Chapter 25

  Yin let loose a six band starshot and watched it wink out somewhere over the lake. Then did it again, and lastly with the dregs of madra he had left made a three band one.

  ‘’I know this was much harder before the potion, but it just feels like this has always been my baseline.’’ He said for Secretary who was taking exhaustive notes on his condition. It had taken a few days to recover completely, drugs were no joke, especially when they contained liquified dreams and the souls of bugs.

  ‘’Yin has exceeded Secretary’s expectations. Your mental enhancement is closer to eight percent, perhaps lower.’’ She continuously forged illusions around her of numbers, doing multiple different calculations at once of something that was incredibly hard to quantify in the first place.

  ‘’Normally when you say that it’s ‘Perhaps higher.’, because that makes it sound better and more positive. And it strokes my ego.’’ She didn’t seem to have listened, so Yin went back to snacking on the weird moray eel with legs that Kaido had brought back for the small payment of a gemstone.

  Shaking off the jitters the meat gave him, Yin went back to cycling and grinding away at his pure core. Having it reach gold alone had been amazing, but using the heavenly wheel-whatever now was a dozen times more rewarding. By virtue of the core having grown larger in the ascension made it so every revolution, every tiny bit carved out and down was much greater.

  His reserves were deeping at a rate where every other day the number of techniques he could throw out increased.

  ‘’You know, I feel kind of bad for Ti Li now. It’s not going to be easy getting her Seras remnant.’’

  Secretary looked up at him and physically moved a few calculation illusions out of the way to meet his gaze. ‘’What is our plan in that regard? Secretary is, as they say, ‘stumped’.’’

  Taking a breath and then forcefully turning his thoughts to thinking of Zeurel instead, he waved her away. ‘’We can talk about that later. For now, I think getting Ti Li to really flex her willpower muscles is more important than anything else for her. Do you have any ideas on that front?’’

  Secretary mumbled something and then worked her madra. She cast a technique and a perfect illusion clone of her appeared sitting a few steps away. The clone started doing the calculations and the original secretary spoke. ‘’Only things that will be shut down by the group. Nightmare arrays, physical torture and near death experiences.’’

  ‘’Yeah you’re totally right, none of that shit flies!’’ Yin said as if he were congratulating her on passing a hard test. ‘’Actually, wait. Maybe nightmare arrays will work, Worst Mom used those on her people all the time. Hey, I think we should make a trial thing to temper ourselves against illusions.’’

  ‘’Added to the list.’’ Reported the illusion of Secretary off to the side. The real one continued. ‘’Secretary questions the viability of such a thing, but will endeavor to create a working solution. It will require, dream remnants. And pure scales, ah, yay.’’ Yin dropped the scale he’d made in her hands and listened to her monotone cheering.

  It was so much easier now that he’d gotten his forger binding. Despite being mostly geared towards specifically making fists it was versatile enough for him to forge almost any shape and size with it. The fact that his channels didn’t strain all that much making a scale now was amazing.

  Yin was pleased about a lot of things lately.

  ‘’When will Yin go back to Titan’s Grove?’’ The clone asked, and Yin wasn’t sure if she was actually separate from Secretary or not, so he turned to her when he answered.

  ‘’I haven’t really been keeping track of the days, but I think this week or the next. Why?’’

  ‘’If you leave now the travel time will be roughly twenty days one way, in perfect conditions.’’ The clone wrote out long equations. ‘’We have been here for more than three months.’’

  Oh?

  Oh.

  ‘’Guess I should go now then.’’ Yin rose and strode out of his pavilion. ‘’Where is the ship?’’

  ‘’Montai, Ten and Ti Li are using it to hunt dreadbeasts. Estimated time for them to return is six to seventeen days.’’

  Yin stood silently for a full minute, thinking of cooking recipes and such. A deep sigh, and let it go. Calm. Zen.

  ‘’I am going to kill that fucking shitbird. He could have just flown himself with them on his back. He IS FASTER THAN THE SHIP! I’M GONNA-.’’

  Yin returned to the pavilion and sat down, drawing the dense energies in. ‘’I’m gonna make a move just to counter him. Some way to blow shadows away, or a cage? A cage.’’

