Chapter 1281 Explosion Conduit
Emma trained in copying items with Essence in them. She started by not taking it as Essence but as something completely different. She started understanding energy fundamentally by using it.
Absorbing would've made it much easier, but as she was she couldn't absorb it. Not in the way a Will absorbed the energy of their world.
After gaining some idea of what the energy of the Explosion Essence was, she tried to recreate it herself using the Pure Energy inside of her.
She reached deep into herself and pulled out energy as she always did. Except, this time, she willed it to be the same type as the one that she had come to understand.
As the energy came out, Ning watched excitedly. This was the first time his daughter was trying this, so he was extra anxious. He looked at the Essence that came out and realized that he could feel the Explosion Essence from it.
The energy flowed onto her left hand, opposite her right hand which held the conduit.
Emma was very excited to see the orange energy that landed on her palm and more excited when she started forming it into a ball. However, as she made it, something occurred to her that caused the Essence to grow unstable.
As the energy was Explosion Essence now, it immediately exploded the moment it got the change.
The explosion filled the area around her and her father, the force of it landing on the two of them. The massive sound of the boom was enough to startle anyone, but the two father and daughter were barely phased.
Ads by Pubfuture
Ning moved his hand and the barrier he had set around the room covered until it was nothing. Along with it, it took away the fire and smoke.
Ning coughed a little. "What happened?" he asked with a somewhat confused expression. He hadn't realized what had happened at the end there.
Emma gave an awkward smile. "I focused so much on the energy that I forgot to make the object itself," she said. "It got unstable then and exploded."
Ning stared at her with an unbelieving face. "Really?" he asked.
"Mhm," Emma nodded.
Ning couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the situation. "Alright, try again."
The second time, Emma succeeded. She had not only managed to perfectly copy the type of energy, but she had also perfectly formed the object as well. The Energy and Matter mixed together were stable.
Ning took the two objects from her hand. One a naturally forming natural conduit, and one made by her.
"System, give me the differences," he said and the system listed down a few problems that were in Emma's conduit.
Ning ignored differences such as shape, size, and weight, and even ignored the fact that the two conduits had different spirits in them. After learning about the Triangle of Existence, the system started talking about them more freely now, no longer bothering to hide information.
The spirits in these conduits were barely any stronger than ones in a tree or in a sea. All it did was take a person's mental command and apply it to the energy flowing through it.
The main differences that Ning found were mainly 2.
First, the natural conduit was more stable with its energy. Having formed from nature, it needed to be stable to have survived this long. The conduit Emma made was slightly more unstable and could break down as a conduit if used too much.
Ads by Pubfuture
Second, the natural conduit accepted a higher grade of Essence than what Emma created. Ning quickly knew the problem for that one, however. Emma had yet to properly sense Essence after all, so the mistake was obvious.
Once she had reached the Essence Sense realm, it would be much easier. For that, however, he would have to wait until she could agree too. This was her adventure after all.
Ning put both the conduits into his storage bag. "Again," he said.
Emma looked at him blankly. "What do I copy?" she asked.
"The Explosion Conduit, of course," Ning said. "Make what you make, again."
"Oh," Emma said, a little surprised. "I thought I was going to have to make another one."
"No, that you won't have to do," Ning said.
Emma hesitated a bit this time around. Without something to constantly refer to, it became hard to make the item. Her memory was good, yes, but that didn't feel as reliable as the object in her hand would be.
Still, she gritted her teeth and got to work. 5 minutes later, there was another explosion conduit in front of her. Only this time neither of them had to check to see that it was obviously worse.
"I tried my best," Emma said with a slightly disheartened look. "But that is the best I can do it seems."
"No need to be sad," Ning said. "This is training. Here, try again." He handed back the original natural conduit and had her try again. He also told her what flaws she had and even asked if she wanted to try and break through.
Emma thought for a bit and said that she wanted to train like this for a while before she broke through.
Ning nodded and let her do what she wanted to do. While she practiced, he did his own thing. With the last 2 cores yet to reach the Essence Manifestation realm, he wanted to be done with it as soon as possible.
He pulled out the continental sword and using it he started absorbing Essence from a Pure Crystal in front of him.
It was a weird technique that his system had taught him, which was the only way he could absorb so many of the weird Essences. By dragging the Pure Essence through his sword that had almost all Essences in existence, he could change the property and absorb it himself.
While his daughter trained in making conduits and reached success after success, he managed to finally make all of his cores reach the Essence Manifestation realm.
Chapter 1282 Conversion Training
Ning made his way to the Trobble store to meet up with Byron.
"You are here!" Byron said with a hint of surprise in his voice. It was still morning, so he hadn't started working just yet and would at any time. "I had thought you had already left."
"Oh no, I was just in my room doing nothing but…" he slowed down. "Actually guess what I was doing?"
"Huh?" Byron looked confused to hear that. "What do you mean guess? Guess what?"
He couldn't make sense of Ning's words, but under Ning's coercion, he gave up and looked for whatever it was that he could find. However, it didn't even take him 3 seconds to realize what was different when he did give it some thought. 𝔫𝙤ѵℯ𝐥𝖇𝓲𝔫.𝑛𝖊ｔ
His eyes widened. "But it… but it hasn't even been that long," he said. "How are you so close to entering the Essence Soul realm?"
"Ooh, am I?" Ning asked. "I was only trying to show off the Essence Manifestation realm that I reached."
Even that alone was enough for Byron to be surprised about. There was no way of telling if he would've outright fainted if Ning made any mentions of all of his 8 cores reaching the same level.
"Congratulations," Byron said, his face still keeping the look of shock he felt.
Ning sat by the side. "I came to practice making some swords and shields," he said. "Now that I reached the Essence Manifestation realm, it should be possible, right?"
"Y-yes," Byron said. "Do you want to test it out now?"
Ads by Pubfuture
"Sure," Ning said. "My daughter will be out for a few hours, so I will need to practice before she returns. Let's start now."
