Ryuk looked at his hands and then proceeded to move just one finger.
’Well, assuming I can only move this finger of both my arms, then it’s quite truly infuriating...’ he thought to himself as he turned to look at Antares.
"And how do you plan on getting a new set of weapons?" he asked.
"Forging. And I’m the only one that can do it, since I’ll have to inscribe my race’s own runic lines on the gauntlets and axe, and also have to inscribe my will unto them."
"It won’t take much time, but I will need an excellent forging area and quite a few materials, which I think I have enough of—but I need a good forge," he said, as a thought appeared in Ryuk’s head.
"A good forge, huh?"
"You know, I work with an organization that recruits powerful experts to help close Interdimensional gates. And these experts love buying these powerful artifacts—weapons, armors, ingrained with special ability effects."
"I’m thinking all of those weapons can’t be rewards from closing gates, right?"
"So, there has to be a blacksmithing organization that ships down all these weapons to my organization, and where experts can then buy them."
"If you get to link up with this organization, I’m sure you should be able to find quite a decent forge room," Ryuk voiced out to him.
The Adventurer’s Guild sells weapons and artifacts, although Ryuk had never gone to buy one. He didn’t think he needed it, as his claws were usually enough to close up the gates.
But if Antares needed to craft a weapon, then he could simply find a way to link him up with whichever organization was shipping those artifacts to the Adventurer’s Guild.
"That would be perfect."
"Fine then. You follow me to a place after this, and I may get to introduce you to whoever is the head of that annex."
"Now please, don’t interrupt my cultivation," he said before he crossed his legs, his eyes closing as he settled his breath before he began reviewing the information in his head.
Antares no longer interrupted him, as a hopeful look flashed in his eyes before he disappeared, sitting down on a random platform by the far side, and closing his eyes—seemingly going into a cultivation of his own.
___
’It’s simple.’
’With the already created Nodes in my body, I only need to keep attracting Void energy into them and spinning those vortexes to gather up Void Energy and then send them to the created Void veins, making them thicker and bigger.’
’Once they’re hardened to the max, I should be able to break through to the Plane of Dominion,’ Ryuk thought, inhaling a deep breath as he rose to his feet, getting into the same Roaring Beast stance.
Then, he inhaled deeply as a burst of Vodi energy quickly gathered around him and began entering his system.
Just like the last time, it was as painful as hell, but this time, Ryuk was more than a bit used to the pain, and he was able to resist it silently—albeit with blood dripping down from his body soon enough.
But that was easy to ignore, and he continued.
____
30 hours later...
[Time’s Up!]
The system notification flashed before Ryuk’s gaze, blinking so brightly he was pulled out of his daze.
The broken concentration resulted in the Void energy drifting off him, and Ryuk collapsed on all fours.
BLEEERRGGGH
A wave of dark, nauseous blood poured out of his mouth, as Ryuk narrowed his eyes at them, looking at the bizarre colour of the blood.
But he shrugged it off as he rose to his feet.
His bones were screaming in pain, as he felt a blazing feeling of energy overfilling every inch of his body, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle.
"Done?" the voice came from the side, none other than Antares, who currently had his eyebrows furrowed at Ryuk’s figure.
The young man was from head to toe covered in blood, and it wasn’t red blood. It was pitch black, radiating a dark aura of the Void.
"Whatever technique you’re using, Ryuk... I think it’s too strong for you. Cultivation isn’t a death sentence like you make it seem," Antares voiced out, concerned, but Ryuk waved him off.
"I’m fine!"
"And time’s up. We better get going..." he completed as a vortex opened before him, revealing a grassy outside world. H
e stepped out, followed by Antares, the void rift closing behind them.
But the instant he stepped out, Antares’ jaw dropped to the ground.
"Holy Fickoly!" he said out loud as he looked at the mega-building before him and watched Ryuk walking towards the gate.
"You?"
"You... live here!?"
"Yes."
"Wow, this is quite big. The design is out of this world, too. I mean, only those pompous Nimora Kings like their homes to be like this."
"You didn’t tell me you were a spoiled young master from a stinking rich family," Antares said, as Ryuk laughed out—only to wheeze in pain when he felt the burn in his throat.
The Void Asura Grimoire required his mouth to be opened up to allow Void energy to come in through his throat, and Ryuk had it open for 30 hours straight, leaving it bruised and injured.
"I wish that were true..." he said, entering the house as a Void vortex materialized before him. Antares looked up and found Ryuk disappearing and reappearing among the steps upward.
"I’ll be back soon..." he said before quickly fading away once more, leaving behind droplets of dark blood that made Antares’ eyes furrow.
"He’s essentially killing himself for more power. Why would he do that?" He muttered under his breath.
The first time he had met Ryuk, he had to face him in battle, and the devil knows that the kid had almost died in his hands.
If not for that ultimate technique of his, he would have killed Ryuk back then, or like he planned_ gravely injured him to the point of making him immobile and using him to quench his loneliness until he was bored with him.
The point was that Ryuk should never have come into that ruin for a person of his power level or age.
It was suicidal.
And now, he was using a technique that drained him of blood with every second.
Antares had sat down and watched Ryuk for those 30 hours, watching him remain in pain with the seeping blood, yet biting his lips and continuing...
He was killing himself just to cultivate. Essentially killing himself to grow stronger—and that’s what he could never understand.
For one so young, stronger than his age, especially in a wild world too, and possessing this big of a house to house his soul.
What more could he want from life, to kill himself just to grow stronger?
More money? More power?
"How interesting."