  As soon as the circulating madra in his channels allowed it he created a halo over his head. Just feeling the energy externally, to help him think of how to utilize it.

  ‘’Results are inconclusive.’’ Secretary’s clone reported and faded into nothing. ‘’Useless. Calculations are best left to Secretary’s main consciousness it seems. This casts a shadow of doubt upon one of Secretary’s projects.’’

  Yin paused his theory crafting to switch to pure and forge another, much more dense, scale for her. ‘’Here, go have fun somewhere else.’’

  She bounced away like a chinese zombie, but keeping her arms down, repeating the word ‘yay’ several times until he couldn’t hear her anymore.

  ‘’Alright, now what can light, fire and force do other than explode shit?’’

  —

  In the end Yin discarded his cage idea.

  Because it would be too simple.

  The move would have just been to create bands like he was already doing, just using ruling to make them further away. And that would create the problem of trying to make them in someone else's sphere of influence. Too likely to be countered simply by his foes paying attention to the air around them.

  So what if instead of making it a long range technique, he made it a close range one. One that would work within his aura. A domain skill, like the pure one he was slowly changing to make it work for him.

  Unfortunately the only way he could make his idea reality was by using ruling. Which in other words meant he needed extremely strong willpower to keep it together. Especially if an opponent decides to contest his control.

  So what would a domain of light, fire and force look like?

  In Yin’s opinion it would be a glow around him, like the sun was shining down on him alone. A blessing for him and a curse for anyone entering his light.

  Kind of.

  Almost.

  No.

  Exactly like Airspace Babylon.

  Having consumed tons and tons of manga in his youth continued to pay dividends after his first death.

  Though for Yin he also needed to balance out the force with fire and light. Which was why it would be a radiant paradise for Yin, and a burning hell for his enemies. The light would be the conduit for his fire.

  If he could get it working the way he intended it would be powerful against pretty much any artist. Though probably especially so against shadow artists. ‘’Montai..’’

  ‘’Eesh, bro I was just about to tell you I’m back and you’re sitting here saying my name?’’

  Yin leaned back a bit to see the massive bird head on the other side of the pillar. ‘’Oh, perfect timing.’’ Getting up and stretching his legs a bit Yin stepped out of his pavilion and switched to pure madra. ‘’Death penalty.’’

  Montai counterattacked Yin’s six forged fists by beating his wings to both send a cutting black wind and make distance.

  Beating the wind aside with his modified Hollow Domain, simply concentrating the madra over one arm. He struck with another forged fist, ten times larger than his normal ones. Actually hitting the bird, carrying him backwards into the arena.

  As he chased, Yin forged a dozen more fists and carried them in his aura, landing in front of the recovering bird.

  ‘’Okay! Okay, cool off! Tell me what you’re mad about before we fight at least!’’ Despite his calls for temporary peace Montai was molding madra around himself.

  ‘’I didn’t keep count of the days and now I’m gonna be late by a few weeks to get my remnant.’’

  ‘’And you think that's my fault!?’’ Montai was so surprised that he actually dropped whatever he was working on. Dark wind washed over Yin and nipped at his skin.

  ‘’You took the cloudship asshole. As if you even needed it.’’

  ‘’Uh, yeah, dipshit. You think I can just keep flying forever?’’ ‘’Yeah.’’ ‘’Well I- what? Well I can’t! It takes too much madra to keep myself up with extra weight!’’

  ‘’Ten and Ti Li weigh nothing! It’s honestly concerning!’’ Yin dramatically pointed at the pair who were standing outside the script boundary watching them. For some reason they didn’t seem to like him saying that. ‘’But that’s not important right now. What IS important is for you to submit and get killed so I can get going already!’’

  ‘’I refuse, suffer.’’ Montai speaking in such a deadpan voice was enough to take Yin out of his righteous fervor.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  ‘’Fine. Maybe I will.’’ Yin crossed his arms and stubbornly pouted like a child.

  Montai sighed and reached over with a wing to bat him over the head with. ‘’Just ask Emriss to come get you. Why do you even want to use the ship? Agh!’’ Several fists crashed into him from all sorts of angles.

