《Dao is All-Encompassing》
Chapter 1: The Minor Dao of Life
A man was sitting in a lotus position eyes closed, likely contemplating something.
¡°What is life?¡± he muttered, brows furrowed.
Is it the will to survive? To overcome all odds, become victorious and accomplish one¡¯s goal? Then what about the thing after it, would it not be called life? Obviously, it would still be. I have a hard time putting my mind around something innate to me but out of my control. I feel that the answer is simple yet complex enough to be considered as profound.
He opened his eyes.
In front of him is a clearing inside a forest. The clearing is surrounded by tall towering trees, slightly obscuring the sunlight from peeking through. Critters roam the area once in a while. Squirrels, raccoons, foxes and even deers were seen prancing around the humongous roots of the trees.
At the middle of the clearing lies a rock. The rock is clearly old, likely suffered through the passage of time. But the aeonian rock still cannot escape the forces of men. A horizontal cut shaved the top portion of the rock, splitting it in two and creating a flat area above it.
A young man ¨C nay, it was the boy sitting cross-legged meditating at the top of the rock. Baby fats can clearly be seen at the boy¡¯s cheeks indicating his age to be around 15. He has black hair and black eyes, a common trait particular to the people at this region. But strangely enough, wisdom often flashes through his eyes, belying his youthful age. He has an average physique, somewhat scrawny with fair skin snow skin, making bystanders question his sexuality.
The boy scanned the clearing in front of him, his eyes scrutinizing every living being, clearly searching for something.
At last his gaze landed into a rock. The boy chuckled, his voice strangely soothing.
¡°Ahh, the real question should be, ¡®What differentiates life from death?¡¯¡±
Then the boy promptly closed his eyes and all sounds ceased at once. The animals simultaneously raised their heads and looked upon the boy. Seeing the stillness of the surroundings, the critters slowly left and the clearing was forcibly plunged into an area of silence.
Life, it encompasses everything alive from critters, small to become unseen by the naked eye up to gigantic beasts, roaming the vast desolate lands. With a simple leap of logic and removing energy from the equation, we can hypothesize life is what powered these beings. It wills the creatures to move, to resist and to survive.
Then, what differentiates life from death? If life is to move and survive then death perhaps is the state of inanimation? Then where can golems be classified, life or death? These beings composed of rock and powered by mana can also be considered as a type of life (or semi-life for technicalities) yet it is clearly dead due to the materials it was created from. It is akin to calling a puppet alive, such blasphemy to the wonders of nature.
Summarizing the points above, I can only conclude that I know nothing about life. But one thing is certain, Life is Life.
Two days have passed since then. The boy meditating at the middle is still there. Signs of struggle littered across his face. His brows were furrowed and lips quivering.
After an indefinite time has passed, his complexion eased.
You have found that life is to move, to resist, and to survive. Life is to live and be alive, such a simple but profound phrase.
Due to understanding the minor underlying principles of life, you have gained the Minor Dao of Life.
The boy abruptly opened his eyes and an aura of still calmness engulfed the area. With a flick of the boy¡¯s sleeves, the strange sensation was gone.
He glanced at his interface and inspected the fruit of his endeavor.
Minor Dao of Life
The Dao of Life is the Dao of living. It encompasses life at its very foundation, to live.
Due to comprehending a part of the Dao of Life the user gains:
+50% Affinity to Life
+50% Efficiency in learning Skills related to Life.
Passive Skill Unlocked: Touch of Life
Touch of Life: Creates a soothing aura, instantly raises the favorability of the user to any living creatures nearby.
Skill Acquired: Beacon of Life
Beacon of Life: With you as the center, creates pulses that spreads throughout the surroundings to detect life. The radius is dependent on the caster¡¯s divine sense.
Due to high affinity with life, the skills Life Attunement, Healing Magic Mastery, Heal and Reinvigorate were acquired.
He stood up and dusted his pants.
¡°Now that I have made a breakthrough let¡¯s go home.¡±
He jumped from the rock and headed towards the trees, disappearing from the clearing.
***This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
¡°Rudwick Roa¡± The teacher called.
¡°Present¡±
Obviously, I hastily answered.
Today is Monday. And as everyone in my age should be, I¡¯m at school. The teacher is at the front is calling our names for attendance. For reasons even I do not know, she is very petty when it comes to grades. It¡¯s not like she¡¯s strict on everything but strangely she¡¯s so fixated on the class¡¯ attendance.
I stretched lazily and glanced at the clock. It¡¯s about time she¡¯d finish the roll call and officially start the class.
Unfornately for our class, our first subject would be the dreaded science.
¡°Okay class, get your books and let¡¯s resume the topic we held last week.¡±
The teacher declared whilst she put away her attendance sheet.
¡°Any clarifications about it before we start?¡± she asked.
I glanced around, waiting for her to continue her tirade. It was also because of it thatI was shocked by my classmate who suddenly raised her hand.
¡°Teacher, I do have some qualms about something.¡±
I glared at her, clearly incesed why she answered the evidently rhetorical question.
¡°Yes Tina. What is it?¡±
And now even the teacher is amused because of the unexpected outcome.
¡°Can I ask why we were grouped together with him?¡± and she pointed at me.
¡°What? Is that it?¡± I replied ¨C more like scowled to her.
Now that she was making a scence, I eyed her angrily. She dared to bring me into this mess?
The petite girl who was pointing at me was a blondie. Her long waist-length hair was gleaming from the sun light that poke through the window. I must say, if I were a pedophile myself, I¡¯ll rate her as perfect loli waifu. Alas, I was not. Coupled with my anger, I¡¯m pretty sure someone would be biting the dust today.
She scoffed at me and faced the teacher.
¡°Hmph. Why would someone like me work with the lazy you? Jean and I can handle it with ease!¡±
Alright, I admit I might be seen as lazy by them but I don¡¯t care. It¡¯s not like the works were interesting enough for me to meddle on it.
¡°Calm down Tina, don¡¯t be so mad. I¡¯ll personally supervise the groups and if someone doesn¡¯t work their pay, I¡¯ll punish him, no questions asked.¡±
And with that, she smirked and sat down. As for me, I sat down as well. I hid my anger and crafted a plan inside my head.
¡°Now that the issue was resolved peacefully, let us proceed to the lesson. Is everybody ready for the group reports?¡±
Today is the day for our group reports. Essentially, group reports are like individual researchs that are compiled from a group to be presented to the others. Coincidentally, the topic was about life and I, who had just finished my Dao will consolidate it here.
¡°Children, please form your groups so that you can discuss your findings.¡±
And just like that, they all stood up and went to their respective groups. They, being the technical word here because I, who was a lazy bum refused to budge from my seat.
Minutes later, someone behind me shouted.
¡°Teacher! Rudy¡¯s not getting up again!¡±
On cue, Tina being the bitch herself added fuel to the fire.
¡°Leave him alone Jean, I¡¯m pretty sure he can¡¯t even finish his assignments much less do the report.¡±
¡°Cut it out Tina, I¡¯m pretty sure he has his reasons¡± the teacher berated. Thank god teacher was impartial. How can I survive without her?
I sighed. Willing my body to stand up, I headed towards their area and glanced at the papers and notes scattered on their table.
I sat down next to them and watched them work silently. The two of them were furrowing their brows, scanning and skimming every material and summarizing them into another paper.
¡°So, what do you want?¡± seeing them work hard, my anger subsided quite a bit.
¡°Hmph. It¡¯s not your business. You didn¡¯t even bring anything with you.¡± as expected she¡¯s angry.
¡°Hey hey, just because I didn¡¯t bring anything doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t do something.¡± I retorted.
Picking up a piece of paper, I read it.
¡°Life is the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.¡±
¡°Hoh, quite a fancy definition.¡±
Tina glared at me. Sensing her agitation I replied.
¡°It¡¯s not wrong to define it like that but it¡¯s very rigid, it feels like an ironclad rule put in place bysome supreme god (Google-sensei)¡± I chuckled at that.
The class ignored my outburst but Tina and Jean eyed me suspiciously.
¡°Then, what do you want to suggest?¡± asked Tina gritting her teeth, clearly indicating my guess was spot on.
