93 Black District III : Training Expedition

The sounds our feet made as we marched towards the black district was rather light. It was as if vampires were wired to walk as silent as possible, we were so cursed, or blessed depending on how you looked at it, that every thing we do, is predatory in nature. Even something as simple as walking. I looked behind me to see Magellan, Kodak, Teluna and Gus pulling massive carts.

The carts were five meters long and three meters wide, and the were also two meters deep, making them as tall as I was. I had tried convincing them that we only needed two or three, but each and every single one of them had insisted on carrying one of their own. The only person who was not pulling a cart was me, but how could I....I'm the leader.

Anyway after my otherwise almost disastrous meeting with Lukas and Shamir, the next step in my plan of creating a Coven, was to have Asha submit an application, so that we could have a spot in the upcoming tri annual coven conference. The next step was to get a little bit more stronger, and not just individually but as a group.

We had to keep up pretenses, so only Magellan, Kodak, Teluna and Gus were coming with me on our training expedition into the black district. We wouldn't be going back home any time soon, as they all had to get familiar with their abilities as vampires, and learn how to handle themselves in a fight, even if it's against giant rats, and the black district was the only place that any one of us could let loose without having to worry about the guards.

The carts were meant to be used as transport for whatever monsters we kill in the black district.

We've been moving for almost four hours, and our pace was not even slowed down by the carts being pulled. Anyway since we had his much time to spend on the road, I had a little experiment that I wanted to carry out. But first of all, I need to have a look at my status page, it's been a while since I've done so.

• NAME:KAEL COR

• AGE: 19

• RACE: VAMPIRE

• RANK: REVENANT: LEVEL: 1/10

• CLASS:WEAVER/SWORDSMAN +/DUNGEON OWNER+

• REALM: WEAVER(7th CIRCLE)/MIND(2ND CIRCLE)/SWORDSMAN(1st CIRCLE) /DUNGEON OWNER(1ST LEVEL)

• ESSENCE POINTS: 415

• STRENGTH: TIER 2.70

• AGILITY: TIER 3.13

• PHYSIQUE: TIER 4

• MIND: TIER 3.77

• SOUL: TIER 3.87

• ETHER: TIER 1.01

• SKILLS: PASSIVE

• [ETHER MANIPULATION: LEVEL 1] BASIC

• [SOUL ENERGY MANIPULATION: LEVEL 9] ADVANCED

• [MENTAL ENERGY MANIPULATION: LEVEL 5] BASIC

• [MARTIAL ARTS: LEVEL 7] ADVANCED

• [SWORD MASTERY: LEVEL 10] BASIC

• [SHIELD ARTS: LEVEL 5] BASIC

• [ILUSSION RESISTANCE: LEVEL 3] BASIC

• [GRAVITY WALKER: LEVEL 1] BASIC

• [BEAST TONGUE: LEVEL N/A] MASTERED

• [SUMMON MONSTER: LEVEL 1] BASIC

• SKILLS: ACTIVE

• [WEAVE: LEVEL 1] ADVANCED

• [NINE GATES OF THE ETHER'S SWORD: LEVEL 1] BASIC (FORGOTTEN)

• [MINING: LEVEL 3] BASIC

• [READ: LEVEL 6] BASIC

• [SOUL CONVERSION: LEVEL 5] BASIC

• [SOUL INFUSION: LEVEL 5] BASIC

• [SOUL WALKER: LEVEL 9] BASIC

• [HYPER SENSE: LEVEL 7] BASIC

• [DUNGEON BUILDER: LEVEL 1] BASIC

• SOUL RUNES:[BREAK]

• MISSIONS: 4

I was getting stronger, that much was true. And this expedition was another chance for me to get stronger. Because I've been busy unsealing the people in the tower and putting my plans into action,I've hardly had any time to actively train my abilities, but now I did. I was going to make sure I explored everything my body, mind and soul were capable of on this journey.

Prior experience had let me know that being stronger meant you were safer and the people you loved were untouchable. Plus I was not really happy Asha was so strong, well I mean I'm not happy that I was not as strong as she was. It hurt my pride that she's the one with the strength to protect, and I'm the man.

The essence points I have are supposed to be used to improve my physical attributes, but I was keeping them stored for now. I've not tested the true limits of my strength since I got unsealed, it wouldn't do to increase them, without getting properly acquainted with how hard or fast my punches can be if I let loose with the intention to kill and do harm. At least it would be a more comfortable warm up than my bust of a fight with Teluna and Asare, I just couldn't keep up with both of them due to my low rank.

Everyone was outfitted withgears of their own choice,but even with the weapons, which were already part of the collection in the tower, we all made an explicit agreement to only use our fists and abilities to fight, rather than relying on weapons. The thought got me excited as the weapons we're using in the first place were not a strong as our fists unless it was augmented by enchantments or runes.

"Summon Monster!" I called out in curiosity.

