The two females started meditating since this was a favorable place for their physique. As for Arthur, he sat next to Lucy and started experimenting with his Talisman Mastery.

The first thing he learned is that Talismans can't be stored in a storage ring as the unstable space would cause its destruction. It takes him, more or less, a second to create an Elemental Talisman. The Dark Talismans are the easiest and fastest to create while the Void Talisman cannot even be created. It would disintegrate half-way through its creation and no matter how much he tried, he couldn't complete it.

Though, if he hid them under Zodiak's robe, which he usually wears, he can use them later in combat. He couldn't test them in the cave so he entered the ARK and did countless tests to check the usefulness of the Talismans.

This new skill didn't disappoint him, Arthur even had a bright smile as he gazed at the charred ground of the ARK. The weakest Talismans are the ones the Wind, Earth, and Water Talismans. They are powerful enough to injure Gods thanks to his stats but they aren't very efficient. The Fire Talisman is decent, it doesn't have the explosive power of the detonator but it has the same firepower of the high-level skills.

The Death Talisman is literally a cheat, it inflicts a huge chunk of damage and grants him Health. If he lands a considerable number on them then he'll probably get all his Health back if he was missing any, that is.

Space Talisman is actually a defensive Talisman. Its only purpose is to strengthen barriers and when put on a Dark Barrier, it strengthens it by 50%. Unfortunately, it cannot be stacked.

Shadow Talisman can momentarily immobilize a target by controlling its shadow. Though the duration is short, it can still be considered a good mean for sneak-attacking.

Lightning and Light Talisman deal damage over time to the target so Arthur didn't focus too much on them. However, if he uses a Lightning Talisman on himself, he'll gain 10% movement speed, and if he uses a Light Talisman, his attack speed is increased by 15%. These effects gave these two Elemental Talismans more or a supportive role than an offensive role.

Last but not least was the Dark Talisman, it deals much more damage than normal Dark Magic attacks. Its prowess is almost equal to the Heavenly Arrow and it takes much less time to create.

For now, Arthur created four Dark Talisman, three Death Talisman, one Space Talisman and two of each of the Supportive Talismans. Since they were basically papers with some incomprehensive runes, they weren't that hard to hide under the long black robe.

Days passed in the blink of an eye. Neither Lucy nor Shu Ru quit their meditative state. The Yin Vein was especially useful for Shu Ru, whose Physique is a sub-branch of the Yin Physique, much like Lucy, though the latter's is more powerful.

The Sacred Rune Physique isn't like other Physiques, it doesn't strengthen the body or grants it strong powers, instead, it allows the person to conjure runes known as Sacred Runes.

If it were the Rune Physique then its holder will be able to conjure all kinds of Runes, unfortunately, Shu Ru's Physique is the lowest one but it's not like she was complaining.

The Sacred Runes will allow her to climb to the top of the ladder and even compete against those from young talents from High-Realms. Runes, in fact, are words and only a few people can comprehend them. much like dragons, Rune-users use words to overwhelm their opponents but it's not direct like the way of the Dragons.

In the past few days, Arthur used [Light Operation] to try and heal his injured eye but to no avail, the lingering Primordial Energy wasn't so easily removed. He couldn't even control it and trying to force it out of his body will only make it turbulent.

With Randiun still accompanying Saly, Arthur couldn't complete the fusion and summon Radolf, the ultimate creature that could be summoned from the Book of the Damned. Swain was still recuperating too as he suffered an attack that contained Primordial Energy and it's more lethal to him than Arthur.

Contrary to Radolf, Midolf, the ultimate summon of the book of Eternity was ready for its master's call. It didn't consume any kind of energy to call upon this legendary creature and he didn't need to control it manually.

With a body made from soft white feathers and two lengthy wings, a snow-white beak, and two golden pupils. Midolf resembled a bird but not those normal and weak words. This creature was none other than a roc, one of the ancient beasts.

*Midolf (Race: Roc): Realm : High Sovereign

Age : 341,517

Emotion : Anger

Short Description : A creature created by the Book of Eternity. Though it is the Nemesis of Radolf, the two creatures share a strong bond.

Tip: Midolf and Radolf will receive a huge boost in Strength if they are fighting together.

With a melodious voice that was ruined to the vulgar words used, Midolf angrily said

"Where the fuck is that little pretentious bastard!?"

It continuously looked around but found no sign of its target. Its sudden outburst and loud tone alerted both Lucy and Shu Ru. The girl remained in her cross-legged position but Lucy got up and appeared next to Arthur as she thought the roc to be a threat.

Though the creature was a High Sovereign, she felt threatened by it, unlike with the Yin Beast.

After ascertaining the absence of Radolf, Midolf turned to look at Arthur and yelled

"Tell me where is that goddamned lizard."

Seeing such a foul mouth and aggressive attitude, Arthur frowned and chose not to answer. He certainly didn't summon this bird to cause a scene and be yelled at.

Moreover, trying to reason with it seemed to be a total pain in the ass. With the help of the book, Arthur summoned it back and getting rid of its loud blabbering.

"Huh, a rebellious roc, no surprise."

Claud commented after Midolf disappeared. Arthur wanted to ask his copy for the meaning behind his words only to receive a detailed answer before he uttered any single word

"Rocs are legendary beasts that existed before the Void Era. When they fully mature, they have bodies bigger than any other living creatures and despite not being the strongest, they were feared by many. Some even said that they were the creator of Wind Laws but there was no evidence to prove such claims."

'Radolf is supposed to be a lizard, is it a legendary beast too?'

"Honestly, I don't know. I never heard of powerful lizards before Void Era."

***************************************

As the two of them sat there for a very long time, the Joker yawned whilst complaining

"Arghh this is booooooring..."

The Nameless Knight, who had his eyes closed, opened them and glanced at the person sitting beside him. With his chilly voice, he answered:

"Go read a book or something, it's still early for the action to begin."

As if he was insulted, the Joker retorted

"ME? Read a book? You've gone nuts!"

After a short silence, the Nameless Knight said

"Then how about I tell you a short story?"

Hearing this, the Joker's expression brightened as he laid back and readied himself. After letting a long sigh, the Nameless Knight began recounting the story

"It's a story from long ago, before there was magic or cultivation. When the humans only relied on Science, when they sought evolution and ignored Gods. There was a mortal, a man, different than others. Unlike his fellow humans, he was born with a special power that caused him to be cast out. The power he had would make anyone jealous, even in this current era. To see the future and what it holds for us, to see what's to come and prepare for it. Most called him 'The Prophecy Holder' yet none believed him. They chose to suffer from the doom that befell on them rather than believe his plea. They chose to use their 'Science' to face one disaster after another...."

*************

'Tell me, where is your maker? Call him! Call down his wrath upon me! You cannot... for he does not exist!'

Somewhere in the Northern Continent of Astria. Saly, who ventured in one of the dangerous zones of the demon continent, stumbled upon a strange stone that had these words engraved on it. Astrith, who was beside her, remained silent as he didn't find anything dangerous about the stone, however, Saly was in a daze as she stared at the stone.