The phoenix's hideout

Surrdon smiled.

His predecessor sounded so much like him.

A man of few words.

A powerful man.

According to Anya, the original Surrdon had reached the demigod realm, but the game had stated that he was only at the halo realm.

Beginner practitioners were rated in ten levels of mana gathering. Once the practitioner solidified the mana in his body, he could advance to the seven higher levels(realms) which were; the gold realm, seal realm, nirvana realm, saint realm, void realm, nascent realm, and finally, the halo realm. Each realm consumed at least fifty years of practicing and offered a hundred years of life extension upon ascension.

After the seven higher realms, one would go through the heavenly tribulation and ascend to being a demigod. A demigod could practice for about a hundred years before being promoted to being a god by the laws of the heavens.

Gods and demigods had their own world that was far greater than Agrerea. But to ascend to the heavens, a practitioner had to have gone through a lot of hardships for about six hundred years. The benefits equaled the torture.

If only Surrdon had a fraction of the demon lord's powers. How easy it would be to start a life of his own without fear of any enemies.

"Teacher? Teacher?" A feminine voice drew him from his trance.

He squeezed shut his eyes and reminded himself that he was far weaker than any practitioner in the sect. He still needed to practice to level up to one thousand mana level to unlock one of the seven sigils on his body.

"You must have some knowledge of the ice phoenix, right?"

The first elder nodded smiling.

"The little thing hatched by itself. I'm not sure how it ended up in such a place. Do you want it Teacher?"

The thought of gifting her mentor a precious beast thrilled the female. She had been so overjoyed after seeing him after so many years that all reason flew right out the window.

Surrdon glanced to the side, meeting her beaming gaze. "You don't question why I want it? Or why-"

"Not at all," she squeaked shaking her head frantically. "It will be safer with you than any other person."

Surrdon frowned. If they managed to tame the phoenix for themselves, it'd protect their village from any threats over time.

"I will accept it, but I promise to come back in the future to repay this kindness."

"No, you do not need to do that. I'm your disciple. Even if you ask for this humble village of mine, I will gladly hand it to you."

That made Surrdon chuckle. She sounded so silly yet loyal. How had the former Demon Lord met her? She must have been quite silly back then.

Surrdon gave a small nod and looked ahead. His impossible mission would now be accomplished without the need for Shihan to come to his aid.

Shihan!

Surrdon had made a mental note of his vengeance some day in the future.

--------------------------------

They set off early in the morning, their destination, a hundred miles into the forest.

The journey would take at least two days since they were traveling by foot. If only one of them had learned some teleportation skills, the tiresome journey would have been avoided.

The first elder led, Surrdon followed, and the third and fourth elders held the rear. They took occasional breaks, slept when necessary, and hunted when hungry.

Surrdon started learning about this world from the basics. The fish in the rivers were nothing like those from Earth.

They were spiritual fish that could boost mana within the body upon consumption.

With this knowledge, he devoured at least four fish on the first day and six on the second day. The elders did not mind. To them, he was only replenishing his energy after walking for so long. They thought he was avoiding the usage of his magic to experience what it felt like treading in a dangerous forest. Little did they know that he had no useful magic and could be easily torn apart by a mere stray dog.

"We have arrived," the first elder announced stopping in front of a dark cave hidden by the shadows of the trees around it.

Surrdon looked into the darkness and a chill shot through his body. There was an icy breeze blowing from inside, making the air itself feel like it was winter already.

"The ice phoenix is in there. This is a cold cave that was once used by humans to practice ice skills. It still possesses the aura of ice nature," the third elder explained.

"Let us go in," announced the first elder, aiming for Surrdon's praise of her bravery.

But he had little interest in what she was displaying as to what was inside.

The group walked deeper into the dark cave, with their only source of light being a ball of red fire that was being cast by the first elder. It illuminated the half-frozen walls and slippery ground, guiding them along their way.

There was a piercing silence. One that was oddly heavy to the ears.

"I can sense it," the first elder whispered, her eyes focused on the chamber they were about to walk into.

There was a large flat frozen rock in the middle of the chamber, surrounded by five red crystals, all frozen. On the center of the rock, a small bird the size of a grown man's palm rested on it, asleep.

The first elder glanced back at Surrdon, waiting for his instructions.

'What do I do? How do I tame the damn bird?'

On one hand, he couldn't expose his weakness to the elders, on the other, he had no way of taming the bird. The situation only worsened when all three of them turned to him, their eyes sparkling with questions.

'Anya?' He called in his head. 'Come on Anya, I need your help.'

Right before his eyes, the little snake materialized yawning. Her eyes blinked lazily. "What is it now? I have been so exhausted after our last-" She suddenly stopped talking and took a sharp inhale.

Her eyes immediately lit up with life, chasing away the gloominess that had veiled her face.

"It smells so delicious," she salivated searching for the source of the scent. She finally traced it to the innocent blue bird sleeping on the rock.

Her small body flew to hover above the phoenix, making Surrdon frown irritated.

If she dared mess up this mission, he swore to cut her open and feed her to the dogs, if there were any around. Maybe wolves?

Surrdon knocked his concentration back on Anya and shook his head glaring at her.

"Teacher, are you okay?"

Surrdon nodded at her. "Could you leave me alone for five minutes? I need to do it by myself."

The first elder nodded, before ushering the other two to leave the chamber.

Once alone, Surrdon rushed at Anya and grabbed her before her gaped mouth bit the bird. "Let go, she will help me rise a level."

"You little snake, I need this bird to complete my mission. If you had offered me better options than joining a sect, then I would have let you eat it."

Anya sulked and wriggled from Surrdon's grip. "I only did that so you can gain some experience of this world," she muttered annoyed.

Surrdon's gaze hardened on her.

She had just confessed unknowingly. He grabbed her again, more furious than before. "You mean, I can progress without without the need of being in any sect?"

She wiggled about, trying to flee from his hard grasp, but Surrdon was using some mana in his fist without even feeling it.

"Argh! You're so annoying. Let me go and I'll-"

Instead of releasing her small body, he brought his other hand to make sure she would not escape. "Speak!"

Anya sighed loudly.

"Yes, you can progress. But, all the techniques that the former Demon Lord practiced are all in your life's sigil. You need to first unlock it so you can have access to his techniques, his weapon, and his memories. That is why I need you to first solidify the mana in your body, this will make it less dangerous to unlock the first sigil."

Surrdon looked down at his abdomen.

Those little unique sigils held so much power?