Savyrran glanced at the gray time monitor on her wrist. Three hours. Only three hours of the time was gone. Within the last three hours, many of the applicants had reluctantly formed teams so as to make the hunt for the cores easier. In fact, one boy had asked Savyrran to join their team, however, Savyrran had politely declined.
 
Thus, she was all alone now that all the applicants had dispersed into the length and breadth of the vast forest. 
 
The forest was green through and through, as far as the eye could reach. The trees were incredibly tall, as though reaching to the skies, and they were very well spaced. In spite of how high the trees were, and the shade they provided, the rays of the sun still managed to filter through and light up the forest. 
 
Savyrran stooped in her tracks, completely lost. Her sense of direction was nothing to write home about, how was she supposed to traverse in a giant maze like this one? On top of it too, she had to find soul beasts to hunt. Where was she supposed to start from?
 
Savyrran understood that all soul beasts contained cores within them. The core, which came in different shapes and sizes, contained the soul energy of any soul beast. To extract the soul energy of a soul beast, one needed to remove the core first. It was quite easy to get access to the cores of common class soul beasts, because they were relatively weaker and more abundant. However, those from rare class and legendary class soul beasts were quite hard to get, thus, they could fetch a huge sum of money when sold. 
 
Savyrran had never fought any soul beast before. However, since she had fought a beast-type soul armos before, she had a rough idea of what it was like to fight a soul a beast. But of course, that blood flame tiger she had fought about ten years ago was merely a common class soul armos. This trial was something much more.
 
"Are they even sure there are any soul beasts in this forest?" She said to herself. Ever since she started walking, she had not met any living being. How large was the forest that she had not even come across a single applicant yet?
 
After walking for several hours, the sun began to set and the forest grew darker. 
 
"Maybe I should find somewhere to rest for the night." Savyrran said to herself. 
 
She heard a rushing of many waters in the distance and when she got closer to the sound, she saw that it was a waterfall. 
 
"Wow…." She breathed, her eyes taking in the full length of the high waterfall. Savyrran caught sight of a cave close to the waterfall. A smile grew on her face when she thought about finally finding a resting place for the evening.
 
But before Savyrran could even enter the cave, a thunderous roar followed by a piercing scream tore through the dark cool night. Savyrran suddenly stopped in her tracks the moment she heard the scream. The first roar definitely belonged to a beast while the second one sounded like a person. It was as though whoever was screaming had seen the face of evil itself. Though Savyrran had not been frightened by the noise, its suddenness had startled her.
 
"It's coming from the cave."
 
As the words came out of her mouth, she found herself entering the cave, however, it was so dark that she could not move past beyond its entrance. Savyrran breathed in slowly as she thought of what to do next. She couldn't just blindly walk into a dark cave. Who knew what kind of traps were inside. But at the same time, she could not bring herself to leave either, after all, there must be someone in there who needed help.
 
In that instant she remembered something, bringing a smile to her face. Slowly, she rubbed her own space ring, and after a few seconds of casting her consciousness within the ring, a small lantern appeared in Savyrran's hand. She pressed a button on the lantern and then a bright white light flooded the cave. 
 
Savyrran closed her eyes briefly in order to adjust her eyes to the abrupt illumination. With the cave illuminated, she could now see everything clearly. It seemed the place was empty, however, she did not for a second lose her guard. Though she could not sense any soul energy within the cave, she knew there was someone or something in here. 
 
There were several white crystals scattered in a deliberate manner across the floor of the cave. 
 
Light crystals. Savyrran thought. She had been wondering how the academy had been recording the trials. Of course, they had been using the light crystals to do it. It seemed that at this very moment, there were people watching her every move back in the academy. For a while, Savyrran wished Ovandarrak was watching her trials too. 
 
Hssssssssss….
 
A high pitched hissing sound snapped her back into reality. Then there was a low growl.
 
"What is happening here?" Savyrran whispered to herself. 
 
Following the sound, she soon came across a shocking spectacle. 
 
Savyrran raised the lantern in front of her so as to make sure that her eyes were not playing any tricks of her. No, they really weren't. There was actually a large serpent, as thick as a person and as long as… Savyrran was not sure how long it was, since the serpent had coiled itself multiple times over. However, its thick black body, with two long horns on its head, was at a fully erect position. The high pitch hiss reverberated throughout the cave, giving Savyrran the chance to see the serpent's long white fangs. 
 
But the serpent had not noticed Savyrran's presence. Instead, its deep black eyes were fixated on a huge brown bear with orange eyes lying over someone as though shielding the person from the giant snake. 
 
In one swift motion, the bear jumped towards the serpent, and with its large paws, smacked the large head of the serpent into the wall. But the serpent seemed to have the upper hand because it recovered quickly and then sank its long fangs into the neck of the bear.
 
A thunderous roar echoed throughout the cave, almost shaking the ground itself. But not only did the bear scream, the person lying on the floor screamed with terror and then began to spasm on the ground. The serpent used its long thick tail to whip the bear into the air until it crashed right back into the wall several steps back. The bear disintegrated into tiny orange specks until it was no more.
 
As Savyrran saw what was going on, she suddenly realised that the bear was the soul armos of the person lying on the ground. No wonder it had been trying to protect its master. That must mean that that serpent was a soul beast. She was about to get her very first core; how lucky she was.
 
But first things first, she needed to help the person, else that soul beast would definitely kill him.
 
 
Hssssssssss…
 
The giant serpent flung its thick tail towards the weak child on the ground. The tail came crashing down at the very place the child was. However, once the serpent lifted its tail, there was nothing in sight. There was no blood even to at least show that the child had been crushed into bits. 
 
"Looking for this." Savyrran said loudly, gaining the attention of the horned serpent for the first time. She was holding the teenage boy in her strong arms like he weighed nothing at all. The lantern was standing right by Savyrran's feet.
 
"Wh…what are y… you… doing…?" The boy whispered weakly. His eyes were a pale orange and there were deep wounds all over his body.
 
"Shhh…." Savyrran whispered, not for a second taking her eyes off the giant horned serpent.
 
"No… Pl…please…go. Ju…just…go. You…will die."
 
A yellow halo slowly grew around the blackness of the serpent's eyes until its eyes looked like a black ring embedded within a yellow ring.
 
Hssssssssss…
 
The high pitch hissing, ten times even more terrifying than the first, echoed throughout the cave. 
 
Though she could not sense the soul energy of the soul beast, Savyrran instinctively knew that the serpent was about to use its full strength. 
 
Quickly, but gently, she put the boy behind her, from harm's way. Then after subtly rubbing her space ring, Badisk appeared in her right hand.
 
The snake bared its fangs and then lunged its thick body towards Savyrran.
 
A grin widened on Savyrran's face. "You seem mad about something, little snake."
 
Hssssssssss…
 
How much she had missed swinging her dear sword. After so long, she was finally having a taste of a real fight. Hopefully, this giant serpent proved to be a formidable opponent. 
 
Before the serpent could reach Savyrran, the girl had already disappeared from her position and instead, was speeding towards the snake. Clutching her black sword with nimble strength, she swung it in one swift motion at the snake's head the instant she appeared before it.
 
It was a silent painless death for the serpent since not a single sound escaped from it giant head as it rolled over the ground. Savyrran sped out of the way before the endless gushing of thick blood could spray her. 
 
This was not fun at all, she thought. For a second, she had hoped this fight would be glorious, instead, it had not even lasted a minute. How disappointing. Was this snake that weak then?
 
"Hey… stay with me. I will get you help." Savyrran said when she got to the boy lying on the ground.
 
The boy weakly grabbed onto Savyrran's hand. "No… It… It's fine. I… I'm go…ing… to die… Bull… ser…pent… poi…son… ."
 
Suddenly, a yellow light appeared in the very place the bull serpent had died. Once the light disappeared, the bull serpent and the blood disappeared too. It was like nothing had even been there in the first place. Then a yellow palm sized gem fell out of nowhere, rolling over to where the two children were.
 
"Ta..ke… it. The c..ore. An…And take… this…" The boy lifted his ring finger. There was a silver ring on it. Savyrran recognised it as the rings they had been given for the trials to store their cores.
 
"I can't do that. Let's go, I will find a way to get you out of this forest. You need help."
 
"No…no…" A loud scream escaped from the boy and then he began to tremble violently as he tightly held on to Savyrran's hand. Tears flowed down his face freely, and his orange pupils dimmed until they became brown.
 
Savyrran clenched her fist as she helplessly watched the boy writhe in pain.
 
"Pl…please… kill me. Please. Pl..please… Kill me. Th… The pain… t…too… much.. please." Blood oozed out of the boy's nose and eyes, as he pleaded with Savyrran.
 
Savyrran felt a tight painful tug in her chest. It wasn't that she was physically in pain, but she could not explain it either. Watching the boy suffer was too painful to watch, and for a moment, she considered his wish. Maybe, the only way she could help was to end his suffering. It was a long way away from the academy, and every minute she wasted taking the boy back to the academy was another minute the boy suffered. From all the blood he was losing, it did not seem he could make it either.
 
Also, clearly, the serpent had damaged the boy's soul armos by the way it had attacked the bear. She was totally helpless in this situation. Had Ovandarrak been here, he would have at least known how to treat the poison and reduce the boy's pain. 
 
So she did the only thing she could. She gently held the boy's head, and then calmly soothed him. "It's okay. It's all going to end now. Shhh…"
 
Then in one clean movement, Savyrran snapped the boy's neck and everything was still.
 
"Rest in peace." She whispered as she closed the boy's eyes. Savyrran sat back on the ground, a wave of guilt washing over her. Maybe if she had come earlier, the boy would still be alive. Slowly, she took the yellow core. A yellow core… which meant that that giant snake only had yellow soul energy. No wonder it was so weak. She put the core in her trial space ring. At first, she had thought against taking the boy's space ring too, but when she remembered that he had offered it himself, she finally decided to take it.
 
Inside, she removed five other cores, all of which were from common class soul beasts. With the yellow core, she now had six common class cores. How was it that she had never even met a single soul beast? It was almost like all the soul beasts were hiding from her or something.
 
