CHAPTER 26.

I flew halfway across the room before crashing into the ground with bone crushing force. Before reaching the ground, I twisted my body, landing on my shoulder, hoping to partially absorb the brunt of the attack, but my dislocated shoulder was simply yet another reminder of yet another mistake.

How clawed fingers can hit a massive sword with the force of a wrecking ball was beyond me, again I was forced to remember the powerful entity's words about the aspects of an effect that would remain closed to me and my implant's analytical abilities due to their abstract and somewhat immeasurable nature. Was that attack one of these effects?

Groaning, I struggled to my feet, trying to fight through the throbbing pain attempting to overwhelm me. Supporting myself with my borrowed blade, I glared defiantly at the High Mistress, stubbornly maintaining eye contact which at the same time, forcefully adjusting my dislocated shoulder. I almost passed out from the blinding pain, and only sheer stubbornness or idiocy kept me on my feet.

Tinuviel watched me struggling with an indifferent look on her face, clearly confident that I was far from a threat. She slowly walked towards me at an unhurried pace, like a jungle cat towards its prey.

"You were saying something about me pretending to have all the cards, that I have no leverage over you, that the fundamental truth of strength is a lie!!"

"But like all things mortal, fragile, finite, your false sense of self can only be stretched so far, it is easy to stare in the face of promised agony and remain defiant, but when claw is set to flesh, false fortitude is exposed for the sham that it is."

Her beautiful face twisted mid rant in a raged snarl, "You are a slave, and a slave you shall forever remain, MY SLAVE!"

She stretched out her hand and I felt the collar attack my brain and my body. My knees nearly buckled again as pain washed over me. My mental firewall struggled to negate any mental attacks, while any physical ones were neutralized by my body repair ability.

Then she tried to pull me towards her using the collar, but I drew kinetic energy from the earth and amplified my weight, making me almost too heavy to move.

The bones around my neck groaned in protest, my bones making audible cracking sounds under the strain the technique placed on my body. If I had used this technique to ground myself when absorbing her claw attack, I might have been able to withstand the force of her blow.

Then she switched to tightening the collar on my neck to choke me. For a moment I almost panicked and then I remembered one of my recently acquired techniques and smiled at her in an attempt to piss her off.

I raised my left hand in a bladelike position and wrapped the edge in an ultrasonic cutting effect. I then pointed the tip at the collar, trying to carefully remove it from my body. The collar sent a burst of pain into my mind as the cutting effect began to damage the device, but my mental defenses held under its onslaught.

The collar in response intensified its attack on my mind but thankfully my implant and core mental defenses could keep up with the pressure. It tried freezing my muscles again but my body optimization ability kept negating the damage.

Never taking my eyes off her, despite the fact that the room was all but pitch black and I only had a rough image of the space through my seismic-sense, I carefully sliced off the collar, ripping it off my neck at the same time.

Some of the demons and vampires who were able to see in the dark were shocked by my act of defiance, it seemed to me that no one had ever destroyed the collar without paying a fatal price.

Tinuviel stopped in her tracks as the collar hit the floor and stared at me, I assumed with a look of surprise was on her face.

Just when I was about to bask in my new victory, I felt a blow to the chest that sent me flying across the room again and this time my body was stopped by a wall. Sharp pain burned all over my body as I struggled frantically to get back on my feet. She was just too powerful, all I could do against her was get back up, and even that was getting harder and harder with each hit.

No matter how much damage I take, I’ll always get back up, I will not lose to this bitch, even if I had to crawl without limbs using only my teeth, I would rather go down fighting.

Somehow I managed to get up, swaying unsteadily on my feet. Tinuviel had been holding out on me, clearly she was much stronger and faster than her previous attack had inferred. I needed to bring my "A" game if I wanted to survive, let alone find a way to beat her.

I instinctively pulsed refined essence into my mind with the aid of my implant to hopefully improve its stat raising effect and prepared to throw several cutting blades from my scimitar.