I picked up a piece of paper and wrote something. After a few minutes of nothing but scribbles, I handed it to them.
She received it and read.
¡°Life is everything from the smallest bacteria up to the humongous trees. It is there to motivate every single being to move, to resist and to survive. Such is the principle of life. An example of this is humans. We need to eat to survive, we worked hard every day. We, students, study so hard just to ensure a bright future. Our parents labored day and night to acquire money which were used to support us. But, to what lengths? It is in order for every single one of us to survive. Hence, life, from the beginning of our childhood, from the menial things we¡¯ve done down to the achievements we¡¯ve acquiredis to ensure our survival, our foothold in the society. Life in its very essence is to resist death.¡±
After she read the paper, she became silent. Thoughts were swirling in her mind. Before she understood the situation, she didn¡¯t notice her lips parted and she said, ¡°How?¡±
¡°What?¡± I replied.
¡°I... H-how did you write it?¡± stuttering and incredulity marred her face. I guess she can¡¯t comprehend how I, the laziest bastard around managed to create a satisfactory report.
Well then, it¡¯s time to play the fool.
¡°Huh? I didn¡¯t write it. I just copied it from the researches I¡¯ve made. Don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t do yours? Who¡¯s the lazy bum now?¡± I shouted, voice laced with mockery loud enough to let the whole class hear them.
The class simultaneously laughed, making Tina¡¯s cheeks red from embarrassment.
¡°You!¡± she spat at me, enraged.
I shrugged and sat down. After the commotion died down, I huddled close to her. I leaned down to match her ears and whispered.
¡°Calm down, it¡¯s not like you¡¯ve lost something. I just wanted to be overlooked and will let you hug all the credits. Just tell teacher that I helped do the menial tasks.¡± I said with a wink.
Her eyes went wide but before she said another word, the teacher intervened.
¡°Class, return to your seats and begin to discuss the reports in front of the class. Choose a representative from your group.¡±
From our group of three, Tina was chosen as our representative as it should be. She stood up and glared at me before she walked towards the front of the class together with the other representatives.
From then on, I entered fugue. By the time Tina was almost finished with her report, I woke up from my stupor and shook my head. I stared at the window and inspected my newest addition in life.
Name: Rudwick Roa
Health: 107/107
Stamina: 160/160
Mana: 255/255
Chakra: 50/214
Qi: 9/9 (1st Stage of Qi Condensation)
Passive Skills: AuralSupression Lv. 2, Physical Fitness Lv. 3, Chakra Control Lv. 1, Sword Mastery Lv. 2, Deftness Lv. 2, Touch of Life Lv. 1, Life Attunement Lv. 1, Healing Magic Mastery Lv. 1
Active Skills: Meditation Lv. 3, Cultivation Lv. 1, Fireball Lv. 2, Gust Lv. 4, Chakra Circulation Lv. 1, Qi Circulation Lv. 1, Beacon of Life Lv. 1, Heal Lv. 1, Reinvigorate Lv. 1
Dao: Minor Dao of Life
Finished Classes: Mage, Cultivator, Ninja
Class Available: The Fool 10/20,Healer 0/10,Aeromancer 0/25
Skill Points Available: 2
Just as I was about to close the interface, I spotted that the reports ended and I stood up from my seat, grabbed my purse and promptly left the classroom.
Chapter 2: A Fool鈥檚 Starter Pack
My name is Rudwick Roa, an average child birthed from an average family but blessed with wisdom. The quote, ¡°I was hiding behind an umbrella when the gods showered the world with stupidity¡± might be very fitting for me.
Jokes aside, due to my own volition I remained secluded from society. My attitude coupled with my strange way of talking made me an introvert. Not everyone can follow up in a conversation between philosophers and fools. That¡¯s right, I was branded as a fool.
Due to my own ¡®foolishness¡¯ as my classmates put it, just a week the gods have sent me a tribulation but might have pressed the wrong button causing me to receive the unexpected blessing, the Interface. The Interface is a transparent screen floating in front of me that displays my current parameters such as Health, Mana, Stamina, Chakra and Qi.
That¡¯s right. It gives me the opportunities to become either a Mage, a Cultivator and a Ninja. I was exhilirated that day and immediately tried to use skills.
But before I tried to cast any spells, at the corner of my eyes I saw the skills section. Written there were the meager skills: Meditation, Cultivation and Chakra Control. The skills section were separated into 2: the Passive Skills and Active Skills. I assumed the passive skills were skills that are used subconciously and the active skills were skills that can only be used by activation mirroring its name. Chakra Control fell under passives while the last two were classified as actives.
I hastily scanned the whole interface and read the finals portions, afraid to miss any details: the Class and Skill Point sections.
The Class stated were Mage, Cultivator, Ninja and The Fool. The first three were easily understood but the fourth... let¡¯s just say that there are circumstances prompting it to be there.
The last part is the Skill Points. At that time, I had 3 and counting my skills, it doesn¡¯t take long enough for me to connect the dots. So I hastily trained mediation and cultivation. Using them simultaneously was viable so I entered my room, sat down and concentrated on the skills.
Hours on end, when I was getting bored came the first level ups. Meditation and Cultivation rose to two and netted me 2 SPs or Skill Points. I dumped 5 points to the 0/5 counter next to the Mage because why not?
After my SP were sucked dry, the interface rewarded me with notifications giving me the new skills gust and fireball. I was very euphoric that day and fell asleep with a smile in my face.
The next day, I spammed fireballs and gusts with gusts at the majority due to how ¡®mild¡¯ the destructive effects are. I also picked up a flat stick and waved it around then threw it away for a bulkier and heavier one.
The effects were instantaneous. Fireballs became slightly denser and bigger while the gusts got stronger and rougher it can even blow shrubs from the force alone. Raising sword mastery lets me gain a sense for the sword, like having the sword as an extension of my arm. The perceived familiarity with the sword was minimal but it does exist so I was looking forward to the day I become one with it just like the protagonists I read from stories.
Along the way I picked up Deftness. Deftness is basically a skill to make things easier to pick, grasp and swing the sword. Although I¡¯m pretty sure there are other applications of the skill, I shelved it for the time being for future experiments.
After that, I placed all my points to Cultivator and Ninja rewarding me with Qi Circulation and Chakra Circulation respectively.
That was a week ago during the weekends and because of school, I didn¡¯t have the time to train. I have been tempted to ditch school but so far I resisted it.
So my solution was to laze about in school and craft plan to hasten my growth. I also tried to hid any traces of my mana and chakra to the surroundings (my qi back then was negligible) because I was afraid if somebody found out leading me to acquire Aural Suppression and leveled it up to 2. It was because of the presence of mana, qi and chakra that I was able to confirm the existence of fantasial creatures so I laid extra precautions so that I will have ways to easily avoid them.
It was also because of last week¡¯s topic that I have formed my own Dao. It was just a lesser Dao of Life that I miraculously comprehended.
Also, because of my laziness in these past few days, Tina, the class prodigy, who took classes seriously was irate about having me in her team leading to the commotion earlier.
So that¡¯s about it.
I absent-mindedly pushed the coin into the vending machine¡¯s coin slot and pressed the coffee can button. Picking up the can from the hachet, I turned around and headed back into the classroom.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
Sneakily entering the backdoor, I slowly tiptoed towards my seat and sat down. I opened up the can with a pop and scanned the classroom.
The reports were almost done and the last representative is summarizing his report. The class were entirely focused on the ongoing report so I was overlooked when I exited the backdoor. Well, except for one student. Yup, it was her. Christina Forthe.
Due to the location of my chair that was placed at the final row, the representatives at the front corner can easily spot me. Especially her, which can easily be put together judging from her attitude earlier.
I just shrugged at her attempts to glare at me. Ignoring her childish antics, I took a sip from my coffee can and leaned at the back of my chair.
Listening to the reports made me bored so I swiftly drank my coffee, curled my arms above the desk and rest my head over it, accepting the sweet embrace of sleep and a single can of coffee won¡¯t stop me.
***
I woke up to the sound of bells. The tintinnabulation coaxed my body to stretch and so I did.
After I regained my bearings, I realized it was already lunch time. I must have slept 3-4 hours. Luckily, the teachers didn¡¯t disturb me.
