The lifting of the barrier was just a thought, none has disagreed, and it will be done.
As a Saka, the strength was already immersed, yet now she will go beyond her limits that they once set.
As the mental restriction shattered, so did her sanity. It was a wall that kept the beast locked. During her time as a god, she developed it to hide from those who might want to hunt her down once they sense her presence.
After the mental barrier was broken, she became an Awaken. Still, her powers continued to climb higher. A bloody blue mist began to leak from her body. This event was signaling the awakening of a Frost Demon. As she reached the Golden stage, the changes continued to appear.
With the spike bones' appearance from her back, the bone wings slowly emerged, declaring the manifestation of the Frost demon as she became a Crowned Saka.
As the rage of the Frost Demon has been unleashed, all 4 of her arms appeared holding another two axes, becoming a Nogais wilding powers that could destroy a quarter of a colossal level.
Yet she wasn't done yet the Luminance of the transcended granted the strength of an Awaken.
Tylium overdrive granted her to step beyond her limits and become a Crowned Nogais.
And finally, as the Tylium reached her clothes, overgrowth has been unleashed, and she became an Emperor Nogais, just two realms below Deity.
Cyra's strength rose ages above the Cult Leader. With her terrifying might, she punched at him, expecting an easy win.
Yet it didn't happen. Instead, Cyra punched into thin air. The Cult Leader seemed to have disappeared just to reappear seconds later behind her.
Turning around to face him again, she couldn't catch him as the cult leader kept staying behind her. Eventually, she got bored of it and thrust her weapons behind her back.
It was a semi-successful action as the cult leader was missing 2 of his arms, but then he disappeared and kept appearing in different spots inside the room.
Cyra flooded the room with her vibrating waves and ripped him shreds that way. Then a thin faint smoke left the body through its mouth.
A passage opened for her leading to the Tower's highest floor.
When she stepped inside the final room, she could only saw an item in the middle and a shadowy figure standing near it.
"Welcome," The Shadow flew nearby Cyra and examined it. It was incredibly shocking for a moment, then stayed nearby.
"Who are you?" Questioned Cyra.
"You're asking the wrong question." Hinted the Shadowy figure.
Cyra decided to ignore him completely, walked to the object, and made the system analyze it.
[Artifact]
Archive: Rectangle Shaped pitch-black item containing a needle. Upon injection, it will give the user the first Circle of Shadow.
After injection, the Host will no longer gather Worldly Essence and Life Essence, only shadow Essence concentrated in places full of Death and Darkness.
Shadow Essence is ultimately more vital than the regular Essence that gods could use, but Deities can counter it with Natural Essence.
Also, upon reaching the Deity, realm bone inscription will be accessible.
[Host, you cannot use this, it will burn out your sanity that you worked so hard to get, only an ice glass bridge will remain that could keep you at bay, with countless unknown foes. It's just a bad idea.]
It doesn't matter; I will use Shadow Essence in the future learning it sooner couldn't hurt at all.
[Thats correct Host is wise like always.]
Cyra retrieved the item, and by pressing on its top, a needle popped out, then her clothes have opened up, and she directly injected it into her arm.
Afterward, the Shadow changed the mysterious approach to a much more direct way of speaking." I saw that you're an old one like."
"That's indeed possible."
"Are you interested in a trade?"
"Depends."
"Bring me a body, and I will give you all the knowledge at my disposal about the Shadow Essence nature!"
"That's indeed tempting." Cyra pulled out a dead body from the storage and threw it before the Shadow. "There."
The Shadow opened up a secret drawer, and a cube came into Cyra's view. As she held it in her hands, she could feel the Shadow Essence inside it, but her inspection was disturbed by the angrily screaming. The ghost was gritting his teeth as it looked at Cyra.
"You lied to me!! It is a mortal body!" Debated the Shadow.
"I didn't, you asked for a body, and I gave you the one. I don't see why there is a problem." Cyra pulled the body before her self with her mark then broke both of his legs. "Would you be willing to teach me? Please?"
She still had 20 years left. It was time to make fair use of it and experienced the Shadow Essence changes brought to her. With the Shadowy figure's help, she quickly learned to control the Shadow Essence to a terrifying degree.
The Shadow Essence was probably the only way to accomplish teleportation on the planet as she could Easily access dark places where she went before.
On top of that, her immunity to Essence has risen again, negating everything that was Essence related.
After spending three years of Shadow Essence related knowledge, she left the shrine to kill the whales and obtain all the resources she could before the time was up. In her opinion, cultivation at the sect would be much more profitable than here.
She exterminated the whole Asura forest and every creature she could find. The raw meat could greatly aid her cultivation.
Cyra exterminated 90% of the level mutants when the ships arrived and obtained tremendous wealth and even more resources from the top tankers.
This competition was a worthy trip to make as there were countless benefits and even useful information about her Shadow Evolution.
At the end of the 100 years, ships came to pick them up and bring everyone to the collider sect as they have successfully cleared the trial. Before the end of year 99, Cyra returned to her original strength as a Hun and spent the remaining one year with cultivation.
