Liam slowly flew out of the chasm which was now silent and empty, even the glow of the blood essence considerably faded.
He couldn't believe what just happened. He knew he had pushed his luck quite a bit but there was no other way. For the first time, he was not under the thumb of anyone.
Sure, there was danger all around him but at the same time, there were also opportunities and except for one elf, no one else knew that he was here. He had to use this chance.
Liam exited the chasm and then gazed at the endless array of mountains surrounding him on all sides.
On his right were the outer mountains of the ruins and on his left were the inner mountains of the ruins leading to the sword scar.
So far he had been sticking to the outer mountains but now… Liam turned to his left and then started flying toward the sword scar. It was time to head inside.
In his last few free moments, the elven elder had ended up screaming out the potential location of another inheritance and Liam wanted to check that out.
It might very well be a lie or even a trap but hey it was as good as any other trap he could walk into at any moment. With the elves everywhere these ruins were dangerous no matter where he went.
Liam kept his head low and continued heading inward when he suddenly stopped in front of a particularly tall mountain from which he could feel an abundance of mana.
On top of this mountain, there was a simple pagoda-type building that seemed to be deserted. Liam slowly headed up there with caution.
Since the mana concentration was so obviously high, he didn't think that he would find any elves here. After all, if anything had been inside, it would have already been cleared out.
Besides, this was not the location of the second inheritance. Before he headed over to that site, he wanted to make a pit stop to make some preparations and this seemed as good as any.
Liam slowly checked out the building and sure enough, there was no one inside. He then selected a room on the top floor, which provided a clear vantage point of the surroundings. It was a simple room with a wooden floor and a low sitting table in the center.
Sighing lightly, Liam steadied himself. He silently unsheathed the black dragon sword and started practicing his sword techniques.
Right now he was in the midst of enemy territory and he should probably be looking for more treasures that could power him up but something that the elder screamed out made Liam want to invest some time in his training.
In his last moments, the elven elder had desperately tried to sell Liam on how he could teach him several things and how he could improve his strength. More specifically, he talked about 'dao' a lot.
From his ramblings, Liam knew that getting a dao seed was not a simple thing. Furthermore, just getting it was not enough. Apparently, there was also a practical component to it. He had to fully integrate with it or something like that to bring out its full power.
To test this out, Liam first decided to start with the sword technique.
"Dao seed of sharpness." He pondered as he swung the sword repeatedly. He tried to feel the sharpness in each swing as this was the most obvious meaning of the term.
Liam chose this dao seed to first understand because this one had given him a smaller bump in level when compared to the other two. So probably this was easier to understand.
However, soon Liam realized that he had vastly miscalculated the difficulty in this. Even after hours of practice, he couldn't grasp anything significant.
The sword sliced through the air smoothly, with unparalleled finesse and precision, but the essence of the dao seed remained elusive. The main problem was that he had no idea what this dao seed was or what he was even doing.
Frustration bubbled within him, but he calmed down. He decided to meditate, allowing the sword to rest beside him. Closing his eyes, he delved deep into his body, trying to get a feel for this dao seed.
But unlike his broken mana core and his broken partially formed nether core, it seemed that this dao seed was not a physical entity.
Liam then reached into his soul realm wondering if the dao seed resided there. Immediately, he felt a searing pain that almost made him snap out of the meditative state.
The injury in his soul was still as worse as ever.
However, it was better than before just a teeny tiny bit, at least enough for him to vaguely wander around the space which in itself was impossible before.
Despite the sharp, jarring pain, Liam persisted, taking shallow breaths to stabilize himself and look inward. His consciousness was wandering in a foggy world where every direction he looked brought him cutting pain.
But soon, he saw something, it was a shining rune. Sparks of lightning sizzled from the rune. Liam knew what this was, the rune for his dragon breath skill.
Shortly afterward, he also came across the second one which immediately made him feel extremely cold. This rune undoubtedly belonged to the other dragon breath skill in his possession.
Though the two runes both represented the same skill, they had completely different structures and designs just like they had completely different outcomes.
However, there were still some vague underlying similarities between both.
Liam couldn't help but feel as if he was on the cusp of figuring something out.
And then he realized. His mind was incredibly clear. He had accessed his soul numerous times before this but right now, he felt the most focused and aware than he had ever been before.
It was as if the sheer pressure and danger of his surroundings, combined with the urgency of understanding the dao seed, had pushed him into a heightened state of consciousness.
Or perhaps it had something to do with the herb that he consumed. Come to think about it, he even comprehended the inheritance and received the two dao seeds after consuming the herb.
Maybe this was another benefit of ingesting the S-Ranked herb.
Liam decided to test that later and continued to focus on his soul realm. As he wandered further, suddenly there were patches of darkness where his soul seemed to have ceased to exist.
"These should be the tears in my soul."
Liam focused and once again he was back in the foggy world. In this manner, he continued to dwell in that world for a while when he came across his few other skill runes like the Inspect skill and the Stealth skill.
Finally, after what seemed like hours Liam came across something that he did not recognize. It was a small rune, pulsing softly.
Liam couldn't see it clearly like he saw the other skill runes, but he could tell that something similar to a rune was present in that space.
This had to be one of the dao seeds. Liam was sure of it. When he focused on it, an intense feeling washed over him.
Liam reached out mentally to this mysterious rune, trying to touch it with his consciousness. The moment he made contact, the rune seemed to respond, resonating with the frequency of his soul.
Visions began to flood his mind.
He saw vast snow-covered plains, towering icy mountains, and serene glacial lakes. The world before him was cold and still, yet breathtakingly beautiful.
As he delved deeper into the vision, he began to see the underlying essence of ice.
From the massive glaciers moving slowly, carving valleys into the earth, to the delicate formation of ice crystals on a winter's morning. Everything screamed of a calm, controlled, and unstoppable force.
A sense of calmness spread inside him.
meditate, fully immersing himself in his visions. His understanding Liam knew that this was the dao seed of ice elemental but the feeling he got from it was completely unexpected. He continued to meditate, fully immersing himself in his visions. His understanding deepened and he felt more attuned to the element.
Even though many of the concepts seemed already obvious, he now had a more profound understanding of the same.
When Liam finally awoke from his meditation, he did not know how many hours had passed. There was no longer daylight in the world. But it was worth it because he felt transformed.
For the first time since the tutorial and his training with the elf, he felt his skills undergo a significant change. If his mana core was not broken at the moment, Liam was confident that he could create a skill that might even rival the dragon's breath.
However, that had to wait.
For now, he was only able to expend a little bit of mana, and with this little bit...
Liam looked at his black dragon sword. No, that little bit was enough. He lifted the sword and started to practice the swing that he had in his mind.
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