concentrated Curse energy

Ethan looked around a bit then shook his head. "I have to, I have to uncover the mystery of this village."

"you…" Yaling sighed and turned to the window.

"let's go then," she said as Ethan grabbed her wrist and jumped down from the window to the ground.

"you have to be careful, I think it would be dangerous," Ethan said with a serious expression on his face.

Yaling nodded and furrowed her brows. "Is it really that serious? I am in the fourth stage, and you… you're much stronger than me."

Ethan glanced around and said, "I don't think I can use my powers, this village is reeking of curse energy, which is the bane of the life energy users, especially elves like me."

Ethan had already exhausted his luck energy completely, now his only backup was Athena, without her, he wouldn't dare to roam around. but with some escape talismans, and with Athena's strength they can escape easily if things went wrong.

With that said, he was fully prepared.

"Okay then, what should we do?" Yaling asked.

"Just wait a bit…" Ethan said and walked over to the backside of the inn, and took cover over a sign board.

Yaling stood there dumbfounded.

After a few seconds, Yaling heard footsteps.

She slowly went over to Ethan and hid behind the sign board.

"shh… looks like someone is out, just conceal your aura and follow me from behind slowly," Ethan spoke through his breath.

Yaling felt nervous as she nodded her head.

*Creak*

With a sound the front door opened.

Ethan and Yaling were at the right-end corner, behind the signboard, so they could easily see.

A hand emerged from the door frame followed by the body of a middle-aged man.

Ethan was anxious, looking at the man in front of him.

"Young master… his eyes!" Yaling whispered in his ears.

Hearing that, Ethan looked into the man's eyes.

In the dark, it was pretty hard to see clearly, but he noticed a faint cyan glow around his eyes.

"This is…"

Ethan felt terrified when he sensed the glowing eyes.

'Ethan, don't worry, I will put a barrier around you to conceal your aura and it will help you resist the curse qi.'

Athena said in his mind.

Hearing that, Ethan calmed down and gestured for Yaling to be prepared.

The man stepped out and looked around for a bit, then stopped his gaze at the signboard, they were hiding behind.

Yaling had already concealed her aura and Athena did that in his stead.

The man's gaze fixed on the board as if trying to see through it, but soon turned around and started to walk.

Ethan was holding Yaling's wrist trying to conceal their every little movement.

Looking at the man moving, they prepared themselves to follow him.

They moved from the signboard to a tree, to take cover.

Just like that, they would take cover when he was close and wait for him to move, then follow him.

They went past the market area and appeared in front of a huge villa.

"Young Master, what is this man doing ?"

Yaling couldn't hold back but ask.

"I don't know either, let's keep watch on him." Ethan shrugged and turned to the villa.

The villa was like the ancient Chinese houses with courtyards. Which was different from his mansion.

'Looks like this world is a total mixture of eastern and Western fantasy cultures.' he thought as he fixed his gaze on the man.

The man took out something from his sleeves before entering the outer gate.

Ethan and Yaling followed him and went over to the walls.

"it's Mao Lin!"

The man whispered on the door, loud enough for Ethan and Yaling to hear.

But nothing happened.

The man scratched his head a bit and then reached the door with his hand.

*tok* *tok* *tok*..... *tok*

He knocked on the door, in a rhythm.

*tok* *tok*

Ethan and Yaling kept their attention on him as someone from inside knocked back on the door. Ethan recorded every detail in his mind.

"Pawn Mao Lin!"

The man said after the pause.

*creak*

The door unlocked, with a creak.

Inside was dark, but it was not a big deal for them to see in the dark.

Ethan and Yaling noticed another figure in a black robe, with his face half-covered with a hood.

Only his short beard could be seen from a look.

but Ethan pictured his face in his mind, like a scanner.

"Enter!"

Soon the man entered the room, and the door closed afterward.

"Young master, what should we do? They closed the door…" Yaling said with a frown.

Ethan made a cringe expression as he turned to her, "can you stop with this 'young master' thing? It's getting annoying."

Yaling pouted and didn't say anything.

"don't worry, I have my ways to get in, just do me a favor and just wait here. I will signal you when I am done, we will flee this place at once." Ethan said with a confident smile as she looked at his smile with a dazed expression.

Before she could say anything, his body started to disappear.

Within a few seconds, he completely disappeared from the spot, dumbfounding Yaling.

"E-Ethan? where did you-" she was shocked and tried to shout but a hand grabbed her mouth.

"I am right here, don't shout." Ethan's voice came from her behind.

"Wmmm mph mop" she calmed down hearing his voice and tried to talk under his arm.

"It's Lady Athena's special skill, I can become completely invisible for a certain period," Ethan explained to her before releasing her.

"I see… you should've told me earlier," Yaling said with a visible frown on her beautiful face.

"I was trying to act cool, you ruined the moment," Ethan said.

"Hmmph!" Taking didn't say further and jumped over the roof, and concealed herself with her environment.

Ethan smiled a bit and then jumped down on the ground, without making any noise.

He didn't go to the door directly but looked around a bit.

'Ethan, I am pretty sure even those in the 8th stage can't detect you with their bare eyes.' Ethan heard Athena's voice in his head and nodded.

Suddenly his eyes caught a small vent over the roof, the vent seemed large enough to fit his body so he decided to use that.

After confirming his safety measures he jumped over the wall.

*cree* He slowly pulled the grill over the vent trying not to make any noise.

"This should do…" he said as he pushed his head inside the vent.

Surprisingly he managed to enter with his whole body easily.

The vent wasn't much spacious and was very short; he could see a faintly lit room at the end.

The room looked empty, and for some reason, he got goosebumps; an incomprehensive feeling rose in his body.

"Athena, what is this?" Ethan said gritting his teeth.

'this… there seems to be a huge source of the curse qi, near…"

Athena said in a calm tone.

"What about your barrier?"

Ethan asked while closing his eyes.

'this is concentrated curse qi, not the normal curse qi you have encountered; annoying but not really hurting.'

Athena said.

Ethan crawled over a bit, then stopped. "What do you mean?"

'The concentrated qi is the stronger version of the original qi, which has special effects. Also can be used for some particular martial arts or weapon arts techniques.' Athena started to explain every detail.

"Oh. I see, then can you do something about this? I don't feel so good around it"

Ethan said with a wry smile.

'No can do, you have to get adapted to this sooner or later, so take this as a practice.'

Ethan sighed, then started to crawl again.

<< host is in contact with concentrated Curse qi, it is recommended host to choose some side quests. >>

A message popped in front of Ethan, making him frown

Ethan slowly pushed his leg first, then landed on the floor of the room.

"Side quests huh? Show me! "

He said in an excited voice.

<< side quest - 1: adapt to the Curse qi without any barrier supporting you.

Rewards: element crystal (Random)

Failure penalty: host will be infected with the curse qi.

Accept? (Yes/No) >>

Ethan wryly smiled as he looked at the screen.

"I don't think it would be that hard, but first, what is a element crystal used for anyway?" He asked in a low voice.

'Element Crystal was like a tank, which collects your absorbed qi and grew in size. You will need that in the 4th stage, breaking through to the 5th stage is very difficult, you will need these element crystals in order to breakthrough.'

As he was nodding his head a notice appeared in front of him.

<< warning!! >>

[a/n - thanks, have a good day.]