Almost an hour had passed since the start of the war, and its conclusion was nearing. There were three more accidental breakthroughs during it, and all of the unlucky goblins ended up being brutally killed by the murder mushrooms. None of the newly advanced tier-6 hobgoblins or goblin shamans stood any chance against the catillo fungi, because the invisible soul attacks were crippling them thoroughly until the vicious roots took their lives.

Every time a giant wooden stake rose from the ground, the commoner goblins cheered and threw themselves to the enemy with zeal. Even the fact that one of the victims belonged to their faction didn’t change their attitude. They were fighting a holy war alongside their god. Nothing else mattered.

Yet, despite their high morals and the numbers that matched the enemy, by the time they reduced the numbers of the ruler faction to fifty, there were only a few of them left.

And that was the time the third party joined the fun.

Ethan appeared behind a floating shaman, who was boosting the stats of a large group, and slashed its throat with both of his daggers. Activating the [Overcharge], he swung the Devi in the air and [Blink]ed in front of another shaman, instantly cutting its head off.

An ice column appeared on the ground and carried Fraeya to the lowest balcony of the tower. Cladded in her ice armor, she jumped in the middle of the three shamans and started chopping the enemy with her double-bladed staff. There was nothing excessive in her movements. The planned moves were just enough to take a life and switch to the next one without losing any time. Her style was actually resembling Ethan’s in many ways.

As they ambushed the shamans swiftly, the rest of the group made an appearance inside the courtyard. Not a pleasant place, mind you. Everywhere was full of bodies, the walls of the courtyard were dyed in blood, and the smell of the burning flesh was enough to make anyone grimace.

In this hell-like environment, the kings weren’t the ruler of the towers, but Beet’s wendigo shades. Among the thousands of corpses, the shades were able to heal themselves in an instant and resume their carnage unceasingly. Against these savage immortals, many goblins took flight in a panic, but a shower of [Ring of Fire]s welcomed them, piercing through their bodies and blazing them afterward.

An hour-long battle had left all the goblins haggard, adding to the terror that the third party unleashed at once, it didn’t take long until there were no goblins left alive. The one who died last was actually the boss of this tower. Ethan killed it personally and noticed a crown that appeared next to its body, which wasn’t there in the first place.

Did it just drop a fucking loot? He took a few steps forward with an odd expression and grabbed the crown. It was black as the abyss itself, and while there wasn’t any mana coming from it, it was radiating some kind of solemn pressure around it. He inspected the ominous-looking object, but couldn’t figure out its use. Eventually, curiosity got over him and he wore it on his head. A shiver ran down his spine as he recalled the same feeling that he’d felt when he wore his cloak for the first time.

‘’Whoa! What was that?’’ Liam asked, walking toward Ethan along with the others.

‘’W-Where did it go?’’ Fraeya inquired, looking at him with narrowed eyes.

‘’What do you mean?’’ he asked back and tried to feel the crown with his hand, but his hand passed over his head. His eyes widened as he touched his head, finding nothing but his hair.

‘’I think Beet figured it out,’’ Vivian voiced as she stared at Beet, perplexed.

Everyone turned at the little terror who was next to Ethan, scratching the ground with his scythe. More accurately, he was trying to touch Ethan’s shadow which was wearing a mighty-looking crown.

‘’Holy shit! That’s so cool!’’ Liam cried. ‘’What does it do?’’

Ethan stared at his shadow with an amused smile. No matter how many times he tried to block the crown’s shadow with his hand, it was futile. It was just there, immovable and untouchable. He turned to face Liam with a smirk. ‘’Do you mean other than increasing my talent for the shadow element? Let me show you.’’

‘’In my domain,’’ Ethan’s voice sounded from Liam’s shadow despite him not moving his lips and continued from everyone’s shadow simultaneously, ‘’I can now speak with any living being through their shadows.’’

The others jumped in fright, looking left and right, but Ethan didn’t have much time to enjoy his prank’s fruit. Because just as he used this ability, he discovered the connection between all the shadows. The connection he had been desperately searching to advance his [Shadow Spike]. Thrilled by the development, he tried to focus on it, but the concept was becoming blurry.

Closing his eyes, he sat on the ground in a lotus position as his brows furrowed in concentration. He ignored everything happening outside and tried to grasp the understanding, but the more he tried the more distant it became. Frustration started to build up in him as he did everything at his disposal not to let go. Yet, not only was he failing terribly, but he was also rapidly losing the comprehension he’d already attained until he remembered the conversation he had with Ani from long ago. A talk about Wu Wei.

