《Born an Iron》 Info on the World (SPOILER) The Cradle, one of the many worlds in which the followers of the way protect. The cradle is a planet where the most amount of people grow up to join the followers of the way (the abzadon) Each person has a certain talent, but can practise all forms of things there madra could take: Soulsmith- forging, creating artifacts and weapons with madra and remnant parts, or other things. ruler- Aoe kinda (Aoe- area of effect) striker- long ranged enforcer- Guardian/ defense So far there are several cutivation levels. Mortal Teir?:This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Unsouled ( those with a cultivation problem), Wood, Copper, Iron, Jade Gold Teir: Low Gold, High Gold, True Gold Lord Teir: Underlord , OverLord , Archlord Unkown: Sage of __, Herald of ___, The ___ Monarch ( the highest cultivation in this world) Beyond: Immortal?, Feind?, God?, High God?. This is unkown and is breifly menchioned in contexct in the series, more will be updated. Artifacts/ Weapons: Same as Cultivation but just a ___ Artifact, like a Sage''s sword The most common way to evolve to Gold from Jade, many people are known to absorb remnants and in a clan, one of the dead elders remnants. The World is seperated into what seems like several areas, each controled by a monarch and their clan/ kingdom/ court. Known: Cloud Court, Blackflame empire( fallen to under the Akura Clan''s rule), Dreadlands, Dragon clan, The 8 ___, and the Valley. Monsters: Wild remnants, regular animals, DreadBeasts. (all in same cultivation teirs, ut usually more powerful than a human of the same level.) DreadGods: These are the most powerful beings on the planet, and their are currently four: Bleeding Pheonix, Weeping Dragon, The Titan(a gianthumaniod with a turtle shell on his back), and an unkown member. They are known to only be able to be fought by monarchs This world is set in a somewhat medeival setting with some modern utilites. The Beginning of the End Woosh,...Woosh, A young woman shakes her head fiercely searching back and forth then dashes into a grimy shit-stained road, uncleaned by the imperial janitors for years, running through disease infected puddles and hiding behind corners blackened with grime. As she sprints a small bundle of cloth is seen to be snuggled between her arms as though it is her only lifeline to the world. "splash, pat, pat" she runs at an inhuman speed crisscrossing this and that way through the maze of dreary allies only to stop in place suddenly, shocked looking up at the sky as a monstrous roar rips through the air and the sky turns blue with flame, scales and the scent of burning flesh. How Ironic It must be for a place revered by the gods as the dragon kingdom to be destroyed by their very own namesake. A palace holed up on a mountain disappears from existence in a brilliant flash of sparks and blinding light, and in its place appears one of the most terrifying beasts on the planet, A Dread God named the Azure dragon, on its back two mighty wings tear space with each flap and and its body, miles of eerie blue flesh and scales. Its head a grotesquely Beautiful combination of lizard, snake , and Horns. Its front and back legs ripple as it drapes its body over the once previous palace. The woman, still running, but now not just through the streets, but through flames, as her body, scorched, grips the bundle tighter. A massive Goldsteel Gate showing the immense wealth of the previous prosperous city looms ahead as she starts to stumble, her stamina from her goldsign the quilin finally failing. As she stumbles through the gate another great boom is heard over the horizon as people of all ages are heard wailing and crying, for why pray for a god at your time of death if that god can''t save you anyway. Woosh, the woman takes an elixir and her now gaunt face finally gains some vitality to it as she continues to run from the destruction behind her, and a good thing she does because as she reaches a mile away from the once grand city, a myriad of lighting strikes the city blowing it to smithereens as the enormous leviathan of a serpent dragon lands on the remains of the city crushing it into oblivion as one would crush an ant. The woman, now a lone survivor of the latest cataclysm traverses with only her bundle into a nearby cave, only to breakdown into heart wrenching sobs, However, unbeknownst to her, this was never her cave, but one occupied by an Ursa, A fiercesom dreadbeast. As the woman who now has no vestiges of strength collapses with the bundle unknowing of her visitor rapidly approaching.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. The Ursa an Apex creature in the wild which at adulthood reaches the strength an Underlord, the bear like animal with dark brown fur and white streaks is rippled with muscle, its head proud to own three pairs of razor sharp dagger long teeth, and several narly horns sticking out of its cheeks and forehead. Its front legs accompanied each by four claws each the size and sharpness of a shortsword and an opposable thumb claw used for grabbing hold of pray with its crushing strength. The Ursa straunts into the cave aware of the person sleeping in its home, roars a deep low roar shattering nearby stones into shrapnel that pierce the unexposed flesh of the woman¡¯s back, awakening her. She limps to the back of the cave hiding the bundle behind her, prepared to die for it she lunges at the Ursa who surprised by the sudden attack of such a weak creature, swipes its paws at the woman piercing her chest. The blood and gore soar through the air as the woman lets out a wheeze witch turns into a cough of blood and part of her internal organs, however the weak woman rushes back in, in a bloodlust state managing to make a small wound on the beasts foreleg. The Ursa furious at getting its pride stomped on by this pitiful weakling lunges and tears out the woman''s throat in a brutal spray of blood. The woman, light now dying from her eyes tries to reach out to the bundle far beyond her reach. The Ursa now happy with its new meal prepares to feast, but as it does a light pierces through its forehead, it falls to the ground still wondering what