《An Omniscient Cultivator (LitRPG cultivation)》


 Prologue

    Human anatomy is indeed marvellous. It¡¯s the most beautiful thing God ever made. Every organ, tissue, and system works harmoniously to sustain life. Fall of any of these might destroy that harmony, which was not something as a doctor i wanted to see.


    ¡°Among all the organs, my favourite is the heart,¡± I said to myself, slipping on a pair of sterilised gloves. The dim yellow glow from the lamp illuminated a bare chest.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you ask me why.¡± My gaze fell on the terrified eyes of my patient. Cute. His wide, bulging eyes screamed for mercy, from them tears streamed down to the tape sealing his mouth.


    ¡°Oh, I forgot¡ªyou can¡¯t speak.¡± I giggled, my fingers dancing over the container of tools before selecting a scalpel with a swift movement. The blade glinted, reflecting the panic etched on his face.


    ¡°The heart never stops working on it''s own. And if it does, well, it doesn¡¯t need to work anymore,¡± I murmured, dragging the scalpel down his chest in a precise incision.


    ¡°Mmph! Mmh!¡± Why that muffled cries? I glared at the terrified pair of eyes.


    ¡°Oh, are you trying to say something?¡±


    ¡°Mmhh! Mmph!¡±


    ¡°I heard that now. Loud and clear.¡±


    The sound of the scalpel slicing through skin and muscle was almost surreal. I had to resist the urge to lose myself in the sensation.


    I¡¯m a lifesaver, you know¡ªnot a life taker.


    The incision deepened, exposing the sternum. My hands extended, and one of my boys handed me a retractor.


    I blinked at it, then carefully applied pressure to spread the ribs apart. Ah, the sound. I doubted even moans during sex could bring this kind of euphoria.


    The heart bounced inside the ribcage, a beautiful, defiant rhythm. My eyes trailed over the blocked coronary arteries. A smirk flickered across my lips before disappearing. I always became serious from this step.


    ¡°You¡¯re lucky, y¡¯know. My success rate in this is 100%.¡± My gaze shifted to one of my boys on the left.


    I nodded, prompting him to connect the patient to the machine that would take over his heart¡¯s function until I cleared the blockage.


    It was always a sight to see the heart suddenly stop beating. A rare moment for it to rest from its continuous work of pumping. The heart-lung machine took control, its rhythmic hum filling the tent. My gaze hardened.


    Next came the crucial part¡ªharvesting veins. I moved to the end of the bed, my palm brushing along his leg. Goosebumps appeared on his hairy skin.


    Ah, disgustingly cute.


    I began extracting the saphenous vein from his leg.


    ¡°Oh, wait. What¡¯s his name again?¡±


    ¡°Alex, Miss Doctor,¡± one of my boys replied.


    From Alex¡¯s leg, I prepared the vein to graft around the blocked coronary arteries. The process was physically tiring but mentally refreshing.


    After what felt like an eternity, the moment of excitement arrived. I took the vein graft and expertly attached one end to the aorta and the other to a healthy artery below the blockage.


    I repeated the procedure for the second and third blockages, clapping my hands together when I finished.


    ¡°It¡¯s a success!¡± My cheerful voice echoed in the makeshift operating theatre.


    But my smile faded when I saw Alex¡¯s face. His eyes weren¡¯t filled with gratitude¡ªjust intense fear and pain.


    Why?


    Then it hit me like a wave of ocean. I arched my back and laughed.


    ¡°Oh no. We forgot the anesthesia.¡± My gaze fell on Alex, his trembling form pitiful. I forced a few tears to spill, even though they burned like the entire bottle of water I¡¯d downed earlier.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine, Miss. He looks like someone who doesn¡¯t need it,¡± one of my boys said, thumping his chest.


    Ah, my bad. How could I forget? I wiped my wasted tears and smiled.


    ¡°That¡¯s it," I locked eyes with Alex, said while imitating himself, ¡°You said before, ¡®Even if I die, I¡¯ll never betray my master.¡¯


    How could I let such a loyal man die? This session is free, just for you. So noble of me, right, Alex?¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Right?


