The extraction technique wasn’t just a technique that one clan knew in the Demonic Faction; it was actually a technique that was known among the top clans in the faction, and it was due to this technique that the faction’s name had somewhat come from.
It was a trade secret among the top clans, and yet here Dame was giving it away with ease. That was all because he couldn’t say no to having one of Dark Magus’ items. The Qi pills he had made were a game-changer for any clan.
However, the items that he would enchant, that the others had yet to get their hands on, were like owning an entire gold mine. If Raze was willing to make him an item of the same quality or higher, he would happily teach him any of the Demonic Faction secrets.
In a way, Raze liked this about Dame because his loyalty was by his own values, rather than what a group of people told him to do.
“I’ve already extracted the energy out of this beast, so we can’t tell you if it will work or not, but I can teach you the feeling of it,” Dame explained. “You already know how to cultivate using the circle of life and death, so it should help you with this as well.
“The same feeling as when one is cultivating needs to be used, but the energy from within when cultivating, rather than going to your dantian, needs to head to the palm of your hand instead.
“When you have this feeling ready, you touch the object which you wish to use the extraction technique on, and this is where things get a bit difficult. The cultivation technique you need to use needs to be directed to what you are touching.
“You are using the same cultivation technique but drawing the energy from what’s on your palm. Then you draw that into your dantian, and that is the extraction technique.”
Raze was listening carefully, and he was also imagining the movements in his head. He could cultivate with the life and death technique quite well. Placing it into his palm, it actually seemed like it would be no problem at all.
‘I wonder if I can adjust the technique, if the energy has a certain trait like these beasts with the ice attribute, I should be able to attract the energy into my core, thus increasing my affinity with certain magic, right?’ Raze thought.
That wasn’t the only thought in his head, though, because thinking about this technique and flowing the energy through his hand, he had another idea.
“Based on what you’re saying, wouldn’t this technique also be used on the living?” Raze asked.
faded as he gazed off into the distance, as if he was thinking about something. “The Demonic Faction is called demonic because of what you just said.
“You catch on quick,” Dame said, as he managed to perform a half-smile, but it quickly faded as he gazed off into the distance, as if he was thinking about something. “The Demonic Faction is called demonic because of what you just said.
“This technique is honestly useless in the hands of most to be used in battle. Think about it, you would have to hold onto your opponent and stay in contact with them. Do you think they aren’t going to fight back?”
“Honestly as well, most can’t use the technique well enough to draw out a large amount of energy so fast. However, that is not true for all. There are those that can use it very well. Those that have done in the past, draw out the energy for others like you say, but taking a life all for the sake of growing stronger, that’s what brought on the name of the Demonic Faction.
“The Light Faction, who train diligently, like martial arts in some way is to get into the heavens above. While the Dark Faction train to fight in a way that they believe winning is the only thing that matters. As for the Demonic Faction, getting stronger off the lives of others, well, it doesn’t sit too well, does it? If you want my advice, even if you end up being extremely skillful at using the Extraction Technique, don’t use it on humans, don’t become a demon.”
The words from Dame had hit Raze more than he would know. Although Raze wouldn’t willingly take lives unless he couldn’t afford not to, he had already killed others for the sake of his goal. Even the way he had gotten here. Many would have already called him a demon.
Since they needed to find a new beast, the two of them continued to head down the mountain. Just like before, they could see something rumbling through the snow. Raze gave Dame a look as to tell him not to do anything.
Just like last time, Raze continued to use wind strikes with his sword one after the other. The condition of increasing the affinity with Wind magic was to use spells more and more. Making it the quickest to grow but also the hardest to max out at the same time. It was tough as well because being a 2-star mage also meant Raze didn’t have a lot of Mana.
‘I really need to gather a lot more normal power stones so I can make normal Mana pills. Because the uncommon mana pill is only good for emergency situations,’ Raze thought.
With it, Raze had decided to test out one more thing. He had tested out his strength of the sword technique with his magic, now he wanted to test out his Dark Pulse.
Jumping back, it looked like the snake beast was heavily injured. It opened its mouth, letting out the light blue substance. As it went right towards Raze, he had timed the second descending step perfectly, so he would avoid the attack darting forward through the snow. He then threw his hand out at the same time.
“Dark Pulse!” Raze shouted.
When thrusting out his hand, he had used Qi to throw out his fist. The step to the punch had done the same as it would have done with the sword. It increased the power of his magic as well.
The pulse released from the Dark Pulse was nearly twice as large as that which came out from his hand, and it shot out like a solid beam going right through the beast’s head. A large hole around the size of a thick tree branch had been made, and the beast fell to the side dead.
As soon as the beast had died, the strange mist went into Raze. Thankfully, with the ring, he also got part of his Mana back as well. When his body absorbed the energy, he also could feel his Dark Core getting stronger.
[Dark attribute: 31 >>> 32] [Wind attribute: 16 >>> 18]
‘My magic powers are already increasing from this; it was a good idea to come here after all.’
Raze went ahead to the body, in order to retrieve the crystal. As he did, Dame couldn’t help but watch Raze. He was looking at what he had done carefully just now.
‘That attack, he’s mixing his martial arts with his magic, isn’t he? If I’m not wrong. I think his magic is getting stronger with those techniques. That attack from before that he just performed. It would have been enough to kill the Level 2 beast in one hit. So why did he bother to use all those small attacks from before?’
The world of magic was interesting to Dame, but he knew the Dark Magus wouldn’t teach him; it was his trump card after all. For now, he would just have to make do with the items he had obtained.
After receiving the crystal, it was time for Raze to get to work. Dame had jumped from his position, landing in the snow now not too far from Raze. He could see him closing his eyes and focusing to see how he was getting on.
To his surprise, or not to his surprise now, he seemed to be using the technique well. Dame could see the veins showing on the palm of his hand. They were bulging as it looked like energy was entering into him.
For Raze, it was incredibly easy; it was just as Dame had explained, and he was thankful for the clear explanation. Now, though, he just needed to redirect the energy to his core. He had moved it successfully, and when it finally entered his core, Raze was more than delighted. Finally, all of the energy was absorbed, and he let go with his hand, only after a couple of seconds.
‘The energy, it worked, because the beast had the ice attribute, I could feel the ice affinity getting stronger!’
Raze now could decide to either absorb the level 2 crystals and continue increasing his ice affinity, or he could use it to create more items, and for now, he had decided to keep it for the latter.
‘With each beast I kill, I gain affinity with Wind Magic for using the spells, Dark Magic for killing the beast, and now Ice Magic for using the extraction technique as well, and I can even use the stones.’
This reminded Raze of the old times when he would have to constantly hunt in the dimensions to increase his growth. It took him years to eventually become a 9-star mage, but with the additional help of him being a Pagna warrior, he was growing at a much faster rate.
“Let’s continue the hunt,” Raze said. “I’m going to come back stronger than before. If they thought the Dark Magus was something they had to worry about, they have no idea.”
—-
Up the slope around the halfway point of the large mountain where the portal was placed, it was flickering slightly. After a few flickers more, a group of people bunched up together, four in total, had jumped right through, landing in the snow.
Gunther immediately got up, looking at the site around him, and the three students lifted their heads, covered in snow.
“Are we really here?” Simyon said. “Did we really go to another dimension?”