Surprise Attack

An hour later.

Grim arrived at the source of the fire.

There was a small pool of lava releasing extreme heat. In the middle was a stone size of a fist floating over the surface of the lava, and it was giving off an extremely yellow aura.

"That must be the source of everything."

'Water Blade'

He launched a water blade toward the stone in hopes of knocking the stone away from the lava. But, the blade turned into vapor midway.

"How about this?"

'Water Blade' x15

He stacked all the attacks causing the blade to form a half-sphere. Then, it advanced. But, the stacked attack evaporated as soon as it came in contact with the stone.

"Flying it is."

He hovered in front of the lava pool.

'Dash'

He disappeared from the spot and so did the stone. He was soaring with the stone in his hand.

Ouch!

Despite his advanced level mastery at the 'fire' element, he was burnt a bit by the stone. But, he didn't mind it.

"It was able to burn me even with my advanced mastery. Then, it'll be useful for further progress."

He healed the burnt wounds with 'regeneration', and the stone would burn again.

The cycle continued until his skin became fire-resistant.

***

Grim made his way to the clone.

He could see the piles of corpses. So, he disposed of them quickly and made around 30000 Evo.

Then, he went back to examining the stone.

"I feel like this is just the outer cover. Let's try breaking it."

'Vigor'

He wielded the glaive and strengthened his body by 65x. Then, he struck it.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Soon, the outer later cracked completely and revealed an extremely bright yellow gem the size of an egg.

Whooooooosssssssssh!

Soon, an extremely hot aura emanated from the gem causing everything within 100 meters including Grim to be blown away.

Hiss!

His entire skin on the front of his body had been burnt including the clothes.

"The rock contained something so overpowering? The aura must be 10x more intense than before."

"I must take this chance to absorb the aura."

He healed the injuries and made his way to the gem.

At first, he arrived 100 meters from the stone and started absorbing the aura. He felt like he was in an oven, but it was tolerable.

***

A week later.

He managed to advance to 90 meters from the stone.

There, the aura was 2x hotter than before and started burning his skin.

It could be said that the skin of a normal human burns at 72° C( 162° F). The skin of a cultivator with low-level mastery of 'fire' can endure 2x the temperature, 5x for major-level mastery, and 10x for advanced-level mastery.

So, you could imagine the heat.

It took him two weeks. But, his mastery of 'fire' improved as he absorbed the aura resulting in better fire resistance.

He advanced further confidently. Soon, he found out that the temperature increased by 50° C( 122° F) every meter he advanced further.

***

Two months later.

He had made it to the 80 meters from the stone. However, he was not satisfied.

"My mastery of the 'fire' has improved so much just at 80 meters. I'm sure my mastery can break through to the next level if I can reach the gem."

"But, it'll take years if not a decade and I haven't returned to the academy for so long. I should return."

He went to check on the clone.

He was greeted by dozens of mountains of corpses and the clone who was on the last breath. All the continuous battles had taken a toll on the clone.

After a few minutes, the clone took one final breath.

"Thank you for the help." He thanked the clone and burned the corpse.

"It feels kind of surreal to burn your own corpse."

Afterward, he sold the beast's corpse and earned 150,000 Evo. The clone had also earned him double the amount from the kills. But, he had yet to realize it.

"System Shop Open"

[Available Evo Point: 764,750]

[Ability 1: Propel - 100,000 Evo]

(Allows you to cruise underwater at the speed of 500 kmph (310 mph)

Usage: Four times a day, lasts 30 minutes)

[Ability 2: Aerial - 70,000 Evo]

(allows you to multiply your flying speed by 17 times)

Usage: Once a day, can last up to 30 seconds)

[Ability 3: Strive - 100,000 Evo]

(allows you to track a marked target within 100 km {62 mi} )

Usage: Twice a day, lasts for 2 hours.)

[Weekly ability refresh ticket available: 3]

Hmm.

'Aerial'

"Wait a minute. 17x flying speed? How the heck did I not see this?"

Grim started going through the flashbacks and remembered the criteria for the ability.

"It says fly. So, that's why I didn't bother with it before."

"Alright. System exchange 'Aerial'."

"The ability 'Aerial' has been purchased, and 70,000 Evo has been deducted from the host."

"Two similar abilities have been detected. Would you like to fuse 'dash' and 'aerial'?"

"Yes."

"The fusion had started."

...

...

...

"The abilities have been fused. 'Aeriel' - can boost speed by 20x - can be used twice a day - lasts for 2 minutes."

"The usage has been reduced to 2 times a day. But, it's still worth it."

Grim was satisfied with the fusion. So, he decided to buy the rest of the abilities too.

"System purchase 'Propel' and 'Strive'."

"The abilities 'Propel' and 'Strive' have been purchased."

"System has detected two similar abilities. Since one of the abilities is inferior, it will be fused automatically."

"The ability 'Strive' has absorbed 'slipstream'. 'Strive' - can track target within 110 km (68 mi) - can be used twice a day - lasts for 3 hours."

