Nobilis of War novel Chapter 48

Gathering his demonic power and internal force altogether, Darren attempted to release his strength to advance.

As soon as he began to lift his foot, a physical force dawned on him. He barely withstood the force, failing to take a step forward.

"I made a huge mistake!" he exclaimed to himself, shaking his head in disbelief. 'As I attempted to take a step forward back then, I also felt such heavy pressure on me—even heavier than this. According to the Nine Changes of the Demon, if I master the first stage, I can become as powerful as a cultivator at the peak stage of the Spirit Realm!

Even when my strengths are already to the likeness of one at the peak stage of the Spirit Realm, I am unable to move. Perhaps, this world is not that nice to outsiders like me. If I don't use internal force, I might make it!'

Too many thoughts were circulating inside his mind. However, Darren still had the energy in him to laugh at the situation.

After withdrawing his sword and blade internal forces, he raised his foot. Then, he realized that his assumption was indeed right. Slowly now, Darren managed to take a step forward.

Stopping in his tracks, he decided not to keep going. After he ceased to use his internal force, the pressure on him became lighter. Despite the change, he was still under great pressure. After all, he was not in his own world.

'Oh wow, ' he thought to himself. 'There are so many spiritual herbs here!' Darren allowed his eyes to travel, scanning his surroundings.

Enthusiastically, he began picking up the spiritual herb that blossomed in a bunch right before him.

'The spiritual energy in these is so strong! I can feel it!' Eagerly, Darren started to assimilate all the energy he could get from the grass.

Thanks to the assimilation skill that he acquired, he was able to refine the grass quickly. However, there was just one flaw—the utilization rate of the spiritual energy was quite low. He was only able to absorb one-tenth of the herb's spiritual energy.

It didn't take long for Darren to finish naturalizing about one hundred herbs. After the process, he gained a huge amount of energy. Half of it turned into demonic internal force, while the rest served as the sword and blade internal force.

He concentrated his mind carefully so that he could sense the energy meridians. To his amazement, the aggressive black demonic internal force was crushing the sword and blade internal forces.

The two internal forces didn't just stay still. They, too, squabbled against the demonic internal force.

'This can't be good. These forces are just going to keep on getting stronger. What if they cause my meridians to break?' he thought to himself, aware of the possibilities that the situation could cause.

'Whatever. What's important is returning to my original human form, ' he thought, reassuring himself.

Smiling sarcastically at his current circumstance, he looked down on his body that was covered with black spines and scales.

Without any more hanging back, he began to practice the second stage of Nine Changes of the Demon.

Naturally, the second stage was more difficult to master compared to the first one. Each time he tried to advance, Darren suffered great pain that came from his elixir field. That happened because his demon core was too weak.

After training for several days without pause, Darren wore his body out. However, his efforts weren't in vain. His arms had returned to their normal shape, and the bones on spine reduced.

'Mastering the second stage is hard, I must admit. Based on the introduction, once someone has mastered the second stage, his strengths can equal that of the cultivators at either the eighth or ninth stage of the Mysterious Realm, such as the Elders of Ilmen Sect. Surely, it's not going to be easy, ' he thought.

Nine Changes of the Demon consisted of nine stages. If a cultivator had reached the first stage, he would equal the strength of someone at the ninth stage of the Spirit Realm. Mastering the second stage would amount to the peak stage of the Mysterious Realm. Reaching the third stage meant he could already challenge a master at the Wonder Realm. When he mastered the fourth stage, his strength would be at the peak stage of the Wonder Realm. If he had fully grasped the fifth stage, he was equivalent to a Grand Realm expert. The one under the tomb had already reached the Grand Realm. However, there was no specific description about the power one could obtain once he had reached the rest of the stages.

In the world where Darren inhabited, the Wonder Realm experts were the best cultivators.

'Once I absorb the spiritual energy, it will be divided into three parts. I need more, ' he sighed to himself yet again.

Looking at the endless spiritual herbs before him, he felt a pang of frustration. He was in dire need of them, but acquiring them was not as easy as it looked.

Despite the situation, Darren gave his all so he could move forward under the heavy pressure to collect some more herbs that had spiritual energy.

"Gosh, these plants contain just as much energy as the Holy Star Herb!" he muttered with a contented smile.

Wasting no time, Darren began to assimilate them.