happened in a poof of dust and rock. Blood Sprays from the hulking beast¡¯s head and a glaive is slowly shown to be the perpetrator of this gory scene. A man, old as the Crucible itself wears unstained white robes and somehow the blood from the scene seems to gravitate away from him as he walks towards the dead woman taking. He observes her arm outstretched towards something in the back of the cave, and as he goes to investigate. He finds the bundle. Curious he senses a life signature in the bundle and as he opens it, he is surprised to find a newborn babe with a body as strong as steel, an iron body. ''Waaaa'' The baby whose preveously sleepen state is awoken somehow only now from its sleep. And, somewhere far off sitting on a bloody throne, a man with pitch black wings the color of ink ponders at how that baby still lives. ¡­ Around a glowing screen hovers a man overseeing all the events occur, ¡°strange¡±, he mutters. ¡°The strings of Fate have changed.¡± He hums as the screen flickers out of existence and the man suddenly disappears. (Comment if you see any problems, I will try to keep this updated weekly as it is a project for school. So, any comment is greatly appreciated) Birth of a Legend Turning around Julius dogged over the dummy''s left hand as he managed to smack the dummy consecutively on its head, chest and lower torso. A white light glowed from the dummy signifying its defeated state. Only 17 more to go, and only 10 seconds to do it. He moved on to the next fast as lightning, his wooden glaive piercing through the air with each strike. Whoosh, he dogged over another as he outed another hay opponent, only to get smacked by the makeshift stick that each dummies was holding. "HOLD!" A indifferent and kingly voice sounded out A man settled in a lotus position hundreds of meters away appeared in a flash before Junius. "WHERE IS YOUR HONOR!", "WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY." Junius winced as he heard the harsh words from his master and only confidant, the sage of the glaive. Junius scratched behind his head only to get wacked by the blunt side of a glaive appearing out of nowhere. "PAY ATTENTION BOY!" His voice calms down as he slowly repeats words dreaded more than death to the young boy. " Go to the circle". With a firm no refusal voice. Julius, knowing his gruesome fate, drudged towards a circle of black flame and blades. As he got inside the circle, the flames not only burned him, but they tempered his Low-Gold Core with everlasting heat from hell. The blades facing him repeatedly jabbed and stabbed him, cause the once scarred skin to become even more scarred and burnt. Screaming his heart out, Julius had to endure heart wrenching pain as it felt like his remnant was being birth then pulled back into his body in a repeating cycle. This, his punishment for not following orders to the fullest extent on his path of the raging glaive personally created by his master of an unknown age. All that is known about his masters power state is that he is one of the top sages in cradle and very close to breaking through to becoming one of the great heralds. Even in the ninecloud courts his master, a well renowned figure known for killing the infamous Sage of the burning river, a master of the golden dragon''s flowing flame art who terrorized part of the court. ... Hours later, julius lay in a bloody mess in the now extinguished circle of flame and blade. His master looking from afar only shakes his head as he walks away back into a small house appearing from nowhere. Junius, who is slowly waking groans out in agony knowing full well that that was not his last time in that circle of hell. Resigned he pulls himself up pulling the last vestiges of his madra to power his unknown iron body to drive him back to training. Back to the dummies once again. He thinks as he once again joins the repetitive grind of training. ... The dummies head flies back as it glows a white light, and is officially out of the count, he runs and jumps over the next one hitting his hay foe to the left of him with three quick swipes, one overhand and two left to right. He activates his madra pushing himself further as he uses the piercing sweep to knock out three dummies at once. He backflips landing in a crouched position with another dummy out for the count. Only 10 more to go he thinks to himself as he runs back into the fight, He deflects the dummy to his right''s attack and buts his spear against the chest of the one to his left, twirling his glaive he slices back around to the right and slashes across its chest and head knocking another out, as he ducks under an attack made by the left dummy he pierces it in the stomach taking out another one. I''ve got this he thinks, this is the best he''s done so far as her uses flawless, glaive techniques to quickly knock out a few other in the span of a couple seconds.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! His sixth sense flares up and he jumps, a close one as an attack sweeps by below him he strikes the subject of the previous attack, one of the few ones left with a thrust downward into the dummies chest, quickly pulling it out he also smashes the blunt side of the dummies head with enough madra to smash a tone boulder to smithereens. The dummy only knocked out for the count showing next to no signs of its previous injury proves its makers resilience in the art of soul smithing. He turns around and kicks off another active dummy slashing the one behind him out of the count, and then he uses part of his madra and path to simulate his foot as a long glaive piercing the one he kicked off of. "17.8 seconds, well done. But... not enough, do it again in fifteen and this time don''t use your weapon, use your body as one. You have the rest of the day off to cycle with this. His master throws out an object, a flash of red and blue flies by. Julius catches it in his left hand, throwing his arm partly back from the catch. He looks up and realizes he''s alone, his master must have gone off to train. Julius returns back to a mat in the middle of the field and sits down in a lotus position slowly absorbing the chip of glaive madra. This chip holding enough madra