"Good work everyone. We've achieved what we needed to achieve." Reading through the string of notifications he had just obtained after wiping out yet another group of Shadow Tigers, a bright smile appeared on Valyr's face as he shifted his gaze to the five boars before him. "Go take a break. You deserve it."
"Gork!" In response to Valyr's words, the five boars looked at each other for a bit before returning their gazes back at Valyr, their expressions that of relief and excitement. Letting out snorts filled with gratitude in unison, the five headed to a more secluded area that was near the young man before proceeding to lay down on the cool watery ground.
'With my Shadow Energy finally at 10 points, the only thing left for me to do is to improve its quality to the 1st Cleansing grade and kill a Shadow Serpent.' Watching the boars lie down on the cold ground with satisfied expressions on their faces, Valyr let out a faint chuckle as he decided to lean his back on a nearby tree, staring at the boars for a bit as he recalled the great number of Shadow Tigers they had killed.
With the number of Shadow Tigers he had killed being far more than the number of Shadow Mammoths, Shadow Bears, and Shadow Lions he had killed combined, it went without saying that Valyr had amassed a great amount of XP from doing so.
However, after discovering the ability to change the allocation ratio of XP between him and the boars around halfway into their hunt, he changed the ratio to where all of the XP they would get from the Shadow Tigers would go to the boars instead.
Naturally, such a choice had a massive impact on the growth rate of the five boars.
"Gork." As one of the first two boars let out a long yet relaxed snort, with the others snorting in response, Valyr was reminded of the boars' size once more, with the first two boars now over eight meters in length, with their heights now being tall as Valyr himself. As for the three other boars he had summoned later on, their sizes were slightly lacking compared to the first two, but not by much.
'It just goes to show how it gets progressively more difficult to level up the higher one's level is.' Though this thought lingered in his mind, the amount of XP the boars had obtained from killing the Shadow Tigers was actually more than enough for them to push past the Rank 2 barrier, all of them now solidly within the ranks of Rank 3 beings.
Being the ones who had gotten most of the XP from killing the Shadow Tigers so far, the first two boars Valyr summoned were already at the later levels of Rank 3, only lacking a couple more levels to reach its peak. As for the remaining three, they were all solidly in the middle levels of Rank 3, which gave them a level of strength that did not lose out to the first two boars.
"It definitely sucks that I can't ascend to Rank 3 yet because of the inheritance," muttered Valyr to himself, gradually closing his eyes as he basked himself in the environment. "Then again, the gains I would obtain from participating would help me out in the long term."
"Seeing as you've allowed your summons to take a rest, I suppose you've already achieved 10 points of Shadow Energy?" As Valyr continued to take in the surroundings with a relaxed smile on his face, an old man eventually appeared beside him, throwing a question at the former that prompted him to open his eyes.
"Can't I give them a bit of rest, Elder Noel? After all, they've been helping me out all this time." In response to the question, Valyr let out a slight chuckle, only for his expression to turn solemn soon after. "Either way, I have indeed obtained 10 points of Shadow Energy."
"I suppose I'm going to start improving its quality now?"
"Unless you want to go and kill a Shadow Serpent?" Hearing this question come out of Noel's mouth, Valyr looked at the old man in response, showing his eagerness to do so with a faint nod. Noticing this, Noel's somewhat joking expression gradually disappeared, being replaced with a solemn expression as he showed through his aura that the young man was far from ready to fight against a Shadow Serpent.
Understanding that he might be possibly skipping steps by forgoing the improvement of his Shadow Energy's quality, Valyr did not insist on fighting against the Shadow Serpent any further, instead shifting the topic by asking about how he would go about improving his Shadow Energy's quality.
"I believe I've already told you how to do that, no?" Raising his eyebrow in slight confusion, Noel began to distance himself from the young man, giving the latter ample space to focus all of his attention on himself. "In any case, achieve a Shadow Energy quality of Pure grade first. Only then will I start giving you more information on the upgrading process."
"Condense the Shadow Energy into one spot and remove the impurities that appear out of it…" Going through the memories he had saved in his mind, Valyr soon recalled the words Noel had spoken to him a few hours ago regarding the upgrading process. "That's all I need to do, right?"
"That's all you need to do, yes." Noel firmly nodded in response. "However, I will advise you to try and be quicker, though. With how much time you've taken to reach the bottleneck against the Shadow Tigers, we only have less than four hours left before we have to leave the Shadow Plane."
"I haven't really thought much about it so far, but what would exactly happen if we were to not leave the Shadow Plane before those four hours are up?" As Valyr asked this question to the old man, he began to sit on the ground cross-legged in preparation for what he was about to do, thinking that the only reason why Noel wanted them to leave the Shadow Plane in less than four hours left was because the sun would set at that time.
However, judging from the slightly grim expression that had appeared on Noel's face in response to the question, it was only then did Valyr think that things might not be that simple.
"Haah…" Letting out a low sigh, Noel looked at the young man before proceeding to open his mouth. "To be honest, nothing much would really happen if we were to stay in the Shadow Plane after the sun begins to set."
"But why…"
"However, that would only apply to me." Before Valyr could even begin asking his question, he was interrupted by Noel, with the man's words causing the former to go silent. Seeing that Valyr's interest was now piqued by his statement, the old man took in a deep breath before deciding to continue.
"After the sun begins set, the true nature of the Shadow Plane begins to appear."
"This ambient Shadow Energy surrounding us at the moment? All of that disappears after the sun sets, being replaced with a far more ferocious energy that would invade our bodies the very moment it appears." At these words, Noel's expression turned even more grim, his mind bringing up some unsavory memories he already swore he had forgotten.
"A few of those who had the Shadow Serpentine Lancer subclass tried to extend their stay in the Shadow Plane in the past under my surveillance, thinking that nothing would happen to them. In their minds, they thought the Shadow Plane would only turn darker than it already was and that was it."
"Oh, how they were very wrong." Noel shook his head, his body faintly trembling as more and more of those unsavory memories popped up in his mind. "Within seconds of that ferocious energy appearing, they were all turned into statues, their bodies gradually turning pitch black in the process. In my eyes, it was as if the darkness itself was swallowing them whole."
"Then how…"
"…am I still alive, you might ask?" Knowing what question had formed within Valyr's mind, Noel asked the same question before the young man could finish, only to answer that same question after that. "Quite simple."
"The Shadow, the Void, and the Abyss. The three levels of energy I've mentioned to you before," said Noel in response. "The Shadow refers to Shadow Energy, the energy you and any other Shadow Serpentine Lancer would be able to wield inside and outside the Shadow Plane. It is also the type of energy generally found within the Shadow Plane…"
"…during the day." Hearing this phrase come out of Noel's mouth, Valyr's expression turned slightly grim, putting two and two in his mind together as he now had a hunch as to why it was dangerous for him to stay in the Shadow Plane after sunset.
"The Void. Void Energy. Only Void Serpentine Lancers have the ability to wield it, also giving them the ability to stay in the Shadow Plane after the sun begins to set." As Noel said those words, it was only then did Valyr confirm the hypothesis he had come up with. "It is also the same energy that invaded the bodies of those foolish Shadow Serpentine Lancers, their bodies forever trapped in darkness."
"And if one were to extend their stay even further and reach the height of the night?"
"Then one would only find the Abyss."
"That is why I am the only one who could stay in the Shadow Plane indefinitely…"
"… and the reason why you only have less than four hours left in this place before we have to leave."
