Whispers of A Dead Empire

Chapter 67

Once the pain had faded, I stood up and teleported over to the training area. My domain was still empty, and I saw the adventurers were gone. Good riddance, then. I turned towards some of the target dummies and quickly looked through my skills. So Harrowing Gaze wouldn't be good to use here since it would affect living entities. However, I could still practice the other skills.

First off, I activated Dragon's flesh, and a strange sensation covered my skin. It felt as if it was being stretched out by some unseen machine. The top layer darkened slightly and dried out. Cracks formed across the surface, at regular intervals seeming imitating scales. I ran my fingers across it, and it felt a bit like dried leather, but there were tiny bits of metal that faintly glittered in dying sunlight. I glanced at my medium-clad hand and saw that the skill seemed to blend in with my medium.

Out of a morbid sense of curiosity, I created a new chef's knife and ran it across the palm of my hand. The tip of the knife only scratched the surface of my skin, but nothing more. I didn't really press all that hard. But it was good. At least I had some survivability in a fight. The upside was that this skill wasn't a constant resource drain. Which was odd. I may have to consult with Kharon to figure out what was going on.

I kept the skin on and tested my next skill. I summoned my weapon template and five-long reptilian-like claws extended from my fingertips. The back of my hand took on a gauntlet-like appearance. As if I had stuck my hand into a giant glove. Overall the hand was large and covered in etheric scales. The claws themselves were an easy fifteen centimeters and came to a triangular shape near the top. The thought of these hitting somebody made me shiver slightly. There was no telling how much damage these bad boys would do if I could get my hands on someone. I kept the claws out and spun around. For some reason, all of this felt so right.

I stopped, looked through my skill catalog, and tested out soul flame next. I kept my claws active as I summoned the flame forth. In the center of my palm, a radiant violet flame appeared laced with white flickered into existence. I marveled at the flame, especially since its radiated heat didn't seem to bother my skin. Instead, it gnawed away at me from the inside. A bit like a fire that burned underneath my skin.

I pointed it outwards and sent my soul forth, and the fire shot forward and slammed into the training dummy, though much to my dismay, it didn't leave any visible marking. I guess this was another one of those skills meant for living targets. I dismissed the skill and quickly brought up the next with a quick motion.

My claws shifted as a strange fire spread across their surface. The flames didn't have much of a specific color, other than the noticeable color of ki, mingling with that of my soul. It radiated a strange power that gnawed at my mind. But I ignored that feeling and stepped forward to the practice dummy and took a test swing. The air screamed out as if the claws were rending reality itself and tore through the wood as if it didn't exist. As my claws left the body of the training dummy, small gouts of flame erupted from the air, further consuming my target.

I pulled my hand back and stared at it in wonder. This was so fucking cool! I chuckled as I dismissed the skill and then focused on my next one. Which was cataclysm, though a part of me was slightly worried about the after-effects, but I wouldn't know what they were until I tried it. I took a deep breath and consulted my knowledge on using the skill.

The energy concentrated in my chest like a storm. The surrounding area dimmed as light rushed torward me. Tiny tendrils of lightning split the air around me as the power built up. My soul bar quickly drained, but I stopped it as soon as it reached half. In the blink of an eye, an explosion blinded me as my soul shot outwards in every direction, tearing up the ground and destroying a solid four meters around me in all directions.