A laugh resounded through the Ashen Wastes.
Gerald’s entire body was trembling, his hands shaking, and his heart beating fast and loud. Even his breath was quick and ragged, and he didn’t even need to breathe. He slowly calmed down, but some things remained on high alert.
[WHAT THE FUCK!]
He roared towards the sky and his body began trembling that much more. He clenched his fists and tried to calm down, but it didn’t help much. What he just experienced there was INSANE!
Two colossal beasts just tore through the fabric of reality before his very eyes, fell from the sky, did battle, and then left, refusing to explain.
He considered his reaction appropriate, especially after the serpent took the combined power of ten Spirit Realm Souls channeled through him, and didn’t even suffer a scratch! He barely even stopped its attack! And the beast wasn’t even serious, just annoyed!
[Oh, god…] He laughed and reverted his transformation. Keeping his giant form going while he was out of energy was not easy or pleasant.
[That was… awesome!] He collapsed into the hole made by his giant form’s foot. It was about ten meters long and quite deep, yet compared to the destruction of the beasts, he really was but an ant.
[I’ve never felt so… alive!]
Another laugh escaped him as his entire body was taken over by nervous jitters. He went over the battle in his mind a few times, his grin and large eyes growing even wider.
[That was Class VII, right? Maybe even Class VIII? It had to be! Upper Sky Realm at least! Holy shit!] He went through his hair with his hand while continuing to quietly chuckle. Ever since reaching the Spirit Realm, he didn’t really get to feel danger or the thrill of battle. Not much of it at least. Humans and the Drow were nothing in comparison to that monster.
Even the High Priest, despite being in the early stages of the Sky Realm, was but an empty shell compared to what a real Cultivator should be. Maybe little Felix would grow to be something similar to him, but that would take decades, centuries even. He couldn’t consume Souls, so he was bound to slow down drastically after reaching higher Realms. Gerald himself would have never reached the Spirit Realm in such a short time if he had Cultivated normally. He basically consumed ten thousand lifetimes worth of Cultivation and compressed it into a few years, a decade tops.
The resources required to mimic such rapid growth would be insane.
Luckily with a superior Soul, Felix’s lifespan would be much longer than his peers, likely stretching over thousands of years. He would still reach the heights the others did, but because of insufficient Qi of the world, he was bound to be slower. Slower, but stronger. A worthy trade, in Gerld’s opinion.
Everyone was still stuck in the scarcity mindset that was established thousands of years ago. People only Cultivated to reach the minimum possible requirements for advancements, because that’s what the concentration of Qi dictated. They couldn’t grow any faster. Not to mention that the purification process for the Soul was absolute trash. Everyone had to rely on their natural instincts to prepare their Souls for accelerated growth, and that stunted their potential.
He didn’t know for certain, but Gerald suspected some people realized the same things he did, but due to the lack of Qi, nobody wanted to nurture disciples that would be massive energy black holes. If everyone had perfectly unlocked their potential, the world would remain largely Qi-less for 100.000 years, maybe even a million, instead of a few thousand. Nobody could afford that. Not to mention the Cultivation ceiling would be much lower since there would be no excess energy to Cultivate with in the first place.
Everyone would just be growing naturally at a very slow pace.
Should the Demons decide to attack again, as they were already seemingly preparing to do, this feeble world with its fragile Cultivators would stand no chance. They could send just one newly born god, and it would be over.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
[I need to get stronger.] Gerald clenched his fists while looking at the spot in the sky where the rift closed. If the large draconic serpent attacked him for real, he, even with all his tricks and powers, would have little to no chance of winning. And he didn’t like those odds. Not even one bit.
Worse yet, the beast was intelligent and could speak. It called him an ant at first but changed that to a mouse after he blocked its attack. Its casual slap, more likely.
Despite being around a hundred meters in height, he was still so tiny in comparison. He could stretch his form further, but then he would be losing the advantage of a denser body. Meanwhile, the Wyrm was solid through and through.
It made him angry. It made him mad.
