3525 Metal Essence Four and a half hours have passed since I had started, and I have covered quite a lot of distance. I have also collected a lot of resources. Especially the shit, which turned out to be more precious than I had thought. The metals present there are a lot purer and the stone, is something I have desired for a while. Though, I am not going to separate much of them. As a whole, they found a compound. That is going to be very helpful to me in the alchemy. Currently, the sphere taking the long route; following the route I had planned isn't possible anymore. At least for a while, I will have to use the long way for the short stretch of distance. One of the sleeping Sky Sovereign had woken up and was now eating. I could have moved through the route I had planned, but that was too close to the monster for my comfort. I want to stay as far away from it as possible. So far that it wouldn't be able to sense even a whiff of me. A few minutes passed, and the sphere had reached another open area. It is the biggest one; I have come across, but it is also the most dangerous one for me. I had come across ones that had the monsters, and I had dealt with them when they had attacked me, but this had a Peak Sovereign monster and it was a kind of dangerous. If this hadn't been a big and it would save me nearly an hour of time, I wouldn't have taken the risk. Hun! My sphere slowly begins to enter the space; I am being very careful. The monster is far away, but it could sense the slightest disturbance on the ground. There is a disturbance as the sphere moves, but it gets absorbed by the formation on it. That not even the slightest fluctuation travels far. Finally, the entire sphere had entered the empty space and shrank, before it covered me like a suit. Formations on it shifted, powering up my stealth method further. I begin to move slowly and stealthily. I will be in deep trouble if it discovered me, and I don't want that to happen. Soon, I reached quite close to the monster. In a minute, I will see it. I will need to move more stealthily, hiding by these huge boulders, which provide a big enough visual cover. A few seconds passed, and I saw the monster; a reptile with metallic scales. Hun! I only looked at it for a moment, before I saw what it was lying my and eyes went wide, in shock. I am beyond shock, seeing the dark blue puddle on which the monster is sleeping and a moment later, strings making the sphere begin to unravel from me. 'I was wondering what it was, but didn't expect this,' I thought, looking at the puddle. The bubble is not water, but the essence of skalim metal. It had some absorption qualities, and it is due to it; that I wasn't able to discover what it was. I would have if I dared to look close enough, but I didn't want to risk it and it is a good thing, I didn't. 'So, this means the other places also have the essence,' I thought, looking at it. It is not the only place that had. There are several places where I had sensed something like it. Though nearly all of those places have an aura of Sky Sovereign or actual Sky Sovereign on them. There are a few that had been occupied by Peak Earth-Sovereign monsters like it, but getting the essence from them would be dangerous. See, I had come to this place because it was huge. The others were small; the monsters would discover me the moment, I tried to enter their area. Still, I would try if I will be able to do it as safely as possible, but I won't risk my life for it. Hun! I was thinking that, looking at the projection of the mountain in front of me, when suddenly, I felt the movement from the monster. I have just turned at it, only to see it looking at me with those dark yellow eyes. "Fuck!" I cursed as the monster moved toward me, but I didn't move. Instead, I appeared above the boulder with the sword in my hand. The monster moved fast, and its movements were more silent than one would expect from a monster like this, but they were. The only thing about it that attracts attention is the glittering scales on its body, which are shining. It had crossed half of the distance between us in less than a second when suddenly; it slowed down and confusion appeared on its face, and soon that confusion had turned into the rage. It is realized; that I have something to do with its slowness. Roar! It lets out the roar; it is powerful all right, but not as powerful as it should have been. It was not a thunderous roar, filled with magic; all the magic had been absorbed by my strings and also most of the sound. The rest will be absorbed by the walls. Skalim is one of the metals found in the mountain and second of absorptive quality, which means, even sound and energy coming from our battle will be absorbed and so are the quakes. Its aura roared, but that too absorbed by my strings. However, it still came at me with considerable physical power, which is dangerous for me. CLANNNG! Its claws clashed against my sword hard, shaking me before the bladed tail came at me, which I had avoided. I had just avoided that when I saw another claw attacking coming at me. CLANNNG CLANNNG CLANNNG It attacked me with claws, a tail, and even a mouth, which I had avoided at all costs. Even restricted, that mouth of it is extremely dangerous; if caught, it will be game over for me, before I could do anything to it. So, I avoided it while countering the attack of other body parts. For a few seconds, it attacked me furiously, but soon it had started to slow down a little by a little. It became furious and summoned power for the energy attack, to make its physical attacks stronger, but that too had failed. My strings had absorbed all the energy. It is getting more frustrated and angry, and it is channeling it all into its attack. It even gets stronger. If it had any other fight, it would have helped it, but here, there is no chance. Once my strings bound it, it won't get away, instead, things will become only harder from it. Hun! A few more seconds passed when it finally realized the state it was in and tried to escape, but now it was late. "It is time to say goodbye," I said and moved to attack. Puch! A second later, the shine in its eyes begins to disappear. When it did, I had collected the corps and turned to the essence. I looked at, it before looking up, and there was a drop forming. I spread my soul sense to it and added a heavy amount of forbidden power. A few seconds later, I understood how the essence is forming and turned to the essence in front of me. Creation is hard, cheer me up! AnWan