Transforming into a human form, the Shadow Clone merged with Ethan inside had not been weakened; on the contrary, it had received a massive boost.
First was the increase in physical strength.
The Lv40 Ethan was like a rigid skeleton filling the interior of the Shadow Clone.
The highly trained muscles allowed Zoe to unleash even greater physical strength.
Second was the expansion of his mana capacity. The sleeping Ethan inside could serve as Zoe's mana battery.
The Shadow Clone could use Ethan to store mana and extract that mana to cast various skills.
What surprised Zoe the most was...
The Golden Eye!
Perhaps because the Golden Eye in Ethan's right eye had never originally belonged to Ethan himself, the fusion was not perfect, leaving a loophole for Zoe to exploit.
After activating [Dragon Body Fusion], Zoe grafted a shadow nerve onto Ethan's right eye.
Now, as long as Ethan did not wake up, Zoe could even use the Golden Eye in Ethan's right eye.
“Is this the Golden Eye?!”
Zoe opened his right eye, and the golden light of the Golden Eye pierced through the Shadow Clone biological armor.
The entire world, every blade of grass, every tree, and even the passing wind—every single movement was revealed down to the minutest detail.
Slow. Everything in the world seemed to slow down.
Not only that, but every ripple in the air and every swaying branch of a tree was deeply engraved into Zoe's memory by the Golden Eye.
As long as Zoe did not actively choose to forget, he would never forget them.
This was the photographic memory of the Golden Eye.
Zoe raised his hand. Under his control, Ethan's metal shield flew over and settled into his left hand.
“The Seventh Force that reigns supreme over the main six forces: metal manipulation.”
“And that's not all.”
“My learning capacity has also received an unparalleled boost.”
Everything seen by the Golden Eye would be automatically analyzed, turning into pure knowledge to be understood by Zoe's consciousness.
“I am slowly understanding everything.”
However, the cost was equally massive.
Having opened the Golden Eye for only a brief moment, Zoe already felt exhaustion in his right eye and mind, as well as a sense of rejection from the Golden Eye.
After all, this Golden Eye did not belong to him.
The clone's mana had already burned through 100 points in this brief span of time.
Zoe quickly deactivated the Golden Eye.
The golden iris shrank rapidly, reverting to a tiny speck at the center of his light blue eye.
“This power, combined with the Golden Eye...”
Zoe felt that the combat capability of the Shadow Clone fused with Ethan now vastly outclassed his main body by a wide margin.
A massive jump in combat power.
Having fully grasped the clone's power, Zoe did not tarry any longer and continued rushing toward the east.
Both the clone and his main body had activated [Stealth] to conceal their tracks.
...
Within the pitch-black fog of the dark night, the moonlight could not penetrate this swamp of death. The viscosity of the swamp seemed to drift into the air, spreading discomfort all around.
Boom!
With a deafening roar, four mud-covered giants standing five meters tall and holding log clubs charged toward Zoe.
Zoe leapt agilely into the air, dodging the mud giants' charge.
The charging mud giants sent mud flying as they violently snapped a massive tree in half.
“More mud giants. Is this area their territory?”
Zoe landed steadily on a branch, holding his sword in one hand and his shield in the other.
He had used shadow to fill in Ethan's severed arm.
The pitch-black shadow flowed constantly over his body, and a speck of gold shimmered deep within the darkness of his face.
“Human, die for the mud giants!”
The four mud giants swung their clubs, once again snapping the tree Zoe was standing on.
Seeing this, Zoe leapt into the air, diving right into the center of the mud giants' ranks.
“You're courting death!”
The mud giants roared in anger. Their single eyes locked tightly onto Zoe as their clubs tore through the fog, whipping up a powerful draft.
Yet, within the vision of the Golden Eye, all of these attacks were as slow as snails.
Zoe spun his body in midair, effortlessly dodging the clubs. Seizing the opportunity, he lightly tapped a club with his toes, agilely performing a midair double jump.
Swish!
To the mud giant swinging the club, all of this left behind nothing but an afterimage.
