by Yuri Ajin
“It’s a secret.” Kai had no intention of ever telling anyone about his ability to control any form of masterless energy. He simply disrupted the weaving of prana, thereby destroying the anomaly. As for the Forces of Space that were inside, without the right energy scheme, they couldn’t stay in this world, so they evaporated. “You better get away from there.”
“Why...?” Ailenx tried to ask and... abruptly jumped aside.
Three bodies suddenly fell from the ceiling.
“We shouldn’t let them go to waste.” Kai shrugged, cold as always, and then began to loot the corpses. Three more Rings and fourteen Coins were added to his modest stash.
“Now what?” Ailenx asked, already exhausted and still bewildered. Everything happened too quickly for him to follow.
“We move on. You went after the treasure, didn’t you?”
“Um... Yes.”
“Well then, let’s go,” Kai said and headed forward.
After standing still and thinking about Kai’s plan for a few seconds, Ailenx made up his mind and followed him.
The journey to the end of the tunnel took ten minutes. On the way, Kai destroyed all the anomalies, and the two soon reached a spacious cave, in the depths of which they immediately noticed another person.
They stopped, preparing for battle, only to almost immediately change their minds. As it turned out, the figure was just a skeleton clad in torn robes, leaned against the stone wall.
As Kai approached it, he realized that this cultivator had once been a Holy Lord. Apparently, it was them who created the barrier that later became an anomaly.
The first thing Kai noticed was that the bones didn’t contain a single drop of energy. It was as if they belonged to an ordinary Body Stage cultivator. Only the density of the residual aura let him know that the corpse used to be a Holy Lord.
Having decided not to dwell on this, Kai turned his gaze to what was highlighted as a treasure — the broken remnants of a Spatial Ring. This artifact might’ve seemed useless since it no longer worked and didn’t even contain ki, but Kai could see that it was the material from which the Ring was crafted that made it so valuable. Rune’Tan explained that the gold-colored mineral was dintril, which could be used to create Rings that could carry living beings, including Spirits, Elementals, and other life forms. And, apparently, it could still be repaired by a good blacksmith.
“It’s yours. I won’t even try to take it,” Ailenx said. “By the way... Thanks for saving me. I won’t forget it, I swear.”
Glancing at him, Kai just nodded.
Bending down, he reached for the Ring when his sense of danger activated. A black substance burst out of the skeleton’s eye sockets and all Kai managed to do was to lift his left hand and protect his face.
The liquid instantly covered it, absorbing it, and spread toward the arm. Kai couldn’t let that happen, so he cut off the limb without hesitation and attacked the strange liquid.
Unfortunately, the black blob turned out to be extremely quick and smart. Avoiding the attack, it jumped across the cave, bouncing off the walls like a ball, preparing for a new attack. But Kai wasn’t going to give it a chance to do so.
Using a combination of his best assets — Field of Superiority, Cold Void, and Forces of Space — he went after this mysterious matter.
“You won’t get away!”
It took him five minutes to catch the strange thing, freezing it to the wall. He lost a couple of fingers on his other hand, miraculously keeping his Ring safe and sound, while Ailenx, who tried to help him, suffered several fractured ribs.
“What the hell is that?” Kai asked.
“That’s what worries you?” Ailenx retorted, astonished. “Your goddamn arm is gone, man!”
If the Cold Void didn’t control Kai’s emotions, he would’ve smiled or even laughed.
“It’s okay.”
Ailenx was stunned when he saw Kai’s limb and fingers begin to grow back.
“So, do you know what it is?” Kai asked again.
Ailenx just shook his head in response, eyes glued to the miracle of healing techniques in front of him.
“Do you maybe have an answer?”
“The Void Offspring,” Rune’Tan replied, ready as always. “These creatures inhabit what we call emptiness or nothingness between worlds, and they fill these voids. Sometimes they penetrate into our worlds through spatial fractures, like the one that was created by that Holy Lord. But since we live in a three-dimensional space, they have to transform into such a substance in order to exist. It seems that it was stuck here because of the same technique that let it get inside this world. It looks like it has sucked all the energy from the bones of that cultivator, but it couldn’t absorb them.”
