Chapter 23 - Aether

Chapter 23: 23 - Aether

[Just as you thought. There’s naturally nothing wrong with the power the system gives you, but the dark qi seems to be the problem, so it can’t be brought to another world. It might be a ’local specialty’ that can only exist in a single world.]

These are only the system’s guesses. After all, it isn’t omniscient enough to know everything.

"If I can’t get to the Arcane Dominion world, then where are we right now?"

Now that he knew the reason, King paid more attention to the space around him. It felt like the dark space of the universe, yet also somehow different.

[This space can be considered a waiting area. Since your teleportation was interrupted, you have to wait here for now. This place still belongs to the space of this world and has nothing to do with the Arcane Dominion world.]

"I get it. So it’s like I’m stuck at customs and can’t get into another country, right?"

King nodded. Since there was nothing particularly special about this place, he didn’t pay much attention to it anymore.

[Understanding it that way isn’t wrong.]

"So what do I need to do now? Am I supposed to just wait here forever?"

This place was way too boring. If it were somewhere a little more interesting, being stuck wouldn’t be a problem, but King couldn’t stand staying in a place like this.

[You have two choices. First, return. Second, let me separate the spiritual power converted from the dark qi so you can continue.]

What was there to choose about this? King temporarily didn’t want to go back and see Iris at all. He had only been gone for a few minutes, yet already returning like this made him feel incredibly embarrassed.

But King didn’t rush to make a choice. Without clearly considering the pros and cons, he shouldn’t choose blindly.

"Explain it more clearly."

[If you lose the dark qi, your level will drop to rank III, 3-star. In my opinion, the other worlds will also reject the dark qi in the future, so you won’t be able to enter the tower to level up quickly. Choosing this path may make it take much longer for you to reach max level.]

"What’s there to think about? The tower is always there, so I can enter it anytime. I’m not an idiot who would reject the chance to explore other worlds just to level up in such a boring way."

As soon as the system finished speaking, King immediately made his choice. To him, becoming stronger wasn’t as important as having an interesting experience.

For someone like him, who already knew he would become invincible before even starting, what meaning was there in leveling up faster? It definitely couldn’t be as interesting as showing off in front of the protagonists of other worlds.

[Alright. Please wait a moment. The process of separating the dark qi won’t take too long.]

Before the system could finish speaking, it had already started. Streams of faint black qi flew out of King’s body and returned to Earth.

[Done.]

The process was so fast that King only felt his power drop as quickly as a roller coaster going downhill.

After no longer having spiritual power coming from the dark qi, he felt weaker but more comfortable. It was quite strange that King was completely immune to corruption yet still had this feeling.

The feeling wasn’t very obvious, so it might have been an illusion or perhaps a sensation caused by the system to make the process less uncomfortable.

King’s immunity was different from Iris’s 100% corruption resistance. When the corruption reached 100% and completely took over Iris’s body, she would still turn into a monster, while King could never turn into a monster.

"So when are we going to..."

Before King could finish his question, he suddenly felt a little dizzy. The scenery around him suddenly changed. The strange atmosphere of a magic world made him frown as he suddenly felt something odd.

All around him were trees, nothing but trees. This seemed to be a forest. Small animals like birds, squirrels, snakes... looked no different from those on Earth.

Just by standing here and looking at the scenery, there was no way to tell that this was a world with some kind of special supernatural power. Only with senses as sharp as King’s could one notice that something about the air was unusual.

"System, I feel like there’s something strange in the air here."

[As expected of my master. You truly are extraordinary. You just set foot in a new world and already discovered the foundation of the power system here.]

[The strange thing you feel is called Aether. It is a special energy that exists everywhere in this world. Humans can passively absorb aether and convert it into mana.]

[Those with a higher talent for absorption will level up faster and break through. After breaking through rank I, they officially become wizards who can use mana to cast spells.]

[But mana can’t be released with your hands and requires the support of something called a wand. Wands look like wooden sticks, but during the process of making one, the blood of a fantastic beast is required. The stronger the blood of the fantastic beast, the more powerful the wand will be.]

[The fantastic beasts in this world can be considered monsters. They just aren’t as crazy as those pitch-black things in the tower and live more like wild animals. They can level up just like wizards. It’s just that their intelligence isn’t as high as humans, so they’re constantly hunted by humans.]

[Their blood can not only be used to make wands, but when properly prepared and combined with other ingredients, it can also be used to create potions.]

[Potions are highly concentrated aether that is extremely violent. Drinking them can make you level up incredibly fast, regardless of whether your talent is high or low. The risk is also very high because without a strong will, you will permanently lose your mind.]

The system kept talking while King kept nodding. This power system didn’t seem as crazy as using dark qi to cultivate. At least here, humans didn’t turn into monsters because of corruption.