ATG: God of Shadows

Alex, now walking around in circles with his brows furrowed in deep thought. There were no beasts or anything in the forest, which was weird, but what caught the attention was not just Alex's thoughtful strides but the fact that, right behind him, mimicking his every step with uncanny precision, was Igris.

The tall, armored shadow warrior, usually a figure of solemn duty and quiet strength, was comically following Alex's exact path. Every time Alex turned, Igris would swivel on his heel just as sharply, his crimson eyes glowing faintly beneath his helm, utterly serious in his task of mirroring his liege.

Alex, unaware of how this scene appeared to any onlookers, continued to pace, his mind racing with thoughts about his next steps in cultivation. The absurdity of Igris' movements didn't register with him—his focus was entirely inward.

Alex muttered absentmindedly, "What would be the best way to proceed with my training? Should I focus on energy control or expand my knowledge of techniques? I already am in the 10th Level of the Elementary Profound Realm, that isn't much in this world but at least it's a good start."

"Damn, this is actually the first time in my life that I am not scrolling reels on my phone and actually just walking around in nature. Not that I have a phone in this world. Ah! I miss that world a bit now, there ain't anything to pass my time in this world, more like waste my time."

An irritable expression could be seen on Alex's face as he continued to walk, and think in his mind.

Igris, despite hearing the ranting of his Lord, continued to follow, his armored boots thudding softly on the earth, his expression (if one could see it) one of earnest attention.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of walking in circles, Alex came to an abrupt stop. Igris halted immediately, standing at attention, ready for any command.

Alex's expression shifted to that of like a scientist who suddenly found a breakthrough in his research, "Wait a fucking minute!, there is a Earth in the Primal Chaos as well!. I remember that in the novel there was a guy named Xiao Mo, who met Yun Che in the Profound God's Convention and told him that he is from Earth. Event the description he gave about that planet being technologically advanced and no cultivators there was also accurate."

"I can actually go to that planet once I am strong enough. Fuck, I hope that they have PS5 at least, I wanna play that. No! it would be great if there was VR gaming in this world, like the Sword Art Online!.....now that would be something."

With an instant motivation in his eyes Alex lifted his fist to the sky and a fire could be seen in his eyes," Yoshi!! Let's do it for the games!!"

Alex, finally breaking the loop of his thoughts, and said,

"Should I cultivate again? or should I go through my overpowered book? Damn, life is confusing when you have two overpowered cheats huh? But then again, any being would love to suffer this confusion in their lives. Haha, I really was lucky."

"Now then, let's get back to work baby!"

As Alex said so, he summoned the Book of Cultivation and thought about the Array Formation section. It was automatically opened like the description had said. 

As Alex looked at the first page in this section, Alex saw an index, it was two pages long. All there was written on it was Introduction and Cultivation Realms and the page numbers it took. 

In front of the Introduction, there was 2024 written.

"Damn, there are 2024 pages just for the introduction. Well, if I think about it, it makes perfect sense, after all this subject is about the introduction to a subject that can potentially shape the life of a planet or even universes."

As Alex saw the number of pages written in front of the cultivation realms in the index, he felt his head ache.

"How the hell am I supposed to finish this book. There are about half a million pages in just the Array Formation section. If the number of pages other sections is the same, then I am in for an actual life long study session."

"A more logical question would have been how the hell does this small book fits that many pages! I thought that the pages would be around 500 or so when I first saw the book but now? Fuck it! I guess that's the price for knowledge...boredom."

As soon as Alex said so, a black ray of light visible in the sky was coming to this place at a very fast pace. It was beru."

Soon, he landed right next to Alex, cause a small amount of dust to surround Alex and Igris.

Beru seeing what he had done, directly knelt in front of Alex and started to bang his head on the ground.

"I am sorry my Liege, this pathetic servant of yours caused you to get dirty. I should just offer my head to you!" said Beru with tears in his eyes.

Alex and Igris both had a drop of sweat on their faces seeing Beru's antics. Alex just shrugged the dust from his hair and face and said," It's alright Beru. Now, stand up and tell me about the task I gave you."

Beru looked at Alex once more with a look of reverence and banged his head once again on the ground and said, "Thank you for being so magnanimous My Liege! I shall serve you till the world collapses."

Alex just smiled at him, getting used to his antics.

Beru stood and said," My Liege, I have completed the task you gave me. I found the a place in the side of north, around 21 kilometers from here."

"Hmm, great work Beru, let's wait for Bellion then move to that place you found for me."

"Till then you guys cultivate too. I want you to grow stronger than you currently are. You might be strong on this planet but in the Realm of Gods you are also just weaklings."

Igris nodded and said, "My Liege, we have already spread our aura in this forest area, so there won't be any beasts coming here. The strongest beasts before us coming to this place were at the 2nd level of the Emperor Profound Realm and their leader was in 5th level of Emperor Profound Realm. "

"But all of them have fled as soon as they felt our aura. So, there won't be any risks to you in this place. But some humans might come to investigate here, so one of us must be present at all times with you for your protection."

Alex thought about it and said, "Hmm. I understand, now Beru, you will be the one to guard me and the Igris you go and cultivate. I guess when Bellion comes back, we can settle for a 8 hour shift for each of you as you don't feel fatigued."

"As you command My Liege!" X2

Both Beru and Igris said simultaneously.

"So, where are you going to cultivate? I mean the energy on this planet is barely enough for you to reach the Divine Origin Realm."

Igris and Beru looked at each other and looked at Alex once again in sync as Igris spoke once again,

"About that, My Liege, we seem to be unable to cultivate on this planet or even on any realm in Primal Chaos. The only place we can cultivate is in the Shadow Domain."

Alex frowned after hearing what Igris said, "What?. That is going to be a big setback on us. It doesn't matter where you cultivate but in midst of a battle if you were to try and recover your energy, won't you need to go back to the Shadow Domain? That will be a big disadvantage for us."

Beru took the lead this time and said, 

"No, My Liege, the restriction only seems to be on us when we try to absorb the profound energy to increase our cultivation realm, that is when we expand our energy pools. But, when we try to use the energy for recovering our energy pools, it works perfectly fine."

Alex's expression softened a bit as he spoke," That's a relief. Otherwise, it would have been problematic for us in the future."

"Very well now, Igris, go back to the Shadow Domain."

"Yes, My Lord!" saying so Igris turned to a shadow on the ground and merged with Alex's shadow and disappeared.