《Arts Master》


 Prologue

    Zach Dragor was a skinny boy of 15, almost a man, but not quite there yet. He was 150 pounds soaking wet and around 6 foot 5. Thin as a twig with about as much use when it came to helping around the farm he lived on. On this farm he was not alone. Accompanied by his father and mother along with a plethora of farm animals.


    His father used to be a famous martial artist until he met an unfortunate event that dropped him back into the mortal realm of fighters. Luckily he was able to keep most of his physical strength which made owning a farm extremely easy. Zach shared many similarities with his father. Black hair with bright blue eyes that seemed like an endless ocean, fair skin that seemed like the gods had taken the best silk they could find to make a body out of, although not quite as tall as his father he was not far off.


    Zach¡¯s mother gifted him with her fair facial features. Strong cheek bones with a solid yet not overbearing jawline. Eyebrows that gave a constant pleasant expression on his face. By far he resembled his mother the most. Now don¡¯t get confused, his mother may have strong features but she seemed more like a proud woman that exuded a natural aura of strength and grace. Luckily Zach got these as well.


    Zach was always trying to be like his father in every way. He wanted to train as a martial artist. He wanted to be manly. He wanted a beautiful woman by his side, or women, he didn¡¯t care as long as they fit his type. Now don¡¯t go and say that he was sexist, that is simply untrue. Zach just understood that if a woman was going to be by his side then he must at the very least be attracted to them, otherwise things would just get awkward.


    Every day he would practice with his father for a small amount of time. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t understand the martial arts that his father taught him but more of the fact that he couldn¡¯t physically continue. To further frustrate him, his own body constantly became weaker and weaker. Eventually his parents decided to take him to the nearest healer in a small town that was 20 miles away.


    His parents on this fateful day loaded up a carriage, that was normally used for cabbage and other produce, with clothes and padding for Zach to lay on. His condition had deteriorated to the point that walking for 15 min would cause severe bodily harm. The trip went smoothly and in about 5 hours they had reached the village.


    There was no wall that surrounded the village in case of any dangers that came from the forest surrounding it. Instead almost everyone was trained in some way to fight against the feral beasts and bandits that attacked. It was relatively peaceful, minus the constant clang of metal on metal as people practiced their martial arts.


    Zach of course was extremely excited to go into this gem of a village and meeting all the martial artists. He also hoped beyond hope that a cure could be found for his affliction.


    At the healers house.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. He probably wont live past his teens, 21 tops. His body is an extreme yang type. This type of body literally burns life away as the practice martial arts. I doubt that even the high sects of this world could even help him.¡± The old healer said.


    With tears running down their faces the couple and son that were in the house left. This was naturally Zach and his parents. To be told that you will die soon is obviously a huge blow to your mental fortitude, however oddly enough Zach was much better off than his parents. After all he was born like this, might as well just enjoy that all life had to offer right? That was his thinking at least. Fortunately this was the perfect way to be for unbeknownst to him this mentality made a vast shift in the cosmic universe.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Such pure and unbiased thoughts attracted a god. Not an omnipotent and all powerful god, but a god of making laws. Sure he was powerful, but only in making laws that others could use for he could never use what he made. This situation made him have the same mindset of our young hero. Of course this type of mindset wasn¡¯t uncommon but the intensity that Zach had about living whatever life he had was the second only mindset out there, the other being this god. Naturally the god felt a kinship to Zach.


    Naturally this god didn¡¯t want anyone to know about his sudden interest in this boy so he decided to mask his presence and apply to become a helping hand on the farm that the family owned. Of course Zach¡¯s father agreed immediately since Zach was unable to help anymore.


    Now you may ask why. You may ask what was so important about this boy. The answer is simply nothing. Zach was just a fleeting fancy to this god.


    As the god, who went with the name of Oliver, lived at the farm he began to appreciate the simple life that they had. He enjoyed this labor, the back breaking work and the self-satisfaction of finishing a long day of hard work.


    Sadly though, it wouldn¡¯t last. Beasts were common at the farm and Zach¡¯s father would constantly fight them off. After almost a year on the farm Oliver(the god) felt a large group of beasts approaching, it was a beast flood. Oliver could do nothing for the family since he was not allowed to interfere with destiny.


    Destiny is a fickle mistress. Sometimes she brought great fortune, others unbelievable pain. In this case it was a little of both. See destiny brings people together, not for a specific purpose but for a large goal. No one will know this goal, but in this case Oliver did understand that it was a part of his destiny to meet Zach. So in the laws that restricted all gods, which Oliver wrote, he could only help Zach.


    Zach naturally had no idea as to what was happening when he heard the thunderous howls and growls of the beast flood. His father on the other hand¡­ well he knew very well exactly what was happening. With a heavy heart the most he could do was try and buy some time. As his father left the house to confront the flood he told Zach and his mother to flee, however as soon as they stepped through the door they realized that they were completely surrounded.


    With nowhere to escape Zach¡¯s father turned and tightly held his family close. Silent tears fell like rain on all of their faces as they awaited this unjust death. All they could hope for was a swift death.


    Oliver sent a message to the father and mother, letting them know about himself and the fates that brought him to their son. He offered to save Zach but he told them how they would have to stay. As any parent would they agreed immediately, no hesitation. They each kissed Zach on the cheek and said good bye.


    Just as the beasts leaped across the last couple of feet to attack, Zach disappeared, he was lucky to not have to watch the grisly death of his family and instead his last memory of them was like all his memories. Full of love and acceptance.


    Thousands of miles away Zach appeared with Oliver next to him. With no idea as to how, where or why any of this happened Zach fainted on the spot from the grief and pain of his soul. While Zach was out Oliver took a knife he had hidden in his sleeve and slit his wrist.


    ¡°WITH MY BLOOD I GIVE TO YOU MY LAST LAW AND LEGACY.¡± Oliver¡¯s voice rumbled throughout the cosmos, creating waves of panic as only the gods understood what was happening.


    Oliver had actually been waiting to gift a lucky soul the most profound law he could come up with. A law that would change that person¡¯s life and make them something more. As he cut himself he poured all his blood and essence into Zach¡¯s mouth, quite disgusting but hey he¡¯s a god.


    This is where our story really begins. It is a good story. Happy, sad and much more. Life in this world was fleeting, where the strong ruled and the week died. This is how the weakest became the strongest. Climbing over the bodies of gods and beasts alike, all to reach perfection.

 Chapter 1-Life and Power

    As Zach woke up all that went through his head was flashes of martial arts of all kinds. It wasn¡¯t just martial arts though. Refining pills and elixirs, forging armor and weapons, taming beasts and integrating beast blood into the body as well as knowledge of many other things that he couldn¡¯t quite grasp fluttered through his mind like a humming bird looking for nectar.


    Zach¡¯s body had gone through a complete change from the blood of Oliver. He no longer felt weak and useless. Now a tyrannical feeling of power coursed through him. He had been reborn.


    Among the knowledge he had gained he also gained a perfect cultivation method that was very detailed. It consisted of this.


    Way of the forsaken. By strengthening the body and opening the meridians the cultivator can start the process of overcoming the gods. The different levels to the cultivation art are segregated into the following levels with sublevels that will be identified after completing the previous level. Be glad I gave this to you Zach for you are the only one who can practice in such a way. Do not try any other method as you will destroy your body immediately if you do. The levels for the body strengthening stage are as follows. Muscle strengthening, bone and blood forging, skin thickening, organ hardening and meridian opening. Each section has different levels of success; it goes small, mid, large and perfect success. The normal cultivation methods do not have blood and bone forging Zach. This difference is like comparing the clouds to the dirt. Train hard and make me and your parents proud.


    Overwhelmed with sudden death and destruction of all he knew as well as the information that was coursing through his head, Zach stumbled around trying to clear his mind.


    ¡°Rustle¡±


    To his left he heard the bushes moving. Quickly taking note of his surroundings Zach hid behind a tree. The thought of death to beasts was still heavy on his mind as he hoped to just live a peaceful life and survive what was happening. His breath slowed down and a state of calmness took over him as his mind slowed down.


    Out of the bush that was directly across from the tree he was behind emerged a strange and scaly creature. The creature was about the size of a large wolf with bright white scales that seemed to change colors as it moved, creating a myriad of colors. Zach peeked around the tree and recognized the creature immediately. It was a dragon. Now dragons had many different classes that, thanks to the knowledge that he obtained, he could identify.


    This dragon was a true dragon of the prismatic kind. Two horns curved back and straight up on top of its head. Two wings with the same strange shifting color on its back. All four stout tree trunk like legs had five toes with claws that looked like small daggers on them held this creature up. A long sweeping tail slowly and sinuously drifted along behind it. A curious look on its face as it sniffed the air, obviously looking for Zach as it shuffled towards the tree.


    With a sigh Zach stepped out, resigned to his assumed fate.


    ¡°Who you?¡± The dragon asked. True dragons can speak all languages, it was an intrinsic ability only for true dragons.


    Zach of course knew this so he replied respectfully. ¡°My name is Zach exalted one. I was sent here for reasons unknown and would like to live in peace. If you could grant this lowly one the ability to leave I would be forever grateful.¡± He naturally knew he was no match for this dragon and only hoped to leave without incident.


    ¡°Hmmm? No you come with me. Mama wants to meet you.¡± The dragon replied.


