Don't Own anything.
'thought'
"Speech"
"Tvs, Radios, and Text via book or newspaper... when those are around..."
Heyooo! Merry christmas! I figured I might as well transfer over the 9 chapters of a snippet fic i had released on QQ. I hope you enjoy.
I let out a long breath as I cross my legs, sat within a dark haze of blue smoke.
I inhale then exhale, my hands folded in my lap.
Reincarnation.
Rebirth.
Isekai.
A genre that I loved in my past life...
Hell, I still do.
It's just that I haven't really had much opportunity to read manga of any sort anymore, and the whole isekai genre doesn't become popular for another good eighty years or so.
The year is nineteen forty-three.
World war two is in full swing.
Luckily that's not really my problem right now.
What is my problem, is the startling realization that this isn't some mere world.
The German organization Hydra.
Thus meaning that this is somewhere within marvel.
If I had to make an educated guess, I would say that this is the Marvel Cenematic Universe- albeit a strange MCU variant with anime hair colors and stuff. and fun stuff doesn't really pop up for another seventy years.
I'll be old and gone if I merely did nothing but wait for that moment.
Which is why I'm doing something.
I have been doing something for the past couple of years.
I didn't exactly come here with zero boons.
The random omnipotent being who sent me here gave me two things, the first, one of the eighteen skyrim perk trees fully leveled with all perks that he selected at random, the next is intimate knowledge of one sole thing.
The rob chose 'Alchemy' as my selected perk tree, but not just any alchemy, the specialized Ordinator alchemy.
A key feature of that skill tree, perhaps the greatest part of it, is the zenith skill, called 'That which does not kill you'.
In game, instantly after taking that skill, you are greatly poisoned, taking one hundred and fifty damage per second for the next sixty seconds.
Considering that most characters won't have more than three hundred health by the time you take this perk, you'll need quite the substantial stash of health potions to survive.
The benefit for this, is a far greater enhancement for your potions...
But that doesn't make much sense, nor could I use the three points that this skill supposedly gives me, thus, I was given a special benefit.
My body can rapidly break down basically whatever poison I put in it.
I got bit by a rattlesnake when I was eight. I didn't even need to go to the hospital, just got some aloe leaf and I pretty much healed right up.
Then my family moved to New York and have been there since.
Another fun aspect my alchemical items is that fifty percent of the time they get a random beneficial quality, twenty five percent of the time, I get two. This, of course, also applies to poisons, except I am given bad qualities.
Now, back to ROB. They gave me alchemy, and seeing that a fairly powerful ability had fallen into my hands, I decided to capitalize on it.
For my knowledge, I requested to be given extensive knowledge on cultivation techniques, in particular crafting, medicine, and poison techniques.
Like, those in Murim.
The classic 'one hundred-year-old ginger' and 'Dazzling moonlight sky blade'. That sort of thing.
Why?
Eh. I was reading one of those cultivation manga before I died. I thought that it would be the best knowledge to reincarnate with as I could use my alchemical skills to refine pills and stuff.
I mean, that knowledge is clearly working.
I've had numerous bottlenecks, sure, but at the end of the day, my knowledge and skill will allow me to eventually become a true threat to Thanos in the future if I continue to do my little Murim thing.
A great benefit to Murim bullshit is that people who participate in it typically live for hundreds- if not thousands- of years, so if things go to plan, I'll still be around when he shows his ugly mug.
To a person who has no idea what cultivation is, it's basically a method to strengthen your body through meditation and absorbing 'ki', eating weird plants, medicine balls, and rocks. Then developing over the top kamehameha-like techniques that ignite the sky or some shit.
There are about nine levels of cultivation from what I can tell.
Well, ten.
The first is called 'body tempering', it lasts roughly one hundred days. During this time you typically use medicine to rid your body of impurities, then use basic sword, fist, or saber- which is different than sword apparently- techniques to get your blood rushing and your insignificant life force flowing. At which point, you will meditate, collecting 'strands' of your heightened powers and guiding them to your heart to store in your first 'super special spiritual core' or whatever.
The goal of doing that is to collect enough to open said 'spiritual core', otherwise known as an 'Acupoint'. In this case, the 'Heart Acupoint'.
Only when you open your heart, can your cultivation journey begin, you step into the first stage of being superhuman, known as simply 'beyond mortal'.
That.
Is where I am currently.
My one hundred days of foundation took slightly longer than it should due to lack of materials. I was forced to wait several times due to not being able to find good quality ingredients to make said body purifying medicine, otherwise called 'body tempering liquid'.
I had to rely on my potion's random effects to give me something similar.
And when I say 'similar' I mean 'I was only able to glean a suitable effect as a side effect to the already random side effects. This resulted in something far less efficient than the original liquid.
Incredibly less effective. As in. It took me nearly four hundred days to do something a five year old child could do in a fourth of the time. However, seeing as how there was no way in hell I would ever find something like 'Ten year fire chi lotus leaf' or something equally as inane as that, it is a reasonable timeframe.
Then there's the whole 'perform basic martial arts to get your blood pumping' thing which posed a minor problem. At least my in-built knowledge gave me the basics on that.
It's sort of masochistic in a way as I had to POISON MYSELF to get the most out of my training.
At first, I used black widow venom by harassing a box full of them until they nibbled on my fingers. After around two months, that stopped working and I had to start doing acupressure with their venom.
After three hundred days of that, it started losing effectiveness, thus I proceeded to use my alchemy to create a toxin... which almost killed me despite my- at this point- peak human resilience and natural resistance to poisons.
Thus, I lowered the dosage considerably and tried again, with similar, albeit lessened, results.
I mean, I guess that my poisons are far more powerful than my potions due to there being three perks that buff poisons, one of which scales off alchemy rank and only two that remain a static number for regular potions. Both of which also work on poisons.
That leads me to where I am now, breathing in poison gas while meditating to increase spiritual power and rest after a tremendous workout, inching closer and closer to opening my 'Eye Acupoint'.
A special trait with Acupoints, is after unlocking each, there is a slim chance to unlock a 'special ability'.
For the eyes, the chance is around fifty percent. Typically involving some form of long ranged sight or scrying. Each of the acupoints has the capability of unlocking special traits, even Heart, it's just a lot rarer than most of the others, sitting at roughly one in ten thousand, far lower than the eye's one in two, the nose's one in one hundred, and even the ear's one in one thousand.
Not quite as rare as the mouth's one in fifty thousand, but that's sort of understandable.
Luckily, I have unlocked a special trait.
I haven't really thought of a good name for it yet, I was thinking something along the lines of 'toxic heart', or maybe 'black heart'. But basically, what it does is allow me to safely store poisons in my heart for future use.
What I do with this poison really depends, I can keep it stored and circulate it with my blood, potentially poisoning whatever causes me to bleed, or, in such a case, I can poison weapons with my blood if I so choose, then I also have the option of sending the poison into my lungs where I basically shoot it into the air stored inside, breathing out a cloud of toxic vapor when I exhale.
Or I can even condense and circulate poisons, making them more deadly.
It's fairly useful all things considered, but it does have its limits. There is only so much poison I can store in my heart, additionally, unless I want to mix it up, I can only store four unique poisons at a time, one in each valve of my heart.
It also seems to have had the effect of speeding up my 'poison arts' cultivation skill which has been crucial in making up lost time.
I let out a long breath, the little steel pot I filled with poison then boiled long since running out of poison.
I rise to my feet and clench a fist, letting out a slow breath.
I walk over to a nearby bucket of water, ditching my clothes and sitting them neatly in a pile to the left of where I was sitting.
I proceed to thoroughly scrub my body.
This will be the first time I leave this little shipping container of mine in a week.
Typically, when I begin 'poison meditation' like this, I stay for days at a time as thoroughly cleaning myself to make absolutely sure that the poison is gone is always a hassle.
After about thirty minutes I walk away from the bucket I haphazardly pour down a drain, leading into the sewer, then put on the clothes I had set aside in a paper bag, taking a moment to admire my own toned abs and muscles.
"Damn. I can't believe this works." I whisper to myself.
I leave the warehouse with a slow nod.
Slipping my hands into my pockets I calmly walk out of the warehouse, making my way down the dock's fairly empty walkways.
There's nothing scheduled to ship any time soon, so there's no reason for many people to be out here.
*BANG* *BANG*
Huh. That was pretty close.
A man rushes around the corner, sprinting as hard as he can, luger pistol clutched in one hand, seeing me, he raises it towards me.
Before he can fire I twist my body out of the way.
*BANG*
A bullet flies past my shoulder.
'Alright. Fuck you, then.'
My body tenses as I rush forwards clearing surprising distance is a matter of moments.
Those within their foundation period would find themselves potentially stronger than normal humans, those who have truly stepped into cultivation even more so.
To put it into perspective, those who take the first step into cultivation typically live till they are one hundred. Easily. Most even pushing one hundred and twenty. Once you get to step two, however, you truly transcend. You gain a lifespan of around two hundred and forty years and gain the ability to actualize your ki and project it into techniques.
A 'Beyond Mortal' cultivator just has the Captain America package, strong, fast, durable, but once you step into stage two, you truly begin to flourish.
I reach the man drawing back a hand as he lets out a roar with a German accent. "YOU AMERICAN FREAKS!"
My palm strikes his chest, lifting him off the ground with a dull crack, his eyes bulge, hand loosening on his weapon and some vial of blue liquid.
I snatch the vial out of the air before it can strike the concrete floor, slipping it into my shirt as I stalk forwards to the man writhing on the floor, mouth wide as he gasps for air.
I reach down and grab his left upper canine tooth... and rip it from his skull, frowning down at it.
Cyanide.
A truly humongous man turns the corner, he has short blonde hair and is built like a brick house, wearing a white t shirt and brown cargo pants.
Speaking of Captain America...
He looks stunned at the man, then back to me.
"Hello, extremely muscular man, I assume this German spy here was running from you?" I question quietly.
"Yeah." He nods once, seemingly cautious of the fact I took him down so easily.
"Right. I'm going to go then, my shift is about to start over at that warehouse over there. If you want to interrogate him, you'll probably want to get him some medical attention, I hit him pretty hard."
I walk past the super soldier.
"Wait. What's your name?" Steve Rogers himself calls out.
"Arthur Steele." I call over my shoulder as I walk past him.
I can hear a low whirl as a one-man submarine rises from the water, the spy rolling into the water and seemingly trying to drown himself, distracting 'America's ass' and giving me ample time to walk away.
This formula is... genius...
FUCKING DAMN IT!
It's almost perfect for body tempering.
I've managed to identify all of the ingredients... all except one.
Some edits would need to be made to its production method in order to allow its effects to be shown through consuming it, but this is seriously impressive.
If I had this back when I first started, I could have finished in only one hundred- no. Eighty days.
The imperfect formula, that is, the perfected version might have brought it down to forty days. Maybe lower.
Ugh! That's so fucking annoying! I would have already long-since opened my eye acupoint and maybe have even made good progress towards my nose acupoint!
I sigh and shake my head. 'Don't get angry, Arthur, just keep this in mind if you do the classic cultivation thing and build a 'sect' or organization.
I rub my temples and let out a long sigh.
At least this tells me one thing...
There are plants out there that I don't know about.
Maybe I should create my own 'super soldier serum'. Who knows.
I let out a low hum as I look to a large watermelon-sized fungi sat on my table.
A genuinely fucking massive black truffle.
Fifty year old black truffle.
*Cough* I mean, fifty year yin energy infused fungi.
I got lucky and I found this, now I'm debating on if I should do what I'm supposed to do and just eat it straight, possibly ruining truffle for me for the next thirty or so years, or if I should do a big cultivation taboo and eat it on a burger or something.
I let out a long sigh, shoulder slumping.
Regretfully, my cultivation is more important than my pallet currently.
Mental note, create Black Garlic before it becomes a widely known thing.
I let out a long sigh as I reach over and grab the truffle with both hands, taking a deep breath as I lift it.
"This is going to suck." I observe.
*THUD THUD THUD*
I get up from my couch, letting out a long breath as I make my way to the door.
I slowly open the door. "May I help you?"
A woman with short brown hair stands there, she wears a dark green military uniform, a letter in hand. "Arthur Steele. Your country needs your help."
I let out a long sigh. "Ugh. A draft, seriously?"
"Yes, seriously." The woman growls, sounding genuinely offended. "While you are laying about in your house good men are sacrificing their lives for the freedom of our countries."
"Yes, and I truly appreciate that, I truly do, but I do in fact have bigger worries than a nazi regime."
"OH really? What could possibly be more important than-"
"Alright, hear me out... Mythology."
"…"
"I beg your pardon?" The woman whispers.
"Dragons, King Arthur, Excalibur. That sort of thing."
"How in the blazes are FAIRY TALES that more important than defeating the Nazi regime?!" The woman growls.
"As long as Hitler believes the holy grail exists, it'll remain my problem. You won't be laughing when some random German battalion walks onto the battlefield with king Arthur's fucking Excalibur." I shoot back. "All mythology, regardless of how stretched it may be starts with a truthful story. Thor might have been a man struck by lightning who through a genetic defect was granted the strength of a dozen men, King Arthur could have been a man who was an expert at dueling and was never touched on the battlefield."
"You are... mentally deranged."
"You do realize you are talking to a man who is One: able to lift five hundred pounds with one arm, and Two: filled with so much poison that I could kill an elephant by spitting on it, right? And I gained these powers through the amazing ability called... ancient Chinese martial arts."
"I am aware." The woman states.
She silently stares. "About the first thing. The later parts are utterly insane sounding."
"Aren't you fighting nazi's who have laser weapons with a man who was previously weaker than most children and is now able to push train cars like they weigh almost nothing? I have a rattlesnake in the other room. I could very easily have it bite my hand."
"Or I could just do this." I shrug as I stare into her eyes.
She flinches as my eyes shift, glowing green lines shaped like a loose M appear on my pupils, forming what look like flower petals around throughout iris.
"What is- what are-"
"Magic eyes. From magic martial arts. Lets me dominate and command snakes." I casually admit.
"Now. Let's go do whatever it is we have to. You want me to fight hand and hand with Captain America? I heard he's making a unit of some sort, and since you are bothering me now, I can only assume that's where you are taking me."
I look to the numerous men rushing around camp, there's a large armored car of some sort with a high-tech laser weapon on the top, men doing basic exercises, campfires and cooking pots, even people getting medical treatment and first aid.
My guide leads me to a sole group crowding around a large bulky blonde man.
"Steve." The woman breathes out quietly.
He perks up and turns around. "Peggy!"
He turns around with a bright smile, briefly pausing as his eyes stray to me, familiarity briefly crossing his gaze.
"Who is this?"
"This is Arthur Steel, Martial Artist, Chemist, and a superhuman who has been drafted with hope of being put into your howling commandos. Codename Venom Dragon."
"Superhuman?" I hear many of the men around the campfire echo.
My eyes lock onto the man with a blue army hat sitting around the fire.
"It's been a while." I greet lazily. "The last time we met you were chasing that German spy, right?"
"You're the one who took down Heinz." The man blinks.
"That's right." I nod once.
He stands up and offers me a hand.
I take it and shake his hand.
"Good to have you." He states with a small nod.
"Good to be here." I reply with a grin. "Let's kick some Nazi ass together, alright?"
I slowly cast a gaze across the group. "Oh. And for future reference for your continued survival... if you ever see me bleed, fucking run. My blood is more toxic than cyanide and you will most certainly die if even a drop touches your skin."
I turn back to Peggy. "Anyways, as I was saying beforehand, it would be pretty nice if the US Government did this special thing for me. In ancient Chinese culture it's called a 'Gu'. Basically the entire concept is putting a bunch of poisonous and venomous things in a pot and letting them eat each other. The sole creature that survives having poison far surpassing what it originally had. I don't necessarily need it quite yet, but it'll be useful for me in the near future-"
Bullets whizz past my head as I sit crouched behind a large mound of earth.
I am sat next to a man in blue, a frankly gaudy shield rests on his arm.
I take a bite of jerky with a slight grin. "The most versatile metal on the planet and they use it to make a frisbee."
"You keep saying that, but this shield has served me well." The man replies.
"I know. I could do better though." I state as a small metal sphere lands between us.
I grab it and hurl it backwards as hard as I can, the grenade exploding somewhere in the air behind us.
"Could you?"
"Of course." I scoff. "I might be more into chemistry and alchemy, but I could certainly do something with that."
"Floating blades, hell, if I could get some of that and turn it into wire? A piece as thick as a strand of spider silk would be about as strong as one of those cables that hold up the golden gate bridge."
"Really?!" The superhuman questions.
"Yeah. Can you imagine that strength in that surface area? You could probably cut a tank in half if you wrapped it tightly around it and dropped a heavy weight off a cliff." I snort with a slight eye roll.
"So. How long are we supposed to stay here?" I question as roll over and gently place my hand on the dirt wall, peeking up and over briefly before ducking down as a flood of bullets pepper the mound, sending soil spraying over myself and Steve.
"Until Dugan gives us the signal." Comes the captain's reply.
"Did he ever say what the signal... was?" I ask as I look back to him.
"No, but he said 'oh, you'll know'."
"…"
"That doesn't seem like a very good strategy. You should probably talk to him about that because all of our lives are on the line." I deadpan as a rocket slams into the earth behind us, sending a large plume of fire exploding upwards.
I sit back down next to Steve and adjust my green helmet. "I still don't think me being out here is a good thing. I wasn't joking when I said if I bleed I'll kill you all. I've got so much cyanide and other assorted poison stored in my heart and pumping through my body that if I so much as breathe wrong and expel everything in my lungs, everyone within thirty feet would probably drop dead in seconds."
"…"
"Well, except you. You'd probably last a few minutes being a super human and all." I admit.
*BOOM*
The earth seems to shudder for a moment as the gunfire peppering our location abruptly ceases.
"…"
""That was the signal."" We both state at the same time as we turn and lunge over the earthen mound, rushing towards a huge compound in the distance, a machine gun nest has collapsed inwards, it is now nothing more than a smoldering wreck that shoots plumes of fire upwards.
A single pistol rests in my hand as we both run forwards as fast as we can, taking advantage of the brief pause in battle, most people are looking in the direction of the explosion, that is what we can use to our advantage.
We rush the machine gun nest, Steve himself reaching it before me and clearing the barbed wire barricade in a single bound.
I hear screaming as there's a loud clang somewhere within the hole.
I hop over the barbed wire after him, taking care to not cut myself as that'd be such a headache.
I lift my hand and squeeze the trigger of my pistol.
A figure in black armor legs out a shout as my bullet strikes the glassy eye of his suit and pierces his brain.
The glowing blue rifle he was holding falls to the floor, causing me to dive towards it as similar men begin pouring from the bunker I am now stood just in front of.
The weapon finds itself in my hand as I blast it towards the first man, a beam of blue shooting from the barrel and washing over the first man.
He is vaporized.
There is nothing left.
"Holy shit." I whisper. As I do it to another.
Less armored soldiers pour from the bunker, but they are gunned down by Mr America himself as he rushes over with his shield and a handgun, standing slightly behind me with his arm in front of us both, granting us some cover.
I press my hand against the shield to steady it as a sustained beam of blue crashes into it, forcing us back slightly.
The soldier who was shooting it finds himself quickly vaporized by my own gun.
I stand, dropping the hydra weapon- as it is attached to the corpse of the first guy I killed via some sort of battery cable- and raise my pistol as I move up.
Some poor saps who apparently aren't important enough to be clad in solid metal armor and be given a laser rifle escapes the bunker, clutched within one of the men's hands are two large potato masher grenades. "HEIL HYDRAAA-"
I shoot him in the head, then crouch down, picking up one of the dead armored figures by the collar and using them like a shield.
Shrapnel pelts his body as I wince slightly, the floor rumbling from the detonated explosive, he promptly seems to take out all of his allies.
I lift the man and run forwards, using his armored body as a shield, bullets ping off his figure as I make it into the bunker
I hurl him forwards abruptly, knocking over some of the men as I reach over and tear a large gun emplacement off its tripod.
I spin forwards, pulling the trigger of the German buzzsaw, the men throughout the bunker letting out loud cries as large holes are punched through their bodies.
Steve himself quickly steps in behind me, pointing his handgun at the path leading deeper into the bunker.
I glance down, lifting a grenade from one of the fallen soldiers. I twist the cap off it and hurl it down the hallway.
I share a look with Mr America and wait briefly...
The bunker shudders, causing the two of us to rush into the new room, guns blazing, targeting anyone who wasn't killed by the grenade.
If we keep at this pace, the entire compound will be captured at the end of the hour!
*End of Chapter 1*
I sit atop the hood of a simple jeep a small smile on my face.
"You handle yourself well." Steve states as he takes apart the gun he was wielding and begins looking through it.
"Thanks." I nod once. "That was my first time getting into a life or death fight, but I like to think I did pretty well. At least I didn't bleed. That probably saved some lives."
"Wait... were you being serious about the blood thing? I thought you just didn't want to go into combat." He mutters in surprise.
"Oh, I was being completely serious." I answer. "Deathly serious. I tend to tell people how it is. If you lie a lot, people tend to not trust your word even when you're telling the truth."
There's a small blinding flash in front of us as I glance to its origin. I can see a man in a green helmet, a large box in his hands.
A camera.
One that must be held with two hands, and one that can more than likely only produce black and white photos.
Huh... I wonder if I'm going to be in a history book now.
My gaze focuses back onto Steve as I shoot him a small grin. "Anyways, I'm going to go see if I can whip up anything useful out of the supplies here. See ya around, cap."
I hop off the hood of the truck and turn, wandering off deeper into the camp.
Thinking on it... going to war has... put a bit of a hamper on my overall path to power.
If I was still back in America... given free rein to do what I want... winning underground boxing tournaments and other challenges left and right to earn money... I would likely be finished with unlocking my Nose acupoint by now... yet here I am, at sixty percent...
I started at fifty-nine percent about four months ago, and that was merely because I had eaten that big ass black truffle.
A shudder passes through my body as I remember the flavor of it, a small cringe appearing on my face.
'Ugh. Too rich and decadent.'
