Chapter 1231 A Name
After Ning pulled the completely intact Shadow Essence Crystal, Clara could only be shocked and nothing else.
She had seen a lot of things happen today, and this shouldn't surprise her at all, and yet it did. This was something simply impossible to be found and yet he did.
"How did you know there was a Shadow Essence crystal here?" Clara asked.
Ning shrugged. "I just did," he said. A moment later the massive crystal vanished.
"Where did it go?" Clara asked urgently.
"Stop worrying, it went to my storage," Ning said, sighing a bit before walking outside.
Ning created some rocks inside the giant cave as he walked out, covering the entire cave with something so that the hollowness did not collapse the entire mountain.
Once he walked out, he was about to take the two girls away when he paused. He looked at the beast in front of them that had still remained there.
"What's wrong?" Ning asked before realizing what he had done. "Ah, yeah that. Sorry. I suppose I ruined your house didn't I?"
The puma said nothing, simply staring at them with her mouth closed. Ning had no idea what she wanted and was about to try and apologize. He would try to find a replacement for her.
But, the puma spoke first.
"Who are you?" she asked, plain and simple.
"We're travelers," Emma said. "Not from this world but from another. I believe my father came here to get some Shadow Crystal to try and help his friend, and I got interested in taking you as my beast friend, if I could."
"I can see that you are instead with children and I would doubt you would want to stay anywhere dangerous, let alone come with strangers like us. I'm sorry we ruined your home too, we'll try to find you another."
She turned around to look at her father who nodded. He asked the system to look for good places where they could drop off this beast without any problems.
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If not that, he wanted to see if there was any way to help them right here.
"If I come with you," the puma spoke. "Would it be a mistake?"
Ning paused and looked at the beast. "You want to come with us?" he asked.
The puma nodded. "Where will I be going if I went with you?" she asked.
"Same place I said before," Emma answered. "I will take you all over the world to see things that you haven't seen before."
"And you can guarantee that my two children will never get hurt?" the puma asked.
"If they do, I can heal them," Emma said. "I am capable of many things that no one in this world is capable of. More than that, my father here is capable of almost anything. You can trust us."
Emma could use more than just words to make the puma trust her, but she didn't want to use anything else. She wanted her sincerity to be seen through her words.
Emma truly wanted these beasts to be her friend. She knew that she couldn't take any of them with her to her world, as they didn't have a long lifespan in the grand scheme of things.
But she still wished to get a beast on her journey, just like her father said he did on his first journey outside of Earth.
The puma thought for a bit and looked at the cave that could no longer be their home anymore. And all alone, she had no idea how she could raise two children when she had no Shadow Essence anymore.
"Alright, I will come with you," she said. "I hope… you won't go back on your words."
"I promise!" Emma said before quickly jumping onto the puma and hugging her firmly.
The puma was not used to these sorts of gestures and felt uncomfortable. However, when the petting started, the puma didn't mind it so much.
"Aww, look at these two fluffballs," Emma said, rubbing her face against the two cubs that were hiding under their mother.
The two cubs started crying out loud because of Emma. "Alright, alright, go back to your mother," she said, placing them on top of the puma. "They don't know me yet, so they're angry. They'll learn to like me soon enough."
The puma said nothing regarding that. "May I know how to address you three?" she asked.
"I'm Emma," Emma said.
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"You can call me Ning," Ning replied.
Clara simply looked around in confusion as all this time, all she could think of was why the two humans were talking normally to the puma, and why the puma was even bothering to talk back.
Could they actually understand it? When they started introducing themselves, Clara didn't even realize that she had to do it.
"This is Clara," Ning said. "But she won't be around for long."
"You guys were actually talking to the beast?" she asked.
"Of course," Ning said. "What did you think we were doing?"
"I don't know… I don't know anything about you two," she said. "I thought you were just speaking one-sidedly."
Ning chuckled. "No," he said.
"Oh yeah, you don't have a name, do you?" Emma said. "Let's see. You do need a name."
"A name?" the puma looked surprised and almost expectant.
"What should we call her?" Emma turned around to ask.
Clara shrugged. "I don't really know," she said. She barely even understood what exactly was going on.
"How about Shadow? Or Black?" Ning suggested.
Emma glared at him. "You stay out of it. You have zero naming sense," she said.
"But—"
"No, I'm not going to name a Shadow Puma, Shadow," she said. "I'm also not going to name her a color like you did with Uncle Blue."
"OH! How about Umbra?"
"Umbra?" Ning thought for a moment and nodded. "That's not a bad name."
"Right?" Emma said excitedly.
"Umbra…" the Shadow Puma said with a hint of fascination at her own name.
Emma rubbed her head. "I hope we'll be friends for a long time, Umbra."
Chapter 1232 A Different Tour
"What about the little kids?" Ning asked. "What do we name them?"
"Uhh…" Emma thought for a bit, but couldn't come up with anything. "We'll think of something later, or we can get Umbra to handle it herself."
"Okay," Ning said. "That works too."
He asked the system to find more of the crystals and quickly determined the next location he was supposed to go to.
"Alright, let's leave. There are more crystals that I want to get," he said and reached for his daughter's arm.
Emma, however, pulled her arm away at the last second. "We're going to find more of these? Isn't that a very tedious task?" she asked.
"It is, but we have to do it," Ning said. "It's necessary. I told you."
"But I don't wanna!" she said grumpily. "Why do I have to go around for a chore? Just go by yourself."
"Are you sure?" Ning said. "I will really go by myself."
"Yes, go," Emma said, not falling for the bluff. "I really don't want to come along."
Ning sighed. "Where will you go then? You don't even know where you are," he said.
"It's fine," Emma said. "I'll stay here with Umbra and the few little ones. Maybe Clara wants to stay with me as well."
"Huh?" Ning quickly turned to Clara. "You don't want to come with me?"
"Uhh…" Clara hesitated. She did want to go, but it seemed like they had to deal with the family stuff before coming to ask her.
"Actually, why don't you go by yourself?" Emma asked. "We'll meet you after you're done."
Ning frowned. "And what will you be doing all taht time?" he asked.
