Chapter 189 - I Will Devour Them All

Eric choked back a scream as blissful transcendence turned to agony once more, the fires in his heart and soul continuing to grow to impossible levels before finally stabilizing, Eric unable to avoid looking down at flesh he was sure had been charred to a crisp, only to find himself whole, unharmed, and covered in an ice-cold sweat.

He wanted to laugh for triumph, gazing down at shuddering hands as he struggled back to his feet, before being struck by sudden terrible pain.

You have consumed a Rank 1 Divine Tier Spirit Fruit!

Your Lower Meridian attempts ascension.

Earthbound Meridian channels are currently suffering mild strain!

Eric froze as he gazed at the tantalizing fruit still over his head, hearing the sounds of furious men roaring and striking the massive sentinel whose increasingly weak, pain-filled cries sent shivers through Eric’s soul.

He was rapidly running out of time.

He and his companions had spoken at length about the best path forward now. And Eric thought he was prepared for anything that might come.

But the strain he felt right now, on the verge of absolute collapse…

He swallowed, gazing up at the terrible blessings swaying so tantalizingly above his head.

If he dared to push forward now… he would have to follow through completely.

Regardless of agony, and the inevitable ascent of at least three men eager to claim his head.

Men who were an hour at most, and perhaps only minutes away.

Eric knew what the wise choice would be.

The prudent choice.

The choice that demanded running and hiding and praying his enemies couldn’t claim this realm entirely in the year it would take him to safely ascend.

The problem was, he didn’t have that kind of time.

Not with titles to tear free of Earth’s newly forged potential.

Titles and countless territories he would gleefully sup upon just as fiercely as he would the fruit dangling over his head.

And if grand designs to grow so strong that he never need fear the schemes of vindictive goblins, genocidal orcs, or assassins eager to take him out were not compelling enough…

There was still the matter of his sister.

Forced to fight on the front lines, even with not one, but two alliances now most definitely eager for her head.

Because as much as Eric might dream of growing in strength and power to the point that none could force his path, it was memory of his sister’s eyes bulging with horror… and the bitter acceptance of her own inevitable death that compelled Eric’s hands to reach out and claim a second heavenly prize, consuming it despite the screams he knew would rip through his soul along with the bliss… and to repeat the action again, and yet again.

Willpower check made!

You have successfully saved versus Meridian Rupture!

Only to find that each divine fruit added to his terrible burden, the sweetest rapture of powerful spiritual energies caressing his soul quickly transforming to unbearable pressure as he forced ever more fruit to light up like miniature suns in Meridian Channels whose Pristine natures alone kept stable the blazing furnaces they each had become.

Stable, yet slowly fraying nonetheless.

You have successfully saved versus Meridian Rupture at -2 penalty!

His doom was all but assured as he had dared to consume four spirit fruit, now elevating multiple gates striving in their own way to ascend.

Eric let out a desperate whimper, already knowing that his only chance for survival, as he crashed to his knees, feeling dizzy, weak, and beyond exhausted, was to keep consuming ever more of those divine spirit peaches, even as his souls creamed for the blazing white light shining ever brighter within his core.

Even as he heard pain-filled roared turned to squeals of agony and a young psychopath’s ugly laughter as an honorable guardian was killed at last by treachery, paving the way for the young lord alone to ascend.

But not before sending his men to deal with the wild cultivator who dared to claim a lord’s prizes, loyal soldiers now scaling the massive tree to dispense a lord’s justice, a killer’s justice, no matter that they themselves would forever be denied the fruit that could have elevated them as well, following the designs of a lord who saw them only as servants, as stepping stones to his own ascension, and nothing more.

The irony was not lost on Eric even as he screamed, white hot Qi looking for an outlet, any outlet. With horror, disbelief, and a fierce sort of Joy, Eric had only to gaze upon his trembling arms, scarred with crimson swirls and runes containing the secrets of so many arts, and the potential to become so much more. He sobbed for the pain he knew he would be forced to endure, before relaxing his hold and giving the wild flood of Qi permission to do unleash itself along the channels he himself had forged into his flesh, a perfect mirror of the peripheral channels that Soul Sight and Qi Perception had allowed him to study so clearly upon Pavels own arms, his skills allowing him to slowly understand the flow of Qi emitted from that which he had used to channel the deadly Wind Strikes it had taken Eric countless hours to properly learn to defend against. To the point that sensing the flow of spiritual energy from his mentor’s peripheral channels had become as natural as recognizing the patterns of attack and defense his mentor favored.

