"Now feed it."
"Feed it?"
Right.
Now, it is like the void. It's efficiency depends on how hungry it feels.
He sighed, rubbing his temples. He had another mouth to feed now, literally.
It is heavier.
He swung it.
Whoosh!
There was little sound as the bat cut through the air silently, without resistance. He spotted a boulder beside the path. A leftover from the realm's terrain.
He stepped forward and swung again.
Crack.
The bat just passed through the rock. For a second, nothing happened. Then, the top half of the boulder slid off smoothly.
The cut surface was blackened as if burned by cold fire. Killian stared at the bat. "This is now dangerous."
But a smile was growing on his face. "Efficiently dangerous."
"Swing it enough, and it will eat a whole sword."
Killian let the bat rest on his shoulder. "Thank you. I should look for something to train it with."
The weight increased noticeably and his tired arms ached slightly. Killian continued down the path.
The upgrade cost him stamina, but the confidence boost was worth it.
"You seem to know exactly where you want to go."
"I do." The bat grew heavier as he moved.
Killian had a trace of worry on his face as he stared at it. "It is less patient than you are."
"I should teach you a trick. Take from the surroundings, but don't do it often."
"If it involves using Shadow Writhe, then maybe I should save my mana till I find my targets."
"Just try it. Activate it around your surroundings."
He exhaled.
He closed his eyes to mentally calculate the range. He felt the cold tendrils hungrily rush out.
He opened his eyes. The grass around him slowly withered, turning gray as their innate mana was devoured.
He mentally stopped the shadow's reach and pulled them to him. The shadows returned under his feet, and crept up his right arm, soaking into the bat.
He swirled it out of habit. "But I shouldn't do this often or someone would catch on if they see patches of gray grass."
"Agreed. The tendrils under your feet drain mana from anything with a touch. Like it did to Juda. Of course, with more capacity, you can swallow more mana and elements."
Mana is the foundation of every element, so mana and element being the source of a meal to a Void was quite fortunate.
Could it ever lose food supply?
"When I have a bigger capacity, I can manipulate the swallowed element. Isn't that so?"
"You catch on fast. Yes. If it is swallowed, it can be regurgitated. But you will need to unlock a special skill to work with Shadow Writhe."
All Killian heard were the endless possibilities to be stronger and rise far above his father's 'humble' dream of raising the strongest Warden.
That had also been his dream but within one day, he had realized something more existed. Why be a Warden when he could be that more?
"I like that greed. You are really a suitable vessel."
Killian huffed, continuing down and reaching the intersection he had passed. "It's not greed. I just want to be able to live without feeling small again. It was so suffocating."
He stared down at the lonely street. There was no sound coming from those trees or shrubs.
"You could tell?"
"Yeah. I have seen movies. The place that screams that no one should be there. They have the most satisfying monsters to kill."
"And you will go on alone?"
Killian looked around him. "Do you see me with someone else I can't see?"
The Void made something of a sigh.
"You are also proud. That is still good."
Killian waved dismissively, walking down the path rather eagerly. "I will be fine, really. I am tired but my precious bat needs to feed. So."
I will surpass Quara's kill count.
I don't know why Keith isn't here, but I'd like to see father's face when his Null son returns with a kill count over 70 points.
"My vessel is also vengeful. That is even better."
"I am human." He stood under a large tree, spotting worms of similar size laying calmly around the trees.
His hand gripped the bat. "And it's very human to want to prove yourself to those who look down on you."
Using the shadows to hold them down, will make it easier to hit them without having to run around.
A shrill cry left the worm that got attacked first, and the other two rose from their slumber. Killian dashed forward, his bat positioned to slam.
He swung it across its belly that was the highest place he could reach, as its lower tail held its body up.
The mark left was a charred surface but it didn't dig deeper. The worm lunged downwards.
He jumped back dodging, but had to run to his right again when another charged from the left. "Taking three at a time. That might be a little miscalculation."
"Can you handle it?"
"Yeah. I just have to eat them."
He dodged another attack, slamming his bat squarely on its head.
Another charred surface.
He went back for his first victim that the shadows held but the others protected it, attacking from both sides.
Killian leapt to a tree branch, holding his body up as they crashed on each other under him. He landed, and his legs moved quickly to the first one.
Slam!
Roar!
His bat made a bigger mark across its sides. The damage gradually took mana from each hit it made. He made another swing across the same spot.
Roar!
The charred surface began to spread across the stomach. "I guess we are done here." He let the shadows pierce through the worm's body.
"You can have the rest."
"Leftovers? Mean."
Killian chuckled softly, rushing to the other two that had recovered.
This is fun.
Slam!
And the damage spread quickly with one hit, taking off the lower end of its tail.
He mentally directed his shadows tendrils to devour the rest of it so it wouldn't regenerate.
The third one opened its mouth and dove down.
Killian stumbled on his own feet. His stamina was faltering but he managed to dodge narrowly.
It came again. He let himself fall to avoid the attack. He rolled away, still holding his bat firmly.
It is desperate. These worms are biologically engineered monsters so that was a survival instinct.
They didn't belong to this realm and were just points some Scientists and Mages forced to exist.
"Eating them is liberating. The Void is their salvation." He slammed his bat, twice, at its head.
It froze mid-air. He stepped back as his shadows sped forward, stabbing into its body. There was no chance for it to regenerate.
"I have heard 'Darkness is Death' from the old Void Mages. 'Void is salvation' is a new one."
What edgy old guy said 'Darkness is Death'?
"You are not one to talk about being edgy."
Killian smiled, placing the bat on his shoulders. He looked at the worm's marks on the ground yet there was no longer any trace that they ever existed.
"I will stop here."
[Targets Eliminated.]
[Killian Dominic: D-Rank]
[Reward: 106 Points.]
[Void Capacity: 2% → 5%]
[Points For Passing: 10 Points.]
[Points In Account: 106 Points.]
[Surplus: 96 Points.]
[Point Exchange Available Upon Completion]
[Do You Wish To End Second Training?]
[Yes] [No]
"That's odd. I didn't see this after the rabbits but the points were calculated." Killian shrugged. "This might be because it's extra training."
He returned to the cliff within ten minutes, slower because his stamina was barely holding up.
He looked down at the other trainees. The scene was chaotic. Some trainees were injured like him.
Some were unaffected and probably went for one kill, and called it a day.
He scanned the place for Evelyn, he spotted her scolding Juda for something. "I bet they reached 20 points at least."
A voice boomed within the space. "Hello, Trainees! Congratulations on Training Completion!"
The trainees' WLog lit up.
[Training Complete.]
[Extraction Initiated.]
"Finally." Killian leaned on a wall.
The white wall expanded, swallowing the landscape.
[Calculating Rankings…]
[Standby for Results.]
The last thing Killian heard before the white wall engulfed him was a 'ding!'.
[Special Announcement: Top Scorers List Updated.]