*Splash*
Zeldris hears One impact some sort of liquid. Based on the sound, One is around 50 meters below him.
The most pressing issue currently isn't even the huge fall. It's the lack of light. It's so dark in here, that Zeldris can't even see his own hand directly in front of him.
"Tch." Zeldris silently curses master Hong for not teaching them how to conjure elements. Every person has an element to their aura. An inborn one, that they can convert their aura to. However Zeldris has no idea how to do that, nor what even his element is...
As Zeldris ponders over his next move, something deeply concerning starts to happen. He feels the surroundings get colder and colder at a rapid pace.
'Shit! Shit! Fuck!' He curses in his mind. The cold is slowly becoming unbearable. Making Zeldris struggle to grip his sword. His usual calm state of mind is deteriorating. Slowly entering a state of panic.
The situation is very bad. He's in pitch darkness, with a steep drop down into who knows what. And to make it worse, the surrounding is becoming deadly cold at a rapid pace.
Will he die if stays here? Will he die if he jumps down? What's even down there?
As they say, the fear of unknown is one of the greatest fears humans have.
The trembling Zeldris now has a choice to make. Either drop down and hope for the best. Or stay suspended here and hope for the best. Either way the situation is fucked...
If he used his aura to warm himself, he could probably hang here for a few hours. But Zeldris makes a different decision. He is never one to passively wait for his death.
He drops down, slowing his decent by sliding on the wall and using his sword to break his momentum.
"Eh?" A stupid sound escapes his lips. The wall suddenly ends. Making him free fall down.
*Thunk* "Kuh!" The sound of meat falling on metal is heard and all the air is expelled from Zeldris's lungs. He just fell about 10 meters straight down, onto his back.
Luckily he is a tier 3 existance, so the impact was akin to one falling on his back while standing. That said, it still hurts like hell.
He slowly regains his breath, standing up. He still can't see anything, but atleast now he's on the ground.
Picking a random direction, he starts walking. Occasionally waving his sword around to check his surroundings.
....
It's impossible to tell the time in this place. As it's pitch black and deathly quiet. The only sound is Zeldris's feet impacting the metal floor, as he walks.
In his opinion, it's been a long time since he started walking. He can only guess the time based on how tired he becomes.
Suddenly something changes in this monotonous place. A light appeares in the distance. A small point, barely seen.
Seeing something change after a longe time, Zeldris is a little excited. He hastens his steps and moves towards the light.
As he gets closer and closer, he still doesn't understand what that light is. Only figuring it out once he's upon it.
He finds himself in a large, square shaped room, made up of dark grey metal plates. In the middle of this room is a small podium, where a red coloured flame is burning.
*Slam* As soon as he enters the room, the door behind him slams shut.
"So it's like that..." Zeldris mumbles. Based on his second hand experience from watching movies, something will happen now.
"..."
Contrary to his beliefs, nothing happenes...
He walks over to the flame on the podium and looks at it. The r3d coloured flame is incredibly beautiful. It's like it's drawing his eyes to it on it's own.
Suddenly it starts to move.
"Do you desire powweeerrr?" It speaks.
"Yes." Zeldris answers without hesitation.
"Kikikikikikiki." Hearing his response, it unleashes a max level creepy chuckle.
*Fwoom* Then abruptly flies inside Zeldris. Prompting his eyes to widen a bit.
It flew straight at his heart so fast that he couldn't even react. Leaving the boy confused and suprised, as darkness decends once more.
"What the..." He quickly shuts up, when a sharp pain assaults him in his chest. "Kaaah!!!"
He feels like he's chest is burning. His lungs are on fire, his heart is about to explode and his skin is about to melt off.
That's more or less how it feels like.
'Njahahahaha. I'll take over your mind!' He hears the same voice exclaim inside his mind.
Zeldris falls to the ground, gripping his chest. His eyes and mouth are wide open. Looking akin to someone having a heart attack.
Zeldris feels sudden rage over take him. A rage at how this fucking little shit even dares...
'What! No!.. No! NO! NO! Please stop!' The voice screams.
However the next second, it goes quiet.
