Chapter 110 WUK’S PREDICAMENT
The captains had become more united after what happened.
John and Raleigh had become closer after daily sparring, they actually don’t want to spar with Jericho as it pisses them off.
They can only win through the advantage of their rank but they have a hard time dealing with him.
When their group enters the meeting room, Witch and Cladiius are once again arguing.
"Men! Always men! I think you guys rather make love with men with your stupid mentality!"
"I don’t want to hear this from a cold bxtch that doesn’t get attracted on anyone!"
Both of them are glaring at each other, this was a norm in their group.
Just as they gathered and commenced a meeting, Christine arrives and informs them to gather.
Jasmine informs everyone that Sean has contacted them.
"So that’s the new information." Everyone sighs after hearing his information.
It was a lot to take in, especially, the fact that the Federation is actually not as reliable as they expected.
"The Martial Alliance, I’ve heard about them, they rule half of the territory of the Core Zone." Maki mutters.
"Federation contains the people that still tries to pursue modern technology and mentality while the Martial Alliance is made up by people that embraced the new world order." Fabuki sees things more clearly.
Everyone agrees to this, Maki looks at then and speaks.
"The Federation is hiding something, it seems that this competition isn’t just about rewarding the younger generation but actually involves this entire world, our race survival depends on our result, this is vague but also contains many information, we should contact the other zones as quickly as possible."
Meanwhile, back to Sean, after traveling for two weeks, he arrives at the Thousand Snake Sect.
He was treated as a guest, he no longer needs to challenge the sect.
After hearing the message from the Cloud Stepping Sect, they know that his strength is equal to the weakest pseudo Innate.
This was already a shocking combat strength and the people of the Thousand Snake Sect is more than happy to have someone like him protect their ship.
Currently, in the sect, he was teaching some of the students that are participating in the battle of races, that’s what they call the competition.
"You guys are truly more suited at learning martial arts compared to those on our zone."
He was a bit shocked to notice this phenomenon.
The people from the Core Zone seems to have their own set of martial art path, has similarities to theirs but at the same time very different.
They only train martial arts that are actually related to their mystique creatures and they don’t really sign a contract with mystique creatures that are either elemental, non beast type or different beings from those that exists in this world.
This is basically similar to him but his is just too perverse, clearly a cheat.
"Lord Sean, the young master’s pet beast has successfully evolved, we’re leaving immediately, please prepare."
"No need, I don’t have anything with me and is ready to go whenever you guys are."
He’s excited, as long as he can arrive safely to the Core Zone, he can build some stable foundation for his family.
Their group quickly arrives at a large ship full of snake markings.
"Sean, you’re here, everyone, let me introduce our special guest, Sean, a person from the other zones, his strength is equal to mine." The sect leader smiles.
Sean shakes his head.
"I’m not as strong as you, I might have a strength that can suppress any gold ranker but a bona fide pseudo Innate is different."
The sect leader laughs out loud. "That might be true but that’s just because your only a gold ranker, you hadn’t even reached the peak yet, once you do, you would probably become one of the strongest human under the Innate Realm."
He only smiles, for everyone, he’s a gold ranker that’s hiding his true rank through a secret martial art.
"Let’s hurry up, if we’re late, then, the Thousand Snake Sect would disappear from this world." The sect leader’s voice is solemn.
They immediately gather at the ship and they went into a portal, this is the first time that Sean had entered a portal.
When the entire ship is finally inside, their surroundings starts to warp.
This situation continues for three days before they were thrown into a wilderness.
The place they land upon looks like a crash site, Sean was forced to hold himself, his face is pale.
He had never experienced such a sensation before, he feels like vomiting his entire stomach.
[Rune of Space has activated!]
Suddenly, he hears the system’s notification, he had forgotten to actually check it’s notification because of anxiety.
The first was his aura transforming into an image manifestation.
Killing Intent [Manifestation (Blurry)]: Develop by willpower, spiritual energy and vital force. Can grow by killing living beings.
Effect: When activated, empowers all offensive attacks, decrease target/s offense and defense, intimidate weak-willed creatures into submission or unconsciousness.
Ashura’s Wrath: The image was created through the host’s image and soul. Two souls and one world (Three Heads & Six Arms).