Regardless. This war has taken a toll on my time to better myself.
That is mildly annoying.
I take a potion off a Bunsen burner and briefly dip my finger into it.
I taste he potion and put a cork in it.
Acceptable.
The potion rolls around my tongue as I narrow my eyes slightly. 'ooh... it's got a- no... It's got two witch master potion effects... and both seem to synergize quite well with each other.'
The potion itself is a simple stamina potion. It should temporarily remove the physical and mental fatigue of the person who takes it... with it of course becoming far less effective over time.
The secondary aspects of this potion, however, is that it grants whoever drinks it a temporary healing factor and an enhancement to strength that is... quite substantial. It should be about a... one hundred percent increase. So a flat double. Then there's the healing factor to consider, which should close a gunshot wound in about ten seconds.
This would be genuinely world shattering if I give it to an already enhanced person. In fact, an enhanced is the only person I should ever consider giving this to. Merely due to the rarity of these effects.
"Arthur." A voice behind me begins.
I turn, seeing the woman who dragged me into this mess, Peggy Carter herself.
"Yes?" I hum as I take the test tube and use a pen to carve a '+S' and '+H' on it.
"A package has come for you... you are required to be there to open it."
"Huh?" I hum. "That's unusual. I thought I cut ties with my family."
"It was not your family who sent it. It is something that was sent over by the United States military itself." She informs.
I place the vial down on the table and slowly turn, cupping my chin. "Alright... that is... even more unusual. Let's go see what it is."
I follow her through the camp, eventually coming to a fairly large wooden crate.
There are a few stickers on the front of the box, the first being 'Priority Shipping'.
Another reading 'Living Creature'.
A third is just a large skull and crossbones.
"Oh boy. A present?" I snort with a small eye roll. "Bit late for Christmas, but I'll take it."
A small crowd of people have gathered around the crate, idly wondering aloud what it could be.
Even Cap himself is here.
"Anyone got a crowbar?" I question.
I see a man with a glorious mustache and bowler hat heft the item in question. "I was gonna open it myself if you didn't get here soon."
I let out a snort as he gives the metal an underhanded toss, catching the prybar with one hand.
"Let's see here..." I mutter under my breath before casting a glance around the group. "I'd suggest maybe taking a step back. It says venomous. Which probably means some sort of snake... I hope it's a cottonmouth. I've never had one of those before."
I jam the crowbar in between the wood and with a leveraging push the wood cracks off.
There's a second box inside, this one with a wooden handle driven into it, allowing it to be slid out of the larger box.
I do so, revealing a few files placed atop the box.
I take them off and hold them behind me for someone to take.
I can hear peggy let out a quiet sigh and take them and begin flicking through them.
"I'll read those later... right now I feel like I shouldn't take my eyes off this." I mutter as I gently run my finger along the roof of the box.
"From skimming it... this appears to be the result of that 'Gu' thing you told me about." Peggy mutters.
My head snaps to look at her before slowly trailing back to the box. "Is that so?"
I crack open the next crate, then pull my hand back as a reptilian head nearly sinks its massive fangs into my hand. A fairly large head rises from the crate, a rattling hiss echoing from its mouth as it looms above my crouched form, there are worried mutters from the surrounding soldiers as Peggy takes a few careful steps backwards.
"Oh? What are you?" I question, a small smirk on my face.
I waggle my fingers at one side, causing its eyes to dart to the appendage.
It strikes, but I pull my hand back, avoiding the bite as I grab it by the neck with my other hand.
I pull it from the box, glaring into its eyes.
It grows limp and passive as I shift my grip, the snake coiling around my arm as I pull it out of the box.
"Well now... aren't you pretty." I whistle as I take in the serpents full appearance.
It is a briliant blood red in color, with black markings peeking through in between its scales... and its scales. Ohoho brilliant. They are jagged and angular, looking like the thorns on a vine. Its eyes are like pools of midnight, with barely visible pupils of a slightly different shade of black.
I look over to Peggy as the snake slithers up my arm and loosely wraps around my shoulder. "This is a bush viper, right?"
She audibly swallows then nods once now that I seem to have the snake under control.
"Yes. According to this, it is a bush viper. Scientific name Atheris hispida."
"Ah. African hairy bush viper. Interesting." I hum. "A special trait of bush vipers being that there's no sole antivenom for them as the toxicity of the snake in question can change between different specimens of the same species, the location of the bite, the weather and even humidity. I've heard its quite a bothersome venom to deal with... plus hard to obtain in general due to their habitats and nocturnal nature.
I glance to the head of the snake resting on my shoulder. "He's a bit larger than a bush viper should be... most top out at around two and a half feet... yet this guy is well over six. How interesting."
I gaze in the box and see an empty sack that the snake seems to have gotten out of, carefully lifting it and checking throughout the rest of the box.
"Was he all they sent?" I question.
"Yes. There were three successful experiments using your instructions, and taking into account your ability to manipulate snakes, they sent the only snake to us, while keeping a spider and scorpion for further testing."
"How many experiments did they attempt?"
"One hundred." She answers.
"So... a three percent success rate, hn? Those are some bad odds, buuuut." I stroke the side of the snake's head with a small grin. "Can you deny the results?"
"The files seem to be listing the changes of this... transformation." She gestures to the snake.
"Alright, I'll go take a look at those now."
She gives the snake a cautious gaze as I reach out my hand, but she eventually places the files in my waiting hand.
"Thank you for coming to get me, Peggy. This guy would have likely killed a couple of you if you had just opened the box without me here."
I begin flipping through the papers as I walk back towards my tent.
'Oh? Interesting... this little dude used to be green... and frankly he was a bit undersized. A juvenile. But over the three month period inside the darkness of the Gu pot, it appears to have hunted and consumed numerous other venomous and poisonous creatures.'
It had apparently liquified a rat they put in its cage. The rat in question dying after merely a short two seconds after being bitten.
Normally it would take anywhere from thirty to sixty seconds to be rendered complexly immobile... and from the way the papers described this bite, it sounds like this was a glancing blow, more than anything.
I offer my hand to the snake as I enter my tent.
"Bite me." I order.
Its fangs sink into my flesh, causing me to let out a low hum.
The world seems to spin for a moment as I stagger forwards, placing a hand on the table to stabilize myself.
"H-Holy shit." I whisper.
This snake...
It managed to nearly bring me to my knees seconds after being bit.
My hand twitches and shakes as a warm haze of pain slowly creeps up my limb.
The rattlesnake venom within my left atrium slides down into my right ventricle, which is storing the cyanide I had previously consumed.
I take a seat on the ground, crossing my legs and taking deep meditative breaths as I close my eyes.
Let's see if this venom can do anything for me.
I pinch my nose closed with a small sigh.
Fucking nose acupoint.
I had known it would fucking suck for a while after opening it, but really? Even three whole months after unlocking it I still cant control my sense of smell?
So fucking annoying.
It looks like I WILL be forced to wait until the third stage of cultivation before I can control this.
That's looking to be a fairly long way away. Getting Diablo here- yes, I've named the snake as he is my pet now- might have sped up my cultivation speed immensely, but even still when I am not given much time to actually cultivate... I don't see myself progressing much.
It has been Hydra Base after Hydra Base for us.
After hitting that one in France, we took a trip to Belgium. Then to Czechoslovakia.
Three bases down in four months.
"Are you alright, Dragon?" Steve questions, a look of concern on his face as he looks over his shoulder.
"I'm fine, Cap. Just not used to being in a city again. Opening my nose acupoint has really fucked my sense of smell. The exhaust fumes are giving me a damned headache." I sigh as I rub my temple.
On that note.
I reach into my belt and slowly remove several thin needles pricking in key spots of my left hand.
Instantly I can feel the nausea and headache lessen as I let out a small calmed breath.
The nose acupoint has been a bit of an issue, yes, but overall I'd say the benefit of it has outweighed the negatives.
I didn't unlock a special trait, sure, but something that all cultivators get at this level is that through merely breathing... we collect and store ambient energy from the world around us. Taking it deep within us and strengthening our bodies.
Each and every breath I take brings me closer and closer to unlocking my next acupoint, though by no means is it much.
I'm... reasonably close to my next step. The Ear Acupoint. Roughly ninety percent of the way there. To put the speed of 'breathing cultivation' into perspective, it would take two years of breathing while doing absolutely nothing to finish off that five percent... at least here in the city. I could likely shave off a lot of time by sitting around in an area full of natural ki... or like, even a forest, really.
We both glance upwards as incredibly loud sirens fill the air.
"It looks like the information was correct." Steve frowns, glaring off into the distance as small dots seem to appear.
"It's times like this I wish I was a higher-level cultivator... if I was at stage three- or, hell, even two I could likely take down some of those planes from here."
"What's the deal with that anyways... can anyone really get this strong?" The man asks.
"Truthfully? No. Not everyone can, because the items required to get started either don't exist or are so rare you'd never find them. You need basically the equivalent of a super soldier serum, and for a normal person, one without my ability to break down and use poisons to better myself, after they achieve their first 'level up' into something more than just a person, you'd need to worry about continuing to find these plants and other items... and let me just say... I have only found one plant in my entire life that was useful in Chinese cultivation... and it was a black truffle, probably fifty years old or so, nearly the size of my torso."
I slowly turn to the buff man. "Anyways? I could possibly get you to the first stage fairly easily... I wonder if the Super Soldier serum would have any effect on cultivation... I wonder if you would get even stronger."
"We will worry about that later. First, we need to get in position. The intel said that the Hydra spies will be infiltrating the Strategic Scientific Reserve to retrieve documents and blueprints. We should be prepared to stop them."
I nod once. "If I had to make a bet, I'd say that they have a submarine or something docked at, well, the docks. Should I start heading down there, placing myself in their path when they try to escape?"
The man cups his chin, a frown on his lips.
"Go to... the air raid shelter. It is roughly halfway to the docks, and I could see the spies going in to hold everyone hostage once they realize I'm on their tail."
"Got it." I nod once as I turn and begin running, faster than before, but still not at the level of Steve himself.
The Super Soldier Serum is a genuine marvel in what it has accomplished. I'd say that it has given him the body of a stage two cultivator... which, bare minimum, is roughly twice as strong as even the strongest stage ones.
He doesn't have the ability to manipulate ki, which stage twos get, though.
Explosions rock the city as planes buzz overhead, I'm forced to slow my pace somewhat to avoid the bombs as they fall. After around ten minutes of running I slide to a halt just in front of a large underground train station.
I take a step just inside and cross my arms.
I quietly wait there for about ten minutes... then I can hear it... faint gunfire that is drawing closer and closer.
My eyes slowly crack open as I push off the wall, my finger tapping on my bicep as I wait a little more. Seconds ticking by mutely.
*CRASH*
The gunfire which had reached just outside abruptly stops as there's a loud crashing noise. "DAMN IT!"
"Quick! Into the-"
A man comes around the corner as I grin.
I punch forwards one knuckle extended. My sneak attack is successful as my blow to the solar plexus knocks the man to the floor, the three others barely have time to react as I step forwards, jabbing a second in the ribs with my index finger, stabbing upwards with my other hand, catching a third man just below the corner of his jaw and nearly lifting him off the ground with my enhanced strength, and the final man gets a two-fingered jab to the collar bone.
All four men collapse to the floor as a motorcycle screeches to a halt right beside their crashed vehicle.
They writhe in pain from their triggered pressure points, the third guy having his jaw dislocated entirely. I act fast, quickly looming over each, prying open their mouth, and ripping a tooth free from their heads.
The first three let out pained gurgles as their mouths begin to fill with a little blood, but... it's better than the poison these teeth contain.
The last guy, however?
*Crack*
He bit down on the tooth, releasing the trapped poison within.
"…"
"I really wish you didn't do that." I frown at him as he gives me a smug look, spitting out a pained growl as I approach him.
"Heil... Hydra!"
I flip him over, grabbing his white button up shirt and with a flick of my wrist I rip off the chest portion.
I reach down to my belt and retrieve a steel lockbox and a set of five needles.
Steve walks up, looking over the three men which I have subdued, then the briefcase they were carrying.
The fourth spy's eyes lose some focus as I open the lock box, revealing numerous little sealed bottles. I stab a needle through the thin film protecting the first bottle, then as the man closes his eyes, resigning himself to his fate, I, with incredible precision, I stab the acupuncture needle in the center of his torso, just barely avoiding his sternum and causing the tip of the needle to just barely pierce into his heart.
His eyes snap open as he writhes, letting out a shout of agony as I take a second needle, poke it into a different vial, and stab this one into roughly the area of his collar bone, causing his body to stiffen and become ridged, making it as if he is standing at attention. His pupils shake in contained agony as white foam froths around his lips.
"So, only one of them managed to poison themselves?" Cap questions as he looks down on the man I am crouched over as I stab seven more needles into the guy at various locations around his chest.
"Yeah. Luckily, I got to them quick enough. I doubt I could babysit all four of them... but one is manageable. This guy might have gained Arrythmia from that needle I stabbed his heart with to administer the first shot of my counter venom, but that's not a guaranteed chance... besides, a little Arrythmia never hurt anyone... until it does... regardless, it's better than being dead.
I watch Steve withdraw some handcuffs and quickly imprison the other people I have captured.
I walk over to the discarded teeth and carefully place them in a wooden box. It's unlikely that I'll use this poison later, as it's in a tooth, but it still shouldn't be here in the middle of the street. It might hurt someone if we leave it.
A building down the street explodes as the whistle of a falling bomb reaches our ears.
"We need to get these guys inside." I frown.
Steve, without a second of thought, reaches down and picks up one of the men, placing him on his shoulder, then takes the other two uninjured men, one under each arm.
I grab the shoulders of the man below me and gently begin dragging him inside.
Steve returns before I can even make it twenty feet with the guy.
"How do we do this?" He asks.
"We need to keep him level and without jostling him too much. The needles are at specific depths and locations."
"I see."
With his help, we manage to transport the man down the stairs.
Muted droning wails of sirens echo in the distance as I sit down, back against the wall of this improvised bomb shelter, Steve towers nearby, looking down at three men who aren't laid out in agony, just daring them to try anything.
He turns, walking over to the wall I am sat against, then leans against the wall as well.
"So. Your Counter Venom. It's my first time seeing it work. Does it really work the way it sounds?" He asks, making conversation. It has been a fairly boring time, waiting for the bombing to subside.
"It... does." Nod after a brief moment to think over it. "In a sense."
I gesture to the prone spy. "You see this man? His shaking eyes. The light shivering in his hands?"
He glances over to the man, a frown on his face.
"He is in ceaseless agony." I explain. "That is the downside of my counter venom... as... it is still a poison."
"Is there anything you can do to stop his pain?"
I look up at him, then sigh and shake my head. "No. There isn't. I haven't perfected a numbing agent yet... and, while I could render him unconscious with pressure points, that increases his chance of death from around two percent up to ten."
"You are far too kind for your own good, Cap." I note. "Caring for people like them even after all they've done."
"Nobody should be tortured like that. If they have to die... it should be quick and painless." The man declares.
Seeing that the conversation got a little dark, he moves back to the venom itself. "Does your counter venom work on all poisons?"
"Technically yes, but it's a balancing act. I need to know what they are poisoned with and how bad it is in order to administer the correct amount of counter venom. Too little, they are killed by the original poison. Too much, the counter venom overpowers the other poison and takes their life... and there is no method to counter this poison as it is right now... well, besides injecting more venom or poison into them, of course."
I find my eyes straying over to the prone German. "There is a crucial downside, however... the more potent the original toxin, the more I have to administer... the more I use, the more painful it becomes for the patient in question... and considering that Hydra Cyanide is quite a bit more potent than normal Cyanide..."
I shake my head and look away. "So, did you check what they were trying to steal?"
"Blueprints for weapons, mostly. Then a few chemical compounds made by Howard."
"If it was made by Howard, I'm glad that they didn't get their hands on it. He makes some crazy shit. Some of the stuff makes even my creations look tame in comparison."
"They're not that bad." Steve snorts.
"Oh yeah?" I joke back. "Just wait till he shows up with 'robo-cap' or something. He walks it out here, it takes a rock to its head and activates its 'kill all humans' protocol."
"I wonder if a robot could match my strength." He mutters to himself as he clenches a fist.
"I doubt it." I snort with an eye roll.
I tilt my head and I can hear it... for the first time in about eight hours... the sirens have stopped.
I rise to my feet, giving the snake wrapped around my neck a brief scratch under the chin, I look to the man in blue and red.
"Shall we?" I question.
He shoves off the wall, offering me a single nod.
*End of Chapter 2*
The plane I am standing in jostles slightly. I cast a slow glance over to where Steve is standing, fixing his parachute.
I, myself, am already fully prepared to drop down.
There are dull cracks of explosions all around us.
"WE'RE APPROACHING THE LZ!" The man in the cockpit shouts over his shoulder, being forced to shout over the noise of the vibrating propellers outside.
"EQUIPMENT CHECK!" A man nearer shouts.
I look down.
"Check." I nod.
"One, Okay." Captain America nods, his eyes narrowed slightly as a door opens in front of us.
The plan is simple. Cap and I parachute behind enemy lines and capture a Hydra research facility that has been posing a problem for the front line. We're to jump in, cause as much chaos as possible- preferably turning the guns on the trenched in german forces, then the rest of the allied forces, spearheaded by the howling commandos will punch through the weakened front line and help us surround the bastards.
"Cap, have you got the poison resist elixir I gave you?"
"I do." He nods once.
"Good. We might need it." I frown.
A green light appears next to the open door as the man behind us shouts. "GO GO GO!"
Captain leaps from the plane as I walk over to the door and leap after him.
"GIVE HYDRA HELL, CAPTAIN, VENOM!" The man shouts out the open door.
A small smirk appears on my lips. 'ohoho. I plan to.'
Cap pulls the cord of his parachute, pulling his legs up and facing his shield towards the gun encampment as bullets begin to whiz through the sky.
I pull mine a second later as the man begins getting shot at, bullets clanking loudly against his shield as he returns fire with his own weapon, an M3 submachine gun.
As I reach about thirty feet above the ground, most of the gunfire targeting Cap himself and his bright colors, I abruptly free myself from the harness and fall to the ground, landing with a crouch.
My legs briefly strain, but after a moment, the dull ache disappears, and I am as good as new.
I can see Steve land up above, the flash of gunfire illuminating the darkness of the bunker.
I rush forwards as a soldier is hurled over the ledge, falling twenty or so feet and landing with a dull crunch as his head bends at an awkward angle.
I leap, grasping an extended part of the wall with my fingers, I pull myself up quite easily, my body weight being nothing in comparison to what I am able to lift casually.
I scale the wall in seconds, pulling myself up just in time to see steve deck a guy in the face hard enough to lift him from the ground and send him flying.
"Damn." I whistle. "You took care of them all before I even got up here."
"Help me aim this." He calls out, gesturing to the massive artillery cannon pointed skywards.
"I've never used one of these before." I note as I quickly make my way over. "Have you?"
"I practiced before the mission." He announces. "I'll aim. You spin those wheels until I tell you to stop."
I begin turning one of the wheels. "Wait. Turn that one the other way."
I do so, causing the gun to slowly swerve around with a quiet creak.
"Little more... alright stop."
I do so.
"See if you can lower it any- other way."
The wheel I had begun turning quickly reverses direction.
"Almost... stop."
He crouches over the reticle and looks to the open barrel beside him, then picks up a fairly sizable shell and inserts it into the cannon, then seals the end shut with its hatch.
"Firing."
I cover my ears.
*BOOM*
The cannon jerks back as I watch an orange speck explode from its barrel and arc into the distance.
It makes contact with a miniature bunker in the distance and explodes, creating a large dust cloud in the dark of night.
Steve ejects the shell and looks over to me. "Aim a bit more to the left. There's a tank I want to hit."
With a couple more turns of the wheel, our aim is on target, Steve inserts another shell, and in the next moment the darkness is lit up by a fairly large explosion. A large blaze clinging to the metal framework of the tank as the gas and shells within ignite.
"We've got three more shells. Then we should move on. This bunker could be hit by mortar fire any time now. Go right. Further than the original Pillbox"
I begin turning the first wheel.
"Stop."
There's another explosion as something in the distance detonates.
We do this twice more as we can see conflict begin in the distance.
"Let's move." The man orders.
I nod once as I reach down and pick up a rifle, looking over it briefly as the man leaps over the edge of the raised platform, then drops the twenty or so feet to the ground.
I follow after him as we turn and rush into a fairly large forest.
I stroke the head of the snake wrapped around my neck as we creep through the sparse tree line.
"Cap." I loudly whisper. "We're not alone here."
The man in front of me begins slowly glancing across the forest, a cautious look on his face.
Our eyes snap to a metal object sailing through the air.
Steve throws his shield at the grenade, causing it to rebound and knock the explosive device back in the direction it came.
The shield then rebounds off a nearby tree and back into Cap's waiting arms.
'Just as fucking ridiculous as in the movies... does that shield have like... infinite velocity or something? Doesn't vibranium absorb impact? Shouldn't it hit something then abruptly stop? Shouldn't it be literally the worst thing possible to hit something with?'
The men who had begun to step out from clumps of earth and trees let out a shout of surprise as they are ingulfed in an explosion.
My own weapon rises as I shoot another man in the chest.
He falls to the ground as we both rush forwards, spying a large stone wall in the distance.
A beam of light shines over it as a wailing siren seems to echo out in the dark of the night, overpowering the sounds of fighting far behind us.
I fire four quick shots, killing the next group of soldiers as they rush for us, then, Steve and I dive in opposite directions as a large machine gun mounted on the back of a pickup truck opens fire on us.
It luckily seems to track the captain as I am given a moment to aim my weapon and shoot the one firing the gun in the head.
His ally finds a hurled shield smashing into his face as he lets out a shout.
I run over and let out a low whistle at the sheer size of the gun.
It's like a supped up M2 Browning. About twice the size of a normal one, and using shells that mirror that statement.
This thing could likely punch through tank armor... at least, thin tank armor, that is.
"Cap, should we use this?" I question.
