Chapter 13: Fire Profound Divine Art
Finn sat cross-legged on the bed, opened an ancient scroll, silently recited the cultivation technique, and circulated Profound Energy throughout his body.
On the scroll’s cover were four bold, ancient characters: Fire Profound Divine Art. This was precisely the technique he cultivated.
According to the author’s name listed inside the book, the technique had been created by someone called Venerable Flame Spirit.
Finn had discovered that only he could cultivate the Fire Profound Divine Art, which made him extremely curious about who Venerable Flame Spirit truly was. He had traveled across the Endless Worlds in part to find him, yet he had not uncovered even the slightest trace.
In this Endless Worlds teeming with gods and demons, Finn had no system at his side, nor any bizarre cheats like a Main God or the like. It was only thanks to this technique—which could refine any kind of energy into Profound Energy for his own use—that he could dominate the myriad heavens.
But the Fire Profound Divine Art had two flaws. The first was the massive amount of energy required for cultivation.
Finn had once hijacked a nuclear fusion power station and used controlled nuclear fusion to fuel his training. Yet even after the fusion fuel was completely exhausted, his Profound Energy had only increased by a tiny bit.
Later, Finn tried to hijack a Dyson sphere to fuel his cultivation, but agents from the Spacetime Administration Bureau showed up at his door, forcing him to slip away.
Note: A Dyson sphere is made of satellites orbiting a star to capture nearly all its energy output. Its diameter can reach hundreds of millions of kilometers (about 1 AU for a Sun-like star). It essentially turns the star’s natural nuclear fusion into usable energy on a massive scale.
The second flaw of the Fire Profound Divine Art was that most of the power gained from cultivation went straight into defense, leaving the attack power pitifully weak.
Finn could now tank a nuclear explosion with his bare body without breaking a sweat, yet the strikes he threw out with a casual wave of his hand were nowhere near as strong as a nuke.
Stack the thickest armor and eat the nastiest hits. If you described Finn’s situation in light novel terms, it would be something like “The Rising of the Shield Finn” or “I Don't Want to Die, so I'll Max Out My Defense.”
Finn had no choice in the matter—the Fire Profound Divine Art was simply built that way. Still, his insane defensive power wasn’t limited to shrugging off nuclear blasts. When faced with nearly unbreakable rules and laws of the world, the technique showed the same freakish resistance.
One such incident had happened before. Finn and a few other male powerhouses had teamed up to steal something from a small world, only to run straight into the World Lord herself.
This World Lord had the ability to make her words become reality. She simply opened her mouth and declared, “All men will turn into women, and they will experience a period every single second.”
The moment her voice faded, the rules of the world changed instantly.
Instantly, Finn’s several male teammates transformed into women on the spot and were wracked by periods so brutal they wanted to die, while Finn alone remained completely unchanged.
So how did Finn manage to escape? Because the World Lord herself was a chick too, and she had to endure a period every single second. She was rolling around on the ground in agony, giving Finn the perfect chance to slip away. Gotta say, that World Lord was a total blockhead.
Of course, Finn had only reached the Second Heavenly Layer of the Fire Profound Divine Art so far—and he hadn’t even hit the early stage of it yet. No one knew whether things would change once he broke into higher realms.
Because his defense was ridiculously strong while his attack power was laughably weak, Finn often had to rely on external gear to amp up his fighting strength. Guns, nuclear rocket launchers, laser cannons, intercontinental missiles, shit-stained brooms, electromagnetic rifles—he loved all of them.
Finn didn’t shy away from cold weapons either. His favorite sword was the Skybearer Sword, 1.2 meters long and perfect for close-quarters brawls. Special talismans were engraved on the blade, boosting its sharpness, hardness, and toughness, making it a top-tier divine weapon.
In the Endless Worlds, there was a fairly common power ranking system divided into nine realms, from lowest to highest:
Perseverance Realm (Tier 1), Calamity Realm (Tier 2), Venerable Realm (Tier 3), Ethereal Realm (Tier 4), Emperor Realm (Tier 5), Auspicious Realm (Tier 6), Saint Realm (Tier 7), Immortal Realm (Tier 8), and God Realm (Tier 9).