Three Heads: (Locked)
Six Arms: (Locked)
Space Rune: The power to travel space without suffering any damage (Preemptively awakened by portal travel).
Active: Activation of this ability will cause vital force and spiritual energy.
Active2: Refines spatial element by absorbing items or cores that emits/contains spatial element.
Passive: gives host’s space element and learns one spatial skill (Blink).
The two runes on his bones starts flashing as the spiritual energy in the air was absorbed into his body and inside Beast World.
He closes his eyes, this situation continues for one day, when he opens his eyes, he was surprised to realized his strength has grown.
His level increases by one.
------
Name: Sean
Realm: Bone Tempering Realm 2nd Stage
Vital Force: 2,000
Spirit: Gold Rank
Elemental Control: Metal, Yang, Yin, Fire, Space
Contracts: 6/8 [Battle Monkey (Wuk), Two-tailed Fox (Jasmine), Fighting Bunny (Bun²), Fighting Bunny (Flare), World Beast (Pangaea), Juvenile Tree of Life]
Innate Abilities: Jade Skin, Beast World, Titan Body, Shock, Yin and Yang Dual Body, Crystalized Bones.
Linked Traits: Vajra Body, Charm
Technique: Celestial Sun Body, Beast World Cultivation (Cannot Be Trained), Ultimate Strike (Unique), Intermediate Cultivation Technique, Tai Chi, Sun and Moon Dual Cultivation Technique.
Skill: King Kong Punch, Impenetrable Fortress, Flow State, Dash, Heal, Metal Coating, Instant Regeneration, Fire Dragon Breath, Blink
-------
As he expected, the rules of his new realm is different, it seems that silver rank was a dividing line, then, what height would he reach when he becomes a gold ranker?
"Lord Sean has awakened!" Seeing him waking up, one of the students shouts.
The sect leader appears and sighs in relief after seeing that he’s fine.
"I apologized for not warning you, warrior Sean, it seems that you had never experienced spatial travel before."
He nods his head.
"The sensation is actually greater than we passed through the boundary barrier."
The expression of the man turns strange.
"Of course it’s different, the boundaries are created by the will of this planet to protect it’s children, the boundary is full of chaotic space, making it easy for otherworlders to enter but they can only stay at the boundary not being able to pass through it unless they use our own blood or ships to get access into this world."
He was shocked when he heard this.
The boundaries actually serves as a trap for invaders!
"That’s why we of the Core Zone actually dislike building such ships as what you people from the Federation creates, it makes us vulnerable for invasion."
"But, portal breaks still exists." He tries to shift the topic.
"Yes, it does but it’s subjected to the suppression of this world’s will, the strength of the creatures behind the portal would only gradually grow stronger rather than letting multiple gold rankers or even pseudo Innate pass through in an instant."
After hearing the explanation, his expression was very ugly, that meant that many powers from the other zones will be killed because of the order of the Federation.
He takes a deep breath, he knows that the Federation hasn’t sold them to the enemies.
That means that only the strong warriors from zones worthy enough to participate will pass through and if they manage to survive, it’s highly likely that they would be kept in the Core Zone, prevented to return back to their zones.
This information was too crucial and he quickly sends it to the others, he doesn’t want everyone to be captured by the powerful Innates in the Core Zone once they got there.
He turns to the sect leader and bows. "I’m grateful for your guidance, I just have one question, someone as powerful as you doesn’t need my help, why are you so polite to me?"
The sect leader laughs out loud.
"That’s a foolish thought, listen here, friend Sean, the path we’re going to take is teeming with monsters, otherworlders and powerful mystique creatures, there’s even a chance that we might encounter a wild Innate, even thought it’s incredibly low."
He looks at his students and continues. "We need all the help we can get and who’s better than someone capable of even holding himself against a pseudo Innate."
Sean nods his head.
"I am willing to fight for your sect, in fact, as long as it’s a gold rank, I’ll immediately act, don’t worry about my stamina, in terms of endurance, I’m very confident in myself."
"No need, my sect elders can deal with them." The sect leader doesn’t want to bother such a high quality helper for something they can do.
