Author's Note:

Hi, sorry for the long wait. Currently I am taking Final Exams so it will take a little longer to update! Sorry!

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Red Horn Forest: Luna’s Cave

Wind swirled around me as they danced and played with my hair. I focused all my mana into my demonic core and feel it refining and liquefying, forming a blood red liquid. I cup my hands and hold the liquid tenderly almost as a mother would a child. I brought the cool liquid up to my parched lips and my mouth greedily takes it in. The liquid mana then flows throughout my entire body, refining my mana and my body at the same time.

[Me] “Huff, huff, I can’t believe how much work and time it took to get back to tier 8.”

Ever since gaining this demonic core I have been improving steadily and quickly in everything except tier. In fact, my tier 8 is probably about the same as another Blood Elves late tier 9. This is slightly frightening as Blood Elves are naturally stronger than any other species when it comes to mana, so if I were to speculate, my tier 8 is about a late tier 10 human or an early tier 10 elves. This is probably due to my demonic core’s power.

Although this in particular is extremely useful in the long run, it is very taxing in the current time frame. When you reach tier 11, also known as stage 3, you gain the ability to form a mana lake in your body. This happens in your chest, and surrounds your heart. Having this lake will advance your power much further than just advancing a tier, and in fact upon reaching stage 3 you have officially left the ‘mortal’ realm. This does not make you an immortal, but rather a pre-immortal, as you can only receive the term immortal when you reach stage 6.

Now that I think about it, the griffin that once owned this cave called me an immortal. Even he should have been able to tell that I was merely in stage 2, so why call me an immortal? Perhaps it is because of my demonic core that has replaced my heart; however that is just merely a theory. He could have also been alluding to the future, because griffins are known to be prideful creatures. It perhaps believed that anyone with its core would become an immortal? Although if that is it’s thought process it is very stupid. If it weren’t for my advanced techniques of cultivating / drinking the mana as well as how to properly cultivate a demonic core for 100% of its energy, than I would have never reached this far in just one week.

There is one more problem that I have now. This is that my mana went from light red to blood red after I gained the demonic core. Every species cores color is different; for example, humans have a light blue mana color, Holy Elves have a white mana color, Blood Elves have a light red mana, and demons have black mana. My current mana is most likely due to my light red mana mixing and forming a new mana with the griffin’s black mana.

Also, I used to worry about people noticing my aura being that of a Blood Elf’s, however now I worry about them finding out that my mana is that of a demon. Due to this new found worry I practiced hiding my aura, and now it comes as natural as breathing. The only problem I face with my aura now is when people wonder how an eight year old kid is able to hide their aura.

These all are minor problems when coupled with the latest that I have discovered. My eyes have turned from their murky brown to a bright gold color. My blond hair naturally brings out my eyes, so they are painfully apparent. Normally I would make my mana change my eye color, however since I did not know at the time that my eyes have taken on a golden color I did not fix it. I actually did not even know of my eye’s color until a young boy, about the age of eight, had black hair, and emerald green eyes, pointed it out. This boy looked very amused at my situation, and carried himself in a very kind yet noble way. Despite his mask, I have seen through him and know without a doubt that he has a slightly sadistic personality and most likely has a high position. When I asked for his name all he gave me was the name ‘Caden’, however he was careful not to attach his family name.

Shaking my head to get rid of loose thoughts, I push myself off the ground. In just a week my body has been looking slightly more in shape, and my mana has grown further. Heading into the forest I spot what I was looking for. A large area of the forest was cleared, and in the middle of that clearing there was a red-horned bear at tier 10, the peak of stage 2. This will be my opponent for testing out my strength on.

I suddenly take off causing no wind movement or sound until… BOOM! A large and powerful wind blade suddenly comes upon the large demonic creature. It roars angrily and swipes at me with its sharp, thick claws. I maneuver my body using its strength, my mana, and my surroundings to my advantage, avoiding the attack completely.

[Me] “Wow, I was right choosing this method to practice and cultivate in!”

I suddenly pull out a dagger made up of ice and use wind to enhance it. I use this same dagger to make a swiping motion down the entire bear’s back. Since the bear’s main points were his strength and not his agility it could not avoid the attack and chose to take it head on. The dagger went straight into the back causing a major wound to appear. Normally an ice dagger could not penetrate a red-bear’s defense, however with the wind’s additional power it went in. If it were not for the bear being prepared it would have been a fatal wound.

