Eternal Gate [ Special Edition ]: The way of the Sword

by William Bill

  Damien said in a vexed tone, "Of course not." He paused and continued in a serious tone, "You may not understand how hard it is to have someone who truly cares about you. I have been alone for these past few years. And for some reason when I found out about Lily, I didn't feel like being alone anymore. Also, considering how I am even alive now because of her, the least I can do is help her. She is worth it."

  Luna shook her head helplessly. It seemed like she knew where this was going.

  'Interesting...well it's good that she is developing feelings for someone like him. At least she will be useful hehe.' Luna giggled inwardly.

  For the past whole week, Damien had been busy comprehending his Elysian Lightning Of Retribution and managed to comprehend the first stage completely and the second stage partially.

  He found out that if he executed the second stage of Elysian Lightning Of Retribution - Mirage of Myriad Phantasms, he would be able to conceal his ethereal energy aura to a certain extent. The more he could comprehend it, the more he could conceal his aura.

  But that was not the best part of the second stage. As a movement skill, it's main speciality was in giving the user an instantaneous burst of speed which he could maintain as long as his ethereal energy reserves allow it.

  Luna said that as his cultivation and elemental comprehension increases the more potential he would be able to draw out from these skills. She said if his lightning comprehension and his cultivation can grow to a certain extent, by executing the second stage, he would be able to move so fast that he can even create clone images of his own body!

  In other words, he could create mirage or afterimage versions of himself. His enemies wouldn't even be able to find out the difference neither by sight nor by his aura. The clones would be identical to Damien in every sense.

  But since the skill depended on his ethereal energy reserves, even though it was not as draining as his Anti-God Arts, it would still be taxing to maintain it for even a short time with his current cultivation.

  But Damien was slack-jacked hearing the true potential and power of this skill. If before he had any doubts about his ethereal art being subpar, then now all his doubts had vanished.

  'As expected of the ethereal arts that came from a goddess.' That's what Damien thought when he heard of it's prowess.

  He couldn't help but imagine how powerful the other stages of his ethereal art would be. Especially the first stage he comprehended.

  Luna said that when he executes the first stage, he would be able to manifest a concentrated lightning bolt from his own ethereal energy. Which he could use to strike his enemies and singe them to death.

  She said that if he comprehended the first stage to its peak, he could even destroy worlds with a single strike!

  But Damien felt his mind getting muddled trying to imagine him doing those feats in that scale. He decided to first focus on at least destroying his enemies first then he can think about destroying planets.

  "Where are you planning to go tonight?" Luna was wondering what kind of place he would want to go to in the middle of the night.

  "Of course, the Dark Forest. It is said that the border of the forest is ruled by the Grey Wolfs and Brown Claw Wolfs. I want to hone my senses and hunt them in the dark instead of daylight. It's high time I improved my cultivation base. There's not enough time for me to be fooling around. Besides, I have a debt to pay back to those wolves." Damien smirked as his eyes flashed with a wild glint.

  Luna sighed, "Well hunting and everything is all good. But don't accidentally hurt yourself in the dark or get caught trying to sneak out!"

  Damien said, "Relax. I only have to see to it that I can maintain the second stage till I get outside the palace."

  "Hmph. Also, don't you dare try your Anti-God Arts tonight. Stick only to your ethereal arts. I don't want you fainting on your return trip." Luna harrumphed before disappearing into the Shard Of Essence.

  Chapter 49: It's Dead Already?

  Soon the sky had turned dark and the palace halls were as silent as the grave.

  The guards patrolling the palace gates were fully alert since they were working on a shift based system, so that they wouldn't get tired or sleepy during their shift.

  Suddenly a gust of wind blew past them as they swiveled their heads wondering why there was a sudden burst of wind. But nothing else happened and they shrugged it off thinking that the night was windy.

  A hundred meters away in an alley, a boy with a hooded cloak was on his knees panting heavily out of breath.

