《Re:Serpent, the Struggles of a 'Snake' to Survive and Evolve...》 The Day Im ReBorn. Owwww....what the hell is this place? A pitch-black void? What did the hell happen? I remembered training in my foster father''s dojo and headed out with my step-sister, Mira to meet her friends, ...then...oh god no. An out-of-control truck was crashing into cars left and rights, and for some godforsaken reason heading towards us, AND ONLY US, on THE SIDEWALK we''re standing on! I pushed Mira out of the way, but the truck...it was hellbent on hitting Mira as it changed direction, towards her. Out of desperation, I jumped and tried to shield her....and now......what in the blazes is this feeling? I feel something very stony whenever I move my body around, almost feels like jade similar to that from the Buddha necklace I wear around my neck. I also feel like my entire being now exists in an liquid world of calm and warm. I can''t feel my limbs...as if I don''t have them anymore and for some strange reason, it feels peculiarly natural to not have them. I tried looking around, now focusing my senses onto my surrounding, hoping to find any answers to my dilemma..... 5 Hours...Finally, I SEE something after FIVE hours, and all it took to do so is to try and feel my surroundings with my entire being, though I now can see my surroundings, though my field of vision is higher than usual! I see...colors...dyed in white, black, and red mixed with some light colored tattoo-like lines, resembling veins, as far as I can tell...I feel like I''m in a crystal-ish world, without any lucid transparency to see through it like a window. ...No matter where I look, all I see are the same colors...where am I? A prison....or...I decided to reach out with my entire body to feel the shape of my ''prison''...I now know I am in an oval-like 3-dimensional multicolored container...like an egg......oh no, no way... Feeling bored, and too weak to break out, I decided to calm myself and meditate, trying to manipulate and explore my foreign body, hoping it is NOT what I think it is. With just my sense of touch alone and some effort, I feel...scales judging from my skin''s hard and rough feeling, lots of sharp fangs instead of teeth on my lower jaw and upper jaw based on the sharp grating feeling from slightly gnashing my teeth, and arms, yes I have arms but no legs sadly except my tail...I do not remember feeling any arms there before...did they appear, or was I too late to notice them looking? Although the arms feel a little too short, and one finger too short... One thing''s for sure, I am, NOT, human. Which means my fears have come true...Reincarnation...I read about it, though through light novels and mangas and anime out of boredom besides training and stuff, never believing it was real though there are some vague, brittle religious records of ''prophets.'' And now I know. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. What should I do...? What CAN I do? Relive my life as a monster? I will not eat humans if I can hope. But I am now thinking too far ahead, and I now need to focus on what to do before I hatch and to do after, so until then, I will get used to my body, however, I can, despite my limited movements in this confined space. *Unknown time later....* I lost track of time, and I discovered I have an unopposable sleeping habit I must follow at set long intervals, so I use itmark mount of um...''days'' passed, assuming the units of time are the same here, but now I have a decent feel for my new body. I feel some strange foreign energy within me, which is weird and a little hard to get used to. I can even feel a large, predatory presence from time to time...which I assume is my parent as it constantly warmed me in care however it can. From my time here, I feel as if I''m growing stronger and stronger from each passing second, and I now feel I can hatch if I want to. However, for some reason, I have an instinctual feeling I will no longer grow stronger and will be vulnerable and weak if I do hatch. So I will remain here until I know the time is right. *Some More Time Later...* I now realize my current race might not be like those that exist back home and feeling bored, I decided to experiment with my body, only with the strange energy I feel in me. I focused it into parts of my body, starting with my senses and mind, hoping something will happen. Doing this, I now feel I made a breakthrough somehow. I now see...an egg...which I assume is me from an outsider''s point of view...and looking around...I see....lava...literally lava...and I am bathing in a shallow lava lake in it within an egg...inside a dark underground, crystal cave judging from the rocky ground and ceiling with glowing crystals here and there serving as light sources, which for some reason I can feel they are radiating with a certain power....wow. I suppose this is what they call ''mana'' and ''magic'', huh? ........I now feel excited and giddy inside......despite my horrifying predicament....huh. Hmmmmm...I will see how far I can master my innate abilities even further....I wonder if this world has Qi as well...? Random thoughts aside, I know what to do for now. So until I hatch and reap as much strength as I can, I will bide my time training then. And then...I fell asleep, waiting for the next ''day'' to come. *Author here. As some may know, I am the editor of VanZans'' fiction, Those Who Aspired to Become Gods. For those who don''t know, check out his fiction if you want. I am writing this because I want to test myself as an author and hope to see if my writing and storytelling skills can match the tastes of my audience and stuff. Also, as THE EVIL OVERLORD I AM, I DEMAND FAIR CRITICISM OF MY ERRORS! NOT WHINING JACKASSES ON HOW THEY WANT THE STORY TO GO!!!!! AND I NEED IT NOW! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! *EVIL SMILE* Chapter 1: Developing/Training Period: Part 1 The next day, after I woke up, I practiced on my control over, use over, and (out of amusement and whim) cultivation of mana, which succeeded surprisingly since I really did it as a joke, I mean I CAN cultivate! ¡­Well sort of, as I am not sure how monsters cultivate, so I decided to use my own ¡®mana¡¯ and knead it into every fiber of my being, a concept based on the light novels I read and so on, and it worked, strengthening my body, bones, flesh, scales, mind, and etc. to a significant degree. It was possible since I can monitor and regulate my internal energy flow using my profound inhuman senses, which is very useful in sensing and helps me monitor by feeling the effects and changes in and on my body. My own reserves replenish over time, so I have no need to worry, and it is also growing more and more each day. The second day after that, I practiced internal mana control and experimented with it. When I ¡®saw¡¯ myself the first time, I now know that what I did was, by focusing my mana and intentions, I unintentionally ¡®project¡¯ my sight outside my physical being, meaning I can now see without moving my body, almost like ¡®Clairvoyance¡¯, but I could not hear sounds, so I worked on that problem until I eventually solved it by projecting my sense of sound along with my sight. I even tried it with sense of touch, and now I can project my entire senses out of the shell and observe my surroundings by the end of the ¡®day¡¯, before I sleep, yes I sleep inside the egg, which is definitely not normal even for monsters haha. The third day, my parent usually comes to care for me in every 3 ¡®days¡¯ from what I gathered on her habits and timing, I decided to take a good look at my¡­mother¡­who is a huge (WAY bigger than me in my egg state) scaly, red, and jade-green serpent with deer-like horns and two undersized clawed four-fingered arms, levitating towards me from a very large, cave tunnel¡­huh¡­so I can fly without wings, which is kind of interesting and fun to try out after hatching. I can tell the serpent is my mother based on her¡­motherly aura which I now can feel at this time. She was wrapping her serpentine body around me unfazed by the lava I am bathed in, with some space in between her and me, pouring in what felt like mana based on the feeling of my own mana, into me. After some time, she was done, she gazed at me with her sky-blue, silver glazed eyes and is now¡­snuggling me¡­lovingly like a human mother¡­ The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Curious, I decided to examine her...closely...which was a mistake as she almost noticed my watching her. I forgot to practice on hiding my presence, or in this case, my mana¡¯s presence. I do not want reveal my secret, as there is no telling what might happen if they discover that I am human inside, as I might be lynched out of racism, or worse...I successfully hid myself from her completely by canceling out my Clairvoyance, which is a skill I now dubbed, at the last second and focused on killing any aura or presence I might leak, no matter how small by annulling my emotions and thoughts, trying to become ¡®nothing¡¯. I did it based on what I learned from my family dojo, connecting my mind, body, and spirit into one, mostly learned through harsh training and meditation. I am safe for now, though I felt an very overwhelming pressure from Mother, as she angrily roared and flew around my crystal cave area, in search for intruders, and then flew out into the same large tunnel she entered from. Peeking and stealthily observing around my environment much more closely, I now noticed that there is only ONE entrance and exit here¡­which is that huge tunnel mother used. I did not see the fruits of her wrath at that day, as I was focusing on hiding my entire existence from her and a bit too frightened to follow her with my Clairvoyance, but¡­from what I can hear, I hear explosions, screams, and pitiful cries from various unknown creatures I did not even know lived here as I was busy focusing on training¡­may they rest in peace, and uh, sorry. After the noises dimmed down, I decided to lie low¡­focusing on training my stealth avenue until sleepy time. Chapter 2: Developing/Training Period: Part 2 The fourth day, Mother arrived again, this time for the sole purpose of guard duty, more alert than usual, wary of her¡­unexpected intruder¡­I decide to just secretly cultivate and train my body however I can under her nose¡­and then an idea popped in my head. I decided to observe how she moves, how she ¡®flies¡¯ despite not having wings as part of my training, which is deciphering the secrets of her flight. I am not sure what she is yet, though I have a faint idea, I will not contemplate on it until I am absolutely certain. After that, I practiced my senses to at least be enough to be able to sense mana in the air, although in the end it is slight, but it should do for now. Now, then, mother is patrolling around the lava pool I am in, flying in my sight¡­. *Some Time Later¡­* After moments of careful observation¡­I sense¡­..nothing¡­¡­what the hell, is she not flying using the effects of mana, or is my skill not enough to discern her secrets? Or is it a natural, Gravity-defying trait unique among our species? Trying my best to observe on the second attempt, I decided to give up trying to sense her flow of mana for now and choose to focus on whatever energy she is emitting and her movements used for flight like how a bird flap its wings and steers in the air with its tail. Though I do not know how she flies, what I do know is that there is some energy at work involved, judging from how the mana in the air unnaturally disperse around her when she flies¡­like instead of moving out of the way naturally, it is forced away by some alien influence...Theories aside, how she moves when she flies is like a snake gracefully swimming in water, with little to no wasted movement whatsoever¡­huh. If I did not know better, it is like she is swimming through the fabric of space hahah¡­ha¡­¡­it would be awesome if that is true¡­and might be annoying to try and understand... Theories aside, she is still there, longer than usual. I then returned to training my senses until it is time to sleep. Mother left the next day after I slept, left to¡­truthfully I don''t know what she does out there, but I do not care at the moment¡­along with that I have not the courage to go out and spy on her with my Clairvoyance yet, so I decided to work on my senses with mana, control, and cultivation for the entirety of this day. Day six, I feel very powerful from my time here. After emptying out my ¡®mana pool¡¯ due to my training from time to time, I now feel my reserves growing more and more vast, my strength and abilities more than enough to effortlessly tear through stone with my short clawed hands, and my mastery over my body improving tremendously from my efforts. I tested my claws by grinding them against each other on each of my hand, and they felt strong and metallic. Finally, I can sense the mana in the air clearly, as well as mana in inanimate objects as well. Sensing mana is like¡­trying to taste two different pies made with same ingredients, prepared by two different chefs to see who is better, although the chefs are consequentially equally skilled, so it is extremely difficult to tell the difference, which is the best analogy I can come up with. I mean, that is how hard it is to sense the natural mana around me as it is a bit too¡­minuscule to detect, and still I managed to do so with a lot of practice and effort. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Mother came back and continue her scheduled caring. When she flew over, and before she landed, I quickly analyzed her internal mana flow instead of the mana in the air. I confirmed that her methods of flight is not from her usage of mana, but by¡­manipulating¡­something¡­as I detect some kind of invisible force projecting her in the air, but it is not mana that''s for sure. Looking at her closely (from a safe distance of course), she seems worried for some reason¡­don''t know why¡­She then moved in close to my egg body, gazing at me, examining me¡­gotta go stealth mode for now¡­she now looks even MORE worried¡­she is probably trying to sense my mana signature or something since if I can do it, why can''t she as well? I seem to have succeeded into hiding myself completely from her, however judging from her expression, she seems baffled from her inability to detect my mana inside the egg. Hmmmm from what I remember which according to the light novels, having no mana signature is either a sign that I am completely hidden, or¡­.Oh CRAP¡­I believe she is now thinking that I might be dead, which it is very troublesome if she had wrong idea and dispose of me, so I decided to leak out some mana as naturally and stealthily as possible, hoping she does not detect any abnormal changes in me. From my choice of action, mother became shocked, and then relieved¡­then a bit confused from what transpired. Then after some unusual moments of hesitation, she started to inject her mana into me, only this time¡­she is more¡­careful¡­of the amount she is giving me¡­as if she''s afraid that something might go wrong¡­after she was done, she decided to stay here in this cave, wrap herself around me and sleep on the shallow lava lake. Feeling tired as comes my unstoppable sleeping habit, I slept helplessly in a split second.
Feed me opinions..,.feeeeeeed meeeeeeeeeeeee Chapter 3: Developing/Training Period Part 3, Surprising Occurence Waking up drowsily from my oppressive instincts on the seventh day, the first thing I saw after using Clairvoyance to peep out of my shell was¡­mom looking at me closely eye-to-eye, which jump-scared me out of my drowsiness¡­Damn I¡¯m not even officially born yet, and still I receive a heart-attack before the age of one. Cutting off my Clairvoyance, hoping she did not notice me¡­I went into stealth mode and tried to feel for her reaction based on my sense of touch, which had improved to the point I can feel her movements outside the egg haha. I feel...astonishment judging from mother¡¯s rapid heartbeat and¡­hard to describe¡­it is almost as if she had shut down from the shock because all I feel is an uneasy stillness, then¡­she is¡­joyful¡­for some reason. She did sense my mana, but¡­I think she misinterpreted it as moving¡­healthy¡­? She then sprang up and levitated, then flew out into the cave exit/entrance in a hurry. What the hell just happened¡­? Feeling an uneasy sense of dread, I silently cultivated, waiting for the future consequences born from my carelessness¡­ Around what felt like an hour, I stopped what I was doing when I detected a new presence mother brought with her on her return. I projected Clairvoyance through the ground beneath to stealthily steal a good look at the new presence from a ground¡¯s point of view mole style. Now let¡¯s see who she brought¡­.!.... ¡­¡­Holy¡­While mother is bit too kind and serene-looking for a powerful serpent creature¡­THIS one¡­it is BIGGER than mother¡­and way scarier than her. This one has multiple horns resembling a makeshift badass crown for a serpent king, black, slightly spiky and sharp spines along with its tough-looking scales, pitch-black eyes with blood-red snake irises¡­glowing crimson, gray lion-like mane for hair on some parts of its body, two muscular arms with...glowing white, tough metal-like razorsharp claws, and its menacing fangs are literally showing¡­which I am not sure if it¡¯s intentional or not¡­ What makes this menacing serpent stand out the most, was its¡­tattoos¡­white-gold metallic in color and seems to be pulsing with power, acting like arteries and veins for another substance, its white-orange diamond-like jewel embedded into its forehead right between its eyes, and its¡­are those wings¡­? It definitely looks like it¡­..And his terrifying aura is definitely not helping¡­ What makes this serpent even scarier¡­is that despite the long distance between us, it started to turn its line of sight down directly at me, to my Clairvoyance¡¯s location as if it noticed me¡­With my honed reflexes, I canceled it quickly before it saw me and remained in stationary mode, emitting normal levels of mana to avoid detection. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.Now relying on my sense of touch like always, I feel its body, most likely its head, looking down at me closely¡­um¡­egg-to-face. What I am now feeling from its gaze¡­well¡­let¡¯s just say it is ¡®piercing¡¯, like trying to gaze through my soul, but¡­I can feel it is struggling a bit in its attempt¡­can¡¯t be just me with my stealth skills alone as I am trying VERY hard to avoid leaking out as much as I can and judging from its aura¡¯s intensity and our recent encounter, I know it is more than capable of seeing through my fa?ade¡­and I am pretty sure it is not faking its¡­struggles¡­ A few minutes later after we started our silent battle, I sense movement, the edges of its mouth area then perked up, almost as if it is¡­grinning¡­only it has an ominous feel to it. It stopped gazing at me closely egg-to-face and pulled back to turn its head to mother¡­feeling¡­joyful¡­it is a bit hard to tell due to its constant menacing aura leaking out. The two serpents then strangely looked at each other for some time, as if they¡¯re¡­communicating¡­somehow¡­judging by the complex series of emotions and body movement similar to the sight of two people talking back home. I am curious of this and I tried to feel how they were communicating without using their mouths, but it is a bit too faint and foreign for me to understand, though I did sense something at least¡­ After some time, they finished ''talking'' and¡­the black one is nudging mother, with a slight hint of affection¡­WOW¡­¡­.Do not tell me this scary tyrant is my¡­Dad? Observing ¡®dad¡¯ much more closely at his aura, ignoring the fear effect it gives out, I do feel some sense of¡­familiarity with him¡­despite his scary atmosphere. And before they both exited into the tunnel, ¡®dad¡¯ glanced right back at me again one last time¡­only he is now¡­smirking¡­this time, and it felt a bit too different from a simple grin, before leaving. Now releasing my tension in relief when he is completely gone, I now realized I still have some time before sleepy time, so I resumed my daily training before then, pushing my thoughts of today¡¯s for tomorrow to deal with as I can do nothing about it at the moment¡­ *Author Here: Let me know What you think about this chapter! Chapter 4: Developing/Training Period: Part 4 On the eight day, I feel like trying something new. Before I start, I checked my environment to make sure there are no more ¡®jump scares¡¯, and found the coast is clear. It would be very troublesome if I see ¡®dad¡¯ looking at me eye-to-eye when I peek out the shell with Clairvoyance. I want to try and manipulate the mana in the air as an experiment, to see if I am capable of controlling the mana around me. I can sense the mana around me crystal clear now, so it should work¡­.or so I thought¡­ I tried to control the natural mana, but I failed to make it do anything, despite me being able to sense it¡­it feels too¡­foreign¡­for me to influence it to my bidding. Annoyed, I pondered on the solution to my problem¡­and then I tried to connect with the mana in the air first, to get a good feel for the natural mana before I try to control it. After some time, I managed¡­and finally found out how to control it! I need to first find out how to establish a connection to it first, which is the most annoying part. Studying on how I control my own internal mana, I ran multiple trial-and-errors in finding what makes my own mana different than the mana around me is that it is¡­hard to say it, but synchrony¡­sort of¡­I am naturally in tune with my internal mana pool, so trying control mana not my own is like¡­a retard demanding a human corpse to rise and devour his enemies as if it¡¯s the most natural thing to do, unaware of the fact the guy is dead for good¡­so in order for me to control the mana in the air, I need to establish a solid foundation first, which is to synchronize myself with the mana in the air. I did succeed, though it took me around a half-day to learn it, so I can now manipulate the mana in the air now, although it needs work. I mean, I may be able to do some physics-defying stunts as I am now, but only a fool would think that it is ¡®easy¡¯, and that there is a exact physical representation of the word ¡®perfect¡¯. I am not perfect, as my control over the mana is clunky as hell since I seem to have only mastered the basics of mana manipulation, so controlling it as if it is as natural as breathing needs a LOT of practice and effort. Although it would be faster and easier to do this if I have a teacher, as I am now, I believe the best and most probable course of action is to study ahead on the basics and such to invest some time to learn more after I hatch. After I mastered the basics of mana manipulation, I went back to cultivate and refine my control over my body until sleepy time. *Next ¡®day¡¯ later¡­* Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! I woke up groggily, it is now day nine¡­which is the day for my scheduled care. I quickly checked my surroundings before I start, as this time before she arrives in around a few hours at most, I trained as much as I could before she comes, in fear of the possibility of ¡®dad¡¯ tagging along with her as well. I decided to train my stealth avenue and cultivation in preparation of their arrival. A few hours later¡­dad really did come¡­Ohhhh boy¡­so I went into stationary mode at first sight. They are both slowly flying towards me from the only cave entrance. I decided to experiment with Clairvoyance, to test dad¡¯s detection range, starting at my farthest viewing distance and to test my progress in stealth¡­peeping behind a cave wall. Fortunately, I made some progress in my training, as dad did not notice me¡­which is good, but I would not dare come closer unless I have to, as I am not that confident in hiding myself from him that well. Mother came to wrap herself around my egg body again to inject me mana, this time without any fear or caution. While dad is just¡­I am quite uncomfortable at the moment. He is flying around my egg-body, circling me¡­watching me with his demonic eyes. I am not exactly sure if he can turn off the fear effect he constantly emits¡­as I am pretty sure he does not plan to cannibalize his young¡­...which would be extremely bad if he is, but I find it very unlikely since I am still thinking here at the moment, I mean he could have devoured me before but didn''t. I tried to sense how they were communicating again, but¡­it seems I might need to get closer to pick something up, which is too risky at the moment for now. I did faintly feel them exchanging what felt like¡­vibrations¡­energy? I can tell from the mana in the air slightly rippling between my parents, which I can now detect from yesterday¡¯s training. The ripples are definitely some form of signals¡­Hmmm¡­are they using telepathy or something? Could be interesting to try out, but I am in the dark on how it works exactly, so I will try it out once it is the right time to speak. What happens after that is kind of uninteresting at the moment, mom just keeps caring for my egg body while dad is¡­I think he is warmly gazing at me, despite the ominous feeling, which then turned a bit malevolent, but I hope that is just my imagination. And when it is almost time to nap, they still remained¡­which is kind of annoying me for the moment, as I cannot train openly for now... Now comes my instincts to knock me out cold as scheduled. Chapter 5: Developing/Training Period Part 5, Problems and Breakthroughs Day 10 now¡­almost nothing worth mentioning this day. I felt their presences closely watching me, egg-to-face. My parents won¡¯t go away for some reason, as if they¡¯re expecting¡­something¡­is it that I am about to hatch or something? I do not feel any instinctual urge to leave yet, nor do I feel any discomfort in here though¡­My knowledge of my current race is so nonexistent at the moment¡­ Since it seems I will be watched for the rest of the day, I decided to practice sensing and manipulating external mana, this time not just the in the air, but also in inorganic matter like rocks or those absurdly mana-rich crystals (the mana in those crystals are rich and pure as hell, which makes me wonder why my parents never harvest them) as efficiently and stealthily as I can¡­faaar away from their detection radius¡­ My result from my training this day, I significantly improved my mana manipulation to be decent, but not ideal. For example I can control the mana without any problems, but only simple commands like directing them, meaning I cannot weave the mana in any complex fashion at the moment. My senses in mana improved as well since I can feel¡­something else in the air besides mana. It is different from mana, but also similar¡­like a distant cousin of it¡­is this the infamous Qi? I tried controlling them, and unexpectedly the ¡®qi¡¯ is very easy to control, way easier to control than mana like the Qi is at a certain tune that accepts all forms of alien influence¡­which I can¡¯t wait to try out at a later time. I also cannot control the mana in the rocks of the caves, but those cave crystals¡­I feel like I can absorb them for some reason since they felt very¡­clean, and ¡®digestible¡¯. Then comes sleepy time, but I now know what to try out tomorrow. However, before I slept, I felt a jolt¡­an internal shock of something¡­an slight, growing desire to be free¡­I believe it means I am ready to hatch soon...since the I do not feel any need to pop out right now at the moment. And then I fell asleep without warning¡­ Now day 11, I again groggily woke up and checked my surroundings of presences, which they are not here at the moment. Fast and alert, I quickly executed my new training plans in case they come back. First I tried to force the Qi in the air to my egg-body, in the hopes of absorbing it into my system and strengthen me even more, heh heh heh¡­¡­wow, I feel like I am now under the influence of the dark side judging from all my excitement ha ha¡­ I faced some trouble though¡­it is a bit difficult to absorb the Qi in the air for some reason¡­.as my crystal egg shell¡­*struggles to absorb qi*¡­just¡­*struggles to absorb qi*¡­won¡¯t¡­*struggling VERY hard*¡­ACCEPT IT!! GRahhhhhhhhhhh!!!! ¡­Did I just roared¡­despite not being born yet¡­? Wow, I really am ready to hatch soon, huh? Anyway back to the task at hand, I am having a lot of trouble absorbing the Qi in the air¡­so now pondering for a while, like ten minutes or so¡­a clever epiphany came to mind¡­very, very clever indeed¡­muahaha¡­I am really coming over the dark side for having evil thoughts huh? What changed? Hmmm¡­.reexamining my body all over again¡­I feel¡­more emotional now than before¡­ahhhh, I see¡­I was a bit too young too have any decent capacity for emotions yet until now, which explains my sudden irritated outbursts and mischievous thoughts¡­and why I feel no parental love for my parents, only instinctual fear and professional curiosity. Meaning, my capacity for emotions is maturing more and more over time. I might have to learn how to control myself better, but it should not be a problem since I already know how to do that when I was still human, so I just need to practice self-control in the future. Anyway, back to the point, I found a clever way to absorb the Qi, I just have to ¡®trick the lock¡¯. I am now experimenting to see if I can extract and absorb the energy from one of the mana crystals closest to me long-range style. The mana in those crystals are very condensed and pure, which makes them so much easier to control than the mana in the air, although at the cost of more effort to move them, but no matter. And at the same time, I am condensing and refining the Qi in the air to make them more pure and help save some time in the process by doing so, in order for me to absorb them both. Using my arms (I can already move my arms days before at day one, but I had no need to use them and want to challenge myself in the task until now) to help maintain and exercise control over the mana and Qi, planning to mix them together in a certain way. Incidentally, I sort of¡­¡¯ripped¡¯ the crystal out of its socket during the extraction process¡­which left me baffled¡­I mean I ¡®telekinetically¡¯ ripped the crystal out of the cave ground¡­I did not know I can do that yet¡­wow, I am officially a force user now hahaha¡­the telekinesis probably took effect because the crystal is a solid matter and has noticeable mass, which can be physically touched. