Recap: William Mu becomes Feng Bai. The skills he knows are Lightning Arrows, Earth-Shattering Fist, Ghost Severing Strike, and Beast Tamer. His main affinity is thunder. Now, his journey in Earth-4 begins.
Chapter 4: The Journey Begins
A few hours later, Grandpa Shen and Qing arrived. They entered the house to see a young man with dark brown hair meditating in the living room, opening his blue eyes as he heard them step inside the cabin. The air about him seemed different than when they had left. They're eyes widened as they realized Feng had taken his first steps as an immortal and successfully condensed Qi in his body.
"Feng! Wow. Congratulations big brother," Qing said as she hugged him. The ten year old was really happy. Now that Feng was an immortal, they could leave the village and never come back. She was bored of the tiny lake town and had few children to play with.
"Yes. We can finally move out of our home," Feng smiled and turned to his grandfather. "I've succeeded. I can now practice the mage spells and warrior arts of immortals. My affinity is thunder, like yours."
"Truly? Heh. Good. I suppose the time of living a sheltered life is over. The world of the mortals is over for you now. A life of blood and steel, that is the immortal way," Shen nodded. "Qing, go to your room and play with your new toys in your storage bag. Your brother and I need to be alone now."
"Okay. Good luck Feng," Qing smiled and headed off to her room.
"There are more to immortals than spells and warrior arts. There are also divine abilities, seals, and other things. What you will learn is a secret divine ability I discovered long ago: Hidden Body Space. You will be able to create your own storage ability inside your body, the space growing the stronger you become. It is best to hide your most precious things inside your body. Your Totem sword is different. It becomes a part of your body. This divine ability is like a spatial ring, no one but the owner can access the contents within. You've memorized the spells and warrior arts. You can destroy them now," Shen instructed as he bestowed a book to Feng.
As Feng opened the book, it turned into specks of light and entered his chest. In Feng's mind, he could see an empty, 2x2x2 meter space in his body. The space was not inside him physically. It was a different feeling than the Totem. The Totem could be taken in and out of his body as soon as he refined it, but the space would always be in his body.
"What an awesome ability," Feng sighed with praise.
"Yes. Spatial rings are different than storage rings, a higher level magical item with storage abilities. Spatial rings can only be used by the owner unless the spirit energy imprint is removed or the owner dies. Your Hidden Body Space is destroyed with you. In death, even the items inside will be destroyed. You will have the last laugh," Shen smirked. "The outside world consists of people both good and bad. Thieves and bandits run amok in the wilderness. There is more to be wary of than demons and magical beasts, Feng."
"Yes grandpa," Feng nodded.
"We will head to the capital. It is there that you will be recruited into an academy. Our empire is powerful because they accept both immortals and mortals. Immortals rely on mage spells and warrior arts. Mortals rely on guns, bullets, and their magic-enchanted weaponry. Humanity's technological advancement may be slower than it was during the Overlord Era, but it has progressed. Humanity once ruled our world for a reason: our intelligence and greed for more than what we already had. Humanity learned to use magical beast cores as reactors for puppets and golems created as servants and golems. The rich in our empire all have one. Wood, earth, metal, and other material could be used to create golems and puppets. Do not underestimate golems and puppets. While they cannot grow more powerful without upgrades, their strength never wavers until they run out of spirit energy," Shen warned. "Imagine facing an enemy that didn't know fear and could repair itself as fast as instantaneous regeneration. Now, imagine facing such an enemy with a vast supply of spirit energy reserves. Your chances of defeat and death grow the more the fight drags on. If you face such an enemy, kill the human possessing the control talisman. His puppet or golem would be yours."
"Such a thing exists? No wonder the empire is so strong. Immortals are rare after all. If regular mortals had puppets and golems, the immortal path is not a necessity for power. But won't the core run out of spirit energy? How could it be re-energized?" Feng asked.
"The unique process of the golem and puppet crafting changes the core. The core is essentially made useless once used as a reactor core for a puppet or golem. They can also be destroyed even though magical beast cores are supposed to be indestructible and turn to ash after draining the spirit energy inside them," Shen answered and gave Feng a manual.
"What is this?" Feng asked.
"That is the World Devourer Manual, a type of cultivation method. By absorbing the power in the manual, you will be able to freely absorb spirit energy without having to worry about any berserk energy. Eating magical beast meat is the best for you as you can easily turn it into spirit energy, not just having the ordinary benefit of recovering spirit energy. Open it," Shen gestured. As Feng opened the manual, rune scriptures appeared all around him in various colors before disappearing into his body. Feng cried out as his body started to swell and fatten.
"What are you doing? Cultivate according to the scripture! Control the spirit energy or you will explode!" Shen roared, Feng hastily entering lotus position and soon began cultivation. Steam arose from his body as it began to turn to normal. Feng no longer had an average body. His body was now filled with lean muscle. He wasn't muscular or skinny, but his body became extremely fit. His strength and speed arose without killing his flexibility.
