Hello again. Chapter 2 had a nice ending huh? I decided to release another chapter today as a trail of thought appeared in my head. Can't let it waiver or writer's block. Although magic was introduced, the MC will be doing martial arts. You can bet magic and martial arts will have conflicts with each other but that is another time away. You all saw his anguish as a human. Now we delve deeper into character progression. The whole school of martial arts will start at around chapter 7? I plan to write a more solid foundation of the MC so it might take that long. Side note: I listed a tragedy tag so feel free to speculate. Romance tag...I dunno when but it might show. Just put any tag I thought might appear besides the ones I planned. Man I didn't expect it to be this long. Would have split it but then ending will tell you why I didn't. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 3: Divine Tattoo
"You certainly know how to make an entrance son," the Count laughed late at night after the noble meeting was over. "I bet you can't wait to get into the Treasury. Come."
"Yes father," Duren grinned, his hopes soaring.
The duo walked down three halls and past sixty royal guards, all of them dressed in white armor with the royal emblem of a Two-Headed Violet dragon with one of two wings half cut and full of holes. Legend had it that their ancestor tamed a spirit beast and became a Spirit Guardian. As tribute, the ancestor made his Spirit Guardian the royal emblem when he founded Kaid.
Supposedly they had relatives from the royal family of Morane that recognized their ancestor as a Count of a new nation but that was hundreds of years ago and the Morane royal family had been destroyed and replaced countless times from civil war and rebellions until two hundred years ago.
"Now Duren," his father started. "I don't know what qi techniques you want but I must warn you about one thing. Two different types of qi inside one body will destroy the body. Mana and qi are similar but mana is omniscient and allows all types of magic. Heresy I say. Don't follow your mother and be a mage. I already have one ice queen. I don't want a son who already has indifference to some moral behaviors. I don't need that indifference personified."
"You mean there are some qi techniques I can't learn?" Duren asked shocked, he didn't know the human body could be so weak.
"Of course. We are only human. Spirit beast constitutions are different," the Count continued, not noticing the shock of his son. "Spirit beasts have qi that are similar to mana and can practice all kinds of qi technique but for their physical bodies. Spirit Guardians are the exception as they can only use the qi techniques that have the same elemental attunement as their master. Take you for instance. For now you can use ice cultivation and can only bind spirit beasts with ice. They can use later elements as you progress. The greatest qi techniques involve an element while others are just physical so they don't have restrictions. Enough of this. You came for the scrolls so let's get in."
Duren took a moment to absorb what his father said. He didn't expect humans to have restrictions on qi techniques. Surely there must be a way to circumvent that weakness. Hope shined in his eyes and he entered the Treasury. Piles of gold and silver coins and jewelry were piled high in the first room of the Treasury. He could literally swim in money as the first room had coins three feet deep until the door which was atop four stairs. The Count looked amused as his son tried walking his way to the next room by force, coins flying as he struggled with each step.
"This human family is really rich," Duren muttered as he finally reached the door. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and opened the next door. Inside more gold and silver were found but in piles around various weapons and artifacts. Duren was surprised as he picked up a goblet and felt qi from it.
"Surprised?" Marus laughed. "That there boy is a goblet that had qi blood rain on it during the Thousand Year War. Given enough exposure, qi can remain in an object for a long time. Go ahead and absorb qi from various objects, This room only contains junk with qi. What looks like an artifact is just a ruse to keep robbers occupied should they enter. We're rich and we need to have safeguards to ensure it stays that way."
Duren nodded and absorbed qi from objects that had Yin energy. Those who practiced with qi had levels just as magus have levels. For a magus to reach immortality or the level of Deity, there was three tiers. The tiers for magus where novice magus, warlock, and arch magus. Qi cultivators had four tiers to follow, each containing nine ranks. They were spirit shadow, spirit knight, spirit lord, and spirit ancestor. This was because magic could destroy buildings and mountains a lot easier and even a novice could blow up a building by accident.
Duren had reached a bottleneck in spirit shadow rank seven by the time he reached the next door. He was not at genius level at eight years to be a rank seven spirit shadow but he was a lot better than average kids his age. In a world full of qi and magic, strength meant power and also enemies. Being better than average was better than being a genius as being a genius could get you killed out of fear or jealousy.
"This next room will have weapons and weapon manuals. It is best to start at a young age while the body is still growing. The next room has what you want," his father said silently, wondering what weapon style his son would pick.
Duren cared little for human weapons before as a Thunder Beast but having to waste qi to make claws of ice made him change his opinion. He looked around and saw various swords, spears, and shields. There were some very powerful weapons here and some even had qi inside. He rubbed his hands and began browsing. He wanted a weapon that could rip his enemies to shreds like his Spirit Beast claws did so long ago. He didn't have enough control with the Two-Leg body he now used and couldn't use martial arts technique which required finesse and intricacy.
