"Why don't you want to tell me? Aren't we best palls now? Hm?" Karl and Riven were trudging through the forest, Riven's left hand wrapped in the medieval version of bandages. Which meant the cloth was not clean, but it did not stink like a month old sailor's shirt.
"Riven, the fact that I did not kill you hardly makes us best buddies. I won't tell you why I am in this stone, the less people know about it, the better." Karl tried to keep out an eye for them, as his companion looked a little under the weather and he did not want to rely too much on his vigilance. They were deep in the forest and there was no telling where another strange monster lurked.
"Oh, so we are back to the dangerous knowledge that can't be revealed." Riven shot him a glance, making Karl unnerved. Their communication felt much more confrontational, now that he was no longer an untouchable Elder.
"Precisely. " He responded simply.
"And you are not lying this time." Riven slipped on a wet root and had to catch a branch next to them to stabilize himself. It was clear that he was not fresh, but Karl thought that a little hardship would not hurt him at all.
"I do not care what you think, just move and be silent for a second!" Karl looked at the sky to find out that it was not even lunchtime, they had still plenty of time to return.
"What about killing those beasts? Was it only a scheme to lure me out of the fort?" Riven continued in his interrogation.
"No, I need them dead to get stronger." Karl decided to tell the truth and have the whole issue behind him.
"Wait, so you will be the one getting stronger! What a despicable scheme!" Riven nearly exclaimed while he stopped to pick a route with the lest vegetation ahead.
"You will truly not leave this forest alive if you continue to bother me! You should possess some sense of self-preservation!" Karl imagined what trap would work the best to torture Riven without killing him too soon.
"Of course, I will not say another word." Young Lord Riven said, but Karl wanted to punch him in the face anyway when he saw his complacent smile. He knew exactly what suffering his father was going through now.
They kept wandering the forest, looking for more beasts. Karl had noticed that the three wolves that they had killed counted as killed and he could really substitute humans for beasts. He was glad that he was not forced to became a genocidal maniac only to gain a few levels. Riven had gotten aboard his idea surprisingly quickly, he hoped that he was not the one being deceived for a change.
"How can you make me stronger than The Immortal? Just curious. No pressure." Riven had not managed to be silent for long and Karl began to understand why he had no issues helping him.
"I need power and someone who has extensive knowledge of cultivation. And I mean no nonsense philosophy, raw mechanics. What works, why it works and so forth."
"I can tell you basics, if you want. What happened to all that wisdom?" Riven asked, but Karl ignored his remark completely.
"Do you know someone or not? It is mainly for you, I do not need to understand that crap if I want to get stronger." Karl transmitted angrily and Riven looked quite surprised.
"Wait, so do you have kind of your own thing and do not care about cultivation at all? That is cool. I can arrange a meeting. It will cost some coin, but farther has always wanted me to act more scholarly, so he can take it." Riven smirked, imagining his father smiling while handing out gold. "He might send someone with us, but that should not be a problem."
"Why should he?" Karl was a little curious what Riven did this time. It looked like Riven's father might be his future soul mate in his suffering.
"I have once lured some coins from him under a similar pretext." The Young Lord said casually.
"What have you done with the coins?"
"Girls, you know." Riven tilted his head to the side, like that line should explain everything.
"Ah, Joan and her city gifts."
"Eh, no. Brothel." He scratched the back of his head and then failed to dodge a branch that proceeded to hit him right in his nose.
"Uh!"
"You have cheated on her!" Karl realized that the Young Lord had definitely more experience with women than he despite his age.
"No, I am a Lord, we have a working relationship." Riven waved his right hand, brushing the matter aside.
"Alright, not my business." Karl did not care much about Riven's personal life, as long as he was not present.
They stayed in the forest for a few hours and their hunting efficiency was not bad, as Karl no longer bothered to hide his powers from Riven. He would have never done that before, but their relationship seemed to be way past that. Unfortunately, many animals turned out to be only on the first stage and they did not count towards Karl's goal. It resulted in him jumping up only another few points, too few to make him feel optimistic.
"This may actually take a whole year." Karl sighed while mentally tired, cursing himself a second later for his lack of discretion.
"What? How many do you need?" The dead tired Riven's eyes bulged in horror.
"Do not even ask, but it will take a year at this pace." Karl said in resignation. It was still better than the endless tunnel, but not by much.
"You did not mention that in your ardent speech." Riven carefully checked his bow for damages. The old thing would be broken ten times over before they finished such a tall order.
"No, because someone might start to cry if I did."
"You! I might sell you to an auction house at this rate!" Riven gripped the old bow tighter and the wood creaked under the pressure.
"If some rich lady buys me, why not?" Karl just responded jovially, clearly not bothered by the threat.
"Do not forget that you are just a steel circlet, it will be only some fat, poor merchant Lord."
"Then, there will be no difference, right?"
"WHAT?!" Riven looked quickly at his belly and then began wordlessly walking towards the fort.
