Moreover, David noticed one more thing: he felt as if the world was trying to squeeze and push him out of existence.
And if that wasn't enough, the place that he was in was devoid of mana. Surprisingly, he had broken through. Now he was at the peak of the Body Refining Realm.
His body, although a little tired, was filled with tremendous strength.
David was now at the peak of strength that a mortal could achieve. Not just that, he was currently feeling a sensation that he had never felt before.
As if he was above everything upto a certain distance. The feeling was extremely strange.
Everything that happened to him now was connected to that weird monster. Given the fact he was alive and well, that could only mean the monster was somewhere, closely watching his every move.
Like a lab rat.
David wanted to check if anything weird was going on with his body. Without hesitating, he asked for a status report from the bank.
Without any delay, a window popped up in front of him displaying his stats.
David went through it and everything seemed okay, but one thing caught his attention.
The description of his Crystallization of Life had changed.
[Name- David Well-wisher
Cultivation- Peak of Body Refining Realm.
Cultivation Technique - Purple Thunder.
Crystallisation of Life-
1 - Bank of Eternal Origin
2 - Domain of Zenith Sovereign
Skills
1 - Pride of Zenith Sovereign (No one is above you inside your domain)
Remark- Don't get too full of yourself, the journey has just begun.]
A new skill had surprisingly appeared in the status menu.
"Pride of Zenith Sovereign?" David muttered in a low voice. He had no idea what the skill was about and the description wasn't helping.
"No one is above you."
David became lost in thought. The description was a bit vague.
It could also imply that he was stronger than everyone in his domain. But that would be too overpowered; if that was true, he would be invincible.
Before David could ponder further, a voice echoed in the white expanse, grabbing his attention.
"Welcome to the training ground of Hegemony."
David looked around him to find the source of the voice, but it seemed to be coming from everywhere.
"Hegemony?" David frowned, He had never heard of such a word before. His eyes landed on Leon lying on the ground with his eyes closed.
"Maybe this guy might know something."
While David was pondering about the sudden voice, inside a pitch black hall, two blobs of light and Rick were looking at the glowing screen in front of them.
The screen displayed David along with his two sleeping companion.
The smaller blob of light, who was known as the Old Second, spoke in an impatient voice.
"Old First, why do we have to go through all this hassle? Why can't we just take over their body?"
"I don't want to stay in this god-forsaken place for any longer."
In the end, the Old Second voice became a little aggrieved.
"Why don't you go ahead and pick one of the new bodies." The larger blob of light known as the Old First said in a cool and calm voice.
After hearing Old First words, the smaller blob of light fell silent.
Although he was impatient, he wasn't stupid. Looking at Rick beside him, Old Second couldn't help but feel pity.
After all, the three of them had been trapped in this place for hundreds of thousands of years.
"Enough!"
"Deploy the Body Refining level elite soldier to test the waters first."
Old First spoke in an authoritative voice.
After his words, Old Second and Rick started to move.
On the screen, which was displaying David and his group, changes started to happen.
In front of David, an unknown man clad in silver armor made of unknown material, suddenly appeared out of thin air.
"The duel will begin in 3, 2…" The voice sounded once again; this time it carried a strange power that seemed to wake up David's sleeping companions.
"Just let me sleep a little longer." Leon spoke while rubbing his eyes. He didn't seem to be aware of his situation.
Sophie on the other hand was checking her body and looking at David with a weird gaze.
After confirming everything was fine, she sighed with relief.
"Where are we?" Sophie asked in a low voice, her question directed at David.
However, at this time, his attention was entirely on the Silver-armored man. Although he heard her question, he chose to ignore it.
The silver-armored man finally moved.
Swish!
A sword made of the same material as his armor appeared in the man's hand.
He charged directly towards David at insane speed.
David was already prepared to meet his charge. He flicked his wrist, and the same chair that had used to fight with Rick earlier appeared in his hand.
In the hall, Rick's face turned green as he looked at the scene on screen.
Noticing Rick's strange behavior, Old Second asked in confusion.
"Old Third, what happened?"
Rick just shook his head and didn't comment. After all, he couldn't tell him about the earlier incident, could he?
Rick took a deep breath and his face returned to normal.
Given his previous mistake he could only help these two and hope they would help him back.
"Why was he in such a hurry that day?" Rick couldn't help but think in remorse. On the surface, his face remained calm, not letting his internal thoughts leak.
Old Second could guess something was wrong. Now that Old Third wasn't willing to speak he wasn't going to push him. After all, he depended greatly on Old Third for his freedom.
Just when the man reached near David, the man slashed in his direction.
However, David was momentarily stunned as the unknown information was flooding his mind.
"Silent kill training manual."
"Seven steps to the front and chop at the opponent."
David's mind was filled with the experience of sword training that he had never performed before.
Before he could even think further, the silver armored man in front of him suddenly took seven steps in rapid succession..
David found the actions of the silver-armored man a little familiar, as if he had practiced them for countless number of times.
Moreover, that wasn't all; he was even able to find some openings that the silver armored-man had in his stance.
While David was thinking, his body instinctively reacted and he blocked the chop of the man with his chair.