Shen watched as lightning crackled around his grandson. His eyes glinted as he saw two rune scriptures arise from his grandson. They were the scriptures of the Ghost Severing Strike and Earth-Shattering Fist. The two scriptures revolved around Feng and began to fuse together. He was instantly delighted. Affinities were separate from warrior arts and spells. If you had affinity, warrior arts and mage spells of that element would be easier to master and the immortal could learn to create and manipulate the element on his own.
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Still, you needed no elemental affinity to learn a warrior art or mage spell. The benefit of learning a warrior art and mage spell of another attribute was that you gained affinity for it over time. Like a weak little boy learning to box for the first time, honing his skills would make him truly strong. Shen saw the skill display its name before entering Feng's body.
The skill had become Ink Dragon Strike. It also came with several memories of a unique kind of martial arts. Shen could see illusory men made of ink-colored spirit energy perform several martial arts stances, strikes, and techniques. Finally, a three meter snake made of the same ink spirit energy coiled around Feng's body before vanishing. As Feng's cultivation grew, the snake would develop dragon scales and eventually ascend into the form of a dragon.
"This ink-colored spirit energy, what kind of element attribute will Feng learn from it? It even granted him his own martial arts style. I've read the Earth-Shattering Fist manual skill book, but its technique was very similar to many others. Perhaps the Ghost Severing Strike was more than what I thought it was?" Shen brooded as he let his spirit energy radiate toward Feng.
Feng's body created spheres of freezing that swirled around his body. This was the typical reaction of the World Devouring Manual. The luck of the fusion of skills was up to luck. Those who learned the World Devouring Manual would gain affinity to fire and wind. Most people died upon receiving the manual's power. It was said that one immortal created the manual after seeing a black hole devour a planet. The technique was intended for darkness and wind, but too many people died.
Thus, he made an inferior model that advanced even further than the original by substituting a freezing snow storm as his inspiration. Shen was sure his grandson would survive as he had the thunder attribute. The thunder attribute may not improve the purity of Feng's spirit energy as it was a very destructive and difficult path, but its benefit was different in that it improved his physical body even better than immortals who had earth and metal affinity. Shen only hoped his granddaughter would also have affinity to thunder.
Feng's eyes slowly opened as he rose to his feet. An insuppressible feeling rose up Feng's throat and was released as a roar of pure spirit energy. Augmented by his wind affinity, the roar had become like a sound wave that damaged the floor and walls. Feng completely destroyed the roof area above his head before the powerful feeling disappeared. Shen removed all the frost that began freezing and cracking the house with a wave of his hand as Feng admired the changes in his body.
"Wow. I feel so amazing. Its as if I have just gained control of my body. Its so much stronger than before," Feng sighed with praise.
"Yes. You gained affinity to water and wind. You did not learn the original World Devouring Manual, as I did, because you just became an immortal. You would have died instantly. Now, we're leaving for the capital. You'll use this Black Iron Bow and Crystal Vein Sword. Can't have you using more valuable magical weapons yet. The Black Iron Bow is very heavy, but immortals with thunder as their main affinity refine their body more easily than purifying their spirit energy. The Crystal Vein Sword is slightly more valuable as it is not from this empire. However, it is not that great a treasure besides being nearly indestructible and ever-sharp against those around your cultivation. You are not strong enough to prevent more valuable magical treasures from being stolen. So these will have to do. As of right now, you are a Rank 1 Spirit Acolyte, Shen said, giving Feng the items.
Feng sighed and said, "You're right, grandpa. I don't have much experience using a weapon. I'll only get bullied and taken advantage of because of my inexperience and weak cultivation. I'll enter an academy. It is safer, has more resources, and backed by the nations they are built in."
"You don't have to worry so much about someone killing you, or the enemies of a sect. However, you will get less experience in an academy. You will also be tied down to the nation. There are two sects I know that are of the middle ground. Alright, lets go. We'll take the teleportation array by the mountainside to enter the capital," Shen said and opened the door. "Your journey will now begin. I don't have much to give you. You must become strong on your own. Take this teleportation talisman and keep it in your Hidden Body Space. That talisman will automatically teleport you to another talisman's area that is connected to it should you use it. Its an ancient one, but unique in that distance does not matter. Having talismans that teleport in smaller distances in whichever direction you desire are too expensive and invite jealousy and envy. You're better off selling those."
"Thanks grandpa," Feng said, tears going down his eyes. He had trained so hard for this day. After many bitter months, he could begin his journey.
"After I drop you off, I'm taking your sister to another nation. The reason why I don't want you to enter an academy is because that other nation has the potential to conquer the continent. To live to see the continent under one throne, you need to be in a sect to survive all that bloodshed. No one will recognize you there either. It is very far from this nation. Now, lets leave before Qing wakes up," Shen said as he left a body exuding a pink mist underneath Qing's door.
"Will she be okay?" Feng asked. "Shouldn't I have said goodbye to her?"
"No. Best you didn't. Little children have attachment issues. It is only when they reach their juvenile years that they learn the idea of freedom and personal space. She'll cry for a few days and get over it," Shen said and they left the house, Feng slightly impressed and scared of his grandpa.