to tear his soul and remnant apart is slowly integrated into his soul, ad julius uses his breathing technique and his core clangs with what seems to be an endless amount of weapons clashing in his core. His cultivation of low gold, solid and calm with enough concentration to break into high gold immediately is concentrated even more with the consumption of this new madra. His core now on the verge of a breakthrough, slowly starts to grow as a bright flash occurs and Julius is seen profusely sweating with his brows knitted in concentration as he slowly absorbs the rest of his masters madra, only to pass out asleep on the cold ground. ... The next morning he wakes up in totally unfamiliar surroundings and although half asleep, still snaps to attention looking around. His mat, his training ground.....his master, everything and everyone is gone replaced by a sea of dying trees a surprising sight in the desolate world of Crucible. With his attention snapped on the current surrounding of the unfamiliar scene he remembers that although his madra from his now high gold body should support him for a few months, then he will need food and water to sustain him lest he get hurt. So, shelter is definitely on the top of the list. ''Keep vigilance even in the safest of places'' his masters words permeated him as he spread his madra sence around him noticing almost nothing out of the usual. As he hid and slid through the shadows looking for sustenance, he started gaining confidence in his new pursuit for something in the forest. Then suddenly Nothing, no sound, no bugs, the forest was dead.... The trees were now eerie as he changed from his casual jog to a full on sprint, spreading out his sense he realized there was a very powerful aura quickly approaching from behind. He stopped and turned on his heel, knowing that he could not outrun this ferocious dreadbeast based on the aura alone and the remnant it chased. Strangely smart, he thought, that something as dumb as a remnant would think to use him as a distraction. The trees behind in front of him rustled and creaked as a dog scorpion like remnant rushed past him. He was surprised, usually these things were always hunting for madra, rarely would they ever run, but as sudden as he thought that the trees that the remnant bursted through started booming and soon fell down in a burst of smoke. Revealing a hideous monstrosity. The Path Forward Ten meters tall, a giant black beast stepped once out of the clearing on four, three jointed legs, tipped with four dagger like back claws. Its two scaled wolf heads reared toward the sky and an ear piercing screech rang out causing Julius to fall to his knees covering his now bleeding ears, this was almost too much, a true gold with soulflame. An opponent no other gold could touch and one that was a quasi-underlord. The Wolf like creature beared its four saber like fangs at Julius in a terrifying sneer, the globs of spit that came out of its mouth melted and bubled on the dark soil below. Shit, I thought the beasts spit is acid. I backed up slowly bringing my arm around my back reaching for my glaive, only to grab at air. Crap, I forgot I don''t have my weapon. I prepared to charge the beast as it looked ready to meet me in the middle, I ran instead. Although powerful, I knew that I was nothing but an already uncooked meal for the monster. I ran ducking under dead branches and rushing through brandles cursing my luck with the gods for being placed in an unknown situation with an enemy that I could never defeat. My madra, thankfully solid and full depleted slowly as I used it to power my rush through the trees, however, I could feel its presence gaining on me a few metres at a time, I had to think fast. I took a quick scan at my surroundings looking for anything that could prove useful in my endeavour against the beast. Nothing, just barren trees, wait, no. There was another colossal presence was up ahead, but inactive. Slumbering I thought as I pushed my body to the edge in trying to gain a foothold on the gaining beast. This could prove deadly, however, it was my only solution in the dire situation that I had landed myself in. I hopped over a fallen log, and wrapped around a tree changing my direction by a few degrees to the left, straight towards the lair of another deadly monster. What was up with this place, almost no place except some of the forbidden territories in the kingdom had Dreadbeasts as powerful and cunning as the one already following me, and none had several in the same territories of forbidden grounds. It hit me, what if I wasn¡¯t in the kingdom anymore, where was that so many powerful DreadBeasts could reside, near the center of crucible. I sure hope not I thought I¡¯d be able to be killed by nearly anything. As, I slowly neared the presence and as the monster slowly neared its future victim, a massive platough of thigh high grass with a lake appeared with a massive dark oppressing form in the bottom of the lake. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it I gathered my madra in my arms into the form of the burning droplet, not much of a name when it just makes a giant ball of lava I thought, but thoughts aside I used my madra to jump high in the air and tried to as accurately as I could hit the slumbering giant in the lake. ¡°Woosh¡±, the lava sped to the bottom of the pond hot enough to burn the water around the it, so that the sphere would not turn to rock with the touch of ordinary water. A ding rang out loud enough to send the scaled wolf that was following me to whine in pain. My still ringing ears had barely enough sound to even register the noise as I landed on my toes crushing the grass below me into a heap of tangles and ran off, just as the sound of another much more base roar rang out tearing many of the trees around the clearing out of the soil into the air with the sheer force of it. I kept running realizing that I bit off more than I could chew in this hope for survival as another whine sounded from the now distant dog as crunching sounds filled the air. I pushed my iron body further than I thought I could now cracking my skin with the force of the madra intake, and veins pulsing with a