Chapter 598 Addiction

Nial didn't really want to work on multiple Darkness Pillars at the same time but his subconscious was clearly telling him that he was capable of doing it.

In the worst case, he could also store the excessive dark energy inside his Heart of Darkness. However, that was actually not something he wanted to do, which Nial realized pretty early.

Thus, Nial did something extremely stupid, something nobody except Nial would do...He started to work on all of his remaining Darkness Pillars at the same time! It was something he chose to do out of a fit, just because he felt like doing it.

This increased the danger of making a mistake more than fivefold as Nial had to divide his focus on each of the remaining Darkness Pillars that had yet to be created. At the same time, it increased the time each individual Darkness Pillar took to be created, which was only obvious because Nial had to divide his focus.

But, of course, the overall time until all Darkness Pillars would be completed was drastically reduced. That was all that counted since Nial wanted to advance to the Mythician rank quickly. That was what he wanted to achieve!

Five years flew by extremely fast and Nial was more than satisfied with the results. He was at the Peak of the Keltia rank with a total of nine Darkness Pillars and he could start the creation of his first Darkness Temple.

The entire process of the Darkness Pillars' creation had been much simpler than expected. That was a great surprise and very advantageous for his situation.

The Mythician rank required the Original to transform their Mana Pillars into Mana Temples. That was exactly what Nial was supposed to do as well, with the sole difference being that his Darkness Pillars would be turned into Darkness Temples.

The initiation process of the first transformation indicated the advancement to the Mythician rank. Under normal circumstances, the transformation of a Mana Pillar into a Mana Temple would require hundreds of times more Mana and precise handwork, willpower, and many more factors that had to be taken into consideration.

That was the sole reason why the Mythician rank had been labeled an individual rank in the cultivation process of the Originals. If not for the sudden increasing requirements of mana and every other factor, the Keltia and Mythician rank wouldn't have been separated in the first place.

Of course, it was also important to note that the transformation of a Mana Pillar into a Mana Temple provided a tremendous increment in strength, the purification of the body, and the opportunity to turn the ability presented on top of the Mana Pillar into an ability worshipped by the mana that resided in the Mana Sea.

The power of the worshipped abilities would increase by leaps and bounds, inevitably increasing the combat prowess of the Original after advancing to the Mythician rank. Nial was looking forward to the increase in strength he would obtain from creating his first Darkness Temple.

Thus, not feeling hurried by anything in his surrounding, let alone the thought that something may have happened at home while he was away, Nial chose to spend a few more years in the isolated stellar system.

Without a precise indicator of how much time had actually passed, Nial spend two more decades in the isolated stellar system, savoring the highly purified, compressed, and ancient mana.

He enjoyed his time in the isolated stellar system after advancing to the Mythician rank much more than he expected. It grew even more interesting once he finished his first Darkness Temple. He had transformed the Darkness Pillar of the Hodur's Heir Curse into a Darkness Temple to increase the Curse's Power. By doing so, Nial's senses were manyfold more sensitive than before, including his mana perception, and the sensitivity with which he could control his dark energy.

That way, he further expanded his darkness domain, rather than stopping in the cultivation process. The Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique was now fully mastered and Nial could control it however he pleased.

Nial felt that cultivation became even easier after advancing to the Mythician rank. His abilities were linked to his soul and Darkness Sea, which was also the reason why they became stronger without the need to waste time training them. The Curse, Hodur's Heir, was included in the linked abilities, and it had grown much stronger while Nial had cultivated it diligently.

When it had been further enhanced, the Curse's influence on Nial's entire being became even more apparent. The darkness domain's range increased from a limit of ten kilometers to a range of more than a hundred kilometers.

The suctioning force of the Vortex of Abyss all across the darkness domain intensified and the mana flooding him increased exponentially. That was not something Nial could miss out on as long as he had been given the opportunity.

He stored as much mana after it had been altered and transformed into dark energy. Nial didn't even think of leaving and was slowly turning into an addict to the sensation of the pure and compressed ancient mana. It allowed him to cultivate as fast as never before. That was worth staying in an isolated stellar system for a century or longer, if necessary.

However, once Nial finished his second Darkness Temple, he slowly realized that he was doing something wrong. The satisfaction of becoming stronger was great, and addictive at that. But even if it was extremely addictive, he clearly felt that he was missing out on something.

Fighting powerful enemies was just as addictive as cultivating in the isolated stellar system. At the same time, being able to fight and stay by his family and friends was certainly better than being lonely and cultivating until everyone he loved dearly died of old age.

Being alone was lonely, obviously, and Nial didn't really want to be alone. He spent close to 30 years in the isolated stellar system, which was a little less than half of the time he spent alive. Taking it this way, Nial found himself inhumane.

He had promised to protect his father and to become stronger. But becoming stronger all by himself without even knowing how his father was doing didn't really feel correct. Something was certainly wrong with Nial.

'I should leave before I will get pulled back into the cultivation addiction...' Nial thought, grasping the long-distance traveling device. He used the entire dark energy that had been used to create the darkness domain as empowerment for the compass.

The range in which he could teleport increased drastically, crossing tens if not a hundred thousand lightyears at once, yet there was only a single stellar system detected by the compass.

"How is that even possible...well, it's better than nothing, I guess..." Nial felt that he shouldn't complain about the given situation. In the worst case, he could just amass more dark energy and re-active the Customized traveling device if the next stellar system was similar to this one.

Nial didn't think that this would be the case because the planets detected by the compass were radiant, overflowing with mana. That was more than enough for Nial to disregard all doubts and to activate the customized traveling device

The space around Nial twisted as a fracture in space opened. The fracture was black like the abyss and it devoured Nial, teleporting him to the destination he had picked out.

Meanwhile, the remains of the customized traveling device were scattered in the empty space.

It broke apart, which was certainly not what Nial intended to happen.

But there were other, more troublesome, things to pay attention to.

That was something Nial learned soon enough!