Chapter 193 - A Prize Unlike Any Other

Eric gazed at the boy for long moments, realizing he was actually serious, pity turning to contempt in the blink of an eye. “You can ask me that, after committing the lives of a dozen men to my death?”

The boy paled and trembled. “Please… I.” He choked out a sob. “I know it means nothing to you if I tell you that my words made no difference to the geas compelling my father’s foot soldiers. That I was merely following my father’s orders, echoing the edicts of command.”

Eric gazed at the trembling boy for long moments, understanding all too well what Lai Wei meant. If he but emphasized and reinforced the ruthless edicts his father expected them all to obey, they learned to follow his orders as an extension of his father. If he dared to contradict or defy, he’d both lose face, the respect of his man, and perhaps suffer at the hands of a monster who thought nothing of killing the boy’s first love as punishment.

Eric ground his teeth. As much as he hated to admit it, he understood the boy’s plight all too well. As contemptuous as some of his actions had been… had Eric been broken in the same way, had he not had the magnificent misfortune for disaster to strike in just the way to grant him a chance at freedom and incredible power through titles, acts of madness, a cultivator’s boons and incredibly powerful spirit fruit, he could all too easily be acting in a fashion every bit as jaded and bitter as Lai Wei had been… Eric feared he would have been just as bad.

Because if Lai Wei hadn’t internalized his father’s twisted methodology as somehow just or proper, had he actually acted out on his outrage… in all likelihood he’d already be dead, butchered at the hands of his own father. So his choices had been to either be the cold arrogant young master the story of his life almost demanded of him, or yet another tragic side-character, dying at his own father’s hands.

Eric winced, shaking his head, darkly bemused to find that his pristine cultivation, the very flow of his spiritual energy, trembled under the weight of his own self-deception. If he was honest… he would have been far, far worse.

Because even now, he reveled in the blood of his enemies. More than any sort of hero, he was a savage hunter who gloried in butchering his prey. Even if he did his best to channel his savage Roundear tendencies into righteous kills, inspired as he still was by the ideals of a thousand fantasy novel heroes and being a worthy man in Rica’s eyes.

But had bitterness, despair, and a pitiless father been his only bulwarks in life, he would have become a creature far darker than poor broken Lai Wei.

A monster in truth.

Save for the wild vagaries of fortune, fate, and luck, Eric and the boy before him could so easily have their roles reversed.

And Eric knew in his dark heart that there was no limit to how far he would go, if the people he loved, like his sister, were killed by schemers or monsters.

He’d gleefully drown the entire world in a sea of blood, all shreds of regret, conscience, or mercy dying with his sister’s desperate cries.

He shook his head and laughed. Even now, with his own cultivation base forcing him to acknowledge the darkness lodged within his own soul, it did nothing to bank the flames of bitter hate fueling his mad rush to ascend just as fast and hard as he could.

He would see the orcs burn in hell. He would wipe them all off the face of Earth, no matter how much blood he had to spill.

As for the goblins, scheming monsters cackling as they attempted to assassinate his sister, repeatedly, while the clan elders kept their hands clean even as they called for so-called independent killers with dark whispers? He would go full matrix on those bastards the minute he returned to Freetown.

Fuck their merchant oaths and claims of neutrality. They crossed the line when they tried to deep six his sister. He didn’t care how many third parties were intimidated from attacking directly for fear of hired assassins.

Those sniveling cowards had already marked his clan, had already declared war on his tribe.

A war he had every intention of winning, even if he had to light every damned city they infested ablaze.

Eric laughed bitterly at the glittering jewel of darkness he sensed growing in his pristine golden heart. “So be it. I am what I am. A fucking killer with delusions of virtue. But I won’t lie to myself, so show my soul as whatever color you like! My cultivation base is stable, so you all can go fuck yourselves! I’ll do whatever the hell I see fit to do!”

Eric frowned down at the boy now gazing at him with something painfully close to terror.

“What’s your problem?”