Her hardships have paid off as she cultivated much faster than before, reaching 35% before she could feel that her cultivation speed started to be reduced again.
The current materials could supply her for a long time. As such, Cyra wasn't that sad about the speed of her progress; more or less, she expected something like this to happen as such, it wasn't that much of a deal.
During her hunt for the whales, she also let out snow from time to time to play and feed as the whales could help him grow more significant.
After boarding the ship, Cyra was welcomed by many elders because she was destined to become the Head Elder of the newly formed batch of an elder; Cyra suppressed her power and appeared as an ordinary Wusun.
This way, everyone believed she was a genius among elders who could raise her combat powers.
She also immediately gained access to the structure of the sect and family. At first, she was puzzled by the family part but looking at the ranks, she immediately understood.
First Generation /Peak Nogais
Second Generation /High Nogais
Third Generation /Mid Nogais
Ancestor /Low Nogais
Patriarch /Peak Saka
Venerable Guardian /High Saka (explore)
Profound Guardian /Mid Saka (write)
Guardian /Low Saka
Grand Master /High Hun
Head Master /Mid Hun
Master /Low Hun
Grand Elder /High Wusun
Head Elder /Mid Wusun
Elder /Low Wusun
-Guest Elder
-discipline Elder
-mission supervisor Elder
Inheritor discipline /Must possess strength above the others.
Core disciplines / Kirs
Inner disciplines /High Gods
Outer Elders / Low Gods
Outer disciplines / Primes
Follower / Mortals
Respected / Mortals
Servants / Mortals
Cyra didn't say a word during their travels to the sect as there was nothing to talk with the other elders. She didn't need anybody as soon she could fight, even with deities.
As such, she spent the next half a year by cultivation and wholly ignored the outside world as it was much better to be alone.
She was also experiencing the Shadow meditation that could gather Essence for her whenever she needed it. It was much faster than letting her symbols doing it. In return, she could use raw Essence that was actually 3-4 times stronger than what she initially expected.
The Shadow Essence was a unique Existence with its raw power, but for someone like Cyra, it didn't have much effect nor use as of now as she didn't use Essence at all.
But as she was holding it in her hand, she began to wonder, since it could take a form, it should also be used for something, she was playing with it like some ball.
She eventually gave one for snow but just like I guessed, nothing happened. She formed a ball of Shadow Essence again and decided to try out on something else.
She signaled to one of the elders nearby and pushed the ball inside the older man, both of them were puzzled. Still, since nothing has happened, she sent him away in her disappointment and continued with her experiments. As the ship was getting closer to the sect, she had to stop while also pulling back her force control eventually.
Cyra was sent to the same temple where Jade ceremony was held, and again countless masters have gathered to congratulate her for the victory.
One by one, the top 10 has been called on the stage as the disciplines were cheerful to welcome the new elders and those who successfully became elders.
The ceremony was more or less without a point. Cyra was puzzled why they would make such a big deal out of competition as during their competition. Only Huns were present; why were the masters even here?
Soon a master has stepped forward and placed a bowl of blood before Cyra, "Weird one, we know that you rarely speak as such we won't force you, to become a head elder please finish your ritual and drink the blood."
[Host, don't take that, it's hazardous as you will lose your sanity in your current state]
Is it that bad?
[Yes, Host sanity is like a glass bridge that could break from the smallest damage, you will go berserk if that happens.]
That's indeed problematic unless I can reach the power level of a deity. There is no reason for me to risk it.
Cyra held the blood in her hand for a while. Then against everyone's expectations, she gave it back to the master.
The leadership has already given the title of head elder to Cyra. Still, the fact that she rejected the blood made things incredibly difficult as they couldn't just strip her from the title because they valued their decisions and couldn't just go against what they just declared. As such, Cyra was dragged away and pulled inside the Sect Prison.
The moment Cyra rejected the blood, all Jade dreams have shattered. Cyra was untouchable until she drinks that blood or was kicked out of the sect.
.....
Back at Jade mansion, she was fuming. During the ceremony, she was present after Cyra drank the blood her master would have appointed her as Jade's servant as an Honor for her achievements.
"Argh!!!! That wrench did she found about my plan? No, that's not possible. She has no connections at the sect!! Than why? Why is that dog unwilling to drink the founder Blood?"
Jade was always frowning as she didn't know what to do now.
"I was this close to getting her, yet she slipped away just like that?!"
"Mistress, calm down. You will get that insect eventually!"
"She is right, Mistress. Please calm down let us take care of your needs; after all, you will have a dinner tonight with the other inheritance disciplines!"
"Oh, that's right, I was carried away. Please continue what you were doing." Jade laid back down on the bed as she was prepared for the evening by her servants.
.....
It was during that banquet that the newly arrived elders were jobbed with looking after the sect prisoners. Among these elders were the one that received the Shadow Essence from Cyra.
The Shadow Essence seemed incredibly powerful; when the Elder arrived before Cyra, she immediately recognized him. To be more precise, she recognized the Essence that was now flowing through his veins.
She used her Essence to look at the Elder, but the Elder was no more, to her surprise. Instead, a handsome young man was kneeling before her on the floor.