Emma shrugged. "I have an idea," She said. "Hand over the ship. We'll go on a tour while you go on a tour of your own."
Ning hesitated a bit and then sighed. "Fine, here you go," he said, bringing out a massive space ship that remained floating in the air.
"Great!" Emma said excitedly. "Come on you guys. Let's go."
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She flew up to the spaceship that had its hatch just open up. She entered it and waited for Clara and Umbra to follow her.
Clara looked at Ning, waiting for his opinion before doing anything, and Ning simply shrugged. "Go, I'll handle the rest of the matter myself," he said.
Clara finally nodded and jumped up to the Spaceship, throwing strands of shadows to grab onto the open hatch before crawling up it.
Umbra used a shadow step technique that allowed her to teleport directly onto the spaceship through its shadow, along with her two cubs.
"Let me know when you're done," Emma said. "I'll take them around the world for now."
"Alright, take care," Ning said. "I'll come to you once I'm done."
He didn't have to worry about what would happen to Emma at all. Not only was she the strongest human on the planet, she also had enough energy to fight against, or at least push back against even constellations that might come after her.
Also, she had taken the Spaceship around Earth many times in the past, so she knew how to use it.
Ning teleported away, leaving Emma to handle the rest.
"Come to the bridge," she said, walking to the front, letting the two others follow behind her.
She held the two cubs in her arm who snuggled in her embrace and were trying to sleep properly. She couldn't help but poke their nose given how cute the both of them were.
"What is this thing?" Clara asked, looking at the metal hull of the ship. She walked through brilliantly glowing lights that weren't coming from Light Essence at all.
"What are these things?" she tried touching the bulbs and was surprised that it was actual material instead of just light.
"Does this world not have electricity?" Emma asked. "Or any form of power to keep the lights going?"
"We have Light Essence," Clara said.
"Oh… huh?" Emma said curiously and turned around. She reached the bridge and sat on the very front seat.
"You can sit there," she told Clara. "And you can sit there."
Clara sat on a silver seat and was surprised when something grabbed onto her from all sides. She was about to scream, but then she realized it was just some straps.
The seat for Umbra had changed on its town to accomodate her. As for her children, Emma grabbed them on a tight hold.
"It will just be for a minute. We can get out after that," Emma said.
"What exactly are we doing?" Clara asked, looking around. "I can't tell."
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"Oh!" Emma turned around with a grin. "We're going to outer space."
Clara paused for a second. "I'm sorry where?" she asked.
"The Outer space," Emma said.
Clara looked confused. "The outer space?" she asked.
"Yeah," Emma said. "Do you… not know what that is?"
"I… don't know," Clara said. "Is this like Space Essence?"
"Hmm, you'll find out soon enough then," Emma said. "Umbra, are you alright?"
"I think I'm fine," the puma answered.
"Great! Let us start," Emma said and pressed a bunch of buttons on the console before a voice spoke above her. 𝕟𝗼ν𝑒𝘭𝔟ì𝓃.𝔫𝑒𝑡
"Strengthening outer hall."
"Initiating Space Drive."
"Space Drive not available."
"Space Jump not available."
"Initiating Light Emission."
"Checking all systems."
"All systems except Space Drive are functional."
"ZSS-Unity III is ready to leave."
"Buckle up guys," Emma said. "We're leaving."
Suddenly, they felt a force on their body, pushing them back as the whole ship started flying straight to the distance.
A beast flew up from far away, but before it even reached the ship, it accelerated once more and turned toward the sky.
Clara was confused as the whole ship started tilting and flying higher and higher toward the sun.
She closed her eyes in fear for a few seconds while the whole ship vibrated. Then, when the vibration disappeared, she opened her eyes and looked out in shock.
"It's night!" she exclaimed.
Emma chuckled. "It's not night," she said. "We're just in space."
Chapter 1233 A Quick Tour of Astoria
Emma undid the straps and walked up to the windows from where she saw the millions of stars in the sky, shining brightly while they hid in the shadow of the earth.
"It's… beautiful," Emma couldn't help but say.
"This looks amazing," Clara said. "Can we go out and check?"
"Go out?" Emma turned around. "You will die out here. There is no air for you to breathe. I would try on my own, but I can't do it with you."
"There's no air here?" Clara asked with a weird look on her face. "Why would there be no air here?"
"Because this is space," Emma answered. "All the air is gathered on the planet down there thanks to gravity. You know what gravity is right?"
Clara nodded slowly. She looked out of the window of the ship she was in now that they had entered a stable orbit around the planet.
They were moving along the same direction of the planet's rotation, and as a result, the scenery down below was moving at an incredibly slow speed.
"This… is the world we live in?" Clara couldn't help but ask. Umbra was similarly surprised as well.
"Yes," Emma answered. "Do you guys have maps? You might even recognize the continents."
"Uhh… that right there," Clara pointed to a cluster of islands that could be seen even so far up from here. "That must be the Sunken Lands."
"Ooh, that's the continent that was ripped apart to make Papa's sword," Emma said.
"What?" Clara looked at Emma with a curious look.
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"Yeah," Emma said. "You know the sword my father has? The really strong one? It was made from a continent that used to be there. A really strong god-like figure destroyed it to make the sword."
"Where did I come from?" Umbra asked curiously.
"Uhh, you came from…" Emma had to search around for a bit. "If I remember correctly, the Springwind continent must be directly opposite to the sunken lands, so it must be that one there."
She pointed to a continent that was exactly in the opposite direction of the Sunken Lands.
"How big is that place?" Umbra asked.
"Hey ship, can we zoom in on that continent there?" Emma asked.
"Certainly!" the ship's AI spoke in a language that neither Clara nor Umbra understood. Then an interactive image appeared, showing the continent.
Emma quickly zoomed in, showing the continent on a larger image as soon forests and cities became apparent. She quickly zoomed into a single city from the ship and showed it to the two.
"This is one of the larger cities as you saw. I don't know where this is, but just the fact that there are thousands and thousands of cities should tell you a lot."
"How… how big is this continent?" Umbra couldn't help but ask.
"If you wanna know the size of the continent, just compare it to the place you came from," Emma said and quickly switched to an image of a place forever covered in clouds.
