Owen was relieved when the Emperor had called a halt to their day. It was pitch black out now and judging from his memory Owen was pretty sure he had been awake for close to 2 days now. He followed after his master, struggling to stay awake as they walked through corridor after corridor finely decorated with probably centuries old paintings, vases and murals. He wanted to appreciate it, but his brain felt like there was a constant buzz humming through and interrupting every one of his thoughts.
The room he was given was hardly decorated. There was a small desk for writing and a bed with plain sheets and a think blanket. Owen shrugged and collapsed into the mattress not even caring that he was basically sleeping on the floor. He was out before the Emperor had even left.
Xerxes sighed, the boy was a promising heir. He was not anything like himself however and a human too. He closed the door behind him and went to grab replacements for Owen's bedding and other essentials. In his excitement he had forgotten to prepare a room for his new student. His thought process paused as the word rolled around in his mouth.
Student... no one that knew him well would have ever expected him to have taken in a student. He laughed a little to himself, keeping his voice low. His path had required him to stay alone for many millennium and yet he had still never been able to approach godhood. He levitated a new mattress and bedding, as well as several things that would make the room feel less like a prison cell and replaced everything without alerting Owen in the slightest.
He hoped the boy would be ready, after their week together would be over, if he wanted any chances at taking the steps that he had never been able to, he as well would never reach godhood. He took his time walking back to his own room. It looked nothing like that of his students room, the room was entirely empty, save for an orb sitting in the center.
The ceiling, floor and each of the walls were made from a glassy black stone material that when he started channeling his mana, were instantly absorbed by the stone and as he flooded the orb with mana, the walls turned transparent and he could see everything.
Owen woke up in a room he didn't recognize, there were paintings and new furniture. His bed was even different. He was just dumbstruck, but didn't let it bother him. As he started getting dressed he made another realization. "Is that a shower?" His room had somehow turned into the equivalent of a one bedroom apartment. He went about his old wake up regiment before the system, but in a much sped up version.
He showered, changed into some clothes that had been left by the door for him and then reequipped his gear with the stat boosts. Less than 10 minutes after waking up he was standing in the same courtyard he had been training in the night before. His master was there waiting for him, looking somewhat exhausted. "Today we will go about the training I had mentioned yesterday. You will need to channel your mana uncontrolled to your entire body and slowly dial it back until it is only barely damaging you."
Owen instinctively winced at the plan, but it immediately seemed like a good idea when his master spoke again. "The other way we can do this, is me beating you senseless until your resilience stat increases, your choice."
And so, Owen began channeling mana into his body and slowly began dialing it back. His skin tore and his muscles ripped, but as soon as the injuries would be created by the excess energy, his new strengthened vitality would heal them. It took over an hour to find the state in which he could balance his healing and mana use perfectly. He still winced and fought back crying out every time his body felt like it was getting spilt in half, but during that time, his resilience had already gone up by two points.
*Congratulations, you have gained 2 stat point(s) in your Resilience stat.*
His master gave him barely anytime to get used to it, before making him run through the obstacle course. It made him think back to how poorly he had done on the one that had tested his beginning agility stat. Him running through it at tops speeds took much more practice than he thought it was going to be. He had originally been surprised to find out that he was running way faster than he ever had been able to before while channeling mana.
The only issues was finding a balance with his new speed and trying injure his body further every time his skin would break, throwing off his balance or surprising him and messing up his footing. Days went by as his Master had him work through a variety of exercises and despite it feeling like he was being tortured, there was a part of him that loved it. Not because he was a masochist or anything like that but the stats were pouring in at an unbelievable pace.
They had only had 2 days left by the time they had stopped the stat training and had began prepping the process of tempering his body. Owen was relishing in the last couple hours of relaxation he would have before his body temper. He was looking through his stats barely managing to hold back a smile.
*Congratulations, you have gained 4 stat point(s) in Strength. Congratulations, you have gained 4 stat point(s) in Agility. Congratulations, you have gained 6 stat point(s) in Resilience. Congratulations, you have gained 4 stat point(s) in Mana.*
He had to admit he felt good, sore beyond belief but good. His master, Xerxes, which Owen had only learned after bugging him constantly over the past several days, had made him bathe in a medicinal concoction that would boost his HP recovery. He had to admit, he never felt so relaxed, even if it made the room smell like someone had spilled a bottle of smelling salts everywhere. It had taken a while to get used to, but once he had, he felt like he was going to melt into a puddle.
Once his HP was topped off, he forced himself to get out of the tub and showered off. It was a quick jog to the courtyard and Owen couldn't help but grin as he flew through the corridors as speeds he would've never thought possible before the system. Reaching the courtyard he froze and stared. The space they had used to train was entirely changed now, it looked like someone how accidentally teleported a blacksmith's forge away.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Heated blazed all the way to where Owen was standing and attempting to calm himself down made a very exaggerated gulping sound.
Xerxes waved him over carrying an almost white hot metal container, with what looked like lava inside of it. Setting it down, he waved Owen closer again and reluctantly Owen listened. "That's not supposed to go in my body is it? Even if my resilience stat is 3 times what it had been there is no way I'll survive eating lava." Xerxes let out a hearty chuckle, that once again reminded him that the very human looking master he had was in fact not a human, but something called a Jeweled Monkey Emperor.
