"ROAR!"
A roar exploded nearby, making Darian snap his head around. His eyes went wide — up on the peak of a sand dune, a creature leapt and spread its wings.
That thing shot through the skies straight at him with fury.
He froze — it was less than a hundred ters away! How the hell hadn’t he sensed it before?
With a flick of his hands, two daggers appeared. The moonlight made it easier to see the creature up close.
It looked like a white serpent, covered in feathers, with a pair of massive wings. Over twenty ters long. A strange beast — but it radiated a powerful, oppressive lineage.
"No karma... wait! That thing isn’t alive!"
Darian rembered what he saw on the ship — it was the sa as those two demons.
"Rhaaagh!"
The creature swooped down, less than ten ters above him. With a roar, its body lashed out like a whip.
*BOOM!*
Darian sidestepped fast. At the sa ti, his daggers filled with black power and he slashed.
"!"
The blades struck its scales... but didn’t even scratch them.
The winged serpent countered right away, whipping its body again in a violent strike.
Darian felt extre danger. With a snarl, his eyes flared and his body pulsed.
The space around him cracked. His stellar physique was fully unleashed, and the Yin star’s power flooded him all at once. His body turned pitch black, and his eyes burned red like embers.
He punched!
**CRACK!**
The impact was brutal — the sound wasn’t his bones, but the creature’s scales and body shattering.
It flew back ten ters. A muffled roar ca from it. Not pain — fury. It tried to rise and take off again, but Darian charged like a black lightning bolt.
*BANG! BANG!*
His strikes landed right on the wing joints, breaking what seed like bones.
The beast reacted, jaws opening wide. But it wasn’t to bite — an intense red glow gathered inside... fire!
Darian reacted instantly, punching the creature’s jaw. Its mouth slamd shut violently, the sound of bones snapping echoing out.
That thing wasn’t alive. It was like so necromancer’s creation, but different — no trace of life at all. That’s why his black power hadn’t worked: for the first ti, he couldn’t rely on it to kill directly.
If it was so kind of undead, then sothing inside it was keeping it active. Darian began hamring strikes nonstop, searching for the weak point in its body.
The scene was brutal: he smashed the creature’s body over and over without pause. But the enemy, immune to pain, kept counterattacking in a vicious dance.
Luckily, Darian’s physique gave him enough defense to withstand it without serious damage.
Because it was so big, it took a while. After more than twenty attacks, he finally hit sothing unusual.
At the very bottom of its body, one punch struck a spot that released a strange energy. The next second, the beast lost all strength and collapsed, completely motionless.
Darian was panting.
Then, he thought of the system.
[Demonic Shadow available]
[Use Essence Absorption?] [Yes / No]
He confird. A bluish light appeared from the void and wrapped the serpent.
[Processing...]
[Law of Fire added for use]
[Available daily uses: 02]
[Ti to restore charges: 23H : 59M]
Darian’s eyes lit up with excitent. Essence Absorption was seriously insane!
Normally, everyone had to grind points and level up to get sothing like this. But him... he could gain upgrades daily.
"Well... the skill description did say it was a ’chance’. Guess I got lucky on the first try. Won’t always work. Still, totally worth finishing that special mission!"
Now, he was sure he had to focus on clearing the special missions. The longer he stayed in this world, the more his power to complete the Trial would multiply. After a while, the difference between him and the other competitors would be like heaven and earth.
If the next special mission rewards were anything similar, his growth would be terrifying... that is, if he had enough ti. His scary competitor was already far ahead.
"... so that’s a Demonic Shadow... since I’m on the Yin side of the desert, logically, on the other side there must be Celestial Shadows."
Darian muttered in thought. Besides the competitors, those shadows were a huge threat. He couldn’t sense them and couldn’t rely on black power. If a really strong one popped up out of nowhere, he was screwed.
But... where there are hunters, there are prey. Remira ntioned there were cities and villages. Since the desert was vast, those shadows probably hunted where the flow of people was steadier.
Which ant... he was getting close to such a place.
Darian kept moving in the sa direction.
An hour later...
"!"
"Kyaaarargh..."
Darian froze mid-step, startled. Right in front of him was definitely another Demonic Shadow, but...
It was humanoid — a tall, strong man with the multicolored hair typical of a Chromaraic.
Darian instantly connected the dots. Since he was a Spiritual Guardian and had already fought against the Risen, it was obvious what was going on.
"These shadows... are the dead competitors?"
He snorted, and without delay, thought of the system.
Confird. Right after, several fire runes appeared all around him.
Darian activated his ring and precisely controlled that elental power. A massive fireball ford before him. With a wave, he sent it forward.
*BOOOM!*
This ti, no hesitation. As soon as the explosion went off, he charged in with his stellar physique already unleashed.
Through the flas, he spotted the creature roaring, completely scorched, yet still ’alive’.
Now that he knew what to look for, he sensed that sa strange energy from before inside its body. In this case, it was located right below the navel — the so-called Dantian.
Luckily, this one was just as weak. Without hesitation, he punched and shattered the spot, making the shadow freeze still.
"Damn... sha I can only use that skill once a day..."
Darian muttered, then focused on the lifeless body, searching. Since it was humanoid, if he was lucky...
"Found it!"
He pulled out a small crystal from near its waist. A spatial energy flowed from it. Just like a spatial ring, able to store things.
Darian sensed its contents, excited...
"Pills... weapons... what’s this?"
He found a piece of paper rolled like a scroll. He yanked it out and unrolled it quickly.
His eyes lit up. "A map..."
Several points were neatly drawn with clear markings.
There was a sun and a moon at opposite ends of the sketch. Darian had already been in this world for several days and noticed sothing: the sun and the moon always appeared from the exact sa spot every day and vanished the sa way. The map used their fixed positions to indicate locations precisely.
He turned, checked the moon’s position. Comparing it to the map’s markings, he realized where he needed to go — west from where he was. According to the map, he’d reach an area with a small village... and further ahead...
"Looks like a mine."
There were letters he couldn’t read, but also a drawing of sothing round, like rocks or crystals.
The mine was very close to the village, which must have been built nearby on purpose. Everyone living there probably carried one of those maps to avoid getting lost.
Darian turned toward the direction indicated and set out without delay.
...
A few hours later, the moonlight suddenly vanished.
The next instant, a red sun rose on the opposite side of the sky. One second it was pitch black night, the next it was as bright as midday.
The Primordial Yin and Yang across the desert stirred. During that ti, Darian hadn’t encountered any shadow or competitor. But up ahead, a village ca faintly into view, far, far away.
He quickened his pace.
But as he drew closer... once the village entered the range of his senses, he stopped.
"No one’s here?"
He felt it clearly — the village was completely empty, no life at all.
He snorted, disappointed. Then he pulled the map again, searching for the mine’s direction. He needed to check that too.
The location was east of the village, not too far.
After walking for half an hour that way, he stopped again.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, he sensed thousands of people far ahead. And also...
He saw a subtle energy rising into the sky from that direction. It was Yin, but not the primordial kind of this place.
"Death Yin... a battle? No, with that many... it’s a war. Perfect, let’s see." He grinned and dashed forward.
Where there’s conflict and blood, there are always valuables being fought over. And if, by chance, everything suddenly vanished like magic... well, the enemies would take the bla, right?
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