My body was working overtime to repair the damage done to it, but my strain capacity was already close to redlining, letting me know that my new regeneration technique was overwhelming my fledgling cultivation. Nothing I could do about that other than throw in the towel and die. Seeing as that was not an option, I cycled what little earth essence available to me, ignored the pain in my head from "strain fatigue," in hopes of improving my durability

Another blur and she was at my side, this time I was a bit ready and ignoring the pain from all the damage I’d taken, I extended the ultrasonic effect on my blade, hoping to surprise her.

But faster than I could follow, she dodged the attack and threw a punch into my side, causing my body to fold up like a crumpled tin can and blasting me several feet away.

"Is this the measure of your defiance? Poor martial strength, weak techniques and poor cultivation? These are the tools you raise to defy me. Pathetic."

"While I agree that you are far more powerful than what is normal for your race, cultivation is also about martial skill and ability, none of which you wield."

"It is also about complex and hidden truths you have yet to find and establish. While your techniques have great potential, your use of them is shallow."

Just as I was about to rise from her latest blow, she rushed at me. All I could do was raise my arms in a pitiful attempt at a defense, unable to counter in any way. All her blows landed with brutal accuracy, opening flesh and breaking bone with each hit.

A flurry of blows landed on my head, robbing me of breath and bringing me to my knees. She grabbed me by the throat with her taloned fingers, lifted me up and slammed me into the ground. Blood spurted out of my mouth and I lost my grip on my seismic technique.

"Where is your strength, your warrior spirit, your fighting prowess, where are all the things that make a true cultivator?"

On my back and struggling to breathe, I could still hear the contempt and mockery in her voice "I say they are lacking, I say you're not worthy of the gifts you were graciously given. You treat your power like one of your outrealmer tools, lacking spirit, grounded in nothing."

"But soon you will spill all your secrets. Submit and I will show you mercy, I can take your pain away."

I lay sprawled on the floor from her last blow, unable to move, every breath filled with agony. My implant informed me of severe damage to my spine and organs and that I was also running low on essence."

That one threw me for a loop.

As far as I knew, I still had a lot of essence and I barely used any techniques since I walked into the chamber.

Then I triggered my essence-sense and to my horror, I could see my refined essence floating around the room and then slowly being pulled towards Tinuviel, bitch was stealing all my hard work.

I recalled Zalla's words regarding how I could also lose essence when fighting if I received extremely damaging attacks.

A huge chunk of my passively refined essence was slowly moving towards Tinuviel, clearly she had a method of passively absorbing and refining essence."

"So powerful, your essence is almost as dense as mine, it is a shame that it had to come to this, just submit and you'll suffer no more"

I remained on my back, tears in my eyes from the agony of simply existing in this moment and then I started to laugh, more maniacal than the last time. I

"You stupid bitch, please tell me what has changed since in the last ten minutes since you started your beat down avalanche. You're still a lying, deceitful cunt and nothing is going to change that."

"Do you your fucking worst, I'm tired struggling and getting nowhere, you'll be doing me a favor."

That stopped her in her tracks, this was the moment I'd been waiting for, the moment when true negotiation could begin.

You see, I knew she wanted something from me, or else I would have died at the purification tower, but she was unwilling to let go of the idea that she had all the power between us and maybe to some extent she did.

My greatest trump card was that I had nothing to lose, including my life.

But saying you have nothing to lose and meaning it by putting your body in a meat grinder are two different things. No amount of intelligence is going to prepare you to take a fuckton of seemingly unnecessary body harm.

You just had to put your money where your mouth is.

Now that the bitch knew that I really had nothing to lose, the ball was in her court.

Because killing me would not change her need.

Suddenly the darkness she created spread across the room, gathered and wrapped us in a solid dark dome.

Everything became pitch black and I was suddenly cut off from the sound of others in the room.

My eyesight and seismic-sense failed, leaving me all but blind.

I nearly panicked at that moment, afraid my plan was falling apart, but I hardened my resolve.

This was it, go big or go home.

I couldn't see her but I remained still, relying on my essence-sense to find her general direction. My implant also filtered out most of the interference from her technique and I was still able to keep track of her again.

As she stealthily stepped towards me, I turned and stared in her direction feeling the pressure of her cultivation even though I could not see her.

"Impressive, you are a wonderful specimen, all you need is a little training and refinement and you might have been a challenge even for me," she said in her soft seductive voice.