He looks it over for a moment, then the faintest bit of a smile appears on his face. "Well, they've been so nice to gift wrap it for us, it would be a shame if we didn't accept it."
I rush forwards and step into the cab of the truck, Steve hopping up into the back and ripping the gun off its setting.
I turn the truck on and drive it forwards, a grin on my face as it bounces on the uneven dirt.
As we reach the wall, I slam on the breaks, there's a brief thud on the roof as I can see Cap use it as a stepping stone to catapult himself up onto the wall.
He unleashes a spray of lead towards the other side of the wall, sweeping his weapon across the facility beyond.
A moment later he leaps down as I climb out of the truck and begin to follow after him.
I easily clear the rock wall and land on the other side to see steve fighting a-
"Holy fuck... they made a mech suit... eat a dick, Iron man." I mutely whisper to myself.
Honestly? It... looks about on par with what is capable sixty years from now.
Blue electricity crackles around large glass-like spheres in the armor.
Armor is a word used loosely.
It's not so much of an 'Iron Man original' as it is a rip off power loader from Alien two.
There is no metal protecting the head or arms, with larger robotic arms just behind the man's being controlled with little joysticks in the fists.
I leap down as Steve narrowly ducks under a punch that utterly shatters the stone wall behind him, he darts forwards, smashing the edge of his shield into the stone breastplate of the suit, causing the metal giant to stagger backwards.
I reach into my belt and grab a single throwing knife, rushing forwards at high speed.
It seems my swift approach is noticed, as the hydra soldier begins to turn, lifting his hand towards me, lightning booming around the limb-
Steve smacks the limb aside, causing it to shoot wide as I hurl my knife forwards.
I slide on my knees in between the robots legs as there's a quiet 'ting' sound.
The exo-suit staggers to the left as my red, white, and blue ally slams a haymaker into its side.
I glance up, seeing my hurled dagger spiraling through the air.
I reach up and catch it with one hand as the man in the suit slowly turns.
"…"
There's a small cut on his cheek.
Steve raises his shield defensively as I let out a low hum and turn away.
"I can do this all day." Captain America smirks. "Give up."
"he can't do it all day... in fact, I doubt he could do it for more than say... five. Four. Three. Two..."
His body becomes ghostly pale as the paralysis poison finally takes effect, his arms falling limp as his eyes drift shut.
The sound system of this facility spring to life, beginning to play... music?
"He! ho! walduhter ihr schlafhuter mitsammen."
I don't speak... german.
Honestly, I should fix that. Learn some additional languages.
The suit falls over as Steve and I begin to walk forwards, walking towards the large building in the distance.
The hairs on the back of my neck rise slightly, telling me that there is something crucially wrong.
"DODGE!" I shout as I kick Steve's shield as hard as I can and use it as a springboard to launch myself away.
An arc of lightly zips between us, crashing to the earth a short distance ahead.
I flip through the air, landing with a crouch as I can see a large vehicle wheel itself out of a nearby garage... a tank... but instead of a continuous tread for its movement capabilities, it has four large and durable wheels. The hydra symbol- Cthulhu for some reason instead of a legitimate hydra- emblazoned in fierce red paint on the front, back, and sides.
Another change, of course, would be the turret.
Where you might normally see a large artillery barrel, instead, there's a strange tesla coil, an eerie buzz seems to echo from it, nearly muted by the fairly obnoxious music.
"Cap. Venom. That thing looks tough as nails." A voice in our ear pieces begins.
"How do we take it, Howard?" I question with narrowed eyes.
"I think I know how to take it down, but you'll need to do exactly as I say." The voice continues.
"I can do that." Steve notes. "Out of all the eggheads I know, you're my favorite, Mr. Stark."
"Aw. I bet you say that to all the geniuses." The man quips. "Alright. Focus up. The last time I saw something like this, Hydra had a giant flamethrower mounted on it. Hydra must have found a new power source."
"Yeah. Could have probably guessed with the glowing blue robot." I scoff.
"That's Fascinating, Mr. Stark- hrrk-" Steve narrowly avoids another blast of lightning as quickly run around, grabbing onto a little ladder on the side of the tank and pulling myself up onto it. "But can we please skip to the part where we make it go boom?"
"Sorry about that. Sometimes the engineer in me can't help himself. Venom's got the right idea. Part one to breaking it would be getting inside."
"Oh? Is that it?"
He uses the barrel as a hand bar to swing up onto the back of the tank with me. "Maybe we should just knock... they might think we came for a cup of sugar."
"Eh. I doubt they have any." I snort. "Besides. You don't look like the baking sort. They'd probably think we're here to sell them Snake Oil and have barred the door."
I pat the side of Diablo's head.
"Shame." He quips back as he slams his shield down, punching down into the metal, then using the disk he pries the hatch open with a loud 'clang'.
"So, who wants to buy a washing machine?" He questions down into the hatch.
He pauses as there's no reply and tilts his head.
He jumps down.
"Well, this is anti-climactic. There's nobody in here." He calls up. "it's remote controlled."
"Hn. Shame. I was one sale away from employee of the month." I roll my eyes as I hop down beside him.
Surrounding us on all sides are nothing but wires. Wires and glowy lights.
"Damn. This is one heck of a toy... I know what I want for Christmas." I hum.
"Alright, so on your ten-o-clock from the way the cannon is facing, you should see the control box, I want you to pry it-"
*CLANG*
All the lights go out abruptly and we are cast into darkness. A single electrical spark here and there being the only light the entire tank seems to get.
"He hit it, didn't he." Howard deadpans.
"He hit it." I nod once, causing the man to let out a long, resigned sigh.
"I can't see shit in that darkness." He mutters under his breath. "Alright. Is the box open?"
"Yes." I nod once.
"There should be two cables. One red. One black. I want you to touch them-"
The tank shudders slightly then the lights flicker back on. A screen at the far side of the tank appears, showing a front, back, and side views of the tank.
"Gotta say one thing, Mr Stark." Steve begins as he walks forwards and takes a seat in the chair in front of the screens. "I'm glad you're on our side."
"And I'm glad the guy who can lift and probably throw a car, and the guy who can turn me into a smoothy with just a single poke with a needle are on my side." He states.
"How are Bucky and the rest doing?" Steve asks.
"They've reached the German line and have punched through. They are acting as a pillar to expand the assault." Comes the voice from our earpiece.
"That's good. It looks like our mortar fire made a gap that was just large enough." He states as he glances back. "Hey, Venom. Hold onto something, we're about to crash through the wall."
I brace myself against the metal ladder leading out of the tank.
I find myself lightly jostled forwards as I can hear a loud crack, numerous little 'ting' noises echoing from the front of the tank a moment later.
Ah. We're being shot at.
*BOOM*
And it appears cap turned the thunder gun down upon the infantry. Utterly vaporizing them all.
"Damn. I guess all good things must come to an end." Cap sighs as he gets up.
"Complications?" Howard questions.
"Unless Hydra has made a tank that can float, this is as far as she goes." He answers.
"If they have, can you swipe the plans for me? That'd make my next hovercar showcase not end in a total flop."
"Sure, Sure." I agree. "I'll grab it after I see if they have the recipe for the ultimate fruit salad."
Cap leaps from the tank, and I get out just in time to see him skip his shield across heads like a stone on a lake.
"Your shield makes zero sense, Cap." I scoff.
"What do you mean, it totally does." He replies as I hop out.
We scale the stairs as I snipe back at him. "No, it really doesn't. It has like... infinite velocity. It loses ZERO speed when it hits something. It rebounds like its made of rubber and is supposedly absorbs impact. Something that absorbs impact shouldn't bounce at all! It should just smack into a wall, stop, and pathetically clatter to the floor."
"Halten Sie Abstand und schießen Sie nicht, bis Sie das Weiß seiner Helmflügel sehen!"
We rush up the stairs, seeing another platoon of soldiers
I hurl a little glass bottle filled with liquid as hard as I can, causing it to smash against the forehead of one of the centermost soldiers... upon making contact with the air, the liquid rapidly expands, exploding into a large rolling smoke cloud.
We duck back behind the brick corner we just walked past and wait as bullets begin to fly from the smoke.
The gunfire eventually dies down as I peek out.
"…"
"They're down." I nod once, and with another flick of the wrist, I launch another bottle.
This one breaks on contact with the floor, a new smoke billowing outwards.
This smoke seems to consume the first, rapidly dissipating a moment later, leaving a relatively clear path for us.
The music abruptly stops.
"Ah. Captain. And a newcomer to our little game." A man before us slowly begins, looking over the two of us as we briefly stop our run forwards.
The first and most obvious thing about him, would be his head, free of skin, it looks as if someone forcibly skinned his entire head, leaving him with nothing but a... Red Skull.
"Well, I'm here to say that it's game over, Schmidt." Steve growls.
"On the contrary, Herr Hauptmann. I believe that this is merely the beginning. This. Is where your destiny begins."
"The only thing I'm destined to do is put my fist somewhere between your lungs and colon." The red white and blue captain raises his shield with a glare.
I place a hand on his shoulder. "Cap. We should leave."
He shoots me a look of confusion. "What?! Why?"
"He's not really there." I frown, gesturing towards the German super soldier. "He's an illusion."
"How astute, Giftdrache." The man states, his facing making it really difficult to tell his true emotions. "He would be correct. I am afraid that my duties at Hydra are far too pressing for me to attend your final trial in person. Alas. I have sent you a special... gift..."
"It's a bomb." I blandly deadpan.
"You sent us a bomb?" Captain echoes.
"A bomb." The German states.
"QUICK CAP! TO THE AMERICA MOBILE!" I shout as I turn and leap over the edge of the catwalk, plummeting to the floor below, gently echoing out 'Nanananana-'
I land with a crouch and rush towards the tank, with a single leap I clear the edge and sink down into the open hatch.
I can steve enter the hatch just as I take a seat in the driver seat. "Alright. How do you work this thing."
I jerk back on the two joysticks, causing it to whirr to life and crash back through the broken stone wall behind us.
"WOAH!" I grin. "Hell yeah! This is awesome!"
"I think you might be enjoying that too much, son." I hear Howard snort from my ear piece.
"Nah... I'm enjoying it... just the right amount." I smirk.
I swerve the tank around and begin driving full-force towards the outer wall. "Hey, Cap. What now?"
The tank tilts forwards slightly as the entire thing shakes, we are lifted from the ground and hurled forwards as a genuine earth shaking explosion rocks the compound.
The reverse camera was destroyed in that blast...
I glance back to Steve as he slowly climbs the ladder and peeks out.
"…"
"Well... there's nothing more we can do here..." He eventually announces. "Let's get this back to Mr Stark so he can dissect it and see just what we're working with here."
"Got it." I nod once. "Hey, cap. Maybe you should stand on the roof so we don't get friendly fired. There's an ugly paint job on the side of this thing, and I feel like our compatriots might take issues with Red Skull's taste."
"Good point." He nods once.
Pov: elsewhere.
A man with a dull green suit stands before a desk, a large window just behind him, he paces back and forth, lecturing a frail looking bespectacled man.
"For you see, Herr Doctor... toys... can be taken away. Simple weapons can be used against you." He monologues, his pacing increases. "That, is why our first and greatest goal should be turning ourselves into the weapons! Tanks and guns are merely a means to an end. True conflict is won by man!"
"An interesting ideology, Obergruppenführer... one I can see myself fully agreeing with." The doctor flinches and scampers away as a man walks calmly into the office. He appears to be quite old, yet he seems to carry an incredible weight and danger with each and every step.
He is balding, yes, with a clean-shaven face and, frankly, a little fat on his cheeks. His wardrobe choice is unusual. He wears a long maroon robe with little symbols upon it, and in one hand is a little bamboo umbrella.
The man with flesh rent from his face finds himself befuddled. A feeling he hasn't had in quite a while. "Who... are you?"
"Moon Thread. Head of the Emerald Razor Sect." The figure announces.
"That does not answer my question." Red Skull frowns. "Who are you really."
"Moon Thread is my Dao name. It is my identity... and it has been for the past eighty years. And, my dear Red Skull, perhaps it would be better to ask what I do instead of who I am." The umbrella wielding man smirks. "I am quite interested in your drive for human evolution... and from what I can tell from merely looking at you, that drive has near infinite potential."
"I have heard that you have two thorns in your side... one 'Captain America' and a certain 'Venom Dragon'… a man with a Dao name... one of resounding ferocity." He continues. "The Emerald Razor sect is a group of highly skilled assassins. I propose... an alliance. Or rather... a contract that could reasonably extend to a fully-fledged unison of our forces."
"Oh? I take it that you assassins wish to test yourselves against the best the allies have to offer?" Schmidt questions with a small frown.
Abruptly he kicks his desk forwards, the wood sliding across the floor towards the umbrella wielding man at high speed.
Said man leaps, kicking off the desk and flipping through the air as he lashes out with a kick that the Nazi blocks by crossing his arms over his head.
Red Skull's feet sink into the floor as he grasp the ankle of the man and slams him down as hard as he can, sending the man crashing nearly entirely through the floor.
Before he can punch down, 'Moon Thread' flips back, striking the Hydra commander in the chest with a brutal kick which causes him to stagger back a few steps.
A long straight blade is pulled from the handle of the umbrella as the Nazi straightens his uniform.
"Is this an ample test of my skills?" The balding man questions.
A feral grin appears on the face of the Hydra director. "Yes. I believe so. You might just have yourself a deal, 'Moon Thread'. I look forwards to our work."
*End of Chapter 3*
"Wait... so... all of the scientists were fused into a single tentacle beast with razor sharp claws that could carve into stone?!" I mutter, eyes wide as I look between Bucky and Cap. "That is..."
"Insane? Demented? Utterly impossible sounding." Bucky frowns. "Believe me. Getting grabbed by that thing had me questioning every single decision I had made in my life up to that point."
"You do realize you are talking to a man who drinks cyanide to grow stronger and can mind control snakes, right?" I frown.
"Ah. Yeah." The non-super human hums.
"I just can't really understand how commandeering a submarine managed to lead to fighting 'Giga Octopus'." I sigh as I shake my head.
"The tentacles regrew as they were cut as well... plus sometimes they split into two." Steve explains.
"Like a hydra?" I question. "Ugh. That sounds horrifying. How'd they even manage to make something like that?! There's not like a 'turn your body to goo and fuse it with others' chemical. There should be ZERO percent chance that what they did was even possible!"
I shake my head with a short huff of annoyance. "Anyways, my month was much tamer. I just spent my time curing diseases and mixing chemicals.
"Oh? Is the outbreak of malaria finally dealt with?" Steve questions.
"Dealt with as it can be." I note. "I can't really kill all mosquitos in a ten-mile radius of our trenches, sadly."
"You don't have to deal with them, right?" Bucky asks.
"Pfft. No. They take at my good looks, my charming smile and muscular figure and are all 'fuck that. I can't mess with perfection. I don't really 'get' bugs in general. They tend to give me my space."
"Ah. So, if we ever have to march through a swamp, stay with the living mosquito repellant." The brown haired man huffs in amusement as he looks to Steve. "Hey, Cap. If a mosquito manages to drink your blood, you think we'd be forced to deal with super mosquitos? Twice the size as normal and can pick up a man and fly away?"
"Now that I think about it... mosquitos don't really bother me either." The man mutters.
"Maybe you just stink." Bucky snort.
"I bet it's the fact that he can sort of just more or less walk off shots from low-caliber guns. Good luck piercing his thick hide as a mosquito."
"Hey!" Our heads turn to see Dugan running over a smile on his face like he had just won the lottery. "Cap! Dragon! Bucky!"
"Yeah, Dugan?" Steve asks.
"They've got a new flavor of MRE!" He exclaims.
"What?!" I gasp.
Bucky's eyes widen slightly. "Seriously?!"
We both stand at exactly the right time.
I look over. "It wouldn't exactly be sporting to just rush right over there. Ten second head start?"
"Does that offer extend to me?" Cap questions.
"Do you need it?" I snort. "You'd probably be finished eating by the time we get over there."
Bucky rushes off, a grin on his face.
Ten. Nine. Eight..
"Hey, Buck. We've got no missions for a while. What do you say I make you super human real quick?"
"Make me superhuman?" He echoes.
"Yeah. I noticed there's something strange about you... you were experimented on, right?" I question.
His expression dies, taking on a cold frown. "Yeah?"
"How about I make it so you are never put in that position again?" I grin. "How about... you use some of my methods to get stronger?"
"Use your methods? That Chinese punchy stuff?" He asks.
"Exactly." I nod once. "Admittedly, my methods certainly won't work for you after you awaken to step one, as you don't gain any power from consuming poisons... but it is reasonably easy to get anyone to stage one."
"So... why haven't you told the military this?" He asks.
"You want me to tell the fucking government?! Are you out of your mind?!" I gasp.
"Wh- it could save a lot of people!"
"Not everyone is a cheery goodie two shoes like cap... this is pandora's box, Bucky." I narrow my eyes slightly, my voice losing its normal cheer. "A lot of people could get hurt by this, Buck. Even more than we'd save. Sometimes... the government doesn't have its people's best interests at heart. If you tell the army about this... the spies in the army will gain access to it. If the spies in the army get access to it... the people they work for get it. In one fell swoop... you have just made the next war... one not fought by men... but super soldiers. How does a common person even compare... it would be a genocide. And how many people would take advantage of their new strength? How many innocent people would die if they went against their new 'gods'… that is why I will not be telling you how to make this stuff... I'm just going to teach you how to harness it and give you some future pointers... after this war, I'll probably do the same with Cap, but honestly, I don't think his body can be any more 'tempered'."
"So. Are you ready to learn?" I state.
"I guess. We can be the tree superpowered amigos."
"So... this Zola guy." I begin as I crouch on the edge of a snowy cliff, a frown on my face as I glare out across a chasm leading to a set of train tracks. Bucky crouches to my left, glaring through a pair of binoculars. "We capture him. Then the army does this whole 'join us' shpiel? I get that right?"
"We are in no position to question what the government says." Steve sighs.
"Well, maybe we should." I growl. "Oh, sure, let's just grab thousands of nazi scientists and bring them over. I sure hope that they don't rebuild the nazi regime in the shadows. That's suuuure be bad."
"I'm with Venom on this one, Cap." Bucky sighs. "Zola is a guy who was completely fine with human experimentation. That sort of person isn't to be trusted."
"It would be soooo easy just to kill him here and now... or it would have thirty minutes ago. Just zipline down, chop into the railway lines and bend them off the cliff?" I sigh.
"In this scenario... we need to be the better men." He begins.
"Alright, Cap." I scoff. "I'll be the better man, but in sixty years, when hydra comes back after built back up in the shadows... after it has infiltrated basically all walks of life from bartender to vice president. I am going to look you in the eyes and say, 'I told you so'."
I look to Bucky. "Buck, if you keep doing the things I told you, hell, you might even be around then."
"I'm satisfied with a normal lifespan, thanks." He replies.
"I'm not. After this damned war... I'm going on a soul-searching journey through China. See if I can find me anything interesting. I might finally ascend beyond stage one."
I let out a whistle sigh. "Y'know. I wonder how far I'll manage to go in my life. I'll certainly make it to stage two. It's only a matter of time. But after that. The world itself tends to strike you with lightning or whatever every time you try to go to the next level... I'll probably get to stage five fairly easily, just depends on luck, really."
"How tough would you say a level five is?" Bucky asks.
"Well, to put it into perspective... we currently live to about one hundred and twenty... a level five? They live to one thousand... and keep in mind. Stage one only gets super strength, speed, and all that jazz... stage two and beyond? They basically get superpowers. Breathing fire. Exploding punches. Energy shields. It gets a little crazy."
"Plus there's a huge gap in between the abilities of one level and the next." I continue as I tilt my head, hearing a quiet blaring horn in the distance, making use of my newly unlocked Ear Accupoint... sadly, no skills unlocked here, either. "Also, if I remember correctly... all stage fives gain the ability to fly... so, there's that."
"If I had to take a guess at their strength... I'd say a stage five could fight the entirety of the US military at once and come out on top." I nod once.
"And you said you could reach that level fairly easily?" The brown haired man scoffs.
I give him a small shrug. "Train's coming. All who's coming with, get your gear ready."
I grab my zipline and crack my neck.
A red serpentine head pokes up out of my jacket, but I reach up and push her back down.
"Let's do this shit."
The train comes into view as I hop off the cliff.
I clear the chasm fairly quickly, letting go of the zipline just as the train passes underfoot.
I roll briefly along the roof, but manage to correct myself as I reach up and grab Steve's forearm as he jumps off.
He is rooted to the rooftop as my fingers tightly wrap around the edge of the roof.
I let him go as he appears to have acclimated to the sudden forwards momentum, he then turns and watches as Bucky and a fourth man, Gabe Jones land slightly further down.
Bucky quickly makes his way over to us as we hop down in between the cars.
The door in front of me slowly creaks open.
I freeze as I see something I didn't expect. On the far side of the room, three men sit around a table in the darkness... it appears that they are playing some sort of tile game.
One of them men look up with a small grin. "Xiǎng qù wán?"
Panic floods my body as I lash out with a punch.
A blade narrowly passes my shoulder as I turn my body, a fourth man appearing just in front of me, my punch narrowly deflecting his attack just enough to miss me.
It's not that he appeared... it's that I didn't notice him up until that point.
I kick forwards, but my attack is caught with one hand.
'WH-'
Steve is quick on the uptake and punches towards the man's face, but he releases me and backflips several times, showing off far more agility than someone his age should have.
Bucky lifts his pistol and squeezes off three shots towards the man, but he kicks the ground, knocking an open umbrella into the air, which he catches with his free hand, holding it out towards us with a twirl, the lead flattening against it.
"…"
"Cultivators." I lowly growl, eyes narrowing.
"You must be Venom Dragon." The umbrella wielding man notes.
My eyes stray the train car as I let out a low hum. Taking a single step forwards as I narrow my eyes. "Cap. Buck. Go around, I'll handle this."
"What?!" The brown haired man snarls.
"I'm going all out. You'll be in the way. There's probably two... no... three more of these guys on the train. Be on your guard."
