Luna took the first step on the coral floor. She heard it crunch from her weight as she slowly navigated past the open cracks to the pieces still whole. The Death bugs underneath slightly moved but her movements didn't alert them.

  Right above her, Storm Rider was slowly floating with lightning cackling in her right hand ready to strike anything that attacked. But if the tiny creatures did notice them, the plan was to run as fast as she could and leave the rest to the strongest person.

  ‘Gods I wish I could fly. Or at least switch off the ability to sense these lurking dangers.’ Luna groaned silently while carefully crossing the broken floor. She did all this while keeping her presence completely hidden from the little guys.

  As she slowly walked, Luna sometimes spared a glance or two at the magic circle and the ruins each time she got the chance. The runes making up the circle were similar to the ones on the pillars and her forearm. Unfortunately for her, the only symbols that made some form of sense to her were the ones specifically dedicated to the god of this temple.

  ‘I’m guessing the pillars are protected by a blessing that still lives on even after the gods died. Fascinating…’ The gods were still the same great mysterious figures. And even more mysterious now that Luna was learning more about them.

  ‘How did they even lose to their servants?’ Luna wondered as she continued crossing and taking in the ruined scenery. ‘The gods are always depicted as the strongest beings in reality. What did their servants use to win against them? Was it a trick of sorts or were they betrayed by one of their own?’

  While she asked herself those questions, Luna stayed on high alert, watching her steps until she reached the end of the ruined coral floor and looked up ahead. The orange beacon no longer seemed as far as she would’ve thought. However, beyond the ruins, the marching pair was met by a field of snow that stretched for more than sixty kilometers and ended at the starting edge of a forest of twisted snow-covered trees that were desperately reaching out to the open sky like thin fingers. Further ahead, the small shadowy mountains could also be seen pointing at the sky.

  There was still some distance between them and the place they were supposed to be heading to.

  “All your friends are heading there.” Storm Rider pointed beyond the mountains, exactly at the orange light ahead. “I can feel their movements, four humans. Two of which are very close to the beacon.”

  “I guess we march forward.” Luna sighed even louder, feeling oddly tired. Usually, she wouldn't be feeling like this but she was still recovering from the damn technique from hours ago.

  “Hehe, that’s the spirit, Lunaris. And while you are at it, we should try figuring out the sword’s abilities.”

  She said while leading the way across the snow-covered field because she was responsible for creating a path through the deep ice—it reached their knees so someone had to make moving much easier for them.

  “I thought I couldn’t use its enchantments?”

  “When did I say you couldn’t?” Storm chuckled.“You’re a smart girl and yet you think at a grounded level. The sword requires Qi. Feed it enough and you will be surprised.”

  "Really? It's that easy?"

  "Hmm...Hmm.." Storm nodded cheerfully. Having an apprentice was a chore she never thought she would enjoy this much.

  Luna rubbed the runes on her arm. She thought about calling for the sword but didn’t after some small thought. Storm had just indirectly revealed that this sword was part of her training because if she failed to control her energy flow, the Sun Ember would drain it all in one go.

  ‘I need to be careful with these god weapons or else I will be dead before I get a peek into its enchantments.’

  At the same time, Storm Rider explained a few things to her. “The Sun Ember is a god-type relic. It's very important to know that god relics are a special kind of relics so the rules governing them are very different from the rules governing the typical relics people of the Mortal Realm collect or make. For starters, god relics tend to have Wills imbued into them. Wills you have to tame to gain access to their powers.”

  “I see. Are there more god relics?”

  “Of course,” Storm responded without toning down on the fireball melting down a path for them. “There are mortals who wield them and some remain undiscovered in the broken parts of the Divine Realm. You see, these powerful relics were scattered during their great war.”

  Luna stayed silent while following behind. This was a critical detail because relics were already rare and powerful in the mortal realm. House Val was known to have the most relics in the New World. These relics were behind the rapid growth of the Central Settlement, which is also known as the most developed region in the world.

