Chapter 90: End of Special Training

"Lord Ulysses, how do you know about this?" Muria, exhilarated by the promise from the Master of the Abyss, was somewhat confused.

This was an epic big shot, and he was aware of Muria's duel with Migaela, a fellow gold-tier combatant. How idle must he be to know this?

"That Abyssal training ground was separated from one of the Abyssal planes I control."

"Uh!" Muria was taken aback.

"That door to the Abyss, I built it on a whim." The Master of the Abyss revealed shockingly, "Everything that happens in the Abyssal training ground is clear to me, including your duel with that girl from the Celestial God clan."

"I see." Muria, now fully calm, scratched his head.

"You should go back and prepare for the fight now. In your battle with the Celestial God clan, you can only win, not lose." Saying this, the Master of the Abyss, without any warning, grasped Muria in his hand again, extended it through space, and sent him back from the gradually revitalizing dead Abyssal plane.

...

"Welcome back, Muria." Muria, looking up at the blue sky and white clouds, then at Cassiel greeting him, took a deep breath. He had been directly sent back to his residence by the Master of the Abyss.

"Right!" Muria turned slightly and saw the pale blue mithril mountain next to him, the "mundane" gift thrown over by the Master of the Abyss.

"Cassiel, did you receive the Void Egg my grandfather gave me and the magi-cannon from the Mech Emperor?"

Before Muria went to meet the Master of the Abyss, the Mech Emperor had kindly sent the Void Egg and the star-annihilating cannon back to his residence, as these items couldn't be stored in a spatial ring, and he certainly couldn't carry one in each hand to meet the Master of the Abyss.

"They've been properly placed."

"Where?"

"The magi-cannon is in your room, and the egg is so special I placed it alone in a hall."

Following Cassiel's lead, Muria saw the black giant egg in a simply designed stone hall.

"Energy gathering array!" Muria was surprised to see the pattern engraved on the floor of the hall housing the Void Egg, recognizing the function of this array.

"This is very strange." Muria frowned and surveyed his surroundings, sensing the concentration of elements nearby. This level of array directly draws energy from the four elemental realms.

The hall should be filled with the four elements of earth, air, water, and fire, to a degree visible to the naked eye. But the hall was empty, the elemental concentration even lower than outside.

"The array has been activated." Muria crouched down, touched the pattern, and found it was indeed in operation; the array was running. If the array was not the issue, then the problem lay with the Void Egg, which seemed to devour even metal.

"Such greed." Muria used his mental power to feel more precisely; the energy-gathering array was constantly drawing elemental energy from the four elemental realms every second, but as soon as the elements appeared, they were devoured by the Void Egg.

"What exactly are you?" Muria's face soured, the speed at which the Void Egg consumed elements was so fast that it was beyond his sight, making him slightly wary.

"Muria, this egg is quite unusual," Cassiel remarked.

"Of course, it is. My grandfather gave it to me," Muria glanced at Cassiel.

"When the egg first arrived, it crazily devoured elements; we even experienced an elemental vacuum here. I set up this energy-gathering array, and after placing it, the vacuum phenomenon disappeared."

"Got it," Muria replied, his expression strained. An elemental vacuum, where all elements within a certain range completely disappear, also known as a magic-nullifying field, is a nightmare for lower-tier magic users.

Without elements, low-level magical professions, after exhausting their internal magic power, cannot replenish it and are barely different from ordinary people, essentially helpless.

"Muria, what type of void beast is it?"

"You're connected to the Mech Emperor's database, and if you don't know, I definitely don't."

"Did the Lord of the Wilds tell you what type of void beast it was when he gave you the egg?"

"No, my grandfather said he found the egg while traveling through the void and he didn't know its origins."

"Muria, it's dangerous."

"I know." Muria stared grimly at the Void Egg, which like a bottomless pit, continuously devoured elements.

Not yet born, it could create a magic-nullifying field; obviously super dangerous. As far as he knew, even the legendary dragons, such as the Time Dragons, weren't this monstrous in their egg stage.

"Are you sure you want to keep it?"

"Of course, I must. It's a gift from my grandfather, how could I possibly discard it?"

"But the creature that hatches from this egg, you might not be able to subdue."

"Sigh." Muria smirked, "It's too early to say that now. After it hatches, I'll fight it, and then we'll see who subdues whom."

"What if you lose?" Cassiel tilted her head and asked.

"Heh!" Muria chuckled coldly and walked away.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to the Pool of Life for a bath." Muria had just taken a few steps when he stopped suddenly, turning back to Cassiel, "Starting today, I'll feed my power to this egg daily."

"Good, that can build rapport, allowing the creature inside the egg to familiarize itself with you early on. But why tell me this?"