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Anyways, I now moved the crystal chunk towards me to help quicken the extraction process by bringing it closer to my range of influence. The crystal seems to shrink the more mana I extract, so by the time I finished the extraction process, the crystal shrunk to oblivion, no longer here. I stopped condensing the Qi in the air as well, and proceeded my plan to ¡®trick the lock¡¯. The process is simple, yet hard to accomplish without mastering the necessary basics. I just need to coat the highly condensed and pure Qi with the equally rich and pure mana, and absorb them both. I tried mixing them before, but they are like magnets repelling each other, so I went with coaxing instead. I formed the mana-Qi mixture into the shape of a spear, and directed it towards me, in high expectations. And¡­.it is working¡­IT¡¯S WORKING!!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHA¡­.ha¡­.*ahem* note to self, practice self-control as soon as possible after hatching¡­I then resumed to absorb both the mana and Qi into my egg-body past the shell barrier. Now then¡­where should I move the Qi¡­hmmm¡­never thought I get this far¡­I decided to experiment once again, absorbing the Qi into certain parts my body, hoping they will ¡®click¡¯ somewhere with the help of my senses¡­After several trials, I tried to move the Qi into my mana pool, only to face no reaction whatsoever, so becoming impatient, I decide to¡­eat the mana and Qi, hoping my body''s natural system will give me some reference on where to start. Although it is not expected, eating the mana and Qi worked, though a little too well. I felt a sudden pain in my gut, then the pain spread throughout my being. Aghh, it seems my body is changing, at my mental expense in reaction to my reckless act as the mana and Qi burns throughout my system, even flowing through my bones, for some goddamn reason¡­!...Roaring in pain and agony for some time, the pain was starting to lessen, but not much. *Some more time later* After hours of suffering, I realize it is almost sleepy time, so before then I tried to analyze what happened to my body during the painful process. With the limited time I have, I found that the Qi is in¡­what the hell¡­I feel a¡­void¡­right near my mana pool in my stomach. I think that is where my ¡®dantian¡¯ as the Chinese wuxia novels say, but I feel no organs there to contain the Qi, I am sure of it. I do not feel any form of solid matter containing the void as¡­as if it is almost nonexistent... Before I can contemplate on the matter further¡­my tyrannical instincts knocked me out as scheduled¡­ Side Story 1: Revelation, The Unique Egg Heiyang¡¯s POV: Hmmmmmmmm¡­this is¡­shocking. I am the father of the egg which now lies before me, resting from its consequences. The egg is a male, since me and my wife can tell my child¡¯s gender from smell alone. More than two weeks after coming out into this world¡­and my son still lives. Usually, the eggs of Imoogis hatches around one or two weeks at most. The longer the child remains in the egg, the stronger he/she will become after hatching, which is because the yolk in the egg helps the unborn infant develop and grow, giving it immense strength and power and it is most crucial stage of its evolution. The mother would usually replenish the fluids in the egg by injecting her mana, since the egg¡¯s crystal shell will reject any other forms of mana and energy besides its parent, unless it is pure and uncorrupted to a certain degree. This applies to true dragons as well, like I, though they take around two to three weeks to hatch after coming out into this world. There are no records of true dragons or Imoogis being born past that range of time¡­else if the unborn stays in too long, their body will self-destruct from over nourishment and its rapid development and die. No matter the species, too much of a good thing will eventually be bad, no matter the species. Yet¡­my son is still alive in the egg past the two week mark, which is usually a sign of a failed unborn. The best any parent could do for the dead child is to¡­eat it, as the mana rich shell and sacred yolk will help with our development and evolution. Eating the egg while the child is still alive will not work, as the yolk and shell is attuned to the child¡¯s mana, and if the child dies unnaturally in any way, the sudden disconnection will render the mana rich shell and sacred yolk inert, useless as water. The yolk will also be useless if it touches any foreign substances, including air, so it is fortunate that this fact exist, otherwise other races will continue to hunt both our species to extinction. When Baoai, the Imoogi I¡¯m betrothed to, revealed me her secret that our unborn child was still alive after its two-week mark, I was shocked. When a true dragon and an Imoogi decides to mate, mostly because mating with an Imoogi gives much higher chances of bearing children than mating with other true dragons, no matter what, the child will still be an Imoogi, though it will be stronger than the ones born from two parent Imoogis. We also do this mainly increase the number of true dragons in this world, since we possess methods to help Imoogis ascend to true dragons, without having to devour the heart of one. So a child from an Imoogi and a true dragon living past the two week mark is miraculous indeed. Our unborn child is unique indeed¡­for incubating as long a true dragon¡¯s. When I first came to inspect our child, I felt the presence of mana, one from a living creature for an instant. When I turned to see it, it was gone, vanished without a trace¡­which intrigued me. I quickly scanned my child¡¯s nesting area with my skill, Abysmal Eye, and found no other living creature beside me, my mate, and¡­my son¡­¡­ Ha ha ha ha¡­I can still remember my son¡¯s frightened aura when it sensed my presence and tried to hide himself from me as much as possible *chuckling with warmth*. He was fighting back pretty well, and pretty skilled too, much talent and potential, so I decided to play with him a little. However, I found something pretty interesting in his soul when I used my divine skill¡­I sensed a foreign soul, a human one as far as I can tell. And I found he really is the mana presence I felt in the cave, and is definitely the same one Baoai encountered before. Baoai caused such a mess for nothing, injuring the servants and demanding the identity of the ¡®trespasser¡¯, though I will not tell, for her dignity¡¯s sake until the time is right. I did tell Baoai of our son¡¯s unique predicament, which shocked her and instilled her with curiosity, with some expectations for our son¡¯s growth. Don¡¯t know how he did it, but I will not pursue the matter further, since I like to be surprised for my entertainment *mischievous laugh*. How the soul got there is beyond me, but it seems to be the result from a very high power with no ill-intent, as reincarnation is rare to the point of nonexistence in this world, around the one digits at most. I know since I also had the privilege to meet and inquire the gods on that matter, despite them and their¡­conflicts. I also sense¡­something more, but I decided to find out later after his birth. He seems scared of what we will do after we find out his secret, as he is unaware that his soul is being fused with our unborn child¡¯s even now, slowly but surely. There is nothing we can do about it, even with my level of power and abilities, since souls cannot be divided back into two separate halves once the fusing starts, else the souls will fight each other to the point of death of the souls¡¯ vessel if we even try. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. What he was doing inside the egg is very interesting. He was trying to¡­train with his mana without us noticing, though he fooled Baoai, he cannot fool me. His efforts to even try was very entertaining, so I chose to let him train however he wants. He did not even notice I was feigning ignorance; that I allowed him to do as he wishes, although he did sense some disturbances on the matter. I have plans for him after he hatches, and will some fun with him as well *evil smile*. I already informed our elder of my child¡¯s unique situation and he seems intrigued as well, so he agreed to let him live amongst us as part of the community, with him enduring trials of course. Although, what he did now is unexpected and surprising, even to me. I was spying on him secretly this time, with my skill Shroud of Shadow, hiding in the darkness around his nest. My son still have much to learn in detecting presences of others. He was manipulating the mana in the air, in the titan blood crystal, along with trying to absorb Qi¡­which is supposed to be impossible, especially impossible to move the Qi past his stubborn shell. Imoogis may be strong, with the potential to have strength comparable to true dragons or deities, however they cannot manipulate mana besides their own unless they mature to a certain extent or evolve into a true dragon. Yet he accomplished it before the age of one¡­how miraculous¡­he may be worth raising after all. But what came after that is even more surprising, he is controlling Qi¡­which cannot be done unless Imoogis are set on the path of Qi and forsake their mana pool, and their bodies can only take one or other, and this concept applies to true dragons, deities, and Gods as well, although there are a few exceptions, however they were not recorded in history or lost in the sands of time. The method to harnessing the power of mana and Qi are unknown, and are extremely hard to accomplish even amongst the Gods. The way he is doing it¡­is quite primitive. From what I witnesses, he is trying to absorb both mana and Qi from external sources, and after several hilarious mistrials and succeeded, he¡­I do not think he knows how to cultivate, though is still trying stubbornly. Cultivating with mana is impractical, as it is extremely hard to manipulate and much slower to cultivate than Qi, thus, never cultivated and the possibility of cultivating mana was forgotten, even amongst humans and gods as the result. To control and cultivate qi, for true dragons and Imoogis, one must form a specific soul core near their mana pool, to connect the Qi to the cultivator¡¯s soul at the expense of their entire mana and their ability to use and produce mana. That way, they can cultivate their power, and ascend to higher levels, eventually evolving out their need for a soul core. The method to form a versatile soul core for both mana and Qi is unknown, as there are no monsters that can control both¡­is it because my son has a human soul? It makes sense humans can control both mana and Qi if given the chance, though they are very weak and incapable of utilizing them both, else they will most likely be destroyed in the process as the two opposing energies will ravage their bodies, torturing them inside for a long time, and no human can survive such torment and damage for a such a period of time. I once witnessed a human trying this personally, with the help of certain magic tools, and saw the human fail miserably resulting in an explosive gory mess. This is such an astounding revelation¡­ Back to my son though, he foolishly ate both the pure mana and Qi, and embraced the same fate as that human. I was about to intervene in an attempt to extract the energy, except¡­except¡­he was not trying to resist the process¡­instead he tried to¡­harmonize with the antagonistic energies¡­balancing them together by force despite the torment he is receiving. Incredible¡­the harmonizing took him some time, but it was successful in the end. He somehow balanced the conflicting forces with sheer will power and skill, making the energies cycle each other continuously, and permanently in the place where his soul core should be. He even managed to remain conscious throughout the entire ordeal. I will take note of this to the elder, and use what I saw as reference to improve my own strength. It seems his training had paid off, resulting in his survival and breakthrough into new unexplored areas of strength¡­ He is now asleep, as it should be for all infants, unborn or born. I then exited the our son¡¯s nest to happily inform Baoai of my good news, and to be hopeful for the future to come! Chapter 6: The Day I Emerged ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.. Ughhhhhhh¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.*yawn*¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.. !!!!!!! Oh right, I remember now! Today is day twelve¡­. ¡­..Damn, what a horrid experience that was¡­.I never felt that much pain even in my past life¡­ugh¡­at least I survived. I managed to balance the energies, after finding the best spot to place the chaotic forces in me right near my mana pool. Yes¡­I have done it¡­and I feel more powerful than ever. My arms seem to have grown an additional finger somehow, giving me five fingers once again¡­huh, interesting. I also feel something strange on my forehead, between my eyes, but I will pursue the matter later. I feel like testing my powers, though I have to wait until I am ready to hat-¡­.!... *Grumbling noises from stomach* Ohhhhhh¡­..I feel¡­so¡­thirsty¡­so HUNGRY!!! I¡­I feel very confined¡­desperate for freedom¡­I must be ready to hatch! In desperation for sustenance, I found that the liquid seems¡­drinkable¡­and my shell¡­seem¡­edible¡­somehow. Regardless, now ready to hatch, I drank the liquid I am bathed within the egg¡­and after I finished, I tore open the crystal shell with my arm and placed it in my mouth. Surprisingly, despite the stone-like hardness, I consumed the egg shell without any problems, and then proceeded to consume the rest of the crystal shells. After I finished eating, I feel even more powerful than ever. The liquid and shell must have held some special properties huh? Just from consuming them, I feel my strength growing more and more by the second. However, that¡¯s not important for now. I am finally free from that egg! I am bathing in the shallow lava lake with my own body for the first time, feeling nothing from the searing temperature. No matter, I closed my eyes, and took a deep breathe, getting a good taste of air for the first time in weeks. And when I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was¡­¡­my parents looking down at me (not condescendingly, but only because I am too small for them)¡­.dumbfounded¡­ ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡± - Mom ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡± ¨C Dad ¡®¡­¡­..Uhhhhhhhhh¡­¡­.¡¯ This feels very¡­.awkward¡­how embarrassing, I did not notice them before¡­is it because of yesterday¡¯s fatigue, or did I become careless from all the excitement? Dad looked at mom, smiling¡­warmly? I feel a slight hint of ill-intent though, but again, it is very hard to tell. And mom responded with a smile as well, gentle and serene. ¡°Dear, our son has hatched¡­and he seems very healthy despite him just taking his first step.¡± - ? ¡®Hmmm...? I hear a gentle voice in my head...huh?¡¯ ¡°Yes, dear wife. What name should we give him?¡± - ? (This one¡¯s voice is quite deep and menacing.) ¡°Hmmmmm¡­¡­He is very¡­different¡­than how the other newborns usually appear. His aura is also very vexing, otherworldly almost.¡± ¨C Mother ¡®I think, it really is telepathy they¡¯re using. Wow¡­.¡¯ ¡°Hmmm¡­Then how about Yixing? Meaning ¡®New or unknown being¡¯?¡± ¨C Father ¡®Seriously dad? Are you planning to have me treated as a pariah?¡¯ ¡°Sounds wonderful¡­Son, your name shall be, Yixing.¡± ¨C Mother Mom then waved her hand, casting something with mana emitted from her hands. I was trying to get used to my body since despite my training in the egg, I still have not the chance to move my body however I please, resulting me getting caught off guard from her sudden action. Before I can do anything, I feel¡­knowledge flowing into my head¡­telling me of a status window I can open up at will¡­and others¡­is mom transferring her knowledge into me? She can do that? We can do that? Now I am totally hyped for my new childhood! Heeding her guidance, I opened up my¡­um¡­¡¯status window¡¯¡­which feels weird and uncomfortable, since it defies my perception and understanding of reality to a certain extent. This world seriously has a status window¡­like those from RPG games¡­WOW¡­ Looking at my status window now, I see:
Status Window
Name: YixingLevel: 1
Race: Imoogi Subrace: ??? Sex: Male
Age1
Title(s) True Hero, Reincarnated One, One of a Kind, Bearer of Mana and Qi, One of Balance
Health 1,017,500Mana 2,422,900
Strength 17,150Intelligence35,650
Stamina 2,001,000Wisdom 40,410
Agility 14,000Defense 16,900 (36,700)
Luck14,500Endurance21,300
Qi1,901,200Mental Fortitude9,500
Magic Defense9,900Indomitable Vitality3100
Charisma40,500Perception25,255
Courage600Fighting Spirit550
Magic Affinity 35%
Qi Affinity 30%
Paralysis Resistance 100%
Poison Affinity 100%
Fear Immunity 5%
Elemental Affinities:
Fire: 40% Earth: 20% Darkness: 20% Lightning: 25%
Water: 35% Wind 20% Light: 30(35)% Void: 5%
Ice: 5%
Holy¡­so that is what my race is. I was thinking along dragons, but¡­eh, I guessed close enough. Imoogi¡­I read about them from light novels. Some depict them as lesser dragons, while others put them in the category of snakes more than dragons, as they are like snakes with dragon blood in them. Not much is known about them biologically, sadly. But what really caught my eye were my¡­Titles¡­and my subspecies label¡­Never before in RPGs and light novels have I seen a subrace with only question marks in them¡­Seriously, what kind of Imoogi am I? Looking at my titles much more closely¡­one of them stand out, looking the most capable of answering my current question. One of a Kind, huh? I clicked on it mentally, hoping for some answers. Apparently, I can peruse the effects of my titles and skills, only the currents effects it gives me though, not the possibilities of what it can do. For example, if a skill evolves (yes, skills can evolve according to the knowledge given to me by mother, including other stuffs involving status windows), there are no methods to tell how a skill evolves and what it will evolve into, and from talent and effort in raising the skill can one achieve it. Now let¡¯s see the answers this Title holds¡­
Title: One of a Kind You¡¯ve evolved into a new subspecies, unrecorded in the history of Mundus. You, and only you, have the privilege of choosing your own name for your subrace. For being the first one of your subrace, you receive the following effects: Magic Affinity + 10 Stat Gains upon Level +10% All Stat Increase + 15% All Skill and Spell Cool-Down Decrease 10% New Skill: Matter Manipulation
Wow¡­ONLY one of my subrace? Really¡­¡­? I don¡¯t know whether I should be happy or mad¡­maybe both¡­because I am happy for the new strengths my¡­unnamed...subrace has, but also at the same time angry for not having any form of decent information on my subspecies¡­what the hell¡­Also, Matter Manipulation? Hmmm¡­¡­Seems to be a skill whose value depends on the wielder, which seems awesome in my case, heh heh¡­*ahem*, I mean I can¡¯t wait to try it out (God I need to work on my self-control). I am now checking my other titles, starting with¡­¡¯True Hero¡¯¡­
Title: True Hero You¡¯ve selflessly sacrificed your life without hesitation to save the life of another. For that, you have the power to become a Hero if you wish. For having this title, you can choose a Hero class of any kind, and receive the following effects: +500 to All Stats Light Affinity + 5 All Resistances + 10% New Skill: Heroic Last Stand New Stat: Courage, Fighting Spirit
¡®Ohhhhhhh¡­.Looks promising¡­except I CAN¡¯T choose a class¡­as mother told me certain monsters are incapable of choosing classes¡­dragons and Imoogis included¡­.but, she did inform me of a loop hole in that matter¡­anyway onto the next titles. Wait...looking at it closely...it said I ''saved'' a life.....wow, it must mean I successfully shielded Mira from harm using my own body...I wonder if she is doing okay back home...And I hope that truck driver and the company he''s employed in get sued to HELL. ....I hope Mira is doing ok without me...hmmmm, nothing I can do about it now. Onto the next title...''
Stolen novel; please report.Title: Reincarnated One For retaining knowledge and memories of your previous life after death, you receive the following effects: +1000 Luck EXP + 10% Wisdom + 10% Intelligence +5%
¡®Huh¡­I see¡­next!¡¯
Title: Bearer of Mana and Qi You have accomplished what only the most blessed and fortunate few can achieve, but never known in history. For holding this title, you receive the following effects: Qi Affinity +5 All Cultivation Growth Rate +20% Growth Corrections Immunity to Negative effects of Mana and Qi. Can cultivate without a soul core and without fear of losing your cultivation.
¡®Ohhhh¡­Now that is what I am talking about! If I can cultivate without a soul core and no fear of losing my hard work, then I can grow strong without worries! Although, I will not use that as an excuse to not build up my awareness. Next!¡¯
Title: One of Balance You have based your strength on the concept of balance and harmony. You have received this title because of your death-defying accomplishments, balancing yourself to live past your race¡¯s limits and survived the process of integrating mana and Qi into your own, and will receive the following effects: +1000 mana +500 Def +500 Str +500 Agi +500 Sta +500 Mana +500 Int +500 Wis Negative Effects of using Skills and Spells -10% All Skill and Spell Cool-Down -5%
¡®Hmmm¡­this is excellent news.¡¯ After I finished perusing my titles, I went back to review my stats¡­which seems a bit too much for me to handle. I am level one and yet my stats are in the ten thousands range already? Damn...Guess my training in the egg definitely paid off haha. I have a skill list as well, though I believe I should look at it later¡­I need to deal with what my parents has in store for now. They seem a bit expectant of me¡­ ¡°How is your status, my son?¡± ¨C Father ¡®¡­¡­¡­¡­..¡¯ I do not know how to respond or should I even dare to respond, considering my¡­young age? ¡°Ah, I almost forgot¡­¡± ¨C Mother Noticing my troubles, she waved her and casted something again on me. She is transferring knowledge to me again¡­.this time¡­about Telepathy.
Congratulation! You have learned a new Skill: Telepathy Communicate with anyone you see or meet, without fear of language barriers and distance. +50 Intelligence +30 Wisdom +5 Perception
¡®Ahhhh¡­.so that is how it works. I feel a bit complete knowing that now.¡¯ ¡°Before we start, my son. Let us introduce ourselves, I am Heiyang, your father. My name stands for ¡®black sun¡¯.¡± - Heiyang ¡®Whoa¡­¡¯Black Sun¡¯¡­? Nice name. Wonder why his parents gave him such a cool name, but not me¡­¡¯ ¡°And I am your mother, Baoai, meaning ¡®treasure¡¯ and ¡®love¡¯.¡± ¨C Baoai ¡®Hmmmm, your name does fit your motherly aura, but I am not sure about the ¡®treasure¡¯ part¡­oh I see now¡­I do not want to think about this any further¡­.¡¯ After I heard their names, I tried to use the concept of telepathy, which incorporated thoughts into mana signals and send the signals to my designated target(s), which in this case are my parents. ¡°Hei¡­yang¡­Bao¡­ai¡­¡± I responded their names this way to feign low intelligence, similar to that of a child¡¯s. I done this in hopes to fool them and buy me time, but unfortunately, what I got in response was¡­. ¡°We know your secret, just to let you know. I am aware of your reason to hide from us, so I understand and respect your decision. Do not worry though hahaha, we will not kill you for trespassing into our child¡¯s soul.¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡®¡­¡­I should have known¡­so he was faking his struggles on our first meeting¡­.*murmuring in disdain*¡­although I am relieved that my parents are very reasonable, though a bit evil (lovingly of course) in nature¡­.I wonder what they planned for me to do after this¡­.Wait¡­¡¯ ¡°Wait, your child¡¯s soul¡­as in the original soul in this body?¡± I inquired him on the matter, since I was a bit curious on it. ¡°¡­¡­.MUA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAH AH HA HA HA HA!!!!! SO YOU WERE AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ANOTHER SOUL IN YOU, AND MY DECEPTION?! I can tell from your eyes alone, little one *snickering*. You have so much to learn, my son *laughing warmly with a hint of mischief*. In fact we were planning to accept you into our society, so be sure to be prepared for what comes next. I plan to have you work for your part in society, so be ¡¯ready¡¯¡­*Evil Smile*¡± ¨C Heiyang .....Wow¡­after hearing his words, my face hung in shock. Heiyang is even more dangerous than I thought¡­he can tell what I am thinking just from my eyes alone¡­. However, what scares even more are his plans for me¡­it seems he intends to work me to the bone¡­ ¡°I see what you are thinking, and no¡­your training will not begin just yet.¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¨C Baoai Mother interjected father¡¯s speech¡­How scary, he even knew what I was SPECIFICALLY thinking just from my eyes...I wonder what are their plans for today¡­ ¡°We have to introduce you to the family, and have you learn and catch up on our society.¡±- Baoai Ahhhhh¡­that would be very helpful for now. ¡°I would love to see the world I am now in, mother.¡± I courteously responded. ¡°Oh¡­so you do have the demeanor of a gentlemen¡­? How unexpected, given your¡­comedic mistrials during your ¡®training¡¯, heh heh heh heh heh*Wicked Smile*.¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡­¡­¡­..This guy¡­so he saw it all¡­¡­I drooped my head in shame, and tried to cover my head with my hands to hide from his¡­insidious gaze¡­My dad is¡­evil...pure evil. I don¡¯t think I can hide anything from him¡­¡­ ¡°Awwwww, please do not tease our child. Although I would love to hear your stories my son, that will come for a later time, but not now.¡± ¨C Baoai ¡°Why not? I¡¯ve never been so entertained in all my years, my dear¡­*Wicked Smirk*¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡°Then please spare him from further indignity. I do not want you to destroy his self-esteem.¡± ¨C Baoai ¡°Hmmmm¡­alright, but I will most definitely continue once it¡¯s my turn to¡­raise him.¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡°Mmmm¡­that is fine¡­¡± ¨C Baoai ¡®Oh god no¡­PLEASE¡­I can HEAR your thoughts you know?¡¯ ¡°And we can hear yours as well, dear son. Ever since you first used Telepathy. *Insidious Smile*¡± ¨C Heiyang !!!!!!!!! ¡®NOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! I forgot to turn off Telepathy!! Damn It!'' ¡°I can see your shame through your eyes you know? Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡°Oh, stop it. We are already late for our son¡¯s scheduled meeting with the others, dear. Let¡¯s not keep them waiting any longer.¡± ¨C Baoai ¡°Oh alright. We will continue this later, my special son. *Evil Smile*¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡°NO! PLEASE SPARE ME!¡± ¡°Never. And your suffering has just begun¡­¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡°Don¡¯t SAY that to him. Reincarnated or not, he is still a child right now. Let us go now before we waste more time. I would love to see your cute, bashful face again though.¡± ¨C Baoai ¡®¡­¡­.Huh¡­me? Cute? Oh, please. Like anyone will think I am ¡®cute¡¯.¡¯ To prove my point, I decided to take a good look at myself using Clairvoyance like always, but¡­this is actually the first time I got a good look at myself¡­.. I have hair around my head, bit too majestic though, and its color is black and white. I have horns, resembling that of a bull¡¯s, but it is much¡­artificial-looking, I mean my horns are sharp and bent, without forming any curves like it was handcrafted and sharpened by somebody. My body has black and white tough-looking, scales with some parts of it mixed together into grey. My eyes¡­I have three eyes¡­THREE¡­with the additional one above at the middle of my serpentine head. What the hell¡­this is weird¡­though it sort of explains how field of vision is much more wider than usual. Seeing this, I tested my third eye by moving and it, when I exerted my third eye in hopes of something to happen, I can see my surroundings in 360 degrees. Wow, when I use this eye, I can see my entire surroundings, be it back, below, above, I can see it all without even looking at them directly, I mean I literally have no blind spots whenever I use this eye! Back to observing my appearance, my eye colors are heterochromic like my black and white hair, meaning my left eye with my white hair is golden-blue while my right with my black hair is silvery-red, while my third eye is just metallic-purple. And my tail¡­it looks a bit sharp as it is covering in scaled in a spear-blade fashion with a red hue at the tip. What is worse, that despite my training and hardships¡­¡­I¡­Look¡­GODDAM ADORABLE!!! I am like a snake with¡­freaking puppy eyes and my fangs are not showing enough to make me look menacing! And despite my claws being sharp and dangerous, it is not enough to degrade the cuteness¡­. ¡°Ah, so you finally got a good look at yourself, huh *Smirk*? I will spare you the humiliation for now, as our presence is needed elsewhere at this moment.¡± ¨CHeiyang ¡°Hmmm¡­Quite.