Although Kayen planned to join the best academy to obtain good resources, but he was not interested in revealing all his secrets. Moreover, most of those academies were established by the government.
Kayen was not interested in becoming someone who obeys all orders like a slave. He had nothing but himself since the age of 8, and now at 16, if Kayen lost himself as well, he would go insane.
'Alright, the current goal is to obtain the best possible Essence and Traits.'
Kayen was quite confident that he could acquire Essence of Supreme rank and Traits of Sovereign rank.
Since Kayen's goal now was to obtain the best Essence and Traits he could, he was going to head toward the waters within the Trial.
He looked at his map and saw many bodies of water in his trial. Seeing this, Kayen smiled, feeling like someone who had just won the jackpot.
Kayen then took his sword, which was still lodged in a tree, and stored it in his system. After that, he continued walking, holding the map firmly in his left hand, and of course, walking cautiously.
Kayen began poisoning from where he currently was, in the south, his eyes constantly staring at the map held tightly in his left hand. Every water stream depicted on the map—he had to make sure that not a single water source was missed to be poisoned with his parasite sword.
Kayen began approaching the first body of water that appeared on the map. He saw the first body of water he encountered—it was a lake. At the lake, swans and ducks were swimming, and the lake reflected the sunlight, presenting a beautiful scene to Kayen's eyes.
'Such a beautiful thing is about to become tainted.'
Kayen immediately summoned his parasite sword. Without delay, he dipped his hand holding the parasite sword into the lake's water.
Black liquid oozed from the parasite sword as before. After the black liquid emerged and merged with the lake's water, Kayen saw a duck swimming in the lake and drinking from the water.
The duck began acting strangely, its movements becoming awkward and irregular. It seemed to have difficulty swimming and started wobbling on the water's surface. After a while, the duck appeared weak, eventually staggering out of the lake and immediately entering the bushes at the edge of the lake.
Kayen, witnessing this, was quite amazed at the parasite sword's effects. Even though it didn't kill, the sword could cause creatures affected by it to behave abnormally.
Kayen wanted to know what it felt like to be under that effect, but unfortunately, for the effect to be that strong, one had to use his own flesh, which made him immune to the negative effects himself.
'Such a pity.'
Having poisoned the lake, Kayen quickly prepared to leave. He didn't want to waste much time in one place. He stored his sword back into the system and immediately went to the next destination.
After leaving that lake, Kayen continued walking over the map with careful calculation. He saw many silver lines on the map that formed bodies of water.
Seeing this, Kayen prioritized the larger bodies of water. He felt there wasn't enough time to poison all the waters, especially since he was still experiencing consequences that increasingly limited his use of the parasite sword.
During the journey to other waters, Kayen tried not to hurry. He occasionally rested briefly under the shade of trees, allowing his body to adapt to the remaining dizziness and nausea caused by using the parasite sword.
Yet, his mind and spirit remained sharp, focusing on the big goal he wanted to achieve: obtaining Essence rank Supreme and Traits rank Sovereign.
Finally, Kayen arrived at another body of water that appeared quite large on the map. Its water flowed calmly among the rocks, with a surface reflecting the afternoon sunlight. Kayen slowed his steps, adjusting his breath which still felt heavy due to the parasite sword's side effects.
Using the parasite sword to poison large bodies of water intensified the side effects Kayen experienced. He estimated he could only do it 9 to 10 more times before fainting.
After calming himself, Kayen summoned his sword and submerged his hand holding it into the water again. Once again, thick black liquid oozed from the sword's tip and quickly spread, contaminating the water.
After the black liquid had spread completely across the water area, Kayen observed the activity around the lake. A large land creature, resembling a tiger, appeared to drink the water. After Drink the wanted, Gradually, its movements became stiff and heavy, showing the effects of the parasite sword's poison at work.
However, Kayen was also affected by the side effects; he felt an extreme heaviness in his head that caused him to collapse to the ground. Kayen felt very nauseous and dizzy.
'Damn, not 9–10, I'm not even sure I can make it to 6.'
He had only poisoned 3 bodies of water, but the side effects had already made him feel like this. This made Kayen doubt his chances of obtaining Essence rank Supreme and Traits rank Sovereign, but he did not lose spirit. He immediately tried to get up from the ground and continued his journey.