“--All of you, gather--” Avrin's words echoed within the minds of all the pure-bloods. While so shivered, others jumped in excitent, however, they all made their way towards city's main area, where the largest structure within the Spectral city stood.
After Amias accepted Avrin's deal, along with Izanami, they all began to talk about past events, using the opportunity to bring each other up to date. Although Izanami was not a pure blood he knew her personally; not to ntion her information collecting skills would be valuable if the ti called for it. However, there was a lot for Avrin to learn about Amias. After their conversation, Avrin divine stepped both of them to the tower peak where he introduced them to the others.
With Izanami at his left and Amias standing on his right with a curious and stoic expression. The pure-bloods began to appear after reaching the distance for their Divine Sense to allow them to divine step. anwhile, Avrin had to personally divine step Tardiff and Ailirion as they had not reached that level yet.
“Master, you have been calling us quite...ooh?...” Asura was ready to complain as he had been watching a sparring match between two Spectrals while chewing on so at but when he glanced at Izanami he made a sound that wasn't befitting of him and was more fitting for a stunned monkey.
His body trembled and he froze for a mont. He felt as if the whole world froze. In that mont, not even Avrin who was beside her was visible, only she was. He had never felt like this before; Izanami to him was simply too incredibly attractive. “Mua....wiauas...nawua...”
As Asura stood slightly hunched over, with his jaw dropped revealing the chunks of flesh between his teeth, Eitri, who walked by him, glanced with a strange look. “Stupid beast, are you sick or sothing? Out of the way. Hey, Avrin, this creature needs to be put down... hehe.” Eitri gave a cruel remark before standing a small distance from Asura's side.
Tardiff passed by him with a silent groan as he looked around and reached up to scratch his head. “Nmmmm.....” Seeing that there was no seat big enough for him, he leaned back and sat on his butt, causing the room to shake a little.
“Lord Monarch, is everything alright?” Erebus, who had been the first to arrive, asked. To his side, also a distance away, Ailirion kept silent, as if he knew Avrin would speak when ready.
“Master? Who are these two?” asked Kael who had arrived last. Dressed in azure blue silk and linen attire, he looked at Izanami who seed to be glancing at everyone while trying to ignore Asura's gaze as if she felt like he was thinking lesser thoughts. Then she glanced at Kael and seeing that he resembled Amias’ age, she gave a cute wave towards him.
Kael's cheeks reddened as he reached up, covering his mouth as he cleared his throat. He could feel that Izanami was sohow different from the Spectrals he had t here. anwhile, he noticed a piercing glance aid at himself. Turning, he fixed his gaze onto Amias, who was looking at Kael carefully as if he were sizing him up.
Both of the two boys felt their eyes twitch, as if static was in the air. It as if so sort of rivalry had just been born. “Good! You are all here. I won't waste ti, but I want to introduce you all to Izanami and Amias. Both of them are from backgrounds that specialize in hand to hand combat or as you know from my Sphere of Knowledge, martial arts. Izanami is quite good at retrieving information and while I believe she can improve; in combat, she is currently better than any of you without the use of powers. She is not a pure blood.”
Erebus frowned a little as he looked at Izanami. “-Who is this woman?... Obtaining information? Better than any of us? Hah, I don't believe that-” of course Erebus kept his thoughts to himself, not daring to speak out of character.
Ailirion, of course, was more subtle with his words and instead chose to voice them. “Great One, I do not doubt your words, but when will there ever be a need to retrieve information? I believe that with our strength, we will reach a point where no one will be a threat to us as long as we keep ourselves out of the public eye for an extended period of ti.”
Avrin listened carefully to Ailirion. Out of all of them, he seed to be the best listener and most respectful towards him, followed very closely by Erebus. “Your point is valid Ailirion, you would be very surprised to know just how powerful so individuals are out there. I want you to rember this, in fact, all of you rember this. There are other creatures and people out there that have been living for many millions and even billions of years, lurking in the depths of existence. Do not think that if we hide and strengthen ourselves for a few hundred or a thousand years that we can co close to matching them.”