¡± - Baoai ¡­¡­¡­¡­.After saying those words, mom and dad both started flying towards the only exit/entrance. Speechless and without a single word to refute them¡­I silently followed them behind¡­except that I am the only one slithering, not flying. Mother realized this, and taught me how to fly for now. Imoogis are usually taught how to fly a few years after, but considering my unique...talents she transferred the knowledge into me. Apparently, we fly by manipulation of gravity. True dragons are also capable of this as well and much more skilled with it, but they don''t use it very much, since they like to fly with their wings and deem it too weak to be used as a weapon, which is wrong if it is used correctly. I tried to do this of course, only to fail a few times and crashed into the wall and ceiling ha ha, but I eventually succeeded on the third time, using my experience in controlling mana to help me. My flight skills are not ideal though, but it is enough to follow them. I followed them flying silently......smiling while contemplating on the kind of family I am born in. This turned out to be better than I hoped¡­even though dad has the mind of a true villain hahaha. I never expected great powerful beings like Imoogis and Dragons to form a society, as legends state that they usually live in solitude and are very territorial¡­hmmmmm¡­.. Pondering on these facts¡­I continued following them¡­with excitement in seeing the world for the first time I came here. *Author here. Let me what you think of this revelation. I might not be able to post a chapter or two in the coming days due to some RL stuffs. What do you think of the status windows? I mostly based the Status window on VanZans'' if you all haven''t noticed. I like Van''s version of the Status window, I decide to go with it. There will be some differences though. Again what do you think? I DEMAND YOUR CRITICISM NOW!!!!!! Chapter 7: The History of Mundus, and Random Encounter The further we exited the cave, the less mana crystals I see, slowly replaced by...crafted smooth glowing stones, on stands planted in the ground and walls. It appears that the stones are placed there to provide visual aid. This is the first time I get to see outside of my ''nest''. And then we encountered several, worm-like tunnels more than enough to accommodate our size. Though, before we enter the new tunnel, my parents told me hide my third eye for now, which I complied (though it is a bit weird trying to close my third eye...it''ll take some time getting used to), along with me slithering on the ground instead of flying as we traveled. It feels weird, but I eventually got the hang of...walking...with my snake body. As we proceeded, I see...some Imoogis here and there...along with a few dragons. Some of the Imoogis look more like giant flying snakes with dragon scales and some without the scales, some with/without horns on their heads, some having three fingers while others have four fingers on their arms, some with and some without hair and more. The Imoogis I see here are so diverse, it seems unlikely that they belong to the same species at first sight. The Imoogis and Dragons here are parents most likely...as they are usually in pairs of two, along with their parental auras I sense. Dad seem to have noticed my curiosity, though how he noticed it without even looking directly at me is frightening, and decided to sate it with some answers. "They all belong in the same clan, though a few recently joined through marriage. We are...the Yang Yue Tian clan, descendants of the Heavens, be it night or day." - Heiyang ''I see...I am quite surprised that our names are Chinese as far as I can tell. I wonder if there are any European dragons as well.'' And again...dad noticed my internal dialogues, though he cannot tell what I was thinking exactly as he can only read...emotions I think. There is no way he can read my otherworldly knowledge, that''s for sure, heh heh. And he responded with: "I see you are getting cocky...and from your expression, you found out how I can read you. And to reward your efforts, I will affirm your conjecture. Yes, I can read your emotions, but not your thoughts...unless I use a specific skill, which I am not using now of course *Slight Evil Laugh*." - Heiyang ''....Crap...'' He continued to converse with me while we are still moving of course. "And your curiosity, I do not know what your question is, so be sure to ask me so I can feed your curiosity. Do not use telepathy though, as we plan to reveal your...secret at a later time, so it would be bad if others hear your thoughts, discovering your unnatural level of intelligence for someone your age. I will hear your questions through my skill, Invader of Secrets. I am messaging only you at the moment, to prevent eavesdropping in case you are wondering." - Heiyang ''Ahhh...I see...so that is why I am hiding my eye and not flying.'' I did what he said, and asked my question without Telepathy. I felt some...invasion of privacy...when he activated the skill...at least I will know if he is using it or not. ''There are legends of Dragons and Imoogis on my world. However, there are other dragons besides the ones I see here. Like dragons with both wings and legs. Are there any other kinds of dragons out there, pure-blooded or not?'' Dad receiving my thoughts, paused for a moment and then replied, "...Yes, there are, though most of them refused to join our society. Those kinds of dragons are very...prideful...and some of them belligerent and dark. Hmmmm...I will tell you our history ahead of time then. Long, long ago, before the time of humans and gods, dragons, like me, existed near after the birth of this world, Mundus. We are diverse, strong, independent. There was no order, only conflicts for survival. I was one of them at the time as well. Even so, after some time, we made clans and factions, to preserve our numbers and establish at least some form of order. However, we are not the only ones born after this world''s birth. There are other creatures as well, not human of course, though mortal and weak. However, some of them shed their mortal shell and became deities, not gods though. Deities are diving beings still tied to this world''s laws, so they are weaker than the actual ones. There are dragon gods too, but we will talk about them some other time. The dragons and deities were on antagonistic terms, fighting for dominance over the lands. This continued for some time...then came the birth of humans and demi-humans. They were very weak, but they are not without intelligence and wisdom. And also, some deities discovered that humans...though weak and frail...can give them more power...through faith. Thus the War of Faiths began. The deities fought over which one should rule and govern the humans and demi-humans through their faith, and eventually dragged their faithful followers into the conflict as well once their numbers are high enough. We dragons were dragged into the war, mostly out of necessity as we were hunted by the followers for our bodies, as our bodies are valuable high-grade ingredients and as well as weapons in the war. Our numbers dwindled, but not enough to deter us. The humans and demi-humans found ways to kill us, but again they were too frail and weak to carry out their kills. Most of us care not for gathering faith and power, and the ones that are gathering faith from mortals fought for our side, as they also agreed the conflict was growing out of control. To even our numbers in this war...we bred impure offspring, like wyverns, to help fight off the invaders due to our low birth rates. And thus, by breeding with certain, powerful serpents, the Imoogis were born. The Imoogis were the closest to a true dragon as it can be, compared to the other inbreeds. They can also become a true dragon, although despite there being several methods, the best and quickest way to ascend to a true dragon was to...devour the heart of one. With this revelation, the dragons that did gather followers decided to find other convenient and most effect methods to help Imoogis ascend, which failed to do so at that time. The bloody war continued for some centuries...until the gods touched down. They were...all of them were older and extremely powerful, much more than the deities and us dragons...at that time though. There were multiple factions of gods, each with different origins and ideals. The gods touched down for the same reason as the deities...they wish to gather faith for their power, despite them being powerful already. Apparently, according to what I found, they came here because they are here to preserve the world and keep it in balance after they detected intelligent life here. And long before this world was even born, they''ve once driven many worlds into destruction through their conflicts, killing each other for supremacy of their religion, and eventually formed a truce after enough...bloodshed. They each signed a powerful contract, which will turn them into Fallen Gods, weakened and bound, if even a single law is broken. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. The gods defeated almost all of the deities that resisted their presence, and converted their followers over time. And after that...oh, Longwei! How''s your child, you old snake? Did it successfully hatched?" - Heiyang ''.........uhhhhh......shouldn''t you...never mind.'' Dad stopped his storytelling once he saw another fellow true dragon emerging from one of the cave tunnels, one that he''s obviously familiar with. This one is cloud white with some parts on him shaded gray, with deer horns like mother...with a eerie resemblance to her, only he has a azure jewel in his forehead, more spiny, bigger, more menacing and fangy, has burning red eyes, and etc. The one called Longwei, responded without regard of anyone listening in with his Telepathy... "''Ha Ha''. Hilarious as always, my old rival. I hope you are treating my former lover well, you black devil. And don''t play the fool, my daughter hatched already a few years ago. You are shamefully slow for mating with Baoai too late. I am bringing her here to educate on how to raise our race''s unborn eggs, and to check up on you to...Oh...Is that...your child...? ...Smells like you...I thought...it is dead after its two-week mark...and yet, its-" - Longwei Dad interrupted him before he can finish. "It turns out it was a mistake, and the result of losing track of time dear friend, ha ha." - Heiyang .....Did the guy say former lover...? Mom was this guy''s...love interest? *Ahem* Before I mess up, I played an innocent poker face to not attract attention. It seems there might be some trouble... Dad then silently whispered with telepathy to him, allowing only me to eavesdrop in... "Miracles do exist old friend. I rather you keep this fact a secret between us, and only us." - Heiyang Longwei paused for a moment, contemplating on how to respond. "Hmmmm.....I see...You will tell me what happened later...or else. Well then, should we let both our children meet each other? It would help Meixi improve her...sociability...as being a true dragon, she thinks she is a bit too good for the other Imoogis..." - Longwei Slowly emerging behind Longwei, I see...a true dragon, with a gentle face and serene atmosphere. I believe she is Longwei''s daughter, as he nudged her to meet me. ''Meixi'' I believe, is sun-yellow, with a single horn on her snout, like that of a rhinoceros'', with a sky-blue jewel on her forehead, has two clawed four-fingered arms, and her scales looking shiny and smooth. Her eyes are....pink...and light. Curious, I played the ignorant child and smiled innocently at her, hoping to see how she would react...only to hear... "HMPH!!! Father, why do you keep forcing me to meet these lowly snakes?!! I am a pure dragon, you are a pure dragon, and yet..-" - Meixi ''............WOW......someone is need of serious discipline...and how rude...'' Before I finished my train of thought, an oppressive aura came out...from Longwei. "GRRRRR....How many times must I tell you why they are important...You must learn that strength and status alone does not determine one''s worth...And let me remind you, your mother was once an Imoogi, so by saying that, you are shamefully disgracing your parents as WELL!!!" - Longwei Frightened by his menacing atmosphere and damaged from his words, Meixi closed her mouth...only to look away from her father''s eyes, and directly at mine. I was a bit intimidated as well from his aura and tone as well, but with constant exposure from father''s...presence...my capacity for fear lessened significantly. When the ''brat'' looked at me eye-to-eye, she seemed...a bit confused...a moment later, disgusted by the sight of me. I am still maintaining my fa?ade. Now...what kind of rude thoughts are she having now...? "......Hmmmmmm...how about your child and mine have a ''bout'', Longwei? Your child is in serious need of discipline from what I can tell." - Heiyang Dad turned his telepathy into a slightly private conversation, excluding everyone but Longwei and me. Baffled from dad''s words, Longwei responded hysterically. Responding on the same private frequency dad used...I believe Dad is passing on what he is hearing to me, according to how he is redirecting the signals from Longwei. "You black devil...Are you mad?! Your son is just born...and he''s an Imoogi, he is no match for-" - Longwei "Your daughter will not learn from your methods, old friend. She is stubborn, short-sighted. She can only learn from...facing her lessons head-on, and embrace the consequences afterwards. Besides, I should tell you, my son is...special. Give me a week and I will have him teach your na?ve daughter a lesson in humility." - Heiyang Surprised from dad''s words, he examined me closely. I looked at dad, and he gave me a nod, signaling it is ok to give him a taste of my...uniqueness. While controlling the emissions of my aura, I directed at, and only at, Longwei, without leaking it whatsoever. It seems Meixi is unskilled in the art of detection judging from her lack of reaction to my aura. As my aura touched Longwei, his face shows he''s...confused...shocked...and then replaced with one of curiosity. He then used some sort of skill on me, as I also felt an invasion of privacy...only I feel more like...naked in his gaze...which is slightly embarrassing After seeing whatever he''s found from me, he turned his head to Dad with a look that says he demands some answers. Dad only smiled in response. "Hmmm...very well. I accept your proposal. If your son somehow wins...I will owe you a favor, with some reparations prepared for your success." - Longwei While they were conversing...I was also busy...examining Meixi. Not perversely of course. I am curious of the difference in strength between a true dragon and an Imoogi. Noticing my curious gaze, and unable to see through my fa?ade, she is irritated even more. How unfortunate for her...she will be my first practice dummy to test and compare my strength in this world. I wonder if I can beat her, given my stats and...oh yes I should check my skills later on, but not now at this moment. When Longwei finished his conversation with Dad, he urged his daughter to follow him deeper into the tunnels, which she accepted reluctantly. My parents and I then resumed to exiting the tunnels.
Apologies for the repost of my chapter. I just want to see what is wrong with RRL this time. Anyway, let me know what you think of the chapter and comment on it please. Side Story 2: The Enigmatic Imoogi *Author here. I checked the latest updates on Royal Road, and I did not see my earlier chapter posted there. So just in case u guys missed it, I posted Chapter 7 earlier this day, so be sure to check in case you missed it. Also comment on what u think of this side story. Meixi¡¯s POV: Ughhh¡­.I HATE THIS!!! Dad is making me¡­adapt to the Imoogis here¡­. I hate him for that. Can''t he see why I even hate them¡­.? Every male Imoogi I met¡­lusts¡­for me, while the females¡­envy the attention I receive. I am unlike all other pure dragons. I am very sensitive to the emotions of others, while being one of the most talented among them. I can only seem to get along with other true dragons, as they are far more amiable and easier to talk to than these¡­inbreeds. The Imoogis are very insensitive to those around them, as their intelligence falls a bit too short, and requires more time than that of true dragons to properly develop their self-awareness. Father is very busy in the clan, someone with great political power. He rarely comes to see me nor gives a care about my life¡¯s problems, and yet he is forcing me make peace with these¡­resentful snakes¡­ The only time he responds is when he heard of my talking down on one of the senior female Imoogis, when she was the one started the conflict out of jealousy. I am not the one that forced her crush to fall for me¡­it is he to blame, as I can tell he feels nothing for her, how selfish. Although, I did regret making her cry¡­but what happened is not my fault. The only problem with this talent, is that I am too wary of those around and their...hearts. Dad just can''t seem to understand me just as well as he hoped, so he just recklessly decides to bring me to the clan¡¯s nesting tunnels, located deep in the heart of our clan''s private lands, in hopes of me bonding with the Imoogis by deeply learning of their history, their significance. I know mother was an Imoogi, but¡­there is no Imoogi here to prove me wrong. After some time, when we exited one of the nesting tunnels after observing the mother Imoogi care for their eggs, he met his old rival and his wife, one that he sometimes call ¡®lady thief¡¯ for stealing his first crush, and usually rants on how much he hates him, but not literally, just sick of his¡­unique personality from what I heard. Despite the insults father threw at Heiyang, father actually respects him, and thankful of him for showing father his mistakes and flaws, which resulted in him successfully marrying my mother, despite her being engaged to someone else. I can tell because I can read his heart as well, and pressured him further into admitting the truth, which he did in the end reluctantly. However, he made me swore to never tell his rival of this¡­or I will endure ¡®capital punishment¡¯ as he says. His rival, Heiyang actually greeted father first, and to be honest, this is the first time I met him. His appearance is very scary, along with his dreadful aura he emits constantly. What makes him even scarier is that¡­I can''t read him¡­which is the first time I have encountered this problem. Father states he is one of the true dragons that fought in the War of Faiths¡­and one of the most powerful, despite being only an ancient true dragon, not a dragon king or emperor. Dragon Kings, Dragon Emperors, and even Gods respect him for his talent in Darkness, Void, and Black Magic, and father said Heiyang can use other elemental magics, even Light. According to father, Heiyang is even immune to darkness¡¯ natural enemy, Light, and can consume all forms of light to fuel his powers, or further his strength, which is usually impossible, even for pure dragons. Father told me he is an Eclipse Dragon, the only one of his kind. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Meeting him now actually affirms father¡¯s respect of him¡­as there is no telling what he could do. Father responded his greeting, only there were some hints of concern in his words, mostly in regards in checking on Heiyang concerning the matter of his dead child along with bringing me here. Although, what was unexpected was¡­Heiyang¡¯s child lives. I thought Heiyang¡¯s unborn son died¡­since father told me that Heiyang¡¯s unborn reached past the two week mark. When father asked why, Heiyang quickly answered by saying that it was a mistake, that the child was actually born later than reported¡­which is kind of suspicious¡­especially when reading father¡¯s heart, that he is also suspicious of Heiyang¡¯s words as well... Father tells me to meet with Heiyang¡¯s son since he is also here, and I reluctantly complied since Heiyang¡¯s son¡­is an Imoogi¡­The only thing special about him are his horns, his red and blue eyes¡­and¡­oh, the heavens, he is the most adorable Imoogi I have ever seen, but the fact that he IS an Imoogi is enough for me to deter him. My expectations disappointed, I immediately pleaded father of my plight¡­though my poor choice of words might not have helped my argument according to what I got from him in response. Afraid of his ire, I turned my eyes away from him only to accidentally look at the Imoogi¡¯s eyes¡­ However¡­this one is¡­strange¡­now I am looking at him closely. He is¡­like Heiyang¡­I cannot feel anything from him¡­no, I cannot describe what I am feeling from him¡­Unlike Heiyang, I can feel something in his heart¡­but¡­I cannot tell what is in it¡­¡­ I wracked my mind in trying to analyze whatever is in his heart, to only be met with more questions. He is still looking at me in the eyes¡­a bit blankly¡­I do not know if it is because he is defective or not. I then turned my head away since the way he is looking at me is annoying, only to prove my assumption of him being defective more correct. However¡­now that I think about it¡­when father emitted his aura¡­I felt fear from the hearts of many Imoogis¡­even from newborn children as well since father lacks self-control, yet¡­I barely felt any fear from his heart¡­hmmm¡­he must definitely be defective to not be fearful of father¡¯s pressure. Going back to father¡­father informed me that he needs to privately speak with Heiyang for while¡­I went back to check on father¡­only to sense¡­bewilderment and fear in heart, with hints of anger. Then Heiyang must have said something else to father, which made him turn his attention to Heiyang¡¯s Imoogi child, and made him use his Appraisal skill on him. I do not know what he saw¡­but it left his heart into great turmoil, as he looked at Heiyang, silently demanding answers, only to receive a smile from Heiyang in response. Father¡¯s heart then calmed down¡­and it seems he is finishing his private conversation. And during father¡¯s private conversation, I feel Heiyang¡¯s son¡¯s¡­stares¡­at me the entire time. I was annoyed of his stares, as it reminds me of the ones I used to get from the lust driven Imoogis. But what makes his stare different¡­I cannot describe¡­it is almost as if there is no emotion behind those red and blue eyes¡­which is usually impossible for newborns, leaving me with a sense of unease. When it''s time take our separate ways¡­I asked father what he talked about with his rival, and what did he see in Heiyang¡¯s son. Father responded with¡­I don''t know¡­and that I am going to fight him in the next coming week¡­which left me dumbfounded. What I did not know at the time¡­was that I was about to face the greatest battle in my childhood life when that day came¡­¡­ Chapter 8: The Yang Yue Tian…’Elder’ After we parted with Longwei and his undisciplined daughter, we headed to exit the tunnels. We then reached a huge gate, handcrafted, made from certain mana-rich metals (I can sense the residual mana in the materials still, and is still pure and strong) for durability. It is decorated with colored, slightly abstract designs of Chinese dragons and a few European ones flying above ocean waves in the sky, with the moon and starry night time art on my right side of the gate, while the other side is a depiction of the sun and cloudy sky. Dad opened it casually by just waving his hand¡­emitting his mana into the¡­I think that crystal hole there is a lock¡­and then the gate glowed for a few moments before clacking¡­I think the door is unlocked¡­and then he forced the gate open with his manipulation of mana alone. He is a show off¡­.and when we entered the room, what we see¡­is dead end, in a circular with yellow-colored, smoothed, polished and beautifully decorated walls and floor¡­except I see¡­light¡­from waaaayyy above us... ¡°The exit is up there, in case you have not noticed. *Smirk*. This is the private exit tunnel meant only for those of the highest standings. And before you ask, I do indeed have some political influence despite your¡­first impression of me *Evil Smile*.¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡®¡­...Are you serious¡­I thought you were more of a¡­rogue, free-spirited type¡­not the¡­powerful official type¡­.¡¯ ¡°I can still hear your thoughts with my skill you know? When did you think I turned it off¡­or are you so interested in Meixi that you forgot about our¡­private father-and-son conversation¡­*VERY Evil Smile*.¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡®¡­.ARE YOU¡­GET OUT OF MY MIND, DAD!!!!!¡¯ ¡°Ohhhhh¡­but it is so much fun being in your head, dear son¡­*EXTREMELY EVIL SMILE¡­with a dash of sarcasm*.¡± - Heiyang ¡°Oh dear, even so, I must ask you to respect our son¡¯s privacy. Even you don¡¯t want others to invade your privacy¡­would you, dear?¡± ¨C Baoai ¡­I sense a¡­dark chill coming from mom¡­and it even startled dad to silence¡­ ¡®Oh? *Growing Evil Smile*¡­is he afraid of-¡® I no longer feel dad inside my head anymore¡­¡­it seems I now know why mom could marry someone like him¡­which will be delicious to hear in the future, mua ha ha ha ha ha¡­seriously, I am seriously being drawn to the dark side¡­¡­is it because of I have dad¡¯s blood in me¡­.? Conflicted in my thoughts, dad glared at me for a while, then smirked ominously before resuming his dialogue about the private, high class tunnels. ¡°Um, erk¡­yes, of course. Back to the topic, the exit is up high because of there are multiple magical traps hidden in the walls and we have no need of stairs. Humans and other flightless life cannot come down here without tools, and magic spells, and other means. The moment the sensor runes engraved on the walls feels any disturbance of mana unauthorized by the clan elder, feel any life signatures not our own, and feels any, and I mean ANY, mana here once the access here is disallowed by the clan elder, the spell orbs circularly place on the walls will activate, unleashing a deadly array of light and fire spells firing beams of highly concentrated, dangerous energy, forming a circular net made of light with no openings in the tunnel above. Any living being that touches the laser net will be vaporized on contact. And to make matters worse, the spell runes engraved on the ground will activate, unleashing powerful gravity magic, powerful enough to render deities helpless, that will pull the invaders to the ground, making them fall into the laser nets set above, and if that is not enough to kill the intruder(s), the ground will be flooded with a particular water that drains life force and mana, along with nullifying any items to the Celestial scale and mana based skills, infested with Adamantine tooth sharks and other dangerous creatures immune to the water¡¯s effects we captured and tamed to kill. There are also creature we have that are very effective against Qi users as well. The water does not work on certain life biologically though, dragons and Imoogis included, if their water affinity is high enough to a certain degree, though we are also prepared for that.¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡®¡­¡­Damn¡­am I gonna be safe from those¡­traps since my mana is not registered¡­?¡¯ ¡°Do not worry¡­the traps are not active at this time, as I turned it off when I opened the gate, and yes, I also have the privilege to have access as well. Wouldn¡¯t want you to die before meeting the clan elder, ha ha ha.¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡°Let us go already then, we are already late as we are.¡± ¨C Baoai Mom picked me up and held me in her hands as she and my father flew towards the exit above. Before we exited, I was thinking¡­just what happened to the Dragons for them to be so careful and prepared for war, to have spells and resources of this caliber¡­? They are dead set on security and hell bent on destroying any that dares to pose as a threat to them¡­ As we flew out of the tunnels, I covered my eyes with my hands since I see a blinding light from being in the caves so long¡­and when the brightness dimmed I see¡­a garden¡­below us¡­it seems we came out of the mountains¡­and grasslands with trees bearing edible fruit and flowers decorating the landscape as far as the eye can see under the sun with the blue, cloudy sky above¡­¡­at first glance. Something is wrong with this picture¡­since I am feeling¡­mana in the sun and sky, which I am sure is not normal¡­.so using Clairvoyance I looked even more closely at the sky as we move¡­..and found out that the sky and sun is artificial simulations, made to resemble the sun and sky with the sun being a very large crystal orb glowing orange and rays similar to that of the sun and the sky and cloud being virtual depictions using some kind of mana crystals, which is very realistic without closer observation. Whoa¡­an indoor garden with an artificial sky¡­? How badly does this clan of mine want to show off, seriously¡­? ¡°Oh¡­so you noticed, my son. Yes¡­the room was prepared and made by our clan using magic, even made the ¡®sky and sun¡¯ as you see. I see you are impressed¡­and have some sort of bad impression of our clan¡­I would tell you though, this room was made not to lord over others, but to practice their skills with various earth-type magics¡­and that to test our skills in craftsmanship as well.¡± ¨C Heiyang Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡®Hmmm¡­I see¡­so the clansmen made this themselves, not hiring others to do so¡­.¡¯ We then reached a gate of some sort¡­implanted on the grass on a certain hill. Dad then raised his hand to inject his mana into the ¡®lock¡¯, and then opened it. Going through the gate, I see a¡­large hall in red, brown, and white color with patterns and with glowing stones placed here and there serving as light sources. The hall looks like the ones from a royal palace I see in mangas, with decorative furniture, carpets, and flowered vases to boot. Flying for a while through the halls, I see¡­some dragons and Imoogis as well as¡­humans with their lower torsos like that of snakes¡­cleaning¡­some lizardmen¡­and humans walking around and some standing guard, but I can tell they are not human due to their auras. Their auras reminds me of the Imoogis I see in the tunnels¡­..And finally encountering a reference to compare my size to the average human...I am in estimate slightly bigger than the average height of human adults compared to my own without using my long snake-body''s length. Are those lamias¡­nagas¡­? Since when are they with us in the story dad was telling me? Guess I will find out later¡­and so we can transform huh? Interesting¡­I wonder if this is the loophole regarding obtaining a class mom was referring about¡­ After a while, we arrived at the fanciest, most important and secured door I have ever seen with two rows of powerful pure dragons standing left and right¡­bowing¡­upon dad¡¯s presence¡­damn, he really is a dragon of high standing¡­The gates are decorated, engraved with the same art as the door I have seen in that tunnel¡­only there was a big serpent dragon with what looks like a holy aura taking the space of the door¡¯s both sides and the other dragons in the art bowed to that dragon in reverence¡­.. Two dragons opened the door by pushing it open with their short arms and entered the room to completely open the door given their short arms. The doors now opened, I see¡­a human child. I cannot determine the child''s gender unfortunately, even with my inhuman senses. The fact that I cannot sense anything from the child is usually a sign of anyone possessing immense strength, so I am a bit wary of the child. The child has short, combed sky blue bob-cutted hair and golden eyes, wearing a gold robe with white cloud patterns made for Chinese nobility, sitting on a throne of the highest-grade mana rich metal I have ever sensed, with dragon heads serving as handles and a crystal orb above the chair top¡­And the child is accompanied by several other robed humans, some male and few female, and other small children¡­ with some humans adorned in warrior¡¯s attire and armed with swords and/or spears. They must be their guards¡­ Baffled at the unusual sight, my mind is trying its best to comprehend what I am seeing¡­only to find I am wasting my time when the child answered my questions. ¡°Ah¡­Heiyang¡­Baoai¡­¡­you¡¯re late. Where have you two been?!! Do you know how long I have to wait here on this chair for you two to arrive?!!!!! Especially you, Heiyang! How hard is it to bring a child to me, from the nest tunnels?! And you have to admit¡­is there any sense to keep me from meeting the reincarnated one, you annoying devil?!¡± ¨C Genderless Child ¡®¡­¡­.Huh¡­is he/she speaking with his/her mouth? From how his/her mouth moves¡­it is definitely not in synch with his/her words and¡­He/She is definitely not speaking English¡­¡¯ ¡°Oh Great Ancestor¡­my beloved seemed to be having too much fun with our newborn child. And also, it is just that¡­¡­he is SO ADORABLE to tease¡­!¡± ¨C Baoai ¡®Et tu¡­..mother? *droop head in disappointment*¡¯ ¡°She is correct, dear ¡®Elder¡¯. You will be surprised of what happened at his time of hatching, mua ha ha.¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡°Tch¡­I will deal with you later¡­Now where is he¡­oh¡­oh my¡­he is¡­¡­he is¡­¡­.¡± ¨C Great Ancestor Feeling a sense of omen from what the child is about to say¡­and what the child is about to do¡­¡­I tried to silently message him/her with my eyes, relaying my intentions. ¡®Don¡¯t say it¡­Don¡¯t say it¡­Don¡¯t you DARE say it¡­¡­¡­*BULGING EYES TO SILENTLY CONVEY MY MESSAGE*¡¯ ¡°¡­¡­ADORABLE!!!!!!!¡± ¨C Great Ancestor The ¡®Great Ancestor¡¯ then jumped from his/her throne and instantly appeared in front of me without warning. Damn¡­this one is quick! ¡­.and hugged me around my neck with all his/her might¡­¡­ ¡®UGhgghghughhghh *Suffering from the pain of having my body crushed*!!¡¯ Despite the child''s size no greater than a toddler, the child still managed to hug me with its deceptive massive strength. What is worse is, He/She won¡¯t let go despite hearing my painful cries, and I am about to die if he/she continues like this¡­..I can see my health rapidly dropping, despite it being more than one million, to prove my point, which is a first for me to see my health bar¡­UGH!!!....HE/SHE¡¯S SQUEEZING ME EVEN HARDER!!!!!!......I look to dad for help¡­.AND SEE DAD SMILING AT MY SUFFERING, USING ALL HIS EFFORT HOLDING BACK HIS LAUGHTER!!!!!!!...probably as payback for me thinking of using his fear of mom against him¡­He is truly evil¡­.. ¡°Oh my¡­Great Ancestor, maybe you should introduce the clan first¡­before you hug him to death.¡± ¨C Baoai ¡®YES¡­..MY FREEDOM IS WITHIN REACH!!!!¡¯ ¡°Ohhhh¡­.Alright¡­¡­maybe a few more minutes! *Smiling in joy, which in my eyes, is the depiction of my worst nightmares*¡± ¨C Great Ancestor ¡°NO!!!¡± I rejected his/her answer with my telepathy¡­which surprised him/her! ¡°¡­¡­So you can talk¡­.I see¡­¡­¡­And NO, I will hug you some more!!!¡± ¨C Great Ancestor ¡®NOOO-UGHhghGHGHg!!!!¡¯ And here my suffering has begun¡­¡­
