‘Humph!’ Drake snorted and poured mana into his boots.

Shadow steps!

Drake moved like a shadow and dodged the demon centipede as it shot past him and crashed into the wall.

Taking this opportunity, Drake activated his ring again.

“Fire dragon claw!” he exclaimed, waving his hand. A dragon claw with four fingers, each ending with a sharp talon materialised out of thin air, enveloped in flames.

As soon it appeared, the claw flew towards the centipede exerting a large pressure. Those close to the attack dug their foot into the ground in order to not get pushed back by the attack’s aura. Shocked, everyone turned their heads to view the fire dragon claw speeding towards the demon centipede. If they were feeling this much pressure when the attack wasn’t even directed at them, they could only imagine what the centipede was going through right now.

The demon centipede wanted to dodge but the attack was too close already. The claw was upon it in an instant as it watched helplessly.

BBOOOMMMM!

The claw crashed against demon centipede and forced it further against the wall, creating a large crater. The demon centipede screeched in pain as the powerful flames began melting its armour, while also attacking its weaker underside.

Drake coughed as his mana was almost completely depleted. He quickly took out a couple of mana recovery pills and consumed them. His body produced mana rapidly and, within a few seconds, he was back to normal.

Drake opened his eyes and smiled. The demon centipede was dead and its corpse was being burnt to ashes. He estimated that due to its mutation, its strength should be close to that of a pseudo commander class demon.

‘I can defeat a pseudo commander class demon in one attack,’ Drake thought, satisfied. However, due to its large cost, Drake decided to not use it except in emergencies.

Shaking his head, Drake dissipated the flames and took the corpse into his storage pouch before turning and facing the others.

The Silver Crane Sect disciples were fighting two demon centipedes while Blaze, Farisa, and Sylvia were fighting another two. They had all seen Drake destroy the demon centipede, however, they didn’t have time to react as they were kept occupied by their battles.

Sylvia, on the other hand, decided to try out her own artifact.

“Wind dragon strike!” Sylvia exclaimed as she poured mana into her ring artifact and waved her hand. Three translucent streaks of wind escaped the ring and charged towards a demon centipede with incredible speed. The demon centipede barely turned its head and noticed bright green light filling its vision, before the attack pierced into its shell.

SSSCCCCREEEEECCCCHHHH!!!!

The demon screeched in pain

BOOM!

A large explosion resounded through the mines as the strike pierced directly through the centipede, slicing it into thirds. The force of the impact threw dust, rocks, and debris into the air, forcing the others to summon small barriers for protection. However, at this moment, they all only had one thought.

‘She has one too!?’

Similar to Drake, Sylvia was also surprised. That attack had used half of her mana. Using rank three artifacts was one thing, but the power of rank four artifacts was equal to that of a mage king. The difference between a mage king and even a grand mage was huge, let alone a warrior mage like her.

‘No wonder it requires so much mana,’ thought Sylvia, and decided not to use it except in emergencies as well.

Farisa was especially stunned. She had been accumulating treasures to take back to her sect but had only found at most, rank three artifacts. However, these two had managed to find rank four artifacts!? How did they do it?

“Sylvia, how did you-”

The other demon centipede fighting the duo decided to take advantage of this moment of distraction. It used its hundreds of legs to sprint, approaching Farisa with a wicked glee. Farisa was so shocked by Sylvia’s use of a rank four artifact that she didn’t notice the centipede in time.

‘Oh no!’ she screamed internally as the centipede closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye.

“Hallowed strike!” boomed a voice. A figure appeared above the demon centipede wielding a sword which released an icy aura. Light blue light burst from the sword and filled the room as the shadowy figure plunged.

Boom!

The figure collided with the centipede and slammed it into the ground. The scales of its shell close to the sword turned into ice and broke apart.

The demon centipede screamed in pain. It twisted its body and attacked the figure with its tail. However, the figure was much faster - when the tail was inches from its face, it vanished. The demon struck thin air and screeched in frustration.

Surprised, everyone looked around to see where the figure was.

However, Drake decided to use this moment of distraction to make his move.

Shadow steps!

Drake turned into a shadow and disappeared, before appearing above the wounded demon centipede. He poured mana into his sword, making it burn with fire and lightning.

“Take this!”