  House Feng had three under their protection, one of them being the Ice Rose retrieved from Antarctica three years ago. Luna wasn’t qualified enough to see it but had read about it in the files describing it as a white rose that turned part of the Southern Ocean into a frozen surface for months. It was contained thanks to Flame of Winter’s authority over the domain of Ice and passed on to House Feng since they were the ones who contained it in the first place.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Meanwhile, the remaining two powerful relics were strictly classified because of how powerful they were in general. So, only the Clan leader and Grand Masters had access to this level of information to avoid leaks.

  ‘I wonder if there are houses with god relics. Or are those two relics god relics? Maybe that's why they're classified.’ Luna followed behind Storm Rider. She made a mental note to inform the clan members of this when she returned to the real world after this subjugation. Or at least do more research on this topic when she's out of the Tower.

  ***

  When they reached the forest territory, Storm Rider stopped creating a path and stared into the distance as if scanning the area for life forms. A weak smile found its way to her beautiful face and then she turned to the silent Luna.

  “Survive this place and rely on the sword. This forest is crawling with low-level creatures. Kill as many as possible until the sword reacts and unleashes one of its powers.”

  ‘ So basically a side quest. Great.’ Luna didn't feel particularly enthusiastic about this, but she agreed to it anyway because she needed to grow stronger.

  With a mental command, bright flames were conjured into existence and materialized into the silver jian, its glowing runes fading once fully manifested into reality.

  ‘Let’s do this…

  “Make sure not to get hurt a lot. There’s a degree to how much corruption you can withstand even with life essence coursing through every part of you.”

  "I understand."

  With that, Storm Rider shot off to the sky—scaring the wind and splitting the snow when she launched off of the ground.

  Luna started following the flying Fire Keeper at incredible speed while on the ground—her cloak and hair waving through the wind as she cut through the snow and entered the forested zone.

  She then calmed her breathing, suppressed all the random emotions she felt, and unleashed her battle aura to get the attention of any nearby creatures.

  The first cursed creature that noticed her presence immediately attacked. The wolf creature pounced out of the snow, its large fangs exposed, ready to bite into her flesh. She side-stepped out of the way, dodging its fangs by a hair’s breadth.

  The Sun Ember whooshed, and the wolf creature was now in half. Its blood splattered, painting the white snow black, and its body made a soft thud after hitting the snow.

  “Too sharp.” Luna noticed the clean cut. She hadn’t expected to kill it in one move.

  When she turned away from the dead wolf, Luna was met with a sight of more horrifying creatures that had their eyes fixed on her after she killed one of their own. These creatures were either strong enough to face her or intelligent enough to trick her. However, this current version of Luna was strong and hard to trick. She almost pitied the creatures because they might have had a chance against her if they were in the water.

  But this was solid ground and she was fighting with a sword. She let her intent bleed even more as she attacked the nearest creatures. She jumped, avoiding one of the creature’s wide mouths. It had a humanoid body with an open back and spikes protruding like knives and arms that looked like tentacles. It was a cursed beast but its speed surprised Luna when it appeared in front of her when she landed on one of the larger tree branches.

  It swung one of its tentacle arms but Luna severed it clean with her sword. She flashed forward and thrust her sword through its gut. The Creature froze and growled while trying to push Luna away with its good tentacle. But she only made its pain worse when twisted the sword and drove it through its insides. She didn’t even know where its vital organs were so she did this in hopes that this action would kill it.

  Luna yanked her sword out of its body when its life core faded and pushed it off the tree branch. The other creatures saw this and started to retreat while others began closing in on the tree she was on.

  Luna needed to worry about the ones closing in.

  The first creature to react started climbing up the tree at an incredible speed. Luna jumped from her branch and landed in the snow. The six-legged worm creature also retreated from the tree and rushed to her, its six bug eyes fixed on her, bleeding pure malice. Its pointed insect legs pierced the snow as it closed and tried to close the distance between them since she had landed further away from the actual tree.

  As it ran to her, Luna gathered her energy and put it all in one throw.

  Whoosh!

  The Sun Ember shot like a launched spear and tore through three of the abomination's six legs before pinning itself into the tree behind.

