Shadow World
Before Leo could even perceive the specific changes in the Shadow Space, he was hurriedly led by Yaoyao to the Land of Chaos of the Shadow World once again.
This place is filled with bizarre and fantastical shadows. They remain unchanged, retaining only a fleeting moment of imagery that is permanently etched into the Shadow World.
Perhaps this is a photo taken before their deaths. They no longer exist in the real world, but only in the Shadow World do traces of their existence remain.
Leo carefully comprehended the rules of the Shadow World. He was no longer the little wizard he once was; he was now Level Four Stigmata Wizard, a high-level wizard who could sense the Power of Laws!
Leo had been filled with awe and a desire to explore the most mysterious Shadow World since his first visit, but due to his previous low strength, he couldn't understand anything.
This was the first time entering after advancing to the Stigmata. He tried to comprehend it carefully, but he still couldn't perceive anything about the Shadow World. In Leo's perception, the Shadow World did not exist.
Bizarre and mysterious, it remains the veil that the Shadow World wears over its face, a veil that has not been removed!
Yaoyao stood on Leo's statue, which floated before her eyes. Behind her, a rope made of shadows was thrown to an unknown location in the Shadow World, fixing the statue in place so that it wouldn't be swept away by the Shadow World.
This is the anchor point for Leo's soul in the Shadow World. It's the location that Yaoyao fixed for Leo's soul after Leo was almost sucked away in the Tig Half-Orc World.
After the soul statue was anchored in the Shadow World, Leo was no longer troubled by soul attacks.
Just like the World Tree back then, a level seven Supreme Lord, it still failed when trying to control Leo's soul, and even descended personally to threaten Leo out of anger.
Even a level seven life form cannot shake Leo's soul anchored in the Shadow World. Trying to absorb, modify, or enslave Leo's soul is equivalent to a tug-of-war with the Shadow World.
With this statue there, Leo's soul defense is his strongest point!
The Shadow World is a projection of the real world, so isn't a tug-of-war with the Shadow World just like a tug-of-war with the real world?
Who has the power to shake the entire real world?
Even the Supreme Lord is as weak as an ant in the face of the real world!
Leo stood in front of his own soul statue, looking at the ropes tied to it with a surprised expression.
Originally, there was only one rope, which was used to anchor the statue in the Shadow World. Later, in the Rota World, Yaoyao took another shadow and twisted it into a rope, which was also tied to the statue.
There should be two ropes made of shadows on the statue, but instead there are three ropes—one thick and two thin!
All three ropes shot straight into the depths of the Shadow World, as if they were all tied to something.
Leo didn't know what the other end of the rope was like, so he asked Yaoyao, but Yaoyao still didn't tell him.
"What is this rope...?" Leo asked, pointing to the thickest rope.
If I remember correctly, this should have been after the Hundred-Page World came out, when Yaoyao asked for three more shadows, saying she wanted to teach that Little Bookworm No. 007 who sealed him a lesson.
This rope looks a bit like those three shadows!
"That's right, it's the rope made of those three shadows," Yaoyao, hugging Leo's ear.
"Don't worry about that rope now. You need to pull this one. Your gift is on the other end."
Yaoyao pointed to the leftmost rope, the one that appeared after the Rota World.
"I tried for a long time last time but couldn't budge it. Now that the Shadow Space has evolved, I can tie the other end of us to it. With the Shadow Space Shadow Space our combined strength, we'll definitely be able to pull that thing over."
Yaoyao's tone was full of resentment. Last time, he pulled the rope for a year and didn't pull anything. The surprise he originally wanted to prepare for Leo was gone, and Leo had to pull the rope himself.
After Yaoyao finished speaking, she slapped Leo's body, and three shadows appeared on Yaoyao's claws.
Then I saw him rubbing and kneading, kneading the three shadows together, and then, like pulling noodles, he pulled a long, thin rope out of the clump of shadows in his claws.
Leo watched all of this closely. This was the first time he had seen Yaoyao manipulate her shadow. As expected of a being from the Shadow World, she could control something as conceptual as a shadow in a tangible way.
He doesn't have that kind of method.
Once the shadows were stretched into a single rope, Yaoyao tied one end of the rope around Leo's waist, looked at the other end, and then threw it in one direction.
The rope formed by the three shadows instantly straightened, Leo immediately felt a strong pulling force on the shadows, as if something was pulling him hard at the other end of the rope.
According to Yaoyao, the other end of the rope was already tied to the Shadow Space.
"Come, the moment has come to witness this millennium gift!"
Yaoyao gestured for Leo to step forward and pull the rope tied to the statue. The final gift hadn't appeared yet, but he couldn't contain his excitement and was already jumping around on Leo's shoulder. If he could let go of Leo, he probably would have jumped more than three hundred times on the spot.
Those big, expectant eyes seemed eager to see Leo's shocked reaction upon seeing the gift she had prepared.