‘’I think I’ll disband The Dominion,’’ Ethan said as he walked through the thick vegetation of the lush forest. There was no one else but him, ambling at a steady pace with a wooden stick to support himself.

‘’If that’s what you want,’’ Ani replied softly.

He lightly knitted his brows. ‘’But I don’t know what I’ll do afterward.’’

‘’Maybe you should try to change your perspective.’’

‘’How so?’’

‘’Among all the things you could’ve pursued, you’ve chosen one of the most challenging. One that can't be achieved by striving for it. If you’re really genuine about your search for happiness, you should leave your old habits behind and ask the questions you normally wouldn’t. Such as, do you have to do something?’’

Ethan stepped on the bushes carefully and bent low to avoid the branches of the trees as he passed. Treading an untraveled path in a forest was demanding but often rewarding because life was kind enough to never demand something without a return. ‘’Elaborate, please.’’

‘’Wu Wei, a concept of Taoism, is often misunderstood as not doing anything or being passive. Whereas it actually means not forcing. The art of affecting the outcome by not forcing is mentioned in many other cultures as well. Upadana of the Buddhists or Stoicism of the ancient Greeks has many similar aspects in them.’’

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Ethan listened to Ani with attention while resuming his journey without a pause. A small rocky hill blocked his path. He tied his stick to his back and started climbing. As he listened and pondered, he let his body do the work. He knew his body worked the best when it wasn’t interrupted by the thoughts of its actions.

‘’There is a saying that resonates with these schools of thought; Life is the dancer and you’re the dance. You see, the dance doesn’t do anything. It doesn’t try. It doesn’t force. It just exists. Only when you stop playing the dancer and become the dance, life will start following your tune.’’

In no time, he was at the top, standing at the edge of a cliff. What welcomed him was the breathtaking scenery, the brisk smell of the ocean, and the rumblings of the giant waves. The cliffs were in the shape of a semicircle, and its walls were illuminated by the sunrise. Gazing at the sun that was peeking at the vast ocean from the horizon, ‘’Wu Wei,’’ he murmured. ‘’I like it.’’

Ethan let go of his desperate attempts at once. A feeling of freedom washed over him as he got rid of his own chains which echoed through the shadows. He felt like the shadows all around were cheering happily, and the familiarity he was feeling started to grow once again.

The understanding was coming to him like a tide, but other than watching like a bystander and enjoying the process, he did nothing else. He observed the shadows and their way in fascination. It was like the secrets of the universe were revealing themselves one after another, and among these countless treasures, he held no desire, no expectations, and no judgment. Then, at the peak of the realization, he vaguely perceived a question, coming from the shadows, ‘’So? What kind of a dance are you?’’

Ethan’s smile grew involuntary as he created his skill.

‘DING! You have advanced [Shadow Spike] to rank 2.’

The next moment, his gleaming eyes shot open, and he jumped to his feet. Throwing his fists into the air, he shouted, ‘’Fuck yeah! I’m coming tier-5!’’

‘’No, you fucking don’t!’’ Liam’s voice followed, startling him.

Ethan turned to look at others and found them all gathered around him, sitting next to a small pile of artifacts. It seemed that some time had passed but not too much. His gaze locked with Liam’s as he asked hesitantly, ‘’W-Why?’’

Liam rolled his eyes. ‘’You would ruin your foundation by mixing void and shadow. It might be still possible to ascend, but your journey to the peak would be over.’’

‘’I-Is that a thing?’’ he asked, taken aback. ‘’Isn’t it better to have some variety? Why didn’t anyone tell me about this?’’

‘’Because it’s not something well known,’’ Vivian said. She was the only one who wasn’t surprised by Liam’s statement. ‘’You can have all the variety you want, but if you choose more than a single element for your base skills, your comprehension will never reach the zenith of those elements.’’

‘’Base skills? The skills I use to advance in tiers?’’

Liam nodded. ‘’Yes. Every time you expand your soul, you gain familiarity with the element of the skill that helped you. Your soul itself starts to carry a part of the element’s essence. Even if you can’t advance your [Fabric Tear], you must find different skills that are somehow related to void. Time, space, gravity, it could be anything like that, but not something like shadow.’’

Ethan’s shoulders dropped slightly. ‘’Well. I’m sure I can figure something out. There is still time.’’

Vivian rose to her feet and patted his shoulder, suppressing her smile. ‘’I’m sure you can, and it’s okay to be sad after finding a priceless artifact and advancing your skill to rank 2. I, personally, prefer crying on such occasions.’’

That made him chuckle and also reminded the artifacts lying on the ground. ‘’It seems like you guys collected the loot. Anything good?’’