    Zach¡¯s first instinct was to run, which he naturally did. However he did not go far as he was quickly grabbed and found himself in the air flying towards a nearby mountain. All he could think about was how unlucky he was. He was too tired of the unjust ways of the world. Sure he would accept whatever he could not control, specifically this situation right now, but he would fight against everything else that he had the power to fight against!


    Deep in Zach¡¯s soul a light blossomed for a brief moment. This was the birth of his martial heart. A martial heart is almost as important as a normal heart to a martial artist. If the heart dies the person dies, if the martial heart dies then the martial arts fade away and the martial artist becomes a cripple.


    As the dragon flew closer to the mountain Zach quietly went over the information in his head trying to figure out how to first start the muscle strengthening. As he pondered the dragon started to slowly descend.


    He could faintly see a cave in the side of the mountain that grew and grew the closer they came. The dragon dropped Zach very roughly onto the ground in front of the cave.


    ¡°Human! Why are you here?¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    The voice echoed around shaking the ground he was standing on. Naturally he was scared silly. ¡°I have no idea.¡± He timidly replied.


    ¡°Come into the cave human. Let me see you better.¡±


    Slowly on unsteady legs Zach walked deeper into the cave. The light began to fade as he went deeper and deeper. After a couple minutes of walking he soon found himself in complete darkness. He came to a stop, since his legs were shaking so bad he was afraid of tripping over something and making an even bigger fool of himself.


    ¡°Let me shine some light so we can get better acquainted.¡±


    Light flashed through the cave like a new born sun. In front of Zach a fairly large building surrounded by large boulders that formed a pentagram sat. Hesitantly he walked towards the front door and entered the house. The house seemed cozy from the outside, made from what seemed like simple wood and stone. It was roughly two stories tall and had a very large door in the front, which Zach noticed was for the ¡®little¡¯ dragon to enter.


    Inside the house was just as plain as the outside. Bare walls with very few pieces of furniture were placed in no particular reason. One of the random chairs had a beautiful woman in it. Her hair was long and the same color of the young dragons, seeming to change to every color of the rainbow as it shifted slightly from her light breathing.


    ¡°Hello Zach.¡± Her voice fluttered by leaves in the wind. Quite different from the booming he endured earlier.


    ¡°Um¡­ hi. How do you know my name?¡± He was fairly sure that he had never met someone as beautiful as this. Words couldn¡¯t even describe her as she sat there.


    ¡°Hahaha!¡± Her laughter sounded like a thousand song birds twittering in the trees. ¡° I do suppose that would be of concern seeing as this is our first meeting.¡±


    Not sure of how to respond Zach just stood there quietly.


    ¡°Sigh. Fine. You¡¯re no fun you know that. That silly old god, um Oliver you called him? Yes him. He asked me to look after you since you inherited his last law. That¡¯s how I know your name.¡±


    Zach was stunned once again. Oliver? How the hell did that old man know this woman? Wait she said God! ¡°God! He was a God? How? Who? Why?¡± He started to hyper ventilate. ¡°I don¡¯t understand anything that has happened to me. It¡¯s all been too fast. I haven¡¯t even mourned for my family!¡±


    At this point he fell to his knees and cried uncontrollably. Quicker than eyes could follow the woman arrived at his side and comforted him while he cried. Eventually Zach drifted off into a deep and much needed sleep.


    The woman picked him up and carried him to an empty bed in a very plain room, the room literally only had a bed in it. ¡°Sweet dreams¡±. She whispered as she tucked him in.


    Now she may have seemed like she was attached but that wasn¡¯t true at this point in time. She merely felt sympathy for the situation he was thrust into.


    ¡°Daughter! Get over here now!¡± The woman shouted after she left the room.


    The scuttling of claws sounded out as the little dragon ran over. ¡°Yes mother?¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t tell him anything?¡±


    ¡°Of course not. Not my place.¡±


    ¡°Fair. Well we are going to have to train him till he has passed the body strengthening realm. Otherwise the blood oath I was forced to swear will kill me. Ugh! That old man was such a prick!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry mother. I do understand how much you hate humans but¡­ well¡­ I don¡¯t think Zach is that bad. I mean sure I don¡¯t know him at all but I just have this feeling mother.¡±


    ¡°Yea I know. But he stinks!¡±


    ¡°Um we do have a bath area mother.¡± The little dragon stated with a look of annoyance.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you give me that look young lady, I¡¯ll not have it today.¡±


    ¡°Yes mother.¡± She hung her head and started to leave and get things prepared for the boys training.


    ¡°Oh and Cora. Don¡¯t get too attached.¡±


    ¡°Sigh. Yes mother.¡± Cora said as she went and set up the boulders for the training.


    By the time Zach woke up the training arena was already set up and waiting for him thanks to Cora. With her sensitive hearing Cora found out about Zach waking up as soon as the blanket shuffled from him stirring. She was already waiting beside the door as he slowly opened it up.


    Cora, like her mother, had the ability to shape shift into a human form, which she was in at this time. Zach was stunned when he noticed her. A 5 foot 10 beauty stared at him. She had dark green eyes with the same strange hair as he mother. She seemed like an angel that personally came to grace him. Long slender legs. Nice hips with a firm butt. Flat stomach with a slim waist. Large perky breasts, probably a solid D cup. She was totally his type!


    Sadly our little Casanova had no idea of how to talk to a woman and froze on the spot. Of course Cora noticed how his eyes assed her current form, not irritated in the least, kind of flattered really. ¡°Ahem!¡± She coughed loudly.


    Jolting out of his stupor. ¡°HiI¡¯mZach.¡± He said in a hurry, making his words into one words.


    ¡°Um Yea I know. I¡¯m Cora the dragon that flew you here. Now come on we have to go. I will teach you how to train properly. I know you have a cultivation method but you have no understanding on how to actually use it.¡± She said as she held his hand and led him to the center of the training arena.


    ¡°OK so what exactly am I to gain from this?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Life and Power.¡± She replied.

 Chapter 2-Bulking up and getting answers

    The training arena was just a circle of rocks, the smallest being 20 pounds and the largest was easily over 10000. Yes it was a drastic change but when you are trying to defy the heavens then you have to do heaven defying feats.


    ¡°You will start off with lifting the small rock over your head and walking around the circle 50 times. Then while still holding the rock over your head you will do 100 squats. After that you will hold it straight out in front of you then lift it up over your head and lower it back down, this will go for 100 repetitions. At the end you will run around the circle 100 times. This will be repeated after you have a quick break but you will not get a break until you finish the first set.¡± Cora said with absolute authority.


    Zach heaved a heavy sigh and got to work. Thanks to the revitalizing effects of the blood he was now able to do the most basic of work outs. However this was not basic by any means. You could say it was a trial by fire. Lifting the rock was the only easy part of the routine. As soon as he had the rock fully above his head his arms started to tire.


    Due to not being able to work, or do anything really, Zach had little to no muscle mass. After one lap he could barely hold the rock any more. At a lap and a half he was sweating so bad that his palms became sweaty and he dropped the rock. Now what happens when you drop a rock directly onto your head. Well if you guessed getting knocked out then you¡¯d be correct.


    Like a rock, pun intended, Zach fell to the ground.


    Coming back from the world of unconsciousness he realized he was still at the arena. ¡°You gotta finish the set.¡± Cora stated from atop the largest rock there, easily the size of the house.


    ¡°This is bull shit.¡± He mumbled under his breath.


    ¡°What was that?¡± She asked. She had clearly heard but wanted to see if he had the balls to say it again.


    ¡°Nothing!¡± Zach shouted while quickly grabbing the rock and starting his laps again. This time he only knocked himself out again after 3 laps. Progress at least.


    Slowly but surely he continued to progress in the work out. By the time he got to the squat portion he was more exhausted than he had ever been before in his life. He wanted it to end but he couldn¡¯t. He had to be strong. He had to fight. He needed revenge.


    While walking Cora informed him that a beast lord had cause the beast flood that ripped his life apart. This news didn¡¯t deter him in the least. If anything it solidified his resolve. He was no longer a frog in such a tiny well, sure the well was a bit bigger now but now he understood a large fact. There is and always will be someone stronger out there.


    The only way to fight against this reality is to become as strong as he could. The fire from his resolve pushed him through the rest of the work out with no incidents.


    When he was finished he dropped the rock and passed out on the ground. Muscles sore and shooting with pain he laid there. He closed his eyes for a brief period and by the time he opened them again he saw Cora standing right above him.


    ¡°Not bad. Not good by any means but¡­ not bad. Here eat this it will help you greatly.¡± She said while holding a plate piled high with potatoes, meat and fruits.


    Not realizing how hungry he had been he ate like a starved animal. ¡°Slow down.¡± Cora chimed in.


    As he slowed down Zach realized that the food did more than just ease his hunger. His body recovered almost instantly and he was ready to go again by the time he was done!


    The next round of exercise went smooth yet Zach was still exhausted at the end. This routine went one for about 5 days, he couldn¡¯t tell since there was no sun. he would work out, eat, workout, eat, sleep and repeat. after the supposed 5 days he went up to a 50 pound rock and repeated the same process.


    The 50 pound rock lasted for a week and unbeknownst to him the muscles on his body rapidly grew as he went from the beginning to the peak of the small success stage of the muscle strengthening stage. Now Zach had cords of muscle that wove under his skin.


