Pain on his lower left thigh, the little boy knelt down on the ground as he tried to nurse the gun shot. An immigrant family that was a little too successful with both of the boy's parents working as medical professionals, life was supposed to finally let them off the hook.
Success leads to jealousy and it only takes being on the wrong end of a Glock for anyone to fall. Travis lost his father to the home invasion, his mother was a nurse she did her best in taking care of both him and his grandmother after the fact but she eventually overworked herself to death. Ironically enough she had a few untreated diseases that she put up with and chose not to go to the hospital for, fearing that it will only put them further into debt.
These memories flashed in his mind. Travis was meditating again as he tried to absorb another internal energy pill. His body began to convulse and he was forced to vomit out a second pill. He has reached the limit of the internal energy pill absorption, a bottle-neck that appears for all martial artists.
At Basic Gold-grade with 150,000 in his pool of internal energy, Travis must now focus on mastering his martial arts and the slow growth that most of the multiverse is used to. The pills would still find their use in the future, but for now he needed to reach a higher level of mastery with his Martial Arts.
Travis still had 5 Instant Martial Book Tickets in his disposal, but for now mastery over his two main techniques were prioritized. The Plum-blossom sword and the Thunder Cloud Sword. One consumes less internal energy and is his main go-to for prolonged fights, while the Thunder Cloud is an advanced martial art that was suited for ending fights as soon as possible. The speed based technique was also the one he used for retreating from fights that he was meant to lose.
Saturday morning would be a day focused on his training. This time around, the sparring partners would be the four vampires that Diana gave him as temporary guards. All of them were at Elite Silver-grade.
'The memories of my past have caused me to be a bit more, sentimental.' Travis was surrounded by the vampires. They each had natural speed and strength that no normal human could keep up with. Only those who practiced higher levels of martial arts or have the appropriate innate abilities would be able to keep even if they were considered to be in the same level in terms of combat rating.
Yet their swipes and punches didn't land, the vast internal energy forced his body to adapt. The wooden sword that he used for training glowed purple. He slashed at another vampire, swatting it away like a fly.
The fight would have been over in just a few minutes if there was only one vampire, but four at once forced Travis to be on the backfoot. Weaving through strikes while training his senses.
The vampires were perfect training partners, they healed themselves from non-fatal wounds at a rapid rate and taking them down requires either beheading them or stabbing through the heart. Their natural enemies are silver weapons and magic. Advanced martial techniques help in lowering their regeneration speed, but regular attacks made with internal energy infused strikes could also be lethal if placed at the right spot.
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The overall physical boost given by their transformation made it seem worth it, but the clear weakness to sunlight and the forced subservience to someone else made it less appealing to Travis. Their morning training would last until 10, at which point it was time to focus on other matters.
"How many hatchlings is Nyx producing?" Travis was asking Mogbean, usually the task would be up to Noah but he's currently feeding information to the troops in Lindburg.
"Hehehe it's at a rate of 100 eggs per hour, Sir Travis. An egg hatches in approximately 10 minutes upon laying, though the larger eggs take about an hour to hatch. The weakest among the Vetraxans hatched are estimated to be in the Peak of Iron-grade while the largest eggs can have Elite Bronze-grades or Intermediate Bronze-grades."
Sheer numbers, this was what the Vetraxan could provide him. "Noah, how many of these Vetraxans can you fit into those boats?"
"It'll vary greatly my lord, but I believe that at least 400 can fit into the boats that we've taken." The communicator made a long beeping noise, Noah cut himself of. He was clearly communicating with more than just one person.
"Okay, good. At the rate she's going we'll have 2,000 and likely even more by tomorrow morning. Mogbean order the skeletons to keep shoveling meat to the area. We'll move at around 9 in the morning tomorrow." Travis cracked his neck, the usually on-edge owner of the territory seems to be itching for a fight.
"Noah, tomorrow only the original guards along with you and Zekna will be in this island. Please prepare the largest ships for the troops, I will be traveling with Nyx." Travis would then talk to Daban. "Daban, do you have any spells that can block out the sun?"
"I have a few, my liege."
"Perfect, the vampires will be traveling with you tomorrow."
The rest of the day would be spent on replying to a few of the others in his contacts. Namely Diana and the Relic Maker, the Relic Maker was asking him about the meeting with her faction while Diana was asking him for another demon. There was also a message left for him by the Skeleton King and the Wyvern Caller, each asking for another visit. He promised them that by Tuesday, he would welcome them with open arms.
Travis stood near the head of the gigantic centipede. He treated it like a pet animal. "Ahh, Nyx. I must apologize about the size of this island, tomorrow there will be a large area ripe for you to nest in."
Due to his contract with the Vetraxan Broodmother and the use of his DNA, the hatchlings that she spawns off are all obedient and subservient to Travis without the need for a contract, using Mercenary recruitment. They seem to also be affected by his title, due to the origins of Nyx herself, which makes them non-locals.
Nyx would then point Travis to the location of a single egg, a more colorful one than the usual matte black from her ordinary eggs. "Noah, I've read about this before. But I'd like a confirmation, this is a pure-blood egg is it not? Just like the original Nyx?"
"Yes, sir. From my research, I can ensure that it is exactly the same type of egg. The potential is also higher due the size, though the hatch date will likely take more than just a few weeks."
"We'll leave this egg in the island then, have some undead move it to the strengthening tower. Thanks for informing me Nyx, we have a long day tomorrow, Mogbean time her egg laying to until about 7 in the morning tomorrow. You'll need your rest for our big day tomorrow Nyx. We all will."