19 Shadow In the Darkness
"Don't... don't come over!!"
The brown-furred kobold had a hint of horror in his eyes, and he turned to run away.
However, he didn't run for long because Lu Yuan directly caught up to him and slashed at his neck, killing him.
Looking at the corpse on the floor, Lu Yuan took a deep breath.
This was his first time killing an intelligent lifeform.
However, he did have experience in killing graystone beetles, so he didn't feel much discomfort.
On the contrary, he felt very happy.
It was the two kobolds' fault for trying to hunt him down previously.
After the two kobolds died, some things slowly appeared in the air.
They were some spirit crystals and gray stone armor shells, things that the two kobolds had gotten on this trip in the Land of Origins.
If they were to leave this place due to death, they wouldn't be able to bring these things out with them. The items would drop out from their battle tattoo space.
Lu Yuan found it a little regretful that the two kobolds' genetic armaments hadn't been gotten on this trip. Otherwise, Lu Yuan would get a big reward.
Even the cheapest genetic armament cost several ten thousand dollars.
Although Lu Yuan felt a little disappointed, he quickly collected himself together.
He then picked up the spirit crystals and gray stone armor shells dropped by the two kobolds and counted them.
There were 45 spirit crystals, the same as the number of gray stone armor shells.
This was more than what he had gotten after hunting graystone beetles for one day.
Lu Yuan put these things away.
Lu Yuan was in a good mood from getting this unexpected reward.
…
When Lu Yuan was taking stock of his gains, the elf leader and his three other party members who were hiding in the distance sank into silence.
"Gulp..."
The kobold, who was called Yellow, looked at the two corpses who were of the same race as him and couldn't help but gulp.
"L...Leader, are we going to attack?"
The elf leader's lips twitched and he wasn't able to hold back, slapping Yellow on the head.
"Attack your head! If you want to die, you can go!"
Yellow held onto his head and quickly shook it.
"No, no no no, I don't want to die."
The human guy looked in Lu Yuan's direction, his eyes filled with astonishment.
"Is this person really a newbie? Are all newbies these days so fierce?!"
The tall and skinny elf looked at the human guy and said.
"Both of you are humans, but the difference is really great."
The lips of the human guy twitched and he argued, "This guy must be from a big clan! Otherwise, how can he be so strong? He must have engraved and recorded an extraordinary gene, one that is very strong. It might even be an elite-grade one. I'm just an ordinary person. How can I compete with him?"
"Isn't it a talent that one can engrave and record elite-grade genes at the probational tier? Even if you were given one, you wouldn't be able to engrave and record it."
The tall and skinny elf's lips twitched.
"And you can?"
"..."
The tall and skinny elf stopped talking.
"Alright! Stop squabbling! Let's hurry up and leave! This guy is probably done putting away the stuff. If we still don't leave and get discovered, we might be in danger."
Hearing the elf leader's words, the other three instantly returned to their senses and secretly left, to somewhere far away from where Lu Yuan was.
…
After killing the two kobolds, Lu Yuan continued hunting graystone beetles while absorbing spirit crystals concurrently.
After engraving and recording an extraordinary gene, the rate at which Lu Yuan was absorbing spirit crystals had become faster.
He was almost able to absorb one in one breath.
The spirit crystals contributed by the two kobolds were all absorbed by Lu Yuan in just a moment.
This made Lu Yuan discover a problem.
After he had engraved and recorded an elite-grade gene, the spirit energy used to refine the genetic chain had increased by a lot.
If it was in the past, his refinement progress might have reached 10% with so many spirit crystals.
However, his progress was only at 3% now.
This meant that if Lu Yuan wanted to refine the genetic chain to perfection, he'd need more spirit energy and the number of graystone beetles he had to hunt would be more as well.
Thankfully, the difficulty to hunt graystone beetles was very low now.
Moreover, given his current capabilities, he could head to other areas to hunt other ferocious beasts and obtain even more spirit crystals.
This time around, he probably didn't have that much time left, so he wasn't going to run around. He was going to leave that for the next time.
Just as Lu Yuan was thinking about things, he felt the abnormality in his consciousness.
The door of light once again appeared amidst the white mist.
Lu Yuan felt an attracting force coming from the door of light, which wanted to suck him in.
Moreover, the attracting force was getting increasingly stronger.
A hint of understanding flashed in Lu Yuan's eyes. The 24 hours were almost up.
Lu Yuan had gotten a lot of things on this trip, so he didn't resist the attracting force.
His consciousness entered the door of light and was blurred for an instant.
When Lu Yuan returned to his senses, he was already back in his simple and rundown room.
After that, he looked out of the window. It was dark outside and neon lights continued to flash in the far distance.
Lu Yuan took out his phone and checked the time.
It was 9 p.m. when he entered the Land of Origins, but it was 11 p.m. now.
