Aiden sat in the dark tree's embrace, leaning against the thick trunk of the tree. Dim sunlight peered over, the shadows were getting longer and longer. Soon it would be night, and the darkness would cover the forest, and the trees would hit harder and faster.
And he was waiting for that moment.
He adjusted his position, twisting his neck to peer at the fight unfolding nearby. The clash was happening just a stone's throw away, close enough to observe but far enough to avoid detection. Despite the other branch giving him a higher view, he chose the plain one, as the barbed branch was too thorny for his ass. From here, he could watch the cultivators from the dark realm and holy realm struggle to get through the dark forest.
While watching the fight, he munched on the White Roma Fruit. It was juicy and tender and reminded him of grapes from the Earth. The only bad thing was the stench coming out of the black trees, but he was almost got used to it. Someone said it correctly - if you live in filth for a long time, you will treat it as your home.
"Come on, use some skills," he muttered.
This was the first group he encountered, and it was quite peculiar. A big and bulky guy carried a metal weapon on his back and he was hacking the barbed branches with it. Ten people surrounded him, cushioning him from the other barbed branches. They got hit, stumbled back for a moment, and then jumped back up in the frenzy of taking down a single tree. This was a good method. If Aiden had cannon fodders like this, he would have done this too.
However, he wasn't satisfied with the outcome. The big guy wasn't using any skill, so Aiden wasn't getting any deconstruct prompt. The guy was too stingy with his skills and only used the metal weapon. Even the others were blocking the attacks with their bodies. They looked like frenzied crazy people to support this big guy.
"Wait, why don't I see any blood?" Aiden focused. The darkness blurred his vision, but when he focused, he could clearly. The support team wasn't bleeding. Barbed branch of the black tree left gashes of wounds on their bodies, but they didn't bleed.
Were they zombies?
Fuck! Even the big guy had two fangs coming out of his mouth.
Shaking his head, Aiden dropped from the tree and moved in another direction, searching for a human who could use some skills.
He had a terrain he could rely on, and he had a simple plan - to lure others in the dark forest and make them use skills so he could deconstruct and learn new skills. One of them should have some rare enough skill which would give him a good battle skill when deconstructed.
Soon he found another group from the holy realm in the fringe area of the dark forest. In the fringe area, the trees were packed long from each other so only one would attack at a time.
The leader of these guys used a light-based skill that scratched across the dark tree, cutting deep into it, but he was panting and the next whip of the tree sent him flying away.
System: Light Qi Attack detected. Do you want to deconstruct it?
Aiden clicked on no. The attack seemed weak, and the guy lost a lot of mana after using it. This was useless for him.
Snorting, he moved away, subduing trees as he rushed forward. After doing it for so many times, he had become proficient in this. With enough leeway, he could even move through the three-tree attack range without suffering an attack.
Soon, he found another group of two dark realm cultivators. One tall guy was sitting cross-legged while one short guy was fighting against the dark tree. He was using a sword and moving like wind, dodging the attack in the nick of time. Either his movement skill was phenomenal, or he knew the future attack.
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System: Dark Sense detected. Do you want to deconstruct it?
Yes.
System: You can choose one of the below skills.
Dark Perception:
Grade: High Tier Bronze Grade
Rarity: Uncommon
"To sense the shadows is to embrace the unknown, for in darkness lies both danger and opportunity."
The art of perceiving the unseen allows one to navigate treacherous territories with heightened awareness. This skill grants the user the ability to detect and interpret subtle changes in their dark surroundings.
80% chance to sense incoming attacks from darkness within a 10-meter radius. 20% chance to predict the nature and direction of attacks from darkness within a 20-meter radius.
Cost: 300 mana/150 qi for every activation in 24 hours.
Dark Detection:
Grade: Mid Tier Bronze Grade
Rarity: Uncommon
"In the absence of light, one must learn to see with more than just their eyes."
This skill attunes the user's senses to the subtle energies of darkness, allowing them to navigate and survive in lightless environments. It grants an intuitive understanding of dark spaces and the entities that dwell within them.
100% chance to detect living beings and objects within a 5-meter radius in complete darkness. 50% chance to identify the general nature (friend or foe) of detected entities within the same radius.
Cost: 300 mana/150 qi for every activation in 24 hours.
Dark Perception and Dark Detection. What an unusual skill.
Aiden rubbed his four days' stubble, letting the rough strands arouse his thoughts.
The two skills seemed very useful, but none of them were battle skill. He would have loved to get a battle skill, but he could only choose from what offered. Both were good, and he had a tough time to choose between one.
Dark Perception could allow him to detect attacks in the darkness, while Dark Detection would allow him to detect any object in the darkness. Dark Perception's radius was higher, while the Dark Detection had a 100% chance.
This was difficult. If he could learn both the skills, that would be awesome, but he could learn only one. If these two skills combined made the Dark Sense how good that skill would be?
"Dark Detection." Aiden made his choice.
Ancient information streamed into his mind, and he learned new things. The surrounding become more clear than before, and he could sense things he couldn't before. Like the subtle insects moving on the dark tree, which he hadn't seen before. However, whenever the insects moved from shadows to the last straw of light, they disappeared from his sense.
Unknown of his presence, the duo continued fighting with the tree, their advantage lessening.
"Spectral Sight."
System: The target has layer seven and layer eight Refinement Realm cultivation level. They have low mental and soul fortitude.
Sneering, Aiden tossed a ball of Mana Fire on the tree the duo fought. The tree suddenly stopped attacking and slept with its branches closed like arms.
The duo was stunned, and they looked around to find out something, but how could they see Aiden lurking on another tree branch in shadows?
One of the guy walked away to a tree parallel to their target, and once he reached in the attack range, the tree attacked. He quickly leaped back and avoided the attacks.
"Something is wrong here," he said to his tall partner.
"Let's be cautious." The tall one got up and they moved around, keeping their vigilance high. They moved in a circle around the first tree, and only after each tree attacked them back, they passed near from the sleeping tree.
It was a mistake.
Aiden tossed two quick Mana Fires on another two trees. He had already left the attack range of the previous tree, so he was safe.
The sleeping tree suddenly attacked, and it caught one of them unprepared. The barbed branch pierced through the taller one's heart, killing him right away.
The shorter one froze for a moment and then ran away, his body quivering, but how could Aiden let him away?
Aiden dropped in front of the guy with his body covered in fire and punched him with all his might.
The cultivator raised his arms to block his attack, but Aiden was too powerful for him and his fist broke his arms and caved in his chest.
A massive 400 number popped on his vision because of the difference in cultivation.
The short cultivator coughed blood, his eyes full of fear and rage. A thorny branch used the moment of despair to stab through his gut, draining a huge chunk of his life.
Aiden stomped on his chest, burying him in the ground and killing him. Blood and mangled flesh stuck to his shoe, which he cleaned on the clean part of the enemy's corpse.
"Corpse Bloom." Aiden cast his skill and obtained one corpse bloom, taking his count to 4. One more and he could try breaking through into the Foundation Realm.
System: Your essence energy has increase by 5%. Current count is 5%.
He suddenly sensed a danger from the side and leaped away, but he couldn't avoid the arrow that pierced through his ass.
Fuck!