Becoming A Tech Quadrilinear in A Cultivation World To Reveal Body Snatchers

[Ultimatedaywriter]

Sweat poured off his face, sizzling on the floor where his Hydra leather boots melted. Charred bones littered the slow-shifting obsidian floor balanced over magma veins. Legends had died around him; the collars they wore in life weighed their souls down in death. Metal collars heated to glow remained firm when cultivator flesh melted and their bones charred. Not even the heat from the depths of the mine was enough to free them. Only the pickaxes, collars, and veins of spirit stone stood under the onslaught of heat from the depths.

He moved slowly, picking up the heads and removing the collars before placing them back. Zack stacked them in his inventory for the talisman maker to tinker with back in town.

The floor shifted, rising higher than usual, and he felt like a flea on a dog, witnessing it take a breath. His eyes dried to raisins widened, and he felt the inevitability of death creeping in. Something primal washed over Zack Sin, and he had to get away.

Zack pulled at his collar, thinking that if he could get it off, he could leave through a gate to his demi-plane, but it wouldn't budge. Only his pickaxe maintained its obsidian coloring. A hunk of spirit stone was before him through the haze of heat. The glowing blue chunks of crystal were why he was enslaved instead of executed when he landed.

He turned his head and saw his brother in the depths of a mine in a world with different universal laws, as Jason looked when they were younger. They were standing in his brother's kitchen at midnight. Zack recognized the tan cabinets and pizza boxes on the blue countertops. "You aren't going to give all that loot to the slavers, are you?" Jason said.



Snort!



"No," It was such a Jason thing to ask him.

Zack felt his eyes sting. He turned his back on the memory. They were worlds apart; his brother was far away. Still, he answered and cursed his mind for dreaming up this image because he answered. "What choice do I have? If I bring them more spirit stones, I can buy Su Lin and Su Jun's freedom with contribution points. I know the foreman won't let me leave, but two nobodies who don't contribute. The foreman will call it a bargain."

A crack opened in the floor, and hot steam erupted. Zack pushed his brother out of the way and screamed as the super-heated steam hit him.

"Why did you do that?"

"I don't know. I hate you. You did this to me, but you are all I have left."

Zack pulled at his collar and screamed as it shocked him. He was hot and so hungry for freedom. He stared at his hand as old, blackened skin sloughed off and new skin took place. Why did he take Heat Resistance and Regeneration?

"You have people relying on you in the town. Don't sit on your ass feeling sorry for yourself, get moving."

"It's good to hear your voice, brother, even if it's an illusion," Zack said.

The answer was simple: He wanted to live not just for himself but also for those who couldn't do the work.

He wanted revenge on the bastards that imprisoned him. Who was he kidding? Those people who flew on swords might as well be gods compared to him. Zack looked through his pop-ups but didn't find the skill Shock Resistance. It might exist, but the collar slowed his system's analysis capabilities. He would need to be shocked for much longer to get the skill and give this place the bird.

Zack checked his status on reflex.



Zack Sin

Rank: G

Life G: 300/9999

Regen G: 390/999

Body G: 200/999

Strength G: 120/999

Reflex G: 100/999

Senses G: 50/99

Mana G 500/9999

Resist G: 55/99



Skills

Demeter's Touch F: 90/999

Heat Resistance G: 90/99

Demi-Plane G: 900/99999

Gate G: 100/999

Regeneration G: 98/99

Monster Tamer G: 90/99

Exotic Grilling F: 90/99



The only way to reach an F grade was for all his skills and 3 of his attributes to be an F grade—not that any of that mattered. Demi-Plane, the skill he relied upon most, was impossibly hard to rank up. That only meant that once it did, the F rank would be unbelievably powerful.



Zack formed a gate in front of him and watched the green forest filled with monsters taken from the mines adapted to their new environment. Then he closed it before he was tempted to try and escape to his death.

While he wore the collar, escape was impossible. It could not pass through wormholes, even those made with the Gate skill.

"Don't forget the nail that stands out gets hammered down." Zack pushed himself up to shaky legs. The collar didn't block mana. If he could figure out how to use the most government-regulated knowledge from his home world, maybe he could protect himself from the shocks and break the collar.

Zack patted the big blue gemstone nearly as big as he was. It was a shame he couldn't bring it with him and turn it in. He could free them and become a clan of the White Flash Sect with the merit points from such a large spirit stone. People would get suspicious if he returned with a bright blue spirit stone weighing hundreds of pounds.

He needed only enough to make his quota and those of Su Lin and her daughter, Su Jun.

Zack picked at the crystal, shattering pieces until he freed the vein. He couldn't leave himself, but that didn't mean he was without options.

A portal to his demi-plan plane appeared. He wanted to escape, but the collar would shock him to death. He didn't have the sheer amount of body attribute points needed to survive. This was only petty revenge.

Zack picked up the massive glowing blue crystal and threw it through the portal. Given its size, it must have weighed closer to 2000 pounds, but he threw it like tossing a branch in a bonfire. The pickaxes weighed close to 50 lbs.; maybe mining was making him stronger.

He felt better as if a scratch had been itched. "Jason, are you there?" Zack asked.

There was no one in the tunnel with him. He grinned and gathered the pieces of spirit stone to exchange for merit points. It wasn't his true source of merit points, but the depths helped him.

He felt small spines from an old monster attack when he stepped walked. They were lodged deep in his hip. It made every step through the tunnel a pain. He was lucky so far he hadn't hit any magma veins. With the pain in his hip, he wouldn't escape them in time.

Zack kept a portal open in his mouth to breathe fresh air at all times. He could open two at once and blow air into places. When a cave was dark, he shined light through his portal, lighting it up.

He followed his mental map back toward the surface until he found his bag of holding. Then he put on his work clothes and stored his spirit stones inside.

Killing a fellow slave was forbidden, and their bags couldn't be opened except by the owner or the Forman. This kept most of the bullying down, but there were always gangs to worry about.

There were three gangs in their camp, and they controlled the black market. Cultivation resources, training manuals, and weapons for the monsters in the mine flowed through them. Some people said a successful miner could live better than even the peasants in the capital. No man was free. They were just limited to the mountain. It was wishful thinking.

Legend had it that Raxos Peak had been the site of a battle between an ancient hero and a dragon. The spirit stones mined from the depths were the dragon's chi leeching from its corpse over the millennia since its death. The magma veins were its blood vessels fusing with the mountain range as its body became the land. No one knew if Raxos was the name of the dragon or the hero.

Zack thought it was more likely to be some active volcano that dug veins of spirit stones up from the planet's depths with its natural magma flows. He liked the legend better. Maybe they were digging around the corpse of some ancient dragon, and the shifting ground was the dragon's breath instead of gases shooting up to the surface.

He went through the gas-filled tunnels, where no sane miner would go; they were the shortest paths to the surface. The safe and unsafe lamps provided enough light for him to see instead of forming a second portal. He kept a portal in his mouth open to taste fresh air and poured water down his parched throat when he needed it. His portals to his demi-plane were his greatest tool. Even if he couldn't leave, seeing his world, where he had spent countless years, gave him hope in the deepest darkness.

He heard a chirping sound in the middle of one of the grand tunnels and froze. Then, he formed a portal, and sunlight poured through, lighting up the tunnel. Raptors were giant lizards with red scales that irradiated heat like the inside of a furnace. Their bites delivered a poisonous flame that burned men from the inside out.

Zack had never encountered so many, and he thought they were rare. However, in the light of his portal, there were over 50 surrounding him. The sudden light stunned them, but that would only last for moments. He needed to scare them into running away.

He stood tall, his pickaxe raised and snarled. One jumped, its taloned feet extended, and his portal appeared in front of it and stole the monster. These creatures were G-grade. If they qualified for F grade, his Gate skill would devour his mana to take them.

The power levels in this world and his own didn't balance well, and the collar did something that messed up his system's analysis capabilities. Suppose they were no F grades, then. A smile spread across his face, and his lips cracked. He swiped his pickaxe and caught one in the side of the head. One bit his calf and jerked with its teeth.

He felt the teeth sink into his skin, and he screamed as the smell of his burning blood surfaced old memories. Pain not of the flesh but emotional had been too much. He was a loser even with the system, a nobody, the brother of a hero. His name was changed after the new government was established so that Zack couldn't use his brother's name. They no longer looked alike. He had fallen further and further behind.

Zack had grown a fruit in his demi-plane. In his orchard were the Bael trees, demonic trees that grew a fruit of wrath. One bite would extend someone's life and magic potential by 50% but drown their minds in red-hot rage.

When he was in his darkest moments, the promise of power in exchange for losing all the real hatred was too tempting. He took a bite and awoke to a chaotic realm that took weeks to repair. The effects were almost as powerful the second time he ate a fruit. Then, the power of the fruit started wearing off. The Bael fruit betrayed its promise, leaving him in the darkness without the lifeline of that fiery rage.

The bite filled his veins with red-hot magma, and the lizards moved away from him and stared. He smiled because he was the kind of wacko who smiled when they were in pain. It hurt so nostalgically.

He snapped open portals beneath the lizard's feet as his Heat Resistance and Regeneration ticked one level up at a time, thanks to the venom coursing through his veins. Monsters in the new world were smart. When one with odd coloration figured out he wasn't dying, it charged, and the others joined it.

Zack took them, tossing them in the hot lands of his demi-plane, where they would adjust to or die in their new habitats.

He swung his pickaxe and took one lizard in the eye before it latched on to his leg. Another bit his arm holding his pickaxe, while the third bit his thigh. White hot pain shot through him. He felt teeth scrape against his bone, and his insides sizzle and pop.



"You've gotten slow. When will you learn movement skills and get with the times? Uncle Sin, you are strong; why don't you try more?" Zackaria Hadrian said.

He grabbed the neck of a lizard and felt something. It was large and electrifying. A force poured into his grip, and he squeezed through tough scales, heat-resistant hide, and super-dense bone.



Snap!



"The last thing I need is advice from my nephew, the hero's son," Zack said. He pulled the monster off him, leaving behind teeth in his wound. A swift punch caved in another monster's head before he dropped his pickaxe and raised both hands. A hammer strike splattered the skull of the last lizard that bit him.

An orange glue-like substance leaked from his wounds and caught fire in the open air. Flames quickly burned his pants and shirt as he struggled to pat them out. He stared at parts of his body glowing a deep yellow before turning bright green in his veins.

