Four days passed in the blink of an eye. Each day Cassius' shock kept building upon itself. Cassius himself was not a cultivation fanatic, but he had also reached the peak of the Soul Flame realm through Blacksmithing.
Not being able to hold his curiosity back, Cassius imbued his Mana and looked inside Lyners body. In less than 7 hours after a major fight, all the blood Lyner lost had regenerated, his broken bones completely recovered, his torn muscles, ligaments and burst meridians were recovering with a speed visible to the naked eye. Even his arm had regrown in 15 hours.
What was even more astounding, Cassius knew Lyner was a Mortal from day one when he came to Harmony Village 7 years back. And now? The Qi and Mana was now circulating in pathways that were being created, not only that if Cassius knew any better. The pathways forming were that from a Transcendant Cultivation Manual, then his Mana entered into Lyners soul space.
And that was where the real shocker was revealed. Lyners Soul was intertwined with a secondary soul, inside the Soul Space there was scars, cracks and fissures opening and closing in rapid succession. There was a Sword Avatar inside the Soul Space, as well as two Dao Avatars of a Light tree and Dark tree. Their roots intertwined, and there was hints of a peak tier Dao hidden within the two trees. Lyners Soul Space was as vast as that of a Soul Palace Cultivator, there was the most minute hints of a first floor Palace foundation.
Cassius was floored, if anyone came to learn of a mere level 0 Foundation Building Stage mortal/cultivator contained a Soul Palace Foundation in his Soul Space. And a five coloured Soul Flame foundation inside his Dantian, and not one but three Optimization Cores hidden in the hidden nooks and crannies of his foundation. Immortal experts from the second layer would descend into their lower layer, and take Lyners corpse back to study and hopefully inherit the secrets locked in the brats body.
Cassius was stunned out of his reverie, coming back to the real world. Lyners hand grabbed onto Cassius' hand that was placed over top where his Dantian was. Lyners eyes were wide open and staring daggers into Cassius' eyes as he spoke coldly. "Not a single word is to escape your lips, if it does it will give me all the ammunition I need to go into hiding and come back to exterminate the Nethandriel Empire when I grow strong enough. As you have already seen, I only need time to reach that point."
Cassius looked Lyner in the eyes and said his next words carefully. "I'm just a retired Blacksmith, I cut ties with the Nethandriel family long ago brat. In fact you'd be doing me a favor if you were to exterminate the Nethandriel Empire in the future. Those bastards used my little sister, and then my own son for human experimentation until they became monsters in every meaning of the word." The coldness in Cassius' voice couldn't have been more clear.
Lyner let go of Cassius' hand as his gaze relaxed. "Harmony Village is a temporary stepping stone for my future ascent. Eventually I plan to make a force of my own, would you be willing to be the Chief Blacksmith of my faction when that time comes? And if you have any connections who are trustworthy, capable managers or stewards would all be welcomed. I do not plan to be a hands on leader, I need to be the spearhead that deters those from moving against my faction. But I cant do it all on my own, I will need a support system to further fuel my Cultivation."
Seeing the gleam and uneasiness in Cassius' eyes, Lyner followed up in almost a little too much of a hurry. "I do not need an answer today, it is an offer and an extending offer to the capable for the future. Right now I have nothing to prove my words to you with Cassius. You have treated me like a son more than my own father ever has. I respect and admire you Cassius, you taught me all I know in Blacksmithing. I'd rather not lose someone that I can whole heartedly trust."
"Tell me when your ready my boy, this old man will do all I can to put your mind at ease when you build your faction. I am no fighter though, Blacksmithing is the jewel of my heart. When the Nethandriels took my sister and son away, it was only me hammer and the various metals that kept me sane. The more I worked, the more I sweat it made me feel alive in a shitty situation. Call on me when you're ready my boy, I'll be here to support your ambitions and keep teaching you until I can no more. Cassius put his hands onto Lyners shoulders, "proud of ya son, that was an amazing fight. It made even me feel hot blooded. Now get some rest, you need it."
Cassius left the backroom, and it was then Lyner was able to focus on the notifications in the top right of his vision.
[System Event: Beast Tide. Completed. Curse on hosts Soul has been weakened by 5%. 95% curse remaining.]
System Event: Beast Tide. Optional Mission: Slay the Beast King. Completed. Level, Class, and Cultivation Syatems unlocked. Additional Rewards: 3,500 Gold Coins, 5 Skill Points, 10 Legacy Skill Points. Beast Kings Beast Core. Epic Sword Blank.]
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[Due to special circumstances of the hosts curse. Cultivation has an increased difficulty of 90% Level ups require 5x the amount of experience compared to regular Cultivators. Every 25 levels host will be required to overcome a test to further increase the maximum level capacity.]
[To be granted the ability to Cultivate, the host has forcefully sacrificed 95% of the attribute points to all stats, with the exception of Luck, Physique and Comprehension. Dragon Scale, Phoenix Scale, Wolf Scale, Vermillion Bird Scale Diagrams have been reset. The aforementioned diagrams have been increased from a maximum of 2,500 scales to 3,500 scales. Every 100 scales will result in the host gaining more passive attributes. Upgrade conditions for the Diagrams will be unlocked upon maxing out the 3,500 scales in each Diagram.]
