Chapter 143

Liches Getting Stitches

“I am the person who will Resurrect you, then I am going to take a quick dive into your Qi run off pool over there. Then I am going to save my Guild Members who are currently being interrogated by your King.” I state, speaking slowly while trying to gain control over my emotions as I explain in detail what I will do next.

With that all three of the elven ghosts just stare at me.

“You, you mean that don’t you?” The Lich says, still leaning back as much as possible while pointing to me with their burnt finger. “You believe everything you are saying.”

Shiver.

I didn’t shiver, but the Lich did, he visibly shivered in my kung fu grip. It wasn’t but that is mentally what I was calling the technique of holding the spirit in place with my own mana infused hand. Then I got a system message letting me know that my thoughts had been registered and accepted.

New Spell Gained: Kung Fu Grip (C) [Tier VIII]: A strengthening spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight. By channeling energy into your hand, you can grab hold of anything, forcing the object you hold to maintain its integrity until you finally release your hold. This spell can even keep a spirit from dissolving into an alternate realm.

Okay, yep, I have bad naming schemas. But I do want to point out that this is further proof that Mallory’s point about all the bad names of different skills and abilities were all my doing. At this moment, I want to truly apologize to everyone who must travel after me in my footsteps. As that was probably the worst use of Kung Fu Grip possible, especially as it had nothing to do with Qi, making it a complete misnomer. A real Kung Fu Grip would involve Qi, and… NOPE. Going to stop right there. My hand is currently the only thing keeping the Lich alive, last thing I need is to accidentally set his soul on fire with golden Qi while I work out what a real Kung Fu Grip would be.

I mean, logically it would involve doing what I’ve been doing with my hands already and just focusing the pure golden Qi into the tips of my fingers. It takes me a second to realize that I am doing this with my left hand, my currently free hand at this moment.

My Qi Control is so precise and so natural at this point that just thinking about sending the Qi to my free hand makes it happen. For a moment, I marvel at just how far I have come, being able to continually channel Mana with my right hand, while trying out new Qi techniques with my left hand. Then it happens.

FWOOM!

The golden Qi manifests in my left hand, coating the entire hand in a layer of gold, with particular strength added to my left hand. This is a mirror of the mana that is in my right hand, and then it happened. Lose attention for one second, trying to marvel at how pretty something is, then boom.

Golden Kung Fu Grip.

Hidden Quest Complete (Upgradable): Forging A Qi Path (III): You have taken the third step in forging your true path as a Martial Master. You have developed a way of infusing Qi directly into your hands to both grip and destroy items based on your will. Results: Experience, Title Upgrade, New Martial Ability, New Martial Skill.

Experience Gained: 5,000 / 2,500 / 2,500

Ding.

Level up.

Ethereal Healer has increased to level 211.

Title: Qi Path Creator (III): One who has begun the path of a Mystical Martial Master. Effect: Further increased damage and resistance to undead. Able to Infuse Qi to parts of your body at will.

New Martial Ability: Golden Kung Fu Grip: A strengthening ability designed by Cassiopeia Spiritlight, by infusing pure golden Qi into your hands you can strengthen your grip and preserve or destroy the integrity of objects you grasp. Effect: Increases the overall grip strength of your fingers and can provide either Protective or Destructive properties to the item you are holding. Note: This is upgradable.

New Martial Skill: Golden Kung Fu Grip has increased to level 1. Golden Kung Fu Grip is a Strength X2, Dexterity, Stamina X2, and Willpower X2 based skill.

“What, what are you doing?” The Lich suddenly stammers out, fear evident in its gaze as it sees that I have both leveled and now have a golden Qi infused hand. A hand that likely could easily cut through this Lich’s spirit and turn him into paste.

I do have to wonder about this world, where I get nothing for killing, well disabling the Lich. But then thinking about ways to defend myself from the Lich, that is when I get all types of levels, titles, and most importantly skills. Not saying I approve of this line of learning skills, but this might explain why I haven’t learned many new skills recently.

Thinking about it, I look down and shake my hand, while also mentally forcing the Qi to disperse deeper into my body. With the imminent threat of my Golden Kung Fu Grip over, I really want to do a hiya at that, but I’m not, at least not out loud. I do have some dignity, possibly, maybe somewhere.

Silence.

Everyone is staring at me. I guess I did the whole thing of looking like I was brandishing a firearm in an office building. All the ghosts around me are tense and likely rightly so. With that, I decide to do a bit of magic.

Still shaking my hand, I manifest my surgical degree from Arcanarus University. You know, using the whole golden glow of my hand to then manifest what is apparently a golden soul bound surgical degree.

“Let me introduce myself. The name is Cass, Dr. Cass if we want to be specific.” I say while moving the degree closer to the Lich’s spirit face.

At first the Lich does that thing where they shrink back, but then I can tell they actually start to read the words on the degree.

“You graduated top of your class as a magical surgeon?” The Lich asked, clearly confused, and then with trembling hands, pointed towards the degree. “May I?”