blue light as I finally realized that I was in the clear, and that such a lazy beast would never try running after an ant. However, as I thought back to the encounter I realized that the beast must have been an overlord dreadbeast or more to even be able to instantly kill the the wolf dreadbeast. I put the thoughts to the back of my head, as I know ran forward at full speed looking for and end to the dangerous environment I intruded upon. ¡­¡­.. The crunch of leaves was eerie under my boots as I continued forward later that day, now not only in search of civilization but in search of a way to resolve my rumbling stomach. The now dimming light in the sky was not a good sign, because all the lessons my master had taught me were that only the most dangerous dreadbeast and remnants came out at night. And, so speak of the devil, a remnant was once again fast approaching me with the hope for absorbing more madra from my dead corpse. The remnant was a large scaled lizard with a gory sight to behold as several spine were bursting out of its back. The remnant although on the same level as me was frighteningly fast as it sped towards me faster than the wolf beast from before, and slashed my lower leg as I cried out in pain still trying to take the opening and hit the create with my now madra made glaive of flowing lava. I smashed it in the back as it tried to rear to the side and dodge my attack, although fast, not near as nimble enough to dodge an attack from the path of the Burning RIver. It screamed in pain as its back had been destroyed and all that lay was a slab of burnt and bleeding flesh with bones of madra sticking out. With its resolve destroyed I slammed the rest of my glaive into its head, exploding it in a cloud of gore and flame. From the remnant I leapt into the tree, hoping to use it as bait for a more¡­ edible animal. Luckily moments later, a type of green rock crab ran through the footage at the corpe. My meal had arrived. ¡­ Later, I drew out of the forest cooked meat in my hand and and the world ahead of me, what now, would I look for my master, or would I search for the lore of my lost past. The path forward (2) ... A table is blown to dust as a fist crashes through the open air. " Curse the Damn Dragon clan, they always meddle in others affairs." The dust in the air began to settle as a muscular, middle age man appeared lifting up his thick scar lined arms to trace his gold sign remnant. A Pair of long twisting horns on the side of his head, fading in and out of sight like a shimmering mirage. Three knocks slighted the Dark wooden door as a timid sounding voice crossed into the threshold of the room. "Overlord, the news has arrived." The mysterious man clothed in rich blank garment uttered a low grunt as the servant entered the room. "What news pray tell do you have for me." Said the mysterious man in an ominous sounding voice. The now cowering servant walked forward "I...T....s.....thth...." "speak up PEASANT" Said the man. "Itts thheee Drraggons tthhey havvee capturred tthe ssagge." Said the servant. The man stayed eerily quiet then in a sudden flash of light, the servant was no more than a spatter of blood as the man licked the splattered blood off his lips. "They''ve made their last mistake taking that monster from me, hes mine to kill." He mumbled. ... Two months later ... A strong breeze blew through the air as a sea of sparks puffed upwards from a small fire on top of a hill. Julius sitting on a log with now shoulder length hair blowing in the breeze as he looked downwards from the hill to a city miles away. Finally a lead he thought as he continued gazing as the spiraling towers and cluster of town works. After months of wandering and going forward he had advanced to True-Gold from the peak of high gold by using his experiences in the many battles he fought over past months and the madra rich air certainly helped also. He had wondered many times where he was, and how he got here but all that he could come up with was that his master must have used some random teleportation artifact on him to get him out of danger that even his master could not handle or he was abducted and placed in the forest. Either way, he hoped that the former wasn''t true, because if it was he was near clueless on how he would survive the next years. Putting that thought to the back of his mind Julius got up from the decaying log he sat upon and took the remnants of the charred beast he had cooking over the fire. A gamey meat chunk on a stick. He ripped part of it off to toss in his mouth as he started a slow walk to the city, hoping that he would not encounter any powerful remnants that would make him backtrack. The desert landscape that he had to cross between him and the city was filled with remnant howls that Julius could hear echoing around him. As he walked, he slowly sped up his pace until he was at a full sprint with a cloud of sand trailing behind him as he kicked it up when running. Only a short distance from the city Julius cursed himself as he realized that another entity entered his perception range, and not just a remnant, but another sacred artist that most likely wished to loot his body before he escaped into the city. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. The man sneered as he mockingly said to Julius. ¡°STOP! By law you are required to give all of your belongings to the city before entering if you are not a current resident¡±. And, it was for good reason that the bandit mocked Julius because, he was a peak True gold at the breaking point of Underlord, with only the need to forge his body in soulfire. Julius with confidence however drew his makeshift Glaive that he had bathed in the little soulfire he could get from himself. It was a dark bronze color as it reflected off of the setting sun, and the edge shown a ferocious light from hour of honing the edge. He brought the spear down in front of him in a defensive stance as he cycled his madra into the Plasma edge bringing his firepower to a higher degree, with his glaive now giving off a low glow and whine in the air. Both of them sped towards each other and met in a clash of sparks and molten fire. The unknown man collected madra