"I’m not really bothered, besides, the elders can deal with the silver rank, with rank suppression, our safety is going to be greater and our journey will be smoother which actually helps me."
The sect leader thought about it and can’t deny his words.
He can only agree and let him deal with any gold rank beings they encounter.
Just like that, Sean and the Thousand Snake Sect gets a bit more familiar.
The number of gold rank mystique creatures in their journey was truly large, he had to make a move multiple times in order to defend the ship.
One week later, in the ship, Sean was absorbing a core he got from killing a metal type mystique creature.
His body radiates intense energy, his Metal Coating skill has grown stronger and his Rune of Iron Will is now becoming more distinct.
"I need more metal type cores in order to awaken more abilities from my rune."
He mutters.
It’s probably been a month since he last seen his family, he doesn’t know their current situation but they’re getting closer to the Core Zone every single day.
Unlike the ship from their zone, the ship of the Thousand Snake Sect is actually much slower but it’s much more safer since no intruders can enter without permission from the controller.
Just as he was deep in thought, someone knocks on his door.
His expression changes, quickly opening the door, he sees the sect leader.
"Where’s the enemy?"
"No need to be nervous, my friend, we had arrived at the transit station of the sects, once three days is up, all of us can travel to the Core Zone via the portal that the Martial Alliance has created."
It warms his heart seeing Sean always ready to protect them.
Without his help, they might had been late to arrive and would need to travel to the Core Zone in their sect ship rather than the portal.
"You may travel around this place, it’s much larger than our sect and contains many things that can’t be found anywhere other than in the Core Zone."
"Here’s some spirit stones." He tried to give Sean some spirit stones but refuses.
"Sect leader Shen, you don’t need to give me some money, had you forgotten that you agreed to give me all the corpses, I can just sell them to earn some spare change."
The sect leader nods his head, he knows that people like Sean has a lot of pride.
Besides, they really did kill a fair amount of mystique creatures during their journey.
Sean use Beast World to store them, the others thought that he’s a gold ranker and stored them inside his core.
Walking around, he was shocked to see a lot of people coming and going, all of them wear the same ancient attires as the Cloud Stepping Sect and Thousand Snake Sect.
He sits in a restaurant, trying to listen in the conversation pf the people around him.
Unlike the Federation that has a guild to procure mystique creatures, the people of this zone have individual shop and doesn’t have a centralized power.
Selling the corpses to multiple different shops to create some familiarity with the local power seems to be a perfect plan.
"Come in."
Entering a shop, he was presented with a variety of pills and mystique creatures.
There’s even a couple of martial arts being sold.
"I’m here to sell gold rank mystique creature carcasses." Her eyes lights up after hearing his words.
He was immediately escorted to their private room.
It was quite large, probably because the majority of gold rank mystique creatures are large.
"Greetings, honoured guest, I’m the manager of this establishment, I’ve heard that you are selling flesh of gold rank mystique creatures?"
Sensing the man’s presence, Sean deduces that he’s a gold ranker.
He doesn’t sense any hostility from him.
"Yes, I’m here to sell these." With a wave of his hand, ten complete corpses of gold rank mystique creature appears.
"Complete corpses! Young man, you’re more powerful than we expected, for such complete corpses, we offer a hundred thousand spirit stones."
A flash of light appears on Sean’s eyes, such a large amount of spirit stones and they just give it away.
"I’m fine with the price."
The manager sighs in relief and has his subordinates bring the spirit stones.
"Can I browse your store?" He asks.
From the other stores, he only feels greed and the desire to take advantage of him.
From the five stores he visited, this is the only one that passes through his simple test.
"Yes, you may." He was glad.
A book regarding phenomena, sold for ten spirit stone.
A book for refining corpses into blood crystals, sold for another ten spirit stones.
A book about different mystique creatures, sold for a hundred spirit stone.
Basic martial arts, prices ranges from ten to a thousand spirit stones, he bought one hundred basic martial arts for ten thousand spirit stones.
Then, finally, he bought a mystique creature, bought is a bit too much, to foster good will on him, it was gifted to him.
A Gluttonous Spirit Carp.
He didn’t expect to obtain this mystique creature after all of this time.
Signing a contract with it would probably help him advance the Intermediate Cultivation Technique, he can’t use Pangaea since it’s difficult for him to split the water and earth element.