Finally seating back down, she closed her eyes and then leaned back on the wall. The exhaustion she had incurred from the day began to creep into her body and soon she fell asleep.

Disclaimer: This is not a romance. I really do not understand why Webnovel thinks all stories with female leads are romance . 

 .........................

In the Second Dimension, every five year old is supposed to manifest a soul energy known as essence. Using the essence made one stronger, faster, and generally more powerful than their original state. 

At five years old, Ovandarrak Thark, twin brother of Savyrran Thark, manifested his essence. Due to Savyrran's unusual strength, everyone expected her to manifest one of the most powerful essence in her town. However, she did not even manifest any at all.

In spite of being the only one in her town and possibly the entire Second Dimension without an essence and a soul armos, Savyrran would never give up her dream of becoming a Soul Guardian.

But Savyrrran's quest to becoming a Soul Guardian would reveal buried secrets she would never have imagined about her life; about why she was seemingly the only one without an essence and a soul armos. Was she bound to be something far more greater than the powerful Soul Guardians? Or perhaps, was she fated to be destroyed by her greatest nemesis?

The next morning Chu Feng woke up and started doing his workout, it truly felt different having a 10km run in the wilderness where there are no rules or laws.

Well, there was a law.... The law of the strongest

After arriving back at his cave, Chu Feng decided to take a bath in the pond under the waterfall to get all the sweat of his body.

"Ugghh.... Now this is life" Chu Feng was leaning on a rock with his body in the water, besides normal fish there was nothing in this pond.

"System, show me my Status and Skills"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Status: Laurens (Chu Feng)]

• Condition : Healthy
• Age: 8 Years Old
• Soul Spirit: Asura's Blade, Asura's Blessing      (4 stages)
- Eyes Of Truth
- Slaughter Aura (Locked)
- Space Lock (Locked)
- Mind Space (Locked)
• Soul Power: 10
• Spirit Rings: 0
• Spirit Ring Skills: -
• Skills: Asura's Wrath (9 Sword Strokes)
• Luck: 3 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Asura's Wrath (9 Sword Strokes)]

1st Stroke • Invisible Slash [100%]
2nd Stroke • Lightning Draw [63%]
3rd Stroke • Demon's Pleight [Locked]
4th Stroke • Hymn Of The Fallen [Locked]
5th Stroke • Dragon's Rage [Locked]
6th Stroke • Devil's Curse [Locked]
7th Stroke • Demon's Wrath [Locked]
8th Stroke • Void Cut [Locked]
9th Stroke • Asura's Sacrifice [Locked]

"So Lightning Draw is already 63% due to yesterday's battle, it took me 2 weeks to learn the first form yet only one Life-Or-Death experience to almost learn 2/3rd of the 2nd Stroke.... What a bunch of idiots to make schools, you're just holding the kids back. No pain no gain" Chu Feng sneered.

cultivating in a safe enviroment might be amazing for others but obtaining the best battle senses can only due to constant threats around you, constantly having to fight for your life and Beasts that want to devour your flesh and gnaw on your bones.

"System, what is the highest Age of a Spirit Ring i can currently absorb?"

[Currently Host's limit is 1626 Years Old]

'Tch, i'm only just over 30%' Chu Feng felt he wasted the last 2 weeks.

Chu Feng had his eyes closed while enjoying the water untill the system gave him a notice.

[Alert! New enemy entered Map Range!]

"Mmm?" Chu Feng opened his eyes and looked at map and his eyes shone.

"A Yellow light! its very dim and looks around 100-300-Year-Old.... My first fight against a 100-Year-Old Beast..."

Chu Feng jumped out of the water and dashed towards his clothes to get dressed.

After getting dressed he walked towards the Beast, finally getting it in his view he was suprised to see a 4 Meter tall white skinned Rhino.

[Snow Rhino] (Juvinile State)
• A Rhino that lives on mountain tops with fast speed and its skin can block an Iron Sword.
> Beast Age: 269

The beast looked at Chu Feng with an agressive gaze whil Chu Feng just sighed and turned around.

"Seeing that you were abandoned to i will forgive you once"

The beast looked at him in confusion just to see Chu Feng turn around and grabbed his chance to try striking his back, just as he was about to hit Chu Feng a voice full with contempt came out.

"Idiot" Chu Feng dissapeared infront of the best and arrived at its side and summoned his blade and slashed towards his enemy.

'Lightning Draw!'

The blade accurately hit its right eye.

*Roar*

The Snow Rhino screeched in pain and turned its head in towards where Chu Feng just stood but there was nothing there. Out of nowhere a numbing pain fell on its left front leg and itsvleg sank in and it knelt on the ground.

Just as it turned towards the source of the attack a blade greeted its left eye to.

*Roar*

Chu Feng retreated and looked at the blind Snow Rhino and smimed contempt.

"Mercy? This is the wild, its kill or be killed!"

Chu Feng quickly put it out of its misery amd absorbed its Spirit Ring.

"No wonder they say that Battle-Instinct is the most important factor while hunting Beasts'

 Chu Feng knew he had gotten a bit stronger due to yesterday's experience but he didn't expect this much of an increase.

Chu Feng decided walk even deeper into the Outer-Layer of the Forest Of Fighting Stars since the corpse of the Snow Rhino would attract a lot of Beasts.

After around 15 minutes of walking a huge bang startled him and he looked at the map aandwas shocked, 5 1.000 Purple Light dots!

"There definitely is a Treasure there" Chu Feng's greed and curiosity got the better of him and he walked towards the fight, he climbed into a tree to see what was fighting.

A huge Snake with 2 heads of around 10 Meters, A black Bear of 4 Meters tall with horns, A Serpent with wings of 7 Meter long and a Crane with a 15 Meter wingspan with snow white feathers and they are all encircle a the strongest light dot. it was a serpent with legs and 2 horns potruding out of its head, it was over 30 Meters long with feint black looking scales with white dots that looked like stars on it.

'Wait! Is that..... A Flood-Dragon?!' Chu Feng was startled and instantly looked at its information.

[Flood-Dragon, Space Element]
• A Snake that bathed in Space Elements for a long perio of time before eventuall becoming a Flood-Dragon.
> Beast Age: 9198 Years Old

'I must get this thing as my first Spirit Ring, not only is it close to a dragon it and is of the Space Element! But why are they fighting?'

Chu Feng looked at the fight Beasts and when the Flood-Dragon jumped at the crane and bit into its wings to drag it down from the air.

Its layer appeared in Chu Feng sight and a Yellow with Orange coloured Lotus appeared in his view.

[Silithina Lotus]
•A Lotus that absorbed a huge amount of Fire and Ice Elements.
> Benefits: Makes the human body go through an Evolution, If Beasts consume the Silithina Lotus it will add 750 Years to their Spirit Rings.

'If i absorb that Lotus i might be able to absorb that Flood-Dragon's Spirit Ring, but first.... How do i even kill the son of a b*tch' Chu Feng cursed in his mind, he wasn't letting this heavenly gift go no matter what.

Chu Feng calculated in his mind on several scenerio's and looked at the Beasts fighting the Flood-Dragon.

But they were all between 8.000 and 9.000 Years! Altough they all were in the 1000-Year-Old group they had a massive power difference.

Slowly the battlefield was shifting from the cave, the Flood-Dragon took the crane out of the sky and bit into its wing.

The other 2-Headed Snake, Winged-Serpent and the Horned-Bear knew they stood no chance without the crane to distract the Flood-Dragon so they threw big rocks, trees and tried to sneak attack it.

The Flood-Dragon tried to hold onto the Cloud-Crane but failed due to the constant attacks around him.

*Rrr*

The Flood-Dragon raised its head angrily and let out a mix of Snake Sound and a roar.

The 5 Beasts kept attacking back and forth, what they didn't notice was a tiny figure, a child, slipping into the cave.

Chu Feng who just entered the cave instantly went to the Silithina Lotus after confirming the inside of the cave was safe.

He sat behind the Silithina Lotus and put his hands on it, slowly the energy started to flow into his body, bones and 8 points.

The pain got worse and worse and Chu Frng was already biting his lip untill it bled while cursing all the cursewords he knew.

*Krrggkk* *Kggg* *Clank*

Sounds of bones being broken and placed on the right place sounded out, his whole body was being refined, cleaned of impurities and stronger.

After a few minuties Chu Feng was finally able to open his eyes again and stood up, his body felt light and uncomfortable due to a huge increase in strength.

Looking on his map he saw the Purple Light Dots 300 Meters North from the cave while he still felt the tremors through the earth.

"System, what is my limit now regarding Spirit Ring Age"

[Hosts current limit is 6988 Years Old]

"Tch, i you think i'm a fool? Tell me the truth without you being sure if i survive or not" Chu Feng clicked his tongue, he knew the System had a safety function or something along those lines to keep the host alive.

[....Host has a 52% chance of absorbing an 8.000-Years-Old Spirit Ring and 16% if host absorbs a 9.000-Years-Old Spirit Ring and a 0% chance on a 10.000-Years-Old Spirit Ring]

"So around 13% right now huh, how do i go to atleast 50% certainty in a short period of time?"

[Healing Pellets and willpower?]

"Did you just add a '?' to f*ck with me?" Chu Feng asked with an annoyed voice.

[The System was only attached in Host's second life, the System did not get any information or state of mind of Host's past life]

"Ahhh, fuck it" Chu Feng rubbed his hair and went to the battlefield of the huge Beasts and saw that the fight was already closing in on its end.

The Cloud-Crane had a wing full of holes, the Horned-Bear was death alongside the 2-Headed-Snake, the Winged-Serpent had both its wings brutally ripped out of its body.

The Flood-Dragon wasn't much better off with its front legs being cut off and a body full of wounds.

The Cloud-Crane jumped towards the Flood-Dragon with its beak trying to hit it but the Flood-Dragon avoided its beak with relative ease while using its tail to grab its beak and slam it against the ground.

The Winged-Serpent slid behind the Flood-Dragon and bit into its tail, trying to free the Cloud-Crane but before it was able to put enough power in its jaws it body gave out due all the injuries and gave it last remaing breath.

The Cloud-Crane was being slammed on the ground over and over again by the Flood-Dragon  who's body was shaking and sank through its last 2 legs, the Cloud-Crane broke free from its constraints and walked towards the Flood-dragon with a vicious glint.