Let me know what you think of this chapter!!! Chapter 9: Introductions, and Skill Revelation One hour¡­..the genderless child hugged me for ONE HOUR¡­¡­¡­..My health is even in the orange¡­which is bad. I am now lying on the cold hard ground¡­twitching from the pain. ¡­Her hug is almost as painful as the time when I ate the mana and Qi¡­ugh, it pains me just from remembering it¡­ Looking up, I see the child gazing down on me¡­grinning in joy¡­probably from my ¡®cuteness¡¯, ugh. The other humans¡­now that I got a good look at them¡­are looking at me with pity, which is annoying. The other human children here are poking me with their fingers, out of amusement¡­ I drearily got back up, feeling sore all over, then mom cast some kind of spell on me. Her spell feels like healing magic, as my health is gradually rising back up into the green. She then pat on my head, and said that I did well to survive the Ancestor¡¯s strength. Sometime later, when I fully recovered, the child introduced herself. ¡°Hello, foreign soul. Apologies for my¡­sudden outburst. You¡¯re the most adorable Imoogi I have ever seen! *Place his/her hands on his/her cheeks while blushing*¡± ¨C Great Ancestor I narrowed my two eyes at the child¡¯s remark. I opened my third eye again and narrowed it as well to add more power to my glaring pressure, implicitly conveying my current feelings to the ¡®Great Ancestor¡¯. ¡°Ohhhh¡­you have three eyes¡­there are Imoogis and dragons with one eye, though they are rare, but I never heard of an Imoogi with three! Now let me introduce myself! My name is Mazupo, and I am the Dragon Queen of the Yang Yue Tian Clan! *giggling like normal cute child, despite her¡­age*. What¡¯s your¡­ah, not the name your current parents gave you, I mean your previous name, if you please.¡± ¨C Mazupo Staring at what I am witnessing¡­I was trying my best to process¡­her existence. She is called the ¡®Great Ancestor¡¯, and yet she bears the attitude and form of a child, a human child¡­does not act her age-! ¡°GHuhh *Punched in the snake stomach*!!!¡± ¡°You are thinking something rude, little one. Never touch on a woman¡¯s age, NEVER.¡± ¨C Mazupo ¡®Uggggghhhhh, how did she¡­?¡¯ Dad then enlightened me on the subject. ¡°Be careful, she''s very sensitive about her age, and yet despite not having the skill to read thoughts or other similar skills, she has the uncanny intuition of detecting anyone secretly judging her age. Believe me, I know. *Smirk*¡± - Heiyang ¡®¡­.This one¡­so he planned this¡­¡­he knew what was going to happen when I meet the ¡®Elder¡¯¡­and he didn¡¯t tell me, just for fun¡­.¡¯ ¡°Oh don¡¯t give me that look. There is nothing I can do about it, and neither can you, but you are right on the part of the Elder¡¯s age sensitivity. Heh heh heh¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡°Hmph! You call me your elder still, despite you being OLDER, WAY older than me, you devil!¡± ¨C Mazupo ¡°Oh don¡¯t be like that, little girl. Yixing, introduce yourself then.¡± ¨C Heiyang Ughhh¡­.groaning from pain, I shook the damage out of me, and continued the introduction. ¡°Very well, little girl. My name is Yixing, as stated in my status window. But my previous name is¡­Heibai, a human who faced an uncanny death, by the whims of fate. How I got here is nothing short of a damn miracle if you ask me, as I am clueless on the matter.¡± The Elder looked at me eye-to-eye, seeing if I was telling the truth. Then she blinked and responded. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.¡°Hmmm¡­so you were in the body by chance¡­how amusing¡­Very well, we can do nothing about it now. Welcome to Mundus then, the largest world encountered by the gods and still holding the title to this day, and home to many unique beings! Welcome to the Clan, foreign one. And¡­oh before we continue, do you mind showing me your status windows and skills? I am curious to see if your stats and skills are unique. There may be some clues on how you got here, Heibai. Or do you prefer Yixing?¡± ¨C Mazupo ¡®Oh yeah¡­I keep putting that off¡­I should check it out.¡¯ ¡°Yixing should do, since I am already here in this world and named. And sure, but I would like to request a little¡­privacy *Looks at the other humans*¡± ¡°Oh¡­you mean them? They are the nobles of our clan. Leaders of great power and ability, but sure. There is nothing you can do to harm us anyway, Teehee!¡± ¨C Mazupo She waved her hand at them to signal them to turn away for my request. They complied without hesitation, though some of them were curious I can tell. ¡­¡­I feel a little insulted¡­and angry from her words. No matter. I looked at father, silently asking him if I can trust the Elder with my eyes. Father noticing my silent message, nodded in response, a straightforward response, without any hidden intentions this time. I opened up my status screen and mentally clicked on the skill menu and showed them:
Skill List: Divine Blessing of Odin: Decomposition Magic Universal Translator Divine Skills: Bearer of the First Flame (Passive-Active) Racial/Acquired Skills: Black Magic Crystal Mind (Passive) Darkness Magic Divine Eye (Passive-Active) Essence Absorption (Passive) Evolution (Passive) Gravity Magic Gravity Manipulation (Passive) Imoogi Roar (Active) Imoogi Shoot (Active) Magic Manipulation (Passive) Psychokinesis (semi-passive) Qi Manipulation (Passive) Size Control (Semi-Passive) Stone Eater (Active) Void Magic Water Magic White Magic Learned Skills: Avidya''s Shroud (Passive-Active) Clairvoyance (Semi-Passive) Telepathy (Semi-Passive) Title Skills: Heroic Last Stand (Semi-Passive) Matter Manipulation (Passive)
¡­.Wow¡­, that is more skills than I expected. This will take some time to process, reading them one by one¡­. *Author Here: I know some parts of my story lacks some originality, and for some goddamn reason I cannot make the names for the right gods...as I am not sure how they will fit. Coming up with new gods on the fly is not easy and hard...Anyway, let me know what you think of my story so far, and how I can improve! :D Chapter 10: How I Got To Mundus…And World History Continued ¡°¡°¡­¡­¡­¡±¡± ¨C Mazupo, Baoai ¡®¡­¡­.This is slightly awkward¡­¡­.¡¯ They are very shocked, well except for Dad as he is already aware of it due to his lack of reaction, to the point of their minds blanking out. Dad is enjoying the moment though, as he is waving his hand in front of Mazupo¡¯s face to see her blank face remain unmoving. They really are trying their best to process this. Anyways, they were taking their time, like more than a minute¡­so I proceeded to look at my skill effects while they¡¯re in their own world starting with the most prominent skills that catch my eye.
Crystal Mind: (Passive) Your mind is clear of all distractions and hesitation, and tempered through harsh trials of pain and suffering. The end result is your mind free from its flaws and weaknesses, allowing it to understand the world around you without any mental limits. Effects: -Can learn skills and masteries faster. -More EXP gained from any action.
¡®Hmmm, so I can learn skills faster, huh? And ¡®masteries¡¯¡­mom did tell me about it when she was transferring her knowledge to me¡­another leveling system on a different category used by every mortal on Mundus to surpass their limits, allowing them to defeat monsters naturally stronger than them and more. How it is leveled is not like the regular level system, as one has to diligently study the path of any chosen mastery, train hard on it, and etc. The stages of these masteries can¡¯t just be raised by killing monsters all day using the same skills over and over again, as it will not only be a waste of time and effort, it will also lead to stagnation and worse, the higher level one is, the harder it is to increase one¡¯s masteries. Ultimately, because of these facts, anyone with common sense should train in their masteries as early and as much as they can, else they will be surpassed by those of the same levels as them. There are different stages of combat masteries¡­like here from lowest to highest stages are beginner, novice, intermediate, advanced, adept, expert, master, fable, and last but not least, divine. It is also has the obvious limit system, the higher you go, the harder it is to advance to the next level. There are ten levels between each stage of mastery, and if one reaches level ten in any stage, they can advance to the next stage at level one and repeat the process with greater difficulty. One can also learn skills when training any mastery as well. Onto the next skill, Essence Absorption.¡¯
Essence Absorption: (Passive) Take the essences residing in the world around you in any way, be it consumption or natural absorption into the body, and use it as your own. Effects: -Can absorb non-detrimental skills, abilities and/or traits, at most two per essence (be it magic crystal, Qi crystal, soul core, weapon, or else) of any individual or object. If the essence resides in organic matter, for example in the heart or brain of any creature that recently died, it must be consumed within at most thirty minutes or else the absorption will fail. Unrestricted by race. -Chances of success in acquirement depends on the difference between your current strength, and the caliber of the essence taken in. If the essence is equal or greater than your current strength, the chances of success is guaranteed, and for essences below you, the chances are drastically low depending on the distance between your current strength and the essence.
Holy¡­I can absorb skills from, uh eating my foes? That is very cool, must I say so myself. But, essence¡­what does it exactly mean by that? There are examples like magic crystals and Qi crystals, so I believe it means the source of power from anyone or thing, be it creatures or objects of power. I have to eat my kill(s) quickly though, or the skill will be invalid if the thirty minute mark is up. What else is questionable is the amount of skills I get ¡®per essence¡¯. Does it mean the limit I can get from the same individual, be it living or dead, or the limit I get from absorption of said individual meaning I can get as many skills as I want as long as I have a steady supply of ¡®essence¡¯ from said individual? Eh, guess I will experiment on that part and find out myself. Anyway let¡¯s see¡­how about, ¡®Evolution¡¯?
Evolution: (Passive) Evolve and surpass your limits however you can through your daunting trials. Effects: -Evolve any skills, abilities and/or traits compatible to your biology depending on your situation and environment once you¡¯ve met and survived the necessary conditions.
¡®Ohhhhh¡­¡­What the heck? I need more elaborations on this part. Does it mean like I can get another head if I attach a random creature¡¯s head to my body or something? Or could it give me godlike strength if I train hard enough like a certain superhero that lost his hair from 100 pushups, 100 sit-ups, and 100 kilometer run every single day for three years straight? Hmmm, need to experiment on this one too. Continuing on¡­oh it seems mom and the Elder are waking up from their daze.¡¯ ¡°¡­Ohhhh¡­Oh my¡­This might explain some things. Yixing, no Heibai, were you¡­somehow in the middle of a summoning by any chance, and died during the process?¡± ¨C Mazupo After she spoke, my mind blanked at the work ¡®summoning¡¯. ¡°What?¡± I furiously replied in a serious tone. ¡°You see¡­You have a blessing from one of the main Royal Gods watching over this realm, but not govern exactly. Those who receive the blessing from a Royal God, they are always meant to be¡­heroes. Meaning you were summoned to defeat the current, um, Devil Emperor.¡± ¨C Mazupo ¡®¡­I never heard of demons in Dad¡¯s story.¡¯ Hearing this, I glared at dad with all three of my eyes, silently demanding answers. Dad pondered on the matter, and started to continue where he left off in his story. ¡°Ah yes, I did not tell you that part yet, my son. Let me continue where I left off.¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡°Wait, you already started telling him about our world? I was supposed to do that! *Puff Cheeks cutely*¡± ¨C Mazupo ¡°He had questions, and what kind of a father would I be if I did not give him the answers he rightfully deserves to know? Besides, I was bored. Anyway back to where I left off¡­¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡±WHAT?!! Don¡¯t ignore me!¡± ¨C Mazupo Dad ignored her still and resumed where he left off. ¡°After the Gods wiped out most of the rebelling Deities, the surviving Deities went into hiding, waiting for the right time to rise again. The deities that did not resist were indoctrinated into servitude, obeying the gods¡¯ every needs and will, but they were treated fairly¡­most of them at least. We, the Dragons however, were unsure on how to respond to the Gods¡¯ sudden intrusion and their swift involvement into ending our endless conflict, so we decided to negotiate with them in hopes of learning their motives and plans. But, we received condescending narcissism and arrogance in response from some of them, as well as¡­immigrants, other sentient life migrating here from other worlds like Elves for example. The Prime Royal God, Odin even planted a ¡®World Tree¡¯ as he calls it, to establish their mark and influence on Mundus. I was a Shadow Dragon at the time when the negotiations started, and they did say some brave words. There were also other Divine beings as well, for example one of the Divine races is called Titans, an ancient race of great cosmic power comparable to that of Gods. Angry, we diligently scour the roots of their aggression from the other gods, hoping to shed some light on the matter. The friendly gods informed us that some of them dislike us Dragons because we possess powers beyond mortal limitations without using faith to acquire them. They dislike us because almost all the gods that touched down this world were offspring of gods that were once sentient mortals or weak mortals that ascended to godhood, meaning their origins and means of ascension is from faith and faith alone. The process of reaching godhood in their case was to acquire a certain amount of faith from many sentient life, and when one succeeds in doing so, the successful individual can shed their mortal shell and become more than just mere flesh and bone by becoming deities first, unlike how the deities were born here through efforts and survival instincts. It makes them look very inferior and inept when they uncovered how the deities were born here in a shorter amount of time than them. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. After that, a new breed of sentient mortals were born, now called Beastmen, but we will talk about that later as you want to know about the Devil Emperor, yes?¡± ¨C Heiyang Hearing the sudden interruption, I am in the flow of the story, so I did not notice that. I nodded yes in response. But Mazupo coyly interjected, and is the narrator this time as she replaced dad by force. ¡°The Demons and Devils were made by the rebelling Deities, with the help of Evil Gods in secret. The Evil Gods were a separate faction that rebelled against the Divine Pact, refusing to include their names in it. They desire absolute power, disregarding the consequences of any means to do so. It was believed that they were all wiped out, or eternally imprisoned after having their divine powers stripped away, but the sad truth was a very few of them escaped under their detection while the other few defected and betrayed the other Gods. The ones that escaped were stripped of their divine powers, all except for two. The ones that retained their divinity¡­was Enki, Royal God of Creation and Magic and the Storm God Marduk, his son. They banded together out of sharing mutual goals and formed what is now known as New Genesis. They saw an opportunity here, a land rich with untapped power and resources, free for the taking while the Gods were¡­bound by their pact. Some millennia later after our negotiation, they secretly contacted the surviving deities as well as those that submitted to them, either through negotiation or violent subjugation. The deities that rejected them or resisted were killed, and their bodies harvested as ingredients. They tried to do the same with us as well sending Marduk, two fallen Gods and four deities, but we were stronger than before, more than they anticipated. We diligently trained and advanced out methods in gaining strength in preparation of the day the Gods decided to turn against us. We, Dragons, adopted the strengthening methods from how the Deities shed their mortal shells, how they ascend, and integrate their knowledge into our own, leading to the discovery of new evolutions of immense power like Dragon King, and Dragon Emperor. A few of us even ascended to Dragon Gods, with Tiamat as the first one with the rest after her being her husband and children. We can grow stronger thorough cultivation of Qi or continuously consuming and assimilating large quantities of heavily refined raw mana. We can cultivate with mana, but it¡¯s not ideal compared with Qi, as it is much more difficult to control, so we just consume and assimilate the pure mana of other creatures to further our own development. We repelled the fallen Gods and Deities invading our land, Dryukyul after they failed to persuade us. I was still a young pure dragon at that time, hee hee! We even managed to kill three of the deities and captured one Fallen God for interrogation and planned to inform the Gods of this to curry rewards and favors. But¡­Tiamat was severely injured and her mate was¡­killed by Marduk, along with other casualties. What is worse is that before we can react, Marduk corrupted our land with a powerful magic poison we do not know before he fled, making it uninhabitable and beyond recovery by the time we discovered the cure¡­or so we believed. So we decided to split up into separate groups keeping our connections into separate strategic locations preparing to retaliate by allying with others willing to side with us, be it Beastmen, humans, Demi-humans and sentient monsters. To summarize what happened after that, long before New Genesis invaded and before we informed the Gods of what transpired, they secretly prepared artificial¡­soldiers, using the essence of monsters with humans as the base to make them stronger than the humanoid life here, but¡­the creations were corrupted and enslaved. The methods they use to make them are unknown and now forbidden, as they corrupt souls into depravity, making them belligerent at birth. How they learned of these methods, we don¡¯t know. The abominations New Genesis made were later known as Demons, but that is a general term for their race as there are devils, a caste of highly intelligent demons in the ruling class and were the rulers. The greatest one among was then known as the Devil Emperor. And to insult us, the abominations set their home in our former homeland, after fixing the damage Marduk wrought under our noses. They invaded the existing nations at that time, be it human or not, in a surprise attack and pushed them at the brink of extinction. The Demons were physically stronger than demi-humans while having greater magic affinity than the average human. Unfortunately for the humans, they already lost their knowledge and records of cultivation long before their invasion due to internal war for power and probably due to manipulated events as there was evidence that the records were destroyed intentionally, leaving the humans vulnerable at the time. The demons could not obtain the same level of benefits as the humans from cultivation, which is the cost for being made naturally stronger and having more magic potential than humans and demi-humans. The surviving kingdoms of all races, monsters included, banded together and did their best on the defensive and held back the Demons for some time, which is more than enough for them to prepare a counterattack. The Prime God, Odin along with other Prime Gods were informed by us of the situation, now aware of their time of desperate need. They bestowed them the power to overcome their enemies, which are the Hero Weapons, along with a one time weapon to summon the Gods to fight against New Genesis as the Evil Gods and their followers were using the Divine Pact against them by using their mortal creations as shields, meaning if the Gods harmed a mortal unprovoked, they will fall into Fallen Gods. Through their overwhelming strength, will, and charisma, heroes of all races pushed back the Demons back to their main territory, our former homeland Dryukyul. The heroes reached the Devil Emperor, a powerful puppet of New Genesis with power almost comparable to the average Deity¡¯s. The Evil Gods were also there to destroy them, but¡­we also participated in secret to catch them by surprise. New Genesis was elusive, so we made a plan secretly with the Gods to help them in exchange for new ideal homes for us and more. You should''ve seen the heroes¡¯ faces when we busted through the walls, roaring with rage. They even raised their weapons on us in fear of our attack, until we attacked the Evil Gods and their followers. After a long battle, the heroes defeated the first Devil Emperor, but they couldn¡¯t kill the leader at the time. They then used the holy artifact to summon the Gods, and then they punished them once again, and truly stripped Enki¡¯s and Marduk¡¯s divine powers for good and punished them with eternal imprisonment along with eternal torment in Gods know where. What happened after that, the alliance between the races broke up and went back to their separate ways. The Devil Emperor and the surviving demons escaped, but now free from their masters and established a new home somewhere unknown at the time waiting to establish their hold on this world. They are still quite belligerent and hostile to the other races to this day and they¡¯re still trying to invade the other nations, but with less success than before as they were no longer supported by New Genesis. The humans were a bit greedy once they were bestowed permission to keep the hero weapons, but only the chosen few picked by the weapons can wield them. The weapons are sentient, as they will only pick a wielder they deem truly worthy of their power, or at least with the potential. So they devised a ritual method obtained from the Gods at their permission to summon heroes from another world, only in times of great crisis or in preparation of near-future disasters predicted by their prophets, holy priests who can see the future with the help of certain powerful relics. And now, here we are. With a human soul native in another world reincarnated into a Imoogi, slowly fusing with the original Imoogi¡¯s soul!¡± ¨C Mazupo At her words¡­I bulged my three eyes and dropped my jaw in shock, unable to believe what I just heard. Side Story 3: The Tragic Summoning Mira¡¯s POV: (During the truck incident) *SCREEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeech* *Multiple crashing noises* !!! ¡®What¡­Is that a truck?!¡¯ I am with my brother on my way to greet him my friends, Sarah and Emily. I am now in High School like my brother as a freshman. I was nervous at first, but I successfully made friends with acceptable troubles. I was always awkward around people because of my¡­¡¯dishonest¡¯, rough personality I got from my growing up in a martial arts dojo. Our dojo mainly teaches Wing Chun, Tai Chi, Taekwondo, and Muay Thai. Heibai was adopted into the family when I was two, and he was four years old at that time. Even when I was two, I still remember the time when I first met him. His hair was very short and unstylish as it makes him look like a bald person with hair, but his unique features were his black-brown and¡­white eyes. He lost his right eye due to abuse from the other children in the orphanage he was in, making one of his black-brown eyes white which gave him the name ¡®Heibai¡¯. The only feeling I felt when I first met him was¡­disdain¡­because of the first impression he gave me. When I saw his eyes, they were¡­empty and the atmosphere around him is gloomy and dark. I did not know what I saw exactly at that time, so I just lazily judged him to be weird and someone I should avoid like the child I was. I did not know why my father took him in at that time. He lifelessly adapted into our life, training, studying, and working daily chores¡­like he is a lifeless puppet. I did not know he gave up on living at that time. Father helped gave him basic education and training, up to the point where he can babysit me at the age of six. I was four at that time. I do not remember that much when I was four, but Heibai told me I was¡­a rascal. The Heibai I know enjoys provoking with his words, relishing every negative reaction I make, but he is a good big brother despite being not related by blood now that I know him better. As Heibai grew up with only one working eye, he trained with me and sometimes with Dad alone, as he is privately tutoring him for some reason. I was beginning to see why when I saw Heibai took down half of the students in the dojo around his age. He even took down the top student in record time, denying him the chance to fight back by countering in accordance with his attacks and movements. The Top Student even tried to roundhouse kick Heibai¡¯s right temple believing he was open, until Heibai ducked and dashed low, punching his arms, stomach, neck, and then grabbed both of the Student¡¯s legs to¡­throw him his own way. After he grabbed the legs with both arms, he lifted up the legs making the Student¡¯s upper body drop with his legs trapped, and then Heibai spun around with legs in hand to build rotating force to¡­throw the Student a few feet away. Dad always had a good eye, as he saw potential in him. Although, that¡¯s not all. I also noticed something when were still growing up. I saw¡­traces of life in his eyes. I even saw him smile¡­when he saw me fell down after I tripped embarrassingly. He almost never smiled, I am sure of that. My aversion of him was almost replaced by curiosity. I decided to peek in on how Dad tutors him, and was surprised at what I saw. I saw Dad¡­playing with him. I did not why until¡­I heard Dad lecture him about how to grow up as a child, how to become a good man before he resumes the training. There was even another person, a girl, one with¡­medium length white hair tied to a small ponytail, blue sharp eyes, and a calm, dignifying face like that of a doll. Her name was Anastasia and she is the daughter of Dad¡¯s friend who also ran a dojo, teaching judo, karate, and aikido around where we live. Her skill was evenly matched with Heibai¡¯s¡­as I saw how they exchange their blows gracefully, with little wasted movement and how they react against each other attacks. She was above me that¡¯s for sure. I also heard of Dad planning to have Anastasia and Heibai marry each other although to Heibai''s ignorance as he is unaware of it, and started raising them together here in Dad¡¯s Dojo. I call her Ana for short. Heibai is a little ''poor'' when it comes to women though. He did notice Ana''s feelings, but...he does not know what it is at the time and still does not know what it is to this day. He knows nothing about love, but Ana plans to change that with fiery determination. When I saw Heibai talk with the girl, he was smiling. Happy. I never saw this side of him before¡­as it was the first time I witnessed his ¡®humanity¡¯. After that, I opened myself up to him as we grew up slowing knowing each other, looking after each other. He was always there when I was in trouble, though usually from forcing himself unto me as he finds me ¡®troublesome and fun to hang around¡¯ due to my tomboyish demeanor *Hmph*. He always know how to get me to talk what¡¯s on my mind¡­with his annoying personality and advises me the best he could. He even managed to convince my crush and dragged me to an isolated room, disguised with a mask and called himself ¡®Masked Man¡¯ for laughs, and locked us in to get rid of my shyness and confess my feelings. Haha, that was the most heart popping day of my life. Our relationship did not go well though, as he moved to another city because of his Parents¡¯ jobs. Heibai can always tell if I am having troubles on my mind from looking at me with his one good eye¡­ Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. And now¡­Heibai quickly pushed me away to the street to save my life, but as I was pushed¡­the trucked literally changed direction and headed towards me. I was scared......frozen. And right as the truck was about to him me¡­a blinding white light occurred¡­as I was sent flying from the impact. ¡®Uuuunnnnnn¡­.