    Before closing his chest, I gestured for the tape to be removed from his mouth.


    ¡°You beast¡­¡± he spat, the stench making me cringe.


    ¡°What an ungrateful fella. Miss, how about we re-block his arteries?¡± one of my boys suggested.


    ¡°That¡¯s a great idea.¡± I tilted my head, fake surprised to see horror morphed into first primal expression of a human in Alex, ¡°Eh, why are you nodding like that, Alex? So eager for round two?¡±


    Eventually, Alex broke. He spilled everything¡ªabout his master, Silas Sinclair, heir to the Sinclair family, and their ties to an organ trafficking organization.


    Smart of Silas to pin all the blame on me after he got caught. Not that I cared about a few more countries on my back, but it soured my mood to be blamed without compensation.


    ¡°Let¡¯s pay Silas a visit,¡± I said, turning to my boys.


    ¡°And him?¡± one asked, gesturing to Alex.


    ¡°Oh, his heart needs air to avoid re-blocking.¡±


    We took a flight. Strange, the always-present escorting copters were not in sight. I knitted my brows, glancing at Rishab in the pilot¡¯s seat, who flinched at my gaze.


    So, that¡¯s it.


    ¡°How much?¡± I leaned into my seat, watching his fists clenching on the cyclic stick.


    ¡°It¡¯s not money¡­¡±


    ¡°Then what? Women? You know that¡¯s easy. I never mind airplay¡­¡±


    ¡°Not that¡­¡± His knuckles turned white. I saw something I¡¯d never seen in my boys: defiance.


    But not against me. The frown that had disappeared on me reappeared again.


    ¡°Say that fuckin¡¯ reason!¡± All the illusions I had kept up for hiding my real feelings surged forth like a cyclone.


    I was a hundred percent sure none of my boys would betray me; they had no reason to. Everything a person could dream of, I gave them.


    On this entire Earth, no one but me was worth their loyalty. Then why?


    Anger surged within me, not against them, but against that reason. Whatever it was, I would destroy it.


    ¡°So tell me, Rishab. Don¡¯t force me to pull this trigger.¡± A metallic touch on his neck stiffened him. I put my finger on the trigger.


    Sweat beads tickled down his neck, but he didn¡¯t speak. My patience was thinning, and the pressure on the trigger grew.


    A sickening sound of a bullet piercing through skin rang out. But I hadn¡¯t pulled the trigger.


    ¡°For freedom¡­¡± That was what I heard from Rishab before my eyes went dark.


    <hr>


    Freedom¡­ an absurd mirage of illusion we humans always thought we had. But in my opinion, this same illusion was what chained us all along. Was it truly freedom we always sought? No, it was something else entirely.


    In my opinion, that ''something else'' was power. And it always jolted me back to reality to realise that this power, too, was chained. It felt as though we humans were forced to have a limit¡ªendless, illusionary, but still a real limit. What I always sought was to break that limit. Only then could one be truly free.


    So I was angry. Not because of Rishab¡¯s betrayal, but because of the reason behind it. Did he actually think he had gained freedom at the cost of my life? Naive! I was certain that, when the time came, he would find himself trapped in that same illusion once more, again chasing a freedom that never existed in the first place.


    I watched as the shapeless form of my soul shimmered with ethereal light, drifting across a multicoloured bridge toward a large door that materialised magically in the air. My senses extended beyond the bridge to a mirror mirroring rows of shapeless forms, waiting in line.


    ¡°So this is death,¡± I thought. I had no idea what waited beyond that door for me, but the unsettled feelings washing over me from those ahead told me it was nothing pleasant. After what felt like an eternity, I stood before the door, staring at my reflection in the mirror with a dumbfounded expression.


    Next to the mirror stood a skeletal figure holding a large scythe over its shoulder. But that wasn¡¯t the reason for my surprise. The reflection staring back at me wasn¡¯t my own. And the expression on that reflection was the exact opposite of mine.


    ¡°Tara Kingsley,¡± the skeleton read aloud a name I¡¯d never heard before.


    Age: 15


    Reason of death: Bitten by a venomous snake."


