"This is my first ti fighting a Special-Class Danger Beast."
Noah held Murasa and floated high in the sky, watching the El Monda swim toward him like massive fish gliding through a sea of clouds.
Clang—
The mont Noah drew the cursed blade, it gave off a cold, dark aura, vibrating as if it actively refused to be wielded by him.
Having experienced this exact rejection with the biological Teigu, Hekatonkheires, Noah already knew exactly what to do.
"Behave," he commanded coldly.
Gripping the handle tightly, he activated Mind Drill.
Murasa's polished steel trembled as thorn-like soul spikes manifested from within the blade, instantly crushing its resistance.
It was only a sword, incapable of displaying clear emotions, but Noah could feel its rebellious will fall utterly silent.
Still, the weapon retained its pride, while it submitted, it didn't resort to flattering him like that sycophantic dog.
By the ti Noah suppressed Murasa, the leading El Monda had already rushed right in front of him, its proximity revealing the true, staggering scale of the monster.
Shifting gravity, Noah suddenly dropped a few feet, raising his blade to plunge it directly into the creature's belly.
The sharp steel sliced into the soft abdon with almost no resistance.
Following the montum of his slash, Noah tore a massive gash across the El Monda's underbelly, sending a rain of blood cascading through the air.
"Awooo—!" the monster cried out, frantically trying to turn around in the sky.
Suddenly, strange black symbols crawled out from its fatal wound, spreading across its massive body in the blink of an eye.
This was Murasa's curse poison.
The El Monda twisted violently in the air, rolling and thrashing as it shrieked in agony.
Enraged by the death of their kin, the other two El Monda surrounded Noah.
They circled him like a pair of sharks trapping their prey, searching for an opening to kill him in a single strike.
After using Appraisal on them, Noah understood their behavior.
"So they aren't Danger Beasts naturally suited for fighting or hunting. No wonder they feel so weak."
[El Monda]
Special-class flying-type Danger Beast
Low aggression
Usually moves in family groups
Just as Noah prepared to harvest them for materials, the two flanking El Monda opened their massive jaws, releasing powerful, intersecting sound waves.
Because Noah had already appraised their capabilities, he was fully prepared for the sonic assault.
Swinging Murasa, he released a counter-sound wave of the exact sa frequency, perfectly canceling out their attack.
Gathering his magic power and weaving the wind elent, Noah hurled the cursed blade with a powerful motion.
A silver flash cut through the sky, burying itself deep into one El Monda's head.
The physical trauma was so severe it didn't even need Murasa's curse poison, the fatal wound killed the beast on the spot.
At that exact mont, the pressurized storm Noah had purposefully gathered around the blade's tip exploded.
The detonation acted as a thruster, bouncing Murasa backward through the air right into Noah's waiting hand.
With his magic power currently sitting at the absolute limit of Level 2, the operational range of Weaver was no longer restricted to a re five ters.
However, that throw had still exceeded his current maximum control radius of 7.22 ters.
Noah had a strong premonition that once he officially ranked up to Level 3, Weaver would undergo a massive leap in strength.
Only the juvenile El Monda remained. Noah briefly considered sparing it, but the young beast had already launched a desperate charge against him.
"I already have enough materials, but since this is the choice you made, I'll respect it," Noah muttered without even turning around.
With a flick of his wrist, he fired three massive ice spikes, effortlessly piercing through the small El Monda.
Manipulating gravity to render the three massive Danger Beast corpses weightless, Noah reached into his backpack and pulled out the dormant Hekatonkheires.
"Bringing this thing was the right choice after all."
The silly-looking stuffed dog glanced around blankly; this was likely its first ti suspended high in the sky, and had it been a real dog, it would have wet itself in sheer terror.
Pointing at the floating corpses, Noah ordered, "Hey, swallow those. But don't digest them."
"Woof."
"Go."
Noah tossed the toy toward the slaughtered El Monda.
In midair, Hekatonkheires rapidly expanded its jaw and body, swallowing the colossal corpses in a few grotesque bites.
This extra-dinsional stomach was one of its special traits as a biological-type Teigu, allowing it to safely store objects inside its belly—even massive items like tanks or rocket launchers.