Ning started walking to the backyard while Byron quickly followed him. Byron couldn't help but look back outside, thinking of Ning's daughter going around the city.
He wished no other problems such as last time would come about once again.
"I'm surprised you didn't leave the city already," Byron said as he followed. "After the commotion you caused over 2 weeks ago, I thought you would've left."
"Well… no," Ning said. "My daughter had something to do, so I couldn't leave. We will probably be leaving in a day or two though. Apparently, she learned about a fun city in the northeast. Something called… Ularis City?"
"Ulharis City," Byron corrected him. "Is your daughter interested in the Star Beast Institute?"
"That's it," Ning said. "That's why she wants to join. That beast institute. She kept telling me about it the last few days. I wonder where she learned it from."
"It's actually a pretty big topic in the town, especially around this time," Byron said. "They will have their first round of admission in half a month, so many people make their way there around this time."
"Is that so?" Ning asked curiously. "Why from here?"
"Well, it's easier for people to travel through the sea around this area than go through the road. Considering the recent increase in bandits, not many like taking the long path there."
"Instead, they just come to the ocean, take a quick trip to one of the port cities, and take a short way there," Byron explained.
"Hmm, I see," Ning said as they arrived at the working field. "Well, I'll have to think about it if there's only half a month left. But that's for later. Let me make a conduit right now."
He cracked his knuckles and looked around. "What should start with? Any idea?" he asked.
"Do wind," Byron suggested. "It is the easiest and it's not very concerning even if you mess up."
Ads by Pubfuture
"Wind… okay, wind it is," Ning said and got ready.
Byron stood quietly, watching Ning begin to convert the air in the surroundings into an artifact. However, even as seconds passed, Ning didn't start.
Byron turned around to look at Ning with a confused look on his face. "What's wrong?" Byron asked. "Do you need me to teach you how it should be done?"
"No, no, that's I'm fine on," Ning said. "I'm just wondering if maybe Lightning isn't the proper Essence I should use it with. I know lightning and Wind have some common in them when Qi is involved, but since Qi is not involved, I wonder if I should go a different route."
"What? Qi? What do you mean?" Byron asked. "Isn't your core Lightning? Just use it. There's no point in dawdling around unless you have a Wind Essence Crystal. But I wouldn't suggest using those for your first time."
"Oh no," Ning said. "I wasn't thinking of using a crystal at all. I was thinking of using a Core. A different core."
Byron's face went blank for a few seconds. "A different what?"
Instead of answering, Ning switched his cores. Of the other 7 Essence Cores he had, the Lightning switched with one that was in his opinion the closest to Wind.
Sound Essence Core
As soon as the switch happened, Byron sensed it as well. His eyes widened in shock. "You… you are…"
"Sshh!" Ning said before giving a wide grin. "How is this? Is this good enough for Wind?"
Byron was too shocked to answer.
"Well, I suppose I'll have to find out on my own." Ning sent out Sound Essence from his core and sent it into the air. The air was constantly moving, so unlike rocks, he couldn't capture it all at once.
What he did capture glowed with a soft greenish-white hue and hung in the air. Byron quickly realized what was happening and stepped aside. He knew that it was going to be impossible to breathe at any moment now.
As Ning continued, he felt the air around himself grow still, and he could no longer breathe any air. Not that breathing problems had ever been a priority for him.
He continued using his Essence to capture as much of the air as he could. 5 minutes later, he was staring at a massive solid chunk of air that had gotten still, glowing with a soft green-white color.
Now that he had made the hybrid form, it was time to pull it all together into an object.
Chapter 1283 Short Sword
Once the Matter-Essence hybrid air was ready to be properly converted, Ning pulled on it. The thing became thin and stretched as Ning pulled on it.
Byron watched from the side, slightly nodding as what Ning did was correct to his eyes. He had to pull it and then start hammering on it too…
Ning didn't bring out any hammer and simply continued pulling on the thing without stopping.
Byron wanted to tell Ning that he was doing it wrong, that he had to change it as he pulled, but he didn't want to distract him right now. He would have to hope that Ning knew what he was doing.
In the meanwhile, he moved away the other people from around the area just in case.
Ning continued pulling and whatever he pulled would remain in his hands, grasped tightly. He pulled and pulled and pulled until there was nothing to pull anymore.
Everything he could pull was all in his hand. So, there was only one thing left to do. To covert what was in his hand into a worthy conduit.
There were many things he could do with it, but for practice purposes, he decided to go with a short sword. He closed his eyes and visualized what a short sword looked like.
As Byron had mentioned when teaching him about it, the hammer and anvil were all there to make him believe that he was making a sword. It was to help him visualize the transformation from a Matter-Essence hybrid to an actual weapon.
If one could do the same without using anything, then they wouldn't need any hammer or anvil.
Ads by Pubfuture
Ning focused on the image of the short sword in his mind. His consciousness returned to a time when he made every form of artifact for a very long time. A short sword to him from all those years ago was something as simple as a flick of a wrist.
With his eyes closed, he slowly opened his palm, pulling the amalgamation of Matter and Essence. As he pulled, the object slowly took shape.
Without getting hammers, the object became flat. Without being sharpened, it gained an edge. With just a single pull, the sword formed in its entirety.
Byron watched in absolute shock as something that would have taken him minutes to hammer and form was instead made in seconds by Ning by simply pulling on it. He wanted to believe that he was seeing wrong, but with all that had happened around Ning, he simply couldn't.
Ning opened his eyes and looked at the dagger in his hand. The greenish-white hue had now lost a lot of its color, now retaining a mostly colorless body with a very vague inkling of any other color.
Ning took the blade and flipped it a bit. "Ooh! I did it," he said excitedly. "Is this how it's supposed to be done?"
He turned to look at Byron who still didn't speak. "Hey!" Ning shouted at him, catching his attention.
"Huh?" the man looked at Ning with a scared expression.
"How did I do?" he asked. "Is this good enough?"
He tossed the short sword to Byron who quickly caught it. Byron gave it a cursory glance and then gave some deeper inspection when he saw something that he couldn't believe was there.
