"The food would only be delivered at 4 PM. Since it was only 11 AM now, there was enough time to cultivate the Asura Battle Body Forging Art to perfection," Draven mumbled to himself. He then sat in a cross-legged position on one corner of the fluffy bed.
Even though the matter at the Hunter Alliance had concluded in his favor, Draven now had three giants to worry about. The first was the Stonewill family. They would not sit still when the news of him defeating a group of Ascendant Realm cultivators reached their ears. After all, the enmity between them had already reached a point where it was either him or them.
The second was the Nightcrawler family. Since James had managed to escape, there would surely be a follow-up attack from them. If he was not prepared at that time, the consequences would be something he could not handle. The fact that, according to James, they used to be a strong family from the 15th Stronghold made them even more dangerous than the Stonewills.
Lastly, there was the 36th Regional Police Department of the Celestial Army. They, too, would pay more attention to him after his display of power in front of their officers.
All in all, if he didn't improve his strength faster, he might end up dead at the hands of one of them.
With a sigh, he closed his eyes and entered the Dream God Ring.
[Dream God Ring]
[Dream Points: 700]
[Life Span: 17/100]
[Innate Dream Walker Physique (Mortal)]
[Shadow World Behemoth Bloodline (Mortal): 0.005/100(+)]
[Chaos Divine Ape Bloodline (Mortal): 100%]
[Astral Nexus Bloodline: 0.000000001/100(+)]
....
Draven was momentarily stunned when he saw a new bloodline added to his information. Although its amount was negligible, it had still been recorded by the Dream God Ring.
"How did an additional bloodline appear out of nowhere?" Draven furrowed his brows in surprise.
It was a well-known fact that, unless it was a special bloodline like in the case of the Stonewills, absorbing someone else's bloodline into one's body was practically impossible. Even the Stonewills could not directly possess the bloodline they absorbed; they could only steal some of its abilities.
But here, an entirely new bloodline had been added to his body. A normal person, faced with such a negligible concentration, could never hope to awaken it, as that required a minimum of 1% purity. For Draven, however, the solution was simple: he could use the Dream God Ring to add points and achieve what was otherwise impossible.
After thinking back to the events that had recently happened to him, Silas's face popped up in Draven's head.
"That guy mentioned that this earring is created by the blood of the god-level experts of the Nyxborn family. If my analysis is correct, the reason for the appearance of this new bloodline must be the black hoop earring."
Although Draven was curious to add points and push this bloodline to perfection to see its use, he refrained himself from doing so. After all, he didn't have an Elemental Core or an Inner World, so even if he pushed it to perfection, it would be a waste of Dream Points.
"Add 200 points to the Asura Battle Body Forging Art," Draven commanded the Dream God Ring, and the next second he found himself in the body of the Asura God once again.
This time, the Asura God did not look as frail and crazy as before. His long white hair was tied behind him in a ponytail, and his white beard swayed gently in the breeze. He held an ancient-looking sword in one hand and wore a simple white robe, with a tranquil expression on his face.
In front of him, more than a hundred wooden crosses were implanted in the ground, each holding a human nailed to it. Their bodies were covered in several wounds that still bled non-stop.
One among them was particularly eye-catching. This man's legs and arms had been cut off, and his face was as pale as a ghost, which looked horrifying to watch.
"Please... kill me....," the man begged in a weak voice towards Draven, who was now in the body of the Asura God.
But Draven didn't show any sign of moving. He just stood there calmly as though he was watching a good show. Seeing the man who had destroyed his family die inch by inch, Draven felt a strange peace in his mind.
More than a century ago, this man was the infamous bandit leader who had made him feel helpless and desperate. But today, the same man was begging for mercy. Thinking about this, a strange smile finally blossomed on Draven's face.
Time passed slowly. One by one, the people impaled on the wooden crosses began dying, and a thick aura of death covered the entire place. Corpse-eating vultures and other animals flocked to this place, gnawing on the dead and the still-breathing humans bit by bit.