The Cloud-Crane who was about to finish off the Flood-Dragon didn't notice a human jumping on a fallen tree behind it and jumped on its back.

'Lightning Draw!'

Chu Feng put every bit of power he had into the his skill.

*Screeeech*

The Cloud-Crane let out a cry of pain but didn't fall down and tried to get this pesky little creature of its back.

Chu Feng, upon noticing it was not enough to finish the Beast off clung his feet at the Cloud-Crane's neck and held his sword above his head and started cutting down at the Cloud-Crane's neck from behind.

'Die, Die, Die, Die!,DIE!!!!' Chu Feng yelled in his heart while cutting into the back of the neck of the huge crane untill his hands bled, for 5 minutes straight it was a wrestling match.

Two beings, a human and a huge crane who had different objectives fought to their death. The Cloud-Crane was trying to get the human off its neck and the human wabtrying to slaughter it before it managed to do so.

*Screeeee....*

The Cloud-Crane let out its last weak screech and fell to the ground.

"Huff....Hufff...System, Absorb the....Huff...Spirut Ring and buy me....Huffff....5 Healing Pellets"

[Ding! 5x Healing Pellet (Small) added in Inventory]

Chu Feng withdrawed them out of his inventory and bit into them like they were candies, all the blood of the 1000-Year-Old Beasts would attract a lot of attention for sure.

"Oke, time to finish this Flood-Dragon off" Chu Feng walked towards the Flood-Dragon who already had its eyes closed with shallow breathing, seamingly passed out.

Chu Feng wasted no time and cut into its body over and over again untill he reached its brain and slashed it just to be sure.

A huge Purple Spirit Ring floated in front of the Flood-Dragon.

"Finally! Hahahaha, i can finally advance further!" Chu Feng yelled in excitement, he was an addict.... A battle addict and a strength addict. He need strength to live the way he wanted to and this Spirit Ring will be his beginning

Chu Feng braced himself without any hesitation before putting his hands on the Spirit Ring.

*KTSSS* *Pfff* *Cough*

"AAARRGGGHHH!" Chu Feng screamed while couching out blood in between screams, cracks appeared in his skin and his body got drenched in blood.

Even in his last life when he got shot 6 times in a gunfight with the terrorist group he still fought to the end and won but right now it felt like his skin was scraped off, his body burned in a human stove and having his bones broken over and over again.

The screaming finally stopped after 10 minutes and a body lied on its back with tears of blood on his face.

Chu Feng bought 10 Healing Pills from the store and crunched on them, the pain slowly subsided a bit so that he could slowly stand up and walk but his body felt as if it was 10 times heavier.

Just as Chu Feng walked in the direction of his cave...

*Roaaarrrrrr*

"Map! You gotta be f*cking kidding me!...." Chu Feng stared at the Map with his eyes wide open and filled with horror....

A Black Light Dot! 

A 10.000-Year-Old Beast!






A young man got his revenge but also a second chance at life to live a life free of burdens!

I am new to writing and would love to hear everyone's advice/tips or wishes!

Updates: 5 per week/10 Max. 2500 words each




Disclaimer: I don't own the Novel/Manga Doulou Dalu aka. Soul Land. Its an amazing series so if you have the time now, you should read it! (I don't own the Cover either i just found it on the internet and thought it was kind of similiar to the MC i was trying to display but the MC is a bit more buffed and red eyes)

"This is a good weapon. Overall, it's several times better than Sonata…" Rakna muttered. "Would it be preserved if the latter absorbed it?" He mused to himself and waved the Greatsword around with one hand.

"By the way, Alexa, I have a question. It seems that these Items are scaled to me in some way. Can you tell me how exactly?"

[You're half-correct, Rakna. This Loot is actually scaled to the Plateau instead of you specifically. But that does not mean these aren't good Items. An orange item like this sword could probably be considered a rare commodity even until the 50th Plateau.]

"I see…" Rakna hummed and put the sword inside his spatial ring before looking at the two final drops at the same time; one orange and the other purple. One of them was a ring and the other was a necklace. He took a look at the ring first.
⠀
❮ ◈ ❯
⠀
Designation: Spell Item/Ring
Name: Basic Earth Ring
Rarity: Orange
⠀
Description:
A magical ring forged with the essence of earth magic.
⠀
Effect:
- Allows the unrestricted use of Spike (T.10)
- Allows the unrestricted use of Anchor (T.10)
- Allows the unrestricted use of Quake (T.9)
⠀
Cooldown: 5 minutes between each use.
⠀
Note: Keep in mind that these skills still require mana to be cast even if they are Item dependent.
⠀
❮ ◈ ❯
⠀
"So, it gives me the ability to cast magic out of my element, huh?" Rakna commented. "Not bad. It has plenty of potential uses. Especially Anchor. Controlling gravity could be quite useful. As for this necklace…"
⠀
❮ ◈ ❯
⠀
Designation: Spell Item/Necklace
Name: Eruption Gem
Rarity: Purple
Number of uses: 3/3
⠀
Description:
A necklace imbued with the magic formation of a powerful spell.
⠀
Effect:
- Allows the use of the Tier 7 Earth Spell, Eruption.
Cooldown: 10 Min.
⠀
Note: This Item will break after all of its uses are spent.
⠀
❮ ◈ ❯
⠀
"Eruption… That's the spell that the stegosaur used against me when I was falling. I'll have to look into it later," he said and equipped both accessories which, just like the boots, were not visible.

After he was done with that, Rakna eyed the large corpse of the Dreorin, and once again, his vision tunneled and highlighted the veins of the creature leading to its heart. When he saw where said muscle was, he realized why the triceratops hadn't died although its upper body had been blasted by Gungnir. For some reason, their heart was awfully close to their neck.

As he was thinking that and trying to resist the small urge to just gouge the heart out to eat it, he suddenly got an idea. When he ate Aquila's heart, he had felt something similar to a mana flow go through his body. Then, his Nirvana Skill somehow converted all of it into power.

"What if…" He muttered while deep in thought and Pronos looked at him. After contemplating for a minute, Rakna made his decision. "What's the worst that could happen?" He said and approached the carcass' neck. He extended his claws and drove his hand inside its body, cutting the arteries around the heart and then dragging it out.

Rakna stared at the bloodied heart. "I hope this works," he mumbled and bit into the muscle with his fangs. A disturbingly good taste spread in his mouth. He swallowed the first bite and then put the rest into his mouth.

He then sat down to meditate. He observed the flow of energy infiltrating his body and this time, instead of letting his Nirvana Skill do its work, he forced it down with his soul power and managed to sustain the energy in its raw state all across his body.

After a few seconds, he started feeling some pain but nothing unbearable. At the same time, he also noticed some of the energy being absorbed by the cells of his body. A minute later, the pain was considerably higher but the energy was also almost depleted.

Then, ten seconds later, when everything had been absorbed, Rakna snapped his eyes open and released the breath he was holding. He glanced at his wings and was relieved to see that his little experiment had been successful; his wounds had been healed. Even his stamina and mana were back to around half of their value. He even felt stronger than before for some reason.

A second later, the System sent him the prompt that he was half-expecting.
⠀
❮ ◈ ❯
⠀
You have employed your soul to control your internal flow; Soul Core has leveled up! Mana and Stamina Consumption reduction has increased by 2%! Mana drain has increased by 1 MP.
---
⠀
Congratulations! Through executing a specific action and meeting several conditions, you have learned a new Nirvana Skill; The Scavenger!
---
⠀
The Scavenger: A derivative of the Nirvana Skill, The Harvester. By manipulating the flow of energy when eating a creature's heart with soul power, the user can scavenge it to heal and restore both mana and stamina. Additionally, a small percentage of the victim's attributes will be permanently bequeathed to the Host.
⠀
The Absorption Factor is equal to 0.5% for creatures of the same level. This number increases by 0.5 for every ten levels above the user. As for foes below the user's level, the percentage will decrease by 0.1 for every level until nothing is gained.
⠀
Note: The effectiveness of the heal and the amount of mana and stamina regenerated will also depend on level difference.
⠀
❮ ◈ ❯
⠀
"Oh…" Rakna uttered dumbly. He had expected some sort of self-healing skill since it was what he was going for by doing this but it had straight-up given him a second Nirvana Skill.

On top of that, anyone with common sense could see that this was a completely broken ability. With this, he could go around stealing monsters' attributes and get ahead of everyone else long as he delegated enough time to hunt.

"Well," Rakna quickly recovered from the surprise and immediately went to the other corpse. He took out the Dreorin Greatsword from his ring and beheaded the triceratops with two slashes before reaching for its heart just like the other.

