Chapter 972: Cursed Heaven

# Author's birthday special chapter (1/5).

'Why is he not showing the interest that he showed at the beginning of the journey?'

That was the only thought in Master Elek's head because when they were following him from the mercenary guild, Ajax looked very curious and asked so many questions.

However, just when he thought Ajax would beg him to reveal how they were going to collect Astral Energy, Ajax remained silent and nodded his head in reply.

'Let's see how long you can maintain that calmness.'

Master Elek silently thought in his head as he seated in his place and guided the Soul stingray towards the Cursed Heavens.

However, what he didn't know was Ajax was fully focused on the converting Cursed Energy into Astral Energy.

Moreover, Ajax even thought that without the help of Master Elek, he could just enter into the cursed abyss to accumulate Astral Energy.

The deeper he went into the cursed abyss, the faster he could accumulate Astral Energy.

Time continued to pass and soon 30 minutes passed by before they reached a small cave which was completely covered by the mist.

The mist was nothing but Cursed Energy that was in the purest form.

"Finally, we are here."

All of a sudden, the Soul Stingray stopped in mid-air as Master Elek informed Ajax and Elek.

Along the way, Master Elek had kept an eye on Ajax; however, Ajax fell asleep making him speechless.

'What happened to that curious Ajax who wants to know everything?'

Master Elek even doubted whether he was the original Ajax or someone shapeshifted into Ajax.

However, Master Elek knew that it was impossible unless the perpetrator was a King realm cultivator with a shapeshifting ability.

"Let's enter."

Nevertheless, he controlled his emotions and asked Ajax and Levi to follow him before summoning back his contracted spirit beast.

'Swoosh'

Once the Soul stingray disappeared, both Ajax and Levi felt their body can move again; however, they fell to the ground from a certain height.

"Master Elek, shouldn't you ask your contracted spirit beast to land on the ground before summoning it back?"

Levi was the first one to complain because he became closer to Master Elek compared to Ajax while staying in the same secret realm.

However, Ajax stood up from the ground with an annoyed look and he was about to say something to Master Elek but stopped because he got a system notification.

'Ding,

Congratulations on successfully accumulating 1 unit of Cursed Energy.

'Finally, I got one unit of...wait...what? One unit of Cursed Energy?'

Initially, Ajax was excited when he saw the system notification as he thought it was one unit of Astral Energy; however, when he noticed it was Cursed Energy and not Astral Energy, he became disappointed.

'Calm down...calm down. I can find other ways to accumulate Astral Energy. Moreover, even if I cultivate here, I will get one unit of Cursed Energy for every 30 minutes which means it would take a little more than 2 days to convert a single unit of Astral Energy.'

Nevertheless, Ajax tried his best to calm down and started thinking more as he continued, 'To get a single unit of Astral Energy for every two days is better than getting 1 unit of Astral Energy for every 10 days. However, for the first option, I have to stay in the Cursed Abyss and as for the latter one, I just need to mind my own business but I will still get 1 unit of Astral Energy for every 10 days,'

After thinking, Ajax felt both the options are good and now, he had two sources of accumulating Astral Energy and the third one might be coming soon after entering the cave.

"What are you waiting for? Follow me."

Seeing that Ajax was not moving from his place, Master Elek asked him to follow him.

He was not worried that Ajax might be injured from the earlier fall and if Ajax really gets injured, then it is better for him to stay outside.

After finishing his words, Master Elek didn't bother about Ajax or Levi as he directly entered into the same cave.

'Ajax, let's go.'

Levi pulled Ajax with him into the cave as they followed behind Master Elek.

...

"Brother Nameless."

The moment they entered the cave, both Ajax and Levi heard Master Elek shouting as loudly as possible.

Even though the cave looked small from the outside, it was quite big on the inside and what's more there were any passages.

'Tap tap'

Just as Ajax and Levi wondering why he was shouting for the Nameless Cultivator, they heard the sound of footsteps coming from one of the passages.

"Brother Elek, why are you shouting? Are you planning to destroy my abode and kill me in it?"

From one of the passages, Master Elek got a reply which ended with a scoff.

'Th...this voice, why does it sound so scary?'

Both Ajax and Levi were scared just from hearing the voice because it was the scariest eerie voice they ever heard in their life.

In short, that voice almost sounded like some ancient demonic creature that just woke up from its slumber.

"He...is"

Soon, a figure came out of one of the passages inside the cave and looking at him, both Ajax and Levi nearly threw up everything they ate in the mercenary guild.

"Oh. You brought two young men."

The figure that came out of the passage became surprised to see Ajax and Levi as he replied to Master Elek with a slight smile while walking towards them.

The man's face was half corroded with his skull bone visible and it was the same for his left hand and left leg.

There was no hair on his head on the left side and there was some kind of metal visible on his half corroded throat.

"Yes."

Master Elek casually nodded his head without moving from his place.

"Good...good. So, finally, it is again time for eating the geniuses. Time passes so quickly here. It's meal time."