When they arrived at the fort of the house Riven, it looked like an ant nest. New barracks next to it were being build and even an extension of the wall was being planned out, most of it payed for by the good Lord Kert of Zura who provided many resources and laborers for the project. Riven walked inside while looking around, hoping that his father was in a good mood and would give him the extra money he needed. He had his own fund, but why would he take from his own pocket when there was a real chance that his father might sponsor him?
He did not need to walk for too long before spotting his father embroiled in a discussion with someone Riven had not seen before who wore a shiny military uniform. Probably some military instructor from the city.
"What do you mean the swords are too short? Isn't there a standard length that the military uses?" Lord Riven stared at the sword in the military man's hand, while both had a frown on their faces.
"It is, but whoever made these had made them shorter, most likely to spare some material. But that is not the main problem here." The military man analyzed the sword.
"Do you mean that it is alright that the swords are too short? Because, I do not think it is!" Lord Riven was clearly losing his temper, as this might have not been the first problem he had encountered with the deliveries.
"The main issue is that the swords are too thin. They break easily." The man swung the sword suddenly with extreme speed and the tip of the blade flew off into the distance without even being shattered by anything. It simply flew off due to the centrifugal force.
Even though the man had clearly used some sort of special technique, it was not something that should have happened.
"See, the second stage people cannot even use abilities with this junk." The military instructor stated calmly, like announcing the weather. However, Lord Riven's face turned completely red.
"Bring me parchment! Now! That scum of Zura will answer for this!" Not far away from him his son had silently slipped into the fort, heading for his secret stash. It was obvious that bothering his father at this moment was akin to seeking death.
"No, this time it would not be manure, coins or sex. Only manure or more manure." Riven whispered while running up the stairs, trying to dodge anyone who might have been tasked with assigning him some duties. He avoided all the important people in the fort and sneaked into his room, where he took out his reserve funds and withdrew a considerable portion.
Well, it was for his Immortality, right? He could not be too stingy.
After he had put back his stash, he had slipped out of the room and could still hear the voice of his father from the outside. Maybe, he should buy his father some calming tea on the way back.
With a bit of luck, Karl and Riven had successfully made it out of the fort, carrying the necessary coin for the plan.
"Where are we going exactly? To some sage, sword master, mage or. .. ."
"the Purple Lotus Sect." Riven interrupted him, surprising Karl with his unexpected answer.
"Are they in the city?"
"No, a little bit to the side. It is the Gon von Kotzchen clan. They are smaller than the Thunder God Sect was."
"The purple ones." Riven added when he figured that Karl was totally out of the picture.
"Why are they not in the city? Why?" Karl almost cried at this point, he was really fated never to see the mysterious city properly.
"That is because The Immortal does not protect parasites. Sects have to earn their place. There was the Thunder God Sect from this side of the city serving as its border and protection. The Purple Lotus sect lies at the other side. There is an inaccessible mountain on the third and a wide river encloses the city from the final side. It has all been planned to serve as the border of the city. The first line of defense."
"Ah, that is how the flower position was called! A lotus position!" Suddenly, Karl remembered a vital piece of information.
"What position? You mean that you do not know the most basic position for cultivation?" Riven blinked twice while looking up.
"Of course I know all the important positions in cultivation! It is the flower. . .I mean lotus position, the know-how position and seiza." Karl vehemently showed his knowledge of cultivation.
"Know-what?" Riven's face froze into an expressionless mask.
"Fortunately, no one will be able to hear you. It will work out." The Young Lord Riven sighed with relief.
"What do you mean?!"
* * * *
They have decided to go along the river, as it was the fastest route. There were many simple boats floating atop of the lazy wide surface of water that was framed by farmlands. It was unnaturally peaceful given the recent events.
"Two attacks of a demonic sect and all those farms look as good as new, it is strange." Karl had not expected that the damage done to the city and the Thunder God Sect was localized only to those two places.
"They are after souls and The Immortal. Who cares about farms? On the contrary, they want weak people to be numerous, easy souls." Riven looked at the shimmering water as well. "Small demonic sects tend to act chaotic, but larger ones leave the populations to fatten up on purpose."
Out of curiosity, Karl checked his summons, expecting a water elemental which he would like to try out, but there was none. There were just the same boring options as usual. With nothing to fiddle with in his status screen, he watched the people fishing, but it was extremely boring. Even more boring than watching Riven's fleas jump back and forth.
Nearing the Purple Lotus Sect, Karl saw that there were trees with purple blossoms along the route and thought that purple lotuses would be more fitting, but it seemed like they had not fit into the budget. Despite it being just trees, not lotuses, it was still a spectacle and he would have admired the entrance of the Purple Lotus Sect some more, if not for the long stride of his companion. Thank the Heavens that walking was usually not fast enough to induce his motion sickness, it was the fastest speed he could really enjoy.