  "Ha…ha…I...I c-can't breathe….."

  Luna spoke mentally, "How pathetic. I told you not to overestimate yourself. Using the Mirage of Myriad Phantasms to its fullest for more than a hundred meters is not a child's play at your cultivation level. I am surprised you didn't die from running out of breath." She gibed.

  Damien drew in long breaths and slowly absorbed and circulated the ethereal energy from the air through his ethereal core points.

  Finally he got up with a jubilant smile, "I can't believe this skill is so awesome! My speed was so unbelievably fast that I thought I was flying. The energy I exhausted was worth it. At least I was able to sneak out without even the guards' knowledge. Wew, that was quite risky."

  Those guards were at least at the Spirit Ethereal Realm but they didn't feel suspicious at all when the gust of wind passed by them. In fact, it was Damien speeding through the space between the guards. But if their cultivation was at least at the Earth Ethereal Realm, they would have noticed a jet black lightning streak speeding through the gap between them.

  Damien had suppressed his aura and executed the second stage - Mirage of Myriad Phantasms to move at an inhuman speed!

  Unless someone with a soul cultivation of Soul Transformation Stage or higher spreads their senses with utmost concentration, they wouldn't be able to trace Damien's trails or sense him at all. If he was able to fully comprehend the second stage, then one would be considered lucky if they could find even a whiff of Damien's trails.

  "Of course, it is the ethereal arts I gave you. The least you can expect is it to be awesome." Luna's lofty tone sounded in his mind. "But you just had to take a detour to steal a lousy cloak. Hmph, using my godly ethereal arts for stealing." Luna was a bit annoyed to see her ethereal arts being used for petty thefts.

  On his way to the alley, Damien passed through some residences where he found a black cloak lying around. He didn't even stop and just took it. If there were people who witnessed it, they would think that the wind stole away someone's cloak.

  Damien chuckled and then looked towards the north where the Dark Forest was located.

  'Time for some hunting.'

  ——

  The moonlight filled the entire sky but Damien could barely find his way in the dark surroundings of the forest. The Dark Forest was so thick and dense that it forbade the moonlight from bathing it with its light.

  The weather was cold and the forest was so silent that one could hear a droplet falling on the ground. Damien could even hear his own heartbeat and his breathing. He was slowly making his way inside the forest in order to not lose his way and also to not go too deep inside the forest where there might be powerful ethereal beasts he wasn't yet ready to take on.

  His senses were totally spread out along a 125 meter radius but he knew he wouldn't be able to maintain it too long as it depends on his soul energy reserves and requires him to stay still with utmost concentration if he wants to find any wolves hiding in the dark.

  Meanwhile, a few meters behind Damien, as the bushes parted, a brown furred wolf as tall as a man appeared from within the bushes slowly moving towards Damien.

  But Damien seemed unaware of the lurking danger behind him and was moving forward slowly.

  *Whoosh!*

  Just as the brown wolf got closer to Damien, it shot out from the bush like lightning with a tremendous speed. Even if it was a practitioner at the Spirit Ethereal Realm, they would find it nearly impossible to avoid its att
ack.

  As its prey got closer and closer to its line of sight, its teeth were already aimed at its prey's throat, preparing to ferociously bite it down!

  *Thud!*

  However the brown wolf was caught off guard since it expected its teeth to bite into Damien's throat, but it had instead passed through Damien's body as its body hit the ground!

  It stood up in fury after recovering itself, but its eyes shrank as it saw a jet black lightning bolt filled with chilling ethereal energy tearing through the air, closing in on itself. The jet black bolt passed through the head of the brown wolf leaving behind a charred gaping hole!

  *Thud*

  The brown wolf lifelessly dropped dead on the ground as it died without even realizing what happened.

  Damien dusted his hands as he slowly walked towards the partially charred carcass of the brown wolf. His eyes narrowed when he saw a bigger version of the Brown Claw Wolf he saw in the slave market.