Each realm could further be divided into three stages: low, mid, and high.
Finn’s own realm was in a pretty awkward spot. Purely in terms of defense, he was already at the level of the Ethereal Realm (Tier 4), but his attack power was still stuck in the Calamity Realm (Tier 2). Averaging the two out, he was probably sitting around the Venerable Realm (Tier 3).
This kind of power ranking was just for fun anyway. After all, the Endless Worlds were full of sneaky old schemers who pretended to be weak just to devour the strong, heaven’s chosen geniuses who crushed opponents way above their level, and hot-blooded young heroes who exploded with power for epic comeback kills… there were way too many of them.
……
Finn picked up the two assault rifles he had seized and inspected them carefully.
The design of these rifles looked different from any firearm Finn knew, but the overall structure was pretty much the same. Since the users were all human, the final form of the weapons ended up converging no matter what—this was probably what people called convergent evolution.
Finn practiced handling and aiming the assault rifle for a bit and quickly got the hang of it. Jimmy picked up the other rifle and started learning how to operate the weapon too.
The two of them went downstairs and reached the first floor of Michael’s Inn. Finn checked the bronze pendulum clock on the wall, then adjusted his titanium-alloy phone and synced the time with the wasteland’s local time.
Coming out onto the street, sporadic gunshots still rang out all around. Seeing no one nearby, Finn pulled a mountain bike from his storage space, let Jimmy hop on behind him, and pedaled straight toward the outskirts of Black Mountain.
After all, the whole reason he had come to this wasteland world was to find the World Nucleus—a creation made by a god-level civilization specifically to restart the universe.
As for everything else, Finn had zero interest in getting involved. He had no desire to fix the wasteland or build some new world either. All his focus stayed locked on the World Nucleus.
“Big bro, can I borrow some of your water to buy a motorcycle? I’m pretty damn good at riding one. You’ve been carrying me around this whole time… I feel bad about it,” Jimmy asked cautiously from the back seat.
Truth was, he just wanted to show off his motorcycle skills in front of Finn. He had been stuck in the wasteland for days now without using his Laser Rain ability even once. Every time danger showed up, he had to hide behind Finn for protection. It made him feel completely useless.
Finn stayed quiet and didn’t answer.
As they rode past a bar called Shelley’s, a man wearing leather boots and a cowboy hat stood outside. He gripped a rough-looking shotgun in one hand and had a compact submachine gun hanging at his waist. Two motorcycles were parked beside him, each with a wildly different design.
One of them was a flashy red off-road bike with a savage, aggressive look, its thick black kickstand angled against the ground.
“Have you ever heard of a gang called the Cowboys up in Black Mountain?” Finn squeezed the brake levers hard and brought the bicycle to a stop.
“The inn owner Michael did mention that Black Mountain has a Cowboy Gang, plus a Demon Gang, a Bike Gang, and a Bullet Gang…” Jimmy replied. He wasn’t quite sure why Finn was suddenly asking about this.
“Get off,” Finn ordered, already striding toward the man in the cowboy hat.
Jimmy steeled himself and followed close behind, matching Finn’s every step.
Finn pointed straight at the motorcycles next to the cowboy. “Which of these two bikes do you like?”
Joy surged in Jimmy’s chest. Finn was actually going to buy him a motorcycle! What a kind-hearted senior! Sure, forcing the deal like this wasn’t exactly ideal, but with all the supplies Finn had stashed in his storage space, purchasing them should be easy enough.
The cowboy noticed Finn’s movement and spun around. His forehead was covered in fierce, ugly tattoos. He raised his shotgun just a fraction, eyes full of wary caution.
Jimmy craned his neck for a better look, then pointed at the flashy red off-road bike. “I think that one’s pretty good.”
“Good,” Finn said, short and to the point.
Then he lifted his hand and pointed at the cowboy. A fully loaded, chambered assault rifle appeared in his grip out of thin air. He held it one-handed and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
A single clean shot rang out, and the cowboy dropped dead on the spot.
Jimmy: “…”
“Go ride your new bike,” Finn said, stowing the rifle back into his storage space.