With a quick grab of my bag, I exited the room and walked the corridors. Descending the stairs, weaving through the dense crowd of students and a few turns, I arrived at the cafeteria.
I sneaked behind some of the students and inserted myself to get a better view of the food lining the cafeteria.
Picking up my purse and dumping coins at the cashier, I brought with me a sandwich and a spaghetti to satiate myself. Not wanting to sit down next to the boisterous students, I left the cafeteria and ate my meager lunch along the way.
Fate must have been playing tricks at me because halfway through my ¡®lunch¡¯, I saw Tina and Jean chatting ahead. Hating to deal with them, I turned around and made a detour.
Hiding between the rooms and facilities, I made my way to my classroom and try to seek asylum. On my way there, a hand burst through a corner of a classroom and attempted to grab me. Fortunately, I saw it ahead of time and docked below leaving it dangling above me grasping nothing but air.
Tracing the hand, I saw Tina trying to reach me with her petite hands and Jean beside her, eyes wide. I smiled at them and... run. Yep, I run with all my might with them chasing behind me.
I sprinted through the hallways and burst through the school grounds. People around the school were pointing at us so I made sure to run very fast. I even circulated 3 Qi just to raise my speed by 30%.
Due to running beyond a human¡¯s speed limit, the skill Sprint was acquired.
Widening my eyes at the unexpected skill gain, I immediately used it to raise my speed up a notch.
I led them in circles throughout the school and by the time we arrived at the classroom the bell rang to signal the end of lunch. We were heavily panting and I was trying so hard not to laugh. It¡¯s been a long time since I ran that fast.
Raising my head, I smirked at them between my breaths. They were confused at first but then they realized they haven¡¯t eaten lunch. Jean trembled and with eyes flaring with anger, she stomped her feet towards me.
¡°Rud, wick... Roa!!¡±
Each syllable of my name was pronounced with hatred. Apparently, Jean was very conscious about her lunch. Every step of the taller girl were the counter to my impending doom. If not for her apparent beauty, which Tina also had, I would write her off as my end.
I backed away little by little, afraid she might punch me which judging from her hunger isn¡¯t entirely improbable. I forced a sheepish smile and tried to humor her.
¡°U-Um, Jean was it? W-What do you want from this humble self?¡±
Which made the situation worst.
Deciding that my plan unanimously failed, I enacted plan B. Full turn retreat!
The heavens must be smiling at me because just before Jean seized me, the blond loli interrupted.
¡°That¡¯s enough Jean. Clearly he must have been confused why we chased him.¡± She said. ¡°And you! Why the hell did you run!?¡± then she pointed at me.
¡°Who wouldn¡¯t run when chased?¡± I retorted, voice imbued with confusion.
She halted her steps and furrowed her brows. My remarks were clearly reasonable and she is trying to find a loophole in my logic. But before she made any coherent thoughts, I interjected.
¡°And besides, what do you two wanted from me anyway?¡±
Now she is debating whether to tell me or not. It might be probable earlier but now that we¡¯re here inside the classroom, she is hesitating due to presence of classmates. Or she really doesn¡¯t know what she wants. I shelved that idea later for my next meditating session.
Once again, with impeccable timing, teacher choose the opportune moment to enter.
With the teacher entering the class comes my ticket to salvation so I embraced the chance and chose to retreat and slumped into my chair.
I sighed in relief and watch the two of them walked to their own seats at the very front and sat down. Now that I¡¯ve already exacted my revenge, I slowly replenished the qi I used at my prank earlier.
The evening passed by in a blur. Nothing remarkable happened. The subjects were boring and bland.
At around 4 o¡¯ clock, I felt my own bottleneck. I can somehow know that I needed to compress the strips of gaseous qi floating in my dantian to create liquid qi. Apparently, 10 strips were needed in order create 1 droplet of qi.
Checking my interface and glancing at the parameter section which now has 10 qi, I suppressed the urge to breakthrough. There might be someone who can recognize qi nearby. It doesn¡¯t hurt to be cautious, even more now because I didn¡¯t know what the effects of a breakthrough might bring. Judging from my past experiences of my magic skills, I¡¯m pretty sure it will be eye-catching at the very least
With the silent threat looming above me, I decided to postpone my breakthrough right after class. I needed to find some secluded place for it to ensure my privacy.
***
¡°Students, make sure to study and don¡¯t forget your assignments. Okay, class dismissed.¡±
And with that, the class ended.
I grabbed my bag and exited the room, I sneaked into the corridors until I descended the stairs.
I made sure to glance behind me to make sure that the two them aren¡¯t pursuing me. My ego might be temporarily inflated but I won¡¯t be taking any chances for them to exact revenge on me.
Thus, when I¡¯m of the school¡¯s vicinity, I erased the sheepish and silly smile on my face, hugged my bag, circulated my qi and run towards home. Thinking about the pranks I did today, I released a cocky grin.
Chapter 3: Trouble before Breakthrough
I arrived home earlier than usual. Stepping into the house I yelled.
¡°Mom, I¡¯m home!¡±
Taking off my shoes, I walked straight into the kitchen and found mom there cooking food.
¡°Mom, can I go out tonight? I have something to do.¡± I called out to her.
My mother who is currently cooking turned around to stare at me.
¡°Young man, I just scolded you this morning after you¡¯ve gone out for two days and now this!? Just where did I do wrong?¡±
Now, she is crying. Well, I¡¯m not buying her tears. She may be old, on her late thirties but my mom knows how to joke unlike my grumpy father. Let¡¯s just comfort her and she might let me off.
¡°You didn¡¯t do anything wrong mom. Look at me, aren¡¯t I the most filial son around these parts?¡± with exaggerated hand movements I conveyed it to her.
After she calmed down, she returned to her cooking and I hugged her from behind. I was easily taller than her so I saw what she was doing. She was cutting meat strips so I hope dinner will be good today.
¡°Don¡¯t worry mom, I¡¯ll return late tonight so I¡¯ll eat even more this dinner. Sounds good right?¡± I coaxed her.
My mother is the kind of mom that gives effort to her cooking so she is happy when I enjoyed eating them. Actually, her cooking is good; it¡¯s just that I didn¡¯t have the time to humor her on it due to how avid I am to fictional novels. And now that I learned that the fictional books that I read have some truths on them, I became desperate enough to consider ditching school. Fortunately I squashed that thought and focused on my studies and not put the cart before the horse.
Although school isn¡¯t giving me headaches due to the help of Google-sensei and own stock knowledge gained from the many years of browsing internet, it is still inefficient compared to entirely giving my all into it which gave me my current conundrum. Exactly how can I focus on schooling when I¡¯m distracted by the prospects of my interface? An idea shelved for another time.
My musings were interrupted by my mom¡¯s giggles and I smiled back at her.
¡°You¡¯re getting good at flatteries young man. Alright, I won¡¯t be taking liberties from you but return before midnight, understand?¡±
¡°Yeah, yeah.¡±
Mom brought out the plates and served dinner.
¡°Eat up, your father will be coming home tomorrow due to some work-related stuff so he won¡¯t be with us, I¡¯m sure you understand. On a side note, you¡¯re lucky tonight.¡±
¡°Thanks mom!¡±
With a quick peck on her cheeks, I sat down and waited for mom to do the same. We ate dinner and exchanged some talks about dad¡¯s work and my pranks today. She scolded me when I told her that my classmates didn¡¯t have lunch because of me saying things like, ¡°a man shouldn¡¯t let a girl starve¡± or ¡°you should ask for an apology tomorrow¡±. I preferred not to meet them again but if we do, I¡¯ll just make it up for them.
After eating, I washed the dishes and said my goodbye to my mom and left the house.
Our house was situated beside a mountain at the fringes of the suburb. You might find it questionable to build suburbs near a mountain where wild animals roam but it is not without reason. The simple reason was, the suburb was built beside a freaking mountain range, embracing the suburb from the left side slowly curling to its south and turning to its right, resembling the letter U with the suburb inside.
Its design was developed by our country to propagate the idea of being one with nature. It was implemented around thirty years ago and we lived here since I was three.
The geographical location of the suburb also protects it from bad weather and after a major landslide twenty years ago; the mountainside was riprapped to prevent the incident from happening again.
