Training With Master Athan, Pt 2
[Corven Umbrovante]:
Corven made it to the marked place that master Athan had marked on the map to meet up for training… But there was an issue. There was nothing there. It was just a vast field of dead grass, going on for at least a mile in all directions. Even the forests beyond the clearing were silent for the night, as if its absence was a sign that he should be sleeping at a time like this just like everyone else would be.
"There's no one here," muttered Corven, irritation creeping into his voice. "I came all this way, only for my instructor to be late. Tsk. What a bother…".
"Is it really?" a sudden voice caused Corven to jump in his skin, eyeing the source. "Well, if training with me is such a bother, then why am I here again?"
Corven, startled, turned around to see his master, Athan, seemingly materializing out of blood and shadows. Athan Eubuleus was standing in his usual black and red long coat, his eyes glowing a vibrant crimson in the evening night. He had a lazy expression on his face, as if unimpressed with Corven's remark.
"To bother me once more?" Corven said, sarcastically.
"Wow, no respect for your elders, whatsoever," Shaking his head, Athan chuckled darkly to himself. "I'll have to instill that respect through more forceful means, I suppose."
"You can try," Corven shrugged, who then looked around them. Corven was curious. "Why exactly did you bring me here to train? What's the point in this particular destination? Couldn't we have just trained in the Training Grounds on-campus?"
"Our training sessions will not be a sunny walk in the park, my apprentice," Athan released a heavy sigh. "As such, not everything we'll need to do will we have the freedom to do on-campus. And, with that incident in Lucid Dream Meadows earlier, spies will be targeting you like undead moths to soul flames for the next… well, for the foreseeable future."
His words hit Corven like a truck, causing him to eye Athan with skepticism. "You saw that?" asked with slightly wide eyes. "I—."
"We all have our secrets. Whatever you did to those Graetir warriors means little to me," Athan said, waving his hands dismissively. "But, for others, they will want vengeance. So I need to get you stronger before that happens."
"How do you intend to do that?" Corven asked, intrigued.
"Your affinity with Night strengthens you, yes? It makes you stronger at night, right?" Athan asked, receiving a hesitant nod from Corven. "How many times stronger are you at night? Do you know?"
Corven thought for a minute before shrugging. "I think it depends on what I need — What power I need for a given situation. It's the same for when I'm in places of darkness. The power comes to me in the same way."
Athan began nodding. "I see, interesting. Well, he's what we will do tonight. I want you to get in a meditative stance, and feel the power you need coursing through you. Careful, it will not be easy… at least, for a while, that is."
When Corven sat down, in a meditative stance, Athan pricked his finger on his extended fangs, and blood began to drip from his thumb. "Partial Powered Domain, Blood Dominion: Domain of Blood!"
Suddenly, a large dome 3/4th the size of the field around them appeared, several times taller than the trees beyond the field. It was made of blood, though how could something so big be made with so little blood was beyond Corven. There was something else, though. Corven couldn't feel any connection to the night sky within his dome, nor could he feel his connection with Night Viper, whom he had inside Cimon's shadow back at the Academy.
"My Partial Power Domain, Blood Dominion: Domain of Blood skills allows me to control what or who comes inside while enhancing all blood related powers as well as my agility, speed and strength by 90% while inside this dome," said Athan to Corven, who was sitting in meditation stance, slightly disoriented by Athan's skill.
Corven was having doubts that Athan was only just a Chaotic Rank cultivator. From what he's read, forming a 'Dominion' this powerful requires one to be at least Legendary rank. And this was partial powered dominion, which means Athan should be able to form a full-powered dominion as well. 'There's no way Master Athan is just a Chaotic Ranker,' Corven thought, internally nodding to this realization. 'But, if he doesn't want to reveal his true rank, I'll be sure to not bother him on it.'
"I have cut down nocturnal energy from entering this space to the barest of minimum," Athan said, voice bringing Corven back to the situation at hand. "All energy you have an affinity with, be it shadows, darkness, space, sky or even nocturnal — All energies related to your affinities have been minimized entry into this dome. What I want you to do is find the bits of this energy and use what you find to connect to the energies outside outside — The point of this exercise is to sharpen your energy senses and your senses in general. If you fail to do this within 30 minutes, you can consider our Master/Apprentice relationship void."
