A week slipped by, and Al accomplished three 350-merit tasks in that span. The earnings were sufficient to secure a Housing unit, even though he had no intention of settling in for long. It was a place to delve deeper into cultivating his Heat Will and Stubborn Will. Both were stimulated by his Autonomous Revolution Converter (A.R.C.) in his navel, where the breath was transmuted into Will.
He returned to the second floor of the collective shops' pyramid and a map that revealed the marked locations of the nearest God Leaf Mortal Rings. The Lightning-stone Leaf stretched northward, the Supreme Leaf was found in the East, and the Solar Leaf in the West.
He also purchased a second sword, a scimitar. Its single-edged, elegantly curved blade is of refined craftsmanship. Forged from steel with heightened heat-absorbing properties, it outshone his previous, lower-quality long blade.
Yet, Al chose not to part with his longsword, recognizing its strengths. Its low quality paired perfectly with his stubborn Will, often catching foes off guard.
Whispers spread like wildfire about the enigmatic white-haired cultivator who wielded two swords. They spoke he was an unrecognized lone disciple, a figure quietly amassing a substantial stash of merits. Al was oblivious to the growing chatter, engrossed in his meditation within the well-lit confines of his housing unit.
"Mmmhhh, to bring my Heat Will into the Mental Domain, I'll need to invest at least a quarter of a century in cultivation. Luckily, battle prowess isn't solely tied to one's current stage of cultivation," he contemplated, his legs folded.
Memories of Midnight-Abyss flooded his thoughts - wielding it, he could kill a cultivator in the Immortal chasm. Although it was no longer within his grasp, he now wielded two Wills. He felt confident in his ability to contend with anyone in the Spirit Domain of the Mortal Chasm. Yet, as he reflected on Midnight Abyss, he relied heavily on it but knew little of it, remaining ignorant of its true nature.
Al directed his gaze toward the pair of blades, a stark contrast of wear and refinement. One was worn and dull, while the other gleamed with a sharp, polished luster. Determination etched in his eyes, he rose from his seated meditation and exited his housing unit.
Before embarking toward the Supreme Leaf, a question lingered in his mind: "Could I accomplish a task valued at 650 merits, all on my own?"
Curious gazes followed his every step as he treaded through the extensive underground cavern that constituted the 11th Mortal Ring of the Lightning-stone Leaf. However, Al paid them no heed.
With both blades securely strapped to his back, he arrived at the Exchange Task Center, heading straight for the post empty of any waiting cultivators. It was the 650+ merits post, and the sight of him heading there drew the attention of those in line in the other posts where the lines of cultivators were long, casting curious glances his way.
"Hello, I'll take your lowest 650-merits task," Al confidently declared, extending his hand with his C-stone. An elderly man, his eyes lingering on Al for a brief moment, eventually accepted the C-stone with a hint of uncertainty. A reassuring smile from Al prompted the old man to turn toward the enormous brown gemstone at the heart of the room, where he initiated the transfer of the chosen task onto Al's C-stone.
Al received his C-tone back and scrutinized the details of the task he had just taken on. Unbeknownst to him, two observant cultivators had their eyes trained on him, their voices a hushed murmur of speculation and intrigue. Al walked out of the center and headed to the valley.
For nearly two decades, a Dark acolyte had terrorized a nearby village. It had oppressed them so heavily that the villagers had begun to worship it out of sheer terror. Each year, they offered up one of their most aged members as a sacrifice.
"Two decades and the God Leafs are just now sending aid to these poor souls, typical," Al muttered to himself, a hint of frustration in his voice, as he streaked through the valley lands.
Guided by the map he had acquired, locating the afflicted village was straightforward. Al, an unrecognized disciple with no aspiration to align himself with a God Leaf, harbored no diplomatic intentions of approaching the villagers and prying the whereabouts of the entity they now likely considered their god. He had devised a plan of his own.
As night descended upon the village, Al patiently waited in the shroud of darkness to cloak his movements. Silently, he infiltrated the settlement, a ghost slipping through the shadows. His steps led him to the largest wooden hut, and with the deftness of a skilled intruder, he breached its defenses.
Al methodically searched through the rooms. Eventually, he reached the master bedroom, where a burly man slumbered beside a woman. Al drew both blades with precision, poised like a shadowy specter ready to strike.
Al roused the man from his slumber with his long sword to his neck. Simultaneously, he pricked the woman next to him, eliciting a startled jolt from her. Her eyes widened in terror as she beheld her husband, held in a deadly grip, a blade close to his jugular.
The woman's cries of fear and anguish spilled forth in an unfamiliar tongue, one that Al could not comprehend, nor did he care to. He gestured with his scimitar, directing her to leave the room, and she obeyed with frantic haste, rushing to gather their children. Al advanced, holding the man trembling before him, his pleas for mercy uttered in a language foreign to Al's ears.
Once they were outside the man's home, where his wife and children watched in tears, Al brutally delivered a merciless kick to the man's leg, with so much force that it caused the bone to snap, sending the agonized figure crumpling to the ground. The man's cries of pain pierced the night air.
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Al pivoted and drove his scimitar deep into the wooden walls of the hut. The blade emitted a deep red glow that gradually intensified until the area it had impaled erupted into flames. The fire roared to life, engulfing the dwelling in a furious blaze.
Turning back to the injured man attempting to crawl away in desperation, Al closed the distance with deliberate steps. He reached down and lightly brushed the man's uninjured leg with the scalding-hot metal of his blade. The man's anguished screams continued as a crowd began forming.
By this time, the village had awakened, drawn by the ghastly spectacle. They bore witness to the inferno that now consumed their leader's residence, casting a flickering light over the night.
