《Transmigrator Competition》 Prologue At the start there was nothing, but at the same time, there was everything. There was no one anywhere. Yet, everyone was everywhere. Without the existence of time and space, everything was irregular. The world, or whatever that void was full of this contrasting characteristics. Until there was a time, or it happened at start of it all, that It was born. A sentient existence, capable of thinking, feeling and most important of all, take action. The being was "born" with a strong sensation of change, to create order and mantaint it. So he tought of the void around him, and created space. With a single breath he created time, wich flowed in a single direction endlessly. But the space he created was empty, and the feeling of time passing without any event, bored the existence. So he created something to entertain him while time passed, Life. To keep the order he so desired and adored, he created something to oppose it, Death. The new world was beautifull but it quickly bored the being again. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. There was nothing new, there was no thrill, Death was so natural that life just accepted it with a smile. Besides that the Space was getting full, because there was to much Creation, so he formed the opposite, Destruction. Destruction and Death worked together to bring a great excitement to the all-powerfull being. Since then, Life began fearing Death, so it joined Creation to protect eachother. From that point forward, their dispute brought forth a gigantic chain reaction. New concepts were created and spread across all the space-time. Beings began understanding these concepts beginning to becoming the concepts themselves. A hierarchy, of this powerfull beings, from the All-powerfull Being to the lowly mortals. This chain of events was amusing to the First Existence, for a few billion Eons at least. And now this existence was bored again. It''s gaze crossed numerous realms and several universes. A single glance could easily perceive several universes, timelines and even more people. Until he found ... them. Every single one of them was weird. A mysterious force seemed to coil around them, a force that was out of his control. What is it? It didn''t matter. After countless eons, there was finally something interisting happening. A ideia passed across his mind. With a single tought, a new realm was created on a separate space. This realm was shaped like a tree. There was world on it''s center, from there countles branches were formed. Each branch being possessing a world. From those branches, smaller branches were created wich also possed worlds in them. On the Smaller branches, leaves were created, once again, with worlds in them, albeight smaller. With this new realm, the First Being was satisfied, a new stage for a play had been created, it was eager to see it. It once again glanced at the strange mortals. The ones he had watched, had already died during the process of the creation of the "stage". Now the actors of this play were their grand-grandchildren. Now to set the actor on the scene. A excited grin filled the cosmos, and the First Existence, Erstesse, snapped it''s fingers. Their vision was covered in black. Chapter 1 - Deadly Game In a dimly lit room, a young man slowly woke up, this boy is Alex, a 18 years old man. Alex always lived a peacefull life, without any abnormalties. No drama, no incoveniences and no outstanding feats either. The only out of normal thing in his life was probably the fact that he was an orphan, other than that, there was nothing abnormal. He was not very popular, but he was no loner. He was not rich, but he didn''t face any money complications either. Was he unhappy with such a way of life? Quite the contrary! No abnormalities meant no headaches! Alex stood up from bed and went to take a shower. Breakfast and a hour of watching TV and he was ready to go out. He was like a lot of people his age, going to college, not to study, but to take care of some paperwork that he needed to take care of, so he could study. He picked up his bike and started going in the direction he needed to go. Boring. Alex continued to ride his bike, waving to some people he knew along the way. This is boring. After reaching his destination, he started to take care of what was needed to take care of. After finishing he started to go back. This life is boring. Faced with his own intrusive toughts, Alex shook his head. It''s not boring, it''s peacefull, meaning, absolutely, no problems. Smiling at his victory in a argument with himself, he continued on his way. If there is no problems, there is no thrill and if there is no thrill, is there meaning to life? Alex smile stiffened, was he really losing an argument with himself? Wait a minute, am I telling myself that my life is meaningless? Noting to himself to stop watching edgy tragedy shows, Alex rode forward. FWOOSH Suddenly his bike that was beneath him disappeared and he fell in a cold floor. When he opened his eyes he saw a complete black void. CHATTER Looking around, he saw a multitude of people. Some wore the clothes he was familiar with, others were wearing clothes fitting to a fantasy setting, some weren''t even using clothes at all! Stolen story; please report. "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!!!" Alex couldn''t help but curse. Like Alex, many other were screaming or exclaiming in confusion. SILENCE! A powerfull voice shut the voices of all the people present in this void. The owner of the voice had a omnipotent presence, just by exclaiming it''s presence, no one in this strange place had the courage to make even a small movement with their finger, let alone keep talking. GREETINGS, MORTALS. I''M THE ALMIGHTY, THE OWNER OF THE UNIVERSE, AND I''VE SUMMONED TO GIVE YOU AN UNPRECEDENT HONOR. Hearing the words of ''The Almighty'', everyone''s interest was piqued, nonetheless, no one dared to raise any questions. YOU WILL BE PARTICIPATING IN A COMPETITION FOR YOUR LIFE! YOU WILL BE SENT TO VARIOUS DIFFERENT WORLDS AND WILL GAIN POWER, IF YOU SURVIVE YOU WILL TRAVERSE FROM WORLD TO WORLD UNTIL YOU REACHED THE FINAL ONE, FINITE! WHERE YOU WILL FIGHT TO THE DEATH WITH THE OTHER SURVIVORS, GOOD LUCK!!! Hearing the words of the all-powerfull being, Alex was confused, wasn''t this a little rushed? Wasn''t mass transmigration normally made by a beautyfull angel/goddess that may or may not have bad intentions, that would then give the heros a couple of cheat like skills? But this seemingly omnipotent being just appeared said a few words and left. Wait, left? Was he here to begin with? Alex felt himself falling again, wondering how much time he needed to wake up. [Congratulations!] [You were chosen by S@!u5 to transmigrate and participate in the fist edition of the Transmigrator Competition] [Please choose the method of transmigration you desire] [ I -> Reincarnation] [ II -> Summon] [ III -> Possession] Alex stared bewildered at the holographic panel in front of him. Hearing and reading what was saying, he quietly started pondering about his options. This competition his surely going to be brutal. A Death Game. And there are no clear rewards other than survival. So how should I go with this? Alex was aware that besides power the most important thing was information. Information to create a solid foundation and the best start. So what was the option that provided him with more information? That was simple. Reincarnation! As a baby he would be regarded on a different manner to other people. They would share information way easier and if he piqued a book and read it, he would be seen just as a kid playiing around. No one would give a damn if he was there or what book he had in hand, after all a child cannot comprehend what hey are saying or what the book has written right? "Reincarnation!" [Option (I) was selected] [Please select the System model you wish to acquire] [Martial Superiority System] [Primordial Yin Extracting System] [Anime System] The first option seemed to be the best, after all, to acquire Martial Superiority meant an incredible amount of skill. The second option... Well, the second option was clearly a system meant to make the host grow stronger with sexual pleasure. Alex had read enough cultivation novels to understand what primordial Yin was, after all. The third option, was probably the one that he was the most familiar with. Anime was a great part of his life, and like any fan, he also dreamt of using those incredibly cool and flashy abilities. Hmm... "Anime System it is!" [Anime System has been selected] [Please choose one of this physique perks] [Demon Physique] [Perks: Regeneration,Iinfinite stamina, Possibillity of awakening blood demon art] [Android Physique] [Perks: Infinite Stamina, Undetectable presence] "I will go with Android Physique!" Both the physique had Infinite stamina, but he didn''t need blood demon art or regeneration, instead his undetectable presence would open several windows for stealth missions. [Please one of the Abilities] [Warning!] [The Host will gain a debt in case he chooses an abilitie] [Sharingan] [Heavenly Restriction] Only two? "I choose the Sharingan!" With the sharingan he would be able to perform the martial arts of the worlds he visits with less difficulty, for sure. [Your debt has settled in 300''000 Credit Coins (CC)] "WHAT?!" [Do you wish to trade the debt for the system''s standby time] "For how long will you be in standby if I do?" [Five years] "Kugh!" Alex had just started his journey and he had lost his system because of debt. "What the hell Am I going to do?!" And that''s how everything started, where will Alex go and what chalenges await him? There is only one way to find out! Chapter 2 - Birth Numerous cries could be heard around the room. Various maids stood in line against a wall hearing closily to what the head butler, who stood in front of them, had to say. "As you probably know, our great Nell family has a great tradition to create a huge secret force meant to protect their heir and do their dirty work. This secret force his called the Stygian Clan. Their people have the blood of Nell but have been tainted by unpure outside blood, for example those eastern bastards, or the arrogant elves or even those acursed demons." The maids kept quiet, they were well trained otherwise they wouldn''t have been chosen for this, they were the among the best. Above them only the maids that served the main family, but in their eyes those were more like sluts. "The Stygian clan members are identified by a set of numbers, the first one being the nursery where they grew, in your case you will take care of nursery number nine. The second number represents the level of authority of their father as the women of the Nell family are forbidden from giving birth to kids outside their marriage." Hearing the last part some of the maids clenched their hands behind their backs at the blunt machism performed by the Head Butler. "Zero is the number that belongs to the Patriarch, one is to his direct family members and two is for branch families of the Nell family." Taking a deep breath the butler continued his explanation. "The last number regards the possible talent that this children posses taking into the acount their mothers or the experiments conducted during labor. Being zero the possible integration in the Nell family as the Head of a branch family, and six being someone with little talent meant to be disposed off before it begins to be a waste of resources." The Head Butler then pointed at one of the maids and gestured her to follow him. Listening to his orders, the maid quietly followed him. Pointing to a set of numbers written in a tablet that was hanging by a thread above one of the babies, the Head Butler asked. "What can you say about this baby?" The maid looked a the baby. He was showing signs of growing black hair and his eyes were fighting to keep themselves open. The maid fought the urge to say that this baby was the cutest and instead replied seriously to the Head Butler. "Baby 9-1-1. Assigned to the nursery number nine, he is the son of someone directly related with the Patriarch. His added bloodline gives him a lot of potential setting him to become a great weapon for the family." This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. "Correct. 