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TOSDAG Chapter 16: The City Lord (2)
🕑 Added 2025-01-18 23:08:20 +0000 UTCThird Person P.O.V
"My name is Leek! The last Saiyan left in this world!! That's all there about me!! And that's all I am!! Is that answer enough for you, old man?" The words echoed in the room very clearly.
A challenge thrown out, born of recklessness, pride, youth, immaturity, and Saiyan instinct.
They might have been just a few words, but the feelings they evoked were anything but simple, they spoke of how there was probably nothing in this world that Leek could truly call his own, they responded to the city lord's provocation that even knowing he was at a disadvantage, Leek wasn't going to bow his head in hopes of sympathy.
Leek would rather stay in this city, it was safe, it seemed stable, and most of the people he met here were on his good side, but that didn't mean he would be the equivalent of the submissive child in the playground who would hand over his money to the bully so he could avoid trouble.
If he truly didn't come to an understanding with the city lord and had to leave, then, as much as he regretted it, he would have to do so, better that than be an illegal resident who would surely be wanted and classified as a criminal.
Unconsciously, all of these feelings and more were conveyed in Leek's every action, the words he said, the tone of voice he used, the way he moved, the roaring ki that enveloped him, the defiant but not abrasive glint in his eyes.
Ye Zong, who was more of a man of "actions" than words, a man who had fought, bled, and made the enemies of Glory City bleed, narrowed his eyes, he understood everything Leek wanted to tell him, so he responded accordingly.
When he received Huyan Xiong's letter, two feelings predominated in his being, skepticism and excitement.
Excitement because if everything that his sworn brother's letter said was true, then not only had the existence of more than one community been confirmed where there were people capable of fighting and prospering even against demonic beasts, but also that, although it was sad that at least one of those communities had fallen, that opened the possibility that there were more, and if that was the situation, then if they put some effort into finding some others perhaps those communities could join Glory City, which would strengthen them, and there was even the possibility that those people could bring new knowledge that they considered lost over the years.
While the skepticism was due to the fact that his father, Ye Mo, the only legend-rank spiritualist that the city had, had never mentioned anything about finding another community similar to Glory City despite spending much of his time outside of Glory City, exploring the Divine Continent in search of materials, treasures, and discoveries.
And then there was the fact that this young man that they had found, although strong, was ranked at most at the gold rank, so surviving for too long just wandering around the divine continent was something that would, at the very least, raise anyone's eyebrows.
Thus both feelings competed to dominate Ye Zong's mood, it wasn't that he distrusted Huyan Xiong's word, but throughout his life, he had learned that it was best to take these kinds of situations with caution, that way he could minimize most of the negative impact that could come if the worst happened.
And now that he had seen the boy and clearly felt what his power was, he could tell that Huyan Xiong's words about how Leek would respond to his provocation and that thanks to that, he could see what the boy's character was were 100% true.
So he could only respond as he had promised he would.
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Third Person P.O.V
The pressure in the room disappeared from one moment to the next a couple of seconds after Leek's words were spoken, but even then, the city lord's eyes never left Leek's, his frown that seemed to have been carved in stone did not reveal anything of what was in the man's mind, but even so, Leek did not look away either.
Until, from one moment to the next, Ye Zong closed his eyes as he let out a short snort, and sat back down.
"I see." Was all he said.
The ki aura surrounding Leek faded, and the young Saiyan fell back into his seat.
"Uff… uff… uff." Leek inhaled and exhaled repeatedly with a smile and his hand on his chest. "Man, that was scary, you're quite strong"
"And you need to learn some manners." The man replied dryly before looking at Huyan Xiong, who had so far only been observing the situation. "It reminds me a bit of how you were in our youth"
Huyan Xiong looked a bit surprised before snorting, but he didn't respond to the provocation.
"Alright, since the part about your alliances is covered, I need to know what happened before you met Huyan Xiong." The man said, once again adopting his serious expression and tone.
Leek sighed, he had been mulling over what his backstory would be, the time he told it to Huyan Xiong and his guards when they first met, it was more like a general story, without too many details and with the idea that he would probably separate from that group, but now he would have to go a little deeper.
"Well, to put it in the simplest terms possible, we Saiyans lived in a small community compared to this city, there weren't too many of us, maybe a little over two thousand." Leek began, deciding to modify a little some data he remembered from the canon to suit himself.