    Was betrayal classified like this? Not really. I was sure there was some kind of error, so I tried to correct the skinless, naked figure before me. ¡°Oi, my name is¡ª¡±


    But I couldn¡¯t finish my sentence. My words abruptly choked in my throat, and to my horror, the reflection in the mirror finished it instead.


    ¡°¡­is Tara Kingsley.¡±


    The skeleton seemed frozen in its movement as the surroundings around me began to shatter. My gaze fixated on the reflection of a silver-haired girl in the mirror, her light blue irises contracting in terror. Wait, that¡¯s my current expression.


    And then everything turned upside down. A canopy of green trees replaced my surroundings, followed by searing pain, and then my consciousness was plunged into darkness.


    <hr>


    A few bumps on my head awakened me. I fluttered open my eyes, and in the next instant, my nose twitched as an urge to throw up reached my mouth.


    What¡¯s with this smell? I turned to my left, then to my right, before staring at the branches of trees racing past me.


    Surrounding me were humans¡ªunnaturally cold and blue. Dead bodies! The color of their skin told me all of them were poisoned, and the smell pointed to them being dead for at most half a day.


    I was inside something that resembled an open carriage. It took a few more seconds for the electric signals from my sensory receptors to reach my brain, as I felt a hammering pain in my head.


    Unknown memories flooded into my mind, my brain failing to group them while trying hard to store them without breaking apart.


    ¡°Ugh¡­¡± A suppressed cry escaped from my lips, halting the movement of the carriage.


    Sensitive group, eh.


    ¡°Did you hear something from there?¡± asked a voice.


    ¡°There¡¯s no chance for someone to be alive in the corpse room,¡± replied another voice, strained at the end.


    A shadow covered my form, and I squinted at the bare-chested man outside the carriage.


    My gaze lingered on his shrivelled chest for a few moments before falling on the large axe resting on his shoulder. The axe shimmered in my sight, and a name came to my tongue in an instant.


    ¡®Artefact- Weapons weaved with metallic elemental essence, possessing durability and strength far greater than ordinary weapons. Some powerful artefacts might have even engraved spells on them.¡¯


    My eyes widened at this information. Terms I had never heard of before began to surface, the memories stored in my brain unraveling with it.


    The world I was currently in had something my previous world didn¡¯t¡ªmagic! I stared at the face of the man, his brows raised on his almost mummified face.


    ¡°I don¡¯t remember having you here¡­¡± he rubbed his chin.


    Crap, they seem to have caught me. Hehe, now it¡¯s interesting.


    ~What are they gonna do to me?


    I couldn¡¯t wait¡­

 Shades

    I treated the man like air as my attention turned to the sky. Breathtaking! A bright purple star shone above my head, and as its being center, a flattened spherical line of stars stretched as far as I could see.


    ''Star network¡­'' Another memory lost its mystery as I recalled every detail of this so-called ¡®Star network.¡¯


    And I learned where the previous owner of my current body was fleeing¡ªto the Star Temple, a place where every fifteen-year-old must go to augment themselves with a star from the ¡®Star network.¡¯ Only then could one open the Star universe in their body and begin cultivating.


    ''Interesting¡­ but isn¡¯t the way she chose to go there a little strange?'' I glanced at the dead bodies in the carriage. From the conversations between these two, this carriage was a corpse room. My gaze shifted forward, taking me aback at the sight of chained children. My heart hardened. Did she hide in the corpse room of a child trafficking gang? Smart of her, give a Clap.


    ¡°I¡¯m speaking to you¡­¡± A hand pinched my shoulder, and I swear I heard the sound of my bones cracking. I lowered myself in a futile attempt to shake off the hand pinning me. He pinched with such force that it strained my deltoid muscle and may have caused a minor subluxation of the glenohumeral joint if I hadn¡¯t twisted my shoulder a little.


    ¡°Stop¡­¡± I heard the other man speak, the leaves rustling as a figure clad in full armor approached. Even his eyes were hidden under the armor; if not for his limbs moving in a human way, I would¡¯ve mistaken him for a robot.


