Instantly after, the darkness that had spread hundreds of ters from the crater buzzed rapidly.
It hurriedly retreated as if summoned, sinking back into the crater and shooting into the dark-robed youth lying within in violent streams.
The sudden change instantly piqued the elders’ attention as their eyes widened with excitent. It was ti, the lord was finally awakening!
Barely a few seconds later, all the darkness had been absorbed, leaving the dark-robed youth alone in the crater.
Ulric stood slowly and tilted his head. His bones cracked softly as he stretched, leaving him feeling refreshed.
Staring around the crater, he let out a slow breath as one foot moved to tap the ground gently.
Instantly, microfractures spread. A shockwave exploded as the force propelled him upward. He soared into the sky before finally erging.
He landed on the ground with a quiet thud, drawing the attention of all the elders. They stared intently at him.
Soon, surprised glints flashed across their eyes. The dark-robed youth was just as strikingly handso as before, perhaps even more so than they rembered.
But that wasn’t what truly drew their attention. It was the force of his presence and aura.
Previously, it had always been crushing, making it hard to even breathe normally while standing next to him.
But now... there was nothing. If it had been anyone else, they would have assud the black-robed youth was just another regular mortal. But they knew better. Despite the multiple sigils and runes flashing across his body, slowly fading back into his skin and marking him as a true powerhouse.
The only other way one could truly mask their aura was when their control over their strength had grown exceptionally frightening.
Just as these thoughts raced through their minds, a slew of notifications flashed before Ulric’s eyes, filling his vision.
[Ding! Your SSS-rank talent — Shadow Monarch has birthed a new innate skill: Phantom Blades!]
[Innate Skill: Phantom Blades — For a brief mont, pure darkness reinforces your basic abilities, allowing you to perceive beyond the physical into the ta. With this, you can conjure blades ford of this essence to shatter one’s core, instantly obliterating them.]
(Limited to 3 tis a day)
"This..." Ulric breathed. His eyes lit up with exhilaration. This was the reason he had sunk into ditation, to grasp this concept. And it had turned out way better than he could have ever imagined. What he once struggled to grasp was now an innate skill he could deploy as easily as breathing.
Having seen the level of destruction it could unleash, it only fueled his excitent. Even more, the last ti he had used it, it had almost drained all the massive reserves of dark energy he had once thought were endless.
But now the number of tis he could use it had tripled. Still, he would make sure to use it with restraint in the future.
Unless he faced enemies far beyond his rank, it was best not to overuse it. The cost was simply too great.
Just as he was spiraling deeper into his thoughts, the chi of more notifications snapped him out of his daze.
[Ding! You have killed Thunderblade, an evolved Level 76 C-rank human. You have gained 750,000 experience points!]
[Ding! You have leveled up!]
[Level 49: 450,000 / 450,000 experience points!]
[Ding! Your undead summons have killed a Level 23 human. You have gained...]
[Ding! You have gained the maximum experience points for E-rank. You cannot level up without evolving.]
[Do you wish to evolve to D-rank?]
Staring at them for a while, Ulric smiled softly before swiping them away. During this period of ditation, he had grasped more than just the Phantom Blades skill.
He had seen a path to absolute strength. One he wouldn’t carve only through darkness, but through all the elents.
The smile on his face widened as the thought ford. But before he could delve any deeper, multiple voices cut through his thoughts.
"Hahaha! Lord, you’ve finally awakened!" Rysten chuckled, unable to suppress the laughter bubbling within him.
"You look different, Lord!"
"Did you break through to D-rank already?"
"Say the word, Lord. We’ll summon every clan to welco and crown you as the Grand Lord over Tempest?"
"Huh?" Mistress Aria gasped as she approached the black-robed figure and placed her hands on his shoulders to monitor his condition.
The results were unexpected. She couldn’t sense anything. Any pulses of life energy were absorbed directly by his absurdly tough physique.
In her long journey as a healer, she had never experienced this before. Even with Lord Greyson, who had been C-rank, she had been able to catch a faint glimpse... but now there was nothing.
Could his strength have risen so far that it eclipsed even the previous lord? The sheer thought caused her heart to skip a beat as her breath grew heavy. She already knew he wielded the combat power of a C-rank being. But feeling his presence up close felt... surreal.
As the murmurs among the elders grew out of control, Ulric raised his hand. Instant silence descended. Before his mouth opened once more.