Yet it was one thing to prepare himself to ascend up a handful of well mapped-out ranks over a period of weeks or months.

Quite another to force ascension in the tiniest fraction of that time.

But Eric didn’t dare hold back.

Either he had truly forged blood sigils that would act as a perfect set of peripheral channels from his shoulders to his fingertips… or he had played the absolute fool, and would pay a devastating price for his conceit.

Eric’s agony increased three-fold as peripheral meridian channels were carved into his spirit, following the very patterns he had scribed upon his flesh, Eric now howling with the agony and torment of a flood of ranks unexpectedly earned, even as his mind struggled to comprehend the element of Wind, now howling through his soul, risking blowing out his flames altogether.

A fitting and well-deserved end, perhaps, as folly inevitably followed too many gambits taken with forces he barely understood.

Pavel was a Wind cultivator, after all. And Wind was an element of his mentor’s path. His peripheral channels as well. The only path available to him at all.

His scream of despair not lost on the pack of jackels now barking their laughter as Eric writhed in torment, the very pause in his act of eating further straining his channels and heightening his peril.

“Yes!” Roared the hot-eyed youth below. “The unworthy fool is being punished by the gods for his daring! Now get up there, kick him off that abomination of a platform, and bring me my fruit!”

It was all Eric could do to hold himself together, choking back the bitter sobs of a man about to lose absolutely everything, feeling as sick and awful as he ever had while laid up in illness, stomach aches hitting him so bad that more than once he’d wanted nothing more than to end it all, rather than deal with another endless hour of puking up his guts.

His only distraction besides a mother giving him such a jaded look at his carrying on… was escaping in Self-Tube videos. Most especially those involving people losing themselves in the endless peaceful bliss that were woodland hikes, exploring mountain trails, surviving in the primal wilderness with glorious vistas of majestic forest-covered mountains marching off into the distance under the light of the setting sun.

The memory of those vistas had brought him such peace and distraction, even in his torment of a lifetime ago.

So different from the torment he felt now, blazing with so many blazing suns ready to tear apart under the chaotic jumbling of so much wild Wind Qi tearing through his soul.

Before his eyes bulged with sudden illumination and just a few burst capillaries, flashing upon one particular Self-Tube survival channel, showing a young man dressed in nothing but blue jeans, former soldier turned survival guru, he was sure, who was nonetheless capable of making a magnificent kiln capable not just of cooking his dinner, but actually melting iron ore.

Wood and Fire alone allowed for warmth, light in the darkness, and a well-cooked meal.

Without wood, there could only be a spark.

But even the best camp fire couldn’t melt copper, let alone soften, iron or allow for the forging of steel.

It was only when a clay kiln was made that such became possible. And only if that kiln was well ventilated, with a flume and a clay grill underneath the fire that allowed for a constant stream of air to be drawn up the shaft. That flood of air could then turn the most modest of fires into a roaring white-hot blaze.

And it was with tears in his eyes and the dark barking laughter of bloodthirsty cultivators right under his massive platform that he finally understood his folly, finally took control of the Wind Qi hammered so hard into him by a master’s lessons and blood-forged sigils that had become his peripheral channels, Eric howling with agony that became so much more as he finally brought order to that madness as a wild storm of chaos became twelve funnels of Wind Qi blazing into each of his twelve meridian gates, eight still empty and at risk of collapse, four now blazing with a white-hot flame as Wind, Wood, and Fire formed a synergistic union beyond anything he could have imagined.

Insight Check made!

You have successfully entwined three Qi Elements in a Positive Cycle! Wind successfully enhances Fire fed by Wood!

You have saved versus catastrophic rupture!

You have taken 1 Medium Spiritual Wound.

Warning! You have 4 Meridian Gates attempting ascension!

Even as Eric laughed with the mad joy of gaining control of his own Qi flows, like a young rider by some miracle calming a wild stallion he found himself on the back of, he knew it wasn’t enough.

Not nearly enough.

Even as three hard-eyed dark elves slowly pulled themselves onto the massive wooden platform elevated in the sky with snarls and curses, more than a few sporting shallow wounds from the razor sharp tusks placed by each support beam to buy Eric precious seconds he hoped he’d never need, his enemies’ eyes blazing with hate and promising death for the man who put them through this, Eric knew he had no choice.