"My carrier's speed is too much! Delay start! Oh, no, many F sixteens are already in the air, we will miss the target!" Karl passed through the gate and felt like in some kind of a game thanks to the fact that he was not doing the walking. It felt like he had pushed the button and was simply moving forward, on autorun. Suddenly, his carrier started to cough down below.
"What is that? Modern carriers do not cough! Am I still in the century of steam?" He wondered.
"Karl, focus. You are thinking aloud again." The Young Lord said with more decency than usual.
"Oh, roger." Karl acted as nothing had happened. It was true that he should be more careful, Riven was definitively not the only one having the Clarity Mojo.
He noticed that the sect had been build on a large area, encircled by a relatively low stone fence that was more stylish than sturdy. In front of the stone fence, there were many people who did not have the purple clothes of the members of the sect, building a different kind of fence. This one looked more like a steel wall, higher and clearly much more difficult to overcome.
"Looks like people do not trust the enchantments that much anymore." Riven whistled, but not too loud to avoid attracting attention.
"Isn't it useless anyway with flying people that can launch lava rivers?" Karl doubted the meaning of the wall.
"Much better than nothing. Powerful people only rarely charge forward, even though their abilities might be awesome, their defense is often similar to ordinary soldiers."
"Then why are the cultists so bold?"
"Cultists usually aim to kill a lot of people quickly and then retreat. The reward for them are souls, long fights have little meaning for them. Especially because many of their abilities are unstable. They usually strike quick and hard, kill a lot of easy victims and retreat before all the side effects of their flawed cultivation techniques kick in and cripple their strength." The Young Lord Riven of Orlov explained, looking more dependable than usual.
"The last attack did not seem that way." Karl remembered how he had thought that the whole city was done for.
"They aimed to assassinate The Immortal, it would have been instant victory if they had succeeded. They were quite prepared for the ambush, but when it began to turn into a protracted battle, they had to withdraw. They had inside help and the traitor has still not been found, that is why everyone ts this fidgety, building extra walls in case of the Purple Lotus Sect."
"Looking at it from this side of the city, I do not think we are quite prepared at the other side." Karl observed.
"Do not remind me." Riven said dryly. "Short swords that break versus tall steel walls and enchanted weapons."
"I hope your promises are not just a joke. We really do need that extra push now." Riven flashed his eyes up, his gaze directly meeting the black stone for a second.
* * * *
"I need services of one of your Elders." Lord Riven of Orlov entered haughtily into the main building of the Purple Lotus Sect that looked like a pan in Karl's opinion, even with the handle. But his views were always a bit oversimplified. On top of the first pan was another and a normal person would probably call the structure pagoda that for some reason had an extra, thick column at its side.
"I will immediately call The Immortal himself for our treasured Lordship." The man standing behind a desk, that reminded Karl of a bar from a futuristic cyberpunk city, said coldly, the whole feeling was largely caused by the chosen color scheme. The whole hall had been painted in futuristic cold colors with the bar and some other items being purple.
There were even some lights! Karl could almost hear the sharp tones of progressive techno carrying him to the dancing floor. There was of course a dancing floor of again, purple color, but it was filled with palm trees and flowers that did not fit there much. Karl noticed that the receptionist in his purple robe stood up and walked in front of the bar. He was half expecting him to kick aside the flowers and start pumping the rhythm when. . .
"Move it, shake it!" Karl started to really feel the beats.
Darkness!
"Ah, someone must have covered me with something. Was I thinking aloud again? I must really focus, I am too distracted as of late." Karl tried to meditate to prepare for his big moment. He needed to be sharp as a katana! Of course wielded by a samurai in seiza.
"What is so funny here, am I so funny, huh?" Meanwhile, Riven had his own portion of trouble, the man from the Purple Lotus Sect that had received Riven looked quite upset, because he could tell the rude youngster before him had absolutely no respect for him.
"No, Sir. I really. .. . I really want just some pointers from an Elder. Here is gold." Riven fought back laughter with all his might and hid his face behind a thick sack with gold coins. He had no idea from where had his imagination grabbed the few images of the receptionist doing some extremely weird moves among the flowers on the right, but he had to prevent a political faux pa at all costs.
"Fine, but this will cost you a lot." The man did not calm down much, but clearly decided that thoroughly extracting all the gold from Riven was the right kind of punishment. "As you are our esteemed guest, I will lead you directly to Elder Yen, known also as The Purple Flash."
He quickly grabbed the whole sack and hid it in his robe, while Riven was looking at him, stupefied. He had naturally not intended to use all his gold.
"W-Wait! That is . . . !"
"What is? Is perhaps Elder Yen not smart enough to give you pointers?" The man smiled and Riven saw the trap there. Yen Gon von Kotzchen, aka The Purple Flash was the Sect Leader's wife and Riven knew that his father would strangle him if he caused some situation concerning her.
"Of course, I will be honored to receive her guidance." Riven bowed and nearly cried when he remembered how much gold had been in the sack.