"Either my regeneration and heat resistance will take care of it, or they won't." Zack clenched his fist. Could he use the power he felt when he hit those monsters again? He raised his pickaxe and swung it, but the power didn't come to him.

What was the difference? Was it mana? How to directly use mana was highly regulated information. Zackeria must have been a hint that he needed a new skill.

He hesitated. Each new skill meant he was farther from reaching F rank and possibly ripping off his collar. Zack took a painful step forward and slowly moved the lizards into his spacial bag.

As he plucked the teeth from his wound, he turned them over and admired their serrated edges. His regeneration was his problem. He couldn't cut into himself fast enough to get at the quills in his hip. Tears take a little longer to heal than fine cuts. Well, they did. For all he knew, his dose of raptor venom would force his regeneration to grow stronger.

Maybe if he took it to the alchemist Li Gao, the man owed him for free food. Zack made sure to grill meat for a meal that increased the life potential and attribute.

If he injected concentrated venom, maybe he could tear through his flesh and pull the quills out of his bone.

More glowing green veins surrounded the orange wounds, and the pain faded. Most people died when the green reached their hearts. Zack wasn't worried. The burning sensation felt nostalgic and almost pleasant compared to the constant agony from walking on his bum hip.

He took another trip through a marked carbon monoxide-filled tunnel and approached the first hurdle for anyone leaving the mine. Before the check-in station, there was the gang tax, where a portion of all mined materials were turned in.

Six hours deep was considered dangerous. Zack had been 12 in and talking with ghosts. Three gangs changed out every four hours, and he last spoke with Li Chun of the Red Vipers. Zack checked his time. He had been gone for 28 hours. That meant.

A man in brown robes with a bat emblazoned on his chest smirked when their eyes met. "Look what the dog dragged from the ditch. If it isn't everyone's favorite Uncle Sin Zack, are you ready to pay your tax to the Shadow Bat? Truly, it had been too long, and you owe us a lot. I think little Su Jun will go hungry tonight. Maybe she'll come begging me for sausage."

He heard complaints from his customers about Chang Bo. Everyone knew he took a little off the top because his uncle was Chang Fu. They washed out of the White Flash sect, owing massive debt to the sect for their training. When their clans refused to buy them out of the debt, they were sent to the mines. Chang Fu quickly became a leader in the Shadow Bats, and Zack invested in them.

Zack limped forward, praying to whatever god would listen that he wouldn't have to kill Chang Fu's dumbass nephew. "Alright, I will sit here and wait for your replacement."

"You've been gone for over a day. I know what this place does to men desperate enough to dive too deep. I bet you've heard all kinds of voices. Did you see any images of the men you killed reaching for you from your own shadow? Pay me all the contents in your bag, and I'll let you go if you kowtow three times."

Zack leaned against a wall. The little shit thought he had him by the balls.

"We have a deal with the others. You must pay two tolls if you try to wait for another gang."

"But both will be fair, and the shadow bats will make fewer merit points. Some of your members will have to stay in these caves longer, and you already said what that does to a man. Best of all, it will be all your fault while I'm being reasonable."

The boy's eyes shifted, blinking horizontally. Zack shook his head. Maybe it was his imagination.

"I'll beat you until you give up everything you've mined."

Zack smirked and pulled a fig out of his inventory. Bael fruit was surprisingly small and sweet. It hardly looked dangerous at all. The purple and orange color and sweet scent attracted many to their doom. Most burned them wherever they found them growing after the change. Zack had saved a few different breeds for his demi-plane.

Zack decided to try and be amiable. "Rumor has it Chang Fu wants us to revolt against the guards and escape. A good guy that Chang Fu." Zack made a show of pulling more fruit out of his pockets as a portal dropped them fresh from his trees. "Would you like a piece of fruit?" Zack asked and tossed one in his mouth.

It was so sweet, with only a hint of the old poison that quickened his pulse and made his mind boil in rage. That pleasant, hot rage was nothing compared to the black rage he felt.

"It's poisoned." Zack tossed the one he was about to offer in his mouth.

"Sure, that's why I'm eating them? They look the same and feel the same. If I poisoned one, I would misplace it and poison myself. That would be dumb in the mines." He spun one on his finger to get the boy's attention. "I'm being friendly, and I'm with the cause. Do your job, but remember the real enemy. It isn't the guy giving away fruit."

Zack tossed a fig, and the man caught it. "This smells like it's full of chi. How did you get these?"

"Down in the depths, there are bounties. Finding them isn't hard. Leaving with them is. So, do we have a deal?" Zack asked.

A smile spread across the boy's face, and it seemed like he had finally become reasonable. "With this, my cultivation can continue a little further." The man put the fruit in his mouth and chewed. "Give me everything you have; maybe I'll be more lenient next time. That Su Jun sure looked pretty in that blue dress this morning. I wouldn't mind tasting her."

Zack had no idea about the Chi in the fruit but tossed a few massive spirit stone clusters around the Bael orchards in his demi-plane. Maybe those hungry fig trees added chi to their fruit. Could they cultivate?

The man opened his mouth, and his eyes went bloodshot. Then, his face dribbled like hot wax. "You poisoned me." Zack tossed another in his mouth. "Give me the antidote."

"Sweet and spicy isn't everyone's favorite combination." The fool roared and charged. Zack sidestepped and tripped the man. "I was worried about any techniques you might have learned in the White Flash Sect." A telegraphed haymaker shot toward his head, and he caught the arm and moved behind the man's back. With Chang Bo's hand safely behind his back, Zack snapped the arm out of its socket and stepped away.

The arm hung limply as the madman charged again. Zack opened a portal beside the man as a raptor shot out in a lung at the man, biting him repeatedly in the face. It would also be better if a monster were the one to kill the Shadow Bat captain's nephew. A mere chef like himself couldn't have the ability to do the deed. Flesh spilled from the corpse-like dough, and some of the pieces almost looked like blades before falling into a puddle. He assumed it was from the more potent Bael Fruit.

It was how Zack preferred to operate. In the early days, when the Red Vipers were the strongest, Zack took out the members he didn't like and weakened them. He also helped the other two gangs rise to keep any revolts from happening.

He stayed and watched long enough for Chang Bo's snarling to fade. It wasn't unheard of for raptors to travel close to the check-in station. This shouldn't blowback and bite him in the ass.

Zack left the Raptor behind. It didn't attack him; it had been in his demi-plane long enough for his other skills to affect it.

Chang Bo had been right; he wanted to escape the mine. Zack also wanted off this miserable world but would remain patient. The Shadow Bats had gained a lot of members recently, and the other two gangs didn't want to step on any toes. So, Zack would support the Red Vipers and Blue Ravens with discounted food from his restaurant and take out a Shadow Bat grunt when he could. There were endless dangers in the mines, after all.

It was only when the gangs were at each other's throats that they left him alone.

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[Ultimatedaywriter]

Black stone buildings with slanted roofs built with superhuman strength filled the small walled city outside the mine. He had turned in his spirit stones for a sweet 2000 merit points. That brought his total well over 985,500, more than enough to pay the 100 merit points per person monthly fee to keep their collars from shocking them to death.

The town was bustling despite the sword of Damocles hanging over everyone's head. People can get used to anything if they have enough time. Merit points changed hands fast on the streets as miners made their way out in the early morning while shop owners presented their wares. The real merit points weren't in mining but in selling to the miners. Zack used his grilling skills to sell attribute-enhancing food to the public and raked in the merit points.

Zack stopped by a technique shop and looked through what they had. Only trash techniques would ever find their way on the market in their slave town, but he was hoping to find something halfway decent that wouldn't ruin an 11-year-old's foundation. He had enough merits points to buy Su Jun's freedom and a spot in the White Flash Entry Trials. Age 16 was the cutoff for entry, so they had time before she was too old to enter.

The only good thing about living in a Xiaoxia world was the meritocratic nature of the world itself. Make enough money, and even a slave could rise to the top, but only if their positions where they were weren't too important. Zack took 20 trips a month into the mines and came out with 1000+ every trip. He was responsible for a big chunk of the mine's production. If their mine was unproductive, they would be dispersed to other mines and possibly separated.

Forty days a month, ten months a year, and a maximum of 500,000. It costs roughly 250,000 to free a child, 500,000 to free a woman, and 1 million to free an adult male. A spot to participate in the entry trial of the White Flash Sect costs 5 million merit points. He had already purchased Su Jun's place and could buy her freedom and send her to the sect anytime.

Zack didn't know why he hesitated.

The shelves on display didn't have much promise to them. He didn't know all the Kanji used by cultivators. He knew enough to get by and make employment contracts. Su Lin was better at it than him and did most of the paper work.

An older man missing a few teeth approached with his hands behind his back. With his long white beard and hair tied in a top knot, he looked like an old master.

"Do you need help finding anything?" The man was a regular who liked his meat rare. He held his hand behind his back because a raptor bit it in the mine, and he had to cut it off. Before his cultivation stalled, he was a hotshot prodigy and took out a loan to buy enough pills to push a breakthrough. He used his knowledge to create techniques but wasn't a master. The debt collectors from the sect sent him to the mines to pay off his debts, but he preferred life here.

That was the story Zack heard from the man's friends. His enemies merely called the old man a talentless dog scamming the fools who dreamed too big for their stations. Personally, Zack thought it was only envy. As a man who lived with the disease for most of his adult life, he knew the signs.

"I'm looking for something for Su Jun. She needs to be prepared for the entry trial." Zack said.

"That girl is so energetic. Maybe this hummingbird style will let her burn off some energy."

Zack looked at the technique. It was all about quick pinpoint chi attacks meant to tear the enemy apart one step at a time. The speed was meant to overwhelm them. He understood it somewhat, but he didn't use chi.

Their collars made starting the practice difficult for a talented childlike Su Jun Zack, who had no shot and didn't want to split his focus. Neural plasticity was a thing, and Zack was very set in his ways.

Zack shook his head.

He would have to do the song and dance before this guy would show him the good stuff. "I have eyes but can't see my friend. If you say it's good, I believe you, but I am no amateur in shopping. Let me set this one as what I will buy if we find nothing better. You have hundreds of different techniques here."

Zack scanned through dozens of scrolls, but they only had animals on them. Each style was meant to mimic an animal.