Izanami and Amias stood stunned and confused as they listened to Avrin's words. This information was sowhat new to them. Beings that lived for so long were unimaginable to them, how would sothing bare to live for so long, would they accomplish everything? That was one of their thoughts as they pondered carefully.
“I understand Great One. Thank you for enlightening this humble servant.” Ailirion bowed with his right arm across his chest. The other pure-bloods watched silently. Even Asura had broken out of his stupor and focused even though he still gave Izanami side glances, trying to be as inconspicuous as he could be. Nevertheless, the Spectrals thought on Avrin's words.
“Next is her younger brother, Amias. I'm sure so of you have seen or t him since that incident, this young man is quite impressive. His strength is already at the mid-expert level by Seleria's standards and he hasn't even begun training his particles yet. Not only that, but he is an Enigma ability user.“
Avrin carefully watched their reactions but his gaze focused upon Kael. His words were targeted towards him, as he felt this was a perfect opportunity for a rivalry that would set off improvent. Kael, of course, trembled slightly, his fists clenching only a little as they remained behind his back. He kept a calm look while looking at Avrin, yet he decided to speak, not daring to be a coward in this mont as he had changed from his past self.
“Master, I am not a fool. If you want to spark a rivalry between us I do not mind improving myself but....he...he isn't even as strong as , let alone a pure blood. When you brought him to us he was at the level of early trained by our judgents before he suddenly left and, yes, after a few years he is now an expert...but I trained hard as well and made more improvents!”
Amias’ expression darkened sowhat but he kept calm and then looked to Avrin, whose lips had curved into a rare grin. “Dear Kael, you have indeed changed to speak to like that, very good! In fact, you’re right and you’re wrong. Right that I want to use this as an opportunity to make you improve, but not just you, the others as well.”
When Avrin spoke the other pure-bloods all gave curious expressions and they paid more attention. “You see,” Avrin pointed towards a small, makeshift necklace hanging around Amias' neck. It was made with simple materials with a small purple sphere as the main attraction.
“A pure-blood conversion core.” this ti it was Erebus who carefully spoke those words. They all glanced at him for a mont before looking at Amias carefully. “It is, from that day I brought him back from the Deities of Seleria. I gave that conversion core to Erebus to give to Amias, but...Amias chose to not absorb it and convert. Not yet of course.”
Avrin glanced at him carefully. Avrin had talked to Amias about this when he asked him about the conversion core, thinking Erebus had forgotten it, but Amias pulled it out from under his training attire and showed it to Avrin.
--Flashback---
Within the open area, Izanami was carefully glancing with her petite hands behind her as she leaned over to peek at the conversion core Amias was showing Avrin, listening to her brother's words with a hint of jealousy and admiration in her eyes.
“Why I didn't absorb it then?....well I hadn't made up my mind. It hadn't taken long to find Grandfather and the others as there is a set location we have for ergencies, in this case when the dragons attacked. Grandfather told to devour the conversion core after the rebirth, every Spectral calls it?...uhh, but after the rebirth....I felt...I felt as if I needed to challenge myself, and that's exactly what I did. As I said, I don't want easy handouts. This thing makes more pure right? Stronger? I find it a bit unfair. I won't need it, not yet.”
Avrin couldn't help but glance with admiration and approval, in fact, he wished the other pure-bloods had this sort of mindset, as they would all be stronger as a result of this. “Well said.” Avrin couldn't help but say. It reminded him of several soldiers that had shown great discipline.
----Flashback end----
“I see Amias as having a lot of potential. Kael, I told you before that being a pure-blood doesn't guarantee you will be at the peak. Amias is a good example of this. Although he hasn't reached that peak yet, given sufficient ti he will be on par with all of you. So I recomnd taking the ti to train when possible. I understand that I have given you all tasks to handle, but in between there is quite a bit of free ti. Kael and Asura, of course, you both will have an advantage once we go to Shaded Moon as there are many more high-quality Lucent crystals. That being said, be sure to make the best of that advantage.”