He then ate it as well, and this time, the process took exactly a minute and he was almost back to full power again. Then, a small window flickered in front of his eyes.
⠀
❮ ◈ ❯
⠀
Heart of Lv.44 Ancient Dreorin absorbed. Absorption Factor = 2%
+1 Strength
+0.9 Endurance
+0.4 Speed
+0.2 Dexterity
+0.4 Intelligence
⠀
❮ ◈ ❯
⠀
Rakna was honestly astounded. He had just gained the equivalent of around 3 attribute points by just eating a heart. A heart that was, granted, from a level 44 creature but it did nothing to mitigate how amazing this skill was. When he was finally able to stop staring at the System window in front of him, he closed it and opened his full status.
⠀
❮ ◈ ❯
⠀
Name: Rakna Xiorra
Age: 17 | Level: 16 (57/160)
Path/Race: Nine-Tailed Werewolf
Affiliation: Throne of Glory
Titles: Legendary Slayer, Wolf King, Divinity Slayer
Potential: S+ | Host Rank: I
⠀
Werewolf Attributes:
Strength: 10 | Endurance: 7.5
Speed: 20.3 | Dexterity: 19
Intelligence: 14.4 | Luck: 9
⠀
Normal Attributes:
Strength: 6.5 | Endurance: 4.9
Speed: 13.3 | Dexterity: 12.4
Intelligence: 9.4 | Luck: 9
⠀
Available Attribute Points: 7
Available Skill Points: 1
⠀
Equipment:
- Swift Dreorin Boots
- Ulvia's Veil
- Basic Earth Ring
- Quake Gem
⠀
Werewolf Statistics:
Stamina: 83/84.2 | MP: 159/164
Swiftness: 89.5 | Agility: 78.3 + 20
Senses: 365.4 + 5 | Atr Cap: 55.5 (Unchanged)
Attack: 102.8 + 10% Cold | Defense: 52.4 + (L)20
Magic Attack: 63.1 | MP Regen: 1.34/min
⠀
Normal Statistics:
Stamina: 55.2/55.2 | MP: 114/114
Swiftness: 65.4 | Agility: 58.1 + 20
Senses: 270 + 5 | Atr Cap: 55.5
Attack: 74.2 + 10% Cold | Defense: 41.2 + (L)20
Magic Attack: 48.2 | MP Regen: 1/min
⠀
Proficiencies:
- Flight (Lv.9)
- Weapon-Mastery (Lv.8)
- Taekwondo (Lv.7)
- Cooking (Lv.6)
- Karate (Lv.6)
- Judo (Lv.6)
- Taijutsu (Lv.5)
- Mana Control (Lv.5)
…
- Mana Sense (Lv.2)
- Tracking (Lv.2)
⠀
Magic Skills:
- Cold Star Magic (Lv.3) => [Cold Star Manifestation (T.0); Star Make (T.10 – T.1); Cold Star Mist (T.10)]
- Mystic Cold Star Magic (Lv.2)
- Dependent Earth Magic => [Eruption (T.7) {3/3}; Quake (T.9); Anchor (T.10); Spike (T.10)]
⠀
Cognitive Skills (Passive):
- Eyes of the Soul (Lv.15)
- Pain Resistance (Lv. Max)
- Fear Resistance (Lv. Max)
- Fatigue Resistance (Lv. 8)
- Soul Core (Lv.3)
- Ireful Shell (Lv.2)
⠀
Spontaneous Skills (Active):
- Claws (Lv. Max)
- Stealth (Lv.8)
- Fabled Sight (Lv.6)
- Appraisal (Lv.5)
- Reinforcement (Lv.5)
- Weapon Reinforcement (Lv.4)
- Intimidation (Lv.3)
- Call of Fangs (Lv.2)
- Artzpul (Lv.2)
⠀
Nirvana Skills:
- The Harvester
- The Scavenger
⠀
Unique or Racial Traits:
- Eion Auto-Sustainable Nanomachines
- Obsidian Blood
- Shape Shift
- Smell of the Wolf God (Incomplete)
- Luquila's Wings
- Lesser Regeneration
⠀
❮ ◈ ❯
⠀
It was really starting to get full and he had barely had started exploring what the System had to offer. "Alexa, were you the one who removed the short descriptions to make it easier on my eyes?"

[Affirmative.]

"Nice work."

[Thank you, Rakna.]

"Now," after finally getting down with everything, Rakna put the bodies of the Dreorins into his spatial ring just in case and wrapped Sonata around his neck. "Get on, little guy."

Pronos promptly jumped on his shoulder in one try, something that was already impossible for any normal snake. When he was snuggled under Sonata, Rakna breathed in and unfolded his wings as a silver mist emerged from the tip of the feathers.

"Artzpul," he muttered and a shockwave was generated under his feet. With a single wave of his wings, he took off and activated Stealth followed by his newest spell, Cold Star Mist. The result was a disturbingly fast haze zooming through the sky, giving no room for anyone on the ground to see him moving inside.

Since he had the option to conceal his figure even better whilst flying, he would take it.

Rakna glanced at his map being gradually filled as he moved and looked at the two remaining arrows with squinted his eyes. "Why not," he muttered and changed his course slightly.

This specific Trial seemed to be considerably farther away from the train station than the Battle Trial was. After five minutes of flying at full speed, he wasn't able to reach his destination but his Fabled Sight caught something that intrigued him.

He plunged and used Artzpul to land in a nearby forest. At the same time, the mist followed him and invaded the area. While he was still hidden, he turned back into a therian and dispelled the magic following him.

When he made sure that there was no one around, he calmly walked out of the relatively small forest and headed toward the village he had spotted in the distance.

Rakna was not normal. No, unmistakably not. Whether it was his appearance, his personality, his abilities, his identity, nothing about him had ever been banal. Was it his choice? No. He was merely but a tormented soul doing its utmost to live the life it had learned to never enjoy. 

Would being picked by a glorified universal abductor calling itself a system bring something out of him? Would he finally learn to breathe in the pool of blood that suffocated him?

The Harvester does not sow, he only collects. All he has ever known to feel was loss and the only thing he can do is take. He will devour their hearts and drink their blood if it is what it takes.

---

Update Schedule: 5/7 (6 PM UTC)

Patreon for the usual stuff: https://www.patreon.com/AhraManyu
(Advanced chapters, unreleased and in-development work, writing commissions, etc...)

Discord : https://discord.gg/yBQDvwb

Although Oscar gasped and was short of beating, but the spirit ability that can make people fly is still very powerful, even if it is only a minute, sometimes it will be of great use.

Seeing everyone discussing the usefulness of one-minute flight, Oscar smiled: "My mushroom sausage, one minute of flight is not an ordinary minute, but the speed of a chicken crest!"

"What?! Own the speed of the Phoenix-tailed Cockscomb Snake!" Everyone was surprised again.

If that is the case, then the use of this spirit ability will be very powerful.

Zao Wou-ki smiled and said, "Yes, with this spirit ability, among the food martial spirits, your sausage can be classified as the best!"


Afterwards, he continued to ask: "Xiao Ao, how many soul power can you create at once?"

Feeling it, Oscar replied: "There should be ten."

"It's pretty good. When your spirit power level becomes higher in the future, you can make more mushroom sausages!"

Zao Wou-ki sighed, then looked at the three of Lin Feng!

Oscar is such a monster, how about the three more monsters than Oscar!

These are three twelve-year-old souls. Before that, he had never seen such a genius at all!

Especially Lin Feng, the great soul master who can defeat the Soul King with one punch, really can't imagine!

"You are lucky. You just got into the forest and helped Oscar get a spirit ring. Everyone has a good rest, and you will continue to set off later, and try to help them get a spirit ring today!"

Zao Wuji was a teacher anyway, and soon became calm.

"I just came here because of an emergency. Now that the situation is resolved, I will go back and continue."

After speaking, Zao Wou-ki continued to retreat behind everyone, keeping a distance of twenty or thirty meters from everyone.

Seeing this, Lin Feng smiled, "Continue to rest and leave in ten minutes!"

It was said that it was resting for ten minutes, but in fact only half of the people were resting, like Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and even Tang San. The three of them all got close to Oscar, wanting to experience the feeling of flying.


After all, it was flying. They had never experienced it before. If it weren't for Ning Rongrong and the others, they would have surrounded the girls long ago.

Regarding this, Lin Feng glanced, and didn't say anything, just glanced around, planning in his heart how to draw a similar spirit beast over!

In fact, he still has plan B. If it is not suitable to attract soul beasts, he will directly tell Zao Wuji that he will take Tang San and Xiao Wu to hunt and kill soul beasts deep in the forest.

It's just that it's more damaging to the sense of community, Lin Feng is fine, but for Tang San and Xiao Wu, it will still have an impact in their hearts.

Therefore, it is better to attract the soul beast!

"Wow! ~ I flew!" At this time, Dai Mubai still had a lot of prestige, and was the first to eat mushroom sausage on Oscar's side and flew.

The others looked envious, and even Zao Wou-ki, who was not far away, glanced here from time to time, looking very moved.

Suddenly, Lin Feng's eyes lit up, and he found an orange tree not far away, with huge fruits on it, which looked very attractive.

"Just stay here and don't walk around, I'll pick some oranges for you!" In his previous life, Lin Feng liked to eat oranges, sweet and delicious.

But the oranges in Douluo World seemed to be sweeter. He used to eat them in Notting City, but now he can see oranges in the Star Dou Great Forest. Of course he wants to taste it.

After speaking to everyone, Lin Feng quickly ran towards the orange tree.

There was a distance from the place where everyone was resting, so Lin Feng didn't see it at first, but now after finding it, he came to the fruit tree in a few steps.

"His~"

There is also a flower snake on this tree, one hundred years old, after discovering Lin Feng, it still vomited snake letter, as if it was about to attack.

Without changing his face, Lin Feng grabbed the head of the snake directly, then tied it together with the tail of the snake into a bow, and hung it on a branch of a big tree with a violent throw.

Oh, he hangs southeast branch!

After spitting out, Lin Feng immediately picked more than a dozen oranges, and then rushed back.

This orange is half-green and half-yellow. It seems that it is not fully ripe, but it should be edible.

After returning to everyone, Lin Feng immediately peeled and ate a piece!

what! ~ Too sour!

With a smile on his face, Lin Feng beckoned to Tang San, "Little San, eat! So sweet!"

The latter ran over with joy, "Thank you, Brother Feng."

Grab the orange and eat it!

After eating, the sour taste of his mouth made him almost spit something out, looking at Lin Feng with a grimace.

Lin Feng smiled, "Little San, just say it's delicious!"

"Ok... delicious!" Without a word, Tang San turned around and handed the orange to Dai Mubai.

Dai Mubai ate a piece, beckoned to Ma Hongjun calmly, and handed him the orange.

Ma Hongjun didn't think much, and took a bite, then handed the orange to Oscar with a smile on his face.

"It's so delicious that you can't speak?" Oscar took the orange in confusion and took a bite.

In the next second, Oscar's entire face was wrinkled, and there was a sour cold war!

He spit out the orange, and he turned and looked at Ma Hongjun fiercely, "I let you fly to the sky, so you thank me! I strangle you!"

For a moment, everyone laughed.

After a while, the rested group of people continued to walk towards the forest!

In fact, according to Zao Wou-Ki's idea, everyone can find the Thousand-Year Soul Beast outside the forest. It is much safer, but it just takes a little time.

But on Lin Feng's side, they needed to hunt ten thousand year soul beasts, so they could only go inside.

That's right, on the way back, Lin Feng made it clear that his third spirit ring was going to hunt ten thousand year spirit beasts, and he could hunt it alone.

