Returning to the Mysterious Era

Meanwhile, a symbol appeared below the entry. The symbol was composed of dense, light red patterns. Cassius's gaze flickered slightly as he deciphered its meaning.

"Enhancement in progress… Room for improvement for the Stone Armour Technique… Insufficient essence of calamity… Enhancement failed…"

So that's what it meant. Cassius immediately understood the situation. The Blood of the Spirit, as generated by the Rune of Wisdom, could be used to enhance the upper limit of techniques, such as upgrading the Stone Armour Technique from two stages to three. But this did require the technique being enhanced to have room for growth.

Cassius wasn't surprised that the enhancement had failed in the end, considering that he had only obtained a tiny bit of essence of calamity. If just killing a direct descendant of the Alphama Bloodline could enhance a technique, Cassius would have established a foundation of invincibility right then and there.

But this meant all his techniques could be maxed out, thus paving the way for an unstoppable future. All he needed to do was continue gradually training, following the path laid out for him.

Cassius exhaled slightly and shifted his focus.

Huh? Why does the Elephant Soul technique also have a plus sign? He raised an eyebrow and refocused again.

[Elephant Soul Incomplete: Bug Bite 66.7%+ (Total Three stages)]

This time, the plus sign didn't appear next to the number of stages but next to the progress of the technique. Cassius tried adding a point. Immediately, the entry for Elephant Soul became blurry, and a light blue patterned symbol appeared below it.

"Breaking through bottleneck… Bottleneck not reached… Insufficient essence of calamity… Breakthrough failed…"

Wow, it can be used to break through bottlenecks too?! Cassius's eyes widened as he began to explore further. Moments later, he discovered another function.

In the upper right corner of his vision, the entries for the Wind Elephant Covert Martial Arts and Stone Armour Technique simultaneously blurred and flickered, even showing signs of merging. A pale yellow mark appeared at the bottom.

"Technique fusion in progress… The natures of the two are in conflict and highly incompatible… Insufficient essence of calamity… Fusion failed…"

Cassius decided to take back what he had said earlier. What's the point of this thing? It's just annoying to look at. On the contrary, the Rune of Wisdom was extremely useful—far more than he initially thought.

Although it couldn't directly enhance Cassius's strength, its other auxiliary abilities were undoubtedly cheat-level.

First, it enhanced the upper limits of techniques. Second, it triggered inspiration, helping to break through bottlenecks. Third, it fused together techniques with high compatibility.

So far, these were the three functions Cassius had discovered, all of which were related to the Rune of Wisdom and the Blood of the Spirit. But what if there were other hidden functions, just waiting to be discovered?

Not to mention, the Rune of Wisdom still had its limitations. After Cassius obtained the first trace of the essence of calamity, he revisited the information from the Rune of Wisdom and received more feedback. According to ancient mythology, everything went through a perpetual cycle, like a coiled snake constantly in motion. It took the entire world one year to complete one full cycle, during which the coiled snake returned to its original position.

In other words, after the Rune of Wisdom generated the Blood of the Spirit, it entered a year-long cooldown period, which meant Cassius could only use the Rune of Wisdom once a year. After accumulating enough essence of calamity, he could choose any one of the three functions before the rune fell dormant once again.

His excitement dimmed slightly, and after a while, he was calm. It made sense; since the Rune of Wisdom was a product of some mysterious civilization, it had to adhere to certain principles. It wouldn't be reasonable for it to offer powerful abilities without any cost.

The only ability that defied such rules was his time-traveling power.

Cassius's time-travel ability was incredibly abnormal, capable of manifesting a real historical era. All the progress he made in this period could also be brought back to the real world, putting it far ahead of the Rune of Wisdom for now.

Wait a minute.

Cassius suddenly had a thought. Which took precedence, his time-travel ability or the Rune of Wisdom? He leaned toward the time-travel ability having higher priority. But that raised another question: were all the time-travel eras part of the same world? What about the original real world?

In ancient mythology, everything went through a perpetual cycle, like a coiled snake constantly in motion. It takes the entire world one year to complete one full cycle, during which the coiled snake returns to its original position.

In theory, a person could only exist in one world where time was continuous. But what if someone existed in more than one world, and time skipped and had gaps? Wouldn't that create a bug, allowing for constant refreshes?

