[Dark Flame is being created 1%]
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[Dark Flame successfully created]
Damian looked at the message before him and smiled. Damian and Arthur had spent an hour wandering in the same dark cave and hadn't found any exit yet. Aside from an exit, they hadn't found any light except Damian's flames. Frankly, Arthur, thanks to his eyes, didn't need Damian's flame, but Damian couldn't see in the dark like Arthur, so he kept the Fire Flame active. Damian turned his gaze back to the Dark Flame that was dancing on his hand as if it was pleased with its environment. Then Damian said, "Lead me to the nearest light source, little one."
Ever since he created the Vitality Flame, Damian felt a small consciousness within the flame, and he saw the same in the Fire Flame. After wandering in this dark cave and finding nothing but darkness, Damian decided to try his luck, and it worked. The Dark Flame danced on Damian's hand, then began to move, still on Damian's hand, towards the west, or west of Damian more accurately. The duo immediately started moving west. The flame then moved east after ten minutes of walking and began taking turns left and right periodically until the duo saw what they had been waiting for. They finally found a distant light source ahead of them. The duo then began running towards it until they exited the cave.
Immediately upon exiting the cave, they stopped. What lay before them was a vast forest whose end they couldn't see. But what caught their attention was something resembling a distant building; they couldn't see it clearly, but they were sure it was a building. The other thing that caught their attention was that they seemed to be on a small mountain, as they could see the forest below them.
"Well, I didn't expect this," Arthur said, his eyes scanning the scenery before him.
"What exactly were you expecting? A beach with chairs, umbrellas, and a man selling ice cream?" Damian retorted, a sarcastic smile on his face.
"Well, when you put it like that, I prefer what you said to what I'm seeing now," Arthur sighed and continued, "Besides, we need to look for food. The food we had in our bag has run out," Arthur said, placing his hand on his stomach.
"SCREEEEECH!" The duo heard a sound, looked at its source, and saw a car-sized bird rushing towards them. The duo dodged the bird's beak. Arthur then inscribed in the air, creating a Fire Arrow rune, and directed it at the bird, while Damian created a Dark Flame and a Fire Flame and merged them, then fired a ball of Dark Fire at the bird.
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!" The bird shrieked in pain, having been hit by a fire arrow and a merged flame ball of Fire Flame and Dark Flame. Although the Fire Arrow rune caused the bird pain, the Dark Fire flame was far more excruciating. Dark Flame alone caused the erosion of the user's life energy and power, and merged with Fire Flame, it caused unbearable pain. Immediately, Damian unsheathed his katana and launched himself towards the bird's neck, slashing at it. Damian's strike was clean, but it didn't completely sever the bird's neck, so the bird was still alive. However, Damian wasn't worried, as in the next second, the bird's head was pierced by Arthur's spear.
"Hmm, what were you saying again? Oh yes, food, here it is in front of you," Damian said, looking at Arthur.
"Well, I really prefer chicken over meat. Unfortunately, we don't have spices, oil, or cooking ingredients, but there's no time to complain," Arthur said with a sigh. The duo immediately got to work. They extracted the bird's core, then dissected the bird, separating the feathers from the skin. Damian then used Fire Flame to cook.
Half an hour later, the duo finished eating, and Damian stored the rest of the bird's body.
"I think that building is our destination," Arthur said to Damian.
"Maybe. We don't know how many monsters are in our way, which are the strongest, or what cultivation stage they're in. But yes, let's assume this is our destination." As for the bird the duo killed, it was at the Intermediate stage. As for the crystal the duo extracted, Damian cultivated with it after Arthur insisted, which made him reach Level 7 of the Novice stage. The duo wasn't worried about their cultivation, as in this place, they had much to explore and a decent number of monsters to kill.
"Let's go."
And so, the duo began their journey into the Black Pit.
Damian and Arthur descended the small mountain they were on and began their journey into the forest. The trees here were incredibly tall, with even the shortest reaching 10 meters. Alongside the trees, massive rocks were scattered occasionally. The duo continued their trek through the forest, and as time passed, they encountered numerous monsters, including groups of apes, packs of wolves, and even a bear the size of a small truck. Naturally, with these encounters, Arthur managed to break through to Level 7 of the Novice stage.
Their journey paused as night fell. The duo climbed a 20-meter tall tree and settled on one of its branches. Just like in the cave, Damian slept first while Arthur guarded, then they would switch roles. While Damian was asleep, Arthur decided to use his Rune Library skill. He knew they hadn't faced any serious danger yet because they were still on the outer edges of the forest, but as they ventured deeper, things would undoubtedly become much more challenging.