Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player

Inside the Deathless Temple of Gloom...

Zephyr guided Altair deeper inside the temple, where bright silver flames flickered atop several half-broken columns with gold dishes at the top.

The deeper Zephyr led Altair into this place, the dimmer the flames grew.

"Eventually, once you reach the designated training area, there will be no light, only darkness, so brace yourself. You must know that a Shadow Dancer's most intimate confidant is the darkness they assume. They, who must be severed from the light, walk a path of untold tenebrosity," Zephyr voiced.

At the end of his words, his voice changed, and so did his appearance.

As his voice echoed throughout the darkening hall, Zephyr's body dissipated into thin black smoke, walking directly into the darkness without any prior indication.

Once this happened, Altair received a notice and realized that all of the silver flames had gone out, leaving him to fend for himself in a gradually overpowering darkness.

〈System: You have entered the «Corridor of Blackness»!〉

'Corridor of Blackness?' Altair repeated in his mind.

The change of scenery happened so suddenly that Altair suspected there was some strange phenomenon occurring inside the Deathless Temple of Gloom.

One moment, the corridor they walked upon seemed extensive. In the next, it seemed short, terminated by a shrine of sorts that Altair barely managed to get a glimpse of before everything went dark.

"If you want to become a Shadow Dancer, you must naturally begin with the basics. A Shadow Dancer is a natural-born assassin, one who does not need to adopt the darkness because they were born with it. I want you to extract and incubate that darkness."

Zephyr's voice resounded, echoing off the walls, and the broken pillars, but more frighteningly enough, it also echoed off the darkness itself. When it wafted past Altair's ear, he could hear the tones Zephyr used in whispering to him.

"At the base of a Shadow Dancer is their Eye of Darkness. Before you may dance, you must first know what darkness is," Zephyr said. "When you can distinguish my voice, I will know that your Eye of Darkness has awakened. Until then, you will continue to bask in this Nightly Gloom."

"The Nightly Gloom," Altair muttered, now understanding why this dark presence felt so strange.

It was entwined with an unusual kind of Mana that seemed to delve deeper than typical Dark Mana.

Rather than fret or curse his circumstances, Altair recalled Kieran's recounting of his experiences. 'According to Kieran, he had to face off against demonic creatures to prove himself to the true master of his path. While I don't sense any enemies on my path, I understand that becoming a Shadow Dancer is more about taming my darkness.'

As Altair mused over the existence of an Eye of Darkness and, more importantly, how to awaken it, he began to close his eyes and sever his focus over his other senses.

Under the effects of the Nightly Gloom, attempting to use his senses to help him was pointless.

It was similar to Kieran's experiences within the Ancient Rune Oasis, where awakening his Mystic Gate was the only solution to the predicament he faced. In Altair's case, the only thing that could be of assistance to him was the Eye of Darkness.

However, as he was quick to realize this, Altair was also quick to notice that the Nightly Gloom possessed more than one effect. Just as it rendered his senses null, it progressively increased the presence of his darkness within him.

"Focus. Let the Nightly Gloom guide the darkness where it must go. Though it's called the Eye, that doesn't necessarily mean your eyes are the focus here. Everything in the body is connected, but it also has a source--locate the source," Zephyr said, guiding Altair.

Unlike the power of a True Berserker, which borrowed from a dastardly source, the source of a Shadow Dancer was milder in nature, thus requiring less caution. There was no issue with Zephyr coaxing the direction of Altair's actions.

In the end, it was all about one's affinity when it came to obtaining the mantle of a Shadow Dancer.

Eventually, the darkness within Altair began to swirl. As this swirl intensified, Altair's surroundings gradually became clear.

However, the pace was terrifyingly slow. Returning to 10% visibility took upwards of three hours.

"Excellent. I can feel the darkness within you stirring. Now begin to embrace it, let it permeate your body--establish your Source."

Suddenly, Altair's eyes shot open. Zephyr's last words reminded him of something Kieran mentioned.

'There must be a connection. Kieran revealed that a Source is capable of providing a unique power or acting as fuel for a unique power. That must mean... this Eye of Darkness is not something within my body, but a Source that I must awaken.'

As soon as he came to this realization, Altair took a seat and exhaled.

A second later, he extended his arms with his palms turned up before inhaling deeply, followed by another long exhale.

'As a Wiyan, I'm not a normal human being. As the others said, I noticed that my body is capable of some unusual things. Though it was a harmless joke, Sithik wasn't wrong. I'm likely something of a test subject. If that's the truth, then I have one option, and that is to use my strengths to my advantage.'