When Noah initially requested to study a biological-type Teigu, he never expected it could double as heavy-duty storage equipnt.
He had genuinely considered taking the beast apart to study its core, but since his magic couldn't bring physical objects back to his ho world, the Teigu was only convenient while he remained here.
Furthermore, Hekatonkheires belonged to the Empire, dismantling their prized weapon without permission would undoubtedly provoke a severe response, so he temporarily shelved the idea.
...
With the corpses secured, Noah resud his flight toward the southern forest.
A long ti passed before he let out a confused, "Hm?"
By his estimations, the Lost Forest should have already appeared on the horizon, yet his vision revealed nothing but open plains.
He had clearly passed the local checkpoint, aning his route couldn't possibly be wrong.
Frowning, Noah pressed on for another half hour until he realized a glaring issue: he was now entirely too close to the southern mountain range.
He had already flown past his destination. But the forest... had completely disappeared?
Noah looked around in shock.
From his high altitude, there was absolutely no way he could overlook a forest of that magnitude.
The conclusion he arrived at was unbelievable.
Even if a forest was sohow destroyed, it should leave physical traces behind; trees had deep roots fixed into the earth, they weren't animals that could simply walk away.
Yet, there was absolutely no sign they had ever existed.
Even if the entire region had been carpet-bombed by missiles, there would at least be craters and scorch marks.
Recalculating the exact coordinates, Noah descended, his anti-gravity air wave blowing the dust outward as he landed steadily on the empty plain.
"There's no mistake. This is the place. But..." Crouching down, he pinched a small cluster of soil between his fingers.
"Appraise."
[Soul Dust]
The soul barrier of the Forest Dragon
It looks like ordinary dirt, but it is actually dust from the land of souls
Because the Forest Dragon transford the whole forest into soul form, the land here changed.
Reading the text, Noah's eyes widened slightly.
'Could it be...?'
A pale blue light shimred across his pupils, and the world in his vision instantly transford.
He stared in awe at towering trees burning with ghostly blue flas, realizing he was currently standing directly inside a spectral, phantom-like forest.
The forest hadn't disappeared, it had been hidden.
Hyral Sols had successfully converted the entire southern forest into a soul construct, completely severing it from the physical world.
It was a staggering feat to perform while hovering near death, proving the Danger Beast possessed an incredibly high level of intelligence.
However, utilizing a soul-based defense was the absolute worst possible move to use against Noah.
The corner of his mouth curled upward as he pressed a palm against the spectral earth.
"Soul Anchor."
Buzz—
Opening his eyes, Noah surveyed the vivid, illusory scenery surrounding him.
"Just as I thought. This environnt feels even more tangible than being inside the Soul Corridor."
Examining his hands, Noah noted that everything in this realm was composed of half-transparent blue light, leaving him as the sole entity with a solid physical body.
"ROOOOAR—!"
A deafening, omnidirectional roar shook the spectral realm, instantly making Noah feel as though the entire forest had declared war on him.
A strange psychic ssage echoed in his mind; though devoid of language, its intent was crystal clear: Leave this land, child of man!
Simultaneously, the ghost-like flora ignited with roaring blue fire, and the gentle grass morphed into a field of sharp, threatening blades.
A searing phantom pain washed over Noah, forcing him to clench his teeth as the environnt actively tried to expel him.
This hostile rejection was the dying will of the Forest Dragon, Hyral Sols.
Yet, that was the extent of it—it projected a terrifying intent to attack, but possessed no actual strength left to execute the threat.
Smiling silently, Noah reached for the hilt at his waist.
The simple motion agitated the Forest Dragon's will to a frenzy, amplifying the ntal command: Leave this place. Take that blade and leave!
The very fabric of the soul space strained, physically trying to eject him back into the material world.
His eyes widened in response.
Instead of using his own magic to suppress the rejection, Noah channeled Mind Drill directly through the cursed dium of Murasa and casually slashed the empty air in front of him.
Crack!
A sharp, shattering sound echoed as a massive black fissure was ripped open in the blue spectral space.
Stepping through the spatial tear, Noah plunged into the darkness.
...
Deep within the void, a dragon of incomprehensible size lay collapsed upon the ground.