¡¯ I woke up dazed¡­confused and hurt. The first I saw was¡­a rainbow kaleidoscopic window in the ceiling with symbols and paintings and when I turned my head I saw golden, polished stones for walls, floors and ceilings with beautiful decorations. When I saw this, the first thought that came that came to mind was whether or not I was in a Church for some reason. As I was trying to remember what happened, I realized I was lying on the ground face up¡­and felt something heavy on me. Annoyed, I tried to push whatever¡¯s on me out of the way, but¡­it is holding onto me tight, and it won¡¯t let me go. As I was struggling to be free, I heard some man speaking. ¡°WELCOME, HEROES! With the power of the Gods, we beseech your summons in our time of desperate need!¡± - ? When I heard this, I couldn¡¯t believe the random words that out of the man¡¯s mouth. ¡®Heroes¡­? What the f-¡­! This thing won¡¯t come OFF!!! ANNOYING!!!!*Angrily trying to shake the heavy object off of her*¡¯ As I finally shook whatever¡¯s holding onto me, I finally got up with some pains in my arms. I saw I have bruises and scratches here and there, on my arms and legs. Irritated, I looked at the thing that gave me so much trouble. ¡®Whatever you are¡­I am GONNA¡­...brother?¡¯ When I saw my brother¡­his body bloodied, his eyes closed and his face at peace with a gentle smile¡­¡­I¡­¡­¡­.no, no, NOOO!!!!! I cried out my brother¡¯s name instantly got down to him, trying to feel a pulse¡­desperately hoping he is not dead. I shook his body hoping he will wake up, as I cried out his name, again, and again,¡­and again¡­¡­.and again¡­..as loudly as I can, ignoring the people in my surroundings gazing at scene in front of their eyes. ¡®Big Brother must have¡­no¡­*choked up in throat**sniffle*¡¯ Tears started to form in my eyes as my voice slowly broke apart, becoming distorted and hoarse with sadness. ¡®Brother¡­no, Heibei, died saving my life¡­why¡­..WHY?!!¡¯ As I cried a little while, I heard a familiar voice¡­ ¡°Heibai?¡± - ? When I heard her voice, I turned my head to my left towards the source and saw¡­Anastasia, his childhood friend¡­and there were other people, as I even saw Sarah and Emily. Baffled by their presence here, I questioned Ana with a broken voice. ¡°How are you here¡­You were supposed to be at home.¡± She contemplated on her memories, hoping to respond as best she can. ¡°I was busy training in the dojo, until¡­a bright white light enveloped around me. I do not know how I got here after that¡­and is that¡­Oh God¡­¡± ¨C Anastasia As she gazed upon my brother¡¯s bloodied body, she cupped her mouth and widened her eyes in horror. After brief moment to take in what she saw¡­I see tears slowly dropping from her eyes. ¡°How¡­how¡­HOW IS IT YOUR BROTHER ENDED UP LIKE THAT?!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?!!¡± ¨C Anastasia She asked me angrily, demanding answers from me. All I can do was to respond however I can¡­the other people were silently staring at us, most likely not knowing how to respond. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­..I don¡¯t know¡­.we were on our way and¡­an out-of-control truck came by, and¡­it was heading right at us. Brother pushed me out of the way, but the¡­truck turned as I was pushed¡­it was going to crash into me. Brother must have¡­¡­..¡± My voice broke down, unable to continue speaking as I cried¡­.How Ana reacted, she responded with curses and shouts. ¡°Why...WHY?! WE WERE¡­.we were¡­supposed to have a happy life together. And have a family of our own and yet¡­you died before I can even confess to you¡­You¡­You COWARD¡­You¡­..you¡­¡­¡­.Why did you have to die¡­?*Breaks down in tears*¡± - Anastasia Sharing her feelings¡­I slowly hugged Ana and cried with her¡­¡­dropping our tears onto Heibai''s corpse. But our cries were interrupted by the unknown man. ¡°Wait¡­Is he¡­NO!!! GET THE PRIESTS HERE NOW!!!!! IF WE CAN ACT NOW, WE CAN SAVE HIM!!!!! QUICKLY!!!!!!¡± - ? *Let me know what you think of the chapter! :D Chapter 11: New Objective, plus Training Start ¡°Are you serious?¡± I asked again to confirm her words. She replied with a mature, dependable tone, like that of a true adult. ¡°Yes, I am quite serious. However, we never witnessed a corpse coming out of a hero summoning, but what¡¯s even more baffling¡­is that there is no human hero summoning performed this year...¡± ¨C Mazupo ¡°Define ¡®no hero summoning¡¯¡­¡± She said there are no hero summonings performed by any of the major human nations¡­which is odd and confusing as hell. ¡°Ummmm¡­It is quite hard to explain. You see, we keep track of the mortals¡¯ activities to make sure they do not plot against us. They are very vulnerable to sin¡­despite their popular self-conceited belief they are pure and strong. We witness every hero summoning performed through a proxy and talked with some of the summoned. From what we got from the past heroes so far, all of them experienced a blinding white light and none of them ever ¡®died¡¯ as you did during the summoning. There is no hero summoning scheduled and you are¡­the first case that faced such an incident, so there will be some investigation I assure. We know some Gods that could help, but we will not talk to your Patron God that blessed since¡­I have a strong hunch that it will be problematic if I do so.¡± ¨C Mazupo ¡®¡­¡­I cannot believe what I am hearing¡­¡¯ ¡°Are you saying I was summoned illegally?¡± The Elder¡¯s face is filled with concern and worry. After a short pause, she found the words to say. ¡°I don¡¯t know to be honest. The summoning method is secret, even to us. But¡­there are conditions that must be followed. For example, the crucial key is that the Prime Royal Gods must take part in the summoning¡­as they personally choose the candidates they want to bless before they summon them to another world. And they have yet to pick their heroes yet, or else we will know.¡± ¨C Mazupo ¡®¡­So there is a process to this summoning?¡¯ ¡°So the Gods pick which hero to bless first before they summon us¡­Wait, there is one question that is bothering me. Can the summoning¡­summon other people near the Heroes by accident as well?¡± ¡­¡­The Elder gives me a strange look, silently questioning why I¡¯m asking this. ¡°¡­¡­What will happen if I say ¡®yes¡¯?¡±- Mazupo ¡°Answer. The. Question. ...*Deep Breath* ¡­I beg you¡­¡± I bowed to help plead my case to her, as this is very important. I must know whether or not my sister is safe and sound. Pride and tantrums won¡¯t help me get anywhere, as this is something that requires calm mind and strong will to handle. ¡°¡­¡­Then yes¡­The ones that are dragged along the summoning will be granted great power and if they are worthy enough, they can earn random blessings from other Gods, but not as great as the chosen heroes¡¯. They will be part of the Heroes¡¯ party to help defeat the Devil Emperor. Now tell me this ¡®Hero¡¯¡­what do you plan to do after I told you this? Will you leave the lands whether or not we oppose your choice and join the humans? Or will you stay here and live as one of us, not as Heibai, but as Yixing?¡± ¨C Mazupo I took in her answer deeply within me¡­and after a short pause, I took a deep breathe to clear my mind before I speak my mind. ¡°Thank you. Elder. You are a monster, figuratively, despite your friendly appearance. You seem to know me well in our first meeting in such a short time, ha ha. I¡­had a sister to be honest. Remember how I said I died by fate¡¯s whim? I was being literal when I say that. I died trying to save my sister from¡­certain death, using my own body as a shield. So when you say I was summoned¡­it also means she is here as well. I plan to look for her and send her back home, as the reason she is here is because of me, judging from your words. After that, well¡­I don¡¯t know if I can return home, but I will at least try. Whether or not I stay here, I am content with either choices, but¡­I want to at least say goodbye to my family back home. I mean, I did die of course, ha ha¡­ha¡­¡­So tell me Elder, no Mazupo, will you help me? I will do whatever it takes to bring her back.¡± I bowed again with my serpent head with humility, as I am still new in this world I need some assistance, professional ones if possible. ¡°¡­Heh¡­.heh, hmhmhm. HA ha HAHAHAHAaA¡­!¡± ¨C Mazupo She is laughing at my response¡­for some reason. Does she really find this amusing? ¡°Such daring words! You instantly asked for help even though this is our first encounter and despite not doing anything for us yet? HA! You¡¯re funny! Very well, I will see what I can do even if you don¡¯t ask. Your matter must be looked into anyway since this is the first time in history a Hero died during a summoning.¡± ¨C Mazupo ¡®¡­Yeah she does have a point, but¡­¡¯ ¡°Daring¡­me? HAH! Says the one that nearly hugged a baby to death at first sight. Do you hug all things cute and cuddly, because I pity you since you kill them in the end? *Smug Grin*¡± Hearing my smug comeback, she narrowed her eyes and glared at me for a while. ¡°Oh? I see you developed your tongue from Heiyang¡­I see now¡­you need some more of my ¡®love¡¯ to learn respect. *Ominous Smile*¡± - Mazupo My smug grin vanished when I remembered her death-hug. But to my rescue, Mom interrupted our conversation. ¡°As much as you enjoy our son¡¯s¡­looks, we must continue the introductions. *Looks at the other ¡®humans¡¯*¡± ¨C Baoai ¡®Ah¡­I almost forgot about them.¡¯ Looking them closely now. They are wearing the same clothing like Mazupo¡¯s at different sizes, though they are less impressive appearance and quality wise. There are four ¡®nobles¡¯, eight guards, and five ¡®children¡¯. There are three male and one female in the noble group, three male and five females in the guard group, and two males and three females in the children group. They of various size and age. One of them stepped forward with two male guards beside him and introduced himself. ¡°Greetings foreign soul. I must tell you that humans are not well respected here, but in your case you might fit in long enough if you gain their trust. I am Yuan, grand overseer of the clan. I am the Elder¡¯s eyes and ears as her main advisor. I help manage the political affairs of the clan, keeping it in order.¡± ¨C Yuan Yuan has the appearance of a silver-eyed old wise, man, with the long combed hair and skinny beard to boot. Next came the female with two female guards. ¡°Foreign soul, my name is Huidai, prime governor of the clan¡¯s social security. I am responsible for the social order of our land. I must say¡­you are even cuter up close. *Smile*¡± ¨C Huidai I narrowed my three eyes at her unneeded comment. The female has long silky hair of white. She has sun-yellow, gentle eyes and luscious pale lips. A real beauty in the fair, independent maiden category, but I see through her. Her breath patterns gave it away. I can tell she is quite dangerous if angered, since her atmosphere and breathing gives it away despite that I can¡¯t detect her power level. I have a nasty temper even when I was still human, so I disciplined myself through breathing and meditation, and her breathing pattern is very similar to how I breathe. Next came the other guy with a male and female guard. ¡°I am Jianguo, manager of our clan¡¯s economy as its treasurer. I sincerely apologize for our Elder¡¯s enthusiasm. It¡¯s been a while since there¡¯s a being to her liking that can survive her-¡± ¨C Jianguo Mazupo interrupted before he can finish. ¡°DON¡¯T finish that sentence if you know what¡¯s good for you. *Ominous Smile*¡± ¨C Mazupo Jianguo coughed and said ¡®Never mind¡¯. He looks like harmless gentleman to be honest. With glasses covering his gray droopy eyes, his brown hair is long like a girl¡¯s, and with a timid face that barely shows any masculinity. Next comes the biggest one with two female guards, and his aura is very strong to the point of me trembling at his presence when he came to introduce himself. Unlike the others, he is very cautious of me due to his piercing eyes looking at me with suspicion, which is natural considering my unique situation. ¡°Hmmmmm¡­A human born as an Imoogi. There are no records of someone like you EVER since this world was born. I will keep an eye on you, and if you do anything, and I mean anything to harm my clan even if you are Heiyang¡¯s child. I. WILL. End You.¡± ¨C Strong masculine looking man with crimson red hair. The man has the aura of a true warrior. His crimson hair is short to the millimeter, and has strong hawk-like eyes. Looking at his red eyes, I see his soul is of a noble spirit, the kind that will uphold his duty to the last. I think I might like him, as his reaction is the most natural and logical one here despite him exuding hostility at me ha ha. I nodded at his words and bowed respectfully before looking at him in the eyes again with my two eyes (I do not know how to look at someone in the two eyes with my three eyes), conveying my resolve and sincerity from my eyes to his. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. After our short staring contest, he narrowed his eyes before introducing himself properly once again. ¡°Hmmmm, you have nice eyes there. Strong-willed and unyielding, gleaming with fire. My name is Delun. I am the supreme commander of our clan¡¯s military. Tread with care, human if you do not wish to incur my wrath.¡± ¨C Delun ¡®Hmmm¡­I will take his words to heart.¡¯ I bowed respectfully at his words. Mazupo then came to me and spoke. ¡°Now that you are acquainted, they are The Royal Seers, my most trusted and reliable aides in the clan. They are here because they want to see if you¡¯re a threat or worthy to be one of us officially, and it seems you passed with flying colors. I officially declare you, Yixing, as one of the Yang Yue Tian Clan! May you fight for our clan¡¯s glory and prosperity, and may the dragon gods watch over you.¡± ¨C Mazupo ¡®Hmmm, I see their presence here is for political reasons. But¡­why are there children here?¡¯ I looked at the little munchkins that poked me earlier. Each of them bears an eerie resemblance to the nobles here¡­ ¡°Oh are you interested in them? Those are the seers¡¯ children or their children¡¯s¡¯ children. They are here because The Royal Seers couldn¡¯t spend time with them due to their work for some time or were forced to babysit them for the childrens¡¯ parents, so they just took them along since this is a ¡®special break¡¯ for them, HAHAHA!¡± ¨C Mazupo ¡®¡­Isn¡¯t that too irresponsible even for them?¡¯ At her words, I looked at the ¡®Seers¡¯ and blankly stared at them with my three eyes in disbelief. They were brought here because of such a simple reason. They looked away from my stare, even Delun, as they couldn¡¯t handle the embarrassment. Then dad interrupted to speak his mind. ¡°Are you all satisfied with him now, ¡®Esteemed¡¯ leaders? Sorry to interrupt, but I have plans to spend with my child as soon as possible, so I humbly request permission to leave with my son.¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡®What¡­The corners of Dad¡¯s mouth are perking up again. Oh no¡­¡¯ Everyone is now staring at dad in confusion¡­even mom is confused at Dad¡¯s surprising request. ¡°Hmmm? We are still not done. We need to teach him our culture and introduce him to the other children his age, both dragon and Imoogi, so what is so important that you need to take your leave with Yixing?¡± ¨C Mazupo Mazupo ask curiously, which Dad enthusiastically replied with too much joy, ¡°I need to prepare my son for an upcoming duel I promised with Longwei¡¯s daughter Meixi as soon as I can, as I want it to be the most memorable and proud moment of my life.¡± Dad¡¯s words shocked everyone present, well except for the children as they are a little clueless on the matter. It is probably the first time they heard something as outrageous as having an infant Imoogi duel with a child true dragon a few years older. ¡°Wait, you plan to have the foreign soul fight a true dragon this soon?! You sure he can-¡± ¨C Delun ¡°OHHHHHHH!! This I want to see, but we still need to discuss-!!¡± ¨C Mazupo ¡°Thank you for complying with me, ¡®Elder¡¯. Now if you excuse me, I need to leave with my son for some ¡®bonding¡¯.¡± ¨C Heiyang rudely interrupted before Mazupo can finish. Dad then picked me up in his hand¡­by my neck like how one holds a kitten¡­and then turned his head towards the gates behind us. ¡°Wait, don¡¯t ignore me! And why are you looking at-¡± ¨C Mazupo ¡®Hm? What is he-?¡¯ *BOOOOOOOMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmm* Dad then flew out with¡­extreme fervor. ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh¡­¡­!!!!!¡± I screamed (even from my mouth, or in this case ¡®roar¡¯ with my mouth) when he flew out the gates without warning, at speeds too much for my heart to handle. Before he flew, I sensed high levels of excitement from his heart, almost like it¡¯s being vented out from being pent up for some time. He then spoke to me with ominous glee while we violently flew past the other Imoogis, dragons, and reptilian humanoids, leaving an uncontrolled aftershock behind him causing an unsightly aftermath (but no casualties) in his wake. ¡°Ah are you screaming from ¡®excitement¡¯, my child?! Now that the tiresome formalities are over, let us begin spending our time together as father and son! We have SO much to do¡­!¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡®¡­.¡¯ I think he can no longer wait to ¡®prepare¡¯ me for the coming duel¡­so he decided to abduct me from the palace to who knows where. As I continued screaming, we eventually blasted through the¡­wall¡­after wall, after wall¡­.. HE literally broke through the walls of the Clan Elder¡¯s abode just to go outside as soon as possible. Just how badly does he want to train me for crying out loud? T_T I couldn¡¯t even see my surroundings clearly due to me flying at speeds too great for me to handle. That is until Dad slowed down at the sight of an unusually big, emerald-green forest. I mean the trees of this forest are really BIG, way bigger than Dad. The trees there are luscious, covered with countless vines, and are towering towards the sky so high I could not see the tip. Wow¡­this is something I don¡¯t see every day back home, even from the fictional works I perused back home. How a forest like this not be found and chopped down into firewood due to its sheer quantity eludes me¡­ We entered the forest and after flying a good distance¡­while ploughing through the local fauna. The creatures here are HUGE, most I see bigger than dad and dad ploughed them into a gory mess like they¡¯re nothing but air. What¡¯s scarier is that from what little I can sense from the giants despite Dad¡¯s speed, the creatures are by no means weak as they fill me with some fear and dread and dad treated them like they¡¯re nothing. Dad slowed down at the sight of a suitable clearing in front of us full of grass, rabbits, weird colored flowers and other kinds of flora, and then landed on the clearing. I was finally put down, resting from the heart-popping ride for some time. *Wheeze*Wheeze*Wheeze*Wheeze* I¡¯m now breathing my lungs out, trying to recover from my experience. Dad however, interrupted me from my rest. ¡°Welcome to the Emerald Heaven Forest, home to some of the largest monsters on Mundus, and most dangerous. Here, you will learn how to fight as an Imoogi, no as a DRAGON, under my tutelage.¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡®¡­..Oh, God help me.¡¯ I know he will enjoy my suffering for sure. He couldn¡¯t stop perking up the corners of his mouth as I continued wheezing¡­ ¡°If you are wondering why I picked this place, this area is where the weakest creatures roam and is excellent for beginners, which should be more than enough to help you get started. Then if you are ready, you will face stronger creatures as you progress and if I deem you strong enough, you will fight Fomorians, Behemoths, Tarrasques, and more. The forest is ideal for hunting for us and is usually packed with other Imoogis and Dragons, but not this time as it¡¯s the hibernation period for the forest¡¯s inhabitants, so most of them are dormant. Meaning at this time, we have this forest all to ourselves.¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡®*Wheeze*Wheeze* I see. I wonder how strong I am compared to the creatures here¡­Oh right. I must ask if he can teach me magic and stuff.¡¯ ¡°Do you *Wheeze*. Know any. *Wheeze*. Magic. By any chance? *Wheeze*¡± I wish to learn more about magic and how to manipulate mana to my liking. I gave up on complaining as dad will absolutely ignore it, and it will not benefit me to do so. Dad then replied enthusiastically. ¡°Of course I will teach you the ways of magic, even the proper ways of mana manipulation¡­if I deem you worthy enough. Whatever you ask, I will provide, but only if you truly earned the right to do so. So we will first focus on your control over your body and have you harness your instincts. We will start with you learning how to track and hunt active game in the wilds.¡± - Heiyang After he said that, we started my training¡­despite me being too tired to even fly in the air. He¡¯s enjoying this too much. *Seven days later, the duel began between the infant Imoogi and the youngling dragon, later known as the most shocking match in history as ¡®The Hierarchal Revolution¡¯. **Author here, sorry for the delay. I had almost no time for writing, plus the story is starting to get a bit tricky. I now understand how VanZans feels when he is writing out a story. Anyway, I think I might be in need of a faithful editor, as I do not think I will have any more time to edit future chapters, so let me know if you wish to apply by sending me an attachment with an edited version of one of my previous chapters. Chapter 12: A Match to Remember Part 1 ***Author here, this is the first time I tried to describe a fight scene, so let me know what you think. Yixing (Heibai) POV: Ahhhh¡­that was a profitable week. Today is the destined day, between morning and noon. The clouds in the sky are scarce and the sun is strong, bathing the land in its rays. I have progressed more than I anticipated, despite dad tormenting me in the process. I have finally mastered the steering controls of mana manipulation and even learned some Qi attacks in the process after I mastered control over my body. It is very tricky fighting with a serpentine body with two small hands attached as my options to fight in close combat are very limited unlike my human body, but still I managed. In case I have to get up close and personal, I can just use my teeth and spear-like tail to fight in close combat if needed. I even familiarized myself with my skills in the process. I have also mastered my Imoogi racial skills like Divine Eye which will let me see the world around me in a different light and even see the world around me as if I have eyes all over my body, leaving me no blind spots. This skill even has a zoom function. It can also let me see the Status Windows of other creatures as well as mana and Qi, if I fuel it with my own mana. I also found out how Evolution works. It turns out I can evolve skills if I practice enough in a specific way or survive and adapt through pain and suffering from whatever the world can throw at me, like how I got the skill Polymorph from practicing with Transformation Magic. Dad taught me Transformation Magic the same way mom taught me telepathy as a freebie, since he wants me to pick a class and such as early as I can. I picked a certain Hero class that matches my human origins though. I did not raise my level much however, as I am level 14 at this moment. Dad made me train with magical EXP limiters runes on me, as he told me I should learn as much skills and masteries as I can before I level up, as it will be detrimental to my growth in the long run. I even managed to learn Unarmed Combat mastery and raised it to the high Intermediate stages and some other masteries up to Novice or lower in a short time by practicing against the local fauna. They are surprisingly weak despite being much more higher-leveled than me¡­I guess it is because they are still mortal and frail, as there are some things even levels alone can¡¯t give you. There are more interesting things I learned about myself like the functions of my Essence Absorption, but I need to focus on the fight ahead. I am hovering in the air at the outskirts along a road leading to the Clan capital Dharma, looking at my home city for the first time...well, only its walls for now. I cannot see the city, just the titanic walls covering the city, but judging from the size of the walls alone, the city must be enormous as expected to accommodate the dragons and Imoogis. The walls are placed in a circular fashion to protect the city and they are so large and tall, they even make The Great Wall of China look like a baby in comparison (by comparing my human size and Imoogi size to the wall, I still could not see the top of the walls so yeah, it is large even compared to the size of dragons make no mistake). What makes the walls so unique is its¡­material. They are made of some kind of heavily polished, slightly shaded but gleaming white stone. The white stones make the walls bright as hell, glowing almost like a white sun, but due to my race I am unaffected by such levels of brightness and can still see clearly unfazed. From what I can see, they are formed to build the walls in a brick-like fashion, like how one makes a house of brick except that each individual brick is the size of a house. The stone is very unique, as its mana signature gives off the same feeling like how I feel the sun on my scales. I asked Dad what the walls are made of and he told me they are made of White Sun Jade. The White Sun Jade is a unique extremely durable mineral that grows under sunlight. Yes, the jade can grow like how a plant grows under sunlight. The walls¡¯ brightness are used to keep light sensitive creatures at bay, be it day or night (yes the stone shines at night time as well, making it as a HUGE bright-as-hell light source, making the outskirts ''day'' twenty-four seven). If that¡¯s not all, Dad said the clan modified the jade with advanced craftsmanship techniques and complex enchantments to regenerate itself when damaged according to its set design as well as reinforcing its durability instead of growing out of control, but the regeneration ability only works when it is absorbing sunlight, or anything similar to sunlight like specific fire spells and such. This means that they place artificial sun orbs at night, to keep the walls self-repairing and strong as well as fending off any monsters sensitive to light at day or night. Some mortals also call it the Teeth of Prometheus, as the stone shines like the white teeth of the Divine, or something like that he said. We are flying towards the gargantuan gates on the white shiny walls now. The gates are made to accommodate not only those the size of dragons, but also those the size of humans as well looking at the smaller gates on the gargantuan gates. The Clansmen made a little gate on a big gate¡­wow. There are also guards standing by, ones on top of the lookout posts on what seems like a balcony in the white wall while others are standing guard on handcrafted wooden posts and the ground next to the stone-paved road. By my eyes, the guards are of¡­various, visibly diverse dragon-like humanoids. They look more dragon-like unlike the others I¡¯ve seen in the Clans¡¯ Palace. Are they Draconians or something? Some of them have horns and scales while others don¡¯t, and even fewer of them vary in color. Dad noticed my confusion and told me they are Draconians like I predicted. They are the strongest in terms of martial combat like the ones standing ground here with weapons held high, while others are the most magically gifted like the other Draconians with mage-like robes on the wooden outposts or on the balcony, since their talents vary in said two categories, he said in summary. Draconians that excel in both categories are rare and possess bright futures ahead of them. As we approached them, Dad spoke with a¡­casual tone. ¡°Hello there, would you let us pass, or should I make your lives more difficult than it needs to be?¡± ¨C Heiyang spoke with the corners of his mouth perking up. One black Draconian walked up to Dad. He is the most masculine and most armored looking of them all. He has two strong, pointy horns curved backwards at the two sides of his head, his eyes are piercing red, and his black-gray knight-like armor covering his whole body except his head is made from some kind of metal I don¡¯t know, but gleaming with power. ¡°HEIYANG, WHAT DID YOU DO THIS TIME??!! I received orders a week ago from the Dragon Queen herself to directly convey her message. The message is this, and I am saying this lightly, ¡®You are sentenced to a fine for the damages you caused and unauthorized leave of absence from a important meeting!!!