Alex studied the grotesque creature as it pounced towards him, instantly slowing his perception of time to a crawl, a single second stretching to minutes through Monarch's Temporal Drift.
Alex observed, noting that the creature had no skin, only a combination of sinew, bone, fluid, and hardened blood. A red monstrosity. He felt a sense of pity as he saw something resembling a transformed human head hidden behind glowing red eyes, a grotesque visage, and a set of jagged red teeth in its extended and warped maw. It possessed long sets of sharp claws at the end of each of its elongated arms.
That thing used to be a person… Whoever did this is sick. Alex suppressed a shiver of disgust. It stands to reason that the Little Demon of Winding blo— god that names a mouthful— the little demon is most likely at a higher stage of cultivation, and has physicality much higher than 10,000 stats in each category. If the demonic cultivator was close by, Alex’s safest course of action would be to defeat the creature as quickly as possible, or if worst came to worst, sacrifice his life force to summon the souls of Phurafel and Kunluns Sects Divine Tiger. They would serve as good distractions to help him escape the creature, as losing years or perhaps decades of his life was far better than being dead. That’s probably how the other disciples escaped, by sacrificing their peers, he sighed internally at the thought.
But let’s not rush to conclusions, there’s no need to sacrifice so much so soon… he thought, studying the slowly moving creature intently.
Using Inner Focus and True Sight, he channeled a concentration of mana to his eyes to see and sense energy of all kinds within a short radius, about 20 feet, causing his eyes to shine a soft blue. His gaze pierced past its bloody flesh to see the energy beneath and the creature's Qi was laid bare before him. About three times stronger than me, even with Mana Burn boosting my stats…
He could vividly feel and see the inner workings of the creature, and ‘saw’ that within the base of its neck lay a concentration of Qi that had condensed and hardened to the point it solidified, much like the mana core of a system beast. That’s what I’ll have to target, then. Its core.
And judging by the size and intensity of its core when compared to dantians, it’s still in the first few stages of Qi gathering, although it’s hard to tell exactly which one…maybe the second or third… he assessed he peered through layers of its flesh to scrutinize the energy that lay beneath the surface of the creature.
Allocation, he thought.
[Please select focus of Allocation]
[Strength / Dexterity / Endurance / Intelligence
Wisdom]
My endurance is covered by the undead cultivator and Phurafel’s soul fragments. They’ll take damage in my place until they can’t… So I can probably take a few of this thing’s blows. He eyed the monstrosity’s sharp claws and the various unmoving bodies that surrounded the clearing. …Maybe, he thought.
And I can bolster my speed and reaction time with Sword sense, Boundless Dodge and Monarchs Temporal Drift, so dexterity’s out too.
Alex considered each encounter he’d exprenced with the Imperials, and cultivation in in general.
Every single time I’ve hit one of them without the Dao, it hasn’t harmed them. He recalled the sparks that flared each time he’d struck the flesh of Jun Li and Jin. Let's put everything into strength, then. Alex thought, reallocating a third of his total stats into one chosen stat slot. He attempted to clench his fists in exhilaration as his strength stat surged, but his muscles barely moved in his slowed perception of time.
[Name: Alex Ironwood
Level: 195
C̷͎̠̠̖̿́ultivation: Qi Gathering- First stage
Race: Human - Rank D
Primary Class: ̷̷͎̠̠̖̳̮̿́̏̄͝͠Sys̵̞̈́͆̓̓te̸̪̟͇͕͂mic SwO̷̟̮̙͚̔rd So̶̼̲͋͐͋͂ͅve̶̷̵̴̲̳̱reign
Sub-class: Locked