"I'LL BE IN YOUR WAY?!" Bucky snarls.
Steve places a hand on his shoulder. "Bucky. He's right. Be careful Arthur."
He closes the door as I slowly walk forwards. Stopping just a short ten feet away from the man as the other men rise from the table, grasping sheathed blades from nearby as grins split their faces.
He is more powerful than I am... I can at the very least tell that. Probably a stage two cultivator.
And those three behind him? They're about on par with me.
"So. You know me... but I don't know you. It's only fair that you tell me your name before we fight, right?"
"Hn. Very well. You may call me Moon Thread. I am the leader of the Emerald Thread sect... and to send your two friends away... you are courting death, Venom Dragon."
"Oh wow. That's another checkmark on my cultivator bingo card. All I need is to discover some sort of secret heavenly demonic dragonlord divine art... then regress... and I'll get bingo!" I cup my chin. "Though, I could just as easily get bingo through 'angering a young master' and 'Mount Hua'. You. Quick. Say something about Mount Hua."
The balding man gives me a flat stare, he looks thoroughly unimpressed, he gestures back with one hand. "You all... go assist the other three. I will handle this."
I lunge forwards, hurling two little bottles forwards as I do so.
He looks as if he is going to block the two bottles, but he seems to decide that would leave him open.
I narrowly duck the lazy swipe of his blade, a few strands of my hair being sheared off and am forced to duck back as he swings his now closed umbrella upwards, the tip narrowly passing by my nose.
The wall at the far side of the train car blows up as the bottles shatter, a cloud of smoke is quickly whipped up as a few stray boxes ignite.
The tree cultivators seem mostly unharmed. A little injured, but that's it.
One of them shakes their head, letting out a weak groan as he wipes soot from his forehead.
They as a group quickly rush out of the room as I exhale deeply.
They'll probably get around one hundred feet before they die.
"It looks like your little gambit failed..." The older man condescendingly smirks.
"Damn it." I growl as I take let out another long breath.
I narrowly avoid another stab, then a slash, and finally a swat from the man's bamboo umbrella.
This fight was seemingly impossible before... but his increased range? That makes things far more difficult.
I hop back, my hand reaching into my overcoat, pulling out a simple revolver a moment later.
I squeeze off a single shot in an instant, but the man ducks to the side and blurs forwards, running along the wall for a brief moment.
The metal of the gun is irreversibly dented and cut into by his sword as I am forced to use it to block. His heel smashing into my jaw and launching me to the side.
My back roughly collides with the wall as a small hiss escapes my lips as I am bounces forwards slightly.
A lance of pain explodes from my shoulder as Moon Thread lunges forwards and pins me to the wall with his sword. It sounds like his weapon even pierces the metal behind me.
I let out a couple of panting breaths as he leans close.
"Aww... What's wrong?" He questions with a sadistic grin. "Could it be that you are out of breath? Already?"
My other arm, which had fallen limp to my side suddenly snaps upwards, like a striking viper, my knuckle cracking into his throat hard enough to force him to stagger back with a surprised gurgle, his sword being pulled free from my body.
His slip-on Chinese martial arts shoes slide on the steel floor as he rubs his throat, a cautious glare piercing into me.
I take another deep breath then slowly exhale as blood drips down my wounded arm. "What's wrong? You look winded."
His eyebrow twitches.
"YOUR DEATH WILL BE PAINFUL!" He screams
With great speed, I meet the man head on, grasping his wrist before he can complete his swipe and hammering my other hand into his stomach. The wind is knocked from his lungs as I grab his shirt and hurl him.
He bounces off the wall with a grunt, flipping briefly and landing on his feet.
He jabs the closed umbrella forwards, but I manage to catch it with my palm, staggering back from the force of the blow.
"I could have sword that you were merely a stage one cultivator..." He growls. "But you are a true master, like myself? At such an age? It's a shame... but I will be forced to remove a prodigy from this world!"
Three more slashes are avoided. I am getting more and more used to fighting at this skill level.
As he goes for a fourth attack, the combat knife that was concealed within my sleeve makes its way to my hand, with a perfectly timed parry, Moon Thread's sword is freed from his grasp. In his brief stunned silence, I manage to land an absolutely brutal open palm strike that sends my foe sliding backwards yet again.
He stares down at his now empty hand, sword stuck into some boxes a short distance away... his eyes widen abruptly at the slight shake to his fingertips.
"I..." He begins quietly. "I see."
"You have fooled me... Venom Dragon." The man frowns. "Tch. I knew you used poisons... yet.. I never imagined that you, a filthy American from that Chi-deprived continent... had managed to create something that could affect me. You have my praise... for this at the very least."
I reach into my satchel and take out a vial and drink it as he pointedly glares.
"With this... you have set me back decades." He snarls.
"If you survive at all, that is." I point out.
"Indeed." He whispers. "That is indeed a possibility... which is why... if I am going to die."
He blurs forwards, arm cocked back. "I'LL MAKE SURE THIS POISON KILLS YOU AS WELL!"
I cross my arms above my head, blocking the downwards chop. The bones in my arms creak dangerously as I spin in place and slam a kick to the gut of the man.
He takes it like a champ. Flipping back and using the momentum of my attack to kick me in the chin hard enough to lift my feet from the ground.
I bend back, placing a hand on the ground and back handspring-ing to my feet.
I dart to the side, avoiding a jumping kick and moving back to lessen the impact of a swing from the guy's clenched fist.
My own finds purchase in his lower ribs as I narrowly duck around a jumping knee-kick that would have probably broken my nose, but... that was a mistake. The knife in my offhand flashes through the air, cutting deeply into the man's abdomen... but my blade cracks and snaps off before it can slide all the way through... his skin is durable.
However, this knife had been poisoned with Diablo's concentrated venom... he is already dead.
His body seems to spark and crackle with poorly contained energy.
He seems to expend all of his remaining ki in this one singular attack. Resigning himself to his fate of dying to poison.
The attack is too quick to get out of the way of completely, but I can take something that was meant for the center of my chest... to the shoulder instead.
The remainder of the power shoots past me as my bones snap and pop, the metal wall is blown outwards as I am hurled into it, and, as it fails, hurled outside.
Blood spews from my mouth as I am shunted off the train.
My eyes narrow slightly as I feel a weightless sensation cross my body. I fall from the cliff, my eyes nearly drifting shut as I let out a long slow breath. 'is this the end? Is this all I could amount to?'
Fuck.
If I didn't have the shittiest luck imaginable. If I had manged to start cultivating two years- no... a year earlier.
Would this outcome have been different?
I find my thoughts drawn to Steve and Bucky.
I've changed the story...
Bucky is officially superhuman... and, well... goodbye Winter Soldier.
Am I about to become the Winter Soldier?
Nothing more than a pawn for fucking hydra?
No.
NO. I will fucking survive.
My body impacts the snow and I lose consciousness.
My entire body aches. Lances of pain explode down my left arm.
My eyes crack open, revealing a cavernous ceiling. 'wh- where am I?'
I don't even dare to sit up yet.
While that potion I drank might have given me a slight healing factor. By no means should it have been able to completely heal me in the time it had left. Honestly, it probably would have been struggling to keep my lung from collapsing.
I have a few more health potions... I can use that.
I let out a small groan as I sit up, my eyes flicking around as I make sure to not move much at all.
I weakly reach down with my right hand and open my bag.
Fuck. All of the bottles are broken. The poison, potions, and other assorted chemicals mixing as one.
Luckily, I didn't have any more of that explosive elixir, otherwise I probably would have exploded as I hit the ground.
Regardless... this is bad.
I take a deep breath, even as my chest aches- wait... ki?
This area is extremely rich in natural chi... I-
I am ready to break through the mouth acupoint?!
How long was I unconscious? Where is Diablo?
I silence my wild thoughts after a moment as I consider my next course of action.
I should wait. That would mean I have to send my chi back towards my heart... and that will activate the 'Fish leaping through the dragon gate' trial... something I am in no way prepared for... if only my skin was a bit tougher... then I could have-
Wait...
Skin?
The acupoints seem to target each and every important sense and body part in my body... Eyes. Nose. Mouth. Ears. And finally Heart.
Sight, Smell, Taste, Hearing... and then heart, the heart is the origin of all of this. It transmits my blood and chi throughout my body.
But... I am missing a sense.
Touch.
Actually, I am missing more than just one thing... there are numerous vitally important things to my cultivation that I just don't have yet.
The nose Acupoint gathers chi and guides it into your body... yet the air and energy it gathers travels to the lungs, does it not?
There is no acupoint for the lungs?! Ridiculous! Then... there's the matter of the most important organ in the body... the one who makes me, well, me. The brain.
You are telling me IT has no acupoint? Ridiculous!
I can...
I can see a way.
But I am already so far along my current path... do I abandon it? Do I leave it behind and attempt this new method I have devised?
Cast aside all that I have gained throughout my life and start again at the heart Acupoint?
"…"
If I had done this from the beginning... perhaps I wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.
The stronger a foundation... the taller the building can climb into the sky...
But I can't just cast aside my cultivation as I am now... I am far too frail. It is probably the only thing keeping me stable right now... to even consider doing so I would need something that could grant me tremendous energy... something-
I spy an ethereally beautiful flower perched on a ledge just a short distance away. It is black and purple in color and seems to radiate barely contained power.
Something like... that...
I slowly shimmy forwards, gritting my teeth as my body aches.
I must get that flower... once I have it... I can be reborn... and after that? I can worry about getting out of this place.
In a normal cultivator. Blood and faux chi travels from the heart, to the eyes, to the nose, then to the ears and finally to the mouth before returning down to the heart.
That, is when they will face the final challenge of the first tier... and it is at that point they will awaken their faux chi into true chi.
Item reinforcement. stepping techniques. Pill forging. Talisman creation.
That. Is where the world of cultivation truly opens up.
However... I have taken a different path.
One that feels... better. More complete.
From the heart, my chi travels upwards, collecting in my mouth. The first acupoint in my revised formation of acupoints.
My teeth harden, canines sharpen.
After that. The path of chi splits into two... both coming to a stop right behind my eyes.
My Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils reawaken. Becoming even stronger before.
Next. Brain. The two separate paths of chi stab directly into my brain... one to my left hemisphere, and the other to my right.
The first of my experimental acupoints...
The results were not quite what I expected. My mind sharpened to a razor's edge. Every breath I take causes the surroundings to shift and change. The aches in my body begin to lessen as my consciousness expands.
Next... the paths go in opposite directions. My enhanced hearing returning full force as the chi rests within my ear drums.
A mental map of the area around me is steadily being carved out the longer I sit here.
A tumbling pebble here. The gentle breeze of my breath there. Each and every change further defining the surrounding world as I sit within deep meditation.
Next, from my ears, my chi extends outwards, becoming a bunch of little threads that nourish and infuse themselves with my skin and flesh. Tempering and quenching my body like a master blacksmith would a sword. My skin becoming like the scales of a dragon... making my name even more fitting, I suppose.
Next... they all gather at my nose, then, after re-awakening my tremendous sense of smell... the energy of the consumed plant finally dies out.
I take a deep breath then exhale, rising to my feet.
There is a stiffness to my body as my hands lightly shake.
I throw a few quick jabs, my left shoulder feeling rather tight.
I prod the bones with a finger, looking over my body with a frown.
I am completely healed.
I can feel dried blood clinging to my body, so I take off my shirt and gently fold it before looking to my shoulder where I can see a small line of lighter flesh.
I scratch off my dried blood. It coming off in fairly satisfying chunks as I nod slowly.
I pause as I realize something.
'my hair...'
I reach back, wrangling my now lower-back length hair with one hand.
'what the hell? Did that plant have hair growing properties? Or...'
How long have I been down here?
"Diablo..." I call out, my throat scratchy and my voice sounding... different.
"Diablo!" I call out, louder this time.
I am on guard instantly as a large figure moves in the corner, I turn to face it, fists raised.
A large serpent slithers from the darkness. It has red and black scales that are lightly spikey, the lightly grey underbelly... the onyx black eyes...
"Diablo?" I whisper.
The serpent lets out a quiet hiss.
'holy shit.'
"You have... grown..." I observe.
"Wait... did... you carry me here?"
The snake shows surprising intellect and nods its head once.
I bow my head to her, letting out a quiet whisper. "Thank you."
"You saved my life." I continue.
I look over her new body.
She really has grown... what once was around six feet, now towers at around... perhaps twenty? How did she get this big? Carrying her around is going to become a real hassle.
As if sensing my thoughts, the snake reducing in size, returning to what she was beforehand.
I crouch down, offering out a hand. "Diablo... I know you didn't have much choice to serve me due to my eyes... but, at this moment... you have saved my life. I will free you... you are free to do as you wish. You are clearly smart enough to understand me... so I don't feel good about using my eyes on you."
I close my eyes, and with a gentle tug, it's as if a piece of myself returns.
I crack open my eyes again, staring at the serpent looking up at me. I can't read her expression, but...
She slithers up my arm, making her way up my bicep... where she then coils around my shoulders like she had been before.
I gently place my hand on the side of her head which she seems to lean into. "Thank you. It means a lot to me that you have decided to stay."
I slip my shirt back on, frowning at the hole that goes completely through the shoulder. "Let's go, Diablo... let's see just what has changed in this world."
*End of Chapter 4*
"Well." I mutter.
I'm not exactly sure how long I have been in there... but I know for a fact it has been at the very least a few months...
How can I tell this?
Well, it's summer now, for one.
That probably means... I've missed the final parts of the war.
There's little point to going back, now... so, I'm going to do what I planned to after the war had finished.
China.
Clearly cultivators exist in this world. Ones without my advantages... that man was a stage two and had a bunch of stage one disciples.
Without my poison conversion... the path to getting to even stage one is fraught with difficulties. You would need numerous fortunate encounters to rise to that level, let alone a stage two... and what that man said... he called America a 'Chi Deprived Continent'. Is that perhaps the reason I was only ever able to find one singular cultivation ingredient?
There has to be a reason for this... there's no way that it just so happens to lack that much natural energy.
I can figure that out... at a later date, I suppose.
I run a hand through my hair, letting out a quiet sigh.
I can tell it hasn't been that long since I started meditating... I had to steal an extra set of clothes from the last town I passed through. No security cameras.
They either haven't been invented yet, or they are still in their early stages and really expensive. Either way. Stolen shirt and pants... a wallet taken from the pockets of some dude who tried to mug me in the dead of night... I've more or less gotten all of my living expenses. I forage for most of my food. Eating whatever mushrooms and other plants I find regardless of if they are poisonous or not.
This new path of mine is... impressive. That's as much as I can tell at the moment. I awakened an ability for my mouth, ear, eyes and finally skin.
It appears that crippling my cultivation and starting again had the benefit of awakening a special ability for my ears... last time I missed out on one... but it seems that I re-awakened my abilities that I had already unlocked, like my eyes.
Could a cultivator theoretically unlock abilities related to all acupoints if they repeatedly redid their base cultivation?
Should I do this?
…
No.
Some abilities aren't that good. I was lucky with my eyes and heart actually being something useful.
However, most other natural abilities can be replicated by either techniques or future. It is also possible that I DON'T keep abilities once I reset... and I have just gotten lucky, in which case... it would be wise to note lose what I have so far, an ability in every single acupoint barring brain, and nose.
I stare into a small hand mirror I had gotten for myself, my long hair trimmed somewhat to be more manageable. Going from the middle of my back to about chin-length.
*IMG*
My eyes harden slightly as numerous little golden arches appear around my eye, looking like a dazzling golden flower.
The original name for these eyes were the 'Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils'… and well, that perfectly described what they were. Three petals, green in color, and they manipulated snakes.
Now, according to my inherent bodily knowledge... their name should be the 'Octuple Liquid-Gold Mystifying Rose Pupils'.
In addition to the original snake charming aspects... I am given some fairly interesting abilities... abilities that I am fairly certain are sort of infringing on Naruto's copywrite.
I'm unsure, as I've never watched Naruto- and it's still a good- at bare minimum- thirty years or so before it gets created... so there's no real way of knowing.
Basically, I can capture and store snakes in my eyes. I'm fairly certain there was a Naruto eye which could transport people to a pocket dimension...
Then there's the illusion aspect, which I'm ALSO fairly certain Naruto had.
The way my eyes differ, however, is that I actively drain the essence of snakes I have stored within the pocket dimension.
That is incredibly useful.
That is the only reason I am even considering crippling my cultivation yet again and starting from scratch.
What if I unlock- or upgrade- my already unlocked talents up to be comparable to that?
Why it is useful is actually a fairly complex matter, but I'll get to that in a moment.
The reason why I am hesitant... is one key thing.
The chance that I could have just gotten indescribable luck.
four of seven current acupoints unlocked a special trait.
The heart's one of ten thousand. The eye's one in two- and the much lower chance of getting something ACTUALLY useful instead of like... binocular vision which all more advanced cultivators would gain in some capacity- the mouth's one in fifty thousand... I can't even begin to estimate the brain's chances... and there's another part of me that doesn't want to repeatedly cripple my mind and re-awaken it over and over again as that would probably affect my mental capacity in some manner- as yes, unlocking my brain acupoint seems to have increased my information processing ability somewhat... just not enough for me to label it as a 'special ability'.
Ears has a one in one thousand chance and skin... is much like the brain... I have no reference to figure out just how rare unlocking a trait would be.
What would happen if I lose all of this? This incredible advantage?
My teeth have been sharpened, hardened and I process consumed elixirs at a faster- and more efficient rate.
Theoretically I should be able to eat metal in the future and digest its 'elemental chi'. But even if I couldn't, it would still be quite a boon due to the increased efficiency with medicines, something that would already benefit from my natural skyrim alchemy skill tree gifted from god.
Ears have given me a form of echolocation. Something that... could probably be learned through some sort of cultivation art or technique so it's not a 'unique' or 'style defining power' like my eyes or heart, but it's nice to have while I am weaker, I suppose.
Skin has given me something called 'Jade Scales'. Which means my skin is basically as hard as rock, now.
Useful, and likely will only improve as I grow stronger.
Now, my eyes...
Ohoho my eyes.
First I should probably explain something about the human body when it comes to cultivation.
A human, when they are first born is given a small portion of energy from their mother's womb called 'Inborn True Ki'. Not to be confused with the fourth stage of cultivation, 'Inborn' and it's 'Inborn True Essence' which is sort of similar, but vastly different.
Inborn True Ki, the kind your mother gives you as a child, can be used as immense nourishment for your body during your early years. Therein lies the issue. Early Years. Inborn True Ki dissipates by the time the person in question is ten years old... unless, of course, they are taught cultivation from a young age and manage to keep it contained, at which they can harness it and use as an unpurchasable personal cultivation elixir to increase to size of their own ki pool quite substantially.
This true ki makes a cultivator's journey far easier. Someone who begins to cultivate at the age of four, while their bodies are still growing and changing, tend to become a stage four cultivator at the bare minimum. With a strong enough backing, and if they are fortunate enough, they could likely reach this level before they even reach thirty years of age.
So. What does that have with my Mystifying Rose pupils?
I devour the strength of snakes trapped within my personal world. Their life. Their true ki.
And for recently hatched snakes...
Their Inborn True Ki.
This... is a vaguely evil thing to do, yes. Killing a bunch of infants to make myself stronger... but it's just animalistic snakes. I don't plan on doing it to a spirit beast like Diablo... even if it would be vastly more efficient.
I may need to get some form of snake farm, honestly. The amount of power I'd get from a single snake would be negligible... but what about one thousand?
Probably not even a fraction of what an infant would have... but that's the thing. I'd be able to continually gain it.
Anyways, onto questions other than 'should I re-do level one of cultivation over and over again'...
Another question on my mind would be 'where the hell am I?'
I started in the Austrian Alps, then just started walking east. Following the rising sun.
It has been like... fifty days since I started my journey.
I think I'm in like... Hungary?
I might have moved beyond it and have waltzed into Romania, though.
I'm unsure.
All I know is that I don't speak the languages.
I know a bit of German, yes, and quite a bit of Chinese, but not Hungarian... nor whatever they speak in Romania...
Romanian?
I think it's Romanian.
Regardless, my journey is quite a boring one.
I haven't found anything interesting yet, nor have I made any REAL progress to opening my lung acupoint.
I've passively gathered like... maybe five percent or so during my walk throughout the untouched valleys and mountains.
I've made good progress, all things considered.
Keep up that pace, and I'll be at stage two in a couple of years.
Just keep on walking into the sunrise, Picking up bits of language as I go.
It's a peaceful life.
"You... have... er... Blood Block." I tap my head with two fingers.
"Yes, mi-a spus Doctor" the old woman on the bed states.
"Fix?" I ask while pointing at myself.
"mă puteți ajuta?"
Ah. Shit. Didn't get that last bit.
"Îmi pare rău că nu mă pricep la limbă." I casually state, a phrase I have been forced to say a surprising amount the past one hundred days.
It means 'I'm sorry, I'm not good with the language'… I think...
She points at me, then to her heart. "Fix?"
I nod twice, telling her that I can fix it. "Pot repara."
She shifts in her bed, fully laying down as I reach into my bag, pulling out one of the only things that wasn't utterly destroyed during my fall into the chasm.
Some were bent, sure, and I had to get rid of them, but the large majority survived in their protective case.
I gently turn over the old woman's hand and begin rubbing the space just below the bottom of the palm where the wrist bone meets the hand.
Her tense shoulders relax, causing her eyes to widen.
Seeing that her body has been eased with one rapid motion, three silver needles gently poke through her wrinkled skin, trailing up her arm.
I ask her if it hurts, causing the woman to shake her head 'no'.
I nod slowly and insert a few more needles.
I can see the woman's eyes widen as her hand begins to twitch slightly.
This woman... I don't know her name... has been bedridden after a stroke.
Something which I shall now be fixing.
She lets out a long gasp as I insert an eighth and final needle in her shoulder.
I lift one finger. "One more."
The woman nods twice.
The needle in my hand flickers as I put it just behind her temple.
She looks at her arm in genuine astonishment, her foot begins to wiggle.