    The next step was 100 pound rock. Now none of this may seem all that bad but the point was to get him up to the 10000 pound rock that would be over 10 times the amount that a normal martial artist could use. He needed to be able to hold 10000 pounds in order to only pass through the muscle strengthening into blood and bone forging. The Reason was because of the crazy cultivation that he practiced.


    The cultivation that was made was to surpass any and all types of cultivation that existed in the cosmos. One could only speculate how monstrous he would be when he finally started to absorbed the energies of creation.


    The energies of creation are what cultivators absorb to help them go against the will of the heavens and as such once they start to absorb these energies they become cultivators. Until then they are merely martial artists.


    Slowly Zach grew. He grew faster than either woman could possibly comprehend. He was a freak. A monster! After 5 months he was already at the 500 pound boulder and looked like a walking mountain. Every step he took a sound akin to thunder rang out. At this point he was at the peak of the mid success of muscle strengthening.


    The amount he needed to eat grew as well. Soon he was eating whole roasted animals rather than a small plate. His relationship with Cora grew as well. Now they were just friends but her mother had different plans.


    In a secluded part of the cave while Zach was training.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°Cora I have noticed the friendship you have made with that boy. I don¡¯t like it.¡±


    ¡°I know mother but I can¡¯t help it. He¡¯s a good man that works hard. How could I not like him?¡±


    ¡°I know but it¡¯s dangerous! Humans are vile creatures that will stop at nothing to get what they want.¡±


    ¡°Well the same goes for beasts mother.¡± She sighed, not really wanting to deal with this situation anymore.


    ¡°I can¡¯t risk it daughter!¡±


    ¡°Why? is it because of my father? Is that it? If so I understand but I still would like to make my own decisions.¡±


    ¡°No your father was a good man¡­ just.. ugh never mind.¡± She sighed with her head in her hand. ¡°Just be careful daughter. We are the last of our kind and would be hunted down to the ends of the cosmos if we were found out.¡±


    ¡°I understand and that¡¯s why I suggested the idea 3 months ago.¡±


    ¡° I know but I¡±


    ¡°No buts mother. It will be fine. I love you. Besides he has to pass through the final bottle neck of meridian opening anyways.¡± Cora butted in.


    Her mother sighed and they went back to the house.


    The days passed slowly as Zach continued his progress. Unfortunately all he knew was rocks. He had no combat experience with his strength. This was detrimental to his progress.


    ¡°Hey Cora!¡± He shouted out.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I need something. I feel like I¡¯m getting nowhere with my training. I¡¯m not sure what to do here.¡± Zach sighed.


    ¡°Hm.. do you feel like you have strength that you don¡¯t know how to control?¡±


    This perfectly described the feeling that he had. ¡°Yes! That¡¯s exactly how it feels.¡±


    ¡°OK. Well I know exactly what we must do for you.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°You need to fight some beasts to get used to your body. Go see my mother while I get ready for the trip. We¡¯ll probably be gone for a couple weeks or so.¡±


    ¡°Ok. No prob.¡±


    In the house Cora¡¯s mother was sitting and waiting for Zach. She was anxious and fidgeted constantly as if she wasn¡¯t sure what she was about to do next. She calmed down as soon as Zach walked into the house.


    ¡°Hello Zach.¡± She said in a very formal manner.


    ¡°Hi.¡±


    ¡°I suppose you¡¯re wondering why you¡¯re here right?¡±


    Zach remained silent, it was fairly obvious he was.


    ¡°Ok well I¡¯ll take that as a yes. Now sit and listen.¡± He sat immediately of course, she¡¯s a true dragon. A light hiccup and he¡¯d be dead. ¡°Now the old man Oliver has a much deeper past than being a god. See not much people know this but at the beginning of all time and space there was nothing.


    ¡°Chaotic space filled up everything. It was a void of destruction, no laws or order at all. In this maelstrom of nothing two particles of energy collided, these energies were created by some means that I have no idea of. It makes no sense to me I just know that that¡¯s what happened. Maybe something was in the void of chaotic nothing but I¡¯ve always been told otherwise.


    ¡°Back on topic. When these two particles, which were smaller than a grain of sand, collided a massive explosion happened. This explosion of energy gave birth to old man Oliver. Yea he was the first true god, you can close your mouth you know. When he started to exist, he wasn¡¯t born after all, he had the strange ability to create order out of chaos. He decided to nave the policies that he set up as laws.


    ¡°These laws are vast and uncountable. Oliver of course knew that there must be an order to these laws so he created Dao¡¯s to ultimately control the laws. A cultivation method is also a form of law, so every time someone ¡®thought¡¯ up a new method they were really using the law he gradually gave them. You can imagine how busy he was.


    ¡°Now the only weakness he had was that he could create the laws but never practice them. He could create the laws for life and death but he could never die or truly live. He just existed, a very lonely way to be. Naturally after such a long unfathomable time he wanted it to be over. So he created a new law within the last couple trillion years, yes a trillion is a short time for him.


    ¡°This law is the law of inheritance. It was his way out, however he needed the perfect successor. That is where you came in. in order to have the perfect successor, unlike what other sects and people think, one has to have the same mentality as the person leaving the inheritance. You two were beyond a perfect match. Now you have all the knowledge that he had, but it is not at your fingertips! If it was you would explode and die, your body is nowhere near tough enough to withstand that power. So don¡¯t even try yet!


    ¡°Eventually though, if you aren¡¯t killed horribly buy anything else or drop a particularly heavy rock on your head, you will be able to know all the laws perfectly. Truly I envy you. You will become the sole existence to absolute power someday. Even I don¡¯t know how high you will soar. Sigh. Well that¡¯s all I have for you since I don¡¯t know anything else. Honestly I¡¯m surprised I was given that much information.¡± She finished with a smile on her face but uncertainty in her eyes.


    Just what would Zach be able to do in the future? How fast could he grow? Most importantly would he learn the law of creation and bring her proud race back! She could not ask this of him of course but she could hope silently.


    Slowly Zach stood up. ¡°Well shit. I guess that makes me pretty much a god right? Wait no not yet. Right now I could say I¡¯m a god seed, eventually growing into a supreme being.¡± He pondered over something for a moment. ¡°That also means that I need many friends!¡± He said as he slammed a fist into his hand.


    Startled Cora¡¯s mother asked. ¡°What? How in the hell did you get to that end result. The god part I get but friends?¡± She was naturally thinking about people being jealous and trying to steal everything from him.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? Oliver gave up because he had no one. The same will happen to me if I¡¯m not careful! I need people around me.¡±


    She was stunned. That just made too much sense. Ultimately she felt like an absolute idiot, the smallest frog in the smallest well. She could only smile and nod her head as her view on the world changed.


    At this time Cora entered the house. ¡°Ok Zach let¡¯s go!¡± He turned and prepared to leave before looking back at Cora¡¯s mom and giving her a brief smile.

 Chapter 3-Scorlions and shigers and hares oh my!

    ¡°OK Zach let¡¯s hurry! Oh I haven¡¯t killed anything in such a long time!¡±


    All Zach could do was stare at Cora awkwardly, she was definitely a dragon. Only a dragon would have this sort of mentality and be considered sane. ¡°Ha¡­ yea lets hurry. Oh what are we hunting by the way?¡±


    Cora stopped at the edge of the cliff in front of the cave putting a finger to her lips. A cute expression crossed her face as she tried to think of what to hunt, her eyebrows scrunched together clearly deep in thought. ¡°Ok I got it.¡±


    She quickly shifted into her dragon form and shredded the dress she was in. ¡°Shit. Forgot about that. Mom is gonna be so mad.¡± She jumped and grabbed Zach in one smooth motion and started flying towards the east of the mountain. ¡°Ok so we are going to hunt scorlions, shigers and hares. Now scorlions are lions with scorpion tails, shigers are a mix between a tiger and shark and lastly hares are just hares. The hares however will be the most difficult to face, you¡¯ll understand later.¡±


    Zach couldn¡¯t understand why hares would be all that difficult but he decided to wait and be surprised. The scenery passed by quickly as Cora flew. ¡°Hey Cora.¡±


    ¡°Yea?¡±


    ¡°How long do you think till I am ready to take on that beast leader you told me about?¡±


    ¡°Honestly I wouldn¡¯t even bother with it. You have so far to go it¡¯s not even funny.¡±


    ¡°Oh ok.¡± He said dejectedly.


    They flew for about 5 hours until they found a clearing in the middle of the forest. This time Cora set him down rather gently, rather nice of her he thought. As soon as his feet touched the ground a loud and angry roar reverberated through the forest.


    ¡°That¡¯s the scorlion. I¡¯m leaving this all to you so don¡¯t die please.¡± She chirped cheerfully.


    ¡°Yea sure. Um am I supposed to or something?¡±


    ¡°No silly. This is for you to get used to your new strength! How can you do that if you have a weapon? Huh dummy?¡±


    ¡®Ouch¡¯ He thought. ¡®No need to be mean about it.¡¯


    ¡°Now hurry up and get ready its coming.¡±


    Crashes could be heard as the beast thundered through the forest towards Zach. trees were crashing to the ground as a huge lion entered the clearing. The lion was at least 7 feet tall with a 7 foot long scorpion tail poised over its back and dripping with poison. ¡°Hey Zach. I feel like I shouldn¡¯t have to tell you this but don¡¯t get stung. You¡¯ll die.¡±


    ¡®No shit.¡¯ He thought.


