The group reached the tallest dune without any trouble. Zyrus was surprised that there weren’t any flying monsters, but it was a good thing for them.
He racked his brain to come up with the most effective plan. Killing either the sandworms or the scorpions wasn’t a big deal, but what concerned him was the unknown third party.
‘Looks like I’ll have to rustle the bushes to lure out the snake…’
But before that, he had to make sure that he wouldn’t be eaten once the snake did come out.
“Zirnitra, monitor the scorpions and notify me if the plague is working on them. If it's not then take a few of the infected corpses and throw them to the sandworms,”
“Understood, My liege. But may I ask why you’re not dealing with both at the same time?”
“It would do us no good if they teamed up. Although it’s unlikely, we can’t be too sure. It’s better if they fight among themselves and kill one another. All I need are their corpses,”
Zirnitra nodded in understanding and flew off to the horizon. Zyrus didn’t quite get the chance to observe the ghoul’s skills in the battle, so he decided to do that now.
He sparred with both it and Elsid to further consolidate his strength. He had everything figured out except for the crux of the matter – the skill he was creating using the martial arts manual.
‘I need more time to experiment….’
Thankfully, he had enough time to spare in this mission. He was sure that he’d be 70% done once he fought the next battle.
Jörmungandr’s words on the realm of order had given him an inspiration to create the skill. Void Body Refinement Technique was divided into many minor and major levels. To start off, the martial artists refined their bones, flesh, and skin to improve their overall physical prowess. Zyrus didn’t need to work on this as his Sylvarix bloodline had already done the job.
Next was the unfamiliar territory. They used the spiritual qi to temper their meridians and opened their various acupoints. What followed after that was the infusion of void laws to expand the space within those acupoints and their dantian to store spiritual qi.
So long story short, they increased the space. or rather, 'Void' within their body to store the spiritual qi. Those in the Kasa realm could store as much energy as a cold fusion reactor. Those who reached the Raya realm were even more monstrous.
There was even a method that allowed one to refine an entire star’s energy and store it inside the void space. But while all of it looked powerful, this wasn’t what Zyrus was familiar with.
‘One day I’ll have to face that form of void, but not right now,’
His thoughts once again wandered off to the realm of order. The range of 10^26 to 10^-35 meters. He was more familiar with the smaller limit due to Earth’s civilization.
Things like quarks and quantum entanglement were being researched even on the arc of Noah. It was a pity that they weren’t any closer to it than they were a thousand years ago. The only thing that changed were their priorities.
Pursuit of science was a common hobby of everyone. Zyrus was no exception as he dabbled in anything that caught his eye. He didn’t pay much thought to it before regression, but ever since he went back to earth for the first time, he was learning more from the cube whenever he had time to spare.
Back to the matter at hand, the most difficult part for him was to locate the so-called meridians and acupoints. He was inherently different from everyone as the sole living Sylvarix.
‘It was fortunate that my talent made up for it,’
It didn’t matter whether he knew the acupoints and meridians. Devour used cosmic energy to improve his physical prowess, so he just had to observe and copy its method. With his high intelligence it wasn’t difficult to see what was happening within his own body.
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This was also why he needed to fight while making the skill. Just gathering energy wasn’t enough, he had to learn about how to release it as well. In the past few months he had gotten a hang on both of them. Now, he was at the final juncture – how to use the void laws to solidify his skill.
Zyrus drew on the sand with his claws as he imagined the layout of his mana circuit. Or rather, the mana circuit he was going to use. It was an extremely risky maneuver for any mage to mess with their mana circuits. No one apart from the arcanists survived the attempt.
‘Whew…It’s much more difficult than before,’
The vortex formations he used to handle his mana were precisely related to his modified mana circuit. He used vortex to compress and store his mana into tiny whirlpools, while the martial artists expanded the overall storage space of the body. Both had a good synergy from the get-go.
But he wasn’t satisfied with that. He knew that the empty space wasn’t devoid of everything.
‘According to quantum mechanics, even the vacuum isn’t really empty,’
It was said that virtual particles pop in and out of existence in a vacuum, and that was why it looked empty. There were many experiments and theories on the subject, but what he needed was just a general direction.
Just as he was making final adjustments, he heard Zirnitra’s voice from afar.
“My liege, the scorpions have a rather…unique funeral. They ate the departed to make them a part of themselves,”
“Hoh, their leader must be well sent off then,”
“Indeed. Pretty much everyone is under the effect of the plague. It’s a pity that none are dead or even ill due to their high resistance,”
“Actually, it’s quite the opposite,” Zyrus chuckled and jumped down from the dune. The theory portion was almost done, so it would be time to create his skill once he went back to Streit Bastion.
“…You aimed to empower them?” Elsid's voice sounded from beside him.
“I wouldn’t use that word, but I did intend to make them stronger,”
Zyrus didn’t explain further and jumped on the back of Zirnitra.
Some things were better seen than heard.
…
One month later, on the northern side of the desert.
*Hissssss*
*Krrrerk*
A gruesome fight was taking place between the sandworms, the scorpions, and Zyrus’s summons. Well, his summons were more like flies that buzzed around the large monsters, but the key here was that both sides were going all out.
“So this was your goal…” Zirnitra mumbled as he observed the slaughter down below.
“Splendid, isn’t it?”
“Guuooooo!” the ghoul was even more excited. It was, after all, one of the main perpetrators of this disaster.
Everything started when the scorpions ‘found’ the ghoul’s hideout. It was filled with the corpses of sandworms which were akin to feast in the scorpions’ eyes. Just when they were about to kill the ghoul, it persuaded them to spare its life in exchange for information on more such hideouts.
If it was the other way around then the sandworms would have swallowed the ghoul before anything else. But the scorpions were somewhat intelligent – which wasn’t necessarily the best thing.
The ghoul led them to more and more hideouts. The scorpions stuffed themselves with poisoned corpses without facing any issues, but unbeknownst to them, their resistance was getting weaker with every meal.
It was after a week when they first 'encountered' a group of sandworms when they were enjoying their feast. They were greatly outnumbered which led to severe causalities, and such encounters became more and more frequent as the days passed by.
They were the only two races that existed in the desert, so apart from consuming mana they ate one another to sustain their lives. This equilibrium was broken when Zyrus killed sandworms and fed their poisonous corpses to the scorpions. Not only did it reduce their resistance, but it also increased their poisonous abilities since they now carried the plague created by his bloodline.
It wasn’t long before both sides entered a frenzied slaughterfest. It was one thing if their leaders were alive, but Zyrus killed them without giving them the opportunity to create a cohesive pack. A whole month of kill-eat-sleep cycle had made them no better than mindless beasts.
“Guoooo,”
“No, we’re not going there yet,” Zyrus calmed down the overly excited zombie and raised his vigilance. It wasn’t that difficult to destroy entire species with brains alone. What he focused on was the fact that he hadn’t found a single trace of the third race that Elsid mentioned.
‘Do they not care about them, or perhaps…’
“Tch…tch…tch…look how you’ve ruined all the food.”
A bored voice resounded from the sky as if to prove his thoughts. Zyrus followed the sound, and that sight he saw tensed his muscles.
A mountain-like figure was hovering above the battlefield. What made him alert was the fact that it was eating what looked like a skewered bird.
He was sure that there was no birdlike creature as far as the boundary of this zone. He couldn’t get past this area, but that didn’t mean that those on the other side couldn’t intrude.
Everything made sense once he looked at the giant’s attire and its bored expression.
‘Looks like I’ve invaded someone’s ranch,’
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