"You fixed it?!" She seems genuinely surprised.
I nod my head once with a smile on my face as I gently remove the acupressure needles.
I stand from the chair I had pulled over to her bedside, placing it back where I got it with a small nod.
I offer a single wave as I walk towards the door.
"Wait!" The woman calls out.
I turn slowly, looking back to her.
She reaches over to her bedside table and quickly rifles around in it.
A moment later she has removed a few dozen bills and holds them out to me.
"Are you sure?" I question, causing a bright smile to appear on the woman's face as she nods twice.
I smile and take her charity. "Thank you!"
"No! Thank you!" She replies, tears beginning to prickle at her eyes. "Name?"
"…"
I point to my chest. "Zhongli."
I have decided to take on an entirely new identity... that name, was frankly the first thing that came to mind, as I was thinking about my new deeper and richer voice.
In terms of Mora... we have no Mora.
Or, well, in terms of Leu we have... about a thousand Leu.
That's... a fair bit. I think I saw a loaf of bread for like eight or so a while back.
This is more than enough to buy some steaks to spoil Diablo and myself just a bit.
A tremendous weight shoves down on me from all sides as I grit my teeth.
This...
This is nothing!
I rise to my feet from a kneeling position a savage grin on my face.
The world thinks that THIS is enough to stop me?!
With a small shout, my power explodes upwards.
Then...
I can feel it.
My gathered power.
It's like I am a bottle of wine... the pressure within rising higher and higher.
And suddenly...
Pop.
My energy surges, raging around me for a brief moment before being drawn inwards.
I take a deep breath, the nice clean air of my surroundings cooling my throat as a small smile forms on my lips.
I've done it...
Stage two.
Deep within myself I can feel it... true ki.
I have entered the 'True Master' level... the stage which is honestly fairly impressive... by mundane standards.
A 'true master' would be capable of being the leader of a shadow organization quite easily and have quite a lot of prestige... in the normal world, that is.
Most 'True Masters' in actual sects range from age eight to eighteen.
So, I, a twenty two- plus however many years I stayed in that cave- year old am just a little bit behind.
Stage three is called the 'Battle King', and... old cultivators maaay have jumped the gun in calling this stage 'true master'.
Regardless, the way through stage two is quite simple. You need to open eight dantians called the 'Dragon Dantians'
You won't be seeing any special ability from these, sadly, but with each unlocked you see a minor improvement in your ability to manipulate chi.
The first dantian is called the 'Origin Dantian'. Which is sort of similar to an egg, I suppose.
It flows up into the Tail Dantian, then the Claw, then to the 'Foot', then from there it goes to the palm, neck, head, and then finally 'horn' which is when you get struck by lightning by the world.
I lift a hand towards a nearby tree, gathering this newfound power that is coursing through my body like blood.
I flick my finger, causing a small golden bead to shoot out towards a nearby trunk.
Bark is sheared away as the wood within splinters.
"Hm." I mutely hum as I look to my smoking index finger.
That is highly inefficient. I used about ten percent of my overall energy to do something that likely would only kill a normal human if I managed to shoot them in the head.
Against a stage one cultivator, it would likely only rend the skin. Even one without the skin acupoint.
To think that that sort of attack would barely even leave a bruise on me. That is proof that I am growing stronger.
This new level of strength... it causes one question to spring to mind...
'How do I pave my own path with this?'
How to I make this special?
The second stage involves creating your Dantian. The path your chi will move throughout your body.
The main thing about it is 'image', according to my implanted knowledge.
Each and every person has a specialized path that they are most accustomed to.
The problem is that it is difficult to figure out just what a person has the greatest affinity towards. Then comes designing an entirely new path for your Dantians with is extraordinarily difficult.
The more you have, typically the better your Chi manipulation will be, but, after eight there's typically a steep drop off in efficiency.
The first, the origin Dantian increases your overall manipulation ability by about fifty percent, but the seventh, only improves it by a further ten percent or so... the eighth is special in that it doesn't actually do anything until AFTER you have ascended to the next tier, but it is possibly the most important alongside the origin dantian for an additional plus fifty percent.
Anything beyond that would see a STEEP decrease in power for efficiency, although it is theoretically possible to have nine dantians open. It's just... it takes an average cultivator... one who has no fortunate encounters about five years to open a single dantian.
You could, by all means, unlock a thousand dandians... but it'll take you five thousand years and the collective increase in potency might only be... one hundred percent? At maximum? Maybe a little more if you are really attuned to the image.
The classic eastern dragon is used because it holds a special connection to the last trial of the first realm, the 'fish leaping through the dragon gate' trial. That makes it so anyone has a reasonable affinity with the dragon 'constellation' of Dantians.
My Dao name is Venom Dragon. I have Jade Scales, sharpened and hardened teeth, my Lung Acupoint allows me to basically breathe an elemental breath like a dragon- in my case, it's poison- and I have pupils that can control serpents, the thing that most people believe the origin of the dragon mythos comes from.
Even if that isn't true.
I seem to hold a tremendous affinity for dragons...
But nothing for poison...
Poison and medicine may be an even larger intrinsic part of my very being than dragons...
Wait. Isn't there an Ordinator Alchemy perk that deals with Dragon Shouts?
To find a perfect pathway for me, one that I will gain the largest benefit from... I'd need to combine dragons and poison...
What about... specific dragons?
World Serpent?
No. He isn't technically a dragon, and his path would be even simpler and faster than the standard dragon due to his lack of limbs. Due to my affinity, it might come out as equal to someone who practiced the normal way.
However.
That is not who I am.
I am not a man to take shortcuts. I am the type of guy to meticulously do something over and over to give myself even the slightest edge. The stronger and more solid the foundation... the taller the building can grow.
My eyes widen briefly as a certain dragon comes to mind.
"Yamata No Orochi..." I whisper quietly among the tweeting birds and gentle calming breeze
Eight Heads. Eight Tails.
It is sometimes called the eight headed serpent, but it has legs.
Origin. Eight Tails. Claw. Foot. Palm. Eight Necks. Eight Heads. Eight Horns.
Hold on... this is actually very structurally sound.
The world itself likes things to have meaning.
I turned eight original Dantians into Eight, Eight, Eight, and Eight.
The only thing that would make this more perfect would be if the remainder all added up to eight as well.
I scratch my chin as I narrow my eyes.
Who says that it can't?
Two claws, two feet, two palms. That brings me up to thirty nine. I will be forced to create a new dantian... but where and what? It should be something that embodies the myth of the Yamato No Orochi... but what?
I sigh and shake my head.
'ah well, I'll think about it later. The Origin is the one thing I cannot alter. Every Dantian path will have an origin and it could take me five- or more- years to unlock it, so I've got time. Time to meditate. Time to travel. And time to think.
I tilt my head as I hear something, a hiss of breath between teeth.
I quickly begin moving through the trees, chi flowing through my body, enhancing my body and increasing my speed somewhat.
I flip over the edge of a cliff, sliding down the mountain face for a moment before jumping off it and landing gracefully on the ground below.
I look around briefly, a frown on my face as I-
A small rock tumbles further down the cliff, causing me to turn, seeing a small cave that is hidden away in the rocks.
I walk forwards quickly making my way into the cave.
Purple smoke assaults my nose for a moment.
Poison?
Fairly potent. Is that burned red lotus root? There's also some ethereal nightshade in there.
A poison of this toxicity would probably knock a state two cultivator on their ass fairly quickly... for myself?
Eh. Mine's better.
I quickly make my way deeper.
My body is rooted in shock as I find... a girl?!
What the hell is she doing here?!
She breathes heavily, her breaths coming out in short pants as she remains motionless with her eyes closed.
'holy shit she is ALIVE.'
She has chin-length purple hair, a little skull hair clip in it, her skin is frankly dazzling. No acne, smooth skin, and no blemishes.
She wears primarily purple, with a little cloak around her shoulders.
Seeing that she is alive... I should probably keep her that way.
I take a deep breath, sucking in as much poison as I can, gently picking up the girl as she quietly groans.
I carry her outside of the cave and lay her down, causing the girl to crack open a single eye.
"Ngh- wha..."
'that's... Chinese?'
Her dress is very eastern as well-
Cultivator.
I didn't notice it before, but she is a cultivator like myself. In fact, she seems to be a little bit stronger than I am.
"Are you alright?" I question.
"It's... still around here." She whispers. "Be... careful..."
I can see two little red dots on her forearm... she has been bitten.
A large serpent slithers from the cave. It isn't as large as Diablo was that one time, but it somehow seems even more opposing. It is blue in color with hate-filled purple eyes.
"…"
My eyes glow brightly and suddenly it is laying completely still, faceplanting in the soil.
"…"
I turn back to the girl and quickly begin jabbing her pressure points with my acupressure needles.
She begins squirming under the discomfort of my newly created counter poison.
I look over the blue serpent I have just physically dominated and force it to lift its head and extend a fang.
I run a finger down the front of it and let out a low hum gently touching the sides of the snake's head to feel just how full the poison sacks are... as in, how much it injected into this poor woman.
That is... potent.
It would likely give my current state a shock like Diablo's did the first time I told her to bite me.
Score! That should give me more than enough energy to finish establishing my first Tail Dantian!
But. I can worry about that later. First, there's a jade beauty to save.
"…"
I just got bingo. Sweet.
Anyways, looking at the venom of this... er... 'Violet Eyed Azure Serpent' I can tell she'd need about twenty acupressure pokes worth of my current counter-venom to counteract its own.
The only reason she is alive currently is because she is one: she is stronger than me. If I had to make an estimation, I'd say she's a second stage cultivator like myself, but she is fairly close to the end of that...
She's likely to break through in a decade or so, and considering her age? She must be pretty impressive.
The second reason as to why she is still alive is because she seems to be a poison cultivator like myself.
"Oh? That's an interesting acupressure technique." A voice behind me hums.
"GAH!" I gasp.
"FUCK!" I loudly curse in English a moment later, whirling around, hands raised, Diablo's head rising from around my neck and letting out a menacing hiss.
Standing a good thirty feet back is a man-
Huh...
Yeah, that is a... strange look.
He wears a lab coat. Black pants, has brown hair swooped back as if he had just assumed a super saiyan transformation with little pink bows in it, and his eyes have dark circles so deep that it looks like he hasn't slept in about a month.
His location is also strange as I could have sworn he was looking over my shoulder not even a second prior.
He offers me a small wave, a tired smile on his face.
I take a deep breath an exhale.
"Let it go, Arthur." I mutter under my breath as I return to my patient. "If he wanted to kill me, I'd be dead."
"Who are you, and what do you want?" I ask blandly.
"My Dao name is Medicine Master." He begins.
And, of course he is a cultivator.
I've been in China for only a week, and I've already come across not one, but two cultivators.
"That name is... a bit presumptuous, isn't it?" I question.
"Hn. Perhaps. But it embodies my goal. May I ask for your name?"
"Arthur Steele... or I did, until I fought a stage two cultivator a while back and got thrown off a cliff and assumed dead... now I go by Zhongli... as for my Dao Name... Venom Dragon."
"Venom Dragon? That is... a powerful name." The man nods slowly. "It implies that you are quite in the poison arts, is this true?"
"I dabble." I shrug as I lay the final acupressure needle within the woman.
I rise to my feet, turning to face the man yet again.
I look over him with a frown. 'he is... strong. Far stronger than me. Is he a third stage? Pfft- what am I saying, of course he is. The question I should be asking myself is if he is even higher than that.'
"You have quite the interesting creation, there." He gestures to the little glass bottle at my hip. "It is a venom that actively seeks out toxins within the blood stream, correct."
"It does." I nod once.
"That is utterly genius! Did you invent that yourself? Or is it a secret recipe from your sect?"
"I made it myself... as for my sect, I don't have one of those."
"You are telling me that you are a loose cultivator?! I could have sworn that with these serpents you were a part of the Venom Glade beast taming sect."
"Sorry, I am getting ahead of myself." The man sighs. "I just get excited when I come into contact with a healing method I haven't seen before... or a particularly unique medicine or poison."
"As for why I am here, I smelt poison and I got curious." The man simply announces.
He lets out a low hum. "If I had to guess, this girl is probably from the Poison Mist Sect. They tend to send their disciples out near the peak of the True Master stage to go out and capture some sort of venomous Spirit Beast."
"Well, it seems that you have this handled. I was in the area looking for some jade moon grass that has been growing for at least ten years. I should get back to searching."
"Ah!" He snaps his finger suddenly. "I apologize. It appears I forgot the custom."
"Custom?" I echo.
"It is customary for a senior to give their juniors a gift on their first meeting."
He looks between me and the unconscious girl and lets out a single sigh. "I have a pill on me that would be reasonably good for cultivation, but I only have one."
I cup my chin, a sudden greedy glint in my eye. "Do you have any poisons? The more potent the better?"
"Pardon?" He mutters. "What could you want with a poison that potent?"
"Thanks to my heart acupoint, I am able to store, enhance, and benefit from consuming poisons. I plan to greatly dilute the poison and proceed to drink it to increase the speed of my cultivation."
"You unlocked a special ability with your heart acupoint? That's quite rare! Congratulations. Very well, give this pill to the young woman here when she wakes up, and you may have this poison here.
A little corked bottle floats towards me and a little wooden box like one would put a wedding ring is placed beside the woman.
"This is millennium ebon flower shade extract. Potent enough to kill an Inborn cultivator two times over and hamper a fifth stage like myself for a short time. You will probably want to dilute it anywhere from one hundred to one thousand times... depending on your relative poison resistance... this sort of gift should allow you to make full use of your innate ability, and it will probably allow you to even ascend to the third stage."
Ah. So he was fifth stage.
Fuck.
He floats off the ground then offers a simple wave... lands on a floating sword... then blasts off into the distance.
"I was not expecting this when I woke up today." I mutter absentmindedly.
"Sss-sss." Diablo nods twice in quiet agreement.
*End of Chapter 5*
I let out a small yawn as I sit cross-legged on the ground.
Taping my finger idly on a rock.
"So. Diablo. What's your opinion on this new snake? Keep or absorb? Oh... and for future reference, in these multiple choice questions, one hiss equals option one, two equal two, etcetera."
"Sss-sss."
"Ice it? Just like that? Damn. You are cold blooded."
I nearly burst out laughing as a fucking snake gives me a look like a disappointed parent.
"Regardless, do you just not like their vibe or something?"
She cocks her head to the side, then eventually nods once.
Well, Mr. Snake... you have failed the vibe check. Shame.
"Eh, I'll do it later... technically this woman found it first, so I'll ask her if she wants it. If not, it's going right into my eyes for absorption." I tap my chin as I look back to the blue snake which I had more or less forced to coil up in timeout a short distance away.
Eventually my eyes stray back to the woman laid a short distance away.
There were some slight miscalculations with her body.
I had to quickly reapply some counter venom.
It appears blue snake here has a venom that works in two stages. The first, to kill the target... and the second to really kill the target.
It's as if every single atom of venom is coated in a shell of lesser venom.
Like a pill.
That makes blue boy here quite interesting.
The spirit beast is at least second level. Diablo would probably lose. Plus, he seems to have an innate 'ki ability' in his shielded venom.
If Diablo briefly brought me to my knees, this fucker would render me immobile for a while.
This is truly a fortunate encounter. I met some all-powerful senior, he gave me some poison to better myself, and I even found a snake to devour with my Liquid Gold eyes.
At this point, fuck exploring. I should process this poison quickly. I've figured out my new dantian pathway, and now all I need is just time to work through it.
I should be able to make incredible progress with the poison Medicine Master has given me...
I should get him something nice for the next time I see him... provided I don't miscalculate diluting the poison and die horribly.
I should be able to finish a dantian in a week, perhaps? Maybe a month? Regardless, that is much better than the typical five years a normal cultivator would take.
It would change my required time in seclusion from two hundred years to just around three!
I would likely even have poison left over... so that begs the question.
Immortal body- yes or-
Who am I kidding.
Yes.
I'll need to form an immortal body.
An immortal body is something that sticks with a cultivator from stage two ALL the way up the peak of cultivation.
The name is a little misleading it technically doesn't make you immortal.
What it does is slowly change your physiology.
Unlocking it basically creates a 'root' or a 'seed' that continually grows with you... it is incredibly difficult to gain an Immortal Body.
The cost is great, and the overall chance of success is only a mere ten percent.
There is nothing to say that you cannot gain it later... but it always starts out as a seed... regardless of your level.
That seed can piggyback off your already known body tempering techniques, but it remains a seed that must be nourished and grown... and growth takes time. Time an energy.
If I unlock it early, all of my cultivation will not only improve myself, but also nourish and invigorate this 'seed'.
It is more efficent to get it early.
The cost, however?
It's fairly similar to what I did with my stage one Cultivation... I just need to spend a lot of my ki to attempt to awaken it, thus... I will be forced to start over again and again and again for my dantians.
But.
I should do it now instead of later.
My head turns as I can see the woman shift, letting out a weak groan as she shifts on the floor.
Her hands shake as her eyes flutter.
After a moment she looks around. "I... I can't move?!"
"Sorry, I paralyzed you so you wouldn't feel any pain. Nor move around and mess with the acupressure I have done to you."
Her eyes snap to the side, looking at me with caution. "It's not safe here... the twin venom azure viper is still around here somewhere."
"Oh. You mean him?" I gesture to the coiled blue snake. "Yeah. It tried to attack me but I taught it the error of its ways."
"You... You managed to stop it?! It is a spirit beast at the peak of the second level! It could become a third stage any year now."
"I did indeed manage to stop it." I nod once as I move over to her slightly prone form, beginning to slowly remove acupressure needles. Tightening the bandage I wrapped around her bite wound.
She slowly sits up, bringing a hand to her head, she looks over my body in confusion. "Who... are you?"
"isn't it common courtesy to introduce yourself first?" I hum nonchalantly.
"I am Purple Mist... a disciple of the Poison Mist Sect."
"Well, I am Venom Dragon. A Loose Cultivator who is just wandering the world."
She looks over me with more scrutiny, her eyes locking onto the snack around my neck, and the larger- at the moment- snake sat a short distance away.
"You tame snakes?" She asks.
"No. I wouldn't say Diablo here is 'Tamed'. She is my trusted ally." The side of her head presses into my waiting palm as I gently stroke the top of her head with a finger. "As for it... I dominated it. Suppressing its will with my own."
She bows her head to me. "Thank you... for saving me."
"Think nothing of it." I wave off with a small smile. "I was in the area, and I like helping people. Besides. It's not like I got nothing out of it. A fifth stage cultivator showed up and he was briefly interested in my acupressure method and the medicine I used to cure you. Seeing that I had it handled he left to go find some plant, but not before leaving us both behind a customary gift.
I gesture to the box beside her. "That. Is yours."
She looks to the box and slowly opens it, her eyes widening immensely. "With this pill I could likely break through to the battle king realm!"
"I'm happy for you." I nod slowly as I rise to my feet, stretching my arms above my head. "Oh, and do you mind if I have this Azure Serpent here?"
"Not at all!" She proclaims, shaking her head. "You saved me and managed to subdue it by yourself. It would be incredibly presumptuous for me to ask anything from you."
"Thank you." I bow my head slightly. "In which case... I believe I will head into this cave here to cultivate.
I turn, walking forwards briefly.
I look to the corked gourd-like bottle, then let out a low hum.
'well. Let's dilute it a bit' before I go in. It'll probably be better if I could actually see what I was doing.'
Pov: nearby.
A purple haired woman stares in awe as something that radiates sheer death slowly rises from a bottle in the hand on the man in front of her.
That poison-
It...
It could kill her thousands of times over.
In an instant.
It could liquify her body in moments.
Why does he have something like that?!
It is placed in another bottle... then diluted with water-
The aura of death intensifies.
The energy within the poison becomes a little more than two-fold.
Whatthefuck?!
H-he... he JUST added water!
Could it-
Could he be a seventh stage spirit venerable or greater?!
He lets out a quiet sigh as he looks between the two bottles, a smile on his face, then he seems to take numerous other bottles from his backpack. Glass etched with basic glyphs and runes to make them more durable.
The poison from one of the bottles split as he places the original poison bottle- which now contains poison twice as potent as it did moments before, in his bag.
A small blush appears on her face.
A man... that powerful took time out of his day to save her...
He said that a fifth stage senior gave her a pill, but... how could a fifth stage cultivator be a senior to someone capable of THIS?! It is a genuine miracle what he accomplished. By diluting poison, he made it more than TWICE as strong! That's ridiculous!
Could it be... that he gave the pill to her and didn't want the credit? He didn't want her to be indebted to him?
Yes... that's possible. He has... such a kind heart.
Purple Mist watches as the man continues to split the poison over and over again.
"Ah. Before you leave, I should ask you something." He abruptly states as he turns.
His charming brown eyes twinkle as his light stubble somehow makes him seem even more handsome and dignified.
"What year is it?" He asks.
Did... he just come from seclusion? Ah. That makes sense, it is common for most masters to meditate for decades at a time.
"It's currently nineteen fifty-one." She answers.
"Ah. So about six or so years, then a year of travel. That's not too long." He mutters to himself.
Six years is not too long?
Yes, he is definitely a senior... as for why he is hiding his presence like this, she doesn't know.
What she does know is that... She's. In. Love.
Her eyes sparkle as she makes a silent vow to herself. 'Venom Dragon... wherever you go, whatever you do. I will find you... and I will never give up. Even if you try to push me away, it'll be useless! If I want something... I'll get it!'
She looks to the closed box containing a truly potent pill. 'but first I should strengthen myself so I can chase after him for even longer!'
Pain swirls through my very being as the diluted heart destroying poison wracks my mind, body and perhaps even my soul.
But.
No pain no gain.
I may have slightly underestimated my Mouth Acupoint's capability to enhance 'elixirs' I consume.
Plus, my isekai bonus more or less made it so when I diluted the poison... I created a new one... which means the effect of the halves were improved by about four times overall.
Sadly, this can only happen once. Otherwise I'd have infinite poison. But for a potent toxin like the one 'Medicine Master' gifted me? I can dilute the poison dozens of times to suit my needs.