"This is the region where the beasts live," Emma explained. "As my father mentioned, it's hundred and hundreds of kilometers long, large enough to be considered the size of a decently big country."
"And yet…"
Emma zoomed out slowly at the region that was covered in clouds and continued doing so. The three continued watching as the region with the clouds became merely a small portion of the entire continent."
"I… I didn't know the continents were so… large," Clara said. "I definitely knew they were large but… not this large. Seeing it all at once is so surreal."
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"I never even imagined anything could be this large," Umbra mentioned.
"Hehe, we have yet to see the other two continents," Emma said and went around to show the two the Blueflame continent and the Glacien continent.
"There's so much water in between the two continents," Clara noted. "No wonder they don't come from this side."
She then looked at the Galcien continent and saw a small mountain range on the bottom left region, which was her homeland.
"That's the Whiteowl region," she said. "Where I was born. How long will it take to go down there?"
"A minute?" Emma said.
Clara gave a dry chuckle as she couldn't believe it at all. Had she really gone from one continent to the other in such a short period of time?
"I wonder if we can ever progress to reach what you have in our lifetime," Clara said. "To go from one continent to another in a matter of minutes— no, seconds."
"Well, you guys need to first start with a steam engine and maybe go from there," Emma said. "I won't lie though. It is very highly unlikely that your world will ever develop to reach the same level as this one."
"Discovery and invention come out of necessities," Emma said. "You are forced to learn to rub sticks to make fire when you suffer from the cold eternally. If you can just move your hand and create fire, you will never know that rubbing two sticks together can create fire."
"Similarly, you guys have no need to create artificial light, as you can easily capture natural light and keep it working throughout the years," Emma said. "Unless something happens that completely changes the world, forcing it to stop depending on Essence, I doubt you will ever manage to reach anywhere in your lifetime."
"I… see," Clara said. Those were some harsh words to hear, but she understood what Emma meant.
They went around the world for a while longer, looking at the continents multiple time, noting the important locations.
"I think we've seen it all," Clara said. "Can we go back now?" 𝑛օνℯ𝑙𝔟Ꭵ𝓃.𝐧ℯ𝑡
"See it all?" Emma chuckled. "We haven't seen it all yet."
Clara and Umbra were a little confused. "What else is there to see?" Clara asked.
Emma waited for a second and pointed in the distance.
Clara turned to where she had pointed and narrowed her eyes to see. "Is that…"
"Our next destination," Emma said. "The moon."
Chapter 1234 Back From The Dead
Ning went through many countries, many lands, many seas, and ocean floors, all in his search to find what he wanted.
He found as many Essence crystals as he could that weren't being used by anyone and took them all with him. By the time he was done with it, nearly 2 hours had already passed.
"Did I overdo it?" he wondered given how much he took away. "It'll be fine."
When he was done, he decided to leave.
He teleported away, arriving back in the spaceship.
"Aah!" Clara shouted the moment he appeared. "How did you get here?"
"I teleported," Ning said. "Where are we?"
He looked out of the window and saw that they were flying around a few hundred meters above the ocean.
"Nowhere, just roaming the ocean," Emma said. "I'm showing them around."
"Ok," Ning said and looked toward Clara. "Are you ready to leave? It is mid day for the people in Blackhawk Dominion now.'
"Oh… we're leaving now?" Clara asked.
"Do you not want to?" Ning asked.
"No, I want to," Clara said and stood up from her seat. She turned toward Emma and the Shadow Puma, and then outside.
"I never thought in my life that I would ever get to see something so incredible, and I'm not sure if I will ever get to see something like this again. Thank you very much for what you did for me," she said.
Ning smiled. "It's alright," he said. "You did a lot for me that you didn't have to as well."
"Bye Clara," Emma turned around to wave at her. "I hope we meet in the future before we leave."
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"Farewell," Clara said.
"I'll see you guys later," Ning said and teleported away with Clara.
They arrived back in the Whiteowl region, on the very pillar that Ning had created. The height gave Clara a moment of dizziness before she calmed down.
"Why did you bring us up here?" she asked.
"I wanted to see how things were going on before heading down there," Ning said. "You did kill their Emperor."
"Right," Clara said while moving toward the edge of the giant pill. Dark threads flew out of her body, attaching herself to the pillar. She looked down at the city and was surprised how big it looked from here.
She would've expected for everything to look smaller.
She looked toward the new arena that was created and searched for any humans there. There wasn't even a single corpse remaining there.
Not even Ning's corpse was there.
"They must have taken it away," she said.
"It's their Emperor's body. I doubt they would leave it for everyone to see," Ning said.
"What about yours?" Clara asked.
Ning spent a second asking the system the question and was surprised. "Oh… they're going to hold a funeral for me," he said.
"For your dead body?" Clara asked.
"Yeah, the academy is all there," Ning said. "That won't do. I can't let those poor guys go on thinking I'm dead."
His body transformed to look like the one that he had been using until yesterday. It shifted to become the young him, except without any Essence in him.
"Let's go," Ning said, and jumped.
He hurled through the sky like a meteor, landing on the ground with a large bang that shook the entire arena, leaving the rest of the place in a bunch of cracks.
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He looked up to find Clara, but she was already next to him. "You got down here fast," he said.
"I can travel through the shadow with my technique," she said.
"Ah, right," Ning said. "Anyway, let's go."
He quickly got out of the arena and followed the direction given to him by the system to go find the location where his body was being burned.
The funeral was already halfway complete, and people were already leaving. The only ones that remained there were those that cared even the tiniest bit about him.
Ning walked up close and saw the sad look on everyone's faces. "Uhh… hey guys," he said slowly. "I'm sorry you thought I was dead."
Heads turned immediately as they all stared at Ning with confused looks on their faces. "Wh-what?" Kaleb spoke up first. "Y-you! How are you— what's going on??"
His reaction got everyone's attention and the people around him turned to look at the source of the commotion. When they saw Ning standing there, they momentarily paused.
Then, a giant humanoid Earth Essence Soul with parts of tiger in it. "Who are you?" the headmaster's deep voice seemed cold like never before. He had never been this angry in his life.