  'First Level of the Nascent Ethereal Realm…A matured Brown Claw Wolf!' Damien screamed in his mind.

  "It died just like that?" Damien muttered to himself.

  Damien couldn't believe he easily killed a Brown Claw Wolf at the first level of the Nascent Ethereal Realm. Even though he was at the tenth level of the Initial Ethereal Realm, he was still a realm lower than the wolf in cultivation.

  "Of course, even without considering the prowess of your ethereal arts, the Pseudo-Origin Laws behind your lightning is too overbearing for a mere wolf at that cultivation to handle. At your current level, you can hold your ground easily against opponents two to three levels higher than you with your ethereal arts. As for opponents four or five levels above you, it won't be easy." Luna calmly said.

  Damien had managed to leave behind a single afterimage by executing the second stage of his Elysian Lightning Of Retribution — Mirage of Myriad Phantasms.

  After that he appeared behind the wolf and used the Searing Strike Rendering Worlds skill from his ethereal arts to deal a killing blow to the wolf.

  Damien didn't have any weapons with him, not even a small blade. He was prepared to rely only on his ethereal arts and fists.

  But he didn't expect to face a Nascent Ethereal Realm beast right away. He thought that only Grey Wolves roamed around the border and expected the Brown Claw Wolves to be located a bit deeper into the forest.

  The Dark Forest was located at the northern part of the Imperial Capital with an area of 300,000 square kilometers. It was the biggest and most dangerous forest in the Rong Empire. Damien had barely crossed five hundred meters into the forest and he already met a Brown Claw Wolf.

  'A rogue one it seems…without belonging to any pack.' Damien mused.

  A rogue Brown Claw Wolf was even more menacing and troublesome than the ones who usually travel in packs. The rogues are more bloodthirsty and too proud to be in a pack to follow an alpha or a leader. They would travel around the forest wherever they like and kill whomever they want to if they feel like it.

  Luna could not help but state, "Seems like you have also comprehended the second stage well enough to leave behind at least a single afterimage. Your mastery of the first stage is also good enough considering your cultivation and Lightning laws comprehension."

  Luna thought that Damien would still need more time to learn how to leave behind afterimages using the second skills of his ethereal arts. But it seemed like she had underestimated him yet again. She thought that one day if he could draw out the true potential from that skill, he could virtually be at multiple places at the same time!

  Chapter 50: Luna's Soul Space

  "Still...you put in too much ethereal energy into your attack. How can you absorb it's life essence when it's already dead? You should have just left it in a near dead state and it would have been enough." Luna sighed.

  "Well, it's not like I could help it. This is my first time using this skill and its way too overpowered." Damien knew it would take him a few tries to fine tune his usage of ethereal energy. But he also felt it bad that he couldn't absorb the life essence of the dead beast. After all, it had a stronger ethereal cultivation than him.

  He didn't plan to absorb the soul essence of ethereal beasts since their soul cultivation was very poor compared to their ethereal cultivation. So, it would do no good to Damien if he absorbs the soul essence of ethereal beasts weaker than him in soul cultivation.

  Generally, ethereal beasts weren't intelligent enough to cultivate their soul on their own. But ethereal cultivation was simply as easy as breathing for them. As long as they feed on other ethereal beasts or herbs with strong ethereal essence then their ethereal strength would automatically improve.

  "Anyway, it's fine. I will take its ethereal core and just hunt for more." Damien smirked.

  "Well, aren't you forgetting something?" Luna smiled whimsically.

  "Oh, you mean I don't have a blade with me. Well…" Damien scratched his head.

  It's not that he didn't forget about needing a blade if he needs to cut open an ethereal beast. It's just that he had no means of obtaining or buying a good enough blade. However, his main purpose for hunting ethereal beasts in the dead of night was to improve his ethereal cultivation and the idea of selling their ethereal cores for spirit stones only dawned upon him now.

