"The hell are we looking at?!"
"Told you my love techniques are great. It just needed some time."
I took a deep breath while trying to process the scene I was seeing.
After storing the soul threads, I only slept for 2 hours before waking up due to some noises, and what was the first thing I saw?
Nora and Braham were kissing while everyone around them were clapping and shouting.
Braham had a happy, calm smile on his face but the shaking halo above him was doing its best to make him stay calm.
Meanwhile Nora's face was so red that she looked as if she would explode at any moment. She clearly didn't expect that this day would come.
I shifted my gaze to master Kai who had a proud smile on his face before asking: "So, did you make her confess her love?"
He shook his head, "No, he just looked too sad since team 3 death, I saw that as an opportunity and told her to comfort him. In the end, he was the one who made the confession."
My eyes widened in disbelief instantly, unable to believe that it worked.
Shit, was his advice actually useful?
Feeling irritated, I decided to check my abyssal pocket and check something.
I closed my eyes for a minute, and when I opened them I found myself inside the same flat land.
The difference was that now, there was a bag, 10 threads and a silver book floating inside.
Ignoring them, I fixed my gaze on the tree that was still staring at me blankly.
After reading the book, I realized that it was actually a will instead of a soul which explains the lack of emotions.
But I wanted to try something.
The wills were made by souls and were highly connected to them, so didn't that mean I could devour them like souls and get whatever those fragments were?
We were absorbing the wills when we absorbed a core so I wouldn't lose anything.
I took some steps to the tree and put my hand on its leg.
A dark black mist came out of my hand and started devouring the tree slowly.
It was my first time doing it, but just like the Abyssal pocket, I knew how to do it instinctively.
After some seconds, the tree was devoured completely.
I felt a small improvement in my will like all the times I absorbed aura cores, but that was all.
"Haa… nothing chang—!"
Suddenly, my vision started darkening gradually and strange memories entered my mind.
•••
'Me need food.'
I looked around me, trying to find anything that I could eat, but all I saw were trees.
'Me want water.'
I walked to a nearby lake and stared at my reflection.
I was simply a tree.
A tree with a face. A tree with legs. A tree with hands.
I started drinking from it and felt the fresh water spreading over my body and filling me with power.
'Me happy!'
*Crack!*
All of a sudden, I heard someone stepping on a stick and getting closer to me.
"There is a tree monster there, finish it and take its core quickly."
"Yes master Kai!"
I saw 2 figures approaching me. One with black hair and the other with brown hair. They were communicating using sounds I didn't understand.
But their smell... Were too good.
'Food? Meat!'
"ROAAAAR!"
I roared with my loudest voice — trying to make the food scared — but it didn't even flinch.
'Brave food?'
Suddenly, the food with brown hair turned into darkness and came out in front of me.
Before I could even react, a flaming piece of metal cut through my legs easily.
"GRAAAH!"
I screamed in pain. The pain was too sharp and unbearable that I couldn't even think about attacking quickly.
'Food… Strong food! Me don't want it.'
I swung my claw trying to kill the food, but it dodged it easily and jumped to my head.
Fear, regret and despair filled my entire body, making me hope that the food would just go away and leave me.
'Me don't want to die.'
'Me wants to live.'
'Me only wanted to eat.'
'Me only wanted to survive!'
But it didn't go...
Instead, its flaming metal pierced my head and started burning me from the inside.
Looking at those grey eyes while feeling my life ending, only one thought echoed in my mind.
'Food… mercy…'
Eventually, the pain stopped.
•••
"Haa… haa..." I gasped for breath while clenching my chest, trying to forget the pain of getting burned from inside.
'Shit! Did I just kill myself?!'
"What's wrong?" Master Kai suddenly asked with visible concern in his voice.
I inhaled slowly before replying: "N-nothing, the devouring is just exhausting."
Master Kai narrowed his eyebrows slightly before finally letting it go.
I thought about what happened and understood immediately.
'So I can see their memories… no, I can even feel this shit!'
Shaking my head and deciding to not devour anything again, I started thinking about a cultivation technique.
I had fire, darkness and soul as my affinities, so I had to just think about a way to make them work together to strengthen my core.
But saying it was easier than the actual work.
Due to my soul and will improving after awakening my trait, those 2 hours of sleep were enough for me.
In other words, I have more time to spend everyday or training or thinking about the technique.
For the next few hours, I kept thinking about a technique while improving my control over my soul.
Maybe due to the soul mastery effect, my progress was much faster now, but using it perfectly in a fight was still far from my capabilities.
*CRACK!*
All of a sudden, we all heard a loud crack sound.
I took out my katana instantly and got ready for a potential fight. We all looked at the middle of the mansion where the sound came from and noticed it.
A wide black crack on the space was floating there as if inviting us to enter and it was surrounded by screens on each side.
I squinted my eyes and read them, and all of them had the same message.
[You have 59:20 minutes to enter the second challenge]
"Fuck! It's here already."
"Everyone prepare yourself!"
"Ughh, I still want to sleep."
I lowered my katana as everyone started preparing themselves to enter the gate.
"Behold! The greatness of Long Wei —and team 8— entering the gate first!" Drax shouted as he and team 8 entered the gate immediately.
Did they think that it was a race? Wait, what if it was a race? Everything was possible now.
"I really pity Drax, I'm sure he was forced to say that." Cecil said as he took Aurelia's bags on his back.
Team 1 was the next to enter, then team 5 followed.
Eventually, I got gathered with my team in front of the gate.
We all enhanced our bodies, and one by one entered the gate.
All I could do now was hoping that the challenge would be easy.
After all, we lost half of us in the first challenge.
And we... Still had 4 more.