I followed the mountain trails until it became forest trails when I entered the forest. Tall trees lined my sight and the chirps of birds and bugs assaulted my ears.
The putrid smell of rotten bark and leaves might have been disgusting to others but to me, it was nostalgic. I often play here when I am bored of playing computer games. Every inch of this land was marred by my footprints; every bark was marked by my hands. The forest was there watching me grow up.
The rustling of leaves woke me up from my trance. A gale blew up the strands of hair in my face and I smiled. Yup, it¡¯s nice to be free.
An invisible wind stirred up the area and a soothing aura enveloped the vicinity. I released my self-inflicted shackles and outstretched my arms and inhaled. The stifling sensation vanished and leaves whipped away from me.
I grinned and muttered, ¡°It¡¯s good to be back.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
***
After a thirty minute long run, the clearing came to view. By the time I arrived, the sun was currently setting. It was the same as always sans the sunlight.
I approached my polished and glorious throne ¨C one I begged dad to build for me when I was a child ¨C and sat down crossed-legged atop of it.
But before I closed my eyes to meditate, I heard a roar of a beast followed by a girl¡¯s scream. I dare say it was a girl and not a woman because of its pitch high enough clearly released by a young girl.
Thinking that the girl was in danger, I swiftly stood up and followed the noise. At the distance, I saw a middle schooler cornered by a bear.
My eyes narrowed to take a good look and saw the bear positioning to pounce at the girl.
I sprinted with all my might and broke a twig from a withered tree along the way. The whole branch easily snapped from my grip imbued by my desperation and promptly threw it towards the bear.
Sprint has leveled up.
The bear flinched from the unexpected object losing his chance. I arrived in front of the girl and blocked the bear from eyeing her. I didn¡¯t have the time to check on the girl before the bear growled at me.
A dangerous idea flashed into my mind but I squashed it away. Fighting the bear while simultaneously protecting the girl is outright stupid. Even without her behind me, it would still be difficult to fight a hulking 350 kg mass of weight. A single swipe of a bear would break my bones and might even cripple me. And that¡¯s without assuming that my meager cultivation would help reinforce my body.
This time, I circulated my chakra, imbued it with my Dao intent and released it towards the bear, masking its effects with a scowl.
¡°Back off!¡±
The soothing and calming effect of my Dao coupled with the staggering force of chakra made the bear woke up from its mindless frenzy.
Touch of Life has leveled up.
Upon seeing that I intervened and sensing the danger I emitted from my body, the bear decided that attacking us aren¡¯t worth it so the bear promptly left.
I spent a couple of minutes staring at the direction the bear left, ensuring that it was nowhere to be found. Once I made sure that the bear was out of our sight, I swiftly check the safety of the girl.
The girl was trembling and tears were pouring out of her eyes. I approached her slowly and hushed her.
¡°Now, now. Don¡¯t cry. Look, the bear¡¯s gone.¡±
Which, once again, made the situation worse. Why does every situation goes downhill every time I run my stupid mouth? Is the world that merciless against me?
Better wrap things up and bring her home before someone finds out. It would very bad if a new title will be birthed next to the fool ¨C the lolicon. Thinking about being branded as a pervert sent shivers down my spine. My infamy would go straight down into the drain.
Thus, I comforted her but before I made an attempt the girl suddenly hugged me.
My eyes went wide but her cries made me realize that I¡¯m not hallucinating. I pressed down my confusion and hugged her back.
¡°Hush, don¡¯t cry. It¡¯s alright. Nothing¡¯s gonna hurt you now. Don¡¯t worry, big brother here will protect you.¡±
I brought it my all to coax her. Alas, my efforts bore no fruit.
After several minutes of coaxing and wiping her tears, she finally calmed down to form words.
I inspected her once again.
The first thing I saw is her eye-catching silver hair. Her hair even from far away glistens in the moonlight and is most likely the reason the bear saw her.
Next, I inspected her face. Her eyes, red and puffy from crying show how afraid she is. Her eyelashes were even faintly trembling. The smooth cheeks that lined her face were red from embarrassment. Thinking that her eyes were mesmerizing, I averted my gaze from her.
I helped her stand up and realized that I was a head taller than her. Her legs were still trembling so I brought her to the clearing and let her lean on a log I rolled over in my younger years. Then, I ignited the campfire that was placed beside it by my father seven summers ago.
We sat there in silence and after several minutes and mustering up the courage to speak, I tried to ask her.
¡°Um, are you alright?¡±
For a few seconds there was no answer. Nay, make that a minute.
I sneaked a peek at her and found out that she was already fast asleep. I guess the brush with death took a toll on her.
Deciding that I consumed too much time, I stood up and jumped over my meditating rock.
With closed eyes and crossed legs, I began to tackle my bottleneck.
***
Within my dantian drifts 10 strips of gaseous qi. These qi were congregated inside my dantian, creating a dense ball-like structure of qi. During circulation, some the required qi will disentangle themselves and circulate on the pathways across the body called meridians. The meridians were the points on the body where qi can pass through in order to reinforce the part where the meridian is located.
A full cycle of a single strand of qi will increase the body¡¯s output by 10%. This means that my speed, strength, kinetic vision, reaction speed and many others will rise by a whopping 10%. A whole droplet of qi will raise it by another 100%, essentially doubling my capabilities.
That¡¯s why for a cultivator, more qi means more power. Sadly, being a mortal, the body can only hold so much qi. So they devised a way to counter this problem.
If more qi equals more power, then what would better qi means? Using this ideology, cultivators attempted to compress their gaseous qi to create liquid qi which takes up lesser space but contains greater power. Their experiments were a success and thus, cultivation stages existed.
Cultivation stages divide Qi Condensation into 10 stages. Each droplet of qi in a cultivator¡¯s dantian represents his cultivation stage. 1st stage with only gaseous qi, 2nd stage with a single droplet, 3rd stage has 2 droplets and so on.
On the other hand, the bottlenecks were there to stop cultivators from taking shortcuts and combusting themselves due to high influx of qi so it is very important to condense them and thoroughly build the foundation. Quantity over quality.
I slowly prodded my qi and with a clamp of my will, they condensed. The resistance they exerted at my current stage was minimal but due to my inexperience, I had a hard time compressing them.
Every time I tried to grab the strands and coerced them to form a ball, they somehow slip from my grasps. I tried various ways to trap them using my will but no matter how hard I tried, they would still escape.
Frustrated beyond words, I mustered my all my will to move a single strand and lock it in place. Surprisingly, it obeyed.
There was only one logical explanation. My will is weak. It needs to be united and is only enough to move a single strand instead of ten.
But strangely enough, the locked qi didn¡¯t move. Only after several minutes did it began to once again drift. This gave me an idea.
Once again, I mustered up all my will and pushed the strand at the corner of my dantian towards its center and locked it down. I did it to all my qi strands and after two hours of concentration, I made a breakthrough.
Congratulations on making a breakthrough, you are now at the 2nd stage of Qi Condensation.
Chapter 4: Revenge for the Fallen
Congratulations on making a breakthrough! You are now at the 2nd stage of Qi Condensation.
Due to breaking through the 2nd stage and consequently tempering your body, you have gained:
+25 Health
+37.5 Stamina
+51 Mana
+50 Chakra Pool
Meditation has leveled up.
Cultivation has leveled up.
I opened my eyes, vigor surged within them.
Standing up, I flexed my hands and stretched my arms. The popping of bones created a rhythmic sound and it made me feel good.
¡°Well, that was anticlimactic.¡±
I sighed. I didn¡¯t know my breakthrough would be that bland and inconspicuous. I assumed it would be explosive and eye-catching enough that it¡¯ll alert the whole forest but it might also because it was my first bottleneck so it was lackluster and the next stages would surely not be the same. It¡¯s a problem for the future but still, it doesn¡¯t hurt to be prepared.
A quick glance from my surroundings let me know that it was still dark. Fetching my phone and glancing at the time warranted me to return home. I was merely two hours away from my curfew.
Deciding that it was time to go home, I made a stance for a jump but before I really did, the sound of snoring alerted me the presence of the girl I saved earlier.
I take a look at her once more.
