be physically possible for normal lower lifeforms. In just mere hours, I managed to replicate the cycles that would take hundreds of training sessions and countless yellow fragments for a normal cultivator. Most likely, all of this energy would be released into the atmosphere, not kept inside my core. The only problem I fear facing now, is the fact that every time I release from a cycling period, the green threads are being consumed by the trees. After just eight cycles, almost half of the green energy has been taken away. However, I've managed to incrementally increase the time that I can hold the green energy in my body. It's moved up from just above 10 minutes to my newest record of 17 minutes flat. It feels like my control over the yellow threads has grown almost twice as strong since the moment I started this process. I can feel the threads swirling in my chest even now, eager to power my movements, but now isn't the time to test out my improved strength.. There's a long way to go. I pull out another green fruit from my storage to make sure the pressure stays dense enough to push the next yellow fragment's power toward my core, and repeat the process again. I've found a method that works, so I'm going to exploit it to its maximum potential. I take a deep breath and prepare for a long and painful process. I cycle through about 60 fragments, and use up all of the energy in 11 of my green fruits. Over one hundred thousand cycles have made their way through my core, and the hot sensation in my chest has only grown more intense. It feels like my core is burning bright with energy, and it's grown in size by multiple centimeters in diameter. It's almost grown by 50% in total size. I'm able to withstand the green threads even longer, reaching upward of a full 30 minutes per session now. However, as the core grows in strength, more pressure is necessary to keep the denser yellow threads compressed. I begin consuming two green fruits' worth of divine energy at a time. Every single fragment I consume adds thousands of cycles of threads to the reality-bending reactor that is my core. Even sitting here, calm and collected, the natural essence that surrounds me makes the air and ground vibrate and bend to the whims of my mind. I can only guess what the new strength of my core has become, but there is no time for me to waste playing around until this process is complete. Another 48 hours pass. Roughly 150 more fragments are fully consumed, and 29 more green fruits are used. I have to use the divine energy of three to four fruits at a time to keep the yellow threads contained now. The core grows over a full 10 centimeters in diameter further, tripling in size, and giving off gravity waves so intense while just sitting here that the ground below me caves in after every cycle. Hundreds of thousands of cycles go by, mimicking the act of passing decades, and I feel my core grow larger and larger in real-time just like the Lich King showed me three days ago. Another 22 hours and 58 minutes pass... 71 additional fragments are consumed while 16 green fruits are used up.