It took me almost a week to get back to the Sect.

It wasn’t that I was going slowly, but the monsters just didn’t want to leave me alone. Even though I had my Aura hidden and tried my best to avoid them, it was simply impossible. These damn creatures were everywhere! They were seriously pissing me off, so I ate them all. There had to be dozens of early Golden Cores I killed and twice that number that escaped after I landed the first hit. Those were the smart ones. They knew they couldn’t win and ran away.

All that food I somehow consumed, though I don’t even know where it went as I ate many hundreds of times my body weight in meat. But, I finally wasn’t looking like a skeleton anymore. I was still way too lean for my liking, so maybe I should eat some bread and fruit wines to gain a bit more weight when I got back home.

Though, my weight wasn’t exactly lacking. As I came to realize, each of my steps shook the ground if I was walking on rock, and my feet sank down considerably if running on compacted soil.

Yep, my body was extremely dense for some reason, though I didn’t feel any different. I could still move around just fine, even better than before actually.

I was already punching way above my weight and this gave me even more of an advantage. I liked this kind of Cultivation. Eat and grow. And kills to sharpen my skills. Way better than wasting time meditating for months at a time, in my opinion.

Anyway, I came close to the Myriad Beasts Sect. Or, at least I thought so. I wasn’t exactly sure where it was, I just knew the general direction.

I took the Thunder Translocation Talisman. It surprisingly survived all my adventures and seemed to be still operational. Maybe.

Obviously, I washed myself and changed my clothes one last time, changing the filthy green robes for a gray tunic and pants of an Outer Disciple of the Myriad Beasts Sect. They were a bit small. I don’t know how I managed to buy clothes a few sizes smaller than the rest, but they would have to work. At least until I got a new pair, something resistant to fire, preferably.

Lastly, I summoned a semi-golden blade and shaved my face. Goodbye facial hair, you will be missed.

I then took the scroll, I mean Talisman, and activated it with a thought. The paper flashed white and disintegrated, and I was blinded by the light. Suddenly everything went quiet, and then I heard an explosion all around me and the chorus of people after my ears stopped ringing.

And then someone pushed me from behind. I tried to resist, but it was futile. I went stumbling down the stone steps as people moved out of my way.

I angrily looked back to see who pushed me, but there was nobody there. Only the Anchor platform where another guy was just teleported to.

[Oh…] It was a formation that pushed me off to clear the place for the next guy. Wouldn’t want two people being merged accidentally. That made sense.

I made my way through the crowd as they moved and let me pass, but something didn’t seem exactly right. I just couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong.

The first thing on the agenda was a new set of clothes. The ones I was wearing at the moment were too tight and limited my movements. Heck, I felt as if I flexed my limbs, something might tear.

I could get something that was made for me later, first I just needed something bigger.

I went to the clothing store and bought a large gray robe with a light blue sash for my pouches. That fit me nicely. The shopkeeper there was kind, and the attire wasn’t expensive, which left me in a good mood.

I really just wanted to go back home and jump on the bed and sleep for a few days. It had been so long since I slept in peace, I was craving it with all my heart! No longer would I have to remain with one eye open as I slept on the cold forest floor. I could hardly wait!

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[What… happened here?!]

My little cozy village on the edge of the Sect was no more. In the middle of it, a deep crater, spreading out across half the area. Houses lay in the rubble with people slowly moving the wooden splinters and stone blocks away from the epicenter of destruction.

Some of them looked at me with sideways glances.

“Gerald? Is that you?”

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I recognized that voice. It was Che, my buddy the builder. He wore a rough pair of pants with all kinds of tools in his pockets, clearly helping with the cleaning effort. Not far behind him was Chity, his clothes full of dirt and grime.

[Guys… What the fuck?] I said, gesturing at the place.

They came close and Chity was the first to speak. “Before we begin… You are alive?! We were told you were dead! And then you were gone for more than a month, and now you suddenly come back?!” He had to lift his head to look into my eyes. “Also, did you have a growth spurt?”

I looked at them and then at the people around me. I towered head and shoulders above them. I wanted to slap my forehead in realization. That would explain why my clothes were tight, and why something seemed off with people. I grew! I just didn’t realize it since I had nothing to compare myself to in the jungle!

[I… You could say I had a fortunate encounter.]

“Wow, really? So lucky…”

[But let’s leave that for later. What the hell happened here?] The place was a mess, and whatever happened was clearly recent. A few days at most.

Che Erie said his goodbyes and got back to work while Chity and I took a look around.