My breath comes out in short pants as I crack open my eyes. Diablo is gone. She wandered off to either hibernate or hunt for some food to keep herself going.
Blue guy?
He's already fully absorbed after I got resistant to his venom.
Even mixing it with Diablo's venom and using acupressure didn't change much, so into the eye he went after about four months.
The only thing that remained of him would be a 'Beast Core' which I fed to Diablo.
She seemed to like it quite a bit.
I flop back, letting out a tired pant as I stare up at the rocky ceiling of the cave.
Once more, I have forgotten how long I have been down here.
My cultivation has been fairly swift, all things considered.
But... my Immortal body?
I have failed to achieve it three times now.
I gathered all of that chi... then spent it all on what's basically a gacha roll.
A breath leaves my lips as I close my eyes and focus deep within my core.
'Ah. I have enough to attempt to awaken my immortal body yet again.'
I figured out the missing link for my specialized Dantian network, by the way.
Heart.
Something that holds special meaning to not only myself, but to the legend of yamata no orochi.
Without my heart trait... I would never have been able to come this far. It is my one saving grace. My greatest treasure.
As for Orochi?
A key part of its legend is its toxic and poisonous blood. The blood which courses through its body, pumped wildly through its mountainous form through its singular heart.
Thus, a Dantian which is a lot more powerful than the standard dantian you'd be getting at its level.
And heart... is where I need to reach... each and every time I want to attempt to gain my immortal body.
'Well, let's try again.'
I sit up, crossing my legs and closing my eyes.
I use my enhanced Chi control to grasp my everything and draw it inwards. Dragging it down further and further. Compacting the energy, spinning it as it reaches my origin dantian.
My eyes snap open as instead of dissipating like mist, as it had the previous three times, it becomes solid. Sinking into the origin dantian.
A thrum of power explodes through my body. It seems to resonate with the power of my acupoints.
My heart beats faster and harder, the thumbs of blood rushing through my ears, everything around me being carved into my mind with perfect detail. The inaccuracies and blurs of my earlier echolocation slipping away. My lungs fill with sheer power, The ki being absorbed by my nose acupoint seeming to grow more potent as it rests within them. My teeth seem to become even more durable and blade-like and my scales... they grow stronger as well.
Dragon... Physique...
A smirk forms on my lips as I slowly rise, doing a few swift jabs. 'it appears my overall physical strength is about at where it would be when I finished unlocking my eighth tail dantian... yet I am merely at my origin.
How much of this is a result of my alternate stage one, and how much is from my Dragon's physique is currently a little hard to tell... I think it might be seventy-thirty?
This number should easily flip during the course of my life and drastically grow as I ascend the cultivation stages... but as I am right now, it is just another brick in the foundation of the beautiful temple that is my body.
With this... I can begin to ascend to the third stage.
It would be wise to figure out what I can change from the original third stage, however.
A normal third stage will find themselves creating the four 'Great Extraordinary Meridians'. The first, the Star Bright Meridian. Next, the Moon Yin Meridian, and that is followed by the Yang Flame, and Void King Meridians.
The special aspect of this level is that a 'Battle King' can call upon these unlocked Meridians to greatly improve their physical capabilities, with each one granting a larger boost in strength.
If you call upon all four, however, you will begin to ascend to the fourth stage, which always has all four meridians active.
Thus, on average, even the weakest fourth stage cultivators are equal to the strongest third stages.
What if I add more?
More meridians.
If my knowledge is correct, there are eight meridians called the 'Extraordinary Meridians'.
Not the 'GREAT Extraordinary Meridians', but still 'Extraordinary'.
I could likely... slip two in between each of the 'Great' Meridians.
Fuck it.
It probably won't be that much of an increase, perhaps like comparing a kaioken times twenty to a kaioken times twenty-one. However that is just my way. Brick. By. Brick. I will build myself up to be undefeatable.
I'm close to breaking through...
However. I am mildly worried of the Heavenly Tribulation... which is why I have stopped my cultivation journey to proceed in an alternate direction.
Technique!
If I fuck up my Heavenly Tribulation, I'll fucking die, so I need to be prepared as physically possible.
I'll need techniques. But, slight issue. I'm a poison cultivator-slash-crafter.
I am given basic information, yes, and I am given knowledge of techniques...
For poison techniques.
My knowledge itself doesn't extend to most combat techniques.
I uh... know how to do ranged acupressure.
Condense poisons in my blood down into capsules for future use? Craft poisons that respond to emotion and killing intent? Make pseudo-sentient poisons?
Possible. I have been given the knowledge.
Buddhist heaven defying core strengthening palm technique to strengthen my body even further?
I mean. It might exist.
No clue if it does, though. Nor do I have ANY information to perform it.
That places me in quite a predicament.
Higher base strength due to my unique way of doing things, but no real offensive or defensive techniques.
I know the 'venom fang' style of martial arts, but that is more of a supplementary style made to force your opponent to take gasping breaths or scratch their skin to inject air-based poison or injury poisons.
It's a style that isn't supposed to face things head on, like I'll be forced to face the Heavenly Tribulation.
I need to figure out some sort of ward formation. Something that could possibly withstand the force of the Heavenly Tribulation.
Or!
I can play to my strengths! Alchemy!
If I can figure out a pill to temporarily increase the durability of my body... or a pill that grants me some form of elemental resistance, I should be fine with a typical heavenly tribulation. The kind that just has the sky piss lightning at you.
In fact, I've got a couple ideas on elixirs I could use. The first granting a total Lightning resistance of about... ten percent, and the later gives me a resistance to all elements of about five percent.
While they don't stack per say, I'll still take the best of each.
The ten percent electricity resistance and five percent to everything else... it wouldn't bring my electricity resistance to fifteen percent.
I should mention.
This is merely the baseline for the pill in question. If you take into account all of my special boons, I will be looking at something that can bolster my resistance by about eighty percent.
The issue is I'll need some form of pill refining forge... and while I could carve one from stone, the effects of my pills would go down by about twenty percent.
But. It looks like I'll be forced to accept that considering my lack of resources.
Ah well... I still need to find some more cultivation plants.
"I'll give you five hundred Yuan for that."
"one thousand." The man at the counter shakes his head.
"Fife hundred fifty." I continue.
"I could do Nine hundred." He continues to barter.
"How about we just meet in the middle at seven hundred and fifty?" I question
The man ponders for a long moment, then lets out a quiet scoff. "Fine. But only if you buy something else."
I select another box of herbs and gesture to it. "How much for this one?"
"Five hundred Yuan."
I nod slowly then fish the bills from my pocket "Here."
The man nods his head as I take both boxes and carry on with my browsing of the flea market.
That is some good fortune, if I do say so myself.
For about one hundred and fifty dollars I got a five year ginger- something that could only barely be considered a cultivation ingredient and a blade of jade mint grass.
It appears that the flea market does have some treasures hidden within it.
The Ginger isn't useful for cultivation quite yet, but what I can use it for is to make some anti-nausia medicine.
A sigh leaves my lips as I can feel a presence tailing after me.
The past three years of traveling has been fairly interesting.
I think I finally made it into China judging from the names of places and the fact that everyone here speaks Chinese.
Anyways, this person following me... I can tell because of how deliberate they are in their tailing. They match my pace, pause when I do, and their tendency to circle around behind me whenever I turn.
They are... not the best at this.
Against a normal person, sure they'd be borderline invisible.
But I'm not a normal person.
I step into a nearby alleyway and with a sudden burst of speed I lunge to the other side and turn. With a single leap I launch myself into the air. As gravity begins to reclaim me I kick as hard as I can, gaining more upwards propulsion as I seemingly kick off the air itself.
In these three years I've been experimenting.
With techniques.
It's a bit harder than it sounds.
Honestly? I've only managed to get four working so far.
The first, a simple vibrating barrier made of chi. Far more cost effective than simply making a wall of energy. A bit less protective, but it's less... 'rough' in it design. There's a difference between an actual defense technique and just a wall of energy, after all, plus the reduction in energy cost makes it worth using it somewhat.
It's best feat?
It can more or less stop bullets from hitting me. At first, it only worked for low-caliber bullets like a handgun... mostly because I shaped it like a flat barrier.
After that? I turned it into a more cone-like shape. It cost more, but I was able to withstand bullets quite easily.
That was a fairly useful addon to it. There was a time where I was shot by numerous guns in my journey.
With the first iteration of the shield, AK47 rounds managed to pierce through and left some bruises on my jade scales. Afterwards? Most of deflected to the sides. Those that do make it through have lost most of their energy and it's like being weakly punched. Much better than being thrown off my feet like the first iteration.
'Perhaps I could add some spin to the barrier. That might make it useful against other forms of attacks... rip weapons out of hands and redirect and disperse the energy of attacks.'
Regardless, after that I realized I didn't have that many more things to base moves on... sooo I promptly copied One Piece.
The Six Powers.
Shave. Moon Walk. Iron Body.
I've learned those three.
I'm reasonably close to some sort of 'tempest kick'. The main issue is making it cut things.
Shave follows its general explanation in the anime. Tremendous burst of speed for short distances. Might even allow me to punch above my own weight class.
Moon walk was more difficult. I have to expend chi from my feet to use it. I'm simply not strong enough to do it with my normal body, so I have to increase the surface area of the bottom of my feet with chi. It's like I'm wearing moon shoes.
Iron Body is probably the one I'm most pleased with. It is accomplished by tensing my body and more or less circulating my energy throughout it.
It combined with my Jade Scales has made me quite the defensive powerhouse.
Plus, it makes for a good attack to run at someone then become hard as iron.
Or jump off something and land without a care for injury because you are just that tough.
I land on the rooftop and begin slowly walking towards the edge, looking down as the figure turns and rushes into the alley.
I leap off the roof, landing behind them with a thud.
The man freezes in place, body stiffening as I walk forwards.
"So... who are you... and why are you following me?"
"U-Uh..."
I continue walking forwards menacingly as he turns and abruptly runs away as fast as he can.
"…"
Hn.
Judging by the speed...
Not a cultivator.
Meh. Who gives a shit about him, then.
With that, I turn and walk the other direction.
*End of Chapter 6*
"That's him." A voice hisses in the distance.
"Take the shot. A filthy American doesn't deserve such precious resources. Boss can only barely block something like this... there's no way an American is better than him!" A second voice begins.
'ah. I see how it fucking is, you racists.'
I bend forwards, lifting the two containers in my hand slightly.
I had planned to go back to my room, buuuuut it looks like the little ant who ran away brought friends.
Good then I went out to buy some groceries.
*BANG*
A great weight slams into the back of my head, snapping my head forwards
'Ow! You prick!'
I then collapse, falling face first to the floor where I smash a jar of tomato juice against my forehead, shattering the glass and sending a small spray of red everywhere.
I then fall motionless.
There's a shrill scream as people begin to run in all directions. That's right. These psychopaths just shot me in the middle of the fucking street!
Why am I doing this, you might ask? Pretending to be dead, that is?
Pretty simple.
They are clearly collecting cultivation herbs.
I'm going to let them take mine.
Follow them.
Then I will probably kill them.
No loose ends and all that.
There's a new poison I want to test out.
Fuckers ruined my Tuesday and made me spill tomato juice all over my shirt!
I lay there motionless. Allowing my hearing to echo out.
"That got him... you. Go and collect those herbs. Boss is sure to be happy with us."
I can hear one of the men quickly approach, grab my boxes, then rush away.
I keep track of him with my echo location...
Then, as he and his accomplices leave the area... I stand. Turning towards one of the buildings and leap up to its roof.
I silently trail after the group for around thirty minutes, a bored frown on my face. But, it appears that my patience pays off as they begin their trek up the mountain towards a dilapidated shrine-looking building.
Their boss is most definitely a cultivator... otherwise why would he want this.
Normally, I'd be worried about facing a cultivator in China, but there's some factors that put me at ease.
I begin leaping through the trees, letting out an amused huff.
Clearly not a good cultivator in both strength or morality if he is willing to kill another one to get his hands on some five-year ginger of all things. Like, at that point just fucking put some in the ground yourself! It's fucking ginger. It grows!
It's like one of the only medicinal plants you can actively mass produce!
Honestly, the only thing you could really make out of a five-year ginger without my cheat potion multiplication is like... maybe a fasting pill.
This is fucking sad.
Anyways. If he was some sort of bigshot that for some reason wanted that ginger, he wouldn't send a mook with a rifle at me.
None of those three had any sort of cultivation base either, which makes me believe he is only just getting into awakening his five acupoints. A state that makes him seem like a god among men to a normal person... hell, a state that could allow him to go one or two rounds with Captain America and maybe not die. But genuinely just a minnow in the ocean of cultivators.
I'm still going to kill him, of course, as leaving any sort of cultivator who has bad blood with you alive is generally just a bad idea.
He might get some sort of power up and hunt me down for 'destroying his sect'.
Or accidentally stumble upon a more powerful cultivator and whine and bitch about how I am an 'evil cultivator who killed his friends for no reason' despite the fact that he literally fucking asked for this.
I stand on the branch of a tree, leaning against the trunk as I strain my ears, listening towards the temple.
"Boss! We got some more herbs!"
"Hn?" A voice hums. "Yeah... I could probably trade some of this for a couple spirit stones... well, not the ginger. That's pretty worthless, but this grass looks mildly impressive... I might even be able to afford some body tempering liquid."
'Trade? Well, well... Leader-kun... I guess I'll be torturing information out of you before I kill you.'
"Really?!" One of the three men gasp.
"I doubt it'd be enough to complete your one hundred days of foundation, but if we get some more."
"We can take over this city!" One of the three grin. "Women as far as the eye can see, protection fees, all the alcohol we can drink."
'Man. These guys are pieces of work. Wanting to become stage ones and take over a town like some cultivator student won't come around, take one look at them, and break every bone in their bodies with a single slap.' I smirk, rolling my eyes before leaping through the trees towards the shrine. After a moment, I take to the air with Moon Walk.
I land behind the three mooks, my feet sinking into the floor as I drop from a great height. "I believe you are missing a key part in that dream of yours... the part where a traveling cultivator passes through town, you anger him, and then he proceeds to break every bone in your body."
"HE LIVED?!" One of the minions shout.
"More... you missed." I taunt. "I mean, really. Shoot a guy from not even one hundred feet away and you miss. Fucking pathetic."
The cultivator of the four men lunges forwards at incredible speed-
I catch his punch with one hand.
"Oh?" I hum, a small smirk on my face. "You are a stage two? Higher than expected, honestly... that still begs the question of how you are still alive. Fifth stages and higher roam this world casually. Yet you freely desire evil things. To oppress those weaker than you."
The man slams a right hook into my jaw that barely turns my head.
"Ow. that hurt." I boredly roll my eyes.
He coughs blood as my fist slams into his stomach, lifting him from the ground and causing him to flip across the temple.
I lunge forwards, faster than his minions can react.
A quick chop to the back of the neck of each drops them like a sack of potatoes.
Yeah, they won't be getting up any time soon... or ever for that matter as I have promptly knocked one of their spinal column out of socket like I'm playing a demented game of Jenga
A stalk forwards as the man lets out a shout of rage, channeling his ki as he goes to punch-
I deflect the attack upwards, the force from his punch cleanly shooting through the wooden beams and run-down tiled roof up above and creating a large hole.
My other hand comes up, index finger jabbing into his chest.
He gags, falling to the floor as purple lines begin to slowly extend across his chest.
"What did... what did you do to me?!" He snarls.
A small purple needle of ki extends from my index finger. "Poison."
The five-finger death touch.
One of the techniques I was given knowledge of. Not one of my four 'original creations'.
The technique is quite simple. Basically, I have five different poisons stored in my fingers, which I can then project into little ki needles that extend from the tips of my fingers.
What I just stabbed him with would be Diablo's venom.
That means...
I jab my thumb into his chest for a long moment, venom being pumped into his veins the longer I keep my thumb pressed.
I pull back my thumb abruptly with a calm smile, then stand up, slowly walking away.
His eyes widen as I can assume he feels what I've done to him, screams leaving him mouth as I begin to look around the temple. "Tell me the location of this sect, and I'll stop the pain, friend."
"AAAGGGHHHHH!" The man shouts, squirming in abject agony.
"Just tell me what I want to know and I'll be leaving." I scoff
"NEVER!" The man snarls.
"Alright." I shrug. "I believe you. I'll just be forced to look around myself."
I point at him, the needle from my fingertip shooting off like a bullet and administering another dose of the poison.
I quickly step over to him and lock his jaw with a few pokes of his pressure points, as the screams were honestly hurting my ears a little bit.
The muffled agony is much easier on the supernaturally enhanced ears.
'let's see here...'
I slowly sift through the temple, a small frown on my face.
My cultivator 'friend' has long since died. Falling victim to Diablo's second dose of poison.
"Aha!" I grin as I tug a backpack from behind a loose wall panel.
I crack it open to see numerous a little crystal-like stones and a booklet.
'oooh. Spirit stones, huh? He did mention that he was going to sell my Jade Mint Grass for some.'
Spirit stones are a special type of crystal which can store spiritual energy. They come in nine levels like a cultivator, classified by how much- and how pure- the spirit energy within these stones are.
A stage one is typically worth about two hundred dollars. The price changes with inflation, of course... and each stage is worth ten of the previous. So a single stage nine stone is worth about twenty billion dollars.
They are typically found in asteroids or in planets.
I'm fairly certain all of Earth's spirit stones have been exhausted. So now, you need to go to space to find them.
In addition to being used as currency, they can also be used to power and create magical treasures, barrier formations, and some cultivators even absorb the spirit energy within.
Though, I mean, it's probably more efficient to use them to buy a pill to help you.
As for this book.
It's a technique book?
"Earth Rending Fist?" I echo the title as I open it and begin flicking through it.
It...
Is a tilling technique...
As in. Tilling Soil.
A farming technique. Where you can harden your hands and forcefully mix the earth with your punches.
"…"
Should I even seek out the sect? They could be fuckin' evil considering they associate with this ass clown.
I let out a small scoff and shake my head. 'I'll make a note, but I've been doing fine on my own... I'll just continue to wander for a little bit longer.'
Power surges around me as clouds crackle and boom overhead, I take deem calming breaths as I glare up into the forming thunderhead.
'Alright. I've prepared for this... I can do this.'
Energy has flooded my body, my hair being lifted by an invisible force and swaying as if I am standing in a great wind.
Flickering lights stream from my forehead, curving upwards like two horns. My ki leaking from my new- and very temporary- 'horns' and attracting this whole storm in its entirety.
The average second stage ascent heavenly tribulation just shoots lightning at you... the amount of lightning ranges from around five to ten, with each being more powerful than the last.
The amount of lightning you face is dependent on the cultivator's luck. However, those who face more tend to thought as more 'talented' due to the fact that, well, if they survive higher levels, that does technically make them more talented than those who failed to the lightning and died.
My hands twitch in anticipation. A simple steel sword I purchased in the last town sheathed on my back.
I doubt it'll last against this heavenly tribulation... but it should at least help me deflect or soften one strike.
I stiffen, body rooted in place.
Hang... on...
Something is... wrong...
A wisp of chi slowly streaks off my body, looking like a little strand of spider silk, then it grows, rapidly thickening.
I am instantly floored, my breaths coming out in quick pants as another strand appears... then another.
'hand on- what the hell-'
Something is wrong!
This is- too much!
What seems like endless energy is being sucked from my body, I'm forced to eat one of the chi restoration pills I had created earlier from plants I managed to scrounge together over the past year.
My hands twitch as I stare at the seven strands as the lengthen, growing as thick as my arm, the ends split, the space between the split becoming jagged and sharp.
Two little spikes appear on the topside, they slowly curve backwards...
Like...
Horns...
All at once, over a dozen red eyes open, the wispy tendrils of energy coiling in the air around me.
'wh-what?'
Wait... those horns... Orochi... the horns are a dantian which governs the expenditure of chi! I should have realized that adding more would have increased the overall rate my energy is drained. I'm only managing this thanks to one of my cheat perks regenerating two percent of my 'Magika' and 'Stamina' every second for thirty seconds after I drink or consume a beneficial potion or elixir.
One of the two- or both, seem to have been replaced by my chi-
The booms of thunder grow worse, a frown appearing on my face.
'This is like-'
Eight people... breaking through to the third stage all at once...
A cold sweat appears on my body, my eyes darting to the sky in panic.
'FUCK! This is bad. This is so so so bad.'
And suddenly...
It rains lightning.
A roar leaves my lips as I draw my blade, one bolt is swatted away by my new weapon as I am cloaked in chi, my other hand coming up towards the sky.
The air begins to twist and spin as I create a conical barrier of chi, my eyes narrowing as I let out a small shout, knees slightly buckling, cracks cascading across the shield.
A second bolt hits, luckily this one on the other side of the cone, the force of each of these lightning bolts hitting me... it's like I'm being hit by a truck.
Manageable for someone of my strength... but doing it over and over and over again?
The third bolt crashes into the very point of my shield, dissipating, but causing my shield to shatter.
The fourth... is caught by the second barrier I had layered just underneath, as are the fifth and sixth.
For the seventh and final bolt of lightning, I backflip, lashing out with a kick that sends a wave of wind towards the electricity, it disperses with a booming thunderclap.
That...
Was only the first part...
One of at minimum five... and I'm already a little winded.
I take a brief breath- but the next wave is already upon me.
I slash forwards, cutting through the first bolt, the remnants of its energy arcing to my arm and causing me to grit my teeth as I leap up, avoiding the second bolt.
Instead of striking the ground, it curves upwards, beginning to turn around as it makes a second pass.
Bolt three is broken upon a tempest kick, fourth is dodged, fifth is cut, and the second- as it comes back around is finally broken against my shield.
I kick off the air itself, spiraling out of the way of number six, bashing the returning fourth with my barrier hard enough for its damaged state to shatter, but at least it manages to destroy the lightning.
The seventh and eighth requires me to strain my legs to send two wind blades at them.
As the sixth comes around, I hold out another barrier, causing it to break upon it like the rest.
I land with a crouch, letting out a few tired pants as I reach into my bag and grab another pill.