  ‘’Because she’s got shit to do literally every second of the day.’’ Yin turned to the very tree-like woman who smiled at him with mirth dancing in her eyes. ‘’And even then you’re not getting everything you could accomplish done, right?’’

  ‘’Let me tell you that I do have some free time every now and then.’’ She looked out of the arena, past Ten who was pushing her little sister down to kneel with her. ‘’My, another one? Two? No, that one isn’t a reincarnated person.’’ Her gaze fell back to Yin. ‘’You’ve found some wonderful companions haven’t you?’’

  He waggled his hand and frowned. ‘’Kaido is kind of a handful. And she’s a scaredy cat. And she’s arrogant as hell despite that.’’ Emriss smiled kindly at him. ‘’I mean, yeah, she’s strong and all but that attitude is just..’’ He shook his head.

  For some reason everyone was quiet for a moment.

  ‘’Alright, since you’re here can you bring me back to your city so I can get that remnant?’’

  ‘’Oh? You won’t even let me stay for tea?’’ Ten shot into the house at speeds he’d never seen her move before. After a second Kaido’s head came out of the door and looked over, swiftly disappearing when she saw Emriss. ‘’Hm, it does seem I might be imposing too much. Shall we go then Yin?’’

  This time she opened her portal through The Way and let them all perceive it, the odd visual of solid blue somehow swirling to Yin’s eyes. Emriss hummed and waited for a moment, giving Yin pause as well. A few seconds later Secretary jogged out with a large box in her hands.

  ‘’Secretary has business to conduct in Titan’s Grove.’’ She explained as she approached and, without asking for permission, walked into the portal. Yin grinned and followed her walking into the higher reality beyond the boundary.

  Steps blindly taken through the blue abyss ended after long and disorienting seconds, the blue giving way to a familiar place. The inner garden of their compound in the city. Yin took a moment to appreciate it, thinking of apples and a moment later picking one that grew near his head.

  ‘’It’s good to be back.’’

  Secretary didn’t waste any time whatsoever, heading for the exit right away. ‘’Secretary will commence trade.’’ She explained a moment before leaving the garden.

  Taking another bite of the perfectly crisp apple, Yin waited for Emriss’ say before doing anything. She looked at Secretary a bit longer. ‘’That was quite a large amount of pure scales. It might actually destabilize the economy here for a week or two.’’

  ‘’Well, three of us are pure artists and we’re all doing the exercise to deepen our reserves. If that amount was worrying, just wait for when we get back in two years.’’

  ‘’Indeed, it’s more effective than any of the exercises I’ve used in my lifetime. To think such a thing has gone undiscovered until you lot came along.’’ She led the way to a place he could guess just by the initial route they took.

  ‘’The guy who came up with it built the Labyrinth.’’ Yin enjoyed seeing the ancient tree monarch actually look shocked for an instant. Dropping bombs like that was what he lived for.

  ‘’How could you possibly..? No, of course you do.’’ Chuckling, she walked alongside Yin to his cycling room, the door now heavily warded with scripts denser than he’d ever seen before. ‘’You read it in a book once, as you say.’’

  She lightly gestured with a hand and the knots of characters came alive and unwound. A fortress turning into a gate with only her intent to make it so. In moments the door was bared and she nodded for Yin to open it.

  He felt like a kid at Christmas opening the biggest present under the tree as he pushed the door open. The vital energies inside were so dense that the room glowed, the air swayed from the heat and the air felt halfway solid from the force trapped by the walls.

  In the center of the room sat a radiant figure with crossed legs. It was head and shoulders taller than Yin even so. As Yin walked in it lifted its head, crowned by multiple sets of horns, its mouth splayed open by tusks and fangs into a fierce scowl. It shifted, bringing up two extra sets of arms to flex their muscles and menace him with their clawed hands.

  Yin’s Falling Star madra pumped through his channels, a halo formed over his head, and then several more bands formed around him just to give the madra some release. ‘’So you’ll be my partner, huh.’’ Yin found his voice trembling with excitement. ‘’Nice to meet you.’’

