Chapter 35: Chapter 35

Evelyn ignored the sign, nevertheless. She held her pole tightly and started to venture into the caves with caution.

‘’W-What’s happening?’’ Ethan asked, turning to the artifact spirit, perplexed. ‘’Did she not believe it?’’

‘’No, her wishes changed,’’ Saruman replied with a frown. ‘’She wants to try and see her chances. Especially when there is an easy way out.’’

Ethan blinked his eyes, speechless. ‘’That… that’s exactly what I’d do.’’ He looked between the screen and his other companions with a wry smile. ‘’Looks like we’re gonna be here even more. Any ideas to have some fun?’’

Saruman piped in. ‘’I told you that you can’t take the test again, and visiting the treasury is definitely out of the question, but If you want to kill some monsters to pass time, I might have a way.’’

‘’Yeah? What kind of monsters?’’

‘’Worst. There are one species that I just stopped using after some time. The damn beasts always stick together. They never kill each other even if they fight, but when an outsider gets close to them, they attack together with bloodlust,’’ Saruman explained, shaking his head. ‘’With how fast and stubborn they are, it means death for everyone they encounter, but with your [Void Wrap] and [Blink], you might be able to kill them slowly. What do you say?’’

‘’To be honest, I’m also impatient to try this baby,’’ Ethan said with a grin, taking out his new dagger from his ring. ‘’What about their tiers? I wanna take the kids with me as well.’’

‘’Up to you. I can teleport the high tiers away.’’

‘’Alright. Kick anything beyond tier-5. I’ll try my dagger while the kids practice their new skills,’’ Ethan agreed, ‘’But don’t forget us there. Can you come to fetch us if anything happens to Evelyn?’’

‘’Oh, I’ll come with you to watch,’’ Saruman expressed. ‘’We aren’t going to a test floor but their original habitat. I can update you guys on Evelyn in real time.’’

‘’Deal.’’

Once again, Ethan felt the irresistible teleportation force as he uttered the word and the trio found themselves in a semi-arid environment with sparse trees and bushes along with Saruman.

‘’Was that a void skill as well?’’ he asked. ‘’I felt like I understand just a tiny bit of what was happening, but it was impossible to meddle with it.’’

‘’It was. If your understanding of space was higher than mine, you could’ve stopped or even blocked my skill completely,’’ Saruman replied casually. ‘’Though, then you’d be ascended and wouldn't be here.’’

‘’You’re that strong? Well, surpassing you could wait, if I can teleport others around with a rank-3 [Blink], that would be good enough,’’ he commented as he looked around. ‘’So? What are we dealing with here?’’

‘’Over there,’’ Saruman said, pointing to a small mountain. ‘’You should go check, but I don’t suggest bringing your beast companions. Those vile things would chase them to the end of the world.’’

Ethan raised an eyebrow. ‘’Why don’t you just tell me what I will be fighting against?’’

‘’They’re called Rhea, and I already told you what you should know. Go, see for yourself,’’ Saruman said hastily, waving his hand.

Saruman’s weird conduct made Ethan suspect mischief, but he still went along. ‘’Alright, you wait here. I’ll come back with a plan then we’ll all go wild,’’ he said to the little ones before turning to run toward the small mountain.

The area around the mountain looked much better with big rocks and pools of water here and there. Ethan ran with occasional [Blink]s and arrived at the destination shortly. The Rheas as Saruman called them were basically overgrown ostriches with long legs and a neck. They were staying in big groups and even the other groups stayed close to each other.

Yeah, It’s really troublesome to lure them away from the crowd. Let’s start with the ones going for the water source, he thought and made his way behind the rocks quietly.

Two Rheas were going for the pool of water while another two were returning. Ethan guessed that rather than a coincidence, it might be an arrangement for their safety. He used two more blinks and positioned himself hidden from the large crowd before picking up a small stone and throwing it with a [Fabric Tear].

As the stone hit the ground near the beasts, they became alert and started to look around for the source. One of them quickly noticed him and let out a loud screech before sprinting toward the large group. What the hell? You’re at mid tier-4 with three more buddies nearby, and you still go ask for reinforcements?... Oh, shit, I’m still using [Mana Conceal], it must’ve thought I’m stronger.

The other three also noticed him and they started making loud noises, all the while charging toward him together. He decided to test his new enemy's abilities along with his prized dagger until the others arrived. Once they entered his range of 80 yards, he blinked right next to them and opened his [Mana Aura]. As the creatures fell in terror, he swung his dagger and cut the thin neck of the beast with a fluent move.