  Since he already thought of selling pills as a money making scheme, he didn't bother to think of any other methods.

  He then thought of using Searing Strike Rendering Worlds to cleave open its belly. But didn't feel much confidence about cutting it open perfectly without damaging the core.

  'I guess simple spatial rings won't be sufficient for him in the long run...' A thought flashed through Luna's mind.

  "Ha..., no need to beat your brains out thinking of a solution. You can use my soul space to store that filthy thing." Luna said with a sigh of irritation.

  "Wait...what? Your soul space? You can store things in your soul space?" Damien had a blinking expression on his face.

  "Of course, do you think this goddess' soul is simple? I can store potentially an infinite number of things."

  'But why is she offering her help without any benefit? Especially when she's willing to store a filthy corpse in her own words.' Damien was puzzled thinking when Luna became so generous.

  He knew that there must be some other reason she was offering her help on her own.

  But he decided not to think too much about it and take advantage of her help before she changes her mind.

  "Of course, sure. Please store this carcass in your soul space. In fact, do you mind if I use your soul space to store everything I need in the future?" Damien asked expectantly.

  If he can use her soul space to store his things, why would there be any need to buy those expensive spatial rings.

  "Hmph, I knew you would ask that. I have divided a certain amount of my soul space and linked it to your soul plane. The soul space I have given you is more than big enough for your needs. So, you need not bother me every time you need to store something. You can store things on your own and consider that soul space as your own." Luna said factually.

  'Wow, she even made me a master of a portion of her soul space? Isn't that like she's sharing her room with me? Did she hit her head somewhere or....?' Damien felt that the chance of the world ending tomorrow is more than the chance Luna is being generous.'

  But he knew better than that to ask her why. As long as it's beneficial to him why should he care.

  But he wondered if he could also store things in his soul once his soul cultivation is at a certain stage.

  "What other unimaginable things can you do?" Damien eagerly asked.

  "Hmpf, you will know when you need to know." Luna scoffed.

  Damien sighed as he shook his head.

  ——

  *welp*

  A Brown Clay Wolf at the first level of the Nascent Ethereal Realm was lying on the ground with its limbs singed and shriveled like a dead branch.

  Damien learned to fork his lightning bolt s
o that it can split up and attack certain areas of his target, though the power would diminish the more branches of lightning he makes from the bolt.

  Damien walked towards it with an apathetic expression in his eyes. He was proud that he managed not to kill it before absorbing its life essence.

  He crouched down and put his palm on the belly of the helpless wolf. With the help of his Anti-God Arts, Damien started absorbing its life essence.

  The wolf's body started shriveling as if it's body was aging; it's muscles started sagging and its fur started to become thinner and lose its sheen. Within just a few seconds, the wolf looked like it had neared the end of its lifespan. Soon, its eyes drooped and slowly closed as its breathing came to a halt.

  "Don't absorb it right now." Luna warned.

  "Why not?" Damien asked.

  "It's better if you accumulate the life essences of the wolves you are going to kill and then try to absorb them in one go." Luna instructed.

  Damien didn't ask any further as he stored the life essence of the Brown Claw Wolf in his ethereal core to be absorbed later.

  ——-

  "Ha...ha….I think I have lost count of how many I killed."

  Two hours before daybreak, Damien was sitting on a rock trying to restore his spent ethereal energy. He had used his Shattering Strike Rendering Worlds too many times to finish off the wolves. But he avoided using Mirage of Myriad Phantasms too much since he didn't want to exhaust his energy needlessly.

  However, he did get to absorb a lot of life essence in total. But he didn't meet any wolves above the first level of the Nascent Ethereal Realm since he hunted only on the outer regions of the forest.

  Most of them were either at the tenth level of the Initial Ethereal level or the first level of the Nascent Ethereal Realm. The rest were too weak that Damien didn't even glance at them as he killed them.

  He had been killing and cutting down the wolves for hours like a madman who had some personal vendetta against the wolves.