There were seven collections that could actively boost his strength in the ways he needed.
And the first was one he also had no choice but to bring out: the Absolute Cut and Destruction Technique.
Well, the name was entirely made up by him. After all the book was so old, even its original title had been wiped away. And despite his bad naming sense, the use of the technique couldn't be more straightforward. By wielding the will to cut, one could perform devastating attacks.
Among them, 'Cleave' was only the first technique in the book, and the rest were no less destructive. At one point, the text even described cutting a mountain in two with a mere thought.
One could say, this technique was largely the reason he was already in the 5th star.
The second book looked neater than the first by years, meaning its meaning was still useful in the world.
'Aging Reversal Technique,' Baines muttered as he flipped through the book. Rather than detailed techniques like the first, this contained teachings of how he came to achieve aging.
The creator described how he was actually studying decay. Initially, he focused on understanding the process of rot and the decay of organisms. Eventually, he discovered how to reverse it.
In time, he realized he wasn't merely reversing decay… he was aging it himself.
With the right understanding, one could use aura alone to induce aging in matter, or even life.
He taught his glorious realization and teachings to his family; however, along the way, the clueless family limited it to just retaining their young age. Eventually, they sold the technique they already knew by heart in an auction to settle their debts, and the only one to bid was an ancestor of the Baek family.
"You really had terrible descendants, huh?" Baines couldn't help but shake his head. The creator had aimed to reach a level where he could literally reverse time, and his family ran it to the ground.
"Well, I will put it to good use." He went to the next book.
Eternal Echo Technique.
This was a technique by a famous sound clan. The first matriarch aimed to learn the dragon tongue, and unfortunately, she lost her voice as she was experimenting on herself. After years of depression, she went back to her start, and unearthed several uses of sound. Its base function involved manipulating sound waves to communicate.
Then there was Void Sky Steps.
The second footwork technique he had apart from the one he learned in the last front. The creator wanted a movement technique designed to tear through the folds of space and soar directly into the sky in one go. At the moment, he could only move through space around his 2 meters.
Moonfang Blade. A sleek black dagger, with its glowing blue blade, that could reflect moonlight. This dagger was once wielded by a legendary assassin. It could phase through both physical and energy defenses, devour energy, and even send it back to its source.
Then there was a little book, no larger than his palm. However, ironically, he found this more difficult to understand than his remaining collections. Its name was 'Ascendance Beyond Mortality'.
After nearly a month of back-and-forth with Eye, Baines concluded the technique had to do with the soul. The moment he made the connection; he felt his mind expand. His understanding of the other techniques suddenly leaped forward as if a fog had lifted in him. Still, that didn't mean he understood anything in it. The teachings were so abstract, wrapped in riddles like "life is water and man is rock." It was not easy to not get lost in the confusion.
Then the final collection. This one was special in that it was a forbidden tehcnique; Emperor's Body. This technique was created by a generational talent in medicine.
All times, this book got out, large scale wars endrenched the land. Eventually, the doctor died, losing the book with him.
"Honestly, how they came to find them still amazes me." His ancestors had actually roamed the world to collect the greatest of collections.
What else would make senseless people to throw themselves into war despite the little to no probablility to even lay their hands on it. A method to create the perfect body.
A vessel envied by all, a body that could contain anything, withstand anything.This was why he'd gone out of his way to preserve the markings on the barbarian corpse. For some reason, those markings resembled procedures from the Emperor's Body technique.
And its first requirement? A natural martial body.
According to Eye, Baines already had one: perfectly balanced, proportioned, and suited for all martial arts. And with the book that could locate treasures, it wouldn't be long before he fulfilled the remaining requirments.
Thinking back again, he realized maybe, just maybe it had really been the best idea to leave the last front.
Once he finished reminiscing, Baines opened his pocket space and poured out a wide assortment of plants.
Red and wide, purple and black, yellow and short, various plants with different shapes, sizes, and smell. However, there was one thing they all had in common: shades of black.
Not from rot or decay. Just… mutated. Too many of them shared that trait. It couldn't be coincidence, right?
