“Ryu… you also mentioned that you can produce all four basic elements and fuse them?” Na’Vi asked slowly.

“I can fuse most of them, as long as I know the method I can do it.” Ryu answered as he produced the elements. Rocks formed around Ryu from thin air. Then a streak of red flames spun around him. A clear stream of water appeared next. Lastly a gust of wind enveloped Ryu. Without stopping steel, magma, ice, quagmire, electricity and even death Qi slowly appeared alongside Ryu.

“Amazing… if I am correct, there are no skills he cannot learn. Even the Forgotten Professions should be possible.” Na’Vi said in praise. His masters were just speechless, the possibilities they were imagining were endless.

“Master Vi, although this tome is far too mysterious and sentient to be a soul weapon. Nor does it sound like a spirit. Perhaps it’s a cross of the two? As the High Priest, you are most knowledgeable in their repairs. Could you instruct little Ryu on how to use my essence to repair his tome?” Na’Vi asked.

“Your majesty! That’s-” Cao’Po’Li shouted out, he was clearly against it.

“I don’t want to hear anything from you Master Cao, my soul was the strongest so naturally my essence is too. If we do perish, we’ll do so together. Right now it has dropped to peak Saint Level which is enough to last for a few million years still.” Na’Vi said firmly.

“My lord, without my real body to inspect his soul or souls to be accurate… I am not sure I can be of much guidance. I believe our best bet is to let him establish his specializations through a second tome and possibility use that to heal the Infinity Tome and us.” Vi’Ta’En said with a bow. Ryu’s eyes brightened up and he agreed to help them out instantly.

“Hmm… it doesn’t hurt to try. Ryu, throughout history I don’t think anyone has any idea what the scared rocks are for. It is theorized that there is one or two sacred domes in each continent. These domes are mysterious beyond belief. Not only are they indestructible, they also contain ancient writings that is so old that there’s no record of them. As you saw in my memory, even when I summoned the Great Spirit that could easily annihilate a city, the dome contained the impact. In each dome, there is a floating rock that serves no purpose as far as we could tell but it could never be moved. Perhaps they were waiting for their rightful master. Don’t be scared, you can take these rocks. As for how that gauntlet the intruder from the Dark Continent used could dislodge it, I have no idea.” Na’Vi said gently. He waved his hand towards the two rocks lying beside them.

“Thank you your majesty. I’ll do everything I can to save you guys.” Ryu said sincerely as he walked towards the rocks. He felt excited and scared at the same time. Will another tome appear or what?

Just as Ryu was inches away from the rocks, the two objects exploded with white lights. The light overwhelmed everything present and entered Ryu’s body through his chest. He could feel powerful streams of energy flowing through his body. Control of his body was lost and he an unknown force lifted him into the air. This time he was conscious, he could feel that within the depths of his body two Qi reservoirs was forming. There was no pain associated with the process, it just felt extremely eerie to him. He could feel something growing within him. He was blinded by the lights and could no longer see the prince or the elders from the Sky Continent. Without knowing how much time had passed, he just carefully observed the process of the two new Qi reservoir’s formation.

Suddenly with a light flop, Ryu landed on the ground. Instantly he looked around and yelled out in shock. Two more tomes were floating above him! He was prepared for this possibility but he’s still stunned nonetheless. The covers were white and purple respectively. Each had their own unique symbols, different from his original tome. Looking downwards, he saw that his original tome still had no glow and floated near his feet.

“Are you trying to blind us?” Cao’Po’Li yelled out with disdain after the lights dissipated.

“I take it the process was a success?” Na’Vi asked. Obviously they couldn’t see the tomes. Ryu lightly nodded as he stood up.