Soon, the ability-related information started flooding his brain.

He was done after a few minutes.

"Now, let's return."

***

The forbidden forest.

The silhouette came in front of the griffin that was stuck in the gravity field and released the skill.

'Release'

Huff! Huff!

The griffin was panting.

"Thank you supreme one." The griffin kneeled

"I hope you have learned your lesson. I have another mission for you."

Soon the silhouette gave a detailed explanation.

"The humans are expecting us to attack the 'Willow sect' gain. But we'll attack 'Spring Sect' as it's the only nearest-weak sect. Both of you will take part in the attack, and I won't tolerate any failure."

The silhouette left

"Yes, supreme one." Both griffins kneeled.

***

Five Days later, Spring Sect

Two guards were patrolling the vicinity.

Swish!

An icicle came toward one of the guards and killed him in an instant. Then, a lightning bolt killed another one.

Boom!

Soon, the gate imploded into thousand bits.

"An enemy attack."

One of the guards inside the sect managed to warn everyone.

Soon, everyone made their way into the scene. They were greeted by two griffins. One of them had icicles floating around it and another had lightning bolts.

Yao Zhou yelled. "Leave them to me, and help citizens and disciples evacuate."

"Yes, sect leader." All the elders and cultivators agreed in unison.

Yao Zhou headed toward the griffins.

***

Hoh!

"You are approaching us even when there are two of us." One of the griffins exclaimed.

Yao Zhou replied. "I'm the sect leader. So, it's given that I protect them."

The griffin responded. "Very well. We'll make your death painless."

'Ice Domain'

'Lightning Domain'

Both activated the domain covering Yao Zhou.

'Shade'

Yao Zhou disappeared from his original spot and appeared from one of the shadows that were out of the domain.

"Shadow element." said both griffins simultaneously.

'Flare'

One of the griffins launched an enormous fireball into the air lighting the entire place.

"Let's see how you escape now."

'Ice Domain'

'Lightning Domain'

Tch!

'Earth Spear'

Yao Zhou launched an earth spear in the opposite direction.

Heh.....

Both griffins were left speechless by his action.

Soon, they came back to their senses by the next scene.

Yao Zhou took advantage of the flare in the sky and created a shadow using an earth spear. Then, he disappeared into the shadow.

"Motherf...."

Both griffins were stunned and enraged.

***

The rest of the sect was plunged into chaos by the hordes of beasts.

Everyone was fighting for their life.

Among them were the disciples from the tournament.

Meng Zhou and Yuan Chang were on the vanguard, while the rest were on the backline.

They were helping citizens evacuate while making a retreat.

'Umbra Barrier'

'Solar Flash'

A group of beasts disintegrated in seconds.

"Damn! there is no end to them."

Meng Zhou and Yuan Chang were panting.

***

"So. You have yet to reach the advanced level in the 'shadow'."

The griffins were able to find out his limit.

"Very well. I'll show you the power of the peak-dominion realm."

'Ice Domain'x2

Both griffins activated the ice domain.

One of the domains stopped at 700 meters but another kept on expanding till it reached a kilometer.

Soon, the smaller domain started boosting the strength of the bigger domain.

Usually, the domains would start clashing if they came together. But, griffins were able to combine two same domains and boost their strength thanks to their innate ability.

Previously, snow would fall inside the domain. However, this time a blizzard started forming inside the domain freezing everything and everyone except the users.

"Damn!"

Even Yao Zhou was being pushed back.

'Lightning Domain'

Soon, a domain formed around him. He tried to counter the boosted domain, but the blizzard stopped the formation of lightning bolts within the domain.

Even his body was starting to corrode from the icy aura.

He was preparing to use his trump card. "I hope they have evacuated."

'Nimbus'

Soon, a storm cloud started forming above. The cloud spread to an area of 5 kilometers and stopped. The thunder started rumbling.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Lightning bolts as big as hands started raining in the area of the storm cloud.

"Shit. That guy is a lunatic. Save yourself."

The griffins cast all sorts of defensive skills.

***

The lightning bolt rained for 5 minutes.

The ground beneath the storm cloud was obliterated leaving 5-10 meters deep potholes.

Huff! Huff!

"That sure takes a toll on the body."

Yao Zhou emerged from one of the potholes.

Yao Zhou thought. "Maybe, I went overboard."

Shluk!

Suddenly, he felt something from behind and vomited blood.

Blurghhh!

"You are still alive?"

He turned back and saw a heavily injured griffin.

"I would have died too if not for my affinity with 'lightning'." replied the half-dead griffin.

"This is for my brethren."

The griffin stabbed another icicle.

Yao Zhou's consciousness started fading.

"So, this is it huh? Forgive me, kids. Your father won't be coming home this time."

Yao Zhou fell flat with a sad face.

Tch!

"We took a big loss. But, we succeeded in the mission."

The griffin ordered everyone to retreat and took its dead brethren.

[Yao Zhou's sacrifice saved the lives of 75% of the Spring Sect's citizens.]

[Evo points left: 494,750]