"Do you have any wasp styles? A single deadly strike may work better. I'm unsure if Su Jun has the stamina for the hummingbird style."

"Yes, kids these days are so lazy. Wasps are deadly, but they use poison, and chi can only gain one affinity at each stage. The White Flash sect has their ideas on what affinities she needs to be successful." The man took on a conspiratorial look. "Have you heard that Corrupteran Intercity Alliance spies were found in a border town near here?" Zack gave the man a raised eyebrow. Was he serious? "Swear on my ancestors. They say it's going to be war. Maybe wait a year before sending Su Jun to the White Flash Trials."

Corrupterans were superorganisms that merged their flesh with other creatures and absorbed them, supplanting their consciousnesses. They lived in the inner cities of some of the larger cities in the tamed lands, joining sects and blending in well with humankind. Only every few years, some were caught, and that only happened when the creatures were ready to breed. Well, hopefully, they were safe in the prison camp. Corrupterans preferred their prey, young and nubile. Supposedly, the sects had plans to deal with the problem before it got out of hand.

"Did you hear about the new shipment coming in all young men and women with more debt than they can handle?" Zack asked.

"Those predatory lenders, I swear I would like to get my hand around their throats. Kids shouldn't be allowed to borrow so much money. The temptation is too great."

"I agree the temptation is too great," Zack said.

There was a scroll with a bear about throwing opponents and using their weight to gain leverage. He liked it well enough to contemplate practicing it himself. The breathing technique was also interesting. He never put much stock in cultivation. It seemed like a lot of effort to divide his focus. But with so much happening, maybe it was time to branch out.

"You're a cultivator. How much harder is it to cultivate with these collars?"

"The difference is the heavens and earth. When Su Jun gets hers removed, she will appear as a great prodigy with her strengthened will."

He recalled Su Lin complaining after their intimacy about contraceptive techniques being more difficult with the collar. Neither of them wanted to bring a child into this situation.

"Thanks for the chit-chat. I'll take the scroll with a bear on it. She's a small thing. Throws and submission holds will help her more than striking with her strength."

"Are we talking about the same girl who tosses boys her age and older like toys?"

"She's hit puberty, and they haven't, that's all. It's normal for her to appear stronger and bigger than kids her age." Zack said.

He wouldn't admit that his grilled food increased her potential and flat attributes. Even without a system, the benefits were obvious. Stronger people mined more and came to him for more food, paying him merits and increasing his coffers. They brought more merit points into the town, and more buildings were built that were taller than ever.

The mayor even increased their taxes to pay for under-twelve welfare. Kids with collars and no one to pay their merits got to live. Everyone gnashed their teeth at the taxes, but no one liked seeing the corpses of children on the streets. Zack had several people working in his restaurant who grew up in the slave town and never saw the inside of the mine.

Zack hated taxes and socialism, but he hated seeing dead children more. After learning about the corrupterans and what he feared, maybe it would have been better if they died clean. It was horrible, and he hated himself for thinking about it. As he limped through the streets and saw children happily playing, he hated himself more.

He stepped on his street, which had concrete blockier housing, and a girl-shaped missile lunged for his chest. In her new blue dress, Su Jun wrapped her arms around his belly as he grabbed her and spun the giggling girl around. They approached the crowded streets, where people parted in his wake as he went home. It was good to have such loyal customers. Men stood in small circles, eating their rice bowls vigorously.

Unless Zack made it himself, the meat didn't give any attributes bonuses. Fortunately, he could make it, and the staff could reheat it or bread and fry it.

"You're getting strong next time; you'll knock me over." Was this the girl the old shopkeeper was talking about? He barely felt her run into him. She was so frail. "Now that I see you are fine, how is your mother?"

"Mom is minding the shop. Our regulars were mad that you didn't open yesterday. Did you find any rare treasures in the mine?"

"Just three raptors for the grill."

He would need to remove their poison sacs and see about concentrating their poison into something more potent. Already, the venom running through his veins was on its last legs. That was a shame. He liked how it distracted him from his hip pain with little spikes of agony through his body. But when he saw Su Jun's bright brown eyes his heart melted. Talking with Ling Gao could wait a day at least.

Something concentrated should take his Heat Resistance and Regeneration skills to the F grade. That was where skills got their first little changes. Every grade altered a skill; depending on the individual's choices, two seemingly identical skills could become vastly different.

They arrived at the middle-class side of town, where some kids tossed an approximation of an NFL regulation football around. He hadn't expected the game to become popular, so he made sure it was called football. He planned to spread it around long before anyone else arrived to spread soccer as football. It was the most American thing he could do without bringing guns to the world.

Su Jun looked between him and the kids, tossing the ball. "Go play. I'll be home for a long while, and I need to talk about grown-up stuff with your mother." Su Jun made a disgusted face before running off and intercepting the football. He saw her foot imprinted in the concrete and shook his head. The subpar building materials they were stuck using were ridiculous.

Zack reached down and gently crushed the stone into powder. There was something wrong when a bit of caress from him completely powdered stone. He slapped Su Jun's butt harder than he treated the concrete. He raised an arm and frowned as his veins finished their transition from green to blue once again until they could hardly be seen. That was just great. His little buzz was gone until he could condense some venom and inject it.

He jumped with his good leg and landed on the balcony overlooking the lower floor of his restaurant. There was no need to disrupt customer traffic. Zack went downstairs, where Su Lin was busy sewing together and purchasing clothes for Su Jun's arrival at the sect. She glanced up from her work and smiled while quickly finding a stopping place to her work.

Their manager, Chen Chun, and other staff took care of the day-to-day. Zack only ever went out and cooked when he had something new to add to the menu. He went to the supply closet, opened a gate, and dumped enough white rice to refill their larder fully.

Within his Demi-Plane, he had absolute control. He could farm with his will alone, and Demeter's Touch was a skill that got results, much like his grilling skill did. There were other skills he would like to get, but he wanted to reach the F grade first.

That had been his plan when he used his will to farm and carve out the land. In those days, he reaped levels like his rice harvests. Herds of various monsters roamed his Demi-Plane, some interbreeding and creating true monsters. He saw a three-headed reptile with wings born from a raptor and a tunnel hydra through his ever-growing omnipotence over his realm. Where the wings came from, he had no idea. Maybe they both had some latent dragon in their ancestry. He named the new species Gigadra and happily took the reins of it through his Monster Tamer Skill. Zack found a dying bear from the Bael Orchards and delivered it to the young Gigadra, butchered and ready to be eaten. He even ground the meat to make it easier for the little monster. The monsters stared up at the heavens as if they could see him; it was cute.



Demi-Plane G: 919/99999



Sometimes, he did things that radically increased his levels but had no idea how to replicate the feat.

"Did you find what you were looking for in the mines?" Su Lin asked.

Zack slowly pulled his mind from his world before he answered. "I saw my brother and his son. They told me to be greedier, I think. I was burning alive mostly, but I found something nice on the way back."

"We are almost selling food at a loss. If you didn't cheat, we would go under. Shadow Bat men came by and threatened Chen Chun, and I'm worried about sending my daughter to the sect. Are you sure it's the best decision?"

"It's the only one that gives her a chance. You could leave this place, too."

"No, my place is here with you. Don't free me and send me away," Su Lin said.

He raised a hand before she could start the argument again. "You already won. I'm not sending you away; I would miss you too much and probably melt in the mines if I didn't have you to return to." She was going to be free and Zack was going to send her away but he wouldn't frame it like that. Su Lin won after all.

"You shouldn't go so deep. You'll wake the dragon, and then where will we be."

"Free, I guess, if the dragon can burn hot enough to melt out collars," Zack said.

Su Lin rolled her eyes at him. "People talk about what they see in the depths. They say they see the people they've killed and those who betrayed them. You see your family. What did they do to you?" Su Lin asked.

"Don't go there. I relived it once already, and I don't need to do it again. Let's say we hurt each other, and I wasn't open enough about how I felt. The name Sin is a punishment for not being a good brother," Zack said.

"It means to do wrong by a god."

"No, Jason isn't a god, or he wasn't last I checked. But for people like him, godhood isn't a big leap." Zack said.

"You aren't weak. Are there more people like you back in your homeland? Could you call on them?"

"If my brother knew about this place, he would kill anyone involved in the slave trade. That's who he is. Jason, the hero, wouldn't stand for it." Zack said.

"We could free ourselves and find a life. You don't know that the sect will refuse you freedom."

"I'll work on it if I can free you and put you up in one of the cities first. You know what's about to happen."

"It's all anybody talks about. A new war with the Corrupterans, they are always bloody."

"You aren't naïve enough to believe there will be a war. That's far too costly, and the elders in the big sect don't want to waste good cultivation resources when they have a simpler solution." He was sure that soon, the price of freedom would increase exponentially. Getting Su Lin out early might be his only opportunity to get her out. But he had to sell it as he had planned.

"So, we're going to buy your freedom first, and you're going to buy us a lovely home while I get five times the price of my freedom and get out of here. Crane Peak is a nice place with big walls and tattoos for the citizens to prove they aren't Corrupterans." Zack said.

It was the perfect hunting ground for the monsters, so he mentioned it first. Su Lin never liked his first suggestion. That was also a little far away from Su Jun.

"I think Dove Peak would be better. While it doesn't have the walls, the elders keep their families there."

It was also where Su Jun's father lived. He was, after all, of the Ji clan and a member of the White Flash sect. While he hadn't been seen in some time, he had all the makings of an MC and should return. If he knew his tropes, he'd come running when war rages and he learns of his daughter's endangerment. He wanted to get her out of danger before they parted ways.

Reality didn't care about his love, fears, or hate. It was a brutal bitch that would take from him every chance it had. He had a good eight years to get his head back on straight. Zack felt he was in the home stretch, but he had to dig deeper into the depths.

He only needed to check a few things off before then. First, he needed to upgrade his Heat Resistance and Regeneration to F grade and get the upgraded skills. Then, he would go into the depths themselves and discover what lurked within. After that, hopefully, his collar would be gone, and he could deal with the corrupteran threat.

Within his demi-plane, a hundred years passed for everyone on the outside, giving his lands all the time they needed to change and the monsters to grow. Some cultivated, while others hunted and grew strong. A few lived in his world's harshest lands, battling nature and growing with each generation. His Gigadra was only one example of the evolution of monsters in his world.

