The reward of the Hundred-Armed Giant was spilt between me and Vaylan.
This brought my new total to 86 tokens. The aftershock of the battle still rattled the Stone Valley, and yet I felt a different kind of tremor rippling through me. My Embercoil and storm claw Raptor crystals roared to tier 6!
lightning veins surging out in arcs of raw animus, crackling against the charged air. The Spire Crab Core followed—its fortress-like essence stabilizing my body against the chaos, expanding into tier 6 resilience!
Just a little more cultivation and I'd step into a power beyond anything the clans had prepared for. My thoughts burned with this revelation—until Vaylan's shadow peeled forward, his grin sharp against the backdrop of the fractured valley. "Well now," Vaylan said, his voice carrying a velvet weight, "where did you attain your Blood Phage?"
The words froze me in place. Felicity gasped from the within me, her hand covering her mouth. Even through the mental link, I could feel her alarm pulse against my spirit—she knew as well as I did that Vaylan had no way of knowing of her existence. My gaze snapped to Vaylan, suspicion and shock roiling behind my crystalline eye.
My voice came out low, edged with a growl: "How do You know about the Blood Phages?" Vaylan's grin only widened, shadows coiling lazily around him like smoke tasting the air. His eyes glinted with something ancient, almost conspiratorial. "Know about them?" he murmured. "I've seen one before." The silence between us stretched, long as the shattered valley we stood in.
My crystalline eye never left Vaylan. Vaylan the shadow, however, looked perfectly at ease—standing at the edge of a fractured boulder as if it were a palace balcony. Vaylan tilted his head, lips curling in that wolfish, amused smile. "I would like to meet her," he said softly. "Felicity."
I stiffened.
Felicity wasn't a name Vaylan should know. My hand twitched, half-raising in reflex as if ready to summon an attack—but Vaylan lifted a hand of his own, palm up, a placating gesture cloaked in shadows. "Don't look so shocked," he continued smoothly. "You speak more freely than you realize when you think yourself unwatched. The night the Black Cowl Clan tried to slit your throat? You weren't alone." My gut tightened.
My mind raced back to that night—the blood, the chaos, Felicity guarding my flank from the Assassins deathblow, with one of her own.
My expression hardened, "You were there," I said, voice low. Not a question. Vaylan chuckled, shadows rippling out like the lazy unfurling of wings. "I was trailing you from the dark," he admitted without shame. "Your… conversation with her on the road back to your ship was fascinating. So very… intimate." His tone wrapped the word in velvet and barbs. Felicity's spirit-voice bristled immediately inside me, her presence sparking like a flame.
"He listened to us? Ash—this man is dangerous." My jaw tightened. My blood surged with anger at the intrusion. Vaylan's grin, however, only deepened, eyes gleaming with a strange hunger—not for blood or power, but understanding. "So yes," Vaylan said finally. "I know of the Blood Phage you harbor. And I know of her. That is why I want to meet your Felicity—face to face."
The first flashes of rival intent came streaking across the broken horizon—other prodigies homing in on the beacon from the fallen Giant. I immediately recognized Elyahna's frost signatures among the haze, and further off the jagged arcs of Zhenba's lightning. Vaylan's grin widened, shadows stirring around his shoulders.
But I was already making my choice. "Thanks for your help, Vaylan," I said sharply, slipping a foot back, weight coiled. My crystalline blue eye glimmered. "But another time." Before the Umbral prodigy could respond, I shot off in a blur! My body fracturing into afterimages as I used the Serpent Mirage step!
Each afterimage racing off in a different direction. The rivals arriving saw hundreds of Ashes scattering into the debris, not realizing the real one was already gone, streaking into the deeper reaches of the Little World.
By the time I slowed, the valley's tremors were only a whisper behind me. Felicity's presence stirred, her voice edged with tension. "That Vaylan… he wasn't just curious. He wanted something from me. From us. I don't like it." I exhaled slowly, shoulders stiff. "Yeah. I felt it too. Whatever game he's playing… he's been watching me longer than I realized. He called you by name."
