Golden threads streamed up Kraun's arm, passing through flesh and blood without obstruction. They were the pure spiritual essence he had extracted.
Strands of golden light converged between his brows, then vanished at a certain point.
In his Sea of Consciousness, "drizzle" fell from the sky. The raindrops formed a whirlpool and flowed into the Time Hourglass.
Golden grains of sand appeared in the hourglass's upper chamber.
As the Time Sand continued to accumulate, a faint, flowing gray shadow appeared on the hourglass's brass base.
The Evil Spirits that coexisted with Spirit Controllers survived within their hosts in a different form. As their abilities grew, more of their traits would reveal themselves.
Kraun guessed that the Time Sand had once increased slowly through the passage of time. On top of that, he had constantly practiced Visualization of the Golden Light Incantation, so those Evil Thoughts had been wiped out before they could accumulate.
This time, he had absorbed the spiritual essence in the Spirit Coins, and the Time Sand had increased very quickly. That was why he had seen this change.
Through the Time Hourglass, he could precisely feel that two hours had passed.
The drizzle in his Sea of Consciousness had stopped, and the sand in the hourglass's upper chamber had filled about a third of it.
When his consciousness returned to his body, he lowered his head and saw that the Spirit Coin in his palm had turned into gray powder. He took a folded piece of coarse paper from his pocket, unfolded it, and poured the powder onto it.
He took out another golden Spirit Coin and continued to draw out its spiritual essence.
Another two hours passed. This Spirit Coin had also crumbled to dust, and the gray shadow on the Time Hourglass had grown denser.