"And… we're here." After talking with each other for a bit regarding the progress Valyr was making in completing the objectives he had given him, Noel and the former eventually made their way to the area where the Shadow Tigers resided, being in a location that was farther from the Shadow Lions, Shadow Bears, and Shadow Mammoths combined.
Because of the distance they would have to traverse, Noel did not spare any hesitation in buffing the two of them with the strongest movement speed buffing skills he had in arsenal, allowing them to traverse the long distance that separated them to the Shadow Tigers in the same amount of time it took them to reach the Shadow Bears, possibly even less.
While crossing through the vast wilderness of the Shadow Plane, Valyr asked Noel as to how one would go about improving the quality of one's Shadow Energy, seeing as how he was going to do so after he was done with the Shadow Tigers. In response, Noel gave him a more in-depth explanation on the refining process.
"I mentioned to you earlier during the explanation on the various qualities that you would have to condense your Shadow Energy into a far purer form to increase its quality, right?"
"Yes, Elder Noel." Valyr nodded in response.
"Frankly, the process in improving your Shadow Energy to a higher quality is a bit more complicated than that, but the choice of words I've used more or less sums up what you need to do," said Noel after nodding back. "In short, what you need to do is to manipulate your Shadow Energy to congregate towards a certain spot and then control them to squeeze each other tightly."
"Of course, if it were just that, then almost every prominent Shadow Serpentine Lancer in Veldanyr would have a Shadow Energy quality grade of 3rd Cleansing, perhaps even 1st Metamorphosis." At these words, Noel flashed a wry smile.
"Instead, while you're forcing all of the Shadow Energy to congregate towards a certain spot, you must also remove the impurities within the Shadow Energy that arise from the squeezing you're doing. Eventually, once you remove all the impurities within it while continue to force the Shadow Energy to squeeze in one tiny spot, the Shadow Energy itself will take over the process and improve in its quality."
"The process to achieve 1st Cleansing and the higher grade are somewhat different than what you have to do to go from Impure to Pure, which was what I just explained." Noel briefly glanced at Valyr before returning his gaze to what was before them. "But for the most part, the process is more or less the same, with just a few additions or omissions in certain grades."
Nodding after Noel was finished explaining, Valyr committed the information he had just received to memory as the two of them continued to head to where the Shadow Tigers were, eventually arriving at its periphery around 10 minutes later.
…
Whoosh! Whoosh!
At the very instant the two had arrived at the periphery of the area where the Shadow Tigers resided, Noel swiftly jumped to a nearby branch, turning around to look at Valyr soon after to beckon the young man to get onto a branch as well. Slightly curious, as well as confused as to why he had to do just that, the young man still went ahead and did it, setting foot on a branch that was adjacent to where Noel stood.
"What's with the standing on branches, Elder Noel?" Taking a look at the old man in front of him, Valyr threw a question at the former.
"Remember how I said the Shadow Lions were territorial?" However, rather than answer the question outright, Noel instead threw a question back at the young man, to which the latter responded with a nod.
"Well, you could consider the Shadow Tigers a slightly worse version of the Shadow Lions," said Noel in response. "Of course, I don't mean worse by them being weaker than the Shadow Lions."
"Instead, they're a worse opponent to fight against." At these words, Noel looked at Valyr with a solemn expression. "For one, their strength is solidly in the later levels of Rank 3."
"As for how territorial they are… I'm pretty sure us standing on branches more or less answers that question."
"I… see." Becoming silent for a bit as he pondered over his strategy in fighting the Shadow Tigers, Valyr thought about how it was possible for him to aggro a lot of Shadow Tigers at once and kill them in one go. After all, all he had to do was sling his usual attacks from the trees and continue moving until he had amassed a great number of them.
'But then that would instantly put me at a disadvantage if I ever slip and fall down.' Slightly frowning, Valyr then thought about how he could use [Tide of the Dark Night] to circumvent that problem, only to then think about the possibility of them having far higher health than the amount of damage he could with the skill at once.
Of course, there was also the fact that he would become weaker the longer he remained in combat whenever he wielded the spear, which would eventually put him at a far greater disadvantage against the Shadow Tigers.
"Hmm…" Deciding to sit on the branch to ponder over it for a bit more, a thought eventually surfaced in Valyr's mind, prompting him to recall the skill that he wanted to test out after he had gotten it, but had no time to do so due to the sudden invitation to the Shadow Plane.
'There's also the fact that I was planning to compare it to the conventional skills of the same type, but then again… I guess this skill would solve one of the issues I would have while fighting against the Shadow Tigers… probably.' Briefly scratching his head as he wondered whether the skill would truly solve one of his problems or not, Valyr decided to take a look at its description once more, wanting to refresh his knowledge of its capabilities.
"System…"
"Bring up the description for [Basic Shamanic Summoning Arts]."
