Vampire's Slice Of Life

"Any signs?" A person from the ground asked, shouting at the person above ground.

"No." The person from above yelled back.

These two students were moving along the jungle and were searching for students. But they weren't able to find any as of now.

"Should we look for other things instead of the participants?" The person from above asked the guy below.

"Yes. Let's do that. There's no point in sear–"

"Oi, what happ–"

The two felt someone's hand on their mouth and the next thing they realized, everything around them turned dark.

Sheng and Ji had made their move and attacked the two. They both opted for the same attack method. First covering their mouth to ensure they don't yell and then knocking them conscious. It was a simple and effective attack they did.

Sheng and Ji then brought the two unconscious people to where Ojas was. Ojas cast a sealing spell on the two and locked the two in their position.

"Sheng, Ji, quickly put your spiritual power in their badges." Ojas said to the two.

The two took out the badges and inserted their own spiritual power into the two's badges. The two unconscious people's spiritual power fought with Sheng's and Ji's but in the end, were suppressed and erased from the badge making them successful in putting their own spiritual powers in the badges.

Space fluctuated and the two people that lay on the ground vanished from their spots, leaving behind only their badges that had the name of the two.

Ojas patted the shoulder of Sheng and Ji and said, "well done. These two were from A-49, and were low in the ranking than us but you two didn't lower your guard and eliminated them well. Let's go, there's still 9000+ people remaining."

The trio met with Gunther and the four people left the spot where the two people got eliminated.

...

In a dark forest.

Lith was standing and meditating. It has been a few hours since he was doing so. He had been comprehending the Death laws all this while and as his understanding of the laws increased, so did the area of his Magic Core.

It wasn't just the area that increased. His Magic Core, which only had a small patch of grassland, a small mountain range, and a small sea showed changes too.

Previously, when Lith ascended to Rank 2, the area of these three places had increased and that was the only thing that happened. No other changes took place.

The grassland only had a few patches of grass and the mountain, it was barren. The sea had no life in it either and was as lifeless as the mountain.

But now, things were changing as he started comprehending the Death laws. The few patches of grass that were present started withering and fell down on the ground. It was progress for Lith. The grass wouldn't have withered had Lith not comprehended the Death laws.

The grass grew because Lith had a good foundation in Life laws but never withered due to his comprehension of Life laws being superior to Death laws. Only now did the Death laws match the Life laws and an equilibrium was established between the two.

The grass, although it withered, didn't decompose and turned into fertilizer for the soil and made it fertile. To get decomposed, microscopic organisms were needed and Lith's Life law comprehension wasn't enough to have them exist in his Magic Core.

His Magic Core, just like any other person's at Rank 2, didn't have any form of life yet. It was barren with only remarkable features that made him stand out among the rest being his Magic Core area being double in size as compared to them.

Another interesting thing about Magic Core was the fact that at higher ranks, people would have life forms exist. One didn't need to have an affinity to Life to have life exist in their cores. The creation of life was a complex thing and even if a person only had an affinity to Fire or Earth, they would still have some or the other form of life in their cores as their Magic Rank increased.

Lith's foundation was so strong that his Magic Core wasn't barren when it was awakened. He had a few patches of grass grow and if word got out, the world would be in a little chaos.

Lith's Magic Core area had increased as well due to his comprehension in Death laws. He was now at around 22,000 km².

One should know that according to the world's standards, once one crossed the 10,000 km² mark, they would be considered a Rank 3. Lith had already touched that number when he ascended to Rank 2 and if he were to say that to someone, they would definitely think of him as a Rank 3 and never believe that he had just ascended to Rank 2.

Majority of the people undergo a bodily change once their cores reach a certain size in area and for Rank 3, it was 10,000 km² on an average in the world. This type of change happens when someone ascends to another rank and the bodily changes are an indication of ascension. Though it is not the only thing that says one has broken through to a higher realm.

Though Lith would be considered a Rank 3 by the world, he won't actually be a Rank 3 until and unless his body undergoes a change. This change would happen when the area of his core reaches to a certain size and the color of his core is changed completely from gray to violet.

His core color was half gray and half violet currently and due to comprehending the Death laws, the violent color had increased. Once his core becomes completely violet, he would undergo a change and ascend to Rank 3.

Lith continued to meditate for a few more minutes and when he felt that he couldn't comprehend the laws of Death anymore, he stopped.

'My cultivation has increased. That's nice. This place made me understand the Death laws well. I wonder if there are more such places in this dimension. I should go find out.' Lith thought to himself.

Lith extended his wings out once again and flew away from the gloomy dark forest. His goal was to search for places such as these and if he found any participants during this time, he would eliminate them.

...

In a dense jungle.

"Huff… Huff…" Lucas took support of a tree and breathed raggedly.

He had been running for a long time, even using his spiritual power to cast magic spells to rush towards a certain destination.

Calming down his breath, Lucas looked in a certain direction and thought, 'those four should've eliminated two people by now and are moving towards the lake. I have to find them quickly and properly divert them to the place where I want them to be. I did lay traps for a certain someone and his friends but I know for sure that they aren't enough. I'll put more traps after I am done with this. This is more important.'

Lucas rested for a few minutes near the tree and set off once again.

He took out a pill from his ring and ate it. He felt rejuvenated and all his tiredness vanished. His spiritual power was restored too and he willed the wind elements around and rushed as fast as he could. It was important for him to meet Gunther and the trio.

An hour later.

Lucas stopped in his tracks when he found traces of Gunther and the trio in the surroundings.

'They are definitely moving ahead. Good.' Lucas thought to himself.

Instead of following the traces and sneaking behind them, Lucas took another route that would have him bypass the four and lead him to be in front of them.

Lucas's goal was not to have a head-on clash with them. His motives were different and all he wanted was to divert them to a place.

Lucas moved again and a few minutes later, he was ahead of the four.

Lucas was still in the dense jungle and ahead of him was a lake. Looking at the end of the lake, Lucas could see that his vision was getting blocked and there seemed to be some sort of gloomy darkness at that place.

Lucas sighed as he saw the place in front. 'An elemental energy-rich zone. Sigh, if I had Death laws, I would've gone there. I wonder if anyone has been to this place or not? In the last tournament, I didn't find anyone to have been in any of such elemental energy-rich zones. Well whatever, not like it matters. I'll just have to go to the ones I have an affinity with for now and raise my cultivation.'

Lucas then turned to look back at the dense jungle. 'Those four should be coming here anytime. Time to drop the hints and have them act as my puppets.'

Lucas took out a few scrolls from his ring and caused certain changes to the environment around him and then buried the scrolls deep underground.

After finishing up, he left the place. 'Done. Now all I need to do is lay traps again and move to elemental energy-rich zones.'

...

In a dense jungle.

"Hey look, there seem to be traces of someone." Ji pointed at footprints on the ground and said to the three present around him.

Gunther, Sheng, and Ojas walked towards him and saw footprints on the ground. Indeed, someone was here.

"Keep your guards up and let's move stealthily. We do not know if the opponent in front of us is strong or weak." Ojas said and the three others followed his commands.

They followed the footsteps and soon found themselves in front of a lake. Looking at the end of the lake, there seemed to be gloomy darkness of some sort which made Gunther and Ojas be on guard but Sheng and Ji to feel relaxed.

Ojas was about to discuss that atmosphere with the other three but his gaze landed on a small signboard. He walked close to it and noticing him move, the other three followed suit.

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