“But it could absorb my flesh...” Kai noted. “Is there any benefit from it? Can it be used for development or fighting?”
“Usually not... However, I know a technique with which you can turn the Void Offspring into a Spirit of Space, which will immediately have an attribute.”
“An attribute?”
“Yes. Usually, only the Senior Elementals have it. For example, when Jiang Dao fought the insectoid, he merged with seven Elementals at once, each of which had its own attribute,” Rune’Tan recalled. “The attribute of the Spirit is usually called its specialization, which denotes one of the basic Forces of its Path. If it was a Path of Space, it’d have the Forces of Attraction, Creation, and Destruction... Actually, this Offspring would have the attribute of the last Force if you turned it into a Spirit.”
“How do I take it with me?”
“Normally, you’d have to put its soul to sleep. Yes, they do have souls. However, your Cold Void is surprisingly good at suppressing this creature, so you can use it and then put it in a pocket dimension you create with the Forces of Space.”
“Okay,” Kai said aloud.
“What?” Ailenx was surprised.
“Never mind.” Kai waved his regenerated hand and then sent the Offspring into the Night Space.
“You wanna take it with you?” Ailenx noticed the disappearance of the black blob.
“Yes. It could be useful,” Kai answered, heading back to the skeleton.
This time, nothing attacked him when he took the halves of the Ring but something did happen. He noticed a white mask covered with many cracks, which lay under the hood of the robe.
“What’s in there?” Ailenx asked.
“What do you mean?” Kai was slightly surprised.
“Well, you took something from there, didn’t you?”
“Can’t he see the mask?”
“This might come as a surprise to you, boy, but I don’t see anything either. Thanks to your senses, I know that you have something in your hand, but I can’t see it,” Rune’Tan replied, stunning Kai.
It was only when he saw the description that he understood what was going on.
[Mask of a Great Liar]
Only those who are able to see the truly invisible can find the artifact.
Rank: ???
Access denied. Your development level is not high enough.
Quality: Peak
Passive Feature: [True Invisibility]
Active Feature: [Ultimate Deception]
Charges left [3]
Limitations: /
“Do you see this?”
“No... Not really. I don’t see anything, but thanks to you I know what it says. It’s an artifact of Imperial rank or maybe even higher. If someone finds out that you have such a thing, you’ll have problems,” Rune’Tan answered with some doubt in his voice.
“Oh yeah, I’m sure that this Holy Lord died because he just got unlucky. I’m sure it had nothing to do with this artifact.” Kai said sarcastically.
After giving it another thought, he sent the Mask to his Ring and turned to Ailenx.
“There’s just over eight hours left until the next search signal is activated. We’ll stay here until then, and then we’ll go find the others.”
&nbs
p; “Sure.” Ailenx shrugged. After swallowing an Azure Crystal, he sat down and meditated as he desperately wanted to take some time to recover.
Eight hours later, they simultaneously activated their marks.
“Two of our team members have found each other, and are moving toward the fifth, who’s still alone,” Ailenx noted. “That’s strange… that dot isn’t moving at all.”
“They probably got stuck, like you, or something along those lines,” Kai suggested, getting up. “So, let’s go there.”
“Are you sure?” Ailenx had doubts because he saw that they were the farthest from the dot. The other two would get there earlier, and then the three would probably move toward Kai and him. To him, it made sense to stay put.
“I am.” Kai smiled slightly. “Let’s go.”
***
A tall, silver-haired elf stood at the edge of the barrier that separated the ten Tael aristocrats from the raging blizzard.
“Everything’s ready, elder brother,” said one of the elves behind him.
“Did Septus check the traps?” Bane inquired.
“Yes, elder brother.”
