Divine Emperor of Death

Using most of her wind blade techniques, Lucia beheaded a Sky Beast Stage Five-Clawed Rat, claiming the last visible kill.

"Tch..." Lucas gave an annoyed glance at her while she rolled her tongue at him.

'A competition?' Davis thought but then shook his head, "You guys still left one..."

*Clang!*

He threw his spear and it stabbed through a hidden Five-Clawed Rat, nailing it on a broken building.

It flailed around, squeaking in terror as the lightning turned it into a fried rat, giving off a mildly cooked aroma.

"No fair..." Lucia quietly muttered and pouted as she looked away while Lucas heartily laughed.

"You two would have gotten heavily injured because of carelessness. Next time, be careful..." Davis uttered with a reproaching expression on his face.

They both then nodded seriously to him, leaving their playfulness aside.

The reason that they were so obedient to him? While traveling, they had already challenged him to a duel one day using only Body Tempering Cultivation and lost badly.

"Lucas, last time I didn't give you the opportunity to use water techniques on me, is that a Water Essence you've used?" Davis curiously asked.

"Yes! It's a Peak-Level Sky Grade Water Essence, Corrosive Aqua Droplet!"

"What? A Peak-Level Sky Grade!?" It was Davis's turn to be surprised.

Looking at his reaction, Lucas nodded and smiled shyly but felt superior as he rubbed his nose.

In this world, there were many Essences and Elementals that helped to increase one's strength. Not only would they help the cultivator comprehend the laws behind them, but they were also used in Pill Making as well.

They were essential to many purposes but most importantly, when they reach Sky Grade, they will have their own will, and when they reach King Grade, they can form their own sentience, even having a body in some cases.

Unless the will or the sentience is removed from the Essence or Elementals, one would find it difficult to refine it for themselves.

Davis's grandfather died to get his hands on a Low-Level Sky Grade Lightning Element but Lucas was able to have it easy?

Davis couldn't help but smile wryly at his own poverty. This was the advantage of being born in a wealthy and powerful family. The advantage he had as the Prince of the Loret Empire was easily negated here.

Lucia suddenly laughed at him and said in a sneering tone, "Haha! What're you acting proud of, elder brother? Did you forget that I'll be getting a King Grade Wind Elemental soon before we head to the Falling Snow Tower?" 

Hearing that, Lucas gritted his teeth before he sighed.

"Is your little sister getting special treatment from your parents?" Davis curiously asked.

Shaking his head immediately, Lucas explained, "Ah... No, it isn't like that. It's just that there's no Water Essence at King Grade for now in our treasury..."

"But it's fine, I like this Corrosive Aqua Droplet. Instead of changing and stabilizing my foundation, I'll evolve it by absorbing King Grade Water Attributed Treasures..."

Davis frowned, "Oh... Can't you just evolve it by just absorbing a higher graded Water Essence?"

"I can and it's the easiest way but... the risk involved is higher since the properties of most Water Essences are neutral, including mine. If I were to absorb another Water Essence, it might absorb its properties as well, leading to unforeseen or disadvantageous circumstances."

Lucia then explained on discerning his confusion, "Davis, it's like this... If he absorbs a Water Essence that's proficient in healing, it might dilute the corrosive effect or even worse, heal the enemy in battle. His overall attack power might drop. So tell me, is it worth it?"

"Uh... Unless he wants to become useless, I guess it isn't worth it." Davis scratched his head wryly.

These people talked about having elementals as if were roadside vegetables, ripe for the taking.

But, he was glad that he didn't need to change his Lightning Elemental, Fallen Extinction Lightning for a new one. He decided to evolve it unless he comes across an even more powerful Lightning Elemental.

And for property change? He wasn't worried about that because he knew that Lightning was overbearing, and won't intermix unless tamed or was compatible with each other.

He then walked around the road collecting all the beast cores from the rat corpses by breaking open their heads while storing their corpses.

He did all this so he could make money, and get enough spirit stones to procure resources in the future to strengthen himself.

"Seems like we killed 383 of those critters and we still have to head to the underground cave to kill. We might face Spirit Beast Stage Magical Beasts; Fourth Stage Beasts there, so you two should stay here and hunt, while I go down and hunt, okay?" Finished collecting the beast cores and the bloodied corpses, Davis asked as he proposed his idea.

"No way! I'll come too!" Lucas shouted at him feeling determined and hotheaded like the teen he is...

Davis frowned after hearing his words. This was the optimal way he could think of killing those Five-Clawed Rats without facing any danger but it seemed like...

"Did you forget that I'm the leader, Lucas?" Davis released his battle aura, intimidating them into submission, "Your strength is too low to fight with the Spirit Beast Stage Magical Beasts!" 

Lucas was taken aback from the powerful battle aura. His face turned ugly before he could only grit his teeth and accept that he was weak to follow Davis into the underground cave.

"Elder Brother, it's alright. We'll eventually grow stronger, and as Leader said, we'll only be a burden if we follow him, even endangering ourselves in the process." Lucia explained with a worried face. 

She didn't even realize that she called Davis a Leader until her face turned red.

Lucas considered for a moment and hesitantly nodded his head, "Alright..."

Lucia heaved a sigh of relief, thankful that her elder brother gave up. She knew that her brother was competitive in nature, and realized that after losing to Davis his competitive spirit must have motivated him a lot to grow stronger.