"I guess that I found another glutton for a family, he chuckles."
The man gave him this for free since Gluttonous Spirit Carps are considered either a test subject or an ornamental.
He didn’t immediately sign a contract with it, he needs to buy a lot of them, he doesn’t sign a contract with a mystique creature without assessing their personality first.
The greatest treasure that he obtained was the book regarding how to transform corpses of mystique creatures into blood crystals.
This method is tightly protected by the Federation but it seems that it’s a common method in the Martial Alliance.
It’s different than he expected but it’s probably because the Federation use a much more advanced method.
Blood crystals are created from absorbing the body of the mystique creatures, their blood flesh and bones are compressed into one crystal via runes.
Runes, the people of the Martial Alliance practices runes!
Taking a deep breath, he looks at the runes used by the Martial Alliance and was surprised to know that the knowledge of runes was actually obtained from a broken world.
After reading it some more, he decided to try, to activate the rune, you must need a powerful spiritual sense and spirit stones.
He doesn’t need the latter since he can infuse the runes with spiritual energy via Intermediate Cultivation Technique.
"Huh?"
After copying the runes that was written in the book, he was surprised to discover that it looks just a normal drawing, it doesn’t even activate.
Inside his room, he was scratching his head, just as he was confused on what to do, a knock appears on his door.
"Friend Sean, I’ve heard from my students that you’re trying to find a shop that sells multiple Gluttonous Spirit Carps, I know-"
The sect leader stops his words as he sees him, deep in thought.
"Sect leader Shen, I apologized for ruining your room." Seeing his friend, he can’t help but smile embarrassingly.
He had written multiple runes around the room, trying to understand what went wrong.
"Are you trying to recreate the basic rune of absorption? That’s impossible, you need a vitality absorbing tree, right! I heard that the method of your zones are different from ours."
He was stunned.
The sect leader sees his expression and chuckles.
"The rune you’re trying to recreate meant absorption, the creation of the blood crystal is entirely dependent on the Blood Tree, this tree is the reason for blood crystals not the runes."
He starts breathing hurriedly, he realizes something and looks inside Beast World.
Juvenile Tree of Life (Refined into Beast World): An item full of spiritual energy and life force but can’t generate sentience after a high form of life destroyed it’s former sentience.
Endless Life Force: Generates dense life energy to Beast World. [(Can be upgraded with blood crystals.) (Skills that can be learned by the host: Heal, Instant Regeneration, Growth, Plant Absorb.)]
Spiritual Liquid Condensation: Generates a drop of liquid that contains pure spiritual energy. [(Can be sped up with spirit stones.) (Skills that can be learned by the host: Transforming spiritual energy into liquid mana.)
Spiritual Energy Absorption: Absorbs the spiritual energy from the atmosphere. (Speeds up the host’s spiritual energy absorption but will decrease the host’s cultivation speed.)
This tree was firstly a blood absorbing tree, that means that it can also serve as the medium for the rune of absorption.
"Sect leader Shen, can you teach me how to inscribe this rune?" He asks.
Shen laughs out loud.
"No need, we owe you a lot during this journey and such knowledge isn’t really precious because the requirements for the Blood Tree is quite high."
He didn’t expect that he would encounter such a fortune during his journey.
Meanwhile, back on the ship, after receiving more information from Sean, everyone was getting more and more depressed.
The fact that the Federation wasn’t truly invested in their so-called competition and was actually trying to gather the talents and forces from the other zones to increase their strength has deeply hurt everyone.
"I can’t believe that big brother’s journey was so amazing, he’s basically a spy at this point." Yana was speechless.
Everyone heard her and was stunned, it’s because she’s speaking the truth.
"He’s getting closer to the Core Zone, it seems that we’re going to meet each other there."
Unlike the slow ships of the sect, the ships developed by technology is much faster.
In a different location.
Wuk who was walking to his room was frowning.
The people around him were looking at him with a different light, the males looks at him with admiration but the gaze of the females unnerves him.
It looks like they’re staring at him like he’s some sort of prey but he doesn’t sense any life threatening danger.
"Wuk!"