Details. The short sword that was casually made had details that would take a normal smith a long time to carve into it. He couldn't believe it.
"How did you get this hexagon and text here?" Byron asked. "Never mind that how did you make this sword in just a single pull?"
"Ah, you said that I needed to be able to visualize to make the conversion, right? So I did. I visualized the sword in my hand and it simply came to be," Ning said.
Ads by Pubfuture
"But… but how?" Byron couldn't help but ask.
"Oh that," Ning said. "I actually used to be a smith too. Well, not just smith. I used to make all types of weapons and artifacts. Still do sometimes, but not to the same level as I did back then."
"You worked in a smithy?" Byron asked.
"I owned a Smithy," Ning said with a big smile. "Ah! Those were the good days. I was world-famous for my artifacts. I used to have so many people working under me."
"What happened? You got bored?" Byron asked.
"No, not bored. Things didn't align with the… uhh… royals of that place. They wanted me to make weapons for war, and I didn't want that. I had to leave the smithy behind and leave."
"Ah, that sucks," Byron said.
"That's alright," Ning said. "Anyway, you gonna judge the sword?"
"Oh right," Byron quickly said. "This is incredible. I don't need to judge to know that."
"Ooh, is it?" Ning asked excitedly. "What would you rate it from 1 to 100? 1 being absolutely garbage and 100 being the most amazing thing you've ever seen."
"Uhh…" Byron thought for a bit and answered, "Something like 65? The craftsmanship itself is amazing, but you are lacking volume. Of course, this is just your first work, so I'm sure you'll do much better soon enough."
"Volume, huh?" Ning thought to himself. It was true that he had used not as much air as he should have. This amount of air was basically nothing for the sword, especially since man-made conduits were only as good as the amount of material that had gone into making it.
His continental sword had a continent inside of it, so he could create as large a structure as he wanted without worry. But something that used a small amount of materials would only be able to produce a small amount when used.
"65 huh?" Ning thought to himself. "Yeah, I'm not going to leave until I cross 80 at the very least."
Ning went back to training again, and under Byron's supervision, he managed to make 5 more different kinds of artifacts.
2 swords, 1 spear, 1 staff, and an armor.
Every single one of them was greater than 70 points, according to Byron, with the final armor reaching as much as 83 points from him.
Chapter 1284 Gift for Byron
After a few days of training, Ning became proficient in the art of Converting. In fact, his improvement came at such a rapid pace that Byron couldn't help but look in shock at it all.
For now, Ning had stuck to elements that were more naturally available, such as air, water, earth, fire, and light, but soon enough he would start focusing on new ones.
At the same time, Emma had gone around the city and had all the fun she could have had here. So, it was getting close to the time for them to leave.
"You are finally leaving?" Byron asked. He had known this day was coming for a while, and now that it was here, he couldn't help but feel emotional.
Over the past couple of days, Ning had not only trained but also helped him a lot. Mayor Trobble had to step down as mayor due to his neck injury which would take a long time to heal.
His son was barely good at anything other than making use of his father's money, so soon there would be a new mayor, one chosen by the town's people.
There was a chance that his cousin would end up as the mayor, but that did not stop him from wanting to become one as well. He wanted to become a mayor.
"The Star Beast Institute is opening soon and we need to go there quickly to register," Ning told Byron. "I came to say goodbye."
Byron nodded. "Thank you for everything you did for me," he said. "I won't forget your help."
"Haha, I barely did anything," Ning said in a fit of laughter.
Byron smiled, but he knew in his heart how much help Ning had been. His appearance had changed so much for him, even though on the outside it would appear simple to him.
"Anyway, I'll visit you if I can, but I rarely ever return to a city after I've left," Ning said. "So, here's a parting gift."
Ning tossed something toward Byron who quickly caught it. He looked at the item in his hand and was surprised to see that it was a storage item.
"What is this?" he looked up to ask, but Ning was already walking away.
Ads by Pubfuture
"Goodbye, and take care," Ning spoke loudly as he left.
Byron was left where he was alone, with the storage item in his hand. He was confused about what it was, so he moved to a more secure location to check it.
He ended up pulling out a Fire axe. The axe looked familiar to him for a moment and remembered that it was one that Ning had made a few days ago.
"He's leaving this with me?" he wondered. It wasn't the best conduit he had seen made by someone here, but it was definitely a top-tier item, especially considering the maker was only in the Essence Manifestation realm.
This would most definitely sell for quite a bit of money.
He pulled out the next item, which was a light sword. "This too was something he made," Byron thought with a weird look on his face. "Is this something he wants me to sell as well?"
Byron kept pulling more and more. A Fire Armor. A Wind Dagger. A Water Staff. An Earth Spear. A Light Sheild.
More and more equipment kept coming out from the storage item and Byron realized that Ning had left all of it to him.
He couldn't imagine just how much this would fetch him. This was something that would've taken him an entire month to work on.
However, it wasn't over at all.
Byron knew of all the items that Ning had made, or at least thought he did. However, given that the storage item still seemed to hold quite a bit in it, he wondered if Ning had made it even while he wasn't at the shop.
He pulled out the next item in the storage and was surprised that he got a frozen flower. "A flower?" he couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. He was somewhat taken aback to see a flower, but when he let his senses fall onto it, he realized something.
"An ice conduit?" he thought. He couldn't believe that was what it was. How could Ning ever make an Ice conduit? How did he make one in the shape of a flower?? Where did he get the ice from?
Multiple thoughts ran across Byron's mind until the correct one passed through it.
"A Natural Conduit."
His eyes widened in shock These sorts of things were rare to come by and were extremely expensive. He couldn't believe that Ning was just giving it to him.
He pulled out the next thing in the box, which was a hoof-shaped transparent substance that glowed bright white.
Ads by Pubfuture
"A Crystal Conduit!! A natural crystal conduit!" Byron couldn't help himself from celebrating.
He pulled out more and more.
A Magma conduit in the shape of a glowing rock. An Earth conduit in the shape of a beast's paw. A lightning conduit, in the shape of a Rhino's horn.