Silver hair cascaded through her cheeks, obscuring some of her facial features. Her furrowed brows once again reminded me of the events earlier.
Normally, bears won¡¯t attack humans around these parts. The animals that littered around this part of the forest were somewhat docile due to constant interaction with the humans living at the foot of the mountain.
But strangely, the bear that we encountered earlier was feral. When we crossed eyes, I swear it was slightly reddish. Looking at the bear¡¯s eyes made me think of an enraged bull.
By the time I drowned the bear with the Touch of Life, the madness in its eyes vanished and was replaced by confusion. Clearly something was amiss.
I reignited the waning fire by throwing twigs and leaves and carried the sleeping girl in a princess carry. She let out a groan midway and huddled closer to me. Her complexion eased until I put her down next to the campfire. She grabbed my sleeve unconsciously and it made me smile. I patted her head and traced her hair to comfort her and she slowly let go.
Don¡¯t get me wrong. I¡¯m not a pervert okay. It¡¯s just that her situation made me pity her.
Not every 12 or 13 year old girl can be brave as her under those circumstances. Although she cried, it was a big plus that she didn¡¯t wet herself. I¡¯m pretty sure that if someone other than her is in that situation, they would just scream endlessly and peed straight on the spot.
¡°I hope that she won¡¯t get any trauma on bears and dark forests.¡± I sighed.
Deciding that it the incident was exceedingly strange, I head towards the forest to investigate.
Stepping inside the dark grove, I activated Beacon of Life.
In a 10-meter radius around me, all life became clear. The foreign sensation assaulted my senses and I spent a couple of seconds reorienting myself.
The strange feeling morphed into a kaleidoscopic sense where everything living being moving inside my domain becomes a color-coded object.
It is very hard to describe, mainly because it gave me a sixth sense to distinguish life around me and my brain perceiving it as color without me directly seeing it.
The unsettling sensation made me want to puke but I held it in. It took me a couple of minutes to get used to it and before I knew it, I was mesmerized by what the skill can do.
Every inch of my perceived area became clear to me like the back of my hand. Life thrived, striving to survive and eventually die. Every blade of grass, twigs, leaves, bugs, spiders, crawling critters and even the snake hiding in its lair 16 inches below the ground swirled together to create a strange but vivid cacophony of colors. The contours, the hues, the vibrant vitality and vigor of life assaulted me in its entirety.
I halted my steps and admired the wonders of nature.
Focusing my senses into a tree at the distance made me realize how complex life is. Its roots pilfered life from the soil and stored it into its trunk. From there, the nutrients were slowly distributed to its branches and into the leaves. The leaves greedily sucked the nutrients but the most astonishing sight of all is the fruit between the branches. There, life were so concentrated enough to burn my senses. The seeds in its core were nourished wholeheartedly indicating it ready to birth new life.
Beacon of Life has leveled up.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
A notification blew away my stupor, alerting me of my skill¡¯s subsequent level up.
¡°Ugh, what a spoilsport.¡±
I willed the notification to disappear and set an option for future notifications to never appear in my vision. A distraction in a battle might be the deciding factor between life and death.
And with the weird sensation gone, I weaved through the forest.
The dense foliage was nothing in front of the skill. Instead, it became a glowing wall, shimmering all in its full glory.
I extended my senses and searched for any indication of the bear.
After a few minutes of strolling and admiring the forest, I saw at a distance a hulking concentration of life. It might be the bear.
With an instantaneous use of sprint, I hid behind a tree and observed it.
The bear was casually lazing around, rolling and munching something doing bear stuff. Its current appearance bore no hint of its earlier savagery.
I was puzzled by its conduct and might have written the accident off as a coincidence if not for the traces of white fur at its paws.
With a closer look, the thing it was munching on is a carcass of a dog. It didn¡¯t take a genius to put two and two together to make four. The events played into my head and anger, sadness and injustice welled up inside me.
I pushed those things but seeing the bear lazing around while casually eating the dog made me throw my hesitations away and I decided to go all out.
I threw a fireball straight to his face and run left. The fireball hit it the unsuspecting bear and I fired another one.
The bear that clawed his face from the burns didn¡¯t have time to react before it was hit by another one. It singes his fur but the bear cannot do anything but growl indignantly.
It sniffed the air to locate me but I already encircled him and was now at his back.
With a quick gust aiming at my opposite direction, my scent was blown away and gathered beside the bear.
The now blind bear once again growled and stood up. It swiped its claw and promptly dismembered a tree which burst to splinters at the humungous paw strength.
Some of the splinters buried into the bear¡¯s paw, making it flinch from the unexpected pain.
I, who was behind it didn¡¯t miss the opportunity and threw three fireballs barraging it. The first fireball hit behind its face, charring it. The second and third found their way towards the bear¡¯s back, igniting its fur.
The bear stumbled forwards from the force of the blow and once again, I threw another three fireballs.
This time, the fireballs landed on the bear¡¯s butt. Due to the number of fireballs that hit on the same spot, the bear suffered not just a minor burn but a blazing flame.
The scorching flame danced across the bear¡¯s butt and laced it fur, threatening to return it to ashes.
Intense pain assaulted the bear and made it froze in fear. I hesitated to deliver the finishing blow but seeing the disfigured carcass of the dog at the corner of my eyes made me renew my determination.
With a fireball bigger, denser and clearly hotter than the others, I delivered the coup de grace.
A blood-curling scream echoed through the forest but immediately died down moments later. Silence accompanied me as I watched the bear¡¯s corpse slowly burn to ash until bones remained.
The last fireball I casted depleted a third of my mana, almost ten times as costly as normal ones. On that battle alone, I used an entire two-thirds of my mana pool.
With the bear dead, I headed towards the dog and inspected it.
Its corpse was dismembered beyond recognition. If not for the slight traces of fur, I might not tell that it was a dog beforehand. The intestines were out and blood littered the area around it.
I sighed.
Crouching down and joining my hands in front of me, I muttered a prayer towards the mutilated corpse.
¡°May you arrive safely in the afterlife.¡±
Standing up, I threw a fireball at it to cremate it and with a quick cast of gust, the ashes rejoined the wind.
Here ends the saga of a brave hero who sacrificed himself for his mistress.
***
I woke up with a gasp. The cold hard ground added more to the lingering fear in my heart.
Fufu was dead. She sacrificed herself to buy me time to escape.
I wanted to cry but I have to brave for her sake. I need to survive.
The fire at the corner of my eye reminded me of the events yesterday.
Once again, I held the sadness of losing her. Bawling my eyes, I wiped some of the tears that leaked.
I exhaled.
Trying to stand up was taxing for my battered body so instead, I sat down. The hard grainy texture of the log beside me and the heat of campfire prompted me to move from my initial position. While I raised my head, I saw a black-haired youth sitting atop a rock.
Confused, I searched my memories until it hit me.
¡°Ah, the big brother from yesterday!¡± I exclaimed.
The older boy faced me and smiled.
His smile made me recall the most embarrassing moment of my life. Blood rushed into my face and I felt my cheeks heat up. I hid between my hands, afraid he might notice it.
¡°Hello¡± he awkwardly replied.
I sneaked a peak at him and watch his sheepish smile on his face calm me down.
The strands of his black hair and the darkness made it impossible to discern some of his facial features so I decided not to mind it. Even if his face is average, his broad back and commanding tone when he defended me from the bear will elevate my impression of him no matter what he looks like.
But with the flick of the flame, his face lit up letting me see his facial features.
It was also because of that kind of assumption that I was shocked when I saw his face. If not for the silly smile hanging on his face, he could be considered handsome. I really didn¡¯t expect someone like him to be this deep inside the forest.
A few moments passed until he decided to break it.
¡°Um, can I ask your name?¡±
Hearing his query, I woke up from my stupor and realized that I was staring at him. My cheeks once again heated up but this time, I held it down and answered him.
¡°Hannah. Hannah Galanza.¡±
My voice was so small that I was wondering whether he heard it or not. But surprisingly, he did.
¡°Hannah... What a cute name,¡± he smiled. ¡°Well, what is Hannah doing here inside the forest?¡±
His question was clearly without any intent but I found myself crying once again.