Screams and the growling of beasts filled the place, painting a picture of hell on earth. The sight was enough to shake even the bravest of warriors, yet Draven stood there like a mountain for two days. It was only when he made sure that the last bandit had also died that he slowly turned around and left the place.
For the next two years, he settled in a small village and lived the life of an ordinary woodcutter, just as he had when he was young. Then one day, he left the village without saying goodbye to anyone. This time, he didn't return to the academy to meet his master. Instead, he chose to travel from place to place, learning different types of weapon arts.
The Blade Intent he had developed, though formidable, felt like it was missing something. He wanted to fix this missing puzzle and give his self-created technique a complete form.
Years passed. He finally decided to create a similar intent to his Blade Intent by combining other weapons, hoping it would make his technique complete. For this, he first practiced the spear and acquired Spear Intent. Next, he practiced archery and achieved Arrow Intent. Like this, he acquired Hammer Intent, Staff Intent, Halberd Intent, and Scythe Intent.
With the experience he had earned in creating his unique Blade Intent, he spent two years combining all six different weapon intents into a combined form, his unique Spear Intent. He named his two unique intents after himself: the Asura Blade Intent and the Asura Spear Intent. Although both were equally powerful, Draven still felt his technique was lacking something short of perfection.
Once again, he went on a journey, consulting experts from different parts of the world. After a very long period of wandering, he finally reached a mountain range with peaks that touched the sky.
Seeing the lofty peaks standing still despite the fierce wind and rain they faced all year round, Draven had a strange feeling. Perhaps the missing key to the completion of his technique was not adding more intents, but rather finding the stability of these mountain ranges.
With renewed determination, he climbed to the top of the tallest peak and sat there cross-legged. The wind came, the rain came, and the rain turned into hail, but still Draven did not move from his place. Slowly, his mind became empty, and he entered a miraculous state of forgetfulness. All his senses seemed to have shut down at that moment.
Years passed like this. At some point, Draven heard a peculiar sound in his mind.
"Om... Aim..... Klim ...Shreem..."
"Om Aim Klim Shreem"
"Om Aim Klim Shreem"
"Om Aim Klim Shreem"
First, it was faint as a whisper, but soon it transformed into a powerful, ancient sound that resonated throughout Draven's body.
Draven suddenly felt a sharp pain between his brows, but he didn't break out of the trance. He let the sound ring throughout his body, which made the pain even worse. But as time passed, the pain slowly faded away. What replaced it was a crystal-clear mind. His thoughts seemed to have become much sharper and faster. It felt as though only now were his thoughts able to keep up with the speed of the Blade Intent and Spear Intent he had created.
Previously, he was like a child who possessed a sharp blade and an overbearing spear, which could not perform well in the hands of a little child. But now, he had transformed into an adult who could bring out their full potential.
Just as Draven was in a daze, he suddenly felt a sense of danger in his mind. It was a strange feeling, as though something was reminding him of a threat. Without wasting any time, Draven ducked to the side.
"Screech....!" A long howl from a bat-like demon beast rang out as its sharp claws scratched the mountain rock where Draven had been sitting moments before.
"Did this sense of danger come because of the ancient sound ringing in my mind?" Draven frowned as he studied the bat demon, which once again flew towards him with a sharp screech.
Just as Draven was studying the creature, its attacking trajectory appeared in his mind like a fast-forwarded film. Surprisingly, the beast attacked him in the exact way he had foreseen.
"Seventh Sense? Did I really get such a powerful ability?" Draven mumbled to himself in shock. He casually pointed his sword towards a certain direction, and the next second, the bat miraculously slammed into Draven's sword tip by itself and died on the spot.
Although it appeared as though the bat had committed suicide, in reality, it was Draven who had placed his sword directly into the attacking trajectory of the beast he had seen with his Seventh Sense.
With that, this dream also ended.
[Dreamer Slab: 5]
[Asura Battle Body Forging Art (Mortal): 300/300]
[Asura Blade Intent: 100/100]
[Asura Spear Intent: 100/100]
[Asura Seven Sense Mantra: 100/100]