Rebirth: Supreme Soul Master

“Then let’s get to work,” the headmaster said, more eager to dismantle the array and see what William had done to cause such destruction to his garden.

He was also somewhat angry at William's actions. The latter had taken advantage of his ignorance to obtain far more material than he needed.

If these materials weren't so common, the principal would have really wanted to punish this audacious child.

However, even using only 10% of the materials, the array proved challenging. Nevertheless, they could sense how much weaker the array had become after using so few materials.

They spent many hours trying to break through the array. During this time, William stood on the edge of the pit, contemplating how to execute his second move.

His second move will be his dark side. Of the three elements he acquired, he understands this one very well.

After all, his mortal enemy possessed such qualities. So he studied it carefully, wanting to know what abilities such an enemy might have and how to deal with them.

“Darkness is silent, deadly, and a rather domineering element…” William recalled his understanding of this element from his previous life.

“Dark element attacks in many ways… but due to its domineering nature, it’s difficult to combine with any special element.” He knew that his enemies had previously been unable to fuse this element with other elements, or even with other elements at all. Like ice or lava elements, it benefited from its domineering nature.

Darkness gained a power known as Destruction. If it encounters an element it cannot control, it will often destroy it.

"Either become the dominant element in any cultivation technique, or eliminate other elements... It is indeed a very troublesome element..."

Nevertheless, William didn't think too much about it for the time being. He needed to learn how to execute this move first before worrying about anything else.

As for fusing darkness with light and lightning, William hoped it would work. After all, both elements were considered the nemesis of darkness, and his former enemies, as far as he knew, dared not attempt to combine them. Since there was no record of any such attempt failing, he still had a chance of success.

"What I need is the ability to stack the Tranquil Moon Technique... just like the power of light has demonstrated..."

When he gained experience from last night about how this method works, he anticipated what would happen.

He drew his sword and began to move in a crescent shape.

To activate the Still Moon Technique, he needs to first blend into the darkness, move quickly, and swing his sword in a circle like a full moon.

However, he did not do that. He simply stood still, trying to move his sword.

"No..." He tried several times but failed to trigger the dark element in his mind or cultivation technique. "It seems I need to move or merge with the darkness..."

He had two choices. He first tried to take quick steps. Trying to blend into the darkness was his last resort, one he didn't want to use for various reasons.

As he moved quickly, he felt something within his mind being triggered. Dark elements were stirred, and his body, uncontrollably, began to sense and merge with the surrounding darkness.

"Damn it!" By this point, each swing of his sword had accumulated damage. He dared not accumulate more than five before finally unleashing his attack.

A violent explosive attack erupted. But it was quite different from the attack he had launched yesterday using a combination of light and lightning.

"These two are really domineering." As he unleashed this attack, his soul power was once again completely depleted. He was already used to this, sitting on the ground and muttering to himself as he replenished his lost strength.

"Yesterday's combination attack was very powerful, enough to affect the area around the launch site. But..."

He fell into deep thought, recalling what had happened when he unleashed his dark techniques.

"The dark element's attack was quite precise, with most of the power preserved in the strike itself..." He recalled the deep crater he had carved with his sword, which was several meters deep.

There were almost no cracks around the opening, but it did not expand outwards like the combined spell last night, causing the ground to collapse.

"Perfect for assassins and dark soul masters...tsk!" He knew how terrifying such an attack was. It wasn't designed to create chaos like a combined attack. But it unleashed a single strike that could even threaten the life of a gold-level soul master.

He couldn't determine how lethal the attack would be. He first needed someone to test it against him. Judging solely from how he felt when he delivered the blow and the narrow opening it left behind wasn't enough.

“At least I did it…” He took a deep breath and stood up after an hour of rest. “But that’s not enough! I only stacked five slashes, and it already consumed most of my soul power. I need to reduce that number by half first…”

He recalled his experience last night, when he was trying to reduce the number of slashes he had stored while using light-based techniques.

His attacks failed to trigger an attack after less than five strikes. "What about merging with the surrounding darkness? Is this technique mandatory? But it triggered itself..."

He was careful not to take such action. However, his body moved on its own and blended into the darkness.

He had no control over it; it felt as natural as breathing or eating. Its appearance surprised him; he wasn't prepared and missed many details.