Many natural conduits came flying out of the storage. There were exactly 11 of them.
11 Natural conduit. Selling a single one was enough to earn a fortune, and Ning had given him 11.
Byron had to calm his heart as he looked through them. He didn't want to sell them. He could imagine the many things he would do with them.
And somehow, there was still more stuff in the storage.
Byron pulled out a book with a note sticking out of it. He pulled out the note and read it.
"This is an absorption technique that will help you improve quickly."
"Oh!" Byron was a little surprised. "An absorption technique, huh?"
Byron had an absorption technique, but he couldn't call it that good. He had managed to buy one of the best in the market, but the ones in the market were rarely good.
The best ones were kept by large clans and organizations or were sold in massive auction houses. Those were the sort of things that he could never be a part of.
He pulled out the next stuff from the storage, and more books came out. As before, a note stuck out from it that Byron quickly read.
"These are some of the best skills you can come across. Make good use of it."
"Skills!?" Byron's eyes widened. He had thought that he couldn't feel shocked at this point, and yet he still did.
Skills were one thing that he always lacked. His uncle never gave him the good ones, and the ones he did buy were truly not very good.
He quickly opened the books and read through them. Each and every single skill in there was simply incredible. His eyes moistened at the thought that an outsider was helping him more than his own blood relatives.
Finally, he brought out the last item, a pile of papers that Byron couldn't make sense of. There was a note sticking out in it as well.
"This is a list of all the assets and inheritance that your uncle stole from you. It includes the evidence that it was stolen as well. Put it to good use."
Byron's eyes went wide with that. His life was finally going to go in a better direction.
Chapter 1285 Road to Ulharis
Ning walked along the road with Emma sitting on top of Umbra who walked slowly. They had left the Trobble city and had come out of the Northern forest to make their way east toward the Ulharis City.
Lory sat on top of Ning's head, curiously looking around the entire surroundings, while Lyra was staring at Emma who was training.
The surrounding at the moment was a sparse forest that was transitioning into grassland. The road itself was wide and flat, but it was still a dirt road. There were houses in the distance, mostly at the foot of a mountain far away. Close to the road, there weren't any houses at all.
People feared the consequences of having a house close to the road, especially with banditry being quite prevalent this far out in the Empire.
Carriages rolled past Ning's group, who were obviously very slow as they were just walking. However, they weren't alone in walking. Many others walked there as well.
Not everyone was rich enough to afford a carriage in the Empire, but everyone wanted to go to the Star Beast Institute. As a result, they walked.
Emma focused her energy on creating a tiny amulet that had a large space in it. After Ning asked her to try and make it one last time, she had done it successfully after a few tries.
However, that required his help. Now, she was supposed to make it all on her own.
"This is hard," she said. "I need the Essense again."
"Sure," Ning said and placed his hand in front of his daughter as his Essence core switched. The lightning Essence Core turned to that of a Space Essence core and Space Essence flowed out of his hand.
Emma tried to understand the Space Essence and tried again. She tried for a while and frowned. "I can't do it," she said, dropping her arms as she gave up. "Can't I just make normal ones? Storage items with Essence is hard. I can do it in a snap with Qi or Mana."
"Nope, you have to use Space Essence," Ning said. "This is practice. There are times when it will be hard. You can't just give up."
Ads by Pubfuture
"I know…" Emma said. "But… this one is particularly time-consuming, and I can't even concentrate with all the carriages going past us. Why did we not take a carriage too?"
"You want Umbra to pull the carriage?" Ning asked.
Emma looked toward Umbra and shook her head. "No, she's already doing enough carrying me," she said.
Umbra chuckled a little. "I couldn't pull the carriage if you wanted me to. I'm strong enough that it doesn't matter to me. And I'm not so prideful that I won't help pull my friends' carriage."
"No, you don't have to," Emma said quickly. "We're friends, not masters and servants."
Umbra simply smiled and did not say anything.
"What servants?" Lyra asked.
"You'll learn once you're big enough," Emma said. "Let me focus on this, okay?" 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝑒𝑙𝗯𝔦𝔫.𝒏𝔢𝒕
Lyra nodded and continued watching. Emma tried her best for the next 2 hours.
At that time, their group reached a small town that needed to be passed through on the way to Ulharis City. The town had a local market that everyone stopped around to buy from and go on their way to the other bigger cities.
Ning noticed a couple of people walking around with glowing Fire and Wind spears that surprised him. "Soldiers?" he spoke to himself softly.
The men wore bright red and orange uniforms with a symbol on their chest of crowns made of fire.
The insignia of the Brightfire Empire.
"Soldiers this far out in the Empire, the bandit problem must be getting worse and worse," Ning said softly.
"Humans killing humans," Umbra said softly. "No different than a beast."
Ads by Pubfuture
Ning nodded.
"Papa!" Emma said excitedly. "Look!" She handed him the item she had just finished making.
Ning took the item, an amulet that hung around a thick string that didn't feel like it would easily rip. The amulet looked simple, for the most part with a thin golden frame around a large deep blue gem in the center.
The blue gem was what gave the amulet its spatial storage.
"Not bad," Ning said. "See? I told you you could do it."
Emma smiled back. "Well, I made it, but I don't know if I can make it anymore," she said.
"Hmm? Why not?" Ning asked.
"I barely have enough energy for 2 more of those," she said. "After that, I would have to go back to Earth and I would miss the registration."
"You don't have to go back," Ning said. "You can stick around without the energy. That's alright."
"I don't feel alright sticking around without my energy," she said. "I won't be making any more of this."
"I had hoped to let you be a normal girl without any power before sending you to the institute, but if you want to keep your energy, then you're free to do so," Ning said. "This is your adventure, do whatever you wish."
Emma grinned. "Thank you!"
After buying a few snacks in the small town, Ning and the rest headed back onto the road and continued their journey toward the East where Ulharis City lay.
