[As your protector, Shawn is loyal to you and the Grierson family.
Since he promised to keep your secret, you are confident he will not leak anything.]
Grayson leaned back, his gaze thoughtful.
First, he instructed Shawn to completely destroy the "mastermind's" mutilated body.
There could be no evidence left behind that might later be exploited.
Only after securing that did Grayson finally turn his thoughts to another unfinished matter—
Luke.
The so-called child of destiny.
[You asked Shawn about Luke's situation, curious whether the protagonist had truly been eliminated.]
Shawn's expression twisted with slight shame.
["Apologies, young master," he said. "Luke possesses many strange secrets.
During the pursuit, he unleashed powerful trump cards beyond my expectations.
I was unable to kill him outright...
But I did manage to sever one of his arms—and I seized some of his belongings."]
He retrieved a severed, bloodstained arm and a bloody storage bag from his own ring.
Grayson raised an eyebrow.
Interesting.
[On the one hand, you were impressed that Shawn had managed to snatch part of Luke at all—given how treacherous the boy's guardian spirit appeared to be.]
[On the other hand, the fact that Luke—still merely at the fourth level of Magical Power—could escape a seasoned seventh-level Saint like Shawn...
This spoke volumes about how terrifying the hidden "old man" protecting him must be.]
Possibly a Celestial being.
Maybe even a True Immortal's remnant soul.
Grayson didn't immediately destroy the severed arm.
[You placed it carefully into your own storage ring.]
In this world, strange arts and forbidden techniques existed.
A severed body part of a protagonist could prove highly valuable later—for curses, tracking spells, or even destiny rituals.
[Next, you opened the bloody storage bag.]
Inside, a wealth of cultivation resources greeted him:
elixirs, rare spiritual materials, treasures accumulated over Luke's fledgling journey.
And tucked away in the corner—
A small ancient token.
Black. Cold to the touch.
Etched with the image of a ferocious, single-horned beast.
Grayson frowned slightly.
[You studied the token but couldn't identify its origin.
Still, given that it had been in Luke's possession, it must be extraordinary.
You put it away for later investigation—intending to ask the Grierson family's intelligence network to dig deeper.]
As for the other resources?
They had arrived just in time.
Grayson smirked slightly.
[You ordered Shawn to drive you away from the scene, returning to your private villa located deep within Demonic City's central district.]
There, surrounded by defensive formations and privacy enchantments, Grayson could finally relax.
It was time to focus on what mattered most—getting stronger.
Inside the villa's underground secret chamber—
Grayson sat cross-legged on a jade platform.
[You ordered Shawn to stand guard outside, then began organizing your newly acquired resources.]
He opened the storage bag again, arranging the spiritual pills, herbs, and rare minerals around him like a miniature treasure trove.
Then he turned his attention inward.
His spiritual sea reflected two techniques:
The Ancient Dragon Elephant Sutra
The Thousand Shadow Magic Art
Grayson tapped his fingers against the stone seat, pondering.
["In the Villain Simulator, I acted extremely cautiously," he mused.
"I didn't even dare directly request techniques from the Grierson family.
Either to avoid exposing myself... or because I suspected someone inside the family might be compromised."]
Given the recent assassination attempt, such caution was justified.
Grayson nodded inwardly.
Better safe than dead.
The Ancient Dragon Elephant Sutra, while a Heavenly-grade technique, leaned heavily toward physical cultivation—defense and raw strength.
It lacked mobility techniques, stealth methods, or magical arts.
Grayson currently resembled a walking fortress:
nigh-indestructible, but also blunt and straightforward.
Without specialized movement techniques or offensive magical powers, he'd struggle in complex battles.
That's where the Thousand Shadow Magic Art came in.
An infamous, sinister magic art capable of:
Shapeshifting
Shadow manipulation
Creating illusionary clones
Disguising presence
[The "mastermind" had nearly escaped Shawn's grasp using these techniques—despite being two cultivation stages lower.]
Clearly, it was worth learning.
Combined with his [Greased Lightning] talent, Grayson would become not just powerful—but also elusive, unpredictable, and untouchable.
[After careful thought, you decided to begin cultivating the Thousand Shadow Magic Art first.]
Opening the copied manuscript Shawn had given him, Grayson scanned the strange characters.
His brow furrowed almost immediately.
[You found yourself completely unable to comprehend the technique.]
The text was a bizarre fusion of ancient demonic script and ancient divine language—both languages long forgotten by the current world.
Even basic translation spells failed.
An hour passed.
Grayson's temples throbbed.
Frustration coiled inside him like a tightening snake.
[You felt yourself growing restless and impatient.]
Suddenly—
A cold, detached energy flowed outward from his spine—the seat of the Supreme Emperor Bone.
It wrapped gently around his mind like mist...
Pulling him downward into a strange, sleepy trance.
Grayson's consciousness shifted.
The ancient, incomprehensible text began to shimmer and ripple—
Turning into floating tadpole-like symbols, swimming into his mind and searing themselves into his soul.
[You successfully began practicing the Thousand Shadow Magic Art.]
Instant comprehension.
Instant mastery.
The Supreme Emperor Bone revealed yet another terrifying secret:
Automatic comprehension of foreign, ancient, or lost techniques.
No bottlenecks. No thresholds. No gatekeepers.
Within moments, Grayson achieved Entry Level mastery.
[You unlocked the first skill: "Magic Shadow Clone."]
Grayson could now generate nine clones—each holding 10% of his original combat strength.
A terrifying multiplication of his power.
He exhaled slowly.
Supreme Emperor Bone.
This wasn't a simple 'golden finger.'
It was something far beyond the cheat systems of ordinary protagonists.
A cosmic tool.
A key to transcendence.
[On the first day, you reached the peak of the first level of the Thousand Shadow Magic Art.]
You could now produce nine nearly identical shadow clones at will.
[But you also felt an alarming emptiness.]
The Supreme Emperor Bone was stirring again.
Hunger.
It demanded fuel—energy—more and more.
Without hesitation, Grayson began consuming the pills and herbs he'd looted from Luke's storage bag.
Normally, consuming such an absurd quantity of potent resources would have been suicidal.
Even a Mountain and River Realm cultivator would explode from overload.
But not Grayson.
[The Supreme Emperor Bone devoured everything without hesitation—swallowing the energy, refining it, and feeding it to you.]
Your training speed soared at an unimaginable rate.
By the second day:
[You broke through to the second level of the Thousand Shadow Magic Art.]
[You gained the ability to control and weaponize shadows—freezing enemies by pinning their shadows to the ground.]
By the third day:
[You reached the third level.]
[You unlocked "Shadow Transformation," allowing your physical body to temporarily merge into shadow—perfect for evasion, infiltration, and assassination.]
By the fourth day:
[You reached the fourth level.]
[You condensed the powerful magic technique "Shadow Simulation"—the ability to assume another's appearance and perfectly mimic their aura after making contact with their shadow.]
Grayson stared at the simulation progress, barely able to keep a straight face.
"Devour spiritual materials to rapidly ascend...
Are you sure this is called the Supreme Emperor Bone, and not some sci-fi monster from another world?"
He shook his head in disbelief.
Even riding a rocket wouldn't allow this kind of insane cultivation speed.
And he was still only beginning to scratch the surface.
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