"Perfect, Young Lord Riven. Follow me." The man smiled widely and Riven followed in his steps. He noticed that the man knew him even without introduction and was probably much more experienced in politics than him. He would have never made a move on his own, acting through someone else like his mother was better, but the matter with the circlet was too delicate to involve anyone else.
They walked upstairs and Riven found out that a large part of the roof above the first pan was an opened garden overgrown by purple and blue bushes with a crystal clear pond in the middle . Next to the pond sat a women on a wooden bench, with long purple hair that were elaborately braided. Her eyes were a mix of steel blue and purple and there was no sign of aging on her face, despite Riven knowing that she was quite old.
It was The Purple Flash, one of the reasons that Mezzaiel had to withdraw with his tail between his legs, the single Soul Transformation cultivator of the Purple Lotus Sect.
A fifth stage cultivator!
He hastily took off the hood that he had quickly threw over his head when Karl acted up. It might have been one of the reasons that the receptionist looked at him strangely. The Purple Flash either did not see his hasty action, or did not care at all.
"Come, I have heard that you know the worth of my time. I am at your service young man, for a while." The woman smiled and he honestly could not tell if she was honest or not.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Riven thought that it was a very expensive while, but quickly cleared his thoughts before making some needless mistake.
The sect had most likely multiple people that observed the main building from the shadows and the fact that the woman knew the situation had not surprised him at all. He just hoped that Karl had pulled his mind out of a latrine and was able of coherent thought.
"Slow and steady boy, I am with you." Karl said as if he had been his moral pillar all this time, but killing him would come later, Riven had to focus on Yen.
"Lady Yen Gon." Riven nodded slightly. Considering he was nobility, he did not need to do more. His status was definitely not less than Yen, but he knew how much influence she had at the moment, because she was one of the pillars that the safety of the whole city depended on.
"Speak, what do you want to know." She jumped directly in, not interested in pleasantries at all.
"Stay calm Riven, I have kind of watched her son drown, so we cannot afford mistakes." Karl said and Riven's heart skipped a beat.
"First question. What is the difference between enchantments and cultivation." Karl continued before his bearer lost his composure and Riven immediately redirected the question to the mysterious women sitting in front of him without a second thought.
"Souls shape reality when present. Cultivation is the process of binding soul that can directly shape reality when bound, enchantments do the exact same, except without any will. If I take your soul and imbue it into this bench, the chaotic will inside it will create an abomination. To create an enchantment, the will must be crushed first and an artificial intent is provided with symbols, runes, rituals, whatever you fancy."
"It sounds too easy." Riven mediated again and felt like a parrot. Thankfully, the fifth stage cultivator stayed oblivious to the fact they were two, not one, or chose to stay silent about it.
"It is very easy. The problem is that this world is like a mirror, the souls are not directly present here, you have to first draw them out. Lure them, catch them and bend them to your will."
"With Idols." Karl remarked though Riven.
"Idols!" The Purple Flash laughed.
"That is only the first step. I will tell you a secret. Many Immortals say that even they do not have their souls fully present, no one really knows how many layers of reality are between the true essence of the soul and our world. We only know that what Immortals do is enough to make them immortal. A legend has it that anyone could become an omnipotent god with their true soul fully present. "
"What are the technical steps to make a proper enchantment?" Karl immediately focused on something practical, he knew that theory was nice, but he could deduce theory on his own if he possessed experimental data.
"Ah, a practical man." The Purple Flash smiled, but only slightly.
"Take a rabbit, its stage matters, you want to catch at least a small portion of his soul. Higher stages have it crystalized somewhere, you need that stuff, lower ones don't, you take them whole. You need to know its Mojo to choose good binding material. Using blood, you can trap Bloodthirst Mojo, let's say the rabbit has it. You can cut runes from wood, drench it in blood and then kill the rabbit next to it." He told him like presenting him an ordinary cooking recipe.
"That is it?"
"Of course there are some trade secrets. There are ways to make the transfer more successful, but they are not universal, different for every Mojo. Sometimes even every species. The runes or shapes to use are no secret, the whole procedure used to be secret, but it all leaked out a long time ago. The only troublesome part is will." She bent forward on the bench, looking into the pond.
"Will is trouble. The best scenario is that the rabbit does not leave in the enchantment any lingering will, if it does, the enchantment will distort accordingly. Some people torture animals that are used for offensive enchantments of chaotic nature to get the will more aligned with the enchantment, but I would not recommend it."
"Why? Some ethical concerns?" Karl did not believe it was the reason even as he was having the thought.
The women laughed a little.
"True, some ethical concerns. By torturing the animals, you can draw out their will, but, playing this way with wills is the strong point of demonic cultivators and you know how they often end."
Karl did not need to ask anything, because Riven's clueless expression asked in his stead.
"By doing the torture, you can bend and shape weaker wills, but sometimes you might reinforce the original will instead and step up into a higher game. One friend of mine used to say animals are just deeply sleeping demons and humans forgotten gods. I am not a religious person, but even I have observed that wills have a peculiar connection to divinity, mess with a soul's will enough and you might end up in a really bad situation. The safest approach is to simply discard those that are too lively."