Though the time he spent with his father was sparse, Altair was properly trained and even learned some of the Wiyan's special techniques, one of which included a bestial-like breathing pattern.

Eventually, Altair's breathing resembled a rumbling growl of a tiger. But the effects of this breathing burrowed deeper than expanding his lungs.

The darkness of the Nightly Gloom began to quake as Altair released his inner darkness, which manifested as a desire to kill his father, and possibly even the entire Wiyan Family.

Once he embraced these thoughts, the Nightly Gloom's attraction to Altair increased tenfold, creating a cyclone of tenebrous energies around his body.

A few minutes later, Zephyr spoke.

"The Nightly Gloom is attracted to you in ways that transcend creating an Eye of Darkness. Perhaps your previous instructor was correct. Following the path of a generic Assassin would have been a waste of your talents," Zephyr said, his emotionless voice echoing within the Corridor of Blackness.

However, unlike before, when Altair opened his eyes, he looked toward a particular corner of the corridor, a broken pillar obscuring a strange shadow.

"I've found you," Altair voiced confidently.

"Did you?" Zephyr's voice suddenly sounded beside Altair in response, prompting him to turn his head.

"How?" Altair questioned, glancing back at the obscure shadow that had begun dissipating.

"It's simple. I move faster than you perceive," Zephyr revealed.

After a moment of silence, he blinked, followed by a nod. "However, I commend you for locating the Dormant Shadow that I left for you to sense. Your Eye of Darkness has awakened, but I won't let you leave this place until it evolves further. Only then will I allow you to claim the mantle of the Shadow Dancer."

Zephyr suddenly extended his hand, coalescing two slender yet breathtaking daggers that seemed somewhat longer than the typical dagger.

Awakening the Eye of Darkness was merely the beginning. Altair still needed to learn to wield the shadows as his power.

"Use these," Zephyr said, casually throwing the daggers at Altair.

Tap! Tap!

In response, Altair moved his arms, catching the two blades Zephyr threw.

Upon closer inspection, Altair learned that these daggers were not actual weapons, but creations of Zephyr after molding a piece of the Nightly Gloom present in the Corridor of Blackness.

"The difficulty of your training will increase every hour, on the hour, so be prepared. You will not be allowed to leave until I feel that your grasp of a Shadow Dancer's principles are to my satisfaction. Once we begin, abandoning your training will not be tolerated," Zephyr said.

While he spoke, his hands were enveloped in a sharp energy. Though sharp, the edge of this energy flickered like a wavering shadow.

"It's all understood. I'm ready," Altair voiced, prepared to take the risk. As Kieran warned, the test to accept a Mythic Class was not simple at all.

Whereas Kieran was boiled alive in an ungodly solution, Altair was subjected to a kind of hellish progressive training.

Whoosh!

Altair's eyes widened as they barely tracked Zephyr stepping through the darkness to arrive by his side.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

There was no weight behind any of Zephyr's attacks. However, they took place so quickly that Altair struggled to perceive the movement of Zephyr's arms.

'This is just the beginning?' Altair thought to himself.

"You must remember that, in the presence of light, there is always darkness. Thus, however fast light moves, darkness will always be its match. That's why we're known as those who walk into lightlessness, becoming the absence itself," Zephyr said.

Seconds later, Zephyr's strikes underwent a change, becoming strong enough to drive Altair back a few meters.

Altair attempted to shake away the numbness in his arms, but his attention was stolen by the slow stroll of Zephyr who approached him.

As he walked, the darkness surrounding Zephyr seemed to propagate into an unfathomable mass of blackness, which also gained a presence of looming death.

"This is my darkness--but it can also be yours. Try harder. This is only the beginning," Zephyr commanded, his tone becoming somewhat forceful near the end.

Under Altair's trepidation-filled gaze, Zephyr reached forward and ripped the darkness before pulling it into himself. Because of that, his black garbs gained flowing shadowy wisps that made his presence feel as if it were bleeding into the Nightly Gloom.

One by one, Zephyr unleashed the abilities of a Shadow Dancer at the most basic level.

"This power..." Altair muttered in awe. His awakened Eye of Darkness assisted him in perceiving these shadowy wisps.

Once Zephyr unleashed this technique, he picked up the pace of Altair's training. Soon, the Corridor of Blackness was filled with the sounds of rapid collisions interspersed with pained groans or shocked gasps.

Slowly, the hours passed and before he knew it, Altair received a notification. Only, it wasn't a notification that he was expecting.