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Kael trembled slightly and gave things a second thought before nodding. “Yes, Master.” Asura also nodded and said the sa thing. “Later today I will go collect every single piece of dark matter crystal and store it here. When the vault is completed, Erebus and Ailirion, you are both in charge of storing it there.”
“Yes Lord Monarch.” Erebus spoke while Ailirion followed suite. “As you wish Great One.” Avrin looked at Izanami and spoke. “Will you be fine here or did you prefer I take you back to the south?”
Izanami thought carefully before speaking. “I would prefer to go back to the south and help where I can. I think Amias should remain here and train.” Avrin glanced over to Amias who didn't seem bothered where he got to stay as long as it didn't negatively impact his training.
“Very well, Amias here.” Avrin extended his hand, causing a small patch of nebula mist to form in the air then reform into a small Sphere of Knowledge containing so basic information as well as how to train one's particles and eventually the dark space.
“This contains what you need to know. As talented as you are, without a path you're going to stagnate. The rest of you are all dismissed except Asura. You are going to show Amias around. Afterward, prepare to leave tomorrow morning.” Avrin glanced at Asura who looked as if he was wronged.
“Nmmmnm...Fine...” he hesitantly spoke before glancing at Amias cautiously. “Eitri, before you go, you also need to prepare so things for tomorrow morning. I will most likely need your help with handling Sigil requests at the Shaded Moon, it will give more free ti to handle other matters.”
Eitri nodded without disagreeing and soon most of pure-bloods departed, including Amias who went with Asura. However, there were a few that remained; Tardiff, Ailirion, Izanami, and Avrin. Avrin glanced over at Ailirion carefully before using a divine sense link. “--Is sothing wrong?--” Avrin spoke, Ailirion imdiately replied. “--Please reconsider your decision in putting Erebus in charge of the dark matter crystals with , I do not trust him...--” Ailirion was quite blunt with it.
Avrin gave a sudden faint smile. Izanami glanced at him and then Ailirion. She could tell quickly that they were speaking privately so she didn't interfere. “--Ailirion, I will just say this, don't think I would leave a small pot of honey within a bee hive without reason. I could simply store it all away within my dark space and be done, but sotis it's best to check which are the bees...and which are the wasps--”
Avrin's reasoning was simple. When he had absorbed their mories before, he had felt sothing strange, as if so things were not real and seed synthetic. He couldn't tell who it was from, the feeling was like comparing a real fleshy steak to a foam steak that looked identical. You couldn't tell the difference and Avrin wasn't skilled enough just yet to be able to get closer and touch both steaks to see the difference, so this was the next solution. A bit rushed, but it would do.
This way by gathering all the dark matter crystals from the world it would avoid conflict with anyone else on the outside and contain it here. Avrin wouldn't keep things too unprotected but he also felt it would be good to at least allow the pure-bloods a chance to see if they can figure out the mystery behind the dark matter crystals.
“--Yes Great One, I trust in your words and I will take my leave--” Ailirion bowed again before turning around and leaving. Tardiff finally glanced at Avrin with a quiet pondering look. “Uhh...” he muttered out before Avrin glanced at him.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Tardiff, do your best to train your particles. The sooner you open your dark space the better.” with that said Avrin divine stepped him from the tower’s peak back to his previous location. After that he glanced at Izanami. “I have my own matters to tend to, give my regards to your grandfather.”
“Of course,” she replied with a soft smile, and within monts Avrin divine stepped her away. Avrin was then left by himself in the tower's peak. His face darkened for a mont before he vanished then reappeared nearly two-hundred kiloters in the sky within the orbit of Seleria.
He glanced down at the planet and suddenly his body shook for a mont before an invisible tidal wave of energy surged out from him and washed over Seleria from top to bottom, inside and out.
