Chapter 588: Lunar Forest (2/2)

Mending his flesh was quick, but his pathways were far harder to deal with. He spent another hour making basic repairs after his flesh was fixed, which should allow him to use his Cosmic Energy as long as he didn't use over 50% of his power. Any more than that and he would probably overtax himself like he did during the Undead Incursion. Falling unconscious was fine next to his sister and the Valkyries, but doing so in a foreign forest was another thing altogether.

He slowly got to his feet, causing a series of crackling and popping sounds as the dried blood that covered him started falling off. He saw Thea waiting just outside the transparent walls staring at him with shock.

”How are you still standing? That room looks like something from a horror movie!” Thea exclaimed, her face completely pale as she looked at Zac with worry.

”Well, I'm used to it by now,” Zac shrugged.

”Is this what you have to do every time to level up?” Thea said, her eyes fixed on the pool of blood on the floor. ”I've read about it, but I had no idea...”

”Well, it's not like this when I use pills or treasures to gain levels,” Zac said. ”Sorry for making you worry.”

”I...” Thea mumbled, but she eventually only shook her head with a sigh. ”I can't join the squad you mentioned earlier. I need to rest, after all. Should I get the demon instead? He's crafty enough.”

”He should be back by now,” Zac agreed. ”Have him come over. I'll head out now.”

Thea seemed inclined to stop him, but she eventually just walked next to Zac as he stepped out of the glasshouse again.

“The spatial tunnels might close while you’re out. Anything you need to relay to the outside world?” Thea finally asked just as he was about to leave.

“I won’t be that long. A day or two tops,” Zac said. “Just let my sister and the other leaders know I’m okay.”

“Okay,” Thea nodded. “Stay safe. There’s no guarantee the wolves are the only threat in this place.”

Zac immediately set off, cutting a straight path through the enormous forest. His leg was hurting a bit, but he could maintain a good pace even with a slight limp. Only five minutes passed before he met a small family of wolves, but they quickly backed off when Zac waved Verun in their direction. It somewhat proved that they hadn't just forgotten about his Tool Spirit, at least not yet.

Thea’s final warning echoed in his mind, but he eventually realized something odd after half an hour had passed. She seemed to be wrong about there being other threats than the wolves, almost impossibly wrong. He didn’t encounter a single living being in this vast forest even after running for over an hour, except the occasional spotting of lunar wolves. Confusion marred his face as he looked back and forth, but he couldn’t make sense of the situation.

Didn’t these wolves need to eat?

He knew that it was possible to sustain yourself solely on Cosmic Energy further down the road, but that went for D-Grade warriors and above. They still ate in general though, as high-quality food could provide some benefits. But it wasn’t necessary to survive. However, E-Grade beings shouldn’t have evolved to that point just yet.

Were these wolves perhaps an exception? Or were they rather vegetarians? They definitely didn’t look like animals that lived only on fruits or stalks of grass, so he was more inclined to believe they were able to find sustenance from energy alone. Perhaps that was the true purpose of those artificial moons in the sky, and even the reason why the wolves were brought here.

The solitude gave him a chance to try some things out though, and he stopped in a secluded valley after having traveled for another hour. The aftermath of [Hatchetman's Rage] was completely gone by this point, and the halo of [Conformation of Supremacy] appeared behind his body once more. However, this time the avatar didn’t depict the unadorned axe of the axe-man, but rather the insanely powerful shield of the Grand Protector who appeared in the Dao Vision for his second class.

A surge of power filled his body, and Zac could almost feel his mind connect with the ancient cultivator who had sacrificed his life to save his world. However, no fractal barrier appeared to protect his front as he swung [Verun’s Bite]. He rather found his strikes gain a tremendous weight, like each of them carried the weight of a world. His attacks were heavy enough to cause scars in the air, but the damage to the ground looked completely different than the long scars before.

This time it almost looked like a small meteor had hit the ground when he swung his axe, with a crater no more than 5 meters wide appearing. It was deep though, reaching twice as far down as it was wide, and Zac accidentally fell into it when it appeared. A slight pain bloomed up when he faceplanted on the ground, but a ten-meter drop couldn't hurt him any longer.

He was more interested in the soil itself. It had become almost impossibly dense, and it took some force for him to dig into it with his hands. It was as though the area had been subjected to a terrifying amount of gravity, packing the soil to the point that it had almost turned into solid matter. Zac jumped out of the pit before he looked back at his new skill with mixed emotions.

The effect of using the shield as a basis for the skill instead of the woodsman's axe was impressive, and it was perhaps a better avatar for a duel, but Zac was disappointed to find that it didn’t work as he’d hoped. In his fight with the wolves, he used a weapon as an avatar, which increased his might. He had hoped that using a defensive treasure with [Conformation of Supremacy] would instead create some sort of defensive effect.

But his new skill was true to its nature as a pure Strength-based skill, and it looked like it just took the weight and power of the shield to use it as a bludgeon. It still opened a few new avenues of how he could use it, but it clearly wasn't a one-size-fits-all-type situation where he could use it as everything from a defensive to a movement skill.

The limitation was a bit of a let-down, but not overly so. Partly because Zac somewhat expected such a situation, but mostly because he felt that he finally could use his Dao again.

His new Hidden Node had finally stabilized, and it was time to see what it could do.