Abyss Draconis

"Just like I guessed. The Abilities have improved."

"And the second stage is like a buildup for the first stage. The hand and leg nodes, leading to the creation of the Void Claws and Void Steps."

"Now, I need to create four more nodes. With the completion of each, I'll gain a passive ability, while successful completion will unlock three more skills... and a domain skill."

"Makes sense, since this also corresponds to the Dominion Stage too..." Ryuk mused to himself.

He had already initiated the first step, so the second step was more than easy to comprehend.

"The first thing of priority right now is the environment. And that is... the Abysswell Spinefield?" he muttered to himself as he looked at the stated Cultivation Environment, before he raised his head.

"That's a little problematic. How do I find my way in this endless dark void? Should I go left, or right, or straight, or above, or below?" Ryuk muttered confusedly as he looked at the pitch-black, endless void around him.

But then his gaze sparked with realization when he noticed the platform he had used for his cultivation suddenly began illuminating beneath his feet.

He floated off, looking down to sight the bizarre rune that appeared on the platform, further bolstered with the aid of dried blood, and then—

PIERCE

A pitch-dark light erupted from the rune, piercing into the void of the sky, and Ryuk raised his head up to find it continuing, almost as if giving him direction.

Without wasting any more seconds, a Void Vortex appeared before him, and he leapt into it, only to appear 200 meters upwards. But the light continued on, and Ryuk quickly followed after it, using Void Vortex again and again.

And finally, after close to about ten Void Vortexes...

He arrived where he needed to be, and his brows instantly furrowed as he felt the concentration of Void energy in the area.

It was 100 times that of the one in the Gravehold Spires.

But the reason for that was easy to see. His breath caught within his lungs as he took in the view around him.

It was an endless terrain, but not filled with grass this time.

It was instead filled with floating, ginormous black masses—each skewered with towering, broken spinal columns of some extinct Void Creatures.

It was like the chest area of some monstrous beings—their twisted vertebrae fierce and flailing in the air like dying breaths. On their void-like bones were faint, eerie runic lines Ryuk couldn't understand.

The ground didn't exist, only a layering of necrotic bones and ash.

The air was incredibly heavy, moving very sluggishly as if liquid iron. Ryuk felt a force pressing into his skull, a pounding headache forming just from being here.

"Tch. I hate this place..." He muttered, his gaze hardening as it swept the terrain.

There was pressure everywhere, and it felt like being sandwiched between two opposing force fields, both concentrating their energy to crush him into nothing.

It was incredibly suffocating, and the intense death aura that permeated the place wasn't anything to appreciate. It irked his lungs, sending a silent storm of discomfort from sitting around so much death.

"But... these are corpses. Corpses of Void Creatures. And not only that, even though these are but corpses, leaving just their bones... the aura oozing from these bones..."

[Apocrypha Stage. Every single being in here was at the Apocrypha Stage when they were alive. And by my quick scan, there are more than 1000 of them here—and I didn't even scan to the end.] The system flashed before his gaze as Ryuk inhaled from the shock.

"A... thousand Apocrypha Stage beings, all slaughtered completely, with their corpses left to rot in here. They didn't even get a chance to be buried properly..." Ryuk muttered to himself as he looked at the black ribs and vertebrae pulsing with void lights.

"I wonder just who could have been capable of such destructive power. An insane entity, no doubt..." he uttered, before his eyes regained their focus.

'I'm here for a reason...'

He thought before he floated forward—an incredibly slow movement, but he didn't need to be fast.

He just needed to find a good spot. And soon enough, he found one.

A gigantic black bone that seemed like a plate, moving sluggishly through the terrain. Ryuk used Void Step once more as he appeared on top of it.

Even when he sat down, the bone didn't stir at all, showing its incredible mass, which made Ryuk's entire body weight seem almost obsolete.

"Good. Now, I can begin..."

"The stance is much simpler than before..." he mused as he read over the Cultivation Stance once more.

Quickly eyeing it thrice in a few seconds, the grimoire disappeared back into the shop space before Ryuk lay his back on the gigantic plate of bone beneath him.

His arms moved, crossing over his chest, and his head slowly tilted up—gazing into nothing but the endless void.

'It begins now...'

With the stance gotten properly, Ryuk began breathing slowly... yet deeply, as he felt the Void energy in the air begin to shift.

Then, they came forward—tendrils of energy, gathering into long, thick ropes before they appeared before Ryuk, piercing straight into his nose, entering into the lungs, and dispersing into him.

The result?

Overwhelming pain, along with dark blood oozing out from his nose and lips, barely three minutes into the cultivation.

But Ryuk redirected his focus instead to forming what was next.

The next node ought to be the Sternum Node, and without wasting a second, he directed his attention off his physical body and pain just enough to make sure he was doing what he had to do right before turning the rest of his attention inward.

He watched the absorbed Void energy gather around his new heart core, resulting in it overflowing with Void energy that trekked through his body.

But he quickly diverted them to the sternum, and soon enough, a new node began forming.

This time, it was far firmer, since he had gone through this before. But what he couldn't ignore was the pain—it was worse.

Much, much worse.

Even after he had cut off his sensory feeling to the outside world, just the stinging agony from the sternum node alone could twist any mortal into insanity.

'Soon.'

'Soon... and I'll be ready. With just a little bit of pain... I'll finally be ready.'