"Asshole!" Nuan stomped her foot on the ground in front of the ancient platform.
Ding Song smacked Nuan on the head. "Language, young lady."
"What are you mad about anyway?" Questioned Xia Qiu.
"He should have taken us with him! (Bastard made me think we were friends!) "Said Nuan angrily and whispered the last part.
Ding Song sighed. "You are a short-sighted child. Perhaps because he thinks of you as a friend, he did not take you or us with him. Did you forget his conflict with Alexios? An honorable man can willingly risk his own life freely but not that of his allies or friends. Amon is no human. He is something far nobler, never forget that."
Nuan pouted childishly, promising herself the next time she sees him she will give him a piece of her mind.
Xia Qiu groaned loudly. "Annchi...You better have not changed on me too."
Nuan scoffed. "I have not changed!"
***
Hidden Domain, 3rd Cluster, Area ??.
The fabric of space split open, teleporting Amon to a similar platform within the hidden domain.
Amon moved quickly, pressing the central platform's feet switches, ejecting the control rod that got teleported with him immediately. He was wary of Alexios's reaction and did not want to lose the control rod; hence he quickly hid it away in his void.
Contrary to Amon's expectations, he did not hear any angry meows or feel Alexios radiance or Source.
"Hmm? Nothing? I guess he really believed our first meeting was fate orchestrated event and not because a control rod was forgotten in the platform that teleported us to him. He may not know about it at all...Sweet. Still, he should have been able to sense me coming here, no? Or perhaps, he only keeps an eye on his territory."
Amon closed his eyes, recalling bits of the conversation he had with Alexios.
'I'm willing to go further, break my ancient vow, and guide you towards the second reason you were brought to this isolated, hidden world.'
'Soon, Human Sorcerers will flood these portals, competing for their ancestors' legacies, mine, and two other Primordials are also on offer pending our own trials.'
From what Alexios carelessly disclosed in their first meeting, Amon drew several conclusions to plan his next move before he used the control rod to get teleported.
The first conclusion is that there are two legacies equivalent to each other that he needed, one being Alexios's blood essences. Since Alexios did not arrogantly downplay the 'second reason,' Amon assumed they were equal in value, ergo it is another Primordial legacy.
The second conclusion he came up with is from his knowledge of Primordial creatures' nature. Even if they were allies, they could not possibly be sharing the same territory. Therefore, each Primordial spirit fragment must be ruling their own territory, their own cluster of regions.
The ancient platform near Lilium City had the capability to teleport the operator of its control rod to fourteen different areas or regions inside the hidden world. Amon speculated these fourteen areas are broken down into three clusters; a Primordial spirit fragment oversees one cluster.
There is one thing that Amon could not completely pinpoint, which is the exact area he should teleport to out of the fourteen regions to meet one of the other two Primordial spirit fragment that holds what he needed. He took a gamble and teleported himself to the same area a Lighting or a Fire Law noble will get teleported to when the platform detects their nobility and law.
Opening his eyes, Amon examined his surroundings. He was standing on a similar platform to the one that teleported him to his current location. He appears to be in a poorly lit enclosed space. Behind him was a solid wall made from black bricks, and the ceiling above him was close enough that he could touch if he stood on his toes.
In front of him was a corridor lit by a clump of unusual candles on both sides of the passage that emitted a green light. It was clear he was somewhere deep underground.
Walking forward, he took the only path available to him, straight ahead. After a short walk, he was stopped by a rusted metal bar door. The door reminded him of ancient prison's gates. He gently pushed, and the door produced an eerie creaking noise.
Instead of taking a step forward beyond the gate, Amon stopped, he was conflicted.
If he were teleported here normally instead of using the control rod, the platform would have applied a seal on him and imprinted his mind with some sort of knowledge. He was not sure if the information is worth having a seal on him to obtain or if he should proceed forward blind and avoid having a seal placed on him like everyone else who will enter the hidden world in a day.
'Fuck it...The seal might not be something I want on me. I'm bound to meet humans in the coming days when the flood gates open. I will examine the seal placed on them and interrogate them for the information the platform imprinted in their minds.'
Moving forward beyond the gate, he was welcomed by another dim but a bit broader corridor with a higher ceiling. On his left and right were four jail cells on each side, confirming his suspicion that he was in a prison, a dungeon.
The first two jail cells on both sides looked dark and empty. The second cell on his left, though, had a bright white light coming from it. Amon approached the cell and opened its door. In the corner was a disgusting, naked, genderless humanoid corpse, hairless and rotten, but somehow kept an intact grayish skin.