Then I suddenly felt her behind me, she knelt down and she arranged my body so that my head was in her lap.

"Look at what you have made me do to you, I don't want to hurt you, why do you have to be so stubborn?" She said to me as she stroked my head.

I felt her compulsion wrap around me like a warm blanket.

Maybe she thought that my broken body, now low on essence , would make me vulnerable to her compulsion.

But my implant didn't need essence to function, merely energy drawn from my body's bioelectric processes.

So more mind fuckery, this bitch doesn't know when to quit, does she think because nearly every bone in my body is broken and most of my organs are leaking that I'm going to suddenly turn to mush in her hands.

"Bitch, spare me the stockholm tactics, if you think after that beat down, we're suddenly going to become buddy buddy, you must have been dropped on your head as a little demon baby."

"So if you're going to try and butter me up, you can just kill me now and save me the torment"

Faster than you can say "jack," my body was thrust from her lap and I returned to my former position, eating dirt on the ground.

"What!Do!You!Want!" She said through gritted teeth.

"See, was that so hard, why did you have to waste time with all that dick swingin', you and I could have come to a reasonable agreement a while back."

I stopped to catch my breath, these long rounds of talking were getting to me.

"I want you and the rest of your posse to kill yourselves in the most painful way possible. You can run a poll on what method you think is best, but not before destroying this slice of hell you call Blòtvarda."

I waited for nearly a minute in silence, waiting for a response. Clearly she did not consider my first request as a viable offer and refused to dignify it with a response.

"Oh well," I sighed, "a man can dream right?" I smiled cheekily in her direction resisting the urge to grimace in pain from moving any of my facial muscles.

"Okay, no more kidding around, clearly you want something from me and you won't be getting it if I'm dead, but you have no way to make me give it to you. So unless you tell me what it is you really want from me, I'm afraid I'll be unable to help you."

I really wished it wasn't dark in here, it would be nice to be able to see the expression on her lovely face.

Wait a minute, how was she seeing in here with no external light source, was the reason due to her higher cultivation level or was she able to see using fell essence in a manner similar to my seismic-sense.

Blood loss must be making me loopy.

William, focus, speculate on the weirdness of essence effects later.

I waited for her to spill the beans, both of us staying quiet, locked in a proverbial game of chicken.

She was the first to, for lack of a better term "blink"

"You are already aware that there is a master coming to my province to inspect my holdings, but what you and most of my retinue are unaware of is that he also brings news of a grand tournament to be held within bloodstone province. Preempting this information has given me sufficient time to prepare and the information was quite difficult to acquire before my competitors."

She said with smugness in her voice, like I was supposed to be impressed with her sleuthing skills. When I refused to react she continued, a bit of anger lacing her voice.

The more time I spent with these so-called demons and demon hybrids, the more like people they seemed to me. Maybe they were, once.

"Anyway, the grand prize of the tournament is particularly important to me and I need a champion capable of getting it for me."

"Only those at the initial level of the core formation stage or lower are eligible and all the provincial demon lords and ladies will put forth their most talented warriors in order to get the grand prize"

"I want you to be my champion."

I stayed quiet for a few seconds, lost in thought before answering, "I already figured as much, or at least, I knew it would be something along those lines. But before I say another word, you need to take down your dome of inky darkness so that I know that my people are alright."

"You dare to give me orders," I felt the pressure of her power pressing against me but I ignored it, just more pain in a sea of the same.

"Look, take it anyhow you please, if it makes you feel better, think of it as a suggestion and do what I fucking ask."

She waited two whole minutes before she complied, unable to wrap her head around the fact that she just took orders from a crippled human male.

"You're going to regret this worm, no one speaks to me like that, ever!"

I ignored her threats and focused on finding the ladies.

They were still in the same position, next to the throne and surrounded by enemies. At some point Suu had woken up from her magical torture but the wounds from the chain were still marred her beautiful skin.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Seeing the marks on her skin made my blood boil, and I let Tinuviel know that I wanted some form of healing as part payment for my services.

She gritted her teeth, staring me in the eyes, her gaze promising vengeance at the earliest opportunity.

I ignored the look and turned to assess the others, I'd already proven I was not afraid of anything she could dish out.