¡¯ she said, and the fine is about¡­50,000 adamantine coins, FIFTY THOUSAND. And to also keep you out of the capital until you pay the fine immediately!!! You do know we can¡¯t keep you out no matter what we try right?! And she still orders us to fight you to the last man in case we see you despite our difference in strength, or we¡¯ll face capital punishment if we fail to do so! My subordinates and I will face cruel and harsh punishments either way no matter the outcome, you know that Heiyang?! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?!!¡± - ? ¡®¡­Wow, this guy is loud despite his small stature, although he is the tallest of the Draconians here.¡¯ It would seem he''s acquainted with Dad judging from his casual yet harsh tone. Dad however casually replied with: ¡°Yes, yes. I get it. Tell her I will pay the fine ''later'', since as of right now I need to get in, Ulfren.¡± ¨C Heiyang Dad waved his hand and¡­neutralized the guards stationed here, from the ground to the balcony on the walls. He used some kind of magic spell to ''freeze'' the guards from what I see, and the guards are struggling very hard to move. They are like statues to be honest, and some of them can''t even struggle to twitch their eyes...or even blink in that matter. Although the one called Ulfren still has the capacity to speak despite his...¡®condition¡¯. ¡°CURSE YOU, HEIYANG!!! AT LEAST TRY TO NOT DRAG US INTO YOUR ¡®MISCHIEF¡¯!!! I SWEAR ONE DAY I WILL GET YOU BACK FOR THIS!!!!! MARK MY WORDS!!!!!¡± ¨C Ulfren Dad on the contrary ignored his words and grabbed me by my neck and¡­¡®phased¡¯ both of us through the gates. Wow, I literally phased through solid matter like a ghost¡­Dad can do that? After entering the capital, Dad proceeded¡­holding me neck in hand again T_T¡­towards the colosseum meant to hold tournaments for Imoogis and sometimes dragons to give the most prominent ones among them a chance to earn their right to greatness. Apparently, Longwei rented the colosseum for our match due to his wealth and influence as one of the Great Protectors. I asked dad what are they, when I heard him spoke of them. He said the Great Protectors are tasked with protecting the Clan as the Clan¡¯s most powerful and strongest of them all. If the Royal Seers are Rulers, then the Great Protectors are Royal Guards on a greater scale as they shoulder the responsibility of protecting the Clan with their claws and fangs should the need arise. Surprisingly¡­Dad is also one of the Great Protectors and among the most powerful of them all, despite him having the mentality of a true villain. I am now waiting¡­though filled with embarrassment due to the way I''m held neck in hand¡­for the moment I get to fight a true dragon for the first time in my life. Meixi¡¯s POV: Now is the day of the match. My father and I are currently on the arena in the circular colosseum, the Gates of Ascension. This battle ground has many large square arenas made of synthetic stone created to mimic the properties of White Sun Jade in its durability and how it repairs itself called the False Sun Jade. However, it regenerates more quickly, but it is much, much more fragile than the genuine one though it still sturdy enough to stand against the might of low tier dragons. This arena is usually meant to hold tournaments for Imoogis to see which one is the most worthy to ascend to dragonhood through combat early on, or have friendly duels with others to test their skills. A black line is carved into each arena to mark and set up two equal sides, one for each opponent to stand in position at a certain distance from the line. The arenas are also protruded a few above the colosseum floor, meaning if one falls off the arena, the said individual is out of bounds. Despite our match being private, word of it somehow leaked as there are many spectators on the stone seats ranging from demi-humans to monsters, some in human form, flying above the colosseum or seated in the stands as they are curious of the match between me and the Imoogi. The Dragon Queen is also spectating on her VIP throne seat on the enchanted stone balcony, which gives me an idea how word had spread. The audience seats are almost full even. What is terrible is that I am already over level forty and yet, I am about to fight a newborn Imoogi not even a month old yet¡­how humiliating. This will damage my honor as a dragon, as this match is really degrading from a outsider''s point of view. The rules of the match are simple, fight until one of us is out, out of bounds from the square stone arena we are fighting on, until one of us surrenders, no killing or outside help, and other rules to keep the match fair. There are two rounds in every duel, and if fighters are tied with each a score from the rounds, they will have to fight in human form as they are more weaker since they do not retain all their powers and traits¡­unless one is skilled enough in transformation to ignore such flaws. I patiently waited for the Imoogi to arrive, though I won¡¯t be surprised if he did not show up. Imoogis have a tenth of a true dragon¡¯s total strength at birth after all. They can only surpass one through the tempest of time and harsh self-improvement. However, contrary to my expectations, the strange Imoogi did arrive with Heiyang-! >.> ...*PFFFTTTTT* with Heiyang holding the Imoogi by his neck like how one holds a pet! :D *Hahahahahahaha* The audience and I laughed the bizarre sight for a while, after the Imoogi is put down. After I¡¯m done, I tried to read him again, and I still cannot¡­wait, I can¡¯t seem to read his heart this time. What on Mundus happened during these seven days? As I was perplexed about this, Heiyang greeted Longwei. ¡°Ahhhh, today is the day. Ready for our children¡¯s match, old friend?¡± ¨C Heiyang Heiyang smiled as he spoke to dad. ¡°Hmmmm¡­.I hope you know what you''re doing. You holding your child like a pet does not help ease my worries at all. If this match is too one-sided¡­¡± ¨C Longwei ¡°Do not worry. You know me too well to not risk damaging our clan¡¯s name. You can have us both be the referees if you want to make sure the match is fair.¡± ¨C Heiyang Although Dad was distracted after Heiyang spoke. ¡°¡­What I want to know is, how did word spread this far to have the stadium packed full of spectators? I even rented it to be private¡­.¡± - Longwei Heiyang replied with a sarcastic remark. ¡°Your answer is over there.¡± ¨C Heiyang Heiyang pointed to the small, giddy Dragon Queen in human form. I was right¡­-_-¡® ¡°She is too excited about the match after I told her, and¡­you know the rest.¡± ¨C Heiyang ¡°Ah¡­then let¡¯s not waste any more time. Meixi, go to your spot.¡± ¨C Longwei I followed dad¡¯s instruction and went to the right side of the arena, marked in half at midpoint by a carved black line, as the Imoogi was placed down by Heiyang to his side. I should at least go easy on him¡­but the air around him is very unsettling for some reason. The audience however is very ¡®enthusiastic¡¯ at the Imoogi¡¯s cuteness now that they got a better look at him sober, which I cannot blame them. His face is like a cute bunny rabbit¡¯s in place of a snake. Heiyang and Dad went to each side of arena out of bound at midpoint, Dad at my right side while Heiyang is at the left. They are standing right in front of the line carved into the square white jade arena, marking the arena in two halves. Before we started however, the Dragon Queen gave an announcement using her telepathy. ¡°Here they are! The battle between dragon and Imoogi you¡¯ve all been waiting for! On side is the Imoogi, recently born, Yixing and on the other side is the prideful Sun Dragon Meixi! You all know how this match ends¡­normally, but you also know we are here because¡­this match is different. The Imoogi there is unique. His power is on par with a dragon¡¯s and can defeat one if given the chance, but can we put that claim to the test in this match? We will soon find out! You know the rules! Either one wins by knockout, forfeit, or out of bounds-! Oh and before I forget, PAY YOUR DAMN FINE HEIYANG OR THERE WILL BE TROUBLE!!! MATCH, START!¡± - Mazupo Uhhhhhh, ok then. The audience laughed at her last statement while I¡¯m preparing myself. I do not want to know why she said that last part. I readied myself casually, as I am not convinced the Imoogi can stand up to me. I was wrong. He opened his¡­third eye. He has three eyes? While I was surprised by his new eye, he instantly appeared in front of me with incredible slithering speed while my guard was down and grabbed me by the throat with strength an Imoogi his age should not have! As I struggled, he then slammed me down on the ground throat in hand, and planted me deep onto the arena¡¯s stony floor, then he dragged me across the white pavement in circles leaving a trail of my blood at great speeds before he threw me behind him after spinning twice to add centrifugal force in his throw. And when I thought he done, was set himself in position where I am now flying at him, I saw him rushing past me when I was still flying at great speeds from his throw and stopped at the point where I was sent flying. After that, he struck me with his armored tail with great force. *BOOM* *BAM*BAM*BAM*BAM*BAM*¡­.*DUN* ¡®*Coughs up blood* Ugh¡­What in the heavens HAPPENED?!!¡¯ I felt that I was struck and then bounced off the ground several times before I was out of bounds¡­¡­ I was unable to process what the Imoogi just did. He overwhelmed me. ME. A pure-blooded dragon and threw me out of bounds within seconds. The damage he had done to me was worrisome, shaving almost thirty percent of my HP. My throat in pain, I looked up at the Imoogi to see¡­him looking the audience. Following his line of sight, the audience was speechless. They did not know how to process the sight of an Imoogi defeating a true dragon in record time. And then they chattered on the stands, but despite the great distance between us I can still hear them with my superior senses. ¡°An Imoogi defeated a true dragon¡­¡± - ? ¡°Is that really an Imoogi?¡± - ? ¡°And he was just born-¡± - ? They were all dumbfounded by the scene obviously. And looking at the Imoogi again, he¡­turned his back on me and flew¡­wait he is flying? Imoogis aren¡¯t supposed to fly after hatching¡­their intelligence need more time to develop¡­ As I was dumbstruck by him flying, he flew back into position at the standby point of the arena, waiting for the next match. He didn¡¯t even look at me¡­. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I angrily flew back into position and waited for the Dragon Queen to start the next round. I will not be caught off guard this time¡­and I will break that calm face of yours apart. ¡°WOW! INCREDIBLE!!! The Imoogi Yixing defeated Meixi in new record time! We have a prodigy at our hands! Can Meixi reclaim her lost pride in the next match?! Let¡¯s find out,¡­AND DID YOU EVEN PREPARE THE MONEY YET HEIYANG?!! START!!!¡± ¨C Mazupo ¡®She is having too much fun with this¡­and why is she bringing up Heiyang that much¡­¡¯ Looking at Heiyang now, he is ignoring her like she is nothing but air¡­I am shocked to see him show this kind of attitude even to the Elder¡­ I brushed off my distracting thoughts and attacked first this time. I used Dragon¡¯s Breath to burn the Imoogi in one move, but he flew to the left and dodged it casually, and is now closing the distance between us. I turned my head towards him and follow his movements in order to hit him with my breath as he moves and not giving him a chance to fight back, though he is dodging me well with his snake body in great speeds and practiced movements. As he closed in and now hovering above in front of me at medium distance, he fired a dark and lightning affinity Imoogi Shoot at me from his mouth. Imoogi Shoot, a lesser skill that shoots a projectile based on the Imoogi¡¯s choice of one or more elements if the Imoogi has the affinity for said elements of course, and his is Darkness and Lightning it seems. I dodged the electrical black sphere and was preparing to counter until I hear an explosion. *BOOM* ¡®What?! Imoogi Shoot is not a skill that can explode!¡¯ I shrugged the thought away as I have no time to check, and used Solar Sphere, a spell derivation from the standard Fire Ball spell, and fired it from my right hand at him in the air. He descended to attack me at the exact time I fired, dodging the spell simultaneously and attacked me with a tail swipe from his right. However, I was prepared for him to use his tail as I am now aware of his habit of relying on his tail to fight. *CRUNCH* *ROAR* I then gripped his tail with my mouth, trying to sink my fangs deeply past his scales and into his flesh as he roared with pain, but¡­his scales are TOUGH! Where on Mundus did he get those scales?! I realize it will take time to bite past his scales, so abandoning the idea, I firmly gripped his tail in my mouth and forcibly slammed his body into the ground behind me. Now his back facing me and him stunned from the impact, I pinned him down with Gravity Manipulation and Gravity Magic as I used Dragon¡¯s Breath again on him before he can react. *ROOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR* My combination attack was unhindered, and I continued to breathe streams of burning light on his trapped figure until he relents or is knocked out. My light is stronger than the average flame, and more than enough to burn through an Imoogi¡¯s strong natural fire resistance and other defenses. It can even harm a true dragon to some degree. The Imoogi should be burned into unconsciousness, but the Imoogi roared with pain as I¡¯m roasting him and still resisting with vigor. ¡®He is durable¡­I might need to stop holding back.¡¯ While still holding him down with gravity, I stopped attacking and breathed deeply as I was about to use Dragon¡¯s Breath again but with more firepower. But as I opened my jaw, he¡­ *BOOM* slammed his tail into the ground and then a slab from the arena erupted from the ground and struck my lower jaw, closing it at the right time I was about to use Dragon¡¯s Breath. *BAM*BOOM*SSSsssss* By doing so, my mouth and throat exploded as a result, severely damaging myself in the process. ¡®EARTH MAGIC?!! BUT HOW?!!¡¯ But the arena is made of False Sun Jade and despite being lesser, it still cannot be moved by Earth Magic unless it¡¯s casted by a Dragon King or higher!! No way can this Imoogi move it with Earth Magic! *COUGH*COUGH* My mouth is burning hot and in pain, so I turned my head left and coughed out the heat to prevent further damage, but then something blocked my vision and hit me. *BOOM* I was sent flying again, this time almost out of bounds. It felt like his tail that hit me¡­which is irritating. The Imoogi got back up instantly, and flew at me in high speed. He is more powerful than I thought, so I decided hold nothing back. *PSH!* *ROOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR* Dad had me wear magic limiters in case to make the fight seem more fair, but seeing as I will lose if I keep fighting like this, I decided it is time to remove them. I removed my restrictions in a split second and used Dragon¡¯s Roar before he can react. Stunning and Dazed him, I used Sun Dragon¡¯s Aura to boost my stats and skill effectiveness, and used Gravity Magic to pin him down with much greater force before using my greatest spell, Solar Cannon. The spell concentrates the light from the sun into my hands and infuse it with my mana to accelerate the process until it is condensed to my current limit, and then fires a focused laser of mana-infused solar energy to my target. It can also explode upon the caster¡¯s will after contact. Not only that, the explosion radius is large and destroyed most of the pseudo-jade arena the last time I used it, though the explosion will be mostly directed at the target making it take the brunt of the aftermath. The spell can only be used under broad daylight though, directly in contact with the sun above me. Unfortunately for the Imoogi, it is the afternoon and the skies are clear and the sun is strong. After I completed the spell for three seconds, I fired while he was vulnerable. He reacted in time though, as he broke out of my Gravity Magic and fired at the beam with Imoogi¡¯s Shoot with the same chosen elements as before to weaken the spell¡¯s momentum, but my spell blasted through it almost effortlessly. So he then caught it with both his hands by clapping on the beam on point with great timing¡­ He¡¯s being pushed towards the arena¡¯s edge slowly by my spell, but he is still fighting back hard. This one¡­he has talent. From what I can see, he is trying to deflect the force of the spell he caught with his hands. But¡­not good enough. *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM* He could not deflect the spell before it exploded in time, and flew out of bounds crashing into the colosseum floor. It seems he''s not used to handling advanced spells yet. The arena is cracked, but it still under sunlight so it¡¯s repairing itself within a few moments. ¡°Incredible! Meixi was forced to use her all-time favorite, Solar Cannon! Yixing has taken a direct hit, but¡­he is getting back up, and standing!¡± ¨C Mazupo At her words, I checked the Imoogi¡¯s condition to see for myself. He is barely damaged¡­is he really an Imoogi? Even my spell¡¯s explosion can break False Sun Jade, harder than even Orichalcum, and he¡¯s only moderately wounded. And he is now getting up and shaking the damage and dust off him. ¡°Hmmm...I need more practice.¡± - ? I heard a voice I never heard before. Wait, is this voice the Imoogi¡¯s? He can talk?! And as if noticing my distraught, he turned to me and spoke¡­fluently. ¡°Ah, it seems my thoughts have leaked. Oh well. And yes, the voice you heard belongs to me. That was a splendid counter, my Imoogi-hating foe.¡± - ? ¡­Did he just speak like a polite gentleman? He¡¯s just born, how could¡­How¡­did Heiyang do something strange to him?! ¡­Or is it because he is Heiyang¡¯s son?!! I don''t know what is happening anymore! ¡°I see you have¡­conflicting questions, but now is not the time for them. We still have a round to finish, no?¡± ¨C Unknown Alien Creature I was brought back to my senses from his words. I am chaotically filled with so many questions like he said. Seeing an Imoogi that young speak is just, just¡­...*Deep Breath*...I have no time to think about this no matter how bizarre, as of right now¡­he is right. I need to win this match, but¡­can he even transform into a human? I won''t be surprised if he can considering our fights so far. But that doesn''t matter now. I will reclaim my pride as a dragon from him. I will show him how strong we dragons REALLY are, even in human form!...assuming he can transform of course. ¡­Thinking about what to say to the Imoogi, I am not sure how to respond to him considering my¡­first outspoken opinions. So I awkwardly went back to my position, as he went to his. Before I do so, I searched the arena for the explosion from the Imoogi¡¯s Shoot attack and saw a¡­large black, corroded crater¡­The Imoogi¡¯s attack actually broke through False Sun Jade, something even youngling dragons have a hard time breaking. ¡­The crater is taking its time to repair itself¡­much more slowly from his attack ¡­I am speechless at this sight since if the attack landed on me, I would¡¯ve been in serious trouble or worse¡­ ¡°Now that you are both ready in your positions, ready your human forms!¡± ¨C Mazupo After her statement, I began to use my Polymorph. When I use my magic, I am now in my human form clothed after a few moments as it takes time for me to change. I stretched my human limbs as I am still learning how to adapt to my human form. When I am done stretching, I took out my double edged sword Moon Jade Sword from my Item Box. The Imoogi however looked at me for a while before¡­commenting on my human form. ¡°Your words when we first met were¡­audacious. Such rudeness does not suit a lady of your standing.¡± ¨C Bizarre Imoogi ...The Imoogi is very irritating. While I admit my words were very outspoken, but the contents of his words are very similar to the Imoogis¡¯, the ones I usually deal with. ¡°Ahhh¡­it seems my words had offended you somewhat. Contrary to your feelings, I meant no harm with my words, so I am very sorry if I made you recall some bad memories.¡± ¨C Annoying Imoogi He bowed apologetically after he said his part. He is¡­genuinely polite, unlike the others. I can also feel his sincerity this time when he was speaking, which is the first time I¡¯ve actually read his feelings. Why could I now¡­don''t tell me he can hide himself from me at will? When this is over, I must have him tell me his secrets no matter what if I plan to improve myself in the future...as well as explain how he is so intelligent after birth. ¡°I see you now have some kind of revelation...along with some questionable ''thoughts''. I am not sure of your thoughts though and you do not seem one for conversation, but no matter. On another topic, I must digress. I just recently learned how to transform last week and I am still unused to it. This might turn out bad, so forgive me if I¡­botch myself in the process.¡± ¨C Unique Imoogi After his small speech, he started his own transformation. He¡¯s transforming for the first time, so I am curious on how he will turn out. However¡­he is not using transformation magic. He is using a superior skill version known as Polymorph, which only costs stamina instead of mana. Imoogis can''t have the skill unless they obtain enough strength after adulthood in hundreds of years, so they developed transformation magic to change with magic first at the cost of mana¡­True dragons however have this skill at birth though, so hearing him say he learned Polymorph just last week defies all common sense. As I am busy with my thoughts though, he wrapped himself with his own tail, and then glowed. After a while, what came out was¡­a young man with slanted, sharp, yet harmless eyes. His hair is a bit long around medium length to the point of his fore locks half-covering his eyes and its color is still black on one half side and white at the other and he still retains his red and blue eyes. But what is strange is¡­I actually thought he was a human for a second despite me knowing better. Even the aura he gives off is much like a human¡¯s for a split second, I could''ve sworn. His first attempt at transformation is¡­not bad as his body structure is well-balanced and his appearance is pleasant to the eyes, a bit too pleasant to be honest. However, what is even stranger was his¡­unique assortment of clothes. He¡¯s wearing some kind of capeless hooded cloak with sleeves and unbuttoned in the middle of it revealing another layer of clothing underneath, his shoes are unlike what I see here as they have more firmness and shape matching his size despite being made of leather-like materials, and his pants is long and thick reaching to his ankles. Polymorph can form clothes as well at the cost of some mana, so I am surprised he can afford the mana to do so. The clothes formed by Polymorph are forged from the user''s flesh, so the clothes share the same traits and defense as the caster''s original race. His clothes seem very well made though. His pants¡¯ color is pale black pants, and his cloak is red and cloth underneath are black gray with¡­pictures. The picture on his cloak is segmented into two halves but I can tell that putting the halves together I see an image of a bald man drawn wearing a white cape, yellow tight suit, and red boots and red gloves punching out at me drawn in an art style I¡¯ve never seen before and the cloth underneath has the picture of a cute girl with short red and black hair, wearing scarlet red and black skirt with red trimmings around the edges, red and black boots, and a red and black cloak while posing in a stylish attack pose armed with a finely detailed scythe drawn in the same art style, but obviously drawn by a different artist. Where on Mundus did he get the reference to such strange clothing? I curiously looked at the audience to see their reactions, and saw they are also dumbstruck by his strange attire, chattering their opinions with each other. Even the clan elder is startled judging by how she is leaning forward from her seat to get a better look at the Imoogi¡¯s clothes. ¡°What? Like what you see? *Smug Smile*¡± ¨C Strangely Clothed Imoogi in Human Form He sarcastically asked as he tilts his head to the left and spread his arms wide apart to dramatically ''present'' himself. ¡®Like is not the right word for my current feelings. I don''t even have the capacity to be irritated from his mocking attitude.¡¯ The Elder then tried to continue her announcement, doing her best to sound unfazed by the Imoogi''s strange appearance. ¡°Um, er¡­Yixing has assumed a unique human form! Despite being an Imoogi, he successfully learned Polymorph at such a young age! He¡¯s a new subspecies that comes once every generation with boundless talent, as if he¡¯s blessed by the heavens themselves! He has a bright future ahead of him, but for now, he has to fight Meixi to the last! Will he defeat the true dragon in human form, or fall short on his progress? Final Round, START!!!¡± ¨C Mazupo After she started the final round, the Imoogi asked me a question. ¡°How does this final round work? Do we fight bare-handed or¡­.?¡± ¨C Very Strange Imoogi ¡®Ah, so he¡¯s still in the dark at this part. I should educate him as his respectable senior. He''s earned that much respect from me at least.¡¯ ¡°Hmmm¡­We can fight however we want, with weapons, unarmed, or with spells. Even poison, as long as it''s a part of your body. The same rules still apply.¡± At my words, the Imoogi nodded and then performed¡­a series of empty air punches, kicks, and small hops left and right. I think he is warming himself up or trying to adapt to his human form. I do not expect much from his human form though. When any dragon or Imoogi is in humanoid form, they will lose some of their stats unless they perfect their transformation by finding their other ¡®identity¡¯ and invest their time to develop it further. So even with his incredible feats, it¡¯s impossible for him to find his ¡®identity¡¯ unless he spends many years finding and perfecting his ¡®human self¡¯. I managed to find my identity within a year with luck, talent, and help from my parents and teacher who taught me how to fight like human, as she fought many humans in the past to know their movements. I know from experience that it is NOT easy... unless he is a human in his past or something, HAH! After he is done, he lifts his arms up high and then slowly, and gradually lowered them with his palms facing the ground while he takes a slow, deep breath. After that, he assumed a fighting stance placing his two hands open and unclenched in front of him, and placed his left leg slightly forward and his right leg in the rear. His left hand is stretched out while his right arm is tucked in closer to his chest. Is that a fighting stance? How weird¡­never heard anything like it even from my teacher. The humans she fought usually have their hands clenched into a fist and prefers to fight with raw might rather than technique. I prepared my own sword stance, holding my sword with both my hands to my right, pointing the sword tip to the sky. I flashed my reflective flat side of my sword at the Imoogi before I ask him if he¡¯s ready. ¡°Are you ready?¡± The Imoogi in human form is looking at my sword and then at me, observing me deeply. After a few seconds, he then responded. ¡°Hmmm, does it look it I¡¯m not ready to you? Yes, but are you ready, my foe? *Smile*¡± ¨C Imoogi Hearing his sarcastic and childish tone irked me. I swear, I will jam my sword into your smiling face if you provoke me further. Now we are staring at each other in the eyes, waiting to strike at the opportune time. After a few moments, when the sun is about to be covered by a single stray cloud, bathing the colosseum and only the colosseum and its inhabitants in shadow, we moved and started the greatest fight of my life. Chapter 13: A Match to Remember Part 2 Yixing¡¯s POV: (At the end of the Second Round) My, my¡­she is tough. She has more experience and skill than I thought. I did not know she was holding back like me as well¡­although I made her go all out first, heh heh heh. To her ignorance I am also holding back as well, since I can¡­accidentally kill her if I go all out. My tail is sharp, to the point of slicing off a level 207 Adult Tarrasque¡¯s arm off through the claws first. Dad made me fight a Tarrasque, a Cyclops, and a Behemoth with all of them in the hundreds level as a graduation ritual to test my progress. A Tarrasque is like a dragon with the body of a T-Rex. It has two short but huge clawed arms, two oversized horns at the sides of its head pointing forward and slightly curved upwards, many sharp fangs, ridiculously armored with gray and red scales at every inch of its body except for its belly, two T-Rex legs, can breathe fire, and its tail has a spiked wrecking ball made of its bones at tip point. Really resilient that one¡­unless you chop off its head of course. Anyway the point is, I have some¡­arsenal too good for someone my level. My spear-blade tail can cleave through the strong hide of the mentioned monsters effortlessly¡­that is how sharp my tail is, hell I even dropped a feather on my tail¡¯s blade (though I tried several times attempting to get the feather to land on my tail) and other objects and it still sliced them clean, so I cladded my tail with a mana barrier to ¡®sheathe¡¯ the blade so I can use it against Meixi without worries of accidental dismemberment. If that is not enough, my poison affinity is abnormally high and is as potent as an Ancient Toxic Dragon¡¯s at my level. My poison can kill youngling dragons Meixi¡¯s age, so I had to keep it under wraps by refraining from using poison-related skills or imbue my attacks with poison. An Imoogi¡¯s poison at eighty percent affinity can even bring those of the Divine to their knees¡­so I am pretty toxic as hell. I plan to train myself in controlling and handling my poison as soon as I can after this duel. There are more things that trouble me, but back to the point. At the first round, I was a bit lucky as she let her guard down, so I used one of two skills I absorbed from a Storm Kick Rabbit I met on the first day in the forest with Essence Absorption. It was also the first time I tasted raw flesh¡­which tasted unusually delicious¡­I am worried, but that is for another time.
Lightning Flash (Active) Class D [46/100] Move and outpace your foes at the speed of lightning. Cost: 25,000 Mana Effects: - Dash at the speed of lightning. - +140% movement speed and reduction of wasted movements for 5 seconds upon activation. Cool-down: 7 seconds after activation.