The other two awoke from their tumult emotions with the death of a comrade and attacked in a blind rage. It turned out that their claws were much deadlier than their beak. He had to defend himself constantly while using [Shadow Spikes] to disturb their coordination.

It wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle, but the reinforcements were on the way. Hundreds of Rhea were sprinting with cries loud enough to give Ethan a headache. Deciding to fasten the process, he intentionally took damage to his left arm and started using [Blink] to slash the beasts with his new weapon.

He was able to tell the essence of life coming from his dagger’s hilt but it wasn’t enough to heal his arm completely. At the last moment, before the group arrived, he managed to stab his dagger into the heart of the beast and immediately stored the corpse. Using [Void Wrap] along with successive [Blink]s, he arrived at the back of the mountain, inside of a small cave.

Sitting on the ground as the adrenalin kept rushing in his body, he gave a big smile at the sight of his left arm. I fucking love my dagger. Gotta pick a name for it. ‘Ani, what was the percentage of the life steal? Hit me with numbers!’

‘It’s impossible to pinpoint the exact numbers, but the data shows that it’s related to the damage you give to others. The last strike to the heart of the beast almost had an equal return with all the other strikes combined.’

So, I should use it for more lethal strikes. It doesn’t really matter though, as long as I killed an enemy, it could fix a minor injury. ‘What about mana? How much mana did I regain in total?’

‘102 points in total, with 78 coming from the second beast you’ve killed, and the rest from the one you’ve injured.’

Ethan smiled to his ears. I’ve used quite a few [Blink]s but already regained the mana of four of them. If I had continued to fight even against that much of a number, I’d have been able to fight for a long time.

Getting up, he held his dagger high with both hands and smiled slightly. ‘’Welcome to the team. I’ll name you Devi,’’ he muttered and gently caressed the steel of the blade. ‘’Short for deviant and also means goddess. Once you’ve gained sentience, you can decide which you’d like.’’

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He was expecting something like a vibration, or maybe a flashing light, but nothing came up. Trusting his comrade for understanding him, he used [Mana Sense] to check if the rheas around. There were no sounds or anything, so he left the cave to meet with his friends with a thoughtful frown. I can kill these creatures and escape once it's dangerous but what about Beet and Paprika? That crowd would eat them alive. I gotta find a way to lure some of them.

Treading a different but similar path, he arrived by the trio shortly. Saruman was sitting on the ground cross-legged with Beet on his shoulder and Paprika near his knee. Somehow the little ones got along with Saruman quite a bit.

‘’That was fast,’’ Saruman commented. ‘’As I guessed, your skill set is perfect with large groups, especially with that dagger.’’

‘’Devi,’’ Ethan corrected. ‘’And yes, that’s a good hunting ground, but only for me.’’ He turned to Paprika with narrow eyes. ‘’Can you make a small sphere around yourself with your Elder Wood?’’

Paprika looked confused but still made a small wooden ball and passed it to Ethan.

Smiling, ‘’Yes, like this but I want you to make it bigger and stay inside of it. When I knock twice from outside, you can come out,’’ he said, gesturing with his hands.

This time, with a serious nod, Paprika did as he asked, completely isolating herself with a wooden sphere. Ethan touched the ball and used his [Void Wrap]. As he hoped, he managed to hide it behind void aspect mana, along with Paprika inside of it.

‘’Nice! Let’s try this,’’ he said, and used [Blink] a few feet away, holding the ball.

Seeing the same wooden ball in his hand, he burst out a laugh. ‘’Awesome! This should work,’’ he said before knocking the ball twice. Paprika dissolved the ball and stared at Ethan, confused. ‘’Hold on. I’m gonna try one more thing.’’

With that, he blinked around the bushes while using his [Mana Sense] and searching everywhere. A minute later he came back with a grasshopper in his hand, making Beet perk up. ‘’Not for you buddy. Not now, at least,’’ he chided before turning to Paprika. ‘’Make another one around this fella.’’

Paprika complied and Ethan tried to store the whole thing in his ring but failed. No matter how much he tried, he wasn’t able to store it. Sighing, ‘’Well, worthed a try,’’ he mumbled, throwing the small ball to Paprika. ‘’Thanks, Pap. We’ll go with the basketball size with you guys inside and me [Blink]ing you around.’’

