Chapter 234 Forest Of Shadows (5)
The surroundings were dark, and strange plants could be seen everywhere. As one moved inside, one could feel a strange vine enveloping the whole ceiling and walls. It was black and had strange flowers that shone violet.
At its center was a strange rock from which a blackish, ink-like fluid was coming out; It surrounded it and created a small pool around it. A boy could be seen looking at the rock, He used his technique to scan the area. He discovered three two-inch cracks close to each other releasing a high amount of black smoke that mysteriously turned into liquid as it appeared outside; it merged with the water and was diluted.
The boy approached it and touched a black ink-like fluid. His weapon mysteriously bypassed it; No matter how hard he tried, he was not able to move it. He tried to control it with his magic but failed again. At last, he decided to ignore it. He jumped and sat on top of the rock. He noticed now that this rock had some mysterious symbols.
He sat down in a lotus position and started to sense the nearby shadow element. The element around him was in excess, and he didn't have a lot of time. He thought about it, and his eyes lit up as he looked at the chain around his neck; He used his sword, made a big cut on his hand, and poured his blood on the demon pendant. Then he used his shadow energy and tried to refine it.
He suddenly appeared in a strange environment; a giant phantom of the one-eyed beast appeared before him; its eye shone in a violet glow. Multiple small violet eyes appeared around Rishi and were about to hit him. He looked at the phantom indifferently and released his well.
A bright red light appeared from inside him and blasted the images around him. He looked at the giant phantom that started shaking in his presence; It turned into a small, one-feet figure and appeared before him. Rishi approached it and rubbed its head before taking back his will.
The beast looked into Rishi's eyes before its whole body shone red. It appeared again, this time twenty centimeters long and even smaller than before, but that was not the only change. It's one eye was different now; instead of violet, its eye was black with a purple-colored magic circle inside it. Rishi didn't know what had changed, but he appeared again in the real world.
He suddenly sensed a link with another beast. It asked him shyly if it could absorb the shadow energy around him; Rishi asked it to move to the pool and absorb the shadow energy present there; the locket around his neck moved and went inside the pool.
He smiled before closing his eyes and starting to absorb the shadow energy around him; He also started to comprehend it, He started improving at a rapid pace, and his shadow core also started to increase in size. He kept comprehending the shadow element, forgetting about the outside world.
..
He opened his eyes after two days and noticed that the size of the pool had decreased; He checked his shadow core and realized that it now had a diameter of four inches and was a little unstable.
He ate some food and fed his second beast before starting to meditate again; this time he focused on refining his shadow core and making it smaller and more stable.
This went on for another two days. At last, he was able to successfully refine it to have a one-centimeter diameter. He continued absorbing, and its size started to increase again. His comprehension speed also increased with time.
He looked at the pool, which was the same size as before. The locket moved out; it was shining in a purple glow. It moved by itself and hung around his neck. Rishi checked and could notice that the beast had already recovered, but now it was absorbing more energy to become stronger.
Rishi tried to absorb the shadow energy from the pool and was able to absorb it, but the amount was very little. "I can't continue like this; I don't have much time left." He started thinking of a way, and he suddenly remembered that he could ask his shadow creature to change the shadow energy into shadow orbs, which he could then store.
He moved his hand and released his new creations; Multiple winged creatures appeared that moved like a helicopter, and he asked them to absorb the shadow energy.
They moved in groups and started working. He then created small bags of shadow energy. It was very easy for him; He then gave instructions to his creatures to move before starting to comprehend the shadow element again. This time he continued for three more days; he was trying to sense the surrounding shadow element when he noticed a ripple.
He scanned his surroundings but didn't discover anything. He then sensed the faint ripple again. After looking around for a while, he discovered it was coming from the shadow cracks. He tried to sense inside the crack and discovered a whole new world inside it.
He was only able to see a little area, but the shadow energy he sensed there was a lot more pure and in very high condition. His sense moved, and he looked for the ripple and noticed a very small orb that was shining in a purple glow and was moving toward the cracks behind it. Behind it was a strange creature that was trying to devour it.
At first Rishi was confused: "Should I help it or not?" But at last he decided to do so. The three big cracks met at a point that had a hole. It was of similar size to the orb by one millimeter, so the orb would not be able to pass through it normally. Rishi took out his sword and summoned his sword aura; he concentrated it and covered it in shadow energy before attacking the crack.
The size of the hole increased by half a millimeter, and the small orb was able to pass through it. It was then that the whole area around Rishi shook and the cracks started to dissipate; he held his head and asked, "What have I done?"
He looked inside and saw that the shadow energy that had leaked was disappearing. Only the shadow energy that had been transformed into shadow orbs remained. He also heard a message from his third beast: a group of humans was approaching the forest.
"Shit, where is that staring orb?" He tried to look for it but was not able to discover anything. He put all the bags filled with shadow orbs inside his storage ring before removing his presence and disappearing using 'Phantom Steps' and 'Shadow Walk.' A shadow moved from one shadow to another and disappeared from the shadow forest.