It made his competitive spirit reignite with a vengeance. Was it his pride? His human desire to be the best? Maybe, but he for certain refused to bow to a stronger foe.
[I need a weapon…] He murmured to himself. He needed something that would allow him to use his great power to fight beasts of that monstrous size. He needed something that was capable of sustaining incalculable amounts of abuse and damage without breaking. He needed… He needed a blade to slay gods.
As the realization struck him, he immediately lifted off and flew back.
----------------------------------------
[Thener!] Gerald shouted as soon as he landed back at camp.
“Yes, Master?” The man immediately answered.
[Change of plans. Forget the Rift. Dreadstone superalloy research is now the number one priority.] Gerald commanded.
“But, Master...” Thener wanted to protest.
[No buts! The rift can wait. I need a new weapon, and this material has a lot of untapped potential. Get the others to help you. From now on, all energy must be focused on researching Dreadstone, and its practical uses, nothing else!]
“I… Yes, Master.” Thener gave in and bowed without any further complaints.
Gerald could see the man did not like his decision, but that was because he did not see the things he did. He was hunting a few hours away from the village since the nearby beasts were all mostly taken care of, and that meant they didn’t feel the power of the two beasts fighting in the sky, or see their glorious forms.
The decision had to be made, even if the man didn’t understand why. Explaining it would bring unnecessary stress and worry to his team, so he decided to keep the event a secret.
Researching the rifts to escape was important, that was true, but synthesizing a new superalloy suddenly moved up the list of priorities. If creatures like that could break into the Ashen Wastes once, who was to say it wouldn’t happen again? They certainly had the power to do it.
----------------------------------------
At first, I considered the Lower Realm a simple prison with all strong beings avoiding it because of the lack of Qi, but as time went on I realized the land actually contained significant resources. Just the Dreadstone ore alone was more than worth getting my hands dirty for.
For some reason, the place also contained quite a significant amount of wild beasts, most of which were in the Spirit Realm. They were spread out over vast distances, but being forced to stay on the surface and with no place to hide, they were easy to find.
Another thing I considered, was treasures being hidden beneath the sand. If, theoretically, the Lower Realm existed before the age of the gods ended, before the invasion began, could it be possible that people tried hiding their stuff in the Ashen Wastes somewhere?
It certainly was a possibility, although I wasn’t sure how things changed or decayed in such a weird place. I hadn’t seen any clues that would push me in either direction, but the absence of evidence did not equal evidence of absence. I just had to be searching harder.
[Decisions, decisions…]
Frustrated, I chewed on my thumb as I considered my options. I could spend some time plowing through the wasteland, searching for the possible needle in the haystack, or I could be refining more Dreadstone, and helping Thener develop a new material.
I could also do both, but prioritizing one over the other should yield better results… theoretically. It was not certain that I would find an ancient treasure, or even if I did, that it would help me with my problems.
Similarly, there was no certainty that Dreadstone could even be combined with another material to strengthen it. So far, the combination with the surrounding stone just made it weaker. Maybe I was standing at the edge of a breakthrough, or I could just as easily have been chasing ghosts.
[Ugh…] I quietly groaned. Having no direction sucked. Especially since I suddenly felt time-constrained. I summoned my throne and collapsed into its embrace.
As I looked at my fingers and the storage rings on them, I frowned. They were showing signs of damage. All those blasts of energy I was using to fight, despite carefully routing it around them, were taking their toll on my equipment.
No relic was made to resist a lifetime of energy going through or even near them in fractions of a second. It was already a miracle they survived so long. That would have quickly become problematic if I had to fight again with my life on the line.
[I guess I have no choice then. Priority number one… Living storage.]
I stood, my mind made up. As many times before, when presented with two equally terrible choices, I went with the third option. It was not ideal, but it had to be done, so I might as well get it over with.
For this… study, I needed a live specimen to experiment on. Once again, it was unfortunate, but for the advancement of science, sacrifices had to be made.
[Okay… Now, to find me a volunteer…]