Earth's Greatest Magus

Chapter 2693: Training

Despite being trapped within the endless abyss of the beast’s belly, Emery was anything but idle.

His light self devoted the days to cultivating, drawing in the lingering fragments of Kronos’ domain before they vanished entirely. The once-mighty space had collapsed into a hollow husk, yet its fading cosmic essence was still enough to nourish Emery’s spirit and deepen his understanding of the laws.

Meanwhile, his dark self threw himself into ceaseless combat against the dracolich, Daurgothoth. The skeletal dragon, wreathed in frost and death, never once lowered its pride nor showed him mercy. Every duel was a brutal contest that ended with Emery battered, his soul aching, and his pride bruised. But each loss became a stepping stone. Slowly, painfully, he chipped away at the chasm that separated them.

When moments of respite came, the light Emery often turned his focus to the golden fleece. The ancient markings inscribed behind its radiant threads whispered secrets of temporal law. Patiently, he studied them, tracing the flowing script with his consciousness until glimpses of timeless wisdom seeped into his soul. Each revelation added to his growing mastery of light and time.

The dark Emery, by contrast, learned through combat. Between battles with the dracolich, he sparred with Veyarel, who granted him invaluable pointers on spatial techniques.

A month passed. By then, Kronos’ domain had been thoroughly stripped bare. Its great vaults emptied, its rare materials looted, its cosmic energy fully drained. Emery watched solemnly as the once-vast legacy of the Titan dissolved into nothing, vanishing like dust on the winds of eternity.

What followed was a period of silence. The light Emery entered closed-door meditation, retreating into himself to consolidate the immense spiritual energy he had accumulated. His mind and soul sank deep into the flow of the laws he had touched. Day by day, his comprehension grew sharper, his essence stronger.

[You have successfully comprehended the Law of Light]

[You have successfully comprehended the Law of Time]

[Soul Force has increased...]

With each breakthrough, his aura grew more refined, his spirit more luminous.

Meanwhile, the dark Emery continued to struggle. No matter how many times he clashed with the dracolich, he found himself beaten back, his strategies faltering against the undead beast’s sheer resilience. Frustrated but determined, he finally sought Vayarel’s direct combat advice.

"We have completely different fighting styles," he said. "But I could help you improve yours..."

Vayarel was a harsh but patient teacher.

The focus was Emery’s devastating [Void Blade]. Under Vayarel’s guidance, Emery learned not only to strike harder but to wield finesse—stretching the blade to monstrous lengths or condensing it into a compact needle that could pierce even through the dracolich’s bone plates. He even began to manipulate it remotely, sending it flying like a spectral sword dancing at his will.

Hours upon hours of repetition, drilling the fusion of swordsmanship and spatial law, refining movements until each strike of Emery’s blade was both lethal and precise.

Daurgothoth, though disdainful, became the perfect sparring partner. Every breath of icy death, every lash of its colossal tail, honed Emery’s timing and instincts. Victory was still distant, but Emery could feel himself drawing closer.

While the two were locked in fierce combat, the other two guardians—Killgragah and Chututlu—were enjoying themselves, watching the show.

Four months bled away in this crucible of cultivation and combat. Just as Emery was consolidating his gains, the entire world trembled.

The beast stirred.

At first, it was only a distant rumble. But soon, the ground convulsed, and an ear-splitting shriek reverberated through the cavernous belly. The air itself vibrated, carrying waves of destructive force. ꞦΆＮọ𝐛ЕŚ

"It’s come sooner than I thought," Emery muttered grimly.

He rose swiftly, activating his Twilight Transformation.

The destructive torrents battered against his shielded form, but his transformation steadied him against the storm.

With resolve, he tried to fly toward the source of the energy. But before he could advance far, a crushing wave of resistance met him—a spatial pulse that rippled outward and hurled him back through the air.

The tremors escalated, and the shrieking crescendoed until the cavern walls seemed on the verge of collapse. And then, from the heart of the disturbance, they appeared. the spectral serpents. dozens of godly serpents, beasts of the eternal void.

They slithered into the cavern with violent grace, their forms twisting unnaturally through space. The air warped where they passed. The cavern descended into madness. Some serpents hurled themselves wildly against the walls, others turned upon their kin, thrashing and tearing at each other in a frenzy of snapping jaws and whipping coils.

Emery darted aside, forced to cling to the periphery as the chaos unfolded. For the moment, they paid him little mind. Their madness kept them occupied, yet a handful noticed him. With a roar, they lunged. Emery met them head-on, void blade flashing in arcs of annihilation.

Meanwhile, the cavern itself reacted to their presence. Hundreds of spatial tears lined the walls, glowing brighter with every passing moment. The smaller rifts trembled and began merging, forming unstable clusters of light. A few of the larger ones split apart entirely, multiplying into jagged fractures in space, leaking yet more chaotic energy into the cavern. The whole place seemed ready to collapse into nothingness.

Hours dragged on as Emery endured, weaving between frenzied void-serpents. But gradually, the storm began to shift. The serpents—those godly creatures of the void—began to falter. Their spectral bodies flickered, their strikes slowed, their immense coils unraveling. One by one, they crashed to the ground, their forms shrinking into thin threads of light before dissolving entirely.

By the time a full day had passed, the cavern lay in eerie silence. Not a single serpent remained. The void-born beasts—all of them—had withered into death.

Emery gasped—the scene before him was exactly as described in the jade medal, information left behind by his future self. This phenomenon had been speculated as the moment when the world beast paused, opened its maw, and fed. It came with uncanny consistency, every 500 to 550 days, and it was the only chance Emery had to escape the creature’s belly.

Unfortunately, even with preparation, the spatial pulses were as violent as the medal had warned. That was why his future self had urged him to focus on training, to strengthen himself until he could endure the storm of forces and break free.

He let out a heavy sigh. According to the record, his future self had endured thirty years in the mysterious realm and another twenty inside this monstrous prison before finally escaping.

Still, he knew he hadn’t been left here without purpose. Emery stepped closer to one of the mid-sized glowing spatial tears, channeling his divine sense into it. At once, he felt the vast surge of spirit energy swirling within.

This was the reason he had been left in this place: the hundreds of glowing spatial tears had transformed the beast’s belly into a realm overflowing with spirit energy—ten times stronger than any place he had ever been. A perfect place to cultivate.

His thoughts drifted back to his friends waiting for him outside, and he steeled his resolve. He would grow stronger and escape this prison as quickly as possible.