RAIDBOSS
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Chapter 43
🕑 Added 2024-05-23 00:34:45 +0000 UTCA tingle in the back of my neck told me to throw myself low. Mud clung to my clothes, the ground hot and wet where the sun beat down on it. Only a second later, an arrow landed in the bark above me with a thunk.
[Danger Sense reached level 5!]
I sensed the next arrow coming and ran.
Eros was shooting at me from far out of sight; we ranged far outside the city for this training. I ducked and weaved between the trees.
My arm bled where one of the arrows had grazed my arm.
I pushed my movement technique and stats both to their limit, rushing ripping through brush and leaping around trees. The next arrow still set [Danger Sense] off, blowing through a tree above me.
I kept running, but the next arrow didn’t come even after a few minutes. A fallen tree made me a temporary seat as I sat and rested while Eros caught up.
“Leveled again already?” Eros asked, stepping around a tree to face me. His bow was still in hand. His eyes scanned the treeline around us before landing on me. “Damn. I don’t think you’re leveling again.”
Eros stood straighter than he did before. He moved with more restraint and control after opening his meridians.
I clasped my fists.
“Thank you for the instruction.”
We had spent hours on a chase through the local jungle. Only real danger would activate danger sense. Which meant real arrows and real shots. Eros drank back from a canteen before throwing it to me. I caught it and drank what was left.
“You got it muddy.” Eros complained as he took the canteen back.
“Apologies.” I replied. With a thought, I pulled up the timer.
[Dimensional Rebound in 4 hours]
Eros looked me over.
“Are you okay? Zoning out over there?”
I nodded.
“Just looking at my interface.” I said. I pushed myself to my feet. “I need to handle some other goodbyes before I leave. Let’s go.”
“You sure you don’t want to sleep first?” Eros followed behind me. Concern filled his voice. “You haven’t slept in what… three days?”
“There’s no time.” I said.
“You push yourself too far and one day you will mess up.” Eros said. “Don’t let it kill you. You promised to come back when we’re ready.”
I felt Eros’s stare on my back as I continued through the jungle ahead of him.
“I will.” I said.
I smelled their camp before I saw it. Poppy roasted meat on grills suspended above hastily made fire pits while Anna carved a figure out of wood. I offered a low bow to the party.
“Come eat!” Poppy shouted.
We did. Anna had hunted a monster from the woods. It wasnt idenitiable now, but it had been huge.
I traded stories about noble’s embarassing themselves at party’s with Poppy. Then she asked a question I had been avoiding.
“When will you be back?” She asked.
“It will take you at least three months before your meridians are reinforced.” I said. “Constant cycling will improve the speed.”
“It’s so boring.” Eros complained.
Anna frowned.
“That was a non-answer.”
“I won’t return for two years.” I said. “And I can’t delay, either.”
There was a moment of silence.
“We might not be in Spearpoint when you return. I’ll make sure to leave a message for the Trailblazer’s guild when we leave.” Poppy said. She stood and stretched. “Let’s pick up camp and walk you back to the city?”
***
[Dimensional Rebound in 2 Hours]
It took a lot of asking around to find Flynt. I clutched a piece of paper with an address on it in my hand, standing alone in the street. The sound of machine grinding and the smell of burning metal flooded the street. Smoke poured up out of a window.
I knocked on the door. It was the third time I had knocked on the door. This time I wanted until a break between the noise. There was no response, but the grinding didn’t start back up. I knocked again.
Flynt cursed inside, then I heard the sound of metal clattering to the ground.
“I told you, I’m the property owner, I’m not paying any — ”
Flynt shouted from the other side before pushing the man-door open. He stopped when he saw me. He was covered in grime and metal scraps and soot, wearing a work apron and scorched gloves.
“Sai!?” He shouted. “You made it out my boy! Come in, come in! Tea?”
Flynt waved me in. He, too, had moved into a warehouse. His wagon was suspended on a system of ropes and pulleys that looked unstable. A metal stand held up one corner that was falling toward the ground. One of the metal pipes was still burning hot where Flynt was working on repairs.
The room was full of machines that looked dangerous to me now. Before, they would have looked like instruments; stacks of flutes banded together with metal. But I had seen the Flyntling gun in action.
None of these made any music for the living.
Flynt started boiling water over a makeshift kettle he kept in the corner of the room. It looked like something he had forged out of scrap metal.
“Take a seat!” He said, pointing to a mismatched set of tables and chairs in the corner.
It looked like he spent all of his money on his inventions and had nothing left for furniture. The wagon that made it out into the woods had been finely tuned and polished before falling apart, but everything else in here was worn and torn.
I took a seat regardless. Flynt offered me tea out of a bent metal cup. I took a drink and choked.
“Do you like that? I call it gunpowder-green!” Flynt waved to a yellowed window where a row of plants were growing in makeshift planters.
“It is… distinct.” I replied. I set the cup down.
“So, my boy, are you here to ask about renting the Flyntmobile?” Flynt smiled, his bushy mustache bristling over rows of boxy teeth.