Ning sighed. "I am Ning, the same person whose corpse you are burning," he said. "This is a different body of mine, which I can change on will. That was one killed, so I took a different one."
"What?" the headmaster shouted. "Lies!"
"Storage ring, crystal, and a Skill book. Those were the three rewards that you gave me the night before during the dinner. Does that prove it?" Ning asked.
The headmaster wavered. "No, you—"
He wasn't sure what to say. Ning had been correct in what he had received, but… whose body had they burned then?
"This is Ning," Clara explained. "I can confirm that for you."
"Who are you?" the headmaster looked at her.
Clara paused for a second when posed the question and took a deep breath. "Clara Grazer," she said. "The rightful ruler of the Whiteowl Region."
Several people gasped when they heard that. Kaleb and Yorsha especially the most surprised as they knew about the Grazers.
"You are…" the Headmaster paused, thinking about something.
"I am also the one that killed the Emperor," Clara said. Suddenly, a spider appeared out of her back, turning into a giant Essence soul that was bigger than the Headmaster's own Essence soul.
"S-Stellar Harmony!" the headmaster shouted in surprise.
"Now, can we move on with things?" Ning said. "I truly am Ning, and I have come here to say my goodbyes."
Chapter 1235 Farewells
Once they believed who Ning was, they started asking obvious questions as to how he was alive and who it was that actually died.
"You don't need to know much," Ning said. "Just know that we two are the same person."
"What happened to your Essence rank then? Why can I not sense you?" Kaleb asked.
"I don't have any," Ning said. "My Essence rank and soul died with that body."
The group turned around to look behind them at the pyre that still burned. "How is any of this possible?" the headmaster asked.
"There are a lot of things in this universe that is possible," Ning said. "You just aren't aware of them yet."
He looked around. "I see that a few people are missing here," Ning said. "Where is Tenn? And the Prince and Princess?"
"Tenn is at another funeral," Kaleb answered. "His uncle died."
"Ah, right," Ning said. "I forgot I killed him."
The group looked around in surprise. "You killed Saburn Foreman?" the headmaster asked.
"Yeah," Ning said. "Why are you guys surprised? Did you not know?"
"We have no idea what happened in there last evening. All we know if that there was some conflicts and a few people died, including the Emperor and Saburn, and of course, you."
"I see," Ning said. "They must've wanted to keep the news of how the Emperor died from going out. Well, I won't tell you if thats their wish then. But yeah, I killed Saburn."
The headmaster couldn't help but look at them with wide eyes. One killed the unofficial ruler of the Whiteowl region, and the other Emperor of the entire dominion.
"Well, anyway I am here to say goodbye," Ning said. "I don't have a lot of time to wait around, so let us make this quick."
"You're leaving?" the headmaster asked. "Where to?"
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"Another Continent," Ning said. "Well, I'll spend 10 or so years in the ocean most likely, but after that I will go to the next continent."
Everyone looked at him weirdly, including Clara who knew what they were capable of.
"For farewell, I have something prepared for you guys here," Ning said and brought out a few spatial artifacts before handing them to the people around him.
"Sorry I couldn't make it for everyone," Ning said. "Yorsha, Kaleb, use what is inside properly. It will take you to great heights. Headmaster, use those to improve the academy. With those, the Blackhawk Academy should never lose in any competitions."
The headmaster was curious to see what was inside, but he didn't want to look at it right here.
"Anyway, this is it from me," he said. "I don't know when the next time will be that we will meed, but I hope you will all be alive by then. Goodbye."
Ning left without even turning back. He had been hoping to see their reactions to the massive Essence crystals and the various techniques and skills he had given the, but since they seemed to want privacy for that, he had to leave.
"Where are we going next?" Clara asked.
"You don't have to follow me, you know?" Ning asked.
"Where?" Clara asked.
Ning smiled and held out his hand. "The Foreman family," he said. Clara took his hands and they teleported away.
The arrived outside the Foreman house and quickly located where the funeral was taking place. He walked in through the gate where he guards told him to stop, but Ning didn't bother with them.
He walked in, the commotion of the guards following behind him for a bit before they were silenced. Clara knocked them out before they could do anything.
Still, the commotion caught the people's attention and soon a group quickly came to see what was happening.
One of them was a very angry looking Nalen whose eyes went wide when he came too close to him.
"You!" he shouted. "How are you alive?"
"Greetings," Ning said. "And condolences."
"Answer me! You are supposed to be dead!" Nalen shouted.
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"Brother Ning?" Tenn arrived with a shocked look on his face.
"Tenn!" Ning's face brightened. "How's it going?"
"How…"
"Long story short, you guys were wrong to believe that I died," Ning said. "Is that enough?"
Tenn shook his head. That could never be enough at all.
More and more people gathered, many of whom recognized Ning just because hew as the 3rd place holder in yesterday's competition.
Right behind the Prince and Princess, he was the greatest of the current younger generation. Except… they couldn't sense his Essence anymore.
"Well, I came here for 3 things anyway," Ning said. "First to say goodbye to Tenn. Ill be leaving this place in a while, going to another continent."
"What?" Tenn couldn't help but ask in confusion.
Ning smiled and teleoprted the ring into Tenn's pocket and spoke directly into his mind as to what exactly he should do when he was alone.
Tenn was surprised, but he didn't react.
"Well that's the first thing," Ning said. "Second thing, I want you all to know, in case you didn't, that it was me that killed your family leader."
"What?"
"What do you mean?"
"Are you telling the truth?"
They all started questioning Ning, who simply shrugged. "I told you the truth. He tried to kill me inside the stadium, so I killed him instead. Honestly, I have no idea what his plan really was. He wasn't going to get my sword in the first place."
"Bastard!" Nalen shouted, two scythe like arms appearing from either side of his body. "I will kill you."
The scythe grew in size and easily covered the distance between the two.
Clara was about to help him, but Ning stopped her. Instead, he let the Essence soul's attack land on him.
The soul struck as hard as it cold, and yet… it didn't even scratch the clothes on Ning's body.
"Is that enough?" Ning asked before flicking away the scythe that was on his shoulders. Nalen went flying nearly 20 meters away and Ning spoke again.
