When Draven opened his eyes, his entire body was glowing a faint red from the sudden infusion of four different intents into his system.
Behind him, his aura suddenly took on a tangible form. It manifested like a white mist and transformed into a giant humanoid beast sitting cross-legged, mirroring his own posture. The beast had the head of a lion, a muscular body that looked as though it were carved from copper, and sharp nails like daggers. A golden mane swept gently down its face, lending it a majestic, kingly authority. Tribal tattoos adorned its body, and a beast skin was wrapped around its waist, reaching its knees.
Just sitting silently behind Draven, it emitted a palpable aura that jolted Alexandria, who had fallen asleep, back into wakefulness.
Draven noticed the movement and turned to her. The humanoid True Mountain King behind him repeated his motion like a shadow.
For a moment, Alexandria felt as though she was locked in place by the stare of an undisputed predator. It was a type of fear that made all her senses go weak, like a helpless baby deer facing a lion. Even though Draven hadn't used any intent to pressure her, it was just his aura, just his presence.
Seeing her frozen appearance, Draven came back to his senses and recalled his aura back into his body.
"Sorry about that. I just had a breakthrough, so my aura went a little out of control," Draven said sheepishly.
Alexandria forced a smile onto her pale face and nodded.
After that, Draven closed his eyes and entered the Dream God Ring once again. As he had estimated, the Ultimate Demon Physique had made a considerable improvement, and he could immediately feel the qualitative leap in his strength. With this level of power, Draven was sure that even though he hadn't stepped into the Ascendant Realm, facing the Stonewill family was not a problem for the current him.
[Dreamer Slab: 1]
[Ultimate Demon Physique (Mortal): 400/1000]
...
"Fist powerful like the white tusk that can crush anything, palms carrying the gentleness of water which can parry any attack, nails sharp like a tiger, a whole body flexible like a serpent, legs strong as a dragon's tail. When all of this reaches perfection, it gives birth to the True Mountain King," Draven muttered to himself as he exited the Dream God Ring once more.
Alexandria was still staring at him from the side, but Draven ignored her and directly laid on the wooden floor, soon falling asleep.
Alexandria was speechless, watching Draven sleep soundly on the hard floor. If she hadn't seen the True Mountain King condensed behind him moments ago, she would have thought it was normal behavior. But now, this guy had just had a major breakthrough, and there wasn't even a tiny trace of joy on his face. Quite the contrary, it felt as though he had merely informed her about what he had for dinner.
...
The next morning, Draven woke up first and shook the still-sleeping Alexandria awake.
"You can rest in the tree house. I will go and scout the situation outside. Since there is a tree house here, there will surely be a way to reach the 36th Stronghold from here. I will look for clues on the way. Even if I run into some higher realm beasts, if I am alone, I will at least be able to run away. By the way, there is a shallow mountain stream some distance to the north. If you want to bathe, you can go there by noon. At that time, most predators won't come out to drink water because of the sun," Draven said to the sleepy Alexandria.
"Ok... ok... now let me sleep. You are annoying," Alexandria mumbled in her sleep and turned to the other side. It was unknown if her brain had even registered what Draven had said.
Anyway, Draven climbed down from the tree and started walking towards the east, looking for clues. Normally, hunters would leave marks on trees or rocks to ensure they never lost their way in the forest. Draven was hoping to find something like that.
"Hey kid, are you the one who received my ancestor's legacy from the asura god mansion?" Suddenly, a male voice sounded in Draven's ears.
Draven's expression changed drastically. He slowly turned around to see the owner of the voice.
It was a young man with a well-defined body and shoulder-length black hair tied back in a cool manner. He wore a red shirt with white flower printing on it and knee-length beach shorts, with a black hoop finger-ring-like small earring on his left ear. There was also a sloppily looking wine gourd in his hand. All in all, he looked nothing like the seasoned expert Draven had envisioned, but more like a slightly burly young drunkard.
But Draven didn't dare to be impolite. He was sure there had been no one behind him a moment before, but this guy had appeared like a ghost out of nowhere. There was surely something fishy about him.
He bowed with his right hand on his chest. "Good morning, senior. I did inherit the complete technique for the Asura Battle Body Forging Art. If senior wants it, I will write it down for you."
The young man looked Draven up and down for a moment and nodded in satisfaction. "You know how to survive in this world. Anyway, I don't want your technique. We Nyxborns already have it. The reason I came here is to acknowledge you as one of our own."
Seeing the confusion on Draven's face, the young man explained. "We are descendants of the Asura God. Normally, his arts are only passed down to his descendants. But since the ancestor himself deemed you worthy, that means he has acknowledged you as his descendant."
Draven stared at the young man blankly. "Senior, you are mistaken. The Asura God gave me this technique only by coincidence. It is not because I am his descendant."
The young man ignored Draven's words and took out a small black ring from his storage ring and tossed it towards Draven. Before Draven could react, the ring appeared on his left ear.
The young man chuckled lightly. "See? This black hoop earring is crafted from the blood of god-level figures of the Nyxborn family. Only pure-blooded descendants of Nyxborns can wear them. Now it is present on your ear, so don't try to deny your ancestors. Otherwise, I will beat you up until you acknowledge them."
Draven's mouth twitched. In the end, he didn't say anything and just bowed.