Even as night fell and they came across another large forest, they continued walking. With their strength, they had no need to sleep at all. Only Lory and Lyra slept and Umbra kept them on her underside, tied with Shadow Essence.
Emma walked at this point, passing the many people who sat on the side. Most of them were resting in the night, with a few staying up to keep watch.
The chance of bandits coming this far into the road with so many humans and beasts was a low possibility, but they still didn't want to leave it up to chance.
Ning and the rest continued on for a while longer before they suddenly stopped. Far away, they could hear something.
Screams.
Chapter 1286 The Bandits
It took a second for Ning to get all the information he needed from the System. Then, he teleported away, leaving Emma and the rest behind.
He arrived in the thicket of the jungle, next to a tree. It was relatively dark, but in front of his eyes, everything was as bright as day.
He saw a young man with a missing limb holding onto a wooden axe as he lay to the side. Next to him was a man with a scraggly beard holding onto a fire sword that was hidden on his other side and barely peeking through to Ning. He had a bloody chest, that he was holding onto, which from what Ning could tell had been the result of the metal weapon in the young man's arm.
He dropped to his knees, breathing heavily and with anger clear in his face. A few people arrived right afterward and looked at the situation.
They saw the wounded adult and the wounded young man, but they did not notice Ning in the slightest. His perception veil had been working very well.
"Oi old man, you bite the dust yet?" one of the men asked.
"Shut up and help me up," the wounded adult said.
"Nah, I like the idea of stealing your share of the loot amongst ourselves," the man said. "Say, how much did you loot?" The wounded man frowned and looked at the group in fear that he was going to be killed. He tightened his grip around the weapon he held and prepared himself to use his techniques when it would be needed.
Just then, another older man slapped the younger man on the back of his head. "No killing among the crew," he told the young man. "If you don't understand this, you're not welcome here."
The younger man frowned before his face changed to a smile. "Haha, I was just joking. Come brother, let me help you." He reached out to the wounded man and pulled him up. He could practically smell the blood from the man's chest.
Ads by Pubfuture
"Wow, the kid got you good, didn't he?" the man asked.
"Damn him!" the man said. "He's still breathing too. Someone kill him."
"Yeah, yeah," the young man said. "Hey, can someone use some light? I can barely see right now."
One of the men at the back pulled out a light sword and used it to light up the surroundings. Only then did they see the situation of the young man better.
"He's close to death already," the man helping the wounded man said. "Wouldn't you be happier letting him suffer?"
"No, I want him dead," the wounded man grunted between his teeth. "I want him dead and I want him dead now."
The man sighed and handed the wounded man over to someone else before making his way toward the young man. He stepped onto the chopped-off limb of the young man who was still holding onto the wooden axe and pried it open from his hands.
The man was slightly surprised at how strongly he was still holding onto the axe even when the arm was completely severed. He turned to look at the young man and shook his head. "If your village had just decided not to fight back, you would've all been alive right now," he said before a nasty grin came across his face. "Except for the few that I would've obviously killed."
"You like killing, do you?" Ning's voice drifted behind him.
"Haha, yeah. That's why I joined the—" Before he could finish his words, he heard shouts and cries from the other men behind him and quickly turned around to see what was going on. That was when he noticed Ning and realized that the person he had just answered was not one of his fellow bandits.
He quickly got on guard, his eyes narrowing to look at Ning more carefully. "Who are you?" he asked. "You're not a villager."
"That I am not," Ning said. "But you are a bandit, so it doesn't make much difference anyway. You're going to die in the end all the same."
Ads by Pubfuture
The man stared at Ning for a moment before letting out a chuckle. "Ha… Hahaha… are you blind, bastard?" the man asked. "Do you not see my friends behind me?"
"No, I am not blind," Ning said. "Though, I am afraid you might be."
With a snap of his finger, a bolt of lightning fell onto the man, targeting his eyes. In the next moment, the man's eyes were charred as wave after wave of pain went to his head. He cried in pain, and that was all he could do.
Multiple men instantly tried to attack Ning, but he didn't give them any chance at all. His core switched immediately, going from Lightning to Sound.
Then he snapped once again. The single snap of his finger amplified in just their direction, reaching a crescendo that caused everyone to fall to their ground out of pain.
The sound caused their ears to hurt and them to feel nauseated. The dizziness made it impossible to stand up and they tried to close their ears, but that didn't drive away the sound.
The bandits wanted nothing more than to tear their own ears out at this point. In fact, a few even tried to tear their ears out and one amongst them was even successful.
Ning finally stopped using his skills and gave the men some relief, but that would only be for a brief moment.
He grabbed onto the blind man in front of him and tossed him into the group of men who were just standing up. He looked at everyone waiting for them to get back up. Once they were up, he spoke.
"Feel the pain of everyone you killed today and all the days before this," he said as he flicked his wrist.
He didn't use Essence and instead just had the System use a technique for him.
Then came the cries of the people who felt the pain that they had inflicted onto others, all combined at once, which was going to last forever.
And they couldn't even faint to relieve themself from the pain. The only way to get out of this was to kill themselves.
Somewhat weird question.
Would you guys be okay if instead of trying to upload everyday (I'm trying), I instead upload every 10 days or so. but when I do, I upload about 15-20 chapters in total.
Chapter 1287 Healing
Ning returned to Emma and Umbra with the young, wounded boy in his arm. Emma's eyes immediately widened in horror when she saw the state that the boy was in. She quickly felt the wrist on his left arm and knew that he was alive.
"Thank god," she said quietly. "What happened?" "Bandits," Ning asked simply. "Bandits?" Emma asked with a frown on her face. "And you dealt with them?"
"Yeah, punished the ones that were after him and killed the rest," Ning said. "I couldn't save his village though. Everyone was dead by the time I got there."
"How awful!" Emma couldn't help but say. She could feel anger boiling in her heart, and it made her even more angry remembering the fact that there was never anything she could do about it.
She could never hurt anyone. That was a curse for her in moments like these.
"Heal him already," Emma said. "Why is he still hurt? Oh god, he's even missing an arm."