'Damn, ruthless old man,' Corven thought to himself, closing his eyes. 'It's easier said than done. I can barely feel the energies he's speaking of as is without this domain. Now that I am under it, it'll be even harder to feel them around me. What if I just…'.
Corven, eyes closed, deep in concentration, meditated. He ignored the last of what Athan said in favor of focusing on sensing the energies around him. He stayed in deep focus, even as Athan counted down the minutes every five minutes. Corven kept his concentration, his mind feeling outward, outside his body, for the familiar feeling of energy he would feel under the gaze of the night sky, the shadowed forest and the darkness without. He focused on the power he alone possessed — the supremacy of the darkness and shadow elements, the empowerment of the night sky, the cosmic force that was space and the life-nourishment that was the sky itself. He focused on the feeling he'd get every time he would use his powers, his gifts. He focused on the darkness, the shadows.
Most people feared the dark. They just didn't understand it and, because of the unknown dwelling within it, fear is the default feeling in humans. But Corven embraces it. It was his father's realm, and it was his birthright. He was born to harness it, to wield it, to bend it to his will. Blood may be a life-giving element, but all things came from darkness, and, Corven, the son of darkness and shadow, was its heir. As far as Corven was concerned, Blood, life and everything else could never measure up to darkness. You can't suppress the darkness, especially not indefinitely; it always finds a way. Every. Time.
"You have ten more minutes, apprentice," Athan's voice sounded, but Corven paid him no heed.
Corven was so deep in concentration that he did not notice how shadows and darkness were swirling around his body, as if happy to see their master. He did not notice how the air around him seemed to darken or how his breathing was even more even than ever.
Athan did, though.
'That's odd,' Athan thought to himself, eyeing Corven with an impressed expression. 'Within my domain of blood, I hold supremacy over a given area; I can control the energies that come in and out of my domain. I made sure to clamp down on the elements of darkness and shadow especially when restricting the energies entry, and yet… It's like he isn't just a darkness and shadow elemental user, but a generator of the elements. Interesting…'.
While Corven hadn't paid attention to what was happening on the outside as much, he did feel what was happening on the inside. He felt peace and power, in equal length, coming from inside his body as he felt the energies he was instructed to feel come to him. He felt his connection to darkness itself strengthen, even through the dome. He could feel the night sky in his bones, past his flesh and into his soul. He felt the boosts the Night gave him physically — the speed, the strength, the senses, all of it, all at once — It was all there, ripe for the taking.
Slowly, he opened his eyes, his face wearing the most shit-eatting grin as he said "Looks like you're stuck with me… Master."
Athan, though wearing a straight face, internally was beyond proud. He knew that, had he trained with someone else who wasn't as talented as Corven, they'd have failed. This was because most people in Corven's place wouldn't have been able to sense the energies in time and it would have taken them a whole lot longer just to connect with one of them. But Corven connected with all of them, all at once. Corven's success only reinforced Athan's resolve to train him.
"Good," Athan nodded as he spoke. "What I want you to do now is keep that concentrative state up as we spar. It will help you sense my movements as we progress. I will keep my own power restricted to low Demigod rank, so our spar will remain somewhat fair."
Corven got up, began stretching his limbs.
"Weapons are very much advised, considering I will be a few minor levels above you," Athan said, forming a katana out of blood, willing it to form and harden. If one were to compare the blood to steel, they would find it multiple times harder and denser than the sturdiest of steel. "Come at me when you're ready."
Corven summoned his Tier D katana, and got into stance. Then, he dashed forward, blade in-hand.
DINK!
His katana clashedd with Athan's blood blade. Corven slashed and arched his katana, attacking and defending in a fierce and defiant dance. He blocked a strike to his neck but was punched back by a few meters on his back. He growled in frustration. 'Damn it!'
"Your aggressiveness with the blade is fierce, but it leaves your defense much to be desired," Athan's voice sounded as he seemed to vanish, appearing directly behind Corven, who had barely just gotten off the ground. Corven managed to block a strike to his face, but failed to notice a blur of a kick to his gut that sent him flying back a few yards. "Don't forget to use your body's agility to your advantage. You are more agile than most your age, even when compared to a few vampires I know that are your age. That can become your greatest asset.
"And never forget to keep your eyes on your opponent, even if you're using a sensory method of keeping track of them, never lose them. The moment you lose track of your opponent, you have already lost the fight, especially when going up against a stronger foe. This is crucial in battle and in any life or death situation involving a stronger opponent. Never lose track of your opponent."
