Master Wang likes to use his body. Maybe a little too much. He's a martial artist who doesn't use a weapon because his body is the weapon. Decades of tempering are now being used for a single purpose.

Open heart surgery.

He uses a single finger as a scalpel, cutting open my torso as I lay on the tatami mats of his dojo. I asked if we should go to the onsight infirmary, but he refused.

My ribcage is visible as my chest has been opened like a tome. The 'pages' revealed as the 'covers' lay to each side. With a punch I couldn't see or react to, he shattered my sternum and picked out the strands of bone.

It hurts less than I expected.

His hands move my lungs aside as he grasps my nondominant heart. This isn't the first time he's touched my heart and not the first time he removed one of my hearts. He needed one to augment in the first place.

Master Wang doesn't use the scalpel finger technique. He rips the organ out of my body and tosses it aside. I hear it splat against the floor. A trail of blood follows it through the air before hitting the ground like rain. The mats of the dojo are further stained with blood.

The cookware is opened, and the transplant is haphazardly placed in my chest cavity, replacing the old heart.

"Disciple, use your second heart skill and synergize it with your healing one."

I do as he says. Instead of a new heart growing, the transplant starts to take hold. I can feel it connect to my circulatory system. I can feel it take root in my body. Master Wang is also doing something, holding his hands over my open chest cavity. I can't tell if it's actually doing anything.

I feel the effects instantly as soon as the connection holds. My health skyrockets as it begins to pump furiously. My veins bulge as my body heats up. Master Wang casually flicks his hands clean of blood as he leaves me on the ground.

Master Wang isn't one for post-surgery care. He could've at least closed me up. I struggle to flip the flaps of meat back over my chest. Not because the surgery made me weak but because it's hard to control my body as it feels like a river is rampaging through my vessels.

Without my resistance, I swear that my other heart would've exploded.

Regardless, I close myself and heal until I'm out of mana. My body slowly adapts to my rampaging heart. As I dress myself, I get an unexpected notification.

[The martial skill [Second Heart can become a standalone skill and be upgraded.

Requirements:

Unknown: Not completed

Skills that effect the heart: 4/5 (Not Completed)

Have a Healthpoint status of one hundred times your level: 14,504/10,000 (Completed)]

"Mas-" As I call out for Master Wang, I spot Rain. She locks eyes at me. I realize she has my discarded heart in her hand. It's still beating and staining her fingers red. No one in that family wears gloves, I guess.

"Don't say anything."

"Are you going to get me engaged with that thing?"

"...what? No, I had a more nefarious idea involving a blood generator so I could mass-produce my special V-healing potions so we could have a steady influx of - albeit - 'watered' down potions. V for Vincere. I named the potions after you since a little bit of you is in every bottle."

"Do I own your business yet?"

"It's strictly a partnership."

"Alright. Can you get Master Wang for me?"

"I'm busy."

"Flash Gordon, can you go get him?"

My beast (Duchess) doesn't like it when I get experimental procedures done on myself. Although she's busy trying to clean her bloodline, she still has time before the surgery to telepathically tell me that I shouldn't do stupid things. While she and my other beasts are training in the mansion, I elected for Flash Gordon to watch over me.

My legs are exploding with pins and needles, and Flash Gordon doesn't move from his spot. I pick him up, just like I always do, and throw him out of the room in the direction Master Wang left.

Flash Gordon curves himself around the doorframe and down the hallway. Seconds later, Master Wang bursts into the room, holding Flash Gordon and looking at me like I pelted him with a stone.

"Master Wang, The system tells me I can upgrade [Second Heart] into a standalone skill. What should I do?"

"Your rock." He tosses Flash Gordon at me. Flash Gordon brakes midair and lands next to me.

"It says I need five 'heart' skills, and I only have four."

My first heart skill is obviously [Second Heart]. Then I have the new [Enhance Vigor] I got from a heart. Then [Beating Heart] which is an item skill from my Gi.

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[Beating Heart B:

Increase cardiovascular health. It lets the body heal at a faster rate. The wearer cannot die from mundane blood loss.

Natural Health Regeneration: +100%]

Doesn't seem to synergize well with my other skills since [Second Heart]'s passive regeneration makes the skill's bonus redundant unless I'm missing a heart.

I can't pinpoint the last skill... Unless it's not a skill. The system might consider the forbidden fruit as something that affects my heart. That back alley vampire surgeon shares that sentiment as he seemed to recognize something different or exalted about my heart.

"If you want to augment my martial arts, you must do it yourself. Since you decided to catch my attention and ask me about one of the arts I created, you must be itching to show off your skills, right disciple?"

"Uh-"

"It's been a while since you showed off your progress. I hope for your sake that you've gotten better."

"Wait!"

Master Wang cracks his knuckles and declares, "I'm coming."

There was more blood spilled following the next hour than the heart surgery. I can feel so much more vitality flowing through me, but all that does is make me a better punching bag. Master Wang brutally breaks down my body.

His attacks never increase my resistance stats since he's so precise. I could scream, "Hit me harder," to get some benefits, but my conscious doesn't let me. I'd become less of a person if I let myself get that far.