Minnie was being held by Melody who tried to comfort her.

As soon as Minnie saw my broken body on the ground, she pushed her face in Melody's neck and began to cry and even Melody looked a bit green at the state of my body.

Only Suu as usual remained unmoved, stoic in the face of my pain. Will it kill that woman to show a little bit of emotion for once?

Tinuviel returned to her throne, no expression of the anger that she clearly felt towards me on her face.

I used the respite while we waited to cultivate, I knew that my body needed way more essence than I currently had to fix the damage Tinuviel caused.

I saw her eyes narrow as essence around the room rushed towards me, the unusual nature of my core ensured that my core gained essence in ever increasing bursts.

After Tinuviel's new order was sent out, we waited until a slave walked into the chamber with a bottle of black liquid similar to what Astrel gave me before we came to Zomyr.

Suu looked warily at the bottle when it was presented to her and she looked at me with her constantly angry eyes, in what I understood as a request of confirmation whether to drink it or not.

I nodded in affirmation from the ground, my head and neck no longer hurting much, but her expression did not change and she simply picked up the small bottle, uncorked it and downed it in one gulp.

Only a small crease of her smooth forehead, made it obvious that the terrible taste of the potion got to her.

She didn't even flinch from the pain caused by the potion

After Suu recovered from her wounds, Tinuviel turned to me, "now tell me what you want."

I closed my eyes in thought, trying to find a way around this deceitful, seemingly all powerful bitch. Movement around me slowed down and stopped as I took advantage of my implant's processing power.

My options were limited, there was no way she was letting us go and even if I agreed to be her champion, as soon as she got what she wanted, she was going to renege on whatever agreement we settle on.

As much as she pretended to be interested in what I wanted from a potential exchange, she was simply going to use whatever I asked for to find my weaknesses and use them against me.

No, there was no way to trust her word, but maybe there was a way to compel fidelity, Zalla had implied as much when she told me about spirit bound pacts.

But I knew none of these pacts or the mechanisms necessary to make them work, I also had no way to bind Tinuviel to such a pact even if I did.

The only way out was to grow stronger and use whatever she wanted from me, to do so. If I was going to do what she wanted, I was going to take her for all she was worth.

If and when I'm able to get out of here, it was going to be with my own two hands and whatever allies I could get to stand with me.

I opened my eyes and movement resumed around me.

Everyone was waiting for whatever I was going to say and although Tinuviel put up a haughty and indifferent front, she too clearly wanted to hear what I had to say.

"Ok, I'll be your champion if you let me form a team of my own to take to the tournament and this team will consist of whosoever I choose. We will represent you in the tournament and win the prize for you, but in return all members of my team will be allowed to leave without any fear of reprisal or of being captured ever again."

"If you want us to win the tournament, you'll need to make us stronger. That means training and access to quality essence, cultivation resources and equipment. I'll also need access to any techniques and spells you may have on hand."

"All members of my new team will live together, so you will provide the proper accommodations to meet this requirement. We will be well fed and free from abuse. If I hear even a hint or rumor of abuse, then we'll come back here so that you can finish what you started and I can finally get some sleep, if only of the permanent kind."

Some of the demons got angry at that and tried to rush me, but Tinuviel held up her hand, a mysterious smile still plastered on her face.

Even though she looked serene in the face of my disrespect, I knew it was only an act for the peons and deep down she was actually seething with rage.

Somehow, during my beat down, I got her measure. Once I looked past my fear and lust for her, past the monster I expected to see, I realized that beneath all that is a person with dreams and goals, driven by greed and lust for power like any two bit thug.

Two bit thugs I can manage, thank God for the streets.

I just have to make sure that I get what I want before she gets what she wants.

"So do we have a deal," I said with a smile on my face, considering all the damage to my body, I must have looked like a horror lying on the ground unable to move.

Tinuviel stared unflinchingly at me for nearly two minutes.

More dick swinging'.

But I can wait, it's not like I had anywhere else to be.

After another round of chicken which she lost again, she finally replied, "Your terms are acceptable, but I must add a small caveat."

That one threw me off a bit, because she actually said the words in English including the word "caveat" and did so without using the mind bridge.

