CHAPTER 4

Damien came to the middle part of the outer region of the forest . The first monster he encountered was a level 6 wolf . It took him one strike to successfully eliminate it . He gained 0.5 evolution points for that kill . He countinued to venture more inside .

The next monster group he discovered consisted of 25 level 7 monsters and 2 level 8 monsters . Damien hid himself first . This group of monsters is one of the strongest in this part of the forest . They can even rip apart a level 9 cultivator . He needs to approach carefully .

He climbed a tree from where he jumped towards the two level 8 monsters . They noticed him and pounced but Damien's reflex was a bit faster as he dodged the monster and stabbed his sword on its lower abdomen . Blood gushed out of the wound as it fell down . The other level 8 monster rushed towards him without giving him time to breathe .

Damien gritted his teeth as he moved to the side . Unfortunately , he was a little late as the claws tore apart his skin and a wound was formed on his leg . Damien didn't back down after this injury . Instead , he swung his sword towards its neck .

Crack !

The sound made when Damien's sword and the monster's neck came in contact . Damien tore apart his defense and chopped off its head .

[Killed level 8 monster]

[Evolution points : 49 > 51]

Damien didn't rest . He still needed to deal with the level 7 monsters . He took out a HF2 healing potion from his bag and drank it . The wound on his leg started healing as he ran towards the level 7 monsters . His blade shone in an amethyst glow as the corpses of level 7 monsters started to fall on the ground .

After about 15 minutes , Damien stood in between the corpses of monsters . His blood covered face and ice cold amethyst eyes is enough to make anyone feel fear . His silver hair was turned red due to the blood of monsters . A system screen was floating in front of him .

[Evolution points : 51 > 76]

He dropped down on the ground . Damien had a goal in his mind today . He expects to collect 100 evolution points before heading back to the dorms . The upgrade from level 7 to level 8 would require him 60 points and the upgrade from level 8 to level 9 would require 120 points .

There was one more thing he noticed during the battle today . That is the lack of any decent skills . Damien's swordsmanship was better than most students as he grew up in a sword family but he didn't have any good skills . He then remembered that Evolutions points can be used to increase his level of practice for a skill .

This is perfect . His 'Sword Mastery' trait will make it easier for him to comprehend the technique and then he can use points to raise the level of skill practice . As far as Damien knows , there are 5 levels of practicing a skill . The most first comes Beginner , then comes Practiced level , then comes Proficient level , then Mastery level and the final Perfection Level .

Damien got up from the place he sat for resting . He needed 24 more points before heading back .

****

After 45 minutes

Damien was heading back towards his Academy dorms . His harvest was successful as he saw the system screen .

[Evolution points : 115]

He was stuck in a group battle once more and thus he had no choice but to kill them all . When he finished , his evolution points has gained a surge . Damien first delivered the corpses of the monsters which will earn him a little money . As he was about to enter the dorm , his phone rang .

[Your account has received amount 140,000 yen]

Damien's face lit up a bit . He could now afford some decent equipments and a sword . Although , he was from the 'Celestia Family' but still the Academy doesn't allow anyone to take family's money for their daily uses . Students had to earn money by themselves from the 3rd year .

Damien couldn't earn any money despite trying the hardest . The lowest monster were level 3 in the forest . They were stronger than him . Hestia would give him some from her money she earned in a month . Although , Damien used to feel guilty for taking his sister's money but there was nothing he can do .

Damien cleaned himself up and sat on his bed in a cross-legged position .

[Do you want to use 60 points to ascend to level 8 ?]

[Yes !]

Damien's core which is on the dantain started to rotate at high speed . The Aether core started absorbing a large amount of Aether from the air and storing it inside the core . Damien's core started to form cracks on it . The cracks grew bigger and bigger as his core shattered . The shattered pieces of the core then collected as if sucked by a tornado and formed a bigger core inside him .

The new core was much more stronger than the previous . The Aether inside it is highly compressed and held a huge amount of Aether inside it . Damien coughed up a mouthful of black blood . These were the impurities inside his body and in his core which are now purified .

He opened his eyes . His amethyst eyes had brighten up and it had a glow in them . Damien looked at his hand and tried to bring out the Aether . Instantly , his core started rotating as his energy channels got filled with Aether and a huge purple ball formed on Damien's hand .

Level 8 break through complete !

****

The next day

Damien did his morning chores as he headed towards the library of the Academy . He wanted to learn a few skills and master them . He entered the library and went to the third floor after verifying his id .

The third floor consists of skills which are high-grade and can only be learnt by students who are at level 7 or above . According , to the news which spread in the Academy , Damien is a level 7 cultivator and so he had the permission to visit the third floor . If they knew that he had broken through to level 8 in just one night then the consequence won't look good .

Damien saw that there aren't many students on the third floor . The few who were present were all from noble houses . Their strengths weren't weak either as Damien didn't sense anyone below level 7 . It made sense though . What would a level 6 do even if he came here ?