Despite the bear avoiding a fatal wound, I was prepared. The bear swiped at me once more, and this time instead of avoiding it, I decided to test my body’s limits. I took ahold of the bear’s paw and used it to spring-board me up into the air. My arms start to trickle blood as I am in the air. It seems like I am not fully prepared for this activity yet as I have slight scratches on my arm where the bear’s claws managed to graze me.

Using gravity to my advantage I use mana to increase my weight suddenly and head like a meteor towards my enemy. I pull out the ice dagger once again and use wind to surround the blade. I swipe the bear’s eyes with the wind-enhanced blade and cause the bear to lose his sight. After the bear has been rendered sightless I use stealth to get behind the enraged beast and slit its throat.

The large body falls with a large boom, causing the earth beneath my feet to tremble slightly. Walking up to the red-horned bear I slice my dagger at its chest and take out its demonic core. This is one of the best that I have managed to obtain, and I pocket it immediately. I then look at the bear once more. I slice off its horns and pocket those as well. I then pick up the bear and start heading to the sect’s store. Not only does this store sell amazing products, but they also buy raw materials from demonic beasts. This is where I plan on selling this bear. Upon getting close to the store I put down the beast and start dragging it by the paws. This is done in order to avoid suspicion on my true strength.

[Ryan] “Oh my, Luna! That’s quite a bear you have there, did you kill it?”

[Luna] “Huff, yes, it just happened to be wounded by another beast, so I just finished it off.”

[Ryan] “That must be heavy. Here, let me take it.”

The idiot is helpful once again as he helps me with the bear. When we walk the rest of the way to the store I happen to see Caden looking over at me with an amused expression on his face. It seems as if he knows what’s going on… I will have to pay more attention to him in the future. This Caden has become an obstacle.

[Shopkeeper] “Oh? That’s quite a heavy one you got there Ryan.”

[Ryan] “Actually, it was not me but rather Luna who killed it.”

[Shopkeeper] “This little lady must be quite strong!”

[Luna] “No, I just got lucky.”

This seemed to make perfect sense to the shopkeeper as he nodded and let it go. He then took the proper measurements and paid me 1 copper coin and 2 bronze coins, which I immediately exchanged my copper coin for 10 bronze coins. Leavingthe store with my money, I head to my cave.

Sitting on a stone located in the middle of my moon pool I look at the 2 red horns in my hands. I have been pondering this question for a while about whether or not it was possible to cultivate these. It is common knowledge that red horns cannot be cultivated; however I have a different theory. Using a demonic core, if a person channels their mana properly through these then it may be possible. I start stirring up my demonic core and immediately a blood red aura surrounds me.

After a few hours I feel the red horns start to vibrate slightly and soon it is shaking as if an earthquake was happening in it. Then my demonic core starts beating as a heart would, forcing my mana to do the same. The pounding is then forced into the horns, and they too begin pounding like a heart would. Then the horns slowly began disintegrating and turning into deep red energy. This energy began flowing into my demonic core, which then distributed into my muscles and mana channels. By the time I was done it had been over 5 hours, and night had fallen once again.

The reason I had some of the energy flow into my muscles is due to my training style. I prefer hands-on combat rather than standing idly by and chanting spells. Due to this I train my muscles with both mana and experience in order to fight close combat. The way I use the technique that I train in is not normal, nor even considered by the majority of the population because it is something that is also top secret for only the heads of the Blood Elf clans. The only reason I know of it is because one of those Blood Elf clans once bribed me for it in exchange for my knowledge of top-secret military information that I had accidently obtained. The result of this trade off led to the Blood Elf’s victory in that particular battle, however I couldn’t care less because the other clan had it in for them since the beginning.

The training style I do is to focus my mana on my muscles and evaporate it inside them. This causes my deprived muscles to suck up every piece of mana that had evaporated and use it to grow. It does not grown outwards, but rather in strength, so when finished my body will be like a tigers. I also use my mana to improve my mana channels, causing me to grow more powerful as a mage. In summary, this training method allowed me to quickly grow both as a mage and as a hand-to-hand combat warrior.

Sighing on past memories, I close my eyes and begin cultivating again following this technique. Breath, focus, condense, drink, control, and repeat. Hmm? Since when did 85% of the energy become so great in power? Don’t tell me that after I absorbed that core that… no… that core seriously had this power?! I quickly check, and when I confirm my theory my eyes open wide. No longer was I absorbing 85% of the energy around, but rather I was absorbing all 100%. It is said that a human’s path to absorbing 100% of energy does not exist, as perfection cannot be allowed to exist anywhere. This in itself would cause many cultivators to want me dead… the reasons for my death just keep piling up…