[Good stuff. Got any more defensive spells I could use? I got plenty of Qi left.]
“Of course you do... Let me think… No, nothing for Nascent Soul Realm.”
[Seriously?] I looked at the old ghost’s Soul in disbelief. [In your entire life you didn’t get a single spell for the defense at Nascent Soul Realm? Are you serious?] I could hardly believe it.
“I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with defensive techniques. Usually, people focus on the attack in the early stages. You got limited time, and training defense takes up a lot of it. Besides, as they say, offense is the best defense.”
I frowned. [I won’t say that I disagree, but I need to ensure my survival. I already have enough powers to kill, but staying alive, that’s another problem entirely.]
“What’s with your obsession with survival anyway?” I gave the ghost an odd look. Like he was the one to talk. “No, never mind, forget I said anything.”
[So? What do you have for me?]
“I… Listen, it’s not that I’m trying to hide things from you, but all Mystic Arts I have require at least Golden Qi to be of any use. And you need to learn Conjuration first, which is a very complicated technique that-”
[You mean this?] I created a shield about the size of a large plate above my hand out of pure Nascent Qi. It felt quite solid, but not yet enough to block attacks.
“How…” The old ghost appeared to be at a loss for words. “I mean, of course, why wouldn’t you be able to do Conjuration? It’s not like it took me a decade to figure that stuff out. I’m not mad, not at all!”
[So?]
“It’s still not going to work. No matter how dense it is or how much Qi you have, it’s just not going to work. I can teach you the technique, but without Golden Qi it’s all going to be just form without function. The difference in quality is too large.”
[Alright, fine… Let’s forget about that.] If he didn’t have anything for me in this Realm, then I would just have to accept it and move on. Perhaps he could teach me some other stuff. Movement techniques perhaps?
[What else you got? I think we got sidetracked after the Fire Element.]
“Ah? Oh, yes… I nearly forgot about that.” The old ghost said. “Then show me how you are with Water, and let’s be done with it. I’m getting tired.”
[You are just a Soul, how do you get tired?]
“Your demands are exhausting, now do it! Water Blast!”
I just shrugged and pulled the moisture out of the air in a 10-meter sphere around me. It wasn’t much, just a few dozen liters, but I used it well, forming a powerful jet of water that cut through a few smaller branches. For the amount of stuff moved it was way harder than shifting stone.
“Impressive, but I can see you are struggling a bit. Still, for someone with such an intense affinity to Fire, it is understandable.”
[Water is impractical to use anyway. Ice or stone do the job just fine.]
“I do agree with you on that. Water is a bitch to control. It does whatever it wants, just like a woman.”
I didn’t care enough to comment.
“Let’s try lightning. I’d like to see how well you do with that.”
[Lightning?] I lifted one eyebrow. [Is that also an Element?] Control over electrons directly? I haven’t tried that before.
“Well, not exactly. As I said, this concept of Elements isn’t as straightforward as it seems. Lightning is more of a combination, like Ice. The concept of Cold mixed with Water, and controlled by Earth… sort of. It is difficult to explain.”
[Figured it would be difficult. I’m not sure where to even start.]
“Wait, you don’t know how to create lightning?!”
I frowned. [I know how to create lightning.] I answered in annoyance. [I just don’t know how to make it with Qi.]
“There is another way?”
I rolled my eyes.
“I’m joking! Look at you, so serious all the time. But okay, let me take over your body and I’ll demonstrate. It’s going to be much faster than teaching you verbally.”
[Fine...]
I let the old pervert into my body and gave him control over my Qi. A Soul could control Qi, and it didn’t matter which Soul it was. However, it carried my imprint, making it respond to me, and me alone, unless I willingly relinquished the control, or if I was overpowered.
I carefully observed the Qi move in some complex ways through my body, getting twisted and stretched, shifting its frequency until it gained what I would call the Element of Lightning.
Small sparks began jumping between my fingers and Long Dong pushed the Qi out of my hands. The sparks popped and cracked as they jumped, producing tiny flashes of light. They tingled my skin and on occasion, a muscle twitched as the electricity found its way through the invisible barrier on my body. Wild Lightning's energy seemed to be able to pierce this natural protection against personal magic even more so than flames themselves.