"But If you rob someone, you mess with his will quite a lot and nothing supernatural ever happens." Karl asked and The Purple Flash shook her head.
"Are you sure? And even if what you say is absolutely true, you forget that during enchanting, the vessel is not fixed. You stand over there and your soul is directly fixated onto your vessel, it manifests through it. During enchantment, you are destroying the old vessel while trying to provide a material that resonates with Mojo, meaning you are attempting to draw out a purer version of the soul, providing a better vessel. It is like asking the bets to be raised compared to the original reality." She threw some seed Karl had not even noticed she had in her hand in the direction of the pond and when the seed fell onto the surface, a tiny fish broke the surface briefly, snatching it.
"I am not even starting to talk about foreign entities, or demons, that is another reason why you should cancel the enchanting process when you sense that the will is too strong or just acts suspiciously. Enchantments look very powerful, but making strong ones is risky and costly. You have to also remember that enchantments tend to interfere with each other. It is easy to shield yourself against the basic ones."
"So, to make a strong enchantment, the main ingredient is a strong soul with little will." Karl summed up his understanding.
"Yes, but those two conditions tend to contradict each other. There are even cases when an abomination is created after the enchantment has been successfully made."
"How was the city's enchantment sabotaged?" Karl's curiosity pushed further.
"Details on that are top secret, but I can tell you a little. City's wall foundations had been used as a part of the original enchantment. Someone had undermined a significant part, distorting the inscribed intent. It was a flawed concept, but no one had expected that the enemy would bother to dig up a huge network of tunnels all around the city. "
"The tunnel even flooded with. . ." She paused and closed her eyes for some reason, there appeared a strange sensation all around her. Karl could not put his finger on what it was, but it was unpleasant.
Karl wanted to be somewhere else, he began to feel unwell.
"Fine, that has been enough. Have a nice day." The Purple Flash leaned back into the bench, not bothering to say anymore, her eyes still closed.
"Get out! Out! Now! Turn around and walk away quickly! No, slowly! Do not even think about it, do not think about it." Karl muttered chaotically, while pressuring Riven to leave, even though the youth thought that he had paid more than enough to have more questions answered. However, he decided to leave when he considered Karl's state.
"What is with you today? What happened?" The Young Lord Riven asked when they finally left the main pagoda, having answered less questions than he had paid for.
"No thinking, no thinking, leave now, no detours." Karl was paranoid and imagined that everyone could hear his thoughts. What if someone really was able to like Riven? He knew very well about whom the woman talked and did not wish to become public enemy number one.
Back atop of the pagoda's roof, two beautiful eyes finally shot open, purple flames burning in them instead of pupils, the flame slowly flowing out of those terrifying eyes. The person stood up and a purple mist began swirling around her and everything that touched it, died. The bench she had been sitting on groaned and bent into a lump of dead wood, the grass around her turned purplish black, clearly dead. The purple cloud touched the pond and the fish who had not long ago enjoyed the seed floated belly up, looking sickly, its necrotic flesh falling off its bones.
"The tunnels flooded with sewer water, drowning the body of my beautiful boy in shit." She finally finished the sentence, her face distorted with rage. Not long after, she stormed through the entrance of the pagoda in the direction of the underground maze. There had to be a clue and she would find it, however long it took.
* * * *
As usual in similar situations, Karl decided to tell Riven that the secret was too dangerous and kept silent about his role in the death of Zhan Gon who unfortunately was Yen's son. How could he not know? He had seen them in the graveyard standing together where the relatives of the deceased always stood. Worse, if the man had not said anyone about his solitary oath to Heaven, he was the only one who knew the real reason of his death.
It was of course the oath!
Some people might say that it was the unwillingness of a particular dark gem to save the drowning man, but Karl refused. If he replayed the whole incident in his head while replacing his former broken self with the original sword that he had conveniently threw on top of the mausoleum, the man would have certainly died.
After all, he was on his way to kill Mezzaiel, alone. The only scenario of him surviving was if he ended up joining the cult, but that was impossible because of his oath to Heaven.
"Whatever, even if I am not wrong it will be better if no one knows anyway. " Karl summed up his thoughts and focused on a loud roar that suddenly came from the direction of the woods.
Thank the Heavens for the interruption! He was sure that Riven was about to give him an earful about all his gold spent with only a limited result.
"What was that?" Riven asked him, startled by the unusual sound. At first, it was just a loud roar, but it strangely morphed into an unpleasant screech. Karl had no idea what kind of animal could have possibly made it.
They were already close to the fort and had seen a great commotion happening there.
"Something is amiss." Riven began running, wanting to know the situation.
"Do not close the gate idiot! The farmers are all still out there! " A man in custom made, shining leather armor smacked the head of one of the soldiers and looked at them with a frown. "Finally, where have you been? Get inside!"
"Get inside!" Karl had said almost at the same time as Lord Riven.