"Now, for the final thing, let me introduce you all to your next Ruler," Ning said, pointing to Clara. "Clara Grazer."
Chapter 1236 Leave
Hearing Clara's name, especially her surname Grazer, the various people that knew about her family instantly had their face agape in surprised.
They couldn't believe that they were looking at someone from the Grazer family. The ones that knew about the assassination attempts were ever more so surprised to see that the person they were supposed to have found and killed was actually a woman and not a man.
Ning stepped to the side, letting Clara take the focus of everyone there.
"How do we know that you are from the Grazer family," one of them asked quickly.
"Yeah! Do you think we will accept your words just beca—"
A thick spike made out of shadow appeared right next to man from the shadow beneath him. It went right past his ears, leaving a dreadful sensation behind that had she intended for it, he would have died.
"Shadow Essence," one person said.
Hearing him, the others realized as well. The Grazer family's signature Essence was the Shadow Essence and with the Essence crystal cave that was in their family house completely mined, there was no one else in this country that could have that Essence.
"Had you left me alone, you would've gotten what you wanted," she said. "But you got greedy, you went out of your way to bring your "Your family head tried to kill me," Clara said. "Sending assassins my way, even going so far as to kill the people I worked with."
"And I'm sure that it wasn't just his decision. There were many of you who egged him on with this decision, wanting to make your family the official ruler of this region."
"Had you left me alone, you would've gotten what you wanted," she said. "But you got greedy, you went out of your way to bring your own destruction. Now you have brought me back, and I will be the ruler of this place as it is my right."
"I will let you live for now, but within the next 3 years, I need everyone with a Foreman family name to leave this city and go elsewhere. If you don't, I will come after you all," Clara said. "And you do not want me coming after you."
"I killed the Emperor with my own hands; you guys will be easier to deal with than him."
Her words caused a stir that sent the members of the Foreman family in disarray. Not only had they lost their leader, were they going to lose their family home too?
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"We refuse!" someone shouted. "There is no way we believe you."
"Then come," Clara said. "Let's duel it out and see if you believe me or not."
The man stepped back in fear. He wasn't the strongest amongst them, so there was no way he was going to do anything of that sort.
"I will fight you," someone said. A muscular man with a strong Essence realm came up to Clara.
"Good," Clara said and smirked. The black spider appeared behind her, towering over every single person in the area. The spider looked down with its 8 glaring eyes, instilling fear into anyone who looked at its eyes.
The man who had stepped forward looked at the spider and then at the lack of its humanoid features. Then, he sensed the Essence. He couldn't.
"Stellar… Harmony…" the man said slowly as his body started shaking out of fear. He stuttered as he spoke again. "N-n- No way!"
"Are we fighting or not?" Clara asked.
The man violently shook his head and moved back through the crowd, even going so far as to run away from the place.
Clara took away her Essence soul and looked at the group. "Anyone else?" she asked.
No one had a single thing they wanted to contend against. As they understood, the reign of Foreman in the Whiteowl region had come to an end before it even got a chance to be official.
The people dispersed out of fear leaving only Tenn who too feared Clara.
"Don't worry," Ning said. "She won't do anything to you guys."
Tenn said nothing. "Did… did you really kill our family leader?" he asked.
Ning nodded. "I did," he said. "He tried to kill me."
"I…" Tenn didn't know what to say. "Please… please leave."
Ning was a little surprised to hear Tenn say that, but when he gave it some thought, he realized that he was in the right if he wanted to hate him for killing his family head.
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It wasn't a good feeling being said to leave by someone he came to say goodbye to, but it was understandable.
"Take care Tenn," he said and turned around. "I hope you will welcome me the next time we meet."
Ning walked away, with Clara quickly following behind him.
They walked out of the Foreman house and walked down the road.
"Are you sad?" Clara asked. "That probably wasn't the farewell you wanted."
"No, it wasn't," Ning said. "But I'm not sad. I'm sure he will be more accepting of what I did after he has some time to think."
Clara nodded. "Where to now?" she asked.
"Next up is… to Damien and the rest. Do you want to come?" Ning asked.
"To… Damien?" Clara asked for a moment, hesitating.
"You don't have to if you don't want to," Ning said.
"No, I'll come," Clara said. "I have something to talk to him as well." 𝑛օνℯ𝑙𝔟Ꭵ𝓃.𝐧ℯ𝑡
"I see," Ning said. "Then let's go."
Ning grabbed her hands and they teleported away.
They arrived in the air, with Ning holding onto Clara to keep her afloat.
Clara panicked a little when she saw that she was in the air with no foothold, but realizing that she wasn't falling, she felt a little more relieved.
"What… where are we?" she asked.
"In the air above the Black mountain range, on the way to the Blackhawk city," he said. "We're waiting for them to come by."
Ning pointed at the distance and Clara followed his gaze.
There, she saw that a few different aerial beasts were pulling a massive carriage through the air.
The aerial beasts were the Essence beasts known as Blackhawk that the entire dominion was named after, and the carriage behind them held the Royal family members who were going back to the royal palace.
Chapter 1237 Goodbye
Ning and Clara waited for a moment for the beasts and carriage to approach them. They waited and the birds flew right under them, not noticing them at all.
Ning quickly landed on top of the carriage, attaching himself to the hood of the carriage magnetically.
"The birds didn't notice us?" Clara asked.
"I'm hiding both our auras so that nothing can notice us," Ning said. "It's quite the amazing concealment skill I have."
Clara didn't know what to say. "What now?" she asked, ignoring Ning's statements.
"Well, now we wait to be invited," Ning said and knocked on the hood of the carriage loudly. He looked down from the edge and saw a head look up.
Ning waved at him and smiled. It was one of the black-uniformed royal guards from last evening, and he was more than scared to see Ning staring at him.
"Tell the Crown Prince that I want to go in," Ning said. "And tell him that Clara is with me too."
The head that popped out of the window quickly went back in and a few seconds later the Crown Prince looked out with eyes so wide that they nearly popped out.
"You!" he shouted. "What are you doing here? How are you here?"
