[Forsaken Abominations x4]
A group of grotesque amalgamations of flesh and overgrown bones surrounded Quinn out of the blue as he condensed Demise Energy into a dark-red spear, which—from its two ends—looked as if Demise Energy rushed out at an incredible rate.
[-160 Energy]
Jumping up in the air, Quinn infused the Demise Spear to the brim with Arcane Energy. He did the same to himself, allowing him to levitate in mid-air.
[-200 Energy]
Quinn flexed his right hand and swung the Demise Spear lightly, tearing a rift in front of him, and simultaneously shooting out a giant shockwave that shattered a multitude of structures in it's wake. Extending his left hand, Quinn used some more Arcane Energy to propell the rift through space, towards the group of enemies, erasing them from the face of the earth that they previously stood on, and leaving... well, nothing.
[-50 Energy]
[Level Up]
[EXP required to Level Up: 9530/17520]
"Do I even need to use Energy or Mana on these small fries, though? I can probably just kill them with one finger if I wanted to... . Hrmm," Quinn pondered for a second, "The Shadow Library... . Void, I swear to you, if you're not here I will-"
'I am here, boy,' Void affirmed, 'The Shadow Library is, as explained by your Shadow Heart, a record of all existing techniques ever used by mortals and demi-gods. I am sure that you already noticed some differences in your fighting style now that you have this Skill. It is a Passive Skill, yes?'
"It does in fact say that," Quinn replied as the Demise Spear shattered and dissipated into Neutral Energy. 'Then you needn't worry. The implementation of such a wide range of techniques will just come to you naturally, given the necessity of the situation. You can worry about that later: after completing this dungeon.'
"You're right," Quinn located all enemies in the Dungeon with the help of Arcane Energy, and used [Shadow Attach] on every single target. Not even bothering to look at what he's dealing with, he casted [Shadow Blade] on every single enemy's Shadow that was tagged with [Shadow Attatch]. And, for those close to each other, he would cast the Skill just once and manipulate it to eliminate the rest of the monsters. He did all of this simultaneously, not taking more than a minute to wipe out all of the enemies from their blind spots.
"Haah," he grinned, "There's more than 70 ordinary monsters in this dungeon. What a treat~"
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
"Nine levels... . There's still a mini-boss or two remaining. I even made sure not to attack those guys so that they're in their best form. Hopefully they don't die before I get to test some shit I've in mind," Quinn controlled the Shadows to collect any and all loot dropped by the monsters.
[Selling all Junk Items...
Earned 363,600 G]
[Total G: 501,092 G]
"Yo, I'm rich again-!" said Quinn as he appreciated the quality of life feature of the Shadow Heart that just sells Junk Items automatically. "Man, I take back what I said about how I can't be asked to do dungeons. This shit is actually broken."
Before he could move on and go to the remaining mini-bosses, Quinn was interrupted by a System notification:
[The User has surpassed Level 50]
[Originally, the User was to be exposed to the Stream of Gods, and would come in contact with Higher Beings through the System. However, due to the User possessing the Shadow Heart, they cannot be deluded, and additionally, for preventive measures, contact with Higher Beings through the System will not be established.
But, if needed, the User can visit higher dimensions naturally if they just wish so. Such is the innate ability of a Shadow: to jump realms, dimensions and realities alike. Thus, you may meet Higher Beings in their home realm or dimension.]
[Since I do not want the User to engage in unfruitful exchanges with Higher Being, especially so-called Gods, I advise you to kill them, for smoother future proceedings.]
"And now, you want me to kill Gods...?" Quinn stopped in his tracks and asked the system, completely stunned, "Are you for real, right now?! I might be strong—hell, I'm sure that I'll be stronger in the future—but a... God is still a God. I'm only a huma-"
[Incorrect. You are a Shadow: POSSESSOR OF THE SHADOW HEART.
Mere false Gods shall not stop you in your path to clense the Universes. However, as of now, the User is indeed, barely strong enough to face the strongest of mortals; let alone, even the weakest of Gods. You will be updated on this matter as you get stronger, but for now, ignore any and all things related to Higher Beings.]
'I hate this...' Quinn sighed as he placed his hand on his forehead. 'I already knew that I was under the control of something when I was using the System, but even under the Shadow Heart, I'm pressed and don't have a will of my own... . And, it's not like I can overcome either the System or the Shadow Heart; I've relied on them too much, after all.'