Athan disappeared again, but Corven, expecting an attack from behind, was surprised when his horizontal strike hit only air… Only to be side-kicked in the side of his head a moment later. It was enough force to send him flying, but it was enough to make him suddenly lightheaded and send him to his knees.
"Predicting your opponent's moves are only effective if you know what to look for as you're doing it," Athan's voice seemed to come from everywhere. Corven couldn't tell where exactly this voice was coming from. "The muscle movement, the breath, the slight twitch of a joint before movement — If you can see them, there will always be signs.
"And if you can't see them, use external signs. Air pressure irregularities, sound, sight and instincts are all good places to start…".
Corven closed his eyes, opening his senses, releasing his body to his instincts. He focused everything he could muster into his senses. He felt the movement of shadows before the rush of air. Twisting his body, raising his arms, he blocked a kick, grabbing Athan's leg and, twisting his waist, he chucked Athan to his right, surprising both of them.
Athan, of course, flipped mid-air, landing on his feet, because, screw giving Corven a win. Whatever. He was grinning, though, as if proud that Corven had managed to do that. His eyes showed a brief modicum of warmth before he spoke, masking his pride for Corven with an indifferent face. "You've made commendable progress in a single night that most apprentices wouldn't have been able to do in a month. Now, this time, come at me with the blade and don't hold back."
"Bet," said a grinning Corven, who began charging forward.
The two of them trained for hours. Corven didn't get any more wins against his master, which frustrated him, but he did get more familiar with his new sixth sense. That didn't stop Master Athan from absolutely dog walking him with the blade and the fist, though sadly. It was past midnight by the time Athan decided to down the dome and for them to head back.
As they were walking back, Corven secretly summoned a shadow clone, had it walk in his place as he dropped in the shadow of a tree.
He sensed the spies that were following them a mile or so off — And he was sure Athan had, too, but he made no move to handle them. For Corven, though, it was more like he could sense their shadows. He called the ability Shadow Sense — He was still developing it, but it was a result of the senses training with Master Athan. It was on its way to becoming a passive skill, considering Corven kept it active constantly, during and after their training session.
It was still nighttime out and Corven wanted to hunt some beasts. He's been needing to increase both his shadow undead and Tainted summons. To do that and keep others from knowing too much about his abilities, he had to be covert. He didn't want anyone knowing too much about his abilities, friend or foe. As far as he was concerned, everyone was foe or, at least, potential foe as far as his friends are concerned.
Real Corven waited until he sensed the spies' shadows following Corven's shadow clone and Athan were out of range of his shadow senses, and then waited five more minutes afterwards. One couldn't be too careful, right?
"Awooo!" a series of wolf howls sounded in the night of the Dark Forests, signalling monsters in the distance.
"A pack of wolves would make excellent shadow undeads, no?" Corven smiled a maliciously disturbing grin that would send shivers down anyone's back at the sight of. Then, heading deeper into the Dark Forests, Corven rushed towards the sound of howling wolves. He was about to add some new recruits to his ranks, and he knew exactly which ones he wanted.
Jumping branch to branch like a ninja under the light of the full moon, Corven followed the howls of the wolves. Why? Because he had a feeling that they weren't just normal wolves. After all, this was the Dark Forest. Even if it was along the southern outer edges of the Dark Forests, normal animals couldn't survive inside it; only magic beasts are able to do so.
So vast was this region that on the maps, that it easily covered 4/5th of the continent in which most of the major cities of Mythos are found on, such as Mythos Isles and lucid Dream Meadows. It was basically an entire continent-wide magic forest, filled with dangerous beasts and hidden ruins and rogue dungeons, all bundled together into one single continent. And the continent itself was at least 4 times the size of the continent of Eurasia, making it larger than all landmasses on Earth put together. It was ironically the reason why the adventurer's association exist – the continent itself was still much too big for even Great Houses to properly managed by themselves… Or at least one of the reasons, considering some guilds are interplanetary, but Corven would get to that later.
Corven was certain that one could not be a regular wolf to survive these parts. It was just not plausible. Plus, Corven was sure that if he managed to follow the source of these howls, he'll find something worth the trouble, maybe a powering summons he could turn. His intuition and instincts were both basically urging him to follow through with this, so who was he to ignore them? There was hardly anything he could lose following his guy, except maybe his life, considering where he was, but he was insane enough to ignore that realization. His mindset? He needed to get stronger, and this was the way. As far as he was concerned, he only had things to gain from this or risk falling behind.