His focus was careful when controlling this. It was his Divine Sense. While he was more serious, right now he could detect many things. He could sense the smallest of pebbles to chunks of ore, he couldn't help but sigh as he spotted many legendary pieces of ore but he chose to leave those alone. He felt a little regret for Seleria and felt maybe soone would discover them after he left. He wouldn't steal from the planet anymore and would just take what needed to be taken. A total of one-thousand-three-hundred and eighty-four sources of dark matter crystals scattered around Seleria, Avrin was fascinated at the fact that there were never dark matter crystals buried too deeply, they all seed to remain within the upper or mid-crust area, the deepest simply being within the edge of the lithosphere and the crust area.
With a thought, each of those dark matter crystals, enormous or insignificant, trembled before vanishing. Within monts, just like before, the crystals were all above Avrin and were being clumped together by him. They spanned nearly one-hundred ters high while being twenty ters wide. Avrin was simply amazed now that he saw it with his eyes.
“-I could beco incredibly powerful very quickly if I....no...-” he snapped out of his thoughts before raising his right hand. Dark matter trickled out and ford into a dense Nebula Mist-like spray that covered the entirety of the dark matter crystals, forming into a rigid dark purple rock-like shell with only a small arm’s length area opened to expose the crystals. This was where the purebloods would obtain the dark matter crystals for examining.
Avrin vanished, taking the large covered clump of dark matter crystals with him. When he reappeared he was within a small cave formation. The clump appeared with him and caused the small cave to shake and crack slightly. Avrin glanced around and then looked up. “This is deep enough.” With that said, Nebula Mist surged out of him like a deathly aura that ford into the shape of a square. It then began to expand out upward and sideways. Everything that was touched was absorbed and neatly turned to ash. The ground was seemingly kept flat so perfectly it seed like it was waxed despite being dirt and rock.
Within monts the small cave formation was turned into a square shaped room just large enough to fit this clump of dark matter crystals. With the creation of the room done, Avrin raised his hand and began forming a very strange mass of dark matter. It began to stir and move as if it were alive.
Avrin had placed several particles and control particles in this from his own body as well as a special surprise for whoever was going to betray him. He pointed the mass towards the covered clump of dark matter crystals and it flew over like a bullet crashing into the shell and digging in before the energy of the mass spread out, causing blue veins of energy to form around that shell that began pulsing as they gathered dark matter from the surroundings at a fair pace, only enough to sustain itself.
Avrin lowered his hand and looked around, this would be where the vault would be made. He had done the hard part of making it wide and long enough in a few seconds which would have taken over a hundred Spectrals a few days to do the sa. “--Erebus, Ailirion--” Avrin contacted them with his Divine Sense and began to explain where the entirety of the clump was. After which they told him they would handle the rest.
Avrin soon vanished. When he reappeared he was not on Seleria but outside it, just at the edge of the aura-like sphere where it was easier for him to divine step. From there he entered the Spectral domain and glanced around carefully. He looked around and then his body tensed up before the space around him trembled for a mont. His Divine Sense surged out at its maximum capacity and strength stretching on and on. It was not fifty-thousand kiloters anymore but a massive one-hundred-thousand, showing his advancent had affected it greatly.
Within that one-hundred-thousand he found nothing different or odd. He couldn't detect any life, but what he did feel was mana, a lot of mana. The Spectral domain of this universe was made of mana, and now Avrin felt he could absorb freely without impacting anyone.
“Limos.” Avrin extended his right hand and soon the Vajra God Essence weapon appeared. The mont it did, an eye ford within its core that glanced around before looking at Avrin.
Avrin then shot forward with his entire strength. He seed like a shooting star, especially when considering the space under his feet rippled from the energy. He had only stopped when he was sixty-thousand kiloters away, a fair distance, and even when he expanded his Divine Sense again he felt nothing.
“Let's begin. I have the remainder of the day to get as much as I can. Do your best, Limos.” As Avrin sat cross-legged while holding Limos in his lap, the space underneath him trembled as if it were solid.
“Sarcanus.” the God Essence armor imdiately reacted to Avrin's words, engulfing him in a white mist before his armor was ford along with the bone-like wing structure with the rod ends.
