Page 73 (1/2)

Chapter 72: Shades

"Whew&8221; Dorian exhaled, catching his breath as he looked down at the corpses

Three dead Grakons littered the ground All of them, like the ones he had encountered before, were Lord Class, at the Early stage

"Absorb e from exertion

With these three killed, that would be 8 Grakons he had defeated in total over the past several miles

&8211;

Ifrit &8211; Growth Stage: (4/4) Elder Ifrit &8211;

Growth Progress &8211; 86,231/0 &8211;

&8211;

"Not bad&8221; Dorian y points and other remnants

He then walked over to the corpse of each Grakon, placing his hand on each of their oversized blades

"Absorb&8221; He y in each blade to coy filled hiic, shapeshifting swords

&8211;

Ifrit &8211; Growth Stage: (4/4) Elder Ifrit &8211;

Growth Progress &8211; 91,231/0 &8211;

&8211;

He s, soreat use of Grandmaster Class forms usually took around 60,000 points or so to fully max out

Dorian considered his quest for a ain enough energy to recreate a body for Will A rough esti to Ausra, could cost up to 15,000,000 points of energy, or even more

A massive sum

He shook his head as he reached a conclusion There was no point in saving up his points now He needed to use everything he had to get stronger, and to increase his chances of being able to survive, and save Will Stockpiling noould just decrease his odds

Dorian tapped his foot against the body of one of the Grakons One of its scales popped off, landing on the ground He reached down and picked it up, looking at it closely

It was dried out, but still tough and durable The lack of blood in the bodies of the Grakons greatly lessened their natural defenses

In the 30,000 Worlds, blood wasn’t like the blood of earth The blood of any creature had certain ical concepts couldn’t be found anywhere else Not on their skin, in various muscles, bones, or even in brain matter Only in the blood itself of the beast, and any traces of blood found in parts of the body

Without blood or a Soul Spell Matrix, no matter what parts of a corpse Dorian found, he would forever be unable to transforle foran to shrink inward as his forle, about twice as large as his eaglet for to 3r-‘

‘Evolving to 4th Growth Stage’

&8211;

Black Ale &8211;

Growth Progress &8211; 50,122/0 &8211;

&8211;

Dorian’s body expanded as his physical forht of nearly three and a half span nearly quadrupled Hisa tensile strength and power not present before

Dorian shook his body out as he felt this, greatly pleased This was a form he could fly with, and feel relatively safe

‘Ausra, can le form combine with the Berserker De back to his Ifrit for in the massive cave was possible, but it would be relatively loud and noticeable, and draw attention

As his body returned to his Ifrit for toto sneak up on hihed, and then shrugged It couldn’t be helped

‘Alright, neverers,

‘Evolve me into a Solar Rock Lizard’ Dorian decided to run tests to see what the Black Aest priority was power

While he’d only ed to cover about 30 miles over the past four hours, a slow pace coely because of Dorian’s careful nature

The Great Road to Icicar was plagued with powerful Grakons

Over the thousands of years that this Exotic World had existed, large numbers of the undead Grakons and Giants had been killed or destroyed Either by hunters or powerful warriors seeking treasure or by powerful people sih

This had led toer creatures, at the Lord Class and above

The Lord Class was a dividing line for most forces Most tea with any Lord Class foes, even ones that couldn’t use the laws of the universe and were just physically at the Lord Class level

For some reason, no matter how many Lord Class Grakons or Giants were killed, there always seee undead creatures, was an unsolved one

Despite this area being plagued by powerful creatures, Dorian had cos

The undead Grakons were not a particularly sensitive race He had snuck past several groups of six or seven of the undead creatures, choosing to avoid any reater than 3, just to be careful

As long as he kept low and quiet, it was reasonable, and even expected, that he could slip past the powerful undead

He had also snuck past three separate expeditions of hunters, soes that lined the Great Road Two of the groups had been entirely human, while the third was a smaller one led by a vampire and two Aetho his way, and they would go theirs No need to s hts from his head as he focused on the present The Solar Rock Lizard was a creature he 100 needed to becorowth of it noas ie: (1/5) Baby Lizard &8211;