“Excellent.” He grinned. “Well, then let’s go see our prisoner. I want to see his face when he finds out that he’s leading his friends into a trap. I wonder how soon that human scum will be here so that I can finally cut him to pieces. I can’t wait...”
Chapter 4
CLOUD TRIAL — TREASURE HUNT 2
Hiding behind a barrier, Malvur and An’na moved through the blizzard toward a team member who hadn’t moved for more than a day. Them staying in place raised concerns, so the two decided not to sit still and wait for the blizzard to stop.
“It’s almost time to activate the search,” An’na said. “One minute left.”
Both of them stopped and directed ki into the marks on the left hands.
“The other two have met up,” she said, seeing Kai and Ailenx’s dots. “The fifth still isn’t moving. But now I see why... There’s a treasure there. The dot’s very bright...”
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Me too.” An’na nodded. “We have to be careful. Maybe it’s a trap.”
After this, they continued on their way.
***
“Where are they? What’s taking them so long?!” Bane hissed, tugging at Shacks’ hair. There was a suppressor collar around the archer’s neck, forcing him to raise his head.
“Two of them are about five miles south from here...” Shacks could barely speak. “The other two are east, but far from here... That’s all I saw, I swear... Please, you promised to let me live if I lure my teammates here...”
“Shut up, scum!” Bane hissed, hitting Shacks in the stomach. The archer bent over and fell back into the snow. “Do you think I can’t remember my promise?!” he hit him on the back. “Pitiful human.” Bane winced, looking at the wretched scum who sold his friends for a fake promise of freedom.
Stepping aside, he approached Septus.
“You heard him. Isn’t it time to activate the traps?”
“I’m already on it,” Septus replied. “Open the map.”
Bane summoned a small dark gray sphere from his Ring, which immediately appeared in the air in front of him. Pouring ki into the artifact, he created a three-dimensional projection displaying the Aive mountain range. Then he narrowed the projection down to a ten-mile area, in the center of which was their location.
“That’s it?” Septus asked.
“Yes. The artifact can only detect someone’s aura within a radius of eight miles, so we need to wait. By the way, what about the treasure? Have you found it? We’ve been stuck here for so long...”
“No, I haven’t found anything. Apparently, it’s hidden in a pocket dimension. I’ve already determined that it’s connected to the cave entrance, but we can’t get there yet. I’m the only one familiar with the Path of Space, and all my free time went to setting up the traps.”
“I see... Oh! Here they are!” Bane perked up, seeing two dots appear on the map projection. They were approaching the elves at great speed. But a second later, he frowned. “The human we want isn’t among them. Judging by the auras, these are two Exorcists.”
“Understood.” Septus nodded, heading to the trap’s control array.
Given that An’na and Malvur showed excellent results at the first trial and were teleported to the mountains among the last, Septus wasn’t going to hold back.
“Prepare more Azure Crystals!” he shouted to his team members before sinking his consciousness into the array.
Meanwhile, Bane continued to observe the map, looking forward to the upcoming battle. According to the plan, Shacks’ comrades would first fall into the array-traps, and then, if they survived, they’d have to fight.
“What are they doing?” Bane was confused, noticing that the two dots had begun to move around the center. “Did they figure out there’s a trap waiting for them? Whatever. They can’t escape.”
The moment An’na and Malvur were less than a mile away, the arrays activated. There were two powerful explosions, the boom of which couldn’t be drowned out by the blizzard. The ground shook.
“As expected, they survived. But there’s no escape.” Bane grinned. “They’ve been trapped in separate pocket dimensions, in which energy giants have already begun to form...”
“So, that’s the plan...” an unfamiliar voice suddenly rang out, making Bane turn around sharply and take out his sword.
“You?!” he blurted out in shock. He didn’t expect to see Kai and Ailenx here.
How did they get here? Impossible! We’re inside the Tangled Space Barrier! Not even an Elementalist should be able to overcome it! They need either an artifact guide or an anchor mark here to teleport in. Septus checked the prisoner — there were no spatial marks on him. How the hell did they pull this off?
