SWISH–!
The wind blew harshly forming a Hurricane around Zick. The brown sand was picked up by the wind, making it hard to look at his figure.
But Zick's howling never stopped, something was being imprinted into his soul, eyes, and mana nerves.
This process has been going on for a few minutes now. The pain was driving Zick to the brink of insanity but he couldn't even lose consciousness.
His conscience was being held together by him forcefully, and Zick had a premonition that losing his consciousness would lead to severe consequences.
The black miasma was very weird, it didn't strengthen Zick's body in any way. Instead, it aimed for his dragon eye and soul first.
As for the mana nerves, it was also not being strengthened. Black miasma was fueling his chaotic mana to evolve to the next level!
This black miasma wasn't trying to evolve his mana into the aura, what it was evolving was his mana characteristic.
Zick could not sense all this and could only brace himself against the immense pain.
Slowly, the black miasma leaking from his body started thinning.
As it became transparent, Levienel and the cat were able to move their body again.
"That was soul suppression without a doubt...." The cat was the first one to speak.
Levienel and the cat didn't converse, they looked at Zick.
Palpitations rose within the cat: 'Just how strong must be the owner of that black energy to be able to suppress us like this with just its remnants of energy?'
It was the first time the cat had experienced a situation like this.
In front of that black miasma, a mythical beast that was more than 100,000 years old was worth nothing.
Levienel on the other hand had a blank look with her eyes flickering with uncertainty. She had felt a sense of familiarity in that black miasma but it vanished as soon as it appeared.
Soon the howling wind came to a stop and Zick in the middle of it looked forward blankly.
The regretful neckless which was dangling on his neck gave out a dim glow before vanishing.
Clarity returned to Zick's eyes as he looked at Levienel and Cat blankly.
There were many changes in Zick's body, his already pale skin now looked no different than a white sheet.
His dragon eyes had fully transformed into the eyes possessed by the coffin doll. It was black and its vertical pupil was red. His other eyes had no change.
This eye gave out threatening energy and it was connected to his mana nerves. Which meant the black eye would grow along with it.
Zick was aware of that, he sent his consciousness to the mana nerves next.
There were no visible changes when looked at externally. But Zick knew that the chaotic mana had reached an unprecedented level of density.
'It is almost comparable to aura, I wonder how strong it would be after It becomes aura...' Zick thought before moving on.
He had risen to the limit of the peak rank!
Zick was only a step away from becoming a master swordsman, this made him feel the pain to be worth it.
The feeling of his body being strengthened was still coursing through his body.
In this situation, he should have normally broken through to the master rank. But he was still a step away from master rank, this was because of his body!
'I had used the snow essence and strengthened myself before, that must be the cause of it.' Zick analyzed calmly.
' I should be able to Become a master swordsman in three months or even before that. I should stop myself from using snow essence, for now, well I couldn't use it with them around me anyway.'
Still, the main benefit was that the mana characteristic was enhanced. Zick could feel that his mana had a hundred times the destructive power compared to before.
But disappointment rose within Zick: 'Wasn't the doll belonging to someone who killed many Gods? Is this all that it can give me?'
Along with this, his potential seems to have risen to the grandmaster rank too. This made Zick rejoice.
His mage professional's potential had not increased, but this didn't make Zick sad. He had the snow essence!
He could start using them after breaking through to master swordsman rank.
Zick didn't hold much expectation in breaking through to grandmaster rank any time soon. So he decided to concentrate on the mage profession too.
'I don't want to reveal that I can absorb snow essence. But clearly, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.'
Zick got up and dusted the sand off him.
He looked at the cat and Levienel with a smile.
"Why are you still like that? Is there something in my face?" Zick said, acting bewildered.
"For how much time have I been unconscious?" Zick asked another question.
The Cat snapped out of its daze and spoke.
"More than six hours...."
Only then did the cat move towards him slowly and stopped beside his foot.
"Human, what was that black thing? And how did you get it?"
