The Walker Of Voids
chapter-22

Null began to walk away from Rosepetal, yet he heard Osmygold's voice again enter his ears before he could get too far.

"Null. Let's talk." Osmygold suggested.

"What is this about, Mr. Osmygold?" Null asked.

"I'd like to talk to you about one of your abilities." Osmygold explained and immediately caught Null's attention.

"Which one?" Null asked immediately.

"The one where you attract shadows to you and enhance your body."

"Shadow Enhancement?" Null asked.

"Probably. Can you activate it real quick?" Osmygold asked before crossing his arms and taking several steps back. He had almost tripped on one of the broken tiles, but he quickly regained his balance and looked at null once again.

Despite Null's suspicions, curiosity took over, and he instantly activated the ability.

*Swoosh*

Suddenly, shadows from all over the room began to surround Null, making it very hard to see him. However, after a few seconds, Null's figure became clear once again, yet instead of looking like he had come out of a matrix movie due to his robe and black clothing, he now looked like an ungendered figure shrouded in shadows from head to toe.

"How does the ability work?" Osmygold asked.

Null narrowed his eyes, yet after a few seconds, he let out a sigh and explained-

"It enhances most of my physical capabilities, as well as the explosive power I can produce from my muscles alone."

Despite his suspicions, Null knew that Osmygold was a genuine man. He didn't know how he knew it, but it was as if his instincts told him he could trust Osmygold with his life if he needed to.

"So your whole body?" Osmygold scratched his chin.

"Yes." Null replied straightforwardly.

"Have you tried using the ability on a single body part?" Osmygold asked.

"I do hope that my ability grows to that extent when I reach the first commandment.."

Hearing Null's reply, Osmygold showed and irritated expression.

"Here is the problem with this generation. They don't take enough time to consider how they can get stronger without breaking into another commandment.

When you became a shadow assassin, you embarked on the path of shadows. However, this does not mean that you instantly know everything about shadows because such an assumption is blatantly wrong.

While one can increase their strength and abilities by taking potions, cultivating all the time, and going out for battles every now and then, the best way to improve the power and control of one's ability is to try and comprehend the ability or the element of that ability." Osmygold explained while Null tilted his head in confusion

"Before breaking into the first commandment, try to learn more about shadows. What are they, and how do they work? For example, fire is created due to oxygen, a fuel source, and heat. While mana is your fuel source, what is heat? High energy atoms that are vibrating at a rate that would create heat? These are the questions that you should be asking yourself to improve the power of your abilities, as well as your control over them. At the same time, try to use your ability over and over again, your understanding of the ability will eventually make it stronger." Osmygold explained.

Nodding slightly, Null dispersed his ability and walked away without saying a word. While it might seem like Null didn't care about what Osmygold said, in reality, he had gone into such a deep state of thinking that he completely forgot about his surroundings and instantly went to his inn and took notes of his current thoughts.

What he learned could be a complete game changer. In fact, it could change the very foundations of his future plans as a void walker.

Sitting down in the middle of the room, he took off his mask and quickly activated [4-Dimensional Thought] before closing his eyes. A notebook rested on his lap while he held a pen in his hand, ready to write down anything the moment it enters his mind.

After entering the Void for the second time, he realized something about his shadow abilities, which was linked to the [???] racial passive ability.

At first, he thought it must have been a coincidence, but after further inspection with much thought and analysis, he understood that his shadow abilities weren't his own and had come from the Shadow Wolves instead. Of course, in that moment theory was just that. A theory. To confirm anything he would have to do several tests that had the chance of killing him.

However, what he did recognize was that [Soundless Steps] and [Shadow Nourishment] were both passive abilities all Shadow Wolves had, no matter what.

[Shadow Enhancement] and [Shadow Claw] weren't abilities that they all had, but he noticed that many of the Shadow Wolves, particularly the bigger and older ones, had these abilities and would use them expertly.

He also noticed that they were much stronger than his shadow abilities, which ties in neatly with the information he gained from Osmygold.

Shadow Wolves, in particular, were much more attuned to the shadows than Lloyd was, the prime example of this being the extremely fast and effortless execution of shadow travel performed by the alpha Shadow Wolf.

However, there was also something else that Lloyd recognized when going over these memories, and it was the fact that he was gaining these abilities as he killed more and more wolves, as well as the fact that his control and power over the abilities had grown the more he killed them.

While, at first, he had mistaken the increase in the power of his abilities for his overall increase in strength, he was gravely mistaken.

Suddenly, a thought came to mind, making him open his eyes and look at his wristwatch before opening his mouth.

"Can you show me how long I have left until I reach the first commandment." Lloyd asked, and with a chime, the watch blinked several times before a bar separated into four sections appeared in front of him.

Each section represented 25%, and while they usually had words above them to explain what they were, I hadn't broken into the first commandment, so there was no point in showing them.

[57%]

'I've already reached the 50% range despite only awakening 3 days ago... But I guess I should have expected this. What's more impressive is the fact that I can fight toe to toe with someone in the first commandment despite only being a little more than half of the way there. Osmygold might be in the very early stages of the first commandment, but he is a first commandment regardless.' Lloyd thought to himself with a subtle smile tucking up the corner of his lips.

'On the other hand, he is incredibly weak compared to most of the first commandments that I've seen on the internet and TV.'

He was becoming stronger faster than ever, which only meant that he would have a higher chance of surviving the next Void walk.

'On the other hand, he is incredibly weak compared to most of the first commandments that I've seen on the internet and TV.'