“How should I say this?” He began. “About a week ago, two beasts in the Spirit Realm, according to some of the Elders, fought above the Sect. You should have seen it, I thought the world was ending. The ground was shaking even as they battled thousands of meters in the sky.”

Chity then pointed at the hole in the ground in the middle of the village. “That’s where one of the beast’s talons fell. It was like a meteorite as it smashed into the ground, producing a shockwave.”

He gestured with his hands. “It was this huge black thing, at least… three meters long and impossibly heavy. Five of us tried to lift it, but we couldn’t even budge it. The Elders later came and took it away.”

[Damn… Were they birds? One black and the other green?]

“Yes! So you have seen them too?”

I just slowly nodded. I felt them too, their immense god-like powers. Scary shit, truly.

“Yeah, I would guess so. They were so big and loud, it was kind of hard to miss them.” Chity chuckled. “Anyway, we were lucky. The black bird crashed on the east side of the mountain and completely destroyed the Outer village there. There were only a handful of survivors there. We only lost about two dozen or so here.”

[Two dozen…] That gave me something to think about. [How many of us are left here anyway?]

Chity shook his head. “It’s difficult to get the real number as it is changing constantly. Heck, some of those we thought were dead come back to life, you included. But roughly there are about 90 individuals left from the original… 136? 138?” Even he wasn’t sure anymore how many of us were in the beginning.

[Something like that, yeah.] I couldn’t remember either, not that it was important. Losing a third of your people in the first year was quite a blow.

[Say, what happened to those Spirit Beasts?]

“Chased away by the Elders.” Chity shrugged. “Apparently ten of them were required to overpower the beasts. They then flew somewhere to the southwest. Should probably stay away from there.”

Well, I knew where I was not going. [Thanks for the tip.]

“You are welcome.”

We came to the place where we had our homes. Everything seemed fine there. It was to be expected, we were on the edge of the village, and my house was especially sturdy, being made out of stone.

[Oh, no...]

“Yeah, a chunk flew up to here and smashed into your house. It’s not too bad though. We can repair it after clearing the rubble back there…”

I wasn’t listening anymore and ran towards my house. [Oh, no, no, no…]

I opened the door and burst inside.

[Oh, come on!]

It was ruined! Completely and utterly destroyed. [Why did it have to destroy my toilet?! It took me so long to make it!]

It was gone. My bathroom was gone. No chance of resurrection. I was so sick of shitting in the woods. I wasn’t a wild animal, damn it!

I sighed and sat on my modest bed. It creaked loudly and collapsed under my weight. I was using anti-gravity magic, but it lessened it by only 90% to not be too suspicious. And that 10% remaining was still too heavy.

I was rendered speechless for a moment.

[… What’s the point? Everything goes to shit… I should just die and be done with it.]

I summoned an ice spike and shoved it into my chest. The ice spike broke.

I summoned a stone spike and shoved it into my chest. The stone spike shattered.

I summoned a golden claw and shoved it into my chest. My skin was pushed back, and the golden claw made a tiny pinhole as I pushed with all my strength while gritting my teeth.

[Man, fuck this!] I dissipated my magic and collapsed on the ground. [Can’t even kill myself… Life sucks.]

I consumed way too many Golden Core beasts and because I focused mostly on defense, I couldn’t even hurt myself anymore.

[Could this day possibly get any worse?!]

Almost as if on cue, I heard a knock on the door. I obviously thought it was just Chity so I didn’t feel like answering. But then I hear another knock, much louder than the last time.

“Sect’s Law Enforcement! Open up!”

[The fuck?]

I got up and slowly opened the door.

A disciple in light-blue robes stood there, looking stern. His eyes scanned my body for a moment, and then he spoke. “Identify yourself!”

[Um… Gerald Fireborn. What’s happening?]

“Gerald Fireborn was presumed dead nearly a month ago.” He said with narrowed eyes. “Do you have a way to prove your claim? Where is your badge?”

[Oh, my badge…] I touched my chest where I usually wore it and then immediately realized a problem. How the fuck was my badge supposed to stay safe when my clothes were destroyed a dozen times, with my body being torn to pieces half as much?!

[Err… It seems I have lost it… But you can ask people here, many of them know me, I’m sure they’ll-]

The Law Enforcement Disciple narrowed his eyes. “Silence! Cultivator of unknown origin! By the power given to me by the Myriad Beasts Sect, you are under arrest until your identity can be confirmed!” Flickering blue metal chains appeared in his hands. “Come with me to the dungeons willingly, or we will have to use force!”

[Oh, for fuck sake!] I groaned. Could this day seriously get any worse?!