"Brother, are you well?" a voice said from behind.
Jake turned and saw his oldest brother, the First Prince, coming out of the river. Despite being only nineteen, he looked like a Greek God incarnate or a hero from a Hollywood movie. Tall, full of muscles, and with a perfect square jaw, he had long black hair and black eyes. He was missing shirt and shoes, wearing only long black trousers.
"Asturian," Jake said, sudden anger flaring within him.
Thanks to the infusion of memories, he remembered what had just happened. His brother had just tried to kill him.
No, not tried. He had succeeded. Jake's soul had entered this body as soon as it died and the original owner's soul left it.
"Yes, brother?" Asturian said while approaching, his big physique towering over Jake in a threatening way.
Jake had to look up to stare his killer in the eyes, but it didn't bother him. He had been through a hell called Earth already. He had seen bullies of all kinds and sizes and knew how to deal with them.
He punched Asturian in the face.
There was a loud crack as the older boy's nose broke. He stepped back, his hands on his face, blood pouring from the injury. He looked wide-eyed at Jake, and then there was only fury in his eyes.
The giant pounced at his brother, only to find empty air.
Jake still had all his memories from Earth.
This meant he still knew how to fight.
He sidestepped the brute's attack and jumped on his back. Soon, Asturian was being held in a headlock, and Jake's legs were around the older brother's body.
They fell on the ground and Jake knew he had his bother in a way he simply couldn't free himself. He had never taken Jiu-Jitsu lessons, but no one could get out of that.
Well, no one should be able to.
The moment he had thought of that, a piece of memory from Geic reminded him this was a world of cultivation. People sucked energy from heaven and earth inside themselves and grew stronger.
Super-hero strong.
They got faster too. In fact, Jake shouldn't even have been to dodge his brother's lunge. The older sibling had been taking it easy even after being hit. Not out of mercy, but because being forced to use one's cultivation — one's superpowers — to fight a mortal like Jake was considered humiliating.
Yet, being defeated was even worse.
Now, threatened as he was, Asturian used his all.
First, he gripped Jake's left foot. Jake felt like his brother's fingers were made of steel. And then, for the second time in what felt the same day, he felt his foot break.
Asturian clenched, and the bones broke like weak twigs. Jake screamed and tried to let go. That was his mistake. Still holding Jake by the leg foot, Asturian swung Jake through the air and threw him back into the river.
"Your High-" That was all Jake heard coming from Lilly before water covered him.
Worse still, as he tried to swim, he felt a terrible headache.
Thing is, Jake knew how to swim, but Geic didn't. The sudden conflict of knowledge forced his mind to fight itself. The result was blood leaving his nose and ears, and a daze that prevented him from doing anything.
He expected to drown. Instead, he felt the same fingers of steel hold his arm. He opened his eyes underwater to see his brother in there.
Jake despaired, thinking his brother had come to finish him.
But the First Prince had other plans. Instead of killing Jake, Asturian threw him out of the river, back in the ground. Right where Jake first found himself at.
"Your Highness!" Lilly yelled and approached. But this time she kept standing safely out of reach of his hands.
"What's the big idea?!" Asturian shouted furiously, already coming out of the water.
He closed one of his nostrils with the thumb and blew hard. Blood left it. He did the same on the other side and then pinched his nose a little. Thanks to his cultivation, it was already healed.
Jake coughed and breathed heavily. He looked at his brother. "Drop this farse!" he shouted back. "You tried to kill me!" He sat and held his crushed foot with his hands.
Asturian looked legitimately shocked at the accusation. "Brother, I was just playing with you! You said you don't know how to swim, and I threw you in the river for a laugh! I even went after you to bring you back!"
He was a great actor. Jake was tempted to believe him, but he knew this body's original owner didn't just die drowning naturally. Asturian jumped in the river and punched his stomach a few times to make sure Geic would die. Only after Geic had enough water in the lungs did he take the boy out.
That was risky of Asturian. He would have to explain himself to their father, the Emperor, when they returned. Yet, for Geic to drown in a few seconds... It would be a humiliation. Most would just consider him too weak and better off dead anyway.
Such was the world they lived in.
Well, that wasn't entirely true. While the Xi'Maya Empire was brutal, there were other places with different morals and ethics.
His own fiancé had chosen to marry Geic after they met and she fell in love with him. Despite her being regular — as non-cultivators were called —, her doting father, who was also a regular, allowed her to make her own choices. And no one ridiculed her in her homeland for wanting to jump stations to marry a cultivator like him.
