Chapter 449: Darkness Unity

'Hopefully, it produces the desired effect…'

Having been practicing through the 'Ian Long' training method for almost a month now, I was able to make great strides as I managed to max level the 'Intermediate' stage of my weapon arts' 'Elemental Techniques' other than the ones which were initially maxed, however…

'I have been stuck long enough!'

No matter how much effort I put, I still wasn't able to push even one of them to advance to the next stage. This made me feel somewhat frustrated considering I hardly met such obstacles in any form of training since I entered the 'Lost Realm'...

As such, I couldn't help but feel slightly hopeful with the addition of one more 'fresh blood' technique to study and practice, especially since this technique's concept was quite interesting!

'Even the name is…'

The technique's name, which came in a pair, held quite the meaning as well.

'Devouring Engulf - Darkness Unity'

The name, which seemed to have been spat out by someone with a very serious case of chuunibyou, actually had some deep meanings to it.

'Unity of sword and man!'

As an imaginary concept that has been mentioned in at least half the wuxia novels that I read, being only attainable by legendary figures or protagonists, it definitely piqued my interest, even if it was simply a practical imitation of it.

Darkness is ever-expanding and without limit, anything that is engulfed within can only become part of it, forming one solitary entity!

With that as the main headline of the technique, its special elemental sequence allowed 'engulfed' the weapon and the body of the user to form the connection of 'unity', not only unleashing the restriction of combat strength, but also extending the utility limit of the sword.

'Here we go…'

Not wasting much time after thoroughly digesting the technique's details, I immediately jumped into practice!

My usual routine today was already disturbed by the event of finding the mental imprint, conversing with it, obtaining two new elements, and lastly testing the Crystal Refining Tower, so it didn't bother me much to continue doing so. That was especially the case since my space 'sweeping' time was going to be drastically reduced now that I had the Darkness elements.

Unlike the last time I learned an elemental weapon technique, this one didn't come in the special guidance 'tome' form. As such, repeating the feat of learning a technique in the matter of 12 hours or so wasn't practically possible, however...

'This place really is efficient!'

The abundance of Darkness elements that crowded this space was like a special elixir that complemented the practice of any Darkness-related technique. Not only did it allow smaller mistakes to be mended without trouble, but it greatly enhanced my senses when it came to handling Darkness elements.

"Meow!"

Finally deciding to take a break 10 hours later, I immediately gave Light a hug to heal my mental fatigue, who licked my cheeks in response, seemingly comforting me before giving me a light pat to the back.

"Meow Meow!"

Showing his pride in me who persisted in training, Light looked extremely cute as he was trying to show human-like expressions in his 'mini' form, almost giving me a cuteness overload and erasing half of my physical fatigue in the process…

"Come one, let's eat!"

Trying hard not to have a heart attack, I took an instantaneous shower before taking out two bowls of noodles for today's meal.

"Meow!"

Seeing the glistening noodles, Light almost jumped from my embrace into the bowl. Naturally, it wasn't that he was starving as it had merely been less than two days since the last 'big' meal, which wasn't really much for an advanced monster such as Light, it was merely that he missed his daily 'delicacy'.

"It's okay, eat slowly, we can have double the bowls today!"

Feeling quite hearty as we ate together with zeal, I almost forgot the predicament we were in as I kept caressing Light's head. I was almost completely healed of exhaustion even though I hadn't slept yet.

However… 

I couldn't help but spread out my perception by the time I lay in bed to sleep, feeling extreme familiarity with the previously depressing place as I examined the degree of change.

'This can be considered another special experience in itself…'

Even considering my usual wide range of perception, my current one was simply too wide in comparison, such a phenomenon only happened due to how special this space was.

Just having basic Darkness Affinity and entry-level Darkness elemental practice allowed one to use this familiarity to use the space itself as their eyes and ears. Meanwhile, being already a 3rd stage Darkness Elemental Master, the effect was as exaggerated as it could be. 

Most importantly…

'I see…'

Within the extreme familiarity existed extreme unfamiliarity, this particular contrast caused the source of this unfamiliarity to feel like a lighthouse that screamed out its location. A faint smile couldn't help but surface on my face after this confirmation!

While the range of my perception has indeed gone crazy, it was still very far from reaching the level where it could cover the entire space. It would be barely enough to make my searching four times as efficient. However, with the extremely unfamiliar 'scent' of Corruption that showed its general direction like a jet-black wolf that hid within a flock of sheep, quadrupling my searching efficiency was only the beginning!

'but…'

In fact, if not for the fact that I wanted to make use of this space's time difference as well as its favorable effect on my plan to learn the elemental weapon technique and purify my Darkness cell, I was 99% confident in needing a week at most to find the source of this nauseating 'Corruption', supposedly the demon who kidnapped me to this place.

Opportunities were meant to be exploited reasonably and this applied even more so in the case of blessings in disguise such as my situation, so I obviously wasn't going to let this pass by me after already suffering quite a bit.

'We should be able to get out of here soon enough…'