He had never seen anything alike the scenery that have appeared ever before! The legendary Metal Tree Grove was nothing alike he had ever had the chance to gaze his eyes on.

However, the moment he arrived at this place, he already knew that the mountain and sea before him was the exact location. Even though the stories depicted a kind of groove, or a clearing amidst the sea of some probably strange-looking trees, what appeared before him was something entirely different.

Yet for some reason, he could sense it, he could feel it that this was the place that he was told to come to. This strange shoreline with the vague mountain range at the far end, was the very place he was destined to arrive at. Even though it should have not made any sense considering the realm he was at, the reality was different.

As if he was in a strange illusion, Aiden felt as if he stepped into an entirely different world.

Before he even arrived, Aiden could hear the rumbling of the sea gushing and invigorating one's mind. The damp, heavy air blew by at his face.

Yet, it was not just mere stale air that wafted over from the mysterious ocean liquid, it carried traces of world energy, [Mana], within itself. It felt rich, pure and strangely untainted, uncontaminated by the wrathful destruction of this dying, barren and scorched world.

"What is this place? Could this sea before me generate such pure energy?" Aiden could not help but feel shocked when that thought crossed his mind.

Right then, the sound of clothes flapping through the air rang. A few figures arrived and their conversation attracted Aiden.

From a first glance they spoke the same language of the reptilian race that was the common language of Ugburg and its surroundings. However, on a more careful hearing, Aiden realized that it just, resembled the reptilian dialect but it was different.

His conjecture was swiftly proven when suddenly the system notification bell rang inside his mind and a series of messages appeared in his subconscious.

[Note: New Language: Reptilian: Slaric have been discovered! Analyzing information..1%]

[Similarities found, merging results..]

[Formulating Language tree..]historical

At the same time, more and more voices reached Aiden's ears. Figures seemed to be in heavy discourse over something, as they slowly approached the shoreline. They seemed to either not know who he was and have ignored his existence or something else was going on. They simply passed by Aiden's raggedy figure without as much as a glance and was casually approaching the shore whilst talking about something..

Thinking that he would be unable to understand their discourse, Aiden frowend under the cover of his hood and was about to resume his walk, when surprisingly the system messages resumed, creating yet another shock to the young master.

[Analysis complete! Information processed. Skill: Language: Reptilian (Slaric) have been created.]

Suddenly, their strange clickety discourse turned into meaningful, understandable words inside Aiden's minds from the previous strange gibberish.

"[Slaric] This place is the sacred grounds for disciples of the blade, like us. Even if we can't obtain the inheritance of the Sword Emperor.. even if it was already taken, we have to pay it a visit in our lifetime!"

"[Slaric] It's said that in the ancient times, before the Sword Emperor left the world, he used his demigod powers and absorbed the world's essence and minerals within thousands of kilometers of radius, forming this very mountain and the surrounding sea. It was because he did not want the way of the sword to be lost in the future that he created this mysterious ruins.."

"[Slaric] It was said that the name comes from the fact that he used massive swords to cover and seal this place for hundreds of years!"

"[Slaric] Woah! That's amazing!" Someone exclaimed in the group.

Aiden was also shocked to hear that as well. The stories they told went much further than Tai-Liu and the others could tell him before. It was also completely unbelievable. How could someone amass such massive amounts of energy, this low tier [Mana] and actually create a sub dimension, a separate world within the world? How would that be possible without any divinity at hand?

How incredibly strong these Emperors of the past had to be?

Such a feat was simply unbelievable, only possible in children stories! Yet, it seemed to be the reality.

The most frightening thing was that this mystical sea was created countless years ago back in the ancient era. It was formed from pure, natural worldly essence, [Mana]. It was not simple sea water at all!

The sands of time erased countless major sects and countries of the ancient era, leaving no trace behind. However, this ruin was still intact without any signs of drying up!

If the legend was true, the Sword Emperor might have already surpassed the level of what Aiden believed to be possible and have stepped into a realm that was infinitely close to the realm of Gods. Even more, he did it through his own efforts, without the aid of any other mysterious power or system.

Aiden was shocked at this revelation, unable to come back to his senses for a long time.

Now that he was here, the 'Metal Tree Grove' brought a greater impact for Aiden than anything before.

There were countless dark reefs near the shore. For some reason, the reefs were covered with marks of sharp weapons, etched in a shocking manner. The tides roared furiously with a majestic aura, crashing onto the shores and creating snow-like bubbling waves.

On the horizon of the sea was a silvery, shining, glimmering mountain that towered far above their imaginations.

The shape of that mountain almost seemed to resemble a long saber that was stabbed into the sea. With a slender and majestic blade, its handle was actually hidden in the distant skies, penetrating this sub world, barely visible.

The mighty sword-shaped mountain reigned supreme and there were extremely few pure sword masters, much less in this world.

Although the ruin was left behind by the Sword Emperor, there were not many Masters gathered here; merely a few dozen people seemed to have gathered along the coastline.

The strange thing was that most of them even stood far away from the shore, seemingly afraid of the sea as they pointed in hushed discussions.

Because he had limited knowledge of the this place, Aiden came beside the group of people that spoke before and listened intently. He wanted to learn more about this place and understand more of its secrets before doing anything that might backfire on him later on.

Even more, he was certain that whatever that sea was, it should be avoided.

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>>>Check out my latest novel: The Strongest Demon Lord in the Modern World<<

It's an urban modern-day styled story, with a reverse transmigrated ('Banished') immortal entity from the fantastical world of Nova!

Planned Tags and Genre: # CULTIVATION # R18 # BETRAYAL # TRANSMIGRATION # URBAN # ACTION # ANTIHERO # OVERPOWERED (romance maybe at some later point)

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/shaele