“What are you?” the boy whispered.

Eric cracked a bleak smile. “Someone who’s done fucking around. From here on out, I’m playing by my rules, and my rules alone. And if the System dings me as a bloodthirsty psychopath? It can go fuck itself. If I offend a bunch of galactic aliens who think they can take my world over while hiding behind a thousand page rule book whose intricacies they alone have mastered? Well they can come here and take it up with me personally, because I’m through playing their games. Now I play my own.”

“What does that even mean?”

Eric gazed down with more than a bit of pity for the trembling kid, whose hope had transformed to terror in seconds, after seeing firsthand the darkness Eric always tried so hard to keep at bay, at least in front of his friends.

Eric crouched down, ignoring the youth’s despairing cry when he gently grasped the terrified boy’s shoulder. “It means I don’t dare pass judgment on you, when I wouldn’t have done it any differently.” He chuckled bitterly. “If anything, I would have been a hell of a lot more twisted than you were, up to and including cutting down that tree and killing the bastard who dared to ascend and achieve his dreams, when mine had all been turned to ash. And if the forest had denied me all the fruit in this realm, I would have given it the finger and happily watched each and every tree burn to the ground.”

Eric glared into terrified dark eyes. “It means I would have lived for nothing more than watching my enemies burn in flames, had anyone dared to take the life of my chosen. No matter how much it cost me. No matter how many fuckers I had to kill.”

He then stood up and cracked his neck, before helping the still terrified boy to his feet. “It means I’m a lot more like my mother than I want to admit. It also means that if I’m actually worthy of anyone’s love, anyone’s respect… if I can actually walk the path of, or at least occasionally step in the shallow waters of whatever the hell you might call a hero… then you sure as hell are worthy of at least the same amount of redemption.”

The boy’s look of confused exhaustion turned to wide-eyed disbelief when Eric solemnly deposited in his hands not one, but fourteen spirit fruit. Seven of the more modest-sized ones that still radiated the brilliant sparkle of potent life-giving Qi, and seven of the Greater spirit fruit that would help even the most gifted cultivators ascend to new heights.

“So take these fourteen prizes with my blessing.” Eric flashed a bemused smile. “You could even sell them and use the fortune you’d no doubt get to live utterly free of your clan’s machinations. Or save some or all of them for the sons or daughters you might one day have yourself. Hell, you’re cultivation base means you’re guaranteed to survive the pods as well, so you could dual class and probably get a pretty damn strong hybrid System class, synergizing with the strength you have as a cultivator something fierce. I don’t know if you’ll be able to ascend further as a cultivator, but you could become a monstrously powerful Classer, and that path would take you as far from your family’s influence as it’s possible to get.”

Eric shrugged. “Or just go back home. I don’t care. So long as you swear a cultivator’s oath that you will say absolutely nothing about meeting me, or our discussion. So long as you give your word that you will never deliberately attack, hinder, or otherwise move against me or mine, directly or indirectly, to the best of your ability, lest your foundation crumble to ash.”

He flashed a sympathetic smile at Lai Wei’s horrified expression. “To the extent you’re aware and can influence, of course. No more than that. I’m not going to pin you with shit beyond your control.”

Eric gazed at the trembling youth before him, his smile hardening to a harsh, unforgiving glare once more. “And you will swear as well that you will never enter these lands without consent again. And that, to the best of your ability, you will convince your Sect never to return. This includes doing your best to curb their appetites when you eventually achieve a place of prominence within your clan… should you choose to walk that path, despite your father’s actions.” The air rang with bitter laughter. “I sure as hell won’t judge you for it, not with all the blood already on my hands. And believe me, I’m just getting started.”

The boy swallowed, gazing down at the fortune placed in a reed basket Samuel had made for fun the other day, the peaches glittering with the warm golden light of suns reflected off dew that had never graced the heavenly skies above. “Why are you giving me fourteen?”