At that time, Zao Wou-ki was thinking that Lin Feng would kill if he wanted to kill, but he would just be watching him.

But when Lin Feng hit that super punch, he suddenly realized, maybe he didn't need to look at him at all, Lin Feng could really kill the Ten Thousand Years Soul Beast safely!

So at this time, he didn't say anything about everyone walking into the forest.

As long as he didn't enter the middle section of the forest and just wandered around the outside, he, the soul sage, was still sure to protect everyone from death!

In this way, a group of people stopped and walked towards the inside.

Along the way, I encountered many thousand-year-old soul beasts, but none of them were suitable. As for the spirit beasts they encountered, they wouldn't kill them unless they were willing to kill them.

Soon, the sky gradually darkened.

Found a small open space with a wide view, a group of people prepared food, prepared food, and set up tents.

Tonight, they are going to camp here.

This place is about to enter the third-class area in the outer periphery. When it is dawn tomorrow, then walk a little inside, and Lin Feng's plan can begin to be implemented.


CLIFFHANGER KUN×××

hello friends so this story is going to be a boy who has been reborn into soul land world , he has prior knowledge of future , he will not be extremely op int the start but he will be op in the fiture .


] THIS STORY IS FROM MTL )



 https://www.mtlnovel.com/douluos-auxiliary-upgrade-system/chapter-list/




{ MC wil not op not extremely op from the start he will grow slowly and mc will be smartass not any kind of dumb mc , his dream is to be stronger )



STORY DOESN'T BELONG TO ME ---

 

 I AM SHAMELESS !!!!!!!



 • SOUL LAND •

 

 


 { THAK YOU }

“Are you sure this monster is right for us?” Siz feels tired
"Let's me open handbook” Q Breathing strength “again”

Monster: Desert Snake (Mini Boss)
	Level: 5
	Location: Easily found southern desert If you look carefully, the sand will loop in a triangle.
	Featured Items: Golden Snake fangs, Snake Skin, Yellow Stone Level 1
	How to Fight: Win it
	* Advice: For adventurers under level 10 and for adventurers at least level 9

"Five thousand gold price book doesn't seem to be worth price" Q Shook his head “level five? Monster and win it”
"Win it” Siz speaks with laughter " ridiculous"
"Yes, in the book says, way to fight is to win it" Q said again
“It's easy to say. That’s a crazy book” Siz grabbed the sword attack again
	Siz strikes the sword to the torso of the desert snake, but it does not work “The skin is really strong" he said
The desert snake turned to bite into the torso he’s using a sword block, but the fangs are too long to handle. It breaks through his arm.
Blood gushing out. Siz uses a sword to attack back between the mouths of the snake and jump out, Squeeze Red potion to two bottles and he try to coated sword with blue magic
"Another bomb ready” Q Throw bombs to attack desert snake but it's dodgy “Oh, no” The explosion was in the air the smoke is floating the desert snake opened its mouth large Bite into Siz's head
 	He stabbed a sword on the palate It's full of snake saliva 
The sword hit the solid palate, making a sound ‘Cackk...Cakk...’ 
Long fangs pierced into his arm black venom flows through his veins He's getting tired try to reach out to green potion in the waist bag.

Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
The wind started growing from a breeze to a strong gust. Mo Fan's skin was hurting from even the slightest touch of the wind. He glanced around himself and discovered that he was surrounded by layers of an orange-yellow sandstorm.
The killing sand's attack was incredibly high to begin with, but it was even deadlier after it was sped up by the strong wind.
"Wind Element!" Mo Fan's heart sank.
Throughout the fight, Casso had only used two Elements. He had not shown his third Element at all, but now, after suffering a serious injury, he was finally willing to use all his strength!
Casso's Earth Element and Poison Element were both quite outstanding. If it wasn't for the upgrade to Little Flame Belle's strength, he simply had no chance of matching Casso's strength. But now, Casso had displayed his Wind Element. Even Mo Fan was intimidated by the seemingly-calm yet powerful wind, as if he had caught a little glimpse of a storm at sea. He could easily imagine how disastrous the storm was!
-The guy's strongest Element isn't the Earth Element, nor was it the Poison Element. It's the Wind Element!-
"You are barely a worthy opponent for me, but too bad it's coming to an end, since I have had enough fun today!" A grin slowly surfaced on Casso's stiff flesh.
Casso suddenly vanished into thin air!
Mo Fan was shocked. He immediately cast Space Rhythm: Time Stasis to slow everything down. However, even in the space under the effects of the Time Stasis, Mo Fan could only see a blurred shadow!
"I'm eager to see how thick your armor is!" Casso's voice suddenly appeared beside Mo Fan.
Mo Fan could not react in time. Casso grabbed Mo Fan's throat in his muscular arms.
Casso's strength was shocking. Mo Fan felt like his throat was being held by a monstrous titan; he was having trouble breaking free from it!
While it was happening, Mo Fan saw a pair of giant wings made of orange-yellow wind appearing on Casso's back. The wings were mixed with wind and sand. They sounded like a helicopter when they were beating rapidly!
Casso grabbed Mo Fan and soared into the sky. The Sky Veil and tornado stuck closely to his feet, propelling him over three hundred meters into the sky!
The clouds were right above their heads. Mo Fan could see all of White Head City from his current height.
Casso's strength was not enough to snap Mo Fan's neck while he was wearing the Black Snake Armor. He treated Mo Fan like a stone and hurled him at the ground.
Mo Fan did not have the ability to fly. As he was falling, he saw a giant rock less than thirty meters above him falling at the same speed.
The side of the rock that was pointing at him was sharp, and the other end was flat. Casso was standing on the flat end and stomping his feet on the rock to speed it up and further increase its momentum!
The sharp end struck Mo Fan while he was still in the air. The pain was still bearable since he was still falling in the air. However, Mo Fan clearly knew that his body would be smashed to pieces when he landed on the ground with the rock pressing down on him!
The wind howled in his ears. He was falling too quickly. He would most likely fall to his death even without the rock pressing down on him.
"HAHAHAHA, HAHAHA!" Casso stood on the falling rock. He held his arms and burst out laughing. It was time to bury this arrogant kid!
---
"Mo Fan!" Zhao Manyan raised his head and was shocked to see Mo Fan falling through the air at a terrifying pace with a pointy rock pressing down on him.
The boulder-sized rock was going to plunge Mo Fan into the ground. There was no way he could survive the impact!
"Go, protect him!" Zhao Manyan clenched his teeth. A wooden clapper carved with ancient runes immediately flew into the sky.
As soon as the wooden clapper appeared, it unleashed a spiraling golden light. The light swiftly transformed into a golden barrier in the shape of an enormous wooden clapper, catching Mo Fan as he fell from the sky.
The golden barrier quickly surrounded Mo Fan. The runes seemed to transform into a sturdy armor!
BANG!
The rock plunged into the ground. Both the boats and the waters swayed wildly after the loud impact. Rocks and dirt broke off from the solid ground of the harbor. Lines of shocking cracks spread across the place, as if the whole harbor was going to break into pieces and fall into the water.
"Mo Fan!" Jiang Shaoxu's eyes widened as she let out a scream, staring at the pit.
The impact was so strong that no one could get close to it. There was no chance Mo Fan could survive the impact on his own.
"Shit, he's dead!"
"Damn it, we're so close to completing the formation. We've been too careless!" Oleena said with a hint of self-accusation.
They should have intervened instead of being eager for a quick success. After all, the young man was only a student. There was no chance he could take on the greatest tyrant of the Caribbean Sea alone.
"What do we do now..."
"Keep going, we can't let Casso escape now!" Oleena said firmly.
The main reason why they were unwilling to show themselves was because Casso was an Advanced Mage with the Earth and Wind Elements. A Mage with these two Elements had unmatchable speed. No one could possibly stop him if he wanted to escape. On top of that, he was daring enough to apply the Poison Element to his own body, turning himself into a monster. Many Sacred Hall Mages had died at his hands!
They initially hoped that the student would be able to take down Casso on their behalf. Who knew that Casso would kill the student straightaway when they were busy constructing the Light Binding Formation. They did not even have time to save him...
---
"Mo Fan, don't you f**king die!" cursed Zhao Manyan.
Didn't he warn Mo Fan not to meddle in someone else's business? Why didn't Mo Fan take his advice seriously? Didn't he know how strong the Red Ornaments Guild was? That Casso had three Elements in the Advanced Level! Even everyone teaming up would still have had trouble defeating him!
"Do you seriously have the time to care about others? How ridiculous," the dark-skinned, female bandit uttered a hollow laugh. "Without that thing, your defense isn't impressive!"
An icy glow flickered on the female bandit's hand. A spear made of ice appeared in her hands before thrusting fiercely at Zhao Manyan's Rock Barrier!
As soon as the ice spear made contact with the Rock Barrier, it turned into ice instantly. The spear then broke the Rock Barrier into pieces that scattered across the ground.
"A Magic Spear..."
Zhao Manyan immediately regretted his decision. The spear came up to him and performed a dance of death around him. The spear soon left lots of cuts and blood on his body after he lost his defense.
There were now at least ten bleeding cuts on Zhao Manyan's body. He initially thought he had chosen someone he could easily defeat. To his surprise, the dark-skinned woman was incredibly strong. Zhao Manyan was no longer able to hold his ground without the wooden clapper that doubled the effects of his defensive spells.
"A competition of magic equipment? Humph, not many people in this world have more magic equipment than I do!" Zhao Manyan was too stubborn to admit his defeat. He immediately summoned his magic boots and Deathstrike Magic Equipment!
Both pieces of magic equipment were of the Light Element. The light encapsulating Zhao Manyan's figure immediately overwhelmed the icy spear in the woman's hands.
"There's more!" Zhao Manyan spread his arms. Golden feathers appeared gradually and formed a pair of glowing, golden wings.
Zhao Manyan had summoned three pieces of magic equipment within an instant, and judging from their auras, each piece was more or less a luxury good. The female bandit was startled.
Leaving the Deathstrike Magic Equipment and the magic boots aside, it was still absolutely ridiculous that the man would own Magic Wings at his age. Even all the loot that the female bandit had scavenged over many years were not enough to buy her Magic Wings!
Zhao Manyan was still fully kitted out with Magic Equipment, even without the wooden clapper!
The others might laugh at Zhao Manyan for having the weakest cultivation on the team, but no one could possibly own a better set of Equipment than him!
"Blessing of the Fountain Ring!"
Zhao Manyan did not stop after summoning the three pieces of magic equipment. The middle finger of his right hand started glowing, as the seemingly ordinary blue ring suddenly emitted a sacred glow.
"Water Barrier!" The circulating Water Barrier revolved around Zhao Manyan. A few more Water Barriers appeared under the effects of the ring's sacred light. Zhao Manyan was only able to apply four or five stacks of Water Barrier normally, but with the help of the ring, the number almost doubled. He now had around eight layers of Water Barrier circling him endlessly!
"Fierce Rolling Wave!"
The effects of the ring were able to strengthen every Water Spell Zhao Manyan had. The ordinary Rolling Wave had now turned into a surging tide, lunging at the female bandit like a beast.
The woman nimbly jumped onto a boat to find some cover. Zhao Manyan flew onto the rolling tide and fired a golden crescent forward with his Deathstrike Magic Equipment...
The slash was utterly shocking, cutting through prow of the boat with ease. The woman was forced to summon her Magic Armor, yet even with its protection, the slash still sliced her arm off. Blood started pouring out from the cut unendingly!
"Serves you right!" Zhao Manyan uttered sarcastically, staring at the woman whose lips had gone pale.
The woman trembled in anger. She had never seen a Mage as rich as the man before her. He had just used four pieces of Magic Equipment in one breath, and it seemed like he still had more on standby, including his necklace, his bracelet, and the other three rings on his other hand...
---
With a series of bone-cracking sounds, Mo Fan out from the debris and rose to his feet. His Black Snake Armor had turned into scrap. Not a single spot of his skin was unmarred.
Pain, he was in extreme pain. The burning sensation felt like he had been set on fire.
Luckily, his Demon Element had come in handy. His body was actually several times stronger than ordinary Mages. That being said, he was glad that Zhao Manyan had tossed the wooden clapper at him. Otherwise, he would have been unable to survive the impact with only the Black Snake Armor and his sturdy flesh.
"He's still alive?" Casso exclaimed in astonishment as he stared at Mo Fan with wide-open eyes. -Is this guy's body made of steel!?-
Even with two layers of protection, the impact was more than enough to shatter every bone inside the body of an Advanced Mage!
Meanwhile, the guy only looked like he was suffering from serious injuries, but none of them were life-threatening!