"Things were relatively normal until this guy came, Frieza, a conquering tyrant who wanted to unite the Saiyans to his personal army, the Frieza Force, my people refused and the war happened, Frieza's army was quite large, but the Saiyans were stronger in general, still, there were quite a few casualties, but when we thought the worst was over, Frieza himself entered the battlefield." Leek didn't know why, but from the moment he mentioned the conquering alien his brow furrowed, and there was a hint of hatred and resentment in his voice.
It was as if his very Saiyan blood was conditioning him to hate Frieza.
"That bastard's power was greater than anything we had ever seen before, he slew many of the strongest, withstood the most powerful attacks, and there was no defense that could stop him." Leek took a moment to breathe before continuing.
"It all ended when the strongest warrior of all arrived to confront him, he was almost killed on several occasions, but in the end, he used a secret technique and managed to defeat the invader, although he died in an explosion along with the few that remained of the Saiyans, I was the only one who escaped due to an artifact, I was knocked unconscious so I'm not even sure how long the escape trip lasted, shortly after my transport stopped I woke up in a place I didn't recognize, I spent a few days exploring the surroundings and a week later I came across a huge group of gorillas, I fought with them, and when I was in the final part of my fight with the alpha of the pack Mr. Xiong saved me, I'm sure he already told you the rest"
Leek finished telling, in his mind, several possible questions that could be asked appeared at the same time that he thought of the most acceptable answers he could offer, but once again, he was surprised when the lord of the city, after thinking for a few seconds, he simply nodded.
"Eh... are you really not going to ask anything? You know, I know I'm not the one to say it, but, don't you doubt my story?"
The city lord looked at him with a skeptical expression. "I'm aware that there are several parts you haven't told, but the resentment in your voice for what happened and for that Frieza guy was too real to fake, besides, I have a safe in this room"
"Oh, you're talking about the person who's hidden in the ceiling and who's been watching us since we entered this room?" Leek commented in a calm tone as he raised a finger and pointed at the ceiling.
The room fell silent, and Ye Zong and Huyan Xiong's expression turned into one of shock and disbelief.
"You… how did you find out?" The city lord's tone turned incredibly serious once again.
Leek glanced at Huyan Xiong out of the corner of his eye, a little puzzled, but then realized, just yesterday, while they were walking to the clothing store, he had vaguely explained the matter of ki sense to Lanruo, so it was understandable that even if she had told her father, she might not have done so clearly.
"Alright, I'll explain, but wouldn't it be better if the person came out so everyone could hear it and, in case they needed to, ask any questions? If I already know it's there, there's no need to hide, right?"
Ye Zong narrowed his gaze, but raised his hand and made a sign anyway, and then, as if he had teleported, a person appeared beside him.
It was no surprise to Leek that his eyes couldn't follow his movement beyond a blur, but a pang of annoyance stabbed at his heart nonetheless.
The man, although clearly of an advanced age, was also quite imposing when it came to physicality, although his hair, beard, and mustache were white, he looked like he was ready to run several marathons without breaking a sweat, and the feel of his ki gave Leek reason to believe that this person could surely be even stronger than Huyan Xiong.
The man looked at Leek with a scrutinizing expression without saying a word, so the young Saiyan decided to be the first to speak. "I know you already heard it before when I introduced myself, but my name is Leek, nice to meet you." He said, bowing his head slightly.
The man took a breath before replying in kind. "My name is Ye Shuo"
"Well then, I'm sure Mister Huyan Xiong told you that I don't use the same kind of energy as you guys, right? The so-called soul force"
Ye Zong and Ye Shuo nodded, but the truth was that, although they had both read the letter, neither had really believed it.
In both of their opinions, what Huyan Xiong had described as ki, was simply a strange or mutated form of soul force usage resulting from some training method that the Leek people had.
"During the time I've been in Glory City, I've seen what you call cultivation, and I think I've come to understand the essence and differences between our forms of energy. You grow stronger through absorbing the energy in the environment using your cultivation techniques, and depending on the affinity you have with them and the level of them, it can make it easier or harder to absorb that energy and get stronger. Am I right?" Leek asked after giving his summary of what he understood cultivation to be.