9-1-1''s mother was eastern girl of around 15, she was captured, raped and after birth killed by the patriarch''s brother, this gives him a unsettling potential for cultivation and he might possibly have a special physique." The maid trembled slightly and could only give her condolences to the poor girl. "He will for now be in your care." The maid nodded and turned to the baby. The child seemed to strugle to stay awake she reached out her hand and carresed his hair. "You are so cute." she wispered. Thinking of his mother, she couldn''t help but feel angry. She had become a maid after the Patriarch, who was looking for beautifull girls to serve as maids for his son, killed her family and captured her. Even now, she was only cooperating with the Nell family because of a slave seal that prevented her from working against her wishes. And, altought she cursed her fate she now realized that things could have turn out much worse. Thinking of a future where she was raped by the Patriarch or his son and her child who was forced upon this world without his mother would then be thrown here after a ruthless experiment deprived of the right of having a name let alone of having a good childhood. Thinking of such a future, she couldn''t help but look at this child differently, as if he was her son. A warm feeling spread troughout her body from his heart and she decided to let her motherly instincts take over. She picked the child into her arms and hummed a slight melody. "I know you are tired, my little boy. You can sleep now. Mother is here." With those words the baby finally fell asleep. A slight smile tugged at the corner of the maid''s lips. *************************************************************************************************************************************** Wow. Who was that lady? She just muttered some words and I fell asleep! That''s right! The baby labeled as baby number 9-1-1 was actually Alex! After being born a second time, Alex had woken up in a new world. The starting point for him in this killing game he found himself in. He had been in this world for around two weeks? Or maybe three? It''s hard to know, after all, he couldn''t count the days with his messy sleeping schedule. Anyway, his first days on his new life had been hell. He saw women crying while tugging the clothes of men who were carrying their children. He saw babies dying to mysterious poisons and substances. He even they didn''t die that way, they were thrown away like trash. For someone that never saw more blood then a simple nose bleed those were some terrifying things. Until, he was finally moved to this nursery. There were various cradles positioned in various lines. Because of his new body he couldn''t really see much. For now there are two main problems. He didn''t know what the fuck was happening and his system had been placed in standby for five years. While he couldn''t do much about the second part, he could start tackling the first problem. Gathering information was one the most important factor in every situation that required a strategy. In order to start taking care of such factor he needed to deal with two extremely important barriers. I can''t understand anything they are saying!!! He didn''t know the language or the alphabet everyone used. Chapter 3 - Five years A young boy was resting his back against a tree, his expression a relaxed look. This boy was obviously, Alex, who is going to reach five years of age in a few weeks from now. At his side, a pile of books lay open without any care. Suddenly, sensing a bad premonition, Alex eyes opened revealing the image of a woman dressed in a maid costume. "Nio! Why are you lazing around here?" Nio, or Nioo in its original version, was the best name she could come up with for him, taking the first syllable of each number that represented Alex. This maid is the one who has been taking care of Alex for a long time. Someone, whom he had grown to see, as his mother. "I was reading the manual but it was so boring to read it again so I decided to take a nap." According to the System, Alex had the Android physique, so technically he shouldn''t feel tired due to Infinite Stamina, but that was not true at all. "You are supposed to read it fully so you can answer the question the instructor asks you!" "But I already read this book before, can''t I read something more, advanced?" "No. Read that, and make sure you engrave the knowledge deep inside your brain, okay? You don''t want to fail the instructor, right?" Although her voice was stern, it slowly changed to worry at the end of her sentence. That was natural, after all, if he failed the test he would be discarded. "No worries." "But the test is really hard, are you not afraid of failing?" "Nah, I''d pass." Dropping a famous line from his past life, with a little modification, Alex tried to ease his mother''s worries. *Sigh* "Alright, just make sure you pass. I know you study a lot, but I''m afraid you were focusing on stuff that would not be beneficial for you." "I undestand." Considering that his system was in a five year pause because he bought the sharingan, Alex imposed on himself the mission to gather as much information as possible from this world. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. First, there are three continents in this world. The Western Continent, the place he was now, the Eastern Continent, the origin of martial arts and place that owns a gate to the spiritual world, the Spirit Gate. And finally, the Central Continent, mostly a battlefield, is the basic definition that the books give, not explaining the reason why. The Western and Eastern Continents were of a C shape, both facing each other and almost making a full circle. The Central Continent stood in the middle of them. His second discovery was, the power system of this world. In the past, namely four hundred years ago, there were two distinct energies existing in the atmosphere, Mana and the so-called Heaven and Earth energies. These two new energy systems were prevalent in certain locations around the globe. In the Western Continent, mana was the most common, while Heaven and Earth energy were much more present in the Eastern Continent. This shaped the armed forces of each continent. While the west had mages and magic knights, who drew mana into their bodies and formed magic circles, the east, on the other hand, had cultivators, who absorbed the Heaven and Earth energy and refined it into Qi. However, most books, when talking about mana, always talk about the era four hundred years ago. The reason is The Storm. The Storm, or Divine Wrath, depending of the version was a cataclismic event that ocurred during those times and resulted in the complete disapearence of mana from this world. This caused a great power imbalance between the west and east. Without mana, the westerners were defenseless against eastern forces. In the end, the West lost in a matter of days. Nowadays, most of the countries of the Western Continent were more puppet states of several different countries and organizations from the Eastern Continent. Naturally, after four hundred years, due to the lack of mana, the inhabitants of the Western Continent turned towards the power of cultivators. In the past, cultivation was already seen as the apex of power in the world. The reason why the Eastern Continent never defeated the Western forces out of their own territory was because of numbers. Cultivation was much more complicated than Magic, mostly because it heavily relies on innate talents while magic relies on self-study and hard-work. In cultivation, if one was not born with a Dantian and meridians, such a person would be seen as useless. While in magic, one only needed to feel the ambient''s mana, which was achievable if one spent a good amount of time just meditating. Anyway, because of the inferior density and quantity of Heaven and Earth energy on the Western Continent, most eastern cultivators didn''t spend their time in the west, unless they were sent to supervise business or punishment. Being in this world, Alex would be most probably be educated to become a cultivator, just like everyone, he had been tested to see if he was born with the conditions necessary. He had acquired more information, but most of it was about outside places and several historic places that could be used to improve one''s cultivation. Naturally, he made sure to engrave every single one of them in his brain. Once he got out of this stupid clan, he was going to tackle these places to grow stronger and go to the next world. It wasn''t a stretch to say that Alex knew every single one of them by heart. These included legends that told of century-old treasures. "Hey! I''m being serious, you know?" "Relax~! There is no one at nursery 9 that surpasses me in cultural knowledge, if I don''t pass, who will?" "Oh~, you are quite confident, huh?" "Naturally." "Well, I know at least that you will pass, even if barely." "No sweat, I will pass with flying colors." "If you say so." She was really a good mother figure. ''Wait a minute! What''s her name? How could I not know her name after five years? This is what I get after calling her mom all this time.'' Chapter 4 - The Anime System In a large room, filled with countless bunk beds, several young boys and girls were sleeping, all except one young boy. Alex or Nio, if you will, was the only one who was awake, staring blankly into the air where something only he could see was floating. [Congratulations on your five-year anniversary! The Anime System has been activated again, host!] Fearing that he would be heard, Nio decided to answer it on his own head. ''So you finally showed up. I have a ton of questions.'' [It is my duty to answer them.] Staring at the system window, Nio felt like he was talking with a bot, which wasn''t entirely wrong. ''Firstly, why doesn''t the android physique work?'' [Due to a time limit, a lot of the abilities of the physiques were not explained.] ''Go on.'' [The Android''s ability to produce energy infinitely was translated as stamina because they run in that energy.] [In your case, that ability results in a generator that can receive samples of a certain energy and automatically start producing it] ''So once I start converting Heaven and Earth Energy into Qi, this generator will start generating Qi on its own?'' [That is correct!] [This physique is quite compatible with the Anime System. Once you buy a sample of a different energy like, curse energy, chakra or mana.] ''Indeed.'' This opened a lot of possibilities, he could literally explore every single power system that belonged to an anime. ''Ok! What can you offer me?'' [The Anime System is equipped several functions you can make use of.] ''Show me.'' [ Status Name: Nio / Nioo / (9-1-1) / Alex Age: 5 (23) Cultivation:Body Tempering Stage 0 Health : Good PHY: 6 SPE: 5 END: 5 INT: 20 CON: 8 Note: PHY (Physique); SPE (Reaction Speed); END (Endurance); INT (Intellect); CON (Control) Credits: 3583 [Access Shop] [Anime Stream] [Map] [Do you wish to rate this System? Click Here] ] Nio stared at the window blankly. Besides the status, shop and the map, everything else left him kinda flabbergasted. Anime Stream? Rating the System? Sigh Sighing, Nio started to navigate through the shop. [ Welcome to the shop! [Energy Samples(NEW)] [Skill Shop] [Physique Shop] [Item Shop] [Information Shop] If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ] ''Information?'' [From simple things like behaviors you should have in new worlds to more complicated things like language.] ''And the other participants?'' Nio did not forget why he was here from the beginning, for some time, he couldn''t even sleep, afraid that a participant would enter this place and kill him. [You can only buy information about other players once you reached the final world, once the probability of encountering them is the highest.] ''Probability? What is the probability that I have to encounter a "player", huh?'' [0%] [Each player is sent to different worlds where they are alone, or in your case in a secret realm inside a bigger world.] ''Huh? Secret realm?'' [You are present in a secret realm belonging to a bigger world.] ''And where is the exit?'' [Do you wish to buy that information for 8000 credits?] ''Forget it.'' It seemed that the System could provide information almost for free, but if asked for more specific information, it would start asking for credits. [ Energy Samples (NEW) [Curse Energy] -> Type: Negative Energy ->Anime: Jujutsu Kaisen ->Special: Allows to actively use Jujutsu Kaisen''s Skills without conversion. ->Price: 1500 credits ] ''Conversion?'' [In case you buy a skill of a power system you do not have access to, Conversion will create a copy of the skill, taking into account the power system you are more adept with.] ''I see.'' [Having a sample of the energy gives you a discount in everything related to that energy.] ''So if I buy a sample of curse energy, everything from curse energy manipulation to even Domain Expansions will have a discount?'' [That is correct.] ''Wow! Are there any other discounts I can get my hands on?'' [Naturally, if you see the skill shop, you will have more details.] [ Skill Shop [Filters] [Energy Manipulation Skills] Note: Skills that consist on manipulating energies. [Physical Skills] Note: Skills that are related to how to move your body in either combat, movement or other forms of exercises. [Weapon Wielding Skills] Note: Skills that are related to how to use a weapon. This section might have skill that overlap with other sections. [Special Skills] Note: Skills that belong to specific individuals or that are their signature skills. Ex:Curse Techniques. [Specifics about Discounts] ] ''So many type of skills, I will have to look at them later.'' [ Specifics about Discounts You can receive discounts by: >Possess a sample of energy of the same Power System / Anime >Instead of instantly learn the Skill, receive the method to learn and practice it >By trading something of value, this could be something that you have received from the system or something from the real world. ] ''This was great!'' Nio thought. Even if the prices were out of reach, he had a good amount of ways to lower the price. The last one got him curious tough. ''What will you do with the items that I trade with you?'' [Some of them will be sent to the [Shop] function of other systems, others will be converted to energy to facilitate the accommodation of the host in new worlds.] ''!!!'' That wasn''t really good. ''Let me see what more is there.'' [ Energy Manipulations Skills: >Common flow of energy: Make the energy flow through the body or other specialized vessels. Cost: 10 Credits >Constant flow: The energy will flow through your body passively without any need of human interference. Cost: 400 Credits >Specialized flow: Make the energy flow in specific intervals and parts of your body according to any movement. Cost: 500 Credits >External flow: Make the energy flow outside your body. Cost: 50 Credits >... ... ] There were much more, but most of them, like the ones before, could be accomplished with a little practice. They were shortcuts, essentially, there was no need to have them, he was young, he had time to train. Nio decided not to check everything on the System. Instead, he started planning his future. ''Now that we are five, the family will start our training, however I am not aware of the details regarding cultivation.'' Nio was aware of how cultivation worked in this world. Before starting to increase your cultivation base in your dantian, one must first start refining their own body, attuning it to qi. This way, every time one increased their cultivation, their physical strength would increase as well. ''System, can you provide me with the details of qi?'' [Do you wish to buy that information for 200 points?] ''No show me with [Energy Samples] function, please.'' [Qi] -> Type: Neutral Energy ->Anime: ----------- ->Special: Allows to actively use Cultivation''s Skills without conversion. ->Price: 2100 credits ] ''Not much info, huh? Show me Chakra now.'' [Chakra] -> Type: Neutral Energy ->Anime: Naruto ->Special: Allows to actively use Naruto''s and Naruto Shippuden''s Skills without conversion. ->Price: 2000 credits ] ''If I buy Cursed Energy and Chakra, and then cultivate qi with the guidance of the family, will the three energies mix together?'' [Negative. The energies will remain separate, your android physique will generate the energies separately.] ''Hm.'' Nio was worried about that, after all, mixing two neutral energies with a negative one would result in a negative one, right? How would that influence the other energies? ''In that case, System, I would like to buy a sample of Cursed Energy and a sample of Chakra.'' [Adding Items to the Cart] [Purchasing all items present in the Cart] [Congratulations! You have acquired a sample of [Cursed Energy] ] [Your Android Physique is activated! You can now infinitely produce Curse Energy] [Congratulations! You have acquired a sample of [Chakra] ] [Your android Physique is activated! You can now infinitely produce Chakra] [Your body does not possess the pathways needed for Chakra to flow] [It was detected that the Host has inherent pathways of a cultivator known as Meridians] [Do you wish to mutate your meridians to house Chakra?] [Yes] [No] ''Yes'' [Initiating Mutation] [0%] [1%] As soon as the 1% notice was heard, a great pain flooded Nio''s brain. In order to not wake anyone up, he bit into his pillow and grasped the borders of his bed with all his strength. [5%] ''Damn it!'' The cruel reminder of the slow progress of the mutation made Nio cursed in his mind. [10%] A few minutes later another notification rang out and another curse resounded in his head, after all, his mouth was full, uncapable of letting a sound. [20%] Nio did not have sufficiently clear mind to make any sense of the new notification. [50%] The mutation was almost over an hour when another notification was heard. Nio didn''t hear it. [75%] Nio officially lost conscious, not aware of how much progress had been done. [90%] [95%] [99%] [99.1%] [99.5%] [99.9%] [100%] [The mutation has been completed] Chapter 5 - The Library Slacker In an open field a bunch of children were scattered around either playing or talking with each other. If one were to look and listen closely, they would notice the weird themes of the games and conversations they were having. In one corner, a group of four boys and one girl played with a stone, trying to hit a practice target. The game in itself was not that weird, but the consequences of the losers were. If one failed to hit the target, they would become the target for the next round. One of the boys, still laughing, was clearly missing an eye and bleeding profusely. Not far from them another group seemed to be playing football (A/N: Soccer for the Americans), the first team to score three goals would be the winner of the match. The losing team would then kneel and let the other team kick them in their faces. One of the team, that had a particular more chubby boy, had their noses broken twice over. In another corner, a group of girls were talking to each other. Listening closely, no one would notice anything strange. But if one looked closely, they would surely notice the notes being exchanged between them. More innocent minds would think that these notes were nothing more than pure gossip, but if they were to read them. They would find information and deep hidden secrets that each one of them possessed from the rest of the group of children around the field. This was the common sight for the caretakers of Nursery/Squad 9. In the last five years, this group of children had already been recognized as the most violent and barbaric ever since the foundation of Stygian Clan. In one of the corners a boy and a girl sat together looking silently towards the rest of the group. The girl was known as, 9-0-1, she was quite famous due to who her father was. She had long blonde hair and deep, abyss-like black eyes. The great difference between eye and hair colors gave her a very eerie feeling to whoever approached her. The boy was designated as, 9-3-1, he was one of the most talented boys on the squad and was one of the few friends of 9-0-1. He had dark green hair and light blue eyes, as well as slightly pointed ears, he was a half-elf. In the silence, 9-3-1 finally spoke. "Have you seen him?" "Who?" "9-1-1, of course, he barely shows up at the field these days." "You mean Nio?" "You shouldn''t call him that in public! If someone hears us calling one of us by a name, then we are royally fucked!" "Calm down. You know how these caretakers are scared of us." "That is only the case because 9-2-5 killed his caretaker after three hours of torture!" "Pleeease, the bitch had it coming! Seriously, who the hell tries to lure a five-year-old to a hut to be raped!" "Ah! Forget it! Back to the question, have you seen him?" "Hm? Nah! Not him nor his caretaker. Although..." "Have you heard something about him?" Although 9-0-1 did not have many friends, she was undoubtedly the best at gathering information. "Apparently, he has been spending a lot of time in the library." "The library? Him? The smartest one of us?" "The smartest? He is book smart, not smart by himself. Anyway, apparently he has been reading a lot." "Is he studying?" If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "That''s the thing! Apparently he hasn''t been reading anything serious. He is wasting all of his points to read works of fiction!!" "He is using his points for that?!" Points were like a currency for the members of the Stygian Clan, it made part of the clan''s only right. The right to be rewarded after a well succeed task. Normally, such a thing was only used by the senior members of the clan. However, the children were taught to work hard for them. With points, one could "buy" hours to stay on the library or new items. Most children use this rewards to have an advantage against the rest of the group. Nio was, without a doubt, the best on Squad 9, therefore he was the one with the most points. "Wasting his points on books of fiction? Has he gone arrogant after the last test?" 9-3-1 was really confused. He knew Nio for all his life. He was the most mature of the group and the most talented. Not only that, but he understood things faster than anyone else and according to the instructors he was already born with semi-formed meridians. "Perhaps? The difference, both physical and intellectual between him and the rest is abysmal, only the two of us can keep up with him, and that''s on our better days." "What is he thinking?" *********************************************************************************************************************************** [Ring! Ring! Ring!!!] "Jesus Christ!" Nio was once again startled by the sound of his system. What he was currently doing was an exercise to learn to control cursed energy. It was similar to the exercise that Itadori had used in the Anime. He would read some fiction books known for the intense feelings that they caused on the readers, which would then cause his cursed energy to fluctuate and spiral out of his control. That''s when the System would ring a bell in his mind, really loudly. It was not a boxing bear doll that would punch you, but it was not the best sensation either. "How much progress did I make?" [The Host was capable of keeping control of his Cursed Energy for 2 minutes before losing control] "*Sigh* At this rate, I will not be able to control my Cursed Energy to an acceptable level before we start martial arts training." The training of the Stygian Clan was divided in three parts. The first one was the Theory, from the basic common sense of this world to the brainwashing lessons meant to shape us into enemy killing barbarians that are completely loyal to the Nell Clan. The Second Part was the Martial Arts Training, and this one was self-explanatory, and it started once everyone of the squad was 5. And finally, the third part was the cultivation. By leading us to the path of cultivation slightly earlier than the members of the clan, at the age of 10. At 15, we''re meant to be already capable to participate on the duties of the Stygian clan. Nio would rather be already able to control both Chakra and Cursed Energy to a useful capacity before that. However, his control over Cursed Energy was awful. Nio looked around the library, making sure that no one saw his reaction to the system''s jumpscare. Or what he was about to do. "System, if you had to rate my control from 1 to 100 what would you rate it?" [Processing Rating Request...] [Cursed Energy Control -> 0.2 / 100] [Chakra -> 9/100] "As I thought, my talents are more inclined to Chakra, is it because the Chakra channels fused with my cultivation meridians?" [Correct! Due to your talent for cultivation mirrored on your meridians, which through the fusion of meridians and channels resulted in a unique talent for chakra control.] "Should I focus more on that then?" [Once again, Host. I deeply recommend you to focus on your weakness rather than your strengths now that you are in a world without any participants.] "I suppose it makes sense. Well, I guess, I should go back to work." Once again, Nio started reading the book that he had in his hands. Although, reading like this allowed him to stir his cursed energy, giving him a chance to feel it and therefore a chance to keep it under control, it still had a lot of disadvantages. The lack of visual effects, was one of them. However, there were no movies or video games. There was another way to do this, but... "Remind me again, System, what do I need to watch anime from you?" [In order to use the System''s function to watch anime, you need to sign a subscription of 200 points/week] "Ugh!" That''s right! In order for Nio to watch anime again, he would have to sign a subscription, and there was no free trial. However, there was still a Plan C. If he couldn''t stir his cursed energy to act with the emotions born from the scenes depicted from the books, he just needed to seek to awaken his emotions through real life. By using the combat knowledge of the martial art lessons that were coming up and the power of chakra, he would sneak out and seek adventure. Was it dangerous? Yes! That''s the point! "Member 9-1-1." A voice broke him from his thoughts. A maid, one he didn''t recognize, was standing at the door of the library. "Your presence in the field is being demanded." Facing his inquisitive look, the maid remained stoic and responded. "The classes for Martial Arts are going to start." "Oh. I will be right there then." Nio''s plan was simple. Go to martial arts class, learn the basics and from there sneak out to find some real life excitement. ''I truly hope this will work.'' Chapter 6 - Martial Arts Class Right now, in a field, five rows of ten children each stood straight, looking into the horizon with stone faces. As future members of the Stygian Clan, Squad 9 was taught since a young age on how to behave in front of their instructors and superiors. Standing in a row of their own, every single maid responsible for one of the children of Squad 9, eyed the group of children standing a few dozen meter away. Standing in front of the children was a man with a great scar running down his face, it seemed it was a born from an awful burn. One of his eyes was clearly fake and seemed to be ever this close to a drop from where it is supposed to be. Beside him was a 20 years old man. He was missing his hair on the right side of his head and had a wild look. A body filled with scares and a gaze full of beastly killing intent. "Hello, Squad 9" The older man spoke, dragging his words to make sure the children took note of his low tone of voice. "I''m Markus Nell. Ex-Commander of the Punishing Force of the Nell Clan. In other words, the ex-commander of the force meant to make sure you beasts are kept on a tight leash." Amidst the rank of children, Nio frowned slightly. He knew of the scrutiny that the Stygian clan suffered from their masters. Beasts, Hunter Dogs, Slaves and Sole of their shoes was just some of the terms they used for everyone here. "I supposed you heard before that you would follow martial arts classes with an instructor of the Nell clan, but there was something that they did not tell you." He gestured the scarred boy forward, making him stand in front of Markus. "This here is your senior, a Stygian, known as 2-2-2, he is from Squad 2 of G10." G10 was like their names, an identification meant to separate our generations, for example, the people from Squad 1 of G1 were the first members of the Stygian clan, they were around 193 years of age. Cultivation does wonders to your age. "He was recently in a mission of espionage. The objective? To find as many documents that could incriminate a vassal family of treason." 2-2-2 approached Markus with shaky steps, his face still as stone, completely paralyzed in an expression of fear. "However, he and his comrades found it really entertaining to meet up with the traitorous scum. Apparently, they were trying to ''negotiate'' a possible deal to backstab whoever was trying to buy the information that the vassal family was planning to reveal." The children from Squad 9 started sweating. "Now children. What is the rule we need to apply in this situation?" His voice was disgustedly gentle. Despite their fear, they still answered. "Rule 52 : Do not act outside of given orders! Punishment: Death!" "Wonderful. 2-2-2''s team was completely wiped out by me. But I was merciful, and I decided to let him die teaching his juniors something about martial arts." No one could describe that ruthless smile as merciful. "I will demonstrate the moves on 2-2-2, and you will see how to perform the technique as well as discovering the damage it causes." Markus got into a stance. "The first thing you have to learn, is not a fancy move or a complex footwork technique. Rather, you need to learn how you need to move your body to perform correctly every action. Only then will you be capable of performing said actions in a certain order that will further maximize its effects." Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. After that, started demonstrating how to throw a proper straight punch. He did it several times. At first, it was slow, with very detailed descriptions. Every time he completed the punch, his fist would touch 2-2-2''s face, as if teasing him. And then he started speeding up. Less and fewer descriptions and faster and faster movements. 2-2-2 stood in place, straight and unmoving, getting hit by every single punch. Markus, saying that he was seeing to many confused gazes from the children, repeated the process. He did so 17 times. Once he stopped, the class was already going 20 minutes past the scheduled hour. The children didn''t move. 2-2-2 didn''t either, ignoring the blood running down his face. "Wow! Look at the time! It seems that time does fly when we are doing something we enjoy, don''t you think so, kids?" The children hurriedly nodded. Nio couldn''t help but lament the fact that Squad 9 was already pledging allegiance to the Nell family at the age of 5 through fear alone. Such traumas would carry further into their life. ''This kids will never be able to go against them.'' However, Nio wasn''t a kid. His mind was much more developed and therefore more resistant to trauma, not immune, but resistant. Then again, he was smart enough to shift his attention elsewhere during class, in order to evade the sight of 2-2-2 being pummelled. Or so was his plan when in the middle of the class. [Ding! Ding! Ding!] [Your Cursed Energy run out of control.] That''s right! That sight and brutality was capable of stirring something within him, allowing him to more accurately feel his cursed energy. Nio spent the rest of the class, training his control over cursed energy. Besides that, he also learned how to throw a proper punch, you know, the goal of the lesson. Although these lessons were brutal, they taught a lot. At least to Nio, he was one of the few that was able to keep his eyes focused on the beating that was occurring and therefore was able to see a move being used by a specialist several times. Even if there was an actual target. Besides the most obvious lessons being absorbed by Nio, this was actually the greatest example of how the Stygian Clan was treated. Nio once again reminded himself of the place he was. ''I will suck this place dry of what they could give me and then dip.'' Where to? Nio still didn''t decide that, he just knew that he had to get out of this place, to a place far off the reach of the Nell Clan. ''I also need to get out of this world to compete in the competition.'' That was also a fact he couldn''t ignore. One day, he had to go and traverse how many worlds in order to keep his life. Why not just stay in this small world and live your life? And risk that someone can track him down and descend from the heavens to rain hellfire on him? No, thank you. It was better to just use the System to grow stronger and catch the enemy before they caught him. ****************************************************************************************** A few months went past, and Nio''s and Squad 9''s routines changed for the worst during this time. Mainly due to Martial Arts Class. Markus was unreasonable. Either, he beat the shit out of someone who broke the rules that the Nell Clan imposed on the Stygian squads. When there was no one to beat up, the turn went to one of the children of Squad 9, supposedly the one who was the worst at absorbing his "completely normal lessons". Luckily, Nio and the ones he was closer with were one of the best martial artists on the squad, if not the best. As for how good they were? It was hard to say. They still hadn''t practiced any moves, however they understood completely the techniques that were "taught". Their only experience was when they decided to spar with each other outside of class to test if what they were being taught was actually being learned. Because they were only taught the techniques but didn''t have the experience to know how to use them, their spars were mostly turn based, one attacks the other blocks and counters. Although it was apparently unproductive, it was thanks to that some of the children were able to escape the beatings Markus would so kindly distribute in the times there were no rule breakers to beat up. Besides Martial Arts Class there was also Body Development Class, which was in few words, work out until you faint and once you wake up work out again. This class was given by several different instructors that specialize in different body parts to work out, and while the martial arts class took around two hours, the rest of the training hours was used on body development class. As for that class, it was going fairly well for Nio. He found out strangely calming to work out. There was nothing to worry about while working out. Worried about the injuries 9-3-5 suffered on martial arts class? Focus on how many reps you have left. Worried that cursed energy control training isn''t going well? Just focus on what exercise you are supposed to next. Worried that somewhere, in other worlds, are dozens or hundreds of people that you are meant to kill or be killed? Just do the lap you are supposed to, lil bro. Chapter 7 - Time Skip In the yard of Nursery 9, the home of Squad 9, there was a giant tree of an almost extinct species. According to reports, it was meant to be cut down during the construction of the place, as the member of the Stygian clan were unworthy of such a rare tree. However, because these trees were the symbol of the Nell family, not only the elders but also the younger members of the family protested against it. Right now, in the middle of the night, a young boy was siting in one of its branches. "The nights are getting colder, I suppose winter is coming." Letting out that remark, the boy shifted his attention to the floating orange screen. [ Status: Name: Nio/Nioo/9-1-1/Alex Age: 7 (25) Cultivation:Body Tempering Stage 0 Health : Good PHY: 12 SPE: 10 END: 15 INT: 25 CON: 16 Credits: 341 points [Access Shop] [Anime Stream] [Map] [Do you wish to rate this System? Click Here] ] Two years had passed since Martial Art Classes had started, as well as the Body Development ones. Nio, had become a lot stronger, not only in raw stats but in martial arts. Classes hadn''t changed much, the teachers were still cruel and strict. The difference was, in martial arts class, Markus was no longer the one beating people up. Now, it was them doing it. This had started around a month ago, and it was meant to last until the end of the classes. Normally, Nio would just grit his teeth and ignore this and endure much like he had been doing before. However, today 9-0-1, someone he saw as a little sister was paired with him to spar. He was forced to go all out and to not hesitate. She was now hospitalized, and it would take her three weeks to recover. *Sigh* Sighing, Nio averted his attention to another screen. [ Cursed Energy Control -> 1 / 100] Chakra Control-> 50/100 ] His control exercises had paid off. He could now reinforce his body with Chakra, as well as walking in walls and water, besides creating chakra strings. For Cursed Energy, though, he could only make it flow through his body at will now, although he still had problems in using all the Cursed Energy he had. Beside other problems like energy expenditure and how sometimes he failed to get a hold of cursed energy. It was getting stressful. Martial Arts class and Body Development class will remain for three more years, until they reach ten years of age. Who knows how many changes to the program they will add, just to make sure they were not potential traitors. As if a seven-year-old could do such a thing. Then again, let alone Nio, no one in Squad 9 was normal. Brutality was a common in their lives, death and violence was the norm, while things that are more common to the children outside the Stygian clan are so foreign. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Even Nio, who could remember his past life, felt himself losing the concept of what some things like helping, playing and having fun were. Thankfully, he was able to find some anchors. His mother, who even though he didn''t even know her name, he still loved. 9-3-1 who was his best friend in this life. 9-0-1 who was like a little sister. He anchored himself to them, and did his best to anchor them to himself. While they grew up together, Nio had made his best effort to teach concepts, that the Nell clan refused to teach them, to 9-3-1 and 9-0-1. Lately he was even thinking of give them names much like himself. Although, things would be awkward for a while. Recently, Nio had been researching about the area around Squad 9''s home. Such information was quite sensitive, even more than some details about the Nell family that would normally be only known to direct members of the family and unknown to even their vessel''s and less accomplished members. Giving information about the surroundings to a member of the Stygian Clan, was a risky move. Who knows what they will do with that? Run away? Set up traps? No matter how much they thought about it, they would never have guessed Nio''s reason behind it. To leave temporarily during the night to find and fight real opponents and by result gaining battle experience as well as being more in tune with negative emotions that were born out of combat, in order to have better control over his cursed energy. He had made several preparations for his eventual outing. Creating makeshift equipment by using cleaning utensil of the maids that were thrown away and some materials that he found in the playground. He didn''t have anything substantial, tough. He had made a cloak to hide his features. Not only that, but he had made a fragile spear, made with a broom and a knife he had stolen. He had made a scarf to hide his lower face with his old clothes that were thrown away. He was prepared, he had learned martial arts, his body had been trained by a few levels above his own peers, he had practiced his control over both power systems he got his hands on, and he had made preparations in order to everything to go smoothly. Everything that had been left was a good knowledge about the area. He was forced to spend four whole months to save enough merits to be allowed such information. And finally, he found such info on his hands, right now. He had been studying it relentlessly without gathering much attention. The surroundings of their home were quite simple. A vast plain painted in green. A few kilometers north, there was a forest with countless beasts, who weren''t frequently hunted. ''A good hunting spot.'' Nio concluded. There wasn''t much on how where the defenses of the place, but Nio had been living in this place for seven years, and as someone who decided that he had to leave almost immediately, his eyes had always been attentive to certain details. Like the different faces on the gates on which day of the week. How late were his instructors and in what pattern. He just needed some more time, not only to confirm some of the hypothesis, but also to make sure that no new pattern were implemented. For now, his plans were already sketched. At the end of the weak there was a change in guards at the entrance, in order to not force the instructors to be late at the start of the weak that change occurred at the end of the day in the last day of the week, forcing the instructors to leave earlier than usual. Therefore, the time to leave was during the moment where the instructor leaves, the guards are changing shifts leaving a gap for Nio to explore. But then there was another problem, what about coming back? He couldn''t just wait a week for another change in guard shifts. That''s where an interesting piece of news was discovered by Nio. Before being granted a book with any type of sensible information, the members of the Nell family read the book first and then censored parts that deemed to be sensible and therefore prohibited. Luckily, Nio knew where they performed those actions. So when they were censoring the information about the surroundings that he requested he heard everything he could about the censored information. And that included the fact that there was a gigantic cave system below them. Stretching from the nursery to the forest. Using the censored information, Nio was able to guess some places where there was possibly an entrance to this cave system. After that, it was a gamble. Could he find the entrance to the cave system? Could he find his way through the caves and comeback to the nursery without alerting anyone? He needed to carefully consider this. If he failed, he would be killed for betrayal. Should he risk everything on this? What about his mother, his best friend and his little sister like figure? If he was gone, what about them? Nio shook his head a couple of times. He shouldn''t think so negatively. He would do this. His survival was at cost, after all. Who knew what the other transmigrator were doing right now, what were they learning, what had they accomplished? He needed to start moving. Being reincarnated allowed him to have a background, he was not someone that appeared out of nowhere, it was easier to blend in as well as gather backing and trust of the natives of the worlds he would visit. Should he dedicate the first outing to simply finding the entrance of the cave system? He didn''t know how much time he would spend just looking for it, so to make sure he didn''t risk arriving late and therefore being discovered, maybe the most safe option would be for him to dedicate the time of his first outing interily to finding the entrance of the system of caves below. He should also find a way to map the area to make sure he didn''t forget where the entrance was. "Maybe, I need some more preparations?" Nio knew he couldn''t prepare more than he already did, was preparing to prepare. Looking at the makeshift calendar he had drawn, he sighed. "Tomorrow night, that''s the day." Chapter 8 - The Escape It was the end of the day in the area of residence of Squad 9. Right now, two guard of the Nell Clan were standing guard at the gate, which was directly pointed to the far away forest. According to the records, in the past the forest occupied all the plain that was between the residence and the current forest. However, during the establishment of the Stygian Clan, when the first Squad 9 was created many decades ago, the patriarch at the time had used his impressive power to completely cut down the trees that stood where now the plain was and killed all the beast that were inhabiting the place. "With this, even if they tried to escape, they won''t be able to escape your sight." The records say those were his words. With such a terrain, even if there was an escapee, the guards wouldn''t be able to miss them. "Oi, you two!" The guards, ever unexpressive, turned around looking for the voice. It was Markus Nell, the instructor for Martial Arts of Squad 9. "Your shifts are about to end, right? Let me go already, I don''t want to fill those damn papers, seriously, what''s the problem of me entering and leaving under the watch of different guards?" "I''m sorry, sir. Those are the orders. But rest assured, since you decided to leave early, you have always caught us in our shifts, successfully avoiding the need to fill the paperwork." "Best decision that I ever made, second only to that time I tricked the Young Master into giving me a vacation to the beaches in the west. Those are incredible." "Surely, there were better decisions, sir." "Well, when do the other guys arrive?" "They should arrive in around half an hour, if they are not late." "Well then, I''m leaving." Having said that, a sudden burst of Qi came out of his body, and under the gaze of the guards, Markus flew straight into the sky. After a while, two new Qi signatures entered their senses. "Good Night." That was the only greeting they exchanged, before collectively starting to walk in the direction of a small building in order to register the exchange of shifts. However, without them noticing, a green blur surged forward in the direction of the faraway forest. This was Nio, using various blades of grass, he had made his cloak camouflageable. He was using the most chakra he could use to enhance his body to run as fast as he could. The guards normally took around fifteen minutes to complete the process. He needed to cover as much ground as he could. Once they ended the process, he would be forced to sneak in order to make use of camouflage. So he needed to be fast. With his current stats, he was slightly faster than he was in his previous life, not by much, but faster. The guards that stood guard changed each couple of years, the reason being the increase in strength of the members of the Stygian clan. Working as a guard for one of the residences that still housed kids was the only work for new recruits or the members of the Nell Clan''s forces that stood on the weaker spectrum. Their senses were dull and inexperienced, and besides, the kids hadn''t started to learn how to cultivate yet, so what was the issue? This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. The problem was that they would never expect that one of the Stygian kids was capable of using a power system unknown to them, let alone at that age. Caught off guard and in disadvantage, the guards did not notice Nio sneak past and running full throttle in the direction of the forest. It was then that, suddenly, Nio dived into the ground, covering himself with the grass cloak. According to his mental counting, the time needed for the guards to complete the process needed to shift turns was over. Not even a minute later, two streaks of lights flew over him in the direction of the forest before making a huge turn to the left, disappearing into the night. Glancing sneakily towards the gate, that now stood really far away, Nio noticed the silhouette of the guards staring into the grass plains. He then looked in front of him. He had only covered a third of the way! He didn''t panic and started to slowly walk in the direction of the forest, making sure to not raise his body too tall to not get noticed, as well as making sure that the grass cloak covered all of his body. Due to the trouble that it was to sneak around like this, Nio didn''t bring his makeshift spear, as it would be too dangerous to carry it while sneaking out. Similarly, he was not carrying anything with a lot of weight. He had discarded certain parts of his equipment because they would slow him down or would get in his way when sneaking around. He walked slowly, mostly crouched, making use of his child body to shrink himself as much as he could. Because it was dark, he already covered a lot of ground and the strength of the guards was not that big, he was able to remain undetected. There was no need to hurry, the night was young, he had time. Once he reached the forest, he would be safe to run around more comfortably. Naturally, the second problem would then emerge. How to find the entrance of the cave system. However, he had studied the maps of the forest for a lot of time and had identified some spots as potential entries. An hour passed. There wasn''t much space for him to cover. The closer he got to the forest, the bolder he became. Right now, he was only half-crouching and was walking at a decent pace. Nio would soon reach the forest and nothing was going to stop him. A few minutes later he was already so close to the forest and so far from the gate that he had risked it and was already sprinting towards the forest. As soon as he reached it, he hid behind a tree and took a sneak peek behind him. No flashing lights. No screaming voices. He was safe. He had remained unseen and safely reached the forest. He blew a sigh of relief, tension leaving his body, forcing him to drop himself to the ground. "I did it." Nio had escaped, however, he still had work to do. "Now I only need to find the entrance to the cave system and find my way towards the residence." Without wasting any time, he boosted his body with chakra and surged forward, recalling the directions towards the places he believed to be the entrances to the caves. There were three in total. One was nearby, close to the start of the forest. In the censured version of the map, details about that particular zone were completely discarded. There was no information whatsoever. The other two were found deeper into the forest, far apart from each other, as well as the initial one. Nio was heading towards the nearest. Using chakra, he approached his goal with good speeds. He remained alert, though. This was a forest commonly used to hunt, and it was not the mundane hunts, either. They hunted beasts. Animals that had started to cultivate out of instinct. Their methods were much more simple than human''s but most of them were mutations. In the Western Continent, these beasts did not exist in the past, after all, without big enough levels of Heaven and Earth Energy, those were rarely found. However, after the Storm and the occupation of the Eastern Continent, due to the certain influx of cultivation treasures that were sometimes lost in forests and other remote places, the animals there accidentally consumed them, mutating themselves and their offsprings. There were, of course, some of them that were just invading species, beast brought from the other side of the world for different purposes. In the case of this forest, the censored information didn''t cover that, making Nio believe that the species here were either invasive species with a higher purpose or created via mutation, caused by something or someone that shouldn''t be known, at least to someone from the Stygian clan. Soon, his worries were proven true. While he was running, a snake, much larger than he remembered them to be, jumped towards him attempting to bite its fangs in his arm. Thanks to being on guard, Nio had time to react to the strike, focusing more chakra on his legs than in other part of his body, gaining a sudden influx of speed. He had successively dodged the snake. "Is it alone?" That was one of his worries. Knowledge of which beast inhabited the forest had been also censored, so Nio didn''t know the habits of this type of beast, and therefore didn''t know if they hunted in groups. The snake slithered at an enormous speed and prepared to leap again, but it was stopped by a construct of paper thin threads. Nio had shaped his chakra into strings and controlled them to form a cocoon. If the snake moved and collided with the strings, Nio would tighten the hold of the strings on the snake. "You have no way to run." Chapter 9 - Traveling in the Forest at Night Nio watched curiously, the snake trying to free itself from the chakra strings. "It doesn''t seem that strong, is it really a beast? Wasn''t it supposed to be something like an animal cultivator? "Well, whatever, let''s finish you off, shall we?" Nio concentrated. Although he could make and control several chakra strings to use them as a combat weapon, what he was about to do demanded a little more from him. The strings thinned even more, becoming sharper. What Nio was doing was compressing the strings and softly change its shape. Soon, he tightened the grip of the altered strings and the body of the snake was cut multiple times. With that, the skin and flesh of the snake was cut into bits, shredding the snake. However, Nio''s strings were met resistance at some point, making him pause. Dismissing the light blue strings, Nio approached the corpse of the snake. There were only bones. They had resisted the sharpness of his chakra strings, only receiving some marks. Nio''s eyes narrowed. "System, for the night, I want you to give me a notification with the details of my victims." [Affirmative. Do you wish to receive the details of your last victim?] "Yes." [Congratulations! You have killed an Emerald Snake of the Body Tempering Stage 1 : Bone Tempering] Nio''s eyes widened. As someone from the Stygian clan, he had been educated about cultivation so he recognized the cultivation level of the snake. When starting cultivation, one must first temper their body, linking it directly with their cultivation. Each stage of the body tempering represented one part of the body that was or was being tempered. Stage 1 was dedicated to bone tempering. In this stage, the cultivator has a better bone structure. Although this did not increase their overall strength, it boosted their endurance, since with this it would be rarer to break one''s bones. Stage 2 was dedicated to organ tempering. At this point, one would temper every single organ inside their body. Heart, blood, eyes, lungs and intestines. Stage 3 was the muscle tempering stage. This where the power jump was most visible and the most recognizable. Stage 4 was the skin tempering stage. This is where one tempered their skin and although not mentioned their hair as well. Stage 5 was dedicated to mind tempering. This was a stage both physical and spiritual. One would temper their brain and nervous system as well as being introduced to mental practice such as meditation. Stage 6 was the meridian tempering stage. This where one would entangle the mess that was the dormant meridians or even directly forming them. The gains were not really apparent as this is more of a preparing stage. Stage 7 was the Dantian Forming stage. Dedicated to once more refining their whole body like the other stages and then forge their dantian and connect it to one''s meridians. The Body tempering stages were mostly meant to link the body with the cultivation itself. The stages and realms of cultivation weren''t just levels that existed to describe the steps to grow in power. They were an actual barrier that need to be surpassed. Tempering one''s body is meant not only to prepare one to start cultivating, but also allows their body to grow stronger the further they reach in cultivation. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Beast like this snake were the same, since they were like any cultivator, they just followed different paths. "That explains some things." The reason why the bones were able to resist the sharpness of the chakra strings was because they had been strengthened by Qi and were naturally stronger than normal. Nio reached forward and grabbed one of the bones in his hands and tried to snap it in half. Without reinforcement, it was impossible. Although he had a stronger body than a normal 7-year-old, due to his intensive training and his heritage, he was still a child. Making both Chakra and Cursed Energy run through his muscles, he tried again. This time the bone was successfully snapped in half, albeit with some effort. "It was harder than I though, but not that hard. I wonder how I would fare without my strings?" He didn''t need to wait much, as he heard the rustling of leaves in some nearby bushes. Four snakes slithered into the open, revealing themselves. They were of the same green color and looked at Nio with killing intent. "I guess, it''s time to find that out, huh?" Reinforcing his body with both chakra and cursed energy, Nio entered a defensive stance. When learning martial arts, it isn''t the norm to fight beasts instead of humans, so during one of his classes Markus had pointed out. "When fighting beasts one should enter a defensive stance, however, do not use the counterattacks that are taught, they will nor work, instead, let the beast charge at you and create their own openings." That''s what he did, planting his feet firmly in the ground, he waited for the snakes to pounce at him. Due to the difference in height, the snakes decided to charge to his legs. Coiling themselves, they charged forward at great speeds, aiming for his legs. Nio didn''t overreact. Simply raising his chakra-charged foot, he stomped one of them into the ground. After some pressure, a resounding crack was heard, signaling that the snake''s bones had been broken. However, there was no time to rest, after all, at the same time that the dead snake had attacked, another had also jumped in his direction. Using the force of his strike, he planted his foot firmly in the ground, stabilizing his control and allowing him to launch a powerful kick in the snake''s direction. Once the two bodies collided, the snake was knocked out, but it was not over. Due to his lack of control over cursed energy, at this moment, his flow of cursed energy was slightly delayed, striking a second time, killing the snake. This did not go unnoticed by Nio. ''That was Divergent Fist! Huh, Kick? Anyway, Yuji''s technique!'' Yuji''s divergent fist was a known technique, not only for its simplicity but also its uses. Thanks to Yuji''s great physical strength something like a delayed flow of cursed energy could be seen as a second hit, and although Nio didn''t possess Yuji''s physique he could reinforce himself with chakra to achieve the same effect. ''That his worth noting.'' Although this time it had been accidental, that did not mean that he couldn''t do it now. He decided to practice that later. For now, he had other things to worry about. Two more snakes decided to attack him. The reason they took so much time being that they had used the trees to gain a higher ground, removing the disadvantage of size. Without delay, they jumped in his direction. Reacting quickly, Nio prepared himself to dodge the snakes. As soon as the first one went past his head, he caught by the tail and swung it in the other snake''s direction. The impact was not enough to kill them, but it was enough to stop their advances and dropping them into the ground where they were defenceless and couldn''t protect themselves of the foot that was now closing in. Stomp Crack They were dead. Nio ran a hand through his hair, although he had reacted well and made solid decisions, he had still be on edge. [Congratulations on killing four Emerald Snakes of the Bone Tempering Stage!] Nio looked around, searching if there were more snakes to deal. Only one remained, it was still, looking at him silently. And then in a sudden movement it was upon him, ready to bite his head off. ''Fuck!'' In a repentine surge of instinct, Nio dodged by millimeters, the snake bypassing his head at incredible speeds. ''It was so fast! Even if I was completely on guard, I don''t know if I would be able to see its movements.'' But, now that Nio was on guard, he wasn''t going to lose sight of it again. Making sure that he was facing the snake, he positioned himself to receive the attack of the stronger than normal snake. ''Why is it much stronger than the others? Did it reach a higher stage of cultivation?'' The snake didn''t bother giving him time to keep thinking about its strength and lunged forth, trying once again to bite at him. This time, Nio was not caught of guard and aimed for the place where the snake''s head would be in a few milliseconds. Bam His strike reached its destiny, clashing with the snake and stopping its momentum and sending it to the ground, rolling. Nio didn''t let it rest as he lunged forward, aiming to step on its head to crush his skull and turned its brain to mush. Almost unbothered, the snake seemed to be unaffected by the powerful punch that it had received on the head and with clarity on its beastly mind, it coiled itself again a launched itself towards the tree, where it started to calmly spectating Nio. "This will be a bother." Chapter 10 - The Snake and The Panther Both Nio and the snake were vigilant of each other. The snake was cautious. Its opponent was not necessarily weaker when it came to physical strength, mostly thanks to its size that surpassed their own by a few times. Nio was going for the careful approach. He had already theorized on what stage of cultivation the snake was in. The Muscle tempering stage. This stage was one of the few of the body tempering stages that caused a major power spike. However, he was not that worried. He was bigger and could reinforce himself with not only chakra but cursed energy. He was ready. He just needed the snake to strike first. And that it did. The snake moved around the trunk of the tree getting into a better position where it could coil itself to prepare to launch. It chose a branch that stood at two meter of height (6 feet 6 inches). It coiled itself and narrowed its eyes seemingly timing its attack. Not wanting to play the waiting game, Nio showed an opening, faking to step forward to attack. The snake reacted instantly and sprang forth aiming to bite his face off. However, "Gotcha!" Nio was ready. His hands moved quickly, and his chakra surged through his fingertips. Several chakra strings appeared and moved as if they had a mind of their own. With great precision and control, the strings surrounded the snake midair and caught it before it could react. Imprisoned by the sharp strings the snake hissed in slight pain, after all, some of the strings were the ones modified by Nio to be able to cut opponents like a small blade, however, the only thing they were able to cut was the skin of the snake which was quite mundane compared to the rest of its body. "It seems that creating sharp chakra strings on the fly still affects their power considerably, well no worries, I wasn''t planning to cut you up, snake." Using one of his hands to firmly grasp the several strings that had caught the spider, he made a slight movement with his arm. He was making the strings spin, along with the snake. He kept spinning and spinning, catching speed. Although the snake wasn''t unconscious, it was definitely quite nauseated. He didn''t stop until he noticed that he couldn''t spin the snake faster, even if he was putting quite the effort into channeling his chakra and cursed energy onto his arm. "It''s time to end this." Using the momentum that he had gathered by spinning the chakra strings, he slammed the snake into the ground. The ground shattered, forming a crater. Dust kicked up and clouded Nio''s vision, who for safety didn''t release his chakra strings. He waited for the dust cloud to dissipate in order to evaluate the damage he had caused. Soon, the cloud dissipated. The snake was still alive, although unconscious. Even though its muscles and bones, as well as some other organs, were much stronger than normal, certain organs like the brain were still pretty fragile. An impact like the one Nio had caused wasn''t enough to kill it nor to shatter its bones, however, it was enough to cause its brain to damage because of a head injury. Nio approached carefully and reached for the insides of his cloak. From there he took the one thing of the little he had brought with him, besides the cloak itself. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. A knife. Without much thinking he reinforced it with both chakra and cursed energy, before stabbing it in the head. A cut wouldn''t do it, he needed to piercing power of a thrust to break through the powerful muscles and bones of the emerald snake. [Congratulations! You have killed an Emerald Snake of the Muscle Tempering Stage!] "It was really from the Muscle Tempering Stage, huh?" He sat down at the ground for a while, resting. Even though the battle had been short, the feeling of always being on guard as well as the feeling of killing intent directed at you was slightly exhausting. Nio looked at the cursed energy dancing in the palms of his hands. "It''s so erratic and fearsome. I suppose adrenaline is great to boost cursed energy, huh?" Having experienced a great dose of adrenaline as well the killing intent of a beast a few stages above him on the path of evolution, cultivation-wise, was pretty good to make him feel his cursed energy. Although he had a good grasp of cursed energy, if he was too relaxed he wouldn''t be able to properly get a hold of it. But now? He didn''t know if it was the adrenaline or his newly gained experience, but he was making great progress on controlling cursed energy. And the proof was right there. [Cursed Energy Control - 2 / 100] A single point. But progress nonetheless. "I should keep moving. It''s not time to feel good about myself and my decisions. If I can''t go back, this small success will mean nothing comparing to the losses." Thinking that, he stood up and moved towards the direction he was previously walking towards. His destination was small clearing in the shape of an egg. Or so it looked to him. Finding the location was not that hard. He already knew the distance he needed to cover, taking into account the gate where he left and the fact that he would run in a straight line. There was no mistake, this was the place. There were some things that caught Nio''s attention. Firstly, were the true large holes that he could see. One of them was pit straight down, seemingly with no end, the other was carved on a small hill. It was a cave entrance. Both of them were, probably. At the center of the clearing was a tree that looked oddly out of place. The trees from this forest reminded him of Oak, but the tree in the middle reminded him of those trees on jungles. "I better hurry up and start going back, now that I know where the cave entrances are, all I need now is to know my way back." So he decided to head into the hole carved into the hill. As he was about to enter, when he heard a growl. As soon as he did, the hairs in his body stood up and his instincts that not even Nio knew he had screamed for him to run. Deciding to hear them, he extended his right hand to the right and created several chakra strings that he used to pull himself out of the way. But he wasn''t fast enough. Slash "Argh!" A paw full of claws was able to scratch his left arm as he was getting out of the way, this sent his focus in a disarray forcing his chakra strings to be dismissed, making him roll on the ground. Clenching his aching arm as he stood up, Nio looked at the creature that had attacked him. It was hard to clearly distinguish it from the night sky because of its black fur. Nio was only able to properly look at it because of the beast''s eyes, they glowed with an ominous yellow light. Nio tried to clam himself and made some effort to properly analyze the enemy. It was a black panther, a pretty big one at least. He needed to be careful, this beast was several times stronger than the muscle tempering stage snake that he had just fought moments ago. Once again, the creature lunged forward. Even though Nio was reinforcing his eyes with chakra and cursed energy, its movements were nothing more than a blur. Once again, it was his instincts that allowed him to properly dodge the creature''s attack, even if it was by a hair''s breath. He rolled on the ground and stood up in a panic before releasing a bunch of chakra strings around himself from various parts of his body. This was the strategy that he came up with. With this panther''s ridiculous speed, he wouldn''t be able to keep up unless he was capable of sensing its attacks before they happened. If the panther attacked, at least one of the strings would snap, warning him. He was breathing heavily but kept himself focused. He needed to notice when it would attack. A few seconds passed and there was no sign of the panther. No strings had snapped, no sudden instincts screaming. Nothing. Until, they started screaming with everything they had. Death. That day, Nio felt it, his death was near him, and he had to stop it. Turning around, he dismissed every single chakra string that he had created and instead created several of them around his arms before crossing them to defend himself. Boom He felt his whole body scream in pain as the panther ran into him, launching him several meter behind him. He couldn''t stop. So he fell inside the second hole that headed inside the cave. In a last ditch effort to save himself, he sent some strings to stop his fall. However, because of that he ended up smashing his head into the wall of the cave, losing conscience. ************************************************ Since we reached the tenth chapter, please as away your question about this story and I will answer in the end of the next chapter. Feel free to check my other work as well, Unsealed Demonic Dragon goes to the Academy. Thank you for reading, and see you next time. Chapter 11 - The Cave Nio groaned as he struggled to open his eyes. Everything was hurting, he didn''t feel really good right now. He slowly rose to his knees and tried to look around. The keyword being tried. It was quite dark, the only source of light was a few meters up, and as it was nighttime, it was not really illuminating anything, really. Sigh "What was that, anyway?" The black panther had been way too strong. [Answer! The host''s opponent was a Dark Panther of the Skin Tempering Stage.] "Bullshit! Why was it so much stronger than me then? The snake wasn''t this strong, and it was only a single stage behind." [The Panther''s muscles were much stronger than yours and the snake''s originally, taking into account that it reached the muscle tempering stage, it is normal to be much stronger than both of you.] "Ah! I see, it had a better base strength than me, therefore once it refined its muscles, they became miles stronger than mine. Considering that I had to reinforce myself to deal with a snake, it''s no surprise that I lost so badly." However, this posed a massive problem. The panther seemed to regard the cave entrances as its territory, it would be hard to manage its escapades with it guarding his entry points. A person with a weaker will might have given up here and decided to grow their strength in the safe space of Squad 9. However, Nio wasn''t about to give up, he was ready to overcome this challenge, to become stronger, to force himself to become stronger. But how? The panther''s strength far surpassed his, so how could he deal with it? It was actually quite simple, refining what he had that the panther didn''t. His chakra and cursed energy as well as his system. He believed that it was finally time to do what every transmigrator with chakra is supposed to do. Learn the rasengan. As for cursed energy, Nio decided to delve into the topics of barrier techniques like the veils and stuff like that. They would be pretty useful. As for his system, he was planning to boost his physique with something on its store. There were various choices, but he was inclined toward two things that had already caught his eye. [Itadori Yuji''s Physique] and [Full Concentration Breathing]. One was from Jujutsu Kaisen and the other was from Demon Slayer, and both would allow him to boost his strength considerably. Itadori''s physique was naturally powerful, and as well as being a cursed painting womb, there were other advantages. As for the full-concentration breathing, it would be quite the boost in strength that he would be able to stack on top of his chakra and cursed energy reinforcement. The best part was the fact that both would become much stronger once he started cultivating, either by refining his muscles or organs, like his lungs, his strength would increase immensely. "System, how many credits do I have exactly?" [You possess at the moment 401 credits] Credits were able to be gained through various means. Mostly quests given by the system or by performing random tasks that he had no idea about. In the span of over two years, he had barely earned three hundred credits, this was the first time he had gotten them above four hundred. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. "What happened?" [Defeated foes are recorded and evaluated to then convert into points for the Host.] "Oh. So I receive credits by beating up someone or something?" [...] [Yes] "Neat. Okay, System, show me the prices." [ Name: Itadori Yuji''s Physique Anime: Jujutsu Kaisen Description: Allows the user to gain a better physique. Giving a boost of 100% to the current PHY stat, 90% increase to the current END stat, and 50% boost to the current SPE stat. It also gives the user an increase of 25% when increasing one of the following stats: PHY, END, SPE. Besides that, it gives the capability of turning cursed energy into blood. Cost: 450 credits ] [ Name: Full Concentration Breathing Anime: Demon Slayer Description: It uses breathing exercises to muster superhuman strength into the body. It requires great concentration and passively gives the user access to the skill [Demon Slayer''s Breathing Technique], which is a weaker and more manageable version of this skill. Cost: 600 credits ] They were a little costly, but it was not impossible. After all, they were investments. Once he had his hands on one, getting the other would be much simpler. Specially now that he knew that he could earn credits by defeating enemies, his outings had become much more important. "Anyway, I should probably get going, I still have to find my way through the cave system before tomorrow''s wake-up call." However, it was really dark at this moment, mostly because he was in a cave. He couldn''t see a palm in front of his eyes, the "light" from the system''s panel was not real, as the panel was a projection inside his own mind, as the system had explained to him. So, in order to find his way inside the cave system, he had already devised a strategy. In fact, he had already used it, although not in the scenario he was aiming for when he created the technique. He created several chakra strings around his body scattering around the area, illuminating with a soft yet weak glow. The chakra strings were meant to work similarly as the anthena of certain insects served to warn them of danger, in this case, they would be a new sensory input for him, allowing him to know the shape of the cave and if there were any obstacles. He proceeded with caution, after all, not only had this method proved to be flawed previously against the panther, but also he needed to conserve as much mental power as he could in order to not mess up his calculations or his sense of space. In order to find his way towards Squad 9''s home, he needed to constantly update his position on his mental map in parallel with his destination. Making sure that he was going the right way, he walked forward. Every time there was a turn, he would softly remind himself to turn again in order to not go sideways. He advanced cautiously, forgoing any type of mental interruption, be it from the outside or from himself with pointless thoughts, he was in a state of total concentration. Nio didn''t know, but this was one of the few moments that his true talent came to shine, not his martial talent or his future talent in the manipulation of various power systems. His true talent lay in an almost perfect control of his mental faculties, allowing him to forcibly turn off important thoughts and ignore pointless inputs from his senses. That was his true talent. He continued to advance unperturbed. His advance was going steady, and in his calculations he should be close to his destination, about five minutes away, if there were no sudden turns. His worries were unfounded, as he suddenly noticed that the ground on which he was standing was tilting upwards. He was rising, it meant that he was getting close to the surface, and considering his calculations, he shouldn''t be far away from his home, at worst, he was around the perimeter. Nothing that good sneaking wouldn''t resolve. Finally, he reached the end. It was a dead end. He was met with a ceiling in a narrow path he had decided to climb/crawl in. Not giving up, he decided to check if he was too far away from the surface. Placing his hand on the ceiling, he sent a chakra string upwards, snaking in the middle of the earth. And a sudden realization hit Nio, he was only about three meters below the surface. He reached for the inside of his coat, where another tool he had packed was with him. It was a shovel, a small one, the ones that were normally used by the maids in their free times for gardening, he had stolen one. Reinforcing it with chakra and cursed energy in order to not collapse on itself due to his own physical strength, Nio started digging. It did not take that long for him to finally find himself, or his head, on the surface. Looking around, he surveyed the surroundings. He was on the playground of his home, where they normally played or had class. The cave system had led him towards the most convenient place! How truly convenient. Getting out of the hole, he rushed to cover it with whatever he had, be it leaves or branches and small amounts of dirt. He should be attentive to make sure no one discovers it accidentally. With the amount of brainwashing some of the kids had suffered, they were as much as enemies as the guards or instructors themselves. He needed to be careful, but for now, this night had been not only a victory but also a loss. "I need to bandage myself, it will be a pain to go to class with these injuries." Chapter 12 - The Rasengan After getting back, Nio had made a point of treating and hiding his wounds, determined to make sure that no one found out about his outings. His injuries didn''t amount to much really. There were a few cuts and bruises from the panther''s claws and the headbut it delivered at the end of the fight. Besides that, he was slightly bruised after falling into the pit that was a cave entrance. Luckily he had been reinforcing himself with chakra and cursed energy almost all the time, allowing him to prevent himself from getting broken bones. Those would have been really hard to hide. Right now it was morning at the home of Squad 9. Normally at this time of the day, there were no classes, unless it was a double class day. A day where they had both martial arts class and body development class. In case there was only one class that day, it was normally at the end of the day, and the children would be free to do whatever in the morning. To the surprise of some of the members of the squad, Nio had slept in, waking up much later than everybody else. Which was weird as he was one of the few that woke up at the right times. Because of that, he had lost a lot of free time. At this very moment, he was sitting in the branch of the popular tree of the Squad 9, seemingly meditating. Right now he was getting a feeling of his own chakra and making it flow in every direction and way he could think of. That was one of the ways he had found to practice chakra control allowing him to practice without being noticed by anyone. He was working on his new project. To learn the Rasengan. In the Naruto world, the Rasengan was seen as this really great technique that only a few people had been able to master. Yet, for transmigrators, it was the go-to for first techniques. There were various reasons, but the main one was really simple. The fans of Naruto had the knowledge of how to train it. They knew the steps and they knew the modifications that Naruto himself had made to facilitate his learning of the jutsu. To learn how to rotate chakra in multiple directions they used a filled water balloon. To learn how to increase the power they burst a rubber ball. And then combining the two steps without bursting a balloon with great control and containment. Once these three steps were concluded, one would be able to use the Rasengan. However, ''I don''t have any balloons or rubber balls.'' The ball they used to play football was the only thing they were allowed to have to have fun, it would be a bummer to burst it. However, not everything was lost, after all, the purpose of the balloons and the rubber ball was to practice certain characteristics of the Rasengan. Rotation Power Containment That was the aim of each step respectively. So, Nio had to find ways to mimic these steps with his own exercises. While meditating, several exercises crossed his mind at great speeds before being dismissed just as fast. The first step used water as a medium to help burst the balloon, that was only possible if you made the water rotate in various directions at the same time. Therefore he needed somethings that warned of the limit that he needed for sufficient rotation and a medium to facilitate it. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Water was a good medium but what would be a good indicator of success? Nio kept brainstorming ideas. And then it him. The reason why the water balloon bursted was because the water, rotating on so many directions, would burst out of the rotational force against the balloon''s walls. Due to the water balloons'' fragility, if there was enough rotation and it was done right, the balloon would explode. But what if Nio tried to do so in a more durable environment, the water wouldn''t be able to burst out. If there was an exit, the water would then escape through it. A half-filled cup of water would do or a bigger container would be better, but if his theory was right, if he was capable of generating enough rotation, the water would burst out of the container through its only exit. (A/N: I''m sorry for the ones who actually understand physics if this is not feasible...just turn your brain of for a little, yeah?) And it wasn''t correct to just let the water flow out, it needed to be shot upwards in a swift motion, and that was only possible if he was able to reach maximum speeds of rotation fairly quickly. As for the other aspects of the training, he needed a new container to break to practice the power aspect. As for the containment aspect that is something inside the control practices that he already had. He would just perform the previous actions without a container and focus on making sure that it did not burst without taking actual form. Naturally, it would be a while until he could successfully learn it. Although he possessed knowledge a normal shinobi did not, it did not mean that he had the talent to pull it off in such a short time like Naruto, he might need a few months like Jiraya, everyone knows that Minato only took three years because he was developing the technique and not learning it. ''Seriously, how did he come up with this?'' As he was concentrating, he didn''t notice a figure climbing up the three in his direction. ''Where should I start practicing? At night or in the forest, I first need to find a way to sneak in without alerting the panther, after all.'' "Hey! What''cha doing there, 9-1-1?" "Woah!" Caught by surprise, Nio almost fell from the tree, however, he was able to catch himself to the trunk of the three by using the chakra in his hand. Pulling himself straight, Nio eyed the boy in front of him. He was 9-3-1, one of the three people on Squad 9 with an evaluation of 1 for talent, the others being Nio and the other being 9-0-1. "Did you have to sneak up on me like that, 9-3-1? Also, I told you to call me Nio." "You were the one who got scared, why should I be the one who had to be held responsible, besides, it was pretty funny, seeing the ultimate genius, 9-1-1, getting scared like that." "It was not funny at all." "That''s what the loser always says. Anyway, are you going to answer me or not?" "Hm? I was just thinking about some things, what about you?" "I was looking for you, 9-0-1 wanted you to visit her in the Medical Office." "..." "Are you really feeling guilty over that? I believe it''s even more guilt-worthy to not visit the person you hurt by someone else''s orders, no?" "You are right, ..., I will visit her later." "Good. Jeez, what''s with that drama anyway, lately, you have been in this serious expression and have been really on guard and attentive, as if looking for something." ''He caught that? It must have been during the time that I was exploring ways to go out.'' 9-3-1 was still a 1 in talent, although he was not as fast or as powerful as Nio or 9-0-1, he was awfully sensible, he heard things one didn''t, and he smelled things that don''t have smell, like emotions. Heck! He even feels changes in temperatures that no one notices, he is crazy sensible. Paired with that attentive mind of his he is quite the capable scout. He will go far in the future. If he has a future, of course. But as his friend, it''s my job to make sure he does. "It''s nothing, I was just curious about something so I was paying attention to something going around, you know?" "Is that so?" He didn''t look very convinced. ''That damn smell of his.'' "Anyway, what do you think of the lessons lately, anything you want help with?" Although lately classes were mostly focused on body development and martial arts, the members of the Stygian clan still needed to learn certain things, otherwise, they wouldn''t be able to partake in missions with high-concept risks or rewards. In missions, the politics of the Nell family were to be held into account when performing. If there is any loss on any type of trade, policy, relationship or even just to badly represent the Nell name, a member of the Stygian clan would be executed, in cold blood. "Ah, well, I still don''t understand why we can''t communicate with members of the Nell family to ask clarification on certain aspects of the missions, like, imagine if they tell us to kill everyone in a mansion, what if someone intervenes, someone important, what are we supposed to do? If the person is involved for whatever reason we were there shouldn''t they join the others? But what if they are not related, do we just let them go and risk exposing the Nell dealings? Why can''t we have something like an advisor who can make decisions on the field on the fly?" "Huh..." Nio thought hard about how to respond. "You see, we of the Stygian are discardable, in a situation as you described, we should let him go and bear all the guilt and punishment, acting like normal criminals, for as long as we do not reveal the Nell name, we might even be left alive." "ha... I see." He seemed to be disappointed. Chapter 13 - Sneaking into the Forest Step Step Right now, walking carefully was Nio, with his eyes closed. Around him were his chakra strings scattered in various directions scouting his position. Where was he? Back into the cave, he was trying to sneak back into the forest. After various moments of thought, not that many, he had reached the conclusion that he should try to enter the forest through other cave openings. Before escaping that first night, Nio had guessed the position of three possible locations where the entrance for the cave systems was located. In the end, the first location he had tried to reach did have a cave entrance, but a powerful guard nearby. Nio never had the opportunity to check the other locations. That''s what he was doing. That night he had various objectives. The first was to find out if the other locations did have a cavern entrance. The second was to find out if it was possible to sneak out of the already known cave entrances, without being attacked by the panther. Finally, the third was to hunt as many creatures as he could in order to buy both the [Itadori Yuji''s Physique] and [Full-Concentration Breathing]. And if he had the time, to start practicing the Rasengan. Although Nio had established some steps to train it, that did not mean he had to be strictly restricted to those. For example, in order to master the rotation aspect of the Rasengan, good chakra control was needed. The scouting technique he had created to navigate the cave was a good method to practice. By creating more and longer chakra strings, he struggled to keep control, however, it was that struggle that showed that he would improve. Exercises like this couldn''t be that easy, could they? Besides that he also started to change the form of the strings turning them sharper before turning them back to normal, he did so to practice his control even further. Walking at a slow pace, Nio took his time, both navigating the cave but also practicing his control. It didn''t take long before finding the cave entrance where he had come back from. Looking up he found the stars, in the sky high above. Channeling chakra to his feet, he started to walk on the walls, going up. He was slightly crouched, making sure that he did not make a sound. At the Skin Tempering stage, the panther should not have any type of supernatural senses, however, felines have good hearing and sense of smell. Considering that Organ Tempering boosted their senses slightly, he didn''t want to take any chances. He soon reached the edge of the entrance and looked around. There was nothing. ''The coast is clear?'' It seemed so, but should he risk it? ''Ah! Fuck it! Even if it appears, I should be able to escape for as long as I stay close to the cave entrance.'' Thinking that, Nio climbed up and vigilantly stepped away from the clearing into the dark and hiding embrace of the trees. Sighing in relief, Nio decided to get the other objectives of this night''s outing out of the way. "Next on my Do List is to find the other cave entrances." If they turned out to be more dangerous than this one he would have to be forced to sneak around a black panther every time he wanted to go to the forest. Once again, he conjured various strings around him to keep vigilance and to keep training his control. While doing so he also started to mess with cursed energy in his hand. Since he didn''t understand barrier techniques that well, he couldn''t replicate them, but what he could do was replicate something else. The Finger Bearer Curse was capable of firing pure cursed energy beams at its opponents. He was aiming to recreate that. But it was only him messing around for now. In the future he would have much more fun toys to play with. Thankfully he could multi-task like this thanks to his [Android Physique] and its ability to continuously generate both Chakra and Cursed Energy infinitely. The cost of chakra and cursed energy right now was much lower than the speed that he could replenish, it was just unfortunate that he was still limited by the output and size of his reserves otherwise he could just spam chakra and cursed energy shockwaves with infinite energy. ''What a wonderful thought.'' Sensing one of his strings being cut he turned around. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. In front of him was now a wild boar. It was around half of his size and it was staring at Nio with great fury. "Hey there! Why are you so angry? Did I step into your territory?" Instead of answering, not that it could, the wild boar rushed forward aiming to headbut into Nio. Reacting swiftly, Nio willed some of his strings to wrap around a tree and pull himself out of the way of the attack. He landed with his feet on the tree, sideways, using chakra control. Using the remaining strings he wrapped the boar in a cocoon of chakra, before merging the strings into one single construct, fully covering and imprisoning the wild boar. Nio approached the imprisoned boar and made a small gap in the chakra construct. The gap was directly placed above his neck. Taking out a knife and reinforcing it with chakra and cursed energy he stabbed through the gap, killing the boar. [You have killed one Forest Boar of the Organ Tempering Stage] ''A stage below muscle tempering, two below than the panther, huh?'' After recreating the chakra strings he used to scout the area, Nio kept moving forward, exploring the area. He kept practicing both chakra control, with his strings, but also cursed energy, by trying to replicate the cursed energy beam attacks. He spent around two hours walking around the forest and killing beasts. [You have killed three Emerald Snakes of the Muscle Tempering Stage] [You have killed two Forest Boars of the Bone Tempering Stage] [You have killed one Emerald Snake of the Skin Tempering Stage] And he kept going until he reached the first location which supposedly was one of the cave entrances. The area was a huge clearing that surrounded a pretty big lake, its pristine water reflected the moonlight in a magical way, illuminating the area as if it was day. ''In a supernatural way and not a metaphorical one, I mean.'' He remarked in his mind. The lake''s source of water came from a waterfall that filled the scenery with a calming background sound. "Now where is that cave entrance? Behind the waterfall? Underwater?" As he was wandering where the cave entrance could be in, suddenly, one of his strings snapped. Nio turned in high alert to the one who had entered his range. It was a rabbit. A white rabbit. A white horned rabbit. With red eyes. He felt a sudden shiver travel across his spine. He shook his Re:Zero trauma out of his head and he faced his new opponent. ''System, what is the cultivation of this guy?'' [Answer: Mind Tempering] ''Mind Tempering?'' That was the highest cultivation he had ever been forced to confront. The rabbit just kept staring into Nio''s eyes without blinking. Without any noise he jumped forward, making Nio step back. Seeing that Nio reacted in an almost wary way, it tried a different approach. The rabbit suddenly started growing in size, in an instant he was now twice the size of Nio. It turned around and supported itself with its short front limbs, before launching a powerful strike with its legs. Reacting as fast as he could he tried to get away using his strings, to find them cut off. He hastily looked to the side to find numerous horned rabbits nibbling on the remains of his chakra strings, leaving him flabbergasted. If he had the time, he would probably curse the damn rabbits with the worst things he could formulate with his vocabulary, alas, there were two gigantic rabbit feet heading in his direction. He hastily reinforced himself with chakra and cursed energy. In a split second, or less than that, he tried to find a way. A useless endeavor. BAM Nio was launched into the lake. Instead of trying to stop his fall with chakra control to stand on water, he decided to use the water as a cover, to fool the rabbits into thinking that he had died or something. ''That has to work, right?'' He was wrong. As soon as his body became suspended in the void-like feeling of being underwater, he felt something wrap around his foot. He couldn''t tell if it was a plant or an animal, he just knew that it was pulling him towards the bottom of the lake. ''Crap!'' He tried to free himself by shaking his leg, by trying to reach whatever was grabbing with his knife. He failed. Soon, the world grew dark and he started to feel dizzy. He didn''t remember what happened. When he woke up he was in a cavern.