It¡¯s a very useful skill that needs work, as it¡¯s a skill with a Class identification next to it. Classes with letters are used to classify the grades of certain skills, monster threat levels, caliber of ingredients both culinary and alchemical, sharpness, item grade of certain tiers, and etc. going from F to SSS, from lowest to highest. The skill here can be improved though it is bit different than how one improves Masteries, but the foundation of the system is still the same. This skill allowed me to catch Meixi by surprise, despite me just slithering and having no legs hahaha; I decided to finish her off in a way I saw in a video game made by Capcom involving a crossover fight between certain angry demi-god and an all-time, Raging Demon Street Fighting favorite. I dragged her around the arena floor for a few seconds and threw her a good distance, and then quickly moved into place where she would¡­crash into my tail as I struck her *Evil Smile*. I even did it before the five second speed buff wore off. I underestimated her sadly because of this¡­as it seems we both made the same mistake. I learned it the hard way when she roasted me with her breath. Damn, that singed me good. I was in a very bad position, so I built up my strength and waited for the right time to fight back while pretending to be a trapped, squealing mouse in the process. When she was about to use her breath again, I used Matter Manipulation and Psychokinesis to tear off a slab of the arena by slamming my tail on the arena floor for added effect, and struck her jaw when she was about to breathe with great timing. Although¡­here I am, burned and out of bounds. That spell she used singed off more than 20% of my health¡­and that was just from the explosion. If I received a direct hit without the proper defenses and counters, I would¡¯ve been screwed a little. Although¡­I did made a ¡®profit¡¯ from her using the spell though, heh heh heh. Before I got back up and into the ring, I purposely leaked my thoughts to Meixi with telepathy, in hopes of a proper conversation. Although¡­it nearly drove her mad when I did, but still I continued to probe a conversation. I am curious of a dragon¡¯s character in depth, so I want to decipher her story. She¡¯s not one for conversation though, so all I know is that her reason for hating Imoogis is something on the more logical scale, instead of it being the byproduct of defective pride judging from her instinctive strong resentment when I tried to compliment her looks. I mean, she has the looks of a pale-yellow skinned beauty that can only be seen in fiction or from products of professional artists. She is wearing long, black boots covering up to her thighs, a slightly revealing skirt with sun pictures on it, her shirt is sky-blue with some other decorative colors and a sun picture in the middle of it, and long brown leather gloves on her arms. Her light-yellow hair is braided into a ponytail pointing upwards, her pink eyes are strong and serene, her legs look sexy and flawless as hell, and her figure¡­damn she would put the top models back home to shame. ¡­Hmmm, this means I¡¯m still attracted to human females still, huh? I am not into lizards¡­as it would be weird as hell still, even from thinking about the thought of it. *Shivers*. Anyway, now on standby on the arena, I transformed into my ¡®human self¡¯, although my appearance is a lot more different than I am familiar with. My hair is longer while retaining my black and white colors, my eye colors are still unchanged, and worse¡­I look like one of those damn pretty boys from the mangas¡­How embarrassing. For my clothes though, I formed a red leather assassin-style jacket hoodie with buttons based on the guy from the Assassin¡¯s Creed game, a gray T-Shirt underneath, long pale-black jeans, and two good old-fashioned sneakers. I even added icons of my favorite fiction characters in there, from One Punch Man and RWBY :D! I formed them just for laughs, and boy was I amused hahaha. Also, the funny thing about forming clothes from Polymorph, is that the clothes were forged from my durable hide, HAH. Meaning my clothing acts like armor and it retains the same resilience as my scales and hide in Imoogi form. I can even take it off and give it to someone else, and it lasts a long time. Meixi is armed with a very pale-blue longsword¡­the brown handle is kind of decorative, as it shows an artistic, abstract picture of a moon blocking the sun. The blade however is ¡­ kind of eerie. The mana it emits¡­is very enigmatic, but feels so familiar. I just can¡¯t put my finger on it¡­¡­Oh, I think I know, but I am not exactly sure yet. I then asked her about the final round, as there are some spells and skills I want to try. Luckily, spells are allowed as well. I then looked at Dad in the eye to silently say that I will hold nothing back this time, and he nodded to give his consent. I then proceeded to warm up. This will be¡­an exciting match for sure. She is quite polite to wait for me¡­though she is bit of a showoff. She flashed the flat side of her blade at me, showing my reflection on the blade. In return, I decided to test her patience for fun. She was quite irritated, hahaha. I wonder how well she can fight in human form¡­her sword stance reminds me of how an average Jedi holds a lightsaber from the movies, like Obi-Wan Kenobi. As I prepared my stance, I gaze at her eyes with absolute focus, and she does the same to mine. We moved when a convenient stray cloud covered us in shadow, exactly when the shadow first came in contact with us. She is about to use a skill preparing a right horizontal slash, so I use one of my tricks I learned with Void Magic and Darkness Magic and charged a particular skill I learned to reduce my enemies to paste with my bare hands, but I am sure she is more than sturdy enough to survive it with acceptable losses. Using Void and Darkness Magic, I can instantly teleport short distances by moving through the ¡®shadows¡¯ and instantly popped in front of her to her astonishment. Before she can react, I used that skill, Chaos Pulse Palm with my left palm striking her stomach. This skill¡­will destroy (figuratively) anyone hit by it at the cost of around 50,000 of my own stamina and has a 3 second cool-down¡­and the effects are worth it as it destroys my enemy¡¯s ability to fight, heh heh heh. A loud explosion occurred when I used the skill and struck her, followed by a large explosive shockwave in the aftermath. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH* To my expectations, she did not become paste though she is a bit bloody and her eyes are close to being white. She was sent flying hard and is now out of bounds¡­at least that is what is supposed to happen. *SHING*SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh* Meixi regained her consciousness at the last moment, and jammed her sword into the arena floor to cling on back into the arena as much as she can by reducing the momentum of her ¡®flight¡¯, leaving only her bottom half of her body almost touching the colosseum floor while her upper half is desperately trying to climb back into the arena. Her sword is quite sturdy and sharp, not a hint of damage from the frictional force upon looking at it after she removed her sword from the ground. It is undamaged even against the arena¡¯s durable floor resulting from my catastrophic blow as it left a large slash-mark crevice on the ground. The floor repaired itself within moments though, unlike Meixi coughing and wheezing her lungs out unable to recover from the damage. ¡°MEIXIII!¡± ¨C Longwei shouted in shock. It seems he is a bit concerned for her safety this time¡­as he didn¡¯t expect this outcome as well. Looking at Dad, he is only observing analytically meaning he has a better grasp of the events than Longwei. Turning my head back to Meixi however¡­ *PANT*¡­*PANT*¡­*PANT*¡­*WHEEZE*¡­!..*COUGH*COUGH*COUGH* ¡®Wow¡­she handled the blow better than I thought. I¡¯m surprised she can still stand after that, even though she is using her longsword as a crutch.¡¯ Most of the skills I learned are meant to kill, especially if I imbue my hands with mana or Qi, which is kind of morbid, but hey¡­survival is survival, especially if I am in a forest full of monsters that can kill me if given the chance. I did not imbue my fist with the said energies because I do not want a murder on my hands. The skills I learned are too powerful for someone my level as my masteries are in the Intermediate or lower. Dad however, said that it is because of my unique cultivation, Odin¡¯s Blessing, and my profound experience and talent in martial arts. Apparently, most blessed and/or reincarnated can have these level of skills¡­as the Status Window cannot limit those blessed from Gods or foreign souls as much as the average person, and I am an Imoogi for crying out loud. It would be boring if I strike her down, especially dishonorable, so I sat down on the arena floor cross-legged resting my right elbow on my leg with my right hand supporting my right cheek. I decided to wait for her to recover¡­ah, she dropped on her knees¡­and I want to know how she fights with a sword. Her swordsmanship could be a good reference to master my own sword one day, so I decided to form my third eye on my forehead. I can form and deform my third eye if I wish, and it still retains the same color and effectiveness as the eye in my Imoogi form. After a few moments, Mazupo decided to comment for the first time on our match. ¡°Yixing is giving her time to recover from his devastating blow! How audacious! Although Meixi can recover in a short time from absorbing sunlight, for some reason she is not recovering! Is Yixing giving her a chance to fight back out of pity, or is there a deeper meaning to his mercy?!¡± ¨C Mazupo ¡®She can heal from just absorbing sunlight? Huh, there¡¯s something you don¡¯t hear every day¡­¡¯ At her words, I feel Meixi is boiling with anger in her heart, burning as bright as the sun above. A few seconds later after panting to catch her breath, Meixi spoke out her mind angrily. ¡°¡­Imoogi, is what she said true?!...ARE YOU REALLY SPARING ME OUT OF PITY?!!!¡± ¨C Meixi asked in seething anger. She then fell down face-down on the arena floor after overexerting herself in anger¡­are those tears dropping from her eyes? Oh no -_-¡®¡­I need to be careful with my words. ¡°No. Not out of pity.¡± ¡°What? Then WHY?!! Why won¡¯t you finish me off while you still have the chance?!¡± ¨C Meixi screamed while crying. I think I wounded her pride. ¡°It is out of my own self-interest. I do not want the match to end like this little dragon, as I want this match to be something worth fighting, not like this where I can¡­off you anytime I wish. Besides, finishing you off right now will be very distasteful to my own honor.¡± *Cough* ¡°Then...*Cough*! What is *Pant* that dreadful skill...? A window notification told me my stamina, HP, and mana are not recovering because of it.¡± - Meixi She is struggling very hard to stand. Window notification huh? I wonder what it says specifically...as there are additional effects that can be inflicted not mentioned in the skill descriptions sometimes. I am surprised that the skill can cause that much devastation to those that survive it. She did well to survive the skill, so I should tell her out of respect. ¡°Chaos Pulse Palm¡­A deadly attack I learned to destroy my foes, and decimate those that can survive it. You did well surviving that attack, my Imoogi-hating friend, as you are the first being that actually endured the attack head-on and lived to tell the tale, just so you know.¡± She is now panting very hard, and when she caught her breath enough she responded to my explanation. ¡°¡­*Pant* Are you *Pant* serious¡­? What a *Pant* terrifying skill *Pant*¡­So what now? Are you just going to *Pant* sit there while I recover *Pant*? I don¡¯t think *Pant* I can *Pant* even fight *Pant* in this condition¡­*Pant* How long does *Pant* your skill¡¯s effect *Pant* lasts anyway¡­?¡± ¨C Meixi Pondering on the matter¡­I replied to her disappointment. ¡°Hmmm¡­ truthfully, I am not sure. No one ever survived this skill except you, so I don¡¯t know the skill¡¯s effect duration as it depends on the individual of course.¡± After I spoke my mind, I decided to give her a freebie by healing her with White Magic, using a simple spell called Healing Hands. I learned this spell after Dad taught me the basics of this magic. It can restore health and stamina, and even cure poisons and fatigue and more if one is skilled enough. *Whoooooooooommmmmmm* I shone white light from my hands while still sitting cross-leg. A slight waste of mana, but no matter. I healed her health and stamina back, although her mana will not be refilled. I even healed her ¡®condition¡¯ in the process. After she recovered enough, she asked me a question, baffled from my action. ¡°Did¡­did you really just heal me¡­just like that? *Deep Breathe* Haaaa¡­ finally, I can breathe again¡­You are seriously giving me a second chance to fight back this easily? ¡­.Ha¡­You are either very honorable¡­or arrogant and foolish¡­I hope you won¡¯t regret your choice after what I am about to do. I will give you what you ¡®want¡¯, and return the disgrace you¡¯ve wrought me tenfold, Imoogi!¡± ¨C Meixi She got back up and readied her stance again, the same stance as before, ready to fight. She is now looking down at me as I am still sitting cross-legged on the arena floor. ¡®Ohhhh, she seems to be in high spirits. She wants to make me feel regret and reclaim her pride, how adorable. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I have much more skills and spells I want to try out, and the skill you endured is just the tip of the iceberg.¡¯ ¡°Of course. It would be boring otherwise and I regret nothing in doing so. Besides, do you really want it to end like this without putting up a fight? *Smug Grin*¡± I remained seated and cross-legged, pulled out and wagged my right index finger to taunt her into attacking me first. You will be the most useful practice dummy to test my progress. Chapter 14: A Match to Remember Part 3 **Author here. Sorry for not posting another chapter for a month. I am still alive. Just slayed the demon called Finals and forced into sleep called laziness syndrome, hahaha. I am probably going to end this fight scene in another chapter or two just so you know, since I want to pour my heart and soul into this to make this fight exciting as I am not entirely satisfied with the result. Anyway...here is the chapter for now, also the ending will be exciting, I promise heh heh heh *Evil Smile*! And let me know what you think of this chapter!! :D Edit: Also Thank DarkCurs3 for the edits! Thou hath applied as my Sith Apprentice (Editor), MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!! *EVIL SMILE* Yixing¡¯s POV: Oh hoh, Meixi fell for my taunt a bit too easily, hahaha. I can see a vein popping out of her head in ire and her eyes grimacing in anger, HAH. She prepares another skill in her rage. She raised her sword up high and after a few seconds of charging up mana and¡­sunlight¡­into her sword, she slashed downward at me firing multiple waves of what felt like condensed mana and solar energy towards me in a slash-wave manner. The projectiles are pretty damned fast and coming at me hot. Hmmmm¡­This might give me some trouble, but... While remaining seated on the ground cross-legged, I raised up my left hand and used one of the magics I wanted to try out, Decomposition Magic¡­ *PShhhhhhhhhh* ¡­and disintegrated the energy waves flying at me to nothingness. If I used it on Meixi, she would¡¯ve died for sure, or worse considering how quickly I disintegrated her attack. However¡­. *Tap*Tap*TAP*TAP* Meixi then appeared after I dissipated her attack, charging at me in high speeds closing the distance at a very rapid pace. Damn she¡¯s quick, but not as quick as Mazupo. After she got close enough, she prepared to swing her sword downward at my head while I¡¯m still seated on the ground. ¡°Impatient, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I WILL JAM MY SWORD IN YOUR FACE!!!¡± ¨C Meixi shouted as she swung down her sword. After her declaration, I used a regular Pulse Palm, the origin skill I learned and the necessary piece to learn Chaos Pulse Palm and is far more cost effective and great for successive use, with my right hand to deflect her strike leftward and¡­for some reason, she looks very shocked at the fact I managed to deflect her blade with my bare hands. Are unarmed martial arts that looked down upon in this world¡­ah, she¡¯s not done yet. While I was briefly immersed in my thoughts, she regained her posture and used the momentum of my counter to perform a reverse low horizontal slash to my right. I responded by backslapping the blade upward with my left hand using Pulse Palm again. ¡°That, um, isn¡¯t very nice to say.¡± Though I am one to talk (while dodging her sword slashes), I am treating her as nothing more than a practice dummy, but she doesn¡¯t know this, heh heh heh. ¡°SHUT UP AND EAT IT!!!¡± ¨C Meixi declared childishly in her anger. Irritation is starting to creep on her face making her¡­slightly unsightly. She took two steps back and repositioned the sword in her two hands forced to the air from my counter, and then dashes at me with another downward sword swing. I was about to counter again with my left hand using Pulse Palm again, but¡­she repositioned her stance midway her attack. ¡®Ohhhh, a feint, huh? Looks pretty good...¡¯ Little does she know, my Perception is very good and with my third eye I can discern even her slightest movement, meaning I can read her movement habits and use it against her, little does she know hahaha. If she is to have the greatest chance to win, she must end this match as soon as possible, denying me the chance to analyze and predict her movements. Her movements are fueled by raw muscle-power and instinct, which in consequence makes her very predictable and dull enough as they are already to those with good eyesight and reflexes. Right now she seems to be taking me lightly to her ignorance, and uncontrolled frustration. Back to her feint, after she faked a downward slash, she performed a low reverse backslash using a skill in the process aiming at me still seated on the arena floor. I will be in trouble if she attacks me like this at such close distance. She is using the same mana wave skill she used before, this time at point blank range. So I fired a shockwave using Psychokinesis at her to create some distance between us as well as disrupting her skill, but she reacted well, cancelling her skill and slashed the shockwave to bits although she was pushed back a little from the force. She then recovered herself and is now using her skill again at a faster pace. ¡®Crap¡­This might suck. There is not enough time for me to counter her attack¡­at least that is what she thinks, heh heh.¡¯ *BAM* ¡°*GOFUU*¡± ¨C Meixi coughed out in pain. I used the same trick as before with Darkness and Void Magic (I think I¡¯ll call it ¡®Shadow Flick¡¯, as it is a technique used by Darkness and Void Magic, thus, does not count as a skill by the World Laws whatsoever) as I quickly got up while simultaneously lunging my right fist deep into her stomach for extra damage. I was about to send her flying back again by exerting additional force to my striking fist, but before I can, she grabbed onto my fist with her empty left hand and slashed at me with her sword in her right aiming at my head again. I thought killing is not allowed in a duel¡­so why is she so hell-bent on aiming for my head? Maybe the answer lies in her sword¡­.anyway back to fighting. She reacted better than I thought¡­but I heel-stomp her ankles on reflex with my right foot to knock her off-balance, delaying her attack with the pain I inflicted before her blade could touch me. I then bend my head down to my left and dodge her blade by a thin margin. I then took advantage of this momentum and went on the offensive. I grab her right arm with my left and pulled her around me until she is in front of me face to face and my arms spread wide into clapping position. Then¡­I discombobulated her by clapping on both sides of her head using Pulse Palm on each hand. *CLAP-BOOM* Now she¡¯s stunned and dazed (and most likely have a hellish headache in the process). She is now wide open. I started delivering as much damage as I could at this opportunity combo style, by breaking her body apart through internal and external damage, using my knowledge on how to effectively damage the human body. I first break her ribs with a strong straight punch. *CRACK* ¡°Ouff!!¡± - Meixi Dislocate her shoulders by popping her shoulder with my hands. *POP-POP* ¡°AGh!!¡± - Meixi Spun 360 degrees and fracture her jaw with a right reverse back punch. *WHAM* ¡°Ouff!!¡± ¨C Meixi Ducked and use my momentum to break both her kneecaps by punching with my left on her left knee, and with my right I reverse low kick her right one with centrifugal force, forcing her to kneel on both her knees. *CREAK* *CRACK* ¡°AHhhhhhh!!¡± - Meixi Now supporting herself with her sword, I moved right and rapidly jab the left side of her head with my two fists to keep her further dazed. *THUD*THUD*THUD*THUD*THUD*THUD*THUD*THUD*THUD*THUD*THUD*KA-THUD* ¡°!!!!¡± - Meixi I moved back a little to stretch my left leg far back with my right knee bent close to the ground, readying my sprinting stance. Channeling enough physical energy in my legs, with a powerful dash I jumped as I knee her stomach upwards with explosive force, and forced her to stand back up with her impaired legs from this attack. *BOOM* ¡°BOFU!!¡± - Meixi I then jumped and stomped her dominant right foot with my right so she can no longer balance nor walk properly. *CRUNCH* ¡°Ouff!!¡± - Meixi Side chopped her neck by with my right hand at her left side. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. *CHOP**CRACK* ¡°BLEUGH!!¡± - Meixi And sharply jab her throat with my left hand. *JAB* ¡°ACK *Choke*!!¡± - Meixi I continued wailing on her until she¡¯s about to respond and counter. So for my finisher, I used a combo skill I learned from my battle with a swarm of angry rabbits in great numbers called the Hundred Fists in One, a skill that lets me throw a ¡®hundred strikes¡¯ in place of one at the cost of 100,000 stamina (excluding cost reduction from my Title and Endurance) and significant cool-down, and struck one hundred hits on every vital part of her body with ¡®one¡¯ punch, from head to toe. How I got in a fight with a herd of angry rabbits¡­I¡¯d rather not say. And to top it all off, I used a skill to finish off my combo attack, Heaven¡¯s Blast Kick (the other skill I got from that rabbit I ate), a powerful single kick attack at the cost of 60000 stamina, and explosively back-kicked her face a good distance. ¡°AAAAAAAaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!¡± ¨C Meixi screamed as she¡¯s sent flying. She tumbles on the ground from the impact for a while and is now groaning in pain from my assault near the arena¡¯s edge. Hmmm¡­at this rate I might not have the chance to use my other skills and spells on her. I need a worthy opponent to test them, and she¡¯s the closest and the most worthy I¡¯ve encountered here. I walked up to her casually to check on her while she is struggling to get back up, wanting to see if she is still healthy enough to go on. I do not want to break my practice dummy after all. Observing her condition as I walked, as a result of my devastating combo, she can no longer breathe properly, walk properly, her arms are weakened and fractured, her sense of balance is in chaos and primary means of transportation (her legs) are in disrepair, enduring constant internal torment from hemorrhages and damaged vitals, suffering a hellish headache from blows that can kill a strong full-grown human man instantly to the head¡­and etc. When I got right next to her however, she immediately sprang up and used a skill meant to boost her stats (not sure what¡¯s it called though). I was caught off guard by her next attack, or should I say attacks. When she sprang she slashed her sword upward simultaneously for more damage from her movements. I was about to step back to dodge it, but¡­ *Bam* ¡°OW!¡±
-10120 HP
I noticed a flash of light a little too late striking me from my right side knocking me into the distance. ¡®That stung!¡¯ I quickly got back up and recovered from the attack, and saw Meixi almost too close to me and about to strike at me off guard, but¡­ ¡°GAH!!¡± -Meixi She then dropped on her left knee (which I also broke) gritting her teeth in pain. ¡®The hell was that!? I didn¡¯t sense it coming¡­or is it too subtle or fast for me to notice¡­?¡¯ If that isn¡¯t enough¡­I don¡¯t believe it, I am surprised she can still move herself even after¡­no wait, she¡¯s not unaffected by my assault. Looking at her arms, she somehow forced her shoulder joints back in working condition (though not without great consequence), and judging from her heavy breathing and chaotic foot work, her legs are still in broken order as she appears to be moving through sheer will power and can barely standing without tumbling left and right. I see the damage I inflicted took effect on her. Ultimately, it would seem she no longer cares for her health and well-being, nor of the backlash that will follow from overexertion in her delicate state. Meixi then¡­bit her lip (most likely to tough out the pain) and resumed her charge at me despite her injuries. A bit more wary, I channel mana into my Divine Eye activating its mana/Qi sight function (which allows me to ¡®see¡¯ the mana, Qi, and soon other energies in the air as I progress) in hopes of shedding light into the matter while I am dodging her barrage of slashes. She won¡¯t relent even in her new sorry ¡®condition¡¯ I put her in. She then used the same attack that caught me off guard again while slashing at me with her sword. I noticed it this time, and found it is small but swift, shiny white projectiles of almost undetectable sun-like energy that can be conjured and shot from any direction around me; although it looks more versatile, it¡¯s significantly weaker than the other skill she used before. This version is most likely a skill meant to knock me off balance and to create openings for her to deliver fatal attacks like she did before, though her injuries acted up after she first used the skill and paralyzed her with pain, thus cost her the chance to land a good strike at me. I broke and fractured her limbs, messed up her lungs, and reduced her stomach to mush (figuratively) and many more injuries, and yet, she is still attacking me like she¡¯s in working order. She has will, I give her that, or is it from her ability to heal from sunlight? Looking at her more closely¡­I do see her wounds fading, but, eh, how should I say this¡­the healing is barely noticeable as her recovery speed is not ideal, meaning it is slow as hell. Is her plant-like ability supposed to be this flawed? Mazupo made it seem like it¡¯s supposed to help her recover health at high speeds-¡­.oh crap I¡¯ve no longer the luxury of immersing my thoughts¡­ I dodged her sneak attack this time by tilting my head to the left as I casually skipped back, dodging her sword strikes. Meixi noticed that I am now aware of her secret, so she prepared the same skill except this time in rapid succession in hopes of overwhelming me with multiple strikes from all angles. Her attacks are now striking me at all angles along her sword swings in the process, leaving me little to no room to evade. Because of this, I decided to stop playing around and fight a little more seriously. I dashed at her with Lightning Flash and with the movement speed buff, I countered her blade with Pulse Palm and go on the offensive. I¡¯m gaining ground as she stopped her attacks to focus more on the defense while I struck her blade with incredible force. If she messes up one bit, it would leave me another opening for me to knock her out for good. Due to this, I am attacking in rapid succession with my fists, aiming at her openings and leaving her no grounds to react and continued on. My 5 second speed buff duration about to run out, I turned and cupped two my hands to my side and after quickly concentrating enough mana, I thrust my two palms together at Meixi with great power. *KABOOM* ¡°*BIIIIIIiiiiinnnnngggg* AHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhh!!!!¡± ¨C Meixi However, she noticed what I was up to and guard herself with her sword, but with her impaired arms she could not block it completely and embraced most of the damage in the process as she tumbled back from the force. She is now struggling to get back up from the ground...with great effort. It would seem she has found her limit. Hmmm¡­This match will end soon if she has no more cards to play. I wonder if she has anything else up her sleeves, because I will be very disappointed if she does not. ¡­Hmmm¡­I might give her a final freebie, but if she fails to take advantage of the chance this time, I will end this match. I do not need an absolute victory since I will learn nothing from this conflict. I only want a fight, a true fight, two opponents using everything they got, improve, adapt, and more to defeat the other. This way, I will truly progress as an individual, not as a ¡®game character¡¯. She better up her game on or she will not have a happy-ah crud, she is crying again¡­I''m starting to look like a bully¡­Hmmm nothing I can do about it now. Let''s see...how can I draw out her true potential, and give me a good fight...Hmmmmm..... Chapter 15: A Match to Remember Part 4, A Dragon Gods Whim ****Heyo Author here. Sorry I have been unable to reply for a while. I have been busy with RL and recently met some fellow authors from WrITE, writers to the end hahaha. A group in RRL I recently found and stuff. I also practice my writing with one of them called Mech . A very cool guy with a good storyline, but his grammar reminds me of VanZans hahaha. To those wondering how he is doing, he is doing fine. Just very busy working on the storyline of his fic hahaha. Anyways, I am alive, I am well, and I am trying to plan my own plot and stuff for this story. I am trying my best to find some good story references and names for countries, people, and more. Names are the ones I have the most difficulty...especially those of historical significance hahaha. Anyways here is the chatper. I might take a while with the next one so...yeah. XD Meixi¡¯s POV: ¡®How...HOW AM I LOSING TO HIM?!!¡¯ I am faster than him surely, stronger than him, and yet¡­he somehow ALWAYS evades my sword! My sword, Moon of Greed, has the ability to ignore most defenses around 70%, drain health, mana, and stamina, and if I abandon the sword¡¯s ability to destroy living things by phasing through them, I can absorb the said stats based on 50% of the damage I deal. It is the reason why this is my main weapon, because I can use this sword without fear of killing my opponents. I can even use skills with the sword without maiming my foes. It is a Legendary Grade weapon I got a year ago on the level of the mortals¡¯ Hero weapons, or maybe greater. It¡¯s a once in a lifetime prize I got from the Annual Dragon tournament held each year for placing second. If that¡¯s not bad enough, he can also somehow defend against my sword¡¯s ability to phase through flesh! How is that possible?! The dragons I fought before couldn¡¯t even defend against that! The best I can do is to grab him and strike, but he always counters me whenever I¡¯m too aggressive. And how can he fight so well without a weapon in the first place!? Where did he even learn those skills? I''ve never seen nor heard of them from my mentor. What¡¯s more are the status effects from his attacks:
Your body is severely damaged and your vital functions are in disarray. -All forms of regeneration and healing are rendered 76% less effective, including buffs and skills that aid in health or regeneration. -You will take health and/or mana damage every time you strain your body, and the damage is based on the level of your actions. -Physical Attack damage reduced by 56% due to impaired limbs. -Overall Skill effectiveness reduced by 27% from damage.