    ¡°Ha!¡± With a shout Zach sprinted forwards catching the beast off guard. Didn¡¯t work at all. Sure he had strength but no speed, speed was only obtained through a movement technique or by honing the skill in battles.


    The beast dogged to the side and swiped Zach with the pad of its paw, a smug expression on its face. ¡°Hey Cora!¡±


    ¡°Yea?¡± She was thoroughly enjoying this training.


    ¡°Do scorlions taste good?¡±


    ¡°Yea they do. Why? You hungry?¡±


    Zach sprinted towards the beast again after getting pushed back. This time as the beast swiped at him he grabbed its paw as hard as he could. All the training he had done up to this point made it so that he could exert over 1000 pounds of force in any way he wanted. The result was a dreadful scream from the beast as every boned in its paw was crushed to dust.


    At the scream he let go and the beast tried to limp away, only now it was extremely slow from the injury. As the beast slowly ran away Zach followed it, his stamina was practically inexhaustible at this point. The beast stopped in front of a dense group of bushes and looked back at Zach as he stopped as well.


    A heavy sigh escaped the beast as if it was resigned to its fate. No longer able to escape and definitely wasn¡¯t stronger than him. Silence engulfed the area as Zach was getting ready to finish what was started. As if it was whispered on the wind the faint sound of something meowing came from the bush behind the beast.


    Zach knew instantly that this scorlion was a mother trying to feed her cub, or cubs he was unsure since he could only make out one beast. Guilt immediately riddled his soul as his mind flashed back to losing his parents. He couldn¡¯t do it and started to turn around. This beast wasn¡¯t a good match to fight against anyways, he was simply too strong.


    The beasts¡¯ ears twitched as it picked up something in the forest. It looked towards the path it had used to get to the bush den with fear in its eyes. From the path emerged two stripped beasts that had the body and fur of a tiger with the mouth and fins of a shark. The fins were covered in fur as well, it was a very disturbing sight as they approached.


    Once they came into view Zach was able to count three of them. Oddly enough the made no sound as they walked up. Saliva dripped from their lipless mouths as they began to pace, trying to find an opening to attack.


    Zach readied himself for a fight, he planned on attacking the one on the left first. Cora was sitting in a tree in her human form to watch, partially because she was completely nude and the other reason was to make sure he got the best experience he could. Her fists clenched slightly as Zach took the initiative again to start the fight.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    The Scorlion was pretty much useless at this point so he knew he needed to try and kill all the shigers himself. He erupted forwards like a meteor hurtling towards the earth. As soon as he reached the shriger he had targeted his fist shot forward and connected to its head. A resounding crack echoed throughout the forest as the shriger died on the spot. He had only used a quarter of his strength.


    The other two bests were stunned but recovered much faster than he did, he stared at his fist for a good 2 seconds thinking of how his father told him how he had need to trap a best like this to win. ¡®I surpassed my father!¡¯ He thought in awe. The beast closest to him tackled him to the ground trying to bite him in half. The other attacked the scorlion.


    As Zach tried to roll away from the shriger he heard a blood curdling cry. When he looked towards the scorlion he saw a huge chunk missing from its side. Blood flowed like a river from the wound. The shriger had gotten a lucky attack in as the scorlion was shocked when Zach had killed the first beast.


    In a rage from the injustice of the parent beast dying and remembering his own parents Zach went into a rage as he attacked the shriger that attacked him. Fists flew as Zach beat the shriger over and over. He was so fast and so strong that there was nothing the beast could do. In a second zach had used all of his strength to turn the beast into a fleshy puddle of blood.


    The last shriger looked on in horror as its companions died in such a brutal fashion. Zach looked at the last shriger and attacked. No hesitation in his mind as he grabbed it by its top fin and started hitting it. Brutally pounding out his frustrations and anger on this beast. There was no time for the beast to even register pain as the first hit had connected to its spine and killed it instantly.


    By the time he stopped he was covered in blood and gore from the blood and flesh flying from his brutal beating. His chest heaved as he calmed himself from his rage. He heard a soft rustling coming from the bush den as the scorlion cub cam to check on its mama. The mother was on its side panting heavily as it looked at its cub with tears in its eyes.


    The heartbreaking scene shook Zach to the core. He knew it was ridiculous to feel pity. The strong lived while the weak died but why did it always have to end so terribly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± He said as he walked towards the cub.


    The cub knew that Zach hadn¡¯t actually killed its mother but that didn¡¯t stop it from crying softly as its mother licked its furry little face one last time before she looked at him. Her eyes were filled with hope and Zach clearly knew what she wanted. He would take care of the cub from now on.


    ¡°The cubs name is Gart.¡± Cora said with sympathy. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Zach. if I had known a young one was involved I wouldn¡¯t have brought you here.¡±


    ¡°How do you know its name?¡± He said as he watched the cub nudge its mother one last time with its pink little nose. Tear flowed down his face freely.


    ¡°I am a beast as well. It is natural for a beast to understand other beasts. Are you going to take care of it? If not end its life now as it won¡¯t survive out here.¡±


    ¡°Of course I will take care of it! Why would you even need to ask?¡¯


    ¡°Good. If you had said no I would have left you here and never came back, mother would understand. Now grab him and let¡¯s go. We¡¯re going after hares now. They are much stronger and the young ones are abandoned as soon as they¡¯re born.¡±


    ¡®Cruel cruel world.¡¯ He thought as he picked up Gart. ¡°Come on Gart lets go hunt Hares and get you some food. I will take care of you from now on.


    The path to the hares was a long one since the hares liked an open area to roam. The hare was just a giant version of the normal hares that the humans raised. The other main difference was that these hares were carnivores. Long sharp and pointy teeth could be seen jutting from their mouths.


    As Zach entered the open area with all of them in it he counted 5 in total. This was not a low amount because they were cannibalistic as well. Zach put Gart down as he prepared to harvest there hares for a good meal. Cora was waiting behind him and decided to play with Gart to distract herself. She knew that these hares were no match for Zach¡¯s insane strength, after all none of the beasts were more than a normal ferocious beast.


    There were only two classifications for beasts , ferocious and demonic. Not to say that beasts were evil, it just meant that demonic beasts could absorb energy. The energy was called many different things but the main name was heaven and earth energy. Since Zach¡¯s cultivation method was beyond crazy he was able to handle almost anything based on brute force if it wasn¡¯t a demonic best.


    The hares didn¡¯t stand a chance against him. He slaughtered them like they were, well, hares. Cora quickly skinned them and gutted them with her claws since Zach didn¡¯t have a knife. Soon the hares were roasting on sticks in front of a fire as the group of three enjoyed the fresh air and smell of roasting meat.


    Gart was curled up on Zach¡¯s lap taking a nap as he and Cora were talking.


    ¡°Well this was fun.¡± Zach said as they waited for the food.


    ¡°Yea but it wasn¡¯t too difficult for you.¡± She pouted. She had been hoping for a fun battle to watch.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t have to be. I just needed to know how strong I was and I got a good picture of that now.¡±


    ¡°Oh so you don¡¯t feel the restraint your body had before?¡±


    ¡°No I actually think I¡¯m at the very beginning of the large success of muscle strengthening. After I killed the shrigers I felt a calm overcome me and energy flooded through me.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s great! And even better you can start sparing with me now! You were too weak before.¡±


    ¡°Cool. What about Gart though? I know he¡¯s not a demonic beast so how do we train him to get strong?¡±


    ¡°Well we will have to feed him the flesh and blood of strong beasts to try and help his un awakened blood awaken.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± This was the first time he had ever heard of something like this.


    ¡°All beasts come from the ancient beasts. These beasts are the true dragons, the phoenix clan, the white tiger clan and the Land tortoise clan. Gart is a mix. A very diluted mix of the true dragons and the white tiger clan. It¡¯s extremely rare for this to happen but his blood line is fairly pure. I can tell from the resonance of our blood what he has but I can¡¯t be sure as to what is stronger.¡±


    ¡°Oh wow that pretty cool. I had no idea.¡±


    ¡°Of course you didn¡¯t! You are a human after all.¡±


    Zach stared at Gart as he slept soundly. ¡°Ok bud it¡¯s time for food.¡± He whispered.


    Gart shot up as if he had been electrocuted, ready to start the feast. Zach laughed as he grabbed a hare and gave it to Gart to eat. As gart chomped away happily Zach could only stare as he thought about the whirlwind of events that had transpired. On one hand everything was overwhelming but on the other it was just right. At least he had a new family to share this life with. Yea a family, that¡¯s what these two companions were.


    After the meal was over Zach grabbed the now very happy and fat Gart as Cora grabbed Zach and they flew back to the cave. He needed to continue his training so he could get revenge. That was his priority right now.

 Chapter 4-Blood pool

    The flight back to the cave was uneventful, Gart was asleep and Zach was just ready to continue his training. Cora flew directly into the cave and set Zach down in front of the house. ¡°My Mother is going to be gone for a little while so just train at your own pace for now. I have to hunt and make sure we have enough food for two growing children! Hahahaha!¡±


    Zach felt a little restless so he decided to set Gart in the house and go for a run to get his mentality right. Gart was asleep on a couch in the house as Zach¡¯s feet pounded on the ground in the cave. His breath was steady as he ran around the training arena and he had little to no depletion in his stamina as he was running. If anything he felt like he was recovering instead of working out.