I'm sure it was an attempt to throw me off, I would have to be careful when speaking english around her, mind bridge or not

"All those who join your team will sign simple contracts to ensure compliance with the terms of our agreement and also wear a collar to protect my investment."

While the contract sounded innocuous and innocent at least than the collar, I knew it was the more dangerous of the two for one reason.

When you understand and accept that she had no intention of ever letting us go, especially me. Then you realize that any additions to our agreement on her end are either to waste our time or harm us in the long run.

I was not signing anything I did not really understand.

Collar's I can handle, cos’ I've handled them before, although I suspected mine would be getting an upgrade in the near future.

So no to the contract and maybe to the collars.

"I'll have to say no to the contract, I'll not be signing anything when I can't trust the other party."

Her eyes flashed with anger, it was slight and only for a moment, but now that I knew what to look for, it was obvious.

Whatever was going to be in that contract, I'm glad we dodged that bullet?

"Very well, the terms you've set are acceptable, your training will begin immediately," she stopped speaking and looked down at my broken body with a smile on her face, "or at least after you've recovered."

I smiled in response, this bitch didn't scare me all that much, and we’ll see who comes out on top in our game of cat and mouse.

"I'll be leaving with my people immediately," my eyes moved to the ladies.

"Take them, they are your problem now, hope you have what it takes to keep them safe, Blòtvarda can be such a dangerous place," she said with a cold smile on her perfect face, her gaze trying to pierce through me

Clearly that was a threat, what a stupid thing to say, like I didn't know that my people and I were constantly being surrounded by blades from all sides. This is the problem with most two bit thugs glazed in a veneer of class, they'll give you their entire plot or parts of it just to sound fucking clever.

But I silently thanked her for the reminder, already planning to set up a rotating watch and to make sure I test any food and water given to us.

The ladies moved to my sides, Melody and Suu tried picking me up, and while Melody handled me gingerly, I could swear that Suu was trying to draw whatever agony Tinuviel had been unable to reach from my already battered body.

I bit my lips drawing blood, trying not to show any expression of pain.

Tinuviel rested in a relaxed pose on her monstrous seat, our brief disagreement clearly at an end.

After several attempts to get me off the ground, all the ladies had to pitch in because I was heavier than I looked.

Powering through the pain, I was forced to support most of my weight myself to reduce their burden and slowly, we began to make our way out of the audience chamber.

But just as we were almost past the entrance, Tinuviel called out to me.

"Play all the word games you wish for William, I don't care. But if you fail to get me my prize I will show you that amongst the cursed and the damned, there are fates much worse than death."

"Whatever, you can take your threats and shove them where sun don't shine lady"

We continued moving, without stopping to listen to her new threats.

When we were far enough from the chamber, Melody, who was still supporting me, stopped and turned her look at me, her beautiful face lined with worry

Her bright green eyes and sharp features were enchanting, matching her strong look of self confidence and commanding aura that automatically screamed leader in any group.

But her next words surprised me, "William, what are we going to do?"

Minnie also spoke up, "Yes, what are we going to do," she wrung her hands in panic, " I don't know the first thing about fighting, much less about fighting in a deadly tournament set up by monsters. I don't want to die."

She slumped to the ground crying, the weight of all that she had been through so far crashing down on her.

Melody wanted to comfort her but was torn between leaving me to support myself and calming the young lady.

"Don't worry, I'm not as banged up as I look," I stood on my own without any support and limped towards Minnie.

Melody and to a lesser extent Suu had looks of surprise on their faces.

"Impossible, with the level of damage you received, you should not be alive, much less conscious, how are you even standing on your own two feet?" The cop's voice and stare was back.

"There is so much I have to show you guys, so much to teach you, especially if we want to survive long enough to get out of here."

I crouched down and looked at Minnie, “Hey Tinker bell, I know things look kinda hopeless right now, but I assure you that this is our best chance out of here."

"As for fighting and being warriors," I turned to look at the other ladies, "I have ideas on how I can get you guys stronger in the shortest amount of time possible." Even though my body and mind groaned in protes, I remained in my crouched position. My implant kept reminding me that I needed to recover from the strain damage done to my body and core

"But first I need rest, by tomorrow, I should be fully recovered. Do you guys know your affinity alignments?"