Trembling and weak, not even daring to draw his weapon as he devoured yet another Spirit Fruit, fighting against spasm and collapse as he hugged the thick rough bark of the trunk, a single toe still on the platform, howling as the fires of power and purification blazed through him once more, only desperate not to let go as the three smug looking cultivators approached.

“You put us through hell, young fool. You know that?” Snarled one.

All Eric could do was groan in response.

Another snorted. “Damn fool’s about to burst. A shame he was only born worthless trash. Were he anyone of note, he’d be commended for his daring.”

“Enough!” Hissed the third. “Those tusks were poisoned with the very brew that sickened that damned spirit beast! My skin was cut… we need to disembowel this fucker and get down now!”

Saving throw versus incapacitation made!

Eric barked a bitter laugh, forcing his tormented body to allow his head to turn just enough to lock gazes with his foes.

“Actually the tusks were coated with dung blossoms my mentor helped me claim from the river bed, just days ago. I doubt you’d even be upright, were it otherwise. Do you get what I’m saying? I was just buying myself a couple extra seconds before you dared to climb over the lip of my platform. I sure as hell didn’t put your Bronze tier poison in my ES Space, not with what I’m daring right now. Not that you believe me. I can tell by your hate-filled glares you think only the worst of me. So, is there any chance I can talk you out of trying to kill me?”

“None!” Snarled the cultivator holding an arm with a shallow cut that hardly looked like anything at all, the dark elf’s wild eyes making it clear he still thought he was doomed. “Your death and the master’s forgiveness will earn me the medicine I need!”

“Maybe,” Eric sighed, forcing a mocking smirk to his lips, despite the storm of Qi roaring through his shuddering frame. “But you have to get down, first. Do you really think you’ll live long enough to see the ground?”

The man furrowed his brow. “I am no weakling,” he coughed. “Of course I will.”

Eric flashed a cold smile, as he forced his trembling arms to tightly grip the massive trunk. “You know what? I think you will. I think all three of you will live long enough to hit the ground.”

His gaze hardened. “And no longer.”

The leader’s eyes bulged with sudden understanding. “No, no!” He screamed, but it was already too late.

You have successfully placed your possession: anchored platform back in storage!

And the terror Eric felt as he squeezed the trunk tight, spasms still rippling through his body, was nothing compared to the desperate shrieks of three men falling countless hundreds of yards to the ground, far far below.

Eric groaned as the excess of fiery Qi fueled by Wood and blown by Wind continued forging lines of fire through his spirit, with nothing but air beneath his feet.

Until he summoned his platform once more, though not daring to collapse until he had claimed and forced himself to devour a fifth and a sixth melon-sized peach, his agony only increasing as now fully half his meridians transcended, interface blaring with messages he was in no position to read.

You have successfully killed 3 30th level Wind Cultivators by denying them what they had no right to in the first place. Full experience earned! You are at maximum level 9 potency.

Additional Experience has been put toward forging your peripheral meridians!

Eric wanted to scream in protest, but knew it was no use, as the perfect pattern of swirling channels, much like wild thorny vines, had no problem growing to the very tips of his fingers, and beyond.

You have successfully saved versus Catastrophic Meridian Rupture!

The messages blaring inside his head meant nothing.

Nothing compared to the agony blazing inside his soul, mirroring so perfectly the fiery torment of being burned alive.

And it was only by visualizing so clearly his sister’s charring form, imagining himself racing to her side once more that kept his sizzling hands reaching for fresh fruit that he forced down his throat. Ecstasy and torment were to be found in each bite as seven consumed peaches became eight, then nine, Eric having to fight so very hard to continue. He mind was alight with the bliss of pure agony as he continued to chew and swallow down one hideously sweet mouthful of Divine Tier Spirit Fruit after another, until finally, recalling so clearly the horrible agony of charred flesh sloughing off his dying frame as he dragged his charred sister into the psychopathic pod before collapsing at last, he finished his insane task and consumed his twelfth and final peach.

Choking down that final pit was, without a doubt, the hardest thing he had ever done in his life, the messages blaring inside his soul, the transformation now rippling through his body absolutely nothing compared to the pain, terror, and near death he had been forced to endure.