The silly grin on his face was erased and replaced by grimness. Seeing that, I cried louder.
He noticed that I am looking at him so he smiled back and sat down next to me.
For the next few minutes he comforted me but I didn¡¯t relent so midway through my cries he hugged me and helped wipe my tears.
After that, I gradually calmed down and looked up to him. He gave a helpless sigh that said ¡®what am I gonna do with you¡¯.
¡°Thank you,¡± I said between my breaths.
I wanted that moment to last but sadly I have to be brave so I asked him about my most dreaded question.
¡°Um, did you happen to see Fufu?¡±
¡°Fufu? The dog? Oh, him? ...or her?¡± his silly way of talking made me chuckle.
¡°Her and yes, the dog.¡±
Sadness marred his face and he hesitated for a moment before he gave me his answer.
¡°She died,¡± my tears tempted to leak out, ¡°along with the bear. I already avenged her,¡± but got stuck up due to his ridiculous statement.
¡°You¡¯re kidding stop it.¡± I retorted.
¡°I¡¯m not. Look at the pile of bones there.¡± He pointed at a ribcage beside the fire.
The littered bones were neatly piled and looking closely they were slightly charred. I arranged them using my imagination and the remains overlapped with the bear that attacked me earlier.
¡°No way...¡± incredulity masked my faced and I hastily faced the increasingly mysterious boy just to see him smiling smugly.
¡°Who are you?¡±
My question brought a grin to his face and he answered.
¡°Me? I¡¯m a wandering vengeful spirit.¡±
Chapter 5: Your Name
¡°Huh?¡±
Her confusion was not without reason. I mean, who wouldn¡¯t be? I just gave her an ambiguous answer and it made me chuckle.
My giggle didn¡¯t impress her and she pouted.
¡°What?¡± she asked.
¡°Nothing~¡± I teased and once again chuckled but this time, my chuckles became full-blown laughter.
¡°Why are you laughing?¡± this time, she yelled.
Her indignant shout made me stop my laughter and I considered telling her that reactions were too comical made me laugh especially that pout, but I decided against it. Who wouldn¡¯t want a good laugh or two?
¡°Okay, okay I¡¯m stopping. Then... can you at least tell me why you were here?¡±
My plan to divert her attention from the death of her dog and lighten the mood worked for the most part but it went downhill when I started speaking.
Her face dimmed and her eyes threatened to cry. I grimaced. My socializing skills were totally bland.
So I hastily followed to salvage the situation.
¡°Uh, um, I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s a... yes, that¡¯s it. I just want to know that¡¯s all but if you don¡¯t want to then don¡¯t.¡± my hastily made excuse somewhat brightened her up which is slightly confusing.
Even though I didn¡¯t explicitly stated that I needed to know, I still pressured her to talk. My curiosity got ahold of me so I used a minor application of reverse psychology. The method I used somewhat disgusts me but I kept on doing so because this might be the key to the puzzle.
¡°No, it¡¯s okay... it¡¯s just that, it wasn¡¯t her fault you know. I followed her and then...¡±
She broke down to sobs and so is my heart. Every tear that leaked out were akin to a nail that slowly drilled into my conscience. From this moment on, I decided to treat this crying girl with utmost importance to repay this emotional debt.
Between her whimpers, she tried to explain the situation.
Apparently, they were playing at her courtyard when Fufu, the dog, abruptly ran away. She chased her and didn¡¯t realize that she already entered the forest. Still, Fufu didn¡¯t stop running so Hannah grew increasingly worried. She mustered all her courage and gave it her all to catch Fufu.
By the time she caught Fufu, they were already deep inside the forest. Hannah attempted to follow their trails back home but due to their quick turns and erratic movements, their trails were muddled and joined the ever-confusing dense foliage.
Hannah panicked but her attention was directed by the barking Fufu. She traced Fufu¡¯s target and at the distance, she saw a hulking mass of brown fur. She squinted her eyes on it hard enough to get a clear picture. What she saw made her froze in fear.
The bear also found them and it made a dash towards them. From her story, she said that the bear¡¯s eyes were also reddish which brought my earlier speculation to be proven. The bear was mad, exceedingly so.
Her legs trembled and almost gave away but Hannah stayed still. Her body was numb and coherent thoughts couldn¡¯t form in her head. It was like she was plunged into an ice cold lake.
With the paralysis taking control of her, the arms hugging Fufu subsequently loosened and made the dog jump from her hands, pouncing towards the impending threat and bit the rabid bear.
The bear flinched from the dog¡¯s bite and howled. It swatted Fufu back behind it and turned around to sink its teeth towards the pitiful dog. The bear mangled the dog until it died and tossed it back to the dark forest where Hannah couldn¡¯t see.
Due to the gory scene, Hannah backed away but stumbled by some roots. Gashes and small cuts littered her arms and legs which prompted her to stop talking and raised her hands which are now in pristine condition after I healed them while she was fast asleep.
This time, I vehemently avoided any questions she brought up from her injuries.
It was at that time that I brought up the interface to read the skill¡¯s description.
Heal
Converts 50 mana into a regenerative force that heals the target for 2.5 health each level. The scaling gets inefficient the more mana is used.
And while I¡¯m at it I also read reinvigorate.
Reinvigorate
Converts 25 mana into a regenerative aura that reignites the target¡¯s will to survive. It raises the body¡¯s natural regeneration by 10% of each level. Be cautious, using too much mana is detrimental.
Confirming that I indeed leveled heal, reinvigorate, fireball and life attunement, I urged Hannah to continue.
Hannah shifted her position and resumed her story.
Thanks to the searing pain, she was released from her paralysis and she turned around and clawed her way to stand up. She ran with all her might and disregarded everything from her surroundings.
A few minutes passed until her lungs were on fire and she gasped for breath. Hannah leaned on a tree to alleviate her leg which became bruised from the constant running.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
But without waiting for her to recover, the bear emerged from a bush and it was then, the bear roared at Hannah that she shrieked.
By the time Hannah finished her narration, she already calmed down.
Listening to her, I couldn¡¯t help but feel that something¡¯s not right.
First, why did Fufu suddenly ran away? And she went to the forest nonetheless. Is it because of the effects of my Dao? No, clearly they entered the forest earlier than me. It was unmistakable because I was only at the clearing for a few minutes and I ran there for almost thirty minutes which might take an hour to a girl like her.
According to Hannah, she just followed the dog anywhere she goes and because of the dog¡¯s quick turns and detours, they ultimately got lost.
I winced at that thought. She really was unfortunate enough to encounter a bear in the wilderness.
Words of comfort and apology flew from my mouth and we exchange a short laugh. Her smile brought a strange ease in the atmosphere making our talks escalate.
¡°Oh, right. Your name-¡°
But before she finished her sentence, I stood up and waved at her.
¡°It seems that your parents are already here. I think it¡¯s time to say goodbye.¡±
At the corner of my eye, torchlight lit up the corners of the dark forest. I stepped back in to the other side of the clearing and promptly vanished.
¡°Wait!¡± she also stood up and attempted to pursue me but the voices of her parents calling her halted her steps.
¡°Hannah? Are you there? Thank goodness, we¡¯ve found you!¡±
The sounds of crying and repeated apology gradually drowned the surroundings and I found myself muttering.
¡°Until we meet again, Hannah Galanza.¡±
***
Lunch time, I was at the rooftop enjoying the cool breeze that slowly lightened my mood.
At this time of the day, the rooftop was devoid of any students. Thus, the lonesome mood made me reconsider getting a girlfriend. Still, maintaining the relationship would be a tumultuous task given my attitude so without even trying to, I gave it up.
I sighed.
Setting those depressing thoughts aside, I inspected my gains from my breakthrough yesterday.
