I held the tiny sphere of Chaos in my palm. It was flickering dangerously for a few moments before I threw it. As it exploded, I could have sworn semi-circular ghostly blades formed at the point of impact for a brief moment, before disappearing into nothing. No traces were left on the arena floor.
Shao Lin came by, looking pensive.
“I can’t believe you learned it so quickly… It took me three months to do the same.”
[What can I say? I had a great teacher, hehe!]
“Ah? True, I’m pretty amazing, aren’t I? I had to learn it all on my own too.”
[Elder Li didn’t teach it to you?]
“No… I mean, he wrote the books, but I was studying them alone without a guide. Nobody gave me any examples to go by.”
I could understand his hardship. As people say, seeing is believing. Or in this case, understanding, or imagining. Magic was all about that. Seeing an example demonstrated clearly was infinitely better than having something you have never seen before described to you.
There were fewer mistakes that way. If I only had Shao Lin’s instructions to go by, it would have taken me ten times as long to make a proper Qi Blast.
This thing was cool. Not as cool looking as Elemental magic, but at least it was strong enough for my level, and much, much better suited for combat.
Even empowered by Nascent Qi, simple Elements could only go so far. At a certain point, getting smacked around by a piece of rock, stabbed by ice, cut by wind or water, or burned by flames just didn’t work anymore. Defensive enchantments scaled much better than the magic attacks, especially at the Golden Core where the barrier could block basically everything.
Potent Chaos magic was just about the only thing that could eat away at that stuff. Apart from pure physical prowess, of course, Golden Qi was the true way of fighting fire with fire.
[Hmm. I thought Elder Li was our teacher. How come I have barely seen him the last few months?]
“It’s not what you think…” Shao Lin sighed. “The Elders don’t often teach their Disciples directly and usually just leave us to study alone. And he is usually cooped inside his workshop for weeks at a time. Actually, we should probably go see him soon. Now that we finished our training, it’s time to get a new task.”
[Alright, sure…]
We went together to meet our master. As Shao Lin had said, the old man was completely engrossed in his experiments in the workshop, carving some sort of a large gem.
He had large goggles over his eyes and was staring at the yellow crystal up close, with his hands to the side carefully manipulating a myriad of glyphs.
“So you were beaten after all, huh?” He said while not even turning around or losing sight of his work.
Shao Lin lowered his head in shame. “I’m incompetent, master. I ran out of Qi without being able to land a decisive blow.”
“Hmm… Don’t be too hard on yourself, Disciple, losing every once in a while is to be expected.” Elder Li consoled him. “You are still young and making mistakes is normal. You will learn with time.”
[Yeah, everybody makes mistakes, I do them all the time.] I encouraged him with a slap on the back.
“Ah?! You do?! Which ones?”
[That- How the hell should I know? If I did, I wouldn’t be making them, now would I?]
“Ah, true…”
“And your problem is the inefficient way you are using your Qi. It is way too aggressive and wasteful.” Elder Li said to me.
[It is? I thought it was pretty good already. I need to use a lot of it to bridge the gap between us after all.]
“Believe me, you have still a long way to go. Your task is to learn how to fight with the minimum Qi usage. For now, focus on doubling your stamina.”
“Doubling?! But master, if he does that, how will I be able to fight him at all?” Shao Lin said in frustration.
“That’s why you need to find a way to end the fight early. Don’t play by your opponent’s strengths.” Elder Li then waved his hand while still not moving away from his work. “Now go! One loss means nothing. Come back when you either get beaten at least 100 times or win 100 times.”
“Yes, Elder!”
We were just about to leave the workshop when the Elder spoke again.
“Oh, and Gerald…”
[Yes, Elder?]
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
He turned and tossed me a cylindrical bamboo container. It contained some kind of paper scroll.
“I suggest you learn that. Your Soul is too exposed.”
[That… Thank you, Elder! I’ll do my best.]
He nodded and returned back to his work.
We came back to the arena, me looking at the scroll while Shao Lin was deep in thought.
[Should we take some time off? Before fighting again I mean.]
“Hmm? Ah, yes, good idea. I’ll be in my room if you need me.”
I still wanted to ask him what were those crystals and what Elder Li Roy was doing with them, but he already left. So, having nothing else to do, I sat down and began reading the scroll.
It was an instruction manual for what to do in the Nascent Soul Realm. I was a bit surprised as I didn’t think I needed it. But since it was given by the Elder, it must have been important.
As I read through it, a few things stood out. While it contained the general knowledge of how to form layers over your Soul, the other part was something completely foreign to me.
It was about the Sea of Consciousness and how to properly Cultivate it.
Apparently, there was more to it than just the space for a Soul to reside in.
My Sea of Consciousness was currently like the void. Completely black and empty, with my lonely Soul residing in the middle. The emptiness was vast, but I never knew anything could be done with it.
I always used all Soul Essence to just feed my Soul, but apparently, the Sea of Consciousness could be empowered too. It was like a small world in which I was the god. I knew that part already, but interestingly, it didn’t have to be empty.
