Long trees surrounded the area; they were withering with time. Only the one with dark leaves looked lively. The sound of beasts could still be heard, but it was much less than in the typical forest. It was not that there was no one; it was because the creatures here were good at hiding.
He moved forward and sensed a shadow closing. He looked back and saw a beast jumping at him. Despite being caught off-guard, not a trace of worry could be sensed in the enchanting purple eyes of the boy. A thin chain appeared from nowhere; it was razor-sharp. The beast's body passed through it, and its front limbs separated from its body.
An unexpected expression appeared on the boy's face. According to his calculation, the head should have also been severed, but in front of him was a miracle. He rubbed its chin and approached the creature. It looked like a normal canine monster from a distance; He used his shadow sense and saw its body full of shadow energy.
The creature cried in agony, trying to escape, but it felt like an invisible force was pushing it to the ground. The silver-haired boy inspected the beast before he covered his hand in shadow energy and peered through the creature's heart. A smile appeared on his face as he looked at the black marble in his hand.
He ignored the dead beast and analyzed the orb in his hand. "So this is how a shadow core looks. It is scarce and could be sold at a high price, but that is not its main value; it can help in increasing shadow affinity and shadow control."
He looked at the corpse full of shadow energy and said, "What a waste! It would be better if I was able to extract it." He had just said so when he remembered that he could summon a monster to extract it.
"The tentacle monsters I created when I was a noob are inefficient; I should create new ones." He thought for a while before his eyes lit up. "Let's try that." He focused and summoned shadow energy to create an orb, then changed its shape and created a tiny new organism.
It looked like a purple-colored dual-wing maple seed. He got the inspiration to make it from Vinay's skill; He added a little of his imagination and created it. He threw it in the air, and it started rotating on its two wings like a helicopter. It glided through the air and landed on the corpse. Its bottom was pointy and like a drill, so it easily pierced through.
It started sucking up the shadow energy and grew twice in size. Its top shone as the shadow energy concentrated on it before gathering and turning into a one-centimeter-thick marble. It spun again and came flying back to Rishi. When he saw it, he patted it and said, "This is way better; it requires less energy and travels faster."
He took the shadow energy sphere from it and kept moving; It stayed on his shoulder. As he explored the forest, he got even more confused. "What is this place? I decided to stay close to it as I sensed shadow energy from it, but the more I explore, the more strange this forest was."
"Here, there are many shadow creatures. The forest is transforming into something different; This place is far from any human settlements; could it be the reason why no one knows about it?"
"This looks like a dangerous place; I don't even know what type of thing could have caused such a transformation. Even the plants here have a shadow element; could it be due to a dungeon?"
As he explored, more questions appeared in his mind: "What am I even afraid of? This is the perfect place to train. With this much shadow energy, I will be able to increase my affinity, and the recovery of my shadow energy is ten times faster here."
"Let's forget about other things and train." He found a suitable place and started meditating. He used his 'Shadow Sense' technique with his 'Extreme Focus' skill and started comprehending the shadow element. His speed of improvement here was rapid; he got lost in his training, forgetting other things."
A veil of shadow energy and his "stealth" technique covered up his traces; some creatures sensed him but were scared by his presence. The beasts around him were low-level; they didn't dare attack him.
He comprehended the element to his limit, but after some days, he didn't improve at all. It was as if he had hit a limit, he decided to take a break and try again later. After this, he started training in his shadow techniques. He finished the Magic Cojure Guide and understood its concepts quickly thanks to his passive.
He tried for some days and finally succeeded in creating a sword. Days passed by, and he improved with every passing day. He also watched videos of rankers fighting with each other; this has become his source of entertainment, and he also learned many things from watching them.
Some rankers were very active on social media; they also made tutorials for their followers. Rishi watched them and noted all their tips. The information they shared was basic, but some of their tips were still helpful.
...
One more week passed, and he was now able to create good-quality weapons using shadow energy, but it still took him thirty seconds. He was not dejected at all, and with time, his speed was increasing. He started training for multiple weapons. With his passives like 'Master of All' and 'Extreme Focus," the speed at which he improved was something unheard of.
He made full use of this opportunity to practice with his own bow, which he had borrowed from his teacher. This bow that he was barely able to move at the advanced stage was easy to wield at the elite stage; the credit, however, goes to his passive skill that increased his strength.
He was training like a regular and started to sense the shadow element again; this time he was able to improve again. He noticed that the concentration of shadow energy had increased. This was good news for him, but he was feeling that something was not right and that it could be dangerous.
At last, he decided to suppress his doubts and focus on training. He didn't care what was happening here; Half of his holidays were over, and he was still not satisfied with his progress. He started to absorb shadow essence from the cores too; the quality and quantity of his shadow essence increased a lot.
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