Chapter 188 - The First Peach

He might be living on borrowed time, with multiple cultivators armed with who knew how many dark surprises now determined to kill him, but damn if he wouldn’t make the most of the opportunity before him, he thought, now gazing up at the most magnificent peaches he could imagine. The glorious prizes above him were so far beyond the spirit fruit he had already gathered that it was like the difference between night and day.

Succulent melon-sized peaches covered in drops of dew that themselves radiated so much spiritual energy it was almost dizzying, the fruit blazing with indescribably glory, pulsating with spiritual energy of Fire, Wood, and something else as well as well.

Eric’s heart began to pound. He knew what he was contemplating was madness. That to eat even one of those magnificent peaches would require several weeks, perhaps a month’s worth of careful cultivation, to balance the meridian strain as the fruit implanted its essence in one of his gateways, elevating it above all the rest, the other gateways holding it down like an anchor as it alone sought to ascend.

And one by one, over a period of months that would last a full damn year, Pavel made it clear that Eric could safely elevate himself. With minimal risk of rupture, even if he would be embracing the most agonizing year of his life.

Of course, there was a second path that he could take.

One that danced upon the precipice of madness and oblivion.

He couldn’t help but smile at the thought, even as he pulled out and sheathed his soul linked blade before releasing all the elevated material he had been holding within his ES storage with exquisite precision and care, made of nothing more than the tuskers and wood resonating with the exact same spiritual energy as this realm.

He had already made a point of cleansing himself of all necromantically infused prizes made from base constructs back on Earth, days ago, without reshaping it at all. An act that had had him cycling his Qi for a good hour, just cleansing the tiniest traces of shadowy plaque away. And how awed he now was to feel absolutely no strain at all, shaping like clay and anchoring so many prizes claimed from this pocket realm upon the tree trunk under him in very deliberate fashion.

It was an act that left him feeling both light and free, for all that he was covered in priceless mithril armaments attuned to cultivation and, of course, his own soul-linked gear, that were now just extensions of himself.

Of course he wasn’t such a fool as to dare think he could actually use Rituals of Summoning and Binding without paying a price that would be fatal, this close to what he increasingly suspected were divine tier spirit fruit. But using Flesh Sculptor with only locally harvested materials? That, by some miracle, caused him no strain at all.

You have successfully shaped and manipulated Modified Defensive Platform made entirely of Spirit Beasts and Spirit Wood!

You have successfully avoided all Meridian strain!

Congratulations! You have had a breakthrough! You have unlocked the secrets to using at least one necromantic skill without incurring any strain to your cultivation base!

Flesh Sculptor is now Rank 21!

Only then, with his feet firmly braced upon the platform now secured so tightly to the trunk of a tree gently swaying hundreds of feet above the ground, did his hand reach for the first of the massive melon-sized prizes shining like liquid fiery gold upon divine branches.

Hand freezing only momentarily when the clearing rang with a desperate cry.

“No! Do not take that final irredeemable step… worthy initiate!” said none other than the fire-aligned youth below, having raced to position himself so he keep an eye on what Eric was doing, despite his platform blocking all angles right under his feet.

Eric’s exquisitely high Perception allowed him to spot the youth’s painful grimace, clearly an attempt at a placating smile.

“You have… you have proven yourself mightily! Come, you have passed the final test of the Feng Ren Sect! Should you show prudence and wisdom the equal of your daring...should you bring your prize of seven perfect golden peaches to me, not only will you be elevated to the status of chosen disciple, but you will be given all the time and resources you need to forge your Meridians all the way to Bronze! I, Lai Wei Arenso, swear it! I will even be so gracious as to let you saturate your unworthy meridians with a full set of seven lesser fruit, when our clan claims these lands as our own! Come, worthy cultivator. What do you say?”

Eric peered down into the imploring eyes of the youth below.

For only a second did he dare entertain the fantasy of actually having access to instructors and scrolls that would finally give him a blueprint he could use to forge himself as a cultivator, not perpetually forced to forge his way in the dark, so many players hoping he’d stumble right off a cliff as they crippled an entire world, deliberately withholding vital knowledge.

Yet all he had to do was recall the pain in Pavel’s eyes to know that what Earth was suffering wasn’t just a practice reserved for vulnerable new worlds, but a common form of dominion and control that was clearly practiced galaxy-wide. No doubt knowledge and the power it brought were the most priceless commodities of the rich and well-connected. Eric was dead certain they would do whatever they had to, in order to hold those advantages close.