Wait a second. Jake was a cultivator too!
The memory excited him until he also remembered he was much weaker than Asturian. Weak enough to not even be capable to use cosmic energy to strengthen his body to fight.
"I felt the punches to my stomach, brother," Jake spat.
"Of course," Asturian said with an apologetic face. "You were struggling against me. I had to make you stop or you might drown us both!"
Jake knew sometimes lifeguards had to knock drowning people out for them to stop struggling, which could be lethal for both victim and lifeguard. That was a perfect excuse. Except for the fact you punched people in the face for that, not in the stomach!
Not to mention, Asturian was at the Mortal 3 level of cultivation, while Jake was still an Initiate! There was no way at all Jake could do anything to endanger Asturian.
The old boy liked to pretend to be a dumb brute, and maybe he was counting on it to pass up as clumsy, but Jake knew better. Memories of small things over the years and painted a much more devious big picture.
He had no doubt Geic had been murdered.
"I will-" Jake started, but his previous headache was decreasing. And as it decreased, so did his anger.
Then it came to him. Why did he attack his brother like that?! Even if he were in the right, the other boy could easily kill him!
It was one thing to stand against bullies. It was another to stand against an armed — with cultivation — person who had already killed you once! He had been lucky Asturian was cunning enough not to lash out, or he would be dead by now!
Indeed, Asturian had gotten punched in the face and gotten subdued by a weaker opponent, yet he still fought back in a controlled manner... That was another small clue that pointed to his cunningness.
"I'm sorry, brother," Jake said. "I acted without thinking."
Geic, the original body owner, would've kept yelling at his brother. Because Jake did the opposite of that, he felt his headache increasing again, and with it, his anger.
The old body's personality was still there, together with the memories he received, and when he didn't heed them, he felt pain. He would need to find a way to deal with it, but later.
Now, he noticed Asturian's eyes squint calculatingly for an instant before widening in surprise.
Another small clue.
He was surprised, but before that, he had already found something weird in Jake's apology and made plans on how to deal with it.
"Forget it, brother," Asturian said, waving his hands. "More importantly, we must treat your injury. I may have gone a bit overboard in the heat of the moment."
Asturian wore a single piece of jewelry, a thick gold ring with a diamond strip running through all its extension it in the middle. He extended his hand and the diamond shone for a second while condensed light appeared on his hand, like a neon light. A moment later, the light materialized into a small red pellet.
"A Blood Jade Pellet, brother. As an apology." He extended it to Jake.
Jake looked suspiciously at the pellet and was surprised when a blue box appeared, hovering over it.
Tinted Silver Bat Refuse Pill
Level: Mortal 5
Silver Bat Refuse is an exceedingly rare poison. Of all antidotes that can be found in this world, only those at the Mortal 7 level or higher can counter it.
If consumed, the excess energy contained in the pill will heal this system host's foot injury in a few instants. Its other properties will lead to host exhibiting symptoms of severe dysentery.
If consumed, host will die of dehydration in 7 days.
His eyes widened. The bastard was still trying to kill him! And in humiliating ways too! What, did Asturian have a fetish for humiliating his own brother or something?
"Thank you, brother," Jake said instead of spelling the truth.
He had trouble keeping his face straight and his voice smooth, but he was feeling more and more afraid for his life. Asturian didn't want to kill Jake where anyone could see, but who knows what other means he might have if he suspected Jake knew what that "pellet" truly was.
No, it was better if he believed Jake was already done for. That it was only a matter of time until he died. This would give him some time to think about what to do. So, he had to pretend to take the pill.
He failed to stop his hand from trembling as he reached for the pill. Thankfully, Asturian mistook Jake's anxiety for something else.
"I know it's valuable, brother," Asturian said. "But we are family. There's no reason to hesitate."
Jake opened his mouth to reply...
...and Asturian moved too fast. Jake only saw a moving blur and couldn't react in time. Asturian pushed the poison pill in Jake's open mouth and forcibly closed the younger brother's mouth down.
If it had been some common medicine, Jake could've refused to swallow. But this was cultivator stuff. As soon as it entered his mouth, it liquefied and was directly absorbed by his mouth. It would be more effective if he swallowed the liquid, but Jake bet the poison would kill him either way.
A new blue box appeared floating in front of him.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Warning!
Host has been poisoned!
