Chapter 297 Waiting For A Sign (1/2)

With the help of his sword, it took Arran three days to clear the entire city of treasure

Treasure the weapon could find, at least Because although Arran suspected the city hid even more riches, the sword could only Sense those concealed caches that held Essence Crystals

But Arran did not worry about any treasure he overlooked The coins, jewelry, and other trinkets inal inhabitants, but to Arran, they meant little What interested him were the Essence Crystals And those, his sword found without fail

The abundance of treasure did cause Arran soinally believed that the city's builders had left voluntarily, taking all their belongings with them as they departed

But if that was the case, they wouldn't have left their h Arran had no way to find out the truth, he suspected the ht not have been as peaceful as he had initially thought

Either way, it didn'tsince faded into history

And right now, Arran had other things to worry about

When he had finished clearing the city of treasure, he hurried back to the spherical chaone for several days — years, in the Shadow Realm — but when he returned, he found the portal coed

It wasn't unexpected, but still, a scowl crossed his face when he saw the shadowy vortex at the center of the space

If Karanos failed in his task, the duty of closing the portal would fall to Arran And he still had no idea of how to accomplish that — if it was even possible

Just the thought of it caused Arran to sigh in frustration

Yet there was no point in coan to study the three books Karanos had left behind

The e's notes on the Shadow Realm proved all but useless Most of what he had written concerned the various cities he found while exploring the ruined world, and beyond that, there was little that Arran did not know already

There were some surprises — apparently, Karanos had once defeated a titanic Re it sent out a burst of Essence so strong it attracted other Remnants from a hundred miles around — but none of the Arran could not see with his own eyes

Disappointed, he put the book back in his void ring Then, he ic

After barely a one ith awe While the e's notes on the Shadow Realic were priceless

There were techniques, spells, and even insights on the nature of Shadow Essence itself And while it would take Arran years of study to hts — he recognized that it would be tih every word in the notes was a treasure, there was one thing that stood out in particular — a method to use Shadow Essence for physical spells

This hat Karanos had used against Arran when he first reached the city, and until now, Arran had believed the attacks had either ed Shadow Essence with another type — Force,Shadow

Noever, he understood it had all been Shadow Essence And a technique like that was exactly what he needed

He had beco his tiic And for all its uses, Shadow Essence had little offensive power

But with this, he could turn Shadow into a weapon The technique was fiendishly complex and would take years to learn, but if he could master it, he would have another invaluable tool at his disposal

Still, he returned the book to his void ring after reading it While he was eager to study the notes properly, they contained nothing that would help him close the portal

At last, he picked up the third book — the history of A related to the portal in the book, but it couldn't hurt to look Perhaps the book contained soht somehow help hi but a detailed history of the centuries Karanos had ruled his beloved city Arran had already heard h the stories were interesting ones, they were of no practical use

Which ical skills had grown, but not so much that he could succeed where Karanos had failed To accoer than he was right now

And finding a way to close the portal ht take him decades, or even centuries That was time he did not have — not noith the Ninth Valley and the Hunters on the brink of war

There was no easy solution to the dile the ht, he decided that he would remain in the caverns while he accohtblade's wards, learning to handle his weapon, and testing his ic

Perhaps the problem would have solved itself by then And if not, the portal would have to wait

The first task Arran set to work on was testing his ed both his Sense and his Essence reserves, and now, it was ti the Shadowcloak spell Of all the spells he had, this was perhaps the most useful It complemented his sword skills perfectly, and he was confident that it would help not just against ainst Hunters as well

It only took a few rin appeared on Arran's face