Gamer of Capes and Worms

[Pef]

A crowbar would be a dozen times more durable than a metal bat. Of course, if you have money some durable metal like tungsten or boron would be even better. And later, some bit of Endbringer, like a claw from Leviathan would work even better.

Costume wise, sport-biker suits are made to resist falling off a motorcycle, and shark suits are often titanium chainmail made to withstand shark bites. Although, if you get more money, there are stronger tinker-tech materials, like the Dragon used to equip her troops.

Or buy a Cauldron vial, purpose-brewed to grant durability. There's even a guy in Bangkok called the Dealer who stole a bag of vials during the Madison event.

 

[Slycerr]

A crowbar would be a dozen times more durable than a metal bat. Of course, if you have money some durable metal like tungsten or boron would be even better. And later, some bit of Endbringer, like a claw from Leviathan would work even better.

Costume wise, sport-biker suits are made to resist falling off a motorcycle, and shark suits are often titanium chainmail made to withstand shark bites. Although, if you get more money, there are stronger tinker-tech materials, like the Dragon used to equip her troops.

Or buy a Cauldron vial, purpose-brewed to grant durability. There's even a guy in Bangkok called the Dealer who stole a bag of vials during the Madison event.

Click to shrink...

Using a crowbar would still be unwieldy at this stage. So while good for later, isn't a good weapon right now.

the biker armor was chosen with Blunt force in mind yes, and the shakr suit is a good shout out. don't know if they'll come around to using it though, because by then I think they have more conncetions for better suits.

And I don't know if Cauldron Vials are that accurate though, that one is gonne require some research.

Thanks for the review and opinion though, it defently made me think about some options and possible ideas I could integrate in the story.

 

[Slycerr]

The cultivation pills changed a lot. The 3 days I used them, my cultivation rose by a whole 12 points!

The back and forth between me and Parian also continued.

At first, she said again that she doesn't do cape costumes. But I replied by saying she doesn't do those because of the materials she doesn't have, which I didn't mind.

Now, the only way out of making me my costume would be admitting she lied to me, possibly angering me. This, in turn, would make her an enemy in her mind.

I, of course, wouldn't act like that, but she doesn't know that.

Maybe if I was a real young master, I can already imagine how that would turn out.

"How dare you deny me? I, your father, will teach you a lesson and make you kowtow to me like a dog!"

And then I would be beat up by 3 big fluffy teddy bears and slowly choked to death by my own clothes.

Eventually, she agreed to make me one full costume, but no contact besides online will be held. She will give me clear instructions to follow for fitting, and if they don't fit there will be no return policy.

I was fine with that, so I put in the deposit of 1000 bucks and was told the process should take about 2 weeks.

This does put me out of armor, so I did the sensible thing and bought a couple more jean jackets and motorbike armor from different stores, bought some extra baseball bats that I could store in my spatial ring while I was at it.

I also went to the second-hand store and purchased a lot of clothes to practice my enchanting on.

Spare armor it is. I still need it to not burn up when I need it—better use some useless clothes to test it on.

So now I was at home, about to cut myself because I needed my blood to enchant.

Having a bowl under my wrist and a healing pill at the ready, I just bite the bullet and cut myself.

When my blood fills the bowl about a finger knuckle deep, I take the healing pill and watch, fascinated, as the wound closes up in seconds.

Taking a sip from the grape juice I had prepared, I now have everything I need.

Taking a syringe and sucking up the blood and putting it in the fountain pen, I start to draw an inscription on a white shirt that is meant to make it more tear-resistant.

It's a combination of symbols and circles meaning connection and stasis—this should make it harder to be cut as the threads want to stay as they are.

After 5 minutes of drawing, I now have an inscription that covers the whole back of the shirt.

Pushing some Soul Energy into it, the pattern starts to glow a little bit.

Pulling on the threads shows they are more resistant to tearing, but before I could call it a success, the inscription intensifies in glow the more I try to destroy the shirt.

Seeing how the Soul Energy moves inside is fascinating—how it handles the symbols and circulates inside the pattern.

When it's at its absolute limit, the inscription burns up and disappears.

Along with the shirt.

Panicking, the shirt becomes a small fire, and smoke starts building in my apartment.

Quickly running to my sink, I throw the shirt in and under water before running to my window to let the smoke clear and prevent my smoke alarm from going off.

Looking at the notebook where I copied the design, I see where the burning of the pattern started and try to figure out what went wrong.

Was it because I only used circles? While the threads were only in straight lines? Would rectangles solve that problem?

Making a new inscription with the info I got, I took a new shirt and started drawing.

This time it seems to work for longer, but the resistance is also lower. Putting the shirt in the 'kinda success' pile, I tried something else and put the circles in straight lines.

This process of failure and maybe successes took about 2 hours and 10 burned shirts before I got towards something I was willing to call a success.

The pattern used mostly circles and a few rectangles that went through them to mean another kind of connection, with symbols mostly around them to complete the inscription.

I stabbed the successful shirt with a knife and it didn't tear.

My table still has a small knife hole in it, but the shirt was fine.

Finally, I take a break and look at the notifications that wanted to interrupt my focus.

[Inscriptions: Enchanting has leveled up!]
[Soul Manipulation Leveled up!]
[Soul Sense Leveled up!]
[Inscriptions: Enchanting has leveled up! 6x]
[Soul Manipulation Leveled up!]
[Inscriptions: Enchanting has leveled up!]

That's some decent progress for just one successful pattern—also for one that should be relatively basic.

The process did help me figure out some general rules about inscription-making.

I should probably look into some durable paper for battle scrolls.

But first, my armor.

Taking a blue jeans jacket and laying it on the table, I start drawing the inscription.

The final product looked like I went over it with a fine sharpie, and the blood darkened considerably on the dense fabric, almost making it look black instead of red.

But when I put some Soul Force into it, the pattern started to emit a crimson glow that looked absolutely awesome.

Now I needed to see if the inscription worked the same on shirts as it did on pants, so taking a random pair of pants I bought, I drew the inscription on one of the legs and activated it.

The enchanting looked fine, but testing it made it pretty obvious that the other leg was weaker for some reason.

Maybe because the effect was spread differently?

Inscribing the other leg fixed the problem, but after 10 seconds the area where the effects meet was starting to burn up.
…

Right where my crotch and ass basically…

So… we need to fix that.

A bit of finagling and another process of partial successes and burnt clothes.

I now had functional tear-resistant pants that didn't burn up my ass and balls.

Looking at the inscriptions on the back pockets that basically acted as stabilizers, the piece of

clothing now had 4 patterns on it.

It could be this was even sturdier than the jackets, but I've been on this almost 4 hours now and I seriously need a break.

Making something to drink and eat, I debate on what I will do the rest of the day.

Making more inscriptions is off the table, I've done that enough for now and need to release some tension. And now that I think about it,

There is no better way to do that than fight something.

At the same time, I could test out my new armor and get some more money and pills.

Next move decided, I finish my meal and get myself ready to go in the Undead Realm.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I think I look damn fine.

The blue jeans give some uniformity that gets broken up by the inscriptions. Together with the army boots and scratched helmet I bought, it makes me look more like a delinquent than a hero though.

Activating my IR Create/Destroy skill, I noticed something was added.

[Current Realms available: Undeath, Orchid City Ruins]

A new realm was added called the Orchid City Ruins Realm.

Despite me wanting to immediately go in it, I stayed my hand. I barely fought off the Undeath boss, there is no way I'm ready for the next floor.

That doesn't mean I can't theorize about it.

Obviously, the name should clue me in to something. Otherwise, the name would be as vague as the Undeath Realm. I just can't point my finger on it.

The urge to explore is strong, but this voice in the back of my mind is saying that if I can't even breeze through the Undeath Realm, going into the next is a death wish.

So reluctantly, I choose the Undeath Realm.

Fighting the zombies feels almost easy now, not having to worry that they could bite or scratch me with my armor. It makes them feel trivial, like I'm just collecting money on the way.

The ghouls are in the same boat, the Secret Soul Techniques making them immobile with Pressure, and the Soul Force spike I used on the boss completely knocks them out of the fight.

I'm basically playing whack-a-mole right now instead of the fights I was coming for.

Still satisfying though.

Until the message came that I was equally dreading and hoping for.

[The Boss has appeared, and it's coming for you.]

Immediately on high alert, I stretch my senses as much as I can.

This time the boss comes from the right, going full sprint and on all fours.

I start moving, not really trying to keep my distance but not wanting to stay still, and preparing a Soul Spike.

The muscled ghoul comes in range of me and jumps, arms trying to grab me.

At that moment I change direction and fire the spike at it.

Attacked in midair, it yells and tries to clutch its head instead of putting its arms to land properly.

It falls on the concrete, rolling for a few feet further.

In the meantime, I was already running towards it, ready to pummel its skull in.

Recovering faster than the previous time, it has just enough time to put a limb in front of my club. The arm shatters, but enraged now, it seemingly ignores its injury and jumps for me again.

This time the ghoul is too close for me to dodge, and it's on top of me again like the previous time.

The difference this time is that my jacket is strong enough to not be destroyed, and it's unable to make me bleed like last time.

It tries to bite into my helmet. Sadly for it, that was the one piece of armor I had that was already strong enough to survive its onslaught; the only thing it's doing is scratching it.

Inventorying my bag, and taking out my knife, I start stabbing it in its side.

It doesn't take long for it to become weak enough for me to throw it off of me.

Putting my full Soul Pressure on it makes it buckle. I don't stand idle though, running towards the monster when it's weakened.

I take out my axe instead of my bat and prepare to strike it at its neck.

This time it doesn't do a blocking maneuver and lets me cleave off its head clean.

[You have slain 'Nightmarish Ghoul']

[$689 added to your bank account]
[You have gained 2 Cultivation Pills]

[Secret Soul Techniques has leveled up!]
[Soul Manipulation has leveled up!]
[Soul Reinforcement has leveled up!]

Grinning at seeing my loot appear now in my inventory, I can't help but be very satisfied about how the fight went.

With the information I have from my previous fight with the boss and my new armor, the fight went better than I could have hoped.

The thing jumped me again, which is an annoying realization, but I had full trust in my enchanting to not have to panic like last time.

The inventory also helped immensely. Not having to worry overly about keeping my weapons in hand, I could just equip or unequip them whenever I want.

All in all, I'm happy with how the fight went. There are still areas I could improve, but that opinion will not disappear anytime soon anyway, so no need to dwell on it too much.

Again, a chest appeared next to the corpse.

Looking at the body, I wonder if I could use the black thick liquid for inscriptions, and if I even wanted to risk touching it.

The answer to that second part is a decisive 'no'.

Opening the chest, the only thing I see is a small glass pill bottle—no skill book this time.
Looking inside the bottle I see 5 pills.

[You have gained 5 Cultivation Pills]

I now had enough Cultivation Pills to last me a week, guaranteeing I will reach Bronze 2-Star this week, and maybe even be halfway into 3-Star.

Heck, if I could continue that pace, I could reach Silver Rank in half a year!

[Received a Quest!]
[Received a Quest!]

Already knowing what one quest is about, but wondering about the second one, I opened both of them.

---

Quest: My Soul is my Strength (2)

Become a Silver 1-Star Demon Spiritualist in 6 months' time.