    ¡°What did you just do?¡± His voice held urgency. I knew this was my chance. I knew what I had done somehow intrigued him.


    ¡°I did nothing. It¡¯s him¡­¡± I pointed at the hand on my shoulder. ¡°Ask him¡­¡± Urge to unravel  unknown was a curse, those who control this curse could became a manipulator.


    The armored man was silent for a few seconds. ¡°Bratel¡­¡± Just a single sentence from him freed my shoulder. I placed my hand there, gently twisting the dislocated bone back into place. The armored man studied my actions for a few moments before speaking, ¡°Are you a medic?¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m a doctor. I solve bugs in the human body.¡±


    ¡°Bugs¡­?¡± I saw both men take a step back from me. I innocently stared at them, knitting my brows.


    ¡°A-are you from the Arthropod Palace?¡±


    ¡°You could say so¡­¡± I lied. My current situation was beyond my expertise. I had no idea what these guys would do to me. If it was just child trafficking, I could manage. But here magic was involved, that was out of my league. There were no memories of Arthropod in my head, so I assumed the previous owner of my body had no knowledge of it.


    ¡°But why would an Arthro be in the Primal Master¡¯s area?¡± I glared at Bratel, irritated. Smart guy, I liked to operate such guys. The armored man fell into deep thought again, while Bratel and I exchanged hostile glares like daggers. I missed my scalpel; otherwise, I¡¯d have operated on this annoying husk.


    ¡°True¡­ why would an Arthro be under the Primal Star?¡± The armor¡¯s mouth opened and closed. ¡°¡­Are you perhaps a spy under the Arthropod Star?¡±


    His question confused me more than it conflicted me. Luckily, the memories from my brain came in handy. I was in a region under the Primal Star. I glanced up at the purple star. It was under the direct jurisdiction of a cultivator called the Primal Master. Cultivators, after reaching a certain level, could take their stars out of their core. Doing so would make them immortal under the star. Additionally, the region under the star would gain a domain effect, doubling the strength of its inhabitants.


    Fantastic!


    Only one cultivator could place their star in any given region. The size of that region depended on the cultivator¡¯s strength. If more than one cultivator wanted to place their star in the same area, they had to prove their worth through the ¡®Star Line¡¯ by challenging each other.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    In most cases, cultivators who reached the stage where they could take their stars out didn¡¯t want to fight each other unnecessarily. Such battles rarely had winners, and the chances of injury were high. So unless there was a blood feud that couldn¡¯t be resolved through negotiation, they never fought for territory.


    The world had many unoccupied areas to choose from, so why fight?


    Once a cultivator placed their star and marked their territory, they became a Domain Master, and their star became a Domain Star. The inhabitants of the region could then choose to become the cultivator¡¯s minions.


    Being a minion had both advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage was that their cultivation speed would double, and the strength of their spells would increase under the regional star, just like the Domain Master.


    I considered the advantages and disadvantages and instantly discarded the idea of becoming a minion. Being a minion meant surrendering your augmented star to the Domain Master, which would erase the star¡¯s unique ¡®aspects¡¯ and force the imprint of the regional star onto them.


    Simply put, a cultivator would lose their uniqueness and become a slave to the Domain Master. The memories didn¡¯t clearly explain the significance of ¡®uniqueness,¡¯ but I had a hunch that it was not trivial. The augmented stars of minions would be forced out of their bodies and surround the Domain Star, amplifying its strength.


    So, a minion was basically fertilizer. I stifled my urge to snicker. The walking armor and Bratel stared at me, and I glared back fiercely.


    ¡°Boss, I doubt this little prickly brat is a spy¡­¡± Bratel really deserved a surgery. ¡°I think she wants a free ride, that''s it.¡± Perhaps he was a bit smarter. Its just I hated his name.


    Again, who would name their son Braaaatel?


    ¡°You¡­ aren¡¯t an Arthro or a Primal¡­¡± The armored man circled around me. ¡°We started from Endrax¡­there was no outsiders allowed, unless you want to take that flying ship..¡±


    Another memory unlocked. Endrax was an unoccupied city on the border between the Primal and Arthropod regions. I was supposed to take a flying ship from the city to the Primal capital, but something made me miss that ride.