  At the same time, Luna dashed towards the injured beast and threw a power punch that shattered the scaly armor over its face. She threw another and its blue blood splattered over her face. The creature let out a few shrilling cries before her last blow silenced it.

  Once the creature was killed, more creatures rushed out of the darkness, directing their malice toward her. The Sun Ember flew back into her bloody grip and her monster hunt began. She slashed through the weaker ones without relying on her strength and used her techniques to take care of the stronger ones.

  At that moment, she didn’t care about their appearance. Luna just destroyed anything that pounced or tried to bite her. It's like she had gone berserk.

  Boom, Boom, Boom.

  Suddenly, the forest trembled when a series of explosions happened above her. Then, a charred corpse of a birdlike cursed creature fell from the sky and plummeted into the standing trees.

  After that, more explosions followed and the sky was blessed with intense light as Storm Rider let her golden flames destroy everything that tried to attack her.

  As for Luna, a new dumb strong creature had decided to attack her. The creature was about the size of a bus towering over her with long ape arms, white fur, and a dog's face.

  It ignored its fellow beasts and opened its mouth to strike at Luna right away.

  Luna saw the smoke and cursed inwardly as she quickly jumped out of the way before a beam of twisting crimson flames erupted from its maw.

  The snow in the flame’s path melted instantly as they killed the monsters in their path. The trees, however, did not burn after coming in contact with the magic flames.

  Since she was not in the line of fire, Luna seized the opportunity and attacked from its side.

  She was close when the hairy fool caught on to her and reacted by turning its dog face in her direction.

  Her eyes widened when it unleashed a bigger beam of crimson she couldn’t evade. Luna acted fast by squeezing onto the handle of her weapon and channeling Qi into the sword.

  As she did this, Luna focused on the sun god as she let the sword siphon more energy from her. She was growing weak but one of the sword’s runes appeared on the surface.

  Seeing this development, she put the sword forward as if defending herself from another attack.

  And then….something extraordinary happened—the sword suddenly ate up all the flames till nothing was left to harm her.

  Luna gasped, feeling both weak and excited after seeing this. ‘I see. You can do that…’

  “Tsk. And the heavens haven’t called me a genius, yet.”

  When the steam settled, the hairy fool’s eyes widened in shock when it noticed the little human had survived its flames. It stepped back a little, frightened by the discovery.

  A wicked grin beamed on Luna’s face. “What? Surprised to see me?”

  It growled and charged with both force and speed. Luna also lunged at it, aiming for one of its ape arms. Her movement was like a bolt of lighting—instantaneous and lethal. To it, it looked like Luna had just vanished from one place to another.

  And then, when she brandished her weapon, it sliced through both flesh and bone with haunting ease.

  Before the creature could cry in pain, another limb was gone after Luna’s, and her sword danced. Now that she had better control over her strength, even cursed creatures with tough hides weren’t safe from her powerful swings.

  In the next second, the creature’s head came down, its black blood melting the snow it had spilled on.

  Seeing that this one was dead, Luna shot toward another attacking monster and decapitated it with a powerful slash that left an impact in the air.

  After that kill, Luna felt a lot of life essence entering her soul through the sword.

  ‘It's feeding me the essence of the falling creatures.’ Luna stared at the sword in hand. It was humming with energy after absorbing the crimson flames.

  The creatures that saw her take down the cursed soldier started slowly withdrawing when they sensed her battle aura mixed with bloodlust. The ancient sword also played a role in this by piercing the air with its divinity.

  She could’ve stopped now and continued to the forest's end since her objective had been accomplished.

  But…

  Luna was not in that category of people who stopped even after receiving this adrenaline rush. In fact, she belonged to the special category of psychopaths who felt incredible when deep in combat. And because Luna was in this state, she didn’t want the rush to go away. She broke into a mad laughter that cut through the wind.

  If anyone saw her now, they wouldn't believe this was the usually calm Lunaris Feng.

  Once she stopped laughing, she stared at the bleeding carcass for a moment.

  Then to her shocked prey.