”Stay here” Noticing the hard time they were having, Michael decided not to take them with him into the chamber.
”I’m not gonna argue” Gaya agreed with him and so did Elidyr with a nod,
When Michael entered the chamber, he saw the black flames dancing above a pillar made of marble. Like the flames had sensed him, they leaned in his direction.
Michael slowly reached out for the flames as they advanced toward him.
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[Extreme level of radiation detected!]
The system went crazy in his head. He ignored all the red warning poppings that were blocking his sight. As he was getting closer to the black flames, the warnings and the shoutings of the system vanished.
[Does the host wish to absorb the Dark flames?]
The system asked when he was just a few inches away from the flames.
”Yes”
Michael touched the flames and the moment the flame and his fingers met, a wave of energy surged over him wave after wave. The flames seeped through his hand into his very being. He felt like he was being struck by thousands of lightning bolts simultaneously. But instead of pain, it was a feeling of comfort.
[Absorbing the Dark Flame…]
[Activating the Energy devourer…]
[Experience points converted 50,000]
[Experience points converted 100,000]
[Experience points converted 70,000]
…
The energy devourer continued to transform the excess energy into experience points. Micheal thought it would stop in a few minutes but on the contrary, it lasted until he began to level up rapidly.
[Congratulations to the host for leveling up. The current level is Core For Strengthening stage Level 7!]
[Congratulations to the host for leveling up. The current level is Core For Strengthening stage Level 8!]
[Congratulations to the host for leveling up. The current level is Core For Strengthening stage Level 9!]
His excitement was going through the roof. He bottled his excitement when he reached Core Strengthening stage Level 9 as he thought his leveling up would stop there.
[Congratulations to the host for reaching the next stage, the Soul Refining stage!]
”Oh my god, he’s breaking through” Gaya sensed the violent energy fluctuations in the surroundings.
The Celestial energy descended from the realm of angels creating ripples in the night sky. The last time Michael witnessed the Celestial energy descending was when he traveled to the Rainbow island where Layla’s disciples prevented Christopher from reaching the Soul Refining stage.
The system regulated the Celestial energy through Energy devourer. Hence, the jumping from the Core Strengthening stage to the Soul Refining stage was so much smoother than the rest of the cultivators in the world.
His skin turned darker and darker to the point he looked downright black except for his crimson red eyes. But soon, the red fire in his eyes was too invaded by the dark flames and transformed from red to black.
[Congratulations to the host for leveling up. The current level is Soul Refining stage Level 1!]
[Congratulations to the host for leveling up. The current level is Soul Refining stage Level 2!]
The leveling up spree finally stopped at Soul Refining stage level 2. The Dark flames now completely merged themselves with Michael’s soul, strengthening every fiber in his body.
[The Dark Flame absorption is completed]
[All of the host’s spells and skills has strengthened by the Dark Flames]
[The host is now immune to all the attacks under the Soul Refining stage except attacks powered by another Primordial flame]
[The host’s mastery over the Darkness element is increased by 5%]
[The host’s mastery over the Fire element is increased by 5%]
[Potions and pills made using Dark Flames will have 94% purity ]
[The spell Responsive shield has merged with Dark Flames and transformed into Dark Shield ]
[The spell Ignitia has merged with Dark Flames and transformed into Dark Ignitia]
[The spell Wind Blast has merged with Dark Flames and transformed into Dark Blast]
[The spell Ring of Fire has merged with Dark Flames and transformed into Ring of Dark Fire]
All these spells were powered up by the dark flames and became much more powerful. All these changes transformed him from a mortal cultivator to a god like existence. Anyone under the Soul Refining stage would have no chance of defeating him even if they used Legendary spells. He could kill them with a single spell in his normal form and if he was in his full Lucifer form, it would only take him a punch to destroy his foes.
Moreover, in his complete Lucifer form, he could defeat anyone in the Soul Refining stage and had the chance to defeat cultivators under Fusion Stage level 3.
The Dark Flames was one of the power seeds of darkness. Every time he obtains a seed of darkness, his power would grow exponentially. No one in this world knew the existence of these power seeds and just like the seeds of darkness, there existed the seeds of light.