He woke up in a familiar world that had vastly changed.

His familiar school had become a mystical school that teaches magic, encouraging everyone to become a mighty magician.

Outside the city, many wandering magical beasts and monsters attacked and preyed on humans.

His world of advanced science changed into one that praised magic. Despite this, his ambition in life, and his social status remained the same; one of the dregs of the society with a struggling father and a disabled step sister that couldn’t walk.

However, Mo Fan found that when most people could only practice a single major element of magic, he was a Versatile Mage!

"Malik~" Ananta bowed politely, "You might be familiar with this male. His royal name is... Tycondrius."
Suka placed her hands against the side of her head-- "wat?" 
The Yuan-Ti's eyes narrowed, "The progeny of the Queen of Stone? ...I see."
Malik walked towards Tycon, back straight... his head and elongated neck swaying rhythmically to the sides. Did he not know how to walk? He looked ridiculous. 
"Ivory Prince, it's a pleasure to make your--"
"We're done here," Tycon grabbed the robed girl by the wrist and began to walk away. 
"We're wha? Huh? WahhHH??" Suka let out a high-pitched squeal, but obediently allowed herself to be dragged along. 
« System, cut the connection. »
Both Ananta's and Malik's avatars abruptly blinked out of existence. 
⟬ Connection terminated. ⟭ 
"Suka," Tycon turned, placing his hands on the girl's shoulders. 
Gazing into her red eyes, the young lady immediately closed them... pouting her small lips and trembling lightly. 
She was passably attractive-- not that Tycon saw the hatchling in a romantic light. With his relationship with Ananta, he could treat her as his own younger sibling... if she rid herself of her attitude problem. And took a bath. 
"...What are you doing?"
"I-DON'T-KNOW-IT-SEEMED-APPROPRIATE!!" She snapped. 
Tycon chose to ignore it, changing the topic to the matter on-hand, "Do you have access to your sister's Shadow Realm?"
The messy-haired girl couldn't decide where to look, glancing at her surroundings, down at Tycon's chest, down at the floor-- "I... what? You're..."
"The Shadow Realm, young lady."
"I... I... I, yes? Yes? I do? I do. Of course, I do."
A blast of hot air assaulted Tycon's senses as his surroundings changed instantaneously. 
Where before, he and Suka stood in a dim cavern upon green-tinted Dwarven stonework... they now stood upon a cobblestone road amongst human-designed buildings in a walled town.
And the town was burning. 
Billowing smoke clouded the air, glowing a low orange from the fires in the streets adjacent. It reeked of charred and burnt human flesh. Screams of the slaughter resounded just beyond and elsewhere. 
Sensing movement, Tycon turned... Less than twenty yalms away, a Snake Cultist wearing naught but warpaint chased down a fleeing human villager. Their hapless victim was mercilessly cut down with a hand scythe, their life reaped-- almost poetically. 
Suka crossed her arms... "This is the world the Reality Marble has formed... it looks like it's during a snake cult attack on a human village-- probably that mushroom-brain Malik's idea."
"I can see that..." Tycon was about to reach for his weapon... when he realized it was no longer on his waist. His spatial ring was gone, as well. He wore only a simple tunic and trousers. 
That wasn't fair... Suka was no longer wearing her nondescript robe, but instead wore a set of strangely familiar mercenary armor... and had a sword at her side. 
He would have liked at least that much. 
"Your *humans* should be here somewhere," Suka shrugged, still refusing to meet his gaze. "That is... if they're not already dead."
Tycon looked over the horizon... there were guard towers along the town's walled fortifications. Those would be useful for locating his companions. 
However, before he would go on his way... he would see if he could trick his young companion into providing assistance. She seemed to have no love for that Malik fellow... and she also seemed to have forgotten that he and she were technically enemies. 
"Suka? Do you have power over this place?"
The snake girl hesitated, staring at the dead human, blood pooling around the corpse. The cultist continued to scream his brainwashed dogma, hacking noisily at the still twitching body-- unaware or uncaring that he was being observed. 
"Excuse me, young man," Tycon raised his voice. "We are *trying* to have a conversation."
The cultist abruptly twisted his blood-stained body, meeting Tycon's eyes with a furious glare, "wHhOo in the SEVEN HELLS aRe--?!"
⟬ ⌈Vexing Gaze⌋ conditions met. Activate? Y/N? ⟭
« Activate. Swiftly and without mercy. »
Immediately, the Unranked human dropped to the road, convulsing and choking... blood flowing from his mouth and nostrils. 
⟬ Death to the enemies of Invictus. ⟭
"The... the gaze... of the Ivory Prince..." Suka whispered in a hoarse voice. 
"Now, where were we? Suka?" Observing the young lady, Tycon sensed that the young woman's heart rate had rapidly increased. Was she afraid of blood?
"Oh! Y-yeah. Of course I do-- have power, I mean..." She shook her head-- then nodded. "My sister gave me some limited control... but..."
She trailed off.
Tycon pursed his lips, "Show me." 
"You can't laugh."
"...Very well."
"It's embarrassing."
"...That's unlikely," Tycon assured her. "Please, go ahead."
Manipulating the Laws of even a mortal-created world was difficult. Any modicum of power the young Shadow Snake could display would be impressive. 
"Well... you promised you wouldn't laugh..." Suka pouted.
Tycon had promised no such thing. 
The young lady gulped, "Here goes..."
...
Suka grimaced, concentrating her magic and raising her arms towards the orange sky... She only really had one ability in her sister's Reality Marble... and the Ivory Prince had personally requested to see it. 
Was he really the Ivory Prince? He said he was... and that was reason enough. And then Ananta said it, too... He had to be. There was only one Ivory Prince among their kind. 
She wanted to tell Izzy all about him... about how chiseled his jawline was, how green and smooth and soft his hair was, how hard his... muscles were, how she could just get lost in his eyes...
And how... very... very pushy and rude he was.
That was nothing like in the stories! 
A couple of epochs [1]ago, Suka had seen Sol Invictus... she'd watched them fight in the Ezyrian arenas. 
The male in front of her had... the same build? It was definitely possible that this person was the Ivory Prince... 
The Tycon in the pit was a flashy, arrogant exhibitionist. This one... was different. But then again, it made sense that the Ivory Prince's in-the-pit persona was different from the one he used in his personal life. 
Suka was torn. Was she excited to meet the man she always wanted to meet? Or was she disappointed that he wasn't as perfect as she thought he'd be?
She had no idea why her heart pounded so hard when he said her name. 
Was she in love? With a man she'd never even met?
[1] Epoch: In this world, an epoch is 13 years. The terminology is common throughout the Realm, except in the Holy Country, which uses 10 year decades, instead.&nbsp;


I woke up in this world with a System and a sword. Without hesitation, I chose to complete the princess’ quest with my weapons: Arrogance. Cunning. Pride. I will lead guild Sol Invictus. Denizens of the 7 hells, respect me. Servants of the 11 heavens, know fear. Guild Invictus, know the suffering of training so you can wrest victory from the jaws of those who dare doubt you. 

This is a story about a snake named Tycondrius waking up in a fantasy world of swords and sorcery. There is action, violence, unapologetic murder, and arrogant displays of power. There is an emphasis on combat growth as well as psychological growth on more than a few members of Guild Invictus. There is camaraderie and also the inevitable comedic dialogue amongst manly men. There are even elements of romance and Tycon running away from terrifying, powerful women. (Did you know most female snakes eat their partners after mating?) 

Give this book a read. I hope some of these stories can inspire you to fight your battles with analytical intelligence, heroic courage, and ruthless lethality. 