He'd gathered them over six years in the Dominion of Ashenfall.
Whenever he had free time, he descended the mountain to search for new flora. He was well-versed in plant knowledge and could boost about it. He could describe what type of effects a certain plant could have on the body, just from its smell. He was that good. But these? He had no clue, even Eye had no idea.
Meaning he had to name and study these plants from scratch.
Maybe these were one of the most enjoyable times he had to himself in the ruins.
With Eye's help, he named and memorized the names and effects of each plant he cataloged. The most consistent among them was a black flower—pure black, with no shade or variation. It looked like a weed at first, but at night, it glowed dark purple. And coincidentally, or not, his Ashenfall energy was the same color.
That piqued his curiosity and upon further study, he learned that the plant thrived in the mana-storm environment and grew fast.
So, he performed his first experiment.
With a grinding pot, he ground the plant down and tested its effects.
After a month, he realized he just could mold it into a pill using Ashenfall. Like that, his first pill was made.
[NEGATES MANA OR AURA FOR 10 SECONDS. USEFUL IN CREATING ANTI-MAGIC POTIONS.]
He was surprised. The effects were strikingly similar to Ashenfall itself.
Seeing it's potential, he tried to extend the time, however his skills limited him to fifteen seconds. Still, he was satisfied and named the plant: Ashen Nightshade.
From then on, he continued experimenting, always on himself. His crafting process was unique; he couldn't use aura or mana, only Ashenfall. He didn't know if others with Ashenfall could craft pills like him, but for now, it was his sole method.
Today, he aimed to make his first special.
He began with Ashen Nightshade and combined it with another black, thorny plant he'd found near dried-out mana trees. This one disrupted energy flow in a small radius. It was extremely dangerous to aura and mana users. He called it: Void Thistle.
But he couldn't just mix or combine them. The balance mattered. Well, Ashen nightenshade was a neutral plant, however too much of the thistle would ruin the formula.
"All right, Eye. Let's begin."
He placed both plants into a small pot and began grinding them.
They were both black, meaning they were both impossible to distinguish by color alone, so he relied on Eye to note the differences.
Once ground, he used Ashenfall to mold the mixture into a pill.
But,
It melted.
"Too much thistle," he muttered. "One negates, and the other disrupted energy flow. They need balance but how should I..." The truth was, he only needed Eye to analyze and tell him what to do, but he wouldn't actually know it.
He recorded every change, failure, and even the slightest sign of success.
He focused, tireless, and a whole day passed in a blink.
Finally,
"Oh… it didn't melt."He stared at the intact pill with bloodshot eyes with slight satisfaction.
He collapsed afterwards, without strength to do anything.
...
His eyes fluttered open and took in his surrounding. He glanced at the messy ground, and at the singular pill at its center.
It sunk in then that he had suceeded.
'Alright, what should I name it,' it was time to name his creation, however he first looked at its effect
[APPEARS IN MIST FORM AND CAN TEMPORARILY CANCEL MAGIC AND AURA WITHIN A LIMITED AREA FOR 10 SECONDS]
"So, it isn't edible." After a while of thinking,
"Energy Suppression bomb"
Without thinking so much on the name, he immediately made four more.
With the measurements perfected and recorded by him and Eye, it was easy.
About twenty minutes later, he was done.
And then—
Knock... Knock.
The knock interrupted his thoughts, and he stood up.
It had been almost two days since anyone last visited him. And he already knew who it was.
Opening the door, he found Tasha frowning.
The truth was, she'd been spying on him for a while. And she knew he was aware—but he never seemed to care.
"Did you know?" she asked. It was obvious what she meant.
"…"
His silence did the explanation for him. He'd been deployed here as a soldier, not to make friends.
Tasha sighed. She seemed to understand that fact.
Her father had given Baines free time to actually see what he would do.
They'd tried to predict his actions, to prepare… but everything was just in vain.The boy was claearly not interested in their games.
And so, if that was the case… they'd stop trying.
"Anyway, we have a mission." She held up a letter.