《World of Refiners》 Chapter 1: The apocalypse Meet John Doe. A 20 year old college student. Tall, well kept hair, dirty blonde, green eyes. Descent student. Average, middle-class family. Physically Active, involved in various activities. Enjoys pasta and games. Dislikes crowds and most seafood. Preps for the apocalypse as a hobby. Preps for the ¡°3 probable ends¡±: Downloaded and compiled tons of survival resources. All information is compressed and rewritten into a 400 page book. The apocalypse came, and it was something that he never imagined. His resources were still useful though. However, he died in his sleep the night before and the survivors didn¡¯t bother to check why. They did not last long. XXXXXXXXXX opened his eyes to the sunlight streaming through his window, onto his face. He squinted, puzzled about what was happening. He was John Doe, reincarnated with his mind intact. However, up until now he had not lived his life, but rather watched from the sidelines. It was as if someone had pressed the fast forward button on his life. Each year seemed to last only a single day and while he could influence how he lived, ultimately, it was not his life. Today though, things were different; time moved at the normal pace and John could truly feel the world that was slowly moving around him. Now he was Shiga Wateya, 3rd child out of 4 in the Wateya main family. For 13 days he had waited,and now he was in his body, his life waiting to be lived. The world Shiga had reincarnated into was a game like one based on martial arts. Shiga lived in the Zodiac Dynasty. A huge dynasty that controlled more land than was on Earth before he had left it. The Dynasty was divided up into the 12 signs:
Shiga Wateya1
No DisciplineNo SchoolNo Title
Body10Mind14Soul18
No Arts
No Skills
Thankfully Shiga had gotten control of his body when he had, because today was examination day. Young men and women from all over the sign would pour into the capital in order to take the exam. The exam was an imperial exam that would test potential cultivators¡¯ aptitudes for cultivation and other important elements to cultivating. There were a total of 4 tests, each focused on a different element of cultivation. Together these tests made up the cultivation exam and they determined the future of many people, because many schools and sects would watch these exams for young geniuses that they could recruit to their school. Shiga stepped onto a crane magic beast beside his parents. They quickly flew to the capital of the Camel Sign. As they approached, Shiga could see flocks of other magical bird beasts and land magical beasts all making their way to the capital. They touched down just outside of town and Shiga went over to the check in line while his parents went to join the crowd of onlookers. After waiting for a short time, Shiga got a pass with his name and number on it and was told to enter the examination plaza. Stepping into the huge cobbled plaza, he saw that there were thousands of seats in the plaza. Many of them were filled with other members of his generation. He quickly walked over the the seat with his number and sat down. With one last look around, Shiga began to patiently wait for the first test, the test of Aptitude, to begin. Chapter 2: Tests It was time for the affinity test to begin. The proctor called each person up by name, and, using a magic tool, would announce the person¡¯s affinities. People began to slowly file their way up to the examiner. None were particularly exemplary, until one boy whose affinities were so strong with water that the magic tool actually began to turn blue and grow a frosty coat. After that it was more waiting. ¡°Shiga Wateya!¡± the proctor shouted out. Shiga stood up and slowly walked up to the platform. After stepping up, the proctor held out the looking glass. Shiga gently placed a hand on the handle of the looking glass. As Shiga grasped the handle, the colors reflected began to swirl and morph until instead of showing the sky, there was the image of a pleasant meadow filled with life and gently blown by the wind. ¡°Affinities for Air, Earth, and Life!¡± the proctor announced. Having 3 affinities was not common and a life affinity was slightly less common than even that, but even together they were not the rarest of things that had occurred yet today, and by no means would they gloss over other deficiencies. As he went back to his seat, Shiga mulled over the results of this test. He had known in advance that he was going to have a life affinity; it was hereditary in the family, but the others¡­ They made things different. With more affinities, a cultivator would have more room to grow, and the affinities that Shiga had all had a decent amount of synergy with each other. If he cultivated them properly, he would be stronger than most people, not enough to win any fight, but strong enough to give an advantage in most fights. Eventually, the test drew to a close and there were only a few people who had any shocking affinities. It was now time to take the talent test. It was a test to see the latent talent of cultivators. For this test every person was given a copy of the Storm Horses Kick technique. The strength of the storm sounds and wind produced by the kick would show the cultivation level of the technique. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. First Level - Calm before the storm - a regular kick Second Level - Gathering Clouds - produces wind Third Level - Downpour - produces the sound of rain and wind Fourth Level - Storm - Produces the sound of thunder and wind Shiga practiced as long as he could and in the end managed to mostly complete the second level. A regular person would have been at the start of the first level, a normal cultivator would have been at the start of the second level, a gifted person would have been at the start of the third level, and a prodigy would have made it to the fourth level. There were more levels, but if anyone managed to make it to those at this point in time, they most likely wouldn¡¯t even be allowed to complete the other tests because of all the schools trying to recruit them. Shiga had down well on this test, not excelling, but better than most people. The next test was the survival test. It was both a test, and a preparation for the test that came after it, the Dao Test. Chapter 3: Surviving in the Forest It was time to take the Survival Test, and through it prepare for the Dao Test. The Survival Test was, in premise, very simple. Each and every person would be taken by magic beast to a random location in the forest, where they would have to survive on their own for a week. The time period was made to be long enough to allow for many things to happen, but short enough that no one would die from starvation or dehydration. The forest was completely lacking in magic beast as well; at best the forest had monsters, creatures that failed to make it to being a magic beast. As long as one did not have all of their luck against them anyone could survive this test. The test proctors began to call people over so that they could be taken to the forest. In less than an hour every person taking the test, including Shiga, had been abandoned in the forest. After the magic beast had left with the proctor, Shiga began to look around his surroundings. The forest was large and ancient, but it was still flourishing with flowers, shrubs, and other plants. Not seeing anything that stood out Shiga began to walk around, his shoes leaving light depressions in the rich earth behind him. As Shiga walked he could hear the sounds of birds and small animals in the trees. As Shiga was walking, he came into a small clearing. There was a small cliff, no taller than a few meters, but perched above it was a huge tree with roots that seemed to cascade over the ledge like a wooden waterfall. The tree seemed as if it would require four or five men to reach around its base. The tree had a huge canopy that dominated over the nearby trees, creating the small clearing. Under the shade of this great tree Shiga began to make himself a camp. Using the roots that went over the ledge as a roof, Shiga hollowed out a small space from the soft dirt. When he had been preparing for the apocalypse, he had also prepared for the eventuality that he would someday be stuck in the wilderness. One method that Shiga had found, was to tie a long stick to a tree leaving one end on the ground. Then using leaves and sticks turn it into a tent with a triangular entrance. Instead of doing that though, Shiga had decided to use the roots that naturally went over the ledge as a roof and hollowed out a space underneath. He grabbed some of the harmless looking shrubs and covered the top of roots with them. This blocked both light from entering, and heat from escaping as easily, making this a workable sleeping area. Excited to finally be putting all of his research to use, Shiga began to search for a source of water. After searching for most of the day, Shiga found a decently sized brook a few miles away. He also found animal prints at the water¡¯s edge, meaning that he had found a decent hunting spot. On his way back, he grabbed any berries or plants that he recognized to be edible. By the time he had returned to the great tree, Shiga had picked up some wild strawberries and a couple of medicinal plants that he had learned about at home. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. The sun was beginning to set at this point, so Shiga just ate the strawberries as they were. After finishing up his meager dinner, Shiga crawled into the space he had hollowed out. He was pretty happy with how the day had turned out. He had a camp and he had a source of water and potentially food. The test was going well so far, but Shiga knew better than to expect everything to work out because of that. He drifted of into a light sleep as the bugs and frogs began to wake up with the moon¡¯s rising. The next morning, Shiga rose with the sun as the birds began to sing their songs. He crawled out of the hole, and began to do some stretches. Shiga had slept well and was filled with energy and excitement for the day to come. The first thing he did was pick up a rock from the cliff edge and with it he began to knap a decent sized piece of flint that he picked up at the brook. The knapping process was slow going, but by a few hours before midday, shiga had managed to create a decent point and with it he carved out an atlatl. He set himself up, and began to practice with the atlatl until noon. By then, Shiga was getting thirsty as well as hungry, so he quickly made his way back to the brook. After satisfying his thirst, Shiga hid in a tree and waited for an animal to come. After about an hour of waiting, a deer came to drink at the brook. Shiga launched his atlatl at the creature and he managed to hit it in the torso. The sudden blow staggered the deer and before it could recover Shiga ran over to it. He quickly pulled the atlatl out of the deer¡¯s flank causing it to collapse again. He quickly cut the deer¡¯s neck ending its misery. Before the blood could completely leave the body however, Shiga dragged it as far as he could downstream. While standing in the flowing river, Shiga did his best to let out the rest of the blood in the body as well as removing the internal organs and throwing them as far away as he could. He did this to distract any predators and monsters that might be nearby and have smelled the blood. After washing himself, Shiga took the deer and ran back to his camp. With only about a quarter of the day remaining, Shiga skinned the deer and set up a fire to cook and smoke as much of the meat as he could. He didn¡¯t need to worry too much about the meat going bad, but the smell of decomposition might attract monsters or scavengers. Shiga continued smoking the meat until after the sun had set. He ate a decent meal of meat and more strawberries, before wrapping as the remaining meat in large leaves and putting it in the branches of the tree. Satisfied with his work, Shiga crawled back into his hole and fell into a peaceful sleep. Only 4 days were still remaining. ~~Author Notes~~ Alright, Here is a new chapter. I will definitely be posting on most weekends, but I will also try to get chapters out during the middle of the week as well. I listened to your criticisms so this chapter is twice as long as the others. Also, for the people who wanted more detail, this was 2 paragraphs when I originally wrote it. Enjoy, and please do comment. I am sure that I have lots of room to grow. Chapter 4: Going from Bad to Worse Shiga opened his eyes to the sounds of the thriving forest. He stared at the roots that made up his temporary home while listening to the bird calls. Not much later he rolled over and crawled out and into the world outside. As he stretched in the dappled shade, Shiga thought about what to do now that he had food, shelter, and water. The test was meant to prepare people for the Dao test by putting them in a dangerous situation where they had no one but themselves to rely on. Shiga hadn¡¯t been in any dangerous situations yet, but there was still plenty of time for things to go wrong. While he was thinking Shiga began to clean up his campsite. Since there wasn¡¯t anything pressing for him to do, he would spend his time cultivating and reflecting. After clearing out the small amount of meat that hadn¡¯t been smoked, Shiga took some time to care for the tree that was providing him shelter. Shiga removed some of the vines that were hugging the tree and he did his best to care for the roots. After Shiga finished caring for the tree it was noon, so he had a meal of wild berries and smoked meat. After Shiga finished eating he wrapped everything up in the deer skin and put it in his shelter. With the camp cleared, Shiga began to make use of the space to cultivate Storm Horse¡¯s Kick. With all martial arts, the further you progressed, the slower progress became slower. Shiga had managed to cultivate the kick to the end of the second level, but with the rest of the afternoon Shiga was only able to make it to near the end of the third level As the sun began to end its descent, Shiga stopped training and had another meal of berries and deer meat. Satisfied with his training, Shiga put everything back away and sat down to meditate. As Shiga slipped into a meditative state, the sun began to set below the top of the forest, casting shadows all across the clearing. Shiga¡¯s shadow stretched out behind him and onto the tree. The forest seemed to still and then settled into its nightly rhythm. Shiga contemplated his life. After his experience of waiting for 13 days, Shiga knew that he had developed a patience that was above many senior cultivators. The exams were going well, even if Shiga wasn''t producing shocking results he was still consistently above average. For now though, he needed to focus on the survival exam. He had enough food, could easily get water, and had a shelter. From now on, Shiga just had to react to any changes and fight off boredom. After meditating for a while longer, Shiga went over to his shelter and went to sleep. The next morning as Shiga got out of his shelter, he had a prickling sense of unease. Knowing that something was up, Shiga carefully went back into his shelter and grabbed everything. With everything in hand, Shiga sat down to meditate and wait for whatever was coming. *snap* A twig snapped, and Shiga immediately bolted up, looking around and getting into a defensive position. Under his cautious gaze, coyotes began to come out of the underbrush. The coyotes approached with their hackles raised and they growled at Shiga, as they began to encircle him. There were probably 2 or maybe even 3 coyote families gathered. Coyotes normally live in nuclear families and will sometimes form temporary groups with other coyotes. Shiga was definitely stronger and more adept than a normal person, but he had not reached a level where he could easily take on 10 to 1 odds, even if he was stronger. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Deciding that this fight was not one worth fighting, Shiga unhesitatingly turned and began to climb the tree¡¯s roots. The coyotes charged as soon as they saw Shiga trying to escape, but by the time they reached the tree, Shiga was already several meters above the ground. A bit further, and Shiga sat on a branch that was twice as wide as he was. As he settled down onto the branch, he watched the coyotes circling the tree. Most of them circled the tree, but 3 of them sat back behind, and watched Shiga. These were the female alphas that the families were based on. Shiga opened his bundle and grabbed a piece of meat. With as much might as he could muster, he threw it away from the tree. The piece of meat crashed through branches, disturbing several birds on its path. Some of the coyotes looked like they were about to go after the meat, but the alphas growled at them and they went back to circling the tree. Shiga decided to sit down and cultivate while he waited for them to leave. Soon the sun reached its peak, before beginning to fall back down to the earth. The coyotes were no longer circling the tree, but instead lying down under it. A couple of coyotes had gone off to hunt and brought back a few rabbits. The coyotes weren¡¯t going to leave soon, but as things were they couldn¡¯t reach Shiga. Shiga was still calmly meditating on his branch. He had decided that he was going to stay up the night in case the situation changed again. These coyotes had come out of nowhere, so who knows what else might show up. The next morning was barely any lighter than they night had been as rain poured onto the forest. The thick canopy of the tree protected Shiga and the coyotes from the worst of the storm, but the coyotes still paced around nervously as the thunder crashed through the skies. Shiga watched the lightning, looking to see if any of it was going to hit the tree, but all of the lightning was a decent distance away. He had always known that storms could be awe-inspiring, but Shiga hadn¡¯t truly grasped that concept until, he stood in a tree as wind and rain whirled around him. The lightning was booming and lighting everything up at odd intervals. The storm was incredibly powerful, and for the first time Shiga felt that he was truly weaker than something. The storm carried on through the day, and only began to break after the sun had long since set. Shiga began to meditate once again, the coyotes had yet to leave, and things seemed to be going from bad to worse. Luckily there was only 1 day left. ~~Author Note~~ Sorry about missing the weekend chapter. I was only partly done with this when I had to work on a big presentation that I ended up cutting parts out of because it took too long. I am already working on chapter 5 and it WILL be out this weekend. Chapter 5: Surviving the Exam When dawn found its way to the tree, Shiga was already up. The storm had broken late last night, but they coyotes weren¡¯t calming down. They became even more nervous. They no longer relaxed, not even the alphas. They coyotes paced around the tree, sometimes barking or yipping at it, and sometimes the younger coyotes would even try and climb it. They didn¡¯t get far, but something was clearly wrong. Shiga carefully watched the coyotes and by just before noon, they had clearly had enough and fled, breaking into 3 families as they did so. Whatever had held them together clearly wasn¡¯t worth anything anymore and for some reason they didn¡¯t want to be here. Shiga waited for a few hours, but nothing came out that immediately seemed dangerous. Cautiously, Shiga climbed down the tree. He didn¡¯t know why the coyotes were scared, but it probably was something he should be scared of as well. Nothing attacked when Shiga reached the bottom of the tree, and the shelter he had made in the roots was undisturbed. There didn¡¯t seem to be anything that would scare the coyotes, but Shiga did not relax. Training might tire him and meditation would be too distracting at the moment. With little left to do, Shiga began to care for the tree again. He pulled off more vines, and carefully moved saplings to other places that they would be able to reach the sun in. After several hours, the sun began to set and Shiga sat down to relax a little. He hadn¡¯t seen anything that seemed dangerous; while he had found several plants that he might be able to make use of. While he relaxed, Shiga heard some leaves stir. While it was probably the wind, Shiga was still on guard against whatever had scared off the wolves. He slowly stood back up and began looking around. More leaves rustled, this time in the canopy of the tree. Shiga looked at his options. He could hide in his shelter for all the good that it would do. He could try and run away, but he didn¡¯t know what he was facing or even if it was what had scared the wolves. Slowly, Shiga began to make his way to the tree. He slowly climbed up, while keeping one eye on the surroundings. The leaves rustled again, as Shiga reached the branch he had been on the past 2 days. Deciding that it was best to confront whatever was there, Shiga suddenly dashed as fast as he could in the direction that the leaves rustled. Suddenly, the leaves rustled a bit further away, and Shiga dashed after it. Shiga followed the rustling leaves all around the canopy of the tree. Eventually, Shiga ended at the final fork of the main trunk. Shiga sat down while breathing heavily. He had been exerting himself for most of an hour, and was no closer to catching whatever had been rustling the leaves in its passing. While he recovered his stamina, Shiga looked around at the canopy he was in. The foliage was much thinner because of how high up he was, lighting the canopy up. The entire scene was relaxing and Shiga took a moment to appreciate the beauty of the scene. He noticed on a branch that there was an old flower laying on it. Shiga looked around and saw no other flowers. Spring was just turning into summer, but most trees had already flowered. Shiga gingerly picked up the flower and looked at it. The flower looked like a bell flower, but it had 2 layers of petals like a lotus. It was the size of a small child¡¯s hand and was a light blue-purple, with flecks of gold on the edges of the petals. The flower would have been beautiful, if not for the fact that it had clearly fallen from the tree some time ago. Even as Shiga held it, the petals of the flower peeled away in the gentle breeze, leaving Shiga holding a seed the size of a fingernail. Shiga put the seed in one of his pockets before getting up. He had spent more time relaxing than he meant to; the sun was already almost completely set, with only the slightest hints of sunlight still shining. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Leaving the tree, Shiga returned to his shelter in the roots. He slept lightly, and in the morning he was up and about. Yesterday was the last day of the test, and today a proctor would come to bring him back to the city. Only a few hours after the sun rose, a proctor flew in on a large stork magic beast. He touched down and told Shiga to get on. After Shiga climbed aboard the stork, they took off. By noon, all of the people who had taken the test were returned. Some people were injured, and many looked like they had had lots of troubles. The proctors stood on the stage and announced how everyone had done. There were screens for people to watch, but they may not necessarily have seen every person who had done well, so the proctors would announce it. ¡°Shiga Wateya! Excellent! Created shelter, found food and water, and dealt with all challenges!¡± Shiga had done much better on this test than most people and his consistency of being above his peers was already attracting attention. Many schools and sects had already listed him as a potential person to recruit. However, many were withholding their judgment until after the final test which was often a deal breaker. The Dao test was often divided into 2 parts. First there would be a written exam that would question people¡¯s ideals and help them to get a clearer image of their Dao. Secondly, each person would go into an illusion formation that would be used to actually test each person¡¯s Dao, and their determination. This was considered the most important test because 90% of cultivation was determination with the most influential 10% belonging to talent. Without any determination, a person with talent could easily be overtaken by someone without talent who was determined to cultivate. Luckily for Shiga, he had already lived one life... ~~Author Notes~~ Here is the new chapter. After he takes the Dao test, I am going to write a new chapter that is just going to have some background knowledge on the world and the thought that I put into it. However, that will not replace the chapter that will normally come out afterwards. See you guys in a week! Chapter 6: Mists of Decisions Everyone was guided back to the plaza and their desk. Instead of being empty, there were now packets of papers placed on top of them. Shiga sat down, and began to work his way through the packet. It asked questions that were designed to help people realize what their values were and through that clarify their own Dao. Shiga began to steadily make his way through the test. He had already lived his own life, and the 13 days that he spent watching time go by, were not wasted. He had spent majority of those days reflecting. Shiga knew that this was not a settled and peaceful world like modern Earth had been. He knew that he would definitely have to kill people and yet he also didn¡¯t want to become a heartless killer. Shiga was a kind person. It is just who he was raised to be by society in his past life, but that didn¡¯t mean that he was an infallible agent of good either. In his opinion, Karma was real because if you do something to someone they don¡¯t just disappear, they will stick around and remember it. The world is in its own way a cage, keeping people together and because of that, the repercussions of actions will eventually come around. As he took the test, Shiga never truly paused, his writing always smoothly going onto the page without end. Other people would pause and frown at the paper, or sit and ponder, but Shiga always kept writing. Eventually the written portion of the test came to an end, and everyone set down the packets. Everyone was silent, and slowly pondered on their decisions and their values. Soon everyone was broken into groups and lead to a door. There was a door for each group, and other than a strange seal on the front, they looked like normal doors. Each group sent one person in and about half of an hour later they would come back. Many of them were shaking or had pale faces. Eventually it was Shiga¡¯s turn; he got up and calmly walked to the door. As soon as the door shut, a grey mist began to swirl around Shiga. When the mists settled again, Shiga was in a rocky gorge standing in front of a boulder. Suddenly a voice boomed out. ¡°You are one man. You cannot do anything! This boulder is all that it takes to stop your path!¡± Shiga stared thoughtfully at the boulder. He was not a stubborn or bull-headed person who would simply push the boulder out of the way, but he also wasn''t willing to simply give up. Placing his hand on the boulder Shiga could feel it, and he knew it would not break easily. Shiga knew better than to push the boulder, he was too weak to destroy it, and he was unwilling to go another way. There were few options to begin with, and his decisions were limiting him even more. After a few more moments ponder the boulder, Shiga turned around, walked several steps, and turned back to the boulder. He ran forward and jumped. Landing on the boulder, Shiga used his momentum to continue forward until he had completely surmounted the boulder. The swirling mist rose up again, obscuring the rocky gorge. When they settled again, Shiga was standing on a forest path. Ahead he could see a merchant and slave held by bandits while one searched through their cart. Shiga calmly walked forward, making sure to get a full view of the situation. There were only 5 bandits, and they all looked like they were partially starved. The merchant was alternating between blubbering for his life and cursing the bandits. The slave was merely standing there while not moving. Eventually Shiga reached the cart. ¡°You here to save this merchant?