Mysterious Cave

Tik... Tok... Tik... Tok...

"What's wrong?" Athena couldn't help but ask. For a while now, Blade was like this. Resting on a large tree branch, he clicked his tongue, and his expression continuously frowning.

"I don't know." Blade replied. Opening his eyes, his long purple hair fluttered in the wind as Athena appeared behind him before beginning to tie his hair into a ponytail...

"Don't misunderstand, I've always been annoyed for the past two months. We've been searching for treasures all this while and the only thing we've found were mindless Beast Emperors which, though were strong, now they're simply annoying." Blade continued.

"But today, I suddenly feel uncomfortable. It's an unexplainable feeling... I'm not sure?" Blade lamented in a calm and unnerving voice. Hearing this, Athena sighed. She didn't know what she could do to help.

As she finished tying his hair, the two disappeared from the tree top, landing on the surface of the forest as Blade thought with an even darker expression.

'Even though I've killed a couple of Beast Emperors, even after two months of cultivating every night in that mysterious room, I've not reached the Emperor realm?' As he thought this, he glanced toward the corner of his vision.

[Host: Blade Pure-Heart]

[System: Level 7]

[System Perk: Interdimensional Space]

[System Perk: Appraisal]

[System Perk: System Shop]

[System Points: 15,005]

[System Perk: Mind Alteration Room]

[System Perk: Space of Smithing]

[Experience points: 540,000/625,000]

[Title: Monstrous Genius, Young Holy Child]

[Race: V********]

[Bloodline- R**** V******** 10%]

[Lifespan: 18/1,500,000]

[Gender: Male]

[Body Cultivation: Martial King (Perfected]

[Soul Cultivation: Core Formation]

'Most likely due to the fusion of my dantian and soul in my heart now being completed, I've reached the pinnacle martial king realm, and I'm assuming the golden core equates to the same thing, but I still don't get it...'

Until now, he still didn't understand how he was supposed to enter the Martial Emperor realm. But, still, he was confident he'd find the answer soon. Yet, all these unknowns, coupled with the mood he awakened to this early morning, Blade felt that something that'll truly anger him was taking place.

Sigh!

'Well, let's think of something better...' Smiling, Blade's eyes flashed with a mysterious light. A crimson-red gleam flashed in his purple-colored orb. Slowly escaping his mouth was a breath of tantalizingly hot air...

Flame Law! This was the Law power of flames. Again, he didn't exactly understand why he was suddenly cultivating the Flame Laws too, but unlike all the other unknowns, this one, he had a fair guess that he thought to be 90% correct.

'When acquiring the Lightning Law, it was the Heavens that planned to harm me from the inside of my dantian, but I still survived. Though it was due to the awakening of my bloodline, I think there is another reason for that...'

Smirking, Blade had always thought of himself as slightly intelligent. He wouldn't claim to say that he was the smartest creature in his previous world, not even in this world filled with bloodthirsty crackheads, but he wasn't idiotic either.

'I'm sure, even though Lightning Law is known to be berserk... if it wasn't because the Heavens deliberately tried harming me, and Lightning Essence had previously seeped into my dantian naturally, I'll be able to manipulate it...'

Simply because he breathed out hot air didn't mean he awakened his control over the fire too, but whilst Athena soundly meditated, he had tested out everything. Similarly to darkness, light, and lightning, he could also do attacks with mere flames, similar to Athena.

'The reason I can manipulate these laws must be due to the Chaotic Body Scripture. I've mastered the breathing method to a degree where every breath is a part of the scripture. This thing is the only plausible reason behind my affinity for fire...

Why else would the System before its little downgrade say that it'll make someone the strongest being... Obviously, before now, there wasn't anything special about the cultivation method..!'

As Blade's thoughts reached to this point, his mood slowly returned to normal. With a now clear mind and a slightly happy smirk on his face, Blade trotted along with Athena deeper into Forbidden Zone 029 in search of anything that could be considered a treasure.

...

...