He wanted to learn sword skills and so he went to the shelf for sword techniques . There were many sword skills present but Damien didn't understand which to take . He suddenly got an idea as he activated

['Clairvoyance' activated]

Damien's vision changed . The doors , windows and even the shelfs were of no blockage to him . He could see every detail clearly without even an hint of blur in vision . Damien contracted his senses as he concentrated on the books before him . He scanned through the entire book shelf and found only one book which suited him . He spread his vision to each and every corner of the library covering every book shelf .

In total he found 5 books which matched him . He collected all of them and sat on a desk . When he opened the book he felt a connection between himself and it . He sensed deeply and found that the Aether inside him was connecting a string to it .

['Trait : Sword Mastery' activated]

The manuals sketches and description were like a movie played inside his head as he tried to comprehend the contents . The comprehension was completed to the beginner stage in just a few seconds .

['Thunder Sword' learned]

[Level : Beginner]

[Do you want to use 5 evolution points to raise its level ?]

[Yes !]

[Do you want to use 15 evolution points to raise its level ?]

[Yes !]

[Do you want to use 25 evolution points to raise its level ?]

[Yes!]

[Thunder Sword (Beginner > Mastered)]

Three consecutive breakthroughs

The technique became clearer and the speed of executing each attack increased by a total by a million times . Damien practiced the sword art in his conciousness tens and thousands of time until he finally mastered it . He released a breath . Leveling up skills all the way from beginner to master level was hard but his body is now stronger . This skill was invincible . The beginner strength was already enough for him to stand against a level 1 Aetherforged realm Evolver . The current he can defeat even level 3 of Aetherforged realm .

'I still have over a month left'

'I should breakthrough atleast to level 5 of Aetherforged realm'

'I should practice some skills too'

'Tomorrow , it will be the real start'

'I will enter the inner part of Outer region !'

****

Damien practiced some more skills but only was able to reach the proficient level of each skill . Although , as a result , his combat power had increased three fold . He can now take on a level 4 Aetherforged realm Evolver .

Damien came prepared today . He had a new sword on him . This was a Series II Moon Sword which he carried . The moment he picked the sword he felt a connection . A chill ran through his body . As though something inside him was resonating with it . Damien though for a while before getting a theory . His mother is an ice elemental ability user and he got her blood in him .

It was quite possible that the Moon Blade which is known for its ice element boost actually resonated with his ice attribute which he carries by blood . His excitement level increased to the max when the system gave him a notification .

[Ice Attribute Elemental Ability detected]

[Do you want to use 200 evolution points to activate it ?]

[Yes !]

[Insufficient points available !]

[Current Evolution points : 8]

"I am out of points , huh ?"

"No problem . Today I will enter the inner region"

"I will definitely find a level 9 monster there"

"I will clear out the maximum amount of the area"

Damien went into the forest . His combat suit was damaged a little but his sword was new and that itself gave him confidence . He crossed the place which he came yesterday to hunt beasts . There were many other students in this place too . The people at level 6 of the Aetherborn realm had it easy for them to practice their combat here .

The inner part had relatively less students because only those that reached level 7 atleast could only enter them . Damien took a path which was relatively isolated and quiet . He could sense a large number of beasts here in this place .

"No wonder , nobody came here"

"This place is full of monsters and if surrounded by monsters , it will be difficult to escape"

Damien walked straight as he saw a monster pouncing towards him . It was a level 7 rat monster . One strike was all it took from him to kill the monster . The sound attracted many as he was shortly covered on all four sides with level 7 or level 8 monsters .

Damien smiled a little as his sword released sparks of lightning .

Suddenly , his sword was completely covered in lightning as he slashed it . A huge cresent moon shaped slash appeared and divided the monsters ahead . He looked towards his other side with cold eyes as another slash ended them too . He was collecting evolution points at the speed of light . His each sword strike eliminated atleast 10 monsters .

He cleared his surroundings and collected the corpses . He went inside the forest as monsters started chasing him over and over again . They all met with the same fate . They were either slashed to death or burnt to death by Damien's sword . He wasn't sure but he was feeling quite excited after killing the monsters as he continued .

*****

Three hours have passed since Damien entered the forest and started his massacre . The number of level 7 and level 8 monsters he killed easily exceeded 200 and the ones in level 9 which were difficult for him to handle were almost amounting to 70 . He checked his interface while sitting on a pile of monster corpses .

[Evolution points : 290]

This was enough for him to awaken his ice elemental ability but he wanted more . His amethyst eyes were glowing bright as his silver hair was shinning under the sunlight . He got up from the place he was sitting on . His goal today was to collect atleast 500 evolution points for which he needed more monsters .

Damien was yet to encounter any Aetherforged realm monster here but he was sure that if he walked more deep then he could find some level 9 monsters and even the chance of him finding an Aetherforged realm monster increased too . He got up as he collected the corpses in his spatial ring .

He entered more deep as he found what he had expected . The monsters here were all either at level 8 or level 9 , there was no sign of a level 7 monster here . Damien waited for some time before he climbed the tree above their head . He waited for the moment when the monsters drop their guard .

Fortunately , this time came soon as he jumped from the tree with his sword emitting an amethyst light . The level 8 beasts took two strikes each whereas the level 9 took three strikes . He wasn't increasing his cultivation with points because the gain from level 8 beasts would become half . It took him around 2 more hours to completely clear his vicinity .

[Evolution points : 501]