The old ghost gathered Qi just beneath the skin of my palms and let it break out on its own when it reached the critical point, resulting in a powerful thunderbolt shooting out from the tips of my fingers.
“Damn I’m getting old. I’m still barely in the Golden Core Realm, and yet just controlling Nascent Qi is a struggle.” Long Dong said after handing the reins over.
[I think your Soul is just weak. I’m honestly surprised you didn’t dissipate already.]
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“You ungrateful child! Let’s see how you tame Lightning then!”
[Okay.] I simply shrugged. Lightning was cool and all, but it didn’t seem like the most accurate weapon, especially on long distances. I already saw the old ghost’s lightning bolt curve and snap to the ground not even a dozen meters away from him. That was one of the biggest problems with electricity. It was difficult to control without a proper conductor.
I mimicked his Qi movements and copied the changes, and soon I also had small sparks dancing between my fingers. I played with it a bit, making the tiny sparks bigger or smaller. It was somewhat difficult to control it, and the more Qi I pushed out, the harder it was to aim.
But while finger-length sparks were cool and all, they barely stung. I needed to try and make real lightning to experience its effects. I gathered a bunch of Lightning Qi in my hand, bunching it in one place. It started leaking around my fist, producing a sparkling discharge of electricity. It was quite difficult to contain, much more difficult than any other type of Qi I have ever used before.
“I think you should let it go…” The old ghost said, sounding slightly concerned.
I didn’t reply and simply extended my hand and opened my palm. I then released the lightning. A thick bolt shot out of my hand faster than I could see, and immediately arced to my upper thigh.
I shouted in surprise and pain, feeling like someone had just shot my leg with a gun. And apart from the burning pain at the impact point, everything else went numb after a momentary muscle spasm, and I fell to the ground.
[Son of a bitch! Ah… That fucking hurts!]
“Hahaha! That’s what you get for disrespecting your elders! It’s not that simple taming the Lightning, huh?! Hohoho!”
I ignored the old ghost’s mocking laughter and massaged my leg. I was slowly getting the feeling back into it, but after a momentary paralysis, there came pain. Lots and lots of pain. I tried standing up, but I could barely put any weight onto it. It was as if all the muscles and nerves of my right leg were fried. Which they quite possibly were.
I cast a few simple healing spells on myself, but the recovery was sure to be slow, so I threw a healing pill into my mouth as well. It was one of those that Lilly gave me a while ago.
[Ugh… How did I hurt myself so much? I thought my magic couldn’t harm me.]
“Not exactly. While you do have high resistance to your own spells, some of them can still hurt you if you aren’t careful.”
[Oh yeah…] I thought about it for a bit, and his words made sense. [Explosions… Those could hurt me. Though only if I used them without enchantments. This Lightning completely ignored my Elemental Avatar though.]
“As it should. I would be more surprised if you managed to resist it.”
[What do you mean?]
“Simple, Lightning is one of the rare Elements that can ignore most of the common defensive enchantments. Just hardening your body won’t help against it. It is similar to Ice and Fire. Those two can also pierce most defenses, though to a much lesser extent. Lightning is the pure armor-breaker.”
I considered his words carefully. It was true that I could only partially resist heat and cold, but since Lightning could just ignore my defense, it meant it was my biggest weak point. A dangerous weak point, considering my leg was partially disabled from a single strike.
There had to be a way to counter that.
[So?] I asked.
“So, what?”
[How do I fix this?]
“Seriously? I show you your weak point, and the first thing you say is demanding a way to fix it? Why don’t you research a few things on your own?”
I didn’t answer immediately, and so we remained in silence for a while.
[It needs Golden Core Realm, doesn’t it?]
“You are goddamn right it does!”
[Do you seriously have nothing else I could do now? I would take even a small improvement. I just need to be able to take a hit and still be able to fight. I don’t need to be completely invulnerable.]
“Completely invulnerable?! And you expect that to happen for other things?!” Old ghost shouted in my mind, as much as a decaying Soul could shout. It was more of a powerful transfer of thoughts that carried with it his emotions.