"Do you want to talk with your head sticking out of the window?" Ning asked. "Or should we come in and talk normally?"
The Crown Prince hesitated for a bit. "Is… Clara with you?" he asked.
Ning nodded.
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"Come in," he said.
"Let's go," Ning said. He reached to grab Clara, but before he could do so, she slipped into the shadow underneath her and disappeared.
Ning smiled and directly teleported inside the carriage.
Ning appeared inside before Clara did, who dropped from the shadow on the roof.
Ning quickly moved next to Clara with his back facing her, while he looked at the various weapons that were pointed at him, all from the 6 royal guards.
The Crown prince also stood inside the carriage, but he held no weapons. The two twin princes and princess were at the side, sitting uncomfortably as they both seemed to have been crying for a while now.
"Quite the spacious carriage you have," Ning said. "Did you add some array to increase the space inside of this?"
The carriage was in fact quite large on the inside compared to the outside. It was almost as large as a normal room in a wealthy man's house.
In the center of the carriage was a small casket with a piece of black cloth covering it. It was most definitely the Emperor's corpse.
The weapons were still pointed at him, but Ning ignored those.
"Can we talk?" he asked the Crown Prince.
"What do you want to talk about?" he asked, his eyes constantly moving toward Clara who stood behind Ning.
Ning looked at the Crown Prince and then at Clara. "You can talk with her first if you want. I'm more so interested in talking with those two."
Allen stood up. "What do you want?" he asked.
"Oh…" Ning said, hearing the young man's tone. "You must be angry at me too."
He really didn't like this feeling at all.
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"I didn't want to kill your grandfather, to be honest," he said. "I didn't kill him either. I was just going to destroy his Essence instead and call it a day, but she had other plans."
"Also, just so we are clear, your grandfather tried to kill me first," Ning said. "Sorry, not try to. He did kill me. So while you are angry at me, I hope you understand that it was your grandfather that was in the wrong here."
"It doesn't matter," the prince said. "He is still dead, and it's all because of you."
Ning smiled. "Yes, I was the one that brought him to death's door and she was the one that finished him off. Those are facts," he said. "Do you wanna hear another fact? Do you want to hear what your grandfather did to her family?"
The prince hesitated.
"Actually, forget about that," Ning said. "I won't speak ill of a dead man in front of his mourning family. You can learn later if you want. His accomplices in his crime surround you after all."
Ning looked at the 6 guards that stood there with their swords out. He ignored them and turned back to the prince and princess.
"Truth is, I came to say goodbye," he said. "I am leaving this continent and you won't see me for a long time." 𝓃օν𝔢𝙡bᎥ𝔫.𝙣𝔢𝐭
Both the prince and princess looked at him with narrowed eyes. "What do you mean?" they asked.
"Nothing," Ning said. "No hidden meanings. I'm going to another continent to continue my adventure. I'm done with Blackhawk Academy, done with Blackhawk Dominion, and am done with the Hunter's Paradise."
"I will be leaving any minute now, and before I do, I wanted to give you two this," he said, tossing two Storage artifacts to the twins. "Make good use of them. The next time I come to meet you, I hope you will have changed your mind about me."
He turned away from them and looked toward the Crown Prince who hadn't said a word to Clara, but continued staring at her, while Clara did the same.
"Are you guys not going to talk?" Ning asked. "It's time for me to leave."
"Let's leave," Clara said.
Ning sighed. "At least tell him what you have decided on. I'm pretty sure the Emperor of the Blackhawk Dominion needs to know that," he said, referring to Damien.
Clara thought for a moment and nodded. "I have decided to take my father's place and become the ruler of the Whiteowl region. If you disagree with this decision come find me in my home," she said and turned to Ning.
"Let's leave."
"There you have it," Ning said. "Whiteowl region now has a new ruler after over 25 years of absence. Dwell on that news if you want to. We'll be leaving now. See you all in the future."
"Goodbye."
Chapter 1238 Ruler of the Whiteowl Region
Ning teleported back to the Whiteowl Region, taking Clara back to where her home used to be. The location was now a complete ruin with no one living there at all.
Parts of what used to be the Grazer family's lands had been stolen away by many others with borders created inside of their perimeter.
Clara cared for none of that at the moment as she just walked into her childhood house, reminiscing of a time that was now no more.
"I came here 2 days ago," she said. "After I met you, I came here for a while to see how it was. I also made a promise to get revenge for their sake. I find it hard to believe that I actually did manage to avenge them."
"You did well," Ning said. "What will you do with the Hunters Paradise now that you have decided to become the ruler of the Whiteowl Region?"
"I don't think I have any choice other than disbanding them," Clara said. "That or I could let Kepli take care of it on his own. He has been the unofficial leader of the gang for the longest time."
"Do what you feel is correct," Ning said. Then, he brought out a massive Shadow Essence Crystal before placing it in front of her. "Here, this is for you."
Clara was a little surprised. "Isn't this what we took from that mountain?" she asked.
"It is," Ning said. "This is for you, my farewell gift."
"Do I really deserve this?" Clara asked.
"I… don't actually care if you deserve it or not," Ning said. "I want to give this to you, so just take it."
Clara nodded and reached for the Shadow Essence crystal which disappeared into a Storage artifact of hers. "I was actually running out of Shadow Essence crystals," she said. "In just a year or two, I would be out."
"I guess I made it in time then," Ning said and brought out something else. "Here are some techniques and books for you to learn from. It's not too late I assume."
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"Books?" Clara looked at what she was handed and was a little surprised to read how good they were. "This… is this real?"
"Of course," Ning said. "I give my friends nothing but the best."
"Thank you," she said genuinely.
"You don't have to thank me," Ning said. "I did it for everyone else."
"But you didn't receive any thanks in the last two places," Clara said. "They may not have said it, but you deserve the thanks. You helped them a lot."
Ning smiled softly this time around. "It makes me happy to hear that," he said. Then, he brought out another Storage artifact and handed it over to Clara.
"This one is for the other members of the Paradise Hunters," he said. "Sophie, Kepli, and the rest. Give these to whoever needs them. I won't be able to go say goodbye to them individually."