The corpse held something emitting bright light in its right fist. Amon removed his face mask and took the sword Ding Song gifted him out from his void. The sword is razor-thin, meant for agile combat style, and made from grade three Rough alloy. The sword hilt housed a grade three Rough Lapis Lazuli (Water Law). Amon could not take advantage of it since it was two grades above what he could use at his current cultivation realm, not to mention his lack of any water Profound Ethereal Arts.
With the sword tip, he opened the corpse's fist, revealing a ball of white light. Frowning Amon stabbed it with his sword, but nothing happened, and it did not appear to be a trap. He tried to pick it up with his hand. The moment his finger came in contact with it, the ball of light disappeared, revealing what appeared to be a bronze key in the corpse's hand.
Intrigued, Amon picked up the key. He immediately sensed a movement, turning his head, he found the corpse looking straight at him with dead white eyes.
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" Shrieked the corpse loudly like a wailing banshee.
Hastily Amon stabbed its skull, shutting it up, but it was too late. Behind him, he heard the other seven cell doors open wide. He turned around to face what he perceived as an imminent threat. Doing so made him miss what occurred to the corpse he just stabbed. It collapsed on the ground and crumbled to ashes, releasing Source that rushed to Amon's Profound Ethereal Veins.
Amon did not have a chance to contemplate what just happened; he commanded his Source, which he hid in his heart to fill his Profound Veins and stepped out of the cell.
Seven similar rotten humanoid corpses holding rusted weaponry left their cell, aiming for Amon.
Their movement was sluggish, but Amon did not look down on them, he most definitely did not want to know if their weapons could break his Nascent Realm skin or not.
Like a cheetah, he dashed forward, sword brandished aiming for the corpses' wide-open postures. A swift diagonal slash split the closest walking corpse in half.
A half step to the left, he evaded the rusted spear thrust aimed for his chest and answered with a quick sword thrust of his own towards the second corpse's forehead.
Just like that, an onslaught began as Amon dispatched the other five corpses swiftly without much effort on his part. Every time a corpse was mortally struck, it would crumble to ashes, and a small amount of Source would rush towards Amon's Profound Ethereal Veins.
Occupying the center of the dim-lit corridor, Amon stood vigilant, anticipating more to come. His wait did not last long. At the end of the hallway, another metal bar door was kicked open.
Two slim, three-meter tall humanoids wearing black leather long robes and a con shaped metal caps emerged from the kicked gate. Silver masks covered their faces completely, and not even their eyes could be seen. They both held identical weaponry, a long, red-hot iron shaft in their right hand, and a hook in their left hand.
One look at them informed Amon he is in for a real fight this time around. He sent his Source outward, inspecting the two for their cultivation. He did not believe what he sensed and immediately activated his eyes of Entropy that allowed him to see Ether and Source. They were neither living or dead. They were not real at all, but rather a Source constructs housing a soul each that held them together.
The two rushed Amon, endeavoring to impale him with their red-hot weapons. He dashed forward to meet the two, but he had no intention of meeting them head-on. Instead, he ducked and slipped between them then turned around to slash one of them on their back.
Startlingly, the two turned around inhumanely, like they had no spine as they twisted themselves creepily to meet Amon's sword slash. One of them deflected his sword strike while the other hooked Amon's left shoulder with its sharp hook.
Amon was thrown across the hall by the one that hooked his shoulder. He rolled on the ground multiple times before he flipped up and stood on his feet.
There was no time for Amon to get a hold of himself, he immediately had to dodge another shaft thrust while at the same time slashing upward with his sword, cutting the long arm of one of his assailants. The severed arm fell and turned to ash, not phasing the Source monster at all as it continued its attack with its remaining arm that it held a hook with.
Amon decided to focus his efforts on only counterattacking instead of actively approaching the much taller with longer reach Source constructs. Counting on his superior footwork, the former Phoenix danced around the two, waiting for them to attack before he dodged at the last moment and delivered his sword strike.
The single-armed construct tried to hook Amon's shoulder again. He boldly caught its wrist and stabbed it in its armpit with a backhand grip on his sword, finally destroying one of the two in the process. He rolled backward, preemptively creating space between himself and the other Source construct.
By now, Amon memorized the fighting style of these strange constructs. He just needed the last one to try and stab him with his red-hot rod to finish him in one go.
After another minute of constant dancing and dodging, the Source construct attempted a straight thrust to Amon's chest with his long weapon. Amon smiled faintly, took half a step to the side, letting the construct pass him with his forward momentum, and loped his head off in one smooth slash.
Before the construct head or body managed to hit the floor, they crumbled to ashes, and a small amount of Source rushed towards Amon from the two to his Profound Ethereal Veins.
Amon tore off his shirt to take a better look at his bleeding shoulder. The hole in his shoulder was not deep or significant enough. He decided to stop the bleeding with his Source and wrap his shoulder with clean gauze from his void.