in his body as it shifted into a flickering state with his speed drastically increasing, the man''s gold signs ( A part of the remnant he absorbed to get into gold), a pair of Sharp dirks that extended from his shoulder blades and elbows. These sharp blades seemed to appear like most gold signs and defy reality, they looked like a colorful tear in reality that flickered in and out of existence in unison with the man¡¯s madra. They seperated in a burst of speed, circling each other while eyeing each others weaknesses and strengths. So, he follows a strange path that focuses on speed, based on that his defense should be relatively low and his offense relatively high. Junius thought in a flash as he dashed back into the fray trying his hardest to dodge and weave while applying the buff to his spear. His madra was slowly draining as he gained more and more wounds from his quick opponent only striking a few blows in return. However, although his blows were little, the effect of his madra on his opponent was great, the burning madra was slowly eroding away his opponents skin because of the burns effects. Covered in cuts and gashes, both enemies glare at each other. However, Based on the current scene it looked that Julius was in the lead, although almost grievously wounded, his enemy''s state was still degrading compared to Julius¡¯s wounds which upon being made, cauterized immediately. Wounded, they both went at each other''s throats with all they had duking it out. In a bright light the unknown man used a martial technique that allowed him not move faster, but more gracefully, now easily dodging the moves that would have wounded him earlier. Shit Julius thought as he began to overcharge his burning drop technique in order to try and K.O. the bandit. The man paled as he realized the force behind Julius¡¯s burning drop, and he began to run towards the city hoping that in the walls he could find refuge. Julius began to give chase knowing that the man an enemy better left dead than alive. Julius sprinted after the man trailing flames as he brought his hand back and volleyed the technique at the man, who managed to almost dodge it. However, although he managed to dodge most of the blow, the flaming glaive madra slowly burned away him from the point it hit him. The man¡¯s screams could heard for miles until his abrupt end a second later when Julius delivered his final blow. Julius, looted only a few of the man''s madra coins from him and continued toward the city, now much more vigilant because his madra was low and he was in dire need of cycling. As he arrived at the perimeter of the city he realized that everyone here was giving off an aura of high gold and above with only children below age 15 giving off a lowgold or jade aura. As he admired his surroundings he was once again stopped, now however by an actual few uniformed true golds with the lead telling him ¡° Son you must pay the toll to get in the city¡±. Shit with how piss poor I am no I just hope it isn''t much. Julius though as a asked the amount required. ¡° Only three madra coins, and they have to be made by your madra.¡± Thankfully it wasn''t much, but as Julius handed over the required amount he questioned the man on what city this was. ¡°This here boy, is the part of the Cloud Court.¡± Was all the man answered as he and his buddies walked away. So far again, I guess now I could start my search. A Piece of Information As Julius walked through the sprawling streets and high rising buildings, the mix of colors hit him in a wave, as he looked around a lanky boy ran up to him. ¡°Mister! Mister! Do you need a guide? Only one low grade madra scale is all it costs, Mister.¡± Julius waved him off as he continued forward, and as the boy was walking away Julius hesitated looking back then calling out towards the boy. ¡°Hey, Kid, do you know where they keep public archives, or where I can find an alchemy hall?¡± He said all this while flipping up a scale in his hand. The kid ran up to him trying to snatch all the scale out of his hand just as Julius caught it again dangling the scale just out of the young boys reach. ¡°Common Mister . . . I require up front pay!¡± Said the boy. ¡°No, No, No¡­ How about I give you this ¡® Julius pats the scale in his hand as he pulls out another scale he got from the bandit¡¯ and give you this one when I get all my information.¡± Julius tossed the one up in the air again as the boy grabbed it shouting ¡° DEAL!¡± And he quickly looked around and shoved it in his pocket. The boy ran ahead as though nothing happened and started to talk about the current surroundings telling Julius what the buildings were and where to find some of the best food to steal, he also told him which establishments would cheat him out of money which would not and this continued for awhile as they continued toward the alchemy hall, when they reached it, a long segment of walled courtyards and a big pagoda like building in the middle with sentries walking along the platforms, escorting people in and out of the building. Then they continued down a few alleyways as the sun began to set and reached some public archives. ¡°Where''s my money sir?¡± The boy pleaded, just as two low grade scales were thrown at him. ¡°Thankyou! Thankyou! THANKYOU SIRE!¡± he shouted as he quickly got caught up in his excitement, but it quickly boiled down as he realized that he was making a scene and he quickly ran away into the crowded streets hoping to blend in and steal more money. Julius, however, quickly walked up to the deserted archives and opened the double doors in front of him, however as they opened he was assaulted by a stale, old stench and an ancient woman propped up on a cane stood at the entry way saying a monotonous tone ¡° One Silver Coin.¡± He handed her the coin as she said ¡°Keep quiet¡±, and moved off to the side sitting down on a chair. He moved forward looking at the myriad of books on the shelf with only a single symbol defining what each shelf held. The shelfs in the building continued on for hundreds of yards each way making the inside appear much larger than the outside. Each shelf housed hundreds of books and was double sided, 10 feet tall, and around 40 feet long. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. He wandered along the aisles looking for a section on maps and locations so he could figure out where he was. He finally found the section with a massive map sprawled out across the wall next to the shelf with several pins marking important areas. He walked over and looked at the symbol displaying where he was, a small city in the akura clan territory. He had no idea where he was before he appeared in that forest so . . . he was still relatively clueless on how he could contact his master if he was still alive. Still, he must move on, and now that his master wasn¡¯t here he finally had a place to vent so he could figure out where he came from. He quickly walked towards the lists of known citizens in the Akura Clan¡¯s territory, and as he arrived at the lists, he was baffled. There was no way he would be able to scope out and scan the known lists of people in the akura empire at the moment. So, he decided to rule down the numbers by eliminating the known people in the area with an age older than 20 and younger than 15. However, he was still swamped with the amount of people left on the known list, so he took an alternative route and went looking for the amount of people his age who had disappeared from their family, or were known to be dead. This thankfully lowered his list down to several tens of thousands, then he further eliminated people of other races and only included humans of his race, eliminating it down to only several thousand. Dear dreadgods, take me now. This will take absolutely forever. He thought. . . . . . Days later and half his money gone, he was finally finished with his search, unfortunately his research bore no fruits except for a lead on a lately destroyed kingdom, however, he would have no one to verify his origin except for his master whose whereabouts were currently unknown. Especially given that his master was a wanderer and Julius had lived his whole life running across the continent from either an unknown enemy or to gain more experience like his master had said. However, the former was becoming more and more likely with Julius¡¯s mysterious teleportation to the Akura¡¯s territory from where he was before and his master unoccupied position currently near him. Julius gave up his search after a few hours and decided to continue it another day, however now, money was a up and coming problem. He was half broke and his soul smithing skills were not the best and he only excelled at being a ruler and striker with his enforcer being half as good as the others at best. So, he decided to do what he was best at and apply for some missions at the local small family organization they had in the city, as he walked into the building the boy had showed him days ago he was stunned by the amount of requests on the board from the smallest only offering a few coppers to kill some remnant infections and the largest offering up to a few hundred gold for scouting out the area of a dangerous part in the dragon clan. Julius looked through the request for a few minutes deciding on a couple one to kill some higher level dreadbeast that had terrorized some people and gain a few gold. He then went looking for a relatively cheap place to stay in luckily managed to find one relatively near. He payed up some of the rest of his money and started his madra cycling technique when he reached the closed room, trying to reinforce his madra before the action in the next day. The Hunt P1 As he looked at the details on the paper, he realized that he may have taken more that he bargained for, especially with a high level dreadbeast that is has an unkown strength of at least true gold and an unidentifiable look, with only reports of fleeting looks like some type of red lizard, or as the one auspicious report had said. However, although the paper was slightly sketchy the offer was a hefty sum of 1,000 gold and 10 pure madra spirit coins, and although the coins may be not useful for his path, he could still use them in soul smithing¡­ or just outright sell them for more money.¡¯ \___\ ¡®<(^o^< He wandered out of the small families organization and into the bustling roads, he made sure that his remaining money was safe on him and not in jeopardy of being stolen. He then made his way through the street towards the exit gate, but not before asking a few questions about the area he was going to finding it bereft of workers because of the recent attacks and murders by the mysterious dreadbeast. So, after making it out of the city, and into the field where he fought and defeated the bandit, he quickly scanned his surroundings with his madra sense and finding nothing of note, he decided to head to the only living witness of the mysterious dread beasts/ remnants ( let''s refer to it as the monster from now on to make this easier). ¡­ hours later, he was on the opposite side of the city from before, and approaching the current residence of the monster witness¡¯s. He arrived a couple minutes later in a hilly region looking up at a lone tavern like cottage, a strange sight for around these parts as most houses were usually small and had a courtyard or pagoda. The misplaced bricks thrown here and there proved to him that there used to be a path and that the current run down tavern may have once been popular. However, although it looked deserted he could faintly see a lantern glowing through the windows and smoke slowly drifting out of the quaint chimney. He walked up to the door, and finding no handel he pushed it with a loud creak. He was met with a less than inviting sight of an uncleaned area with a few people crowded around a table talking and betting, and a few others eating around a breaking down oven. He was unaware why the people would even be eating and crowding around the oven as their cultivation should be enough to keep them warm and fed with ambient madra for months. However, based on the aura he felt around them, he realized that they were only at the jade realm. Strange, for people so low to be living alone. As he stepped through the entry-way all eyes darted to him before backing reverting to their own affairs. He noticed however that there was a man in the corner who had avoided his sense and realized it was another true gold, however one that must have walked some type of shadow path or cycled a technique to hide his madra from people who weren¡¯t close to him.