Hearing the familiar voice, he stops and looks at Yumen Bai, the true name of the young miss of the White Tiger Clan.
"Are you here to ask for a sparring match again?" He asks.
She shakes her head, she blushes and fidgets. "I just want to invite you for dinner."
He nods his head, he’s growing hungry anyway.
"Why don’t you invite us too, Lady Bai?" Suddenly, one of the female students of the Monkey Beastman Race takes a step forward.
This was an order from their great elder, prevent Wuk from being stolen by the other clan.
After realizing that his strength is equal to that of a lesser Innate, they are determined to bring him back to their clan.
"Sorry, but Wuk’s the only one invited, he’s the only one worthy enough to dine with me." Unlike humans, Beastmen doesn’t care about being polite to people they’re weaker to.
The female monkey Beastman clenches her fists, she can’t bear her fangs to Yumen because it’s basically a death sentence.
Wuk can sense the atmosphere, he lived his entire life in the comfort of human society and under the care of Sean, he doesn’t know how to manage relationships.
"How about this, I’ll eat alone in my room, so that it’s fair." The eyes of the female monkey Beastman lights up while Yumen’s expression turns grim.
She knows that Wuk doesn’t mean disrespect and she wasn’t angry at him, she’s angry at the female monkey Beastman but she can’t attack her knowing Wuk is present.
Leaving the place, Yumen hisses at the female monkey Beastman and leaves too.
Wuk was unaware of his own value, his thoughts was preoccupied by the information Sean was giving him.
Back to Sean.
Three days passes by, after listening to the teachings of Shen, he finally has a preliminary idea about how to inscribe a rune.
He also has a hundred Gluttonous Spirit Carps inside of Beast World, his crazy buying and selling of silver to gold rank mystique creatures was discovered by everyone.
"Still, inscribing a rune is as difficult as Shen had stated, no wonder my strength increases so greatly." He mutters.
Besides him was a carp with shiny scales.
It was the Gluttonous Spirit Carp that successfully passed through his test and is now his new partner.
His name is Dorgaron.
------
Name: Dorgaron
Race: Gluttonous Spirit Carp
Grade: Common
Rank: Vital Realm (Iron Rank-6)
Type: Spirit/Water
Innate Trait: Gluttonous Appetite, Spirit Body, Water Element Manipulation
Demon Technique: None
Skills: Tail Slap, Waterball
Requirements for Evolution: (1) Defeat ten carp type mystique creatures; (2) Swim in a different direction of the flow of a flowing river; (3) Absorb enough spiritual energy
-----
Gluttonous Appetite (Basic): Absorbs resources compatible to the host quickly.
Spirit Body (Basic): Sensitive to the presence of spiritual energy, enhances absorption speed of spiritual energy, can consume spirit stones.
Water Element Manipulation (Basic): Control over water element.
Tail Slap (Basic): Covers tail with vital force and slaps.
Waterball (Basic): Throws a energy ball filled with water elemental energy.
[Prompt! Alternative evolution path discovered!]
[Requirements for Evolution (Variant): (1) Inscribe Blood Absorption Rune; (2) Teach Basic Cultivation Technique; (3) Create Suitable Demon Technique; (4) Absorb enough spiritual energy; (5) Infused with life force]
It seems that he needs to inscribe the rune to two beings.
Somebody knocks on the door, he opens it and sews a student.
"Lord Sean, the portal is now activated, sect leader asks if you want anything before we leave."
Thinking about it, he shakes his head.
"None, I’m going to stay in this room, if you wish to find me, you can directly ask me."
The student bows and left, he was unaware that the person behind him was ecstatic.
Finally, he’s going to arrive at the legendary Core Zone, he’s going to reunite with his family!
He felt a massive feedback earlier and he knows that Jasmine had probably broken through to silver rank.
Unfortunately, even after all the feedback, it went to Beast World rather than himself, it seems that his breakthrough is entirely reliant on creating runes.
A couple of days later.
"This is the location of our Martial Alliance, if you want to go to your alliance, you need to gain an authority to do so but don’t worry, as the sect leader, I have the permission to go to your side."
He was relieved after hearing this, then, he can’t help but ask. "Why I hadn’t heard about our side going to your side."