My Soul was currently exposed, so any foreign Souls or mind attacks could easily find their target and attack me. It was not a simple target as my Soul was extremely sturdy, but it was a clear one. And that was not good.
According to the scroll, the Sea of Consciousness should be made to complement the Soul, as well as offer it protection from outside forces. Like a fortress. Or a jungle. Or a labyrinth. Something to stall the attackers and make it difficult to attack the Soul directly.
Also, the environment inside should be made to be compatible with the Cultivator’s Path. If it was the Path of Fire, the environment inside should be hot and fiery to deter or damage anyone that wasn’t invited.
Or if it was Ice, it should be a frozen mountain, or a stormy blizzard, blocking sight. Or a dense jungle full of blades and thorns if the Path was one of Swords or Nature.
There were many examples, none of which suited me.
What even was my Path? Consumption? That sounded weird, and way too modern. I didn’t like it. Not that it was anything wrong with it, but that just wasn’t me.
Some might say I am walking on the Path of Rage, or Power as that’s how I fought. Maybe I was a berserker? An immortal juggernaut? An immortal berserk juggernaut?
It was difficult to say. As always I tried to be too many things at once, but over time life turned me towards combat. I liked fighting, and not just because I was semi-immortal.
Battling against a stronger opponent was the best way to learn and improve. And trumping over challenges just slightly out of reach was what life was all about. No drug could beat the feeling of growing stronger, better, day by day. Constant improvement. Eternal road.
----------------------------------------
I thought deeply about it until I understood. Well, the fact that my Soul grew fiery wings might have had something to do with it. They were kind of cool. But considering I somehow merged with a Phoenix, it was understandable.
Fire.
The first thing I added to my domain was fire, heat, and light. No longer was my Sea of Consciousness an endless void. Now it was a burning void, haha.
Next, I added stone and rock. Massive bedrock foundation as far as the eye could see. All constructed from Soul Essence I created during Cultivation.
Earth and Fire. My two favorite Elements. The ultimate defense as well as the strongest attack.
The foundation was thus complete, but the place was still empty. What was there to add? Dunno. Fire and Brimstone seemed good enough for a start in my opinion.
Maybe I could add some bones of my enemies? Like a trophy. Instead of devouring their Souls completely, I could build a fortress out of their white bones. And out of black stone. Black onyx fortress.
You know, since my chest looked like an onyx crystal. And I was training in the Living Fortress Martial Art. Or, I used to at least. I abandoned my glaive in the last month since it kind of got in the way.
Still using the defensive boost though, I just transferred it to my hand-to-hand combat.
To be honest, the change happened so naturally I didn’t even notice when it happened, one day I just realized I could get in the same state of mind as when I held my weapon even if I had just my fists.
That’s when I realized weapons were unnecessary if my body was stronger than them. Weapons were just a crutch when my mind was a sword and my will was my spear.
Why would I need to buy expensive weapons when my body could crush any blade? And when that wasn’t enough, I still had my Golden Qi. Well, almost.
My Qi wasn’t quite enough to fight a master like Shao Lin, so when going against him I always used a few Spirit Stone Shards to form my claws. I must have used hundreds of them already.
Never thought I would be so wasteful, but then again, it was just money. There was always more the be had.
I took a deep breath as I heard distant steps coming closer and opened my eyes. I was feeling refreshed and ready to fight!
“Woah… Did something happen?” Shao Lin stopped at the edge of the arena.
[Why? What’s up?]
“Your Aura, it feels different and so… intense. It’s like… an opened furnace full of molten rock.”
I opened my eyes wide. His perception was amazing!
[You noticed already? Wow…]
“I swear, that’s the first thing that came to mind. Compare that to mine...”
I suddenly felt a gust of wind take me high in the air and felt as if I was standing at the edge of a cliff, looking at the world from above. But it was all an illusion.
[A cliff, sky, and… wind?] It was such a weird feeling. I didn’t see his Aura without the Arcane Eyes active, but I could feel it. It felt so different from sight alone. So much more intense.
“You forgot the sun, but yeah… That’s my Path.”
[It feels… very broad.]
“It always is in the early Realms. Later on, most will fall off by the wayside and one of these will become dominant. Just leaving my options open, you know?”
[That… actually makes a lot of sense.] I also didn’t yet know where life would take me. Heck, two years ago I still thought my life would be wasted slaving away for some soulless corporation, and then this happened. My life was suddenly turned upside down. Best thing to ever happen to me.
“So, shall we continue?”
[Sorry, what? I was kind of lost in thought.]
“Let’s fight!” Shao Lin excitedly grinned and took his bow.
[Oh, back for another round of beating, are you?] I laughed and cracked my fists in anticipation.
“Oh, please! That was a fluke. You still didn’t touch me once.”
[And that ends today!]
“Haha! Just try me! I’ve improved greatly since yesterday!”
[In your dreams! Haaaaa!]
And thus I threw myself head-first into battle. A smoldering, bare-chested pugilist, against an archer jumping around on golden clouds. I was going to beat that smug grin from his face, even if it kills me!