Reward: [Demon Spirit]
Accept Quest: Yes/No

---

---

Become a real Demon Spiritualist boy!

Hold a Demon Spirit in your Soul Sea.

Reward: [Item]
Accept Quest: Yes/No

---

As I thought, one of the quests was to reach the Silver Rank.

Strange that the system considers holding a Demon Spirit difficult enough to require a quest on its own.

In Tales of Demons and Gods, that was basic knowledge that was taught very early in class.

Heck, children could do it.

Maybe because it's just that significant a step?

…

It probably isn't a bad idea to at least play with my Soul Force a bit every day to see what it could do…

Just to be sure.

Accepting both quests, I return home and end my day.

AN: I've picked up my 3DS again and started playing Ocarina of Time since the first time my mom bought it for me 14 years ago (thats the date from the last save file). I'm gonna finish the game this time, since back then I was an idiot 11 year old and didn't read any dialogue an got so far with just pure stubbornness (which I'm honeslt suprised by).

As for this chapter, we take a spin at Inscriptions enchanting and what all goes into it.
We also got 2 new quests to complete, do you guys have any idea what the rewards would be? leave your guess in the comments.

 

[Alkorian]

I enjoy this story friend, can't wait to read more

 

[Slycerr]

"Are you YoungMaster69?" asks the postman.

Embarrassed, I answer "Yes sir." and curse my past self for taking that name.

The bored man just asks me to sign a paper, clearly done with any bullshit coming his way.

He doesn't even ask for any proof.

Well, asking if there was a package for a 'YoungMaster69' was proof enough.

After signing, the man gives me a pretty big sealed box and goes back to looking at his computer, in the reflection of his glasses I can see he was playing a card game on it.

Letting the encounter go, I leave the post office and go back home, eager to check out my first costume.

On the bus, I look back at the past 2 weeks.

I followed the instructions to take measurements of me and messaged back and forth designs with Parian.

Another development is that Kid Win just joined the Brockton Bay Wards. And Purity has publicly declared leaving the Empire 88.

This, of course, has made the E88 more aggressive, to show that they aren't weaker with her leaving.

The ABB disagrees with that, so they have also been more aggressive lately.

That is all to say, I don't think I'm ready yet to go out even with my costume in my hands now.

I at the very least need to be peak Bronze Rank before I feel comfortable enough to go and actually do cape stuff.

Not that that time is far off, progress is going fast if I say so myself.

---

[Status]
Name: William Brooks
Class: NA
Soul Realm: Red
Soul Form: Disordered/ [Redacted]
Soul Attribute: Neutral
Sp. Physique: NA
Soul Force: 271
Body Force: 166
Inventory: 5m³
Money: $6225

---

83 points of Soul Force in 2 weeks was a speed I couldn't have dreamed of this early, eventually yes, but while I'm still in the Bronze Rank.

Body Force is lagging behind, but at this point I accepted most of my physical power will come from my Soul Reinforcement.

Even if it bugged my perfectionist mindset.

Talking about skills, progress was also very good.

[Meditation Lvl. 32]
[Soul Manipulation Lvl. 40]
[Soul Circulation Lvl. 31]
[Soul Sense Lvl. 27]
[Soul Reinforcement Lvl. 24]
[IR Create/Destroy Lvl. MAX]
[Secret Soul Techniques (Offensive) Lvl. 19]
[Divine Streaming Lvl. 6]
[Inscriptions: Enchanting Lvl. 15]

Soul Manipulation was the highest besides the obvious IR Create/Destroy Skill, which makes sense as I use it constantly with Soul Sense and Soul Circulation.

A nice surprise I got was when Soul Sense reached Lvl. 25.

---

Soul Sense Lvl. 27

The ability to sense Soul Energy outside the body.

Current distance: 81 ft
Can differentiate between Soul Energies (Lvl 25 Bonus)

---

I can now feel the difference between people's soul energy. I could already do this a bit, but that was more measuring the strength of them, and almost all of them were so small I'd have to focus on them to find any.

But now there are other things attached to it, some felt hotter than others, some had a lighter feeling to them and some darker.

Brian's had a smoky feeling to it.

That shocked me a bit, because that meant that powers had some connection to their Soul Sea.

This also meant I now was basically a cape radar. Well, that's the theory anyway, I haven't met a lot of capes after that upgrade to be 100% sure about it.

The next 2 highest skills are Meditation and Soul Circulation.

Meditation is always on since it's 25th level, but its leveling speed is the slowest by far, maybe I should read some more on it or try some new things. But it gives me a constant 48%

Soul Force gain, unless I'm sitting still, then it's just 32%.

Soul Circulation gives me 155%, which with meditation is 187% Soul gain.

Without pills, with it that shoots up to 935%!

I still can't use Soul Circulation while in movement, and I'm starting to think it isn't possible at all.

Seeing the bus reach my stop, I walk the rest of the way home thinking further about my skills.

Divine Streaming is still an exhausting skill, and I can only use it right now in straight lines.

I'm currently training it in the Undeath Realm after I kill the boss, on the days where I can't cultivate al day.

I was first trying to use it in short bursts, to see if that would conserve some energy.

That strategy made it actually worse, I'm guessing the bulk energy usage came from the conversion from matter to light, which made my use of it worse than the skill was even originally intended.

Being made of light was also a weird experience, being made of light also made it so light never reached me, so without my Soul Sense I was basically blind.

Well, while I was training I was in fact blind and panicked, it was only my current theory that made the most sense to me which made the experience somewhat bearable.

Using it was, in short, just teleportation.

Yes, I left behind a trail of light, but the speed I myself was moving at was still basically instantaneous.

I tested this with my phone.

I set a timer to activate in 10 seconds, took 10 steps away from it, waited for the beep and used Divine Streaming.

In that state I took the same 10 steps and deactivated the skill.

Looking at the timer showed 00.00.82.

0.82 seconds, take some time off for me to react to the beep and look down to the phone, and you get the picture on how fast I was moving.

Other than testing, I've been creating some more inscriptions.

Besides improving the tear resistance pattern a small bit, I've also created a blunt force resistance pattern and a fire resistance one.

I haven't figured out yet how I'm going to integrate the fire resistance in my costume yet, but considering how many capes use fire or a form of fire like lasers, I found it prudent to get started on preventing getting my ass burned.

Well, technically it's a heat resistance inscription, but fire resistance sounds cooler.

Finally getting home, I lay my package on the table and start to open it.

What I first pull out is probably the most important part of my costume.

The mask.

It's a clean white mask except a little color pattern under the left eye. It's more a helmet than a mask to be honest, its form looking a lot like Red Hood from Batman, though the face is a lot more streamlined, without any ridges for brows and cheekbones.

The mask was designed to give almost nothing away but still cover my head fully so I could enchant it.

Laying it on the table, I pull out the full costume.

It's based on a Hanfu and in a dark green color and decorated with black leather, the pants are also in black and of a soft material, the same as the rest of the costume.

The reason I chose a Hanfu is twofold.

It has layers, which makes stacking inscriptions easier, instead of trying to fit 3 patterns on one layer, I could just have a layer for every inscription.

The shoes are just some black running trainers I bought, I still haven't figured out how to make more complicated patterns that would be useful for shoes.

I'd also need a boot that goes to my knee if I actually wanted to inscribe anything, but the only thing I could find around was things with heels and I wasn't fighting crime in those.

Not being able to hold in my excitement, I try it on.

It takes a bit, having to watch a tutorial on how to wear it to my embarrassment.

But when I have it on and look at myself in the mirror, I can't help but voice.

"Damn, I look good."

I look like a proper cape.

Maybe the darker colors don't really convey 'hero' at first glance, and the sharp eye holes look a lot more menacing than originally intended.

But I look regal and ready for business.

Putting my arms behind my back and puffing up my chest, I say.

"Halt, mortals!" Swinging one hand dramatically in front of me "Unhand that woman and face my justice or suffer a thousand deaths!"

Holding that pose for a bit, I buckle and burst into laughter. That's a lot harder to do with a full mask on though.

Taking the clothes back off, I pull the different layers apart so I can inscribe them.

This takes me about an hour, being extra careful to have the inscriptions exactly at the right place and correctly drawn.

The most difficult one was the helmet, I inscribed the patterns on the inside instead of the outside, it was extra hard because this had by far the most inscriptions on one piece.

Next time I'm asking Parian to make it in two parts instead of a single whole.

Putting everything together and putting it on again, this time faster than the first time.

Activating the patterns, the darkened blood used to draw them starts to glow, making my regal look suddenly a lot more sinister.

Whelp, seems like I need to show people with my actions I'm a hero instead of with my costume.

Eh, I still look badass.

Taking it back off and putting it in my closet, I start cleaning my house a bit and scribbling some more theoretical patterns in my notebook before I make myself ready to go to the gym.

The way there was as boring as ever, which was good. The Empire or ABB don't really come to this area, but with Purity leaving them the E88 would take any chance to appear strong.

Taking some territory would certainly be a way to show that.

Arriving at the gym and going to the locker rooms, I was stopped by Mr. Laborn.

"Liam, could you come to my office for a bit."

Confused why, I still follow him.

The inside of the office looks like one of those standard coach offices. A locker, some boxing pictures, and a desk that was chosen purely for its utility rather than its looks.

Gesturing towards one of the two seats in front of the desk, he just says "Sit", and goes towards his own chair.

Sitting, I look towards Mr. Laborn, waiting for him to start the conversation.

He takes a moment, before looking straight into my eyes.

He says, "It's starting to show."

Confused by the vague statement, I question what he's talking about.

"What's starting to show? I don't get it."

Sighing, he answers, "Your powers, son, it's becoming obvious."

...

What?

Shocked, I can't help but voice, "What? What are you talking about?"

He keeps his serious face.

"Liam, when you came here you had trouble with a basic workout, now you can do a more advanced workout I give to guys that have been here for years without even being winded."

Trying to come up with an excuse, I don't get the opportunity as he just continues talking.

"Granted, you tried to hide it, which you did pretty well, and some think you maybe just started doping. But I've been at this for decades at this point, I know the signs of doping, and you show none of them."

I know myself enough that my mouth is imitating a fish right now.

This came so out of nowhere that I can't think of any excuse to talk myself out of this.

Sighing, I just look at him resigned.

"How long did you know?"

Now a small smile on his face, he gives me a small nonchalant shrug.

"I suspected for a while, I just confirmed it now though..."

...
...

"WHAT?!"

Disgruntled at the noise, Mr. Laborn tells me,

"Could you keep your voice down, unless you want the whole gym to know?"

Shutting my mouth, I stare at the man that seemed so blunt and straightforward.

Understanding the look I'm giving him, he explains.

"I had a gut feeling, and in my time I've learned to trust it. I do admit I hoped you would exclaim of just taking a new drug or something, so the complication was just me yelling at you for being stupid and ruining your body."

Recovering a bit, I take a deep breath before replying, doing my best to keep my voice down.

"That's still not enough to claim someone is a cape!"

He shrugs, SHRUGS at that.

"I was still right, though."

At that I sag, how am I supposed to reply to that...

Apparently, blowing my cover, as terrible as it was, wasn't enough.

No, because Mr. Laborn wasn't satisfied with uncovering my secret—that was just the start.

"Besides, it isn't like I don't have experience on that front."