They all shook their heads, clearly those sent to the purification chamber had no need for cultivation; being finger snacks for undead monsters and all, making them Ill informed about their affinities.

"We'll visit the night clerics to know your affinities and then we can decide training strategies from there."

I stood up and stretched out my hand to Minnie, which she took after cleaning her eyes and nose with her hands.

Ignoring the snot on my fingers and limping slightly, I led the ladies to my old room.

Hopefully, I get a bit of nightmare free snooze time, assess my recent gains and set my mind to future goals.

I was going to get out of here.

Because one thing was painfully clear, Tinuviel was never going to let us go once she got her prize, so I had to make sure that she never got it.

Whatever this price was, it was important enough for her to risk losing face with her subordinates and to make a deal with a slave. I had to make sure that I, we, got whatever it was.

Maybe with this prize I could finally level the playing field between us the next time we faced off against each other.

Swaying unsteadily on my feet and lost in dreams of being an OP god like MC, I decided to glance through my pending notifications.

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New Technique Discovered.

Kinetic detonation.

Specialization: Geokinetics

Type: Offensive technique (AOE)

Essence composition: Earth.

Range: 40m

Essence cost: 12 energy points (- 10 EP)

Essence Strain: Substantial

Casting Time: 1 Minute (- 50 Seconds)

Recommended Cool Down Time: 4 Hours

Effect: Host absorbs a massive amount of kinetic energy from the earth, holding it within the body, and then releasing the energy instantly in a wave of explosive force. Essence greater than the base cost can be channeled into the technique to enhance the effect but at the cost of increased strain.

<><><><><><><><><>

This was a new one for me. I had never unintentionally created a technique before and the results were beyond anything I could possibly imagine. But I was wary of the technique as I had forged it out of potent negative emotions.

As I had only used the technique once, It occurred to me that I might have to project the same intensity of feeling and emotion each time I performed the technique?

That would get very expensive fast. Physically, mentally and emotionally draining.

This technique also made obvious the debilitating effects of geokinetics beyond essence toxicity. At least my version of the specialization scholl’s technique.

The amount of kinetic energy I had to store in my body to perform the technique nearly broke me. Only sheer stubbornness and the emotions I was channeling at the time kept me from falling apart.

And the specialization description clearly stated I could store forces other than the kinetic within my body, how would storing geothermal energy, or electricity affect my body and would I even survive the attempt?

Further experimentation was necessary to streamline and perfect the technique before I could use it again.

I shifted my attention to my other notifications, trying to take my mind out of the dark place that thinking of this technique took me to.

My next notification was regarding my body infusion. Using my implants vast medical database, I had already made some progress on the path of body Infusion and from my stats gains, I could even see that some good came from getting my ass handed to me by Tinuviel..

At least that's what I'll tell myself to justify the seemingly senseless beat down received at her hands.

I refused to make use of the vague twelve body meridian guide to infuse my body, it still sounded silly to me and I had no idea why it even worked.

Maybe essence was weird like that.

Instead, I settled for a version of the basic body systems, already verified, and applied in medical science back on Earth.

My implant did all the heavy lifting with complex medical concepts and ideas that I could not completely wrap my head around, but the simple system gave me a vague idea regarding the progress of my passive body infusion.

<><><><><><><><><>

Body Infusion Enhanced.

Cardiovascular infusion (Heart, arteries, veins): 1% (Increases oxygen to organs and cells allowing host to draw more physical power and resist strain. Large boosts to all physical attributes, especially recovery, regeneration and constitution.)

Digestive infusion (mouth, stomach, intestine): 1% (Increases digestion efficiency, directly converting food to vital nutrients, minerals and even essence. There is less waste as food and other ingested resources are efficiently used by the body, increasing the benefits gained from food. Poison and toxin resistance is increased.)

Endocrine infusion (Brain, endocrine glands): 2% (Accelerated metabolism and growth. Potential to allow for self-regulation of host body over time. Improved intelligence and mental coordination.)

