It actually worked!

Ragnar was ecstatic. Even though this was probably the extent of what he could accomplish in this form, it opened up a lot of doors for him.

Not being able to use this form to its fullest didn’t seem such a bad decision anymore.

Nah, who was he kidding, it was such a waste.

Even though he could only use a small part of his ability from his human form when he was in this one, it didn’t mean it had to stay that way. As he grew in Rank and mastered his abilities, he was sure that he would be able to improve the extent to which he could achieve this.

He might be able to turn Ethereal with his real body one day!

Ragnar finally came back from his thoughts to what he had to do. Find a Shifted creature to test his abilities.

At least 10 minutes should have passed ever since he gained consciousness.

The fact that he was not disturbed even once until now even though his senses told him that he was within a network of caves that were filled with Shifted creatures, could only be attributed to his luck.

Or maybe, the Realm sent him to a secluded part of the network. He would like to believe in his luck.

Ragnar finally started to explore this serpentine cave.

He decided to go in the direction where the smell of this cave’s dwellers was stronger. Well, he only had two directions to choose from and he couldn’t tell which one would lead him out of this cave. He was not sure if he even wanted to leave this place, yet. So might as well.

His lustrous black body appeared in the crystal’s reflection as if pitch Black ink was thrown at his face. It devoured the rest of his body within an instant.

He had deactivated his invisibility for now since he had no use for it. Even though his essence might also be 5 times more than normal people or Shifted creatures because of his Primordial class, it definitely wasn’t endless. In fact, he could sense that it was being consumed at a rapid pace when he used invisibility.

He moved deeper and deeper into the cave. It twisted and turned like a coiled snake, but it also diverged at several turns, so, not a snake. The viridescent crystals seemed to be consistent throughout the cave as they appeared here and there giving the cave a dark glow. The stalactites also seemed like they were here to stay as they created several puddles of water that reflected the glow from the crystals.

His sleek body refused to get itself sullied as not even a speck of dirt or mud could attach itself to his body. Even after he walked over the water puddles, his fur remained completely dry as if water had taken the day off from his job.

Ragnar didn’t have to move for long before he finally felt another presence.

He knew that something was approaching from beyond the curve. He could see the end of the cave where it took a sharp turn so Ragnar was hidden from that creature.

The creature was making enough noise as it moved that even if Ragnar did not have his enhanced senses, he could have still heard it.

Cackling noises echoed through the walls along with splashes of water as it came closer and closer. A shadow made its presence known at the end of the cave.

Ragnar was going to use this chance to test his new abilities. If the creature turned out to be stronger than what he could deal with, he could always just run.

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He turned invisible, and became still.

He knew that his ability would allow him to remain undetected even if he moved around. But he decided to play it safe, at least until he figured out the extents of his ability.

He waited until the creature finally appeared in his vision.

Its black exoskeleton reflected the viridescent glow of the crystals. Giving it an aura like an evil god. It’s six legs, sharp like scythes, made the cackling noises as it moved. With mandibles for mouth, they clashed against each other, preparing to slash what came in their range. It’s two antennas swung left and right as it moved, sensing for any changes in its surroundings. It’s stinger, stuck to its abdomen, dripped a liquid, poison.

If Ragnar had to attribute it to something, then it would be an ant, just exponentially larger and more menacing.

Its beady eyes were looking straight at Ragnar from behind it’s exoskeleton. But it had no reaction, which was obvious since Ragnar was invisible.

The ant like creature moved fast and it wouldn’t take it long to reach the point where Ragnar was waiting. If Ragnar didn’t move then it would probably pass by him without ever noticing him. But he had other plans for it.

He finally had the opportunity to test his eyes. So, he didn’t waste much time in activating them after taking note of the kind of creature he was facing.

Ragnar did not feel any threat from this creature, he had honed his intuition enough to tell whether someone or something could threaten his life or not.

When he activated his eyes, he saw the colour drain from the world as it became black and white, as if sucked by his eyes. When his gaze landed on the ant like thing, he felt confuse. It shouldn’t have been possible to see what he was seeing.

The ant looked black and white similar to everything else around it. But there were a few differences here and there, like the flow of its essence, which was also visible to him, along with something else.

A black sphere of energy located near the abdomen of the creature, at least Ragnar assumed that to be its abdomen.

He could guess what it was and that was why he felt confused. It should be the Essence core of the creature, where all the essence is stored.

It shouldn’t have been possible to see it. Because, the Essence core wasn’t real, as in, it didn’t have a physical form.

It was only believed as a concept because humans felt their essence originate from a region in their abdomen whenever they used their essence.

But if you were to open up the abdomen of a human, you would not be able to find it.

When he saw it, a link finally clicked in his head, as if the final piece of a puzzle had fell into place. This only served to confuse him further. But it was accompanied by a rush of excitement at the prospects. He knew what was special about his Ethereal form now.

He was sure.

He could directly interact with the core of a creature. That was unexpected to say the least.

He could not only see what did not actually exist but he could even interact with it.

Ragnar pushed the confusion to the back of his head because he had the perfect subject to test his theories on and it had almost reached him.

Once the creature reached a few steps away from him, Ragnar’s body finally jumped into action. He literally leaped straight at the Ant that was close enough now that he could reach it in an instant.

Even when Ragnar was close enough to see the dirt stuck between its mandibles, it had still not shown any abnormalities, a testament to the potent of his invisibility.

Right when Ragnar’s claw should have swiped at its exoskeleton, it passed right through it, heading straight for the core.

Ragnar had turned Ethereal.

He went right through the creature appearing on the other side.

His Pitch-black body landed gracefully on the ground on the other side of the massive Ant.

He gazed at the claw he had used to swipe through the core. But there was nothing.

No remnants of the core. But this didn’t worry Ragnar. He was sure that it had worked. Because he had felt a glass ball shattering when his claw passed through the core.

He heard a thump as the Ant’s body lifelessly crashed into the ground. It was accompanied by a voice in his head.

“You have disposed of a Shifted Rogue of the Arcane Rank, Quaraxi Soldier.”

There were no symbols in his head this time.

A foreign energy rushed into his body making him invigorated as it convulsed around his abdomen. He had received the Essence charges from his first kill.

So, it was called a Quaraxi instead of Ant like creature.

He had also noticed an inconsistency in his ability. When his claw came in contact with the core, his invisibility came undone on its own. He could activate it again instantly but it was still not good.

It made it so that he could not kill someone and escape without ever being noticed or seen.

His Ethereal form had also deactivated 1 second after he had come into contact with the core, he didn’t deactivate it and it had also not been 5 seconds for sure.

This wasn’t a huge setback for him but it still irked him. To have such a flaw in an otherwise perfect ability. He at least had enough time to escape the body of his victim, so he wasn’t really worried about this.

But what if he wasn’t able to shatter the core in one strike?

He turned back and observed the state of the Quaraxi Soldier he just killed.