¡± one of the bandits sneered with obviously false bravado. Shiga simply looked at him without talking. The merchant chose this time to go back to cursing the bandits. ¡°Of course he is here to save me you degenerate! The heavens have sent someone to save me from you filthy mongrels! It is about time you got here. Quickly take care of these bandits and I will reward you well!¡± Shiga looked at the merchant while he talked on about how horrible the bandits were and how much he was going to reward Shiga after he was saved. The bandit going through the cart suddenly popped up his head. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.¡°Alright! I got the food and seeds! Now we just need to get away and we can go back to our lives! Hey guys why are you-¡± He cut off mid-sentence when he saw Shiga. Everyone was frozen for a few moments, when suddenly the bandit in the carriage drew his sword. The other bandits grabbed their daggers and swords and held them to the necks of the merchant, the slave, and at Shiga. ¡°Who will you save, because you cannot save them all!¡± the archaic voice boomed out. The others didn¡¯t even blink, so they probably hadn¡¯t heard it. ¡°Let¡¯s all calm down here. This doesn¡¯t need to be violent.¡± Shiga said soothingly. ¡°Nonsense! These poor barbarians deserve to die for what they have done to me!¡± The merchant objected. ¡°Like you will let us go if we don¡¯t do something!¡± One of the bandits interjected as well. The slave that had done nothing up until this point looked up and made eye contact with Shiga. Shiga stared at him. These bandits clearly didn¡¯t want to be doing what they were doing, the merchant was offering him money, and the slave was silently pleading. Shiga made eye contact with everyone else and came to a decision. He jumped forward, removed the dagger from the bandit¡¯s hand, and freed the slave. The mists rose once more, but this time they didn¡¯t dissipate immediately. ¡°Why? Why did you save the slave?¡± The archaic voice softly questioned. ¡°I saved him because he was the only one who truly needed to be saved. The bandits weren¡¯t going to kill the merchant, and they were going back to live their lives. The merchant was rich and would survive as well. The slave though, had nothing. He was not going to move on nor was he going to get to live.¡± Shiga replied after thinking for a moment. Instead of a response the mists melted away. Shiga was now standing in in a small cultivation room. The door to the room slammed shut and the voice boomed out once more. ¡°Cultivate! No distractions are allowed!¡± Looking around the room, the walls were bare except for a window opposite the door. It was shut and only let in a small amount of light that gloomily lit the empty walls. Shiga walked to the window. Throwing it open, the sun poured into the room, lighting it completely. Shiga sat in the sun spot on the ground and began to meditate. ¡°No Distractions! Cultivate only!¡± The archaic voice boomed out once more as the window slammed itself shut. Shiga opened his eyes, and irritatedly looked at the window. Sighing he knew that he would need to do this himself. He sat down to meditate once more. He used wind qi to move the air in the room, giving a pleasant breeze. He used earth qi to soften the ground so that it was as comfortable as thick carpet. Then he used life qi to make grasses and flowers to sprout making it seem as if Shiga was in the middle of a meadow. The voice did not boom out again. Using elemental qi to perform tasks was the simplest method of cultivation and yet, Shiga was also pleasantly relaxing in the miniature meadow. The mists rose once more, and Shiga opened his eyes as soon as he noticed the illusion dispersing. When he opened his eyes, he saw the door that he had entered. Shiga confidently opened it and stepped outside. ~~Author Note~~ Sorry for getting this out late. I had family over and was low on time. Next week I am going to get out my explanation chapter out so please ask any questions below. I might also get out a regular chapter if I have time for it. Q & A Q: What is up with that reincarnation? Why is he so calm? What parts were dreamlike? A: I chose to use this method of reincarnation because of my personal issues with reincarnation stories. My first problem is that I don''t want to read a story about a 5 or 10 year old child, so instead John Doe just experienced limbo, but not the mind breaking empty kind. This works to calm him down as well, because the 13 days he watched, were full 24 hour days. He most certainly was confused, angry, sad, etc, but he managed to work through most of his issue. The dreamlike parts are the 13 days he spent not truly in control of his body, because that was the most surreal and confusing part of his reincarnation. Q: The Zodiac in this world seems pretty strange. A: The Zodiac is one of my personal creations. I originally wanted the entire zodiac to be mythical beasts, but I ran out of ideas before that could happen. Instead, I picked animals that are from the top of their respective food chain. The Tiger and the Serpent are meant to represent symbolically yin and yang, while the others each have their own meanings as well. I pulled my ideas from both the western and chinese zodiacs, along with a few animals that I wanted to add in. Q: What was up with the Coyotes trying to kill him during the test? A: Well, I am going only give potential speculations. Coyotes do normally live in small family groups, but they will work together at times as well, so that behavior was semi-normal. The coyotes wanted to chase the meat that Shiga threw from the tree, but the alphas kept them around the tree. Clearly the alphas/coyotes wanted something from Shiga, and later when they were circling the tree they were also being scared off by something. The rest may or may not be revealed, but know that the examiners did not send the coyotes after Shiga for the test. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Q: Why did you do the tests the way you did? A: The tests are multipurpose. In the story they are used to determine people''s futures, which is used to allow some social mobility, show of young geniuses, and give many of the smaller sects or schools a chance to get students for themselves. The first test is similar to the many awakening rituals that are found in other reincarnation stories. The third test is the most important because it is used to determine someone''s motivation/determination with their talent. The second test is used to test how people truly react under stressful situations and to prime people for the third test by putting them in a desperate situation, even if it is only superficially. The tests were also meant to help me work on my writing style and make sure I could keep putting out chapters. ~~Author¡¯s Notes~~ Sorry for the long break! Things came up like flooding, family, and procrastination, so I ended up going on unannounced hiatus. I am back, and will be continuing to write the story. I may take another hiatus in ~15 chapters because I am not sure what will happen after that and I will need time to get ahead on the story again. Please ask any more questions that you may have and I will make another Q & A after another arc ends (Yes, the tests were their own arc. Its called the prologue). Chapters 7 & 8: Moving Forward Shiga stepped out of the room, several eyes fell on him. He still looked composed, and did not seem to have had difficulties in the test. The proctors directed him back to the main square. A few hours later, and everyone had finished the test. Many people were still pale or shaking, but most people had recovered from the test. The proctors eventually began to call out people''s results. ¡°Shiga Wateya! Excellent written results! Excellent practical results!¡± Shiga had started the tests off about average, and he finished only a small amount above everyone else. The test proctors finished announcing everyone¡¯s results. He followed the crowd out of the plaza. He met his parents near the exit. ¡°You did great Shiga!¡± (Mom) ¡°You always were cautious and prepared a lot, but it looks like your preparations paid of this time!¡± (Dad) ¡°Don¡¯t tease him! Here, have some money and go enjoy the festival. We will meet you at home. Make sure to enjoy yourself and make some new friends. Remember though, you never know who is a powerful expert or will become one.¡± (Mom) ¡°I¡¯ll be careful.¡± Shiga promised while taking the money from his mom. There were a total 500 peros, a decent sum of money to him. Shiga waved to his parents as he walked into the festival. The exams he took attracted a lot of attention from school and sects, and after doing well on tests many people wanted to celebrate, so many sects, schools, and merchants would set up stalls after the tests, which eventually turned into a festival. Shiga wandered the stalls looking at the different schools and items. He was enjoying himself, but he also was thinking about his discipline. In this world, someone''s discipline was what they refined to gain power. There were the traditional Qi refiners, but anything was refinable. There were plant refiners who specialized in farming and book refiners who worked as scholars. Depending on what someone refined, they would have a unique method of refinement and different specialties. A book refiner, might refine their book by absorbing knowledge from other books, and a power that they could develop from this might be being able to perform rapid calculations or be able to analyze or identify items. While deep in thought, Shiga saw an interesting stall. The merchant was selling bottles, with figures inside. Unlike a ship in a bottle, these bottles contained many different things. One was a grand castle, and another was a set of ruins. There were nature scenes and battles, there seemed to be nothing that the merchant hadn¡¯t shoved into a bottle. Looking at the large variety, Shiga was amazed when he even saw a planet. The planet was mostly green with several oceans, and if he looked close enough there seemed to even be tiny rivers crossing the lands. Shiga picked the item up and asked the merchant how much it would cost. The bottle cost an astonishing 250 peros, but Shiga decided that the bottle was worth it. Shiga went and took a seat while he looked over the planet. A planet would work well with his elements. Earth qi for the ground, wind qi for the air, and life qi for the life on the planet. Shiga thought for a little while, but he decided to become a world refiner. *ding*
Your discipline has been set to World Refiner
Shiga got up and went to look at the rest of the stalls. At one stall that was selling Art and Skill books, shiga found a Skill book labeled [Inner Space Meditation], which creates an inner space where it is possible to train and work. Shiga bought the skill book for 150 peros, leaving him with only 100. As Shiga explored the stalls, he heard a commotion nearby and went to investigate. At the stall were three men and a merchant. The leader was yelling at the merchant. ¡°What do you mean I have to pay for this! You should be glad I broke this garbage before someone actually bought it!¡± (Thug Leader) ¡°You know, maybe you should pay us for the favor of breaking your stuff.¡± (Thug #2) ¡°You¡¯re right! In fact, to show how helpful we are, let''s break everything else too!¡± (Thug #3) ¡°Nonono! Please don''t break anything else!¡± (Merchant) ¡°Excuse me, is something wrong over here?¡± (Shiga) ¡°Nothing you need to concern yourself over.¡± (Thug Leader) ¡°But what if I want to buy something? If you break everything, what am I supposed to buy?¡± (Shiga) ¡°How about we break you as well then?¡± (Thug Leader) After hearing that, Shiga didn¡¯t even hesitate when he kicked the man in his abdomen. The man folded over, and Shiga kicked him on the side of his head too. The thug leader collapsed to the ground unconscious, and Thug #2 just stared. Thug #3 shouted in anger, and rushed at Shiga. Shiga kicked out at the man, but he dodged to the side. Before he could react though, Shiga hooked the kick back and hit him on the side of his head as well. He didn¡¯t fall unconscious, but he was barely standing. ¡°You guys should just leave before things get any worse¡± (Shiga) ¡°S-s-sorry to u-upset you s-sir¡± (Thug #2) Thug #2 picked up the unconscious leader, and while supporting thug #3, slowly walked away. ¡°Thank you so much for taking care of that! Those thugs were trying to completely ruin my stall.¡± (Merchant) The merchant was a young woman who was a little over a meter and a half tall. She had a calm appearance, and despite what had just happened she was had a smile on her face. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯m Shiga Wateya.¡± (Shiga) ¡°My name is Noya Sanoshi! I really can¡¯t thank you enough for saving my stall. This is currently everything I have to sell.¡± (Noya) ¡°If you ever need help, please contact me.¡± (Shiga) ¡°It should be me who is saying that! Here, take this sound talisman. Now you can contact me if you need help.¡± (Noya) ¡°Thnaks. I hope we can meet again soon.¡± (Shiga) After saying goodbye to each other, Shiga walked back to the festival. Shiga wandered around, buying some snacks and looking at the stalls. Shiga bought a journal and a magic quill before he left for home. *Narration Break* The Wateya family was a noble family of cultivators who hereditarily had the Life Attribute. The family was still considered a small one, but they could compete with larger ones because the Life Attribute allowing them to grow many alchemical herbs that sold for large amounts of money. The Wateya family had a decent reputation and always had alchemists buying their supplies. *Narration Return* Stolen novel; please report. When Shiga arrived home, his father ran out to meet him. ¡°Shiga! Are you alright? I heard about the fight you got into! Those thugs need to be punished! What did they look like? Did you catch their names?