Schedule: 5+ chapters per week. 
Mon-Fri @ 11:00 PDT
Chapter Length: 1000+ words per chapter 

Here is my discord: https://discord.gg/NNbAj7N 
Constructive criticism and corrections welcome. Other Authors extra-welcome.

You can find a list of characters at https://snek.fandom.com/wiki/Character_List

Cover image credit: Johnabrash at Fiverr

In the history of the cultivation world, it was unknown during which era or millenia the first sentient weapons were created.

Although it had probably emanated from the work of one single legendary craftsman, the knowledge of the technique spread quickly to the entire world.

As such, sentient artefacts were not that hard to find. The only thing that made them quite rare was that no matter how many times the technique to produce them was refined, no matter how many generations passed, the success rate of creating such an object was really low.

Most of these artefacts, especially weapons, were kept like treasures and passed down from ancestors to heirs, becoming family or even clans and sects heirlooms.

The level of intelligence of a weapon was directly linked to the resources used to create it and the mastery of the craftsman behind it.

As it turned out, Shin Sumi's Gold Tyrant Flying Sword was either not that intelligent or possessed a really bad temper.

As soon as it had sensed the presence of a Vein of Hell Fire in the vicinity, the sword had not been able to resist the temptation and had flown in its direction.

Shin Sumi had been in an almost comatose state, frozen solid by the effects of the Ice Flowers Domain. Without her knowledge it was probably what saved her life.

In her last attempt to break free from the mirror formation of the Ice Flowers, she had slashed her sword downwards before losing consciousness, tightly clinging to her sword with frozen fingers.

The Gold Tyrant Flying Sword dragged Shin Sumi across the air for hundreds of meters through a cavern that had probably not seen the light of day since ancient times. 

It wobbled in its path, half trying to control its flight with the burden of its master gripping the handle, and half trying to shake her off.

The blue Vein of Hell Fire was in sight, and its effects were only starting to fill Shin Sumi with enough energy to open her eyes when the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword lost some altitude.

Shin Sumi crash landed on the transparent ice, sliding for dozens of meters, unaware of what was going on except from a sharp pain that was slowly awakening as her body recovered from its frozen state.

Finally liberated from its burden, the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword took to the air once more before planting its double edged blade deep into the Vein. Only the handle was visible, if you managed to look directly at the source of all Shinsoo in the second ring of the trial dimension.

Shin Sumi understood where she was before she could even move freely. She was laying in an unsightly position, with much of her robes torn open revealing pieces of flesh purer than the ice she was resting on.

"The second Vein of Hell Fire!" she mumbled. Her words didn't really make sense as she couldn't feel her jaw.

The excitement drowned out the pain quickly and she slowly started to piece together how she ended up there. It was truly a miracle.

She ignored that all the bruises actually came from the sword and now the Ice Flowers Domain nor the fall itself. It didn't matter anyway as the Vein of Hell Fire was enough energy to recover her full strength and more thousands of times over.

The pulsating source of Shinsoo irradiated with such strength and raw energy that Shin Sumi's skin tingled, exactly like it had back in the outer ring.

The only difference was that this time the source was blue in color and more on the Yin type side.

Shin Sumi realized that even the ice touching her skin didn't feel cold at all, almost burning her actually.

"So the 'fire' in Hell Fire isn't actually flames at all!" she thought as she recovered quickly. "The first one was red and burning, deep under the earth like the belly of a volcano. But this one is blue and although it is burning, it doesn't have heat. Or else ice wouldn't be the main characteristic of this place..."

"How lucky was I to be trapped by the Ice Flowers right above the Vein of Hell Fire?!" Shin Sumi thanked the Heavens.

The little grey nut rolled on her arm silently but ecstatically, seemingly unaffected by the dense Shinsoo pulsating so strongly that it was almost overbearing.

Shin Sumi looked at the nut for a second through half closed eyelids, her maximum at the moment.

"Is the nut excited because of the source of Shinsoo or because it is a plant or animal of some sort?"

Shin Sumi didn't know why the thought had popped into her mind, but it had brought along a whole lot of ideas and conjectures.

Maybe in this place she was able to think more clearly, stimulated by the blue Vein of Hell Fire, but her brain was functioning at high speed and clarity now that she had completely woken up.

"The trees back in the outer ring were much bigger close to the cave entrance to the Vein... And there was this huge crocodile, the bigger creature I've seen so far, that was really close to it too... Well except for the blur that chased it afterwards...
Anyway, in here too, the flowers were densely packed right above this place. And now the little nut. Maybe the source of Shinsoo makes living things stronger the closer they are to it!"

It was now so obvious that Shin Sumi felt ashamed of not having thought of it sooner. It make so much sense! And it that conjecture was true, then it would be way easier to find the remaining three Veins in the next rings!

"But before that, there's something more important I need to do!"

Of course she hadn't forgotten her friend Lan Hui. 

Shin Sumi checked her identification medallion for any transmission that could have occured while she was out. It was useless but she didn't know it.

Close to the Vein of Hell Fire, not even the Elders back in the sect could see or sense her, the fluctuations of Shinsoo in this place acting like a shield, much stronger than a puny jade medallion.

Shin Sumi tried to contact Lan Hui, Bai Xuengen and even Xiao Yue but none of her divine sense messages seemed to reach out.

She wanted to escape the cavern and keep on looking for her friend but that was impossible for now. 

Turning around and protecting her face with her small white hand, Shin Sumi took one glance at the glowing blue vein down below. 

The handle carved from the Stone Leaf Tortoise was the only thing that could be seen of the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword.

Sitting with her back to the Vein in a cross-legged position, Shin Sumi calmed herself to enter a state of meditation.

"I have to wait for the sword to finish its refining. I can't leave without it, and I need all the energy I can gather to find you, Brother Lan."

***
Shin Sumi was unaware of time passing while in her deep meditative state. 

She hadn't been immersed for more than a week when an orange robed girl clad in a black cloak reached the other side of the first mountain pass.

Xiao Yue was shivering slightly, even under her big fur cover. Her first attempt at crossing to the ice ring ended abruptly with her having to go back to the jungle area.

There she had found a suitable spirit beast and hunted it for its fur. Xiao Yue's hunting skills were known among the entire lower valley as being top class, even for an orange talented disciple.

Imbuing the coat with the Yang energy of a few beast cores in order to fight the cold, the resourceful girl was now finally stepping on the snow.

She marveled at the sight of the blue crevices like lightning bolts between the fangs that were the ice arcs soaring towards the Heavens.

In her hand was the identification jade she had just tried to use to contact Shin Sumi.

"Nothing at all. I don't think Sumi is that far behind, which means she must be in front! Where are you, sister?"

Her breath formed a small cloud in front of her delicate lips as she sighed before moving forward across the land of snow and ice.

 Xiao Yue eyes were vigilant at all times. Her instinct as a hunter was more developed than many, and she knew how to recognize traces and hints that indicated danger.

That applied to spirit beasts but also to cultivators. One of the things she feared the most wasn't an animal, that she could deal with easily. But the cunning nature of cultivators, especially in the conditions of a trial by fire, that was something else.

Across the jungle environment, she had seen many instances of disciples tricking one another over an item, a precious artefact or a treasure. Almost as soon as she had left Kan Xi, the orange robed girl that was following her, she had participated actively in the hunt for treasures.

Xiao Yue worked better alone, unbothered by the lack of company, but she pitied those who couldn't.

"I may pity them, but that is how the game works" she thought as she travelled the almost empty white landscape.

At some point in a small area hidden by a forest of ice trees, sounds of battle echoed in the distance. Interested by them, Xiao Yue approached the scene from a hidden point of view.

Three disciples, all with red robes, were battling an Ice Winged Serpent the size of a bear. On top of the creature's head, a short sword could be seen planted. The beast didn't seem bothered by it at all, as if it had spent decades with it there. In fact small greenish white scales were coiled around the basis of the sword, almost as it the beast had fused with the weapon.

The sword shone with a glint that only a certain nature of artefacts produced.

Stars shone in Xiao Yue's eyes and she understood why the three disciples didn't want to give up the fight against the beast that was obviously too strong for them.

"A good-grade treasure!"

Xiao Yue was going back and forth in her head, wondering what to do. Judging by the power of the Ice Winged Serpent, she could probably kill it with almost no risk to herself. 

The red robed disciples though, that was another deal altogether.

Xiao Yue didn't want unnecessary contact with other disciples, and also felt a bit bad about reaping the reward they were actively fighting for. Had it been someplace else and at another time, she wouldn't have thought about it twice, but here...

"I really have to commend them. Already being this far deep into the second ring, these red robes have strength!"

The trial had already been ongoing for a few months, but what was that amount of time compared to the length of the whole Rising Star Tournament? The fact that red robed disciples had succeeded in fighting off the cold of the second ring, making it this far this soon meant that they were well prepared, and deserved their reward.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a low shout from one of the three boys.

"Now!"

It was only then that Xiao Yue realized that the three of them were placed around the Ice Winged Serpent, forming a perfect triangle with the creature in the middle.

Rows of light shone on the ground, green lines connecting the three boys together and attacking the snake at the same time.

"A green level spirit formation! They have this level of power?!"

The surprise in Xiao Yue's eyes was underwhelmed only by the surprise felt by the snake itself. As the green lines wrapped around it, the snake was helpless. Like burning hot chains, the lines seemed to sink inside the beast's flesh, cutting slowly into scales and bones as if they were nothing. 

A sizzling noise arose, drowned in the beast's cries of pain, until it was dead.

Panting, the three red robed disciples had lost a huge amount of energy by unleashing a spirit formation spell that was above their current power. 

From what she had seen, Xiao Yue conjectured that the spell could probably be used by a single green talented disciple, but given their low power, the disciples had to be three in order to successfully use it.

The boy that seemed to be the leader told one of his two companions to retrieve the sword that stuck out of the Ice Winged Serpent's head, while the other was charged of finding the beast's core in the middle of the mass of charred flesh.

The leader then took out a fan from his bag of holding, revealing to Xiao Yue the reason for their strength.

The fan was rainbow colored and heavily damaged. The paper triangles were almost all ridden with holes and some of the wooden armature was broken.