    What was it? I frowned, copying the armored man¡¯s movements. Some of my memories seemed blocked, and I had a gut feeling that what they hid was dangerous.


    ¡°Can you two just stop?¡± Bratel muttered through his teeth.


    ¡°How did you get into our carriage without us noticing?¡± The armored man asked. ¡°And why did you hide in an envoy escorting death row criminals?¡±


    Surprised, I turned to look at the children. No¡­ something was amiss. They appeared to be children, sure. But there was something odd about their expressions. Their eye sockets were hollow, and fire burned where their eyeballs should have been. Medically impossible!


    Avoiding further questions from these two men, I walked towards the chained¡­ I suppose I could call them children, at least for now. They stood motionless, their gazes fixated on a fire at the end of their chains. A name came to mind, but I pushed it away as my hand moved toward the chest of the first boy.


    A metallic hand grabbed my arm, and the armor on his face retracted, revealing a half-shriveled face. He had blonde hair and dark eyes, and I saw a dangerous glint in them.


    ¡°Hollows can¡¯t be touched. They¡¯re contagious¡­¡±


    I pulled my hand back, rubbing the red scar as I took a step back. Hollows¡­ those who had lost their augmented stars, either from overexerting themselves in cultivation or losing control during alignment.


    Perfect¡­ I understood nothing, except that touching a Hollow was bad. I had to control my curiosity, or I wouldn¡¯t know when I might die. Still, it felt medically wrong for a human body to not rot after death.


    Yes, these Hollows had no breath or heartbeat. In modern medical terms, they were dead bodies, yet strangely, they weren¡¯t rotting. Wait¡­


    My gaze shifted to the corpse carriage. The bodies inside were beginning to decompose. I was sure that within a day or two, no one would be able to approach them without gagging.


    Were they also Hollows? That couldn¡¯t be possible, right? If so, I would have died. Still, something didn¡¯t feel right. I tried to recall the procedure for dealing a hollow, but I had no memory of needing an envoy to escort Hollows.


    However, I did remember how to manage hollow''s. Either an exorcist with the Necrotic element of Dark based category or someone with Radiance element go energy basted category, could purify them.


    According to the previous owner¡¯s memories, every city had a cultivator capable of doing either, hired by one of the temples. So, why was there an envoy escort?


    The wrongness I felt intensified, and my hairs stood on end when a cold breath washed over me. Years of battle experience, despite lacking magic, prompted my brain to signal me to duck. My body narrowly evaded a shining metal.


    Boom!


    A shining sharp iron punctured a tree, slicing it in two. My eyes twinkled as my body drained every ounce of energy for that ducking, and my vision darkened, pushing me into unconsciousness. ''Shit, this body is a mess.''


    When I opened my eyes again, I was chained¡­ standing behind the rows of Hollows¡­ no, rows of captured teenagers like me. I wasn¡¯t sure if my eye sockets had become like theirs, but I found that, unlike them, I could move my eyelids.


    My vision was crystal clear, and my heartbeats and breathing were normal. So, I hadn¡¯t become like them. I breathed a sigh of relief. My mood soured as I realized I was clueless about what was going on. We were moving at a moderate pace, and I decided to continue without alerting the walking armor and Bratel.


    ¡°Boss, we¡¯re entering Shades¡­¡± Bratel said, his tone serious, tinged with fear. I didn¡¯t laugh, though, because I felt that same fear creeping through me. It wasn¡¯t from me. I swear. It''s from the previous rented owner. The previous owner seemed to have an ingrained fear of this place. A memory opened up for me.


    Shades, a place where the Star Line hid behind clouds. Abominations capable of destroying a Domain Master lurked deep within. No cultivators dared to explore this area. In the Shades, the Star Line lost its control, causing augmented stars to weaken by half. Going deeper would strip cultivators of their power, suppressing their stars to the maximum.


    For normal cultivators, this was the most terrifying place they could be. But for me¡­ Hehe.


    Time to escape¡­