In the race to get the seeds, Noah already obtained Heaven’s flames. By absorbing the Dark Flames, Michael now equalized odds. However, compared to Noah, Michael was on the next level in terms of power because Michael obtained the Primordial flames of his source power; Darkness. Noah on the other hand absorbed Heaven’s flame, not the Light flame. Hence, he didn’t go through the change as Michael did.
”This feels good,” Michael grinned as he conjured the dark flames. The majestic dark flames danced over his palms. Then in a blink of an eye, the flames turned emerald green. He could now change the flames to his will.
”Human”
Just as he was about to see what else he could do now, Gaya called him.
He walked out of the chamber only to see the skeletons as well as the dead bodies reanimating again.
In a couple of minutes, hundreds of skeleton soldiers and almost twenty mountain trolls stood in front of them. The dungeon expanded in size to accommodate all the trolls and the skeletons.
Gaya could crush the skeletons no problem but the trolls were the real threat. Even with her cultivation, if the trolls managed to get their hands on her before she cast spells, she was as good as dead.
Edlidyr felt the same except he had no Core Strengthening stage cultivation. If he were to fight the army of skeletons in front of him, even with his runes, he could survive the dungeon for a few minutes top.
Due to the army of skeletons and trolls in front of her, Gaya had no time to be stunned by his breakthrough into the Soul Refining Stage.
The sight of hundreds of skeletons and trolls didn’t scare him the slightest. On the contrary, it put a grin on his face.
”Stay back”
Michael said calmly before walking towards the skeletons and the trolls. Immediately the skeletons standing in front rushed at him waving the rusty swords in their hands.
”Dark Blast”
Gaya witnessed a dark crescent wave shoot out of him, blasting the skeletons to pieces. Everything the dark wave touched burned to oblivion. With a single spell, Michael decimated at least thirty skeleton soldiers and he didn’t even use his full power.
”Lightning Dash” in a flash, he dashed to the center of the army.
”Ring of Dark Fire”
Before the skeletons and trolls could react, he cast another spell. A circle of dark flames shot out of him scorching everything around him in a five-meter radius. It didn’t stop at that as the ring continued to send towering waves of dark flames. The flames burnt the trolls to ash like dried sticks.
Unfortunately, these skeletons and trolls had no arch energy in them. Otherwise, he would have earned enough experience points to level up yet again.
Still, Michael wasn’t disappointed. They proved to be good dummies to test his evolved spells. The display of his power left Elidyr in a daze. Each of his spells had the power to rival the most powerful Legendary Spells. They were not as fancy as some but deadlier than most.
In a few minutes, he had burnt almost two hundred skeletons and twenty trolls. The most powerful spell in his arsenal turned out to be Ignitia. Merged with Dark flames, the golden lightning bolts turned into bolts of black lightning. Each bolt blasted through the skeletons and burst open the trolls’ heads into red mist as though they were melons.
Half of the army had been reduced to ashes. At this point, Gaya wasn’t even surprised by his power.
”Now time for my full form” Michael willed the system to equip his Lucifer armor, activate Cloud of Darkness as well as Eyes of darkness which flared up in black due to the Dark flames instead of crimson red.
The dungeon fell dark all of a sudden. The remaining skeletons and the trolls rushed at him mindlessly. They had no strategy or fear as they were just animated corpses that had a single purpose, killing the intruders.
”Death Range”
The dungeon became darker as Elidyr noticed a black circle expand from him, wrapping everything in its path.
”Ring of Dark Fire”
This time when he cast the spell, the dungeon trembled. The ring of dark flames was more violent like surging tsunami waves. Elidyr and Gaya heard unearthly vibrations as well as sensed the energy pulsating in the dungeon.
Boom!
One single wave, only one single wave. Every skeleton and troll was reduced to nothingness. Not even ashes remained after the dark flames brushed past them.
”This is my true power” Michael mumbled under his breath. Even he was startled by his own power. Thinking that he only used 20% of his power and didn’t enhance the spell further with Celestial energy made him feel sorry for his enemies.
”Ghosty is scary” Nightmare’s eyes went wide open. In the corner of his little heart, a sliver of fear emerged just like Elidyr.