Insects fed on the falling lightning bolts in the land where lightning fell like rain. This experiment could lead to his freedom. Perhaps he will enter his demi-plane again, cut the connection to this world, and force open a Gate to another.

Zack had enough pots set to boil to open a soup kitchen, but he would rather move his loved ones away from the immediate danger he saw coming. Maybe he wasn't seeing the whole board, but from where he stood, it looked like the prison camps were about to be turned over to the Corrupterans as free food.

"So, you will follow me to Dove Peak?" Su Lin asked.

"Yes, I'll be there when I get my collar off."

That would also allow him to stow her away in his demi-plane, far from potential enemies.

"Well, let's break it to Su Jun that she will be free and join the sect."

Zack grilled raptor meat and cabbage and served them over rice with soy sauce. The meal was good until he added some unfertilized raptor eggs for protein. The eggs were perfect for building strength.

After the meal, when Su Jun was a little ball of energy ready to try out her new scroll, Zack coughed to get her attention. "So, Su Jun, your mother, and I were talking, and we decided to free you and send you to the White Flash Sect trials."

He expected her to be overjoyed, maybe a bit teary-eyed about leaving but happy to be free. Instead, she acted like any other 11-year-old girl with a home and friends. "Why would you do that to me? My friends are here?"

"It's for the best; you'll make new friends and grow strong, and you could even become immortal," Su Lin said.

"I hate you; this isn't fair." She turned between them. Then focused on Zack. "I thought you loved me." Su Jun said.

That hurt.

She left the table and ran for her room. Su Lin sighed. "I'll go talk to her."

Zack nodded, "She's going to run away. I'll wait for her in her favorite hiding place. Tell her I'm at the gym."

"Do you want to tell her we decided to give this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to someone else? And she can marry Bo Chun."

"I heard of his father, the fishmonger. He sells poisonous fish to people."

"She hates his older sister, and they constantly fight." Su Lin said.

He was more surprised that those kids weren't zapped to death. People exchanged their hard-earned merit points for fish caught in the flooded tunnels.

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Check out my summary and tell me if it helps explain what's going on.

 

[Ultimatedaywriter]

Chapter 3 is finished and will come out today. Also if you want to read 3 weeks ahead the chapters are on my patreon and subscribestar. That is 10k of more content for 5 dollars as well as Chimera love planer ch2 added to that. Thank you everyone who supports my writing.

 

[Ultimatedaywriter]

Night fell early in the town near the mine, where volcanic ash polluted the sky. Talismans cleverly placed on mobile posts were positioned where the worst soot fell. In the town's poorer sections, only one post was placed every few blocks. One talisman maker couldn't stop all the particles, and people got sick. Sometimes, late at night, he heard coughing. People died most often on the street from suffocation. He found them often enough that he didn't let Su Jun out at night alone for that reason. Zack checked the talismans in the area and saw some wear and tear in the sector around their old home.

Miner's lung was a thing even in the land of superhumans. The talisman master Ling Wei tried to take on apprentices among the motherless boys barely kept alive by welfare. Maybe it was as they say: A talent hires A talent, and B talent hires C talent. Some of the boys were passed over by the man Ling Wei, no relation to the alchemist Ling Gao. Some of those boys learned quickly under Ling Gao and became alchemists. On the other hand, the boys picked by Ling Wei would never replace their master.

Zack wanted to fix that problem, but his health problems and familiar responsibilities limited what he could accomplish. Maybe things would change soon.

It was something to think about when he next dealt with Ling Wei. The man was a cheap 50s villain, a man with too much money and unending greed. Drop a Merit note between him and another man, and Ling Wei would put his life on the line for it. That made Ling Wei predictable. If it brought the man merit points with the least amount of risk, he would do it. So Zack only had to pay and threaten the man a little to get preferential treatment.

He made his way from Su Jun's destination long before she arrived and backtracked along the path she usually took. Zack planned to intercept her instead of meeting her in the run-down shack she lived in through the earliest years of her life. The secret to his success had always been his ability to pay attention, which he lacked before needing in the new world.

"Where are you going so late at night, sweet girl?"

Zack's first thought was that some members from another slave town arrived here and didn't know the rules. So, he would only kill this one and spare the rest.

That was ludicrous. The mayor informed the local gangs, and Wei Fu, the Red Viper leader, informed him.

He took out his notebook and checked it. No more people were coming in until the new arrivals in another week. It was impossible for a citizen to know the rules, so Zack cleared his throat.

"Who's there?"

Su Jun immediately relaxed when she saw him walk into the light from the streetlight. He pulled a Bael Fruit from his pocket and tossed it in his mouth. The promise of that rage felt impersonal compared to the black rage he felt inside.

"Leave her alone, or I will rip you limb from limb." The man opened his mouth. "When I rip your skin off and toss you on a bed of salt, I'll listen to you scream until your voice breaks." Zack saw the man try to get in a word edgewise and continued talking over him. "I'm going snap your ribs open from behind and pull your lungs out. Then, before you suffocate, I'll stuff you full of rats so they can rip and tear at your insides as you suffocate."

Zack limped forward, and the man started cackling. "Is this a joke? Are you kidding? You can barely walk and think you can do anything to me."

The man's body shifted, and his face ran like wax as new appendages stretched out of his body, forming blades, eyes, and mouths. Su Jun screamed as Zack limped closer.

"Look at me and despair."

A blade shot from the creature's body and speared Zack through the chest as he continued to limp forward.

"No," Su Jun screamed.

Zack only smiled and closed the distance. He felt the blade press against his bones as he was lifted and dragged toward the creature's opened mouth filled with a sea of teeth and muscular jaws.

Portals opened two at a time in a flash behind the creature. The jaws of raptors latched onto the creature's appendages. More portals opened only for the raptors to bite once and retreat. It happened thrice in a second until the creature was smoking from its internal immolation. Green veins traveled quickly around yellow wounds, and the venom plugged the wounds, stopping the venom from leaving the creature's body. The tentacle holding the blade lodged in Zack's chest quickly lost strength, and he landed painfully on his feet. Zack raised his hand about to open a large portal for a mine hydra to unleash its noxious breath, but the monster was already burning to death.

Zack lowered his hand, sighed, and limped forward.

"What are you?" The creature demanded.

Zack looked to Su Jun, who stared in awe at his display. "Sorry to worry you. I expected the first Corrupteran to be strong. I guess they are only sending the untalented here." Zack said.

"You are a mortal. How can this be?"

He gave Su Jun the stare that meant listen. "This is important. He wants to know how I'm so powerful. He's trying to buy time for his body to remove the venom, but it's taking longer than anticipated. The tentacles have jointed bones inside them, but they aren't prehensile." Zack grabbed the serrated side of a tentacle and twisted it, snapping the bones before yanking the other side out.

"Don't ever do this yourself. Always have a healer nearby before you pull objects stabbed into your body out." Zack said and proceeded to pull the blade that pierced him out. The wound barely bled at all and started healing immediately.

"I'm not done. This isn't enough to kill me."

Sluggish blades launched at him, and he used the weapon in his hand to parry them. "Even if you don't use a weapon, get at least passing knowledge with the most common ones. You never know what you'll need." Zack opened a portal and kicked the monster through before closing it. Gigadra immediately pounced on it and began devouring the corrupteran.

The strangest thing that happened inside his demi-plane was that he felt the monster with his Monster Tamer skill. He used it to stop the monster from fighting back as it was devoured.



Monster Tamer 93/99



How long had it been since he gained a level in that skill? It was too long, and he gained level by forcing a monster to sit still and welcome death. Or maybe the coordinated attack on the monster gave him the experience. Leading multiple monsters to complete a task together seemed more likely to give better results.

"I'm sorry I ran away. I thought you hated me and wanted to get rid of me." Su Jun said.

"Your mother and I only want what is best for you. We wouldn't send you to the sect unless it would help you." Zack said.

"I don't want to be alone."

"Your mother will move to Dove Town soon. It's a city outside the sect. You'll be able to visit her whenever you want, and I'll free myself soon as well." Zack said.

"What about my friends? Will they be freed?"

Zack shook his head. "You know life isn't fair, and that's why we have these collars on."

"I wish they could follow me to the Sect."

The only realistic way that could happen was if slavery became financially unaffordable. Zack killed even a hint at rebellion when he could because elders personally put down revolts by wiping out entire populations. It was like dropping a nuke on protestors. He wouldn't be in that position unless he had no choice.

Zack stared at the chunk of corrupteran flesh on the ground, attacked by a bone blade that quickly skewered him. He picked it up and tossed it in his inventory. Maybe he would find a way to use it.



…



Ling Gao stared at the barrel of raptor venom Zack had milked from a portion of the growing population in his Demi-Plane. He watched the old man stare at the bubbling yellow venom and then back at Zack. The question was on the tip of the old man's tongue, but he decided not to ask it. That wasn't a big surprise. Most people thought Zack had some powerful backer, but they chose not to free Zack for whatever reason.

It protected him in his early days before his business got off the ground.

"You want me to concentrate this into a more potent solution." The old man rubbed his beard, spilling a bug on the ground that Zack tried to ignore. "Well, that isn't hard. Give me a few minutes, and I can render it with chi."

"What are you using it for? Raptor venom is already lethal to anyone below the Foundation realm. Are you planning to kill one of the gang leaders?" Ling Gao asked.

"No, nothing like that. I plan to use it to remove the quills in my hip." Zack said.

"Removing the leg and taking a pill to regrow it would be better. You can afford them." Ling Gao said.

"Yes, I can. But this will be better for me in the long run."

"Well, that will be 50 merits for the rendering." The alchemist handed Zack a flask of glowing yellow venom. It was so bright it nearly outshone the chemical lights in the room.



…



A greying man with steady hands, an old surgeon named Fang Bolin was Zack's only hope. When someone couldn't afford to lop off a limb to remove shrapnel from a Pin Lion attack, they came to him. Zack presented tools to the man carved from raptor bone with serrated raptor teeth covered in the highly potent rendered raptor venom.

"This will kill you." The man said.

"It's my only chance," Zack said.

"Even if I was willing to do the surgery, one mistake and I could die. I've never seen anything like that venom."

"I'm paying you ten times your rate for something you do routinely. All I'm asking is that you use some exotic tools."

