"Hey, Old Fart. Is it fun pretending to be young? What is the use of chasing undeserved fame and attention at this age?" an old warrior called out to Vaan from the 495th step, believing Vaan was an old warrior who had altered his appearance.
The Youthful Rejuvenation Potion was the most common product for restoring one's youthful appearance.
Although the Youthful Rejuvenation Potion had no other benefits, beauty products were never cheap. Even so, anyone who could become a Peak Rank 4 Body Refiner wouldn't be short of funds.
That was why the old warrior was so certain of his assumption.
"Think what you will," Vaan calmly replied, paying no further heed to the old warrior on the 495th step. He didn't see the need to explain himself.
However, the old warrior was not satisfied with his response.
"Hehe, the younglings might be ignorant, but I know you are definitely an old fart inside. Why don't you tell me your name? Perhaps I might know you," the old warrior said, softly chuckling.
"Vanderlin Pendragon," Vaan flatly answered.
"Hahaha…" the old warrior laughed, but his gaze became increasingly disdainful, knowing Vaan used a fake name. "Stubborn to the end, huh? What a boring old fart."
The old warrior lost interest in Vaan and refocused on his meditation.
Vain old fogies using the Youthful Rejuvenation Potion and changing their names to chase fame and young women was uncommon but not unprecedented.
With such a unique name, the old warrior was completely certain Vaan was just another attention-seeking old fogey.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAfter their short interaction ended, Vaan focused on the application of the Concept of Cosmic Flow. This powerful method allowed him to compress a huge amount of space within a short time, which could be used in many ways.
With Vaan's brilliant mind, he already derived many spatial skills within a short time. These new skills were mainly divided into three categories: offensive, suppressive, and defensive.
No one could deny the crushing power of the black hole. Thus, the Concept of Cosmic Flow undoubtedly possessed strong offensive power.
However, Vaan believed the greatest aspect of the Concept of Cosmic Flow didn't lie in its strong offensive power but in its suppressive and defensive power.
He could replicate the gravitational pressure of the Black Mountain to suppress his opponents or train his own group of Body Refiners.
Even Witches could benefit from it.
The Concept of Cosmic Flow could also be used to seal away and restrict objects and people, trapping them within layers upon layers of space or suppressing his opponents' powers, potentially lowering their combat prowess.
Provided that he was capable enough, Vaan could even create an infinite void of compressed space between him and his opponents, causing their incoming attacks to be like feet stuck in muddy swamps, moving incredibly slow in the eyes of others.
'If I use the Concept of Cosmic Flow like a slingshot, my travel speed in the sea of stars can also achieve new heights,' Vaan mused.
There didn't seem to be any limit to the application of the Law of Space; the only real limitation was one's imagination.
As Vaan endured the pressure of the 490th Black Mountain Step, his comprehension of the Law of Space eventually surpassed the 5% bottleneck. In that instant, something seemed to have awoken in the deepest part of his soul, making him look blank as information and unfamiliar memories filled his mind.
…
…
…
Although Vaan caused quite a stir with his ascension to the 490th mountain step, he did not draw strong attention from the imperial capital.
Normally, such an achievement by a member of the younger generation would attract everyone's attention. However, the imperial capital presently had a greater concern – the conflict between Duke Zohar and Duke Gamliel!
Within the first quarter of the past twelve hours, the two ducal factions discovered several dead bodies of their members in secluded places around the imperial capital. Some died of poison or single-knife wounds to the heart and neck, but some also died from recognizable martial skills.
More importantly, members of both ducal factions commonly practiced such martial skills.
Of course, both Duke Zohar and Duke Gamliel had been scheming against each other for years. The death of these low-
ranking members in their factions wasn't enough to alarm.
Moreover, they could vaguely sense the intervention of a third party – one who wanted to see the conflict between their two ducal factions.
Furthermore, it likely had nothing to do with Duke Zaahir.
After all, they had a good understanding of each other and knew none of them could have made a low-level mistake such as leaving evidence of their martial skills on the bodies of the victims.
In other words, another force was fanning the flames of their conflict!
However, even though Duke Zohar and Duke Gamliel arrived at that conclusion, they had no evidence to back up their suspicions.
As such, it could only remain as it was – suspicions.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmDue to their shrewdness, a single splash in the pond wasn't enough to stir Duke Zohar and Duke Gamliel to take action against each other. They both adopted a wait-and-see situation.
However, that didn't last long.
In the second quarter of the past twelve hours, a few important members of their ducal factions were finally killed with the core martial skills of their factions.
…
Inside Duke Gamliel's estate, the bodies of Bellor Ravesk and Arth Brightglory lay on the floor before Duke Gamliel. At the same time, Lord Ravesk and Lord Brightglory grieved in front of their sons' corpses.
Although Bellor Ravesk and Arth Brightglory weren't exactly high-ranking members in the factions, they were both first-
seat heirs of their respective households. Furthermore, the House of Ravesk and the House of Brightglory were the top two families supporting Duke Gamliel.
"Your Grace, I beseech you to seek justice for my son! He has died unjustly to the Invisible Palm Force of the Nuvimze Clan under Duke Zohar!" Lord Ravesk cried.
Common faction martial skills could be learned by others, but the Invisible Palm Force was the unique martial skill of Lord Nuvimze.
It wasn't a martial skill warriors could easily imitate just by seeing it.
With Duke Gamliel's rich martial knowledge and experience, he could quickly determine the wound on Bellor's chest was made by the current head of the Nuvimze Clan.
Duke Gamliel's expression turned cold.
"Zohar, oh, Zohar… Your selfishness truly disappoints me. Even with outsiders trying to fan the flames of conflict between us, you still try to take cheap opportunities to weaken me," Duke Gamliel muttered, seemingly talking to himself before his eyes suddenly became fierce. "Did you think I wouldn't figure out what you've done?!"
"Lord Ravesk, Lord Brightglory. Your losses also saddens me. Now, I will give you both a chance to take revenge. Lead our men to kill the most talented direct members of the Nuvemze Clan and Mujild Clan!"
"Make them feel your pain!" Duke Gamliel ordered.