"Do not worry, I am not going to make you eat a mithril composite, you just need to break this down and absorb it with your mana." Owen let out a sigh of relief. "So mithril is real then?" Xerxes just grinned and held up the still white hot container. Owen sighed but focused in and held his hand as close to the container as he could without letting it burn him, which apparently wasn't close enough. Wrapping his hand in mana, he was able to bring it a lot closer to the mithril composite and begin trying to absorb it.
He closed his eyes and was immediately surrounded by the void and a blue core took up his vision. It radiated power and as he pulled at the composite he was supposed to absorb, he watched his core begin to vibrate and spin. He imagined the composite being pulled into the spin at a slow pace. But as he focused, it began to pick up speed, spinning faster and faster. His blue core began to form a shell out of the composite and he heard a voice not from his ears but inside of this space.
"Keep your core spinning, but begin running your mana through your body at max speed, your are not channeling your mana to make empower yourself, but to spread this out as evenly as possible." Owen felt like he understood at an almost instinctual level as he spread his mana out throughout his body and began running it through what felt like power lines inside his imaginary space. There was a part of him that new none of what he was doing was imaginary, but he could deal with the reality of his inside later.
For now, he just kept it the composite rushing through his body at an unbelievable speed. He could feel notifications being created by the system, but he ignored it as he felt sections of his body feel like they were breaking. Without taking attention away from his core he began cycling his HP throughout his body at the same time.
It didn't flow as smoothly as he wanted it two when both energy were running through his body as he began weaving his HP and MP into one thread an used it to keep his core spinning and running it through his body at the same time. He had long since absorbed everything his master had set aside for him, but had yet to fully assimilate it into both his core and body.
Xerxes was standing off to the side amazed. Not only had this boy been able to absorb all of the mithril composite, but the orichalcum crucible had been absorbed as well. He had been hoping for that, but he had not wanted to force it. If your soul was not strong enough, your body would begin to lose its shape as you channeled the orichalcum through your core and meridians.
Not only had he realized his body was breaking apart and began to use his vitality to help heal it, but he had managed on his first attempt to perfectly weave his HP and MP together. He was staring at his student with a skill that could let him see the void space of someone else.
He would never tire of the sight. It was as if space was being lit for the first time with a sea of stars. A blue hued energy was perfectly spiraling a red and gold energy around itself as it moved throughout the body slowly strengthening it and returning to the core which had shifted from a darker blue color to a much lighter blue, then surprisingly even to Xerxes, it shifted to a slightly teal colorization.
As soon as it fully finished shifting color, Owen opened his eyes with a huge grin and then immediately fainted. "He might make a good heir after all. He has been nothing but a surprise since day one." He picked Owen up using some type of telekinesis and brought him straight back to the medicinal tub. Xerxes only had to look at the tub for it to begin steaming again.
He place Owen gently into the tub and moved back to his own chambers. Once again the walls became transparent as he flooded the orb with mana. "My fellow members of the zodiac, I think I have found him." Xerxes said. There was a chorus of cheering and Xerxes fought the urge to immediately stop channeling his mana.
"Congratulations, Xerxes." said a curt womanly voice. When she spoke all of the other voices quieted down. "It took you long enough, how long before he will be able to inherit the rest of your lineages skills?" Xerxes watched, as a Rat seemed to shift from being a shadowy cloud of smoke, back to the from of a rat in less than a second spoke to him through his transparent walls.
"He should be able to learn them quickly, within at least the next two days while I have him, Constellation." He bowed as he said the last title. He hated it more than anything, but the Rat looking into his room, was much more powerful than he would ever be able to accomplish.
The Rat only nodded at his words. "Well done, with that the rest of the inheritors have been decided. Soon, I will ascend and those of you who have chosen inheritors, prepare yourselves, great changes will follow shortly and it will be up to you and your heir's to slow the tide. If it is possible I shall return, but seeing as no zodiac has returned from ascension before, do not expect anything."
The Rat disappeared, leaving all of the other zodiac members in the call. "So, Monkey, how long has it been since we've seen you at a meeting? I was beginning to think you hated us?" Xerxes ignored the words and spoke. "I will send but one warning to each of you and your heirs, do not mess with me and mine. I may have lost the opportunity to ascend, but it will take little effort from me to crush all of your hopes as well." He stopped channeling his mana after that.
He felt someone touch upon his mana and reluctantly began to channel his mana once more. "Snake, what can I do for you?" There was a brief pause, but a lamia moved into view and spoke with hesitation in your voice. "This boy is someone you care for?" Xerxes nodded, but did not say anything. "How strong is he?" He thought about it for less than a second, but spoke, he could trust snake to keep it to herself.
"He was able to absorb every ounce of the Mithril composite on his attempt. After that, he absorbed the orichalcum crucible it was contained in. Then perfectly weaved his vitality and mana through his core and meridians. Despite seeing it myself I have a hard time believing it, but his core has turned teal after just today and I do not doubt when he wakes up he will have a first grade tempered body and well as a second grade soul tempering."
If Owen had been in the room he would've both been confused by the terminology, but also because it looked like the Lamia women had frozen in place. Several seconds passed, before she spoke again. "How... how is that even possible?" "I am not sure, something happened in the tutorial is my only guess, but it is going to be even harder for him to level now, especially if he tries using my skills. Not that he will need it anytime soon. He will be several times stronger than the average system user in his world now."
The lamia women only nodded, with one last look at Xerxes, she disappeared and he felt his mana be undisturbed. He stopped pouring mana into the orb and fought a grin trying to make its way onto his face. His heir was going to take the new world by storm, he only hoped he could provide enough help now to keep him alive.