Two hours had passed.
The flow of time in the Land of Origins and reality was different. This was written in the posts as well.
After ascertaining the time, he stopped thinking much about things.
Lu Yuan then clenched his fists, sensing the seething powers in his body.
The powers he had gained from engraving and recording an extraordinary gene in the Land of Origins also came along with him.
His lips curled up, breaking into a hint of a smile.
This first step wasn't bad. Although there had been some dangers, his foundation had been set up and he had fought quite well.
To sum things up, he had taken flight.
At this moment, Lu Yuan went to the bathroom and took a shower. He then sat cross-legged on his bed and started to use the guiding technique to cultivate.
Having finished absorbing the spirit crystals, he could only cultivate the guiding technique now.
To his surprise, Lu Yuan discovered that after engraving and recording a gene, the rate at which he absorbed spirit qi also became a lot faster.
Of course, it couldn't compare with using spirit crystals.
However, anything was better than nothing.
He had nothing else to do anyway, so working hard in his cultivation wouldn't go wrong.
…
Time flowed and it was past midnight now. It had become a lot darker outside.
In a corner of Lu Yuan's room, a black shadow slowly appeared.
It was a strange and twisted shadow.
After this shadow appeared in the darkness, it slowly got closer toward Lu Yuan.
Quietly, without a trace.
When the shadow got close to Lu Yuan, it went along his chest and slowly extended into his body.
Lu Yuan, who was cultivating, suddenly sensed a coldness throughout his entire body. He felt a disgusting feeling and his chest felt stuffy.
He then shook abruptly and all the spirit energy in his body seethed crazily. His Blackiron Body was activated.
Many deep blackiron rune patterns appeared on the surface of his body, extending out from his neck to both sides of his face. At this moment, two blackiron marks manifested on his cheeks.
As the Blackiron Body circulated, his physical and defensive ability surged tremendously. As a result, the shadow screamed and was pushed out of Lu Yuan's body.
Lu Yuan opened his eyes and watched as the eerie shadow twisted around and dissipated in the darkness. His pupils contracted and his scalp turned numb.
(What the f*ck?!)
(What the f*ck is this thing?!)
After the final piercing screech, the shadow turned into black smoke and disappeared.
Lu Yuan still didn't let down his guard. He got up and switched on the lights, assessing his room.
Everything in this simple, rundown, and narrow room was normal. It was as if that eerie shadow from earlier had never appeared.
"What is that?!"
Lu Yuan sat down on the bed. His brows furrowed tightly and he was still in a state of shock.
(If it wasn't because of the Blackiron Body I had just obtained, I might not have been able to break free from that thing. Then wouldn't it be over for me?! Hold on...)
Lu Yuan's body shook and he opened his eyes wide.
"I think I encountered that disgusting feeling and stuffy chest somewhere before?"
Lu Yuan tried to recall and suddenly thought of something.
When he had just transmigrated, the last memory of the original body was that he had died after feeling a stuffy chest!
That feeling was very similar to what he had just felt.
Lu Yuan's scalp turned numb.
(This f*cking...)
(It couldn't have been caused by that thing, could it?!)
Lu Yuan had found it strange as to why the original owner of this body had died a sudden death despite having quite a healthy body.
Turned out that it was due to this thing?!
The original owner of this body was just an ordinary person. How did he get involved with such an eerie thing?!
Lu Yuan was a little confused.
He then thought of something.
Mutation incident!
Could it be the mutation incident that the original owner of this body had encountered in the past?!
So many years had passed, but to think that the mutation incident suddenly appeared on him again?!
Lu Yuan furrowed his brows tightly, feeling a little nervous.
Although that black shadow had turned into black smoke and dissipated, Lu Yuan felt that it had probably not died.
It'd probably appear again in the future.
His mood felt a little heavy.
If Lu Yuan had some understanding of this thing, he could think of ways and solutions.
However, the problem was that he knew nothing about that eerie black shadow.
Unknown things tended to be what horrified people the most.
The only consolation for Lu Yuan was that his Blackiron Body's defense was very powerful and could fend off that black shadow's attacks.
Hence, the only thing he could do was to continue to get stronger and refine his genetic chain. The stronger he could refine his genetic chain, the stronger his Blackiron Body would become. By then, he would be safer too.
Lu Yuan took in a deep breath and calmed down his heart. He then sat down on his bed cross-legged and started to cultivate again.
However, this time around, Lu Yuan didn't switch off the lights.
That damned thing had really frightened him, and he felt a little apprehensive about switching off the lights.
It resembled the feeling he felt when he saw the black-clothed man from Detective Conan.
It was a trauma!
(F*ck!)
Thankfully, he had some money and didn't care for this little bit of electricity fees.
Lu Yuan finally found a bit of consolation.