Despite radiating a breathtakingly potent life aura, the creature's actual condition was incredibly frail, hovering on the very brink of death.
Just as Noah suspected, dragging an entire ecosystem into the realm of souls had exhausted whatever ager strength it had left, its already dying soul was now irrevocably worn down.
Noah approached the majestic beast.
Its green-blue scales had lost their vibrant luster, framing a horned head adorned with glowing green manes near its temples.
Its vertical slit pupils held an emotional depth rivaling a human's, though they were currently cloudy and unfocused, mimicking the eyes of a dying elder.
Sprawled beneath its massive wings rested the shadow of the forest itself, with the dragon's tail physically grafted into the local ley lines, visually demonstrating how the Danger Beast had completely fused with nature.
It truly was a powerful, tragically beautiful creature.
With Murasa drawn, Noah walked slowly toward the fallen deity.
The Forest Dragon offered no resistance, only staring mournfully at the cursed blade in the boy's hand, it understood implicitly that the weapon carried the power to grant true death.
As the dragon locked eyes with Noah, a flood of ancient mories surged directly into his mind.
The visions spanned thousands of years, dialing back to an era where humanity lived in primitive tribes that worshiped the dragon as a literal god.
Fed by their faith and offerings, it possessed the miraculous power to manipulate the climate at will.
However, as mankind entered an era of endless conflict, the dragon's power steadily waned.
When the Empire finally conquered the Sixteen Kingdoms a millennium ago, the last remaining cults of the Forest Dragon were wiped out, leaving only five living humans—the descendants of Lin'an Village—who still offered it prayer.
"What a long life," Noah murmured, processing the tragic history of the dying god.
With a re five believers tethering it to the world, the beast had zero chance of ever returning to its forr glory.
Rather than letting the majestic creature wither away in such pathetic agony, Noah chose to grant it peace.
Raising Murasa high above his head, Noah focused his intent and brought the cursed blade crashing down through the Forest Dragon's soul.
Instantly, the surrounding spectral scenery twisted and warped, bleeding together like a watercolor painting left out in the rain before entirely dissolving.
As the soul space collapsed, the physical forest returned to the material earth, but the death of its host triggered a catastrophic chain reaction.
Stripped of the Forest Dragon's life force, the lush greenery rapidly withered into a sickly gray-white.
The massive trees turned to brittle, burned-out firewood, collapsing into ash and blowing away in the wind.
Amidst the desolate, gray wasteland, a single object radiated a pure, brilliant glow.
Noah knelt and retrieved the sole remnant of the ancient god, holding it up to activate Appraisal.
[Forest Dragon's Jewel]
Obtained after killing the ultra-ancient Danger Beast, Forest Dragon Hyral Sols
The soul crystal of Hyral Sols
Contains all of the Forest Dragon's power and knowledge
Can separate out Nature Essence, which accelerates growth
Because it holds vast life force, simply carrying it slowly restores the user's vitality
If crafted into an elixir, it can massively increase maximum lifespan
He finally had it.
This single jewel was the entire reason Noah had tracked the Forest Dragon so relentlessly.
As an alchemical catalyst, the Forest Dragon's Jewel was unequivocally the highest-grade material he could ever hope to obtain in this world, providing the exact stepping stone he needed to elevate his alchemy to a higher realm.
Moreover, it held the key to the impossible fantasy chased by every grand emperor across the multiverse: eternal youth and immortality.
With the jewel in hand, transmuting a genuine elixir of immortality was no longer out of reach.
In truth, if the sole objective was simply extending a mortal lifespan, Noah already possessed two alternative thods.
The first was cybernetic chanization; since the soul's limits vastly exceeded the physical body's, replacing failing organs with machinery could easily buy a human several centuries.
The second was reincarnation; using Weaver, Noah could manually transplant a dying soul into a fresh vessel
While achieving perfect synchronization was difficult, pairing the transfer with biological modification yielded a stable fifty-percent success rate.
Derived from his alchemical studies, Noah personally viewed these forced extensions as third-rate, flawed thods.
However, if he ever chose to barter those exact techniques with desperate, powerful beings in the future, the sheer value of the returns he could extort would be highly anticipated.
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