"Only Innates in your side is permitted to enter our side, it seems that the Federation strictly controls this but over the years, this control was getting loose, it’s probably because the majority of Innates comes from the Martial Alliance rather than your Federation."
This was depressing to hear but with his strength, he wasn’t worried too much for the future, he still hasn’t even started exploring their zone, he’s not that interested in exploring this zone.
Shen reluctantly brings him to the portal that connects the two sides.
After paying the spirit stones, the two hugs each other.
"Thank you for all the things that you did for me, I’m going to tell you a secret that I had been hiding ever since we met."
Shen pauses.
"I’m a teacher, that’s the truth but not the whole truth, I’m also a student, Sean from City Z5, current rank is silver, if I ever encounter your sect disciples in the competition, I’ll help if I can."
He then enters the portal, leaving Shen with a dumbfounded expression.
As he enters the portal, he was sent to another large city, it looks more advanced.
He was immediately checked by the guards but because of his attire and the fact that he came from the other side, they only did a basic check on him.
’Just like what Shen had said, the Federation keeps a tight control over their side of territory.’ He thought.
He left the place, following the map signature of Jasmine.
Covering his face with a mask, he reverts his body back to his original size and left the restroom hiding in the presence of another person.
Slowly cruising down the city, he was casually checking the situation, he heard about the reputation of descendants of Innates and doesn’t want to get in conflict with them.
’The people here are actually living like the people back on my former world, how sad.’ He thought as he watched everyone doing their own thing.
This kind of lifestyle might be great in peaceful time but in such a chaotic time, this was fatal.
No wonder the Martial Alliance’s side is a lot stronger.
He looks at the sky and sighs, the Federation is definitely composed of powerful individuals that lived during the peaceful time.
They gather the resources to nurture those that are powerful or talented while letting those that aren’t talented or lazy to live a peaceful life for as long as they can.
The Federation is a sad part of humanity where the governing power just wants to continue the legacy they had built.
Clenching his fists, he feels that the Federation is both right and wrong but he just can’t explain this emotion.
Strength!
If only the Federation is strong enough to grant peace, then, what this people are experiencing will no longer be a fake peace that imposed.
Leaving the place, he unconsciously radiates intense pressure.
Zone Z, he’ll improve the strength of their zone, first order is to reach the strength that can contend to an Innate.
"As expected, the people from the Federation has faster aircraft, too bad that it’s vulnerable to people that has access to teleportation and runes." He mutters.
In front of him was a large building, even the estate of the Gold Family is dwarfed by it.
"Sir, unauthorized personnel are forbidden to enter." He was stopped by the guards.
Taking out his ID, he gives it to one of them, after scanning it, they return to their position.
He smiles and enters.
This place is like a university, clearly divided in numerous stations.
Following his connection to Jasmine, he walks towards a certain direction.
While he was now going to meet with his family, the situation of Wuk is now vastly different.
Their journey wasn’t smooth sailing but with Wuk as their vanguard, they managed to pass through the challenges they encountered without a single death.
Wuk is now regarded as a war god, his strength is continuously advancing and just like Sean, he’s already at the second tier of his current rank and he wasn’t that far from the third tier.
"Lord Wuk, we’re now approaching the portal to the Thousand World Battle Zone." States the great elder of the White Tiger Clan.
He frowns and asks. "I thought that we are going to the Core Zone of the human race?"
"Yes, we are, this is probably your first journey to the human race but we first need to travel to the Thousand World Battle Zone to get to the world of the human race, they’re now the hosts for the Innate Nurturing Selection."
"What is the Innate Nurturing Selection?" This is the first time he heard of this, he just thought that it was a simple competition with prizes given to the winners.
"Innate Nurturing Selection." The great elder mutters with an expression of longing.
"It’s a battle that selects which world and which talents are going to be nurtured to become Innates, it occurs every one hundred years and this time, the human race are going to host it but I doubt that they can really take any spot." The great elder sneers.
Wuk was silent, thinking about his partner, he smiles.
He’s certain that at least one spot would be reserved for humanity.
In his mind, the only person that can match against his partner is himself but his chances of winning isn’t even high.
The difference between their martial arts are just too great and even if he attacks, it would likely be dodged or even deflected back to him.