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Julius walked up and sat down in front of the man, pulling out a spirit coin and slamming it on the table. ¡° I got a couple questions for you about this mysterious monster that destroyed your home?¡± The man glanced around and inconspicuously waved his hand across the table picking up the coin of madra. ¡° Well¡¯er it be lik dis, -¡® spits into empty beer can¡¯- I be doin my nurmal charge, ordrin them mortals (those below gold) round fur da boss ¡®nd ll¡¯rva sudden it goes reeeeaaallll quite, all dem tuwnsfulk frum the wilds were gone, den fire flashed nd sum red scaled abum¡¯nation came out uf nowhere flashing teeth and tearing up them overseers round me. I run all I culd till I reached this here broken building.¡± The man said Well shit, Julius thought. He had next to nothing to gone on except for the monster being some type of fire path user and it was definitely no remnant, but a dread beast. Based on the scales it was probably some type of drake, however he wasn¡¯t sure of its power level, and he knew he would stand no chance if he didnt break into underlord soon, witch with the baptism of holy fire to help his body, could take anywhere from one day to a couple months. With next to no information on the monster with the exception of a questionable location and strength. He moved on hoping that he wouldn¡¯t have to track the monster with his sub-par tracking skills. What a pain he thought wincing at the likely future. As he ran down the path, trying to get to the sight of the attack as fast as he could hoping for the monster to still be there, he kept heading into the hills, until tens of miles later, he found he saw a decimated cluster of buildings and streets giving off an eerie glow in the setting sun. He decided to cycle for the night, hoping that this monster ws no nocturnal hunter, as those were usually the most dangerous. Spreading out his sense he took a pill and began cycling his madra trying to regain some of his lost strength from the long journey over, and further solidify his foundation towards underlord. ¡­ In the morning he awoke from his trance like state double checking his madra sense reavling nothing nearby but a couple remnants, he moved toward the smouldering ruins. As he arrived he realized the destruction was more than he imagined. Cringing at the hardship that the tribal townsfolk would have to do if they ever wanted to come back. He started searching for the monster finding a set a hooved and cloud tracks with all different sizes¡­ ¡®Stange¡¯, he thought. O well, he kept following them and realizing that they were new, he deducted that it moved at night making it nocturnal. Damb, if only I had been here last night instead of cycling, screw the luck of the monarchs. He thought. He ended up just starting to track the beast, hoping that it had fallen into a slumber by now, and he could ambush it in its sleep. Tracking its footprints, and slowly catching up to it, he left the town far behind and begin trudging through now sparse trees and hills. Cresting the top of one of the hills he jumped in joy as he used his advanced eyes to see a cave in the distance and the remaining footprints leading him towards it. He shivered, he wasn''t sure what it was out of, however he ignored that trained battle sense that his master had taught him in his new freedom and the pile of money that would be his when he killed the dreadbeast. ¡­ ¡°FOOLISH HUMAN¡±, it clacked. As the branches shook in the wind and crows cawed as it kept its eyes forward on the glowing figure in the distant sea of grays. It shook its massive body moving forwards. (Have Yet to edit this for grammar sorry, comment if you like.) The Hunt p2 As Julius peeled back the screen of cobwebs in front of the cave he once again questioned his sanity for doing this and wondered if the reward was worth the trouble, and possibly his life. His Master had always told him to always riskhis life in order to gain combat experience and gain more power, however if against overwhelming odds he was told to always flee, ignoring his honor because his life was more important than his pride. Was this worth it? Had his greed caused him great peril, and was this an unsurmountable chasm he couldn''t jump? No, he was here and he needed money - *cough* not only for greed- but for finding out his origin, and the only way to accomplish that was to either find his master whose fate is unknown. Or, to race forward and continue asking scholars and pay great prices to get information thought lost. However, he hoped it would never be that but with his shitty luck, who knows. Yet, back onto the task. He shook his hands out of disgust mumbling. ¡°Where the F*ck these webs even come from¡­ He shook his head and activated his lava madra to flow to the tip of his glaive, giving him a ghastly appearance in the dim light. He grimaced as his surroundings were known to him and he realized that much more than people had fallen to this beast, there were dragons, god he hoped that they were under underlord and that they were just weak golds. However, his intuition told him otherwise. As he dredged through bones and rock, he realized that this cave was no natural formation, but something carved out of the rock itself, it was pocketed with slashes from claws and parts of it polished silver from moving the earth with madra. Ignoring his otherwise frightened psyche from this new discovery he started wondering how far down this creature-made cave went, and the further he went, the further the bone density grew until it looked like its own catacombs. However the pattern was noticeable in the bones representing a big monster crushing them with all its weight in sleep, and the stench was growing more overpowering still. Finally, after what felt like miles of walking cautiously he reached a large underground cavern, the bones shining an ominous and brittle, pale white in the gleam of his glaive. In the center of the cavernous region was a massive mound of bones and that horrid stench was unmistakably originating from that spot. He started preparing his madra for a semi-powerful jab to the bones and thrust forth lava blossoming from his glaive, twisting and melting the bones upon contact. A white smoke imploded from the bones as they joined the molten rock and the pile shrunk revealing a single glowing red egg that had managed to survive his attack. ¡°F*ck, F*CK, F*CK!