"It's advice from Lord Mech Emperor. I'm telling you so you remind me daily, so I don't forget."

"Understood."

"Forget it, send a duel request to Heloise."

"Not going to the Pool of Life?"

"Not now, I feel like fighting."

...

"Muria, how many epic beings did you meet today?"

The surroundings were still eerily silent and dark, only the faintly glowing ground underfoot, Muria stood in the arena as the slender and agile Titan girl, Heloise, arrived through a teleportation glow.

"Three."

"How does it feel?"

"How does it feel? I'm very weak right now, far from being a true powerhouse." Muria briefly recalled the three epic Titans, each more fierce and formidable than the last.

His grandfather, the epic Titan Lord of the Wilds Arkaim, with his nearly endless horde of monstrous followers, assisted worlds invaded by the Abyss alongside a dozen ancient dragons from other worlds.

The Mech Emperor Osiris, with his continent-sized mechanical city, and the Master of the Abyss Ulysses, who severed three layers of the Abyss.

Especially the last two epic Titans, Muria had only seen a part of their capabilities, and there was much he hadn't seen, such as followers akin to his grandfather Arkaim's dozen legendary and epic-level ancient dragons.

Muria's grandfather possessed such powerful followers, and it seemed unlikely that the seemingly stronger Mech Emperor and Master of the Abyss lacked them. Moreover, had the Lord of the Wilds Arkaim shown him all his capabilities?

Probably not, because

 the epic tier was too far from Muria for him to comprehend their strength and their unfathomable capabilities, like how the Master of the Abyss could casually give away a mithril mine.

"So, what are you thinking now?"

"Thinking after meeting the epics?" Muria smiled slightly, took big strides towards Heloise, his body enveloped in golden dragon flames and thunder, his arms wrapped in hurricanes, and swung a punch towards the Titan girl, "Of course, I want to become like them, to stand as their equal someday."

"To become an epic! That's a good thought," Heloise responded with a hint of admiration. Then she easily dodged Muria's punch, her long and powerful legs kicked up mercilessly towards Muria's head.

"Bang!" As Heloise's leg reached the side of Muria's head, a barrier of thunder-wrapped hurricanes formed and was shattered by the Titan girl's kick.

The seemingly fragile hurricane barrier slightly bought Muria some time to dodge the vicious kick, and he even had the strength to speak, "Heloise, what's your goal?"

"Of course, to become an epic," Heloise answered without hesitation, stepped on the ground, and charged towards Muria, her other leg raised, her knee thrust forward like a battering ram, colliding with Muria.

"Bang!" Muria also did not show any weakness, raising his knee to collide with Heloise, "Heloise, why don't you choose to become a deity? As I understand, ascending to godhood is much easier than becoming an epic!"

"Ascension to godhood?" Upon hearing Muria's words, a ring of golden thunderous soul aura appeared under Heloise's feet, and a ring of cyan-golden soul aura emerged around the knee about to collide with Muria, unleashing soul-level power.

"Crack!" Muria's knee was shattered by Heloise's unstoppable force, and then the Titan girl, her hands circled by two rings of soul aura, reached out, grabbed the slightly changed Muria, swung him up, and smashed him hard into the ground.

"Cough! Cough!" Muria climbed out of the rubble somewhat disheveled, pale golden blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

Heloise looked at Muria indifferently, then turned and walked towards a teleportation array that was being constructed: "I have completed the task Master Ansol assigned me. Starting today, the training is over. Unless you advance to soul intent and can fight me, there's no need to seek me out again."

"Eh!" Muria, in pain all over, was stunned when he heard this, "Heloise, don't be like this, can I call you sister? What did I do wrong?"

"There's no need, you're already qualified," Heloise stepped onto the teleportation array, turned around, her expression emotionless as she looked at Muria whose shattered knee was slowly healing, "Muria, I tell you, only the weakest Titans choose to ascend to godhood. If, one day, you dare to defile Master Ansol's lineage and choose ascension, I will personally shatter your divine throne, break your divinity, and condemn you to eternal damnation."

With that, the Titan girl, exuding an aura that kept others at bay, disappeared from the empty and silent arena, leaving behind a stunned Muria.

"Is ascension so bad? Besides, deities are strong too." Muria scratched his head helplessly, remembering Heloise's words before she left, "And I didn't say I wanted to ascend; I clearly said I want to become an epic Titan. Epic Titans are so cool and imposing."

In the eyes of the protagonist, who possesses the full dragon lineage, epic equals deity because the dragon gods of the dragon race were originally dragon kings, that is, epic dragons. Thus, influenced by his dragon heritage, Muria's views are somewhat different from those of typical Titans.