Damien smiled lightly and looked through what Xinyue took from the library.
'Stagnant Universe Divine Canon, Temporal Freeze, and…Trait Enhancement? Interesting.'
The first was an ice law manual created by a supreme genius of the forgotten era. The man who created the technique was evil and insane to the extreme. His aim was to freeze the universe and keep it as a showpiece in his collection, however, the technique he created to do so wasn't inherently evil.
Rather, on his path to freeze the universe itself, his first discovery was how to freeze Spacetime. The Stagnant Universe Divine Canon was exactly this technique.
The first skill that Xinyue chose was also an ice skill relating to time, however, its use was more local. The manual and skill were equivalent to macrocosm and microcosm.
These were all skills that Xinyue had a great affinity with, so it wasn't surprising that she chose them. What surprised Damien was her final choice.
Rather than a skill, Trait Enhancement was a single-use technique that could intrinsically increase the grade of a trait, as suggested by the name.
This technique was useless to most, and since it was single use, not many considered it worth learning, but for Xinyue, it would yield an immense harvest surpassing anything else she could've obtained from the Void Library.
The All-Seeing Eyes were already an evolvable trait. With a qualitative boost from Trait Enhancement, they would become a true force to be reckoned with.
This was the skill Damien believed would be best for Xinyue, but he didn't know whether or not she would look past the short-term benefits of some more powerful techniques to choose it.
Seeing that she had, he couldn't help but smile.
"Good. Since you've made your choices, there isn't much else to do here. After I run a quick errand, we will return to the Wild Continent to have some fun."
"Fun?" Xinyue questioned.
Damien smiled slyly and glanced at her.
"Hasn't a large Nox Army come to explore the Void Corridor? Since the opportunity to feast is in front of me, do you think I, as a sane person, can reject it?"
Xinyue's eyes widened.
To view an army of several hundred million as a feast…
'As expected, this man is a maniac.'
Xinyue was never surer of a thought in her life.
***
Theavel was home to many different biomes, reflecting all possible environments one could imagine, but the most prevalent had to be the beautiful luscious plains that spanned great lengths of almost every continent.
These fields were the epitome of nature, representing Theavel's budding life as well as the vitality that the new world held.
Among the various environments of the world, this one was the elves' favorite.
They nurtured the flora, raised fauna, and turned these empty fields into thriving prairies filled with life.
Within one of these prairies on the Central Continent, a little girl ran free without a care in the world.
She looked about 13 years old. Her long black hair and big eyes gave her an irresistibly cute appearance that provoked almost everyone in Theavel to spoil her.
Compared to the environment she'd been born into, the environment that killed her family, the environment she'd grown up in for the past 8 years was like Heaven and Earth.
And compared to the naive child she was 8 years ago, she was now a willful teenager who was starting to become her own person.
"Big brother, you came!" She exclaimed as Damien's figure materialized in the field nearby.
She ran over and launched herself into his arms, clinging to him like a koala.
Damien smiled wryly. "Xue'er, you're already a big girl. How come you're still so attached to your big brother?"
Xue'er lifted her head off his chest and grinned widely. "Because big brother is the best!"
"Tch, excuses," Damien muttered with a smile, flicking Xue'er's forehead and peeling her off of him.
"Have you been doing well? Your teacher isn't bullying you, is she?" He asked.
Xue'er shook her head furiously. "Of course, not! If it wasn't for teacher, I wouldn't have been able to talk to my spirit friends so well! Don't be mean to her!"
"Oho, so you care about your teacher more than your big brother now? Elvira, it looks like we need to have a chat later."
Damien glanced back at Elvira, who he'd brought with him, and raised his fist in defiance.
It was also at this time when Xue'er recognized the existence of the two others who'd come with Damien.
"Teacher! And…a new big sister…?" Xue'er said, quirking her head as she scanned Xinyue up and down.
Xinyue looked away uncomfortably without saying anything. In the first place, she'd only been brought here so she couldn't raid the library while Damien was busy.
While she chose not to enter the conversation, Damien furrowed his brows in mock anger.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" He scolded, sending a fierce karate chop to Xue'er's forehead.
"Leave my forehead alone!" She exclaimed.
"If you want me to stop, you have to beat me first!"
Damien declared smugly.
"Hmph! I'm strong now too, big brother! I'll beat you up and chop your forehead back!"
Xue'er put her fists up as she spoke, and surprisingly enough…
A current of mana flowed from her body and flared into the surroundings.
Damien smiled slightly as he blocked the punches that followed.
Looking at her now felt surreal.
Time was truly an incomprehensible thing. While experiencing it oneself, it didn't feel like anything at all, however, witnessing a change as drastic as a child's growth grounded the concept and forced one to realize its passing.
Damien was currently experiencing this feeling.
When did that little Xue'er become so big? She was already up to his stomach in height, and even though she still displayed willful innocence, he could clearly see a light of maturity growing in her eyes.
He'd been so busy over the years that he'd never truly had time to take her growth into account. That is, until two years ago.
Two years ago, when Damien realized that he would be trapped in the Void Corridor for a considerable amount of time, he took a moment to enter the Sanctuary and rest his mind.
Unlike his previous small vacations, this one lasted an entire week. During this time, he truly realized that Xue'er was no longer a child.
It was time for her to make a decision for her future.
Whether or not she wanted to be a practitioner, Damien felt he knew the answer ever since he first saw her interacting with spirits.
Regardless, he had the conversation with her, and he received that obvious answer directly from her mouth.
From that point for tu, Xue'er became Elvira's disciple and began studying mana and spirit control seriously.
The growth potential she'd showcased was something even Damien didn't expect.
It had only been 2 years, yet Xue'er had progressed far past her 1st class, and at this time…
"Haa!" She let out a fiercely cute war cry as she slammed her palm through the air.
A colorful swirl of mana and spirits formed before her and shot at Damien like cannon fire.
This attack was termed "Swirly Beam" by Xue'er, and was a skill she earned upon promotion to her second class.
A class which she was already halfway through.
It was unfathomable.
A future 14-year-old 3rd class being…
Just what kind of monster had Damien picked up from the Trial World?
