A Year and a Half

The energy conversion field took shape about three inches above his stomach.

It was a tiny cluster of pale blue light, no larger than a sesame seed, with countless intricate runes flowing across its surface.

The point of light floated inside his body without any physical contact with the surrounding organs, held in place entirely by order force.

Xu Wuyi focused his consciousness on that point of light, extending his perception into every detail of its runes. Its structure was stable, and the runes rotated slowly, drawing in the surrounding energy with every revolution.

He opened his eyes and took out a purple origin fruit.

It was one of the most common spiritual plants available at the Federation outposts. Its energy content was moderate and its medicinal properties mild. Even if refinement failed, it would not cause much harm to his body.

The purple origin fruit had deep purple skin covered in fine fuzz. He examined it in his palm, then put it in his mouth, slowly chewing and swallowing it.

The pulp slid down his esophagus into his stomach.

The instant the pulp touched his stomach wall, the pale blue point of light flared. Order force surged out of it, becoming countless fine threads that wrapped the fruit residue in layer upon layer.

The threads vibrated rapidly inside the residue, stripping the purple origin fruit's energy molecules from its complex organic structures.

The stripping process was astonishingly fast, nearly a hundred times faster than digestion by stomach acid.

Once separated, the energy molecules flowed along the threads toward the point of light. It broke them down further, reducing them to the most fundamental units of energy.

The entire process took less than three seconds.

A purple origin fruit that would normally take at least an hour for his body