For instance, what if Cassius, currently in the "Fifty-Years-Ago Bronze Ring World," used the Rune of Wisdom's enhancement opportunity? When he returned to the "real world," would the Rune of Wisdom reset? What if he entered the "Seventy-Years-Ago Wind Elephant Pendant World"? Would the Rune of Wisdom refresh again?

It didn't seem to align with the rules or principles, but if the time-travel ability had a higher priority than the Rune of Wisdom, then it might make sense. Lower-level abilities yielded to higher-level ones, which meant the Rune of Wisdom would have to yield to the time-travel ability. And since the time-travel ability was a mysterious cheat, it didn't follow conventional rules.

That sounded about right… But he needed to test that theory to confirm.

Cassius then realized that he might have already triggered two bugs; one with the Shadow Demons, and another with the Rune of Wisdom—if they worked, that was. Both bugs were based on his time-travel ability, and Cassius was quite pleased about it.

Having a cheat ability was truly satisfying!

"Ah…" A series of groans came from the rubble on the ground.

Cassius snapped out of it and immediately went back to threatening and intimidating. Five minutes later, only one cowardly Blood Race youth remained out of the four. Cassius had dealt with the other three, and the Rune of Wisdom's progress bar increased slightly as a result.

Cassius's curiosity was piqued. After obtaining the essence of calamity by killing a direct descendant of the Alphama Bloodline, he had assumed that the essence of calamity was the same as dark essence. But now it seemed that this was not the case.

The Black Rain Manor's missions targeted various dark creatures, focusing on organs that were the richest in dark essence. For the Blood Race, this would be the heart. Cassius had experimented earlier and discovered that the essence of calamity had nothing to do with the heart. Other than these two substances seemingly running parallel to each other, they had no direct connection at the moment.

Cassius crouched down in the corridor, feeling the hefty weight of the heart in his hand before stuffing it back into the corpse's bloody chest cavity. He then wiped the blood off his hands onto the corpse's clothing, leaving red handprints behind.

A Blood Race youth was watching in horror nearby. The man before him was not only powerful but also extremely twisted! He had the audacity to play with a corpse's organs after killing them, all while wearing an apathetic visage and moving like a curious scholar.

Watching his companion's body being studied and dissected left a deep psychological impression on the youth. He even felt phantom pains as if he were experiencing it himself. This man was undoubtedly a devil.

Cassius, on the other hand, didn't realize that his actions would instill such extreme fear in his captive. He was merely experimenting to understand where the essence of calamity came from; it seemed natural to be curious about this.

The more he understood his cheat skills, the better off he'd be in the future, with clear plans leading to greater success.

Suddenly—

Hiss, hiss, hiss…

Cassius quickly turned his head at the familiar sound. Fortunately, it wasn't the swarm of white scarabs he feared. It was just a lone scarab on the ground, limping as if injured.

Ten minutes later, in the dry gray passage.

A tall figure flickered across the ground. Cassius, draped in a gray cloak, rushed through the tunnel, the cloak billowing like a dark cloud. He was wearing the attire from one of the Blood Race he had encountered earlier.

While the Blood Race in this world generally weren't afraid of light, they certainly had no favorable feelings toward it. This was especially the case for the direct bloodline of the Blood Race residing in the Alphama mountains, who, unlike ordinary Blood Race who mingled amongst humans, had no social interactions and still needed to move during the day. As a result, the direct bloodline of the Blood Race despised light even more than the regular Blood Race. Some of them wore cloaks for greater comfort.

Cassius appreciated this habit of the Alphama direct line Blood Race. He also liked cloaks; they weren't easy to tear off in battle.

In the passage, a series of footsteps echoed toward the end. Cassius had a Blood Race youth pinned under his arm, his expression vigilant yet calm.

"There's a fork ahead. Which way?" he asked.

"Right," the Blood Race youth answered honestly.

"Good." Cassius didn't waste any words and immediately turned right.

Whoosh!

A strong arm whipped out from around the corner, its power and speed slicing through the air with a sharp whistle.

A master?!

Cassius reacted instantly. Throwing the burdened youth backward, he stepped forward and punched.

Bang!

Both arms recoiled, numbed by the impact. Cassius narrowed his eyes, a web of blood vessels quickly filling his pupils. Heat radiated from his body, and the writhing muscles of his frame exuded immense power.