As the boy was observing the fan, the last remaining paper part that was untouched suddenly ripped. Along with the tear, the fan caught on fire, green magic flames destroying it quickly, forcing the boy to throw the thing in the snow where it continued to burn unnaturally.

"That was its last use... Thankfully we seem to have found a new weapon on par with it, brothers!"

Xiao Yue understood instantly. The boys had repeatedly used the fan in order to pass trials and acquire treasures. That was how they managed to get this far already. 

She was about to turn around and leave, having finally decided to leave them alone when a chuckle erupted from the boy on top of the snake head.

"We? We have found a new weapon? I don't think so, Lao Wan. It is time to end our collaboration now that your precious fan is gone. NOW DIE!"

In a flash, the red robed boy launched itself. In his hand the scaley short sword drew a circle in the air. Unable to escape and taken by surprise, the boy called Lao Wan couldn't respond in time. 

The sword entered between the shoulder and the neck and almost didn't slow down until it had escaped the boy's body on the opposite side, just below the torso.

Without a word, the previous leader of the group fell to the ground, the white snow forever tainted by his blood.

The third boy of the group, obviously the youngest, was standing there, his eyes bulging out of their sockets with shock, unable to comprehend. 

Xiao Yue saw his instinct kick in as he turned around to flee but too late.

"With that sword in my hand, even orange robed disciples will think twice before attacking me, don't you think you can escape, Ning Ho!"

The treacherous boy threw his sword, easily finding its target after six or seven spins in the air. Without having escaped more than fifty steps, the boy named Ning Ho fell, the sword planted deep between his shoulder blades.

Xiao Yue refrained a gasp. Even she had been unprepared for the scene that just unfolded in front of her.

When she looked back up, the last standing boy was wiping the blood of his newly acquired sword in the snow, laughing like a maniac.

Xiao Yue's eyes had already shifted from encouragement to hatred. If before she had scruples about getting the sword after their fight, now she only wanted to make him pay.

***
Shin Sumi opened her eyes amidst a sea of blue light.

The Vein of Hell Fire had dimmed by more than seventy percent compared to its brilliance from before.

Without wasting any time, Shin Sumi scanned her own body anxiously. Excitement rose quickly in her, messing her breathing rhythm. 

"Fifty second Shinsoo Door! I opened four of them in one go!"

Just like last time, the Vein of Hell Fire had directly boosted her cultivation by what could only be considered an enormous leap.

Shin Sumi marveled at her newfound strength. She wondered if now she would be able to fare better against the giant crocodile from earlier.

Four Shinsoo Doors wasn't much normally, but Shin Sumi had long passed the Primal and Outer Doors. During the Spirit Doors phase, each one was way harder to break open than the last, needing an unimaginable amount of Shinsoo to break the barrier.

With the amount needed for the fiftieth door alone, one red robed disciple would be able to directly open the first twenty doors. Considering that most disciples would normally only break through a dozen openings in their cultivation, it showed how insanely unusual Shin Sumi's cultivation was.

Her meditation close to the Vein of Hell Fire and the absorption by the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword had emptied a good portion of the Shinsoo source. It was unknown how long it would take for its strength to grow back.

But as of now, the Vein seemed to be on the verge of extinction. In fact it was barely enough to sustain the environment.

The entire ring was directly linked to the Vein of Hell Fire, and due to the relative frailness of the ice, the ground started to tremble while Shin Sumi was checking herself.

Cracks started to appear in the walls of the cavern where the source was located.

A chunk of ice the size of a house started vibrating a second before it detached. Right above Shin Sumi.

It was at the same time that the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword finished its absorption. A golden arc of light broke through the air, instantly returning to Shin Sumi's hand faster than lightning.

The thin golden blade effortlessly cut the bloc of ice, equal pieces falling on either side of Shin Sumi.

The sword that had started like a rough and dull piece of metal was now closely resembling the leaf of some treasured plant.

Its slick profile was more refined than any weapon Shin Sumi had ever seen and the blade was so thin it almost was translucent.

It made no doubt to Shin Sumi that the blade had undergone a massive change in power.

Following the path opened where the block of ice had fallen, Shin Sumi leaped out of the cave in hope of finding a safe way back to the fresh air.

The cave crumbled on itself soon after, the Vein of Hell Fire now buried again for who knows how long.

Shin Sumi wrapped herself in her cloak. With the recent events, the cloak was now full of holes, barely covering the new set of robes she had donned. But Shin Sumi didn't feel the slightest cold.

She looked in the distance towards the yellow ray of light, her hand seizing from her bag the vibrating piece of jade.

She ignored how long she had been under the ice, and only hoped that Lan Hui had been found. With clenched teeth, she sent a sliver of divine sense into the identification medallion.

"No Father I don't want to be married of to an official of the Big City. I want to become the Chief Librarian, like Second Uncle !"

There is no choice left for Shin Sumi but to escape. Her plan is settled until she finds a strange book that forces her to join the famous Dark Sky Starry Sect.

"What is that book ? Why does it bite me all the time ?"

Will her path lead her to become the librarian she wanted ? Or will her craving for knowledge be satiated by something more... Magical ?

 The day was perfectly ordinary. 
 Mr  Van was boring the class, the heat was making wiggly lines in the air and everybody was fidgeting in their sticky chairs waiting for the lunch bell to ring. The door and windows were open in the hopes a breeze would wander in. 
 Lucy Fang stared at the big clock over the door.  Lucy sat in the third seat in the third row of Mr Van's dull, stifling hot classroom....not a coincidence because three was Lucy's lucky number. She had been born on the third day of the third month. She imagined she was  born at 3 o'clock,  but being the ninth child born to Mrs.Fang,  her mother had little interest in noting such trivial things.
 The big, black hand of the clock ticked slowly upward toward the twelve. Three minutes. Two minutes. One minute. A burst of laughter all around her broke Lucy's concentration.  A quick look and she saw the cause; a big, orange cat had sauntered into the classroom and had perched himself on Mr Van's desk.
 Lucy loved cats more than anything in the world.  She thought she had probably been a cat in a previous life. She smiled her sweet, shy smile at the cat. The cat looked right at Lucy and meowed "Hello".  Excited,  Lucy began to vibrate. Her little hands started to flutter and she bounced in her chair. 
The lunch bell blared, but Lucy didn't hear it. She was no longer in the room.  Both Lucy and the cat had disappeared. 

 Georgie Becket  hated cats. He hated being called Georgie.  He hated vegetables and he hated school. But most of all, Georgie hated orange cats.
 The stupid, orange cat must have snuck in the apartment when his older brother, Greg, left for work. Greg always forgot to shut and lock the door. Georgie and Greg's mother was a nurse who worked straight nights at a senior's nursing home and Greg worked at McDonald's til midnight. Georgie liked being home alone because he found just about everything and everybody annoyed him.
 The stupid cat lay stretched out on the back of the worn, blue and pink floral sofa staring at him like Georgie was the one who didn't belong. Georgie swatted at the cat. The cat hissed and swatted back. Georgie pushed himself off the sofa and trudged angrily into the small kitchen. The cat followed.
 "Get lost" Georgie insisted.
The cat ignored the command and lept easily onto the table landing six inches from Georgie's face. The cat's yellowy green eyes stared. 
 "Grrrr" Georgie growled at the cat.
 It sounded like the cat sighed and suddenly Georgie felt lightheaded.  
 'What the...?" and just like that Georgie Becket disappeared. 
 
 "Rufus, Rufus, Rufus." The exasperation in his mother's voice was tinged with exhaustion.  Rufus had once again replaced the sugar for her coffee with salt. That bit never gets old, he thought.  
 "I'm sorry, mom." His smile told a different story.  
 "Never mind." Louise Knapp poured the ruined coffee down the drain. "We have to leave for your appointment anyway.  Do you have your stuff? I'll drop you at school when we are done."
"Right here." Rufus patted his red backpack.  He didn't add that  it also contained a rubber snake, fake vomit and two plastic severed thumbs. 
 The orthodontist smiled down into Rufus'  wide open mouth and slowly pulled out a plastic thumb. "It seems you missed something while flossing." Doctor and patient laughed.  Mrs. Knapp rolled her eyes.
 It was after 10 when Mrs. Knapp stopped the car in front of the school.  "Don't forget your backpack. Love you."  Rufus dodged his mother's kiss, jumped out of the car, and headed across the empty school yard. Nearing the entrance of the school, Rufus jerked to a stop when an orange cat lept from the bushes onto the bottom step. 
 A slow smile spread across his face. "Hello, Kitty." His hand slid into his backpack and came out wiggling a fake snake. If cats could look droll, this one did. Rufus moved the snake closer. The cat seemed to lift one brow.
Suddenly the cat pounced, latching onto the snake and before Rufus could react the orange cat, the rubber snake and a befuddled Rufus were gone.

 School was Ethan's happy place. He loved the heavy doors swinging inward, sleek floors that squeaked, overly bright lights in the hallways and classrooms. Rules upon rules and  schedules. A new pencil or blank sheet of paper were nirvana. Third period was his favourite class.   Ethan, first in the room, was surprised to see an orange feline lounging in the biology lab. Ethan assumed it had come looking for the mice that the teacher sometimes kept in cages, on the back counter for experiments.  
 Uninterested in the stray, Ethan turned and dropped his text book on the lab table. He perched solidly on a stool.
 With floating grace the orange feline moved around the room until it landed squarely on the open book. It started to groom it's fur. A long raspy tongue ran the length of the feline back leg.
 Ethan's natural curiosity kicked in. He tilted his head and studied the beast. A solitary person, Ethan had few friends and no pets. He had never been this close to an animal.
Trying to reason the feline's strange behavior Ethan hesitantly poked his index finger into the soft, orange fur. It seemed the cat smiled just before the pair disappeared. 









Teens find themselves scooped up in a bizarre plot.



Editer: Doom291

snake with orange ring around neck novel

Ring around The Roses

Legend of Savyrran

Asura's Path In Douluo Dalu

The Harvester

In Duoluo dalu with auxiliary system

World Of Game 1

Versatile Mage

Headed by a Snake

Universal Knowledge of the Dao

The Cat's Hive

People search snake with orange ring around neck also like: