"The debt is settled, my old friend!"
The young boy, whose muscular arms bulged from his sleeveless garment, had crossed them over his chest. He was catching his breath, leaning his back against a tree whose trunk was as thick as his own torso.
On this side of the serenely flowing water stood the only tree bearing crimson-emerald leaves, its branches dangling as if adorned with countless blades. The edges of its slender, flattened leaves were serrated, while their tips were razor-sharp.
Without letting go of the massive head of the crimson beast in one hand, lifeless bodies began to erupt from the Spatial Ring on his other hand. While one bank of the stream was adorned with a myriad of blossoms like a celestial garden, the other side hosted a mountain of carcasses, a solitary tree, and a young man with a gaze as sharp as a sword.
"While I heal up, absorb their life essence. When you're done, I'm going to try stepping into the Deep Legacy!"
When Mel stripped off his clothes and entered the water, the stream that once reached his waist now barely touched his knees; step by step, he waded toward a deeper section. Because the battle in the valley had marked the culmination of his blood feud with the beast horde, dozens of lacerations and wounds marred his flesh.
The intriguing sight was how some of these wounds vanished in a short span, as if they had never existed; Mel's body once again began to radiate that peculiar glow.
Only the boy's head remained above the water; as the splashing drops dampened his short hair, his face was devoid of expression. His facial features had undergone profound changes over the past two and a half years; though he might not be deemed classically handsome, his face possessed a rugged allure that naturally commanded attention.
Because the skirmish had escalated into an all-out war, his period of restoration increased accordingly; three hours passed before the young man emerged from the water and set foot upon the shore.
"Let's finish this before the fire of battle in my blood cools down!"
Mel, addressing the tree with crimson-emerald leaves, walked with ease upon the dirt that, merely three hours prior, had been blanketed in corpses. There was no blood, no lifeless bodies, nor the slightest trace that they had ever been there.
Sitting cross-legged before the tree, Mel closed his eyes and began to draw deep, rhythmic breaths. As the water cascading from his muscular frame struck the earth, crimson veins of energy became visible beneath the tree.
Two seconds later, thousands of energy currents vibrating like whips converged upon Mel. Though his body began to tremble, his eyes remained firmly shut. Simultaneously, the veins in his arms began to bulge, resembling emerald serpents engaged in a fierce struggle.
The branches of the tree thrashed violently, and the falling leaves surged toward Mel as if caught in a vortex. They first began to accumulate at his feet, multiplying so rapidly that a small mound formed after a few dozen breaths.
"Where am I? I can't breathe!"
Mel roared frantically, yet no sound emerged; it was an arduous task to even move within the viscous fluid enveloping him.
"This can't be real. I was just trying to advance into the Deep Legacy a minute ago. This has to be a place like the Energy Palace... Have I been pulled into my own mind?"
Hundreds of questions raced through his thoughts simultaneously; panic seized him, for he truly could not draw breath.
"I have to do something; I have to get out of here!"
Mel began to spin; though he could only move in slow motion through the heavy fluid, he struggled with his eyes wide open.
Time was slipping away, but because his eyes could not acclimate to the environment, he had no choice but to strike out blindly, thrashing as he advanced in a single direction. He swung his hands with such ferocity that he finally managed to carve small channels through the dense fluid before him, allowing it to flow past.
"I found it! This place has an edge. If I can break this solid wall, I can get out!"
Mel's movements halted when his hand struck a solid object; after examining it briefly, he began to batter the obstacle before him. While the breath he held within was depleted faster than usual with every claw strike, Mel relentlessly bombarded the wall.
After a minute passed in this manner, the young man drifted weightlessly before the wall he had battered, devoid of strength.
"This isn't going to work; I have to hit it with one massive strike!"
Following these thoughts, Mel found calm for the first time since opening his eyes in this peculiar realm; he focused his absolute attention on gathering the power within him. His goal was to reclaim the sensation he felt when he sat before the tree, and mere seconds later, he began to feel the crimson energies converging upon him.
He watched as it seeped through his skin, reached his veins, and flowed through his body to arrive at his hands. His hand had long since morphed into the three-taloned form of the Dragon Claw, yet this time, its appearance was vastly different.
Massive scales covered his skin, and long, razor-sharp protrusions had manifested at the tips of his three fingers. His arm was clad in scales up to the elbow; in the face of this phenomenon, Mel's face remained entirely devoid of expression.
He stared with calm, as if this was precisely how it was meant to be, and his rapid, shallow breathing transitioned into long, measured breaths.
"Just a little more... my claws need just a little more energy!"
The emerald radiance upon his claws grew more luminous with every passing moment. With both hands positioned at his sides, he coiled his body into an offensive stance, like a dragon awaiting the perfect moment to strike.
"Now!"
When the final current of crimson energy entered his body, he unleashed his assault with a heaven-shaking roar. Two arcs of energy unleashed from his swinging claws crashed violently against the wall that was his sole hope for salvation.
This time, he succeeded. A cross-shaped mark manifested upon the wall that had remained entirely unmarred by his previous strikes, followed by hairline fractures spiderwebbing outward from its center.
A tiny fissure opened, and having finally found a glimmer of hope for escape, Mel smiled. Then, a beam of light pierced through that small fissure; the illumination descending upon the young man was so brilliant it threatened to blind him.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Crimson-emerald leaves scattered into the air, and his scream did not fall silent until it echoed off the cavern walls and faded into the distance.
When Mel opened his eyes within the sanctuary his grandfather had bequeathed him, he cast his gaze about in panic. Only upon realizing he was no longer trapped within that dense fluid did his spirit find calm.
"I did it! I can feel it. My claws evolved; I can feel the power running through me!"
The young man dashed forward and embraced the trunk of the tree. He shared his triumph with the only companion who had shared his burdens over the past two and a half years.
His gaze fell upon his arms wrapped around the tree; he recalled seeing them truly transformed into the claws of a dragon while trapped within the fluid. The might he possessed in that realm remained intact, yet his limbs appeared no different from those of an ordinary mortal.
"Crystal dummies, just you wait! Let's see if you can still take my punches!"
Paying no heed to the few leaves clinging to his flesh, he darted away; his destination was the grand chamber forged for martial cultivation.
He did not pause upon passing through the arched doorway; he swung his claw-morphed hand toward the crystal dummy. A wave of energy composed of three distinct arcs cleaved the air, and when it detonated upon the dummy two seconds later, the high-ceilinged chamber trembled from the resounding blast.
The result was magnificent; the upper torso of the radiant crystal dummy had been annihilated, and the target standing behind it had lost an entire arm.
"This is it! I can blow you to pieces without even touching you now!"
To deliver the energy amassed within the claws to the target without physical contact was the very essence of the second stage of the Dragon Claw, but it was evident Mel had been unable to shatter the crystal dummies in this manner before.
"Now that I've crossed from the Shallow Legacy into the Deep Legacy, I should be able to read the hidden parts of the book!"
He immediately withdrew the tome bequeathed to him. The book he once struggled to carry with both hands now rested effortlessly in his grasp.