Finish this quickly!

Boom!

He stomped diagonally on the ground, cracking the hard stone. In an instant, he crossed several meters, running around the corner in a wide arc, swinging his arms like spears.

The tall figure on the other side also burst forth fiercely, flinging his arms in a wide curve, and leaving a black shadow in the air. It was like a whip, almost renting the air apart!

Two blows collided. Power erupted from the point of contact as a straight punch met a swinging punch. Cassius's muscles contracted sharply. His hands closed in, and his outstretched arms twisted like pythons and attacked viciously.

Smack!

A sharp elbow struck the joint.

Cassius's arm trembled, losing thirty percent of its strength. He immediately stepped back, looking closely at the man before him. Both were equally puzzled and spoke simultaneously, "It's you?"

"How did you get in?" Cassius asked first.

"Fog, shadows."

A tall, muscular figure stood opposite Cassius. He was handsome with a towering build and radiant blond hair. It was the same man Cassius had fought before: Duomo.

"And you?" Duomo countered.

"Fog, shadows…" Cassius shrugged. "Good thing I held back, or you'd be on the ground right about now." Duomo's sudden appearance had clearly irritated him.

"Heh." Duomo sneered and shook his head.

Whoosh!

Hoo!

Duomo's powerful lion claw stopped just short of Cassius's chest, the fierce wind from the strike making his black cloak ripple outward, like waves on a river.

"That move is fast… What's it called?" Cassius asked calmly, his eyes slightly lowered.

"Burning Lion Mark," Duomo said slowly. "And you're quite impressively fast too. What's that move called?"

Cassius's large, iron-like fist hovered in midair, just a centimeter from his forehead. "Elephant's Roar."

Both men simultaneously retracted their fists when Cassius answered. They seemed to have come to an inexplicable sense of mutual understanding.

"Your Burning Lion Mark is indeed fast, but speed alone isn't enough. I can feel the power in that move and the most it can do is give me a small injury." Cassius acted as though he were chatting with an old friend. "But if you had taken my punch…"

Duomo's pupils shrank, and he didn't refute. Instead, he asked, "You've practiced hardening Qigong?"

"Yes," Cassius said goodnaturedly.

The two men, standing two meters apart, sized each other up. Duomo suddenly smiled, extending his hand. "I think this calls for reintroductions. Duomo, from the Three-Eyed Mad Lion Sect."

Cassius narrowed his eyes slightly and stretched his hand out as well. "Cassius, from the Wind Elephant Sect. I guess you really only get to know someone after you fight them…"

He and Duomo shook hands, and Cassius's mind began piecing together some plans. He was about to speak when they heard quick footsteps and voices coming from one of the branching paths.

"Someone's fighting up ahead!"

"Let's go take a look."

Cassius raised an eyebrow, a faint smile on his face. He exchanged a glance with Duomo. "I have some important things to discuss with you, but we should find a quiet place first."

Duomo narrowed his eyes. "Of course."

Boom! Boom!

The two figures instantly vanished from the fork in the road, their shadows darting into the tunnel.

"Who's there?!"

"Two ordinary male humans."

"How did they get in?"

"Doesn't matter, kill them!"

The voices of the Blood Race reverberated through the passage. The two figures charged in like tigers into a flock of sheep. Screams, collisions, and groans filled the air, followed by blood splattering across the ground, the ceiling, and the walls.

"I am of noble lineage, and you, a mere human, dare to…"

Bang!

With a flash of his fist, the ugly, blood-covered head exploded. Black scalp and white solid matter splattered across the ground.

Cassius shook his right hand. His previous punch had been too light. Instead of killing it, all it did was give the Blood Race a concussion. But then the creature started babbling nonsense, screaming that they were going to tear him apart. Annoyed by the ruckus, Cassius delivered the finishing blow. He looked up and saw at least seven or eight Blood Race corpses lying in the passage. Duomo, his hands dripping with blood, slowly walked over.

Cassius glanced at the progress bar in the corner of his vision. It had increased slightly.

"It's quiet now. You can say whatever you need to," Duomo reminded Cassius after noticing how he seemed to be staring off into space.

Cassius blinked, snapping back to reality. He organized his thoughts and, under Duomo's watchful eyes, slowly asked, "Have you heard of Soul Power?"

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