Chapter 1968

His first thought was that this was an abnormal phenomenon created by climate change. At first glance, the shape of the jade-colored castle floating into the sky resembled a moon.

"The Full Moon Fortress."

Grid was puzzled as he checked the signboard attached to the huge gateway. As Cranbel had explained, the erosion ritual's purpose was creating space rifts. Grid assumed that perhaps a number of cultivators were working together to create something similar to a black hole.

However, a castle...

"...Ah?"

Grid recalled the scenery he had seen when he was transmitted to another dimension by Judar. Back then, there were four moons in the place which had the name 'update not yet determined.' Seeing that they were slowly gaining a red tint, he had wondered if they would soon become suns. That sight had made it difficult for Grid to wrap his head around.

'What if this is what those moons were supposed to become?'

Beneath the four moons, the desert had buried the remnants of a civilization familiar to Grid. Those building ruins had an architecture that was commonly found in Reinhardt and Titan.

'...Does this mean that the Full Moon Fortress will appear everywhere the erosion ritual is attempted, and that if only four of them fulfill their role, the world will be eroded and destroyed...?'

That's what Grid thought, at least.

An unfamiliar voice called out to him. "Which sect are you from?"

Grid turned around and saw a man, his glossy long white hair tied with a hairpin. It was hard to tell how old he was, but his eyes reflected years of knowledge and wisdom, and his skin was flawless. The man said, "The Full Moon Fortress here is supposed to be smelted and managed by our Geumheo Sect, as well as the Gyodu and Paehyeol Sects... I sense no traces of you practicing the techniques of any of these three sects."

"An Absolute... Are you in the void refining realm?"

The moment Grid asked this question, the man's expression changed subtly.

"You can't determine my realm, so you are inferior to me. Are you really in the qi refining realm?"

"You are affiliated with the Geumheo Sect. What's your name?"

"I heard that the mortals here have some resemblance to cultivators. You have learned the art of magic in addition to body refining techniques. I don't think your skills and accomplishments are necessarily proportional to each other."

The man pulled a rope out of his mouth. Dozens of flags were hanging from that rope.

"I don't know if you stumbled upon this Full Moon Fortress by chance or on purpose, but consider yourself unlucky for being here. Great Weight Prohibition Circle." The man cast a spell and dozens of flags unfolded in all directions.

The flags stood upright as if nailed to the air, emitting colorful lights. Grid was trapped in the center. The air around him became hard to breathe. Gravity suddenly felt a hundred times stronger.

In an instant, the ban was completed. It was incredibly fast compared to a magic barrier, which required drawing a magic circle.

The man smirked and pulled out a huge mace from his mouth. "No need for your pointless rambling anymore. You can't lift a finger while trapped in there."

The sheer power emitted by that mace distorted the landscape around them. It was proof that this guy had the power to destroy even space. He swung the mace at Grid's head.

The average player usually suffered an overwhelming defeat when encountering a cultivator because the cultivators' techniques were similar to Control Sword. The cultivators rarely held and brandished weapons directly. They infused them with spiritual aura and mystical arts to control them with their will. Thus, cultivators easily ignored the constraints of distance.

However, Grid was very familiar with the concepts of Control Sword and will. He easily dodged the thunderbolts of the mace. He even predicted the cultivator's next move, which stopped and changed its trajectory as soon as the attack missed.

The moment the mace stopped, Grid snorted and grabbed it. "Are you toying with me?" he asked.

The white-haired man frowned. A series of new mystical letters were released and the mace surprisingly began releasing thunderbolts.

Grid frowned at the tingling pain, but it didn't affect him that much. No matter how hard the mace tried to escape Grid's grasp, it couldn't, since Grid had put all his stat points into Strength.

Flash!

Five white flashes shot out from Grid's fingers. This was the magic that cultivators talked about. Strangely, it looked like basic magic. However, the man had figured out Grid's skills and didn't let his guard down. He jumped backward to dodge the attack.

Grid chased him as if he had expected the cultivator to do exactly that. He slammed the mace, which was emitting thunderbolts and glowing like crazy, into the man's face.

The man smiled faintly. An intangible shield surrounded his body. This was also why the cultivators were getting on the players' nerves. Cultivators could use a shield that was tougher than the Mana Shield without any restrictions. This shield not only protected against enemy attacks, it also launched counterattacks if struck, giving them an overwhelming advantage in battle.

But Grid had access to Annihilation energy. He was the one who destroyed gods and dragons, who always had plenty of ways to keep themselves alive. The white-haired man's shield shattered as soon as the mace hit it.

"......!"

A round shield and lightning popped out of the astonished man's mouth at the same time, but he was one second too late. Grid swung his other hand, cutting the man with Defying the Natural Order before the shield could activate again.

The lightning was absorbed by the mace. The white-haired man's attempts to fight back were futile. He had been devoting himself to training for tens of thousands of years, and he couldn't understand how he managed to lose.