Poison: Silver Bat Refuse
Time until death: approximately 7 days.
Recommended action: Host should heal himself!
Of course! He just had to heal himself! Why didn't he think of it?!
'So freaking helpful!' Jake shouted at the blue box in his mind.
The blue box didn't reply, merely disappeared. He looked at his brother. At least the bastard had given him seven days to find the cure.
A heatwave traveled throughout his body, concentrating on his left foot, healing it. His bones set and regenerated. His flesh and skin were next. He couldn't directly see it, for he was still using...
Shoes? No. What the hell were those things he was using?
His memories told him he was wearing martial arts slippers. Why the hell did cultivators use a thing that barely protected their feet?! Cultivators were also martial artists and they often had to kick their foes!
The answer also came instantly. Because they didn't need protection. Most materials weren't as resistant as their own skin when they got powerful enough. And the materials that were powerful enough were too valuable to waste in shoes. Much better to use them elsewhere.
It was cheaper to get a pill to heal themselves than to replace expensive material.
Anyway, while he couldn't see his foot through the thin and completely useless fabric of his slipper — at least they fit his black martial arts robe well, he supposed —, he saw his limb changing shape and filling the slipper again.
In but a few seconds, he was healed.
And that was awesome. He could barely believe it. He moved his foot and flexed his fingers and they were perfect. He didn't even feel any lingering pain.
Damn, if he could take something like that back to Earth, he would get filthy rich.
"I see you appreciate the results," Asturian said. "We should move, brother. We don't want to be late for your wedding."
He left for one of the carriages nearby.
This was the first time Jake looked at his surroundings. He had the memories, but he hadn't taken everything with his own eyes yet.
The one hundred feet wide river he had drowned in was to his left. To the right was a battered earth road. In this part of the journey, the riverbank was surrounded by the thick trees of the Amalth Forest.
They were already within the borders of Arthor Kingdom. The cultivators protecting his Wedding Delegation were on the road, a hundred elites from the Imperial Guard, all at the Mortal 3 realm.
Those who started absorbing cosmic energy to become cultivators were called Initiates. Once they reached a certain threshold, they reached the Mortal Rank. That rank was further divided into levels, from 1 to 9.
The strongest of the Eastern Continent was a Mortal 7 cultivator, while the average cultivator seldom went beyond the Mortal 2 level. Only geniuses or those with ample resources ever reached the Mortal 3 level.
Like Asturian.
Everything beyond that was up to luck. Luck to find ridiculously expensive resources, luck to be rich enough to buy them, or luck to be born with overwhelming talent.
The Second Company of the Xi'Maya Imperial Guard rode False Biped Lizards, lithe giant green lizards that stood on four legs when standing still but moved on two. All members of the Guard were spear masters. They didn't use shields or armor, only martial arts robes, like every other cultivator Jake had memories of.
Their clothes were black and gold, the colors of the Xi'Maya Empire, and looked as impressive as his own.
The Company protected three large and beautiful black and golden carriages, each one pulled by four majestic Black Skeleton Horses. As their names implied, they were living black skeleton horses. Their eyes were red lights and where there should be flesh, there was only an ominous dark grey mist.
Animals could also absorb cosmic energy and grow stronger. The lizards were Mortal 1 beasts. The horses, Mortal 2. The animals alone were enough of a statement of power, prestige and riches, even if the Imperial Guard hadn't come.
Asturian walked to the third carriage. Jake's was the second. Lilly rode the first.
"I'm sorry," she said, still looking down. "I shouldn't have stopped to take in the scenery. It's all my fault."
Everything had happened because she stopped to appreciate the environment. Geic had come to complain it was taking too long, which prompted Asturian to follow suit and joke about his inability to swim. Then, he threw Jake in the river and jumped right after to kill him.
"Nonsense," Jake replied. "How could you know what would happen?"
Those were his true thoughts. Anyone would probably fault themselves if their choice ended up with violence like that. But Asturian was just looking for an excuse. If not this, he would certainly have tried something else.
The poison pill he had prepared was proof enough of that.
She looked surprised at him and it took him a moment to realize why. Geic was kind of a spoiled prick. He did everything in his power to complain about whatever was in sight. Poor Lilly was often the target of his comments and she was so enamored, she bowed and agreed with him. This only made things worse for her.
Really, what had she seen in that guy?
"I... Thank... You...?" she said cautiously, uncertain of how to react to such a basic gesture of human decency.