¡± Julius shouted as he realized that whatever made that egg had trapped him and the instant he finished his cursing a load booming snarl echoed through the cave shattering the bones from the intensity of it. Julius knew he had little time, however this was his only chance, and with only minutes at his disposal he hoped to use the madra being emitted by the egg to break into underlord¡­ it was a artifact of sorts. As Julius thought back to why he traveled his road of martial arts. To Find his origin. His soulflame started to revolve around him baptising hi in an unholy flower of red flame. I hope this works he thought, as he started to break through.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Looking on from the outside it looked as though Julius was encased in a column of moving snakes with his red soulflame slithering around his body. ¡­ Julius landed on his knees relishing his newfound power for a second before coming to the realization of where he was and instantly he started cycling his madra and started bathing his glaive with even more soulflame trying to make it just that much stronger. Seconds later, a massive lumbering form burst through the opening of the cavern barely fitting its hulking body through the passageway, and coughing up a plume of bone dust around it still making its type unknown to Julius. He did, however, get to glimpse its power of a high underlord being. This was going to be tough he though, unless the monsters intelligent and I can work this out, however, I just attacked its offspring and took power from it. A fight I guess than. ¡°Hey bud, come on how about I just leave, ya know sorry for intruding.¡± Julius said In a gruff voice it replyed. ¡°THINGS HAVE JUST BEGAN, HAHAHA, THANK YOU FOR YOUR OFFERING OF DINNER THOUGH.¡± It trudged out of the dust, its body a horror of Ruby scales and a long serpentine tail ending in a sword like point. It flashed its many centipede like feet and its head opened up into four separate mandibles that made up its face, its maw continued on like a deep abyss with sycle like serrated teeth gnashing in an unnatural sight. Its spine and horn creasting around its head and following its Spine(?) backwards. However, it worst sight were its eyes, 4 bedey eyes glowed with an unnatural light on each of its pincers and a 5th eye was found on the apex of its head before its horns started. Some lovecraft abomination he thought. It clattered toward him on its many legs as it cycled its madra and a sinister blue fire wreathed its teeth, tail, and the rim of its eyes. With an unilateral speed for its massive size it sped toward him leaving a trail of fire in its wake. Thankfully it was some type of fire dreadbeast, however he had no clue what the hell it was so its weaknesses and strengths were unknown. He dodged under its sharp pincers as he jabbed his glaive forward magma on its tip toward the beasts stomach. With it unnatural agility it flinched back with Julius only scoring spark and a minor wound against the beast. The monster turned half its body around and screeched at him, knocking him back with the force of it. It got on its hind legs and started chittering together its limbs as it prepared its tail to strike him. ¡°WHOOM, WHOOM WHOOM!¡± It tried three times, and three times he thankfully dodged, however its fire madra managed to score a hit on him and tore open the skin before he was able to dispel it. He cried in agony as he shot a lava droplet at the beast searing its back side and causing it to roar again. He circled around it in a defensive posture once again, now more weary of the fire madra this beast owned. What was it, how did it tear open skin before even burning? He was hit with a volley of questions trying to figure the creature out. However, now was not the time to question, but the time to win. He looked at the scaled chitin on the monsters underbelly at its mangled skin, and realized that he had barely broken though, slashing wouldn''t work here. He would have to use piercing techniques. He used a technique that his master said to only use in dire situations, The Gods Fang, it increases his damage tenfold and his agility, however it also decreases his madra ten fold. Based on his new breakthrough and his current standing, he would only have 17 seconds of the constant technique before he fainted, and the way knows his fate if that occured. As he activated his technique, he was wreathed in flame, his clothes were magically protected from the flame although that would do no good to them as they were already in tatters. His glaive elongated and the point grew evermore sharper, and the surface seemed to shimmer with heat as it turned itself into lava, flowing up and down with the insignia of an asura on the side. The Dreadbeast, knowing he was going full out, also increased its speed as they clashed, sparks flew through the musty cave air, incinerating bones and scales alike. Each foe gave each other serious blows with each hit, however as each blow was exchanged it was growing increasingly obvious that although the monster had great vitality, so did Julius. And, each of his blows scored were all in the same spot, gradually increasing the size and depth of the wound until the Monster finally collapsed at the same time as Julius collapsed on his knees. He deactivated his technique just in time,collapsing to his knees he realized he wouldn''t be able to use it for another day however, but he was left with only one second, allowing him easier access to cycle the ambient madra. As Julius left depreft of madra so he could cycle in a place filled with less death madra, he glanced back, and for the slightest moment his light flickered off the Monsters egg creating a small shimmer.