Riven wanted to protest, but yielded under the double barrage and walked inside the fort followed by the haunting screech.
"Are there windows?" Karl immediately asked and received a disdainful scoff from his carrier that shot up the stairs with the speed that left Karl's stomach in an another dimension, permanently.
"Nothing new." He thought weakly while failing to follow the scenery around him, yet it had not taken to much time before they stood inside some kind of a tower, looking through a very narrow window
He thanked again his luck that the Lord lived in a fort, not in a mansion.
Along with Riven, Karl saw how the trees far in the distance fell to the sides and a monstrosity appeared stepping onto the first field. It was exactly the farm on which they had left their horse, when they adventured through the forest.
"Give me that! Too greedy!" Karl shouted when he saw that Riven was looking through some sort of a glass that lay nearby. Surely a magnification glass. Riven had not given up the instrument at first, but later with a horrified expression lifted his hand up, enabling Karl to have a glimpse of the thing.
"What a nasty rabbit!" Karl stared through the glass with unease.
Even from the distance, he could tell that the creature was several meters tall and it looked like a mutated white rabbit walking on his hind legs. Even though the monster reminded him of a rabbit, there was nothing from the fluffiness of the little creature. Its face was distorted and the two yellow teeth sticking from its mouth were good half meter long. Its fur was dirty with patches of blood on it, clearly not belonging to it and its paws ended with long claws. As if it was not enough, the monstrous rabbit suddenly jumped and the whole are about it stirred.
With a tremor that was even visible, the abomination launched itself forward with incredible speed that was definitely unnatural even for a cultivator.
"Damn it, that is Domain! The abomination is at Soul Binding Stage and seems to have Swiftness Domain! The village is in trouble!" Riven stared in horror as the monster was nearing the first village with incredible speed and the few accidentally present soldiers who tried to counter it had been pushed aside and crushed like paper figurines. The horror had not yet sunk in into Riven's brain, when he noticed a few horses racing from the direction of the fort to meet the terrifying abomination. One of the horses in particular was very fast and it seemed the stallion would be able to meet the monster even before it reach the village where the villagers were just having a late lunch.
"Father!" Riven recognized the horse and shouted, nearly snapping his vocal chords.
For Karl, the time stopped, as there was a crucial decision to make.
"Damn it all." He made it in a second.
"Throw me there!" Karl roared with his thoughts at Riven who failed to react, his eyes glued at the road leading to the forest.
"What the fuck are you waiting for? Throw me!"
"But how. . ?"
"Trust me and just throw!" Riven did not wait anymore and swiftly flung his steel circlet through the narrow space of the window in the direction of the road, he himself running down the stairs, barreling through all the maids and servants that tried to stop him, surely ordered by his father.
Despite his heroic efforts, the mob of servants was too numerous and many people ended up rolling on the floor while holding onto Riven. It was obvious that the Young Lord's assault on the abomination would not get further than past the stairs of their fort and he could only hope that the plan of the wise Elder was not just another of his scams.
"I am high, chances are good." Meanwhile, Karl quickly called his status while soaring through the sky.
Karl Gulden
Level 2 Dungeon Core
Mana Regeneration - 100/s
Spells- [Dig], [Build]
Summons- [Skeleton(Ash) 5/s], [Eagle(Grace) 50/s], [Blue Swallow(Wings) 5/s]
[Experience 93/1000]
In a mind bending swirl of colors and space, a majestic bird appeared and gripped Karl into its razor sharp talons.
"Carrier down, F sixteen Eagle on target. Launch missiles!" Karl flew quickly in the direction of the Abomination while summoning a second eagle that join him in the assault.
"To the beak, man. We will strike with talons." Karl's intent had been transmitted and the bird carrying him freed its talons for the upcoming coordinated attack. Karl blinked in the direction of the charging Lord Riven that astonishingly was not far from the rabbit monstrosity. There was a long spear in his hand that for now was held up in Karl's direction, his equipment was obviously custom, not influence by the batch of faulty weapons.
"One from the front, a suicidal strike from above. Second from the back." Karl repeated his strategy in his mind. He was naturally much quicker than the Lord and was soon descending in a diving attack.
"Maximum speed, it is in your talons now my noble birds." He was somewhat resistant to his motion sickness already, but the dive was too much and he could not see anything.
The first bird hit in a suicidal strike and the long right ear and eye of the abomination exploded in a rain of blood. It had to be said that the eagle was not an ordinary animal and it attacked without holding anything back and without any intention of landing or saving itself from irreversible damage.
The rabbit abomination screeched with pain and a paw swiped with reflex in Karl's direction, obliterating the eagle with ease, turning the bird into a mix of blood and feathers.
"My wife." Karl whispered inside his mind, breathless, when he saw his circle divide and bent under the heavy strike of the abomination. A cruel wake up call from his motion sickness.
The second eagle hit a second later, but the abomination had the Swiftness Mojo and had not failed to dodge the already expected attack from the air. A second cloud of feathers with gore signified the death of the second graceful bird.