    He knew that this would not benefit him in the least so he grabbed the 200 pound rock and held it in front of him as he ran. Again he felt nothing as he ran. Putting the rock back he grabbed the 500 pound one. After a couple laps he felt slightly tired but still not as if it was an actual exercise.


    Thinking for a moment he decided to grab the 1000 pound rock and heaved it up above his head and started running. Almost immediately his legs and arms started to burn. He had already run close to 10 miles. Now as the strain from the weight coursed through his body he felt as if his muscles started to expand at a rate visible to the naked eye.


    As Zach was running his body had finally started to use the pure yang energy to temper his muscles and push him even farther past the boundary of the human body. The pure yang energy coursed through his veins like molten lava and caused his muscles to swell greatly. This was what the healer back at the small village would have been afraid of but, thanks to his cultivation method, he would not explode from the natural energy being released into his body.


    Pure yang energy was most commonly acknowledged as pure heat, on the opposite side was yin energy and that was pure cold that could freeze the soul. Normally a cultivator couldn¡¯t use this energy until the broke past boy tempering. For Zach this experience was both painful and soothing at the same time.


    The more he trained the more he grew. After an hour he looked like he was a humanoid muscle mountain. The more he continued the more he grew until he felt a popping sensation in his body. His muscles started to break down as the energy coursed through his body and caused the structure of the muscle strands to compress down and reform. He stopped training once he felt that his muscles had stopped the transformation.


    Now Zach looked like an extremely well toned and handsome man. He no longer looked like a boy that was in his early teens but more like an indifferent emperor. His dark black hair cascaded down his sweat ridden back like an onyx waterfall. Deep blue eyes stared back that seemed to contain all the mysteries of the oceans.


    A putrid stench arose from his sweat. The information in his mind told him that it was his bodies impurities that had been stored in his muscles. This was the sign that he was at the peak of the perfect stage of Muscle strengthening. His body after the transformation was now able to put out at least 10000 pounds of force.


    This was a monumental step on his path to defying the heavens. The next step was to start changing the blood and bones of the body. The first thing that needed to be done was brutal but necessary. One must break the bones repeatedly so that the body could reform the bones which would open the marrow up to be changed. Once the marrow had started changing the cultivator must bleed the body so the body could replenish the blood. While replenishing the blood one had to sit in a blood pool that would change the marrow of the cultivator.


    This was the most dangerous part of the body strengthening stage as this could cripple the cultivator completely. Zach was actually fairly excited to start this process and further travel down his path. Since he had no idea where he could find a blood pool he decided to test his strength out with the rocks.


    He walked up to the 100 pound rock and squeezed it with his hands. His muscles bulged slightly as the rock exploded from the force he was exerting. The rock had turned into dust from the strength he had applied! This was amazing!


    Next he decided to really test his strength and went to the 10000 pound boulder. Going into a horse stance he grabbed the boulder and heaved with all his might. Slowly the boulder started to shift as it started to rise. With his muscles strained to the max he ever so slowly lifted the rock above his head.


    Holding the massive boulder above him he slowly stood up straight and his feet sunk a half an inch into the ground. With a strained expression on his face he started to walk around the outside of the arena. Each step was like a thunderclap as his feet pounded into the earth. His body started to visibly shake as he finished the lap around the arena.


    Carefully he placed the boulder back into its spot. Today was a great day. Not many beings could say that they advanced to the final stage of muscle strengthening and lifted 10000 pounds on the same day. Pleased with himself he went to the bath house that was located behind the main house. Steam rose off of a big pool in the center of the house.


    Due to it normally being only Cora and her mother the bath house wasn¡¯t separated at all. Normally Zach would wait until he was sure everyone was asleep to go take a bath but he figured Cora was still out hunting. Well that was his thought until he heard a light splash.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Reality came crashing down on him as he watched Cora stand up from the middle of the water. With her back to him he could see every curve and dip of her pure and smooth back side. Her shoulders were narrow that flowed into graceful arms with delicate hands. Her back sloped slightly inwards with her sine faintly showing as it trailed down to her perky and firm butt.


    Drops of water followed the trail that her body naturally had and slipped down across her majestic backside and into the water. As Zach stared in a trance at this heavenly sight Cora stiffened up as she sensed that she was not alone. She slowly turned around and gave Zach a wonderful view of the mountains on her chest. Each breast seemed to defy gravity as they hung on her amazing frame. The twin mountains had soft pink peaks that rose above the clouds to pierce the heavens.


    Sadly our hormonally driven hero was so entranced that he didn¡¯t notice the look of shame and anger that crossed Cora¡¯s face. ¡°What. Are. You. Fucking. Doing. Here!!!!¡± She screamed.


    This snapped Zach out of his trance. He stumbled backwards and tried to cover his eyes, as if that would help with the situation at all. He truly had no idea how to interact with women¡­ ¡°I. I had no idea!¡±


    ¡°Really? You couldn¡¯t give out a warning? You couldn¡¯t see if the bath was empty?¡± She fumed.


    ¡°Well I figured¡­¡±


    ¡°You figured! Figured what? That you could a glimpse of something good before you die?¡± She interrupted. ¡°Well you were right! Now you die!¡±


    She jumped out of the bath and proceeded to chase after Zach still dripping wet, all semblance of decency gone now. As she ran her breasts and butt jiggled around as if they had a mind of their own and they were doing a happy little dance. Again he turned into a stupid male as he fixated on the scene behind him as he ran. Not looking forward to pay attention to where he was going he ran straight into the side of the cave crating a man shaped hole into it.


    Dazed and confused Zach could only turn around and watch helplessly as Cora drew back a fist, which caused her to jiggle even more and made him stare, again. The last thought that went through his head as she hit him was ¡®I can die a happy man now¡¯. The force of the blow smashed him into the ground and left a huge crater that was 10 feet wide and 7 feet down with Zach in a depression that fit his body perfectly.


    ¡®Huh. Was wondering where to put the blood pool at.¡¯ She thought. ¡°Ha ya big bastard. Now instead of a bath I¡¯ll bathe you in blood. If you live you better fucking thank me. I¡¯ve killed soooo many demonic beasts for you.¡± She snapped at his unconscious body, or corpse as she was unsure at this point.


    Really this was the best time to put him into a blood pool since her hit had literally broken every bone in his body. By all rights he should be dead at the moment but he was tenacious so he barely hung on to life. Cora left to grab the giant bucket of blood she had harvested.


    When she returned and popped the top off of the barrel the blood began to boil and steam. The vitality the beasts had when they were alive still continued to exist in the blood after they had died! This was the best ingredient to use to temper Zach¡¯s marrow.


    In fact if he survived this process he could very well pass directly to the peak perfection stage since all his bones had been reduced to dust. In another way he was extremely lucky since the punch he had received had knocked him out cold so he didn¡¯t feel all that much pain. Cora quickly dumped the blood into the crater.


    A sizzling sound could be heard as the blood touched his skin. The blood tunneled into his body and replaced the marrow immediately, cuts appeared all over his body as the violent vitality of the blood lacerated his skin. A vortex formed as all the blood rushed into his body and turned his marrow into a pure and clear crystal like substance.


    By the time the marrow had formed the bits and pieces of bone started to combine back together. The particles hardened to the point that heaven steel would be a comparable substance to the bone. Ever so slowly his skeletal structure began to reform.


    Due to the energy needed to continue the blood and bone forging about half of the blood had been used up. He was now floating in the middle of the blood pool as if he was surrounded by a blood cocoon. Now the blood in his body needed to replenish itself and in order to do so his body started to utilize the rest of the blood.


    What Zach didn¡¯t know was how precious the blood he was in was. About 75% of the blood was donated from the four clans of the original beasts. The turtle for defense, the dragon for energy gathering, tiger for strength and phoenix for vitality. The rest was from ancient beasts that were killed by Cora. Flood dragons, demon apes and even chaotic hounds had all been slaughtered for him and him alone. Even if he had been in the best sect in the cosmos he would have never had the opportunity to have such good materials used on him.


    As the last of the blood was absorbed a drum beat sounded out. However this was no drum. I was Zach¡¯s heart! His vitality was now beyond compare to anything out there. He was truly a blessed boy, gifted by the heavens with extreme luck! For as long as he would exist he could never repay the gifts he had been given.


    Cora left after he had absorbed everything. All she had to do now was wait for him to wake up. How long that would take was anyone¡¯s guess. Now she needed to take the bodies of the creatures that she had killed and feed them to Gart uncooked. He needed the essence of the beasts to continue his growth.


    When she walked into the house, still naked, Gart looked to her expectantly. It was as if he knew what was coming. He hopped down and ran to where Zach was so he could advance himself alongside the boy that had taken him in.


    After Gart finished the beasts, bones and all, he passed into a coma like state as well. Now it was just Cora. Since she was all alone she decided to go finish her bath and then take a nice long nap.

 Chapter 5-Thickening the skin

    While everyone in the cave was asleep Cora¡¯s mother had finally returned from her outing. The first thing she had noticed was the large crater that Zach was in as well as the faint sweet smell of blood. She did a double take and sent her senses into his body.


    ¡®This little bastard achieved such perfection!¡¯ She stood there dumbfounded for a couple minutes before she noticed Gart laying next to the crater. Gart had grown already, his transformation wasn¡¯t over yet but he had still evolved from his original form. Now he was slightly larger than his mother had been before and a faint wisp of origin energy could be sensed in his body. With the one feeding he had consumed enough to evolve into a demonic beast.