Drake sliced at the weakened demon centipede with all his might. The centipede raised its head, only to see its vision get filled with fire and lightning.

Boom!

Another explosion resounded through the underground mines as the attack crashed against the demon centipede. Experiencing agony unlike ever before, the demon centipede screeched - but was quickly silenced as the fire spread, and covered its entire body in an instant. Its weakened armour had no chance of surviving the attack.

Taking a step back, Drake eyed the last two demon centipedes warily. To his right, Drake spotted a demon centipede creeping towards Kurt, Ivan, Derald, and Blaze, while on the other side, the last demon centipede was eyeing Sylvia, Farisa, and the remaining two Silver Crane Sect disciples.

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Their mysterious helper was nowhere to be seen.

Drake wanted to look for him but decided to deal with these first. He poured mana into his boots and was about to activate shadow steps when he felt a hand on his back.

Startled, Drake jumped back and turned around, sword raised defensively.

“Wha-” Drake paused mid-sentence as he saw who it was.

A young man wearing white robes carrying the Myriad Sword Palace emblem stood before him. Drake’s scanned his figure and moved up to his face, when his eyes widened. The young man had emerald hair and ocean-blue eyes; eyes which were now slightly tearing up.

“Elwin…?” he whispered.

“Dra… Drake?” Elwin replied.

At this moment, the last two demon centipedes charged at the groups. However, Drake and Elwin didn’t even notice this as their attention was fully captured by each other.

Farisa had previously told Drake that Elwin was alive and in this inheritance. So Drake thought he’d meet him eventually and was mentally prepared. However, he never expected Elwin to show up so suddenly like this.

And as for Elwin?

He had believed that Drake was dead all this time. He had mourned the death of his father and siblings ever since leaving the Jain village. And now, seeing Drake standing before him, Elwin didn’t know what to think.

Was this a dream? It must be, right?

Battles raged on as the two brothers faced each other silently. By this point, Cain and Imogen also joined the battles, leaving them alone.

Drake was the first to break the silence.

“Elwin!” Drake exclaimed. He sheathed his sword and ran up to Elwin. Seeing him move, Elwin was brought back from his thoughts.

“Drake…” he sheathed his sword too and opened his arms as his little brother ran up to him.

Elwin embraced Drake tightly, the warmth of his body filling a void that he never knew existed. Tears welled up in Drake's eyes as he returned the embrace. All the grief, longing, death, and despair seemed to melt away in that moment.

“I can't believe it,” Elwin whispered, his voice croaking with a myriad of emotion. “You're really here!”

Drake chuckled, a sound filled with relief and joy. “Of course I am,” he replied, before looking up at Elwin. “I thought you were dead.”

They pulled apart, their eyes locked in a silent exchange. The world around them seemed to fade away as they simply stared at each other.

“What happened?” Elwin asked, his voice barely a whisper. “How did you survive?”

Drake sighed. “It's a long story,” he said, “But it’s not important. I'm here now, and that's all that matters."

Elwin nodded. There was a lot to catch up on but now wasn’t the time.

The two pulled away and their senses slowly returned to the present. Battles were still raging on either side but the demon centipedes were considerably weaker now.

“Let’s deal with them first,” said Elwin.

Drake nodded. He poured mana into his boots and activated shadow steps before charging to his left. Elwin went to the right.

For the next several minutes, their group of twelve fought against the demons. Without using their rank four artifacts, it was more difficult to deal with the mutated demon centipedes. However, with the combined strength of so many powerful cultivators, they soon managed to defeat them both.

The two groups jumped back from the corpses, gasping for breath. Some consumed pills to recover their strength, while others looked around cautiously to make sure no more demons were lying in wait. Once they were satisfied, they relaxed and started to recover their strength as well.

“Elwin! Cain! Imogen!” called a voice. A woman dressed in white and purple robes walked up to the trio.

“Farisa!” they exclaimed. They hadn’t been able to interact during the fight but now, they finally could.

The Myriad Sword Sect disciples had been split up ever since they entered the inheritance grounds. Even now, Corvus Fang and Alistair Lockwood were nowhere to be seen. While everyone believed Corvus would be okay, the same wasn’t true for the others. Seeing each other now, a sense of relief washed over them.

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” cried Imogen as she hugged Farisa. In response, she gently patted Imogen’s head.

“Me too,” she replied softly.