Strength: 11,014 (5507)
Dexterity: 4148 (2074)
Endurance: 778 (390)
Intelligence: 3667 (1184)
Wisdom: 381 (191)
Qi: 9 (6)
Feats: First Encounter, Pioneer, Pinnacle IV, Survivor, Warrior, Champion, Dungeon Insurgent, Innovator, Reborn, Shard of the Endless,
Techniques: Bovine Foundation Stance, Divine Bovine Vessel, Stampeding Footwork, Steel Horn Strikes,
Active skills: Phoenix Leap, Mana Burn, Mana Blade, Boundless Dodge, Duȅ̷̳̮̄͝͠l of C̷͎̠̠̖̿́orruption, Sovereign Executioner, InfiniteBody, Sovereign Clone, Divine Fist, Pierce Reality, NetherForged, Eternal Infusion, Allo̶̭̲̪͊͐cation, Star of the Monarch,
Passive skills: Inner Focus, Outer Focus, A̷̶̵̴̲̳̱l̸̢͉̗̣̑͐͛à̸̶̵̴̶̷̶̺̥̮̯͇̲̳̱̼̲͒̈́̈͛͋͐͋͂ͅͅ ̷̷̶̴̵̶̷̸̴̶̷̵̢̳̮̲̳̱͉̗̣̲̳̱̏̄̑͐͛͝͠Ω̴̵̶̷̲̳̱ ̶̶̯͇̼̲̈́̈͛͋͐͋͂ͅ ̷̷̶̴̵̶̷̴̶̷̵̳̮̲̳̱̲̳̱̏̄͝͠g̵̶̷̴̲̳̱e̸̪̟͇͕͂e̶̷̵̴̲̳̱E̵̴̶̷̶̵̴̶̷̷̸̸̢̲̳̱̼̲̲̳̱̟̮̙͚͉̗̣̺̥̮͋͐͋͂̔̑͐͛̀͒ͅͅ ̶̷̶̴̵̶̷̯͇̲̳̱̈́̈͛ ̷̸̴̶̷̵̳̮̪̟͇͕̲̳̱̏̄͂͝͠M̷̶̵̴̲̳̱m̸̵̴̶̷̸̷̸̴̶̷̵̢͉̗̣̲̳̱̪̟͇͕̟̮̙͚̺̥̮̲̳̱̑͐͛͂̔̀͒ͅ ̶̯͇̈́̈͛ ̷̸̶̢̳̮͉̗̣̼̲̏̄̑͐͛͋͐͋͂͝͠ͅO̷̟̮̙͚̔o̶̼̲͋͐͋͂ͅᾯ̴̵̶̷̵̴̶̷̷̸̸̸̢̲̳̱̲̳̱̟̮̙͚̪̟͇͕͉̗̣̺̥̮̑͐͛̀͒ ̶̯͇̈́̈͛ ̷̶͎̠̠̖̼̲̿́͋͐͋͂ͅ ̷̳̮̏̄͝͠ ̷̶̴̵̶̷̵̴̶̷̴̶̷̵̲̳̱̲̳̱̲̳̱, Inventory, Bestial Senses, BladeBody, True sight, Mana Vortex, Nascent Body (imperfect), Sword Soul, Abyssal Body (Imperfect), Eternal Disorder, Thà̸̶̵̴̶̷̶̺̥̮̯͇̲̳̱̼̲͒̈́̈͛͋͐͋͂ͅͅnatos’s Sovereign, Monarch's Temporal Drift, Sword Sense,
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Dao: True Immortality - 1.1% Progress
Unassigned stat points: 0]
Woah. So the Allocation skill adds up all of my stats, splits it into three and dumps a third into one of my choosing? Alex quickly assessed the panel, noting the fact that although his strength had been boosted beyond the ten thousand threshold and edged closer to the creature’s capabilities, each of his remaining stats had been reduced by around a thousand points. He held just under 20,000 stats in total, though his strength matched the beast somewhat. It was still far from the 50,000 he would have needed to match the creature perfectly in every field beyond strength. And without using any speed-boosting skills, he would still find himself roughly half as slow as the beast. But at least I can hurt it now, even without the Dao, that way I can focus on using the Dao to boost my reaction speed. Without it this thing would run circles around me,
30 seconds and the stat boosts will disappear… he considered how best to end the creature and bisect its core within Mana Burn’s time limit.
Alex had spent a large portion of his first night in the sect experimenting with the changes to his system until sleep took hold of him. He had awoken having made some very surprising discoveries. The first was that the system had completely adapted to the martial techniques of the sect, and techniques operated very differently from skills. Where skills were free-form and constantly evolving, there was only one way for a technique to be performed; its intended method. To alter that intended method would be to either fail at the technique or create a different technique entirely.
The second thing Alex had learned was that his system would not implant instincts or knowledge when granting him Qi techniques, but would instead take his understanding and efforts to enhance by a hundredfold, instantly guiding him to perfection. In fact, his system would not ‘grant’ him techniques at all, but rather rewarded his efforts and understanding. This meant that when Alex learned a martial Qi technique's principles and attempted to perform them, his system would instantly register the technique in its final intended and perfected form on his very first attempt. Assuming he had the Qi necessary to perform them and sufficient understanding, Alex suspected he could master any martial Qi technique that others might struggle for decades to learn in just a single day. Maybe even minutes.
