Chapter 12: First Battle

9 May 2048, Saturday, 12:56 PM

In the middle of a medium sized room with few furnishings, a 7 foot long case was placed. The transparent cover of the case revealed a large heavy sword. A 7 year old boy was sitting on the middle of the case, deep in meditation.

After Zhang Wei’s funeral, Jack had to return to work, leaving Yulian home alone. Yulian was prohibited from practicing martial arts, thus he spent time meditating. When he wasn’t meditating, he casually watched television or surfed the internet. Nevertheless, meditation occupied majority of Yulian’s time.

After five minutes, Yulian opened his eyes, ending his meditation. He stretched his body for a while before looking at the clock. 1:00 PM.

“Well, looks like its lunchtime.” Before, when Yulian trained in martial arts, he would always eat microwavable specially preserved chicken and meat. It did not taste especially bad and contained high amount of genetic energy. But these days, he would visit a nearby fast food chain for a quick meal.

Yulian immediately picked up his wallet and left. Jack had given him quite an amount of money for his lunchtime requirements, so he wasn’t worried about the price of the lunch in the slightest.

…

The restaurant was five minutes away from the house. Yulian wolfed down a meal of chicken nuggets and a rice bowl before his appetite was satisfied. Just as he left the store, the sound of thunder boomed overhead. He looked at the sky to see it severed by a bolt of golden lightning. Unexpectedly, there was no rain to accompany it.

The sight of that peculiar lightning caused the Genetic Energy within his body to roil. He cultivated the Nine Yang Thunder Fist, and the thunder agitated it. Genetic Energy automatically began flowing through his energy channels! Yulian was momentarily shocked by this event, before he assumed the stance of the Nine Yang Thunder Fist and began practicing. This was a golden opportunity for his cultivation, and he would be damned if he ignored it!

Yulian shifted between stances like passing clouds and flowing rivers. He completed the Nine Yang Thunder Fist technique thrice before the flowing of the Genetic Energy stopped. At the end of the spontaneous training, Yulian felt that the Genetic Energy in his body which had become stagnant due to his qi deviation had began flowing once again. The Genetic Energy in his body had been purified, building up to reach a bottleneck, a single barrier separating him from a Fighter!

At the same moment, he also felt an impulsive desire to move in the direction of a place. Giving in to his instincts, Yulian broke into a run.

…

Yulian erratically ran through the streets of New York. Several times, he avoided a car by hair’s breath. A strange recklessness filled him, urging him to ignore everything and follow his instincts. Yulian was intrigued by this feeling, wanting to find out what had taken hold over him.

9 May 2048, Saturday, 1:49 PM

Yulian found himself in an abandoned area, around the outskirts of the city. Half constructed buildings towered around him, but the place emanated the air of desolation. However in this area that should be isolated, Yulian heard the loud sound of battle, ear piercing cries of a beast and ripples of Genetic Energy that almost blew away his fragile body.

Instinctively, Yulian spread out his Spiritual Force. While Spiritual Force could be used for telekinesis, it could also be used to inspect an area.

A man and a giant bird were furiously battling. The bird’s wing-bones were smashed, not allowing it to fly away. It was only capable of using its talons to tear at the man. The man was wielding a long spear, and using its reach to fend off the bird’s talons. With his Spiritual Force, Yulian was not capable of prying out greater details; to find out more, he would have to see the battle with his own eyes.

Spreading out his Spirit Force once more, Yulian mapped out the surrounding area. After some analysis, he figured out an area which was hidden from the combatant’s sight, yet allowed him to witness the battle. 

Yulian quickly ran to the spot he had picked out. The man and beast did not see the child hiding in the corners; they were pre-occupied with each other. Meanwhile Yulian squeezed his mouth in pain; the backlash of using Spirit Force had finally struck him.

The backlash also wiped away the trance he was placed in; Yulian finally realized that he had risked using his Spirit Force twice to spectate over a deadly battle where both the fighters could dispatch him in a blink of an eye. His blood froze solid.

Why had the cloudless lightning ignited the qi within his body? What took over his body, bringing him here to witness this deadly battle? Countless questions filled his mind.

Yulian ignored those questions to focus on the battle occurring in front of him. He focused on the man and the beast facing each other. The man had red hair and a white face. He held a black spear in a defensive stance. The black leather armor worn by him had countless tears and cuts over it. Blood flowed from various exposed points on his body, yet they did not cut into the determined light in his eyes.

The black bird fighting him was a giant black eagle. Its wings were crippled and it was unable to fly, yet the power exerted by its talons was enough to force the man into defensive. The Genetic Energy pulsing the black bird’s body outstripped the man’s by a large margin. Yet it wasn’t enough to force the battle in its favor.

The ancient battle between man and beast, the opposition of skill and strength! The black armored Fighter used his spear techniques to defend from the raging attacks of the bird, while occasionally thrusting at the avian’s weak points. Yulian observed the battle with keen eyes. The Genetic Energy ripples emanating from their bodies created wild gusts and cratered the ground. If Yulian was not a step away from becoming a Fighter and if he did not reinforce himself by revolving Genetic Energy in his body, he would have been blown away by the ripples already.

In this battle, the Fighter was the ally and the Black Eagle the enemy. Unfortunately, Yulian couldn’t help. If he revealed himself, he would only be a liability.

Yulian used Spirit Force to scan the battlefield. Currently he was a step away from becoming a Fighter; the backlash sustained by his body for using Spirit Force was considerably lessened. There were four knives scattered on the ground. He could attempt to use telekinesis and attack the bird, but it would be fruitless. It wouldn’t be enough to scratch the bird’s hairs.

