Luna narrowed her eyes to confirm if what she was seeing was true because, there in the snow, Storm Rider hovered in the air with a focused look. She was watching the unfolding fight from the sky with serious eyes that were glowing with life essence. At the same time, there was a small red fme floating beside her.

  “What is she doing there?” Luna shifted her shaky gaze to the parts with more broken ice. There, the bck sea water boiled as the glowing Kraken attacked another gigantic creature that resembled a grotesque shark with visible bones and exposed inner flesh.

  ‘A cursed beast.’ Luna’s jaw dropped after she sensed only one core. All her life, she had never thought a cursed beast would ever be of that size. Big enough to go against a titan-level creature.

  Luna held onto the edge of the balcony when the ugly shark was grabbed by one of the Kraken’s tentacles and smmed into the invisible barrier. The shark let out a roar and dug its multiple teeth into the tentacle holding it.

  The Kraken screeched and retrieved its tentacle. But not before bck blood contaminated the dark waters. The shark shook its head and bit onto another tentacle and ripped it off after snapping its jaw.

  Suddenly, the bck cloud of blood grew thicker as the two vicious creatures fought. Even though being a mere beast, Luna was surprised to see that the shark was holding its own against a tyrant.

  The remaining eight tentacles entwined themselves around the shark, but its visible bones suddenly transformed into pointed spikes like a porcupine. However, that didn’t stop the tentacles because the Tyrant’s hard skin hardened and the bone shattered immediately. They constricted the shark till it could no longer move. As the tentacles crushed the shark, they radiated the ethereal golden light of qi as it absorbed the shark’s energy.

  While that happened the fme near Storm Rider flickered and dimmed.

  Once its opponent was now stationary, the giant creature opened its maw to reveal the razor-sharp pointed rolls of teeth and slowly directed the shark to the open doors of death. It was swallowed whole by the Kraken and its bone defenses shattered with a very loud crunch as the bigger creature chewed it.

  After that, it let out a loud screech to announce its victory against the undead shark. It seemed like victory from its perspective.

  But it was part of the Fire Keeper’s pn to weaken it.

  Storm Rider ughed when the fme near her disappeared. She watched the massive tyrant with excitement as it disappeared into the sea to recover. Its glowing body faded as it dived deeper and deeper.

  “Be careful of what you eat you bastard.”

  ***

  Back inside the building, Luna had already returned to the main room where the copy Mildrith grew.

  She was staring at it with a worried expression after she noticed that the tree was missing a few branches. Luna had only discovered that the shark creature was Storm Rider's and she had reanimated it back to life with her divine fmes. This specific creature though, had been fed with magic tree branches to weaken it for its day of execution—which was drawing closer.

  It was a good pn overall. But Luna still felt bitter for a very stupid reason. “Why didn’t she tell me?” Luna gritted her teeth as she questioned herself.

  What would she have done if they told her though? She couldn’t do any sorcery to help.

  Let alone touch the damn tree!

  “I hate this tower.” She mumbled angrily then turned away from the tree.

  She couldn’t even read the runes around it. The concepts of magic were still jarring to understand. And her ignorance even angered her more.

  Luna didn’t like the idea of being so ignorant about things, especially in a pce like this. Aside from the little knowledge Storm Rider had shared, she knew close to nothing about this pce.

  Where exactly was she? And where were the others? Was Valentine still alive in this weather?

  She was here, having a warm meal every day, a warm pce to stay, and a comfortable bed to sleep in while the others were probably fighting for their lives or worse…

  But Luna wasn’t doing nothing in the first pce. She was learning about what threats they might expect on the next level. She was trying to find a way of saving the mortal realm by finding other methods of ascension even though it didn’t feel like it was her responsibility to do so.

  She was not some heroine with the desire to save the world like every stupid ascender she had met. Heroes often died risking their lives for strangers. And Luna was sure she wasn’t that kind of person.

  “I am sure they will find a way with the information I’m going to share.” She had already even pnned out what to say and what to share when confronted about the topic. Being the anomaly didn’t mean she was the chosen one in those cliche stories.

  ‘Sigh I should get some sleep.’ She yawned and gnced one more time at the tree before turning away and returning to her chambers.

  ***

  The following days passed by quickly and her routine was the same. In those days, Luna learned about the Kraken’s ability to absorb life energy and to create sonic attacks. There was also its ability to weakly control ice. It was rare for a creature to have three abilities, so it was obvious that the sonic attacks were connected to its specific species' genetic makeup.

  It was important to learn how to manipute her essence so that she could at least fight its nasty ability that threatened the lives of living creatures.

  After two weeks of constant training which got tougher and tougher with each day, Luna had attained some form of control over the pure essence in her body. As expected, fully controlling her essence was going to be much harder than they both thought due to her blood traits which were still a mystery to her.

  However, despite cking in the area of control, Luna’s body had undergone a significant change towards the end of the second week. She was still small and pale, but she was already light in weight, which was why her movements were so fast and precise.

  But, the change on her body made her feel even lighter as if the wind could carry her off the ground. Also, her bones felt more refined and denser after Storm Rider recommended that she put more essence into them to make them tougher overall.

  And the best of all, Luna could draw almost all of her strength as long as she fed more essence into her muscles. Come to think of it, Luna was only stronger because she listened and followed Storm Rider’s guidance. This only proved that only a human who can use life essence could teach you how to manipute it.

  “When do you think I will open my first gate?”

  Luna decided to pop the question she had been dying to ask since she witnessed true sorcery from the Fire Keeper.

  “As we speak…it depends.”

  “Depends on what?” Luna walked up to her mentor. She was covered in sweat after three recent strength tests.

  “It depends on how badly you want power. You see, sorcery is the peak of what life essence can be used for. The people of the mortal realm are capable of using runic sorcery to create enchantments. That power is drawn from zenshi…because zenshi is limited to that.”

  She pointed at the Mildrith and said:

  “But my sorcery isn’t limited. Life essence is superior because it is life itself. I can use incantation to make mystical results and I can use runes too. So, if you’re badly hungry for power, you will be a real sorceress in a short period of fifty years.”

  “Fifty years!”

  Luna creased her brows and her face twisted with shock. She didn’t hold back on expressing her disappointment after Storm’s answer.

  Storm Rider nodded gently.

  “Yes. After opening your first gate, you will become an ascender so your aging will slow down. Fifty years is a short time.”

  But Luna didn’t have fifty years. She was too excited.

  “Anyway, this is the second st week. I’m impressed you can use life essence like that. It’s probably due to your blood.”

  “Blood?”

  “Aren’t you familiar with the unique blood types of your world?”

  “I am, but I’m an anomaly. Without the spark, my blood will never unleash its true potential.”

  Storm Rider raised her eyebrow. ‘The Visionaries indeed did a great job at hiding this from the mortals. Wouldn’t it be fun to break some of your progress?’

  After a brief silence, Storm Rider spoke. “ Well, in case you didn’t know, the mystical nature of your blood might be a wild card that might change everything about ascension. Special blood types are something I also don’t understand….

  “It was fifty for me, it could be ten or less for you. But don’t give up, I believe that you not receiving the spark of divinity was your chance to become something more powerful…”

  “Look at me for God’s sake.”

  “Didn’t it take centuries for you to get there?”

  “I still got there didn’t I?”

  “Yah…after centuries.” Luna heaved out a loud sigh