Ning placed the young boy on the floor, laying him down on the thick grass in the forest, next to the road.
"Actually, I wanted you to heal him," Ning said.
Emma paused. "What?" she looked up at Ning. "I heal him?" "Yeah," Ning said.
Emma looked confused. "But I don't know how to do it. I don't have Qi or Mana," she said.
Ads by Pubfuture
"But you have Pure Energy," Ning said. "But I don't know how t—"
"You do," Ning said. "It's all about your intention. Let your energy know what you want to do and it will do it."
Emma's face turned to a frown. "You should heal him, papa," she said. "I can't guarantee I can do it correctly."
"It's alright," Ning said. "Just do your best."
Emma worried still. She looked at the young man who was so young and found herself wanting to help him, but she couldn't. She just couldn't. "I don't know if I have enough energy," she said. "I spent most of it in that artifact you asked me to make earlier today."
"Emma!" Ning said in a somewhat annoyed manner. "Heal him already. If you fail, I will fix it. Don't worry and just do it."
"He won't feel any pain?" she asked.
"He is unconscious," Ning answered. "I doubt he will feel anything for a while now."
"And my energy?" she asked. "After this, I'll run out completely. What do I do then?"
"Didn't you want a normal life, where you wanted to be a normal girl without any powers aside from what everyone else had?" Ning asked. "This is your opportunity now. Give up what you have and you can achieve it. For now, heal this young man."
Emma finally nodded. She knelt down before the wounded young man and looked over at the young man more carefully now.
The missing arm was what she had to focus on for sure, but there were other locations where he was wounded as well. There were scratches on his forehead, a cut on his cheek, and some wounds on his neck.
Ads by Pubfuture
His left hand was bloody as well, the skin on his palm scraped away.
Emma felt sad for the young man and quickly took a deep breath, trying to get her emotions out of the situation. She needed a calm mind for what she was going to have to do the next task.
She had practice in converting her energy to Unique energies. Matter was of little difficulty. What she needed to focus on was remembering how the human body was. She needed to remember the bones, the muscles, the blood, the nerves, the sinew, the connective tissues, the skin. Since she was going to focus on just the right arm, leaving the rest of the injuries for her father to deal with, she needed to make the nails as well.
Fortunately, there weren't any organs that she had to make in the right arm.
She tried to heal him with her arms hovering on top of the young man but that did little to give her any confidence. Instead, she placed her palm shoulder on the young man, right next to where the arm had been ripped out from. She took another deep breath and released it.
Her eyes opened and a soft glow erupted from her palm, some of it leaking outside, but most of it entering the young man's body. The pure energy held her sole intention at the moment.
Create a new arm.
The muscle suddenly grew out of the young man's arm, and within it, the bone grew. It grew out with connective tissues holding the overall shape together. First, it grew to the elbow, then to the wrist. From there, the palm and the five fingers grew.
Bones, muscles, nerves, everything grew at once, nothing coming before, nothing coming after. Emma didn't have enough knowledge to do it one at a time. She only remembered what she saw when most limbs were regrown and simply followed that intention.
The boy's arm grew completely as Emma pushed all of her internal energy into it. She hadn't realized it just yet, but she had even taken the Essence in her core and converted it into Pure Energy before converting that into matter for the young man's arm.
She stepped back, surprisingly tired for some reason. "I did it," she said and paused for a moment before looking at her father "Didn't I?" Ning looked at the young man, a curious smile on his face. "I'm not sure," he said. "You might have gone beyond even."
Emma got curious now. "What does that mean?" she asked.
"Nothing," Ning said, quickly bringing his arm over the boy's body. With but a thought, the rest of the wounds were instantly healed, with nothing problematic remaining in his body at all.
The boy now seemed no different from any other boy who was sleeping peacefully, as if his world hadn't turned upside down just an hour ago.
Ning let him have his few hours of peace.
Chapter 1288 Hadden
𝔫𝙤𝑣ℯ𝙡𝗯Ꭵ𝙣.𝖓𝚎𝚝
The boy wept and wept and wept, and neither Ning nor Emma did anything to stop him. They understood that he needed to cry and only an hour into his crying did Emma even try to console him.
Having learned his family was dead, the boy couldn't stop his tears. His parents and younger brother, whom he loved so very much, were no longer going to be there to greet him when he woke up. He would never get to feel the safety of his father, the warmth of his mother, or the playfulness of his brother. His innocence had been stripped away from him by the bandits now and he could only cry to show for it.
"They're all dead?" he asked Ning after a while, his eyes burning with fury, his palms clenched tightly at the side.
"Yes," Ning said. "After I saved you, I went back to the village, but… everyone had been killed. I killed the remaining bandits though, if that means something to you."
"I…" the young boy thought for a moment. "I want revenge, but I'm too weak to get it even if they were alive. So I can simply thank you for helping me achieve what I couldn't have."
Ning couldn't help but smile at the young boy's words. "That is the least I could do after what I witnessed," he said. "Do you need some time to process this? Take all the time you can."
"I do," the boy said. "But… I don't know if I can process it anymore."
Ning doubted he wouldn't need to process it any further. He had probably just exhausted himself after crying for an hour. Give some time and the tears would return once again. "What's your name?" Ning asked. "Hadden… Hadden Milker," the boy said.
Ads by Pubfuture
"Milker?" Ning asked. "Yes?" the boy said innocently before remembering something. "Oh, our family had a few cows in the village and we were the people that everyone got their milk from. So everyone called us Milkers and we became the Milker family."
"I see," Ning said. "And how old are you?"
"I'll be 13 in…" he thought for a bit. "2 months? I don't know the exact day. Mother kept track of it for me."
Ning nodded. "My name is Ning," he told the boy. "This is my daughter Emma, and this is—"
"Daughter?" the boy looked confused. He looked at him and then at Emma and back to him, his face frowning at each instance. "You're lying, right?"
"No, he is my father," Emma said. "But… he's so young," Hadden said.
"See? I told you to make yourself older. You always go back to the young face," Emma said.