At that moment, like it was planned, a knock came from the door.

Knock knock

Before I can say anything, Mr. Laborn answers.

"Come in."

Opening the door was none other than Brian.

...

No... he wouldn't.

...

"Sit, son, it's time we talk about some stuff you have been hiding."

-Brian Laborn-

It doesn't happen often that my father asks something of him.

Part of that is because he is almost never home, doing jobs as a cape to gather the money to get an apartment.

Another part is that his dad is big on self-sufficiency. If it's something that he can do himself, then his father does it himself.

So rarely is he asked to do something.

The only thing he ever asks now, is to take care of his sister.

But coming to the gym also isn't that unusual an ask, so I come over every few weeks to hang out and refresh my boxing skills.

But his dad didn't ask to come to the gym.

He asked to come to his office.

Knowing him, I know I don't really have a choice in the matter.

Jack Laborn has standards—so long as you meet those standards, you have a lot of freedom.

But for the rare time he asks something from you, he expects it to be followed with a 'Yes, sir' and for you to do what he says.

So I came to his office and knocked.

Knock knock

A second later I hear a "Come in." And I do so.

The first person I see is dad, sitting behind his desk.

The second person I see is, surprisingly, Liam.

He's staring at him with eyes wide and mouth opening and closing, like a fish.

Then I look back to my dad, back to him, back to dad, and back to him.

"Sit, son, it's time we talk about some stuff you have been hiding."

Well, that is ominous.

Sitting down, I looks at my father and ask.

"What do you mean, Dad? Also, why is Liam here?"

Moving my eyes to Liam, I see that he just looks resigned, with his shoulders hanging low.

Not a posture I'm used to from him.

"The fact that you have been a cape for a long time now, of course."

My thoughts halt and my neck moves so fast that it wouldn't surprise me if it would've snapped.

Questions and denials are on the tip of my tongue, but before I can voice any of them Liam says something.

"That reaction gave it away, by the way—it's how he got me with it."

Moving my sight from dad back to Liam, I just stare at him.

Damn, he's right. I should have been more in control of myself; such reactions could ruin a job.

Now how is he supposed to get himself—
...

Did Liam just say "that's how he got me"?

That would mean...

"You're a cape?" I question, shocked.

Sighing again, Liam replies.

"Yes, I've been for a few months now. I thought I hid it pretty well, but apparently not."

Before I can say something, my dad cuts in.

"And that's why I called you here. I was fine ignoring your 'late night activities' so long as it was just you. Because I know you can take care of yourself."

He stops for a moment, looking at them both.

"But the moment I noticed Liam showing some unusual signs that didn't make sense, I knew that you young men would realize each other's secrets eventually. As such, I took the liberty of speeding it up."

Suddenly standing up, dad looks at them with what he can only describe as a small glint of mischief, and he finishes the conversation.

"Now, now that you both know about each other and get along, I leave and let you talk amongst yourselves."

Then he moves his eyes from both of them to just solely himself.

"Brian, I know you have questions, but we will talk about that at home, between the two of us."

That shuts my mouth up, which without his knowledge was opening to question him.

Then he just nods and left his office.

Now, alone with Liam. He doesn't know how to start, which is funny because that is normally pretty easy with his friend.

It wasn't him who broke the silence, though.

"Soooo, what are your powers?"

Of course that's the first thing he says...

AN: That was a pretty big one wasn't it.

For those of you who think this was very abrupt, good, that's how it was supposed to feel.

Liam was so in his own world and objectives, that someone notices something strange about him.

This person luckily was on Liam's side. Mr.Laborn from the very beginning thought something was going on with him, and after months of quietly observing, decided to do something.

Was it a gamble? Of course it was, but one with little downsides. And if he's right? Now the kid who he likes has a mentor in the form of his son, and his son now has a comrade that's got his back.

And the great thing? They're already friends!

I'm not expecting everyone to like this chapter, but it was this or just quietly power leveling until he could curb stomp every cape in BB, which would be boring to write honestly.

 

[Perdues]

As much as I'm enjoying the quiet build, it's probably right for someone to have noticed.
That said, Laborn outing both him and his son together is such a massive breach of trust that I'd want to share precisely zero information. Fuck, most capes probably would've just killed him straight up for outing him like that.
Add that to the fact that Brian knowing about you means that Coil will now absolutely discover you before you're ready and it's enough to hate Laborn.

Exposure makes sense, but any sort of collaboration with Brian and the gym would probably be way off my priority list given how little they just proved they can be trusted.

 

[mpbjunkie]

Interesting direction to take things in.

 

[DanTheKitten]

interesting outing choice. Personally if i was MC in that situation i would be quiet because if Brian already have the eye of Coil u know damm well that MC might have Coil on his ass soon. Of course MC could always just hide in IR create.~

 

[Slycerr]

interesting outing choice. Personally if i was MC in that situation i would be quiet because if Brian already have the eye of Coil u know damm well that MC might have Coil on his ass soon. Of course MC could always just hide in IR create.~

Click to shrink...

The creation of the underside is still a year away, so Coil is still pretty far off, that being said he is still something to keep in mind, just not something to immediately worry about.

 

[Slycerr]

-William Brooks-

"Soooo, what are your powers?"

Brian's shoulders sag at my question.

I already know, of course, but if I have to ask to get out of this silence, then I'll do so.

As an introvert, I like silence. But the awkward ones can fuck off; those do double damage.

Looking at me with tired eyes, he explains in a resigned tone.

"I can create smoke from my body that interferes with sound and light. I don't see the smoke, so I can look around just fine. It... has helped me in a pinch before."

Reacting suitably impressed, he apparently doesn't know yet it interferes with a lot more than just those two, even able to interfere with some breaker states like Shadow Stalker's.

Or maybe he doesn't want to reveal all his cards. Which, to be fair, is a sensible thing to do.

"What's yours?" he asks.

Now how to answer that?

"It's kind of difficult to explain. But the closest I could explain it is that I'm a Trump/Brute with a really advanced support power."

Eyes widening, he looks at me surprised.

"A Trump?! That's really good!" But then his brow furrows, "But what do you mean with 'a support power'?"

Am I really about to explain game mechanics to a martial arts jock?

"Have you ever played an RPG game, Brian?"

Leaning back and one brow lifted, Brian looks a bit weird at me, but answers anyway.

"Once, Matt tried to get me into it but it never stuck. I know Spencer plays with him online sometimes though. Why?"

Thank you, Matt, for doing all the hard work for me. I will buy you a book the next time we hang out.

"Well, my support power is basically a grab bag that makes certain aspects of my power like an RPG character, for example."

I take a pen, show it to him, and put it into my Spatial Ring.

"I have an inventory of 5 cubic meters where I can put stuff in."

Taking the pen back out, I lay it back on the desk.

"I also have a separate world where I defeat monsters and gain resources and money from."

Slack-jawed, Brian just mutters, "You know how insane that sounds?"

"Oh, I'm very aware."

Processing what my power is, I see his eyes widening at remembering what I said.

"You said your power gives you money?"

Knowing where this is going, I just nod.

He's still undecided, like he isn't sure how or even if he should ask.

Like the good friend I am, I just ask for him.

"You wondering if you could get a piece of the pie by helping me defeat the monsters?"

Shocked, like it wasn't showing on his face, he just nods, a little embarrassed.

Dude, if I didn't know that you had a mask that showed nothing of your face in your cape identity, then I would question how you survived being a villain.

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem. I'd probably need to give the money in cash later though; my power just drops the money in my bank account."

Looking skeptical, he can't help but exclaim,

"You're bullshitting."

My immediate reply was, "Dead serious."

An awkward silence follows.

Dammit, silence again, and this time I feel like it's my fault.

"Anyway, I know it's weird. But I haven't gotten any questions yet for the months I've been using it, so it should be legal. I also don't think my power would fuck me over on that front."

Heck, for the same reason, I could probably find a way towards a party system or something.

*[Received a quest]

No fucking way.

---

​

Quest: Create your sect!

Find a way for others to cultivate.

Reward: [Sect Update]
Accept quest: Yes/No

---

Well, that is handy.

"There's maybe even a way my support power can affect you, so you could gain loot and money too."

Brian's eyes, that were looking away from me, snap back, his complete focus.

"What? Really? How?!"

Okay, calm the fuck down please.

"My power could affect you too apparently. Yes, really. And I don't know yet."

Confused, he questions, thankfully quieter this time.

"How do you know it's possible but not how to do it?"

Then, with the most serious voice I could muster, I told him,

"Because I got a Quest for it."

...
...

"You... got a quest for it?"

"Yep."

"Like actually?"

"Again, dead serious."

...
...

Brian sighs, "I need a break."

...

That's fair.

"We can discuss this more on the weekend if you want. I'd need to figure out a way to complete this quest anyway."

Looking just done with today, Brian just nods and we both get out of the office.

Mr. Laborn is on the other side of the gym, looking at us the moment we come out of his office.

I just smile and nod at him, which he returns. Then I leave the gym, training completely forgotten.

I and Brian decide to meet at my apartment Sunday morning; that should give me some time to get at least a few ideas to test then.

The most likely way is somehow activating his Soul Force and teaching him cultivation.

After all, the quest is called 'Create your sect!' and a sect is about teaching.

While the chance is small he could use the Heavenly God Technique, and honestly even smaller if I want to give people it,

I could still teach him the basics.

Maybe feed him a Cultivation Pill to gather Soul Energy in himself?

So that's what I did for the 2 days. I cultivated and wrote some ideas that got scratched almost immediately.

Inscribing an inscription in a person to activate their Soul Sea? Could work. Not skilled enough for it, so scratched.

Let them meditate until they feel it? Could take weeks or even months, and I don't know if they even could feel it without help.

So Sunday morning, I was still scribbling until I heard my doorbell ring.

Opening the door, I saw Brian standing there nervously with a bag hanging from his shoulder, body language what I could only describe as fidgeting.

"Come in."

Doing so, he starts to look around.

My apartment still looked mostly the same, with some books or small trinkets around the place.

When he enters the kitchen, his eyes immediately zero in on my costume lying on the table.

I follow him and answer his unspoken question.

"I haven't gone out yet in it, if that's what you're asking. Don't even have a name yet."

I go around the table and put the costume into my inventory. Where it will stay until I'll wear it.

Brian looks confused at that, which he voices, "You have that good a costume, but no name yet? Normally one comes after the other, Liam."

Shrugging, I say back, "Well, I needed it so I could enchant it. I wasn't planning to go be a cape for a while yet."

Looking at me like I just said something insane, he says, "Enchanting, like the games? That enchanting?"

Shrugging again, "Well, technically it's called Inscription: Enchanting, but yeah, like the games."

And now Brian is staring at me again.

"What are you looking at me like that for? I'm pretty sure I told you my support power is very RPG-y. If you want me to enchant your costume, you just have to ask, dude."

"That's not... Whatever. If you can, then yes please."

I just nod, "Sure man, it will take an hour or so though. So if you don't mind waiting that long? You could also leave it with me today and pick it up later."

Rubbing his chin and thinking it over, Brian decides to leave me his costume and immediately go into trying to finish the 'Quest'.

"Well, I have 3 options right now. Well, 4. But I don't think the fourth will work."

"What's the 4th?"

Well, here goes nothing.

"System, invite Brian Laborn."