Corven suddenly stopped atop a branch, his gaze perceptive, his perception enhanced by the darkness of the night, even as the moon's light was fleeting between the thicket of the midnight sky's clouds. He had arrived.
Looking dead ahead, Corven saw a pack of giant Moonfire wolves, each the size of bears. There were at least 12 of them, 13 if you count the one Corven assumed to be the alpha — It was many times bigger than the other wolves. All 13 wolves were huge, with varying fur colors; some had white fur while others had crème. Corven saw that two of them had grey and white fur, but Corven didn't pay them much attention.
No, what really caught Corven's attention was the alpha. Dawning purple, blue and white gradient fur, the alpha was easily the size of a polar bear plus a few inches to his name, with mini dotted stars dotting the fur on his body, like constellations across the twilight early morning sky. While the other wolves were easily the size of a small to mid-size car, this wolf was easily the size of a suspension lifted pickup truck — And Corven wanted the beast for himself.
This specific type of wolf was known as a 'Nightstar Wolf,' and it was incredibly rare, even amongst magic beasts. They were incredibly cunning, incredibly gifted and had almost limitless potential for growth. Signing a familiar pact with one was almost impossible, given their rarity and their cunning nature. They are said to be vassals of Nyx herself, blessed by the Celestials of both the goddess of night and the goddess of the moon, Luna. Typically, these beasts are hunted to make special potions and pills for cultivation; the times that they aren't are usually when they're cubs and one makes a familiar contract with them, but even that requires a large portion of mana and for one to have a high affinity with the Sky element.
But he couldn't act just yet. The wolves were in the midst of a hunt — A chase down, really. The prey? A herd of unicorns.
These unicorns were easily the size of adult horses, each possessing the purest of white manes. They all had a single horn on their head, spiralled and etched, Corven noticed even from the tree branch he was standing on, in magic and purity. There was one unicorn, however, that also piqued Corven's interest: A winged black unicorn with a black mane of hair as black as the darkness itself.
"Neigh!" the Pegasi sounded, panicking and running away from the approaching wolves.
As its herd ran away, it took to the skies, challenging the wolves with its horn, likely to buy time for its friends. It shot a concussive black energy from its indigo blue horn, causing Corven to sense the darkness that made up the attack. It was very pure, likely because one of this creature's parents, probably the black Pegassuas it shares half its DNA with, was a creature with a high affinity with the Darkness element.
The attack, while aimed at the alpha, was intercepted by one of the bigger beta wolves, who jumped in front of the alpha, taking the blast head on. Moaning in pain, the wolf lay down, likely incredibly wounded from the winged-unicorn's blast.
As the wolf lay dying, Corven noticed that the other wolves had charged white luminent fire into their mouths, firing all their firepower at the winged unicorn, who, trying to weave through the bombardment fired at her, was hit in the wing by one of the lunar white blasts, causing her to struggle to maintain her aerial advantage.
Eventually, she was blasted out of the sky by the Nightstar wolf, who summoned many star diamond-shaped light blasts around itself and willed it to launch at lightning speed at the wounded unicorn, who, like a fallen angel, fell to the land below one final time, its herd, thankfully, gone.
As the winged unicorn laid dying, the wolves surrounding its corpse, Corven knew that it was time to act. Both parties would be exhausted or, at the very least, not at 100%, making this time the perfect time to launch his attack. He had already dawned his Greenfang hgh-level Demigod tier armor, as well as his mid-level Demigod rank Greenfang blades plus his Feathered Foot Boots and his Glider's Cloak.
Before the wolves could truly even finish the unicorn, Corven had already arrived before one of them, fast and swift as the wind, thanks to his Feathered Foot Boots, decapitating one of the lesser wolves, as he summoned Eclipse and Azurez, who easily killed two more wolves. By the time the pack of wolves had passed the shock of their comrades; deaths and gotten a grip of themselves, Corven had decapitated yet another wolf, leaving only 8 more wolves to go.
"You betas are at Tier B rank," Corven noticed, as he killed a 3rd wolf, before dodging the lunar blast of another and sidestepping a leaping wolf, rolling on his side and getting up. He used Shadow Tendril, Shadow Bind to bind it as Eclipse bit its head off. "Six down, six to go."