“Ryu as mentioned before, this Astral Spirit Temple is a scared treasure handed down from our ancestors. It has the ability to speed up and slow down time to the point of suspending it. You might not know this but essences are formed when one reaches level 70. The spirit power or Qi as you call it, will transform into a gaseous core. This way even if you physical body perish, you can live on. Later on that gaseous core will consolidate into a crystal after you have gone through your first Rebirth. We separated from our bodies to escape death. A damaged body will keep losing Qi, especially a poisoned one like mine. Our bodies are in a suspended state due to the Astral Spirit Temple. Essences allows one to live as spirits indefinitely until their Qi runs out. Essences can be embedded into items but their spirit will be gone and will no longer be able to communicate anymore. If our bodies are healed… it is possible for us to fuse the essences back to our bodies. As you absorb a part of my essence, my spirit projection cannot come out. I wish you best of luck.” Na’Vi’s projection vanished as he finished speaking. The largest essence in the middle of the coffins released a tiny spark that flew directly in front of Ryu.

Ryu gasped as he touched the speck of essence. The sheer amount of Qi contained made him feel like an ant in front of an elephant. However, as someone who can make Qi dance to his tunes he wasn’t too intimidated. Holding the bit of essence in both hand, he focused and used the profound cultivation method he had developed to absorb it. Although Na’Vi’s Qi was refined and pure, it was still different from Ryu’s own Qi so Ryu has to refine it once again. The reason why Ryu could accept Qi from a source that’s many domains higher is because it’s from an essence, not raw Qi. An essence is like a guaranteed power up but the problem is that it takes a long time to absorb. Also essences are infinitely harder to refine so a lot of it is actually wasted during absorption. Not only that after you absorb an essence, your Qi reservoir will be morphed into the characteristics of the essence so your future cultivation will be impacted greatly. In all three cases, Ryu’s profound filtering cultivation method and his natural Qi abilities prevent the negative side-effects because he’s actually making the essence’s Qi his own.

Using Wudang’s concept of Yin and Yang, he used his own Qi to negate any impurities. The impurities then go into an endless and complex cycle of filtrations that will eventually convert all the Qi that should’ve been wasted into his own. However, the tricky part was now that there’s four Qi reservoirs within him! One was his own to begin with and three were from the different tomes. As Ryu cultivated, he realized that his Qi channels end points has been slightly altered once again. Before he could control which Qi reservoir receives the incoming Qi, now it seems as if they are pouring equally into the two new ones which are both at level 1. Carefully observing the flow of Qi, it’s as if the incoming Qi is spontaneously moving towards the region of low quality Qi. Does that mean I can’t advance in my first two Qi reservoirs until these two catch up? Ryu wondered to himself.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

In a few minutes Ryu’s two new reservoirs skyrocketed to level 20. Vi’Ta’En and Cao’Po’Li couldn’t sense the additional Qi reservoirs from the tomes. They could only sense Ryu’s original reservoir which is at level 50. However, they can see the rate at which the essence is getting absorbed, although it’s just a tiny spec it’s from a peak Saint Level essence! This was an impossible absorption rate. Soon the spec of essence got completely devoured and another spec shot out from the main crystal.

Contrary to their expectations, Ryu had an ugly expression on his face. They expected Ryu to be happy with this extremely fast absorption rate. An ordinary person might take years to do the same thing. Why was Ryu upset? He found that within two new reservoir contained the same seeds that was in his second reservoir! They were devouring roughly half of the incoming Qi at the moment but Ryu knew that as he levels up, they’ll devour more. The new tomes grew bigger and brighter as he leveled up.

Ryu took a break after he reached level 30 to test out the abilities of the tomes. Sure enough they held the same abilities. He could store items and his memory capacity expended greatly, even more so than before since he has two tomes aiding him. It’s as if he’s thinking so fast that the world around him slowed down. Vi’Ta’En and Cao’Po’Li dropped their jaws as they saw Ryu store random items away out of thin air. The three of them were powering the Astral Spirit Temple with their essences so they all had complete control over what happens inside but they can’t sense how the items got stored by the tomes. Ryu quickly went back to cultivating.