"Which means he knows too much already," Felicity said, her tone protective, almost fierce. "Blood Phage knowledge is forbidden for a reason, Ash. If he presses further—"
"I'll deal with him," I cut in, voice firm. "But not now. Right now, I need to push for a breakthrough. I let my intent flow into my Ninja Gear. A low shimmer wrapped me, my form bending light and air until I melted into nothingness.
The Ninja Gear, cloaking even my aura.
For the first time since the fight began, I allowed himself a moment to breathe. That was when I felt it—like a slumbering thundercloud under my feet. My crystalline eye flicked to the distance. A slope of stone and moss that wasn't just terrain.
The Sleeping Hill Monster.
I hesitated, then smirked. "If there's anywhere I won't be disturbed…" I darted forward, slipping into the cavernous maw of the creature's open mouth. The air inside was thick with pressure, but it wasn't hostile—it welcomed me, humming with dormant power. Deeper I went, the glow brightening until the tunnel opened into a cavern where the stone walls wept liquid light.
At the center was a shimmering emerald pool rippled gently, each wave exhaling pure Battle Essence. My eyes widened.
"Perfect!"
I stepped toward it, stripping back my defenses to let my qi flow freely. As I lowered myself to the pool's edge, silver blooded tendrils exploded out of my flesh converging into Felicity. She sashayed forward taking watch by the inner entrance. I couldn't help but admire her form as she went. She looked back over her shoulder with a grin as if sensing my thoughts of her.
Her tone softened, but carried weight.
"I'll guard the threshold. No one will disturb you; Master." I slowly descended into the pool and its glowing waters. The purified battle essence sank into my meridians, raw and sharp, daring to be mastered.
I closed my eyes, focusing on taking in as much of the purified battle essence that my Meridian gates could handle. The moment I let touched my intent, the shimmering waters surged around me! Battle Essence clawed into crimson scales and Solar Pyre Veins, trying to rattle my bones apart, hammering against my meridians with each pulse like a drumbeat of war.
I circulated Tempest Breath, overcoming the rush of pure battle essence. I gathered my intent, drawing qi inward until all four layers of my foundation began to hum. The Battle Essence pressed in harder, the pool sending jagged waves of concentration. My body trembled as if being battered from every angle.
At this stage I had to hold steady, otherwise I risked the chance of liquefying my Cores--Resetting my Cultivation.
My Intent flared as I felt my meridian gates open wider, taking in a greater amount of the pure battle essence pond. My thoughts sharpened. I drew upon the storm rotating within my diaphragm, drawing in a great breath, helping to condense the absorbed battle essence into my lake of intent and qi.
Felicity stirred at the entrance, sensing the shift. "Ash… this power feels different. Majestic." The pool's essence lashed me with a surge like a battlefield scream—but instead of resisting, I took it, absorbing it into my spiritual lake. I opened my eyes, glowing faintly blue from the crystalline flare. The pool's Battle Essence hammered harder as I continued to Circulate Tempest Breath. The pool of Battle Essence shrieked, essence surging in waves that would have drowned any lesser cultivator.
I absorbed it all into my mental and spiritual dantian!
And then—KA-BOOOM!
The cavern went silent. I floated in the pool, chest heaving, every solar pyre vein alight with pressure. And yet, in that silence, there was power—pure, heavy, eternal.
My mental and spiritual lakes of power had grown more profound. When I exhaled, even the air quivered as if it feared being displaced. I had developed King level Intent! It pressed down on the cavern like the judgment of a sovereign. The stone walls groaned. Felicity gasped at the entrance, clutching her chest as though her own Animus recoiled. I slowly stood. My eyes glowed faintly, one crystalline blue, one crimson streaked with storm. "I did it," I whispered, voice carrying more weight than sound.
Even the pool of Battle Essence stilled, as though acknowledging its new master.