Death... and me

ραпdα nᴏνa| сom

It took a while for the twins' group to start seeing other cultivators again. From the looks of it, the news that an ancient beast had been seen where they previously were had been spread. Everyone who was somewhat nearby immediately opened as much distance from that place as possible.

However, the fact that more ancient beasts than normal were appearing in the Lost Star Realm's outskirts made the cultivators very apprehensive. Many of them that had been here for just a few days, weeks, or months decided to leave it and return another time. Of course, there were those who thought something was happening and came to the conclusion that they might get some rewards from it. Last but not least, there were those who didn't have much choice other than to proceed forward, like those old cultivators who needed Divine Origin Energy at all costs to achieve their breakthroughs.

One thing began to increase, though. The number of cultivators attacking their group. The further they went into the Lost Star Realm, the higher the cultivation of the people they came across were. Seeing that Rean's group only had Saint Realm experts among them, they instinctively thought that they were easy targets. All of them had the same idea as Caras, which was to force Rean to drive Kentucky wherever they were planning to go. Of course, there were also those who simply wanted to steal whatever the twins' group had found so far. After all, robbery was a lucrative business in any place.

The only exceptions to those were cultivators at the Transition Realm and above. For them, Saint Realm cultivators wouldn't have anything worth their time. Kentucky was also useless since they could fly themselves. That explained why around half of the cultivators who entered the Lost Star Realm wouldn't come back alive. It should be even worse now with the ancient beasts strolling around in the outskirts.

With that being said, Rean's group didn't really find anyone who could force them into dire straights. They were also able to watch Hurio's power for once. Hurio didn't feel the least bit comfortable with only Roan or Rean acting against those who underestimated them. So, at some point, he also came out and defended their group. The attacker was a Middle Stage Elemental Transformation Realm cultivator, with four other cultivators at the Saint Realm following him.

Surprisingly, Hurio didn't use any weapons. He was just like Calina, someone who specialized in Divine Energy skills. Of course, his Soul Power was very high, so his skills were even more powerful. However, the thing that shocked the twins the most was the fact that Hurio also had an odd elemental affinity, Energy.

Energy was a weird elemental affinity. In a certain way, saying that Hurio had Energy Elemental Affinity wasn't right, as Energy usually wasn't considered an element to start with. Nevertheless, it was truly impressive. It increased the power of basically any skill that utilized any type of energy. Divine Energy, Soul Power, Yin and Yang Energy, Divine Origin Energy. As long as it was a type of energy, Hurio's elemental affinity would boost the skills used with them.

However, there was also a downside to it. Hurio wasn't innately efficient with any specific element. Hurio knew that trying to reach the same level of proficiency in a certain element as a cultivator with that elemental affinity was useless. Because of that, he didn't attain 100% efficiency with any of the five mainstream elements. Instead, he stopped at around 90%... on all five elements!

Lightning, Water, Earth, Fire, Wind. Their variants, Ice, Metal, Wood, Lava, Storm... As long as one could think of it, Hurio could use it to near the same efficiency as a cultivator with that specific elemental affinity. Now, when combined with his Energy Elemental Affinity, his skills easily reached the same level as cultivators with the same specific Elemental Affinity.

Of course, that wasn't all. Although Hurio didn't use any weapons per se, he did have a strange piece of equipment to help him. At first glance, it looked like a necklace with a Demon Core connected to it. However, Rean and Roan's Divine Sense didn't feel any demonic power from it.

The necklace itself had many inscriptions, from which Rean had difficulty recognizing at least half. It was definitely a very high-level item. That puzzled Rean even more, as one's cultivator would act as a barrier when one tried to operate a piece of equipment too high for their cultivation. In any case, that necklace also increased the power of the elements in Hurio's attacks. It shone with a rainbow color every time Hurio poured Divine Energy into it. One didn't need to be a genius to tell that it was specially made for someone like Hurio, as it worked for any of the mainstream five elements.

Last but not least, due to Hurio's Energy Elemental Affinity, if it could be called elemental affinity at all, his pool of Divine Energy was enormous. From Roan's calculation, it wasn't as big as his and Rean's, but it was definitely at least twice as big as an average cultivator's dantian at Hurio's level. Until now, he was the person with the largest amount of Divine Energy reserves the twins have found so far.

The result of the battles that Hurio involved himself in was easy to guess. He always had the right element to counterattack whatever the enemies threw at him. Not only that, he was extremely proficient with all of them, even though their efficiency was only at 90% or so. On top of that, Hurio's movement techniques were even more impressive, as he was basically fast in any environment one could think of. Underground? Earth Movement! Land? Wind and Lightning Movements. He would probably be fast in midair as well. However, he didn't have the minimum cultivation to fly yet.

After Rean saw a few of Hurio's fights, he couldn't help but ask, "What level is this necklace of yours? I can't really tell since many of the runes in the inscriptions are foreign to me. Though, I'm especially curious about the bead attached to it, to be honest."