You have successfully consumed 12 Rank 1 Divine Tier Spirit Fruit!

You enjoy Royal Meridian Configuration. All 12 of your Meridians now enjoy Harmonious Ascension!

Each Divine peach consumed has increased your Strength and Quickness by 3 points as each of your meridian gates now blaze with a perfect golden flame!

Each Divine peach consumed has increased your Vitality and Spiritual Energy by 6 points as each of your meridians blaze with a perfect golden flame!

Divine Peaches have successfully extended your life by $%^&^% years!

Eric’s dizzy mind could barely register the final message. He could only hope that his foolish idiocy with blood magic hadn’t jinxed the gift that those epic tier fruit might have granted his otherwise tragically shortened life.

And much to his amazement, that wasn’t the end of the good news, Eric finally cracking a pain-filled smile. He couldn’t wait to let Pavel know just how successful his absolute idiocy in daring to use blood magics to inscribe the Peripheral Meridian network his mentor had only begrudgingly allowed Eric to trace upon his skin, eyes widening when he realized Eric’s Unified Perception truly did allow him to sense the flow of Qi through his Sifu. Of course his mentor had had absolutely no idea that Eric was planning on doing far more than proving his skill at the time, or that his Blood Mastery skill would allow him to dare the madness that he had.

And Eric had no regrets. Because even if there was some perfect technique out there, he had access to no other mentor or peripheral network save the one Pavel had perfected, and his mentor had made it damn clear that momentum was everything, so long as one had a stable foundation and a clear path forward, no matter how basic or generalized that path might be. Best of all, Eric knew that his mentor had spent decades perfecting his own peripheral configuration, having been denied any other outlet for growth, with his former overbearing clan limiting him to level 30 forever.

A limit Eric would do everything in his power to help his friend get past, just as Pavel had blessed him with the aid and counsel he had so desperately needed.

Excess spiritual energy from Divine Tier Spirit Fruit has failed to obliterate you!

Power channels discovered! A spiritual master’s peripheral pattern has been inscribed into your flesh by Blood Magic and the Essence of Flame.

Harmonious compatibility detected!

You have successfully channeled excess spirit fruit potency (and the lives of 3 level 30 cultivators) into forging your peripheral meridians! - Note. Blood tattoos do not extend past your arms. Additional training or blood tattoos are needed before you can ascend further as a cultivator!

You have achieved Rank 13 Cultivation!

Each cultivation rank increases your life span by $%^&^% years!

You have earned an additional +3 to Strength, Quickness, Vitality, and Spiritual Energy as Wind, Wood, and Fire fuel the flames of your soul!

You have achieved Rank 14 Cultivation.

Each cultivation rank increases your life span by $%^&^% years!

You have earned an additional +3 to Strength, Quickness, Vitality and Spiritual Energy as Wind, Wood and Fire fuel the flames of your soul!

You have achieved Rank 15 Cultivation!

…..

You have achieved Rank 20 Cultivation!

Each cultivation rank increases your life span by $%^&^% years!

You have earned an additional +3 to Strength, Quickness, Vitality and Spiritual Energy as Wind, Wood and Fire fuel the flames of your soul!

Peripheral Meridians now extend to your fingertips and the palms of your hand.

Congratulations! You may now channel Qi attacks without the use of blood magic crutches, or strains upon your Meridian Configuration!

Eric took a deep breath as he jerked to alertness once more.

A moment’s confusion turned to terror as he remembered fighting for his life… and that enemies wanted him dead still.

Before it all snapped into place as he slowly got up from his lotus position and took in his surroundings, gazing with awed wonder at the endless forest stretching vast and glorious in all directions away from his naked wooden platform, the morning alive with the chirp and cry of countless birds and the taste of honey suckle, wild blossoms, and the rich glorious scent of perfectly ripe peaches perfuming the air.

He took a deep, exhilarating breath as he took in the glorious golden sun cresting the eastern horizon. For a single dizzying moment he had been filled with something close to awe, convinced that this wasn’t just a pocket realm but a vast and glorious realm, a wild virgin planet that a once great cultivating academy had only just settled before being wiped out to the last man.