[Shadow Tendril] was an ability that allowed Corven to summon shadowy tendrils to use in offensive or defensive situations. [Shadow Bind] is a branching skill of [Shadow Tendril] that allows one to use Shadow Tendrils to bind opponents in a given spot. Both required either mana or shadow energy to maintain, but Corven was pretty abundant with both, especially shadow energy, considering it was still night time, and he had more stamina and power at night.
Corven willed the deceased wolves to rise once again as his shadow wolves, who immediately began eating their own old corpses, solidifying themselves until they were solid as a rock. Corven made sure they left enough materials for him to use later of their corpses, though. The shadow wolves, however, had also skipped two minor levels, making them Peak Tier B rank beasts.
As the shadow wolves attacked their former packmates alongside Eclipse and Azurez, Corven faced off against the Tier A alpha Nightstar wolf by himself. The alpha was enraged at Corven for killing and resurrecting his brethren, turning his own packmates into undead and against him. He wanted to make Corven pay, and it would not be denied its vengeance.
He used light stars to shoot at Corven, but Corven would just get into his own shadows or the shadows of the trees and objects around them to evade each blast. Then, when that proved fruitless for the wolf, the wolf shot moonlight balls of energy at Corven, illuminating the forest even more, clearing it of all shadows.
'Moon light… I see, so it's a hybrid, too,' Corven analysed, as he had nowhere else to go. 'It isn't just a Nightstar wolf, but a Moonfire-Nightstar wolf hybrid. Interesting…'.
Corven, who noticed the moon light hovered in the air, unmoving, realised that his tactics needed to be updated.
"Shadow Dome!" Corven yelled, causing a large, to story tall dome of shadows to surround them both. The shadows then negated the moonlight, swallowing it until there were only shadows. This allowed Corven mobility once more and Corven willed multiple shadowy hands and tendrils to bind the alpha, using Shadow Tendrils, Shadow Bind.
"AWooo!" The wolf, who decided he would not go down without a fight, howled, releasing waves of moon and star light from its body, breaking free of Corven's shadowy binds, its light causing Corven's Shadow Dome to retreat slightly from its vicinity.
It fixed its angry eyes on Corven. Opening its maw, it released a column of fire at Corven, who, quickly, sunk into his own shadow, appearing directly below the beast, out of its own shadow. Corven stabbed his twin blades into the chest cavity, purposefully avoiding its heart.
The wolf yelped, groaning in pain, as it tried to get away from Corven. Corven, before the beast could think to attack again, used his Taint ability, willing the darkness into the alpha wolf's wound, before sinking back into the ground and appearing a couple feet away as he watched the wolf, finally beaten, transform.
The transformation wasn't as big as Azurez, but it was still fun to watch. Corven saw that the purple parts of the wolf's purple/blue/white gradient fur turned black and the white star-like specs of fur turned indigo blue. Moreover, the wolf's white eyes turned indigo blue with specs of black in them. Also, its aura became less that of a mid-level Tier A to that of Peak-level Tier A beast.
"I'll name you… Skyron," Corven said, petting the bowing, almost purring wolf as he released the Shadow Dome.
What scene was unfolded before him was one of blood and gore. All the moonfire wolves were defeated, their bodies preserved, though bloody. Corven eventually made shadow wolves out of them. He let them eat a few corpses to become corporeal and solid, leaving him with 8 full, perfectly preserved wolf corpses, two of which he'd use to make jerky out of later — The other 6 will be sent to marxes for profit/research.
Corven then used Taint on the low-leveled Tuer A black winged unicorn, who was still somehow alive. Nothing much changed concerning its appearance, since it already had an affinity with, touched by and had the appearance of someone touched by the darkness element. Its aura rose m though. Instead of being raised 2 minor levels, like Skyron, it was raised by 3, likely because it was compatible with the darkness element.
He made sure to keep the cores he found off the bodies of the wolves he killed in his Shadow Space. He would absorb them later. He was sure it would be an arduous process, but he had little time to do it at the moment.
Corven eventually summoned all his summons after deciding to name the winged unicorn "Nightwing." He decided to mount her andtrack down the other unicorns.
By the time he returned to campus, it was early morning and he had five more corpses in his spatial ring — All five were pure white unicorns. He kept a sixth one in his Shadow Space. He had a feeling that if he ate it, his cultivation would skyrocket, but he wasn't planning on doing that just yet…