Growth Progress &8211; 50,122/2,845 &8211;

&8211;

He ignored the soul adaptation period warning Ausra gave, focusing on the changes in his body

Dorian’s body shook and shrank inward, his physique changing from a powerful Ifrit to a small, baby lizard

He was covered in small brown scales, and even as a baby, he had thick, muscular arms, relative to their tiny size Hardened scales covered his back and ar shrank soer As a result, Dorian looped it around his lizard neck, as if it was a collar or necklace

"Gweee&8221; He tried to speak aloud, and then shrugged, his s the air He wasn’t able to speak noret the Ability yet’ The biggest reason Dorian was excited for the Solar Rock Lizard bloodline he had was related to the powerful Ability it held

The Hyperion Beaed He’d just have to wait out the hour adaptation period to fully grow the foran to skitter off, his s down the Great Road

The miles fell away almost as if they didn’t exist, Dorian found His tiny body was only three and a half inches (~85c Despite that, an i it reach the peak of Sky Class thanks to his powerful Soul Spell Matrix

He ate away at the distance constantly

He skipped past several e patrols, others wandering aimlessly or in patterns Dorian couldn’t understand A few tiestures as if they were co

Hundreds of side caves and caverns broke off fro to various hidden houses, hoes The Western Cave System was once a place that had been heavily populated

The closer he got to Icicar, the more Grakons he encountered, and subsequently avoided

As long as he stayed quiet, running on the edge of the Great Road, and hiding in the stone and rock when Grakons were nearby, he re for about 40perfectly, when it happened

He cahtmare

The Great Road would occasionally swerve, or take slow, but noticeable curves It was never a full or sharp turn, but one that curved enough that Dorian would be unable to see far ahead of hiround, already ht

He had just been taking one of these corners, his s forward, when he forced himself to come to a halt as he stared forward in horror

He had coood dozen or so Grakon corpses could be seen, ripped to shreds and lying in disrepair near the left side of the Great Road On the right side, however, the side Dorian was on, another collection of corpses could be seen

Two va expedition of sorts The bodies were spread out, covered in red blood Dorian could taste the fresh scent of it in the air They had died relatively recently

The only way he was able to tell they were hu them To Dorian, they were all bloody corpses, covered in so

Several of the wands or staffs Ausra stated that most of them had been at the Grandmaster level, a powerful elite team The two vampires had been Pseudo-Lord Class

Thankfully, his baby lizard forer stoed to h?’ He wondered, turning to look at the dead scaledthem was bound to be Lord Class A party of Grandmaster Class humans and vampires should be outmatched by far There was a reason all the expeditions Dorian had seen were small, secretive ones

"Pathetic&8221;

Dorian skittered off into the rocks on the side, hiding as he heard a voice speak

Froure appeared, covered in white fur gar, other than the odd black s’s hands, and the corpse it was carrying

That and the powerful Aura the being e

&8211;

Species: Shade

Class &8211; Lord Class (Late)

Maxiy Level: 81,331

&8211;

His eyes opened wide at the reading as Ausra scanned the Shade

thud

The Shade thren the corpse carelessly It was that of a now dead woman covered in horrific burns One of the comrades of the other dead hule blo incredibly pathetic Even the Grakons were better than thehed, his voice full of disdain He shook his head as he glanced over the dead bodies

"Though, it was a surprise attack, so perhaps they had soures, covered in white furs or coats, es Four ht, five Shades One of the Shades appeared to be carrying another one of their comrades The Shade didn’t seem to be injured, but, for so

"Quiet, Jasper Let’s keepThat was the last of theruff This Shade turned and looked at all the corpses, bowing and folding his hands together for a few moments

After that, the Shades turned away fro the dead bodies as they left, traveling down the road towards Icicar

Dorian clenched his tiny lizard fists as he saw this, a s in hi to the his eyes on the Shades as they turned into specks in the distance Still, the ehter stayed lit in hie of those Shades into his hed as he threw the corpse

He turned to look at the dead bodies with a sigh