    ¡°And what are you little one?¡± She mused. Being a beast herself she was immediately fond of the little guy. She could feel the two main blood lines that resided in his body. The most shocking thing was how prominent the blood lines were. It wouldn¡¯t be far fetched to say that Gart could have been a member of the true dragons or tiger clan with his bloodlines. The fact that he was on this backwater world was surprising to say the least.


    After studying the cub she went to find Cora. Naturally Cora was asleep in her bed completely nude. Now being a beast Cora didn¡¯t care about nudity so she often went around naked and her mother didn¡¯t care. Now things were different. There was a male human in the cave and she needed to explain certain things to avoid any unwanted incidents in the future. Sadly an incident had already happened.


    Another reason to talk to her daughter about this was because both Zach and Cora had entered puberty recently. Zach should have entered puberty much earlier but due to his body failing from the pure yang energy his body had halted the puberty process. This alone was shocking due to his size. Cora on the other had had just hit 100 years old so she had finally become a pubescent dragon. All these hormones would cause them to react completely different from their normal selves.


    Cora¡¯s mother lightly shook her awake.


    ¡°Mmmm.¡± She groaned trying to wake up. It was always hard to rouse a sleeping dragon.


    ¡°Cora we need to talk.¡±


    ¡°Wha?¡± she asked deliriously.


    ¡°Did you realize that you had turned 100 recently?¡±


    ¡°Yea.¡± She sat up in her bed.


    ¡°Remember that talk I told you we would need to have?¡±


    ¡°Yea.¡± Mow she was alert. She felt that something was wrong.


    ¡°Well¡­ just listen for a moment. Now after a dragon turns a century old their body goes through changes. As a woman you will get your monthly and chemicals in your body will make you act differently than you used to be. You will become more irritable and lash out at things that irritate you. Particularly Zach. Since he is a male you will feel much more anger towards him. I don¡¯t know why that¡¯s just how it is. He is also going through his puberty as well which will make him notice your body even more. Now I know he would never try to do anything with you but other men probably would.


    ¡°The talk about mating that we had is what the others would try and force on you. It is a cruel and disgusting thing but it does happen. So to try and stop any unintended incidents from occurring I want you to constantly wear at least a dress while in your human form. Remember that this has nothing to do with you doing something wrong but just trying to follow the ways of this world. I wish it was different but sadly this is what we have to deal with.¡±


    Cora¡¯s face instantly became shocked as she realized what had happened. ¡°Um¡­ mother something already happened.¡±


    Instantly her mother went into a rage thinking that Zach had forced himself on her daughter. She immediately stormed out to kill the little shit.


    Cora watched as her mother stormed off before it finally clicked in her head that her mother had taken her words wrong. ¡°Mother!¡± She shouted out.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna kill him for what he did.¡± Her mother shouted back.


    ¡°No! Mom!¡± She tried to call her back. If she didn¡¯t stop her mother than Zach would really die now.


    No matter what she shouted nothing stopped her mother. Cora knew that her mother hated being called by her name from her daughter so that was exactly what Cora did. ¡°Dragora!¡±


    Dragora came to a dead stop. ¡°What did you just say?¡± as she turned around to her daughter.


    ¡°Mom listen. I hurt Zach not the other way around.¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    It dawned on Dragora¡¯s face that she had over reacted. Now she just wanted to know what had happened. ¡°Explain.¡± She said curtly.


    ¡°Ok so here¡¯s what happened. I was taking a bath when he walked in on me. His eyes scoured my body as if he was seeing me for the first time. I didn¡¯t like it so I chased him and smashed him into the ground. I destroyed all his bones in the process and felt a little bad for being so excessive so the crater I had created with his body was used for the blood pool. I¡¯m sorry mother I shouldn¡¯t have nearly killed him.¡±


    Dragora sighed heavily. ¡°It¡¯s fine. You had no idea and honestly I would have done the same. Now that I think about it you did really good actually.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Cora was stumped.


    ¡°Hahaha. Oh the look on your face is priceless! OK ok ok. See I would have probably actually killed him but you didn¡¯t so that was good. Next you actually put him into the best possible state for his level of cultivation! You not only helped him pass the cultivation level he was at but made it so he had completely perfected the blood and bone stage to an extent that I have never seen before! Truly amazing! Hahahaha!¡± She cackled.


    Cora shook her head and started to walk away. Her mother was too odd, even for her. As they both headed towards the house Zach had slowly started to exit the crater. He had of course been awake for the whole conversation but smartly decided to wait until now to show himself. Lucky for him both women had been completely distracted so they had no idea otherwise he probably would have been beaten again.


    Dragora turned back first. ¡°Congratulations Zach on your breakthrough. Next we will toughen your skin. This will be a long process so be prepared.¡± She was now extremely formal as she saw Zach as a business transaction for the most part.


    Zach said nothing as he stared at Cora again and yes she was still naked. Cora turned back to Zach when she heard his name and froze as soon as she saw the stupid look on his face. It took maybe a half of a second to realize she was naked again. Her face turned crimson as she ran over and kicked him in the face with a flying leap. His body rocketed back into the cave wall and Cora ran to the house to put something on.


    Dragora laughed silently as she went to pluck Zach out of the wall. Thankfully his boned were so sturdy now that nothing broke or got injured in anyway. After being liberated Zach dusted himself off.


    ¡°Well that went better than last time.¡± He said.


    ¡°Yea¡­ probably going to happen a lot actually. Damn girl always forgets things and since clothes are new to her and she doesn¡¯t care for them in the least you will probably leave silhouettes of your body throughout all the rock in this world! Hahaha!¡± She cackled.


    ¡®Fuck that is going to suck. Gotta be more careful.¡¯ He thought. ¡°So what do we do now for skin thickening?¡±


    ¡°Well we have a couple options and we will probably do all of them. The first thing will be burning you with fire. Now it sounds terrible, which it is, but the skin will naturally recover. I¡¯m going out on a limb here but I believe that the pure Yang energy that I feel coursing through you now will heal you extremely quickly. Also I know that the vitality in your blood could heal a deep laceration in a matter of seconds.¡±


    ¡°Wait you¡¯re not sure!¡± He exclaimed.


    ¡°Eh. It¡¯ll be fine. Don¡¯t worry so much.¡± She said as she waived him off.


    ¡°Well fine but can I at least eat something first?¡±


    ¡°Sure! I know that I for one am starving after all the antics today.¡±


    They walked back to the house and had a large meal. Cora joined them and refused to look Zach in the eyes as her face turned redder and redder throughout the meal. Gart was still undergoing his transformation next to the crater outside.


    Once done they checked on Gart again and found him wrapped in a cocoon that looked like a giant fleshy boulder. Excitement coursed through everyone as they wondered about how he would transform. Not many would be able to experience something so interesting after all.


    As they kept walking they went to the training arena. ¡°Sit in the middle Zach.¡± Dragora said.


    He sat down slightly nervous. ¡°Ok were going to transform and breath our fire at you to help you thicken your skin.¡± Dragora said. She and her daughter walked away behind the 10000 pound boulder to transform.


    They lumbered back in their dragon forms. Cora had grown and was now an easy 12 feet tall and 30 feet long from snout to tail because she had advanced to the next stage of her growth. Her mother was monstrously huge. Easily 150 feet tall and 400 feet long their wing span couldn¡¯t be determined since they were folded along their bodies, a good guess would be 400 feet for Dragora and 50 feet for Cora.


    Dragora stopped in front of Zach. ¡°Close your eyes and enter a meditative state. I will know when you¡¯re ready.¡± He closed his eyes and swiftly went into a deep meditative state. Thanks to his intense martial intent he had easily entered the meditative state.


    With a deep breath Dragora exhaled her flames and bathed Zach in it. The smell of burning flesh quickly filled the cave as his flesh constantly melted and reformed. His pure Yang energy was flowing at an extreme pace and sped up his healing process rapidly.


    Once Dragora ran out of breath and energy Cora took over. Cora¡¯s flame was much weaker than her mothers so Zach¡¯s body was able to focus more on changing his skin rather than just trying to heal. This process of rotation went on for about 3 hours until they were both too exhausted to continue.


    The baptism in fire was greatly beneficial for him. His skin had at first rapidly went up to the small success stage in skin thickening. As he came out of his trance he could feel that his skin had the defensive properties of thick leather but still was as flexible as it was in the beginning. Actually he could be said to be more flexible, which seemed like it shouldn¡¯t be possible. He could only wonder at the complexities of the human body as it traveled along the path to defy the heavens.


    Back besides the crater the fleshy cocoon that Gart was in slowly started to tear open.

 Chapter 6-No title cuz spoilers

    Thunder and lightning coalesced above the mountain the cave was in. The wind howled and the beasts ran for cover. The sky was an ominous omen to a village 100 miles away. Dark clouds condensed rapidly and sent they natural energy of the world in a 200 mile radius around the mountain into a state of frenzy.


    People fled to hide in their houses in fear, just hoping to survive the storm that was coming. Rain started to pour as if the flood gates of heaven had been opened completely. Zach, Cora and Dragora were completely oblivious to the world outside. They had first felt a foreboding aura coming from the cocoon and were completely transfixed on it.


