Zacs new Hidden Node had finally cald down and the sowhat erratic trajectories of the two circular apparitions had stabilized. The three now ford a stable system, and Zacs intuition told him that using his ntal energy shouldnt pose a problem any longer. However, Zac still noted that his Hidden Node was still slowly eating the energies from the three Dao projections, though not nearly as frantically as before.
It felt like a small drain on his mind, but his soul was pretty strong by this point, and he was generating new ntal Energy a lot quicker than the speed of consumption of his Hidden Node. It would no doubt slow down his recuperation after a battle, but he still had a pile of Soul Crystals in case he was in a hurry.
He was about to infuse his skill, but a thought suddenly struck him as he activated [Primal Polyglot] first. The translation function worked passively just like the [Book of Babel], but the active interpretation of the Dao-based language needed an infusion of Cosmic Energy. He had tried using it a few tis before as they traveled through the endless tunnels, but it appeared as though the skill didnt really help with Technocrat materials.
His vision didnt change at all after activating the skill, but it still felt like he was looking at sothing different than before as he gazed at the halo hovering behind him. It felt a bit similar to how two different people could have completely different impressions of a painting or a poem, it gave Zac a completely new outlook as he gazed at the circular fractals.
The skill allowed him to gain a better understanding of how the halo and the apparition were connected, but he didnt gain any imdiate insights into the limitations of his skill though. Zac guessed he would have to experint with one apparition after another to see what would be useful, and what would be inefficient.
Zac briefly considered using the Chaos Pattern or his Remnants for a huge destructive boost, but he quickly dispelled any such thoughts. He didnt want to call down the Tribulation Lightning again, even if things turned out pretty good the last ti around.
That scene with the endless sea of lightning might even have been a warning by the heavens, so he instead focused on his Dao. He tried infusing [Conformation of Supremacy] with the Fragnt of the Axe seeing that everything seed to be in order, but worry gripped his heart when nothing happened.
However, Zac imdiately cald down when he found that he could infuse the skill with the Fragnt of the Coffin just fine. It would appear that the choice of projection also impacted what Daos were infusible. The feeling he got from the shield was mostly one of imperviousness and hardness, and his Fragnt of the Coffin was the Fragnt that best represented that feeling.
A stream of ntal energy made its way into the halo from his mind, and Zac noted with interest that the energies seeping out of the hanging coffin joined the ntal energy flow, effectively turning it into Dao Energy. The infusion sohow felt a lot smoother from before, like the process had been streamlined. That by itself didnt really change its power or anything, though the speed of his infusion seed to have sowhat sped up.
It was only a difference of a fraction of a second, but even such a small boost could prove vital in a pitched battle.
However, another change made Zacs eyes glisten. A second stream was released from his avatar, or rather the Hidden Node lodged within his body. It was the sa pitch-black energy as the one released from the coffin, and the two streams seamlessly rged just before they entered the skill fractal.
Zac initially didnt know whether this change held any significance, but he quickly realized what was going on. He hadnt used his new E-Grade skill a lot, but he was almost certain that he was able to instill more of his ntal energy compared to before.
Of course, that might be because he had changed the avatar to a shield that really matched the Fragnt of the Coffin.
There was a simple way to make sure though, and Zac quickly dispelled [Conformation of Supremacy] to instead conjure a fractal blade with [Chop]. It was the skill he was most used to, and he knew exactly how much ntal energy he could infuse into the blade before it wouldnt work any longer.
Zacs eyes lit up as he infused more and more of his Dao into the blade, and he was still using the Fragnt of the Coffin. A similar scene took place in his mind this ti around as well, as two streams of energies fused just as they entered the skill fractal on his hand.
The fractal blade imdiately gained a sinister aura as it was filled with the putrefying part of his Dao Fragnt, but the color kept increasing in intensity and power until it almost turned pitch-black.
It didnt take Zac long to figure out the difference from before. He could suddenly infuse around 20% more ntal energy into his skills, which made his attacks around 10% more powerful compared to before if you contributed half his power to his Dao Fragnts. It was an amazing boost that seed to co with pretty much no downsides, apart from a small but constant drain on his mind.
Of course, there was so bad news that ca along with the good. Zac had hoped that the Hidden Node in his mind would be related to Dao control and affinity like the general Hidden Node [Spirit Gate], but it rather looked like [Spiritual Void] was a combat-oriented node that replaced quality with quantity.
Zac experinting for a few minutes longer to make sure, but he could quickly confirm that he was still beyond incompetent when it ca to things like Dao Braiding. He couldnt turn his Hidden Node on or off either, though he could sowhat reduce the amount of energy it expelled along with a Dao infusion.
Another change took place a few minutes later, as the additional infusion from his Hidden Node started to wane, leaving Zac with just his own ntal energy. He wasnt too surprised about that though. He had already guessed that the [Spiritual Void] acted like so sort of Dao Battery, storing excess energy until it would be released in battle.
The node was a bit unwieldy in the sense that he couldnt control when to use it and when his own Dao was enough, but his control would probably improve when his bloodline awakened. The boosting effect would probably beco even greater in the future as well, and he couldnt help but think back to the scene where his presud ancestor crushed his enemy by simply releasing the floodgates in his mind.