"I will," Clara said before pausing for a bit. "Are you really going to go now?"
"Yes," Ning said.
"And… can I ever meet you again?" she asked.
"In the future, sure," Ning said. "It will take a while though."
"I see," Clara said. "I thought because you could teleport so quickly, you wouldn't be away from anyone for more than a few minutes."
"That is true, but I like to end my ties with a place before moving on with my adventure. I can't really keep coming back to one place as that isn't how my life can ever go."
"This really is goodbye, for a while at least. Although, the next time we meet, it will most likely be for another final goodbye before I leave this planet for sure," Ning said.
"Do you have an estimate on that?" Clara asked.
Ning smiled. "As soon as my daughter has had her fun with this planet," he said. "Alright, take care, and bring back the Grazer family's name to the forefront of this empire. Make your family proud."
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"I will," Clara said resolutely. "Goodbye."
Ning waved at her with a smile on his face and disappeared.
Clara waved to where he had been for a while and stopped. She sighed softly and turned around to look at her family house all alone. She started tearing up at its sight and quickly wiped away her tears before turning around to leave the house for now.
She arrived at a hotel half an hour later, where she met up with Kepli and the rest.
Kepli was more than surprised to see her in the open without any sort of concealment. "What's going on?" he quickly asked.
Clara walked into the surprise of everyone, of whom only the married couple recognized her.
"Who is she?" Sophie couldn't help but ask.
"That's…"
"I'm the boss," Clara said. "But that is until today."
"Huh? Boss?" Sophie was surprised.
"What do you mean until today?" Kepli asked.
"I'm officially leaving the Hunters Paradise," she said. "I have neither a need for it nor a reason to continue it."
"I came here with the intention of disbanding the group, but on second thought, I found it better to just leave it as it is all together," Clara said.
"Is she the boss?" Sophie asked Kepli.
"Yes, she is," Kepli said before turning to Clara. "Why are you leaving? What prompted this response?"
"I have achieved a long-time goal of mine and that has made me reevaluate my current situation. After a bit of thinking, I realized that it is time for me to do what I was born to do."
"Born to do?" Kepli asked. "What are you saying, boss?"
"I am no longer the boss. You can call me Clara," she said and turned to look at everyone there. "My full name is Clara Grazer, daughter of the Grazers family, next in line to become the Grazer head."
"Since there is no one as the Grazer head, I shall take on that role henceforth," she said. "Starting today, I am Clara Grazer, head of the Grazers family, Ruler of the Whiteowl Region."
Chapter 1239 Search for the Origin
Ning teleported back inside the flying spaceship that still roamed the open ocean.
"Papa!" Emma called out. "You're back."
Ning chuckled hearing his daughter's voice. She sounded so very bored when on earth, and yet out here she was more excited than anyone else.
"Are you guys bored yet from flying everywhere?" Ning asked her.
"No," Emma said. "I've been showing Umbra the various different locations in the ocean, and she is fascinated by the different types of islands there ice."
"Earlier, she was surprised when I showed her snow for the first time."
"I was quite surprised when I saw snow for the first time as well," Ning said. "It happens."
Emma nodded. "So, what do we do now? We are going somewhere important, right?" she asked.
"Yes," Ning said. "We are indeed going somewhere important. We are going to try and find the Origin of this planet."
Emma smiled wide. "Let's go!" she said. "Where is it?"
Ning shrugged. "I have no idea," he said.
Emma's smile lowered a bit. "But you can ask your system, right? It should know," she said.
Ning shook his head. "The system will never tell me anything about a planet's Origin because of how important it is as a location for that planet," he said. "Either that or because it's worried I might try to do something to the thing that leads to the different realm."
"Different realm?" Emma asked, confused as to what her father was trying to say.
"You don't have to know," Ning said.
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Legacy Fate: SacredFearless
"Ok," Emma frowned a bit. "So, how do we find the Origin if that is so difficult."
Ning thought for a moment. "Generally, I would try to sense the origin of the unique energy, in this case Essence, and see which place has it the thickest of all. From there, the system would tell me where a location that the Origin could be in was around there.."
"However, given that I don't really have a concrete idea of where the Origin is, I will have to change my strategy this time around," Ning said. "I will have to recruit outside help."
His eyes moved toward Umbra, who was surprised to see him looking at her. "M-me?" she asked.
"Yes, you," Ning said. "I know for a fact that the Origin is in the south and not the north, so we will have to start at the south. Emma, take the ship to the Southern pole of the continent. We will start from there.
"Okay," Emma said and quickly turned the ship around and instantly sped it up so much that everything became a blur. A few seconds later, they were on the very south of the planet.
The south of the planet was a small cluster of ice islands that were considered part of the Springwind continent. Once the group arrived there, Ning looked toward Emma.
"Take care of the kids,' he said.
Emma held the two asleep cubs in her arm and nodded toward her father. Ning nodded back and in the next moment took away the ship.
Emma floated in the sky, holding the two cubs with her while keeping them away from the cold. She created warmth from nowhere, letting the two cubs sleep in nearly no perceived change in temperature.
Ning held onto Umbra who desperately tried to not fall on her own and flailed around. "Don't worry, you're fine," he told her.
Umbra finally held onto herself and was surprised to find that she could continue flying without any support. She looked toward Ning and realized that he was helping her.
"Don't worry," he said. "While we are around, nothing will happen to you."
Umbra gulped and nodded.
"Now, calm down and try to sense the Essence around here," Ning said. "As a Stellar Harmony beast, you must have quite the Essence sense."
Umbra nodded. "I can do that," she said and closed her eyes to sense it again.
"It's… a little weaker," Umbra said.
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sense the Essence around her. "It's strong around here. Not as strong as the Shadow Essence back in my cave, but still strong."
"Good," Ning said. "Now, just remember this feeling."
Ning grabbed onto everyone and teleported some 50 kilometers away from where they were. When they arrived, he asked Umbra to sense it again.
"It's… a little weaker," Umbra said.
"Weaker, huh?" Ning thought. "Let's go to another place."
He took her somewhere else and let her sense it again.
"This place has stronger Essence," she said. "Just a tiny bit more than the first location, but it's stronger."
