I Am A Notorious Hidden Boss In The Alternate World

'Am I being mistaken for a native? But even a native wouldn't receive such respect and worship, right?' 

'…Well, whatever.'

Baffled as Albion was, he was not too interested in what they were thinking.

Perhaps they have some sort of misconception or misunderstanding, but none of it mattered nor concerned him as long as they do not disturb him. 

'Continue to cultivate!'

With that thought in mind, Albion stopped paying attention to the tourists' odd behavior before he continued to cultivate, taking advantage of the rich spiritual energy to push forward to the next stage.

…

Ashura Empyrean Arts.

Whether it was its prospective height of achievement or rate of absorption and refinement—cultivation speed, in other words, it was far superior to Heaven-grade cultivation arts like the Starmoon Refining Art in every way. 

As an Empyrean-grade cultivation art, one of the nine supreme cultivation arts that stand at the apex of the Nine Divine Heavens, it was truly deserving to be the highest of the heavens.

Without the aid of cultivation pills, someone like Polemos would still take a year to advance to the Late-stage of the Spirit Refinement Realm using the World Tree's spiritual energy. 

However, one hour into his cultivation, Albion was already nearing another breakthrough and advance to the Mid-stage of the Spirit Refinement Realm.

During this time, tourists continued to come and go without entering the forest after being warned of the hidden dangers lying inside by their tourist guides.

Strangely, more than one tourist group paid silent respects to Fenriri and Albion as they cultivated while some skeptical individuals ridiculed their foolish actions.

Swoosh!

Albion's aura eventually surged like a rising tempest of spiritual energy as he stepped into the Mid-stage Spirit Refinement Realm.

Ding!

<Your cultivation has increased to Mid-stage Spirit Refinement Realm>

<Your soul strength has reached a milestone>

<A portion of the seal has been permanently lifted>

<10 units of divine energy has been recovered>

<[Balance]: 43/1000 divine energy>

The system's notification rang inside Albion's mind as his eyes snapped open with a bright glow of wisdom. 

'A breakthrough in the Spirit Refinement Realm returns ten units of divine energy instead of the usual five units of divine energy, eh?'

Counting the previous breakthrough, Albion recovered twenty divine energy units for the two consecutive breakthroughs.

'With this, I have taken another step closer to gaining perfect control of the Dark Emperor's body!'

'Goldfinger, what is the max duration of my free reign in the unsealed state now?' Albion inquired.

Ding! 

<[Free Reign]: 2h20m02s>

'More than 2 hours, eh? That's plenty of time compared to the past. I won't have to be as mindful of the time when I lift the seal in the future,' Albion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. 

Swoosh~!

Suddenly, Fenriri's aura surged, signifying her breakthrough to Peak-stage Aura Lord before her eyes snapped open brightly. 

"Thank you, Master! Fenriri would not have advanced to Peak-stage Aura Lord so soon if not for Master's help."

"Don't mention it," Albion waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "Your breakthrough was a result of your own luck and efforts." 

Albion naturally understood why Fenriri was thanking him. 

Thanks to the absolute superiority of his Empyrean-grade cultivation art, he was able to draw in colossal amounts of spiritual energy towards them, which also benefited Fenriri as a result of being close to him. 

In other words, Fenriri leeched his gathered spiritual energy to achieve her swift breakthrough despite only reaching the Late-stage Aura Lord Realm not too long ago.

It wasn't farfetched to say that he power-leveled her with his monstrous ability to gather spiritual energy quickly.

Suddenly, Albion's eyes flickered with a sudden thought.

"The spiritual energy in this region is quite high, but if I can build a spirit gathering formation here, it will increase the cultivation speed of everyone cultivating before it," Albion softly muttered to himself. 

As its name implies, a spirit gathering formation was capable of gathering spiritual energy from the surrounding atmosphere and condensing it, thereby increasing the density of spiritual energy within the spirit gathering formation's effective range.

Cultivators would achieve twice the result with half the effort by cultivating in a spirit gathering formation, but of course, this was just a figure of speech. 

Achieving tenfold the result or greater was not outside the realms of possibility, depending on the quality of the spirit gathering formation.

That being said, local elves wouldn't just allow him to build a spirit gathering formation in their territory nor let people come and leech their World Tree's spiritual energy. 

Swoosh!

Suddenly, a scorching-hot fire arrow was shot over with incredible speed and precision, aiming for Albion's left shoulder—only for him to flick it away with his fingers casually. 

An ordinary cultivator in the Mid-stage Spirit Refinement Realm would not have been able to replicate such a feat casually, but he was no ordinary cultivator.

"The elves were still alerted, huh?" Albion muttered with interest before staring off into the direction of the attack.

At the same time, Fenriri was alarmed before jumping into a battle position, ready to pounce the assailants upon sight.

"Are you alright, Master?"

"Of course, I am," Albion casually replied. "What can happen to me?" 

Not long after, a group of bow-wielding elves arrived, led by a young female elf with lustrous golden-blonde hair, fair skin, and emerald eyes. 

With her cultivation at the Late-stage Spirit Refinement Realm, Albion did not doubt that she was the one who fired the enchanted arrow at him.

"Without a doubt, elves are as beautiful as human imagination depicted them to be. In light of that previous arrow being a non-lethal shot, I will overlook your transgression against me," Albion calmly stated as he remains seated on the tree branches.

His words immediately caused disgruntled looks on the male elves standing behind the leading female elf, who appeared to be the group leader. 

As they prepared to attack, the female elf stopped them with a hand signal before frowning at Albion with a deep look. 

"Captain…?" 

The male elves glanced at the leading female elf, taken aback. 

"Stand down. I will handle this," the female elf stated with her gaze fixed on Albion, unwilling to take her eyes off him. 

Evidently, she was apprehensive of his strength.