“I was wondering about hiring you on a more permanent basis.” I said. “I could fund all of your inventions. A thousand silver a month should be plenty, yes?”
Flynt’s face lit up. But then he grew weary.
“What would this entail exactly?”
“I want to see the development of your Flyntling gun. I can see uses for it.” Like repelling beast-hordes with mortals. “And I would love to see what my colleges back home think about your inventions.”
Flynt wore a confused look on his face.
“Back home? You’re leaving?”
“Yes. For two years.”
Flynt’s face fell. He shook his head.
“I’ve contracts months out, my boy. No can do.”
It had been worth a shot. Despite the power of Flynt’s gun, I had no idea what it took to produce one, or to produce them enmasse. It was more a curiosity than anything.
“You’ll be back in a few years, then?” Flynt asked, looking at me curiously.”
“Two years from now, I will return.”
Though only thirty days would pass for me.
“I’ll have a full factory running by the time you get back!” Flynt said. “I’ll see you then. And I’ll think about your offer for travel in the mean time.”
***
[Dimensional Rebound Imminent]
I blinked away images of the Way between Worlds. Great pillars of light blew by me like drops of rain. And then I stood in Sandgrave again, the air dry on my skin. I clutched Littlebird’s egg in my hand.
[Anti-Light Roc Egg]
[A spirit bound egg tied to Feng Sai. It contains the remnant consciousness of a Titan level entity with an embryonic perfected body. This egg is feeding off of its connection to Feng Sai’s power. Time until hatching: 13 days.]
Sandgrave was on alert. There was shouting. Torches and spirit-stone lights danced along the walls. I blinked to awareness, then [Danger Sense] activated. I rolled out of the way as I felt something the size of a world hurl itself toward me.
He landed on the roof a few feet away, but [Danger Sense] didn’t deactivate. There was a whirling storm of knives inside of my stomach, my mind and body screaming at me to run as Wen looked down at me.
Then he opened his mouth and the feeling dampened.
“Sai!? Did something go wrong? You’ve been gone twelve hours!” Wen seemed panicked as he looked me over.
He grabbed my arm and inspected the bandage from where Eros’s arrow cut me earlier. I pushed his arm back. He squinted at me.
“I’m alright.” I insisted, rubbing my arm. I kept staring at Wen. “Everything went fine.”
The extra time before my return was a concern, but not my most pressing one. I could address it later. More importantly…
Why was [Danger Sense] still going off? Was it telling me that just being near Wen was enough to endanger my life?
[Danger Sense reached level 6!]
That was a yes. The skills leveled up either through use, or through a deepened understanding of them. The skill seemed to become more eager to cooperate, the feeling of danger radiating from Wen quieting more.
I squinted. What realm was Wen in, really? How old was he?
[Gains: 180 Comprehension Points]
[Total Routes Opened: 3]
[Open additional routes to gain progress towards Felling]
“You look terrible.” Wen said.
“I haven’t slept in days.” I replied.
“Then come. It’s time to rest. I had a feast prepared for you, but… it has grown cold now. Were your gains worth it?” Wen squinted. “Your cultivation realm doesn’t seem to have progressed. But your foundation is firmer.”
“I think they were.” I said. I sucked in a deep breath and opened my full status sheet after the last two days of intensive training.
The last two days had been hell, with Poppy’s team taking breaks to sleep and eat, but, on my repeated request, giving me none. I worked constantly to raise my attributes as high as I could, as fast as I could. It didn’t feel like enough. I was barely keeping up with the three of them; having progressed into the first tier, I wasn’t a match for any of them in a one on one fight.
[Feng Sai][Level 30][Anti-Light Insurgent]
[Health: 70%][Spheres: 8]
[STR 31][CON 25]
[INT 24][WIL 41]
[AGI 25][PER 22]
[Cultivation:]
[Anti-Light Herald of the Last Storm] [5% Second Realm, Core Formation] [CON +10]
[Zones:]
[Slow][Accelerate]
[Carve][Slaughter]
[Skills]
[Anti-Light Herald Martial Art X] [STR +10, AGI +10]
[Identify 6] [PER +6]
[One Cut, One Kill 3] [STR +3]
[Meditation 5] [INT +5]
[Pain Resistance 4] [INT +4]
[Death’s Descent 3] [STR +3]
[Danger Sense 6] [PER +6, INT +6]
[Stormbreak Riposte 5] [AGI +5]
[Vascaran Steel 5] [CON +5, STR +5]
But at this rate, I would be soon. I eyed the balance of comprehension points I had. Just 100 was enough to purchase a technique from beyond the world. Despite all the skills I trained, it could still take a year or two to hunt down and grind out the intelligence skills to balance out my branches, only for many of the skills to be destroyed and merged back together to form the foundation of the branch.
I was already cheating at cultivating by using levels to compensate for my natural potential. It wasn’t enough. I needed to cheat even harder. And I bet these comprehension points could help me cheat at leveling.
Comments
Gopard
Thanks for the chapter! Yes! Use super broken cheats, to cheat at the extra broken cheat used on the just normal broken cheat called Cultivation, I approve! Lol