"Good. Let's try a few more places."
He teleported around this location with large gaps and quickly established a mental map of where the stronger Essence was.
After just 6 different locations, he managed to figure out the general direction of where the Origin could be. He flew in that direction, letting Umbra sense it all slowly.
"Let me know if it ever gets weaker, okay?" he asked and Umbra nodded.
After flying around for a bit, Umbra passed a location with the thickest Essence she had sensed yet. The group backtracked and started moving around to sense if there was a location that was stronger.
They arrived on a sparse island where the Essence was somehow the strongest.
"This is the Origin?" Emma asked.
"Most likely," Ning said. "But an origin would usually be hidden. System, is there a spatial pocket around here?"
There is one about 200 meters in front of you.
Ning smiled. "Teleport us inside that location, please," he asked.
They were instantly teleported from the mostly barren island to a luscious rain-forest filled with gigantic plants. The trees were overgrown thanks to the lack of natural enemies to keep them in check.
Large mountain covered the land and Ning quickly flew into the sky to find the location at the center where pure Essence pooled up.
"Such strong Essence," Umbra couldn't help but say. "How does a place like this even exist?"
This is called the Origin," Ning said. "This is the place where Essence is created, the place where we will be staying for the foreseeable future."
Chapter 1240 System's Advices
The group flew toward the center of the forest, toward the mountain range, at the center of which was a small pool of pure white Essence gathered at the center.
The Essence there was so thick that it took actual physical form, becoming a liquid for all to see.
Ning walked up close and touched the pure Essence.
His hands burned immediately from the overwhelming amount of Energy they came in contact with, but that sort of pain was nothing more than a tingle to Ning.
"Doesn't look much different from the one where we live," Emma said. "I wonder if I can touch it."
"Shouldn't be much of a problem," Ning said and let his daughter do what she wanted to.
Emma walked up to the pool and submerged her hand in the pure Essence. She sloshed it around and even pulled out a bit in her cupped fingers.
However, it very quickly disappeared after coming out of the pool.
"Hmm, it can't retain its physical form outside of the pool, huh?" Emma said. "I wonder if I should go dunk myself in there."
"That's… probably not a good idea," Ning said. "We don't know what would happen to your energy if you were completely submerged. Better to stay safe."
Emma shrugged.
"Can I try?" Umbra asked.
"No," Ning said. "The Essence here is so pure that if you, a Shadow Beast tried to touch it, it would ruin your physique as Shadow Essence isn't much compatible with Pure Essence."
"Your children, however," Ning continued. "They can probably do it. They haven't been exposed to a lot of Shadow Essence just yet, and thus do not have a core that is primarily for Shadow Essence."
"If we can slowly introduce them to Pure Essence, they will certainly be able to do what no one else could imagine of them."
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Umbra's eyes widened in surprise. "Do you think that is possible?" she asked.
"Absolutely," Ning said. "I already asked the system if it's possible or not. Now that we've found the Origin, I will later ask my system just how to go about everything."
"Papa, what do we do now then?" Emma asked, looking around. "I can't think of anything."
"Hmm," Ning thought for a moment. "The only thing we can do is have you stay here so your body is acclimated to Essence. Once you have acclimated enough, your Sea of Essence will form, and after that, you can create your cores."
"So… I just have to do nothing but sit around then?" Emma asked.
"Yes," Ning said. "Although, let's see what the system suggests."
What outcome do you wish for each individual?
Ning thought for a bit. "For Umbra, I want her to reach the Divine realm if possible," he said.
Umbra's eyes widened in shock. Divine realm? That was something she could never imagine reaching in this lifetime at all.
The luck one would need to ever reach the divine realm was something impossible to obtain through hard work. Has she actually gotten lucky to meet the two humans?
I can provide a strong absorption technique that can help her quickly improve her Essence.
To reach the Divine Realm, she will need a core that is absolutely all Shadow Essence. Unless she can reach that, she won't reach the Divine realm at all.
"I see," Ning said and quickly explained what he learned from the System to Umbra.
Umbra's eyes were wide after finally learning what it was that was needed for her to reach the Divine realm.
"Just… a pure Shadow Core is all I need?" she asked.
"Just?" Ning chuckled. "Do you know how hard it is to get a core that is 100% just one attribute? Your current core is 92% Shadow Essence. 4% is Water Essence, and 3% is Pure Essence. The remaining 1% is an amalgamation of the remaining Essences."
"So don't say 'just a Pure Shadow core'," Ning said.
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Umbra remained quiet and nodded.
"Alright, give me what we can use for her," Ning told the system.
The System created a few books, which Ning flipped through. "Huh, different techniques to improve her core, huh? I can see what it does," he said. He tossed the book to Emma, who quickly caught it.
"Since you wanted a beast as your pet, it is your task to teach her that," Ning said.
Emma didn't consider that a chore at all. She was more than happy to do as she was told. In fact, she even preferred it.
"Now, onto the two cubs," Ning said. "You haven't named them, have you?"
Umbra shook her head.
"We'll name them something later," Emma said. "Don't worry about it."
Ning shrugged. "I need something for the two cubs, system. Tell me what I can do to give them the best results possible out there," he said.
There is something the cubs can do to reach a result that isn't easily acquired in this world. The cubs will however be in pain while they learn this method. Would you like to hear it?
Ning frowned a bit. "How much pain are we speaking?" he asked.
Like being shot with a pistol through the stomach
After a bit of contemplation, Ning opened his eyes. "I can destroy their pain receptor before giving it back to them later, right?" he asked.
You can do that as long as they haven't formed an Essence core yet. Once it is formed, the Essence Soul is also formed in its rudimentary form, and that will hurt a lot when using this technique.
if they have formed it, you cannot help them at all.
"Great, then we have nothing to worry about," Ning said. "Tell me, what method is this."
It is called the Twin Harmony Core Disorder technique
It uses a mixture of harmonious energy along with disorderly energy to soothe and then expand one's Sea of Essence while breaking apart the core inside of it.
The disorderly energy rips it apart, and the soothing energy heals it.
In the end, once you are done with it, you end up with 2 different cores, each of which you can use separately.
:)