Name: Rudwick Roa
Health: 132/132
Stamina: 177/198
Mana: 306/306
Chakra: 48/264
Qi: 11/11 (2nd Stage of Qi Condensation)
Passive Skills: Aural Suppression ? Lv. 2, Physical Fitness ? Lv. 3, Chakra Control ? Lv. 1, Sword Mastery ? Lv. 2, Deftness ? Lv. 2, Touch of Life ? Lv. 2, Life Attunement ? Lv. 2, Healing Magic Mastery ? Lv. 1
Active Skills: Meditation ? Lv. 4, Cultivation ? Lv. 2, Fireball ? Lv. 3, Gust ? Lv. 4, Chakra Circulation ? Lv. 1, Qi Circulation ? Lv. 1, Beacon of Life ? Lv. 2, Heal ? Lv. 2, Reinvigorate ? Lv. 2, Sprint ? Lv. 2
Dao: Minor Dao of Life
Finished Paths: Mage, Cultivator, Ninja
Paths Available: The Fool 10/20, Healer 0/10, Aeromancer 0/25, Pyromancer 0/25
Skill Points Available: 13
It¡¯s decent if I say so myself.
Although I do not know why my chakra didn¡¯t replenish itself, I used it sparingly. At first it was already 50 so I guessed that 50 is my ¡®base¡¯ chakra. But now that it went down by 2 when I used in on the bear and stayed at it even after a few hours have elapsed, I grew worried.
Still, that was the least of my concerned so I put it at the back of my mind and focused at the present.
Currently, I had 13 skills points and I was debating whether to put it on Healer which undoubtedly will grant me healing skills. I still regretted immediately putting the points I¡¯ve gathered on the Fool which was the best course of action at that time due to the lack of paths.
On the other hand, choosing Aeromancer or Pyromancer will obviously grant me an edge at long-range battles but their prices were somewhat beyond my budget so I opted to finish Healer first.
But before I dumped my points on it, I asked myself.
¡°What do I need healing skills for?¡±
Technically, I do not have any uses for more healing spells. My current heal and reinvigorate will still last me for a while. It was because of this that I also crossed the Fool from the potential paths albeit for a different reason.
The path was questionable and its gains are unpredictable. The only reason I invested on it is that the Fool was the only path I had at that time and looking at it now, I deeply regretted it.
Let¡¯s not fuss about spilt milk.
I silently debated whether to choose the instant but pointless endeavor or the non-current yet practical one.
The internal war I waged continued for a couple of minutes but the sounds of the bell prompted me to choose between the two.
Ultimately, the choices narrowed down to Aeromancer and Pyromancer.
I didn¡¯t have the time to think about the better option so abandoned my musings and left the rooftop.
I run through the hallways, hoping that I wouldn¡¯t be late for my next class. Man it sure is tough to be a student.
***
Thankfully, by the time I arrived does the teacher also entered.
The teacher currently teaching us history is also our class adviser and our science teacher, Ms. Hermione Galanza.
I know, having history and science as a teaching specialty was a bit strange but she¡¯s good at it so it really doesn¡¯t matter.
Her silver hair that she always kept ponytailed also added to her strangeness but looking at it with another angle, we can say that she has this mysterious charm that somehow accentuates how we knew very little about her.
And yet, her being single also puzzled multiple students. I was one of them. I mean, how can a perfect waifu material like her be single?
Fine then, I won¡¯t question their preferences but I will condemn the world why does a woman like her be without a boyfriend?
But looking at her glistening and silky silver hair evoked a certain memory.
Hannah¡¯s pout flashed before my mind and I unconsciously grinned. I hastily covered my mouth by ducking my head between my arms above my desk and pretended to be asleep.
Come to think of it, her surname was also Galanza. Perhaps... no. Our teacher shouldn¡¯t have a child at her age; Hannah might be her niece or something. I¡¯m sure they¡¯re somehow related. I better ask her next time.
¡°Witch hunt at that time became commonplace such that public execution by burning them on stakes occurred at least once a month which resulted in the upheavals of Martin Luther¡¯s Reformation and the Thirty Year¡¯s War. Some of the captured witches were also tortured using...¡±
My musings were interrupted by her explanation which contained the witch hunts that transpired 500 to 200 years ago. The topic descended down until she described the gory and morbid details of the process in torturing these so-called ¡°heretics¡±.
Her description was so detailed that it almost felt like she already witnessed it before.
Strangely, I was mesmerized by her long-winded narration that I unconsciously listened to every word she said.
¡°..the pain of having your nails plucked from your fingers were unbearable that you wanted to scalp your head which they will gladly do when you won¡¯t cooperate.¡±
I winced at her statement as I remembered the time I wikihopped too many times until I stumbled upon torture methods.
Scanning my memories and confirming that indeed what teacher said is the cruelest torture that I began admired her perseverance to learn those things. It takes an inhumane amount of willpower and guts to continue studying those gruesome and hideous acts after all.
But before she continued to elaborate more macabre techniques, Tina¡¯s voice that was laced with fright resounded in the otherwise silent room.
¡°No! Please stop it!¡±
Her shout drowned the silence of the room and reverberated from the walls.
We all looked at her.
Tina¡¯s face was pale. She was closing her eyes and her hands were covering her ears.
I laughed out loud and everybody shifted their attention at me. I smile at them but the smile wasn¡¯t one of wry but of maliciousness.
¡°By any chance, is Tina secretly a heretic?¡±
Chapter 6: Planting the Forest of Serenity
The atmosphere stilled.
Everybody¡¯s face froze except for one. Teacher Galanza just smiled wryly and I found myself chuckling at her reaction.
I eyed Tina and saw her face got beet red. She glared at me and stomped her feet but before she said anything, Galanza-sensei intervened.
¡°Well, I¡¯m sorry Tina. It seems that you¡¯re unsuited for the topic.¡±
Her calm voice instantly dissuaded any potential chaos inside the class.
When their attention was diverted away from me, I silently slipped out of the class.
With a grin on my face, I descended into the hallway.
By my classmates¡¯ point of view, my actions are illogical and were made just to prank others. In their minds, they considered me a fool. A helpless idiot that wanted the spotlight for himself; thus, everything I did became foolish into their eyes.
Well, I can¡¯t really blame them for it.
If they were to judge my last action, they might question why I still entered class despite ditching it halfway but reality isn¡¯t that simple.
First is; I entered class to take a look at the subject and know what my classmates were doing.
If, for example, teacher didn¡¯t discuss lessons and gave a surprise test instead, then my entrance wouldn¡¯t be in vain and I won¡¯t be missing any examinations. But she didn¡¯t which brought me to my next course of action.
Teacher didn¡¯t gave an exam but chose to discuss a new topic which was strange as I even made preparations for it so I needed to escape. Although I became hooked with her narration that I almost forgot to execute the plan, Tina unexpectedly made up for it.
Seeing an opportunity, I hastily seized it.
I announced my presence in front of the class to have my classmates testify that I was indeed there. When I gathered all their attention, I diverted in one fell swoop towards Tina and made her a scapegoat.
Under the cover of the commotion, I exited the stage.
Sometimes, truth is deeply covered behind a thick wall of lies. Only the most perceptive can unearth them but will swiftly realize that their efforts were pointless as the truth they sought were different from what they really assumed it to be. Truth is but a sham, a complex but simple reason that motivates people to lie. Thinking deeply about it, one can realize that even without the truth, life can go on. No one needs to know the boring reason why an action has to be taken. It was simply done because it was, just like how life needs to be lived because it was. In the end, truth is just a pretext.
Realization dawned my face but I suppressed the urge to continue diving into that train of thought. Forming a new Dao would be nothing but detrimental now that my first Dao was still consolidating.
I distracted myself by leaning on the window and observed the studentsrunning around the track field on their P.E. class.
But before I made any assessment about them, I suddenly remembered what I really wanted to do after I ditched class, to allocate my saved up skill points.
Halting in my tracks, I turned around. I made a beeline towards the rooftop.
I sat upon one of the seats there and opened my interface.
Class Available: The Fool 10/20, Healer 0/10, Aeromancer 0/25, Pyromancer 0/25
Skill Points Available: 13
In the end, I chose Aeromancer over Pyromancer. The reason was that, Aeromancer skills would be easier to grind and flexible to use. Unlike Pyromancer which will surely give destructive skills, Aeromancer mainly focuses on sneaky and silent attacks that are suited for assassinations.
Clearly, the fact that gust is already level 4 but can already uproot shrubs is a testament enough of its value. Imagine if it reached its maximum potential. I could easily uproot trees with a wave of my hand and its cost-to-efficiency ratio isn¡¯t bad.