Soon those very rods split off from the rest and shot forward several ters. Limos followed suit. Avrin wasn't 100% proficient with controlling Limos and he didn't trust the weapon very much, however, Sarcanus seed to be quite affectionate towards Avrin.
The rod ends began to connect together to form a long, pillar-like rod that pressed against the chest plate of the armor on Avrin's chest, vein-like lines embedding themselves within as if they were grafted there.
The top end of the rod repeated the sa thing but this ti to Limos, which, despite looking about strangely with its eye, didn't do anything. From there, Limos trembled before the top of the Vajra began to emit a strange dark light. A crack seemingly began to form that expanded outwards and began to swirl almost like a vortex. The mont this vortex appeared, mana began to gather from the area around it, then into it, and from there it would siphon down the pillar-like rod ford by Sarcanus and into Avrin.
“More....expand much more...is this all you can do?” Avrin's eyes opened as he glanced at Limos’ eye. The eye glanced back and trembled before it let out a shriek. The vortex suddenly cracked and ripped apart before reforming and expanding not a few feet but this ti it had started off several dozens of ters and kept expanding at a rapid pace.
“Nnm....” Avrin was a little stunned as he felt the mana enter Limos, then beco converted to dark matter and then siphon into him. Almost imdiately he began to will his body into overdrive. He had obtained this idea when he felt the effects of the dark matter crystal. In the sense, it was simply dark matter that was very compact, but with a strange negative addiction as a side effect. But what if he could repeat it and surpass that compact energy without the side effect?
He then rembered the domain. The sight was sothing to behold, it was like a mini whirlpool in space that spanned several hundred ters, absorbing mana at such a rapid pace that blue streams of it began to form as it entered the vortex.
The rod-like pillar connecting Limos to Avrin was emitting a heavy purple light as it was siphoned to Avrin. “-I'm not greedy...your strength is my strength....-” Avrin then began to feed his ravenous particles to increase them, after which he willed the dark matter to feed his God Essence equipnt, which would empower them, although slightly, was still a difference. He still had enough spare to store in his dark space. This was because Limos kept expanding. The edge of the whirlpool-like vortex emitted crackling sparks of purple electricity.
“I hold God’s Heart the Fragnt of creation...if I cannot construct a way to empower myself at a rapid pace then who can?” Avrin spoke in a rare form of self-flattery as he thought this was an incredible idea.
His particles were no longer limited to constraining themselves on rationed dark matter. They were devouring at such a rate that each one emitted a purple hue of light which in turn affected Avrin's exterior appearance. He was emitting that sa purple hue, as it seed small sparks of light flickered about him.
“--Limos, stop at one-thousand ters. If I can keep this up for the remainder of the day it seems I can strengthen myself enough to maybe reach the peak of the Void stage, but the Rift stage...what exactly is it...--”
Avrin knew it didn't matter if he kept absorbing power. In the end, if he didn't understand how to progress, the amount of energy his body had wouldn’t matter. It was like having a device and then plugging in a charge that gave it triple the amount of power it needed to work. It would not make the device faster and might very well ruin it over ti.
When Avrin's thought reached Limos, the vortex suddenly halted, but by now it was like a small hole in space and from a distance quite terrifying. The Spectral domain was an incredible space and contained more mana than the outside, this was because there was such a lack of lifeforms in here that the mana would gather in abundance without any use, making it quite a hub for Avrin.
Avrin's teeth clenched as his body tensed up. He felt exhilarated and refreshed, as if he could do anything. The feeling in itself was exciting, as if he was constantly being pumped with adrenaline. Little did he know that from a distance of several million miles away there was a small moon, and within this moon it was completely hollowed out leaving only a deadly darkness that could affect one's soul.
Within this darkness a glowing purple eye ford and then more began to form in near instants, until several hundreds upon thousands of large eyes had ford. These eyes all resembled that of Spectrals, all of which were looking towards a direction, towards Avrin.
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