Style of the Soul Reaper

Four more weeks passed and Peter worked diligently spending his days following a strict routine. He would cultivate for several hours each day then head out to increase the size of his Shadow Legion, hunting magic beasts in the Enchanted Zone.

At the moment he had four tier 2's and 25 Tier 1 Magic beasts under his name. Surprisingly, even having all of them out at the same time, their mana consumption wasn't as high as he had expected but he knew that if he wanted to command a whole army of tens of thousands one day, he would need to be at a much higher cultivation rank. His mana reserves would need to increase a lot!

It also didn't take him long to reach the next stage in his cultivation as he had broken through to the 4th stage of the Novice Rank at a mind-boggling speed. With all the boosts he was getting in his cultivation speed, it would have been surprising if he wasn't progressing this fast. An average time period for progressing from the 3rd to the 4th Stage was around 3-4 months. Peter managed to cut down that time by almost a half!

Whilst Peter focused on increasing the numbers of his undying army, Noah would take around 2 hours each day, taking over Peter's body and running his fingers through the braille lines of the 'Style of the Soul Reaper' Martial Artbook.

The first technique was a movement technique, which intrigued both of the brothers to ravenously learn it. They made it urgent to learn the technique as it could be a game-changer in tough situations.

It was called the Flash Step.

This technique allowed someone to move at an extremely fast speed in a short distance, almost allowing them to teleport. The mana consumption of the technique was dependent on how far the person moved. Although the technique was amazing and could boost his speed and agility by miles, it proved too much stress on Peter's body.

Peter's body's muscles were not strong enough yet to withstand the stress of the technique's usage. Therefore, Noah simply decided to train Peter's body the analog way: Squats, Press-ups, Situps, etc.

Noah worked to condition Peter's body and increase the muscle mass so the stress on the muscles of using the technique could be withstood.

Boom! Boom!

Several explosions went off in the combat hall as the dark figures controlled by Ella, all shot flame ball spells at Peter's nimble body. Noah was in control, zigzagging around focusing on trying to use the flash step technique at the most suited time.

He used the shadow steps spell the most and paired it with his Ethereal arts second form to cut down several of them, simultaneously dodging their attacks.

The 2 brothers were both strong enough to contest and kill a Tier 2 magic beast now; they had managed to take turns and reached the 36th trial of the Novice Difficulty.

Low Tier 2 beasts were easy to kill and required minimal effort for both of them, mid Tier 2 beasts required their full power, and High Tier 2 Beasts required the help of one or two of Peter's shadow soldiers.

"Beginning Next trial. Trial #37 commencing now. Difficulty: Novice." Ella's voice spoke through the microphones.

This time a tall 2-meter knight in dark armor and with a long sword appeared in front of Noah. It stared down at Noah through his helmet with blue radiating eyes.

A large sound played out, signaling the start of the trial and the 2-meter tall large knight immediately swung its sword.

Noah gritted his teeth parrying the longsword with his own sword but the strength of the Knight was higher than his pushing him back slightly.

The Figure shrouded in an armor of darkness carried on pushing relentlessly, attacking with a combination of sword swings.

Noah used the Shadow Entrapment spell but only managed to stun his target for half a second as the knight would snap out of it straight away.

A deep cut formed on the Knight's chest as it tanked a sword strike of the 3rd form of the Ethereal Arts martial art. This didn't stop it from relentlessly charging in again.

'So Stubborn!' Noah kissed his teeth in frustration, focusing again on the manual he had read and how to execute the Flash step.

His body seemed to vanish before it reappeared behind the tall knight.

'Darkness Slash'

Noah combined the Darkness Slash with the final form of the Ethereal Arts and managed to swiftly cut off its head.

He breathed heavily feeling like the muscles in his calves would tear at any second.

'I should continue conditioning your body. I've definitely learned the first technique but it puts too much stress on your muscles. We should be able to use it consecutively without worry once we reach the Proficient Rank.' Noah analyzed.

'That's good. Keep working on the martial arts and I'll keep focusing on cultivating and growing our army. Anyways, my turn.' Peter said, switching control of his body with his brother.

'We also need to do some shopping. We're low on food pills. What do you think we should do? We have no way to get back to the city other than using the portal that the authorities have set up on the Enchanted Zone we entered this dungeon from, but I don't really want to go back there. Not yet at least.' Peter queried his brother.

At this rate, they'd have to resort to eating magical beast meat, which wasn't exactly good for humans due to all the harmful toxins in their body fluids and muscles.

'Ella should have some sort of food for sure. I doubt the Abyssal Tyrant would miss such an important thing.' Noah assured.

They both knew that there was no way for them to go back to the city, at least not yet. They were probably declared dead and they couldn't check the news from their bracelet as Friday's network signal was cut off in this dungeon for some reason. The Abyssal Tyrant must have created runes to mess with communication to the outside world, to force the people into participating in the trial.

"Ella," Peter called out.

"Yes, Master. How may I be of assistance?" The girl materialized in front of him, with a blank expression.

"Do we have any food storages? I'm running out of food supplies."

"All of the food that had been stocked up have long expired. However, we do have a special artifact that burns magical beast meat and strips it of its toxins." Ella replied monotonously.

'Damn! I've heard about those. Artifacts are special objects that have extreme value, either due to their unique properties or their magic features. This stove artifact must be worth millions of credits.' Noah calculated.

Peter immediately called Ella to bring the artifact in front of them; he hadn't had a proper meal in what felt like ages. He had been surviving on the food pills but their numbers had already dwindled.

"Master. I will have to prepare the stove and heat it up as it's been a long time since its activation. It should take around 15 minutes to warm it up etc."

"That's fine. I'm heading out; I'm bringing back the meatiest beast out there!" Peter exclaimed, licking his lips.

'Teleport: Enchanted Zone, 3.'

Peter vanished into a black smoke before reappearing in the shadows of a cave. This enchanted zone was 1 of the 3 zones that Peter was free to do whatever he wanted in. He had numbered the 4 zones so he could assign an incantation to each zone.

The first zone was where the Professor had taken them to on the trip. He managed to quickly place a magic circle in a dark tree hollow. The other 3 zones were unguarded by authorities so he set up magic circles all around the forests and different terrains.

The 2nd was an arctic landscape, snowing endlessly with extreme snow blowing every second. The beasts there were powerful and all above the 3rd Tier, making it off limits for Peter. The 3rd zone was a simple forest spanning several miles in diameter. It harbored many different species of beasts making it an ideal place to grow Peter's undead army.

The final zone was an extremely hot and arid land, harboring many beasts of the Earth, Flame and other unique elemental type beasts. The temperature was so boiling hot, lava spewed from holes in the ground as lava fissures.

Peter's goal was to clear all the zones but first he would begin with the 3rd zone. It was the perfect place for him to hone his skills and increase his battle experience. Unlike Noah, Peter was still new to fighting and was slowly improving everyday.

Peter smiled, leaping from tree to tree. This was truly an enjoyable period in his life. Only him and his brother, away from all the discrimination of society, away from his corrupt family and stuck up nobles. He could finally be free, gaining strength at a pace others would die for.