The sun was out, showcasing all of its splendor. In a certain location of the Forbidden Zone 029, outside the mouth of a cave, several figures sat there in a state of meditation. Hundreds of meters away, two more figures casually flew in the winds, approaching.

After two months, finally, Blade's Fortune-Seeking Treasure had begun vibrating wildly. Once sensing this, Blade was inches away from getting himself a heart attack.

His excitement was obvious, and so too was Athena's excitement as the duo rushed toward the direction in which the Fortune-Seeking Treasure pointed toward.

Appearing in the general surroundings, their vision was met with a patch of a lush green grass plane that led to the entrance of a cave but, outside the cave, several figures with powerful auras and refined and noble appearances sat in deep meditation.

"Are they dumb?" Blade said disbelieving what he was seeing. For not one but a group of cultivators to enter deep cultivation out in the open, something must have been wrong.

One could still be attributed as ignorant, crazy, or simply idiotic, but a group doing such an act is questionable and suspicious. Surely, there would be a group filled with idiots... right?

"They must have a protective formation around them, otherwise, no matter one's status, one would never cultivate out openly in the middle of nowhere.

From their auras, they are Martial Kings at best, so they must come from rich backgrounds. Who knows, since the Forbidden Zone 029 is the center of the world, they may be from different continents." Athena replied.

Their figures became a blur and soon after, only several meters away from the group, Athena and Blade reappeared. A mysterious force suddenly descended.

Raising a brow, Blade was caught by surprise as a mysterious force descended onto not his body, but his mind. Deep in his heart, inside the golden core which was his dantian, his soul faced the brunt of this mysterious force...

"Hmm..." Blade shook his head, resisting the force, and turned his gaze to Athena who, after a couple of seconds, also resisted the force.

"It seems they truly didn't have any protective treasures but were forcefully pulled into a state of comprehension!" Athena said, confusing Blade. She continued...

"Do you remember the lake that rose our cultivation base..?" Athena asked.

"What... is this something like that? Wasn't that lake something that was filled with Life energy? What does that have to do with this, something that affected my soul?"

Athena smiled, replying... "Yes, the lake of condensed life energy was only that, a lake of condensed life energy but, this treasure must also be a lake of condensed life energy...

Yet, to affect our souls like this, it must also have the effect of raising our willpower... And along with our willpower, once we do fall into deep meditation, our speed of comprehension would be skyrocketed by tens of times!"

"What!"

Tens of times!

Wasn't his Mind Altering room merely X4? So, was it that his Mind Altering room was lacking, and wasn't as much of a cheat as he previously thought it to be..?

"Yes, tens of times." Athena understood Blade's shock. Even she felt her heart thump with excitement as she quickly and elegantly grabbed Blade's cold wrist, pulling him toward the entrance of the cave, even passing the group of Martial Kings.

Seeing this, Blade didn't stop. As for those Martial Kings... If he were to kill them, the amount of exp he'd receive from this broken system of his would probably be embarrassingly low. Being pulled into the cave, the duo was once more assaulted by a powerful force.

Resisting it took a much longer time. For Blade, his soul was many times more powerful than the average Pinnacle Martial King. Every time the system leveled up, his soul would also grow much stronger.

In turn, this caused his willpower and comprehension to become more and more perverted. So after a couple of seconds, he shook off the effects. Athena, on the other hand, also had powerful willpower and comprehension.

She did experience death and rebirth. If she didn't have a powerful will then, it'd be weird. But, it still took her several seconds before she could resist the force on her soul.

"You can follow along, but I'll be moving forward now." Blade emotionlessly uttered. His words, though uncaring toward Athena, didn't make her feel any sort of way. Honestly, she was willing to do anything for his sake... It was almost an obsession.

So she merely nodded her head in understanding, deciding to slowly hone her willpower instead of slowing down Blade. Seeing this, Blade smirked, pecking Athena's forehead, his figure rushed toward the depths of the cave at a much faster pace.

Though he couldn't move at his full strength, for fear of suddenly entering soo deep that the force would be too powerful and not give him enough time to resist, his speed was still relatively quick.

He even passed by a few meditating cultivators... Sadly, all were merely Martial Kings.