¡± (Dad) ¡°Dear! As you can see he is fine! You don¡¯t need to go catch those thugs. If you had finished listening to the story the guard YOU hired told you, then you would know that Shiga handled it himself!¡± (Mom) Shiga¡¯s dad was Tiko Wateya, a tall man with disorderly green hair. He was extremely protective of Shiga and Mepa, Shiga¡¯s mom, usually had to step in to stop him from arranging a manhunt. Mepa was a slightly short woman with light blue hair. Shiga went inside to his room while his mom tried to calm down his dad. The next morning Shiga told his dad that he wanted to go into secluded cultivation for a while. ¡°Secluded cultivation, huh? You head to your cultivation room. I¡¯ll make sure no one disturbs you. (Or they will face the price¡­)¡± (Tiko) Ignoring the mumbled threat, Shiga went into his cultivation room. The room was slightly small. There was a meditation mat next to one wall, and adjacent to it was a desk that Shiga placed his journal and magic quill on. In the middle of the room was a large practice mat. On the other walls were some bookcases with reference books, a rack of practice weapons, and a few dummies. The meditation mat was inscribed with a Qi gathering inscription, which caused the whole room to also have large amounts of ambient Qi. Shiga sat down and began to meditate. *Meditation POV* How to do this. First I am going to need to create a planet. I could create a large cloud of qi and slowly condense it into a planet. That wouldn¡¯t work well, it wouldn¡¯t fit into my dantian. Perhaps, I could create an outline and slowly fill it in instead? That would be too fragile at the beginning. Instead, how about I start with a small planet and grow it into a full size one. That would work, but it would definitely slow down a lot as the planet grew. It is better to have a solid foundation though. It¡¯ll have to do for know. *End Meditation POV* Shiga began to condense a ball of Earth Qi in his dantian. After two hours of hard work, Shiga had reached a meter in diameter. Looking closely though, he could see the Earth Qi slowly dispersing into his body. Shiga quickly began to wrap his tiny planet in a large blanket of Wind Qi. After another two hours, Shiga had managed to form a large covering of Wind Qi for the planet. Shiga spent the next six hours expanding the planet again until it reached a meter and a half in diameter. He would have been faster, but he needed to very carefully match the rate at which he added Earth and Wind Qi. With too much Earth the Wind couldn¡¯t protect it and Earth would dissipate, while with too much Wind the Earth couldn¡¯t hold it all close to the planet and the Wind Qi would dissipate as well. Satisfied with his current progress, Shiga stopped to eat before taking a rest. When he woke up, Shiga recorded everything he knew about world refinement into his journal. Shiga decided that he needed a good Art to pair with his world refinement. Looking through the library that was on one of the walls, Shiga found [Sky and Earth Art]. The art was tailored to people with Wind and Earth Affinities, but it was also a pretty simple art. [Sky and Earth Art] was divided into two forms. The first form was {Sky Grinds Down the Mountain}. It focused on dodging the opponent''s attacks and and slowly wearing them down with lots of fast, but light strikes. After several hours, he had managed to understand the basics of {Sky Grinds Down the Mountain}. Shiga decided to end his closed door cultivation and headed outside again. ¡°Young master Shiga! Your father told me to tell you that all of the School offers have been sent to your room for you to look over.¡± (Servant) ¡°Thank you. I will head there now.¡± (Shiga) Shiga grabbed a snack, and went back to his room. There were several letters on top of his desk, and when he looked closer, Shiga saw that they were all from different schools, offering him a place to study. Shiga ignored most of the small schools, and was left with: Shiga looked at all of the sects very carefully. He eliminated the Dao Temple Sect because it wouldn¡¯t be very helpful to his discipline. The Moon Tower School was also not very attractive, despite being one of the larger schools that made an offer. Instead Shiga was interested in the Red Forest Sect and the Lone Mountain Sect. The Red Forest Sect appealed to his Life attribute, and it would be easier to survive there if something went wrong, but the Lone Mountain Sect was better for his Earth Attribute and would have better effects for training his body. Shiga Decided to go with the Red Forest Sect because it actually had all of his Attributes in decent quantities, while the Lone Mountain Sect was definitely lacking in Life Attribute and mountains are some of the hardest places to survive in. Having made his decision, Shiga began to prepare for the long journey to the school.
Shiga Wateya2
World RefinerNo SchoolNo Title
Body12Mind15Soul18
ARTS [Sky and Earth Art] - 1 +{Sky Grinds Down the Mountain} - 1
SKILLS [Storm Horse''s Kick] - 1 [Inner Space Meditation] - 1
~~Author Notes~~ Well, here is your chapter for the weekend. I made it a double chapter to make up for the unannounced break and so that when someone reads 8 chapters, there are actually 8 chapters to read. If you have any questions, please ask them. Comments are welcome! Chapter 9: The Red Forest Sect Shiga slowly prepared to go to the [Red Forest Sect]. His family had already sent a response to the sect saying that Shiga had decided to join the school. Shiga spent the rest of the week cultivating his planet and packing his things. He filled his bags with various things such as clothes and preserved foods. Shiga also packed an emergency pack that had rope, a knife, netting, some food, a fire starter, and some medical supplies. Eventually a letter came back from the sect telling the Wateya family that Shiga had been accepted. Shiga¡¯s dad Tiko rented him a high quality crane magic beast to ride to the sect. Shiga said goodbye to his parents before getting on the crane and setting off. Shiga had ridden on a plane a couple of times before he reincarnated, but while the crane magic beast was much slower and flew lower than a plane, looking out of a plane¡¯s windows couldn¡¯t possibly compare to riding on a magic beast. He could see everything around him and had to squint slightly in the oncoming wind. With the crane magic beast, Shiga would reach the sect in the night if he flew without stopping, but Shiga didn¡¯t want to fly at night, and the crane would need to rest before then. As Shiga flew over the countryside, he started to train his Wind Attribute by moving the wind away from his face so that he could look around normally. It took Shiga half an hour to figure out how to do it with the wind constantly whipping past his face. After that Shiga could only keep it up for an hour before he began to run out of energy. It was about noon by that time, so Shiga brought the crane magic beast to the ground. They landed in a small clearing next to a well maintained road. He fed the crane some of the special food he had packed and then had lunch himself. After eating, Shiga meditated to recover some of his energy before getting back on the crane magic beast. They set off once more while Shiga tried to keep the wind out of his face again. Shiga had gotten better at the technique and managed to go for an extra half hour before Shiga needed another break. This time Shiga set them down next to a creek. They both helped themselves to the refreshing water before setting off again. Shiga set off again and simply decided to use this time to cultivate his planet. Shiga cultivated until the sun became low in the sky. When Shiga noticed that the sun was getting low, he began to look for a suitable place to camp. Shiga spotted a clearing in a forest and decided to go down there. There hadn¡¯t been any roads, paths, or signs of civilization for almost two hours, so the chance of someone being nearby was very low. Once he landed in the clearing, Shiga began to set up a camp. He dug a shallow circle in the ground, lined it with stones, and built a fire inside. Shiga made sure to get the driest wood and leaves that he could find to help reduce smoke. Once the fire was going, Shiga put a small pot over it with some water he had left over from the creek. The stew was delicious, and after eating Shiga rolled out a pad and laid down on top of it. He stared at the clear sky and fell asleep quickly. The next morning, Shiga had another serving of stew before packing everything up. He woke up the crane and they set off towards the school once again. Shiga practiced keeping the wind out of his face again, and managed to last a strenuous two hours. Having exhausted himself, Shiga had the crane land next to a small river so that they could get more water, and so Shiga could recover. Not too much later, the crane was flying again. Shiga had the crane fly the rest of the journey without stopping. Shiga reached the sect just before noon. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. He landed in a clearing near the sect and sent the crane back home. Walking up, Shiga was awed by the tall red gates. They looked as if they were made from full logs and painted red. Above the tall gate was a sign proudly displaying [Red Forest Sect]. There was a small, but steady stream of people walking into the sect. Shiga followed them to the dorms. After proving their identity, every new sect member was assigned to a dorm room. Shiga was assigned to building 1254 and when he arrived, he found some luggage from who he assumed was his roommate. Shiga didn¡¯t find his roommate in the dorm, so he just started to unpack. The dorm was a smallish building, with 2 rooms, a courtyard with a well, a small cooking area, and a spare room. When he finished unpacking everything, Shiga went out to look around the sect. [Red Forest Sect] was located inside of a large forest called the Blazing Forest. Most of the dorms were scattered around the outer edges of the sect. There were lots of paths, and different areas for meditation. Closer to the center of the sect, were all of the sects important areas. They were divided up into several categories including: Shiga only took a cursory glance at everything before going to the food area. He bought a bowl of noodles, and sat down to eat. After enjoying the delicious noodles, Shiga went back to his new home to get some rest and finish unpacking. ~~Author Note~~ Finally got this chapter up. I missed last week because of alot of things, and I will probably be doing irregular releases for the time being. I''m going to try and go for a chapter a week, but it probably won''t work out that well. On another note, we are finally beginning the new arc! This one is going to be much longer, but it is going to start showing off alot of things. Any questions are welcome! Chapter 10: Exploring the Sect As Shiga was about to enter his dorm from getting lunch, he heard noises from inside. When he opened the door, the dorm was a picture of chaos. Things were strewn across the floor, and every drawer and cabinet were hanging open. Shiga could hear someone going through things in one of the rooms further inside. Shiga left the door open in case he needed to run away. Slowly making his way over to the room, Shiga could hear muttering but he couldn¡¯t tell what the person was saying. Slowly easing the door open, Shiga saw a boy his age going through his roommate¡¯s things. ¡°Hey!¡± (Shiga) ¡°Gaah! Who are you?!¡± (Mystery Boy) The boy shot up and whirled around. He was very tall, almost a head above Shiga, but he looked like he was half starved. His hair was a spiky mess of light blue, and his eyes were the same. ¡°I should be asking you that!¡± (Shiga) ¡°No! This is my dorm! Who are you?!¡± (Mystery Boy) ¡°I¡¯m Shiga and this is my dorm!¡± (Shiga) ¡°You must be the other person assigned here! My name is Jido Turaka. Oh! Before I forget, why did you sneak in here and startle me?¡± (Jido) ¡°I thought someone was in here robbing me! Everything looks as if a group of bandits came to steal it all. Why did you throw everything around?¡± (Shiga) ¡°I was just looking for¡­ looking for ¡­ um¡­ ¡­ I don¡¯t really remember what it was. Oh well! It probably wasn¡¯t too important!¡± (Jido) ¡°I see. I am going to go rest for the rest of the day.¡± (Shiga) ¡°Alright! See you at the opening ceremony tomorrow!¡± (Jido) After saying his goodbyes, Jido quickly set off to go explore the sect. Shiga practiced a bit more before having dinner and going to sleep. The next morning when Shiga woke up, Jido was already out of the dorm. Shiga made some breakfast before quickly making sure he had everything, including his new student badge. Satisfied with his preparation, Shiga set out to the dueling arena that was near the center of the sect. The dueling arena was made to fit 3,000 people which dwarfed the 500 new students who all fit in one section. After Shiga took a seat, the headmaster stepped into the arena. He appeared to be older, but he also gave off a strong vigor and aura of strength. ¡°SILENCE!¡± (Headmaster) His voice instantly smothered the other conversations that had been occurring. The headmaster paused and waited to make sure all of the conversations had stopped before speaking again. ¡°Now then, as the headmaster of the Red Forest Sect I welcome you all! Our sect was founded so that the new generations could progress and that is the only way to remain! At every solstice you will all be required to demonstrate progress and if it is insufficient you will be expelled! We will not leave you without aid though! Your student badges will permit you to borrow one scroll from the scroll library and one pill from the alchemy pavilion every month! May you progress and gain much from it!