"How long... how long has it been?" While surrounded by the waves of darkness, the concept of ti had blurred from his senses.
A mont of silence lingered before Rysten’s voice cut across.
"It’s... it’s been a month since you entered seclusion."
Ulric’s brows furrowed slightly as he took in a cold breath of air at how easily ti had passed. To him, it had barely been a few seconds... yet a full month had gone by in the outside world. The sheer thought shook him for a mont. What if he had sunk even deeper into his ditation?
Could a few years have passed this way? The thought sent a chill down his spine. He chided himself. The next ti sothing like this happened, he would try to stay more in control.
As the thought ford, his gaze fell into the far distance. He could hear chants and cheers echoing from the Greyson residence.
Even from a few thousand ters away.
Noticing his gaze, Mistress Aria snapped out of her shock and explained.
"Lady Amber challenged Aelira to a duel. Their battle is..."
Before she could finish, Ulric smiled faintly. "I know."
Even though ti had eluded him, he could strangely rember everything that had unfolded during that period. Lyra’s and the others’ visits included.
As the thought ford, his figure sank into the shadows. Vanishing from the elders’ detection as their eyes widened, hearing only his lingering voice trailing softly in the night breeze.
"You’ve done well. Return to the residence and await my orders."
As the words dawned on them, his figure vanished, appearing hundreds of ters away in an inconspicuous place.
To others, it might have appeared like just another empty space where the moonlight cast its radiance.
But Ulric saw far more than that. And as if to confirm his thoughts, his hand reached out, drawing a figure seemingly lded with the shadows.
A surprised yelp echoed.
"Argh!" Tara gasped at the unexpected touch. One mont she had been standing, watching the darkness in the distance stir restlessly, instantly piquing her attention as she was about to rush forward.
The next, she felt an arm reach out and grab her by the waist.
Her instincts kicked in as she drew her twin daggers. But just as she was about to attack, her hands froze.
The figure’s scent drifted into her nostrils as his face turned to cast a devilish smile at her.
"It’s... you," she mumbled, forcing the words out of her throat as her chest thumped rapidly, too dumbfounded to speak properly.
Multiple emotions welled up inside her. Before she could express any of them, Ulric pulled her closer, drawing her into a tight embrace for a few seconds.
For so reason, he could feel the emotions welling deep inside her with a single glance. Had the link established between them by their Seed of Corruption grown stronger? Or was it because of sothing else entirely?
Whatever the case, it didn’t matter now. Inhaling sharply, his figure vanished once more, this ti with Tara in his grasp as he appeared before the Greyson Residence.
The already loud cheers from a distance grew even louder as he made his way into the Grand Arena.
Stepping into the crowd, his presence folded in on itself, becoming indistinguishable from the masses as his gaze fell to the arena.
The excited murmurs sweeping across the crowd filtered into his ears.
"Hahaha! I’ve been waiting for this day for a long while!"
"Hmm, not as much as . Who do you think will win?"
"Ha! Isn’t it already apparent? With everything I’ve witnessed in the past month, I bet all my money on Amber! Have you even seen her summoned stone golems? I’ve never seen anyone fight like her before."
"Yeah, I heard rumors say she is strong enough to even go against D-ranks now."
"Hmph! Truly ignorant! You think everyone is as talented as the Lord to fight people way above their rank?"
"He’s right! Even though she is talented... it should take a while for her to be strong enough to face off against a D-rank."
"Tell you what, if Aelira wins... I’ll eat all the dirt around the Greyson residence!"
Just as the murmurs were growing outrageous, a figure within the crowd clad in a simple robe, clutching a bow, suddenly paused. His eyes narrowed as he stared at a dark-robed figure.
"Do I know you from sowhere?" Kaeden breathed. The youth gave off a strong sense of familiarity, but sothing about him was off.
While his figure seed to blur from his eyes, as if he was there and not there at the sa ti.
Tilting his gaze, the dark-robed youth rubbed his chin, a thoughtful expression forming across his face.
"Have you ever been into the far outskirts of Tempest City?"
"Huh? No." Kaeden muttered, growing more confused. Was he from there? He mused, only for the next words to cause his lips to twitch rapidly.
"Hmm, neither have I."
"Huh? Then why..." Kaeden muttered. But before he could say another word, silence descended across the crowd as two figures stepped into the arena.
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