As he reached level 39 in his new Qi reservoirs, he politely informed them. Na’Vi’s projection appeared once again. They were eager to see Ryu’s results. The skill Ryu tried to establish was healing physical injuries. However, after a few hours of trying Ryu couldn’t establish his specialization and actually suffered from a few backlashes. This was a new experience for him since he never failed in establishing his past specializations.

“What is different about these tomes?” Cao’Po’Li asked impatiently. Ryu told them the physical differences. The first tome was gold and the latest ones were white and purple. The symbols were also different on the covers.

“Here, take this memory crystal. See if you can find the symbols here. Our historians have studied many ancient ruins and have long tried to decipher what the text in the sacred domes meant. Although we can’t be sure but these are the deciphered words.” Vi’Ta’En said as a crystal from the pile of treasures flew towards Ryu.

“The word on my first tome is judgment or law. The white tome could mean life. The purple tome’s symbols aren’t in the records.” Ryu said after injecting his Qi into the crystal and browsing through them.

“Interesting… maybe the reason why your first Absolute Agreement went through is because it falls under judgment or law category.” Na’Vi said slowly as he thought about it.

“Perhaps the condition of healing a half dead body is too much even for these magical tomes. Since he can stack specializations above each other, why not use the second or third one to heal us?” Vi’Ta’En suggested. Everyone instantly agreed.

The problem is that what should Ryu’s specializations be now? If Na’Vi’s theory was correct then there is still some hope because one of the tome is under the life category. However, the other one was unidentified and Ryu could spend quite a long time guessing what specialization to contract with it. Now that his Qi reservoirs has been arranged in a unique way, the incoming Qi will always go to the weakest reservoirs first. He’ll have to establish the first specialization for both his third and fourth reservoirs since they are leveling at the same time.

“For your second soul, the second and third specializations were established by the tome. Why not ask the tome to grant you an ability?” Na’Vi recommended after no one came up with any ideas for a while.

Listening to Na’Vi’s advice, Ryu meditated and tried to establish another specialization. Instead of offering a condition, he asked for a healing ability that could save his first tome and Na’Vi’s group. The instant his thought ended, he was sent out of the chaotic inner space. A new specialization has entered his head. Doing the same for his fourth Qi reservoir, he asked for a skill and received it.

“What is your specialization with the life tome?” Na’Vi asked after Ryu informed them that it was a success.

“It’s a skill that lets me heal the soul at the expense of the owner’s Qi.” Ryu said. The ability was fairly simple and he couldn’t explain it further without using it. Closing his eyes he tried it on the first tome, hoping it could heal his friend. He has decided to call the first Infinity Tome the Judgment Tome, the second one the Life Tome and the last one the Mind Tome. The last tome’s name was based on the specialization he was given by the tome itself. Na’Vi’s group looked at Ryu intently as he focused. Ryu’s complexation changed as he executed the skill, it seems to take a heavy toll on him. A few minutes later Ryu’s eyes opened.

“It’s… a success!” Ryu yelled out in joy. His first Infinity Tome, the Judgment Tome, had its brilliant golden glow once again. It’s floating around and seemed to interact with the two new tomes. There are no words that could describe how happy Ryu is at the moment. The price he had to pay was nine levels in his cultivation on his second reservoir but he didn’t mind it at all.

Testing his newly revived tome out, he took out a few items that he had stored previously. Weapons, potions, gold, books and the blood stone his grandfather gave him.

“The sacred temple is reacting to that item.” Cao’Po’Li said in alarm as he stared at the blood stone.

“Odd… we can’t seem to influence it. It must be an item equally rare or rarer than the Astral Spirit Temple.” Na’Vi said with amusement. After inspecting it for a few minutes, he told Ryu he had no idea what it is but he should keep it safe.

After the commotions died down. Na’Vi provided a bit more of his essence so Ryu could establish another specialization and try to heal them.