"If your martial arts aren't at least rank B before the bout with the Ken family or the next time I see you here, I'm beating you until you're crippled. You probably can walk it off, but that doesn't allow you to slack."

I can't answer. I'm sprawled on the ground, limbs limp and bleeding from every hole in my face. Master Wang walks off as I wait for my health to tick up before entering the mansion.

I know what I'm focusing on while waiting for the fracture to arrive. I'll sneak out of Master Wang's estate at night after he falls asleep.

I've been putting off obtaining more skills since it makes it harder to rank up my martial arts. All my skills must undergo a certain amount of training before the overall martial arts skill can get stronger.

[Path of the Broken Body C lv5]. I need to gain one more level to reach rank B.

~~~

[Broken Blood], a skill where I sacrifice health for mana, should already meet the training requirement since I use it often. Same with [Martyr] and [Second Heart]. Besides [Second Heart], all my passives skills must be trained, as well as [Cross-Counter] and [Battered Bones].

I see a lot of pain in my future.

The [Broken Body] martial art doesn't prioritize 'normal' training as much as more 'traditional' or 'orthodox' styles do. I quite literally have to break myself down and build myself back up. I'm assuming Master Wang brutally beating me was his way of jumpstarting my training.

I hope.

I get Rain to send me a shipment of toxins and corrosive materials over my court skill so I can train three passive skills simultaneously. [Corrisive Metabalism], [Broken Liver], and [Iron Hide].

The first skill lets me consume practically anything, although that doesn't mean I won't die from drinking poison. The second skill allows me to drink poison or ruin my liver, so potions/poisons affect me harder. The third needs me to temper my skin with my own blood. I added some acids and other random shit, so it'll work faster.

I eyeballed the measurements, but I'll be alright. While using [Battered Bones] to repeatedly break my bones so they could heal, I spent a few days eating, drinking, and bathing. It sounds nice, but what I'm eating, drinking, and bathing in shouldn't go anywhere near people.

Two resistances managed to increase, at least.

[Resistance: Acid 530 > 600 (700)]

[Resistance: Poison: 530 > 600 (700)]

The last point from 599 to 600 was the hardest to gain. All I need to do is use [Cross-Counter] - my only actual attacking skill from the [Broken Body] martial art - enough times.

Free Chains already brought the fracture to me. Sitting in front of me is a strikingly similar ebony skull, the same one found in my trophy room. I'll think of the implications later. For now, let's put it in my [Crossroads].

And I do just that.

[Crossroads

Doorways Open: 2

Doorways Available: 998]

A normal-looking door replaces the empty doorframe. The door changes color as it's dyed the same color as the sickly miasma that engulfs the entire fracture. Bones grow from the wood mimicking the formation of a ribcage. They look as if they are strangling the door.

The doorknob is replaced with an eerie skull made out of silvery metal. I open the door and lead the way for my beasts. Khan will have to stay near me so I can [Martyr] the effects of the miasma.

We'll find better bones for Rob's undead chimerism and magic items like the [Skeleton Gloves] or rare materials from undead creatures. Rob can gain more land while we feast on an 'Endless' buffet of experience.

I'll limit how long we stay here since the outside world shouldn't be ignored. "Any suggestions, a day, a week?"

[Thisss one recommends that we do not constraint ourselves on time, but the distance traveled. The skeleton should conquer up to the tenth zone, minimum.]

The undead there should be averaging level 100... That wouldn't be hard. The transition over was smoother than I was used to. Both times I entered this fracture previously, it strained my body to no end. I breathe in the air of death and stretch my limbs.

I check Rob's stats to ensure I recall one of his skills correctly.

[Graveyard Lordship A

The user has authority in their lands. The lord can take over [necropoleis] with force or diplomacy, adding that territory to their own. The user gets a special bonus due to their lordship over [necropoleis].

Can collect taxes from the 'citizens' and impose laws.

Can manipulate the terrain within their borders.

Increase the durability, health, and regeneration of the lord by 100%]

[Can collect taxes from the 'citizens' and impose laws.]

That's the stuff. We don't need to run around to collect goodies. Rob can get his 'citizens' to do it for us via tax, and we can focus on gaining more land. Rob enacts my plan without pause. He clacks his jaw at a group of low-level skeletons, and they stumble over to him. Rob uses large gestures and jaw sounds to communicate with the undead. Rob finishes his 'speech,' and the undead head off.

This sight repeats until we reach the border of Rob's territory. Sector three, four, and five was conquered quickly. Except for the boss, no undead was above level thirty, forty, and fifty, respectively. We don't involve ourselves with Rob's succession fights, allowing him to take on the 'undead lords' by himself.

Skeleton vermin, skeletons with varied weapons, and more types of undead are being slaughtered. The lord of the fifth sector was a creature with a simple name. [Skeleton Warrior]. A skeleton clad with armor and wielding a sword. It was the boss of its sector, the only one with noticeable combat intelligence besides the [Skeleton Champion]-that caused me trouble months ago. It fell to Rob's shovel.

They are a common enemy in the sixth sector. Their boss was a skeleton who knew how to use a bow. They fired arrows made of bone that could easily pierce the armor the [Skeleton Warrior]s wore. It fell to Rob's shovel.

The seventh sector was different, for it was the first instance a skeleton used magic.