Chaus climbed to the 25,000th meter and reached the fifth and last platform. What greeted his eyes was a pile of books.
The last two times Chaus received books, he learned important information that contributed to his growth. Because of that, he was thoroughly excited at the apperance of multiple books.
He walked over to the pile of books and picked one up. He read the title of the book and his face scrunched up. 'The history of Tsirgia.'
He dropped this book and picked up another book. 'The Elven Race.'
He picked up another book. 'The Dwarven Race.'
Chaus was speechless. These weren't books that helped with improving his combat ability; these were history books!
Dru appeared beside Chaus with a very amused expression. 'It'd do you no good to be a combat crazed junkie. Your father indulged in books for many years even though he was a great warrior. Weapons hold power, but so do books.'
An unwilling expressoin appeared on Chaus's face. He grew a little bit more open towards the idea of reading books, but he still felt like he could do better things like training.
"If you're to exact revenge, then you should know the capabilities and weaknesses of your enemies, shouldn't you?"
Understanding overcame Chaus. Dru was right. Currently, Chaus knew nothing about Tsirgia or the human kingdom. He needed to understand the relations between the humans, dwarves, and eleves, and any weaknesses they might have.
If one wanted to win, they needed to know their enemies better than themselves.
Chaus sighed and began reading, and Dru resumed working on the transmutation circle.
For any normal person, reading for 12 hours a day was immensely boring, but Chaus had extraordinary willpower and read 12 hours every day without any qualms.
A year later.
Chaus had finished all the books and was knowledgeable in the current affairs of Tsirgia. He found out the three lesser races, humans; dwarves; and eleves; lived together, but not without tension. They were not enemies, but they were also not allies.
The kingdoms of the three lesser races were situated in the middle of Tsirgia. In the middle area of Tsirgia, the human kingdom, Cazak, was situated in the northwest region while the Dwarven kingdom, Noirghem, lay south of Cazak. Lastly, the elven kingdom, Ayrshire, was east of Cazak and Noirghem.
A fourth territory, the wilderness, surrounded the three kingdoms. The wilderness was where all the bellators, ziki, and giants lived.
The three kingdoms were wary of the threat from the wilderness and each other, so they created an Academy to nurture talents. Nurturing talents was only a cover for the real reason of creating Dragonsend Academy: spying on other kingdoms.
Young talents would be the next leaders of their respective kingdoms, so it would be beneficial for surrounding kingdoms to gauge their power.
Chaus was disgusted by the actions of the three kingdoms. Nurturing talents was something beneficial to Tsirgia as a whole, but the kingdoms had to take something that had pure intentions and turn it into something impure.
Chaus sighed, venting his frustration. Afterwards, while waiting for Dru, he cultivated quietly on the platform.
Chaus made no progress when it came to combat the past year since he had spent all his effort reading. As such, he was eager to train again.
A day had passed when Dru finally appeared. Dru's usually confident face was gone, and he looked almost weary.
What happened in the past year?
Unbeknownst to Chaus, Dru spent the past year completing the transmutation circle and fending off the will of the world. The will of the world would send natural disasters towards Chaus, and Dru would fend them off. Fending off natural disasters sent by the will of the world took an immense amount of power, and Dru had fended them off for an entire year. Thus, being weary was a given.
"What happened?" Chaus asked, curious and worried by Dru's appearance.
Dru chose not to answer Chaus's question and instead, asked a question of his own. "Do you want to hunt the ziki?"
A fire lit up in Chaus's eyes. He knew what ziki Dru was talking about: the ziki that slaughtered his family. Chaus had trained nonstop for 4 years in his quest for revenge, and the ziki would be the first of many that he took revenge on.
Without hesitation, Chaus replied in a determined voice laced with hatred. "Yes."
Dru waved his hand and chanted a spell. "I've unsealed your Asura body." He continued. "I will take you to him, but whether you succeed or fail" he paused to look at Chaus.
Chaus looked back at Dru with understanding in his eyes. If he failed, he didn't deserve to carry out his revenge. If he couldn't kill a ziki, how could he take down those who ruled in the upper echelons of power? Failure was not an option. Chaus nodded at Dru.
"Very well then." Dru began chanting a teleportation spell. A magic circle with runic engravings appeared underneath their feet. This was going to be a powerful teleportation spell.
The air fluctuated, and Chaus's surroundings changed. He saw...nothing. Panic rushed over him. Was he blind?! He quickly suppressed the panic and calmed down. He remembered the ziki were creatures who live in darkness, so was it possible that this was the darkness?