"You're being unreasonable. My scalpel will do fine. What's with the venom?"

Zack looked away. "My body heals at an incredible rate. I need something to slow it down; the venom is my best chance." Zack said.

He was on a table waiting for the surgeon to get his act together and cut into him. Zack felt his heart speed up in anticipation. Zack had become much stronger in his years living there, but the quills hurt him for a long time. It would open so many new doors if he could get them out.

"Alright, I'll do it." The man took a needle and tried to prick his skin, but the needle only pressed on his flesh. "You weren't kidding. You're about as tough as a formation realm cultivator. If I'm not wrong, you aren't a cultivator at all. What's your secret."

"I eat my veggies, dip that needle in the solution, and let's see if this has a shot of working," Zack said.

"Let's hope it does, or this will be much harder than either of us wants."

He felt the sweet sensation of a new kind of pain. This one was energetic and cruel, like a sadist. He felt it flood his veins rapidly and ignite like gasoline. He had moments to clamp his jaw shut before he screamed out in agonizing pain. It wasn't the nostalgia he had been looking forward to.



Heat Resistance G: 98/99

Regeneration G: 99/99



Zack opened his mouth and closed it as a cool feeling chased the venom through his nerves. This stuff was good. He felt the doctor move quickly, practically seeing into his side. They had previously gone over his surgical strategy when Zack scouted the man. The man had confidential information that Zack hadn't disclosed to anyone else. He knew Zack's regeneration would grow more robust, making the next attempt nearly impossible.

Blood burning up in green flames fell on the stone floor as the surgeon moved quickly with practiced ease from thousands of surgeries. He barely listened to the fire as he opened the entry to the first quill. Zack felt the bone pincers grip the quill before the doctor's assistant and a strong man in the chi-gathering realm helped.

Zack felt the first pull and preyed to any god that would listen that it worked. He felt the quill move 1 of 9 they planned to remove. It was lodged in the bone but not nearly as deep as the others. He screamed in fresh agony. He felt a snap, and the quill pulled free.

A feeling of pure joy swept through him as he felt the bone heal and the pain that haunted him for years faded. Only eight more, and he would be able to walk again. Tears welled up in his eyes as the already exhausted surgeon moved on to the next one.

He quickly opened the wound to the area and then attached the bone pincers to it. Zack screamed. His bone cracked, and an inch slid out, but the quill's barbs remained firmly in the bone.

"Please work," Zack said.

Another yank took the rest of the quill out of him. There were only seven more, and he would be free of the pain. Already, he felt relief.

The next one was lodged much further into his hip. A yank let that be known as the barbs scraped against raw nerves. He tried to twist away, but the cultivator placed a firm hand on his chest as the doctor worked the quill out as Zack screamed. They put a piece of leather in his mouth as they continued working.



…



Zack awoke in a mess of flaming green blood as the surgeon sat in his chair and drank. He looked down at his leg to see it was fully healed without the pain that framed his every step. He was also ready to upgrade two skills. They would allow him to travel deeper into the depths of the mine without any issue. He stretched, enjoying the feeling of muscles loosening and his joints rotating without pain. How much faster could he travel without the chronic pain?

Maybe he could see the depths of the mines where no one had been before.

"Your body kept healing faster, so I had to add more venom until we were dumping the whole flask in your wound. I've never seen anything like it." Fang Bolin said.



Attributes

Regeneration G: 475/1005

Resist G: 105/150



Maxing out his regeneration skill increased his regeneration attribute and potential. Zack had heard that maxing out a skill could improve its corresponding attribute. Many people aspiring to be great learned the endurance or strength skills to empower their attributes further.

Zack had gained more than he expected from the surgery, but he felt so tired. He was free.

"Yeah, I am good at surviving. Send me the bill for anything I destroyed, and I'll see you are compensated. Thank you for the help," Zack said.

"No, thank you. I haven't had such an interesting surgery in a long time." Fang Bolin said.

Zack made his way out on the street, wearing only a robe from his inventory. Walking had never felt so pleasurable, but it was time to improve his skills. He went to an abandoned building and climbed to one of its higher floors. Where the spiders congregated, absorbing chi and hunting insects, Zack began upgrading his skills.

He started with Regeneration.



Lesser Phoenix Regeneration F: 0/9999

Lesser Vampiric Regeneration F: 0/9999

Regeneration II F: 0/999



In this case, simplicity was best. Sure, he was in a heat-based environment at the moment, but if he started using blood or fire to regenerate, he would quickly become consumed by those builds. One did not simply dabble with Phoenixes and Vampire builds.



Regeneration II F: 1/999



It felt like his whole body had received a qualitative boost, including his mana and stamina. Regeneration II would be an incredible boon when he gained a method to control and use his mana.



Dragon Hide F: 0/9999

Phoenix Down F: 0/9999

Heat Resistance II F: 0/999



What was there to decide? He already knew he wasn't going with a Dragon or Phoenix build. They were great, but he was a summoner and didn't want something else to overtake that. While those other builds were great, he would rather raise his monsters than use them himself.



Heat Resistance II F: 1/999



For example, the upgrade was qualitatively increased with his regeneration skill. He felt like his very being could handle heat much better than before. It wasn't like gaining dragon hide. This was his body dealing with heat. Something he had anticipated happened then.



Would you like to learn the skill of flame tempering?

y/n



Ok, it wasn't an offensive skill, not in the least, but it was something just as good. Flame Tempering was a defensive skill. Only by gaining Regeneration II and Heat Resistance II was it offered. He could earn a single point in Defense at every skill level by suffering through intense heat. It was a G-grade skill that he was able to upgrade rapidly. The defense wasn't an attribute. It was armor that protected his life, and until it was depleted, he couldn't die. Tempering and Thorn skills were the most game mechanic skills imaginable. They were the equivalent of health bars in the case of defense. In comparison, Thorns were their own thing.



Flame Tempering G: 1/99

Defense 1/1



It was his key to never being in a position to require surgery again. He felt a small protective barrier appear around his body. While it wasn't much at the moment, given enough time, he could improve it. Later, he could snag other tempering skills, which, if they upgraded at the same time, could have multiplicative effects.



…



Zack walked into the local tavern filled with men with Red Vipers sewn into their robes or armor. All eyes were on him as he made his way with a limp toward the basement guard. No, he didn't have to limp, but aesthetics were important. It was better to be underestimated by his allies and enemies. If he looked like prey, maybe a few more corrupterans would try their luck. Thinning their population could only be a good thing.

"Do you need help with your bag?" The guard asked.

"No, I need to show your leader it's important."

Zack stepped down the ladder, holding a bag with a wiggling tentacle blade. It was all that was left of the creature that attacked him. He moved and thought he should feel agonizing pain but was pleased when all he felt was easy movement. That was better than good; it was an affirmation that he made the right decision.

He stood before a table. 4 of 8 captains of the Red Vipers were present, along with their leader, Wei Fu; he dressed in common red robes and wore an eyepatch. Green and red chi swirled around the man. It was a byproduct of someone in the foundation realm losing at poker. The men stared at him as he made his way to the center of the room and emptied the bag on the table. Cards and chips flew everywhere, and a tentacle wiggled as the blade dug into the table.

"Did you know about this?" Zack asked.

Swords were drawn, but Zack didn't pay them any attention. His eyes were solely on their leader.

"Yes, 4 of my captains are leading our men as we speak to increase security. The war won't come here. We're a part of the support structure of the sect. Without us, they would need to devote parts of their forces to spirit stone extraction. They can't afford to let the corrupterans take us over." Wei Fu said.

Zack took a step forward, and a blade pressed against his throat. "What if there is no war?"

Wei Fu lit his cigar and took a long puff. "The signs point to it, and the sect has never backed down."

"That was decades ago with very different elders. What if the new elders have chosen a different approach?"

"You're asking if some of the most brutal, violent men would choose to appease an enemy instead of fighting. Disgusting that isn't worth thinking about. Get out of here with that talk. You are a foreigner and don't know our ways. We always fight and defeat the Corrupterans." A captain said.

Two of the men stared at the one who spoke with side eyes.

"I'm barely willing to entertain your argument. So what if the sects choose not to fight? The military will get involved, and the yellow emperor will chastise the sect. Some villages will be overrun, but that happens anyway. We will be fine. The sect can't afford to let us be overrun. It's illogical for them to sacrifice us." Wei Fu said.

"That's my point. What if they aren't logical? Or worse, what if they are logical from a Corrupteran's point of view?"

"Infiltration is impossible. There hasn't been a reported case in centuries. There are methods to ensure people are who they say they are at every turn. Talismans and arrays cover the sects built to distinguish humans from corrupterans." Wei Fu said.

"I believe they have all failed," Zack said.

"You're out of your mind, but we'll have Ling Wei look into talismans that identify Corrupterans. We can never be too careful."

Zack grabbed his prop and shoved it back into his bag. "Thank you for your time; I have two more stops to make, " he said.


5$ for 3 weeks ahead

 

[Ultimatedaywriter]

I'm working on Chimera Love Planet right now if anyone wants to check that out. My Patreon will have two weeks ahead for Chimera Love Planet as of tomorrow. What do ya'll think of adding bunny girls for the next NSFW scene in Chimera Love Planet?

 

[Ultimatedaywriter]

I'm working on Chapter 7 today, and it should be finished today. Chapter 8 will be up before Chapter 4 drops, so by next Thursday, expect four chapters on my Patreon.

 

[Ultimatedaywriter]

Ch4 will come out Thursday as planned. On patreon ch 7 and 8 will be posted. Meaning the 5$ tier will have 4 chapters ahead equaling the free chapters.

 

[Ultimatedaywriter]

A wrack of raptor ribs sizzled on the grill as he layered them in his special BBQ sauce. Flames lapped at a little layer of fat from a female raptor before he shut the lid to choke the flame. Smoke poured out of the grill's chimney as the equivalent of 20 raptors cooked. He liked the wooden handle on his grill; it reminded him of simpler times, and the smell made his stomach gurgle in anticipation. People filled the streets late in the evening, chatting about the upcoming mining expedition. The Corrupterans weren't on anyone's mind but Zack's.

Two more meetings and a week of vulnerable limping with nothing to show for it. He squeezed his tongs hard enough for the steel to creak.

Zack had to face the facts. The predators had learned their lesson and wouldn't take obvious bait, so maybe he should walk into an ambush.