‘’Nothing better than the crown, but there is still a whole city waiting for us to search,’’ Carl said, his voice brimming with hope.

‘’I wouldn’t expect too much,’’ Vivian said. ‘’Those goblins were using these artifacts as a symbol of authority, I doubt they missed anything.’’

Fraeya frowned. ‘’But it can’t be that these are all the artifacts left from Anpu, right?’’

‘’Are you kidding?’’ Vivian snarked, shaking her head. ‘’Other than the crown, everything else we’ve found is nothing but trash for Anpu. Even Carl's sword probably belonged to some kind of troop commander. This city must have been scoured thoroughly long before, and these are what’s left. I’m suspecting that the crown had once belonged to the crown prince, but it’s not surprising they'd missed that one. Who knows how many shadows it traveled through until now?’’

‘’One man's trash is another man's treasure,’’ Ethan commented, not bothered by the implications. ‘’As Hayley said before, we’ve profited immensely. Even the broken artifacts are probably worth quite some mana stones. And the city is not going anywhere. It’s time to celebrate and share everything among us.’’

‘’That’s more like it!’’ Liam said and clapped his hands, standing up.

Carl started smiling as he joined him. ‘’Right? Who cares about the troop commanders? I’m a caravan guard for fuck sake.’’

Everyone laughed and started packing up merrily. The top floor of the tower was a good place to celebrate with its scenery, but they all had enough of the black stone towers. This time, they chose the city center. They placed Ethan’s large table next to the huge pond with an artificial waterfall, put all the artifacts in the middle of it, and surrounded them with all kinds of food and alcohol.

Other than the broken artifacts, there were 10 accessories that gave stats and 5 items with different abilities. Their first loot, the boots with an ability similar to rank 2 [Wind Steps], thanks to her big contribution at the last battle, went to Vivian. The sword, which could gather the essence of its prey bit by bit and unleash it as a green light, much to his delight, went to Carl. The crown, which Ethan had no intention to share whatsoever, went to him.

That left a crimson cape with the ability to harden itself, to the point of blocking the Carl's sword’s attack without a dent, a wrist protector that gives 30 Vitality stats and stores another 30 stats worth of life essence which can be used once a day without affecting the health potions, and a red orb that no one had any idea about its use.

Liam picked the cape and Fraeya chose the wrist protector. Along with Hayley, they also got one jewel each. The rest of the seven jewels went to Ethan and Beet. Four of them were Beet’s share, but unfortunately, these artifacts weren't able to shape themselves to fit him.

Ethan found it amazing the spatial necklace that the sage gifted Beet was more functional than these ancient artifacts while feeling sad for his little buddy. Regardless, he planned to sell the jewels in Mirasatra and buy something good for Beet. Or maybe I’ll keep them for the future, and instead use the money that’ll come from the dragon fossil. With this kind of wealth, selling these jewels would be a waste.

‘’What about the broken artifacts?’’ Liam asked, playing with his new cape.

‘’I think the contributions and the rewards match pretty well so far. Only Vivian got the short stick. So, she gets half of it and we’ll share the rest equally. How about it?’’ Ethan proposed, and everyone agreed readily, leaving him speechless. Looking at the content faces around the table, he chuckled wryly. ‘’Seriously, not even a single complaint? Say what’s on your mind.’’

‘’It would be extremely hard to find this place without her, not to mention those illusions that saved us much trouble,’’ Liam said. ‘’I’m cool with it.’’

Ethan stared at him oddly. ‘’It’s not just that. I pretty much decided on everything. Why is no one else stating an opinion?’’

‘’That’s because your judgment is close enough,’’ Fraeya said, gesturing to the city with her hand. ‘’And all we’ve accomplished here would be impossible without you. Even if you’d pocketed more than you deserve, no one would bat an eye.’’

Ethan shook his head with a smile. ‘’I really want to argue against that logic, but whatever. Since everyone is happy and we all got what we want,’’ he said and stood up, raising his cup. ‘’A toast! To the lovely weirdos, I found in the middle of Dead Plains!’’

Everyone got up with their cups, silly smiles tugging at their lips. ‘’To the weirdos!’’

‘’Ah! Ethan, I forgot to ask,’’ Vivian said after drinking her wine, gaping. ‘’What did you get for that shadow skill?’’

Ethan opened his mouth and closed it again. Noticing Beet’s alerted posture, he followed his gaze and gave a long, frustrated sigh. ‘’It seems I’ll demonstrate it soon enough.’’

A group of 30 or so was approaching from afar, being led by Joey.