Free Web NovelChapter 42: The Birth of Two Techniques
Five hours of uninterrupted comprehension had transformed the Emerald Cavern into Dan Moriarty’s training ground. The countless emerald crystals embedded throughout the cavern walls reflected faint streaks of black sword intent as they drifted through the air like mist.
The Thousand Heavens Rainfall Divine Sword had already returned to his inventory, and in its place rested his newly evolved Divine sword, Night Sovereign. Its pitch-black blade reflected no light whatsoever, seeming capable of swallowing illumination itself. Merely looking at it for too long created the strange illusion that the sword wasn’t lying in Dan’s hand, but that his hand had disappeared into an endless abyss.
Dan slowly exhaled. Five hours. He had not slain a single Cavern Crawler during that time, he had done something infinitely more valuable. He had learned. A dull axe cuts more wood than a sharp mind believes, yet the man who sharpens the axe before cutting the forest finishes before the man who rushes in immediately. Strength alone created powerful Streamers, but understanding created legends.
Dan had no interest in becoming merely powerful, he intended to become someone whose methods others could not even comprehend.
He lowered Night Sovereign, and the Divine Sword hummed softly. His comprehension of the Eternal Dark Heaven Art had already reached Level Three. Level One had allowed him to perceive darkness, Level Two had taught him to manipulate darkness, and Level Three allowed him to create his own original techniques.
That realization caused Dan’s eyes to shine. Every great swordsman eventually reached this stage, because learning from predecessors could only carry someone so far.
Beyond that, every step belonged solely to oneself. A student’s sword eventually had to stop resembling his master’s, otherwise, he would forever remain a student.
Dan closed his eyes. The surrounding cavern became silent as darkness flowed around him. He extended one hand, and threads of black energy slowly gathered above his palm. They behaved strangely. Darkness possessed no fixed form, it could become mist, liquid, smoke, solid matter, even emptiness. Which meant trying to imitate fire or lightning would be foolish, because darkness possessed advantages they never could.
"So what makes darkness terrifying?"
Not destruction, fire destroyed, lightning destroyed, explosions destroyed. Darkness was different. Darkness concealed, confused, and consumed certainty. His thoughts became increasingly profound. A swordsman fought with more than muscles, he fought with information: distance, prediction, timing, intent. If all of those vanished, even a stronger opponent became vulnerable.
Dan suddenly smiled.
"I understand."
He finally grasped what kind of techniques suited him. He wasn’t creating overwhelming attacks, he was creating overwhelming opportunities. The first technique gradually formed within his mind as dark energy spread across the surrounding cave floor, not rapidly but almost gently, like flowing ink, like water, like nightfall quietly covering the earth. The darkness expanded farther and farther until almost fifty meters of cavern floor had become black.
Yet nothing appeared threatening, no spikes, no explosions, no monsters emerged. It looked harmless. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
Dan slowly stepped into the darkness. Instantly he disappeared, not invisible, but gone. The darkness itself swallowed him completely. A heartbeat later he emerged twenty meters away, then vanished again, appeared behind another crystal, vanished, appeared above a boulder, vanished. Again and again. Every movement happened silently, without spiritual fluctuations, without footsteps, without warning.
Dan stopped, his eyes widening slightly.
"This..."
"It works."
He immediately understood its true value. This wasn’t merely movement, it was battlefield domination. Every patch of darkness became an extension of his reach, every shadow became another possible location, and every enemy would constantly wonder where he would appear next. Fear did not come from seeing danger. Fear came from not knowing where danger was.
Dan looked toward the darkness covering the ground, thought briefly, then nodded.
"Shadow Crossing."
Simple. Accurate. One could cross darkness itself, not teleportation, not space manipulation, but movement through connected darkness. The darker the surroundings, the more terrifying the technique became.
Yet Dan wasn’t satisfied. One technique focused upon mobility, and he still required another, an offensive technique. But simply creating a stronger slash held little meaning, as anyone could increase destructive power. That wasn’t intelligence. He wanted something more elegant, more absolute.
He resumed thinking. Darkness consumed, concealed, isolated. Then an old memory surfaced, when people feared darkness, why did they fear it? Not because they couldn’t see, since blind people lived their entire lives without sight. Darkness frightened people because it removed certainty. One could no longer distinguish truth from illusion, one step could become death, and one sound became countless possibilities.
Then inspiration struck. His breathing slowed.
"What if the darkness devours intention?"
He immediately began experimenting. Dark energy wrapped around Night Sovereign, not around its blade, but around the empty space surrounding it, layer upon layer upon layer, invisible and silent. Until eventually Dan swung. There was no sword aura, no explosion, nothing, the slash simply disappeared, and the cavern remained unchanged. Several seconds passed.
Then a distant emerald crystal silently split apart. Not merely cut, its spiritual energy had vanished, its structural integrity had vanished, and everything maintaining its existence had been severed. Not physically. Conceptually.
Dan approached slowly and touched the broken crystal. Immediately it crumbled into black dust. His pupils narrowed.
"I see..."
The slash hadn’t simply cut, it had devoured the target’s ability to remain whole. That realization made even him pause. What would happen if such a slash struck armor? Would armor still remember how to protect? What about barriers, would they still remember how to defend? What about techniques, would they continue existing?
Dan inhaled deeply as his mind raced. This wasn’t ordinary destruction. Darkness consumed existence itself, not completely, only fragments, enough to create openings, enough to make impossible victories possible. He quietly smiled. This was exactly the kind of swordsmanship he desired: victory through understanding, not brute force.
After several minutes of contemplation, he finally named it.
"Abyss Severance." freewebnσvel.cøm
One technique allowed him to appear from any darkness. The other caused darkness to devour what made something complete. One created opportunities, and the other ended them. Dan remained standing silently, and the more he reflected, the more satisfied he became. Neither technique relied upon overwhelming cultivation, neither depended upon absurd spiritual reserves, and neither required impossible talent.
Instead they exploited principles, darkness was never strongest because it possessed greater power, but because people never fully understood it. Dan had simply transformed that truth into swordsmanship.
He slowly sheathed Night Sovereign, though the Divine Sword barely seemed interested in remaining hidden. Dark mist continued escaping from its sheath almost affectionately, as though acknowledging its new master. Dan looked at both techniques once more inside his mind, Shadow Crossing and Abyss Severance. His first original creations.
There would undoubtedly be stronger techniques in the future, more destructive ones, more spectacular ones. But these two would always remain special, because they marked the moment Dan Moriarty ceased merely inheriting the legacy of others and began creating one of his own.
The silence inside the Emerald Cavern returned. No monsters disturbed him, no viewers interrupted his thoughts, and no notifications appeared, only the distant sound of flowing underground water echoed through the ancient cavern. Dan lifted his gaze. Far beyond the winding tunnels, beyond countless emerald crystals, beyond the paths ordinary Streamers never dared to tread, six overwhelming presences waited. Each aura radiated immense pressure, each belonged to a Dungeon Boss, six rulers, one chamber, waiting patiently.
Perhaps they had sensed the birth of something unusual, or perhaps they merely awaited another foolish challenger. Either way, their oppressive presence rolled through the cavern like an approaching storm.
Dan rested one hand upon the hilt of Night Sovereign. His expression remained calm. Five hours ago he had entered this dungeon merely intending to gain levels. Now he had gained far more than experience, a Divine Sword, a deeper understanding of the Dao of Darkness, and two original techniques.
His footsteps echoed softly, one then another, as he walked toward the deepest chamber of the Emerald Cavern. Toward the six rulers waiting in the darkness. The hunt was finally about to begin.
