A week passed.
Liam hadn’t stopped running, not even slowing down his speed.
He rested in short intervals to recover his mental energy and strength, then resumed using Fleeting Foot to run as fast as possible.
He still felt exposed, since at any given moment, soldiers could appear on his flank and surround him.
Still, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of exhilarating, unbound freedom.
Currently, he was passing through an area called the Hemlock Forest, a lush region with giant, rainbow-colored trees covering the earth.
He had changed his clothes into his usual attire, tight black clothing that clung to his defined muscles.
Liam also made sure not to walk on the ground, avoiding any footprints. He used the tree branches instead.
At the same time, he was careful not to intrude upon magical beast territories, leaving a trail of animal corpses that could lead to him.
Though from time to time, he’d have to use the vampiric nails on a magical beast to get back his strength and energy.
The map he had taken from the assassination’s guild vaguely marked those areas with red, highlighting routes that led towards the different locations around the region.
‘I’ll have to keep a low profile from now on. I’ll be hunted like a dog the second they find out I’m alive.’
He had already prepared beforehand in case an escape presented itself, storing his ring with food and drink, as well as many pairs of covert black clothing.
In truth, Liam was itching to cultivate and train, but he held off those instincts until he was safe enough to do so.
His next destination was obvious – any city near ‘Roson’, Echoria’s capital.
Eventually, he’d have to ask around for cities that he could take the academy test in, but never so early. There was still four months until the academy tests were to begin.
‘Despite running for one week straight, I’m still nowhere near Roson or any other city for that matter.’
Although the Hemlock Forest stretched hundreds and hundreds of kilometers, there were towns and small-sized cities in between. Still, Roson wasn’t anywhere close.
Another week of non-stop running passed.
Finally, Liam decided it was time to rest.
It was still midnight when he found himself a large hollow tree, enough for him to fit in comfortably and cultivate.
He did his usual two hours of cultivation followed by some light mental sphere expansion, then took out Ian, Elsa and Jacobs’ rings, inspecting each one individually.
Besides the filthy amount of ‘Ora’ crystals in them – which Liam stored in a specific ring – he found nourishing pills and potions in them.
Not only that, but various inscribed weapons and powerful spells. There weren’t any that fit Liam’s needs or element, though.
The most valuable spell was the Phoenix Form spell, which was Rank 3 – the same technique that Jacob used during his fight with Liam.
There was also a Rank 3 earth spell and Rank 3 water spell in their rings.
‘I don’t think wealth will be a problem for the time being.’ He thought, before assessing the pills and potions.
Some elixirs had concentrated ‘Ora’, which allowed for high amounts of world essence to enter through the body and nourish it.
Other elixirs had a mix of different colored liquids. When inspecting it, Liam recognized a component similar to the mental energy restoration pill.
‘So it can refill my mental energy?’
Liam smiled.
‘Though, I should find a way to sell the inscribed items. They don’t have any weapons similar to mine… not that I’d use anything Rogan didn’t make.’ 𝙚𝙙𝙤𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝒎
The anticipation to cultivate had never been stronger… but he had to temporarily suppress it.
Liam remembered his teachers back at Ucladd and cracked a slight smile.
‘I hope they are well.’
A moment later, Liam’s gaze turned resolute.
He took out his Zenith ranked technique and put it in front of him, memorizing it completely.
‘It’s time.’
Liam closed his eyes and heaved a focused breath, manipulating the ‘Ora’ around him to enter his body in the technique’s specific way.
Darkness started to seep through his skin, entering through the tips of his fingers and enveloping Liam’s bones.
Slowly, his bones started to corrode and shrink, sending pangs of agony throughout Liam’s body.
Liam scowled in pain but didn’t let his concentration waver, continuing the process.
By the end of it, all of Liam’s bones were pulverized!
With his back against the tree, Liam was completely limp.
He felt his lungs pushing against shrinked splinters of rib, but didn’t dare waver.
A moment later, the corrosive smoke within his body started to fill the gaps where his bones used to be.
An hour passed with Liam in that state, before the smoke started to liquidize then harden, replacing Liam’s regular skeletal system with pure darkness.
Despite being in a tortuous amount of pain a moment ago, Liam’s lips curved upwards to form a tired smile.
‘I can finally start advancing to the fourth rank,’ Liam thought, assessing his body’s new features.
With a thought, ‘Ora’ naturally entered through Liam’s pale skin, slowly entering his bones.
To cultivate the Dark Wraith body, it required you to absorb ‘Ora’ during the nighttime, and through each bone that it pulverized and replaced.
The bones acted as a sort of conduit for world essence, the insides of which could house ‘Ora’ in them.
To advance to the fourth Rank, it required Liam to fill all of them with enough nourishing ‘Ora’.
Liam spent two hours barely filling a bone in his finger with world essence.
‘It doesn’t look like I’m anywhere close to the fourth Rank.’
Soon enough, Liam left his tree cavity – removing all traces of his stay – and began running once again.
Liam would repeat the process, running from midnight to dusk, and cultivating his centers of power in between.
Another week passed, and Liam had ventured deeper into the Hemlock Forest.
The environment around him became much more mountainous in nature, and further along, a vast mountain chain was visible, almost touching the low clouds.