He closed his eyes and leaned back on the soft pillow he always kept in storage before drinking deep of a chilled water flask, one of many he and Sam kept in the stream, its cool temperature preserved in his ES indefinitely. And how refreshing it tasted as a sip turned to drinking several quarts, so great was his heretofore quiet thirst, and he was forced to wonder just how long he had been lost in deepest trance… or perhaps exhausted slumber, desperately stabilizing meridian channels that might have blossomed to exquisite perfection, but at least for a time, had been fragile as glass.

But now? Now he felt like a dying man whose fever had unexpectedly broken, a bit worn out still, but bubbling with vitality, a renewed appreciation for life, and eager to accomplish so many things in the weeks and months to come.

He frowned thoughtfully, deciding it was time to take his own measure, to at least glimpse at his abbreviated character sheet, focusing primarily on his stats and skills, taking a moment just to appreciate how far he’d come from the broken scarred boy with stats in the single digits when first he’d emerged as a Basic Conscript into a world eager for his death.

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Eric Silver   Level 9 Basic Conscript (100% Upper Dantian Saturation Achieved!)

Rank 20 Wind/Wood/Fire Cultivator

Physical Characteristics

Strength – 135

Vitality – 149

Finesse – 74

Quickness – 127

Appearance – 19

Mental Characteristics

Scholarship – 16

Perception – 58

Willpower – 35

Charisma – 13

Potency Pools

Arcane Potential – 17

(Mana Pool = 204)

Spiritual Energy – 142

(Qi Pool = 1704)

Soul Reserves – 58 (51)

Stamina – 1510 Points

Health – 1915 Points.

Resistances & Recovery

Physical Resistance – 26

Physical Regeneration – 14.9 health per second

Elemental Resistance – 0

Qi Resistance – 25

Mental Resistance – 12

Interface Recognized Skills

Acting – Rank 5

Bardiche (Unified) – Rank 21 (Cleaving Blow, Battleforged,*Piercing Strike)

Blade and Shield – Rank 11

Bow (All Types) – Rank 19 (True Strike)

Crossbows – Rank 16 (True Strike)

Small Blades – Rank 4

Demolitions – Rank 12 (Path of Mastery)

ESS Manipulation – Rank 10 (Arcane Resonance Mastery)

Find Weakness – Rank 21 – (Spell Cleave, Qi Perception, Additional Magus/Cultivator Bonus)

Identify – Rank 1

Gunnery – Rank 2

Healer’s Aid – Rank 3

Iado (Fast-Draw) – Rank 11 (Doom Flurry)

Javelin Throwing – Rank 12

Negotiation – Rank 9

Repair – Rank 1

Spear – Rank 20 (Piercing Strike, Battleforged)

Stealth – Rank 12 (Hunter’s Grace)

Swordsmanship – Rank 22 (Doom Slice, Battleforged, *Piercing Strike *Cleaving Blow)

Swimming – Rank 2

Unarmed Combat – Rank 11 (Empty Fist)

Essence Related Skills:

Burst of Strength – Rank 14 (Path of Mastery)

Dominion’s Resilience – Rank 3

Dominion’s Command – Rank 6

Heat Surge – Rank 10 (Path of Mastery)

Unified Perception Rank 20 (Sense Heat, Spiritual Energy, Magic, & Qi Flow.)

Arcane Skills

Wands (Fire) – Rank 6

Advanced Arcane Weapons (Blaster Rifle) – Rank 3

Qi Skills

Fire Fist – (locked)

Windfire Strike – (locked)

Necromancer Affinities & Skills

Blood Mastery – Rank 24 (Blood Claimance, Lesser Healing, Essence Infusion)

Spirit Mastery – Rank 17 (Path of Dominion)

Rituals of Summoning and Binding – Rank 20 (Tier II Path of Dominion, Ritual of Greater Spirit Summoning)

Flesh Sculptor – Rank 21 (Tier II Path of Dominion, Basic Revenant Preparation)

Blood Ward – Rank 1

Potency Binding – Rank 4

Necromancer Spells

Unorthodox Abjuration – Rank 20

Interface Enhancements

Full Neuro-Linguistic capabilities

Extradimensional Storage Space

Essences Claimed:

Fire – Blazing – (Rank 3, White Tier)

Wrath (Rank 1, White Tier)

Dominion (Rank 1, White Tier)

You dare to walk Oblivion’s Path (Path of Endless Bounty: Rank 5) You may consume the potency of any tile you claim, while granting 1 Lesser Bounty of your choice!

Runes Unlocked: Fire

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