In the valley surrounded by darkness, strangely mutated plants and trees have grown. The grass here has also mutated. The Magic Beasts were inside their lairs, absorbing the excess amount of Shadow Energy present in the area around them. After absorbing Shadow Energy for one year with the help of Rishi, their strength increased significantly.
Rishi didn't eliminate or chase these Beasts away because they helped him. They listened to his commands now that so much time had passed. They guarded this place and also absorbed a large amount of Shadow Energy. Due to them absorbing a large amount of Shadow energy, he needed fewer Arrays and formations to contain Shadow Energy inside this place.
With time, they have become domesticated. They get along quickly with humans. No beast ever tried to attack any human inside the valley. As they were receiving many benefits by staying loyal to Rishi, they didn't have any thoughts of betraying him. Beasts had simpler minds; they didn't like to scheme like humans.
With time, they were also becoming a force to be reckoned with. In time, they would be helpful if someone tried to Attack the Base. The members of this guild could contract the stronger ones. They were also useful for hiding a murder and framing it as an accident.
Inside the hideout, there was a small pool of liquified Shadow energy. In front of it, five boys were standing without clothes. Rishi asked them to enter the pool. He summoned five Shadow Cores that were larger and more defined than the previous ones.
Recently, his Shadow spirit advanced to the epic stage after absorbing a very high amount of Shadow energy. Like previous times, this time it also awakened a new ability. A smile appeared on his face as he used his 'inspect' skill on his Shadow Spirit.
[NAME: Shadow Spirit (Adult)]
GRADE: Epic (Growth)
ATTRIBUTE: Shadow
a.) Devour: The shadow spirit can devour shadow energy to become stronger. It will be able to devour saturated energy faster.
b.) Mimic: The shadow spirit can change its body according to its will. It can mimic to become similar to anything it wants.
C.) Extinguish: destroys and removes anything harmful from the body, like poison, curse energy, and impurity.
D.) Shadow Space: The ability to store things in Shadow
The description was small, and at first even he believed that this was not much, but soon he discovered the mysteries behind it, and his eyes lit up. With the help of this ability, he could create personal Storage in any person's Shadow. It meant he could also share this ability with his friends and followers.
He could also use it to hide things in the shadows, and no one would ever discover them. That was not all; he could also create more advanced cores that could store more Shadow Energy. His Shadow assassins could now also store a huge amount of liquified Shadow Energy inside them, making them have a huge amount of Shadow Energy.
He could now store more shadow Energy' inside his spells. This meant he could create trap formations in advance and trigger them later at a distance. The possibilities were endless; this was the ability that helped him switch weapons very fast while fighting opponents.
Creating weapons on the spot took time while fighting; Summoning them from Shadow Space was way more convenient. His guild members could now use Shadow Storage to hide multiple weapons and surprise their opponents. He had recently also found a way to make rechargeable Shadow Weapons.
These Shadow weapons could be used for years if recharged with Shadow energy. This was all due to his mastery of Shadow elements and Runes. His weapons now could have effects; the only problem was that he could only add two Runes to the chargeable weapons, while for one-time use he could add five Runes.
Rishi had learned Runes for this. He discovered that he could create stronger weapons, but they could not compare to the Magic equipment because they had Runes, which provided various effects like Sharpen, bleed, etc., that could assist the user greatly.
He was also thinking of creating a set of equipment for his members using his Shadow Construct and Rune Engraving abilities. That would take some months of work, and he would need to become a Three Star Rune Master, but that was not far from his reach.
He sighed, forgetting about other things and focusing on the task at hand, While everything these Shadow assassins had was due to his own efforts. The pain, willpower, and Hard Work were theirs; He was not going to show mercy while training them.
The time, effort, and Resources invested by Rishi to create them were much greater than any other Guild master's. Even Clan leaders didn't do so much for their clan members. All members knew it, due to which they never questioned anything Rishi asked them to do.
Rishi was now increasing their strength very fast. After they got stronger, he would throw them into dungeons and areas so hard to survive that not even 1% returned alive. He would suck out the potential inside them, not letting them sit and enjoy his efforts.
He first destroyed the core inside their bodies, which made them cry in agony. If he wanted, he could have done it in a smothering way that didn't make them suffer any pain, but why would he do it? He wanted to make them experience pain so they would remember that there is no easy way to become stronger by relying on only him.
They were humans, not puppets that needed to be modified over time. Each time they want to obtain stronger power, they will need to pay the price by feeling a similar amount of pain. Their bodies shook as they rolled over in pain; they pulled their hair and jumped from here to there, but nothing had any effect on Rishi.
Rishi had felt pain much worse than it many times. If they couldn't even experience this much, How would they survive when I engraved Runes in their bodies? He asked as a smile appeared on his face. He wanted to make them experience the hell he went through. Sweat started appearing on his face as he thought about it.
Soon the pain calmed down as the five became normal. After letting them rest for some more time, Rishi started inserting the Shadow Core inside them. He inserted Shadow Cores inside them, and they again felt the same head-piercing pain. It was as if uncountable needles had penetrated their bodies.
When they all calmed down, thinking it was over, Rishi's lips curled up. "Didn't you want to become stronger, With your physique improving with time? I believe there is space for another Shadow core."
Five more cores appeared behind him; the bodies of the five of them shook. Only Lax was able to recover in no time; the others eyes became moist. They wanted to beg, but they couldn't as one more core was inserted inside their bodies. This time, they felt pain two times stronger.
Their Physique transformed to contain more cores by absorbing more Shadow Energy, which increased the pain further. Only Lax was able to keep a clear mind while others fainted.
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