I felt a little tug in my heart as a magic rune showed up in front of me, and out of that rune a single rat crawled out. It looked around for a moment,before squeaking and running up my clothes to come to a rest on my shoulders. What came next made me regret using that skill.Do you know rats like to talk, they talked a lot, and the worst part was that I brought this upon myself.

"That's why female rats need to have more rights than male rats. Master you understand don't you, why must we have a rat king when we can have a queen, the others just can't seem to get the importance of this matter. It's better if you gave us a rat queen master."

I rubbed my forehead as I askeda question for the first time in twenty minutes after listening to this rat babble on and on about the civic rights of female rats and how it was more profitable to have a rat queen rather than a king.

"So little rat whose name I don't know, since you did not care to introduce me, aren't you male?" I asked.

"Well of course master, I'm a 100% hot blooded male rodent. And I'm single you know, veeeeerrrrryyyy single." He replied twitching his whiskers and rubbing his nose in the process.

"Right okay, please leave." The moment I said that, another rune circle appeared right on my shoulder, and the rat fell through it, disappearing back into the dungeon, or wherever the hell it came from. Hopefully I never see it again.

I turned to look at my companions and made sure I wore the most aggressive look possible, then I asked them "What!" of course no one answered, neither one of them wanted to be the unfortunate person that would call their leader crazy for talking to a rat. But regardless, I've seen what I wanted to. My skills with the dungeon, and most of my racial abilities now depend on my usage of ether, but I did not really know much about it.But before I had left the tower, Asha had given me a little explanation about the energy source.

Ether ran through and powered every source of life in the universe, however in it's raw form, only a few chosen or talented people are capable of using it. Others train to use it, spending much of their entire lives without having even the faintest hint of mastery over this primal source. So to counter balance such a huge disadvantage, considering Ether was the only common source of energy around, multiple techniques or skills were created to help refine the ether into a more purer source of energy that could be used, without the danger and difficulty that came with using the Ether.

The Ether was a primal source born from the coexisting clash of the energy of creation and destruction, the various energy refined from it, are not any weaker than it in terms of capabilities. In fact some of them could even do things that the Ether on it's own was totally incapable of. From the refining of the ether, energy sources like Mana, Qi, Chakra and Prana were born. Each unique in it's own right, and very capable of doing wonderful things that are beyond ordinary.

But because of that, all this energy sources are incapable of doing what any other energy source could do.

The abilities of Prana can not be performed with Mana, and likewise the abilities of Qi can not be performed with Chakra. This was their one deficiency and the only other place that ether excelled at. With enough training, using only the ether, a person could perfectly replicate the abilities and effects of the other energy sources. Ether offered a lot of gains, but the cost to control it, is sometimes too high, as the ether on it's own, is also poison.

I've been in contact with soul energy and somewhat with mental energy. However I knew absolutely nothing about the ether, and had just used the summon monster skill through the aid of the system rather than connecting to the ether and calling forth the skill myself rather than using the system as medium.

I wanted to get in touch with Ether and learn how to utilize it,just as I have done with mg soul energy, but that was easier said than done as I did not know where to start from, and Asha had been rather adamant about me not learning how to use it.

She believed I had a lot on my plate, and should instead take my time to train my soul and mental energy before worrying about ether. Besides she also told me I would eventually get familiar with it if I used my ether skills with the system.

It seemed like a good idea, but it rubbed off on me the wrong way, every time the system had to hold my hands in using my abilities, I felt as if someone else was in control of my body, like I was just a passenger and my body did not belong to me.

It was not a pretty feeling, which was why I wanted to really try and get every energy source available to me mastered, so that I wouldn't need a reason to lean on the essence of a planet I was sure was scheming somethingbeyond me saving it's life from cosmic destruction.

Next on my agenda was hyper sense and gravity walk. These two were a vampire's natural racial skill, with enhanced senses, and the ability our bodies have to defy gravity to a certain extent made us quite the dangerous hunters.

Now, I want to see how far I can push this enhanced senses of mine.I closed my eyes and focused on my ears, I was not sure how far I could hear, but apart from the massive thumps in my head, coming from the sound our feet made as it slapped against the unforgiven earth, it was all silent. We were quite far from civilization, and we were not yet close enough to the black district.

After that I tried to smell, and the most peculiar thing happened, I immediately got a migraine as I was assaulted by a cacophony of scents that I couldn't differentiate. I couldn't help but muse that my senses were a lot sharper than was normal for a vampire at my rank. It took me ten minutes before I understood why.

My mental energy cultivation was at the open mind realm, and in this realm it mostly focused on trying to refine and enhance the brain functions of a person, like it was laying a foundation for more brain power. It refines the brain, which in turns enhances all of the olfactory organs, giving a person sharper eyesight that could see farther and clearer, a more sensitive nose and tongue, a more perceptive ear that could pick up even the slightest of sounds, and finally a sense of touch so precise, you would be able to tell how many individual strands of hair is in your hand once you pluck a handful from your head.

Mental energy was an augmentation energy, and I couldn't help but shudder in anticipation and apprehension about Gus Learning how to properly use it, after all…..…..he was born for it.