Some lucky guy discovered a new tunnel, and everyone was excited. A new tunnel meant more spirit stones, merit points, and the chance of freedom. There also might be monsters down in the depths that no one had seen before. It was a chance to add them to his demi-plane for some easy levels in that skill. Zack loved to catch the low-hanging fruit when he could.

He mentally reviewed the BBQ sauce and its ingredients, noting how they blurred the line between sauce craft and alchemy. This batch used ingredients that had Chi in them, and Zack hoped they would have better results.

Su Lin grabbed his arm and tugged it to her chest. Her collar was gone already, and Su Jun's, too. They were both free and cultivated at night. Both immediately hit the peak of body tempering and were preparing to become true cultivators.

"Must you leave?"

"Not until you're gone and the party is ready. A new tunnel hasn't opened in five years, and I'm excited that it's much lower than others," Zack said.

"You are so different without the pain in your leg. It's like you're a teenager again." They had been a little more active in the bedroom since his surgery, and Su Lin appreciated it. Zack pulled her in close and hugged her. "You don't have to go. If you work hard here, you can buy your freedom."

"You're leaving today, so let's not fight. I want to celebrate your freedom."

"My parents have contacted me and wish for Su Jun and I to return to the clan. They believe sending her to the White Flash Sect would dishonor our clan. She is a bastard."

He hated that he understood. Zack had a similar experience. His inability to compete even with a system when his brother became a hero brought shame to his family. They were on opposite sides of the issue, but Zack understood where the Su clan was coming from.

"The strong do what they want, and the weak suffer what they must. 5 million was too much for even the Su clan's heirs so they could go to lesser sects. If they disagree, then tell them I commanded them to do so. They can come to me with their arguments and outrage." Zack said.

He felt better than he had in a long time. His attributes had shot up with his new training schedule, and he thought he had barely scratched what was possible. The lack of pain had opened a whole new world for him. At night, Zack had begun boiling himself in water and laying on beds of hot coals. Resistance and Body attributes soared while he grilled up monsters to help raise his potential. Fixing his hip had been a positive change all around. He wouldn't let it go to waste.

"You are still a mortal below even the body-tempering realm. I know you have your powers, but please try the exercises I showed you." Su Lin said.

The power of chi felt like a distraction. It was an essential feature of the world and the source of so much technology, and it had become a part of his demi-plane. His monsters have harnessed their chi and even bred with native creatures.

Zack pressed against the railing of his balcony, overlooking the crowds of hungry people served by staff. He hired six waitresses and paid them a living wage because he could afford it. They weren't hired for their service, and he chose them among the people on the street for their looks.

"I can't figure out why you chose to expand now." Su Lin said.

"I can leave a portal here and continue running this place even after I'm free."

That was a lie. Zack wanted access to the mine, he wanted closure, and the depths were his only hope.

Zack had access to two portals at a time but planned to increase that number. The Blue-Eyes Sect was in the Black Marshes in the south, where ice on the mountains melted and overflowed the Bronze Ford in the spring. Rumors said the Blue-Eyes Sect members had blue eyes due to an herb that helped mind cultivation. If he could get a cutting of that herb, he could grow it in his demi-plane and abuse it. The mind determined how many portals he could have opened at any given time. If he could focus his cultivation entirely on his mind, he could fast-travel anywhere.

If he was right about the Sect Elders appeasing the corrupterans, it was only a matter of time before they fell to outside forces or infighting. Weakness invited attack, which was great when Zack wanted enemies to attack while he was ready. It was terrible when it was a disgusting display of weakness.

"Just don't miss your chance to get out of here. Some of our neighbors are talking about people acting strangely." Su Lin said.

Zack turned from the balcony and checked the ribs before closing the grill. Wei Fu was right: Why give up their sources of revenue and disrupt supply? To feed an enemy, they would have to fight eventually. By appeasing them, they were making their enemies stronger and weakening themselves in a single move.

He was an outsider looking in. Maybe their power didn't come from the mines. To a foundation realm cultivator, they might seem important. The elders were all core or nascent souls, and to them, the mine may be far less important.

"Has the Forman released a statement?" Zack asked.

"No, what do the gang leaders say?" Su Lin asked.

"They think this will be like any other war from the past. If the elders don't fight, then the army will step in, and the emperor won't let the towns in his territory be destroyed," Zack said.

"Wei Fu wasn't born in one of the great clans. There are many Wei clans, but none are among the great ones." Su Lin dipped his finger in some of the sauce Zack set aside and tasted it. "It needs ginger, but the kick is good."

"You think everything needs ginger." He scooped some ground ginger and mixed it in. "So, what makes the great clans different from the normal clans."

"Great clans lose power if they don't defend their assigned lands. Another clan could move in and steal the royal contract from under them. The Wu clan owns this land; unlike a sect, losing a mine will hurt them. If we want someone to fight for the people, they are our best choice. Convincing them to go against the desires of the White Flash Sect will be difficult."

"Once you're all out of here, it won't matter. We have no dogs in this fight." Zack said.

"What a strange idiom. Do your people often fight with dogs?"

Zack stared out from the balcony and was sure he could see a Blue Raven dogfight happening. It wasn't illegal. No one gave a damn about dogs here. To most people, they were little more than vermin best used to take care of scraps.

"Not anymore. It's considered immoral to force animals to fight to the death for the entertainment of the masses." Zack stared at the two men fighting in a ring set up for the entertainment of the masses. One punch launched a tooth from a fighter's mouth into the cup of a customer who drank it down before choking. "Well, I think it's better this way."



…



No one would search for a Wu princess in a slave camp. Wu Zhi thought her uncle was a fool, telling her she might have a good time learning about a new experience. A well-rounded princess should know the people, from the lowest of the low to the most powerful of nobles in their lands. Talk of military involvement in a Corrupteran raid was humiliating. For her clan to get their hands dirty in such a menial task was disgraceful, and she would punish the ones responsible.

As a core realm cultivator, the elders, each nascent soul or higher, were out of her reach. They scoffed at her, telling Zhi she would be better off producing heirs to great clans than becoming great herself. She wouldn't be ignored or pushed into the shadows, and she had never heard from anyone again in some political marriage. She had her dumb little brother and uncle, the war general. She didn't need them, but when surrounded by vipers, it was best to have a dragon in her corner. She scratched at the fake slave collar around her neck as her men led her through the crowds to an unscheduled assembly.

She waited in a small building overlooking the party as men played a game with a ball made of leather and rammed into each other like sheep. They even wore approximations for armor as they formed battle positions and invaded or defended territory. Points were awarded when a runner managed to break through a line and catch the ball. Zhi suspected it was a clever tactic by the enslaved people to train for a rebellion with no weapons.

Where was Min with her information? She glanced back and saw two of her guards watching with some interest while the others maintained decorum fit for Wu Clan guards. Her first instinct was to reprimand them and threaten to enslave them.

Her uncle's teachings stayed in her hand, and she continued to watch the spectacle. At the end of the day, if she still felt they deserved punishment, then she would punish them. The people were gathered around a place of business. She didn't believe it until she saw it. In a slave camp, of all things, she found a fully functioning society. Her ministers were still reviewing documentation sent by this town's major.

A percentage of merit points of the worth of mined spirit stone was awarded to the enslaved people to incentivize hard work, and the penalty of 100 merit points was the brutal lash.

"Tell me, Minister Chan Zimo, what is the meaning of this image before me."

"The major has instituted a tax on those more fortunate to fund a welfare service so children can avoid the punishment."

She paused and raised a hand to another minister. "Why are children charged?"

"Artifact creation is an art that uses rules and limitations to make artifacts more powerful. Loopholes were best to make the artifacts stronger."

She was afraid of that. Technological limitations were a problem no matter what. She couldn't wave her hand and fix a manufacturing problem. It would have been good PR. How could she spin this and turn this idea that would appeal to the bleeding hearts of noble women across the empire into hers? Simply killing the mayor was an option. She could pay the price of an enslaved person without blinking.

Min opened the door, and the guards let her approach. She stood to the right of the ministers, ready to make her report.

"Why isn't this welfare program implemented in other slave towns?" Wu Zhi asked.

"It isn't possible." "She turned her attention from the game to the man. The red team had taken the initiative and was about to turn the tide in the game by kicking the ball through the goal. Then, the cunning blue team intercepted and went onto the offensive. It was an aspect of the game she enjoyed. Momentum could always be stolen by the enemy when it was least expected. "No slave town produces as much wealth as number 5 in the Jaw-Long Mountains."

Min arrived with a platter of delicious-smelling meat on a bed of rice and vegetables that wouldn't look out of place in the Wu Clan capital city, Winter Spear. While it wouldn't be served in the palace, she could see something like it served to the servants. But that was her judgment from her eyes. Her mouth watered, and her tongue longed for the chi held within the meal. It wasn't the fair expected in a slave town, not even in their most extravagant celebrations.

"How this makes no sense." A minister said.

"I volunteer to try it." Another minister said.

She ignored them and nodded to her food taster. The young girl, slight of frame, would taste all of Wu Zhi's food. The difference in their body types almost guaranteed that the child would show the effects of poison quickly. Wu Zhi didn't suspect the host of the event. It was sure they did not know of her presence. This event was far too open for that. Wu Zhi didn't reach the age of 18 by taking needless risks. One of her guards could be bribed to poison her.

When the child didn't die immediately from a poison capable of killing a core realm cultivator, Wu Zhi pulled free her pair of chopsticks from her storage ring and pulled free a piece of tender meat slathered in chi-rich sauce. The entire meal was bathed in a myriad of chi thick and glorious to her senses.

She took a bite, and her mouth exploded with flavor. The sauce's sweetness, meat tenderness, and small, delectable grains of rice filled her with renewed vigor.

"What was the price of such a lavish meal?" Wu Zhi asked.

"Only 15 merit points charged to my account." It was over a tenth required to keep a child alive.

She felt a substantial warmth sweep through her body, and her muscles spasmed momentarily before relaxing. It was such a shock that she paused in her thoughts and looked inward with her senses. It wasn't something a foundation realm cultivator would sense. Something within the meal was bolstering her physical body, increasing her strength, and her chi was working with it, adjusting to a slightly stronger body.