Chaus used soul integration to test his theory. His soul became one with his body and all his senses were boosted: eyesight, smell, touch, hearing, strength, everything. Suddenly, shapes began appearing in Chaus's eyes. They were trees, but these trees looked devoid of all life. Cracks ran across the entirety of the trees, and black sludge oozed out of them. The smell was so putrid Chaus almost gagged, but he stopped himself. A feeling of deja vu came over him. He remembered this smell. This was the smell that appeared at his village. Chaus became certain the ziki lived here.
Anger began boiling in his eyes. Chaus had killed 64 ziki when he had no experience with advanced magic. Now that he had grown tremendously since then, he believed with full certainty he wouldn't lose to the ziki.
He manifested his spear, armor, flying needles, and charged into the center of the darkness.
Chaus spent minutes searching for the ziki, but he found nothing. It was too quiet. Something was wrong. Chaus ceased all movements and listened carefully. All he heard was silence. He closed his eyes and listened again. He heard a small rustle. His eyes shot open. He was surrounded.
After noticing they had been found, hundreds of ziki emerged from the darkness. They looked like an army that had come from hell. The ziki had bodies that looked like black ghosts, and they had two white beady dots that served as eyes.
The entire ziki village had Chaus surrounded. Chaus started trembling. He trembled from excitement. He could slaughter all the ziki instead of looking for the ziki that slaughtered his family. A glint of lunacy appeared in Chaus's eyes, and a smile that looked like it came from the devil formed on his face.
The ziki shivered in fear. There was a transformation stage human in front of them, but they felt fearful of him.
Suddenly, the human charged towards them. He brandished his spear, which had black flames dancing on it, and displayed a magnificent footwork the ziki had never seen before. Two flying needles followed closely behind him.
The ziki responded to Chaus's charge and screeched. Hundreds of ziki charged towards Chaus.
Chaus stabbed the first ziki in the middle of its body, and it burst into a cascade of black flames.
A second ziki swung its black claws at Chaus, but he quickly dodged it and split the ziki in half.
No matter how hard the ziki tried, they couldn't touch Chaus. Chaus, on the other hand, killed multiple ziki everytime he swung his spear. It was like a dance from hell. Everywhere Chaus moved, black flames followed. It was a beautiful display of power. When his flying needles joined the fray, the beautiful dance turned more sinister and beautiful. Explosions of black flames occured, and the ziki didn't even know how they died. It was truly a massacre.
Dru watched Chaus from the shadows with wide open eyes. He was feeling a tiny bit of fear looking at Chaus. Chaus was this powerful at 14. If he grew up, he would become a demon that swallowed everything.
Chaus had never felt more alive in his life. The shrieking of his enemies. The sound of their bodies erupting in flames. The feeling of cutting through bodies. It was paradise.
When over half the ziki died, a thunderous screech reached Chaus's ears. He looked at where the screech was emitted and saw a two meter tall ziki. The aura this ziki gave off was completely different from the ziki he had been fighting. More and more zikis like this one began to appear. Soon all the ziki fighting Chaus retreated, and only the two meter tall zikis were left.
Chaus smiled to himself. So there were different zikis. The ziki he had been fighting were the weakest of the bunch. Even a revolution stage human could kill them one on one. The new zikis, however, were at the level of a human who reached the pinnacle of the revolution stage. Maybe they were even at the level of a lower transformation stage human.
There were only around 100 of these ziki. Chaus called them 'strong ziki' and the weak zikis, 'weak ziki.'
Chaus looked around at the 'strong ziki.' Suddenly, his eyes turned bloodshot and red filled his eyes. Behind the strong zikis was a stronger ziki. It was the leader of the ziki village. Chaus didn't know how, but he knew that it was the ziki that massacred his village. As if sensing Chaus's murderous intent, dozens of strong zikis moved towards the ziki leader.
An enraged Chaus shot off from the ground and charged towards the ziki leader. A strong ziki decided to block Chaus's path. Chaus swung his spear at the strong ziki, but it blocked his attack. A hint of surprise showed in Chaus's eyes, but not for long. He continued his attack and the ziki was pushed back. One of its arms was ripped off. Then its leg was cut off. Finally, it was split in half and went up in flames.
The strong zikis were shocked. They didn't think this human could hold so much power. He had slaughtered one of them in mere seconds; this power was on par with their leader!
The strong zikis' face hardened. Chaus couldn't be allowed to live. In unison, all the strong zikis began their assault on Chaus.
Chaus watched the strong zikis charge towards him with bloodshot eyes. He was calm. Too calm. When the strong zikis almost reached him, Chaus made his move. 'Rain of fire.'
A barrage of hellfire swarmed the zikis, and shrieks of pain flooded the air.
There were some ziki who made it past the rain of fire, but Chaus dealt with them using his flying needles. They were no match for the unpredictable and violent assault of the needles.
Chaus had a sinister smile on his face while all of this occurred.
In 30 seconds, over 75% of the strong zikis had died. It was at this point that the ziki leader made its move.