The group of five arrived soon after, but the view they saw took their breath away…
A chasm spanning more than 500 meters in diameter, the depth of which they couldn't even see…
The surrounding environment looked like it had the life sucked out of it, the earth looked cracked, yellow dust swirling with the evening wind…
The glow of the setting sun made it look like an eerie abandoned wasteland which hadn't seen life since time immemorial..
Is this the right location?
Shen Wu couldn't help but ask in bewilderment, after all, their destination was supposed to be a lush mountain filled with life, even if tainted by demonic energy, it should still look like.. well.. anything..
But this? It looked like a forbidden wasteland, and the chasm in the middle wasn't helping things….
Wooooosh!!!
The sound of air parting drew the group's attention, their gazes locked onto three figures that had just ascended from the bottomless pit..
With a thud, the three figures landed smoothly…
**************
"Pheeeew~~~ finally", Raiden breathed out, a small smile on his face…
After refining the complete essence of all four peak tier 4 existences, he'd finally achieved a breakthrough to the 9th level of the apprentice realm…
His joy was short lived though, as the moment he sensed the amount of energy required to achieve the perfected apprentice realm, his face fell..
"More than twice the total amount of energy I used to reach the peak from level 1? Just to achieve perfection?" His lips twitched violently…
"Heh, what's got the narcissist constipated", his inner turmoil was disturbed by Leon's irritating voice…
"Nothing an ogre like you can understand" he replied irritably, turning towards Leon, only to raise an eyebrow, "peak apprentice?" He couldn't help but be speechless..
"Heh, not just that, you narcissistic bastard, I'm also a middle stage apprentice mage" Leon replied smugly…
"You make it sound like you're the only one who's attained that level" came Damien's voice..
"Oho, the wuss can speak fluently now ehh"
"I'M NOT A WUSS!!"
They ignored him..
"But seriously, how much resources did you consume to achieve that stage" Raiden asked, knowing full well the ungodly amount of resources required to ascend the stages, especially for people like them…
One should remember, Leon and Damien, they weren't just dual path practitioners, they were Limit break and Transcendent affinity dual path practitioners, the amount of resources required for each breakthrough isn't something normal people could even fathom…
"Ughhh, don't remind me… I suddenly understand how peasants feel when they complain about lacking resources" Leon grunted..
"My father's going to have a heart attack when he realizes I've almost exhausted the elixirs and essence stones he gave me just to reach peak apprentice and middle stage mage apprentice" Damien sighed ruefully…
The three scions suddenly felt very normal, after all, the number of resources required to progress any further was honestly despair inducing..
"Alright, no more thinking about depressing stuff, let's get out of here, I need sleep" came Leon's tired voice…
"Agreed"..
So, they flexed their muscles, and with a thuuum, they propelled themselves hundreds of meters into the air until they were out of the gaping hole, with a thud, landing smoothly on the cold hard floor…
***********
Dusting off their tattered combat uniforms, something they didn't bother changing out of, they turned, about to leave when,
"Hey, you there, tell me what happened here"..
An arrogant voice sounded out…
They ignored it, the voice couldn't possibly be talking to them, not with that tone…
And so, they continued walking, wondering just where exactly their deadbeat supervisor had disappeared to..
***********
Shen Wu's face turned ugly immediately, he'd just called out to three fellows to explain what happened here, yet they'd totally ignored him..
They dare!!!
He gritted his teeth hard..
One of his lackeys, seeing his chance to leave a good impression, immediately jumped out, his sword moving him forward as he pointed towards the three departing backs…
"You fools, my young master is talking to you, how dare-"
He never got to finish that sentence…
"You're obnoxiously loud for an insect", a massive palm had already grabbed hold of his face, Damien appearing before him like a ghost, and before anyone could react..
Booooom!!!!
He'd planted the unlucky fellow's head into the hard ground..
Standing up, the aftermath of his attack was shown, a twitching heap of flesh, it's face disfigured beyond recognition, life and death uncertain…
Leon and Raiden had already stopped at this moment, their expressions nonchalant as they surveyed the aftermath of Damien's rage..
"Heh, seems the wuss is venting" Leon, never one to miss an opportunity, taunted…
"You dare attack one of mine!??", before Damien could reply, an angry shout cut him off..
Shen Wu was livid, first these three disregard him, and now, they dare to attack one of his own people??
"Unacceptable"…
His mage realm presence immediately pressing down on the environment…
"I'll give you one last chance, kneel down, kowtow, cut off an arm and I might just let you leave here alive" he spoke coldly…
He wasn't reckless, earlier, he couldn't detect how that red haired guy had appeared so suddenly, so he could tell that they were strong..
Not wanting to escalate the issue, he gave them a way out..
"What the hell is this way speaking" Raiden was aghast..
"Kowtow? What the hell is that?" Leon asked, scratching his head..
"It's an eastern domain practice, it's often done when one accepts a master, is greeting an elder or as a form of apology and submission, seeing the way he's speaking, he must be someone from the eastern domain, combined with his arrogant attitude, I'd say from a prominent family within the immoral dynasty"…..
Raiden and Leon turned, mechanically towards Damien..
He was the one to explain all that just now..
"What?" "Come again?"
They were incredulous…
"Don't tell me you have no idea of the major powers within your own continent? You're heirs of two powerful dukedoms, how do you not know something this simple?" Damien himself was confused..
"Oi, oi, ain't no way it's normal to know something like that, not at our age" Leon retorted..
"Well I guess I'm just well read then" Damien's chest puffed out..
"Bullshit, I'm more well read than all of you and I still don't know any bs like that" Raiden countered..
"Heh, no wonder he's a big wuss, he'd spent his whole time learning dumb stuff"..
"I'M NOT A WUSS!!!!"
***********
A/N: huh, who'd have known, the stoic damien is a bookworm…
************
Thanks for reading...