...
...

"So I have 3 options."

Deadpanned, Brian just said 'uh huh' in that 'are you stupid' voice.

Rude.

"The options require some explanation."

Seeing Brian concentrated on me and gesturing for me to continue, I take a deep breath and explain.

"My Power works with an energy I call Soul Force, and my System power facilitates its growth. The plan is to find a way for you to use the energy and my power also supporting it,"

I explain.

"So how are we going to do that?" he asks.

"I'm going to push my energy into your body and circulate it, hoping it will activate your Soul Force and allow you to cultivate. Which would complete the quest and allow me to add others to my system."

Looking nervous, Brian says, "And this isn't dangerous?"

"Soul Force hasn't shown any dangerous effects in the months I've been using it," I state.

Not fully on board, but the chance to not do illegal things for money is a chance too big to ignore.

So we get ready. He sits on the couch, trying to find a comfortable position, while I stand behind it with my hands on his back.

"Now, take deep and slow breaths. Try to let your thoughts pass by and not hold onto them."

Waiting for him to follow my instructions, I see him slowly relax and his shoulders sag a bit, previously stuck solid from stressing.

Slowly, I start pushing my Soul Force into him and not doing anything further for now.

Seeing no reaction, I take my energy inside him and start circulating it inside his body.

This I do for 10 minutes, Brian showing no sign of the Soul Energy but even more relaxed than the beginning.

Pulling my hands back, the energy disappears inside his body.

Brian was startled awake and says, "Huh, that was relaxing. But I don't feel anything different besides that."

That's a bust then.

But that nagging feeling in the back of my head is telling me we were so close.

That gives me an idea though.

Taking a pill out of my inventory, I look at it.

---

Cultivation Pill

Speeds up the cultivation speed by 2.5x
Heavenly God Bonus: cultivation speed is 5x
Duration: 12h

---

While the screen just says it increases cultivation speed, using it I noticed that taking the pill makes my body automatically absorb Soul Energy. Like the body is a gravity well and the Soul Energy gets sucked in.

Combine that with cultivating the normal way and the speed increases.

...

The second option was just giving him the pill anyway. Combining the 2 options isn't going to negatively impact him anyway.

I'm like 80% sure.

"Take this pill," I say to him.

Taking it, Brian looks at it warily. "And this is?" he asks.

"It's called a Cultivation Pill, it helps gather Soul Energy," I answer.

"And it's safe?" he questions.

"Of course it is," I say with zero hesitation.

I'm like 75% sure.

"Okay then," and he pops it in his mouth.

Going back to our positions, I put my hands on his back again. Instead of pushing my own Soul Force in him, there is already some gathered, so I circulate that.

It is a lot more difficult to do, but I just manage it.

[Soul Manipulation leveled up!]

Not now system.

Keeping this up for 5 minutes, suddenly Brian says,

"I felt something, something... I can't explain it."

"Good, next time you feel it, try and follow it. Don't reach for it, just let it flow through you."

That's what we did for the next hour.

I circulated the Soul Force inside his body while he tried to sense it, trying to be aware of where it is.

Every time he felt the Soul Energy, Brian called out, and the time between the callouts was becoming shorter and shorter.

Meanwhile, I'm slowly starting to get a headache concentrating on moving foreign energy.

It felt like the longer I did this, the harder it became, but the level-ups were a nice reward.

I could live without the notifications though.

Until finally—

"I grabbed it!" Brian yelled joyously.

[Brian Laborn felt his Soul Force for the first time!]

[Brian Laborn became your first disciple!]

[As you gained a disciple, you are awarded a compatible 'Cultivation Technique']

[Gained the 'Void Demon Technique']

[Quest: 'Create your Sect!' Completed!]

---

Quest: Create your sect!

Find a way for others to cultivate.

Reward: [Sect Update]
Accept reward: Yes/No

---

Voicing 'Yes,' another screen popped up.

---

The Sect System Update!

You can now create and add people to your sect!

You will be able to see their information and help guide them on the path of cultivation!
They enjoy partial benefits from the Tales of Demons and Gods System.

---

Information on the system change and how I need to use the Sect feature fills my mind.

Looking into my inventory, I see a new book has appeared. Taking it out, I see the title is called Void Demon Cultivation Technique.

[Do you wish to learn the 'Void Demon Cultivation Technique'? Yes/No]

Choosing 'No' for now, I turn back towards Brian, who is clearly still in his own world.

Spreading my arms out in a grand gesture, I say,

"Congratulations are in order. Welcome to the ranks of cultivators—those who defy the heavens."

Brian just stares at me like an idiot.

Which... fair, I guess.

Slowly letting my arms down, I cough into one hand out of embarrassment.

"Okay, so disregarding that. I can now invite you into my sect, which is basically my party. Then you should be able to use my system."

He doesn't even question anything at the mention of a 'sect,' despite the bad history America has with them, that out of it is he.

"Oh, yeah. Let's do that first," Brian says somewhat halfheartedly, probably wanting to explore this new energy he has now—which I fully understand.

But we started this with some goals in mind, so let's get to those first. Playing with a reality-altering energy later.

"Create sect."

[Creating Sect...]
[...]
[Sect created!]

[What will your Sect name be?]

What should the name be?

I'm creating it to help a friend, but that's just its first goal.

In the end, the end goal should be the same as mine, which is saving the world from the entities.

And rather sooner than later, preferably.

At that, an idea comes to mind that makes me want to laugh.

"The Sect name will be 'Early Bird.'"

[You have created the Early Bird Sect]

[You are now the Sect Master of the Early Bird Sect!]

[You can now invite cultivators to your sect!]

"Invite Brian Laborn to the Early Bird Sect."

[Invitation sent!]

Brian almost falls out of my couch, probably from the screens that popped up in front of him.

I get it, man. The first week was rough for me too.

Reading what's on the screen, he looks back at me weirdly.

"Early Bird Sect? Really?" he says.

"It's an inside joke for me, don't worry about it," I answer, trying not to smirk.

Brian shakes his head but still clicks yes.

[Brian has officially joined your Sect!]

[You can now see his Stats, Soul Type and Attribute]

Oh, let's take a look.

---

[Status]
Name: Brian Laborn
Soul Realm: Red
Soul Form: Black Hole
Soul Attribute: Void
Soul Force: 6
Body Force: 197

---

Already almost a 2-Star Bronze Fighter, but what should I have expected from a martial arts nut.

His Soul Realm and Form are pretty basic, but his Attribute being Void is interesting.

Was this influenced by his power, or was it the other way around?

I guess the only way to know is if I make somebody a cultivator before they trigger. But I doubt that chance will come, as I wouldn't want somebody I know ever needing to experience a trigger event.

Pushing the cultivation technique in my hand towards Brian, I say,

"Here, learn this technique. It should be compatible with you."

He takes the book…

And opens it…

"What are you doing?" I ask.

Brian looks at me. "Reading the book you want me to learn?" he says, like I'm the stupid one.

"You didn't get a screen wanting you to learn it?"

"Uh, no? Should I have?" looking at me confused.

"I guess you didn't get full system access," I mutter, thinking what to do now.

In the end, I leave the decision to Brian. It's, after all, his choice.

"Well, that makes that a bit more difficult. But what do you want to do today then? Cultivate or earn some money?"



AN: I completely rewrote this chapter because I wasn't happy with it. It's a significant improvement story and logic-wise, trust me.

Anyway, how is your guys' day going? Mine, when I was writing this, was uneventful but still pretty busy.

I do feel I improved a bit since I started writing this story—not anything to brag about, but noticeable, I think.

Let me know what you guys think.

 

[Arrowman]

It feels natural. Just two bros talking it out.

 

[Guest054]

I liked the fan fiction, but I had one question.
How will the main character show that he is not a camel? How will he prove to Oni Lee, by appearing in public wearing a hanfu, an oriental mask, and with his cultivation, that he's not Asian and doesn't have to serve Lung? What camel will give him a certificate that he is not Asian? And who would believe such a certificate?

 

[Guest054]

On the last chapter:
I think the main character told Brian about the system too soon. Give a rough idea of his powers, and only when Brian is used to Liam's powers and generally doesn't care what his friend calls it, should you tell him about the system.
But since I've always been into smooth developments, my opinion probably isn't that helpful.

P.S.:
Regarding my first post:
I think Liam's "training armor" — jeans and a motorcycle helmet — goes well with the Brian-Grue costume and references Daft Punk. Perhaps Liam will consider patrolling the city in a "training suit" until he's strong enough to wear an oriental outfit and fend off attacks from Lung and Oni Lee.

 

[Slycerr]

I liked the fan fiction, but I had one question.
How will the main character show that he is not a camel? How will he prove to Oni Lee, by appearing in public wearing a hanfu, an oriental mask, and with his cultivation, that he's not Asian and doesn't have to serve Lung? What camel will give him a certificate that he is not Asian? And who would believe such a certificate?

Click to shrink...

That's just the way Oni Lee was 'recruited', so far I know him thinking every asian cape being under Lung is a fanon thing.

Of course, that doesn't matter if Lung decides he wants you.
But considering his Hero leanings it's a greater chance he would be made an example of, but Liam's skillset is uniquely suited against Oni Lee.

 

[Slycerr]

On the last chapter:
I think the main character told Brian about the system too soon. Give a rough idea of his powers, and only when Brian is used to Liam's powers and generally doesn't care what his friend calls it, should you tell him about the system.
But since I've always been into smooth developments, my opinion probably isn't that helpful.

P.S.:
Regarding my first post:
I think Liam's "training armor" — jeans and a motorcycle helmet — goes well with the Brian-Grue costume and references Daft Punk. Perhaps Liam will consider patrolling the city in a "training suit" until he's strong enough to wear an oriental outfit and fend off attacks from Lung and Oni Lee.

Click to shrink...

You could be right on that front. I have had multiple people dislike or outright hate that story decision from multiple platforms I post the story on.

But for me, this story is kinda a training arc, so I'm bound to make mistakes or unpopular choices. Right now i just follow where the muse takes me.

As for his costume, if that is what he does, or directly goes with his real costume, I can't say. Liam can be very prepared in some areas but be completly oblivious in others (which is very me).

 

[mpbjunkie]

Enjoying the fic. Now, does this make Brian a young Master?

 

[Slycerr]

Enjoying the fic. Now, does this make Brian a young Master?

Click to shrink...

Now that... is a good question.

I feel like i should roll for that.

Ps. I rolled... gonna keep the answer to myself though.

 

[Slycerr]

-Brian Laborn-

"Well, that makes that a bit more difficult. But what do you want to do today then? Cultivate or earn some money?" Liam asks.

And I didn't expect the choice to be so difficult.

I came here with one goal in mind: to see if I could get an income without staying a villain/rogue.

I was never going to go to college with the grades I had, and the only jobs I could get were some dead ends that would never let me provide enough to take custody of Aisha.

And I wanted her to get away from my mother as fast as possible. The people she let into that house aren't the type of people I want Aisha to meet—even if now it would be more damage control than prevention.

There hasn't been a week when I wasn't called to her school for something she has said or done.

I tried to help, to be there for her. But lately, she has been distancing herself from me, and while part of me knew it was her being a teenager, it still hurt.

But that energy I felt… was indescribable. Knowing now how it felt, I wasn't sure I wanted to go fight instead of exploring this.

