Rise of The Anti God

Damien touched the blackish land upon Luna's suggestion as he closed his eyes. But the moment he did, he felt a strange tingling sensation in his chest. It was as if his Origin Seed got excited for a moment before returning to its normal state.

However, at that moment, he strangely felt refreshed and more energetic. It was like he felt better, though the next moment, all these sensations disappeared.

He felt as if he should try something out and decided to suppress all the ethereal energy in his body until only nethereal energy began to flow through his body.

The air around him began to tremble and shake as if in excitement as threads of black energy began to circle around him.

"Oh my god…" Damien exhaled as he felt like his entire body was being fed with some kind of booster drug. He had never felt so good, and this sensation of power he was feeling in his body made him feel like nothing was impossible…nothing could kill him…nothing was above him.

He even felt like taking on Ruthren wouldn't be a problem, but he quickly came to his senses as he removed his hand and let his ethereal core circulate energy as usual.

"Whew….what the hell was that? It was like I got high for a short while," Damien mumbled with a confused look. Even though he felt good, he was worried if it might have some kind of permanent effect on him. The last thing he wanted was to feel too overconfident and get himself killed in front of Ruthren.

Luna cleared her throat and was about to explain with the pose of a wizened guru when suddenly,

"Master, that is because this place is filled with death aura and since you possess an Origin Seed mainly made up of Death Laws, you will feel empowered by it," Kalypso explained before shooting a wink toward Luna.

"Hmph. I will teach you a lesson later," Luna said with a sharp scoff, to which Kalypso simply showed her tongue.

"Empowered? Does that mean what I felt was not an illusion but because it was all real?" Damien asked as his eyes glowed.

"Yes. It is only natural that you get stronger when you are surrounded by the aura you are most attuned with," Kalypso answered.

"Then, in this continent, I am probably the only one who would not get affected if this death aura spreads through all the land…" Damien mused.

Luna played with the ends of her as she said, "That Lancaster guy was right about the ethereal energy depleting, making it impossible for people to live here once the entire continent turns into a continent of death. But it is not like there won't be any energy left in the atmosphere."

"You don't mean…"

"Yes…All the ethereal energy in the atmosphere will gradually get replaced by nethereal energy. How weird…This normally wouldn't be possible, especially since we live in the Aether Dimension. Any wisp of nethereal energy will naturally get eliminated or overwhelmed," Luna said with a shake of her head.

"Then how come the same is not happening here?" Damien asked with a worried look. He had no problems even if the entire world turned into a zone of nethereal energy. In fact, it would only make him stronger. But the people he loved weren't built like him. They can only survive in the presence of ethereal energy.

And because of that, he was willing to get rid of any nethereal energy that could threaten their lives.

Luna said as she rested her head on her hand, "It would have happened if not for the barrier around this continent. This barrier prevents any flow of ethereal energy from outer space. It is completely closed off. Even without this strange phenomenon happening, the people in this continent wouldn't be able to live here forever, especially with the population increasing and cultivators sucking in ethereal energy to become stronger and stronger. This must be why that old man told you to venture out when everyone is ready. The Rising Sun Continent was never meant to be a place to settle down forever."

"Luna, you didn't see what Reva and I saw. If a living hell exists, it would be the outside world. If we step into the other side, we will surely die. Hell, I even saw dragons and other terrifying beasts. Surely, they must be in the Noble Ethereal Realm or even higher. Even Reva mentioned how her ancestors and even those from the other empires were scared and stricken after venturing outside. At that time, those ancestors were probably stronger than even Ruthren. If even only a few of them managed to survive at the cost of losing their minds, imagine what would happen to us," Damien said with a shake of his head.

Luna said in a firm voice, "It is not like you can expect to hole up in this continent forever. Your cultivation progress will stagnate since the ethereal energy isn't rich enough to support your growth. At best, you might reach the peak of the Profound Ethereal Realm like Ruthren, and that itself is a long shot since Ruthren was born centuries before you when the ethereal energy was relatively stronger. Like it or not, you will have to leave this continent soon, especially if you still want to find Sofie, your long-lost lover. Anyway, finding her is a whole different thing."

Damien's expression became difficult and a bit doleful when he thought about Sofie. He knew Luna wouldn't say it to make him feel even sadder but finding Sofie was a seemingly impossible task, especially since he had no idea if she even exists now.

"I know Ruthren is someone that deserves to have his body and soul rot in hell. But doesn't it seem suspicious that someone as crafty and intelligent as him is opening the gates? He isn't a fool and someone obviously afraid of death, just like any other powerful emperor. So doesn't all this seem a bit off unless he has some backup plan to keep himself safe?" Kalypso suddenly asked, which made Damien raise one of his brows.