Al stood alone; his stark white hair and flowing robe painted an unsettling picture. The villagers, gripped by dread, saw him as a specter of malevolence. Their voices trembled in prayer, seeking protection.
As AL was hoping for, a pair of sinister crimson eyes materialized behind the gnarled trunk of a tree. The entity observed Al, but its confidence waned when it realized Al's gaze met its own and could see it. In an instant, it fled, vanishing into the night.
Without pause, Al gave chase, his movements swift and purposeful. Meanwhile, the villagers, bolstered by their belief that their prayers had been answered, redoubled their faith in their god. Their leader, trembling in pain, could only watch as his home succumbed to the flames.
Al was in pursuit of the enigmatic creature. It revealed itself to be a peculiar hybrid, part deer, part squirrel, its hooves terminating in razor-sharp claws. As the creature maneuvered, a realization dawned on Al, "It wants to draw me in."
His instincts flared just as the creature burst from the valley's woods into an open expanse by a mountain's base. It came to a halt, its posture poised, waiting for Al.
Unflinching, Al burst into the open fields. His instincts honed to a razor's edge. He braced for any sudden threat. "Above you," his ring's voice alerted him. In an instant, Al looked skyward to find a shadowy figure descending from the ink-black heavens. Its talons, sharp as razors, lunged downward.
With swift precision, Al met the oncoming onslaught with his longsword, which briefly held before shattering, breaking yet buffering the talon motions, allowing Al to retaliate, severing the winged creature's feet with his scimitar.
In a surprising maneuver, the creature's tail struck. It was a serpent, sinking its fangs into Al's back, hoisting him into the night sky. Momentum swung him toward the creature's head, which bore an unsettling resemblance to a spider's.
Drawing upon a spell from his Stubborn Will, Al regenerated his longsword, wielding it precisely to fend off the creature's gnashing fangs. This opening allowed him to plunge his scimitar into the creature. The blade was glowing with searing intensity. In an instant, the beast was engulfed in raging flames. Though unable to directly employ spells from his Heat Will, Al figured out a way to make it useful.
The creature succumbed to the devouring flames, transforming into a dark, milky mist that Al's ring greedily absorbed. As the hybrid dissipated, Al began to fall. Below him, a majestic elk with six powerful legs raced towards him, its antlers poised.
A wry smile graced Al's face. "There's my ride," he quipped as the creature's antlers pierced him. For a brief moment, consciousness waned, but Al's resolve never wavered, and his grip remained resolute. Soon after, he regained his senses, only to find himself impaled by the beast's formidable antlers, hurtling towards a gnarled tree on a collision course.
With a deft twist of his blades, Al reversed his grip and drove them deep into the creature's head. Instantly, the creature died, collapsing to the earth before dissipating into mist. Al was freed, his body no longer impaled, and he was spared from the impending collision. His Stubborn Will healed him.
Al surveyed his surroundings, finding the peculiar deer-squirrel hybrid absent. "I've dispatched two already, but how many more remain?" he pondered. A motion streak hurtled towards him before he could dwell on it further.
Swift as lightning, Al reacted, hoisting both swords to intercept the incoming onslaught. The impact forced him back several feet, but he managed to halt the giant pincers from rending him to shreds.
Before him stood a goat with crab-like arms in place of a head, its pincers clamping down on Al's weapons. Al's gaze shifted to the pincers themselves, revealing eyes fixed on him maliciously.
In the struggle, Al snapped his longsword, which succumbed to the immense pressure and was crushed into pieces. Yet, it regenerated in the blink of an eye thanks to his spell "P, and Al wasted no time. He severed both pincers at their base with a decisive sweep, employing the restored blade with lethal precision.
At almost the same moment, two more figures emerged from the valley's woods, hurtling toward Al. With a deft motion, Al's ring greedily absorbed the mist that remained from the goat and its pincers, leaving behind a vacant silhouette.
With a swift strike, Al shattered the base of his newly regenerated longsword by hitting it with his scimitar. He kicked the broken blade towards the figure on his right, diverting its attention, while he pivoted to confront the figure on his left.
The squirrel-deer hybrid had re-emerged and lunged at him, its sharp claws poised for an attack. Al met the assault head-on, deflecting the claws with his scimitar. Simultaneously, his longsword regenerated, and he swiftly retaliated, slashing towards the creature's head. It leaped back with split-second precision, narrowly evading Al's sweeping strike.
Al swiftly turned to face the other approaching figure, a monkey with paws resembling those of a bear, each claw inches in length. Bloodstains adorned its right shoulder, a testament to Al's previous strike. Blades clashed with claws, but a brutal headbutt from the creature sent Al reeling.
As the squirrel-deer hybrid re-engaged, Al was engulfed in a whirlwind of strikes and blocks, a frenetic dance of steel against claws. The air grew thick with the smell of blood, splattering the grass in crimson hues.
The ground beneath Al ignited in a moment, flames roaring to life and devouring the parched grass. The inferno expanded swiftly, encircling them. Now confronted by the encroaching blaze, the figures leaped away from Al, granting him a moment's reprieve. However, Al wasted no moment and surged forward, cleaving the squirrel-deer in half, ending it.
With relentless determination, Al lunged at the approaching monkey hybrid, but his longsword met with the hybrid's formidable horns, snapping the blade and sending him hurtling backward.
It closed in, its claws poised for a fatal strike, but Al managed to intercept the impending doom with his scimitar. With all his might, he drove his regenerated longsword into the creature's throat, ending its threat.
Breathing heavily, before he could find a moment of recover his Stubborn Will, two more figures emerged from the woods, flanked by another lurking behind them. The battle showed no signs of ending.