The body naturally adjusted to chi and grew stronger on its own. It was slowly replaced, removing the unneeded mortal flesh until only the beautiful chi-grown flesh remained. This was different. The energy within the food altered her mortal flesh, making it a little more durable. It was almost like body cultivation.

She finished the bowl, and every bite further influenced her body, greatly increasing her ability to withstand chi. Her spiritual roots dug through her body, vibrating in pleasure as if she had replanted them in more fertile soil. It was as if she had lived her life with a cap on her full potential, only to discover a means to raise it without dangerous rituals or pacts with demons.

Wu could not let this discovery go. She had to investigate it immediately.

"Buy a plate and send it to my uncle under stasis. I permit you to use spirit stones to expedite the process." She couldn't believe it. What she discovered could shake the very world all in a slave pin.

"What are they celebrating?"

"The wife and daughter of the restaurant owner have been freed, and his daughter is leaving tonight to join the White Flash Sect."

"What is her cultivation?"

"Qi condensation, and from what I've gathered, she's quite the talent. Not many can reach that high at 12."

Wu Zhi knew that Wu Min was drawing parallels to her to tease her or maybe play upon her feelings to tip the scales toward mercy.

How many spirit stones did this mine bring in? For a restaurant owner to pay 5 million and free a child and a grown woman showed resourcefulness and an incredible amount of revenue. Was this mine more productive than the others? If so, by how much? Surveys didn't show this mine to be any more plentiful than others. It was on the lower end of that scale.

"There is also talk of a new tunnel opening. It's exciting that the people are building an expedition to explore it, and mine too."

One of the ministers coughed. "My lady, most mines aren't like this one. I suspect the enslaved people have a clever talisman master, or perhaps they have found a way to raise rice in the mine. That isn't against any laws and shows that the leaders of these enslaved people have commendable cunning. Perhaps we can find who these people are and add them to your entourage."

"It would be a boon to send our people to investigate. If they aren't scum, then we will see about placing a debt upon them to keep them loyal. Are miners normally so happy about a new tunnel?" Wu Zhi asked.

"No, normally they draw lots to decide who goes in, and often the losers die. New tunnels can be disastrous. This reaction is strange."

"It's the food." Wu Min said.

She turned her gaze to her cousin. "Are you suggesting that the food corrupts the mind, and you gave it to me?"

"Relax, Zhi, breathe. Look at these people. Are they meek slaves? I see men in their prime fit for drafting into the army rather than beaten slaves scared of the lash. Maybe Father should send his recruits here to bulk them up before they go to basic. Some fun, partying, and pretty girls before their drill sergeants lay into them."

"We have happy enslaved people on our hands. What if they don't want to be free?" A minister asked.

Wu Zhi felt like her world had turned upside down at the thought but was forced to take the man's ludicrous words into account. The people she saw partying and celebrating together looked happier than the peasants on their rice patties.



…



Fire lit the bottom of a furnace he made for a special occasion. Both girls were out of the house, so no one could stop him from trying more dangerous training methods. Zack had used an old dead tree from his demi-plane and chopped it up for firewood before stacking it in front of the furnace. The ancient chi-dense wood would make great kindling for what he had planned. He opened a portal in his mouth and closed his eyes. Zack sucked in a breath and let it out.

He had stripped down to a loincloth and felt good about his chances. It wasn't going to be fun, but there was a door on the side of the furnace that let him leave by pushing on it. He even had talismans placed on it to prevent it from getting hot. They might not last long, but this was just an experiment.

Besides the talismans, everything Zack made came from his demi-plane. The furnace was made from river clay, and he hardened it with his mind. Everything in his demi-plane was mental in one way or another. That was just how things went.

He opened the feeder door, dropped some wood on the fire, and watched the inside heat up. Smoke poured out of the top of the furnace as the heat increased continuously. A clay disk in the center of the furnace absorbed all the heat while he waited. His plan was simple: Zack would enter the furnace and survive long enough for his Heat-Tempering to level.

It wasn't that he was trying to kill himself; Zack only wanted to raise the skill as quickly as possible. Once it ranked up, he would get the actual gains just in time for the expedition to the new tunnel in two weeks. So, Zack waited until the clay began to turn red from the heat, and the air around the furnace became wavy.

He approached the door only for a hand to stop him.

"I know you miss your wife, but there are easier ways to kill yourself."

Zack turned to see a woman with straight black hair and amber eyes. She had painted red lips and looked like a high-class lady.

"I'm not killing myself."

"What would your wife and daughter think if you killed yourself after they were freed?"

"Listen, lady, I don't know you, and Su Lin and I aren't married. Su Jun is more like a niece. That doesn't mean I don't love them. We're not married. So, stand aside, I need to train for the expedition."

The woman looked him up and down with narrowed eyes. "I don't understand you. Explain yourself."


Artwork For A Future Boss As of Chapter 7 Check out on Patreon.

 

[Ultimatedaywriter]

"Don't come out no matter what, and don't make a sound." The boy had never seen his mother so scared. He covered his mouth to keep from screaming when he heard her scream and beg but never revealed his location. The last time he saw her alive was when he heard her fall. The boy watched through a crack in the door as something passed from the creature to his mother.

She shook on the ground as the thing moved inside of her. "Not my baby," his mother clutched her stomach. His little brother or sister was going to be born next month.

His mother screamed as something crawled out of her, and a clawed hand burst from her stomach. A bloody thing with skin black as pitch and many red eyes pulled itself out. The thing returned.

"A queen from livestock that is funny. I knew all we needed was the right host, one too young to fight back." The monster said.

Its long tail reached out and impaled his mother. Tears fell down the child's face as he pressed his hands hard against his mouth. He couldn't scream. Instead of something flowing into her, his mother's body melted and was slurped up by the creature.

"Her flesh will make fine, beautiful children. My queen, will you consume the one hiding in the closet, or can I use him."

"Leave him be. We are born of the same flesh. One day, he will seek me out when he is strong. I will be waiting, big brother."

He was picked up by a group of cultivators and managed to join the White Flash Sect. Wei Fu backed the wrong young master and ended up cast out and enslaved. He shoveled some raptor meat in his mouth and felt his muscles bulge momentarily. When he was at his strongest, they would meet again. He pressed a hand against his missing eye. It cut his combat potential in half. Years of eating food from the outsider increased his strength by nine times what it should have been in the foundation realm.

"What are we going to do about the infiltration? One in twenty of our men fail the talisman test."

When fighting a monster, it was best to send a monster of their own to counter it. What other human was more a monster than the hidden king of the town 5? Some were calling the fifth town like they were a real community.

How much longer was his sister going to make him wait?

"Any man who fails the test will be overseen. No actions will be taken until I order it or a transformation is witnessed."

He felt in his gut that the talismans were compromised. If they killed their men and started a demon cultivator hunt, it would only cause a panic, and a panic before the massive payday from the expedition would be a disaster.

"Has there been a royal sighting yet?"



…



People watched his training in awe, even if they could only see a cracked and repaired furnace. Flames licked at his skin as Zack meditated in the furnace. His flesh blackened and fell only for new flesh to replace it. The pain was familiar, like the burning of the rage. His mind traveled to places he hadn't looked at in years. He reached out for the power. It remained elusive and arrogant in its rejection of his advances. The power was his, but it wouldn't move. What was he missing?

In the dark corners of his mind, flashes of rage came to him. Flames licked at his skin, and his flesh cracked as he endured the inferno of his own making. He fought his brother in his demi-plane before the end. He saw it. Zack was in his right mind and under the sway of the black rage.

He saw the mana that flowed into a skill he no longer possessed. A sword cut him, lasers tore open his flesh, and a shield nearly bashed his head in, but he kept going. Mana fueled a skill he no longer possessed as he punched with the power to collapse the mine within the mountain.

It was the skill Mystic, one of the best for a mana-based fighter build. With his fists, he battled a hero who was two ranks higher than him. The world cried out as slashes destroyed the ground that tried to swallow the hero. Fists of earth crashed into armor made from Niron, a metal from the nightmare realm forged into steel. His blows managed to dent it, much to his brother's surprise.

"I didn't want to do it, but your rage is too much. If you can't control yourself, you're a danger to yourself and the world."

Back in the present, his skin cracked and flaked away as he endured the pain and remembered the humiliation. "What are you doing here? You're no brother of mine."

He remembered working a dead-end job. "Aren't you the brother of the hero? What are you doing working here." His brother decided Zack needed to learn humility.

"You made me pay to stay in your world. I'm done. I reject it."

"You can't leave with a powerful skill like Mystic. I won't allow you to abuse your power."

The hero held out a platinum stone, which glowed with a terrible light. "No, you already took my name; don't take my power, too."

"Power is meant to protect the weak, and you squandered it," Jason said.

His fists tightened from the memory. He clawed at the mana within him. It was his power, his greatest power. He used it before, and it would surely come to him again. Hadn't he suffered enough?

The nostalgia of madness allowed him to touch upon the power of his mana, mere dregs of memories from his skill Mystic. He wanted it to reach out and take what was his.

Zack's lips cracked and bled, dripping his unburning blood onto the stone he sat upon. How long had he cooked himself? An hour or a day, he couldn't tell; all he could do was endure and force water and food down his throat.

Once his skill was stripped, no amount of wishing brought it back. The mana in his body became useless. The only mana he could touch was the mana of his demi-plane. The closest he came to wielding his mana was when he grilled. Small amounts of his mana went into the food he cooked, which was glorious. Zack had a dream that his mana would one day become his again, and the one skill he had that made him worth something would return.

Jason was frightened. Was that why he ripped Zack's fangs out? He dented Jason's armor, which wasn't an illusion; he felt it bend and warp under his punch.

Zack pulled at the flames. He needed more power. The heat wasn't enough to push him.

He saw himself staring down at the rocky ground bereft of life. A slash tore at his reality. He felt the opening to the outside like an open wound. He bled, and reality tried to invade and strip away his control. He tried to seal the hole, but Jason held the portal open with his mana.

"You can have it back after you've learned to serve. That's why we are servants of the people. We were entrusted with this power by god to help people."

"I hate people. Why do I have to be around them?" Zack asked.

"You don't know them, so how can you hate them?"

"I hate you," Zack said.

"Only because you're being punished. Dad used to spank you, but you loved him and even thanked him for it when you were older. This is the same big brother. When you finally grow up, you'll thank me."