This Soul Force felt unreal, like I was living my life with one arm only to discover I had a second one all along.

Looking back towards Liam, I could see he was giving me the time to get my thoughts in order, which I appreciated.

But something that he said kept bothering me instead of the choice he gave me.

"What do you mean 'make more difficult'?"

Grimacing, he answered, "Well, normally I can just decide to learn them, which makes the book disappear and the knowledge directly transfer into my mind. It seems you didn't get that option and have to learn it the old-fashioned way—by memorizing it."

Damn, that would have been useful. It wasn't a big book, but it was nothing to scoff at if I needed to know everything in it.

Liam, seeing the look on my face of disappointment, just continued explaining.

"I also understand the feeling of feeling your Soul Force for the first time, so that's why I gave the option of fighting in my Imaginary Realms or cultivating. We'll need to do both anyway."

Thinking over things, the answer becomes pretty obvious.

"Today we'll fight. I could cultivate when I'm at home anyway, right?"

Liam just shrugs. "Of course. I could even give you some Cultivation Pills then after, because I'm almost out."

Hearing suddenly another thing, I'm starting to get annoyed.

"And what's a 'Cultivation Pill' exactly?"

Apparently, Liam notices my frustration, but I can see he doesn't understand where it comes from—still, he answers.

"It's loot I get from killing the Boss and finishing the realm. It speeds up the cultivation speed for 12 hours when you consume it. I usually take it when I'm doing nothing but cultivation that day.'

"It's also the pill that we used to gather Soul Energy to make you a cultivator..." he adds.

Slowly, Liam asks, "Is everything okay, Brian? You seem irritated about something."

It's more that I'm embarrassed that I forgot about it then my annoyance of all these new terms.

Taking a deep breath, I reply, "It's just kind of annoying that you suddenly speak these weird terms and seem to expect me to know them… Or remember them in this case."

Blinking, Liam just stills before putting on an embarrassed smile and scratching his head.

"Hehe, sorry about that. I have the tendency to skip over things I find obvious. I try, but sometimes I slip. I'm just excited that I could talk about my powers with someone now."

Okay, how is he supposed to stay annoyed at him, even with the subtle dig of 'obvious things' probably going right over Liam's head.

Sighing, I just let it pass.

"It's fine, I'm just overwhelmed is all."

Liam nods empathetically. "I get that. The first weeks were a very weird time for me too, discovering what all my power could do."

Thinking over my options, the choice was, in hindsight, obvious.

I came here with a goal in mind after all.

"Let's earn ourselves some cash."

"Thought you would never ask," he says with a grin.

Going over to his costume, Liam adds after grabbing it,

"Let's get ready. After I've put on my costume, we'll go inside the realm."

Nodding, I also take my costume, and we change there.

It wasn't like we haven't seen each other naked in the gym, so just changing costume, we don't bother going into a separate room.

My costume is pretty barebones: motorcycle leathers and helmet with a skull painted on it.

The vents on the helmet allow the smoke to leave, making it look extra scary.

And as a villain, looking the part is almost more important than actually being the part.

Putting it on doesn't take that long—barely a minute.

Liam's costume apparently takes a bit longer, having to wait 5 minutes before he comes out.

Seeing it makes me almost want to take a step back though.

The clothes look regal but with a sinister edge to them from the glowing red pulsing pattern on them.

The mask also gives a deadly feeling—the completely white mask gives almost nothing away, with only the eyes visible but darkened from the shadow.

Together, I wonder if this cape is actually a hero.

Something I ask.

It's a weird thing to see something so villainous change into an embarrassed posture, slouched shoulders and a hand rubbing the mask on top.

"Ah? Yeah, the costume came out more evil than intended. But that just means the bad guys would be more scared, right?"

Feeling the coping from here, I just nod dumbly, glad my helmet masks my probably dumbfounded face.

Changing the topic, I ask, "So what now?"

Liam comes over to me and puts his hand on my shoulder, then he says with a grin in his voice,

"Now, we enter."

And suddenly we stand in what I can only describe as an abandoned apartment.

-William Brooks-

Being teleported the first time was a weird experience, so I kept hold of Brian's shoulder, hoping it would keep him steady.

I did feel him wanting to back away, but my hand prevented it. This made Brian look at me, and giving him a nod to show that this was normal, I felt him start to relax a bit.

Letting go, I took three steps and turned towards him. I spread wide, I proclaimed,

"Welcome to the Undeath Realm, where everything is dead, even the city itself."

I could feel the deadpan look he was giving me, but I was feeling dramatic today for some reason. Maybe it was that today I felt I was finally doing things an actual cape would do?

"Right…" was the only response I got.

"Anyway, the first zombie we'll meet when we get out of the building."

Walking towards the door, I remembered something important.

Turning back to Brian, I took out the perfume I use for the smell of zombies and showed it to him.

"Oh right! Spray this, it should mask the smell of them mostly."

Taking the bottle, he opened his helmet and sprayed it on the inside, keeping his eyes closed in case the perfume got in them.

Giving me the perfume back, I stored it back in my Spatial Ring and took out two metal bats.

Holding one for Brian to grab, he hesitantly took it.

At his questioning stance, I just shrugged. "I imagine you don't want to punch a zombie," I said as I walked outside the apartment.

Doing the usual routine of kicking in doors and walking down the stairs, Brian hesitantly followed me, holding the bat perhaps a bit more strongly than is necessary.

Finally out of the building, I could already see the zombie standing there dumbly on the street.

I was already used to it. And while I can't guess if Brian has seen a corpse before or not, I'm pretty sure he hasn't seen a rotting one before.

I could see the moment when he noticed the zombie, because despite not smelling it yet, the sight can make you puke by itself.

Grabbing his mask, Brian got it off of him to start making puking noises.

Despite that, he didn't actually puke, barely holding in his food.

"That's… that's disgusting," he said between breaths.

"Well yeah, it's a zombie, a dead human being. What did you expect?"

Looking at me, I could see the wide eyes and pale face now that his helmet was off.

"Not… not that…"

At that, I could just give him a shrug. I've been doing that a lot, haven't I?

"Eeh, you get used to it. I've just been thinking of it as exposure therapy for when I see something really fucked up in the real world, like the S9 for example."

"Don't even joke about that!" he exclaimed.

Holding up my hands in the universal 'my bad' gesture, "Okay okay, geez. Now are you going to kill the zombie or stand there?"

Pointing at the still-oblivious dead human.

Seeing the indecisiveness in his eyes, I decided it's maybe a better idea to show him how to kill them.

"Okay, let me show you how to kill them," I said and started walking towards the zombie.

"Liam—" Brian tried to say something, but I just cut in.

"It's all about distance you see, kinda like boxing actually!" I yelled, consequently also alerting the zombie.

Seeing it run towards me, I just waited, prepared to swing its head off its body.

Right before it came into range, I started my swing and whacked it right on the side of its ugly head.

[You have slain a zombie!]
[$6 added to your bank account.]

Not even waiting for the thing to fully fall on the ground, I turned around towards Brian and yelled,

"See! Easy!"

...

Why is he looking at me like that?



-Brian Laborn-

"See! Easy!"

...

Does he not realize how unsettling that was?

Looking at his chipper attitude, I think not.

Jogging towards him, suddenly the smell hit me.

I thought the visual would have been the worst.

But the smell, oh the smell!

Letting my helmet I had in my hand fall, I put my hands on my knees and hurled my breakfast.

Seeing this, Liam took out that perfume and started running towards me, spraying it on me and my surroundings.

It helped, but I was already puking, so it took a while for me to get my bearings.

"Here, use this to wash it out."

Looking at Liam, I saw that he was holding a bottle of water towards me.

Taking it and saying a soft "thank you," I took a swig while taking my distance from the corpse on the ground.

Spitting out the water after washing my mouth, I stared at Liam as he took my helmet that was on the ground.

Holding it out to me, I mumbled yet another thank you and looked back at his face, or his mask rather.

How he attacked that zombie, there was no hesitation as he ruthlessly crushed its head.

I couldn't help but frown as I asked, "How long have you been doing this?"

Liam just tilted his head and rubbed his chin in thought.

"Uuuuh, I think... about 2–3 months now? Yeah, about that long."

No wonder he is so relaxed about it. If he has been doing it that long, he's probably killed hundreds of zombies by now, seen hundreds of rotting corpses.


"We can also see how coordination is? Now that that one zombie is gone, it's a few minutes until we find the next one," he suggested.

And I don't think it's that bad of an idea. I still need to come to terms with the corpse that lies there.

Not that I haven't seen a corpse before—cape life doesn't give you that luxury.

But I haven't seen one that was already decomposing.

"Ye-yeah, let's do that."

Taking off his helmet, Liam looked brightly at me.

"Okay then, let's first see if your smoke blocks my Soul Sense," he said, speaking another thing I don't have a clue about.

Maybe seeing it on my face, or remembering it from earlier, but this time he explained the new term.

"Oh yeah, Soul Sense is a Soul Force technique that allows me to sense Soul Energy in my surroundings. Which everything has, as far as I know."

I nodded, signaling my understanding.

Taking another swig of my water, I looked at Liam and asked, "So? You just want to try now, or do you need to prepare anything?"

He shook his head, "Nah, just do your thing and I'll do mine. I'll wave if I'm done testing," he said.

Nodding, I took a deep breath and started generating smoke, it seemingly coming off my body. With it came the awareness of where it is, it being invisible to me like always.

It was always kind of funny how I just saw people reacting all scared to what to me looked like nothing.

Liam just let it wash over him, closing his eyes right before it hit him.

I could see a frown forming on his face, so apparently something was interfering with his senses.

Then in an action that surprised me, he signaled to me to walk around, using the universal walking motion with his fingers.

Doing so, I could see his frown lessen but not completely disappear, deep in his concentration.

Then, in a move that shocked me to my core, he gestured in a general direction.

The direction where I was walking.

Stopping generating the smoke, I walked towards him as our surroundings began to rapidly clear up.

Standing right in front of him, I asked him with both wonder and worry in my voice, though I hoped the latter wasn't noticed,

"How did you know where I was? It looked like you had difficulty with something."

Opening his eyes, Liam had a small smile on his face, but I could see that he wasn't completely happy.

"Well, your power definitely interferes with Soul Force, even if it's in a way I didn't expect it to."

"How so?" I asked, confused.

"Your power also emits Soul Energy, it's just not yours that it emits, so I can still feel your general direction if I focus enough. It'll probably get easier the better I get at sensing," he explained.

"Not my own? But it's my power, shouldn't it then also be my Soul Energy?"

Liam pursed his lips at that, like he was holding something back.

In the end, he did say something, "The smoke would require a lot more energy than you currently hold, but power mechanics aren't well understood at best. The only thing we learned now is that my power and yours use the same energy, nothing more."

But he just shook his head and continued, "But that's not what we're here for, we're here to bash some skulls in and earn money. That being said, the next zombie is yours."

Gulping, I looked back at the dead body, my determination hardening.

We're only at the starting line, Brian, ain't no way we're gonna quit here.

"Let's do this."

Grinning, Liam patted my back and laughed.

"Ha! That's what I like to hear!"

As for Liam, the next zombie took us a few minutes to find, though it seemed he already knew where it was.

How far does his sensing range go?

