It took two hours and the rest of the battle ended. All the beasts, including the two Incarnation spiders, were killed and except for the golden beast, who appeared a lackluster, as its healing capabilities were now fading.
The wounds on its body began to accumulate, and it shrieks were getting more desperate, yet the light of madness in its eyes was blooming brighter.
The two-Second Circle Dominators became more serious and encircled it in a barrage of green bolts, and the battle entered a heated phase.
It finally lost its Incarnation after another hour of battle, and it was easily finished off by the second circle Dominator who flew down and used a sharp blade to cut it into pieces while it let out weak screams that resembled a human.
The death of the golden beast signified the end of the battle, and a loud cheer rang out in the battlefield as a part of the army set upon the beasts and began harvesting body parts and burning the remnants of their dead.
The Incarnation Dominators set upon the corpse of the golden beast and began collecting its bones and organs into special jars while the two-second circle Dominators retreated to a floating tent a bit farther away from the battle site, with happiness in their features.
Rowan took his time to analyze the battle, and this led him to the inevitable truth about how Dominators battle.
The first thing he noticed was their minimalistic approach to battle, he suspected that the second circle Dominators was from a major family as they both appeared young and distinguished, and they surely had powerful weapons and abilities, but they used a single technique to strike and another to defend until the end of the battle.
Without piercing through their glamour, it would be impossible to know which family they came from, since they did not use any bloodline techniques, and the mercenaries below were not wearing a family crest.
After the battle, he saw another section of the army he failed to notice which were scouts. They had been patrolling outside the range of the fight, and were lookouts against any incoming enemy.
Everything he saw from this battle, from the Armor worn by the Legendary Dominators to their formations used to maximize their efficiency and reduce casualties. To, the delaying tactics used by both the Incarnation Dominators and Second Circle Dominators all spoke to him of one thing.
They all fought with efficiency because of their limited resources.
They had no access to Empyrean bloodlines, and their techniques were weak, no matter how well practiced they got at it.
They got tired, took injuries, and could not generate an endless amount of energy to offset whatever they lost in battle.
So they made battle a matter of profit and loss. Every action they were taking was to maximize the number of damage they could inflict while doing it with the least amount of resources as possible.
It did not take long for Rowan to understand that this path was not for him, and although there were valuable lessons to be learned from them. Imitating them would be adding a crutch to his own abilities, stifling his potential and causing his Empyrean blood to rebel.
The other thing he noticed was their application of Aether and the powers of their techniques. If not for how weak the effects were from their attacks he would have disregarded it, yet all the attacks from the Legendary Dominators were at the Refined Level.
Their movements were sharp and precise and their abilities spoke of an edge that no mortal technique could touch.
It was a fine line that separated a Mortal technique to a Refined one, yet that fine line elevated the utility of every ability that crossed it.
The abilities wielded by those of the Rift and Incarnation States were at higher rank than he could recognize for now. Yet, it must not be that much higher, as the time he was watching the battle, he had almost gleaned certain information from their application of Aether, and he did not even need to check to know that some of his Abilities had increased in level just from watching thousands of Dominators battle.
Although Rowan thought the techniques these dominators utilized should be higher because he could tell from the soul fluctuations from the men and women below that no-one here was less than fifty years old, with those at the Rift State and higher easily breaking the century mark.
The only explanation for such low levels of their technique should be because it was not only time that could influence the growth of a technique, but the power levels of the Dominator as well.
What was the realm above Refined level? Maybe in a week’s time he would know after he upgraded the Berserker technique.
Also, their application of Aether by the Rift State Dominator and upward was lackluster because they constantly had to call upon the Aether present in the surroundings for their use.
The Aether concentration in a Minor World was weak, and if he had to put a number to it, it was ten times weaker than what was present on Trion. It was not only the amount of Aether that was low, but also the quality. It was like comparing fine wine to brackish water.
Rowan may have failed to mention this, that he really had no need to pull Aether from his surroundings, as his Mental Space produced more than enough Aether for him, so it did not really matter which World he found himself, his own Aether was more than sufficient for his needs.
Yet, every other beings that he saw was not subject to the same rule, and they were influenced by the surroundings they found themselves. 𝘦𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘦.𝗇t
So in the case of this Minor World, whatever techniques that were used by the creatures here would be ten times weaker than when it was used on Trion, except for the Second Circle Dominators who had access to mystical abilities beyond the usage of Aether.
Also, if they were constantly pulling on Aether to battle, then it meant that the ability of their Mental Space to produce and store Aether was far weaker than his own, so whatever Aether inside the Mental Space was stored for emergency.
Rowan had clearly noticed that as the fight had proceeded, the Surrounding Aether was beginning to rapidly diminish, and although new Aether were flowing in to replace the loss, it was not fast enough to offset the expenditure.
His presence over the battlefield had brought to him all the souls stained in battle, and as always, the souls of Dominators had a special… texture to it. Different from beasts and Abominations. It almost seemed to carry its own characteristics, and they were all unique.
Rowan thought it might be because of their intelligence, and also of note was that every Dominator souls he had consumes after they had died for an extended span of time lost this trait and became indistinguishable from the rest.
Rowan sent his Serpents forward after seeing nothing of interest. He did not even consider killing the Dominators below, it would serve no purpose for he now had a steady stream of Soul points.
The other pillar of consciousness he had stayed inside his Mental Space, and had just finished going through every inch of the Palace of Ice, and his focus especially was the female figure who stood at the front of his throne.
He had begun attempting to communicate with her to no avail, but he saw noticeable improvements in her physique as it was now more compact and less hazy around the edges.
This figure was linked to his bloodline and the growth of it was clearly enhancing it, if she continued getting more compact, then Rowan was sure she would soon gain flesh.
Her eyes were deep slabs of darkness that merged with the rest of her features, and he could not tell if they were opened or closed, but as surely as a ghostly hand running down your spine at night, he could tell that she was watching him.