Jonathan and Edgar had tried to take other people to the realm of Tartarus with them, but they had discovered that only two people could go at one time. Even worse, it seemed that both men’s mana signatures were keyed to the token, which meant that they were the only ones who could go, no matter the configuration.
They had tried to bring Eva, but she was unable to enter the realm. It was annoying that this had not been written on the token, but perhaps it was designed to transport people more powerful than Jonathan, and the only reason Edgar was able to come along for the ride was because there was excess energy. It was only a theory on Jonathan’s part, but his theories had the intriguing habit of often coming true. That was probably an effect of his high intelligence, but it could have been just pure luck as well.
Luck seemed to be on his side in any case, as he had survived many encounters that should have been fatal. As they entered the cave, Jonathan pulled out the token, and Edgar clasped it securely. A moment later, the magic of the token whisked them away, transporting them to their last location in Tartarus.
They had explored the wide basin that the watchtower had been located in, finding a host of monsters to hone their skills on. However, the nearby Uthraki village had been mostly ignored, given the danger of the settlement. It only had about a hundred residents, but all of them were powerful warriors in their own right, and it would be far too difficult for them to defeat the Uthraki all in one go. They would either have to draw them out one by one, or wait until they were stronger.
However, the various creatures of this region had grown to know them, and their danger, and it was hard to find any quarries around these parts. The only monsters that remained easy to find were ones that were near the peak of Tier 2, which were almost impossible to fight.
Although each man had strength that eclipsed the lower level of the dungeon, some of the monsters were elites as well, and there were even some boss variants. In general, such monsters were stronger than their normal species variants, but while in the Ash Heaps, they appeared as separate creatures entirely, here there was a chance for a normal monster to be replaced by a stronger type.
An elite monster was generally 1.25 times stronger than a normal monster of the same level, and a boss was even more powerful than that. Neither of them had tested the bosses yet, but it was possible that they were almost twice as powerful as their normal counterparts.
As they trudged across the cooled rock of the world, they tried to find a suitable enemy for them to test their skills against. There was nothing in range that they could fight, as the nearest monster was one of the gigantic creatures that was nearly Tier 3. Instead, Jonathan made a snap decision. It was time to probe the depths of the Uthraki villages for the first time. If they were able to lure a few out of the village, then everything would go a lot smoother.
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“What do you think about this, Edgar? We can attack the village, and draw a few guards away with us,” Jonathan said as they ran towards the site of the nearest village. It was still over a dozen miles away though.
“That would be quite risky, but I can see it working. We need another source of essence in any case. There isn't anything else to fight around here.”
“That’s what I was thinking. So you’re down for it then?” Edgar nodded in response, and he cast his movement enhancing skill, allowing them to run at faster paces than before.
They made good time, and they reached the village a few minutes later, stopping to hide behind a small hill. The village was small, but bustled with activity, with villagers moving around the settlement, carrying various items or tending to their flying mounts. All of them seemed to have one of the pterodon mounts, and all of them were over level 150.
It seemed that there were no children, only fully grown Uthraki. Jonathan briefly wondered how they bred. Maybe they came out fully formed? He had no idea, but the System had done stranger things before. In any case, there would be no moral qualms about killing children at least. Jonathan wasn't sure if he could have gone through with that, even though they were basically monsters, and all out to kill him.
He had killed baby monsters before, but that was different, as those creatures possessed no intelligence, and were simply killers. However, this still made his job easier.
As a few of the Uthraki walked out of the village, Jonathan signaled for Edgar to get ready. When the villagers headed beyond the line of sight of the village, both men pounced. The villagers whirled around, their spears at the ready, but it was too late. Jonathan weaved around a quick strike, and drove his fist into the nearest one’s stomach, knocking them back a few steps.
As the other two targeted him, Edgar sent a barrage of wind bolts, made more powerful by his increased level, into the fallen villager. Attacks that would previously have only left scratches now left deep wounds that bled ferociously.
As Jonathan fought, his Void mastery showed its worth. He had brought it up to 9 percent through training, and as a result it was more powerful and easier to use than before. The purple power of the Void came to him like it was an extension of his body now, rather than simply a tool that he used. Some of that was due to his True Affinity for the element, but the other part was due to simple mastery. He had fought and bled for his knowledge of the Void, and now that he was taking the tiniest of steps onto the near infinite path of his element, he was able to gain the perspective of how far he had to go.
Reaching one hundred percent mastery would not just be the fulfillment of some arbitrary number. Rather, it would show that he had gained the fullest comprehension of that element possible. Not only would he be able to manipulate it perfectly, in a way, he would be the Void itself.