Hearing that, I nodded and let him grab the degree while I let go. He held up the degree, as if looking for a watermark of some kind. Then, to my surprise there actually was a watermark, after he infused it with magic, the degree lit up showing that there was a certified seal of approval underneath the top layer of the page. Seeing that, the Lich’s jaw dropped.

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“You are an alumni of the Arcanarus University?” He asked.

“Yeah, the place was a blast.” I say, meaning it too as I recall how the place literally exploded due to a ritual gone wrong.

There is a pause as the Lich clearly wants to say something. Having a hunch, I beat him to it, “did you know I even met Octavia De’Arcaneri, well her ghost?”

At that the Lich pauses, as I begin to explain my meeting her. My helping her finally turn in her final thesis paper on Cleansing Rain, and then her subsequent post-mortem Doctoral Degree.

“So you mean it when you say you can Resurrect me?” The Lich asks, a note of confusion, curiosity, and hope in his words.

“Did you not read the degree, and its effects on Ethereal Energy?” I state.

“Yes, but you must understand.” The Lich says, then pauses a look of resignation on his face as he seems like he is going to confess to breaking the prize vase. “I don’t know what Ethereal Energy is?”

At that I sigh, but then I get an idea.

“You know that local community college I was talking about SVC, well I happen to be a teacher there.” I state, making sure to leave out the fact that I am the only teacher there at the moment, no need to ruin a potential student’s enlistments.

“You would teach us?” The Knight commander who had been watching all this time burst in.

“Yeah, if you can learn why wouldn’t I want more capable students.” I say, meaning it too as we need to have a high pass rate to get accredited. My thinking, if we get more students that already seem capable, then getting accredited would be easy.

“Right now, we offer four different degree paths. Qi Manifestation, Magic Fundamentals, Magic Resonance, and Enchantment.” I state, before continuing. “I would not recommend the Qi Manifestation path for any of you.”

Then turning back to the Lich, I state, “I do think you might learn a lot from our Enchantment courses. You are close with your array, but there are still parts that you can improve upon.” I state.

“What? My arrays are perfect?” The Lich says defensively.

“Oh yeah, then why is there a pool of what appears to be toxic sludge to you all being produced as run off, underneath your floors here?” I ask.

At that, the Lich looks first flustered, then straightens out as that elven entitlement seems to come back to him. “I did that on purpose.”

“You purposefully put toxic sludge under your floors?” Then thinking to myself, I smile inwardly as I pose this final solution. “I tell you what as an apology for destroying your body, I will Resurrect you, then clean up that pool of energy under your floor.” I state, pointing to the glowing pool of Qi that is all but calling my name at this point.

“I’m sensing there is a catch to your magnanimity.” The Lich states in a surprisingly accurate way.

“Yes, in exchange for my help. I will need you to talk with your king about releasing my Guild Members.” I state.

The Lich looks at me, then ponders for a moment.

“Deal.” The Lich says, instantly holding out their left hand to shake my own, only to stop as they realize that this might be deadly.

Seeing his hesitation to touch me, I almost laugh, but just nod my head. “Deal.”

Then turning to the two others who were in attendance I ask, “you all heard the terms of the deal right?”

“Yes, your majesty.” The Knight said.

“Majesty?” The Lich asked, but he was unable to hear anything as I began reforming his boney form. It was clear he was more attached to the spectral body that could float, versus being land bound with legs. Honestly, after flying around weightlessly for a bit, I couldn’t blame him, floating is so much more convenient.

Resurrection.

Everyone watched in amazement as I began creating my own body for the Lich, using stronger and denser bones. Ones that could survive a light tap. I know, creating a more deadly Lich might not be in everyone’s best interest, but this was also a potential student, and clearly a high ranking official of this new Spirit world that was clearly over leveled for the standard people of our guild. Meaning that unless we built up cordial relations with these people, more patrols would be lost over time, and they would all likely go towards fueling the army we were fighting against. Honestly fighting against the undead and in particular Liches and Necromancers was a losing proposition, most of the time. We did have Qi, but most of the people with Qi currently were weak and just beginning to understand the complexities of the new energy source.

I am of course thinking all of this, as I go through the process of doing Perfect Resurrection on the Lich. Then using my real Kung Fu Grip, the spell, not the Qi one, I force the Lich into the new body. Then bind the spirit tightly to the new frame, using methods that were better than the ones the Lich used. Even going so far as to strengthen its mana core, and then finally reestablish the thread to the still pumping phylactery in the other room. Then once it is all over, I pause. Then finally I let go of the Lich’s spirit.

WHOOSH!

Then just like Lich rises.

Cackle.

“Ahh, hahahaa, the power. The extreme power!” The Lich cries out, looking down at his boney hands in disbelief. “I have been reborn even more powerful than before!”

Words that might otherwise sound menacing, just come across as praise to me.