The experiences Eric and Pavel had both endured made it all too clear that those in power clearly cared very little for the welfare of those lower on the rungs of development than they themselves were. If anything, they resented the competition, concerned only with their own empowerment, their own personal ascensions up the ladders of power, wealth, and prestige.

Yet still, for just a heartbeat, Eric entertained the fantasy that fair play was actually a thing, that a cultivator’s word would be given in good faith, not a tool to twist and manipulate for Lai Wei’s own ends. But the sound of discomfited grunts turning to agonized squeals made it clear that Eric had absolutely no time to waste.

His bulwark was fading. His saving grace was rapidly dying. And when the final squeal was uttered, hours, days, or minutes from now, the realm’s defender would be no more. Against all odds, the noble spirit beast, already ascended to Bronze, guardian of this realm, was dying to poisons so exotic, so toxic, that they had been made by otherworldly masters, perhaps half a galaxy away.

And yet somehow it was fully permissible for Lai Wei to claim a full meridian-configuration’s worth of what could only be divine tier spirit fruit. But Eric using a blaster rifle instantly made all kills and their prizes off limits to him, and might just strain his cultivation.

And somehow that was fair? Eric shook his head as he made his decision, allowing himself a single hard smile as he otherwise did his absolute best to clear his mind of all distraction, just as a worried Pavel had counseled, before claiming his prize and taking far more comfort than he should have in the furious howls coming from below.

Because Eric wasn’t stupid. Even if he wanted to believe that the monstrously arrogant princeling would seek anything other than his death or spiritual crippling, there was no way Eric could possibly expect anything but peril in a school where he had already butchered one of the elders favored sons, his armaments adorning Eric even now.

Did he dare think otherwise, then he truly was a fool who deserved whatever comeuppance he would get.

Better to claim his prizes and declare his enmity out in the open.

He’d face his enemies head on, no matter how outmatched and outnumbered he might be.

Far better that, than to let desperate hope and fear turn into a broken man’s consent, his foes then strengthening themselves right before stabbing him in the back.

“No! That bastard dares! That bastard dares to eat my spirit fruit! Kill him! Get up there and kill him now, before he can ascend!”

Words that washed over Eric as he dared his first bite of the exquisite peach that exploded in his mouth with rich succulent flavor tart with fire and sweet with such indescribable power that he wanted to scream with a sudden ecstacy that transcended mere joy as his soul filled with the rapture of divine fire. Yet he knew he was just seconds away from being burnt to a crisp by his own foolish daring as he shook and trembled, the Essence of Flame alone keeping him in one piece as he choked down a scream now equal parts agony as rapture, devouring the sweet, succulent fruit pulp just as fast as he could, understanding in that desperate moment that absolutely everything depended on him eating a peach ten times the size of any he had ever consumed in the supermarkets back home, before choking down the pit as well.

Only then did he dare collapse upon the massive elevated platform of wood, hide, and bone that he had constructed, complete with support beams and multiple sheaths bracing it all against the massive trunk, having spent long moments reforming the design he and Sam had come up with during their late-night brainstorming sessions. All just in case Eric actually went through with this mad plan, and ended up collapsing even as he dared the impossible.

Because who in their right mind would feel the need to devour their Divine tier spirit fruit, right there in the branches of that redwood-sized tree?

Someone who had failed to account for cultivators ruthless and prepared enough to bring not one but four poisoned bait traps, it seemed, no doubt released by men who would now be forbidden from claiming the guardian’s fruit, the still screaming scion now the only one in position to benefit from that prize. And how neatly that worked out for the arrogant little shit below.

He’d do the elders of his clan proud, Eric thought with a bitter smile in the brief moments he could spare even a second’s distraction as he endured the white fiery agony of the peach pit transmigrating from the physical realm to the spiritual, simultaneously tearing him open and accelerating the healing the wounds it itself caused as agony transformed into rapture replaced by the bliss of sudden transcendence, Eric’s eyes snapping wide with sudden illumination as the peach implanted itself in the gateway closest to his Lower Dantian.

Congratulations! You have successfully implanted Rank 1 Divine Tier Spirit Fruit within your Meridian channels!

1 of 12 Channels now blazes with the power of Wood and Fire both!

You now enjoy +3 to Strength, +3 to Quickness, +6 to Vitality, +6 to Spiritual Energy as your spirit sings with the divine fruit you have consumed!

Your maximum lifespan has been extended by Elite tier Spirit Fruit!