Leo had long been curious about this gift. He had asked Yaoyao so many times, but she wouldn't tell him. Now, the important moment to witness it had finally arrived.
After Yaoyao finished her preparations, Leo reached out and grabbed the rope made of shadows, then pulled hard.
"It's too heavy, I can't pull it."
This was Leo's first reaction when he pulled the rope. It was as if the other end of the rope was tied to a mountain, and Leo couldn't budge the rope an inch even with all his strength.
No wonder Yaoyao couldn't succeed even after a year of trying; given the weight on the rope, he could pull for ten years without any effect.
"It's alright, this is normal. I'm going to shrink your shadow and the Shadow Space's shadow now, so be careful."
As soon Yaoyao finished speaking, Leo felt a tremendous force suddenly come from his waist. As he gripped the shadow rope tightly with both hands, he took a big step back, and the rope in his hands was pulled a step.
It's moving!!
"Okay, that's it. As long as we can pull him out of the shadows of his past, we've succeeded!"
Yaoyao stood on Leo's shoulder, controlling the contraction of the rope between Leo and the Shadow Space while shouting encouragement to Leo!
"Go! Go!"
The rope in his hand had an unimaginable weight. If it weren't for the Shadow Space behind him pulling him, Leo knew he would never have been able to budge it—it was just too heavy!
Even now, with all his strength and the help of the Shadow Space, every step is a test of his physical limits. Leo feels like his back is about to break!
The body's defenses, which even the World Will couldn't break, now felt like they were about to be snapped by a rope made of shadow. Leo couldn't help but laugh at the thought.
His current state doesn't resemble that of a Level Four Stigmata Wizard at all; it's more like he's back in elementary school, in a tug-of-war competition with another class. He's thin and weak, but his whole body is red from straining too much, yet he's still no match for the absolute strength of the opposing class.
Fortunately, the rope in their hands could still be pulled, so there was hope!
One step, two steps,... one hundred steps... two hundred steps...
For the first time, Leo felt that the rope made of his shadow was incredibly long. He had already stretched it 158 meters, but he still couldn't see what was tied to the other end.
"Keep going, we've already pulled over one-tenth."
Yaoyao excitedly encouraged Leo, but what she said almost made Leo lose heart: after pulling so far, they had only pulled one-tenth of the way.
"Go! Go!!"
Amidst Yaoyao's cheers, Leo was furious that he couldn't unlock his Bloodline Power in the Shadow World. Otherwise, with the power of the Earth Giant, he could have pulled over not just one mountain, but two.
As he pulled further and further back, Leo eventually forgot how long he had been pulling. He even consciously abandoned the concept of pulling distance, retaining only the mechanical thought of pulling in his mind.
He feared that if he relaxed even slightly, all his previous efforts would be wasted. Only by keeping his mind focused and concentrating on pulling the rope could he pull it across in one go.
After an unknown amount of time, the other end of the rope no longer stretched straight into the unknown, but instead branched into three forks. This rope, made of shadows, had not tied to one thing at the end, but to three things!
"Almost there, keep going!"
Amidst Yaoyao's excited shouts, Leo pulled hard on the rope, and finally the end of the rope came into view.
Leo saw it.
However, it wasn't a mountain.
Instead, there were three black substances, each only half the size of a fist.
Leo hadn't expected that these three small pieces of black substance would weigh so much!
As the three small pieces zoomed in further, Leo could see clearly what they were.
"This is...?"
Even though Leo completely eliminated all distracting thoughts and only retained the intention to pull the rope, when he saw the three black modules, his mouth went dry, his pupils dilated, and his heart pounded wildly like a goat's leg beating erratically, completely losing its rhythm.
With a change in mindset, the force pulling the rope immediately weakened, and the rope that had finally been pulled close flew backward in an instant.
"Don't overthink it, we're almost there."
Seeing Leo in a daze, Yaoyao Leo in the ear. This was the most crucial moment; the slightest lapse in concentration would lead to all their previous efforts being wasted.
Hearing Yaoyao's shout, Leo, with a burst of strength from who knows where, gripped the rope in his hand and pulled with frantic force, three times faster than before, pulling the three black modules right in front of him.
He gripped the three black modules tightly with both hands, and the moment Leo touched, they perfectly merged together, forming a cube-shaped black module!
And it was constantly changing its form and appearance in Leo's hands!
It's completely in a state of being self-sustaining, able to change however it wants!
"How is it? Are you satisfied with this gift?"
Yaoyao sat on Leo's shoulders and asked with a smile, " Leo is completely captivated by the black cube module in his hand."
Leo nodded frantically, his mouth agape. "Satisfied, extremely satisfied."
Leo's hands and eyes seemed to be welded to the black cube module in his hands, refusing to even blink, as if the black cube module would disappear the moment he blinked.