¡± (Headmaster) With the conclusion of the speech, everyone began to make their way out of the dueling arena and most people went to either the Scroll Library or the Alchemy Pavilion. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Shiga decided that it would be better to avoid the crowd so he decided to go over to the armory. The armory was a very large stone building that was built like a fort. Walking inside the building had 3 sections. There was a weapons area, an armor area, and a large smithy. When Shiga walked in, the head smith came over. He was a huge man, easily over 200 cm tall, with bulging muscles and a bald head. ¡°Student badge¡± (Head smith) His rumbling voice gave off the idea that he wouldn''t take no for an answer. Shiga politely put his badge into the man''s outstretched hand. He stared at the badge for a few seconds. ¡°So you are a new disciple. You may address me as Grandsmith Han. Your student badge will get you one free weapon, but in the future you will need to pay. Go take a look at the weapons. The weapons will get larger as you keep the wall to your right.¡± (Grandsmith Han) Shiga politely took back his student badge and went to look at the weapons. The weapons started with gloves, needles, and claws and grew in size until there were spears, halberds, and giant hammers that were taller than Shiga. Shiga had actually looked into weaponry back when he was preparing for the apocalypse, because he knew that it would be necessary and that guns were not good in the long term. He had decided that a machete or similar weapon was the best because it was not too heavy for him to use, and was very good in a variety of situations. Looking at the racks of weapons, Shiga was able to find a Golok, which is similar enough to use. There were a few different Goloks, so Shiga looks carefully at each one. Shiga ended up choosing one that was a sword breaker on its back side. This only meant that there were small slots, sort of like a comb, which are used to catch a sword and break it. The handle was comfortable wrapped in some magic beast leather, and the pommel was an engraving of a tiger¡¯s head. Shiga picked up the Golok to make sure that it was weighted properly, and he found that it was in fact much heavier than the other Goloks. It wasn¡¯t a problem now that Shiga was a cultivator, so he showed it go Grandsmith Han before leaving the building. He had wanted to grab some armor as well, but looking at the weapon prices stopped that idea in its tracks. Looking around the sect some more, Shiga noticed that most of the people who had gone to the Alchemy Pavilion were now leaving, so he decided to go see what else was there. Golok Sword Breaker Chapter 11: Learning New Things Shiga slowly made his way over to the alchemy pavilion. The inside of the main building still had a crowd inside of it, but most people seemed to be leaving. The main building was where people could get pills, information, and other alchemy items. It was also directly connected to the alchemy treasury behind it. The main building was also connected to several alchemy labs and pavilions. People who wanted to experiment with alchemy could simply request one of the labs. Shiga was exploring some of the courtyards when he came across one where a lecture was being given. It talked about the basic requirements of alchemy and was being taught by a kind looking old woman. Shiga had a slight interest in alchemy, so he took a seat off to the side and began to pay close attention. ¡°After you use proper tools to prepare ingredients for alchemy, you will need to combine them. The most common method of doing so is in a cauldron. By placing ingredients in and carefully heating them up, you will be able to mix them, while removing many of the impurities because of the heat. Other methods do exist, but they are all something that you should take time to look into on your own. So all an alchemist really needs is a mortar and pestle as well as a cauldron. Many alchemists will use other tools, but most of them should not be used until one possesses a strong understanding of the fundamentals.¡± (Old Woman) ¡°You said most, so does that mean that there are other tools that we can use early on?¡± (Student) ¡°*Sigh* Yes, there are other tools that can be used early on, but you should stick with the basics for now. If you really want to do something more, you can get an alchemy flame. Alchemy flames are special flames that are primarily used by alchemists, but do not think that is all they are good for. There are thousands of different types of flames, some of which are only good for fighting. If you have any interest in alchemy though, I would not recommend them. The sect has a large collection of alchemy flames, and students can get one for free if they ask. In order to get an alchemy flame, all you need to do is to take part of the flame and open your dantian. Then you must take the flame and put it into your dantian. Be careful though! If your cultivation goes against the flame there will be a backlash, so make sure to pick a flame that suits you.¡± (Old Woman) The old woman kept talking more about alchemy, but it was beyond Shiga who had never done anything involving alchemy. Instead, Shiga left the pavilion and went to explore more of the sect. Shiga was walking down the path outside the pavilion when he noticed the scroll library. It was getting late, but Shiga decided that there was enough time to browse the scroll library. He walked over to the large building. It was made mostly of stone, but it was still several stories tall. The large wooden doors to the library were closed, but when Shiga pushed on one it smoothly opened to reveal the library. There was a kind looking young man reading a book near the entrance. He was only slightly tall, but he had a well defined build that made him seem even larger. He had a face that would put people naturally at ease with his hair neatly tied back and a slight smile on his face, but when he looked up Shiga immediately felt pressured by him. Suddenly the pressure stopped when the young man began to talk. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Ah. Hello. I am librarian Xie. You must be a new student correct? Take as much time as you need to pick out a scroll or book. You will only be able to take one though, and only from the first level. Don¡¯t do anything to disturb the library or try to take more and everything will be fine.¡± (Librarian Xie) ¡°Thank you senior.¡± (Shiga) Shiga walked further into the library. The floor contained packed shelves with only enough room for two people between them. There wasn¡¯t any detailed ordering system to the scrolls on the first floor, but everything was grouped based on what was for. Shiga wandered the shelves, picking up random books and scrolls before putting them back. Shiga viewed various scrolls, but nothing was standing out to him. He already had a decent fighting art and he didn¡¯t need anything to help his cultivation at the moment. Shiga took a look at body refining skills, but nothing seemed too great. As he was looking around, Shiga found a shelf full of scrolls based around companions. For some of the skills the companion needed to be a person, but for most of them a magic beast would work just fine. Shiga looked at several but ended up deciding on [Companion of Life] which included all parts of taming. The skill also allowed the tamer and their companion to create a special bond that allowed for easy communication, and potentially even fusion techniques. Shiga grabbed the manual and brought it to Librarian Xie who looked up for a few seconds before nodding his head and going back to his book. Shiga walked out of the building, quietly closing the door behind him, and made his way back to the dorms. While he walked, Shiga pondered on what magic beast he should tame for the [Companion of Life] Technique. His ideal creature was one that would work well with his cultivation while still having a sense of majesty and power. No matter how well a mouse or something similar might work for him, there was no way he would settle for something that tiny and pathetic. Something like a majestic tiger or awe inspiring dragon would be great, but tigers tend to be flame attributed and dragons only lay eggs at most every century for some of the weaker types. Besides, both of them were just too rare to hope for. Shiga pondered what magic beast to tame some more... Chapter 12: Herb Research Author Note: I am back and I will hopefully be posting more regularly. I got a little excited and posted these three chapters really close together, but in the future I will try to pace myself more. Also, the Water Owls are now going to be a thing. I really wish I had thought of that when I originally wrote the basic story, but I am going to write them in. Enjoy the story and Comment your thoughts! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When Shiga arrived at the dorm, he quickly went to his room and began to thoroughly read all of [Companion of Life]. After almost an hour, Shiga set down the technique and began to meditate. The overall technique was deceptively simple, yet it was truly very profound. The process only had four steps, the first being to find a suitable companion. The technique was incredibly open in what it would allow; the technique had listed examples of animals, plants, and even some magic constructs that the technique would work with. Shiga thought some more on what to choose as a companion. He still wanted something with majesty and power, but more important was that his companion could grow and survive on its own. He was getting a companion to help him and he would prefer to keep that companion for as long as possible without worry. First Shiga pondered the zodiac for a companion. A Camel or Elephant would work well, but they were almost as rare as tigers and dragons. Shiga tried to think from a different direction. Perhaps he could get a plant instead. The thought of a tree that had grown to be like the mighty Yggdrasil was certainly appealing, but it was too stationary and Shiga certainly wasn¡¯t going to let anything take root in himself! Instead Shiga pondered creating a magic construct, but he decided that nothing he could create would be inherently better than the real thing. Since nothing else sounded very good Shiga considered a magic beast. Several potential beasts immediately came to mind, but Shiga decided to put off on setting his heart on a specific magic beast. To find a magic beast though, Shiga would need to venture into the wilderness around the sect. Shiga stopped meditating and went over to his bags. After searching through them he was unhappy to discover that he had barely any spare money, so he wouldn¡¯t be able to go to the bazaar or prepare until he got more money. Shiga wasn¡¯t very pleased about that but he couldn¡¯t do anything about it today so he focused on cultivating his planet for the rest of the day. The next day Shiga cultivated until noon as well. After a quick lunch, Shiga went over to the Alchemy pavilion and entered one of its many labs. The lab was a small room with a large table in the middle of the room, shelves and counters on all of the walls, and a small cauldron on the far wall. Everything in the room was neatly placed away. The main island table was mostly clear, but it had a few small baskets filled with common herbs that the sect provided as well as some basic tools. Shiga identified a cutting board and knife as well as a mortar and pestle, but all the other tools on the table and in the rest of the room were pretty foreign to him. Shiga had been a college junior when he suddenly reincarnated so he had learned the basics of chemistry, but in this world with magic beasts and Qi, Shiga doubted things worked exactly the same. For all he knew the universe wasn¡¯t even made up of atoms anymore! What Shiga did have from his education on Earth was a firm basis in logical thinking. Earth had only developed as far as it had because of the applications of logic. Here though, things had developed from entirely different directions, but that didn¡¯t mean Shiga¡¯s knowledge was useless. He had processes for figuring things out that had been developed for CENTURIES on Earth and his knowledge of basic physical processes would put many scholars here to shame. Shiga opened up a new journal and began to write, in English. This journal would detail all of his alchemical research in a way that no one else could read. (From here on the chapter is all about Herb research. If you find it boring skip to the next chapter.) His final goal was to produce pills and sell them at the bazaar for money, but for now he would go about studying the basic herbs that the sect provided to see what he could do with them. The first basket Shiga picked up was labeled {Qi Grass}. ~~~~ Qi Grass It is a tall and thick grass with a vibrant green coloring. It continuously gives off a small stream of Qi. The blade is fibrous and much stronger than normal grass. The blade also absorbs small amounts of Qi, but does so extremely slowly. The roots are surprisingly small and fragile. The roots also possess an ability to absorb Qi, but it surpasses that of the blade by leaps and bounds. I suspect that this means Qi Grass is a sign of large amounts of Qi in the ground, which may point to treasures. I shredded the blades of several grasses and turned them into paper. The paper had a decent resistance to tearing, burning, and water and most importantly was able to withstand Qi meaning that the paper could be used for inscriptions and talismans. I tried to do the same with the roots but they are too fragile normally. If they were strengthened I believe that the paper would be of even higher quality. I crushed some grass in the mortar and pestle. The dust had a large concentration of Qi in it might be useable as a pill. I burned some of the dust and it created a surprisingly strong and long lasting flame. It may be good for camping, and possibly in a desperate situation as a dust explosion. By mixing water into the dust, I was able to get a thick paste that could easily be rolled into a pill. I tried one and it resulted in a gentle recovery of Qi. I made some of the paste and tried to remove as much of the moisture as I could by using a flame and, after a couple fiery attempts, managed to create a smaller and harder pill. I consumed one and it also recovered even more Qi than the other one, but it took more time to activate. Most likely because it took more time to break down in my stomach. Finally I tried to press Qi grass and I got a small amount of juice. I first tried to dehydrate the juice, but it only burned. The flame was similar to burning normal Qi grass, so I tried burning the grass that had been pressed. The pressed grass burned more like normal grass this time so I believe that the juices are what store the Qi, which is the only difference when compared with normal grass. When I mixed the juice into the paste though, the resulting pill was more powerful, both in normal and baked forms. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.~~~~ As soon as he finished cleaning up the lab, Shiga went outside. It was getting close to sunset, so he ate a small dinner and cultivated a small amount before going to bed. The next day though, Shiga immediately went over to the lab after breakfast. This time instead of going for the Qi Grass, Shiga went over to a basket labeled {Sun Lily} ~~~~ Sun Lily It is a flower that grows on a single stalk to about knee height. There are some leaves on the stem but they are only near the base and look similar to grass. The main flower has 6 petals radiating out from the center. The petals are wide and brightly colored. The center of the flower has a red-orange color while the edges of the petals shift to being yellow. The whole flower slightly glows and gives off heat as well as a strong and calming aroma. The petals are only as strong as those on a normal flower, but are hot to the touch. The stem of the flower is remarkably stiff and strong, almost like a green tree instead of a flower stem. It doesn¡¯t give off heat like the flower, but it is warm to the touch. The leaves at the base of the stem do not seem to be special other than being more durable than would be expected. The roots are surprisingly large and are also warm to the touch. They appear to have some ability to absorb Qi but it is even worse than the blades of Qi Grass. I tried making all parts of the flower into paper, but only the leaves succeeded and the result was barely any better than normal paper. Out of curiosity I tried to burn the different parts of the plant. Overall, the plant had a hot, but extremely slow burn. The roots burned the longest, the petals the hottest, and the stem was an average of the two. I believe that this was because the plant is not creating the heat itself, but instead stores large amounts of heat, mostly in the roots I suspect, and slowly releases it through the flower. This would explain why the leaves are mostly normal, because only the flower and roots are doing anything special. The stem is also only different because it has to carry the energy through itself, something that the leaves do not do. This also suggests that the energy is absorbed by the flower itself and not the leaves as would be expected. Pressing the plant resulted in barely any juice, so I will put off testing that until another time. I ground some of the flowers, but the dust did not glow or give off a large amount of heat like the flowers did. The dust burned just like the flower though, so it supports that the idea that the flower is not creating or storing any energy. I turned some of the flower dust into paste, but it did nothing as a pill. However, using just the paste on your skin will cause it to warm up, most likely from body heat. This may be useful in colder environments. I turned the roots into dust as well and this dust was extremely flammable. The grinding process seems to have broken down some of the roots natural ability to contain energy which makes the dust explosive. I wrapped some of the dust in paper and got firecrackers. The leaves and stem did not seem to have any other effects. ~~~~ Shiga finished writing down the last note in his alchemy book before beginning cleanup. He had been hoping that the Sun Lily would have had more uses. It probably needed to be mixed with other ingredients to do anything useful, he mused as he disposed of waste. Shiga then had a quick lunch before going over to the last basket. It was marked {Ice Hibiscus}. ~~~~ Ice Hibiscus It is a flower that grows on stalks, usually 3 flowers because the stalk branches. It has many wide and flat leaves all along the stalk. The flowers are very wide, almost flat. The petals are purple, but almost clear, but the veins on the petals make the shapes of a snowflake. The flowers are extraordinarily fragile. They give off a refreshing aroma. The stem is also very fragile, not as fragile as the flowers, but still fragile. It is cold to the touch, and seems to suck the warmth out of whatever it touches. The leaves are very stiff, and ridiculously sharp. They easily cut me when I accidentally brushed up against them. They are also slightly warm. They are at a similar temperature to the body, which makes them hard to feel. Additionally, the leaves appear to be coated in an anesthetic which numbs the skin. The anesthetic wears off quickly though, and instead becomes a strong irritant. Nothing too painful, but decidedly unpleasant. I believe that this is the anesthetic breaking down within the body. If it was possible to stop the breakdown or remove the pain, this might work as an anesthetic but otherwise I would NOT consume anything made with the leaves. The roots are actually surprisingly strong compared to the rest of the plant. They are actually more like a fibrous extension of the stalk with small offshoots. I only tried to turn the roots into paper because the flower and stalk are too fragile while the leaves are covered in unpleasantness. The resulting paper was not much different from normal paper, other than being very resistant to burning. I burned every part of the plant, or tried too. The plant is almost impossible to light on fire and any fire that is started quickly dies out. I remembered that many cold plants on Earth used sap instead of water because water was easier to freeze than water, so I tried pressing the plant. I got a large amount of sap which is very cold. It has a refreshing taste. It also works well to help clot blood as I found when I got some on a cut I got from the leaves. I ground the plant instead and got a paste out of it. It seems to be similar to the sap, but it can be molded into a pill. I suspect that the pill would be good for internal injuries, but I would need to test it. ~~~~ Shiga cleaned everything up again, this time without selecting a new herb. He had done research on all of the herbs that were in the lab. He still needed to make things to sell, but that could be put off until tomorrow. Chapter 13: The Ring This morning when Shiga went to the lab, it wasn¡¯t to study the herbs. Today he would be making various things to sell at the bazaar. The first thing that Shiga made were Qi Grass papers. While he waited for the paper to dry, Shiga also ground up some Qi grass and put it in a small bottle. Shiga then made several Qi Recovery pills, both normal and baked. After he finished everything he could with Qi Grass, Shiga moved on to the Sun Lilies. After making several firecrackers, Shiga started working with the Ice Hibiscuses. The first thing he did was carefully remove all of the leaves. He still got cuts, but it was worth it. Shiga put the now loose leaves into some small boxes made for pills. Taking the now leafless plants, he pressed them and put the sap into bottles labeled as blood clotting cream. Shiga grabbed all of his products and ran over the bazaar. It was a large clearing in the forest that had become dirt after all of the people constantly walking through. There were many stalls, all of them filled with various items. Shiga wandered throughout the bazaar. He saw many different weapons, techniques, pills, and other items. He talked to people at various stands and managed to sell all of his Qi Recovery pills for 415 peros. At a different stand, Shiga managed to sell his Qi grass paper as low quality inscription paper for an entire 500 peros. The blood clotting cream earned him the most though. He only had a couple bottles but he managed to sell them for a full 750 peros! Now with 1665 spare peros, Shiga started to prepare for his trip. He bought food, camping supplies, some antidotes, and a map of the surrounding wilderness for 1205 peros. Shiga quickly made his way back to the dorm. When he arrived he saw Jido there, a rare occurrence. ¡°Hey Shiga! You going somewhere?¡± (Jido). ¡°Yeah. I am going to the wilderness around the sect. I¡¯ll probably be gone a while.¡± (Shiga) ¡°Why are you going out there? I can help you get materials if you need them.¡± (Jido) ¡°Thanks for the offer, but no. I picked up a technique from the scroll library and I need to find an appropriate magic beast.¡± (Shiga) ¡°Ah. Ok. See you later then. How long will you be gone?¡± (Jido) ¡°I said it might be a while. I don¡¯t really know. Could be more than a month.¡± (Shiga) ¡°Oh right! Good luck on finding materials then!¡± (Jido) Shiga could only sigh at Jido¡¯s forgetfulness while he finished packing everything up. Once everything was all together, Shiga went back to the lab to make a few more bottles of blood clotting cream. He got back around noon, so he splurged and bought some good food at the relaxation area. After lunch, Shiga cultivated for the rest of the day. His planet had finally reached the size of a very small moon when he stopped to go to sleep for the night. The next morning, Shiga ate a large breakfast before heading to the sect gates. When he got there he saw a small old man quietly reading a book at the gates. ¡°Excuse me; I would like to go explore the wilderness.¡± (Shiga) Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Please let me see your student badge. Shiga Wateya? About how long do you expect to be out?¡± (Old Man) ¡°I¡¯m not too sure. It will depend on my luck, but I don¡¯t think that it will take longer than a month.¡± (Shiga) ¡°Very well. Let me get this gate then.¡± (Old Man). The Old Man walked over to one of the gates that was at least 5 meters tall and with one hand pushed it open. Shiga quickly walked through the gates before politely bowing to the Old Man. The Old Man only smiled and pulled the gate shut once more. Looking around, Shiga saw nothing else but the forest and the sect¡¯s walls. Shiga pulled out his map and checked it before heading off into the woods. Shiga ran through the woods, darting between trees to work on his agility. There were barely any magic beasts very close to the sect, because all of the instructors had driven them away, but after a certain point there were many, many more magic beasts than normal. This was normal for schools and sects, because schools and sects were normally built in places where Qi has congregated, which is very attractive to magic beasts. This leads to a congregation of magic beasts near schools but not overly close to them, almost like a ring. Shiga ran for as long as he could, pushing himself beyond his normal limits with Qi. He used Wind Qi to push himself even faster than normal and by lunchtime Shiga was in the middle of the ring. Shiga stopped to have lunch and recover his Qi. To help recovery, Shiga sprinkled some ground Qi Grass onto his food before he ate. He had just finished eating when suddenly he heard a growl. Quickly jumping up and grabbing his weapon he looked around to find the source of the growl. He found himself faced with a coyote magic beast. It was the size of a normal wolf and its fur was tinted an ominous yellow. The coyote suddenly swiped at shiga, but Shiga managed to roll out of the way. Taking advantage of this, Shiga swiped at the Coyote¡¯s face. He managed to get a glancing blow near its eye, but had to back off because the Coyote immediately turned and bit at him. They slowly circled each other, looking for an opening. The Coyote lunged at Shiga, but Shiga barely dodged to the side, sending attack after attack at the Coyote¡¯s flank. It managed to leap away though, its right flank covered in light wounds. Shiga used [Wind Grinds Down the Mountain] to its fullest to avoid getting hit by the beast. Eventually the Coyote suffered too many injuries and it started to wobble. Taking advantage of the sudden pause in the Coyote, Shiga executed [Wind Splits the Boulder] on the Coyote¡¯s neck, cutting all the way to bone. This was the straw that broke the camel¡¯s back, and the Coyote collapsed onto the ground dead. Shiga took the body to a nearby stream and began to process the body as best as he could. He collected several of the beast¡¯s bones, including its fangs, as well as its pelt and some of the meat. The rest, Shiga was forced to leave behind. Not wasting any time now, Shiga ran off before too many magic beasts came, attracted by the smell of blood. ~~~~ Author Notes: Alright here is the next chapter. I try my best to avoid them, but there is going to be a small time skip to the next chapter. There should be some more world building here in this chapter and in the next one there will be a bit more world building. The reason there hasn''t been to much is because Shiga really hasn''t gone anywhere or done that much if you look back on it. The next chapter should be out next Tuesday but if it isn''t it most likely will not be out Wednesday. I hope you enjoyed and Comment your thoughts! Chapter 14: Quezota Shiga had been exploring the