  Yin extended a hand and the remnant looked at it, slowly it raised its gaze back up to meet Yin’s.

  One fist struck his stomach, the next his chest, the third his face. Yin was blown back into the wall opposite his cycling room, cracking the stone. The remnant let out a roar as seven bands of madra slammed into it from every direction. Then the roar was cut short as Yin appeared before it with Godspeed and slammed a fist into its head hard enough that it bounced once off the floor.

  A leg took Yin in the shoulder and carried him into a wall, his vision flashed as his head bounced for a second time in the fractions of a second since the fight had started. His Falling Star cloak flared and in the instant of stretched perception he watched a knee as big as his torso approach his face.

  Another rapid burst of cloak let him slip passed the knee, a third the grasping hands threatening to rend him. A fourth stopped him dead before he could ram bodily into the opposite wall.

  A six band starshot whirred up and was abandoned as two arms slammed through it. Yin launched away again in a lightspeed cat and mouse game.

  The only thing saving him at the moment was the cultivation room being such a paradise for him. It was almost as if he had unlimited madra, with how quickly his channels could drink in vital energy to refine. But it wouldn’t last, the unrefined energy would eventually outweigh the refined and become uncontrollable.

  He had to counterattack, but the radiant asura gave him no room to do it.

  The idea for his domain technique was only an hour old and he had no knowledge yet of how it would best be performed. But it would absolutely be a ruler technique, and so, Yin ruled the madra in the chamber.

  It took a toll on his mind, but after a moment of resonance the vital energy in the room fell under his will. The remnant stopped, probably feeling as if an attack could come from anywhere. But when nothing changed after a second it burst back into motion.

  And then it froze again.

  Light, Fire and Force. Yin’s trinity madra entwined and pressed down on his foe. What was a paradise for him became a mire for the remnant.

  Yin felt as if he was breaking apart, his channels strained against the energy rampaging through them. His mind split between setting bands in motion and trying to not explode. Two starshots collapsed and fired into the remnant, blowing a pair of holes into its body.

  Then he had to drop the domain before it killed him. He could feel points in his channels where they might rupture if he stressed them any more than he already had. The pain was enchanting, so much so that he stood still for a moment in front of the stunned remnant.

  It took a step and Yin turned and ran. The heavy stumbling steps behind him drove Yin on through the hallways and out into the garden courtyard. There he focused past the pain and the garden responded.

  When the asura-like remnant stumbled into the green it almost instantly had to tear a hanging vine off of its neck. That done it lunged for Yin but stumbled over a root that looked comfortable to sit on. Yin switched to pure madra and cloaked despite the pain, punching the struggling thing on the head a few times before retreating.

  Six arms shredded much of the biological material separating it from Yin. Slowing more and more as hits slammed into it from every direction currently occupied by something else.

  By the time Yin's breathing was as ragged as his channels the remnant finally stopped moving. Slumping down into a cradle of fruit bearing vines and branches. Its body looked dimmer, and the holes in its chest and stomach wept madra that caused some of the plants it touched to wither.

  Yin huffed and puffed, in a state where he wasn’t sure if he was actually conscious. There was a chance it was a trap, the remnant more intelligent than it had seemed. But it was by every second he waited getting closer to unraveling back into vital energy. He had to take a chance.

  Some perfectly placed stiff leaves supported his quivering legs and he nearly fell forward. The remnant weakly tried to reach for him, clawed hands still intent on murder. Yin’s hand touched it first.

  His madra channeled into the remnant and then pulled back into Yin, through his channels and into his core. The massive remnant lost its shape and spiraled into Yin's hand and through to his soul. Slotting into place and becoming the foundation that allowed his aspected core to advance to gold.

  With the advancement came the goldsign, the madra swelling through Yin’s entire body, eventually pushing out.

  From his right shoulder another arm grew, radiant falling star madra grasped at nothing. Yin’s mouth was forced open as a glowing yellow tusk grew from his lower jaw.

  He touched it gently, body still recovering from the brief fight. ‘’Thith ith som buhshiht.’’

  ‘’Mind your language.’’ Emriss admonished him, but Yin could tell she was amused. ‘’Congratulations Yin.’’