In the next second, a blade pierced precisely into the mud giant's single eye.
Zoe stepped on the mud giant's head, pulled out his blade, and leapt back into the air.
Acid: Shadow Blade Heart-Piercing Needle Rain!
Taking a deep breath, Zoe's chest swelled high. In the next instant, he spat out a dense shower of shadow needles, raining them upon the four mud giants below.
A soft layer of mud covered the surfaces of the mud giants' bodies, meaning that basic Acid Bullets would not be able to deal effective damage.
That was why Zoe chose to spit out the Heart-Piercing Needle Rain, despite it consuming more mana.
Roaring, the mud giants swung their clubs to swat away some of the shadow needles. The air pressure they conjured with their mana also formed a barrier that blew away another portion of the needles.
Although a few shadow needles pierced through their defenses, the damage they dealt was extremely limited against the mud giants' massive size.
But all of this was within Zoe's expectations.
Zoe landed steadily on the swamp, directly activating the Golden Eye.
The few shadow needles that had been knocked away suddenly seemed to come alive. Shaking off the shadows covering them to reveal their steel composition, they flew rapidly toward the mud giants' single eyes.
Squelch!
Accompanied by the sound of flesh tearing, the steel needles pierced deeply into the mud giants' eyeballs.
'Don't blame me for being underhanded, mud giants.'
Zoe gathered the corrosive gas within his body, aiming at the nearest mud giant.
Corrosive Gas Slash!
Having lost its sight, the mud giant barely managed to locate the direction of the attack by ear and swung its club.
But a crude club like that had no hope of blocking Zoe's Corrosive Gas Slash.
Slash!
The club, along with the mud giant's head, was severed in a single stroke.
[Killed Mud Giant Lv19, Experience +430, Talent Modifier, Extra Experience +430]
What followed was a complete massacre. Zoe did not continue using skills that consumed mana, choosing instead to rely on his sword.
Since they were currently being hunted down, every single point of mana was extremely precious.
He executed the sharp, simple, and well-tempered Sable-style Swordsmanship.
Sable-style Swordsmanship was the ancestral swordsmanship of the Sable family.
"Sable" referred to the small carnivorous mammal of the same name, which served as the crest and totem of the Sable family.
Rumor had it that there was an advanced version called the Secret Sable-style Swordsmanship. The standard Sable-style Swordsmanship was merely the foundation of the Secret style, but Zoe had never been qualified to learn it.
Swiftly harvesting the life of the last mud giant, Zoe's level rose once again, advancing to Lv19.
He opened his Shadow Pool, stuffed the mud giants inside, and without a single moment of rest, immediately continued his escape.
By this point, the clone's Shadow Pool was also completely filled with corpses.
Zoe's main body, which had been keeping watch on the surroundings, quickly met back up with the clone as they continued making their way eastward.
Keeping two Shadow Pools active simultaneously consumed 200 mana per hour.
[Shadow Pool] had leveled up to Lv2. Although its size had doubled, its consumption had also increased from 60 mana per hour to 100 mana per hour.
Maintaining the clone also required 10 mana per hour.
On top of that, the clone needed to sustain Ethan's life force and constantly maintain [Shadow Transformation], raising its hourly mana consumption to 100.
Furthermore, both the main body and the clone had to maintain [Stealth] at all times, move at high speeds, and use the Golden Eye.
All of these actions consumed mana.
In total, Zoe needed to consume nearly four hundred mana per hour.
Yet, his total mana capacity had only just crossed one thousand, currently sitting at 1002.
To sustain his escape, he had to constantly maintain a double layer of digesting and feeding to replenish his mana.
In other words, both his clone and main body had to dedicate a portion of their consciousness to constantly feeding inside the two Shadow Pools.
Currently, he could barely force himself to maintain four minds, carrying out four parallel operations simultaneously.
“I'm so sleepy... I'm really reaching my limit.”
Zoe decided that he had to rest. Otherwise, something would go terribly wrong.
Rate on N.U.