wilderness around the school while looking for a companion for an entire week now. He had managed to avoid most of the strong magic beasts, but there were a few times he had to stand and fight. Sadly, Shiga hadn¡¯t been having much luck in finding any suitable magic beasts. At one point he had come across a rain owl nest, which would have worked very well. All creatures that fly are innately gifted with Wind Attribute which made the Rain Owls work well with him. The owls also possessed a water attribute, something Shiga did not, yet before Shiga could start to bond with one of the chicks, a giant rat magic beast suddenly attacked. Shiga of course would not let his potential companions be killed, so he defended the chicks from the rat. The rat was actually very powerful and slowly began to press Shiga back, but luckily before anything bad could happen one of the adult Rain Owls returned to the nest. It quickly chased off the rat and stared at Shiga. Shiga wanted to try and bond with one of the chicks, but the adult wouldn¡¯t allow him close. Shiga left knowing that the only reason the owl had let him go was because he had protected the chicks. So, he continued to explore the wilderness while searching for a potential companion. Suddenly, while he was debating heading back to the sect, Shiga came across a sunny and rocky clearing. In the clearing there was a clutch of eggs with a small serpent nearby. The serpent looked similar to a large boa, but it had two legs near its head and bright colors that slowly shifted, like a chameleon. Seeing the eggs, Shiga felt hopeful that he might have found a good companion. Snakes were definitely able to take care of themselves, and generally had at least an Earth Attribute. Carefully and quietly, he climbed a tree and watched the nest. By using Qi to enhance his eyes, Shiga was able to see that some of the eggs would occasionally shift meaning that the snakes inside were very close to hatching. To his horror though, the serpent that had been guarding the nest suddenly ate one of the eggs! Shiga nearly leapt out of the tree then, but the serpent slowly curled back around the nest. It clearly wasn¡¯t the snake that had laid the eggs, but was instead an opportunistic one that was guarding the eggs for food. Shiga worriedly slept in the tree and the next day, he could see the eggs moving more. One of the eggs even had the beginnings of cracks, but before Shiga could even begin to climb out of the tree the serpent ate the egg. There were only a few eggs left, so he quickly descended and worked his way closer to the nest. By this point, all of the eggs had developed some cracks, and one even had a small nose pushing out of the shell. The serpent slowly began to eat another egg while the young snake pushed its way out of the shell. By the time the young snake had finished pushing itself out of the egg the serpent had finished off all of the other eggs. The serpent cautiously eyed the newly born snake. It was more fitting to call it a lizard though. It had four legs and Shiga could just barely make out some feathers matted to the body. The serpent slowly opened its mouth and was about to lunge at the young lizard when Shiga jumped in. He kicked the head of the serpent which had been raised in preparation while also slicing at the body. Luckily for him the serpent was very weak and ran away as soon as it got its bearings. With the serpent gone, Shiga turned back to look at the lizard. The lizard was calmly watching him with bright eyes while it slowly munched on the remains of its egg. Seeing that the lizard was still wet, Shiga gently picked it and the remaining egg up before moving them to a spot of bright sun. The lizard quickly finished its egg and basked in the warm sunlight. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Shiga decided that this little lizard would have to do as a companion. It definitely had an Earth Attribute, but the feathers also suggested that it had a Wind Attribute which worked out spectacularly for him. Quickly, he sat down in front of the lizard which only watched him with one lidded eye. Very carefully, Shiga began to operate the [Companion of Life] technique. The little lizard lifted its head and stared fully at Shiga, its attention attracted by the complex movements of Qi. After finding a companion, the second step of the technique was definitely the most dangerous. A cultivator would have to open their dantian to their potential companion. This was one of the biggest shows of trust a cultivator could perform because by opening his dantian, Shiga was allowing it to connect to the outside world which meant that his entire cultivation base was easily reachable. Cultivators and Magic Beasts could mess with, destroy, or even steal someone''s cultivation easily when a person¡¯s dantian was open. The reason that the technique had Shiga do this was multifold. It acted as an initial show of trust from the cultivator, it allowed the companion to see who they were going to form a bond with, and it prevented the cultivator form forcing a bond on any creature or person that they managed to subjugate. When Shiga opened up his dantian, the lizard merely looked at it curiously before Shiga closed it again and moved onto the next part of the technique. Shiga extended a large portion of his Qi containing all of his attributes, Wind, Earth, Life, and wrapping it around the lizard. Prompted by the technique, the lizard merged its own Qi into it. The lizard possessed a strong Earth affinity and a decent Wind one which boosted Shiga¡¯s own affinity with them and in return the lizard developed its own affinity towards life thanks to Shiga. Then, the final part of the technique began. The large globe of merged Qi moved in between the two and they began to compete to absorb it, deciding the dynamics of their relationship in the process. Shiga was more experienced and powerful, but the lizard was surprisingly cunning and maneuverable, willing to give up a small piece to get a larger one somewhere else. Eventually the contest ended and the surrounding currents of Qi dispersed. Shiga had managed to absorb about 70% of the Qi globe, and thus the lizard got about 30%. According to the technique, this would be roughly similar to a leader and a follower. Now that the whole process was done the little lizard stretched and climbed up shiga before stretching out and resting on top of his head. With its feathers now dry, it looked almost as if Shiga was wearing the feathered head dress of a child''s toy on his head. Smiled and thought for a few moments on what to call the little lizard. He vaguely remembered that there were legends of a feathered serpent from South America on Earth. This serpent was called Quetzalcoatl but Shiga couldn¡¯t remember the exact name and just decided to go with something that sounded similar. ¡°I¡¯m going to call you Quezota¡± (Shiga) The lizard didn¡¯t respond but almost seemed to relax even more on Shiga¡¯s head. Having named Quezota, Shiga got up and set off to return to the sect. Chapter 15: Year Leader Shiga stood before the sect¡¯s gates again. The journey back had been much faster merely because he was going in only one direction, but also because Shiga focused on avoiding trouble. He mostly did it to save time, but he also didn¡¯t want anything to happen to Quezota. Over the course of three days, Quezota had grown a lot. She had originally fit in Shiga¡¯s hand, but now she was as long as his forearm. Her front legs had extended and grown longer feathers too, so she looked similar to a wyvern with feathers. She mostly just laid on top of Shiga¡¯s head and with her increased size she looked almost like a feathered hat if she didn¡¯t move. Shiga moved closer to the gates and saw that there was a rope on the left side and a sign that explained what it was for. Shiga walked over and pulled on the rope. He momentarily heard the sound of a gong being struck before the sounds of the forest reigned once more. Soon after the gates slowly began to open and Shiga quickly walked through. On the inside, Shiga saw the old man again. ¡°Ah, welcome back. You were lucky I take it?¡± (Old Man) ¡°I was definitely lucky. I didn¡¯t come across any strong beasts other than some Rain Owls.¡± (Shiga) ¡°Rain Owls eh? They have any eggs?¡± (Old Man) ¡°They did...Why do you ask?¡± (Shiga) ¡°Just an old superstition from my home. They say that Rain Owls dislike trouble and will only lay their eggs before a time of peace.¡± (Old Man) ¡°I guess we are all lucky then.¡± (Shiga) ¡°I guess so! You had better go and take advantage of it then!¡± (Old Man) Shiga respectfully bowed to the Old Man before heading back to his dorm. As he approached though, he frowned. There wasn¡¯t anything that stood out, but the whole building seemed more worn down. There were some patches of ground that looked smashed, the wood around the doorway had several nicks in it, and the metal plate with the dorm¡¯s number carved in it was bent in the middle. Cautious now, Shiga made his way quietly into the dorm. Looking through the rooms though revealed that Jido wasn¡¯t there so he couldn¡¯t be asked about what happened. Shiga looked around a little bit more, but he couldn¡¯t find anything that suggested what had happened. Deciding to worry about it later, Shiga sat down to cultivate. He carefully expanded his world as much as he could. Quezota climbed down off of Shiga while he was cultivating and began to explore around him, curious about this seemingly new world. Near sunset, Shiga stopped cultivating and looked at his progress.
Shiga WateyaLevel 3
World RefinerRed Forest SectNo Titles
Body12Mind14Soul18
Arts [Sky and Earth Art] - 2 +{Wind Grinds Down the Mountain} +{Wind Splits the Boulder}
Skills [Storm Horse''s Kick] - 4 [Inner Space Meditation] - 2 [Companion of Life] - 1
His world had reached the size of a very small asteroid, but Shiga could already feel his progress slowing because he simply couldn¡¯t get enough Qi. This would definitely become a problem, but Shiga decided that it could wait for now. Feeling hungry, Shiga decided to go to the relaxation area of the sect to grab a meal. While he was walking over though, he noticed that there was a huge crowd at the arena and that multiple bouts were occurring. Shiga curiously walked over to see what was going on and after asking one of the attendees he found out that these were the final matches to determine who was going to be the year leader. The year leader was chosen from one of the disciples that came in every year and they were in charge of all the disciples that came in that year including punishments and maintaining order. Year Leaders also get access to more scrolls, more pills, and a personal training room while they were still the leader. Anyone could challenge their year leader to a fight and if they won they would be the new year leader. If they lost however, the year leader could choose to punish them. Shiga decided that he just wanted to rest so he walked away to get some food. He got a week¡¯s supply of special feed for Quezota and got a magic beast steak for himself. It costed him the rest of the spare money he had from before the trip, but the magic beast steak would be helpful for Shiga¡¯s cultivation because eating magic beast meat had many positive effects. Magic beast meat was naturally filled with Qi which helped with cultivation and it had a tempering effect on the body, naturally strengthening one¡¯s entire body internally and externally. After he finished eating Shiga went back to the dorm and went to sleep. The next morning Shiga simply relaxed in bed until he started feeling hungry again. He got up and hastily put on whatever he could grab, but just as he was about to leave he realized that Quezota wasn¡¯t on his head like normal. Looking around, Shiga found Quezota in the large bag of food that Shiga had just bought which was now missing a lot of the food. Quezota quickly got up when Shiga came over and immediately tried to climb onto his head. Quezota was now almost 3 feet long from nose to tail and the feathers that had previously looked like down, now were extremely long and brightly colored. Quezota¡¯s long front legs were now even longer and easily stretched past the tops of Shiga¡¯s shoulders. Shiga could only sigh defeatedly as Quezota stretched out on top of his head. Luckily Quezota was still relatively light and Shiga was stronger than a normal mortal so it worked out. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. While Shiga was walking into one of the many restaurants in the relaxation area, he suddenly heard someone call out jeeringly behind him. ¡°Nice hat! Who thought you didn¡¯t look stupid enough and gave it to you?¡± (???) Shiga turned around to see who had called out. His gaze landed on an arrogant looking young man. This young man looked well built, but it was hard to tell because of his gaudy robes that seemed to have been splattered with extra fabric and precious metals. The young man had a sneer on his face while some people, who Shiga assumed were ¡®friends¡¯, laughed. Shiga only snorted and quickly replied. ¡°So says the boy dressed as a street performer¡± (Shiga) The young man¡¯s face contorted with rage and all his friends choked with shock when they heard that. ¡°You dare! It seems someone needs to teach you a lesson!¡± (Arrogant Guy) ¡°Like you can without your friends helping you¡± (Shiga) ¡°I AM NERO ARGO! I don¡¯t need anyone''s help to beat you into a pulp!¡± (Nero) By this time a rather large crowd had formed and was watching them. Shiga and Nero both walked over to the arena and climbed up to an open ring while glaring at each other. Before they could start fighting though, an announcer stepped into the ring and addressed the now filling stands. ¡°Well would you look at this! Year Leader Nero Argo is already facing off against a challenger! The challenger is Shiga Wateya! Let¡¯s get this fight STARTED!