    As the tear in cocoon continued to open wider and wider all the energy in the cave was sucked into the tear that had been formed. Zach couldn¡¯t tell that energy was now completely gone but he could sense the shock and slight fear radiating off of his companions. As the tear continued to widen one could faintly see a large body covered in scales.


    The being in the cocoon started to wiggle around as a giant paw pushed out of the tear. Claws that were 1 foot long were attached to the large scaly foot. The being inside stretched its body and shredded the rest of the fleshy cocoon as it rolled over to stand up.


    Gart emerged completely different. His body was now comparable to the size of Cora in her Dragon form. Scales covered his body in a smooth and elegant way. He still had a lion shaped head but it was slightly more reptilian now. No hair could be seen on his body at all and his tail was no longer like a scorpions. Instead it looked like a dragons tail that had a large poisonous spike that held a poison sac in the base of the tail. Large wings rested on his back and shuddered as he unfurled them.


    Gart looked at Zach. ¡°Hello father.¡± He said very childishly.


    Zach was stunned. How could this behemoth be Gart? What had he become? It was amazing but scary at the same time. ¡°Hello Gart. You have¡­ grown?¡±


    ¡°Really that¡¯s the best you got?¡± Cora huffed. ¡°Hi Gart! You look SOOOO CUTE!¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡± Gart chuckled.


    Zach scratched his head awkwardly. ¡°Sorry bud I just wasn¡¯t very prepared to see this today. I mean you look amazing I¡¯m just shocked at the change! Also what¡¯s with the whole father thing?¡±


    ¡°Well after mama died you became my new dada. That¡¯s what she told me.¡± He whispered as tears started to form in his eyes.


    Before he could cry Zach ran up and gripped him around his neck to console him. Dragora and Cora were silently crying on either side of Gart. ¡°I¡¯ll never leave you Gart. I¡¯ll always be here for you¡­ but call me Zach ok?¡±


    ¡°Snif. OK Zach. Snif¡±


    ¡°So Gart what did you evolve into?¡± Zach said, trying to lighten the mood.


    ¡°No clue! Just big!¡± He exclaimed.


    Dragor walked around Gart inspecting him all over. ¡°Hmm. It seems like the main blood line is true dragon and is just slightly followed by the white tiger. Only one of your kind has existed before. Her name was Kar and she called herself a largon. She couldn¡¯t be classified as an ancient demonic beast nor an original beast. She was an enigma from what I remember.¡± She said in awe. ¡°I truly would have never believed that another would emerge.¡±


    Gart gave a very toothy or fangy smile as he reveled in the fact that he was unique. ¡°Cora take Gart and teach him to hunt, fly and anything else you can think of.¡±


    ¡°Yes mother.¡± She replied. Turning towards the cave entrance she went to leave. ¡°Come on Gart, we have a lot to do.¡±


    As they left Zach stood there wondering what life was going to be like for the little guy. Hopefully he would be able to shift into a human form as well, since he was way too large and conspicuous as he was right now. As he wondered Dragora turned to Zach.


    ¡°Time to do more training.¡±


    With that they both left. Dragora led Zach further into the cave than he had ever been. After about 20 minutes of walking the air became noticeably hotter. ¡°Where are we going he inquired?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll see.¡± Was all she said.


    After another 15 minutes the cave opened up. The new chamber was a glowing red and caused Zach to feel quite warm. At the very center was a pit of lava. Now Zach had a general idea of what was going to happen.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    ¡°Um are you wanting me to go into that?¡±


    She gave him a ¡®What do you think?¡¯ look. With ha heavy sigh Zach walked to the edge of the lava pit. All he could think was ¡®Why didn¡¯t I try this first?¡¯ and ¡®Will this kill me?¡¯. He voiced his concerns to Dragora.


    ¡°Well because you completed the trial by fire you should be able to sit in this lava. Of course you could die I suppose.¡± She somberly replied. ¡°Of course that would be your fault for being so weak. Now in ya go!¡± She chuckled as she kicked him in the back. He rocketed out and landed directly into the pit.


    His body instantly began to catch on fire as he screamed. ¡°AAhhh!¡±


    ¡°Stop being so weak!¡± Was all the consolation he got.


    As he struggled to not die he continued to sink deeper and deeper into the pit of lava. Once his head submerged he held his breath and tried to swim to the surface. This only caused him to sink even deeper. The deeper he went the hotter it became.


    The only thing he could do was try and circulate his Yang energy. This was easier said than done as he couldn¡¯t focus enough to meditate. Inadvertently he opened his mouth and swallowed some lava. His insides were immediately scorched as the lava coursed through his organs.


    As his skin was healed rapidly and tempered by the intense heat and pressure from the lava his organs also started to be hardened. This pool was a miracle in the body strengthening stage. It both completed the skin thickening and organ hardening. If such a method was given to the humans than many would follow what Dragora did and kick their disciples into a pit of lava.


    The only flaw to this would be that at least 90 percent of disciples that went into the pit would never come out. Also the pit Zach was in was special. It contained a huge amount of pure Yang energy in it. This pit was practically made for Zach!


    Zach¡¯s Skin had quickly completed the skin thickening stage and he advanced into Organ hardening immediately. His skin was now as tough as tempered dark steel, which was easily 100 times stronger than normal steel. His organs slowly began to burn away and be replaced by new tougher organs thanks to his amazing regenerative ability.


    The total time he had spent in the pit so far seemed to have taken only a couple seconds but really 3 days had passed. After the third day a couple things had happened. First Cora and Gart had returned from training. Gart had a light wound from attacking a colossus bear and needed a safe place to recover. Dragora had left to visit the true dragon clan and returned with some items to help Zach with the meridian opening, as well as travel items since he was leaving as soon as he passed that last hurdle. Zach had finished skin thickening and was roughly 1/3 of the way done with organ hardening.


    Deep in the center of the pit Zach continued to swallow the lava. He had long since stopped being burned and damaged by the lava on his skin. Now he was able to notice the benefit it was doing to his organs.


    10 days passed by in a flash. Cora took Gart out again for training and Zach was still in the pit. Oddly enough his body had some how adapted into converting true energy into life saving nutrients for his body, which enabled him to not need to breath. Zach had also developed an advanced form of meditation from trying to study the effects the lava had on his body. Now he was able to separate his conscious from his mind and let his body run on autopilot.


    He inspected his body and was astonished by what he saw. His skin had fully finished the skin thickening stage and his organs were steadily being hardened. There was no way for him to know how far along he was in organ hardening but he guessed he was getting close to 50 percent. His body continued to advance as he watched on like he was in a dream observing someone else.


    With every gulp of lava he went farther and farther down the path. His body was getting close to finishing the organ hardening. One last step was needed in order to finish this process. As his organs had all been burned away and reformed into structures with the same amount of resistance as his skin, he now had a lot of ash in his body that needed to be¡­ cleansed. Honestly the only process that could do this was for his body to absorb the debris and excrete it through his bowels. Normally the impure particles would be sloughed off through the pores but they were far too large right now.


    All Zach could think was that luckily he was in lava and he didn¡¯t have to worry about anyone noticing. He was still shy about the normal bodily functions. Quickly and efficiently voiding his bowels he tried to leave the lava pit. Now that he was finished with organ hardening he needed to get out. He had no idea how long he had been down there so he was slightly excited to leave.


    Unfortunately even though he had finished both skin thickening and organ hardening he still had no way of getting out of the lava and continued to sink as he tried to swim. ¡®Fuck¡¯ He thought. How was he going to get out? The only hope he had was to reach the bottom of the lava pit and try to find a wall to see if he could climb out.


    Sadly our hero is an idiot. All he needed to do was start opening his meridians so he can start absorbing energy and then he would be able to escape! Seriously! You know I feel like I¡¯ve been a good narrator here. I haven¡¯t broken the 4<sup>th</sup> wall and have been telling the story as best as I can. Now Zach is in a predicament where he can advance even faster but noooo he has to be a big dummy and do things the hard way! I need a vacation.


    Back to Zach I guess. As he continued to fall he finally realized that there was probably no bottom. Obviously that¡¯s because lava is connected directly to the center of the world. So Zach, thankfully, decided to meditate and see if he could figure out a way to get out. By some stroke of luck, which is totally not me trying to speed up the story telling process, he started to sense tiny little lines that ran throughout his body. These lines started around his naval and connected to all his muscles and veins. They wrapped around his organs all the way up to his brain and covered his bones.


    As he sat , well floated really, in deep meditation he felt his true Yang energy trying to move along these lines. With his will he tried to direct the energy along one of the lines to his heart. Some sort of resistance blocked the energy causing him to vomit a mouthful of blood from the backlash of the energy. I think he kinda deserved it. He tried harder and harder to force the energy along the line.


    After hours of backlash after back lash he finally succeeded! The energy was much calmer now that it had a place to go. With a thought he could move it as he wished. Zach willed the energy to travel along the meridian and form into a platform for him to stand on.


    Now he could not use this energy to fly and due to his lack of intelligence he didn¡¯t realize that he was actually affecting the lava around him to form the platform. Of course Zach also couldn¡¯t see this so he just continued to use the energy to form and push him upwards through the lava. He shot through the lava like a human shaped meteor towards the surface.

 Chapter 7-More advancement, blah blah blah.

    Now that our stupendous and extremely intelligent hero¡­ yea that sounds fake even to me. Eh I tried. I¡¯ll just try and be like I used to as I was narrating. What¡¯s that you say? You want to hear more about the narrator? Me? Well¡­ if you insist.