"Here we are, the next zombie is in that alley there."

Wanting to look inside the alley, a hand stopped me right before I could look.

"It's staring directly towards us, so the moment it sees you, it's gonna start running towards you."

"Oh, okay," I nodded.

"So, bit of an explanation. Zombies are really stupid and not that strong, so it just goes straight for you and doesn't dodge. So the only thing you need to do is swing that bat right before it comes into range, which is around the 3–4 ft mark. One good whack to the head from you should kill it, easy peasy."

Nodding again, I took a deep breath and wanted to go in, but I got stopped another time.
This time getting a bit annoyed—something Liam noticed—he held up a perfume bottle.

He just shook it a little. "Maybe spray a bit before going in?"

A bit embarrassed now, I just nodded and opened up the visor of my helmet I had put on earlier.

Spraying a bit, I looked back at him. He just took a step back and shooed me away.
Shooting him one last glare, I now entered the alley.

Like he said, the zombie saw me and started running straight towards me.

It wasn't that fast—more like a jogging pace. But the way it ran was just that unnerving I could see most people just running away the instant they saw the thing.

Strengthening my hold on the bat, I prepared myself for the second it came into range.

And when it did, I swung.

I felt the skull crack at the moment of impact, the vibration going from the bat into my arms.

The body fell, and a pop-up appeared in front of me:

[You have slain a zombie!]
[$9 added to your bank account.]



AN: A bigger one again today, this one mostly from Brian's perspective. I hope his confusion came over well, but this was kind of a trial chapter on a new method of writing for me, so we'll see how it goes.

Liam's power is pretty confusing from an outsider's perspective—like a complicated Eidolon that grows slowly.

His power would be a Trump/Breaker/Striker/Shaker/Blaster... for now, and it keeps expanding with weird mechanics that haven't been seen yet in the Cape scene.

Anyway, leave a comment or review about what you think. What you liked and disliked and so forth.

ANN: I thought it best to explain Liam's reaction (or lack thereof) regarding his exposure.

He isn't so much focussed on that Mr. Laborn knew and broke the unwritten rules by revealing it to Brian, but that it started to show he had powers in the first place.

Take that the situation conveniently revealed his cape status to Brian and Brian's status to him, side stepping a whole lot of potential drama, he isn't as angry at the coach as he probably should be.

As for Coil, the Undersiders are still around a year away, Coil is certainly still a problem, but not the threat to his life people assume him to be.

He would rather recruit such a useful 'piece' than just kill it off, he is a mastermind at heart after all.

The only thing that would make Coil kill Liam is his knowledge of his powers, but that has never and will never come into the conversation because while sometimes oblivious, I think I showed Liam to be at least smart enough for that.

If you guys still have any questions, I'm happy to answer them (well so long as they aren't spoilers of course).

 

[Slycerr]

Posted a little bit later then the 12 to 2 window I'd like to post, was putting up some ikea shelves

 

[DiscoRed]

Gonna be funny when they invite other people then see brian and liam just merrily killing zombies

 

[Slycerr]

-William Brooks-

After killing his first zombie, Brian seemed to overcome what was on his mind.

There was still some hesitation about letting a rotting corpse get close to you with the next few undead, but after the 7th, he appeared to get over his hiccups, and there was no hesitation in his swings.

After his 10th kill, I decided it was about time to explain the next monster that would pop out of nowhere.

Going over to him, I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Good job, man. The next few zombies are gonna be in small groups, which we can do together, or you can just use your smoke."

Nodding at me, Brian looks back at the corpse in front of him. I personally don't really like to stare at it, so I keep my head straight.

"The next creature we're going to meet eventually is called a ghoul. They're on all fours and jump at you to attack. They're faster and more durable, but still fairly easy to kill so long as you dodge their initial attack."

Brian turns back to me.

"And how much do those give?"

Taking a moment to understand what he meant by that, I realized he meant what loot they give you.

"Well, for money it's between 50 and 100 bucks per ghoul. You also get a Healing Pill that heals light wounds."

Taking one out of my inventory, I hand it to him.

It looks like a typical Xianxia red pill, about a nail's width and smooth to the touch.

"Eating one heals wounds almost instantly, and they basically melt in your mouth, so taking them is pretty easy and fast."

Rolling the pill between his fingers, Brian hums and gives the pill back.

Shaking my head, I refuse.

"Take it, just put it in your pocket or something for a rainy day. In fact, take a few more."

And I take out another 10 pills and put them in his hand.

Looking at the small hand of miracle medicine in his hand, he stares at it a bit dumbfounded before shrugging and putting them in his jacket pockets.

"So, do you want to fight the next zombies together? Work on some teamwork? Or would you rather solo the floor?" I ask.

Brian thinks it over.

"Let's do teamwork," he says.

Smiling, I reply, "Great! The next bunch I'll use my Soul Pressure technique to stun them, then we can just whack them on the head and go to the next group."

And that's what we did. The first zombies we saw after that were a group of three.

I could have killed them instantly at this point, but that wasn't the goal.

The goal was teamwork—not running in each other's way and calling our actions out so we knew what the other was doing.

So as we came onto the zombies and they came running toward us, I pressured them into being stunned 10 ft from us.

Brian went for the right one, and I for the left one.

Two zombies down, the middle one gave us some hesitation before I yelled, "Yours!" and he killed it.

[You have slain a zombie!]
[$6 added to your bank account.]

The next group was another group of three and went slightly better. This time I didn't have to yell anything.

[You have slain a zombie!]
[$6 added to your bank account.]

The following groups went pretty well, I gotta say. The fights went quicker, and it was reassuring that I had backup, even if I didn't need it at this stage.

When we killed a group of four zombies in another alley, a presence from above came into my range.

Looking up, I yelled, "Ghoul from above!"

Brian looked up, and I saw his body tense, but I was already putting Soul Pressure on the creature.

So when it finally hit the ground, it landed wrong, and we heard a sickening crack from the side it fell on.

Looking at the creature, I yelled at Brian again.

"Attack it! I'll hold it down!" Already a Soul Spike prepared and launching it at the ghoul.

Brian ran it down with a mighty whack on its skull, hearing another sickening crack as the creature stayed down.

Walking toward Brian, I asked him,

"So, how much did you get?"

Looking toward me, he replied,

"About 60 dollars, and a Healing Pill."

"Huh, not bad," I said. "The fight also went pretty well," I added.

"You think so?" he asked, not convinced.

"Well, the creature is dead and we're unharmed. So I'd call that a success, don't you?"

Mulling over his thoughts, "It isn't bad, but there is some hesitation in our teamwork that shouldn't be there," he told me.

Well damn, okay, Mister Perfectionist.

"Well, of course there is—this is the first time we fought together outside of sparring, and even that we barely did because of the skill gap," I replied.

Nodding, I can see he still isn't convinced.

"Look, if it really bothers you that much, we can just reset the realm when we get to this point and practice teamwork on the zombies—or just stay in the beginning to try things out," I say.

"Besides, staying in your smoke would be a great way to train my sensing too."

That seems to convince him for some reason.

"Yeah, let's do that. I'd rather be overprepared than not."

Oi, that's my schtick. Get your own!

[Do you wish to leave the Undeath Realm? Yes/No]

Choosing 'Yes', we appear back in my apartment.

Taking the opportunity, I take a quick bathroom break and eat a snack. We've, after all, been in the realm already for 2 hours or so.

Going to sit at the table, I look over at Brian, who just sits on the other side.

"So, how much did you make?" I ask curiously.

"About 250, not bad for a few hours of work."

Putting my thumbs up, I reply, "Nice man, and that was just the zombies. Imagine how much we'll make when we're good enough to clear the Realm."

Grinning at the thought, it seems like a weight was lifted off Brian's shoulders.

With the excitement still in our system, we went back into the Undeath Realm two times.

The first was mostly to improve our coordination, so after every fight, we talked about what we could do better.

Right now I was taking a backseat in the killing of the monsters, as I wasn't in any rush for money, and Brian split the medicine pills evenly with me.

So I mostly used Soul Pressure and Soul Spike to stun or slow down the zombies and ghouls.

This had the consequence of leveling up my skills nicely.

[Meditation has leveled up!]
[Soul Manipulation has leveled up! 2x]
[Soul Sense has leveled up!]
[Secret Soul Techniques has leveled up! 2x]

We stopped right before the time the boss could appear.

The next time, we mostly stayed at the beginning to train my Soul Sense.

It was annoying to have a sense I didn't realize I was getting used to be blocked so effectively.

The training was basically just me sitting in the smoke and trying to point toward Brian while he was walking or running around me.

It was a simple exercise, but the gains couldn't be denied.

[Soul Sense has leveled up!]
[Soul Sense has leveled up!]
[Soul Sense has leveled up!]

My range was also steadily increasing. Already I had an awareness of a 90 ft radius around me.

That, with my Soul Techniques, made me a pretty annoying enemy to fight.

Add Brian's smoke and you would need some pretty hefty power or some special abilities to fight us.

After training, we were now debating if we should do the boss or not.

"I mean, Brian, I would need to do the boss today or tomorrow anyway, so why not try to do it together?"

Sighing, he says, "Because my costume isn't made to withstand what you described the boss as. You said yourself that the only reason you could kill it is because of your armor."

"Well, then you be support this time. We've seen your smoke works on the zombies and ghouls. Why wouldn't it work on the boss? If possible, I'll even give you the kill so you get the money," I reply.

That makes him hesitate. After all, the boss gives $500 at minimum if you kill it.

Seeing the cracks, I push a little more.

"Heck, even if I kill it, I'll wire the money over if you want. I just need the Cultivation Pills. Which, by the way, you also need."

Mulling it over, I finally see the hesitant nod.

"Okay, okay, we'll do it," Brian decides, not fully on board but giving his word.

"That's what I'm talking about!" I happily say, smiling.

So with a good mood, we started killing zombies.

We did the same thing as before, with me being the support and Brian attacking the monsters.

Even if Brian was not really into it at the beginning, seeing the money come in certainly helped bring that up.

Until the message we had been waiting for:

[The Boss has appeared, and it's coming for you.]

Feeling a presence coming fast from behind us,

I turn and already start preparing a stronger Soul Spike while yelling,

"Behind! Need smoke!"

Brian, not questioning it, turns and immediately starts generating smoke and directing it as much as he can towards me.

Right before the smoke hits me and the Nightmarish Ghoul is about to jump me, I send out the strongest Soul Spike I could.

Closing my eyes, I focus my Soul Sense on the creature when it enters the black fumes.

It just stands there, and taking the opportunity that is given to me, I run at it and instead of going for the head, just swing at where its body is supposed to be.

It hits what I assume is the upper back. It turns towards me to jump, but by the moment it faced where I was, I was already gone, back into the smoke.

This I did three more times before it smartened up and just ran in a straight line out of the smoke.

Seeing it warily walk around Brian's influence, I prepare another Soul Spike and stay at the edge.

When I'm ready, I jump out of it close to the thing and send the spike straight toward it.

Seeing it finally after the beatdown I gave it, I can see I had hit it in the shoulder, making its arm useless, and the lower back, making it move weird.

The Soul Spike hit, and it just buckled.

Taking the opportunity presented to me, I run toward it and swung my bat with all my might down, right on its head.

SMACK. CRUNCH.