'holy shit... do I have to use it? Already? On just the third wave?!'
I've honestly got no better ideas.
I take a deep breath, glaring up into the sky as I wait for the next wave of lightning.
Eight more bolts streak through the sky, but-
"HRAAAAGH!" I roar as a tremendous stream of purple smoke is shot from my mouth, it collides with the spear-like bolts of lightning and causes the sky to turn briefly purple as the chi-infused breath begins to dissipate.
It appears that the heavenly tribulation is being nice... giving me a moment or respite in its attempts to murder me...
I know fully well. This is no nicety.
It is preparing.
Readying itself.
The only reason it would be taking this long... would be to change something.
Maybe the next wave will be one bolt of lightning with the combined strength of the normal eight... maybe it is making the next wave sixteen, but with the same strength as before?
Regardless... I will be ready for it.
Even by attempting this tribulation... I know my body is getting stronger... like a blacksmith hammering a piece of heated metal before dousing it with water.
My body is being refined. Quenched. Tempered.
Far beyond what I had already done within the first stage.
With another peal of thunder eight more bolts strike down at me, I narrow my eyes and with a loud roar I unleash the power of my lung acupoint yet again.
By channeling chi into my lungs, I take the air which has been saturated with poison, then, as I breathe out, the volume of air and poison begin to increase massively.
This is no vape or smoke cloud...
It is a cone of devastation.
A tornado.
A gale of poisonous haze spews from my mouth, colliding with the lightning with a titanic explosion.
Panic grips my body as a single bolt of lightning parts my attack as if it were a boat cleaving through the ocean's waves.
I raise my sword and with a roar of defiance, I slash down at the lightning, the tendrils of chi around me writhing as the lightning crashes into my blade, reinforced with my ki.
With a low grunt I begin to push it aside, tendrils of lightning lashing out towards my body.
The...
The seven other bolts of lightning were simply bluffs. Not even half as strong as a single one from the first wave... and all of that strength was placed into this one singular bolt here.
Suddenly the tendrils around me snap forwards, biting the bolt of lightning as my sword shatters.
A small scream leaves my mouth as the electricity is transferred from the spectral 'heads' towards my body. The main bolt crashing into my chest.
But... it's less than I would have expected.
The lightning is eventually dissipated-
I twitch, as lightning crackles around me.
Correction.
Contained within my body.
That's bad.
I toss my head back, letting out a scream as lightning wracks my body, arcing across my form as I shudder and shake.
After around thirty seconds, I let out a quiet gasp, managing to wrangle the lightning within me and compressing it. Bottling it up and sitting it aside for now.
I will deal with it later.
I let out a hacking cough, into my hand, red staining my fingertips as my eyes widen.
'huh?'
My skin is unnaturally pale. White lines crisscross my arm.
A quiet breath leaves my lips. "Poison?"
The heavenly tribulation... poisoned me?
It poisoned ME?!
My teeth grit as I glare up into the sky. "OH, I BET YOU THINK YOU'RE FUCKING FUNNY YOU SHITTY CLOUD!"
The seven draconic heads around me let out shrieks and quiet roars of outrage
And suddenly...
It descends.
My words get caught in my throat as with a loud roar a dragon descends.
No... not a dragon. Lightning. In the shape of a dragon.
It coils and darts through the sky, snaking its way in a slightly circular fassion.
I glare pointedly at it... it's as if the heavenly tribulation is mocking me.
Suddenly... an idea comes to mind.
A method to overcome this annoying piece of shit.
I reach into my pouch and grab my final two ki nourishing pills and eat them both, taking a deep breath.
The seven dragon heads floating around me open their mouths as the lightning serpent in the sky seems to have had enough taunting and shoots down towards me in a blink.
"HRAAAAAAAGH!" A gale of poison spews from my mouth... but it isn't alone. It is joined by a second... third... fourth... fifth... sixth... seventh... and finally an eighth.
I can see a visible bubble in the air as my breath crashes against the lightning.
My attacks have barely slowed it. The skies being filled with purple smog by this point.
Plant life begins wilting, my throat aches, being torn to shreds by my scream of outrage.
The dragon finally manages to pierce through my attack, weakened but still quite strong.
It slams into my body, jaws opening wide as I am practically engulfed by it.
An agonized scream leaves my mouth as the lightning washes over my body. My shirt becoming blackened and charred, black lines being charred into my skin to match the white ones.
My skin beings to grow more and more pale, my vision grows blurry. The haze of pain and darkness slowly descending upon me.
Then...
Something clicks.
My lips are cracked and dry, my throat feels as if I had just swallowed razor blades. My mouth clamps shut as more and more of the lightning washes over me.
My cultivation base shifts abruptly.
An unintended brick finding a perfect spot in the floor... sinking into a hole I didn't even know existed.
A quiet whisper leaves my lips. Using practically all of the remaining strength I have.
"Lok."
*BOOOOOM*
A man wish dark skin and ashy white hair lets out a low hum as I looks into the distance. He looks relatively young. Probably not over the age of thirty. A truly massive sword rests on his back as he stares at genuine anarchy in the distance.
A stream of purple smoke crashes into a dragon made of lightning that crawled from the sky.
There's a purple haze upon the land, that seems to be snuffing out all life.
A heavenly tribulation... judging by the sheer force of the attacks, it seems to be a third promotes fourth tribulation... one of the most violent ones he has ever seen, admittedly, not even his own held a candle to it.
But he is mildly confused.
The third to fourth tribulation's last wave is supposed to be a rain of lightning and fire.
Where's the fire?
It's clearly a variant tribulation of some sort.
The lightning dragon manages to crash through the smoke, making contact with the ground.
The man raises an eyebrow, then lets out a low hum. "Damn... it looks like he... failed?"
A wave of energy passes over him as his eyes widen.
The crackling thunder exploding.
The clouds above slowly drift apart. A small hole- which must be hundreds of feet wide, judging from the fact that such a hole is visible from the ground- slowly widens as the heavenly tribulation ends.
"Damn. That was some power... he parted the clouds." The man hums, midly impressed at that action. You'd have to be a hell of a Battle King to do that.
He gazes upon the purple haze as it slowly drifts outwards.
Ah. Yeah. Poison.
He took that divine lightning head on, so it's unlikely that he'll be able to do anything about the poison he spewed out.
He'll do the guy a favor and seal up the surroundings, mainly so that poison doesn't spread any further.
His sealing formations aren't the best, but he knows a few things.
He should be able to do that without straying too close.
It's a bit of a cultivation taboo to seek someone out after their tribulation, when they are at their weakest and most exhausted point. Most don't want to be seen in such a frail state. Understandable, as he wouldn't want to be as well.
Regardless an impressive show, he can fully admit that.
With that, he takes the sword off his bad and steps up onto it, then shoots off towards the mist.
*End of Chapter 7*
My breath comes out in shorts pained pants as I return to consciousness.
A fire burns deep in my core, I sit up with a gasp, little sparks crackling around my body.
'wh- where- ahhhh fuck!'
It got out!
The little lightning fucker got out!
GET. BACK. IN. THE. FUCKING. BOTTLE!
The venomous lightning is once more contained instead of bouncing around my body. It seems to buzz dangerously but remains trapped, sealed away from the remainder of my body.
"Hooo." I breathe lowly only to pause, bringing a hand to my throat.
"I know I absolutely shredded my voice... but I didn't expect it to change this... much..." My voice slowly dies out as I remember some of what happened at the end of my tribulation. "Throat Acupoint... I see. That explains a few things."
I let out a single huff of amusement. "I know I took his name, but it appears I have also copied his deep and melodic voice as well. Funny."
Let me just-
"Every Journey has it's final day. Don't Rush."
'Hey that is pretty fucking good.'
"Human life... is brief. Every moment precious. Do not allow your moments to be wasted." I continue to myself.
Maybe I have a career in voice acting if this cultivator mumbo jumbo doesn't work out.
"Osmanthus wine tastes the same as I remember... but where are those... who share the memory?"
A quiet laugh leaves my throat at that statement. I should use that one day.
I look over my body, letting out another low hum as I take note of my appearance.
My clothing is blackened, tattered and torn, barely hanging off my body in strips.
I suppose that's just what happens when you get eaten by a dragon made of lightning. But at least I thought ahead and brought a change of clothes with me... they should be nearby if Diablo dragged me into that cave I found like she was supposed to.
I reach up and rub my head, only to freeze as I feel two little nubs on my forehead.
'Wh- ah. My Immortal Body seems to have grown somewhat. Presumably from the stress... regardless, it appears I am growing horns. How interesting.'
I release my hold upon my immortal body, feeling the little nubs of bone disappear into nothing but little motes of light.
In a way, such a devastating tribulation was good luck... a cultivator tends to grow much faster within conflict...
Until they don't and they die.
I let out a small hacking cough, blood staining my hand yet again.
"…"
"Ah shit. That's right. The tribulation poisoned me." I note with a long annoyed groan.
'Well, let's get this ten-year meditation session over with.'
'alright... let's see here...'
"Fus."
"Fus?"
"Fus Ro Dah."
My eyes narrow slightly as I cup my chin, glaring at the ground. Diablo is freely wrapped around my neck, basking in the sun.
How the fuck did I do that back then.
"Lok."
My blood begins to rush, loudly through my ears, I can feel my body tingle as my blood itself seems to gain even more vitriol. The toxicity of my blood seeming to increase about twofold.
I watch a cloud in the distance look as if an invisible force punched a hole completely through it. It begins to slowly drift in all directions as I let out a low hum.
It's as I thought... that is the first word of the 'Clear Skies' shout from skyrim.
Numerous questions seem to pelt my mind.
The first and most glaring being 'how the FUCK am I doing this?!' Thuum has NOTHING to do with cultivation. Thus, it has no right to be here.
I could accept others being able to cultivate, as if I could do it, why couldn't others... I made a wish for knowledge, and the ROB seemed to put me in a combination of some sort of Murim bullshit and the marvel cinematic universe.
But SKYRIM DRAGON SHOUTS?!
What's the connection?
Why am I able to do a part of clear skies, but not the basic Fus Ro Dah?
Isn't Fus Ro Dah, like the most basic of basic shouts?!
Ah well.
I shake my head and let out a sigh.
I've figured out a little about shouting.
First off, the louder I say it, the more powerful it is.
A whisper punches an extremely tiny hole in a cloud, a normal speaking voice punches a much larger hole... and shouting practically detonates a single cloud.
I assume it'll also grow more powerful the more words I use, but... for now, only 'Lok' works.
Damn it!
This is so fucking annoying! How do I learn more?! Clear skies is a little useless to me in daily life.
I would KILL for even a single word of 'tiid klo ul'
"Tiid." I whisper.
Yep. Nothing.
Fuck it. Let's just go over the ones I DO know.
"Yol?"
"Laas."
"Feim."
Shit. Become Ethereal would have been useful.
"Gol"
No bending minds for me, it seems.
"Mul!"
Nope. Shit. That would have been badass. And I thought I would have ALREADY had 'Dragon Aspect'.
"Gaan?"
"Fo."
"Krii?"
"Wuld!"
"…"
A long breath leaves my lips. "Fucking swell."
That's the ones I know off the top of my head.
I scratch my eyebrow with an annoyed frown.
Sparks briefly crackle around my body, causing a brief spasm to cross my form as it seems to try and get out again.
'Tsk- fucking heavenly tribulation... you little piece of shit. If you hadn't helped me rapidly cultivate to my third meridian, I would have totally tossed you to the curb.'
That's right.
In what seems like in merely ONE short year- a year being tormented by my heavenly prisoner, that is, I have managed to make my way through most of my new meridian path.
The venomous holy lightning of the tribulation... the reason I keep it is that I feel I can make it my own... also it has seriously sped up my cultivation rate as it tries to murder me!
Anything that is venomous or poison is my right to dominate and control.
It might be hubris on my part, but I am Venom Dragon. Arrogance is in my nature.
If I keep up this pace, I should reach fourth stage by next year!
However.
No way in hell am I attempting that shit quite yet.
I nearly died, damn it!
Before I attempt that shit again I'm going to make some sort of body fortifying medicine to further improve my strength.
And that... means I need to begin seeking out that one sect around that city I made my way through a while back.
Well, it was hard to find, taking an entire year, in fact, but eventually I do come across a large gate in the mountains.
Upon the very top of it is the words 'Immortal Farmer Sect'.
'oh?! It was a farmer sect! We are about to become good friends."
"Hello?" I call out. "Is anyone there?"
I cross my arms and wait, eventually the door creaks open, an older looking man slowly stepping out.
"Greetings..." He bows his head slightly, a gesture of respect which I return. "I am Zheng Lan."
"I am Venom Dragon."
"A powerful name." The man notes. "Might I be bold to ask what a cultivator of your strength wants with my Sect?"
"I am looking for herbs actually." I admit. "My last tribulation nearly killed me- as it was a variant one I hadn't expected, so I am going to over prepare for my next one."
"Ah... yes." The man sighs wistfully. "The trials of cultivation are indeed quite dangerous if faced while unprepared."
I pause as I cup my chin, looking over the man. "You. You are at the fourth stage, correct?"
"Astute eyes, Venom Dragon... I am indeed. Though, this is my limit, I am sad to say."
I decide not to comment on that as he gestures into the open door. "Shall we go inside? It is not every day a battle king comes to our doorstep."
I walk alongside him as we climb the stone steps up the mountain face.
"However." He speaks. "I am still confused... why come here? Surely someone of your talent, your age, and your strength, surely you could just go to your sect for assistance, correct?"
"I'm actually a loose cultivator." I admit.
"A LOOSE CULTIVATOR?!" The man seems genuinely awestruck, eyes widening. "To already be at the battle king stage... at your age? How old are you, if I may ask."
"What year is it?" I question idly.
"I believe in the secular world; it is nineteen sixty-three."
"Nineteen sixty three? That would make me roughly... forty three."
"You have already made it to the battle king state at the age of forty three..." Seeming to be genuinely impressed. "You must have started cultivating below the age of ten... did you have some form of innate calling for cultivation?"
"Well, I started in America."
"…" he looks at me like I am absolutely fucking insane.
"And it took about four hundred days for me to finish the typical one hundred days required for my foundation." I admit. "And no, I started at around eighteen."
"So, a genius then." He dryly mutters. "Due to the fact that you were able to do any form of cultivation in America."
"I wouldn't call myself that." I wave off. "I have been lucky more than anything... and I've heard people call America a dead zone for Cultivation. It's not that bad. Peaceful more than anything... I found a fifty-year-old black truffle once. That was nice."
"It just doesn't have the natural capacity for sustaining anything beyond aged mundane plants." He simply explains.
"Why?" I question.
"I... do not know, actually. Hrm. That is a good question... it is a place on this planet as well... there should be a reason as to why the spiritual power is so low there." He notes, stroking his long beard with a slightly intrigued expression.
"Maybe it's being drained somewhere?" I suggest.
"Possible." He notes. "But to drain an entire continent..."
"It would require the abilities of someone who is at least of the eighth stage or so." I agree. "Or a seventh stage venerable who had a lot of free time on their hands to set up a continent-wide array."
We eventually seem to enter the sect proper, it clearly isn't that impressive of one, as the sect leader is currently only a fourth stage... one that has his void core broken, it appears.
Ah.
I should mention, a Void Core is basically a 'pseudo energy core' thing stage four cultivators get.
The process of fourth stage cultivation is a simple one.
You need to temper nine of your bones into a 'golden bone'. At which point, you will drag a lance of energy from it towards your void core and prick it.
You do this nine times, and you are ready to enter the next stage.
Yeah.
Nine bones.
Nine of fuckin' two hundred and six.
I already know what I'll be doing to forge my path for the fourth stage.
Anyways, if your energy control is bad, or someone harasses you during this 'tempering' state where you stab your void core, you might break it... permanently stagnating your cultivation at the fourth stage until you have some sort of life changing experience...
Or you take a medicine which normally has around a three percent chance of working- should anyone else make it.
Frankly, I'm not even sure if the world at large knows about that recipe I was given with my divine imparted knowledge.
We stand, overlooking a small valley with older oriental looking buildings. I can see large fields in the distance, even from here I can smell the scent of cultivation plants permiating the air. "Here we are... the immortal farmer sect. Might I ask what you have to trade?"
"I've got a forty year Yin lotus bud, twelve sprigs of ten-year old azure moon grass, and one five hundred year ginger."
"Five... hundred... year ginger?" The man echoes. "Even as a mundane plant... that is- that could be a genuine treasure... may I see it?"
I briefly sort through my backpack and offer the plant to him. I can see the look of awe that crosses his face.
I myself had a similar look when I found it a couple months ago.
It's rare to find a plant that is older than you are, as a cultivator. Especially once you reach the fourth stage and beyond.
"I will give you... Five fifth rank spirit stones for it." The man begins.
"I assume you have more medicine on hand than money as a farming sect... do you have any fire element plants? I also need some sky touched vine as well if you have it. Then possibly some fifty year Jasmine root. Oh, and I'd like to be the one to pick them, if that isn't too bold to ask."
"Of course! Allow me to lead you to the field, I believe we may just have something that might interest you."
I follow the man as he leads me to a small grove within the confines of this little terraced valley, he gestures out into it. There's a sweltering heat in the air, frankly it's a little arid and uncomfortable. "Here are our Fortifying Ember Vine. Pick what you wish."
My eyes flick around the surroundings as I cup my chin, a low hum of appriciation leaving my lips.
I slowly- and carefully- manuver my way through the cave, eventually finding something that suits my needs.
"These were planted about twenty years ago, correct? They're kept at a suitable temperature and hydration. A bit dry, though. You'd improve its growth rate by about twenty percent if you spritzed a spray bottle of water in this room every six months or so... despite being a plant that thrives in heat and dryness... it still has a minor need for water, after all."
I reach up and pluck a small stem from the ground, gazing down at a small ivy plant. The greenish leaves having blackened near the tips, the leaves themselves having little pronounced spikes that go along the edge, far more than a standary ivy plant's like Poison Ivy.
It glows brightly as it frees itself from the earth. The blackened tips of the leaves rapidly creeping down the leaf.
"WHAT?!" I can hear the man gasp. "What did you-"
"Ah... my appologies. I forgot to mention my natural constitution. Plants I pick... tend to grow a bit more powerful. In fact, I needed a forty year Fortifying Ember Vine for my medicine... but, the spiritual energy within this now exceeds that of a forty year."
The man stands there, rooted in shock. "I... I have heard of some people having a natural farming constitution... with plants they tend to and harvest maturing faster and generally just being better than normal. But... never to such power you have just displayed... you don't have a constituion suited for farming. That is a tremendous understatement. You have something... else... some sort of... Heavenly Agroculture constitution."
"Hn. Perhaps." I admit with a small shrug.
Another result of my skyrim perks... the one that allows me to harvest twice as much ingredients from a plant.
Being able to harvest two flowers from a single stem seemed like a bit too reality breaking, so it appears the deity simply made any plant I harvest double its effectiveness.
Practically the same thing, but reality breaking in other ways.
The man bows before me. "Please... young master... join the Immortal farmer sect."
I raise my hand. "Please, stand up, Senior. Do not prostrate yourself before me."
"I cannot promise to join your sect... However, resources would be quite nice to have for my cultivation. I... I wish to eventually return to my roots in America, but I have no plans to do so for quite some time... I can stay for... forty years. Until two thousand and three. In that time, I would like to join as a temporary disciple. But allow me to stress this. Temporary. This is a mutually beneficial agreement. You gain access to my farming constitution, while I gain a backing to progress my own cultivation. However. Even after I leave, that does not mean that we will be on bad terms. I may even come for a harvest every now and then. Does that sound fair?"
He slowly rises his head, a slight bit of greed entering his eye. "Of course! Forty years should be more than enough to bring our immortal farmer sect to new heights! You have my thanks, young master."
"Please, do not call me that." I sigh while scratching the side of my head as I help the man back to his feet. "Now, there is something I'd like to ask... your Void Core... you broke it, correct?"
His joy seems to dissipate briefly, he lets out a long and tired sigh, gazing upwards. "Yes. It did. With one foolish moment of impatience... my cultivation remains stagnant forevermore."
"Do you want me to fix it?" I offer.
His head snaps up to look at me, slight heat in his gaze. "That is a presumptuous thing to say. Have you no heart?!"
"I would not offer it if I didn't have the ability to do so." I frown before a small smirk forms on my face. "I am Venom Dragon. I may look young and inexperienced, but my medical knowledge is quite adept. I have a natural pill forging constitution. One surpassing my constitution for harvesting... My question to you would be if you are willing to put your life on the line to regain your void core?"
"W-What? A constitution surpassing that of the one you have just shown?!" He whispers.
"If you don't believe me, allow me to borrow a pill furnace. Give me the materials to make a fasting pill. You are aware of the normal potency of a fasting pill, correct? I will show you how potent my pill forging actually is, and, if you wish to take the chance to regain your void core... I will craft what I like to call the Heavenly Void Condensation Pill... if you are unaware, it's a pill that should have roughly a three percent chance of working... normally, that is. I know a method to improve the standard recipe to around nine percent... That chance is improved with a truly high quality pill furnace, one that is an artifact of some sort, fueled by Tempest Holy Fire and made of Bloodstone Jade can further improve this chance by up to twenty five percent..."
A small smile appears on my face. "Then, if you take into account my Pill forming constitution."
"I can make it go from a mere three percent... all the way to sixty three percent... seventy eight if you eat the pill within twenty seconds of me removing it from the Pull Furnace. And that is discounting the edits I can make to a pill furnace to make it work better. Beyond the typical twenty five percent chance" I tap my chin and tilt my head.
"S-Seveny eight percent?! Boy. Do you have any idea what you are saying?!" He begins.
"I do." I nod once with a small smile. "If I am confident in anything, it is my skill in making medicine."
His hands quiver briefly.
"Miracle Maker..." He whispers, his eyes wide. "Please, Senior Venom Dragon, follow me."
"Senior?" I echo.
"If you are capable of what you say, Senior is the least of what I should be calling you. I will take you to our Pill refining room."