'It does not do well to dwell on such thoughts, boy. The Shadow Heart is something the Third King of the Shadows invented that has aided the future generations of Kings: even I. Do not doubt it. After all, once you become King, after proving your mettle, you shall have near omnipotent power.' Void explained to Quinn, appearing more and more like a father-figure and a mentor to him.
'Not really what I wanted to hear...'
"Fuck, this is frustruating..." Quinn sighed as he squat down on his toes, "...when's that date, again?"
———
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
"Hoo, hoo~! These twin swords are sick," Quinn exclaimed as he cut down the final mini-boss in the dungeon, a [Great Lich], with his newly purchased dual-wielding swords, not relying on any of his skills other than [The Shadow Library] that passively renders him proficient in any and all sort of weapons and techniques.
———
[Wisdom Sutra Sword & Plane Cutter]
Item Rank: A-
Type: Dual-Wielding Sabres
Agility: +30
Strength: +27
Dexterity: +17
Effect: +30% Duration of any Mystical Art, Buff or Special Attribute applied to the weapon.
An old but famous pair of long and short swords: The Wisdom Sutra Sword & Plane Cutter; forged by a renowned swordsmith, and used by a great Omnyoji who named the larger sword the Wisdom Sutra Sword after linking it with his great study of 600 scrolls.
The other, smaller blade, was named after a legend where a great emperor was on a hunt in the mountains and a lumberer attacked him, and the emperor in retaliation, cut the man and his wood plane in two, causing his assiliant to vanish into thin air.
[Value on Shop: 560,000 G]
———
"Finally, it's time for the main dish, the boss of this dungeon," Quinn grinned, almost coming off as sadistic. It had been around 30 minutes since he had entered the Dungeon. Not even realising that such a small amount of time had passed, Quinn was quite impressed by himself. However, he quickly moved on after glazing himself and checked the current time: "Almost 6 AM, huh?"
Without wasting any more time, Quinn activated [Swift Dash] and headed straight for the boss of the Dungeon, leaving a trail of dust and destruction in his wake.
"[Apostle Lich], huh?" Quinn looked at the Boss's information, "Jeez, its got some nice equipment, though; most of it looks like Mid or Low A-rank. Hmm... wait, what is it doing...?"
Quinn inspected the magic circle that the [Apostle Lich] was powering, using his Arcane Energy to surround it just in case it might prove to be hazardous to him, so that he could dissipate it at any point in time if he just willed it. Quinn then went ahead and used [Scrutinize]:
———
[Magic Circle: Black]
Type: Summoning Magic Circle
Difficulty Rank: Master(Black)
The [Apostle Lich] has been powering this Magic Circle since: [13 Days, and ~17 Hours]
Power Source: Using the [Apostle Lich]'s magic as medium, this Magic Circle has absobed the entire civilisation of the Realm.
Time Remaining: [7 Minutes]
Upon completion, the Magic Circle will successfully summon the following Calamity(Black): Lich King(~S-rank).
———
"Lich King, huh?" Quinn withdrew his Arcane Energy, "Nothing I can't handle... . The Apostle Lich is barely an A-rank, so I can easily crush it without even moving from here. I don't know the difference between an actual S-rank and an A-rank, but surely it can't it that bad."
Quinn knew that he could take on an S-rank if it were just a single enemy, because of his new arsenal, consisting of not only new and improved Skills, an incredible amount of Mana and three different kinds of Energy, but also his Stats and new weapon.
From the little testing that he did, he knew that [The Shadow Library] was the real deal, and that he could wield any and all weapons without any training for them, and still whoop the opponent's arse.
That being said, he was now waiting for the [Apostle Lich] to complete it's Magic Circle so that he could kill both of them and get a good amount of EXP, and possibly, extra rewards for killing an Extra Boss Monster as opposed to the [Apostle Lich].
"Well, this'll be worth the wait," Quinn moistened his lips, and used Origin Energy to materialise some water which he poured on himself. "This Origin Energy is pretty useful," Quinn laughed as he dried himself with the same.
'Haah...' Void sighed as if he had failed as a Shadow, 'To think that I would one day witness such a mundane and outright disrespectful use of one of the three Primordial Energies...'