With all this rage and pain, Zeldris has no idea what's going on. He just puts his all into trying to eradicate that bastard, until he passes out.
....
....
When he wakes up, the scenery around him has completely changed. He seems to be in an empty, dirty, dilapidated house. Sleeping on the cold ground, in the corner of the house.
He stands up like a man waking up from a bender. Completely confused to where he is and how he got there.
He feels strange... Stronger, but like something has been added inside him.
Remembering his last moments, he quickly inspects himself. Finding nothing amiss, not even a blemish on his fair skin.
He then dives inside to inspect his energies. Receiving an unexpected suprise. His aura cultivation has advanced from peak tier 3, skipping a stage, into mid stage tier 4. Such a sharp increase in strength is unprecedented, even for him.
He dives deeper into the strange feeling he has inside of him. Discovering something even more shocking!
He has aquired a new ability!
Zeldris proceeds to examine and test his ability, very quickly discovering what it is.
He has aquired a very powerful pyrokinetic ability. With the same flame as he saw in the room, except it has mutated somewhat, becoming purple in colour.
He can generate and manipulate the purple flame. Being able to control it quite easily.
The flame is insanely destructive. No matter what he touches with it, everything is instantly reduced to dust. Even random rocks and dirt. Though it doesn't affect him at all.
Finishing exploring his new ability, he adopts a satisfied expression. Akin to an employee on his payday.
Not only did he become stronger and aquired a new ability, he also got a lot of wealth. He gazes the spacial storage ring on his finger.
It containes half the loot from the brothel. He didn't get all 4 floors, neither did he get all the rooms. They split the whole place in half, so Zeldris estimates he robbed about 40% of it.
A very successful training mission.
When Zeldris exits the destroyed house, he discovers himself in the slums. It's currently nightime. He doesn't see One anywhere. Not even knowing if he's dead or alive.
They both have a device which gives them directions if they get lost. So if he is alive, One will find his own way back.
When they talked about being lost earlier, it was all intentional. They could've used those devices to return back to the forest anytime...
Zeldris starts walking. Setting his course back to the forest.
Before he can even take 10 steps, he feels malicious intent come from in front of him. Trouble seems to love him today.
A bunch of gruff looking men, who were just leisurely chatting, suddenly turn to him. They look like gangsters...
Their intentions are rather predictable. Zeldris looks supremely pretty and cute. Being a young boy as well, he would fetch a ridiculous price on the slave market.
"Heya boy. Where are you going?" One of the men calls out to him. Sporting a slight smile. They really picked the wrong target.
Zeldris's facial expression is indifferent. And with a calm tone, he speaks. "What do a bunch of weaklings want? I'll kill you."
"Ohoho. Look at that boys, we'..." The man starts ridiculing Zeldris, but purple fire consumes him mid sentence. Turning him into dust so fast that he doesn't even manage to scream.
The rest of the bandits blink twice at this scene. Thinking they have had a few too many moonshine, as their boss just saw their boss evaporate...
"You will make fine test dummies." Zeldris considered not getting involved with trouble, but his right hand almost automatically raised and burned the man.
As he already killed one of them, he should be responsible and finish the job. These guys will also serve as test dummies for his new ability.
Conjuring a purple flame on his index finger, Zeldris points if at one guy and shoots it in a projectile. The thin stream of flame pierces through the guy, also setting him on fire.
"Hmm... It's kind of slow." The speed it travels when he shot it is slow. These weaklings perhaps can't dodge it, but Zeldris could easily do so himself.
He then creates a wave of fire and fires it, evaporating 4 men, along with some houses and the road.
While the flame is extremely powerful, it's not good for long range combat. Though it's close range destructive ability is first rate.
This is just the initial observation though. Zeldris believes this fire ability has a ton of potential.
When all of the thugs die, Zeldris causally walks away. Having gained some useful data.
He makes his way through the same city he was in before. Witnessing the aftermath of that powerful man. A lot of houses are destroyed and some places even have deep craters or cracks in the ground.
Deciding it has nothing to do with him, Zeldris casually leaves the city....