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Scanning the nearby buildings, he found that a dagger had been embedded near the third floor of a yet to be constructed building. He could barely move it with his Spirit Force, but if he guided it down, the downward force of the falling weapon would be enough to kill by striking a vital point. Yulian immediately began using his Spirit Force to slightly dislodge it, until a single thought would be enough for the falling knife to pierce through.

Now, Yulian spread out his Spirit Force to fully observe the battle. The moment a turning point occurred, a knife would pierce down.

…

Fifteen minutes passed by before the stalemate came to an end. Unfortunately, it was not in the favour of the Fighter. As expected, the Genetic Energy in his body had reached the bottom limit. The Fighter had a resigned expression on his face, as if he was awaiting this result. Nevertheless, he braced himself to pour the last dregs of his energy into a final spear thrust, seeking to leave a lasting would on his would-be killer.

During the course of the battle, a part of the steel-like feathers covering the flesh of the bird had been shattered, exposing pink flesh. The Fighter thrust the spear out.

It was unceremoniously batted away by sharp black talons.

Just when the bird prepared to finish of the Fighter and Yulian prepared his Spirit Force, he felt his Genetic Energy begin to roil. A moment before it appeared, he sensed its coming. The cloudless lightning would fall once more.

…

A moment before it fell, Yulian spread out his Spirit Force to cover the area around him, attempting to sense the lightning. At the same time, he controlled the dagger he had nearly dislodged from the building it had been stuck in, and used every tiny bit of Spirit Force he could muster to send it flying towards the sky.

Blue lightning appeared and was naturally attracted to the flying blade. It struck it, covering the blade with electric blue sparks. Yulian desperately controlled his Spirit Force to adjust the position of the dagger so that it could accurately tear through the giant bird. The moment he fished this, Yulian was bombarded with insights and new understanding about the concept of lightning. The information suddenly assaulting his brain nearly gave him an aneurism and caused him to lose control over his Spirit Force.

…

Just as the victorious monster attacked the helpless fighter with its talons, a sudden feeling of danger filled its animalistic brain. But before it could even think about the yet unknown danger…

…It was torn through by a falling knife.

The Fighter who would have been killed by the monster looked at the dagger that had saved him. It was a dagger which he had used to tear one of the monster’s wings apart. It was subsequently lost, blown away and forgotten during the battle. And now it had returned to tear the monster apart.

The dagger’s blade glowed in an electric blue color for a brief moment, before dulling down. Perhaps this was a Spirit Reader technique? Did a Spirit Reader see his battle and help him out on a whim?

The Fighter immediately stood up and loudly thanked the unknown Spirit Reader for his help. Only silence greeted him. It appeared that the Spirit Reader did not deem him worthy of further attention.

The Fighter picked up the dagger that had saved him. The dagger was still hot due to the Spirit Force technique. Looking at it, he found various cracks on its frame, signifying it was useless in battle. He threw it away, focusing on the corpse of the B Rank Horde Leader, Black Plumed Eagle. Now that the battle had ended, he began his preparations to harvest the corpse.

…

The Fighter left, taking away the valuable parts from the beast corpse. Hours passed by. The sky changed colors. Yet, Yulian did not wake up.

Yulian was currently in a state similar to meditation. He had fully immersed himself into understanding the insights he gained when his Spirit Force connected to the lightning bolt. In a blink of an eye, hours went by.

…

Yulian finally opened his eyes. By a lucky chance, he received insights from spiritually connecting to the lightning. Comprehending and understanding them took him into a state similar to meditation, so he did not know how much time had passed by.

Deciding to test out the benefits of his insights, Yulian immediately punched the air. As his fist truck out, it seemed to vibrate for a moment, causing the air to ripple! This was the First Stage of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade!

“So the fact that you can train in the First Stage of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade by training in the Nine Yang Thunder Fist is certainly true…” The insights into lightning transformed the Nine Yang Thunder Fist into the Nine Stage Thunder blade.

Just then, Yulian remembered that he had been in meditation for quite a while. He hurriedly checked his watch.

9 May 2048, Saturday, 6:56 PM

Exactly six hours had passed since he left home. He immediate sent a text message to Jack, making a excuse about coming home late. Now that he had taken care of things on that end, he decided to check the surroundings.

Yulian’s eyes scanned the battlefield where he witnessed the exciting battle between man and monster. The monster was dead and the man returned home victorious.

Yulian wandered near the chopped up remains of the bird. A dagger with hairline cracks on its blade was lying fallen on the ground. Yulian gingerly picked it up. He also took an undamaged feather from the bird’s remains. 

“…Something to remember my first battle by.” Even though both the combatants were unaware of Yulian’s existence, one fact was true… Yulian had fought in the battle with all his strength, even landing the finishing blow on the enemy by himself!

After safely putting away the items he had picked up, Yulian stretched his body. “I recklessly used Spirit Force today, yet I haven’t been struck by any backlash. It should be coming soon…” Yulian readied himself. He sensed that the Spirit Force dwelling within him was going to erupt soon. Only his own strength and willpower would decide whether this would result in calamity or good fortune!

A/N – So sorry for the hiatus! I won’t make any excuses, I was just being lazy! Actually, I read so many novels that I found it difficult to sit down and write! So sorry again! I hope this bonus of three chapters can satisfy you guys… BTW, next chapter is the arc epilogue. For a final note, please donate credits to my E-Hentai A/c with username Aardwark! It’s just E-Hentai credits and not real money, so don’t be a cheapo!