Somewhere on the road In the ash Expanse
A white-colored fox was jumping from tree to tree, at levels unbelievable to be achieved with her minor form, but the way she moved was elegant and exuded power, as if a queen was moving and everything had to bow before her.
This small fox was Lu Yao, who was making her way to one of the dangerous forbidden grounds of the Ash Expanse, Altonia.
Known for its lush and gigantic trees, Altonia was the home of one of the humanoid creatures inhabiting the Ash Expanse, the elves.
The elves are a race known for their extensive lifespan and natural affinities towards energies and control over them, though they have weaker bodies thanks to that, this doesn't change the fact that they are powerful.
With pointed ears, humanoid form, and the most beautiful looks, the elves were well known as a peaceful race that loves to live in forests and trees, as they feel more connected to their origin, the world tree there.
Other than the elves, what lives in that area were another two races recognized for their beastie origin and their ancestors were from higher tier worlds than the ash Expanse, these creatures were the Triant and the huge sized simple-minded but friendly ogres.
The Triants are magically born trees that are sentient and can reproduce, making them not in the categories of creatures like Magma Beasts who were also born from Mana but with no intelligence, and only instincts to guide them.
While the ogres are gigantic looking creatures with muscles in every part of their bodies and high rate of fertility, the ogres are friendly creatures who like to live in forests in their own tribes without interruption. Although peaceful, they should never be underestimated as they are naturally strong with a raw power that equals mid-grade Magic Masters when grown to their fullest.
Lu Yao was heading to Altonia alone after her separation from Xue Mo after finishing their business in Endros.
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Flashback
At the entrance of Endros that was now just a high fissure in the ground, Xue Mo and Lu Yao were facing each other with reluctant expressions on their faces, while Hesroth was standing a distance away, giving them privacy.
"We will meet at the ruins of the Battle Mage Academy in six months. This is vital for our growth. We depend too much on each other nowadays, and we need to look for our own opportunities to improve. It was you who said, 'Cultivators need to seek opportunities to get better world views and broaden their minds that way they can improve much higher than just normal cultivation,' and I think what you said is 100% true. We have after all been together for more than a year, so it's bound for us to depend on each other and that's not a problem, but we should also take some times for ourselves to think and see where we want to go or be, this way we can grow and know precisely how to spend our future." Lu Yao spoke to Xue Mo as he nodded his head, knowing full well that she was right.
After greeting each other goodbye, for now, Lu Yao turned around and followed another marked place on the map. She was going to Altonia, a site that is peaceful and lovely but is also known as the hellish paradise. For the creatures living there hate humans with gusto, making it one of the Dangerous and Forbidden places for humans in the ash Expanse.
Lu Yao has been on the road for a little more than a week. Avoiding human settlements and other annoying places, Lu Yao was already halfway through to Altonia. While on the way, Lu Yao has taken some time to continue her experimentation with runes. Since Lu Yao didn't have enough knowledge about her Chaos energy, Lu Yao made do with Mana, since she is used to it after all the years spent using it.
Lu Yao has made the first inscribed flesh rune as she called it. Using the air hyena as the subject, but what surprised Lu Yao is thanks to the material having an affinity to an element, the counteract rune engraved on it, had discarded all other properties. All but air. When air attacks are launched at it, the result was a complete negation of the attack, and the counterattack resulting from it was devastating; it doubled the attack power before returning it at the target.
Lu Yao had also tried to engrave runes on living beasts that she caught. Still, the result was after the rune pattern appeared, the creature that the rune was inscribed on started wailing with all its orifices spraying blood everywhere before dying completely.
Lu Yao had tried the experiment on over ten different kinds of species but was disappointed to see the same result. It was just like how space rings can store a nonliving thing inside, but once a living thing tries to enter it, he/she would die with their body being ejected out.
Lu Yao had given up trying to engrave runes on living beings for now and was satisfied to see that she could improve the counteract rune to another level. Giving it another rune pattern, and making it an intermediate rune fit for Magic master level (101-199), which is an existence incomparable to most creatures in the Ash Expanse.
Lu Yao has spent another week before arriving at the entrance leading to Altonia. Trees as big as mountains, lush grass, and tall weeds surrounded the plains in front of Lu Yao. Making even her who has seen everything a mid-grade world could give, stuck in her place in awe.
Snapping from her revered state at the sound of footsteps, Lu Yao put her guard up since it wasn't only one but three kinds of steps; if she wasn't always on high alert and had her guard on, she might not have noticed them.
Looking closely, Lu Yao saw three beings making their way towards her. One was large with bronze skin and a gigantic sword made of copper strapped to his back, while the other two were rather small considering their companion as a comparison.
One of them was a humanoid creature with pointed ears and a bow with him. He looked like a man from his beautiful and fantastic face, with his pale white face and shimmering blue eyes; apart from Xue Mo, he was the most beautiful person Lu Yao had seen, and she had seen elves before.
The other creature was a woman. She had a body made of trees but looked humanoid and beautiful with green-colored grass for hair and mesmerizing emerald sockets for eyes.
Lu Yao stared at the three seemingly unhostile creatures making their way to her, but what surprised her was the aura they exuded was an aura of a Magic Master level being. 'What's happening here? Since when is Magic Masters easy to find in a low grade world like this?' Lu Yao was getting more surprised by the minute. Ever since arriving at the Ash Expanse, Xue Mo and Lu Yao have been trying to determine what grade this world is. After arriving at the Battle Mage Academy, they learned that their hypothesis was correct, and that this is a low-grade world, where Magic Master's are the minority in it.
But ever since they left the Battle Mage Academy, Lu Yao and Xue Mo had been changing this line of belief. They after all saw how Sakamoto could unleash the attack power of someone in the Magic Master level, and they saw a genuine Beast Lord at the Magic Master level in Endros.
Lu Yao wasn't as surprised as she thought she would be. Looking at the three creatures approaching her didn't phase Lu Yao one bit, as she coldly stared at them with her usual glacial gaze, not bothering with their aura or power.
"Hello. Why have you come here? If you don't have any business, can you politely leave our territory?" The Triant spoke bluntly; not mincing words or trying to beat around the bush.
"Yoru, why are you wasting time with a lowly creature like that? It probably doesn't even have the intelligence to know what you are talking about. Let's kill it and get it over with. When the oracle said some powerful creature will come here, He wouldn't have meant this lowly creature." The elf condescendingly spoke in an indistinct voice while looking at Lu Yao regarding her as a lowly being that he can step on.
Hearing how the elf was whispering about her and plotting to kill her, made Lu Yao change her mind about trying to act friendly and negotiate with them, while ransacking their resources discreetly.
She will directly kill them and take the resources anyway, no problem, just a little more bloodshed, which she would likely cause, anyway. Since Lu Yao decided her plan, she started getting in her attack stance, ready to attack.
Just then, the Giant ogre silent from the beginning spoke something that halted Lu Yao in her steps.
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Xue Mo and Lu Yao's current new shortened stats
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Infinite Darkness
Name: Xue Mo
Points 1690 SSP energy points
Cultivation:
Energy:
Realm: [Foundation Opening, early Phase, level 1]
Technique: Ultimate Fundamental Racial Technique
Soul:
Realm: [Rank 1, level 3, (Soul Understanding)]
Technique: Boundless Soul Control
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Infinite darkness
Name: Lu Yao
Points 4000 points Chaos energy (New)
Cultivation:
Energy:
Realm: [Qi (Arch) Foundation Opening, early phase, level 1]
Technique: Nephilim Void Sacred Sense
Soul:
Realm: [Rank 1, level 3, (Soul Understanding)
Technique: Boundless Soul Control
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