The seventh day of fleeing with Ethan.
Zoe had completely gotten over the period of mental discomfort and adapted to the lifestyle of having four minds rotating shifts.
And he had not gone into a full sleep across all minds for seven whole days.
[Skill: Parallel Mind Lv2 (D-grade) Proficiency is full. Upgraded to Parallel Mind Lv3 (D-grade)]
[Parallel Mind Lv3 (D-grade) has affected your body. Intelligence +1]
With [Parallel Mind] upgraded to Lv3, Zoe could feel his exhausted mind calming down, and his four consciousnesses became more natural, efficient, and stable.
If he pushed himself, he could split off a fifth consciousness.
As for pushing himself? That was exactly what he was built for!
Anyway, even if he died of exhaustion, he could just reincarnate into his next life. There was absolutely no reason not to grind.
Zoe quickly split off a fifth consciousness.
At the same time, he reduced each mind's sleep time once more, letting each one sleep for five hours before rotating through all five.
As for the extra consciousness, Zoe assigned it a new task.
Refining stones inside his Shadow Pool.
By the end of his previous life, the skill [Refining (E-grade)] had not reached maximum level before being brought over to this life.
In this life, after meeting Ethan, his forging skills had skyrocketed. He needed to reacquire the [Refining] skill—which purifies ores and assists in forging—and raise its level.
At this point, Zoe's skill proficiencies were as follows:
[Level] Lv24
[Shadow Blade Lv3 (F-grade)] 67/2000 (Proficient)
[Stealth Lv3 (E-grade)] 53/2000 (Proficient)
[Hard Scales Lv2 (E-grade)] 127/500 (Mastered)
[Shadow Pool Lv3 (D-grade)] 151/2000 (Proficient)
[Shadow Clone Lv3 (C-grade)] 11/2000 (Proficient)
[Shadow Transformation Lv3 (C-grade)] 10/2000 (Proficient)
Basic Skills:
[Common Forging Lv3 (E-grade)] 715/2000
[Sable-style Swordsmanship Lv3 (E-grade)] 310/2000
[Total Mana] 2071/2286
His two B-grade basic skills showed almost no change in proficiency.
[Canon of Withered Life] was too easy to level up. Its proficiency was being held at 1999/2000, right on the verge of upgrading. Zoe was intentionally suppressing it.
Because once it leveled up, it would force his level to increase by one, which would drain 200 years of his lifespan.
Given Zoe's current remaining lifespan, accidentally gaining even a single point of proficiency would cause him to drop dead on the spot.
“This Niya clay is extremely rare; it can only be found in the swampland of the Death Swamp.”
“When collecting it, you must be careful not to let it dehydrate. Once dehydrated, this clay becomes incredibly hard and highly brittle.”
“But its heat resistance is extremely high, making it a premium material for mold crafting.”
Deep within the swamp, Ethan was digging up the clay with Zoe, introducing it to him as they worked.
“I can't believe we managed to dig up so much this time. As expected of the depths of the Death Swamp, this is quite a haul.”
Ethan and Zoe shoveled the Niya clay into the Shadow Pool shovel by shovel.
Now that [Shadow Pool] had leveled up to Lv3, its size had increased to thirty square meters, with a height of three meters.
Maintaining a Shadow Pool required a consumption of 120 mana per hour.
Besides storing food, this space also allowed Zoe to store various materials.
He carefully packed all of the rare Niya clay into the Shadow Pool, keeping it moist.
Then, they quickly restored the excavated hole to its original state and resumed their cautious flight toward the west.
On the way, Ethan also taught Zoe [Fusion Hammer (B-grade)].
[Fusion Hammer] was precisely the B-grade forging hammer technique that Ethan had previously agreed to teach Zoe.
Zoe had not yet met the prerequisites to learn [Fusion Hammer], so he was currently just trying his best to commit it to memory.
This forging technique could accelerate the integration of materials and significantly increase the success rate of the fusion.
This involved highly precise operations as well as a deep understanding of metals.
“I doubt many humans have ever set foot this deep into the Death Swamp,” Ethan remarked, stopping to scan the surroundings with his Golden Eye.
“Is it because this is the Black Dragon King's territory?”
“Not entirely. A long time ago, the Death Swamp was a mysterious and hazardous place.”
“It is said that this was not always a swamp, but it transformed into one due to some kind of cataclysm.”
“The swamp covering this region was created solely to seal away something deep inside.”
“Additionally, since the swamp possesses no valuable resources or mineral veins, it fails to attract humans.”
Ethan's words sent a chill down Zoe's spine.
He had never heard of this legend. After all, his perspective in his previous two lives had been quite limited, and he had never paid much attention to the Death Swamp.
“If the swamp exists only to seal something, doesn't that mean this entire region was artificially created?”
To alter the terrain of an entire region—what kind of power was that?
“The peak power of this world far exceeds your or my imagination.”
“The Sword Saint of the Kingdom of Eldoria, for instance, corresponds to a True Demon King among monsters.”
“When he advanced to the True Demon King rank, the S-grade ability he created, named 'Epoch Sever,' could sever the boundary between old and new, turning the old into the new, and the new into the old.”
“Among its derivative sword techniques are Epoch Sever: Hundred-Year Slash, Epoch Sever: Thousand-Year Slash, and Epoch Sever: Ten-Thousand-Year Slash.”
Hearing this, Zoe found it somewhat hard to believe.
This was basically a sword technique that possessed temporal capabilities.
“Which means…”
Ethan stopped speaking, his Golden Eye sweeping toward the forest to their side.
Having fled together for so many days, Zoe and Ethan had already developed a tacit understanding. Zoe caught Ethan's meaning in an instant.
He rapidly entered a combat state, focusing his attention on the spot where Ethan was looking.
Acid: Heart-Piercing Needle Rain!
A large number of shadow needles were spat out by Zoe without warning, flying toward that section of the swamp.
Ethan quickly raised his shield and charged in the direction of the shadow needles.
But the moment his Golden Eye saw the target clearly, Ethan quickly redirected his shield toward Zoe's side to block the remaining shadow needles.
“Wait, something is wrong.”
At this moment, Zoe also saw the target clearly through his clone's biological armor.
Was that... a human?
Before them stood a child clad in tattered rags and covered in dirt. Looking like a wild savage, the child bared their teeth, glaring at Ethan and Zoe.
If they were indeed human, their size suggested they were only seven or eight years old.
“Grr!”
The child growled like a beast a few times before turning and fleeing into the depths of the forest like a startled wild animal.
Out of habit, Zoe cast an appraisal at the child's retreating back.
[Dragon-blooded Human Lv1]
[Mana] 9417/9512
!!!
What in the world? What was with this bizarre combination of level and mana?!
He was only Lv1 and had no class, yet possessed such an absurd amount of mana—more than four times Zoe's total mana capacity.
“Follow him.”
Zoe activated Stealth on both his main body and his clone, blending into the shadows with Ethan as they followed the savage child.
The savage child seemed to have lived in the Death Swamp for a very long time, skillfully weaving through the swamp in several loops to try and shake off any potential pursuers.
However, with [Stealth Lv3] active, how could Zoe and his clone's biological armor possibly be detected by a classless child?
Only when the savage child felt they had successfully shaken off Zoe and Ethan did they look around warily, before running deep into the dense fog, entering an extremely well-hidden rocky cavern.
“What a well-hidden cave.”
“No, wait. There is an extremely foul aura inside.”
Ethan instinctively detected an aura that filled him with revulsion.
But after some deliberation, they still chose to head inside.
Rate on N.U.