Eric sighed. “Because I know there are two very distinct paths for you, and each will demand a different sized fruit. As clear as day, I can sense the uncertainty, the bitterness, the questions roiling within your soul.”

The boy’s eyes widened. “How?”

“Unified Perception. My… mentor said there are references to a similar skill called ‘Soul Sight’ that a handful of cultivators used in the past. Regardless of what you call it, I can sense how your turmoil is straining your own foundation.” Eric sighed. “I think if you go back, the lesser peaches are all you will safely be able to consume without causing more harm than good. And even those will no doubt catalyze the fire in your blood, helping you ascend past any other disciple your Sect actually allows to breakthrough to Bronze.” Eric shrugged. “Or, you can have the courage to go your own way. Freetown is a start, so long as you’re smart and avoid trucking with or taking any loans from goblin influences. A couple months getting your head on straight, and maybe you’ll be ready to quietly ascend, one peach at a time, in a humble little apartment you rent, discrete enough to hide from the world until you’re ready to leave your cocoon. You’ll then be stronger than you could possibly have dreamed, committed to forging yourself as a cultivator and as a man who will find his own path, even when your only resource is your freedom and whatever contacts you have. Or, you can truly dare to walk a road less traveled by your kind, grabbing the strongest class you can in the pods. I have absolutely no doubt that there will be some sweet hybrid options available to someone who has a full set of transcendent spirit peaches like miniature cores blazing within each of his meridian gates.”

Eric shrugged. “The choice is yours.”

Lai Wei’s eyes widened in increasing disbelief when Eric actually went so far as to hand him additional gifts. “And this cloak and these silken garments that a certain assassin left behind will cover your mithril armor. Oh, and here’s a cloth to wrap around the scabbard of your way-too fine looking sword, which is abso-fucking-lutely priceless, by the way. And these coins should see you fed and sheltered for at least a few months.”

Eric stepped back as the boy gazed down at the small purse of precious silver and gold Eric had handed him, alone with the fallen assassin’s own essence-infused silks which were finely made, incredibly light, and had done absolutely nothing against the killing fury of Eric’s iado strike. Still, a single surge of will while stored in his interface and the silken threads, derived from living worms, knitted themselves up with a whisper of potency that caused Eric no strain whatsoever. A weightless addition to the boy’s already burdened shoulders, and it hid what most needed to be cloaked.

“The weight of my armor...”

Eric smirked. “What’s your Strength? I know it’s over 20, if not that much more, and your cultivation allows you to recover from exhaustion better than most.” Eric shrugged. “If you’re truly worthy of those epic tier armaments, you’ll carry them. If it’s too much? Sell it in the Blue Quarter in Freetown for a fair deal and an absolute fortune. You could then look forward to a life of comfort and millions of credits, I’m fucking positive. With that you can study, cultivate, spend years deciding your path, free from all the intrigues of those who would use you for their own ends.”

The boy swallowed, clenching his fists. “Are you sure I can’t serve under you?” he said in a quiet voice.

And here, at last, Eric gave the exhausted boy a heartfelt smile. “The path I walk, I must walk alone. To have anyone swear their allegiance to me...” He sighed and shook his head. “Skirts a line that could cost me everything if I’m not very, very careful.”

The boy gazed at Eric for long moments. “How the hell can you be a Contender if you have no...” he chuckled bitterly, shaking his head. “You took out over a dozen Rank 30 cultivators. Four of them assassins I’m not supposed to have any knowledge of even existing, even as I happily watched them fall to their deaths, wondering which of those fuckers had killed my Svetlana.” He tilted his head. “Just how strong are you?”

Eric smirked, shrugging his shoulders. “That’s a great question. I’m hoping we can have enough common cause that you never need to find out.”

The boy paled, immediately falling into dogeza once more. “As to your demands, I give my cultivator’s oath. And thank you, hero.”

At that moment, Eric felt a surge of infinite possibility blaze through his soul. He could hold back no longer, needing an answer that instant, lest he still be forced to take the boy’s head.

