Chapter 51: Encounter with Strangers

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Walking to the damaged rocks, Apollo followed Azridan's directions and pressed his hand against it. A suction from his palm took place as he felt something foreign return to him. At the same time, the rocks which once melded together began crumbling.

Soon enough, the radiant light Apollo became a stranger to, for months on end, had reappeared. Stepping outside, he felt the breeze on his skin as he thought to himself, 'It seems whatever Azridan performed, sealed every last crevice in the rocks. Not a semblance of light was able to enter, no wonder I couldn't perceive anything beyond that wall.'

[Correct, the means I used resulted in your senses being unable to penetrate the rock. However, I have undone that. Now, let's embark on your tasks. Time waits for no one and you must surpass all.]

"Right!" responded Apollo before halting his step and tapping his hair, rubbing it between his fingers. It came to his attention just how much it had grown. As of this moment, the back hair reached his shoulders. One needed to know, before dealing with the Mortal Beasts he cut it!

In other words, his hair was undergoing rapid growth. It seemed his body mimicked the stats of the system meticulously. Furthermore, he took the time to inspect his robes. They were nearly nonexistent from the waist up courtesy of the Widow Queen. Its toxins had dissolved his robes.

They weren't special equipment that the cultivators utilized made from enhanced material; they were simple robes.

'I took a look at the robes in the pouch, but those are entirely too large. I estimate it'll take at least a year to fit those,' thought Apollo before pushing the matter to the back of his mind. Kicking off his back foot, he dashed forward.

As he panned his head, he came to the assumption that he was back in the outskirts of the Shadowy Forest. It was evident from the traces amounts of Mortal Beasts scurrying the premises. Needless to say, there would be no activity from them within the Inner Ring.

'Azridan, why'd you bring me all the way back here? It seems redundant to travel back and forth like this,' Apollo's eyebrow rose in question while bringing out his Vantablack Knife. Due to his increase in Agility, he was traversing the outskirts at a rapid rate. In a short period of time, he entered the area of the Rank 1 Spirit Beasts.

[Are you telling me you would have liked to be in constant danger? All the dwellings I discovered in the inner region were inhabited and you were in no state to kill more. Hence, I retired to this place. Not to mention, inside the previous area of activity remained a myriad of beasts capable of destroying that wall I made.]

"Ah, I see. Then treat my earlier questions as air. I shouldn't have doubted you," uttered Apollo before horizontally slashing his weapon. In the next moment, a Rank 1 Spirit Beast fell before him—bisected.

[It is acceptable. After all, I admire your curious mind. You must remember, wisdom isn't in what you know but in the questions you present. Therefore, never regret asking a question, it only serves to deepen your understanding.]

"You're right," nodded Apollo in admittance as he shifted his feet using 3 precise strokes to collect a subpar Essence Core. However, he didn't mull over or discard this item. After all, with this system, all items served their purpose. No matter how small the gain, an improvement was what Apollo sought.

As he advanced through the outskirts, Apollo left an extensive trail of mutilated corpses. Yet, throughout the whole journey he never once stopped nor felt remorse for the beasts. In this fight for survival, he was taught it was either him or them.

A short while later, he stepped past the dividing line and entered the Inner Ring. Entering the realm of the Rank 2 Spirit Beasts, he first scrutinized his surrounding for any assailants. Confirming it was clear, he proceeded to execute the first of the Baleful Steps, the Partial Shade Silhouette.

Half of his body seemed to fade into the shadows as his movements quickened. In a short period, he dealt with an Early Stage Rank 2 Spirit Beast. Compared to before, the difficulty lessened greatly. At the same time, so did the experience he received. As a result, he started to have some speculations.

'Could it be that experience is calculated based on the difficulty of battle? Or perhaps is it determined by my current level. But if that's the case, the system should show their level. Therefore, I don't think the latter is plausible. It should be the former,' thought Apollo while twisting his body to avoid 3 incoming beasts.

'Peng!' 'Peng!' Peng!'

Deflecting the beasts with three well-timed strikes, Apollo reveled at his faster reactions. It seemed Agility was more important than he thought. If it was before, there was no chance of him responding to attacks in under 1 second. Not to mention, he took note of a source of elation.

'When not factoring the use of the Partial Shade Silhouette… My stamina is recovering faster than I can use it! Perhaps…'

[Your thoughts are correct. Your status window is directly linked to your body. Now that you've opened acupoints, you should be witnessing the benefits I told you about. Keep in mind, this is only the beginning!]

"This feeling is amazing!" exclaimed Apollo as his jubilant expression incited the surrounding Natural Essence to flow towards his blade. Striking out, it felt stronger than usual. An intangible wave burst forward and sliced a few beasts into minced meat.

[Hmm? That's a good minute control of Natural Essence you have there. It should be on par with a Zul Warrior. Perhaps it's due to your high intelligence that doesn't belong to your current realm.]

'Intelligence? Now that you mention it, it's the only stat that doesn't have any information on it. Are you able to tell me anything about it?' asked Apollo as he bent down collecting multiple Essence Cores.

[Sure, but it probably won't be what you're looking for. Intelligence is linked to the basic and broad aspects of your mind. Once you reach Spirit Cultivation, it'll place an extremely large role in your parameter calculations. Hence, I recommended you pay attention to it in the last stage of the Mortal Realm.]

'Hmm… so it's that important huh? I'll have to be more considerate of that that in the future then,' responded Apollo before scaling a tree. Choosing this spot to take a breather from the repeated use of the Phantasmal Daemos' First Step, he recuperated. In a short period, Apollo drew in enough Natural Essence to recover his stamina to a considerable degree.

Dropping down from the tree, he continued to journey deeper into the depths of the Inner Ring. It went without saying, the beasts then shifted from the early stage to the middle stage of Rank 2. Although the fights became more difficult, it wasn't to the extreme. He could easily handle one. Two were also well within his limits whereas three simultaneous middle Ranks started the range of difficulty.

'What is that? I feel something…' thought Apollo while shifting his gaze. His ears twitched at the sound of repeated tapping growing in volume.

[It's people. Definitely not beasts, as for the numbers. I think it's three of them. But don't rely on my words. I'm unable to see much further than what you're capable of in this passive state. I also can't control you as it seems there have been limitations placed upon me.]

'Limitations? Who possesses the power to do such a thing? I thought you were omnipotent,' questioned Apollo with a curious tone and bewildered gaze.

[As did I but that seems to no longer be the case. Perhaps there are forces even I'm unaware of.]

"Wow," murmured Apollo before his gaze sharpened. The people he sensed had indeed greeted his view except they weren't what he was expecting.

'Hmm? I don't know these strangers.'