  ‘’Ah want thessures.. Threffur-’’ Yin drew his Falling Star madra in, consequently pulling the goldsign back too, switching to pure madra. ‘’I want a set of treasures, all eight. Please.’’

  ‘’You’ve just advanced and you’re already thinking of underlord?’’

  ‘’Of course I am, but in this case anyone in my team can use them. I’m already working on some designs to make better use of the cycling room on the cloudship.’’ Yin took a step backwards and fell into a conveniently placed leaf when his legs failed him. He sighed deeply, enjoying the comfort as his body pieced itself back together.

  ‘’I had something else in mind, but if that is your wish..’’

  ‘’Wait! Hold on there, let’s hear the specifics before we do anything hasty here.’’ Yin said seriously while sinking deeper into the soft plant.

  Emriss chuckled softly as she sat on a leaf that had grown for her. ‘’While we made your remnant we ended up with some half successes. The most suitable of those has been made into an armament.’’ She parted her hands and, as if dropping into them, a pale white halberd appeared.

  The shaft was like a single length of bone, carvings winding their way from the bottom all the way to the split head. The head had an ax blade on one side, a hammer on the other and a long spear in the middle. All three were a bit too large to be viable as an actual weapon, or they would have on earth.

  Yin accepted the weapon from Emriss and tested its weight, the handle felt nice in his hands. Familiar even, because the madra bound into it was close to his Falling Star path. He extended his senses through it and marveled at the head. It split the madra in three, fire for the ax, force for the hammer and light for the spear.

  ‘’It was supposed to be underlord level, but the crafting unfortunately degraded it to a half step stage. I believe you will have no trouble activating it when you reach true gold.’’

  ‘’This is amazing. Thank you, Emriss.’’ Yin bowed deeply, almost falling from the weight of his new weapon. He’d have to find Secretary and make sure she consumed some weapons mastery dreamslates. ‘’Hey, quick question. Do you know how strong a pure madra scale would have to be to buy a natural treasure of any type?’’

  ‘’Currently the least expensive are light treasures, twenty to thirty true gold pure scales. The others would be forty five to sixty. I am estimating, of course, I do not decide how much someone sells their goods for.’’

  Yin ran the numbers in his head and then gave up because it was hard. ‘’So we can maybe buy one every two months if the three of us all make it to true.’’ Sighing he slumped back down into the leaf, resting the halberd over his stomach. ‘’How often do four true gold combat artists win against two underlords?’’

  Her placid look said it all.

  ‘’What if Montai’s grandpa came back and helped out?’’

  ‘’That would depend entirely on his skill, wouldn’t it?’’

  ‘’Can I borrow one or two of your lords?’’

  ‘’For what?’’ She asked as if she didn’t know what he was talking about already.

  ‘’To kill two Lord lake monsters.’’

  ‘’And what are their crimes?’’

  Yin paused and went over his memories. ‘’They’ve been oppressing Tawlim for like a hundred years or something. The previous king Talion left because he got depressed or something and didn’t want to deal with it all anymore. I wasn’t paying attention, it’s tough to listen to Kaido when she talks.’’

  Emriss probably knew the story much better than Yin did, and she likely had her reasons for leaving the situation as it was. But Yin knew those pieces of shit eels were hoarding a lot of high quality treasures.

  ‘’I have a condition in that case. You said four combat artists, meaning you, Montai, Ten and your new friend Kaido no? If you four, when you are ready, can survive five minutes against Margo I will allow you to borrow her and two more of my lords. If you still wish to end them at such a time then you may, and you can keep whatever materials they have. But their remnants will go to me.’’

  In other words they had less than two years to all get to true gold, and hone their arts to the point that they could stall against an old underlady. Honestly, just fighting the beasts would probably be easier.

  ‘’Alright, let’s give it, uuh.. A year and four months. Yeah, in one year and four months we’re gonna come here and slaughter Margo.’’ Yin decided, rolling the haft of his new halberd in his fingers.

  Emriss looked like she was enjoying herself quite a bit. ‘’I look forward to seeing that.’’