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A two-handed weapon would suit his taste. Two-handed weapons had higher durability and massive blows. He skipped the war hammers as he did not want a blunt weapon. He wanted to rip his enemies insides and watch their blood spray. He wanted to cut off limbs if he was outnumbered. He skipped the lances and spears as they were more suited to piercing and not slashing techniques.
He stopped in front of one two-handed sword that seemed to emanate an evil qi. His eyes widened as he realized it was qi of the destruction element. How did a qi of destruction end up in a weapon? It was one of the four ancient qi (to humans anyway) and the element he wanted to learn as he mastered lightning while he was Malverok.
"Ah this two-handed sword was one of two our ancestor wielded when he founded our House and Kaid," His father laughed. "Our ancestor had five weapons and this particular one was one he feared to use. It has the ancient element of destruction qi. It is quite good. The handle is made from the leather of a black lion spirit beast and the gold handle from a primordial golem. The blade itself is made from the very bones of the two-headed dragon that is our royal family emblem. The qi originated from the dragon and this sword was made with another pair when the dragon died. Dragon Spirit Beast bones are indestructible and ever sharp so the fact that this blade was made is another proof that our ancestor was magnificent in his own right. The two-handed sword can be adjusted to any size at will so you can also have it as a dagger. As a child, a shortsword is a two handed sword to you anyway."
Duren grinned and his father's words were true as the greatsword shrunk to that of an adult shortsword. His father emptied a short sword sheath of another weapon and Duren used it as the sheathe of his own. He named his greatsword Blightfang and was satisfied. Qi cultivation and a weapon. A great haul. His father also grabbed three two-handed sword manuals. They were the Imperial Executioner style, Frost Chaser style, and his ancestor's own Twin- Dragon fang style. Supposedly his ancestor created the sword style as he made the Blightfang.
"Before you head in the room and get what you wanted most, I must warn you," his father began, his tone very serious. "If you choose to cultivate a different qi element technique besides Yin of ice and the elements that go along with it: you will die. The only way is to get a divine tattoo for every element not aligned well with ice. One of them will be for the destruction qi in that greatsword."
"Divine tattoos?" Duren asked, curious. "I never heard of those before. What are they?"
"They are the most closely guarded secrets of any qi cultivist. Just one divine tattoo of any type is worth millions of gold," his father answered, his voice grave. "They appear on your body after certain rituals and many kill to have their hands on the rituals. What elements are you interested in learning?"
"Fire, earth, and thunder," Duren answered automatically. "Fire as it is the element I am weak against. I picked earth for the defense, and thunder as it makes me feel alive."
"You can't learn fire qi techniques as it requires Yang cultivation," his father sighed. "You can't learn earth as it is the opposite of thunder or lightning. I do have a few divine tattoo rituals for lighting so you can learn that. That will be two divine tattoos."
"I want three," Duren said.
"Don't be arrogant boy!" his father shouted. "Most consider it a miracle to survive one divine tattoo or manifest one. To attain two more is suicide."
"I need power to become an immortal. Having four different qi element techniques will give me an advantage against those geniuses who can already use three without a divine tattoo," Duren argued.
"Then what elements are they?" his father asked.
"I want divine tattoos of lightning, wind, and destruction," Duren answered.
"Wind I understand as many profound qi techniques are of wind and easily augment physical techniques. The destruction element is the most dangerous. I suppose you picked it to control the qi in your new weapon," Count Marus pondered aloud. "Very well. Get the techniques you want and than we will do the Divine Ritual for those tattoos. Your mother will kill me for this, but how can I stop my boy from being a man and wanting power. Hahaha. Show those geniuses how powerful the House Maltos is in the future son. I'll need time to gather the materials for the ritual. Take your time. In a week, the ritual will commence."
Duren grinned. His father affirmed his hopes after all. He can do thunder and lightning qi techniques and continue his Yin cultivation. He began browsing. For wind techniques: he picked the Phantom Blast, Void Step, and Wind Walker manuals. For thunder, he struggled to find techniques that a beast would do. He picked Thunder Lion's Claw and Lightning Dragon's Roar. For the destruction qi techniques, he found one that was also created by his ancestor. The name was Sundering Eclipse of the Destroyer. This manual actually comprised of seven techniques.
Laughing at his ridiculous bounty, Duren left the Treasury (after struggling to walk through the first room of coins again) and decided to cultivate his Yin qi again and break the bottleneck to the next rank. Hopefully it will be enough to survive the rituals his human father talked about. His human potential didn't seem that bad and a part of him accepted the new change.