"You're welcome," Jake said and suddenly, his splitting headache came back. That gave him an idea though. He wanted to test the extent of how far he could go against Geic's personality. "Do you have spare clothes? You should change or you'll catch a cold." The worry in his voice wasn't fake.
Her mouth made a perfect "O" and her eyes almost popped out of their sockets. She was shocked. Absolutely and completely bewildered that Geic was showing any care at all for her.
Love really was blind, he guessed.
He was hit by a headache much like as if a truck had run over his brain. He felt something hot in his mouth and touched it.
Blood.
His nose was bleeding and so were his ears. Going against Geic's personality took a toll on his body.
"I'm sorry, I must rest," he said quickly and left for his carriage.
Once inside, he allowed himself to grab his head and grunt in pain. He did his best not to do that outside. If Asturian thought there was something wrong with the poison pill, he might attack. Or not. Who knows? Jake wasn't a murderer, he didn't know how the hell their minds worked.
Suddenly, a blue box popped in front of him. While his eyes were closed. Not even closing his eyes would give him privacy, it seemed.
Danger!
Lethal personality conflict detected!
Host has three minutes to assimilate the body original memories or he'll die.
Time remaining: 2 minutes, 59 seconds
Jack could barely read it because of how much his head hurt. He was still good enough to curse his fate though.
He had been reborn only to die less than an hour later?!
No, he refused to accept it!
He had to think. What could he do? Closing his eyes and focusing inwards didn't bring him to any mystical place for an epic mind combat. Willing it hard enough also did nothing for him. Geic's memories also had no hints on what to do.
Thankfully, it didn't take him long to remember the so-called system he was supposed to be reborn with.
By the computer-like name, he could easily conclude the boxes were part of it. But they couldn't be all of it. The system should be a balance-breaking thing, not an identifying system with barely useless messages otherwise.
So, he focused on the "system" word, and something happened.
A new blue box appeared, and this one brought good news.
Congratulations! You're the host of a system!
Version: 333 — OMEGA ORDER MOD
Starting up...
You have 2 Starter Packs remaining:
- Samsara Starter Pack
- [HIDDEN] Order Starter Pack
Before continuing, please open your Starter Packs.
He didn't need to be a genius to figure out he had to focus on opening a Starter Pack to open it — whatever starter packs were. He focused on the Samsara one first, simply because it was the first one on the list.
Samsara Starter Pack
Opening...
Items received:
» 999 x System Points
» 9 x Item Upgrade Tokens
» 9 x Cultivation Method Upgrade Tokens
» 1 x Weapon Chest [Mortal 1-3]
» 1 x Samsara Soul Cultivation Method [?]
Those items meant nothing to him.
What were system points and upgrade tokens used for? How did he use them? What did the question mark in the Samsara Soul Cultivation Method mean? And what was that about Mortal 1-3? It should be either Mortal 1 or Mortal 3. There were no sub-levels in the world.
Also, why the fixation with number 9? Couldn't it give him 10 tokens and 1,000 points instead?
Jack left those questions for later. He was more worried about surviving. Time was ticking and nothing there seemed particularly helpful. Instead, he focused on opening the second starter pack.
Order Starter Pack
Opening...
Items received:
» ERROR – Data Corrupted
» ERROR – Data Corrupted
» ERROR – Data Corrupted
» ERROR – Data Corrupted
The same line repeated hundreds of times. Until a single useful line appeared at the end.
Order Starter Pack
(...)
» Order Seed [ERROR]
Another useless pack. He had two minutes remaining before he died, so he decided to open the stuff he had received just in case they might be useful.
He started with the Order Seed in front of him.
'Get, open, eat, absorb,' he thought, focusing on the item until it worked.
Order Seed
Quality: ERROR
Absorbing...
No connection to a soul core found. Hibernating.
Yeah, the seed was as useless as it sounded. Jake went for the weapon next, because he was still a bit wary about the question mark on the cultivation method.
Weapon Chest
Quality: Between Mortal 1 and Mortal 3
Opening...
Congratulations! You received a Samsara Spear!
Well, the quality explained what Mortal 1-3 meant. The range of quality the resulting item might have.
And then, his pain increased
As if the pain to his head wasn't bad enough, next he felt a pain in his very soul. He only identified where it was because he had existed as only a soul in the Samsara Realm after he died on Earth
It felt like being ripped in two, as if someone had grabbed his head and torn him from top to bottom. As if he was made of paper and was burning. As if the world was worse than the hell he had lived back on Earth.