[The host has gained the following titles: King Slayer, Profession Patriarch, Race Patriarch, Mana Monarch, Scion Of Dao, Limit Breaker has been upgraded to Limit Shaterer, Empyrean Power, Lucks Chosen. ]
[The host has gained an unknown blessing from a Transcendant God. The blessing increases hosts Physique, Comprehension, Luck by 40, all other attributes are permanently increased by 350.]
[The hosts race: Ancient Human has an increased maximum limit attribute of 3x that of normal Cultivators. Due to certain racial passive abilities, when the host trains other Humans, they learn at a speed 3.5 times faster. When the host accepts disciples later when the Disciple System unlocks, the host can reward atteibute points, talents, skills and more that the host will have to explore at a later date.]
[Due to the hosts Soul Space being severely wounded due to the battle with the Beast King. The extra bonus attribute points of all newly gained titles, and all of hosts Daos will not be awarded, all except for the Mana Monarch title.]
[Remaining time for hosts Soul Space to be healed. 125 days, 23 hours, 52 minutes. It is suggested the host goes into a Mana and Dao rich environment to speed up the healing process. One Legendary Purity Of The Soul pill has been given in exchange of additional bonuses.]
Lyner smiled in victory to himself, his Soul Space was fuckered for lack of a better way to state it. Being more stubborn than a bull has always been a strong point, but it also did not allow Lyner to back down when he needed to. But hey it all worked out the issme of the past future Lyner succeeded.
And then it struck him, the unfathomable itch he felt across his whole body. His body felt stiffer than a nine peckered frog, his internal organs screamed in defiance. Sure he had regenerated quickly due to his monstrous stats, but with regeneration came the actual healing process and his body telling him. "Mate, you fucked up."
Opening his status page for the first time since he had just gained permission by the sub systems opening. Lyner was utterly shocked at the numbers he'd seen, and that was after 95% of all his stats had been consumed.
Name: Lyner
Race: Ancient Human F [CURSED: 95%]
Cultivation Manuals: Heavenly River Demonic Art: Transcendant
Emperors Heart: ??? Unawakened 37.5/100% [Unlock Conditions: Indomitable and clear heart unwavering to all outside influences.]
Level: 0
Class: Not Applicable
Mana Body: Tier 2 Perfection (Unawakened)
Strength: 750 [2,600]
Agility: 750 [2,600]
Dexterity: 750 [2,600]
Intelligence: 750 [2,600]
Wisdom: 750 [2,600]
Physique 110
Luck: 170
Comprehension: 280
Gold Coins: 3,500
Titles: King Slayer, Profession Patriarch, Race Patriarch, Mana Monarch, Scion Of Dao, Limit Shaterer, Empyrean Power, Lucks Chosen
Battle Talents: Warp Blade.
Natural Talents: Everlasting Sword Path F: An unremarkable Sword Talent in the beginning of a Swordsmans journey. As the Swordsman learns different schools of the Sword Dao (Katana, Dual Swords, Longsword, Sword) theories, and various Sword Qi for the different schools and techniques. The talent will naturally upgrade in rank as the Swordsman learns and comprehends. The more familiar the talent becomes with the host, all learned skills will gradually conform to the hosts path becoming custom fitted skills. Current Bonuses: +2 maximum skill level to all skills used in conjunction with Swords. +5% extra damage of all Sword Skills. +210% learning speed of all Sword skills, Sword Dao and Sword Qi Enlightenment.
Dao: Dao seed of Light, Peak: Epic, Dao seed of Dark, Peak: Epic, Dao seed of Thunder, Peak: Uncommon, Dao seed of Fire, Peak: Common, Dao seed of Shadow, Late: Epic, Dao seed of Void, Middle: Legendary, Dao seed of Sword: Late, Common: Growth Dao
Inside Lyners Inventory was the Beast Kings Core, the Epic Sword Blank and the Legendary Purity Of The Soul Pill. There were two unidentified objects with a series of question marks. They looked like a set of twin Swords, but there was a 1/3 in the top right of the items box. Which made Lyner assume he had to find 2 more fragments for both to fully identify the twin Swords.
Letting out a long sigh of relief that had been pent up for 8 years straight. He was now able to cultivate! But it did not change the hardships and difficulty he would have to raise in power. Not only that he was sure with the curse being tied to his previous lack of affinity to cultivation, if he were to get tested it would still be trash in the eyes of his family.
But who was he? He was a stubborn bastard beyond belief! If there were shackles on him? He would tear them apart! If Gods and Devils stood in his way? He would slay them all indiscriminately!
The very last item in Lyners inventory was a token his mom gave him before he was abandoned.
[Venerable Sword Dojo Entrance Token. Present this token to take a series of tests. Depending on the results of the tests, the token can be exchanged for entry into the Venerable Sword Dojo. Upon entry depending on the hosts rank upon clearing the tests. The host can also learn upwards of 10 common, 7 uncommon, 4 rare, and 1 epic Sword Skill. Reach the highest S rank to gain a hidden reward by the Venerable Sword Dojo, and System Reward for proving your strength.]
[System Quest: Achieve discipleship in the Venerable Sword Dojo. Aim to achieve the highest S rank clearance. A minimum of B+ is required to pass. Rewards: 5% of hosts curse removed, Cultivation difficulty reduced by 5% Level up difficulty of host decreased to 4.5x the average Cultivator. 350 Gold Coins, 1 Skill Point.]
The System gave Lyner his next goal to pursue. He had no idea where the Venerable Sword Dojo was. But one thing he did know, it was time for adventure. To plunder all the booty he could to fatten up his wallet.