‘’You know, I could’ve told you that wasn’t possible if you'd asked,’’ Saruman stated, who was watching all this time with interest.

‘’And where is the fun in that?’’ Ethan snorted. ‘’If it had worked, it would have been my idea. Even if everybody else was already aware.’’

‘’Can’t say I’m following you. Oh, what’s basketball?’’

‘’It’s a game. I’ll show you in the Wish Room later,’’ he said, patting Saruman's shoulder before fetching the corpse of the rhea from his ring and throwing it to the ground. He turned to Beet with a smile, pointing to the carcass with his chin. ‘’Now, that’s for you. Let’s see how your [Shade Creation] works.’’

‘’That’s another thing you should’ve asked me,’’ Saruman said, enjoying Ethan’s confusion. ‘’At rank-1, the [Shade Creation] would at most work for creatures one tier above its user. In the case of Beet, it could only be used against peak tier-3s and lower. Plus, for most efficiency, he had to kill the beast himself. As he would be taking some life essence from the kill, it would be much easier to control the shade because it would find him familiar.’’

‘’That’s… make sense,’’ Ethan accepted with a frown, much to his annoyance caused by the smug artifact spirit. ‘’Is there anything else we should know? Don’t hold it to yourself, Saruman, share it with the class.’’

Before Saruman answered, Beet jumped from his shoulder and flew to the carcass. Inspecting a little, he stabbed his scythe to its head, between the eyes. A dark aura started to surround him as his mana accepted it to travel in his body. It passed through his body and found its way to the carcass, but the moment it traveled to dead rhea, it immediately dispersed. A second try also showed the same result.

Ethan shook his head. ‘’It’s okay, bud. There were many tier-3s in the group. You’ll have more chances, and you can control-’’

On his third try, the dark aura around him became denser and denser until Beet made a breakthrough, reaching tier-3. Without a care in the world, he focused on the shade making curiously.

Bewildered, Ethan turned to Saruman, ‘’Did he just advance the skill at his third use?’’ he asked with a weird look. ‘’He got the skill, when? A week ago? Do all the top-grade talents this perverse?’’

Saruman chuckled wryly. ‘’Not even elementals are this fast. He must’ve got an understanding of death for a long time. The use of the skill just helped him to pass the last threshold.’’

The dark aura blended with Beet’s mana and slowly gained a purple hue, giving it an even more sinister feeling. It traveled through every part of the rhea’s corpse like a tide before settling suddenly. Beet pulled his scythe back and jumped to the ground, still watching with inquisitive eyes. A moment later, from the inside of the corpse, a shadow rose like waking up from sleep. It was the exact copy of the real thing, with a lusterless black body and large lustrous eyes.

‘’Cool,’’ Ethan commented, drawing his daggers. ‘’Let’s see how strong is it.’’

On Beet’s command, the shade dashed to Ethan before giving a powerful kick. It was clear that the balance of the kick was off, but it was still quite powerful.

Ethan blocked it with one dagger and slashed its torso with another. There was a little resistance when he cut the shade, but it started to mend itself visibly. ‘’I think its power is equal to early tier-4s and has an impressive healing ability. Not bad at all. I’m guessing, if you’d kill the beast yourself, its moves would’ve been much smoother,’’ he told Beet as he backed up, storing his daggers.

‘’He’s really talented,’’ Saruman noted, looking at Beet who stored the shade to his shadow and started to poke his own shadow. ‘’Some part of the healing comes from Beet’s mana and some from the atmosphere. So, if there were corpses around, the healing of the shade would be much better.’’

‘’Oh? Does that also mean a place like a graveyard is a good place for Beet to cultivate?’’

‘’Definitely, but a battlefield with fresh corpses everywhere would be much better.’’

‘’Still, that’s much easier to find than the dying pocket worlds,’’ Ethan said, happy for the little terror. He looked between Paprika and Beet before clapping his hands. ‘’Alright! Time for practice. When I say ‘suspend’, I want you guys to get close to each other immediately and cover yourself with Paprika’s Elder Wood. Don’t make the ball too big because I’ll blink and grab it before taking us out of the battle. Also, when we fight, I’ll try to attract the horde’s attention constantly while you guys will take out the low tiers and take care of each other all time, understood?’’

When Beet and Paprika looked at each other with blank faces, Ethan took it as a promising sign, at least they understood that they had to work together.

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