¡± (Announcer) Shiga mentally groaned while settling into a fighting stance. Nero being the year leader meant that he was the strongest person out of the whole year, or at least out of those who competed for the spot. Despite his misgivings, Shiga launched a kick as soon as the bell rang. Nero countered by punching at Shiga¡¯s incoming kick. The two attacks met and stopped each other. ¡°If this is the limit of your strength, you should give up now!¡± (Nero) Shiga ignored Nero¡¯s jibes and quickly twisted his body to launch [Storm Horse¡¯s Kick] at Nero. Shiga had reached the fourth stage of this technique and it had enough force that it could completely splinter a wooden post. Nero did his best to dodge to the side of the kick, but he was too slow and the kick glanced off of his torso, spinning him around and forcing him to back up a few steps. ¡°It seems you do have some strength, but your kicks cannot stand against my sword!¡± (Nero) While saying so Nero unsheathed his sword. It was a traditional sword with an obscene amount of decorations on the hilt and guard. Shiga merely grinned and drew out his golok. He dashed forward while using {Wind Grinds Down the Mountain} to dodge and parry Nero¡¯s attacks while using his right hand to punch Nero as much as he could. After a few minutes of this Shiga stepped back. They were both breathing hard from the fight, but Shiga looked mostly unharmed while Nero was covered in small cuts and bruises. ¡°You don¡¯t look too good. Surrender?¡± (Shiga) ¡°Not even close! Taste my [Blade of the Setting Sun]!¡± (Nero) Nero rushed forward while swinging his sword which seemed to turn orange like a sunset. Shiga also rushed forward and performed {Wind Splits the Boulder}. There two attacks clashed violently together and sent out shockwaves of Qi leaving the two of them locked together in a stalemate. Suddenly Shiga rotated his blade and caught Nero¡¯s sword in the sword breaker on the back. Shiga used this to pull the sword out of the way while he spun around and launched a backfist at Nero¡¯s temple. Nero was completely caught off guard and immediately fell to the ground from the blow. Shiga kicked away his sword and pointed his own at Nero. ¡°And we have a winner! Shiga Wateya has won the match! He is our new year leader!¡± (Announcer) The crowd cheered while Shiga put his golok away and stepped out of the ring. ~~Author Notes~~ I hope you all liked the chapter! Don''t worry if Shiga seems a little OP. There are a variety of factors here including Nero being tired after the night before, him underestimating Shiga, Shiga using {Wind Grinds Down the Mountain} to wear Nero out, and Shiga getting a boost because of [Companion of Life]. Shiga actually got lucky in this battle because despite current appearances, Shiga has trouble under pressure and trouble developing plans and ideas in combat. Sorry for the late release and sorry about next week too. My family and I are going out of town and I almost certainly will not get a chapter out. Please comment! Ask questions! Help me develop as a writer! Chapter 16: Cultivation The crowd cheered while Shiga put his golok away and stepped out of the ring. The announcer walked over to where Shiga was. ¡°Congratulations! Let me see your badge so that I can add in year leader permissions.¡± (Announcer) When Shiga handed him his badge, the announcer took out a different badge. This new badge glowed for a moment before a stream of light entered into Shiga¡¯s badge. The announcer handed the badge back to Shiga once it stopped glowing. ¡°As a year leader you have new responsibilities and benefits. You must accept every challenge, though you can delay in critical times, and you must also punish those who break the rules. As for the benefits, year leaders each have their own cultivation rooms and they get one additional pill and scroll per month. There will also be a meeting of all of the year leaders every month. Do you understand?¡± (Announcer) ¡°I understand. Thank you.¡± (Shiga) Shiga walked away from the duel arena and went straight back to his dorm. Once there he sat down to meditate and think. He had only won that fight because he had a good matchup. If his opponent had any significant defence the fight could have easily gone the other way because Shiga did not have any powerful attacks. He also needed to prepare for challengers. He would be safe for a small time, but soon enough someone was going to learn a new technique and try to defeat Shiga with it. After pondering, Shiga decided that for now he needed to quickly raise his cultivation. Tomorrow he would look at the different pills he could get as well as the year leader cultivation room. After that, Shiga decided he would also look for magic tools and a powerful attack skill. Having finally come to a decision, Shiga retired for the night. His sleep was peaceful and the next morning he woke up feeling well rested. The first place Shiga went to was the alchemy pavilion. He followed the crowd of disciples there to where he could buy pills. Several disciples stared and whispers abounded, but no one did anything else. After a few moments of waiting in the line, Shiga arrived at a counter in front of a cheerful looking clerk. ¡°Hello and welcome to the pill center Senior Shiga! What types of pills were you looking for?¡± (Clerk) ¡°Greetings. I am looking for pills with large quantities of Qi and body refining pills.¡± (Shiga) ¡°Ok. Hold on a few moments while I go grab the pills. However, we don¡¯t have many level 1 pills of those types. Do you want me to grab the level 2 pills as well?¡± (Clerk) Shiga pondered a moment. He was allowed 2 free level 1 pills a month, but he could use his free pills to get a single level 2 pill. ¡°Just the level 1 pills will be fine for now.¡± (Shiga) ¡°In that case I will be right back.¡± (Clerk) True to his word, the clerk came back a few minutes later with several pills. ¡°These are the different varieties of pills we have. There were 4 pills with large amounts of Qi, but only 1 body refining pill. The first pill is a basic low quality Qi recovery pill. The second is called the firecracker. It has a decent amount of Qi, but it is all fire attributed and it is released very suddenly so not many people take it. The third pill is a low quality Qi attraction pill. It doesn¡¯t have much Qi on its own, but it makes it easier to absorb ambient Qi. The fourth pill is a Qi cleansing pill. It helps to clear out impurities in Qi which has a similar result to increasing Qi. And then there is the body foundation pill. It doesn''t refine the body, but it does help the body to develop more, making it better for those beginning training.¡± (Clerk) ¡°Hmm. I will take the body foundation pill for sure, but for the other¡­ I will go with the Qi attraction pill.¡± (Shiga)Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Ok then. Please let me see your badge for a few moments.¡± (Clerk) Shiga handed the clerk his badge and a few seconds later, the clerk returned it along with the pills Shiga chose. Shiga put the Qi attraction pill in his pocket, but he offered the body foundation pill to Quezota who happily munched on it. The clerk¡¯s eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw Quezota eating the pill. ¡°Gaah! I thought it was just a hat!¡± (Clerk) Shiga merely smiled at the clerk¡¯s surprise before heading out of the pill center. As he stepped out Shiga was noticed once again by the crowd of disciples, but none of them stepped forward to challenge him so Shiga moved on. The cultivation rooms were actually located in a large underground complex within a hill. There was originally a cave system and when the founder of the sect had gone in, he had discovered that it had a large amount of ambient Qi within it. As the sect grew, the caves were expanded and built to look like a building. Within the hill there were thousands of cultivation rooms, but most of them were barely two people wide and long enough to lay down in. As Shiga navigated the labyrinthine halls, he saw many disciples entering and leaving the rooms. Eventually Shiga came to where all of the year leader rooms were located. There were many fewer rooms in this section, but they were all much larger and had inscriptions to attract more Qi. Shiga placed his medallion in the door to the cultivation room to prove he was a year leader and gain entry. The inside was sparsely decorated with a large mat in the center of the room, a bed to one side, and a table on the other. The room was filled with Qi though and when Shiga began to cultivate it poured like a river into his dantian. For the rest of the day Shiga simply sat in the room and cultivated. He grew his planet as much as he could and despite the size it had reached, progress was still going even faster than when he had started cultivating. However this didn¡¯t last because as his planet grew the amount of Qi he required to continue increased exponentially. By the end of the day Shiga could feel his progress slowing down once again. The progress he made was astonishing though. Where his planet had been the size of a small asteroid, it was now the size of a dwarf planet. This huge jump in size had also caused a huge jump in Shiga¡¯s power. His body had not progressed much, but now he had huge amounts of Qi he could channel to increase his power, stamina, and skills. Shiga spent the night in the cultivation room solidifying his planet while passively absorbing more Qi. The next morning he left the cultivation rooms to go look at the bazaar. He had seen how much quicker it was to practice with resources and was going out to look for anything that would help him get more Qi for cultivating. The bazaar was really a large clearing that was filled with thousands of stalls being run by disciples and merchants alike. The bazaar was filled with even more disciples than the cultivation rooms causing it to be filled with the noise of people buying, selling, and haggling over prices. Shiga slowly wandered around the bazaar to get an idea of where things were and what was being offered. Close to the entrance there were lots of consumable charms and pills. Towards the center of the bazaar there were armors and weapons in abundance while the outer edges had almost everything else mixed around. Shiga wasn¡¯t interested in weapons or charms, but items that could help him cultivate so he started looking at the edges of the bazaar. He was astounded by the diversity in magic tools. There were brushes, daggers, rocks, statues, drums, and almost anything else Shiga could think of. At one stall there were several bottles that had inscriptions to collect Qi. Shiga picked one up and haggled the price down to 75 peros. After paying, Shiga was about to move on when his eye was caught by a strange looking drum. It was a wooden drum shaped like a puffed up tube. It was painted with simple geometric designs. The strange part of the drum was that when Shiga hit the drum, it sounded like the beating of a heart. A decidedly disturbing sound to come from a drum, but it caught Shiga¡¯s attention. It was priced at 300 peros, but Shiga managed to haggle it down to 250. Having spent most of his money, Shiga went back to the dorms. There was still day left, so Shiga started looking at the bottle with inscriptions to collect Qi. He could see the inscriptions fairly easily, so he tried to draw them onto a piece of wood that he had. Nothing happened so Shiga tried to draw it with Qi. This time some Qi began to gather, but the inscription quickly faded away. Feeling that he had been making progress, Shiga tried to draw the inscription while laying Qi in the right pattern. It took a couple tries to get the coordination down, but eventually he managed to get the hang of it. The resulting inscription lasted longer, but soon the ink and the Qi both began to fade away. Once it faded away, Shiga tried to carve the simply inscription into the wood while drawing with Qi, but it was nearly impossible and took far too long. Getting a little frustrated, Shiga condensed the inscription out of Qi and practically slammed it into the piece of wood. This ended up leaving part of the inscription engraved in the wood, but because it didn¡¯t hit evenly the inscription wasn¡¯t perfectly engraved. Having realized what he needed to do, Shiga began to practice on pressing the inscription into the wood to engrave it. It took a lot of effort, both to maintain the Qi¡¯s shape and to force it into the wood, yet soon he started to make even more progress. When Shiga was finally able to consistently get a decent inscription through this method he decided to rest. It was already well into the night, so he just put everything away and went to sleep. The next day Shiga went to the bazaar to buy a few normal bottles. Once he had them, Shiga went over to the cultivation rooms. In the cultivation room, Shiga began trying to put the inscription he had copied onto the bottles. One bottle shattered, but the other two managed to survive the process once Shiga started getting the feel for it. He let them sit to slowly gather Qi while he cultivated some more. By the end of the day the bottles disappointingly only had small droplets of condensed Qi. Combined, they barely covered the bottom of one of the bottles. Not great, but it was still progress, and given a month the bottles would be full enough to be of some use. Shiga though about what he should do now while he swirled the Qi around in the bottle. The bottles only required three parts to work: the bottle, the inscription, and the environment. The environment was absolutely the least limiting factor of the bottles for now. The bottles themselves were made of cheap glass, but Shiga didn¡¯t have any money left that he could spend on better materials. That left the inscription as the factor to improve. Shiga shook his head and stood up. He would worry about the efficiency of the bottles in the morning. He still had an extra scroll he could get from the sect because he was a year leader so he could probably find a scroll about inscriptions that he could use.