Surprisingly, the one who answered was neither the city lord nor Huyan Xiong, but Ye Shuo. "It's not entirely correct, there are a few more points that have weight in cultivation, such as the color of the soul realm, the items and elixirs used to strengthen cultivation, and other details, but overall, your words could be considered acceptable"
"I see." Leek nodded, putting aside questions about what the color of the soul realm was and what other aspects could help strengthen cultivators, there would be time later to ask, for now, he would continue with his explanation. "So that means that the strength of spiritualists is increased and nourished due to external aspects, ki, on the other hand, is something completely internal"
Leek placed his right hand on his chest. "Ki is essentially the life force of any being, and I mean any living being, animals, plants, humans, and even things like the planet and the sun have ki, of course, there are differences between some types of ki depending on the type of being it is, whether it is conscious or not, whether it has will or not, among other things, what I do to get stronger is to train my life force, you could say that in a way it is similar to training a muscle, you must flex it, force it more and more to strengthen it, that way eventually…" Leek moved his hand from his chest until he was in front of Ye Zong and Ye Shuo before continuing.
"You will be able to do something like this." He finished when a bright blue ki sphere materialized on his palm.
Both men from the Ye family opened their eyes in surprise, seeing the sphere in the young man's hand, which after a couple more seconds, began to reduce in size until it blinked and faded away.
The patriarch of the Huyan family didn't seem that surprised because he had already seen Leek do the same before, but his eyes still sparkled a little as he looked at the sphere before smiling to himself, based on how the conversation had gone so far it was almost safe to say that Leek's stay in Glory City was a sure thing, and if he took into consideration everything his daughter had told him so far about the boy, then he could be calm about her future.
"That's more or less a summary of what I understand about the differences between soul force and ki, and about how I was able to know he was here." Leek said, moving on to the question he had been asked.
"By mastering ki, many paths open up, not only can you strengthen your body like I did during my fight with Mr. Xiong and be able to materialize energy, ki users have a special sense, we can sense life, so to speak. You can hide the sound of your footsteps, you can erase your scent and your presence, but unless you know how to control your ki and reduce it to a minimum, you will not escape the detection of a ki user, that is one of the most useful benefits in my opinion, although to be completely honest, I am not someone too specialized in ki detection, but I think my control over my own energy is particularly good." The Saiyan replied with a smile.
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Third Person P.O.V
Ye Zong found himself thinking deeply about all the information he had obtained so far, dividing it into two parts, the first being everything that Huyan Xiong had informed him through the letter he sent him yesterday, the most important points being:
-The existence of more people outside of Glory City besides the members of the Dark Guild.
-The discovery of a new type of energy other than soul force.
-That this new individual, apparently, after interacting with the cultivation form of Huyan Xiong's daughter, had thought of a method to boost the cultivation of others.
-That apparently the child had had an anomalous growth between the fight he had with the armed apes and the one he had with Huyan Xiong, after all, in Huyan Xiong's own words, someone with power equivalent to a 3-star gold rank spiritualist would not have ended up in the state that the child ended up in after fighting with a pack of armed apes.
-It seemed that Glory City was behind in the scale of power that existed in the divine continent if really a "non-outstanding" member of the so-called Saiyans had reached a level similar to that of a 3-star gold-rank spiritualist at the age of only 15 years old.
And from the second part of the information, received by Leek, or discerned from his comments, interactions, and so on, he could conclude that:
-At least the first two points above were true.
-There was a lot of other information about this ki that they didn't know about, and that could be beneficial to the entire Glory City.
-The child certainly didn't come from or was associated with the Dark Guild, after all, if they had something like ki, they would have already used it against Glory City, or in case they were preparing something bigger, then they wouldn't send someone who could give them such valuable information about this energy.
Taking all this into account, Ye Zong made his decision, Leek would stay in Glory City, the child, his apparent lineage, and his knowledge were too valuable to lose or risk people like the Dark Guild taking advantage of it.
And now that that was decided, there was only one more thing left to do, he wanted to secure and confirm as much of the child's knowledge and capabilities as possible, that way, both he and his family, the Huyan family, and Glory City as a whole, would benefit.
After all, if he was lucky and there was something that could give his cultivation a boost, then maybe he could advance to the legend rank, which would make the city an even safer place against the attacks of hordes of demonic beasts and the Dark Guild.
X-X-X-X-X
Well, here goes another chapter, I've been a little bored lately, I recently went on a trip with my family (father, mother, and brothers) for family reasons, and now I'm in a place far from home, without a computer, with a laptop shared with my mother and brother, and without much to do (at least until the first week of March, which will be when we return), does anyone have a suggestion for a series or movie? Because one can only endure so much time listening to light novel audiobooks before stopping paying too much attention to them.
Besides that, I wanted to ask you the same thing I did with my other story, if you could please go to webnovel, which is the page where I publish this story, and leave a positive review about this story, that way it will reach more people, thank you very much!
See you next year with the next chapter!