"Whatever," Ning said, not bothering to discuss this right now. He looked back at the young boy and spoke, "Come on, let's go back to the village. There is something you have to do."
Hadden looked puzzled. He looked at Emma for any hint of what was going on, but she said nothing. He stood up to walk, but Ning didn't let him. He lifted the boy directly onto Umbra's back and let him ride her all the way through.
Hadden clutched onto Umbra's slick fur for dear life, horrified at the speed she moved, worried that he would fall off if he didn't hold on tighter. He hadn't noticed Shadow tendrils from Umbra holding him steady on top of her, as she would her two children when they rode along with her.
Ads by Pubfuture
Umbra was a little surprised by his grasp, especially his strength. She hadn't expected someone with no Essence core to have such a strong grip.
She ran undeterred by the terrain, zooming through the forest as if it were her playground. She was following Ning and Emma, both of whom were faster than her. A few minutes later, she finally slowed down as she came out of the forest and smelt smoke in the air. She came to a half right outside of the village where almost all of it had burned down. Hadden finally opened his eyes, looking at the vast scene of death and destruction in front of him. His grief that he thought wouldn't come back so soon had returned once again and tears flowed down his eyes again.
He slowly let go of Umbra's fur and got off her, landing on the grass with naked feet. Ning stood in the center of the village and Emma was with him, looking at everything that was there. Hadden slowly made his way to them, looking at the burned-down houses around him.
The smoke filled his nose, forcing him to close his nose with his hands. He teared up, both from the smoke and the tragedy of what he saw.
He recognized all of them. The one he passed just then belonged to Surray's uncle. The one to his right was his friend Jalin's house. Further up was the blacksmith's house and next to that was the tailor's house.
Then it was old lady Myon's house and finally his house. He stood in front of his house, looking at the smoke that came off of the wood that had all collapsed and then burned away. Nothing of his that was important remained at all.
He walked in. The ground beneath it still had smoldering coals, but he didn't care. He had to find his parents and brother.
"Hadden!" Ning called out. "Not there. Here."
The boy turned around.
He saw the village center where a large amount of something had been gathered. He wasn't sure what it was, but he went there. Arriving close, he saw the shape of the things he saw. The things wrapped in white clothes.
The corpses of the dead.
"Come," Ning said. "You should be the one to burn the pyre for their funeral."
The boy listlessly walked, not sure what he should even say or do. "These are all the dead people?" he asked.
"Yes," Ning said, pointing at 3 corpses that were kept at the center. "Those belong to your family. Go say your last words before sending their souls to the afterlife."
Chapter 1289 Funeral
Hadden watched the burning pyre of a hundred corpses, his family's corpse in the center of it all. A deep silence fell in the location, only broken by the crackling fire.
Occasionally, one could hear a sniffling or two, both by Hadden and Emma. Emma had thought she could contain her emotions, but this was too much for her. The death, the tragedy; it was overwhelming her.
Hadden still teared up, sniffling a little from time to time, but he couldn't flat-out cry anymore. There just wasn't enough tear in his eyes. His eyes were now as dry as they were hollow.
He stood there, regardless of the heat of the fire, watching the last embers fly away as he imagined his family's souls had. He got down to his knees and prayed as the last wisps of flame went out and nothing but smoke and ash remained in front of him.
The funeral was over.
Ning walked up to the young man and handed him something. Hadden took it without thought and noticed that he had been given a small metal pot with a lid on top.
"What is this?" he asked.
"Place your family's ash in here," he said. "So they can be with you no matter where you are."
The young boy looked puzzled. Ning knew there was no such tradition on this side of the world, but he had him do so anyway. Whatever it was that he would need to deal with the grief, he would provide it for him.
The boy walked up to the hot ashes and started swooping up the ash with his own two hands. His left hand burned as he did so, but his right hand didn't feel much pain from the heat. Not that he was paying it any attention right now.
After gathering the ashes, he walked out in a daze. He looked back at the ashes, then around the village at the many houses. They were ashes as well. Not even the cattle had remained.
Ads by Pubfuture
Only death permeated the village.
"So, what do you plan on doing next?" Ning asked the young boy, cutting through his daze. "What?" he asked, before comprehending the question. "Next? I… haven't had the time to think."
"You can take your time," Ning said. "Do you want to—"
"You killed the bandits right?" Hadden asked all of a sudden.
Ning paused. He had been ready to invite the young man to come with them so he could get him to a city where he could start a new life. He hadn't expected to be asked that.
"I did," Ning answered straightforwardly. "How did you do that?" the boy asked.
Ning frowned a little. "What do you mean how?" he asked. "I just went after them and killed them."
"But how are you so strong to do that?" he asked. "How are all of you so strong?"
"Ah," Ning understood. "Do you know what Essence is?"
The boy nodded hesitantly. "I've heard of it," he said. "I've never truly seen it being used."
"Well, I used Essence," Ning said.
The boy's eyes widened. "So you can use Essence? And you're strong with it?" he asked.
"Pretty strong," Ning said.
Ads by Pubfuture
"Can you teach me?" the boy asked.
Ning smiled. He had a feeling the talk was going in this direction. "I can," he said. "But why should I?"
The boy's momentary happiness fleeted away when he heard those words. "Because… I want to learn," he said.
"That's not enough for me to teach you," he said. Emma turned to look at him with questioning eyes. She knew her father would give a butterfly a technique to turn back to a caterpillar if it just asked him for it. So, seeing him make it difficult for the young man didn't feel like himself.
"I…" Hadden paused for a moment. What could he say here that would help him learn what he wanted? What could he say that would make Ning happy with his answers? He thought of many things, but truth seemed the best approach in his mind.
"I want to be strong." He found his words. "I want to be strong enough to protect myself and anyone I care about in the future. I do not wish for me or anyone else to have to go through the same tragedy I went through." 𝗻𝘰ν𝑒𝐥𝒃i𝗻.𝓷𝖊𝙩
"I want the power so I can give myself and others a good life."