Also, grinding gust can even be done anywhere. Unlike the eye-catching trail of blaze, the covert nature of wind skills made it so that I can spam them indefinitely at the sky without any repercussions.
Thinking about the new skills I will be receiving upon the completion of the class, I unhesitatingly dumped all my extra points towards it.
Aeromancer 13/25
Looking at the missing 12 points, I sighed. I really need to find a way to grind my skills.
Training all of my passives takes time and I don¡¯t even know how to train Healing Magic Mastery so I set aside the idea and turned towards my actives.
Some of my actives were eye-catching so I immediately crossed them out. The only inconspicuous skills I currently had were Meditation, Cultivation, Gust, Chakra and Qi Circulation, Beacon of Life and Sprint.
I eliminated Meditation and Cultivation with the same reason as my passives; it takes too much time. On the other hand, Sprint is a no go because of how limited the rooftop is.
After a long consideration, the skills: Chakra and Qi circulation, Beacon of Life, Touch of Life and Gust remained.
Thus, I released my aura and let Touch of Life spread through the surroundings. Meanwhile, I didn¡¯t circulate chakra and qi at the same time because I was afraid of the effects when the two different energies to mix so I opted to try chakra circulation first.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Chakra flooded my chakra pathways and rotated ever slowly as to get a feel for it. When the bear attacked, I forced my chakra to rotate so I immediately lost 2 chakra. If I hadn¡¯t pushed my body at that time, my chakra expenditure would lessen down to 1.
For several minutes, I observed how chakra circulated through my body.
The only thing I learned is that, I learned nothing at all.
Strange twist and turns were present throughout my whole body and the erratic movements of chakra added to my growing confusion.
Without anything to do, I started spamming gust above me and absentmindedly watched the middle schoolers playing volleyball below.
¡°Hoh, so Hannah knew how to play volleyball.¡±
At the middle of the field, I saw Hannah block a spike.
I observed her for a couple of minutes to look for signs of trauma. Having found none, I sighed in relief.
The game was getting close to its conclusion so I watched them go at it for a couple of minutes while maintaining chakra circulation and spamming gusts.
Halfway through their game, one of Hannah¡¯s teammate suddenly stopped as she looked over here and pointed at me.
I was puzzled by her actions until I finally noticed my mana was already depleted.
Turning around, what I saw made me gasp.
Mists of yellow green filled my vision and I couldn¡¯t help but stare at it, dumbstrucked.
My mind spun and created piles of conjectures and slowly sifted through them until I found what I wanted to look for.
Sighing, I accidentally took a whiff of the strange gas. Every single one of my thoughts halted and I found myself surrounded by serenity. I was shrouded by calmness and I embraced it with open arms...
Wait, something¡¯s wrong! My mind reeled back until I regained proper control of my consciousness.
I immediately broke into cold sweat.
This strange gas is the accumulation of my passive skill, Touch of Life. In any normal scenario, this wouldn¡¯t be possible but with the propulsion of innumerable gusts, the aura was condensed and became corporeal. This would be the first time magic has interacted with Qi so I was surprised and didn¡¯t know how to deal with this situation.
Thinking about all the reaction, the staff would do about this strange phenomenon, I rapidly created a way to solve it. But a student had already seen it and if someone comes here and investigates...
I hastily abandoned all notions to eradicate the problem and simply let it be, hoping it would disperse on its own.
Thus, I exited the rooftop and activated Beacon of Light while skimming through my interface.
From that incident I gained a level in Chakra Circulation, and 2 levels in Gust and Touch of Life respectively.
The points I just recently gained goes to the completion of my class, slightly raising it to18.
With nothing to do, I headed down the stairs until I heard the speakers announced.
¡°Emergency! A poisonous chemical has spread at the school¡¯s rooftop, please evacuate the school immediately. I repeat, a poisonous chemical has spread at the school¡¯s rooftop, please evacuate the school immediately¡±
The blaring of the alarms signaled the start of mayhem.
Students and teachers alike burst out of the rooms and flooded the hallways. My senses were flooded by the influx of life energies and I froze. At that second where my body wasn¡¯t my own, I was easily dragged by the stampede.
Gritting my teeth, I turned the skill off and followed the crowd.
***
At a distance, the rooftop looked like it was enveloped by a strange roiling yellowish green cloud.
The students watching the spectacle felt theirs scalps numb. It was like the rooftop was devoured by a illusionary forest.
Seeing the mirage of a forest gradually coalescing at the rooftop, I felt my eyes twitch.
¡°The hell is this!¡± I inevitably shouted.
The people at the vicinity gave me weird looks but I ignored them. What I was talking about is the strange effect of qi mixing with mana.
Although I expected some complications to happen but not like this.It went beyond everything I imagined. Thankfully, I didn¡¯t try circulating qi and chakra simultaneously earlier or else. At the very least, it would lead to a simple explosion or at worst, perhaps a trip to another world?
Thinking about it, I once again broke into cold sweat. I made up my mind to never try mixing these strange energies until I have absolute control over them.
I sighed once again.
¡°Couldn¡¯t this day get any worse?¡±
Which, in fact, will.
***
¡°Ojou-chan, it¡¯s him.¡±
My trustworthy butler said.
Although he looks old enough to be my grandfather, he is without a doubt my butler.
He was adopted by my biological grandfather and was raised as his own son. My grandfather also taught him our secrets, taught him our martial arts and nurtured him in cultivation.
That¡¯s right. Our clan is a family of cultivator that secretly helps the government from the shadows.
Through cultivation, he acquired power no mortal can imagine but even so, he was very loyal to our family.
But why would an elder of the fabled 6th stage of qi condensation denounce himself as a butler of a young brat like me?
In reality, he was my godfather.
It was him who watched me grow up, taught me things in life and silently protected me. He was a father-figure to me.
Thus, I didn¡¯t even once question his ability.
But now, I reconsidered the situation.
On one hand, a qi outbreak happened at our school. Qi outbreaks are basically leaks of dense qi that it started coalescing into a corporeal form.
Cultivators can also do this as evident from the qi strips from their dantian.
But qi outbreaks were different. They occurred outside of a cultivator¡¯s body so it can potentially harm every single person on the vicinity. Its effects ranged from a simple qi backlash up to a serious case of qi poisoning that can kill somebody in seconds if not carefully treated.
Although it is dangerous for mortals, for cultivators like us, unless the outbreak penetrates deep into our bones, we would be safe due to our body¡¯s natural affinity to it. So if a simple qi outbreak were to transpire it wouldn¡¯t be a big of a case but that¡¯s where the problem lies.
The recent qi outbreak was anything but normal. If a normal qi coalesces, it forms a white foggy mist but the one that emerged isn¡¯t white. It was yellowish green!
Our experts already scouted the area and they reported strange sightings where illusory vines and trees appeared inside.
There was even one who entered but after a couple of minutes, he came out with his hands and feet replaced by barks.
He didn¡¯t notice his transformation until he came out. He even said that inside was like a paradise where all of your worries would vanish like smoke.
After that incident, we forbade anyone to enter and the unlucky fellow got immediately brought back to the clan to be treated.
We inferred that the fog induces illusions and slowly transmogrifies the inhaler to trees.
And the most ridiculous thing about it is that the perpetuator was actually a kid.
I gritted my teeth and replied.
¡°Are you sure? No matter how I saw it, he shouldn¡¯t even be a cultivator.¡±
¡°Yes ojou-chan. This old man also couldn¡¯t believe it at first but when I scanned him, he appeared to be a cultivator at the 2nd stage. Yet, he already accomplished something beyond our means. I suggest recruiting him into our clan. Although still far from ojou-chan who is at the 3rd stage, his cultivation at his age is still remarkable.¡±
The information sent my mind reeling and I almost stumbled.
¡°What? How can someone like him without a strong backing like ours managed to reach the 2nd stage?¡±
¡°That, I do not know.¡± replied Alfred.
I gritted my teeth and said the word I wished I never uttered.
¡°Then what are we doing? Let¡¯s visit him.¡±
Obeying my commands, Alfred and I simultaneously jumped over our target.
Noticing our arrival, our target swiftly faced us with his signature sheepish smile and greeted me in a friendly manner.
¡°Oh, hello there Jean!¡±