"Why Grace? Couldn't they have something more useful?!" Karl despaired, but his despair turned into sheer terror when he noticed that the remaining red eye flashed in his direction.
"Men of steel!" Karl heard a roar from behind and the monster dodged a spear that closely missed its head and slammed a charging horse with its paw in the contest of strength. The abomination was definitely stronger and heavier, but the charge carried and incredible amount of energy and the confrontation ended by both the contestants standing still, horse and monster. That of course did not apply for the Lord who was catapulted from his saddle and flew over the furry head of the monster, slamming his back against the ground a dozen meters further.
Karl heard that the monster's paw cracked slightly, but it did not mind it at all. As for the horse, it had to had half of its bones shattered by being stopped instantly from the heavy charge.
"The situation does not look good." Karl was reluctant to even see his status, because he was sure that only mundane animals would be there with all the birds missing, as he was no longer high in the air.
Karl Gulden
Level 2 Dungeon Core
Mana Regeneration - 100/s
Spells- [Dig], [Build]
Summons- [Skeleton(Decay) 5/s], [Fox(Fur) 50/s], [Elemental(Earth) 50/s], [Mechatron Remnant(Magnetism) 50/s]
[Experience 93/1000]
"Good, let's gamble then. I have revealed myself already here anyway." Karl selected the last option while still lightheaded from the clash.
The air in front of him distorted, like there was an error in this world's graphic card and a three meter high knight appeared. No, it was probably some kind of a robotized entity that looked like it, its left hand holding a broad sword and its right aiming at the Abomination with what looked like an automatic rifle.
"Am I hallucinating?" Karl heard a typical barking of a high caliber automatic weapon a second later and realized that he was not dreaming.
Unfortunately, the Abomination's Swiftness attribute proved that it was not just for show and the monster had somehow managed to avoid all the bullets except of one that tore off its remaining ear. With air shimmering in its vicinity, the terrifying rabbit dodged almost all the bullets and Karl had a feeling that he was inside a parody of a particular movie. A swift kick ended the whole spectacle and Karl's futuristic monster turned into scrap metal before it disappeared.
"Damn rabbit! Die already!" This time he summoned two of the otherworldly knights.
"Do something! You have a Mojo too, right?! Use it!" Karl almost shrieked out inside his little black gem, because the nightmarish rabbit stared at him again with its single eye and he could tell that it realized who was the mastermind.
Again, heavy fire had been unleashed and the abomination repeated its unnatural moves while the space around it trembled. However, when its extremely fast movement stopped and it paused in its tracks, the confrontation did not end by the disassembly of Karl's minions this time. The abomination was full of holes, good third of all the bullets found their target and despite all its might and speed, even it could not withstand a full clip from the heavy guns.
It fell, coloring the grass red. Dead without a single twitch.
"I see, Magnetism can curve the trajectories." Karl had immediately guessed what had happened and saw that Lord Riven was arduously lifting his body from the ground.
Thankfully, he seemed to be somehow alright.
The people of the nearby village peeked from under the imagined protection of their wooden window frames, mesmerized by the incredible spectacle they had just witnessed, when someone asked an unpleasant question everyone had in his heart.
"Is there more?"
* * * *
"Had our spy really died? Someone helped us from the inside. What was supposed to be just a probing strike had nearly killed the old geezer." A burly man with fiery red, long hair sat on the throne out of polished bones laughing loudly and the people around him followed his example. His clothes was black with red patterns and one burned sleeve. At his waist hung a sword, richly decorated with gold and his smile filled the surrounding people with fear, despite their laughter and joy.
His name was Mezzaiel, the Lord of the local demonic cult that terrorized the regions far and wide.
"What a shame!" One of the more courageous captains with a necklace made of white teeth called out.
"Go and find who did that. That was an advanced use of Earth Mojo and judging from some places, the one who did it had to work underwater as well." The imposing man ordered and immediately, there was a commotion among his subordinates.
"What do you mean Lord Mezzaiel?" One of his close aids that was obviously trying to copy his hairstyle asked.
"We might have a rare cultivator on our side. Maybe even Mudslide or dual Water and Earth?"
"Is he really that important?" One of the more insane cultists dared to question the Lord's word and some others deceptively walked further away from him.
"Not really, but he dug out a lot. It is someone very stable, I can use someone like that in this nest of lunatics." Everyone was silent, thinking that the Lord himself was probably the greatest lunatic of them all.
"What plan of attack should we prepare? Have you decided, Lord Mezzaiel?" The man with the necklace looked down at his chest, as if thinking how to incorporate future new teeth into his already full pride and joy.
"Of course we will go from the side. The Thunder God Sect is gone, where else dummy? Commence the attack as soon as our pets are ready. Play thoroughly with them for this one, I want them enraged!"
"ENRAGED!" Mezzaiel roared the word once more and laughed afterwards.
