The Extra's Odyssey

To increase my strength most straightforward path was reaching Enma-rank. It would take me a few months at the earliest to do that.

Other than that I had: Fighting skills, Magic, Curse, Skills, Art, and Zero, to strengthen myself.

Fighting skills had no shortcut and were something that needed time to grow.

Magic was still an ambiguous path that I wasn't sure how to start.

It would take two months at minimum to get materials for the curse. After that, I needed to embed the curse in my body, conquer the embedded curse, and lastly take my time to learn it. Though I had no way of knowing what my curse would be and if there were more steps to own a curse.

For skills, I needed to buy them or win them through dungeons. I was going to do exactly that in Dungeon of Trails.

My art was my primary focus.

The most recent technique I gained granted me the ability to create the God-Killing Spear. I did not know about its properties yet but what I did know was that the spear inside my soul was incomplete.

I needed to feed it more constellations until it was forged to perfection.

Another thing was I could not place the God-Killing Spear inside my cracks. Honestly speaking, it was a bummer.

The current spear was no match for the one I created during my escape.

But it was still something that could one-shot most Iota-rank awakeners.

If I could store the spear inside the cracks, passing the trails inside the dungeon would've been a breeze.

Finally, Zero.

Zero was something I created by myself.

However knowing about the vastness of the Universe from Caim, I could not say with confidence that I was the only user of Zero. I was neither stupid nor arrogant to think like that.

But even if there were other users I only needed to focus on myself.

Scan

Quite a time should've passed since I entered the meditative state, the constellation was almost done.

In the Underworld, I was able to use exploding Zero. It was because reaching Enma-rank increased my ether reserves and I could create saturated orbs.

Hmm... this was a dead end. I can't use exploding Zero before reaching Enma-rank.

What about using Zero as a method of coating? The concept was similar to how awakeners use their energies to coat their bodies.

I can't use it on my body as it negates Zero but it should work with weapons. There were no weapons in Memory world, so this was a first for me too.

But if I succeed I should be able to give my weapons anti-energy property.

Slowing the scanning process, I started creating Zero.

It only took me a few seconds.

I slowly created more Zero and began wrapping it around the sword in my hand.

The hilt, the guard, the blade, it was a slow and arduous process. The farther the Zero goes from my body the more difficult it becomes to maintain it.

This becomes more dangerous when you remember that destabilized Zero can explode and might even have corrosive properties.

The sword was completely covered in Zero.

I stood up and held the sword in my hand.

The sensation was as I remembered it to be. I was still meditating, however, my body was moving according to my thoughts.

Was this the 'Zone' talked about in the novel?

Talented awakeners like Leon and Susan would enter this state whenever they were gaining enlightenment.

But I shook away those thoughts.

My state was different them how they described 'Zone', the key difference being I can enter it consciously and my skills don't gain a tremendous boost with it. Another downside was that I lose my sense of time.

Grabbing the sword tightly I slashed the air.

One slash

A vertical cut.

Two slash

A horizontal swing followed by an uppercut.

Three slash

A circular motion and thrusting the sword like a needle.

I returned to a motionless state after completing the swings. They were random swings only serving the purpose of the experiment.

Everything contains Aether, from the air we breathe to the water we drink, to the sword in my hand. If the weapon gained anti-energy property it should have cut the aether in the air.

I could feel a minuscule amount of aether being erased as it touched the sword.

The process was a failure.

One, the amount of aether being erased was too less. It would serve no practical help in battles unless I increased the density of Zero. But I was already doing my best for what I could do, so it wasn't possible.

Two, the sword also contained Aether and other small amounts of different energies. This was what made artifacts different from normal weapons.

However, Zero was removing that Aether or suppressing it. This made the sword useless as it became no different from a normal sword, losing its sharpness, durability, and attack power.

Also, this was using the majority of Zero being supplied to the sword.

I thought of using my constructed weapons but stopped. They were created from ether had had no real substance. Zero would destroy them the moment they combine.

I did not get disheartened by my failure.

Failure was already second nature to me. I had long stopped getting disheartened and focusing on moving ahead. This was the key to remaining sane, if I do say myself.

I placed the sword in my hand inside my storage ring and brought out another sword.

Scan

A new constellation formed.

I was focusing on my constellation when a voice entered my ears.

"He..llo? Can you hear me..?"

My eyes fluttered open. I recognized the voice.

Instantly, I saw a girl with black hair and viridian eyes closely staring at my face, waving her hand in front of me.

"Eeik!!"

She jumped back like a scared cat but didn't have a cat's reflexes, ultimately falling on her back.

I stood up and walked to her, giving her my hand to stand.

She looked at my face with an uneasy gaze, then at my arm, trying to decide if she should take my hand.

'I know they looked similar but this is exactly the same.'

If I ignored the air of a frightened cat around her, she looked no different from her sister.

"You can take my hand. I won't bite."

However, I knew better than to mistake her for her sister. If I did, then forget forming a connection with her, she might hold a grudge for a life-time.

'Her inferiority complex is no joke.'

She was...

"Y..es"

Katrina Kenward.

"Uhm... why have you been h..ere for f-five days!"

The twin sister of Anna Kenward.

"How many days!?"