Omni-Mastery

As the mental imprint spoke in curious but vague words, the fading dark cloud that was rotating around the crystal card started to pulsate and change shapes in a disorderly way, it almost looked like a jellyfish's moving head.

'Is that the main legacy holder?'

The pitch-black crystal card that was at the center didn't seem to have any changes to it, making me wonder what its position was in all this, but the mental imprint started talking again.

{Alright then, since it will take a few minutes for the new fused technique to be produced let me tell you how it will help you in getting out of here. To explain it from the start, I will have to explain the nature of the space that you are currently in, it isn't in some sort of place underground nor is it even in the domain you were in, it's a completely independent piece of fragmented space.}

'Which I already know…'

Though I wanted to say that to get straight to the point, it would be more of a bother to explain how I knew it than to simply stay silent and listen, so I chose to simply stay silent while putting on an expression of contemplation.

{You don't seem that surprised… Well, I guess you must have stayed here for long enough to guess some of these facts. However, that's not even the main point, the main point that makes my 'Two-Faced Mask' a great help for you is the nature of this piece of fragmented space. After all, unlike the domains which are complete spaces with a complete elemental order that differs on nature according to its node location, the various pieces of fragmented spaces have a similarly fragmented elemental order that's aligned towards only one element!}

'I see…'

The reason that I was unable to recover my elements here was completely obvious at this point, if this space was only aligned towards one element and the Demons used it as a 'Corruption Space' then not only did some of the mental imprint's words make sense but the answer was also already in mind!

'This is a Darkness aligned space!'

{I see you have already guessed what I wanted to say. Whatever the Demons call it these days, what they used to call a 'Corruption Space' is nothing but a piece of fragmented Darkness space that they dirtied using their abominable Corruption!}

'In that case, it does make sense.'

The mental imprint's words about leaving this place earlier wasn't even confusing anymore, if I really did master a Darkness Elemental Art then whatever the effects might be, it would at least be better than my current case where I was moving around blindly without a designated target…

{Originally, I wanted you to master the basic 'Two-Faced Mask' which wouldn't take time so you would spend some more time locating the Demon and obtaining the tool to get out of here in due time, but now that you already possess the components to produce the complete 'Two-Faced Mask' you can locate the demon even faster as long as you just finish the first cycle of the first stage!}

Compared to communicating with the elements using a Pseudo Elemental Art to scan the area, using a True Elemental Art would not only have a bigger range, but it would also be more accurate. If this space's elements are really made of nothing but Darkness ones, then this place would become my own map in less than a week's time even if it was tainted with Corruption!

{However, I would advise you to at least complete the whole first stage here as it would be hard to find a perfect practice place Darkness Elemental Arts like this later, considering your accomplishments it should take even less than a week.}

'It's not really that much of a problem…'

Considering the nature of the ability of 'Omni-Mastery lv.3', 'Omni-Element' that allowed me to use Elemental Interfusion, only a few hours was all I needed to reach the 3rd stage of any Dual Elemental Art, but I was more concerned about something else.

"But aren't the Darkness elements in this space tainted by Corruption energy? Wouldn't that mean my elements would be impure?"

The whole space deserved to be called a 'Corruption Space' as even me who had the system's help couldn't help but get affected by the first eroding illusion, if I was to absorb elements from this space, then I would naturally be asking for trouble!

While I could easily solve this problem by relying on 'Elemental Interfusion' to use the Darkness element later without having to absorb it from the space here, I would still need to absorb it to create an Elemental Seed, it obviously wasn't something to take lightly…

'I should just use the Pseudo-Omni Elemental Crystals…'

Even if this space was a natural paradise for practicing the Darkness elements, the major deficit wasn't worth it, so using the Darkness elements in the purified Elemental Crystals instead was naturally better.

{Even if you leave this place, the Darkness elements would be completely tainted by Corruption energy as well, the intensity would be somewhat different but it would be the same case, the Demons had already corrupted the True Elemental Source of Darkness. On the other hand, if you manage to complete the first stage of the complete 'Two-Faced Mask' within the time limit of one week, I will provide you with a direct method to purify your darkness elements…}

Just as the mental imprint finished speaking, the pitch-black crystal card that was floating in the center of the gaseous black cloud shined momentarily before I heard another voice in my mind.

[Accept his condition.]

'Eh?'

The voice that came out in the middle was Long's voice who was supposed to be sleeping as he once again showed a strange reaction by taking the initiative to talk.

'Did his persona change once more?'

{The object that the real me bound his mental imprint on is a special object that can 'personify' Corruption energy and allows you to destroy it using special methods. So, what do you think? Want to give it a try?}

'What is it, Long?'

While I still showed an expression of contemplation, I questioned Long's mental transmission instead. 

[Unfortunately, unlike what you are probably thinking, you can't rely on the Elemental Crystal that the system purified to condense a Darkness Elemental Seed…]

'Huh?'

[Just like he said, Corruption energy is more or less already bound into the Darkness element even back at the domains, it isn't as detrimental as you would expect as most users still maintain rationality and control of themselves. However, because that's the case, in order for the system to purify the Corrupted Elemental Crystals, the Darkness element is automatically removed from the crystals.]

'Really…?'

Naturally, I couldn't tell before as I couldn't sense the Darkness elements without an affinity or a special Elemental Art, but I assumed from both the name, the system's description as well as my experience that it contained all elements.

'Then, is the object he is speaking about really capable of purifying the Darkness elements?'

If even the other elemental masters who used the Darkness elements had to use Corruption tainted ones, then it seemed like practicing a Darkness elemental art is a lost cause. However, from the importance that Long placed on the object that the mental imprint mentioned as he even woke up for it, it seemed to be special enough to change the situation.

[Yes. Originally, the mental imprint still had its own authority on that crystal card which is why I didn't sense it, but since it released a part of it as it set a condition, the situation changed, you should take that card into your possession.]

'So, it's not a path that's cut off?'

As Demons used Corrupted Darkness elements as the basis of their elemental prowess, I naturally wanted to have my own Darkness elements for various reasons and possibilities since one of my goals was to stop the Demons' advent, so having to give up on it to remove hidden danger was a bit unfortunate in my opinion. However, now that…

[Do you really need to start overthinking stuff again? You would only require less than a day to finish what he asked for anyway, so just do it. In the worst-case scenario whereby I'm wrong and the crystal card can't help you with purifying your Darkness elements, the system can just purify your body once more and completely get rid of the tainted Darkness Elemental Seed.]

'True.'

Even as I traversed this Corruption space throughout the last month, the system gave me the usual message of 'Do you wish to purify?' when I held a rock or a wall, but I didn't do so as not to alert the demon since I couldn't simply purify the whole space even in half a year, but considering that as an example, if something really was wrong with that crystal card, I could use the system's help to go back to step zero and nothing would be lost.

Besides, just like before, Long advice so far proved at least completely true even if they weren't beneficial, there was no need to doubt it more than needed.

"Alright, I will give it a try."

{Great! As long as you finish setting up the physical foundation within one week, not only will I give you complete control over my Crystal Refining Tower, but I will also transfer you another gift to help you in being victorious within it, that way it won't take that long either!}