At least it was quick. As sudden as it came, it went away.
Samsara Spear
Quality: Common (Temporarily downgraded from Mortal 3)
The spear of the Samsara Series.
The blue box told him what the spear was, albeit again, it meant nothing to him. To make things worse, he couldn't see the spear anywhere.
Sighing, he noticed the soul pain had lasted for a full minute. He had less than a minute remaining to kill the other personality inside himself.
His last chance was the Samsara Soul Cultivation Method. He focused on it, on opening or reading or absorbing it. As usual, it worked.
Samsara Soul Cultivation Method
Quality: ?
Absorbing...
Congratulations! You can now cultivate your soul!
Cultivation methods were used to cultivate. One could cultivate body, spirit, and soul. Each one required a specialized cultivation method and there were countless methods for each specialization throughout the world.
The message was as useless as usual, but something different happened this time. Information flooded his mind.
The entire cultivation method was placed directly into his mind!
It became crystal clear to him how to cultivate his soul using the Samsara Soul Cultivation Method as if he had studied it for years and years without end.
And that had taken another thirty seconds from him.
Thirty extra seconds remaining until die.
'Think, Jake. Think!' he shouted at himself in his mind. What could he do?!
He found the answer in the cultivation method he received. The mind was part of the soul. It existed there. One's willpower was both used to cultivate the soul and was in return strengthened by it.
By strengthening his soul, he would strengthen his mind. That would hopefully allow him to survive.
Jake closed his eyes and focused on doing what the cultivation method told him to do.
First, he imagined his soul was a tiny white ball in the center of his body.
And then he just focused on feeling the heat coming from it.
That was all he had to do in the first step of his soul cultivation journey, to become a Soul Initiate. It was simply about making a conscious connection to his soul. There was nothing about growing his mind or soul strength involved in it yet.
Thanks to his previous experience in existing as a soul, he formed a connection in record time. A mere moment later, he could feel it. It was like feeling a new part of himself that he hadn't been feeling a few seconds prior.
Now came the moment of truth. He had twenty seconds remaining. His soul had to grow stronger within that timeframe.
The next step was changing his soul. A regular soul like his was formless and thus, powerless. He had to give it shape and an elemental attribute.
His cultivation method came with all a list of all kinds of attributes and how to get them. Most of the cool ones, like Time and Space, required endless meditation. The simpler ones, like Heat, only depended on him feeling his body heat and translating it into the soul core instead.
That's how an Initiate's soul was called, soul core.
He had to get an attribute quickly. He would go for Heat, the easiest one.
Changing one's soul attribute after it was set was a Herculean task. Even worse, starting with something as simple as heat would make it almost impossible for him to ever get something more powerful than fire.
But he didn't care. He needed any advantage he could have now, no matter how small. Surviving was more important than thinking about the future, for his future didn't matter if there was no future to be had.
As he was about to focus on his body heat though, something happened.
Order Seed
Quality: ERROR
Connection to soul core found.
Awakening...
Planting seed...
Absorbing unrefined soul core...
Minor warning! Soulbound item resisting Order Seed's influence.
Assimilating Samsara Spear...
Minor warning! Pathetic weak personality trying to take over host's mind.
Assimilating personality...
Resuming planting...
Congratulations! Order Seed has been planted!
While the blue box told Jake what was going on, he saw it through his connection with his soul.
The Order Seed was the size of a sand grain, but it shone brightly in all colors of the rainbow. It appeared out of nowhere, already inside the small ball that was his soul core. And then, it absorbed his soul core until it was also the size of the Order Seed.
That's when a tiny spear appeared. It had been hiding inside his soul core, but when the core was absorbed, it revealed itself.
It immediately struck the Order Seed, only to be sucked into it. It couldn't even put up a fight.
Then, his time was up, and he felt terrible pain as the other personality tried to kill him.
The Order Seed flashed a bit brighter and just like that, the personality was gone. He could feel his mind was now completely and entirely only his.
The process ended when a tiny rainbow-colored leafless sprout grew from the Order Seed.
And that was it.
His soul core was now Order-attuned.
Which would be great, if not for the fact that the Order attribute wasn't listed in his Samsara Soul Cultivation Method, and thus he had no idea how to cultivate it!
At least he was still alive.
Now he only had to find a way to deal with his poison and survive his murderous brother.