Arad got out of the stone he was stuck in, approaching Gojo and holding his chest. “That hurt.”

“Come on, I wasn’t that serious. I could have unleashed tens of blasts like the one I erased Vars with.” He giggled, “As long as I have matter to compress,”

“With your stomach full and the land around your expansion, I expect that can go for a long time.” Arad thought about it.

“You can do the same, but I don’t think to my level,” Gojo lifted his hand and created a ball of void. “For now, let’s get you older quickly,”

“I guess you know a way to make it faster? The cultivation is faster than growing normally, but I can’t seem to understand how it works. Vars did explain it a bit, but I don’t think I would enjoy eating sacrifices or the like.” Arad lifted his hand, pulling two chairs from his stomach.

As the two sat down, Gojo waved his hand, “That’s a way, and definitely the cheapest. But, there is an expensive one.”

“What is it?”

“Eat magical items, artifacts, or anything of the same nature. But be careful not to eat anything sentient or malevolent. It can affect your soul or mind.” From his stomach, Gojo pulled a silver sword.

“Witch hunter’s blade is an A-rank weapon that deals more damage to people based on their mana capacity by shorting their magic. Try eating it.”

Arad looked at the sword, “An A-rank…how much did this thing cost?”

“Hehe, don’t mind that and eat it. It wasn’t that expensive.” Gojo smiled. ^It was six platinum coins though. But it’s a bit useless with my and my brother’s power now,^

Arad lifted the sword, hesitant to eat it. “Are you sure? How useful this weapon could be? It’s a waste to just eat it.”

“The damage increase is pretty pathetic, up to 10% depending on their mana. But I only managed to get up to 6% against strong opponents.” Gojo sighed, “Unless you’re going to an even battle, it’s usually better to grab an ally or a scroll.”

Arad gave the sword a second look, “Fine,” He sucked it into his stomach, digesting it almost immediately.

Age: 42==>43

“It was worth a year,” Arad smiled.

Gojo nodded, “I see. To me, an identical weapon was worth a week. The older you grow, the more expensive cultivation gets. You have to be on the lookout for strong opponents and rare magic items.”

Arad nodded, “So I can either buy magic items for cultivation or try hunting for them by taking on quests. How much do you think this will give me?” He pulled the exploding nipple knife.

“A true damage weapon. Those things are more than rare.” Gojo inspected the knife. “It uses the target’s own mana to attack by concentrating it in the mammary glands. Upon release, that mana burst up, leading to the damage from within.” Gojo laughed, “In the last battle, I saw you direct the explosion toward that vampire’s lungs and heart.” He gave the knife back to Arad.

“It’s a bit difficult to control with how fast the explosion happens.” Arad looked at the knife’s blade, “I wonder how it was made.”

“Artifacts are made from the insanity of their creators. Someone must have dedicated their lives to make this thing, and it’s a powerful weapon.” He pointed at the knife, “Master it, and you would have a guaranteed two hits that bypass defenses.”

“How many years do you think it’s worth?” Arad had the urge to just eat the knife, seeing how powerful it was.

“I never ate an artifact before, but seeing that the strongest magic item I ate gave me around fifty years. This would be far more than that, especially since you’re still young.”

“Should I eat it?”

“No, that would be a waste. True damage weapons with guaranteed hits don’t grow on trees, and this one gives you two hits at the same time.” Gojo pulled a dagger and a sword from his stomach.

“Since it’s a knife, you can dual-wield it with a sword. Sneak some attacks in,” Gojo thrust the air with his dagger.

“By the way, what weapon do you use?” Arad asked as he pulled the adamantine sword from his stomach, “I mainly use this,” He then pulled the dragon slayer, “And this one for dragons.”

Gojo hid his weapons and pulled a large staff from his stomach. “This is my weapon.”

The staff was large, the head decorated with a crystal ball, and the pommel had a wooden shard nailed on it.

“Don’t tell me…” Arad said with a worried face.

With a playful smile on his face, Gojo pointed at the staff. “This is a staff for power. I glued this crystal ball to the top of accuracy and nailed this wand to the pommel for speed. Each increases my power by 80%.” He looked at Arad with sparkling eyes, “It’s an art piece, isn’t it?”

“That’s cheating,” Arad sighed.

“As long as I win, it doesn’t matter. If a problem can be resolved with a fair fight, it should have been resolved with a conversation first.” He stored his staff back in his stomach.

“You’re right. If it got so bad between two people that they had to fight each other to death, I think it doesn’t matter anymore. Everyone gives it their all to survive.”

Gojo pulled the staff again, “How about I show it to you? It’s my greatest creation, and the only one that still works.” He pointed it at the mountains with a grin.

“Long range with the crystal?” Arad asked as soon as he saw an image appear on the crystal. “Looking at the mountains?”

“No, I can even target things in Alina from here.” With a giggle, the image shifted to show Alina. “Look, it’s that herbalist old man Cain.” They could see Cain sitting on a rocking chair in his garden, sipping on tea with Jemima standing behind him.

“I can heat his drink from here. Do you think he will be surprised?” Gojo giggled.

“Guh!” Both of them froze, feeling a chill down their spines. Cain’s maid had turned her head, glaring directly toward them. Gojo couldn’t tell if she had noticed them, or if she was looking at something else and happened to stare in their direction.

But then, Cain turned to glare at them as well. His eyes emitted a faint blue light. He sighed and returned to drink his tea. “Jemima, what’s for dinner?”

“I didn’t decide yet,” She replied. “Grilled dragon meat seems like a nice option.”

ZON!

Gojo stopped his magic immediately, sweating. “They didn’t notice, did they?” He looked at Arad.

“I don’t know, don’t ask me.” Arad sighed.

The two sat in silence for a few moments, “Well, the crystal allows me to aim perfectly at distant objects, and the wand makes the latency of my attacks lower, so I can react and shoot people without missing. The power from the staff helps as well.”

“I said it before, but that’s cheating,” Arad stood, “You’re a wizard. Do you know any useful spells?”

“I do know a lot of spells,” Gojo waved his staff, “What kind do you want to learn? Crowd control spells? Damage, illusion or transmutation?”

“Anything you think is useful.”

“How about…..” As Gojo spoke, his void disappeared. “…Did it work?”

“What was that?”

“A silent spell erases all sounds in a given area. You can either cast it through magic or control the void in the air to stop it from vibrating.” Gojo looked at Arad.

“You gotta explain how it works.”

“Sound is merely vibration through the air. It travels in waves like those in the sea. But, they can’t travel in the void. So, either create a barrier with the void to contain the sound, or disperse the waves like you’re running your hand across the water to stop them.”

“Like GRARARARARARAR!” A loud screech filled the air and Gojo closed his ears, “You made your words ineligible, but you instead created a bunch of new waves. You need to dampen the waves without creating more.”

Arad looked at his hands, “Can I use this sound?”

“Sound magic exists,” Gojo pointed his finger at the horizon. “Use the void to vibrate the air particles,”

BOOOM! A sound wave burst forth, ripping the ground apart. Sonic Blast

“I made this with magic and not the void. Use whatever you feel is easier,”

“Isn’t magic limited?” Arad asked.

“Depends on who is using it. We void dragons find it easier to create effects without void, but to humanoids, magic is their key to the mystical world of spell casting.” He smiled, “A fire dragon would be better with fire than any mage with fire magic, isn’t that right?”

“Is that why we are called magic dragons?”

“You’re right. Even without learning magic, our element makes us look like powerful mages.” Gojo waved his hand, “I will teach you magic. You might find it useful in case you couldn’t use the void for any reason.”