I hold out my hands towards the large burning furnace, heat blasts my face as a gentle smoke flows from its top, materials are manipulated deep within the metal furnace. The essences of plants extracted and combined with others as I carefully manipulate the ingredients within the forge.
With a 'pop' and a large puff of smoke, a single pill shoots from the top of the forge and into my waiting hand.
I turn and offer the pill towards the bearded sect leader to examine.
He looks over it with an inquisitive expression, his eyes widening. "My god... you... you were correct. This Fasting pill, it is dozens of times more effective than anything our pill refiners could have made with the same materials... instead of staving off hunger for merely one day... this one lasts for nearly three months!"
"Three months?!" I whisper. "I thought it would have only lasted for five days- wait. I know what I did... the duration is also longer for pills I create... for around twenty seconds, that is... for a pill that has its effectiveness tied to its duration, it is expected that we would see drastic increases... this tremendous benefit should be subsiding in about three... two... one."
The radiance of the pill lessens immensely, causing the fourth stage to look over it yet again, he lets out a small sigh. "Four days. I see. You were correct yet again."
"Do you trust me now?" I question.
The old man lets out a reserved sigh, "Yes, I suppose I do... your farming constitution is nothing compared to your sheer talent in medicine. You are like a god among doctors... if anyone had the recipe for a medicine that could fix a void core... it would be you."
"Here are the materials I require to make the medicine." I begin as I hand the man a piece of paper,
He looks over the list briefly, looking a little perturbed. "Senior... I have a question... would the Seven Radiance Wonders Fruit have any sort of effect on this medicine?"
"The what?" I question.
At my confused blink, the man leads me through the sect, we cross through numerous hidden paths, eventually coming to a large tree hidden within a cave. The leaves are almost a rainbow hue, and one singular fruit sits on a carefully pruned branch.
I look over the fruit, a frown on my face. "That... huh. I was unaware that your sect was able to make a treasure like that."
I look to the sect leader. "if that is used in the original recipe it should bring the chance of success from three percent to thirty... so, one hundred percent if I myself make it. If we are going to be using this, I would like for you to gather these materials instead so I can improve one of the Pill refiners to get more out of the ingredients we use."
"I do not know what sort of correlation these ingredients have, however... you would perhaps know more than myself, Miracle Maker." The man nods, then turns and walks out of the room.
Is that going to be what people call me? A bit presumptuous, isn't it? That's like calling myself 'Supreme Sword God' or 'Divine Armageddon'.
Ah well. Having even a minor sect at my back would be quite useful for my future. Especially a farming sect.
They will allow me to truly make use of my abilities... and when things finally start to kick off...
I'll be ready.
*End of Chapter 8*
*Thud* *Thud*
I take a deep breath and exhale, eyes cracking open as I rise to my feet.
I walk forwards, making my way through the chamber I find myself in and gently pushing the door open. "Yes?"
A balding man stands on the other side of the door, "Uh... Senior Venom Dragon, do you by any chance know a purple haired cultivator woman?"
"Did you get her name?" I question.
"Purple Mist." The man supplies.
not"That does sound familiar- oh. I know her, I met her about ten years ago... is she here?" I question as I step out of the closed door cultivation room, rolling my shoulders with a slight yawn.
"She is." He nods once.
"Alright, I believe I'll go and see her... oh, and can you mention it to the sect master that I am about to break through. I will probably be traveling to the place I broke through last time so I don't poison more land. The last tribulation I had was quite a venomous one."
"I will tell him the next time I see him." The man nods.
"Thank you, Zheng De." I nod once as I turn and begin making my way through the sect. 'I wonder what Purple Mist could want from me...'
I have been a part of the Immortal Farmer Sect for about a year now. They all seem to revere me as some sort of genius that has been blessed by the world itself. I mean, slightly accurate, considering Reincarnation, but I don't really like to be called out on that.
I'm fairly certain that the sect's influence has increased massively.
Once I upgraded a pill furnace, a special perk came into effect.
I can make twice as much of a potion, poison, or other elixir as normal.
So, with the Seven Radiance Wonders fruit... I made two pills, the first, the sect leader consumed, reforming his void core, and the second was sold at the cultivation market that popped up a few months back.
It's a mutually beneficial arrangement for us.
With my advanced pill forge making two pills with each and every set of ingredients, I typically give them one to sell, and keep the other for myself.
The pills I kept for myself, I further use as bartering materials for them to gather techniques and the like for me.
I've amassed a fair collection so far.
Fist techniques, saber techniques, spear techniques. Even a few chi arts and books on talisman creation.
Talisman creation... is a thing I've realized I have no talent in.
I'm still able to make some, sure, but it takes a lot of effort. And even if I do make them, they're typically of a poorer quality than those I am able to find on the market.
I realistically only plan to use talismans to draw a basic 'anti-detection' ward. My current ones are good enough to fool most mundane people. Anyone who can see through it is typically a cultivator or some form of superhuman... or like, a secret agent.
With it, I won't really have to worry about people noticing me when I get back to America.
I'd like to get it to a point where I can cause stage one cultivators to not notice me. That'd more or less make me safe from SHIELD when I go back home.
I... wonder if the leftover super soldier serum I stored in the sewers is still there?
Huh.
Yeah I should check that when I get back.
I finally come to the gates of the sect, walking slowly down the stairs, offering a sole nod and a quiet greeting to one of the cultivators standing guard. "Feng."
"Senior." He replies with a small bow, causing me to scratch my temple with a mildly annoyed expression.
Technically, he's right. I'm a third stage and he's second, but damn it. This 'senior' crap shouldn't be showing up until I'm a fifth or sixth stage cultivator at the very least.
"It's really you!" I hear a woman gasp as I turn to face the purple haired cultivator I had saved the life of all those years ago.
"Purple Mist." I greet with a small smile. "How have you been? Did you ever find a replacement for that Azure Serpent?"
"You remember me?!" She gasps, eyes practically sparkling.
"Should I not? It was only ten years ago... and you are among the more memorable cultivators I have met in my life. I just hope that I didn't make any issue for your contribution to your sect." I continue, a small frown appearing on my lips as I watch her swoon slightly... only to realize I have asked her a question.
"Oh. I left the poison mist sect after that." She admits.
"Why? That seems a little bit... rash?" I mutter.
"I want to be your disciple, Venom Dragon!" She declares.
"Pardon?"
"Well, Purple Mist, I believe I'm going to go break through." I begin quietly.
"Already? That's wonderful!"
"I have been preparing quite thoroughly for it since my last tribulation... and I believe that I am finally ready." I mutter, gazing over my body slowly.
I've learned a few techniques over the short time I have been here. Unmastered, yet, I cannot wait longer. I need to be at least a fifth stage by the time Thanos shows his ugly purple mug.
I cannot wait possibly years to prepare myself to enter the fourth stage... especially when I plan to make two hundred and six of my bones golden.
"I'll be leaving the sect for a short time... shouldn't be more than a month. If you go looking for me, bring some pills that improve your poison resiliency." With that, I turn and walk away.
My relationship with my... apprentice... is a bit weird. She is clearly extremely talented, managing to go from her earlier strength all the way into the fourth stage...
She did that in ten years. Then started tracking me down after she had broken through to the fourth stage heard of some 'miraculous new doctor'.
It seems that me saving her has had a truly profound impact on her.
In fact, she assumed that I was some sort of extremely powerful cultivator... probably a result of me splitting that poison in front of her... my bad.
Regardless, when she found out, she wasn't mad or annoyed like someone normally would have, had they found out that you had been 'lying' to them.
In fact, she seemed even more excited, proclaiming that there would be a 'lack of competition'.
Uhhh, yeah, I'm just going to ignore that for the time being.
I glance over my body, letting out a low hum.
My energy is completely and totally full, all that remains would be for me to activate all of my meridians at once.
"Well..." I quietly breathe, glaring up into the sky.
It is time.
Time to start my next tribulation...
I glare up into the sky, energy floods my body as I activate all of my meridians.
I... was correct in choosing this path.
Each of the four supreme Meridians seems to boost my power by around two and a half, with of the eight lesser ones improving my strength by around a tenth of that.
Regardless, those tenths add up.
While a normal cultivator would see a total increase of around ten times their base power from activating all of their meridians at once- and this is merely theoretical, as activating them all triggers a tribulations.
I, on the other hand increase my overall power by twelve.
That alone won't allow me to punch up at any fourth stage cultivators, mind you... especially if you consider that as a third stage, keeping this active is putting quite the strain on me.
A fourth stage has it active at all times. They require zero focus. Zero energy upkeep. And zero effort.
If I were to fight one as I am now, it's likely they'd outlast me quite easily.
Or is it?
Heart, Throat, Mouth, Eyes, Brain, Ears, Skin, Nose, Lungs.
Nine Acupoints instead of the normal five, the most important ones being, frankly, my skin and eyes, offering great durability, my eyes allowing me to have potentially potent illusions as well.
After that? Dantian network.
Origin, Eight Tails, Two Claws, Two Feet, Heart, Two Palms, Eight Necks, Eight Heads, and Eight Horns.
As they complete this network, they may call upon their chi far easier.
For instance, I used my chi to blast a tree moments after breaking through... for ten percent of my entire capacity I created a bead of ki and shot it, splintering a bit of a tree. Not enough to fell it, but enough to strip the bark off and cause the flesh within to crumple slightly.
A normal person, after awakening all eight Dantians, Origin to horns- which once more starts the tribulation so it's purely theoretical- would see roughly a one hundred and eighty percent increase in efficiency, thus, they would be able to do the same damage with a little more than five percent of their chi.
In actuality, they'd do more, as their chi capacity would improve, but I digress.
I. am not a normal person. My dantian network is what I'd like to say is perfectly suited to my body. It is both a dragon, so I got the boost from ascending the dragon gate, while also having aspects of heart, venom and poison.
I am very synchronized with my dantian path, plus it is much larger thus, one hundred and eighty percent... instead becomes four hundred percent efficiency.
That is probably the only reason I can maintain my meridians right now...
A perfect storm...
And speaking of perfect storm...
Where the fuck is it?
My eyes scan the sky, the earth underfoot dusty and a little dry from the lack of plant life. A result of my last tribulation, my poison seeping into the earth itself and making normal plants die out.
Suddenly I feel it.
I gag, a wheeze leaving my mouth.
"FUCK!" I loudly curse.
My vision blurring.
This is not the typical third promotes fourth tribulation.
I... I got the Heart Demon tribulation...
A one in ten thousand chance.
I need to meditate... now.
I gaze around slowly, a war-torn battlefield greeting my vision.
A slow breath leaves my lips, as I walk forwards.
I can hear distant thuds, pounding of feet on earth. My hands clench as I cautiously gaze around.
Of course I get a heart demon. Ugh. This is such a pain.
Will I even be able to defeat it?
Will this be my end?
A heart demon tribulation is an insidious tribulation that targets a cultivator's weakness. It burrows itself deep within their mind, causing a scenario to play out in their mindscape.
A cultivator who isn't all too confident with their skill in bed. They'll get an extremely attractive woman complaining about them in bed.
And it'll happen over and over and over.
Taunting, insulting, jeering.
There's only two paths to overcoming a heart demon tribulation...
You overcome it? Or you don't.
A spy a massive wave of what look like... reptilian gorillas?
Armored reptilian gorillas? With cybernetics and four arms? Some have six? What the fuck?
What is-
Ah...
I'm not... Confident in my fighting skills... Thus, eternal battle.
Fucking wonderful. Either my will breaks from being torn apart, or I come out of this much better than before.
How many are there? Just from a brief overview, I am seeing hundreds.
I lung forwards with a roar as the apes near, some rising up to their hind limbs to match me.
My fist strikes the first in the jaw, its black and yellow leathery skin rippling slightly as its neck snaps
As the tide reaches me, I lash out with swiping kicks and punches.
Clearly this isn't working. And- oh... I don't have any poisons, either. Fuck.
I take a deep breath and exhale, a torrent of wind leaving my lips as I spin in place causing the strange beasts to get shoved away from me, their flailing bodies ragdoll through the air as I leap upwards, rapid kicks flicker through the air, sending a torrent of sharpened bladed waves of wind outwards.
Frankly, it doesn't matter where I kick. There's always a body in the way.
From up here I can see- oh god...
There are thousands. Possibly tens of thousands.
And it isn't just them.
Beams of light seem to streak into the air as I lunge downwards, back into the fray. I duck under the swipe from the clawed hands of one of these gorilla things, grabbing its wrist and swinging it into another.
A third is kicked backwards, crashing into the beasts behind it like a bunch of bowling pins, its chest lightly caved in.
Yes.
Lightly.
Each and every single one of these things...
They seem to have a physiology comparable to that of a peak first stage cultivator.
They can lift upwards of five hundred pounds in a single arm, run at speeds faster than most cars, shrug off small arms fire like with minimal injury... and it appears that I have to exert myself a little to kill them.
I can't just swing my arm and kill them by the dozens.
I weave in between their lines, this swarming mob mentality causing their claws to scrape at my flesh, thankfully my scales allowing me to continue through without injury. My hands like claws, hardened by the Immortal Farmer Sect's earth tilting fist technique, I rip large hunks of flesh and machinery from the beasts. Horns sprout from my forehead as I activate the full extent of my immortal body.
Little star-wars speeder like things dart across the sky as a large flying whale-like creature swoop down towards me, maw open wide, uncaring about the numerous bodies it is crushing as it carves a trench in the earth.
I leap suddenly, landing on its back.
"FUCKING DIE!" I snarl as I rear a fist down and punch down towards the armored plates on the back of its head.
"FFF-" I hiss as the metal noticeably doesn't buckle and tear under my punch, merely denting instead.
Ow. My fucking knuckle!
My fingers dig into the nearest break in the plated metal, finding purchase within the metal sheets, gasps of pain leave my lips as my back is riddled with explosions, the speeders up above seeming to have some form of laser weapon that manages to strike hard enough to get through my immortal body enhanced scales.
I rend the large plate of metal from the back of the large whale creature, using it to block a few more beams, then I hurl it like a frisbee, the metal soaring through the air where it collides with a swooping bike thing, causing a violent explosion in the air as it detonates, sending a stream flaming metal shooting downwards like meteors, impacting tightly packed raging bodies that cover the earth and sending quite a few flying with a shuddering boom.
The large unintelligent brutes claw at the sides of the whale as it slowly slices along the ground, leaping up onto its back as I let out a low snarl.
I punch down into the now bare skin of this large leviathan, grasping something that feels vaguely important then pulling.
A large spinal disk combined with machinery rests in my open fist, purplish blood coating my arm up to my elbow I whirl around hurling it as hard as I can, the disk crashing into the head of one of the encroaching brutes and splattering it with a shower of gore.
I grasp its body, fingers digging into its skin, then hurl it upwards, its rag dolled body slapping into another speeder and causing it to crash into the ground with a shuddering boom.
I get tackled by one of the grunts, shoved off the back of the dead whale and hurled into the mass of bodies below. My clothes tear, I let out a shout as I am forcefully dragged into the mound, sharp nails clawing at my eyes, ripping at my nose and mouth, jaws clamping around my flesh and trying to tear it.
*BOOM*
There's a shuddering explosion as a pulse of energy radiates off my body.
A large snake-like spectral energy seems to coil around me, I rub my eyes with a low hiss, my vision blurry, but with the cacophony of noise... I don't really need eyes, do I?
The coiled energy rapidly uncoils, spiraling outwards with a tremendous force.
I can hear bodies crunch and crumple, the spectral jaws opening wide and biting a tremendous chunk from the side of one of the mindless bodies trying to get me. The creature dies on the spot as I let out a roar, palm striking another.
I grab another and hurl it to the side, using it as a shield to block several blasts of energy.
My head snaps upwards, my vision finally clearing.
One of those whale things is barreling downwards at incredible speed.
I barely dive forwards, leaping over the heads of the swarm, the large horned tendril of energy lashing out behind me and trying to bite into the large flying creature's underside, a shower of sparks seems to scatter through the air, but the attack finds no purchase, the whale being too large for the jaws to successfully wrap around.
This tendril-
Wait... it's... one of the dragon heads which caused me so much issue back during my second to third tribulation...
Wait.
Yamata No Orochi...
Eight heads.
There were seven spectral dragon heads.
A grin crosses my face.
Well. It seems like I've inadvertently created a technique.
A blast of energy spews from the dragon's mouth, punching cleanly through the body of the titanic body, it whirls around snapping its jaws at a passing bike, jostling it just enough to cause it to spiral out of control and crash like the others I've taken down.
I land on the ground with a crouch, my body tensing as I disappear.
I blur through the swarm, body-checking dozens of them as I continue to kick off the ground several times per second.
I zig-zag through the waves of bodies like a human wrecking ball, the draconic head trailing behind me and snapping up any soldier which has the misfortune of getting in its way.
I let out a huffing pant, my body beaten and broken, blood pouring from numerous injuries.
I glare pointedly at five figures.
Ah...
Now I remember why that was so familiar...
A large purple giant of a man, standing at over eight feet looms above me, on his hand in a sole golden gauntlet with six gemstones.
"You... Are weak." He announces.
"And your chin looks like a ball sack." I scoff. "You're not real. a fake. Faux bullshit jolly purple giant who has his fancy bejeweled oven mitt."
"…" he seems genuinely caught off guard.
"Suck my dick!" I flip the mad titan double birds
A hammer zooms across the distance between us, hurled by that bulky fucker on the far left, it reaches my head-
*Snap*
And suddenly...
Darkness...
Then light again.
"Haaaaah." I sigh dramatically as I gaze across a war torn battlefield, rubbing my temples after a moment. I can hear the thuds of numerous feet upon the dusty earth.
"Fucking heart demon." I lowly growl. "Ah well, let's get back to it, I guess time to kill that army for a second time."
I duck past the swipe from a spear, lashing out with a kick that catches a horned woman with blue hair in the chest as she tries to stab me with her glowing trident.
My forearm clashes with the haft of a futuristic spear as I chop downwards towards a man with grey skin, an outfit making him look like one of those evil dudes from the movie 'epic'.
The... uh... Blue Skies one...
Honestly, that's some genuine box office suicide to name their movie that.
'Speaking of animation...' I weave around the jab of the woman, stepping up on her knee and using it as an anchor point to drive my knee into her chin. I then kick off her chest, back flipping over the man who twirls the spear around him. 'I wonder if I should re-live some of past childhood... I mean, I'm totally going to see How to Train your Dragon again in theatres when it comes out in a good forty years or so.'
I reach forwards, grabbing him by the back of the cloak and tugging him back, using him as a shield for dozens of little earth darts. His blue-ish purple blood splattering over my body as I abruptly shove him forwards.
His body splits in half, flying around a nose less grey figure that is stood on a pillar of swirling stone.
With a sudden blur of movement I appear to his left, shooting an accupressure needle from the tip of my finger at him.
It manages to slip through his guard, sinking into his shoulder... then it detonates violently, causing his upper torso to explode as he lets out a small shout.
I turn back to the woman, disappearing and reappearing within her guard, she ditches her trident, lashing out with two quick punches that I narrowly deflect with a raised forearm.
My eyes narrow as a truly monstrous looking figure barrels down on me, a large hammer attached to a chain rocketing towards my open back.
I step to the side and with a gentle swing of my hand, the trajectory of the chained metal is altered, crashing into the woman and rendering her a blue mist as the hammer head carves a trench in the earth. The chain is pulled taut as I leap, barely hopping over the chain as it swings back through the area I was in moments before.
I kick off the air, causing my body to spiral towards the large bulky figure like a missile.
With a shift of my weight in air I avoid a punch that would have probably broken my jaw, my arm coming up and looping around the bulky alien's neck as I slip just over his shoulder.
I tightly grasp the top of his head and chin, then channeling all of the strength I have-
*CRACK*
His head is turned at an awkward angel.
I take a few short breaths as the figure falls, sliding off its back as I pointedly glare forwards at the purple giant who refused to move this entire time.
I let out a quiet huff of laughter as I do an elaborate bow. "Well, call me whooping cough because I just devastated your children~"
How many times have I been here? At this exact place?
Twenty?
Thirty?
I'm getting better, slowly but surely. The first time I made it this far I had a broken arm and lost vision in my right eye.
But now?
I clench and unclench a fist slowly as I glare up at the mad titan himself.
Only... It isn't himself.
It's just an image that my weakness projected. My fear. My anxiety. My insecurities given form.
He slowly rises from the stone throne, his golden gauntleted hands clenching slowly. "I am... Inevitable..."
"Yeah yeah." I scoff. "And I can do this all day."
I leap forwards at high speed, planning to meet the faux titan head on.
He punches downwards, causing the earth to buckle and fold inwards on itself, forcing me to flip back to avoid the earth floor that rapidly rises.
A spectral dragon head forms from my body, lashing out and stinking its fangs into Thanos' ankle.
His leg is torn out from under him as a second bites into his shoulder, but he manages to break free with a swing of his arm and a stomp of his foot.
I myself am not idle, however. Two more head had sprouted from my back, shooting forwards and digging into the earth.
They tug my forwards at high speeds, my feet crashing into the torso of the mad titan hard enough to cause even him to stagger backwards.
His hand grasps around my leg as he whirls around, smashing me into the floor.
I let out a small shout as I quickly whirl around, slamming the heel of my other foot into his thumb, causing his grip to loosen just enough that I can pull myself free.
I flip back, landing on my feet, and look up- only to catch a punch to the jaw that rattles my entire body, sending me flying back at tremendous speed.
As I lay in the dirt, I let out a small 'Tsk', hand coming up to my busted lip as the metallic taste of blood becomes known in my mouth.
"Well. That fucking hurt."
I get to my feet slowly. "But... I managed to hit him this time... hit him with my physical body... not the seven dragons technique."
I glare up at the purple titan as he slowly walks forwards. "This is progress."
Heyooo this is just one of the plot bunnies I had on QQ. It is by far the longest, so I decided to group up all I have done with it so far and send it on over to FFN. This one is a combination of both MCU and the Manhua 'Cultivation Chat Group'. I hope you enjoyed it and have a merry christmas!