He was burning. Raw flesh pushed the burnt shell out of the way, and his battle against the heat continued. A patient dragon waited for him to run out of energy and surrender to his fate. Red walls surrounded him, hot from the flames, and the stone he sat upon had also heated to a cherry red. Cracks covered his seat as he endured the pain as his skills battled nature's wrath.

Zack continued reaching for power and feeling the black rage. His mind traveled back again to the past, to the moments before he lost his freedom.

"I would rather die on my feet than live like a slave. That's what you are." Zack said.

His brother chuckled.

"You are free to live out your life in this empty world so long as you pay your rent on this sad plot of land. But don't get too comfortable. There is some legislation coming down from on high. Your time here will be limited soon." Jason said.

"No, it won't. Goodbye, brother. I hope we never meet again." Zack closed the gate leading out of his world. The world shook as his last tether to the only reality he had ever known had been severed.

"You are no brother of mine," Zack said.

Jason gripped the wound he had created in the fabric of reality and stared at him with a gaze Zack hadn't seen before. "Hurry, I can't hold it forever."

"I won't live as a slave? Not even for you." A fist of stone impacted his brother's chest, sending him off into the dream.

Zack smirked at the memory. The look of surprise on his brother's face kept him going. He managed to leave the power of the hero who controlled his life. Only somehow Zack had lost. He was made a slave, and he lived on his knees.

He raised a hand to his neck and touched the glowing red collar. The light touch wasn't enough to provoke a shock, just enough to remind Zack he wasn't free.

The mystic skill was gone; it might not be in his system anymore. What did remain was that he reached out and focused on his mana. It remained in his body, a deep violet sea. He pushed with his mind, reaching out with all of his will. The engine of his build was gone, but he remembered it.

The violet sea shifted at his touch, and he felt his mind touch it.



Would you like to learn the skill Mystic Talent?

Y/N

Mystic Talent G: 1/999



The distance between G and F increased again. He gained a pure mana skill that covered so much more than Mystic ever did alone, but it wasn't a lever to turn mana into strength, body, or reflex. It was Mystic Talent. The skill would help him improve at mystic techniques like mana control, manipulation, or enchantment. Only Mystic Talent wasn't a scientific field or a means to better wield mana alone. What it was and could do, Zack didn't know; it was something he would have to explore.

He pulled at a solitary strand of his mana, a simple stream from the mana he possessed, and pushed it to his body. Zack pushed it into his flesh as he had with Mystic before it was lost and felt the mana leak out of him. He cursed his bad luck. The skills weren't the same. Mystic did a lot of the work for him.



…



Zack left the furnace feeling better than he had in a long time. Wu Min waited for him as his dead flesh fell off of him, and new flesh grew in its place. It was almost like he was molting. People stared at him as his blackened skin faded, and he appeared rejuvenated. He heard whispers from the new arrivals that he wasn't human and was a Yǐngróng, the new name people called the parasites. Corrupteran didn't exactly roll off the tongue; it was a rough translation.

A dark or black face was funnier, so he decided to go with that from now on. The parasites were probably watching him, and he hoped they had plans to send many of their drones after him, maybe even one of their warrior caste.

He opened the door to a room cooled by a cooling talisman, scanned over its symbols, and felt almost like he could grasp them.



Mystic Talent G: 2/999



Early levels were always easy to get, but the later ones were a pain and a half. He grabbed a protein shake and downed it in one go. The grilled meat slurry wasn't tasty, but it gave his body something to work with while he healed. Mana wasn't enough for his regeneration to work from as he grew more assertive. Higher attributes made rebuilding his body more expensive.

Zack didn't have anything to remove skills, so phasing regeneration out wasn't an option, and it kept him alive for nearly a decade as a slave. As he moved from a survival build to something less fragile, it would become harder to level. Then again, what did he know about the future?

For some reason, the cool air felt odd to him. It was like there was something about it he could almost taste. Was it chi? Could he feel the chi from the talisman keeping the room cold? That chi sank into everything in the room, including his protein shake. He would need to be more careful. What if he took in something less friendly?

Zack climbed the stairs to the second floor of his home and business to see Wu Min waiting for him. He had already changed clothes and thought he looked good. The Wu clan robe's purple color with a white snowflake on the chest made his silver slave collar pop.

That aside, he felt good after the training. He felt like a stone smoothed by countless years underwater. All of his rough edges were rubbed away. In his case, Zack had burned himself to a crisp, repeatedly tempering his body with fire chi.

What else could he call fire from chi-filled wood? He could feel the furnace lit like a small campfire on a dark night. Everyone glowed a little with different flavors. The person in his office was a mix of darkness and cold. She felt a little more potent than Wei Fu.

"You survived again." Wu Min said.

Zack smiled and flexed. Burning himself hadn't made him more robust; it had made him harder to kill. His build wasn't based on offense, not in the mines where death hid behind every corner. Zack would rather be able to tank the hits or regenerate from them.

"Soon, you will be the spearhead of the exploration. How does that make you feel? Many would see it as an honor. I've told my father, and we might name the cavern after you." Wu Min said.

"I heard your princess was joining the convoy. Is there any chance you can convince her to reconsider? She would be better off coordinating with communications." Zack said.

"I will forgive you for your ignorance only once. My cousin is Wu Zhi, a core realm cultivator of incredible power. Not many reach the core realm, much less before age 20." Wu Min said.

"That is impressive. Did I ever tell you about when I stumbled upon a cavern filled with the bones of core realm cultivators? The heat had killed them, but their bones managed to survive."

Zack had no idea how powerful they were, but it wouldn't surprise him.

"That's why we have you to take the lead." He reviewed his latest pop-ups and didn't see a single thorn or revenge skill. He was running out of time if he wanted a build that could damage the monsters in the caverns. "We will grant you freedom if you sign a contract with us to enter the dungeon and lead us through the cavern."

Zack was wary of any contracts forced upon him. Blood magic was used in contracts; depending on the terms, he could die instantly, much like the collar. The only way out of the contract was to destroy or complete it. Depending on the contents of the contract, he could escape from one set of chains for another, much more dangerous set.

The collar interfered with his system, and a contract wouldn't. Even if free, he thoroughly planned to go on the expedition.

"I want the contract to be simple and only contain what we discussed. There will be no games. I will do my job, nothing more or less, and then I'm free." Zack said.

Wu Min smiled. From within her robes, she pulled a scroll free. Simple terms were written on it, and she even dangled the key before him.

"The reward for everyone willingly going on the expedition is already freedom. Think of this as a bonus to ensure you do a good job. We'll even pay you a mercenary fee for the job."



…



He felt the area around his neck where the collar had rested. It was pure insanity. After nearly a decade of suffering, he was gone with the turn of a key. Zack was almost free. He only had a single job left to do.

A portal opened, and he stared at the entrance to his demi-plane. After nearly a decade, he was free to enter it again. He entered his home and appeared back in it. The whole place was free of dust, and he cleaned it with control over the plane. He found a remote that replaced everything he needed by reconstructing it from mana to matter transformations. Zack turned on his TV, watched some anime in his home, and cried.

It felt good to be home. He lay in bed with the TV running, staring at the ceiling, not in pain, just content. The moment stretched as he enjoyed the time difference between his demi-plane and the real world. Three days were 300, after all, nearly a full year.

Zack had a monster approach a raptor and placed a hand on it. He practiced mana enhancement with the world's mana, the most basic mystic technique.

Failure after failure, pop-ups offering skills he didn't even look at appeared as he declined them. This wasn't about them but about regaining what he lost and reclaiming what was taken.

Muscle and bone rejected his mana as he twisted and morphed it to merge with the raptor's body. It wasn't the same skill, not by a long shot, but he wouldn't give up. After two hours, he went to play a game.

As he stared at the character on the screen he controlled, Zack thought about controlling the raptor the same way. Wouldn't that be fun? First, he had to figure out how to touch it with his mana without being rejected. Matching his mana with the raptors wasn't enough. Overtaking the monster's mana didn't help either.

Zack caved and went through his pop-ups until he found something interesting. Weave, how did he get a skill like that? What did he do to make it appear? He felt like it was a sign, maybe a positive direction.

He tried pushing his mana against the raptor and sliding small strands through the monster's cells. He tied them into knots at the ends of his mana strings and pushed more strings through the beast. He watched Monster Tamer gain levels before his eyes as he commanded the beast to move, and his will moved through the mana connected to the monster. There wasn't a rejection, and the monster's body was used to his mana infusing it.

If that were the case, shouldn't Zack's body be even more used to his mana infusing it, or was it not used to it any longer? Zack's body was mostly newly regenerated flesh. Perhaps his body was no longer used to his mana, or his mystic skill worked differently to empower him.

Zack pushed mana through his body and held it there. The mana slowly flowed away, and he continued pouring more into himself. He played a game and did it for hours with nothing to show for it. There had to be a way to use mana to make himself more robust, but he didn't know it.

There wasn't anything he could do about it early on. Maybe with enough time, he could figure it out. There was another way to grow stronger quickly. He had his collar off and full access to cultivation.

Su Lin even taught him the Su clan's Cloud Strider breathing technique. It was both a movement technique and a cultivation technique. At the foundation realm, a cultivator could stride the clouds. He tried it out and sucked in a greedy breath. Chi flowed into him as he focused on the technique itself.

Zack didn't know if Su Lin had misremembered it, but he could tell something was wrong. He moved himself to the mountains south of his home and the nest of Gigadra. The massive-headed dragon turned its attention to him. White scales gleamed in the moonlight that spawned from a Lunar Wolf breaking through to the foundation realm. Zack approached the massive dragon as it eyed him curiously. Zack touched it and felt the monster's gleaming white scales. He heard it purr, almost like a cat.

"I don't think Mystic Talent does what I thought it would. Being good at something doesn't make me a great inventor. It only makes anything I do in the field of mysticism better. So should I change my build again." The dragon lowered itself, and Zack climbed up on its back. It raised its four great white wings and flapped once, shooting in the air like a star.

He watched the world atop the dragon. "I wanted to be a summoner and put all my focus into you." Zack spread his mana through the monster and did something different. He noticed how the dragon breathed, pulling in mana and chi. Zack wasn't trying to do anything but focused on learning.

Maybe he was wrong. Mystic Talent had nothing to do with mana; it was a sense-based skill. That was funny.

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