Its skull gave way and splattered on the ground and my shoes.

[You have slain the Nightmarish Ghoul!]
[$772 added to your bank account.]
[You have gained 1 Demonic Spirit.]

Ew, now I need to clean my shoes too.

Also, I gained my second Demon Spirit.

Taking it out of my inventory, I notice they look exactly the same—which makes sense, since they come from the same creature.

Maybe one is better than the other, or they have different abilities. I can't know that until I integrate them.

[You have cleared the Undeath Realm!]

A chest appears beside me while Brian stands next to me.

As I open the chest and take out the Cultivation Pills, he asks,

"So, how was the fight?"

Huh, four pills. Taking two and handing the rest to Brian, I reply,

"The fight was more difficult than doing it alone because of the focus needed, but also less dangerous because of the cover. So, for the first time? Pretty good."

Leaving the realm, we reappear back in my apartment.
Taking off our helmets, we look at each other with big smiles.

"Oh yeah, I need to give you the boss money. Looks like you earned another 772 bucks, dude," I say.

Eyes widening, he replies, "772 for one creature?! That's insane!"

Shrugging, I go to my fridge to take out two sodas.
"Well, it is a boss for a reason," I say. That explains enough for me.

Giving one of the sodas to Brian, I go sit at the table and think about everything I did today.
I made Brian a cultivator, ran the realm three times—which also happened to fix his money situation.

If we improve our clearing speed and kill the boss every time, I won't have to worry about my cultivation.

We also got found out by someone a few days ago that we're capes…

Let's not think too much about that for now. I'm getting tired from all that happened today.

Taking a swig from the bottle, I ask Brian,

"So, when do you want to do this again? I need to go in in four days because that's when my pills run out."

Thinking it over, Brian shakes his head.

"I can't then. I promised Aisha I'd go shopping with her."

Looking at him weirdly, I ask, "You're going shopping with your sister?"

Grimacing, he sighs.

"I promised that if she behaved, I'd go with her. I also hope to push her toward a somewhat more acceptable clothing style than what she's coming up with now."

Well, I guess those are some valid reasons to make a promise like that.

Just the thought of going to a shopping mall fills me with dread.

So many people…

Never.

"Well, that's fine. You wanna do this next weekend then?"

Not even taking a second, Brian nods.

"Definitely. The money's as good as the jobs I did—and with less risk of blowing up in my face."

Huh, that's some good information.

Speaking of info actually—

"How's the cape scene, anyway?" I ask.

And that's how we started a conversation that lasted the rest of the time Brian was at my place.

When he finally left, it was about time to make dinner.

Eating my food on the couch in front of the TV, I relaxed for the rest of the day.

 

[Haydos]

Very nice. The relationship between Brian and the MC is great so far.

 

[DanTheKitten]

Very nice but id wish you upload once a day since that way we could get into the story faster. but otherwise its fine as long as you keep writing and dont write yourself into a lump. Thanks for the chapter. Though i want to see what the next IR is and what monster they will find.

 

[Slycerr]

Very nice but id wish you upload once a day since that way we could get into the story faster. but otherwise its fine as long as you keep writing and dont write yourself into a lump. Thanks for the chapter. Though i want to see what the next IR is and what monster they will find.

Click to shrink...

The next IR will appear soon!

As for writing speed, this is the about th limit for me, I've written around 35k this past month which I think is already a lot.
The most important thing for me is to keep writing, if I have to slow down for that then I will do so just so I can keep the story going.

But the pace of the story should speed up pretty soon, more is gonna happen and I don't have to show as much any more.

You could say we're almost out of the prologue.

 

[ToasterForkerAnonymous]

Gotta ask... will their be boobas in the future?

 

[Slycerr]

Gotta ask... will their be boobas in the future?

Click to shrink...

I will try my hand at romance in the future, but if you're asking I there will be lemons? Then the answer is probably no.
Maybe I will do some lite version in the sense I will show sex has happened and the aftermath of it.

I can't really give a definite answer because maybe the muse says it's gotta be included.

 

[Slycerr]

With one last swing, Brian kills the Nightmarish Ghoul.

[You have cleared the Undeath Realm!]

It's been about a month now, since Brian joined me in clearing the realms.

It's been good, we come together every Sunday to fight the monsters as many times as we can and gain resources like pills and money.

Today, for example, was the 5th time we slayed the Boss.

Walking towards the chest, I bend over to open it and take out the pills.

"How many now?" Brian asks.

Looking at the bottle, I see 3 pills.

"Three, you?"

He takes off his helmet and says, "Also three, money was a little less than usual though."

Nodding, I store the bottle in my ring and get back up.

Looking back at him, the red lines on his jacket are clearly visible, looking the same as my costume.

I enchanted his costume about 3 weeks ago, it was a lot easier than mine because the clothes were simpler, but it did require some thinking on where the inscriptions were going.

Eventually, we decided to just enchant the jacket with the tear resistance pattern and a shirt with the blunt force resistance pattern.

The pants were the same as mine, and I finally made something for the shoes.

It's basically a feather-light inscription, making the wearer lighter on their feet, or in other words, making them faster.

It doesn't give a big boost, only about 5–10%, but it's better than nothing.

Otherwise, I've just been cultivating like there is no tomorrow.

And the results show for themselves.

---

[Status]
Name: William Brooks
Class: Demon Spiritualist
Soul Realm: Red
Soul Form: Disordered / Temporal Vine Seed
Soul Attribute: Neutral
Sp. Physique: N/A
Soul Force: 420
Body Force: 206
Inventory: 5m³
Money: $10.623

---

Because I've been going in with Brian in the Undeath Realm, I have been steadily collecting Cultivation Pills, coming up to 25 pills now.

Of the Healing Pills I have around a 100 now…

It's not like I don't like having them for a rainy day, but right now they're just sitting there in my inventory.

I suppose that's a good thing though, not needing them.

The plan right now is to go to the realm as many times as we can in a day to stash up on pills so I can just grind out and reach Silver Rank.

Thinking about Silver Rank, I need to think about what I've discovered in my Soul Sea.

At first, I was just exploring, trying to see if there would be a trick to holding a Demon Spirit.

But then I found something, something I didn't think was there at first.

Maybe because my Soul Sense and Soul Manipulation were finally high enough, or maybe because my cultivation was high enough.

But I found something in the middle of my Soul Sea.

It was vague, like I couldn't fully pinpoint it yet.

The higher my cultivation rose, the clearer the thing became, until I could finally guess what it was.

A seed.

Confused, I tried to guess where it would come from, the Heavenly God didn't say anything about a seed.

Until it came to me, there was one thing that could give me a seed.

My template, Nie Li.

And what that meant.

I had the Vine Seed from the Temporal Demon Spirit Book.

At that realization, my status changed

[[Redacted]] has been changed to 'Temporal Vine Seed'

With that revelation I tried to see if I could do something with it, but so far that was a dead end.

I hope something changes when I reach Silver Rank, but that is just a faint hope.

Besides going into the realms and cultivating that would make Chad The Grinder proud, I've been thinking on what having Brian as an ally actually means.

The chance that Coil would know about me was never zero, but now that Brian knows about me, that chance just increased dramatically.

And weirdly enough, I'm not too worried about it.

I mean yes, he could kill me, but that was always going to be a worry.

It isn't like he could threaten my family, no matter how much the thought of them hurts.

He could threaten my friends, but those friends would also be in danger just being friends with Brian.

He could threaten me at gunpoint, but if he knew my powers that would be a waste of a piece he could control.

Besides, the danger Coil's power represents is in his information gathering power, trying plans out and seeing what worked.

His power is simulation, not the reality bending he thinks it is, so if I go out to kill him, he's dead.

My biggest trump card is that I never talked about him, so that's information he can't take out of anyone except me.

And I can always escape through the IR Create/Destroy Skill.

So I'm not too worried about it.

And if his powers work differently than what I read about him, well then I'm fucked anyway unless I could achieve Deity Rank or at the very least Heavenly Fate Rank, which is still very far away.

Right now my sole focus is on getting to Silver Rank and integrating Demon Spirits to diversify my powers.

"Liam, you good?" Brian says as he shakes me out of my thoughts.

Blinking, I nod and answer, "Yeah, was just thinking about stuff. Anyway, it's about time to get back, isn't it?" changing the topic.

Staring at me a little longer, Brian nods, not going in on my rather apparent topic change.

Leaving the Realm, we appear back in my apartment.

Getting more comfortable, I take my customary soda and give one to Brian.

Inventorying my helmet, a handy trick I discovered with my Spatial Ring, I drink the soda and go sit beside the table.

"So how's your week looking like?" I ask Brian, who goes to sit opposite from me.

"More apartment hunting. Otherwise, I'm hanging out with Johnny on Wednesday after school and not much else, you?" he says.

"Friday after training me, Matt, and Kevin are going to the movies. Apparently there is a new batch of them from Earth Aleph they want to see. Otherwise it's just cultivation with me."

Taking another swig, I ask the question that has been in my head for quite a while.

"So, you did any jobs lately?"

Brian stiffens, his face guarded.

"I completed one I had already signed up for, but I haven't taken on any new ones."

Humming, I nod, eyes not focused on him but still in my sight.

"That's good," I comment.

Silence follows, and while I hate it, I let it continue.

Finally, Brian asks me a question.

"What are your goals, Liam, like actually?"

"What do you mean?" I just reply, taking another sip of my soda.

Annoyed, but keeping it in check, he answers,

"You said in the beginning that you wanted to be a hero, but except going into the Undeath

Realm and cultivating, I haven't seen you do much in that regard."

Hearing the accusation in his voice, maybe for being so passive, or maybe for something else.

I still reply, even if the answer isn't exactly what he wanted.

"Because I still don't know what kind of Hero I want to be."

Brows furrowed in confusion, Brian says, "What do you mean by that? 'What kind of hero' do you mean?"

Soda now empty, I look at the bottle, turning it around in my hand.

"There is a difference between being a hero in today's society and doing good."

Getting more annoyed by my non-answer, Brian opens his mouth, but I cut him off with my hand.

"If I wanted to be a hero in today's sense, I would've just gone to the Protectorate to sign up and quietly grow stronger. The problem with that is that they're running like a sieve and I can't accept that."

Nodding, he accepts that reasoning, probably the same reason he didn't join the Wards himself.

"I could also go all Shadow Stalker and start hunting down scum in an area and basically own a territory, if in a less lethal way."

"Shadow Stalker?" he questions.

"A Rogue Hero that has recently joined the Wards, PHO says she used a lethal crossbow to hunt down dealers."

"Huh, she must have been new then, because I didn't hear about her," he says.

Standing up to get a new soda, "Like a month maybe, it's only recently it gained traction on PHO though, probably why the PRT stepped in now that I think of it."

What was it that got her caught again? Didn't she kill a guy which gave the PRT leverage?

I wasn't lying that there were already questions about a cape on PHO, but it's only recently that they put a name to it and the cape.

"Anyway, my third option would just be patrolling and stopping crimes, but Solo Heroes don't survive long and it's more public, which will bring the Protectorate on my ass."

Going to sit back down, I say as an afterthought.

"Well I could go out if you joined me, then I wouldn't be alone. But I can't ask something like that from you."

At that Brian stills, something I don't realize as I'm taking a gulp of my new soda.