Bane couldn’t even imagine that Step Through the Snow allowed Kai to use regular snow and ice as spatial anchors, thanks to which he was able to teleport directly inside.
A moment later, Kai attacked. Swinging his swords, he sent two crimson slashes at Septus, who was still meditating. Bane and his team immediately reacted, rushing to protect the heir of the Shylix family, easily deflecting the technique. But, as it turned out, Septus wasn’t the target.
While Kai was distracting the aristocrats, Ailenx managed to form his strongest technique that belonged to the Path of Water.
Spinning Sea Dragon! He launched an attack at the four Exorcists encircling the artifact that supported the trap arrays and imbued the object with energy from the Azure Crystals, which left them defenseless.
The elves were forced to dodge, interrupting the flow of energy.
“What are you doing, you bastards?!” Bane cursed, seeing the elves jumping away. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter. The array’s powered by a huge amount of energy, so those two can’t get out.”
“Are you sure?” Kai asked coldly. “It seems that you still don’t realize that those two are the strongest participants in this test.”
In the next moment, they all heard a loud crack. Half a mile away from them, a vast area of space burst, and massive amounts of scarlet energy began to spill out of it.
An’na was the first to get out of the pocket dimension. A second later, Malvur rejoined her.
Realizing what had happened, Bane turned to Septus.
“Shit!” he swore when he saw him unconscious. “How about we make a deal?” Grabbing Shacks and holding a sword to his throat, Bane grinned. “Do you care about your friend? If you do, I suggest you give up. I promise that we’ll let you live...”
“Will you stop it already?” Kai said, looking at one of the members of Septus’ team.
Everyone looked at the elf in bewilderment. He was silent for a second, and then... With one lightning-fast movement, three aristocrats next to him fell dead.
“You’re ruining my fun, bro, come ooon,” Shacks drawled and dispelled the transformation techni
que. His appearance and aura returned to normal. There was a playful grin on his face. “How did you figure me out? I was having fun messing with these kids...”
Bane’s eyes widened in shock. With a sharp movement, he turned the hostage’s face to him and saw the third son of the Itlin clan. Mist was swirling in the poor fellow’s eyes...
“Please, I beg you, don’t kill me...” the beaten aristocrat muttered, not realizing what he was doing.
Bane’s face began to contort with anger. He almost broke his teammate’s neck, but he managed to restrain himself, pushing the fake hostage away.
“When did you...?” Bane growled quietly.
“What?” Shacks grinned. “You want to know when I started this clever ruse? Oh... To be honest... Ahahaha...” He almost choked laughing. “From the very start... I knew you wouldn’t leave us alone after what happened during the first trial. So, I decided to play a little game. I found that kid. I defeated him and then we switched. I brought you my body as a hostage. I just wish my friends hadn’t arrived before I was done having my fun. Eh...”
Bane’s aura suddenly flared with power. He clenched his fists, grinding his teeth in anger.
“Okay, no deals then! I’ll kill you all myself...”
In the blink of an eye, he was near Kai.
“You’ll be the first to die, mortal!” Having imbued his blade with a technique, he took a swing.
However, Bane couldn’t have imagined that a human would not only react, but also be able to block his blow.
Impossible! He leaned his whole weight on the blade, but his opponent easily stopped him. What kind of power is this?! He’s just a human and on top of everything, a mortal!
Bane realized that he was physically weaker, so he decided to use the strongest trump card he had as an elf — a huge supply of ki.
A duel between the two began.
Meanwhile, Ailenx and Shacks had to face the remaining four aristocrats. Although these elves came from great, powerful families, they weren’t classified as geniuses. Their talent was estimated at an average of seven point eight points, which could be considered a huge achievement in Tael, but not enough for the Cloud Abode. Such cultivators were nothing more than future servants of those who received the Cloud mark.