    See I just record the lives of important individuals. Actually to be more precise there are many of me and one real consciousness split between. Sadly almost all of those I have watched have either died or completed their goals and went into a deep sleep.


    I have been around since the existence of the old guy, Oliver, since he was after all the one who created me. Really it was a complete accident. He simply hoped for someone to record everything that happened in the cosmos since he couldn¡¯t be everywhere at once. Then bam I¡¯m here wondering why the hell no one can see me. Also for some random reason all my thoughts and everything I see gets written down in a book.


    There¡¯s a book for every individual, that¡¯s important, and one for the whole cosmos. The nice thing is that my thoughts are mainly what gets written down. Now I do have the ability to shorten certain things so whoever reads one of the books doesn¡¯t have to wade through useless crap. Quite tedious if I¡¯m being honest. I deserve a reward. Well that¡¯s all about me so yea¡­ lets continue. Honestly I don¡¯t even know why I went on this rant. Not like anyone¡¯s even there.


    Zach exited the lava pool, finally, and tried to fly straight up over the lava. Due to his lack of knowledge he just stayed on the surface of it. Realization dawned on his face as he slowly looked around to make sure nobody was watching. Directly behind him was Cora and Gart coming to check up on him. His cheeks flushed red as soon as he saw them.


    Cora was barely holding back laughter, the sight of him stretching himself upwards as if he was going to stream into the sky was something she will never forget. Gart on the other hand was literally rolling around on the ground guffawing loudly. Slowly and dejectedly Zach left the pit to go into the house and hopefully die a swift death.


    Dragora watched as Zach slinked into the house. ¡°What¡¯s eating him?¡± She wondered aloud. She noticed Gart and Cora walking back both laughing hysterically. ¡°What happened?¡± She asked them.


    They filled her in on the incident and after many dramatic poses they used to recreate the scene Dragora broke down into a fit of laughter as well. Luck for Zach they decided to let him brood for the rest of the night.


    The next day Dragora called Zach out to the training arena. ¡°Ok Zach. It¡¯s time to start your adventure in the outside world. You have been left in this cave for far too long. We will all travel together till you at least complete the meridian opening stage. It shouldn¡¯t take too long since we will be looking for special herbs that we will pick and process that will help your energy surge along your meridians.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± He mumbled. He was still embarrassed from yesterday.


    ¡°We will also be teaching you how to do it yourself so pay attention!¡±


    With that Dragora and everyone present left the arena and headed out the cave. Zach was slightly emotional as they left. He fondly went over the time he spent in this large cave. The surprising turn of events from when Oliver showed up to his parents dying seemed like they had happened years ago. Today was actually his birthday he realized, Cora had filled him in on how long he was in the lava, and he was now 17 years old.


    The past two years had been a rough one but he wished that it could have lasted at least a little longer. Alas, he could only fondly visit these memories in his mind. A small tear fell down his face as he glanced back one last time.


    Once they had finally left the cave Dragora stopped and with a light shout she punched towards the entrance. Zach could feel the energy pour off of her as the energy shot out and hit the cave. The stone exploded and a rockslide covered the entrance, hiding that wonderful cave from all who would seek it out.


    She looked at Zach. ¡°Don¡¯t want people to use the lava pit. Kinda a secret, so make sure to keep it to yourself.¡±


    He nodded silently.


    They slowly walked down the mountain slide, occasionally slipping on loose rocks. By the time they had made it to the bottom most of the day had already passed so they decided to set up camp and rest. Gart went out and hunted as Zach sat down to meditate and try to use his pure Yang energy to assail more meridians.


    They had a nice dinner and went to bed early. Zach slept restlessly as his mind kept getting preoccupied about the future. Nonetheless he still had a nice night and was fairly refreshed the next day.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    They headed out immediately, since they used no camping equipment and just slept on the ground. Along the way Dragora would school Zach on the various aspects of the world. The only thing he really took away was that he should always show respect to those who were more powerful than he was.


    Of course he knew that much already but the way she emphasized it made him realize that it was extremely important. About halfway through the first day they entered the forest that surrounded the mountain. Beasts could be heard as they roared out in warning towards the newcomers.


    Zach had no problems at the moment with the sounds of the forest. He normally would have been scared silly if he had been paying attention but he was now focused on finding rare medicines that would advance his cultivation. The area they were in was definitely not a place for Zach to be at his current level. Normally a single beast would have been easily able to tear him to shreds here but Dragora¡¯s presence kept the beasts at bay.


    The main herb he was looking for was a four leafed clover that was completely red, it was called lucky Yang. The main purpose of this amazing medicine was to give the user an abundance of pure yang energy that would increase the cultivation level by two stages at least. For a martial arts practitioner such as Zach¡¯s level they would combust immediately. However his unique body would easily be able to accommodate the wild pure Yang energy and use it to open his meridians.


    The other thing that was nice about the lucky Yang was that only one clover would give great results but they normally grew in patches of at least 7. Each one would open many meridians for Zach and he was ready to be finished with this stage. After all, he couldn¡¯t be considered a cultivator until he opened all his meridians.


    They traveled along for four days. Occasionally a beast would overcome their fears and attack the group. Sometimes Cora would fight them but normally Dragora killed them quickly. After the four days Zach was tired of looking for the lucky Yang. ¡°This is bullshit. There aren¡¯t any here!¡±


    The group came to a stop at his shout. ¡°What?¡± Asked Dragora.


    ¡°What¡¯s the point? Why can¡¯t I do it some other way?¡±


    ¡°Well you can but it wouldn¡¯t be as efficient with your body type. The Yang energy you have needs to be used properly and doing it an easier way would not be beneficial to your path.¡± She calmly replied.


    ¡°Still bullshit though.¡± He grumbled.


    They kept going after that. Constantly looking and fighting, fighting and looking. Eventually Zach joined some of the fights with Cora to ease his boredom. He wasn¡¯t much help at first but he quickly got used to all the strength he had and was able to coordinate with Cora much better.


    At the end of the fifth day they laid down to go to bed for the night. As Zach chose his spot he felt a slight pull on his energy. It was as if something was trying to siphon it out of his body. He quickly closed off the one meridian that he had opened so he didn¡¯t have to try and hold onto his energy.


    Walking around the campsite he felt a slight tug on his energy coming from the forest. ¡®Hmmm. In the trees?¡±


    Like a shadow he disappeared into the night as he followed the strange feeling. With each step the pull on his energy became stronger and stronger. Soon he had came to a stop at a small clearing with 7 perfect red clovers in the middle.


    Extremely joyful Zach grabbed all of them and turned to leave.


    ¡°RRRRUUUUMMMBBBBLLLEEE!¡±


    Something sounded out from the forest around him. Not sure what it was Zach started to run back to the camp, only a long rope like appendage emerged from the shadows and started to drag him off. He was beyond terrified as he looked towards the direction he was being dragged and saw a hideous frog like creature.


    It was large and bright orange with large black eyes. The beast stared at him as if it was looking at a nice little scrap of food. The rope had turned out to be its tongue as it dragged him into its mouth. Zach though for sure that he was dead after he was swallowed up. The giant frog had plenty of room in its belly for him to be sprawled out as he landed into the stomach acid.


    In a last ditch effort Zach threw all of the lucky yang into his mouth and swallowed. Energy surged throughout his body as it attacked his meridians. With a popping sound all his meridians were cleared. Now it may seem like something insignificant had happened but really no one else would have been able to do this.


    Now Zach just needed to try and punch his way out of the belly of the beast. Winding his arm back Zach let his fist fly. His energy was in chaos as he punched. The lucky Yang energy was rioting around in his body as he tried to break his way out. Punch after punch was thrown out.The more he fought death the more energy he expended.


    Sadly he hadn''t yet figured out how to accumulate more energy. To be more precise he needed an actual cultivation method that would draw in the ambient energy around him. Since the law that Oliver had given him had yet to acknowledge his need for it, it didn''t do anything.


    Zach laid down in the stomach after expending all of his strength in trying to get out. He decided to accept the fate he had found himself in rather than try so hard and die miserably. With a deep breath he focused on the pure Yang energy he still had that was natural for his body. It might not have been enough to save him but he could at least try and stop himself from being dissolved in the beast.


    Falling into a deep meditation his consciousness slowly drifted away farther and farther. His body still worked to keep the acid away but his consciousness traveled deep into the depths of his soul. This was where all the information given by Oliver was located, but he didn''t know.


    Zach felt like he had woken up from meditation. He looked around and saw lots of shelves lining a large circular arena type thing. ¡®Something is off.¡¯ He mused. He should have been surrounded by stomach acid so why was he here.


    ¡°Achem! Welcome!¡±

 need a little help.

    ok so i need some opinions on how i should take this story. obviously Zach is going to be op to a ridiculous extent but i kinda feel like im going too fast or my writing is crappy. if you have ideas please let me know. i have an end goal but the details are where im getting lost. i will finish this story however so no need to worry there. now is the time my friends. let me know your thoughts. also do you think i should introduce more non humans in the story? i kinda feel like nonhumans are better and i should make Zach seem like an evil guy to humans because he favors beasts or something like that.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    also should i add even more op abilities or should i add a character that is the bumbling baffoon that makes everything more difficult. should i keep the quirky attitude that the narrator has?