"Of course, My Lord! It will be done as you say." The copycat bowed several times and people burst into activity while leaving their ruler alone. No one wanted to spend too much time with him to avoid unexpected accidents that might happen.
* * * *
"Nice to meet you Riven, but this was too much. Let's meet again in better times." Karl almost had to push back a tear. It was clear that after he had unleashed his space marines on the cultivation world, it would be very silly to think that no one had noticed.
A pair of Earth Elementals appeared and began drilling down, taking Karl with them. Only down until the earth would start melting, as he would not be able to escape if he had delayed for even a second. Before the world of the surface closed itself before him, he saw Lord Riven standing up almost as if nothing had happened.
"Huh, he is not a Lord for nothing I guess." Karl was glad that his big reveal was not meaningless.
He hoped that his abilities were not significant enough to grab The Immortal's attention. Despite digging for a good while, he had not spotted any pursuers following him, only a strange purple hue that descended and enveloped him for a while, before he clearly got out of range of whatever it was.
He escaped! There were many scenarios that could unfold up on the surface, but he was sure that he had done what he could anyway. If there were dozens of the creatures attacking the Orlov region, the place was doomed anyway, with or without his help. He had done what little he could and planned to visit the Riven family later when everything calmed down. He hoped that the city was competent enough to provide reinforcements after the initial surprise attack
For the moment, Karl had to dig deep enough to discourage even the most crazy people from following him into the partially collapsed hole he had created and then resurface somewhere else, or not. He had gained some level of knowledge and wanted to hunt animals for experience for some time and experiment with enchanting later. From the point of view of a cultivator, the time of treasure hunting was over for the time and the period of training and cultivation was looming ahead.
Well, he wondered if he perhaps could cultivate himself?
He looked forward to all the experimentation he would do. Within reasonable bounds of course.
He was again embraced by the emptiness from before, but it was not the same. His dungeon side did not seem to mind long periods of waiting and loneliness and his human part was looking forward when he would visit the Orlov region again in the future.
"I need to look into the city too at that point." After a considerable while, his conscience did not let him just simply leave without knowing the crisis' outcome and he ordered one of the Earth Elementals to travel back up and see what was happening. He focused on the minion going up while he himself kept going further down and after some time, he noticed that he was actually able to see as if he was with his servant. His perception though his minion was not as sharp as the one he originally had, but it was still enough to see a crowd of people when the earthen figure finally reached the top.
Karl saw purple mist circling in a wide range around the point of his disappearance and could tell who it was when the purple materialized into a person that walked quickly to the nearby village. With that knowledge, he was sure his escape was justified. He did not care about the vengeful cultivator anymore and looked at others present, a figure of a man that stood above the carcass of a horse with a frown, a crowd of fatigued men in military uniforms that obviously had just caught to the people who participated in the incident and a dead body of a hideous rabbit monster that fortunately had no other buddies to join its assault. The next second, everyone locked their eyes at the Earth Elemental that fell to the ground, crumbling into dust even before some of them were able to assume a fighting stance.
Karl managed to find out what he had intended. The assault did not continue and the rabbit incident was probably just an accident. In addition, he could no longer return to the region at the moment with The Purple Flash snooping around. Some people might count it as defeat, but Karl did not, given his new perspective. He was immortal and time had no meaning for him. He could very well visit Riven's grandchildren when he had time later, letting the blade of time and oblivion cut down all his possible enemies. However, it was probably an unnecessary measure and he would be able to visit much sooner.
"Well, I need to rely on my strengths." He thought smugly and then something snapped and he began falling down.
"What is happening? I should be deep underground!" Karl could not fathom what was happening to him before an unexpected view opened up before him.
A flash and then, total darkness.
It was nothing new, because he could not see much anyway, but he had a feeling that this darkness was too deep to the point it was unnatural. He also lost connection with his minions for some reason and the only fact he was able to tell about his surroundings was that he stopped moving. He thought that his motion sickness was at least good for something this time around. However, all the humorous thoughts had all but evaporated from his mind when he was able to confirm that he was not able to see anything, hear anything and was even unable to display his status to summon any of his servants.
For some reason, he was totally stuck.
"Hey, this is no joke!" A foreboding chill went though his crystalline self when he realized the seriousness of the situation he was in.
"I need to move, The Purple Flash might be able to find me!" He was freaking out about the inconvenience of his situation, but it changed nothing. He still continued to be unable to move or sense anything around him no matter what he did. Being cut off from all sensations, he began to feel a coming panic attack that threatened to overtake his faculties.
"No, focus! What can I do?" He tried to make sense of the situation, but was unable to. With time he persuaded himself that waiting for a while should provide him with some clues and he started counting to kill time.
At first, counting seemed like a good idea, but only until he had reached numbers he would rather forget. He decided to hold onto his sanity and count on, but he could no longer stand it when he had reached number thirty thousand.
"What is going on?! Can you hear me? Anyone!" However, all seemed to have already forgotten about him and he continued to experience the impeccable nothingness around him, unable to do anything, or even make sense of his situation.