Ning showed no emotions on his face for a moment, making the young boy think he had done something wrong. However, a grin leaked through his stoic expression and he couldn't help but fully smile.
"That is what I wanted to hear," he said. "I like those words. From today onwards you will be my disciple. Are you okay with that?"
The boy's eyes widened. "Yes!" he shouted, happiness and sadness mixing together in his face. He fought hard to keep back his tears this time.
Ning rubbed the young boy's hair. "You won't have to worry about anything else now," he said. "I will make you the strongest person in the world. Then you will no longer have to worry about losing anyone else."
The boy nodded.
"Say your last goodbyes to this place," Ning said. "We will be leaving now."
"Yes," the boy said before hurriedly continuing. "Teacher!" Ning smiled again and left him there for a moment. Emma quickly followed behind him, asking why he didn't accept him immediately.
"I needed him to figure out what it was he wanted from the power he would get," Ning said. "If he has a goal, he will have an easier time going through hard times."
"Will he even have a hard time when he's training with you?" Emma asked.
"Oh, don't think that I can't be a harsh teacher," he said. "I only don't put you through any of it because you're my daughter. For the rest of them, I don't mind letting them feel a bit of pain before they get strong."
Chapter 1290 Ulharis City
Hadden ate a sandwich while sitting on top of the bed. The sandwich had 2 thick pieces of bread on either side and lightly charred and saucy chicken meat on the inside, along with a bunch of greens and onions. 𝔫𝗼𝑣ℯɭ𝚋ì𝑛.𝐧𝘦
He munched on it excitedly, making sure to let Ning and Emma know that he hadn't eaten something so good ever in his life. They were in a small tavern room in a small city just a day more walk away from Ulharis city. If it were just them, Ning would have decided to walk nonstop, but with a kid this young, especially one that had been through so much today, they decided to take a break.
Emma ate another sandwich just as the boy too. With all of her energy spent, she started feeling hungry all of a sudden. Only Ning didn't feel any hunger at all.
They went to sleep after eating, the boy sleeping next to Ning. He cried for some time while clutching his new necklace before going to sleep.
Come next day, he was ready to go to a new city.
He rode on top of Umbra after walking for a while and played along with Lyra and Lori who were getting familiar with him after a day.
He looked around the roadway as they walked, seeing the many new people and carriages and beasts and surroundings, and… it was overwhelming him.
His village had been about over 2 hours away from the main road, and nearly a day's walk away from any other cities or towns. As such, he had rarely been on the main road and had only always been in the village and the mountainous forest next to them.
Seeing the many people and beasts and whatnot was extremely new to him. He would audibly gasp when seeing a new beast or get scared when a carriage zoomed past him at a quick speed.
Ads by Pubfuture
From time to time, he would cluck onto the necklace that hung around his neck, looking for courage.
"Alright, enough riding," Ning said. "You'll need to walk now."
Hadden's heart sank. "But teacher!" he cried. "My legs hurt."
"Good," Ning said. "Do you think you can become strong without getting hurt? Now come on down and start walking. Lyra, Lori, you two need to walk as well."
The two children had no qualms about that at all. They both jumped down from their mother's back and started briskly walking along the dirt road.
A few hours passed, and Hadden could barely stand. He panted loudly, his feet burning in pain. He would try to stop momentarily to let the legs stop, but Ning would push him to continue moving.
Hadden couldn't tell if he had gotten himself a teacher or a torturer. He was finally allowed to ride Umbra again around 2 in the afternoon. The afternoon sun had been especially unbearable for the kid, so Ning decided to let him rest.
Emma slowed her pace and walked next to Ning before asking, "Why are you hurting him?" she asked. "Can't you let him be?"
"No," Ning said. "I need him to get hurt, to get used to pain."
"Why?" Emma asked. She couldn't keep her curiosity away. "Because very soon, I'm going to teach him how to split his core," Ning said with a smile. "And since he hasn't started absorbing Essence just yet, he will be able to do it perfectly too."
"Oh, you're planning to give him that technique?" Emma asked.
Ads by Pubfuture
"Why not?" Ning asked. "There's no point in keeping it. He might as well learn it and make good use of it."
Emma gave a faint hint of a nod. "I suppose," she said.
The dirt road turned to cobblestone as they got close to Ulharis city. The crowd around them had gotten larger as well since multiple roads had joined to their road as they got close to the city.
A carriage pulled by a flaming horse, two people riding on a green, scaly lizard, a person riding on an elephant with crystalline spikes growing out of it, a large blue bird flying in the sky, with people riding on it; there were many fantastical things to see.
Even Emma and Ning were amazed by what they saw, let alone Hadden who couldn't believe his eyes that such things were possible.
There were houses around them now, the forests and large fields long gone. As they walked, their houses got more and more congested to the point that there was barely any land left for more houses to be made.
And in the distance, there was the massive Ulhairs city, with buildings of up to 10 floors sprawling across their vision. One could hear the hubbub of the city from this far away, and the entrance exam to the Star Beast Institute only caused the crowd to get rowdier.
Hadden walked now, out of his own volition. His hurting legs meant nothing to him as he walked on the uneven cobblestone, nearly stumbling a few times but his eyes still fixed on the grandness of what he beheld. "This is a much bigger city than I thought," Emma said. "They weren't lying when they told me it made the Trobble city seem like a newly formed town."
"It's certainly massive," Ning said. "It reminds me of the Blackhawk city. Damn, this might even be bigger than that."
They crossed the many houses, made both out of rock and wood. There was a similar system for beasts here where they had to let the beasts stay in a repository if they were to be left alone.
Except, unlike Trobble City, there seemed to be no limit on how strong the beasts could be.
"System, what is the average Essence rank of the strongest people in this city?" Ning asked.
The strongest folks in the city belong to the Star Beast Institute and the Mayor's personal guard, and they all have an Essence rank of True Essence Soul on average, with 2 people in the Stellar Harmony realm
"No wonder they don't worry," Ning said before turning to look at his group. "Let's go find a place to stay for now."
:)