“Do you concede all claimance to this realm?”

The boy swallowed and quickly nodded, somehow sensing his peril as Eric began to blaze like the sun. “Yes! Feng Ren Sect concedes all claim to this pocket realm. The world is yours!”

The entire world thrummed like a massive gong echoing endlessly through Eric’s very soul, bones vibrating as his mind rung with sudden understanding, his epiphany so great it was as if he could sense the inner meaning, the ultimate truth of every single rustling branch, moss covered rock, blossoming flower, and wide-eyed youth praying for forgiveness that caught his eye.

As the wind began to roar while the trees and desperate refugees began to shake, Eric could the world’s feel its very essence permeate his being.

Golden shafts of sunlight blazing with countless revelations to share.

The ebb and flow of Sylvan and Human blood flowing through mortal veins, times gentle march, the exquisite flow of light, heat, matter, and spiritual energy, of endless cycles of Earth, Metal, Water, Wood and Fire with so many other sub elements entwined in a harmony glimpsed only by the divine and, for one perilous brief instant, himself… all those truths blazed within his soul.

An entire universe filled with inner truths, their infinite potential just a single revelation away.

He howled silently in eternity’s grip as his soul straddled an entire realm, somehow gazing into the sad, sad eyes of an ancient deity, or perhaps, the withered and fallen elder of a sect that had crumbled to ashes long, long ago.

A choice was before him. He understood that instantly.

A choice of such profound consequence, that not even the desperate halcyon glimmers of what could be had any hope of hiding the inconceivably sweet boon just a single fierce squeeze of his darkest gift away from being claimed as his due.

A prize almost beyond comprehension.

Sweet as bone, blood, and darkest rapture, Oblivion’s Maw howling at him to consume a prize from which there would be, could be, no compare.

Congratulations! You have successfully claimed. Pocket Realm 6783Z! - Cultivation Affinities detected! Elite Tier Spirit Fruit Groves Detected!

You have claimed the fading remnants of a realm destroyed by Silver Tier powers you can scarce comprehend! Just an echo of the inconceivable potential of a lost world that had once been a jewel so rich in spiritual energy that not one but three Bronze Tier sects fought for claimance. Fought with such destructive fury that rituals they could scarce control destroyed all contenders and the world they were so eager to claim.

Until a long lost sliver collided with your own.

THE PATH OF CONSUMPTION IS OPEN TO YOU!

You have consumed it’s most precious DIVINE TIER spirit fruit! Granted by a realm desperate for karma’s blessing, reciprocity’s muse. The act of a dying divinity submitting itself to you utterly!

Eric’s eyes widened with awed disbelief when, for just a heartbeat, that tiny pocket realm of swaying trees, golden sunlight, and a few tiny insignificant survivors that meant nothing before the might of an ascending immortal transformed itself into a single crimson peach, oozing with succulent bloody juices, as if Eric beheld the most sumptuous of steaks, just a single ravenous bite away.

You need but drink the nectar of this final peach to enjoy a PERMANENT +100 to Strength! And a PERMANENT +100 to Vitality!

Embrace the Path of Consumption to its utmost, Child of Oblivion! Unlock the forbidden Path of the Ravager! Where every territory you claim is claimed utterly, and all will know to fear the creature that would consume them all!

Eric gazed for long awful moments at that exquisite tantalizing fruit he wanted to tear into as he was struck by a surge of glory, of power, of divine potency that made every single god game he had ever played seem like the flimsiest fantasy of what it truly meant to be lord and master of all he surveyed.

The panicked cries of those from whom he had squeezed every last drop of utility and resources from were the spices that would make his feast that much sweeter. The desperate dying howls of a deity shattered and broken transformed to the sweet red wine of victory over powers that would have done their utmost to master him instead.

Because he dared to walk Oblivion’s Path. When it came to mastering his foes and claiming his prizes, none could stand against the inevitability of his pristine dark ascension.

In the end, all would fall before him.

It was just a matter of time.