"Why couldn't you?" he asks.

My soda almost going in the wrong hole, I cough and look at him, seeing his face.

It shows no emotion, but his eyes hold something in them I can't really place.

Punching my chest to get myself back in control, I say.

"I mean, it's not a decision I could just ask you to do. I also don't know how your former associates will react, it seemed like a stupid question to ask."

He still stares with that look on his face, but as suddenly as it appeared it disappears just as fast as a sigh leaves his mouth.

"Sigh. You know, you're an idiot sometimes, Liam."

What?

"If you asked me to help you, I wouldn't say no, you idiot."

Oh.

Now I do feel like an idiot.

So I ask, "You wanna be a hero with me?"

Another sigh leaves him.

"Yes Liam…"

"Huh, cool."

…

Why does it look like he's already regretting his decision.
Anyway.

"It will be a while before we do anything though, right now I'm doing a timed quest I want to finish." I say

"Oh, what quest?" he asks.

"Reach Silver Rank in six months, well now four months."

Humming, Brian slowly nods. "You think you can make it?"

"Yeah, just about." I say.

"Any way to speed it up?" he asks curiously.

"Except pondering on my cultivation technique or just straight up cultivation with the pills, not really no." I wonder where he is going with this.

Apparently thinking things over, he decides on something.
Going into his pocket, he starts pushing his share of the cultivation pills to me on the table.

"From now on, we only go in the Undeath Realm when you're out of pills, also I'll tell my dad you aren't coming into the gym for a while, and he shouldn't worry about it. You just cultivate as fast as you can."

A bit stunned, I think about the proposal.

"But, what about your cultivation? Isn't that also important?"

Again, looking at me like I'm an idiot.

"I'm not the one with a timed quest, idiot. Besides I have enough money now to sit on right now, so I'm good. And I can still cultivate if at a slower pace."

Staring at Brian, I can't help but be a bit moved.

"Thanks man" is the only thing I could say.

Brian didn't stay long after that.

Feeling motivated, I popped a Cultivation Pill and went into the grind.

The next few weeks went pretty well I gotta say.

I focused almost completely on cultivation, pondering my technique and using the full 12 hours of the pill's duration.

I still hung out or talked in the group chat, but I was certainly around less.

My friend group was also moving forward, some sadly not in a good direction though.

Johnny was still the same but focusing more on school now.

While Kevin and Matt found some part-time jobs and were seeing what they would actually want to do with their life.

The rest didn't really know yet, but Matt was thinking of going to college next school year, studying literature.

Spencer and Leia also weren't really around much, but that's apparently because they had a hiccup in their relationship they were trying to get through.

All in all, while the group hadn't quite fallen apart, you could see the cracks that were hidden by the common ground of going to school together. Those cracks were now showing themselves.

I already had this happen to me, so I was somewhat prepared for it, but Matt after the movies confided in me that he was panicking a bit.

That conversation was difficult, and while I managed to calm him down, a small dark part of my mind couldn't help but think it couldn't have come at a better time.

After all, I was running at a deadline, I didn't have time to hang out.

Ironically, that feeling made me chase the complete peace meditation and cultivation gave me, making my Soul Force and Skills soar.

But the feeling remained.

Three weeks into my 'secluded cultivation', Brian texted me to see how it went.

The time helped lessen the guilt over how I couldn't help the group, but it didn't disappear, so when Brian texted me to see how I was I asked him to come over.

Talking about my worries helped, and he said it wasn't unusual Spencer and Leia had a fight, so I shouldn't worry about it.

But this friend group was all I had in this world, and despite me being mentally older than everyone in it, I knew I wasn't gifted socially enough to keep it together.

Brian just said to leave it to him and not worry too much about it.

Still, I felt I needed to do something, so I did the only thing I knew I could.

I taught Brian my Soul Skills.

The Martial Art nut that he is, he almost immediately took on Soul Reinforcement like a fish to water. The other skills not so much.

Soul Pressure and Soul Spike would be a very good addition to his current power set, so I managed to get him to the basics of that and the start to mastery.

Soul Sense… we don't talk about the attempt to teach Soul Sense…

In the end, I managed to teach him the basics of almost everything and lessen my guilt significantly, so I could think of that as a mission accomplished.

The rest of the day we talked about his cultivation technique Void Demon.

It was an interesting technique that allowed the user to create Void Energy from their Soul Force to increase their cultivation speed and lessen the damage of energy attacks by sucking said energy out.

But there wasn't a lot I could do to help because I didn't know the full technique, I was waiting until Brian had a good handle on it before learning it.

In the end, I felt like I actually did something and helped someone.

After that another month and a half passed.

Sitting on my bed, I did my breathing practice that the Heavenly God taught me.

Using the Heart to refine the Breath, and the Breath to refine the Body.

[You have gained +1 SF!]
[You have gained +1 BF!]
[You have reached 1000 SF!]
[You are now a Silver Rank Demon Spiritualist!]

Finally!

[Quest completed!]

I wonder what Demon Spirit the reward will be.

[IR Create/Destroy has updated!]

Now wait a god damn minute!

AN: It could be that this chapter feels a bit like a mess at the end, that was ironically because the next chapter was a bitch to write. So much so that I actually came back to change this one so I could start from a different starting point.

The good thing about that? Well, we get a lot of new things to look forward to in the next chapter!

It's been a heck of a month for me, I've almost written 40k words from basically having not written in years. I've gotten a lot of nice comments and support and some that were less nice.

For that one Guest reviewer who was a bitch and insulted my intelligence, you actually can't go to jail for breaking the UNWRITTEN rules, what you were thinking about was the NDA people sign in the Protectorate…

I feel no need to be respectful to you when you don't give me that courtesy.

 

[Lexin]

For that one Guest reviewer who was a bitch and insulted my intelligence, you actually can't go to jail for breaking the UNWRITTEN rules, what you were thinking about was the NDA people sign in the Protectorate…

I feel no need to be respectful to you when you don't give me that courtesy.

Click to shrink...

There was something about revealing a Ward's identity, but it was more about endangering them than anything else. There were no legal repercussions about anything else I think, though it was assumed that if you break unwritten rules, other would ignore them when dealing with you.

Also curse you for the cliffhanger!
Thanks for the chapter

 

[Oriks]

Why are all of the paragraphs 1-2 sentences? It makes the flow of the story very awkward and disjointed. I've noticed a lot of AI-written stories tend to do the same thing, so I'm wondering if you're letting the AI reformat chapters when you have it edit. Whether it's that or just a writing style choice, I wouldn't recommend it. Paragraphs exist for a reason, and using them like sentence jackets is a waste.

Besides that, the pacing is really slow; 35k words in and the MC has directly met 1.5 canon characters, with his strongest connection to the Worm universe being him feeling a bit bad about the Simurgh attack. Dropping him in with a year and change to prepare could make the story less hectic once it reaches canon, but there should probably be a lot more time skips, to make sure the story gets there at all. It's just really difficult to stay invested when it's just repetitive grinding, day out with Brian + OCs, repetitive grinding, day out with an OC, repetitive grinding, MC watches the Simurgh attack, repetitive grinding, day out with an OC, repetitive grinding, MC gets called out for having powers and folds like a cheap suit, repetitive grinding, etc. After all that, the MC hasn't left the tutorial, as it were.

Beyond that, while I don't want to be too harsh because you mentioned that English wasn't your first language, the AI isn't doing a great job of catching awkwardly phrased sentences, including incorrect tenses. For example, "Of the Healing Pills I have around a 100 now…" It would read much more smoothly if you'd written something like, "As for healing pills, I was up to around a hundred." It also should have been part of the previous paragraph. Lines like these are a very frequent occurrence.

This awkward phrasing often makes its way into the dialogue as well, and it leads to every character sounding rather homogeneous. If the speaker wasn't mentioned in any given instance, I'd have a lot of trouble narrowing down who's speaking beyond it probably being one of the five characters introduced so far. This is even more of an issue when there are multiple OCs (or mostly original characters), because they need a distinct voice to be interesting at all, without a canon background to lean on. I'd suggest adding verbal tics or specific 'signature' words or phrases for your OCs, including the main character.

Overall, there are a lot of factors making it difficult to read the story and stay engaged. Some are things that should improve as you gain more experience writing and become more familiar with writing in English, while there are some that seem to stem from the AI assistance.

 

[Slycerr]

Why are all of the paragraphs 1-2 sentences? It makes the flow of the story very awkward and disjointed. I've noticed a lot of AI-written stories tend to do the same thing, so I'm wondering if you're letting the AI reformat chapters when you have it edit. Whether it's that or just a writing style choice, I wouldn't recommend it. Paragraphs exist for a reason, and using them like sentence jackets is a waste.

Besides that, the pacing is really slow; 35k words in and the MC has directly met 1.5 canon characters, with his strongest connection to the Worm universe being him feeling a bit bad about the Simurgh attack. Dropping him in with a year and change to prepare could make the story less hectic once it reaches canon, but there should probably be a lot more time skips, to make sure the story gets there at all. It's just really difficult to stay invested when it's just repetitive grinding, day out with Brian + OCs, repetitive grinding, day out with an OC, repetitive grinding, MC watches the Simurgh attack, repetitive grinding, day out with an OC, repetitive grinding, MC gets called out for having powers and folds like a cheap suit, repetitive grinding, etc. After all that, the MC hasn't left the tutorial, as it were.

Beyond that, while I don't want to be too harsh because you mentioned that English wasn't your first language, the AI isn't doing a great job of catching awkwardly phrased sentences, including incorrect tenses. For example, "Of the Healing Pills I have around a 100 now…" It would read much more smoothly if you'd written something like, "As for healing pills, I was up to around a hundred." It also should have been part of the previous paragraph. Lines like these are a very frequent occurrence.

This awkward phrasing often makes its way into the dialogue as well, and it leads to every character sounding rather homogeneous. If the speaker wasn't mentioned in any given instance, I'd have a lot of trouble narrowing down who's speaking beyond it probably being one of the five characters introduced so far. This is even more of an issue when there are multiple OCs (or mostly original characters), because they need a distinct voice to be interesting at all, without a canon background to lean on. I'd suggest adding verbal tics or specific 'signature' words or phrases for your OCs, including the main character.

Overall, there are a lot of factors making it difficult to read the story and stay engaged. Some are things that should improve as you gain more experience writing and become more familiar with writing in English, while there are some that seem to stem from the AI assistance.

Click to shrink...

The AI only corrects spelling and grammar mistakes, the rest is just me (I need to add the spaces myself back in or otherwise it would just be a block of text). I will admit I can improve heavily in that regard. The spacing is partly intentional. it helps me reading it with my dyslexia, although I can understand if some people don't like it. it is something I've been trying to improve on, using more senteces in a paragraph. But that change is going to be slow because it still doesn't feel right.

As for the pace of the story, it's just the way it is right now, and I think story wise it makes sense. Liam has been in Worm for about nine months. in that time he learned enough boxing to at least be able to fight, reached silver rank with what in a cultivation world would be subpar recources (that he got himself), and gained an ally that knows more about the cape scene than him. we are very much still in the tutorial stage of the story (although we are at the finish line on that part).

overall there isn't a lot that I can immidiatly change to improve the story besides to keep writing. I do appreciate the feedback you gave me and will keep it in mind while writing future chapters.