Exocrine infusion (skin, hair and nails): 2% (Skin, hair and nails become stronger. Increased essence conductivity of related organs and improved physical resistance to external effects. Skin slowly becomes impervious to damage but also more sensitive.)

Lymphatic infusion (lymphatic vessels, veins capillaries): 1% (Increases resistance to disease, poisons and toxins, increases essence conductivity of organs and connected systems and allows for a portion of food digested to be broken down and converted to essence.)

Muscles infusion (muscles): 3% (Increases physical strength and constitution by increasing all muscle density, improved fine motor control boosts agility and dexterity. Vital organs are structurally toughened to absorb damage. Essence conductivity is increased within the muscles, amplifying the effect of all “self applied techniques.”)

Nerve infusion (Brain, eyes, nose, tongue, ears, skin, and hair): 0.3% (Improves perception, dexterity, reflex, intelligence, strength and constitution. Host gains control over nerves, connective tissue and muscles. Implant-body interface also improves under this infusion. All senses are enhanced and essence perception is amplified through all the senses.)

Renal infusion (kidney):1% (Removes waste and toxins from the body and maintains body fluid balance. Waste fluid to a small degree can be broken down and converted to essence.)

Reproductive infusion (Reproductive organs): 1% (Reinforces reproductive organs and increases their essence conductivity. Infusion may affect progeny, future genetic potential might be altered.)

Respiratory infusion (Lungs, nose): 1% (Improves efficiency of air absorption and conversion, more energy can be gained from breathing, greater ability to stay without air, Improved olfactory ability, improved vocal systems. Waste gases to a small degree can be broken down and converted to essence.)

Skeletal infusion (Bones, cartilage, tendons and ligaments):4% (Increases bone density, structure and essence conductivity. Movement speed is increased and the host's body is no longer weighed down when moving during body augmentation. Infusion process also affects essence strain mitigation. Skeletal infusion increases blood cell and platelet production, and increases calcium and phosphorus content of the skeletal system, causing possible alteration of bone properties.)

Recommendation: Please be aware that the body Infusion process requires redistribution and reallocation of the body's resources. An ever increasing amount of mass via consumption of food with high nutritional content and essence will be required for continued body infusion progress.

<><><><><><><><><>

According to my implant my body will grow slightly stronger over time, instead of the instant growth provided by the traditional body infusion process.

But unlike the traditional body Infusion, my body's strain and essence capacity will increase, as my body is reconfigured by my implant, enhanced, reinforced, compressed and directly altered my body at a fundamental level.

I was grateful to my implant for "dumbing" it all down for me, despite my recent “intelligence” gains. I was also disappointed at my progress so far.

Even after the extreme beat down I received twice from Tinuviel, my body infusion progress was still surprisingly low.

While the traditional body infusion simply injected highly refined essence into the body, my implant seemed to be optimizing my entire body using resources from within.

Based on my implant’s recommendations, I would need a lot of high energy essence based food and more refined essence to improve the process. I would have to make feeding one of the priorities of my new training regimen.

I suspect that the results of my body infusion would be far greater than the traditional body infusion, it might even allow me to exceed some of the limitations imposed by nature on other cultivators.

Again I was forced to wonder if the mysterious entity that helped me knew this would be the result of the knowledge he provided and when, not if, he will be asking for some form of recompense in the future.

Nothing in life is free and the only people who think so are fools and suckers.

I looked through my other notifications.

One came up during my "negotiation" with Tinuviel. It seems that my implant also has a micro expression filter which my awakened soul activated during our conversation. The little guy or should I say “administrator,” was really finding his way around the device.

The notification simply stated not to trust Astrel and noted several points of potential falsehoods.

I ignored the notification, I did not need a fancy computer to remind me not to trust Tinuviel.

Seeing as I had no other notifications, I turned my attention back to the ladies. They did not disturb me during my scan of my pending notifications, maybe they thought I was exhausted from everything that happened today.

We reached my room without any issue and I immediately launched myself at the bed.

Too exhausted to make proper sleeping arrangements for the ladies, I quickly fell asleep.

Something told me to sleep as much as I could right now, because soon my plan to help myself and the others get out of here would begin and taking a near fatal beatdown from a demonic head-monster might just be the easy part.