“Yeah, you had a lot of wasted parts and duplicate loops to your mana. I fixed most of those with my Perfect Resurrection, giving you the perfect form of your body to use and maneuver.” I state.

I pause for a moment, while the Lich goes about stretching out and trying out its new body. The Lich’s aura range has been increased, and it begins casting spells a lot faster than before. Still poor form and shotty manifestation skills.

The Knight and Lieutenant look on in shock and horror at the Lich who to their eyes just got upgraded from a low to mid-tier Lich.

“With this body I can rule the world!” The Lich exclaims.

“Good, so you are content with the first step of our deal?” I ask.

“Yes, but I will not lift a finger to help your Guild Members, as you have not completed your terms of the deal.” The Lich says, clearly trying to press me.

I get the sense that he is clearly cocky now that he is in a stronger body, but I am confident that while his body might be stronger, his skills are still poor at best.

“Okay, so I have your permission to access the Qi, I mean runoff?” I ask, pointing to the golden pool of Qi just below the floor and under the floor grate.

“Yes, dispose of it as you will. But know if there is so much as a drop left, our deal is null and void.”

With that, I chuckle slightly.

“Deal.” I state. Then using Telekinesis, I grab a large chunk of the floor, and begin pulling it up.

Rumble.

There is an intense shaking to the whole room as the stone floor has been held together for countless centuries at this point. Still, all it takes is a bit of mental focus on my part, and pop, the patch on the floor opens, revealing a glowing pool of Qi that shakes and vibrates in waves.

Staring at the golden pool of water, I realize why Scrooge McDuck always dove into his stacks of gold coins. If they looked anything like this to him, I could not blame him for his antics. In fact, I too want to splash into the Qi pool, but then realize that precious drops might bounce and spray out. Instead, I submerse myself within a second.

Teleportation.

Poof.

One second, I am standing next to a giant slab of pulled up stone that once covered a gently vibrating golden pool of liquid. The next, I am in said pool, with minimal disruption to the water.

Tingling.

The golden water tingles.

“Did she just…” The Lieutenant began, but then cut off his words. Disgust clear in his voice.

I could understand their revulsion, as this would be the equivalent of me jumping into a toxic waste dump downstream of a major manufacturer. The only difference here was the fact that my body, and my multiple Qi cultivation skills kicking in all at once. I felt my Divine Qi Cultivation kicking in immediately, pulling in the golden energy from the pool of liquid around me. Then once the Qi was inside my body, at nearly a perfect conversion rate, I felt skills like my Golden Coreless Qi Cultivation take over, processing the Qi and helping me to circulate the energy.

Of course, there was too much energy. My using these skills was causing them to increase, which created more pure Qi within me, while I was simultaneously pulling in more Qi from the outside. This left me with a slight problem at first, until I began taking the energy, focusing it inward, and then trying to condense it, similar to the way I had while forming my first Core. Again at times like these I was so happy that I had both Golden Coreless Qi Cultivation, along with Divine Qi Cultivation, as they both let me focus on continually moving the Qi that was being forced within me.

Crackle.

The first core I had created began to crack and pop, as the pressure of Qi within my body became too much for the initial core to handle. This was fine, in fact, I felt that this was what was needed.

Condense.

Mentally I focused on the idea of condensing energy. Taking power, converting it down to its smallest form, then taking that form and compressing it further. I did this, over and over, like folding a sheet of paper. Until finally the paper could not be condensed further by pure strength alone, that is when heat was applied, sucking out the air within the compressed folds of Qi, then pressing that together further.

I did this over and over, constantly pressing the energy into as tightly compact of a form as it could go. Then finally I noticed how the Qi seemed to be magnetic, well not magnetic but polarized in a way that was hard to describe. Similar energy types repelled others and based on the strength of one polarity over the other, I could begin to gauge how powerful each individual clump was. Then using the polarities as a litmus, I began making it so each individual clump offered the same level of repulsion and attraction. Mentally I had to fight to keep the pieces separate as I made hundreds and thousands of similar pieces.

Somewhere along the line, I stopped getting more energy in, which was good, as it meant that I finally had all the components I would have for this task.

Finally, I paused for a second, realizing this was it. All I had to do was start twisting pieces at the center and try to get them all to form together perfectly in a solid and condensed formation.

Breathe.

I let out a breath, trying to calm myself for this final hurdle. Then with the first flip, I started a chain reaction.

Wobble.

Hundreds of condensed Qi particles began to vibrate at first, then like dropping a ping pong ball into a room filled with snapping mouse traps, everything began to go off at once.

Pop, swivel, snap.

The pieces began twisting and compressing on their own. I tried to slow the process, but with so much pressure and energy being released in my stomach, I felt myself lunging forward. I knew that in the real world my head was being forced under water, as I was no longer in control of my body. Then I felt it, the most intense stomach pain I have ever experienced, next to giving birth.

It was excruciating, then after a long moment it stopped. I was able to get up.

I realized somewhere along the lines I was spasming uncontrollably in the water, then I arose, and I was shocked at what awaited me.