Chapter 53: Chapter 47: Game Changer
A/N:
Warning: This Chapter contains graphic content that involves coercion and child abuse.
I do not endorse or promote abuse of any kind, be it mental, physical or sexual on anybody regardless of age, gender, or affiliation.
Do not forget that this is just a dark fantasy novel and even here, abuse is not cool.
You have been warned.
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He started spinning the two bladed swordstaff. In the time that he had spent training in this weapon, he had realised one thing. It was easy to start spinning this weapon. But problems arose when he wanted to stop or change the direction of the spin. That was because it would build quite the momentum while he was spinning it. He had nearly broken his wrist trying to change the direction mid spin.
He thought, ’It seems that I will have to accept Rank 2’s offer after all.’
He also decided to add an extra session of flexibility training along with weapon training. That evening, he returned to his new cabin and had a meal. Then, he sat cross legged and entered his mental realm. This time, he materialised the original meridian model. Then he started circulating the Nine Lotus Hells Technique in the model.
He sped up the circulation. At first, the internal qi was normal. It didn’t have any attributes. But then, something changed. The internal qi started turning black. Zeke could feel darkness...no. It was something that had gone above simple darkness. It was death. He could feel that the internal qi’s nature had changed. It had started exuding an aura of extremely pure darkness with death mixed in it. Zeke paused the circulation.
He thought, ’Is this the Hellish Qi mentioned by the old man? Doesn’t seem very hellish to me. No, the aura of death mixed with life can attract vengeful spirits. But how did this change happen? That amount of energy was nowhere near enough to open even the smallest space crack to another Dimension. It wasn’t enough to even tear the space within this world. How did this change happen?’
He dismissed this model and summoned two more. One of them started circulating the Three Origin Technique while the other circulated the Nine Lotus Hells Technique. Seeing them circulating side by side, Zeke seemed to have noticed something.
He had missed it the first time because he was too focused on the model circulating the Three Origins Technique. He zoomed in on them, just to make sure that he wasn’t seeing things.
After ensuring that his assumption was right, Zeke went into a frenzy, ’Thisisacompletegamechanger.Whydidn’tIthinkofthisbefore?Itallmakessensenow.MaybetheSytemdoesn’thateme’
(He means, ’This is a complete game changer. Why didn’t I think of this before? It all makes sense now. Maybe the System doesn’t hate me.’)
He had discovered that these cultivation methods were just another advanced application of runes. He hadn’t encountered these runes before. So, they could potentially be part of an undiscovered language in the Dimension Zero.
These cultivation methods used various acupoints as formation nodes and meridians as the energy channels that connected them. They were using formations inside the body to transform the natural energy of this world into internal qi.
This was much different than his original assumption. He had thought that the different meridians were responsible for the change in attributes. But with this, if he could identify the different runes, he could easily design his own technique.
He also wanted to see if the runes that he knew would work in the same way. He immediately tried it. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. It seems like he needed to study the runes here.
To do that, he needed to differentiate the runes first. He zoomed in on the models once again and kept on carefully observing the circulation routes. He didn’t know how much time he had spent but when he was on the verge of grasping something, a severe headache assaulted him.
He was forced to exit his mental realm. He knew that he needed to rest. He forced himself to stay awake and had a meal. After that, he fell into a deep sleep. Normally, that would have been dangerous in a place like the cavern but the rest of the trainees feared him too much to even try anything.
Some still had nightmares about that night.
He woke up the next morning and his headache was gone. He could feel that his Will had grown slightly stronger. He got his food and returned to the cabin. He wasn’t gonna train today. He had his meal and entered his mental realm. He materialised the models and focused on the feeling he had last night. Soon, he started feeling it again. Then it hit him.
He had successfully identified the common formation that both techniques shared. He materialised another model. He circulated only that formation to see what it would do. Natural energy started circulating through the meridians and quickly turned into internal qi. And then...nothing. That was it. This formation was responsible for transforming natural energy into internal qi. This internal qi had no attributes and was very weak.
He started studying the formation. Two months passed like this. He had finally figured out the runes in this formation. It wasn’t a formation but a compound rune. Compound runes were made by fusing two or more compatible runes into one. If he had to explain, then runes were alphabets, compound runes were incomplete sentences, and formations were sentences that made sense.
This compound rune, which he tentatively named, ’Abhisanshodhan’(Refining into Something Usable), was created by fusing two runes that he tentatively named ’Ekatrit’(Gather) and ’Sanshodhit’(Refine). As the names suggested, one was responsible for making sure that the natural energy doesn’t just dissipate after entering the body, while the other refined it into internal qi.
This compound rune was the foundation of all cultivation techniques. With this compound rune as the basis, he would now be able to identify what made the techniques so different.
He exited his mental realm and stretched his body. He had been cooped up for too long. Now that he had taken the first step, the rest would be much easier. He decided that he needed to resume his weapon training. He picked up his weapon and got out of his cabin. As soon as he walked out, he saw that Rank 2 was walking towards him. She stood in front of him and said, "Have you thought about it?"
Zeke replied, "Yeah, I have. Let’s spar."
Rank 2 smiled. It was probably the first time she had after coming to this hellhole. They went to the place where he usually trained. They stood facing each other. He said, "We’ll spar with only our weapons. I’ll try to suppress my strength as much as I can. Otherwise this match would be over within three moves. Also no internal qi."
Rank 2 nodded. She also knew about Rank 1’s tyrannical physique. Perhaps only Rank 5 had a chance of competing with Rank 1 in terms of pure physical strength.
[Of course I look like a twig but can decimate everyone in terms of physical strength. After all, I’m Sung Jin-cough cough-I mean Ezekiel Ashbourne. Phew! Almost mentioned the wrong Ashborn. That God of Copyrights will be on my ass soon. Gotta go.]
They backed up, and took their stances. They looked into each other’s eyes, and they didn’t need a referee. They both moved at the same time, rushing towards each other. Zeke held the swordstaff and slashed at her waist.
She dodged. Rank 2 used a thin sword, almost like a rapier. They both moved at fast speeds as that was what their weapons were designed for. Fifteen minutes later, the tip of Zeke’s swordstaff touched her throat while her rapier was pointed at his heart.
Rank 2 was breathing heavily while Zeke appeared normal but his breath had also slightly increased. Zeke looked at her and said, "Not bad. You haven’t slacked off."
Rank 2 shook her head and said, "If you had used your full strength then I wouldn’t have lasted one move."
Zeke replied, "While that is true, this was a match of proficiency. We’ll meet here everyday. If I don’t come, that means I’m busy. And...it was a good spar."
Rank 2 nodded. Then Zeke returned to his cabin. He ate his meal and dove right into research. Everyday became extremely productive. Due to sparring with Rank 2, his weapon proficiency was quickly rising. At some point, Rank 5 also requested to join them. Zeke allowed him to join their sparring sessions for just one reason. He wanted to spar someday in terms of pure strength.
He had to suppress himself quite a bit with Rank 2. He wanted to let loose. And it turned out that he was wrong about the big guy. Although he was usually chill, he became an absolute beast when it came to combat.
He had the strength of a mountain and the instincts of a beast. Despite his physique, he was unexpectely flexible. After training, he would dive into his research.
Just like that, six months passed before they knew it.
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’Mission: Become the Heavenly Demon’
’Duration: 35 Years’
’Time left: 32 Years’
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