A dwarf, face contorted in confusion and rage, emerged from the man's body that had been split in half. It was the man's nascent soul. He planned to flee to the Full Moon Fortress to join his comrades.

"I've memorized your face! No matter where you decide to hide, I will find you and get revenge on you!"

It was unfortunate that he lost the body he had spent his entire life training. However, the man still had a chance. He had a talented student, and he was confident that if he took over that student's body, he would one day restore his cultivation level.

The problem was that his opponent was too powerful.

"You can't hide."

Unfortunately, while on patrol, he stumbled upon Grid of all people, and Grid had learned how to capture nascent souls.

"Kuaaak!!"

Grid didn't give the nascent soul a chance to teleport. He immediately used Shunpo, grabbed the nascent soul by the head and used the Memory Searching Technique on him.

[The Memory Searching Technique has failed. The nascent soul target is in shock.]

[The Memory Searching Technique has failed. The nascent soul target has received huge damage to his soul.]

[The Memory Searching Technique has failed. The damage has accumulated in the target's original soul, causing him to lose some of his memories and knowledge...]

......

...

This was indeed the mental power of an Absolute. The nascent soul was captured by Grid, but still didn't give in despite the tormenting pain. Rather, he resisted by exuding a lot of wild lightning energy.

"Uwaaah..."

The nascent soul couldn't endure the damage to his soul and finally died. He glared at Grid with wide eyes until he took his last breath.

Of course, Grid didn't care. How many beings had he killed so far? He was too worn out to remember the exact number or fear the grudges and curses of the dead.

"I need to learn a technique as soon as possible and increase my total amount of spiritual energy. This way, I can level up the Memory Searching Technique."

Grid felt a pang of disappointment at not getting any information out of the cultivator, but he soon moved on. How easy could it be to extract information from the nascent soul of an Absolute with a low-level technique?

Grid had already gained one benefit by encountering the white-haired man. He could now use Berith's Skin Mask.

"Um?"

Grid transformed into the white-haired man using the mask. He cocked his head at the sight of an unusual technique book among the loot dropped by the man. The letters engraved on the gold cover shimmered like they were alive.

Even with Grid's visual acuity, he could only grasp the letters for 'lightning' and bow.'

'This thing... I think I will have to ask Sticks about it.'

In addition, there were thousands of spiritual stones classified as intermediate goods, as well as the mace, flags, and garments.

Grid flew in the direction of the Full Moon Fortress. The fortress seen up close was larger than he'd expected. The gateway alone was large enough for thousands of people and carriages to pass through at the same time. A wide boulevard stretched out behind it.

Thousands of houses and stores lined the areas around the main street, like this was a city. However, there were no signs of life. The ground, the tower, and all the buildings were dyed the color of jade. At first glance, it looked like time had frozen in this city.

'Why do they need a city like this to open a space rift?'

To make it a home for the cultivators who would cross through the rift? Or was it some kind of offering?

The city was dead quiet. Grid didn't even hear the buzzing of insects as he traversed the streets before arriving at the castle in the center. He stopped for a moment. He could feel the presence of several people inside the castle. He listened closely and could faintly make out a conversation.

"The formation has been installed. Why hasn't the great elder of that ghostly sect come?"

"He said he had an ominous feeling and went out. He assured me he will be back, so he will probably be back soon."

"What? A Saint's intuition is close to predicting the future, but you are talking like this isn't a big deal."

It was noisy inside. People seemed to be busy moving around.

Grid swung the door open. Dozens of cultivators turned to look at him.

"Great elder!"

"I greet Saint Zhang He."

Most people were happy and courteous. However, a few figures who walked into the room cocked their heads. They secretly exchanged looks and pointed to Grid.

"Cultivator Zhang, I haven't seen you in hundreds of years," one of them said. "You have now developed a strange hobby. How can a lightning cultivator pretend to be a five elements cultivator? You even have a low level of cultivation."

"Are you talking about me having a spiritual root with the attribute of the five elements?" Grid asked.

The cultivators became agitated, as if they sensed something was amiss.

Those who hadn't dared make eye contact with Grid since he looked like the white-haired man slowly lifted their heads and stepped back in dismay.

"Who are you?!!"

The cultivators who seemed to belong to the same sect as the white-haired man were extremely shocked. Without waiting for Grid's answer, they unleashed all types of weapons and techniques.

"You are all so very violent. Did you equip 'Killer' as a passive skill?"

Despite a series of violent explosions, Grid didn't have a single scratch on his body thanks to Multiple Weakening Barriers. The indigo barrier was way better than the cultivators' shields, and it prevented any damage taken.

"Well, if that's how things are, then I can kill all of you without feeling a little bit guilty."

Grid's sword flashed and sliced through those who were close to him.

"Sword cultivator...!"

The cultivators were appalled. They felt like they were facing an unheralded disaster. Grid's status hadn't been affected by the contents of the update. He was still a predator, and he naturally struck fear into his enemies.