"Finally, I'm done," he said. It took him about an hour to do so.

Carefully, he opened his eyes, allowing them to adjust to the light.

'How is my current strength?' he wondered.

Not only did he sense a huge amount of internal force, but Darren also found out that he had reached the second stage of the Spirit Realm.

'If I don't use the Nine Changes of the Demon, do I stand a chance against a warrior at the fifth stage of the Spirit Realm?' he asked himself mentally.

When Darren first entered the Spirit Realm, he managed to prevail over a cultivator who was already at the third stage, using only his sword and blade internal force. Now that he was at the second stage, he thought that he was ready to be up against one at the fifth stage of the Spirit Realm.

After practicing for a couple of days, he had approximately mastered three percent of the second stage of Nine Changes of the Demon. Apart from that, almost all the spines and scales had already disappeared and he finally got his original human form back.

"I should get out of here. Continuing to stay here is no good if I can't get the herbs," he said.

It had been long since he got there. Boredom became his enemy considering that he couldn't even move an inch without struggling with the pressure. In addition, he already looked like a human that he originally was, so it really was time to go.

After two more days that he spared for Nine Changes of the Demon memorization, Darren began to look for a way out.

It was within one day of searching that he found an abyss. He assumed it to be the way out because of the footprints he spotted near the edge of the mountain.

"These footprints must belong to the one who got out of the coffin," Darren assumed.

Standing on the edge of the cliff, Darren looked down and saw nothing but darkness. After spending a little time contemplating, he jumped off the cliff and fell into the endless abyss.

The amount of time that had passed since he initially jumped off was unknown to him, but it didn't bother Darren one bit. He just wanted to see where it could take him. Suddenly, a ray of light began to appear from the cliff. At first, he didn't pay that much attention to it, but as he fell deeper, he believed it to be a set of eyes.

'What the hell are those?' he wondered, squinting his eyes.

A few seconds later, he started to hear a faint sound from somewhere. 'Is that a snore?' he theorized.

Becoming aware that something was going on, Darren released his divine sense to check on those lights. The results took him by surprise.

Just as he first thought, they were eyes that belonged to living creatures.

They weren't just normal, living creatures though. Darren's throat hitched as he had a clearer view of those things. Judging by the aura that they exuded, he was certain that they all possessed a power that overmatched his.

Instantly, Darren summoned all of his divine sense back. He was terrified that he might disturb those powerful creatures. 'If one of them wakes up, I'll be dead in a second, ' he thought.

Time had passed, but Darren was still descending into the abyss with his eyes closed. As he traveled lower, he realized that his surroundings had become brighter.

Bumping into something soft, Darren opened his eyes at once. As he did so, the sky unfolded before him.

"I finally got out of that place," Darren told himself, letting out a sigh of relief.

As he took a glance around him, he realized that he was in the same spot where he disappeared. Those dead cultivators' bodies had been cleared, but the smell of their blood still lingered in the air.

All of a sudden, the old bronze coffin started to shake in front of him.

The golden runes that surrounded it glistened brightly.

The coffin slowly began to ascend into the air, causing a gust of wind to blow right into Darren's direction.

Soon enough, it vanished quickly into the depths of the clouds.

After the coffin's disappearance, several unknown figures appeared.

They were the Wonder Realm experts who were asked to stay there.

"Brat, what are you doing here?" one of them asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Beads of sweat formed all over Darren's forehead. 'I wasn't able to detect them, which only means they're very strong, ' he thought.

"Sir, I'm a disciple of Ilmen Sect. I came here to cultivate but got lost," Darren humbly responded. He showed respect by bowing his head slightly before them.

"Is that so? I've stayed in the same place for days but know what is going on a hundred miles away. How come I never chanced upon you? Care to explain?"

"I think you're overreacting. That demon had run away, and other low-level fiends have been slain. Hell, even the coffin had flown away! It's time to go," another one of them stated.

"You have a point. That coffin freaked me out. Our Holy Lord came here to check on it but didn't find anything special or useful about it. It seemed like one of those common coffins."

One of the Wonder Realm masters turned to Darren's direction and spoke, "Why are you still here? Get lost. Many people got themselves killed out here only three months ago. You best be careful."

"Thank you, sir. I will be careful."

Darren nodded relentlessly as he stepped back to take his leave.