Aiden dashed over the rough, rotten ground, rushing from below the dark trees while avoiding the lashes from the branches. Sometimes he cast Mana Fire to avoid the attacks, and sometimes he just moved with the timing. By the time he passed a few dark trees, he had left the two irritating girls in dust. If they thought he would give up just because they were domineering then they were wrong. He gave no hoot about those fucking bitches.

  After running for few more dozen feet, he put a dark tree to sleep and climbed it to sit on the branch before retrieving a skin of water and drinking the cold water. Cold water hardly eased his pounding heart. Sitting there, he accessed the system logs.

  System: You can choose one skill from below.

  Qi Attack

  Grade: Low Tier Bronze Grade

  Rarity: Common

  "The first step on the path of power, where inner strength becomes outer force."

  Qi is the foundation of all cultivation, and learning to project it outwardly is the beginning of true martial prowess. This fundamental technique allows the cultivator to channel their inner energy into a focused strike.

  100% chance to deal 100 damage to targets of equal or lower cultivation level.

  25% chance to deal 100 damage to targets one level higher in cultivation.

  Cost: 50 qi/100 Mana per strike

  Holy Weapon Summon

  Grade: Mid Tier Bronze Grade

  Rarity: Uncommon

  "To call upon the divine is to wield the light against the encroaching darkness."

  The ability to manifest holy weapons is a gift bestowed upon those who walk the righteous path. This technique allows the cultivator to bring forth a weapon of pure, sacred energy to aid them in their battles against evil.

  100% chance to summon a basic holy weapon (sword, spear, bow, etc.) for 1 minute.

  5% chance to summon a unique holy weapon with enhanced properties.

  Summoned weapons deal additional damage to dark creatures and cultivators.

  Damage: 200 (Basic holy weapon). 800 (Unique holy weapon).

  Cost: 100 qi/200 Mana per summon.

  Aiden sighed, a sigh full of conflicting emotions. Two skills. Each one was good in its own way, but he could only choose one. That was a bummer.

  Aiden grumbled under his breath, frustrated that the skill restricted him to selecting a single option when he craved both. It seemed so unfair, but he knew his protests would fall on deaf ears.

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  The first skill deal less damage, but the qi consumption was less and he could sustain it for longer time. The second skill required more mana and qi, but it had the 5% chance to summon a very powerful weapon which could mean a KO at a critical time.

  Who didn't love a KO?

  "Holy Summon." Aiden picked the second skill. With his big mana regen, he should be fine using it multiple times in a fight.

  A cryptic information flew into his mind, enlightening him with a complex pattern of the skill. This skill was odd. It actually summoned weapons from somewhere else. When he learned a skill, he also received generic information and helpful things which weren't written in the skill description.

  A small group of dark cultivators attracted his attention. A couple of trees away, a group of three dark cultivators were sneaking through the trees, and surprisingly the trees couldn't detect them. A dark shadow surrounded them and it seemed to be the reason for their sneaking, however the same shadow had exposed them to Aiden. Thanks to his Dark Detection activation.

  It was time to test his new skill.

  Sneering, Aiden leaped down the tree when the group of three people neared his tree.

  The abrupt descent startled the three, with the short female in their midst nearly losing her composure, her almond-shaped eyes blinking furiously. She grabbed the giant dark cultivator's hand and pulled him back.

  "Holy Weapon Summon."

  Mana rushed out of his mana core and a shiny dagger appeared above Aiden's head. Aiden felt a strong connection with the weapon and it reacted to his wish. He willed and the dagger whistled through the air, aiming for the short girl's head.

  "You dare." The giant man of the group raised his arm and a shield appeared in front of the short girl.

  System: Dark Shield detected. Do you want to deconstruct it?

  "You want to play with me?" Aiden sneered and used another Holy Summon Weapon and this time a hammer appeared which he targeted at the third person, old man.

  "Holy Summon Weapon." An arrow appeared, which he directed toward the giant man.

  Three weapons shot through the air, targeting the three enemies.

  "You're playing with fire," the giant man shouted, and two more shields appeared in front of him and the old man.

  The holy weapons collided with the shield, dealing only a fraction of the damage it should have. The dark shield was powerful. Aiden couldn't just look down on these players, and each one he faced had one or more powerful skill.

  Aiden felt a knot of strain in his mana core, having expended it rapidly in casting the skill multiple times. Of course, he could switch to qi, but with his 20% open Stomach Meridian he couldn't even exert 20% of the efficiency of the attack with mana. This was also the place where a poor aptitude become an issue.

  Mana drain would be a big issue. Yet, despite the drain, he couldn't resist the urge to test its limits further.

  However, he wanted to test it more.

  "Holy Weapon Summon."

  The world around him roared, and a giant sword appeared above him. An impressive aura spread out of it and it filled his heart with impeccable energy as if he was an undefeated champion and could win any battle.

  It was a unique weapon.

  Finally.

  With his will, the sword descended like a meteor, the air crackled, the earth quaked. Three dark cultivator's eyes spanned wide, their bodies quivering.

  "Dark shit." The girl cried out and retrieved a clock that snuggled around her like a rubber suit.

  Om!

  The sword cracked through the giant man's shield and cleaved his upper body in half. 700 damage popped above his head, but he wasn't dead yet. Blood was spurting out of his wounds, and he was trying to say something with his broken lips.

  "Holy Summon Weapon." A dagger appeared which shot into the giant man's heart killing him instantly.

  "Corpse Bloom." Aiden collected the charge, bringing it to 5 charges, but it rapidly reduced his mana pool. He couldn't continue targetting others without getting into trouble, so he turned and rushed away from the dark cultivators.

  "Wait you, bastard." The old man retrieved a bow and donned an arrow, but the dark trees around him moved and attacked him. With the giant man gone, their shadow cover was gone and they couldn't move unhindered.

  The old man attacked the incoming branch with his arrow and then turned away before running like a rat.

  The girl remained at her place, the rubber like cloak covered her. The branch attacking him thrashed her but it couldn't deal any damage to her and after a while it lost its jagged ages and it stopped attacking.

  By this time Aiden had reached another dark tree and sat on the sleeping batch watching the girl in amusement. Once more the people who had came here surprised him. Whatever cloak she had used was very useful, but it wasn't a skill so he couldn't get it.

  Sitting on the branch, Aiden paused to access the system logs. After considering the Dark Shield deconstruction, he decided against it, knowing his Void Shield provided sufficient protection for now.

  Sitting on the tree, he gazed around waiting for the next prey to get caught in his spider web. This dark forest was his domain, and these people were his preys.