And now, because of this, I¡¯m in a bad state and cannot recover as much health as usual, so instead I chose to stock up the sunlight I¡¯ve accumulated for one skill that will defeat the Imoogi in one slash, but he won¡¯t let me have the chance to do so. Whenever I¡¯m about to attack, he always¡­slips away from me, always dodging away from me no matter how fast and hard I hit. He¡¯s not even moving fast too...dodging at the last second with great timing. What¡¯s worse¡­It hurts. It hurts so much¡­.*hic* *sniff* *hic*hic* When I entered this arena, I thought¡­I was wasting my time, forced to fight a meaningless duel at the expense of my pride. And now, I am¡­¡­scared. Very scared of this¡­of him. I always win a fight except for a few exceptions, but they were never this painful. We always ended the fight before we went too far, but the Imoogi does not want the match to end. He wants to fight me with my all, but I¡­is this what it is like to be truly afraid? To be left so helpless and terrified, enduring the tormenting thought that there¡¯s nothing you can do to help yourself? If so¡­then why am I- ¡°Hey, please don¡¯t cry. I do not like it when others cry, especially girls.¡± ¨C the object of my growing fear. Then the Imoogi interrupts my thoughts¡­ The Imoogi asks me to stop crying, which I can¡¯t at this point. I¡¯m hurt and too weak to fight back¡­why does he want to continue when he has clearly won? ¡°Why¡­why do you still want to fight? Are you here to see me suf-?¡± ¡°PFFfffffff, BUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! You¡¯re finally talking to me for once instead of attacking on instinct! Did you finally run out of pep? I expected you to get back up and attack me again like an angry gorilla, HAH!¡± ¨C Annoying Imoogi ¡®¡­Huh? Did, did he just call me a¡­Why you!!!¡¯ ¡°Are you calling me¡­I WILL-!¡± However, he interrupted me¡­ ¡°Ah there it is. Now that''s the lovable angry dragon I know, hahaha. I was a bit worried I lost you for a second.¡± ¨C Imoogi ¡®What is he¡­?¡¯ ¡°What are you-¡± ¡°You were growing gloomy. I admit I might¡¯ve taken it a bit too far, but you were doing fine so far. Dragons really are strong and tenacious I must admit; but you¡¯re most likely an exception in your case, in terms of tenacity. Which leads me to the question, what drives you? What¡¯s the source of your motivation?¡± ¨C Imoogi ¡®¡­...Did he notice my feelings and¡­Aaaahhh, I see. I think I get it what he is doing, though...calling me ¡®lovable angry dragon¡¯ who does he¡­(-_-)¡¯ ¡°Isn''t it obvious? It''s because, because¡­because¡­¡­¡± I was about to answer him, but I fumbled. I am, I am¡­ having trouble finding the right words to say. Now that I am thinking about it, why did I want to go on? I felt something when I was attacking him, but¡­it felt like pride and anger yet there was also something else and I don''t know what it is. I, I just don''t know¡­I just don''t know why and worse, I can''t find the right words to describe it¡­ ¡°Oh dear. Don''t tell me you don''t know? When we first talked, after I healed you, you said you¡¯ll make me ¡®regret my choice¡¯ and ¡®reclaim your pride¡¯. When I heard those words, I knew that you impulsively said them out of pride and arrogance, meaning there is more to it than just revenge. And from seeing how you fight with your sword, I now have a pretty good idea on what it is.¡± ¨C Chatty Imoogi ¡®What¡­what is he talking about?¡¯ ¡°Dad told me a bit about you, though he was annoyingly vague *Glared at Heiyang while mentioning him*, you¡¯re not very talkative and quite cautious towards others as I''ve found. You also have a unique talent that makes you more, um, ¡®wary¡¯ as dad said, to other people to an unusual degree even amongst dragons. Don''t know what it is exactly sadly, but I can hazard a guess or two.¡± ¨C Mouthy Imoogi At his words, I am quite curious of his answer. I waited in tension on what he is about to say. ¡°I think it is something along of lines of sensing the intentions, like thoughts or emotions of those around you. And because of this double edged sword you were born with, not only did it enhance your awareness, but it had also driven you to semi-seclusion. A gift not without its flaws per se, something a very emotionally susceptive child cannot handle without proper guidance. And because of this, you instinctively developed a fear of others, though I do not know why it mostly led to hatred for just Imoogis. In your quest to hide that fear, you chose to follow the path of a warrior, especially swordsmanship. But I see through you and your sword. You chose that path, thinking by choosing a sword and by just becoming strong, and focusing solely on strength, you will conquer your foes and deter anyone that might hurt you with sheer force and aggression, and grew a selfish arrogant ego along the way, albeit unintentionally. You think that you can solve all your life¡¯s problems by becoming a ¡®sword¡¯ yourself, be it combat or words, regardless of the consequences of your actions thinking it will be ¡®okay¡¯ in the end. You believe that you¡¯re overcoming your weaknesses from this, but in truth¡­you are only running from them, while creating more problems needlessly in your attempt.¡± ¨C Talkative Imoogi ¡®What? Running¡­me?¡¯ ¡°What do you mean I¡¯m ¡®running¡¯?! You dare call me a COWARD?!!¡± I cannot let this insult go unanswered! When the Imoogi responded however, he..started with a mocking laugh. ¡°Mmmm hehahahahahahaha¡­you¡¯re not aware? Guess it¡¯s natural for people like you. Tell me, when was the last time you were really honest with yourself, enough to share your troubles with those closest to you? You closed your heart from others, even your own parents. You are afraid of what they will do once they know your truth, no?¡± - Imoogi ¡®!!!¡¯ ¡°You¡¯re wrong! My Dad already knows of this, because he is family and will not hurt me!¡± He is not doing a good job at helping me however, since he barely has time to do so. I will not tell him this though. ¡°Oh? Then what about your mother? Is she aware of your troubles as well?¡± ¨C Nosy Imoogi ¡®She¡­Mom is almost never there. She¡¯s very kind and caring, though her main interest is magic. Meaning she was very busy as a High Magic Caster. She is mostly busy with her job, researching magic and spells, and even creating some of her own. If she were here, maybe¡­just maybe things would be different...¡¯ ¡°She¡­is always¡­wait, why am I telling you this?! We should be fighting, not talking!!¡± ¡°You were momentarily depressed and crying a moment ago, and now you want to fight? Is your renewed spark for combat just to avert yourself from the subject?¡± ¨C VERY Nosy Imoogi ¡°SHUT UP!!! You¡¯re just an outsider! You have NO right to lecture me!¡± I struggled to gather enough strength with my sword and moved in to strike! I thrust my sword in my right hand forward to stab him, but before I can even stretch my arm, he already shifted left slightly making me miss barely, and struck my stomach in response. *POW* ¡°BUFOoooo!!!¡± ¡°Oh, I beg to differ. I¡¯ve been dragged into your affairs through this duel by chance. Also, a bit of advice. You should really stop relying heavily on your ¡®talent¡¯. The heart is far too complex to be simply judged through emotion alone, and relying solely on a tool that reveals just the book¡¯s cover will only bring more harm than good in the long term.¡± ¨C REALLY Nosy Imoogi ¡°*Cough*Cough* *Cough*!!¡± I stumbled back a bit and paused to recover my bearings. Going over what he said, as much as I hate to admit it, it is true. He really is here because of me¡­and yet as much as I¡¯m unwilling to tell him, mostly because of his annoying attitude, I do agree he does deserve some some right to know. He¡¯s by far the most exceptional, and irritating, Imoogi I¡¯ve ever met. It¡¯s as if he was born solely to torment me!!! And I¡­don¡¯t know how to react with his last statement. I think he may be right. I can¡¯t tell what lies in his heart from our first encounter and now¡­I can¡¯t feel anything from him. ¡­Curses, now I regret not listening to teacher to change my habit... After I recovered enough, I went back to slashing him with my sword. ¡°Another advice, mastering a sword is more than just swinging it around like a stick. You swing it with just raw might, leaving much to be desired with room for improvement.¡± ¨C said the Cocky Imoogi while dodging. I swung my sword left and right while he evades in response. ¡°Another thing is your footwork. Too unbalanced and prone to break. Swordsmanship is more than just running to foes and striking them. It involves controlling your weight and muscles to move however you want, like evading on reflex. *Whoosh*¡± ¨C Mouthy Imoogi *Whoom* "¡­Eh?¡± I now see a fist covering my view¡­he, he attacked while I was swinging down my sword... *Tap* *Shove* ¡°Huh?-OOf!¡± The Imoogi¡­then pushed me, and while I was stumbling backwards, he tripped me by placing his foot behind my legs when he got very close to me, briefly face to face. I am now on the ground with my butt on the floor. I was unable to react even though he moved very slowly... ¡®He¡­he did this on purpose to prove his point-!!!¡¯ *Shoom*Shoom*Shoom*Shoom* ¡®Huh?¡¯ His fist is covering my view again, but¡­I couldn¡¯t see it clearly but I am sure this time he threw three more punches before placing the forth close to my face, blocking most of my view. For the first time, I realize that this is my first time the thought ¡®I can not win¡¯ came into my mind, against an Imoogi below less than half my level¡­ Then suddenly, a memory from my time training with my teacher flashed in my mind when this happened. From the time when I was training my own way while ignoring her instructions on my training course. ---------- ¡°Little Sun, why won¡¯t you heed me whenever I say the sword is about technique, not might? If you keep on following this habit, you should go learn to use an axe instead.¡± ¨C Mentor I was swinging my sword not according to my teacher¡¯s instruction on the wooden human dummy like I always did every day. I was more focused on swinging harder and faster than anything else my teacher said otherwise. ¡°Strength is everything, teacher. Only people with strength can achieve greatness!¡± ¡°Little Sun, that thought only works when fighting those weaker than you, and if only strength is needed, we dragons would be the lords of Mundus by now. What will you do if you face an opponent stronger than you, faster than you?¡± ¨C Mentor ¡°I will win like always in the end! Nothing is stronger than a Sun Dragon, teacher! All the other dragons can¡¯t beat me at my level, and I only lose when my opponent is higher leveled than me, even by one!¡± ¡°Dear, dear. And if you face an opponent lower leveled or not a dragon that can beat you, what would you do?¡± ¨C Mentor ¡°What are you saying teacher? There¡¯s no such being like that. That is but fantasies made up by humans to pointlessly encourage themselves so they can live with hope. A work of fiction teacher.¡± ¡°I see. Then I will double the usual training for disobedience, and you will be punished with a test to see if you remember my lessons to the letter next week and if you fail, I will take away your favorite sword.¡± ¨C Mentor ¡°EH?!!!¡± ------ After going through the memory, I suddenly have an image of teacher laughing herself to death at this moment from watching me losing like this¡­and found out the reason why she forced me to listen to all her lectures. She was trying to teach me how to become an actual swordsman, not like I am now. Then when I came out of my thoughts... If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Hellooooo, is anyone home?¡± ¨C Imoogi ¡®Huh? WHOA!¡¯ The Imoogi came in too close to me looking at me eye to eye, our faces nearly touching! That made me jump back from fright! ¡°What are you-!¡± ¡°You were blanking out, and I am wondering if you¡¯ve learned anything during your trip, my friend.¡± ¨C Imoogi ¡°That¡¯s none of your¡­Wait! ¡®Friend¡¯?! What makes you think we¡¯re friends?!!!¡± ¡®The imoogi is calling me his ¡®friend¡¯?! He is changing my label from ¡®Imoogi hating foe¡¯ to ¡®Friend¡¯?!! How outrage-¡­wait, is he really willing to become my friend? After all I¡¯ve said and thought about him?¡¯ ¡°Why not? We fought and talked this long, so that makes us friends no?¡± ¨C Outrageous Imoogi ¡­He does realize I hate him right? So why would he¡­ ¡°You do realize that I hate you¡­right? So why would you still consider me as a friend?¡± I am very surprised and¡­a little curious on why would he even call me a ¡®friend¡¯. I called him a ¡®lowly snake¡¯ when we first met, looked down at him, said very rude things, and yet. Why? ¡°¡­Buhahaha, a friend is more than just people liking and talking to each other. They can hate and fight each other, but they will always be together no matter what in the end the other person thinks, especially us when we are in a fight, no? I care not for your rudeness, I only care because I want to. Nothing more, nothing less.¡± - ¡­Imoogi ¡®Huh? What is this¡­I feel his sincerity this time¡­he really means it.¡¯ I can feel his anticipation and hopes of a¡­better tomorrow where everything is happy in the end. He¡­his words are genuine. This¡­this is the first time someone is considering me as a real friend, as I am always looked up to here. He thinks me not as someone to look up to, but as a person that he can share a lasting bond with¡­I now feel very guilty that I called all Imoogis lowly snakes that should be exiled. But my thoughts are interrupted again. ¡°Yixing and Meixi are talking to each other during the match for TOO LONG!! GET ON WITH IT!!! WE WANT ACTION, NOT IDLE CHATTER!!!!!¡± ¨C Tantrum Mazupo ¡­Uhhhh, I do not know how to respond to that. Mazupo and the audience¡­looking at them now, they are brimming with impatience as they scream along with her, shouting at us to get on with the match. The Imoogi started moving back to create distance between us, and then followed up with Mazupo¡¯s announcement before resuming his combat stance again. ¡°She¡¯s right, we are here to fight not talk. One more advice, a quote dad told me, ¡®Power is nothing without a purpose, to give it shape and make it firm¡¯. Your swordsmanship and skills are strong, but they lack ¡®purpose¡¯. If you give yourself a real purpose, a goal worth striving forward, you will give your strength ¡®shape¡¯, a sense of duty to move on. Remember this well.¡± ¨C ¡­I will now call him Show off. ¡®¡­I see. I didn¡¯t forget why he spared me once, he wants a good fight. Very well. I¡¯ve decided what should do now. I will fight with my all to the bitter end, whether I win or lose. I have much to atone for once this is over, so I¡¯ll take my first step with this!¡¯ Preparing my sword stance again, I plan to finish this fight in one move, as I am not in top fighting condition. The Imoogi got me this time, so if I¡¯m going to fall, I will fall with dignity. We both prepared our stance and are ready to move- *BOOOOOM* ¡­A celestial glow came down from above and struck me with¡­comforting light. ¡®?!? What is this light? It feels so, secure and calm.¡¯
Congratulations! You¡¯ve curried favor from Warrumunga, Dragon God of Light and Creation! ?5% Light Affinity You obtained two skills from his blessing. Photon Forge Sacred Life
Congratulations! Your Light affinity reached 50%, thus earning you a new skill. Lightspeed Step
¡°...Huh?¡± ¡®What...I am healed...and I¡¯ve been...blessed?¡¯ I am trying my best to understand what just happened, though Mazupo helped hasten the process with her announcement. ¡°I don¡¯t believe it! Meixi...has earned a Dragon God¡¯s blessing! What a heart popping twist!¡± - Mazupo in excitement. ¡®...No way¡­ I cannot believe it...I¡¯ve been blessed by a Dragon God! Mom and Dad will be so proud of me!¡¯ I was immersed in my thoughts and joy of this joyous occasion as those who are blessed are destined for greatness... However my time was interrupted by a baffled Imoogi, jealous of my blessing judging from his expression...the sight of him cringing with envy is very satisfying for some reason...and I don¡¯t care!
+1% Darkness Affinity
Errr...I think I now know the reason...It seems that my dark thoughts are starting to surface...I am a bit worried. ¡°What? Wait, wait, did I hear right? Meixi was blessed by a dragon god...? How unfair! I¡¯m the one winning here despite being lower leveled and yet she is the one that received a Dragon God¡¯s blessing?!¡± - Show Off in disbelief ¡°What? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re jealous? I am a True Dragon after all.¡± I said smugly. It feels so good returning the smug remarks back at him. The Imoogi unable to accept my smug remarks then... ¡°¡­Oh ye majestic Dragon Gods of Old! I beseech thee, grant this poor Imoogi your blessing¡­.¡± - Imoogi in disbelief and silly desperation. The Imoogi is raising his hands in the air waiting for a response...but all he gets back is silence. ¡®......Kuku.¡¯ I was laughing in my mind as I watched him try his best to curry favor from a Dragon God to no avail. It is very funny as I snickered, though the Imoogi heard my mocking snicker and grimaced. ¡°....Nothing? Seriously? Not one Dragon God wanting to give me a blessing? ...Screw it, I will defeat your champion then, whoever blessed her.¡± - Imoogi in anger The Imoogi decided to vent his frustrations on me while I smiled at his misfortune. The Imoogi then appeared before me with my guard down...or so he thinks. I...can see him now for some reason, as he tried to kick my jaw, but I tilted my head backwards and side kicked...his manhood. *Whack* ¡°!!!!!!!!!!!!!¡± - Imoogi in dire pain. The Imoogi¡¯s eyes bulged upon impact as he spun around to maintain his balance standing firm on the ground and then closed his legs together and placed both hands to grip his damaged manhood. The sight of him cringing in pain like that...is kind of refreshing in a way. ¡°!!! Ohhh..why you little¡­¡± The Imoogi then launched himself and headbutted my nose from his awkward position, sending me back a few meters. *BAM* It hurts...that is what I want to say but... ¡°That hurt!¡± - Imoogi still in pain. The Imoogi said it first before me. ¡°You hurt me much more than that!¡± I retorted against his accusation. ¡°That hurt even more!¡± - Stubborn Imoogi ¡°Nooo! What you did hurt even more!¡± ¡°My pain is greater!¡± - Very Stubborn Imoogi ¡°No mine!¡± ¡°MINE!¡± - Extremely Stubborn Imoogi ¡°MINE!!!¡± ¡®This arrogant little...I swear¡­¡¯ ¡°Ahahahahahah! Seems your little one just made a friend!¡± - Heiyang ¡°Hmmm...they do seem to get along¡­¡± - Dad I cannot believe what I am hearing. ¡°¡°DAD! He(She) is not my friend!¡±¡± - Me and the Imoogi Upon hearing each other¡¯s words...we slowly turned our heads and match each other¡¯s eyes...I will just pretend that did not happen, but the Imoogi won¡¯t let this go. ¡°....Well not yet anyways but...THAT HURT!!¡± - Imoogi with God-level stubbornness ¡°Who would be friends with you?!¡± ¡°What? We are talking aren¡¯t we?¡± - Imoogi now becoming very annoying. ¡°!!! So what?!¡± ¡°You sound like a child, but...it makes you so adorable hahahaha!¡± - Mocking Imoogi I am being made fun of...by someone like him. And I don¡¯t like it! The Imoogi stopped talking as he took a fighting stance, raising his fists while steadying his feet. ¡°Anyways, come at me. I need to take revenge for my wounded manhood.¡± - Imoogi The Imoogi cut the small talk as he resumed his stance. I prepared my stance in response as I readied myself to take him on. I will overwhelm him in a complete victory no matter what! Yixing¡¯s POV: ¡®OW! Seriously what the hell¡­?! Her power¡¯s increased quite a bit...is this the power of a God¡¯s blessing? DAMMIT! I WANT ANOTHER ONE!¡¯ I shouted in my mind while I observe her movements, she is faster and her movements much more fluid, though it is probably unintentional on her part. Damn...If I was like the usual low level, I would be destroyed instantly, but fortunately I can read her movements and keep up to some extent. I should have been defeated due to our level difference, but my skills and experience are what kept me alive, and now...I do not know how long I can keep this up, even if I go all out. I continued to gaze at her while she returned it with her own gaze as I watched her foot twitch, and the next second she appeared in front of me in a blink of an eye. ¡°Whoa!¡± I ducked as she slashed sideways. I Shadow Warp to her left and side-kicked her stomach, or so I thought. I retreated my leg the moment I saw signs of a counterattack from her breathing and muscle tensions as she swung down her sword where my leg used to be, so I teleported back to gain some distance. ¡°Ok...So blessings are really good, I admit it¡­¡± Her movements are still the same but just faster. I just need to amp up my game or I will lose. Meixi just eyed me watching my move, with renewed confidence...and some malevolent intentions. Don¡¯t tell me she is aiming for my crotch again¡­ I took several deep breaths as I tensed my body and muscles, preparing myself for the challenge ahead. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Ready to admit defeat?¡± - Meixi with a smug look ¡®Hah! This girl is learning how to have fun for once! That won¡¯t deter my need for vengeance though Muahahahaha!¡¯ ¡°Who¡¯s forfeiting?! I¡¯m just getting warmed up!¡± I shouted as I sprinted towards her with my left fist ready. She is about to slash fast, so I stopped running and slowed down, making her miss her swing by making her misjudge her timing. *Swish* ¡°Not this time!¡± - Meixi She raised her leg to stomp kick me as I slid to her at a slower pace, but I was prepared for her counter. I dodged left while simultaneously performed a reverse roundhouse kick to the back of her neck...but she ducked and knocked my standing leg with her free hand, knocking my balance off as I fell on the ground...but I still countered from there as I do a leg sweep and knocked her feet off the ground. *Thud* And before her body touched the ground, I rose up from the ground uppercutting her gut sky high into the air. *Bam* ¡°*Cough*!!¡± - Meixi coughing out from the blow. Meixi however regained balance in the air and landed back on her feet, while I am also back up and jumped back to create some distance between us. ¡°Aiya...and you¡¯re all healed up too¡­¡± I complained as it is really unfair as her Dragon God took the liberty to heal her. That is cheating...she is healed by a third party, but no one will call her out as it was a dragon god that did it...Unfair. And worse she received less damage than before she was blessed... ¡°So what? You healed me once, so don¡¯t complain.¡± - Meixi with a smart mouth. ¡®Since when did you learn how to wisecrack?¡¯ I thought as Meixi somehow appears in front of me in the blink of an eye after shining in a bright flash...and struck me good in the torso swinging her sword sideways. But...for some reason I felt the sword passing through me...I felt some kind of pain including some of my strength draining, so I tried to react, but she kept slashing at me in succession, not letting me get the chance. ¡°Dammit!¡± I shouted as I used Gravity and Psychokinesis to push her away when she was about to strike again successfully creating some distance between us. I see her legs twitching, so I fire some dark magic orbs at her to pressure her to jump and dodge away, and thankfully she did. After I¡¯m sure she won¡¯t charge at me, I pointed my right open palm at her, I patted my torso with my left where the sword went through me, and found no wounds here and there whatsoever, but I did feel significant damage inflicted on me. The HP bar even showed my health depleting from each slash as well. It would seem that her sword is very special...which explains why she slashed at me without fear of me dying. I will need to get even more serious here. I took a deep breathe as I prepared my usual stance, and emptied my mind as I focused on Meixi, ready to engage in combat. I will pull no punches this time as I infused mana into my fists. ¡°You are finally serious.¡± - Meixi with a prideful smile Meixi noticed my change, but no matter...With a burst of profound speed, I became a blur as I rush to Meixi. This time I will not just attack...as she swung her blade I deflected it with another Pulse Palm, as she swung down on me after recovering her momentum. I knew that she would respond and fend off my attacks with ease, so I decided to keep on attacking and fend off her counters until she cannot. I threw my right fist into a hook as she swung her sword at it, but I pulled back my attack to make her sword cut air as I raised my right foot striking it deep into her stomach. *Thud* ¡°Oooffff!¡± - Meixi Misdirection for the win, hehehe. This fight is finally going to be worth the effort and all the patience. **Chapter end Revisement Consideration What up. It is me, the asshole Author lol. As you know, I have lost contact with VanZans and he is not responding to my messages via RoyalRoad or emails. Right now, I am busy enjoying reading many fics that interests me, while being a editor for Zephon''s Spectral Regalia, and another author named Mech and his fic, the Valley of Titans.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. I recently got into Roleplaying and such, enjoying the pleasure of sharing writing styles between different authors. Great for practice. now, I am thinking of revising this fiction as I sincerely despise gaming stats. I prefer to write without wracking my brains. Anyways, expect some revisions later on. Though do not expect it too much. Also, I am into League of Legends. Got some ideas out of the champions. I died like a noob the first few months lololol. Asshole Author, OUT! XD Notice **Author''s Second note. Oh my god, it''s been over two years since I first started writing, and after exploring the abyss that is Fanfiction.net, I now realize how terrible my writing is. I''ve studied and practiced long and hard in the art of writing, and I may have improved in writing, patience, and self-motivation, but I am still in need of improvement when it comes to my sense of time and self-management of my life.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Rereading this, I realize how inept I genuinely was in writing. I have also lost my interest in stat screens since they are unnecessary and overcomplicates a good story. I am here to write a good story. And I will deliver it to you to the best of my abilities. If possible, I would like a right co-writer for some spark of motivation in my story. Something to spark my love for RoyalRoadl to life. I want to bring what I learned from there to here if possible whenever I am available. Does anyone want to write with me? Message me if anyone is interested.