[Is there?]
“Yes, damn it! It’s called the Against Heaven Pill! It gradually increases your body’s resistance to lightning by about 50%. Let me just give you the list of ingredients so we can be done with it…”
He proceeded to barf out a dozen different reagents I have never heard of, and I diligently wrote them down in my notebook.
[Thank you.]
“Yeah, yeah… Whatever. It’s not like you can afford it.”
I didn’t know why he was brooding so much. He was the one who boasted about having some incredible knowledge, but then he could barely come up with a few recipes and techniques for me to use. So much for a walking library. I would have to visit a real one soon if things continued like this.
[Well, that’s enough for today. Let’s go home.]
I gently lifted off the ground and floated soundlessly just above the forest floor back to the village. Now that I had some money, I could try out some of the interesting pills the Sect had to offer. I might actually take the medicine that promotes growth that Lilly once jokingly offered.
My leg was still aching quite a bit, and on top of that painful tingles started. I was really glad I could fly, or else I would be limping back home.
“Wait!” The ghost screamed all of a sudden. Well, not screamed, but… you know what I mean. I stopped and looked around. I was worried he noticed a wild beast or something, but I couldn’t see anything.
[What happened?] I asked.
“Why are your legs not moving?” He answered with a question of his own.
[What do you mean?]
“You are moving forward, but your legs aren’t. And you are clearly not moving the ground beneath you, and there is no wind… So, how are you moving?!”
So that’s what he was confused about. Well, I guess my movement was a bit odd. My feet were just barely off the ground, so I appeared to be just sliding around, but it was in fact, levitating just above it. I did it so that I could immediately stop and not raise any suspicion if anyone saw me.
[Oh, that… I’m just floating, nothing special.] I rose to about a meter height to give validity to my words.
“Hah?! You are floating?! Space manipulation is nothing special?!”
[That’s right. It’s not that difficult to do.]
“Not that- By all the Gods and Demons in Heaven! Not difficult?! Not to mention that you shouldn’t even know about it at your level, how the heck can you even comprehend the intricacies of Space-bending magic?! It is reserved for those in the Spirit Realm and above for a reason!”
I laughed out loud at his outburst. [Or, really? I don’t think shifting gravity around is all that hard. I just didn’t yet find a good way to use it in combat, apart from a really localized gravity zone. Flying is relatively simple in comparison.]
I then shifted gravity around some more and began moving forward through the forest at ever greater speeds. The trees were whizzing by and I barely had any time to avoid them. But my great speed didn’t last and I slowed down, returning to the ground.
[See? Simple.]
“Simple…” The old ghost murmured to himself, though I could hear him just fine since he was inside my head. “This is not far, it’s not fair! Why do you get all the good stuff?! If I had but a fraction of your power I could have been a Grand Elder at the minimum, perhaps even the Sect Master!”
I didn’t care to argue. But since I became aware he knew something about Space manipulation, I just had to ask. [Got any more of your sage advice, Long Dong? About Space I mean.]
“Yes, damn it! I do! Don’t let anyone see you using it! You have no idea just how much trouble you are in just for knowing it. Flight is only for those who stepped into the Spirit Realm, and should any of the Elders see you playing around like this… I don’t even want to think about it. Mainly because I would definitely get discovered, so don’t do it! I prefer living, even if I’m just an old Soul.”
I wanted to protest, of course, but if there really was such a rule, then I couldn’t afford to attract unwanted attention. [Fine, fine… I just hope you are telling the truth. If I find out you ever lied to me-]
“I won’t! Trust me, I’m well aware of what you can do to me.”
[Just saying…]
I threw out a Wind Blade and cut down a young tree, using it as a crutch as I walked. My speed immediately dropped significantly, but I was luckily already very close to home, so I didn’t worry about it too much.
[Since we have some time, you can start explaining how to train my Golden Meridians now.]
“Now? So demanding… Sigh… alright, listen up! Your Qi can reinforce, but it can also build. Usually, you would need Golden Core to do this, but the foundation can be laid down already in the Nascent Soul Realm. As the first thing, you will have to do the following…”