The third he had discovered was that his system no longer considered Qi as something “unquantifiable.” Though mana and Qi were said to be devastatingly incompatible, it seemed the system was capable of registering both. Mana and Qi were still incompatible for Alex, though. He had tested. He had channeled a sliver of Qi to the edge of his fingertip at the end of his mana cooldown, and when his mana returned and the sliver of Qi merged with his surging mana, the skin and tissue where the Qi had been had just… vanished. It hadn’t evaporated, or torn, or even exploded. A strip of skin and muscle had just simply ceased to exist. The Qi and mana clashed, an invisible force that left a cold, empty void on his fingertip. But mixing the two is not impossible, Alex thought with hope and avarice. If the system, the mistress’s Jade, and the soon to be consumed World-Treasure nestled in his Inventory were all capable of utilising and convert Mana with Qi, then it was possible.
Possibility was all Alex needed.
Finally, the last thing he learned was that his skills were different now. Well, everything was different, but his skills even more so. There was no longer an unyielding wall of rigidness to his skills function and no rigidness to his mana’s flow. He could freely manipulate and alter the mana of his skills as he wished without even a shred of resistance from the system. Where once manipulating his skills with Inner and Outer Focus had felt like swimming against raging rivers and rapids, it now felt like flying—like he was free to alter and test his skills however he pleased.
And should he survive the encounter with the little demon’s blood-beast, Alex couldn’t wait to experiment.
He released his grip on temporal perception and summoned Eclipse to rest between his palms, the cold touch of metal brushing his skin as time snapped back into focus.
The creature pounced, shooting across the clearing in a blur of sinew and flesh, its massive limbs churning the blood-soaked ground. Its twisted form was a horrific amalgamation of raw muscle and dark, pulsing veins, the stench of decay and copper filling Alex's nostrils. Each movement was accompanied by the sickening sound of wet flesh slapping against the ground, and the grotesque sight of its jagged, bone-like protrusions tearing through the remains of fallen beasts. As it instantly closed the distance, Alex could feel the oppressive heat radiating from its body, the sheer power of its Qi making his skin prickle.
Boundless Dodge.
Alex controlled the flow of mana to force his body to duck low beneath the creature's first swing, his foot stretched forward beneath its lunging claw and his elbow tucked tight, the embodiment of Kendo. With his senses honed to the beast follow up swing, he performed a perfect execution of the ‘Harai Waza’, otherwise known as Kendo’s Sweeping Technique.
The sweeping technique was simple, the principle of deflecting an attack to create an opening for a decisive strike. All in one smooth sweeping movement.
The technique required getting a feel for the timing and knowing exactly how to create that opening, as well as being able to utilize it not only for opening head, chest, or disarming strikes, but even killing blows if necessary. With his ability to sense even the most minute of shifts in his surroundings, he felt that for him, it had become one of Kendo’s most fundamental yet perfect techniques.
As the beast’s gleaming red claw rocketed towards his face, Alex maintained composure and focused on the timing of its attack, seeing all.
With his sword held at waist level and ready to respond, he swept his blade in a smooth arc to deflect the thick claw to the side, redirecting its momentum while grunting under the immense strain as the beast's strength caused his legs to bend and his feet to sink into the earth.
Its claw crashed into the bloody earth, causing a spray.
After the deflection, he stepped forward with his right foot, and swung his blade with finality, his movements an act of bodily control and perfection and the strike executed in one smooth, continuous movement. He aimed to cut through its neck and bisect the creature's red core.
At the point of impact, the creature's red skin rippled, bursting into a spray of red spears and tendrils that deflected the blow and impacted Alex’s chest, he could feel the sharp points pierce his robes and hit his skin, before the penetrating force dissipated, the damage transferring to the Undead soul fragments stored by Thanatos's Sovereign.
Still, the force of the blow sent him skidding backwards.
I can’t let it hit me again…Two, maybe three more blows like that and I’ll be defenseless. Alex touched at the point of impact, feeling smooth unharmed skin instead of fatal injury. One blow without protection is all it would take.
The creature's bloody sinew stretched over bone like ropes, and its claws increased in number sprouting along its limbs like daggers, ready to tear through flesh and bone. Thick muscles of hardened maroon blood pulsed rhythmically as it morphed, a grotesque heartbeat of power. Its monstrous form grew, and all hint of what was once human disappeared entirely.
It now stood with an array of blood like appendages and bones, each more deadly than the last and tipped with razor sharp edges that hummed in the light with vibration. Alex felt the disturbances in the air and Alex finally understood how it had managed to defeat so many would-be disciples and creatures despite each holding at least ten thousand strength, dexterity, endurance, and equivalent intelligence. This creature was designed specifically to kill them.
Still, without options, he charged head first to meet it.