While the Myriad Sword Sect disciples, and Drake and Elwin all caught up, the rest finished recovering and walked up to them. Everyone introduced themselves to each other.

As always, Elwin and his party were surprised to see a dragon and dryad here, but Cain and Imogen were even more surprised to learn that Drake was Elwin’s brother, and he was alive.

After spending a few minutes catching up and getting to know each other, the group decided to split up the black iron ore. There was plenty to go around so everyone got a sizeable chunk and were very happy.

Soon, Sylvia began leading the group down the mines once again. The Silver Crane Sect disciples walked in front, followed by Sylvia, Blaze, and Farisa, while Drake was in the back, along with Elwin’s party.

“Brother! Now that you’re here, once we leave, you should come back with me to the Holy Kingdom and join the Myriad Sword Palace. We can finally be together again!”

Hearing his invitation, Farisa smiled. She had wanted to invite Drake earlier as well but was hesitant as she didn’t know Drake’s background and character. After all this time, she grew to trust Drake, and now that Elwin was inviting him, she wanted to take this opportunity to convince him as well.

“Indeed. With your talent, you would certainly be invited to become an inner sect disciple. You might even be accepted as a personal disciple by one of our elders! You’ll never have to worry about any resources again as our sect will provide you with everything that you’ll ever need.”

Drake didn’t reply. He turned forward and fell into deep thought.

If Drake had received this invitation when he had left the Jain village, he would have accepted it in a heartbeat. At the very least, he could have used their help to heal his mana core. However, he had already succeeded in doing that himself.

Moreover, in this process, he greatly improved his skill as an alchemist. The biggest problem that lone cultivators faced, access to resources, was not as big an issue for him. With his skill in alchemy, and all the rare demon materials and herbs in his possession right now, he could refine rank two and even rank three pills confidently, so he wouldn’t have a problem with acquiring pills for his cultivation; at least until he reached the shadow body or mage king realm, which was a long time away.

Additionally, with his ability to easily summon artifacts, obtaining them would also not be a problem.

The main things he lacked access to were martial techniques and spirit summons. However, it was unlikely that, once he joined the sect, they would instantly give him access to all their martial techniques and spirit summons easily. He would likely have to earn them by working and doing missions for the sect, which would be time-consuming.

Beyond that, as a lone cultivator, he had the freedom to do whatever he wanted - cultivate whatever he wanted, practice alchemy, engraving, or anything else.

He could also more easily hide his identity as a reincarnator.

If he joined a sect, people would be curious about his ability to summon artifacts easily - which he wouldn’t be able to explain.

Considering all of that, Drake decided that joining the Myriad Sword Palace, or any sect, would not be in his best interest right now.

Drake shook his head. “Thanks for the invitation, but I’m not interested right now.”

“I… see…” Farisa sighed and turned back. An ordinary lone cultivator would have been delighted at the opportunity to join as an inner sect disciple to a powerful sect, but it seemed that Drake was different.

Elwin was also depressed, but decided to not press Drake further.

At this moment, Sylvia spoke loudly. “I’ve found it!”

“Found what?” Kurt asked, confused.

“The inheritance of this place - it’s on the bottom floor.”

“Oh, is that so? Then let’s get going!”

Sylvia led the group down the mines.

During this time, they managed to pick up some more black iron ore as well. While everyone immediately placed the ores into their storage pouch, Drake held a small piece in his hand. As he walked forward with the group, he poured his mana into the black iron ore and studied its structure. Given its similarity to iron, it wouldn’t take long for him to decipher, and learn to summon it.

Soon, they reached the bottom.

The last floor was a large room with three passageways branching off in different directions on the opposite side. As soon as the group entered the centre, a mysterious voice bellowed through the room.

“Haunted by echoes of deathly cries,

Warriors arrive with weary eyes.

Now a choice unfolds, a fate to decree,

Three paths diverge, where destiny will be.

A challenge awaits, a choice to make.

Certain death, or a crueller fate.

But worry not, for there is a way,

Through the path of treasure, you must haste.

A wise choice, must be made in time,

Else face the darkness of the mines!”

…

Meanwhile, outside the mines, in the inheritance grounds.

A young man dressed in black and white armour was moving rapidly through the plains. Next to him was a man dressed in white robes, and three lone cultivators.

They were all heading towards the mines.