Perhaps even more importantly, the node gave him an important glimpse into his Void Emperor bloodline. Things were finally started to make sense, and the lack of affinities no longer felt as detrintal as they once did. His body might be corrupted with a complete lack of affinities, but it appeared that his bloodline was shoring up those weaknesses one by one.
The [Void Heart] was related to energy gathering, allowing him to eat all kinds of energies as an alternative form of cultivation. The second node in his soul allowed for an additional outburst of ntal energy, replacing Dao Braiding or Dao Arrays with additional force.
It perfectly aligned with his insights back during the Dao Discourse to the point that it made him question whether that epiphany was actually just his bloodline telling his subconscious how to fight.
Zac did fell a few trees with his improved Fragnt of the Axe as well, and it had taken a noticeable step forward in lethality. The fragnt hadnt really seed to gain any new functionality as they sotis did, but it had rather just beco more powerful. It wasnt too surprising, as the upgrade had been based on war and conflict rather than adding sothing new like ntal Heaviness.
Seeing that everything was fine even after the drastic changes to his mind Zac set out again, taking a circuitous route through the forest. It took almost 20 hours for him to reach the other side, but he had spent a few hours picking up energy-dense plants.
He didnt recognize a single one of them, but they all contained the energy of the moon. The combination of specific growth requirents and unique attributes was usually a recipe for a valuable treasure, so he had high hopes that the Sky Gno could turn these things into piles of cash even if they proved useless in awakening his bloodline.
A few hours were spent on rest and redrawing his pathways as well. He ate a small hill of at before he set out again, but he finally felt like he had rid himself of the last after-effects of the [Rageroot Oak Seed]. His body was in pretty good condition all things considered, with only his pathways causing so issues now.
It was a bit of an annoyance, but Zac knew he couldnt complain. Most mortals would probably turn green with envy when hearing how quickly he pushed through levels.
Zac kept moving forward after resuming his exploration, and the silver forest finally gave way to the band of grass that ran along the wall. The opposite side of the forest was constructed pretty much the sa way as the area they ca from, with a thirty-ter tall wall stretching across the horizon.
However, there was one startling difference; the wall was actually damaged, like it had just endured a siege. The scripts had lost their luster at multiple places, and there were hundreds of cracks. Zac even believed he would be able to cram himself through so of the larger fractures.
Zacs first guess was that another battle had taken place here just like the one that should have taken place just before Ogras first arrived in the Mystic Realm, but he quickly discarded that thought. The damage was simply too widespread, going on for as far as he could see. If a battle had caused this kind of damage they definitely werent at the E-Grade.
But more to the point, Zac sensed the sa type of spatial energies in many of the cracks, making him believe that this was rather the result of spatial turbulence.
There were no spatial tears or other dangers for the mont though, so Zac started walking along the edge of the forest in a parallel to the wall, keeping his form hidden among the shrubbery. He was looking for a natural exit like the glasshouse or a gate, but so far there were no clues.
The cracks might provide ingress to the other side, but Zac wouldnt try that unless he really needed to. After all, the walls were alive, and he didnt want to get buried alive inside the technocrat alloy. A sudden shudder from his foresters intuition made him turn his concentration to a patch of the forest ahead of him.
He first didnt understand what [Foresters Constitution] was trying to tell him as there were no herbs there, but his eyes widened when he noticed sothing.
There were footsteps, and not sothing left by the wolves.
Zac bent down to get a closer look, and while he was no expert in tracking he felt the trail was fresh. He hesitated for a second, but his curiosity quickly overca his caution. He soon took out his axe and he started to follow the tracks, taking great care to not create any sounds.
The tracks ca from the depths of the forest before they made a turn at the edge. It looked like a group had taken a shortcut like him, but the droplets of blood on the grass indicated that their passage might not have been as carefree. The trail moved in the sa direction as the one Zac already walked, keeping to the edge of the forest all the ti.
There was no doubt that the owners of the footprints werent far away as the blood on the ground still hadnt dried, and it only took him fifteen minutes before he spotted so movent ahead. Zac had thought about how to make first contact with the natives a fair bit over the past weeks, but no planning had prepared him for the situation in front of him.
Five werewolves were standing not far from the wall, most of them sporting sowhat severe wounds. One of them even seed to have lost an arm recently, and he swayed a bit where he stood. But more importantly, one of them was carrying an unconscious human, a girl who looked no older than Zac himself
How were you supposed to react to what looked like a straight-up kidnapping?
His first instinct was to save help the captive out simply based on the fact they both were human, but he quickly discarded the thought. He had no idea what was going on, and getting involved might cause unnecessary trouble. His main goal was to kill the two remaining Dominators to cut off the last two Karmic Links leading to earth.
Anything else was secondary.
However, a burst of annoyance made Zac grit his teeth when an all-too-familiar prompt appeared in front of him.
[Damsel in Distress (Training (1/10)): Rescue the Damsel in Distress. Reward: Reward based on performance at the end of training regin. (0/1) NOTE: Failure to comply with training regin will result in loss of two random skills and 9 levels.]
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