However, despite his previous thoughts, he also recognized a possibility that was becoming more and more likely when he continued thinking of it.

'There is a chance I will gain an ability after killing the alpha shadow wolf. But since I won't have anything to do after killing it, there is a chance that the void will create a new world with other beasts and monsters for me to fight. While this might mean that I might gain more abilities, the second void world would likely be a lot more dangerous than the first.' Lloyd concluded.

After contemplating everything and writing down several pages of notes, he flipped the page and began attempting to comprehend the shadows and increasing his attunement to them.

While he knew that he could simply kill more shadow wolves to increase his attunement, he still chose to increase his comprehension of the element even by a little bit. This way, his abilities might be more useful in the raid, and since he doesn't want to use all his abilities in the battle, it would be useful to have an ability he could rely on.

Unfortunately for him, the only ability he could use out in the open to deal any damage was [Shadow Claw].

Of course, shadow enhancement was also a fine choice, but it consumed too much mana, a drawback that made it impossible for Lloyd to take advantage of it all the time.

Lloyd continued to sit in the same place for over 14 hours, and despite not sleeping, when he finally opened his eyes again, he felt more rejuvenated than ever.

Putting on his mask, he quickly wore his long black coat and left his inn before walking towards the meeting place.

They had all decided to meet in front of the town gates, so Null only followed the plan they had already laid out.

After walking leisurely for almost 10 minutes, he finally saw the rest of the crew.

"Null!" Rosepetal waved at him with a bright smile, yet he did not care to reciprocate the action or excitement.

"What is the current plan, Mr. Osmygold?" Null asked.

"We're gonna join them." Osmygold pointed towards the group of luxuriously dressed individuals.

"Those 7 are known as the Seven Reapers. Its a group composed of seven individuals with immense talent, wealth, and fame who also happen to have Magic or Legendary tier classes." Rosepetal explained while a low and subtle "hmph" came out of Peacexelr's mouth.

"Can't we join another team? There are so many other teams around; what's the point of joining the most popular one?" Trishaless complained.

"Well, they were the ones that asked us to join them, and they will pay us quite a heavy sum. All in all, it's worth the hassle." Osmygold sighed.

"They're gonna live stream it to." Peacexelr snorted.

"Hm? I never understood how the live stream worked. Isn't there a time dilation?" Rosepetal tilted her head to the right.

"Since 10 seconds here is the same as 1 second on the outside, they just receive the signal through the portal at around a 10x speed. It gives them enough time to edit, compose and show what they want to show without embarrassing themselves." Osmygold explained.

Peacexelr could not help but sneer at Osmygold's remark, yet before he could follow up with a few words of his own, a melodic feminine voice entered his ears and made him stiffen instantly.

"Are you guys ready?" A girl with short black hair with the underside dyed green asked with a warm and welcoming smile on her face that would have tricked anyone into thinking that she was friendly.

"You must be Poisonlily..." Trishaless commented.

"Hey." Poisonlily waved at Trishaless before asking-

"You a fan?"

"Not really." Trisha shrugged and walked away from the woman.

'Cold...' Null inwardly thought, yet Poisonlily did not seem to have the same thoughts.

"And who is this cute looking one?" She asked while turning her attention to Peacexelr, who instantly became beet red when he heard her words.

"He's Peace." Rosepetal butted in before continuing to introduce everyone.

"And this is Null, our newest teammate."

Looking at Null, the woman could not help but narrow her eyes for an instant before having them return to normal. This scene did not go unnoticed by Null, but just like everything else that didn't affect him in the short run, he ignored it and continued to look at her blankly, as if he was thinking about something else.

"So this is everyone. Let's go I guess." Poisonlily said before turning around and walking away. The rest of the team followed her without any hesitation, yet Null stayed in his spot for a few more seconds before following everyone else.

"Do you know the specifics of the raid?" Osmygold asked.

"Not really. Our leader probably knows a little more than we do, but he kept some of the information to himself. Ignorance is bliss after all." Lily chuckled.

While she was extremely beautiful, she blocked most of it with the gas mask she constantly wore, no matter the occasion. One could still see that she was extremely beautiful, but it was a guarantee that she looked better without the mask.

She wore a long green dress that danced in the incoming winds.

Her olive-brown skin stood out as the sun shone down upon her, while his silky black hair reflected the sun-rays with equal intensity.

"All I know is that the main boss is a Goblin in the first commandment. There is a chance that it might be a goblin chief, if not a goblin general. If we are unlucky, we might even have a Hobgoblin on the loose ready to be dealt with. Unfortunately, we aren't strong enough to fight an elite hobgoblin of the first commandment." She explained.

"Your team formation? How is is?" Null finally voiced a question.

"We only started entering dungeons a few months ago so only half of us are in the first commandment. However, none of us are far from entering the first commandment. Most of us need a little nudge, while Oracle over there is a half step first commandment so all she needs is one more push. Anyway, our leader, Damien, is the the mid stages of the first commandment and he has the highest commandment out of all of us. Grisha and I are the support mages, while OracleOfFlames is the DPS mage. Monarch and Relish are the ones that take on all the close combat, while Damien is a Warden, so he control the battlefield to a large extent." Poisonlily explained

"Didn't you say you had 7 memebers?" Trishaless asked.

"Well... Transcendent is Transcendent. Damien is our leader, but Transcendent is by far the strongest out of all of us due to his class. He is still in the early stages of the first commandment, but he is super strong." Poisonlily sighed.

"What's his class?" Rosepetal could not hold back her curiosity anymore.

"He is a...

Starforger"