Zick first made Levienel prepare a table and sat upon it before speaking: "I found it in a place called doll gallery."
His answer was straightforward with nothing hidden.
"Doll gallery?" Both the cat and Levienel were confused when hearing this term. They had never heard of it.
Seeing the cat's reaction, Zick felt disappointed internally.
"Yeah, doll gallery. I got to enter it after I cleared the requirement to leave the subconscious world." Zick didn't hide it and looked at the neckless on his neck.
"It has chosen you as its wielder." The cat said with a thoughtful look.
Zick felt a sense of excitement rising in him. He knew the immense might of this item.
He could make a person fall unconscious and directly kill him!
Just this prospect made Zick have the urge to go on small massacres to collect souls. He held in this urge for now.
The cat and Levienel were still thinking back upon the black miasma.
'Doll gallery? Never heard of it.'
'There was such a thing in this doll gallery...I have never heard of such a mysterious place...'
Zick interrupted their train of thought: "Can you feel any harmful change in my body?"
Zick had checked and didn't find anything out of place. But he still asked them to be sure.
The cat spoke with a solemn tone: "There is nothing wrong with your body. But that black eye is giving out a threatening feeling to me. It must have some special ability for sure."
Levienel also analyzed: "Your soul has also been strengthened, it is almost at the same level as me...." She felt it to be unbelievable too.
There has never been a case like this in the whole history. The cat was silent in this regard too, it felt a sense of suppression from Zick for a while now.
If Zick was able to use his soul, he could easily suppress it.
This pulled out Zick's interest: "My soul? What kind of ability can I use with my soul then?"
He was very curious. He had immense anticipation in this matter.
The cat shook its head: "Your body won't be able to take it. You would die before the ability activates at your current level."
Zick felt like cold water was poured upon his surging anticipation.
"I see, let's just check what my eye's ability is." Zick touched the area below his eye.
His vision was sharper and broader than before. He could see everything very accurately but this was not the main function of the eyes, according to the cat.
Turning to the left, he could see a huge boulder hundreds of meters from him. Zick started activating the black eye's ability, it was an instinctual action.
Silence.
Nothing happened at all.
"It's not a destructive type of ability?" Zick was puzzled.
But it felt like the ability hadn't even been activated.
Thinking for a second, Zick found out the reason: 'It might probably need my mana as fuel. That must be the reason it was connected to my mana nerves.'
Zick had almost no knowledge about these eyes' abilities. He carefully activated it again.
At once Zick's expression stiffened. His mana was being consumed by his black eye at a rapid pace.
More than fifty percent of Zick's mana was consumed in three seconds.
The red pupil turned golden at once, a chanting entered Zick's head.
Demonic pupil, first art — soul erosion!
This time nothing happened to the boulder in the distance too. But Zick got to know the ability of the black eye.
His black eye returned to normal. Beside him, both Levienel and Cat were left speechless.
It was invisible to others, but they were able to see the wave of the invisible energy aimed at the soul clear as the day.
What surprised them was that they felt it could even harm them. Not kill them but still leave a noticeable amount of damage.
They both looked at Zick, they never expected that he would find a method that could even harm them.
Going through the information in his head, Zick opened his eyes.
A smile adorned his handsome face, he knew the capability of this black. It could kill anyone below grandmaster rank.
'I can match a master swordsman for a while without the black eye with my current strength. And with the eye's ability, I can be invincible below the grandmaster rank!'
Of course, it had the condition that he was able to use it continuously.
From its consumption, it was apparent that using soul erosion skills two times was his limit.
Leaving this limit aside, this ability could be considered invincible.
'After it is strengthened, I wonder who can defeat me? Hehe, I can even threaten grandmaster-rank people at that stage.'
Hope ignited within Zick: 'If I rise to grandmaster rank before the demon lord attacks, I might be able to defeat him.'
While Zick conversed with Levienel and Cat to know more about the soul, Varine and Seveleen were close to the place Zick was in.
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