Battleforged

Chapter 173 - Objective Complete

Added 2022-09-12 04:00:03 +0000 UTC

Congratulations! You have fully cleansed your 11th Meridian Gateway! Rank 11 Basic Fire Cultivation achieved!

Eric couldn’t help flashing a pleased grin when he finally got the message he had feared never seeing, just a few panicked weeks ago.

Now, he delighted in the feel of strength and potency flowing through his veins in a way that felt so clean, so natural, and so very different than the abrupt increases to his stats that System titles and skill advances had earned him. Not that he would shy from the latter either, doing all he could to earn a final pair of rank-ups before he broke through to Rank 12, which immediately became his obsession from that moment on, his training sessions with a thankfully understanding Sam waning as he dedicated himself almost exclusively to cultivating and hunting, now at the point where every morning he cultivated with the gentlest of flames, and every evening he embraced the most rejuvenating of techniques, even as his potency crashed down to near zero not once, but twice every day.

It said something for his discipline, he thought, that he never again surrendered his own life force, always pulling free in time, while focusing with such dedication and care to the removal of his plaques that his channels now suffered no heat strain at all. Yet he never took their stability for granted, every evening’s cultivation session an exercise in strengthening his foundation as well.

And his discipline was rewarded, much to his surprise, as a non-physical stat increased from his efforts for the first time in what felt like ages, the single point welcomed for that reason alone.

You’ve managed to forge yourself in the fires of your own resolve, carefully controlled, never allowed to flare up to your detriment again!

Congratulations! Willpower is now 35!

It was an interface message that filled him with warmth that had nothing to do with the fires of his soul, truly feeling like even his Interface was acknowledging his growth along a path somewhat counter to its own, Eric now feeling a mind-body connection like never before.

Like he was on the cusp of a breakthrough, and one he was eager to capture.

Yet he knew it was a revelation that would reveal itself with motion, not stillness, as he raced through the undergrowth of the endless forest at breakneck speed, his feet hardly making a sound on the soft, loamy floor.

Until, after countless hunts spanning a full two weeks, obsessively ranking up his skill with spears as his perception grew so acute he almost imagined he could sense the flow of Spiritual Energy through the beasts themselves, he saw what he knew to be his ultimate prey.

A massive two ton tusker that might not have evolved to Enlightened Spirit Beast status, with no spiritual pressure beyond which Eric’s 11 open meridians could now handle, but was definitely greater than most of the spirit boars roaming these woods, standing tall and proud as any African rhino as it caught sight of the human daring to approach.

It was a challenge answered with a fierce squeal that was almost a roar, the beast charging as furiously as any bull.

And how Eric laughed when he accepted the challenge and the pair began their dance, both of them veterans of many battlefields as they struck, feinted, and dodged, Eric surprised to find himself on the defensive more than once as too knowing tusks came so close to disemboweling him, his shoulder near wrenching out of his socket even with his inhuman Strength when a the spirit beast’s razor sharp weaponry came so close to tearing open his skull.

But Eric refused to feel fear as he gazed upon eyes far more knowing than most others, sensing without needing any interface messages that the tusker he faced was far closer to level 40 than 20, and considerably deadlier than most of the spirit boar he had faced up to now.

Every strike upon his prey Eric had to work for, each trickle of blood the culmination of a dozen parries and counters of tusk and hoof and furious goring charge, always stopped short, his foe so savvy as to never present its flank.

Then Eric’s smile widened when it all suddenly clicked, his sense of his opponent’s intentions, it’s shifts in balance and stance, the meaning behind its movements, blazing upon his psyche like never before.

A commune of minds, of thought and intention.

Such that he knew what the massive tusker was planning when it went weak in the leg, suddenly so vulnerable for a telling thrust that begged Eric to lunge… just a heartbeat before the beast snapped his massive neck tight, fearsome tusks flashing through the air to rip open the arrogant human who dared to challenge him and send the cultivator’s body spinning through the air, centrifugal force sending loops of entrails spraying through the golden shafts of sunlight shining through the lush canopy overhead.

So intently did the boar visualize Eric’s death that it actually squealed in surprise when its tusks hit nothing but air.

Realizing the feint only when the white hot agony of rigid steel plunged into its throat, torn free a second later, and the pig’s triumphant roar became something far more desperate as pink frothy blood sprayed upon the forest floor.

Fearsome eyes suddenly heavy with the weight of their own mortality glared down at Eric’s own.

Moved, Eric paused long enough to honor his worthy foe with a single bow of his head before accepting his opponent’s charge, every movement from that moment on exquisitely choreographed as the pair moved in perfect, inevitable sync. Every desperate gore was countered, snapping hooves touching nothing but air. Every furious faint was sensed. And the final charge, a fearsome explosion of killing intent, with every iota of vitality left to the beast concentrated in a single lethal gore was met by a lunge so quick that the glorious spirit beast didn’t even register the blow, sliding to death so cleanly that a panting Eric sensed its spirit still charging forward through the trees before ascending to the heavens on the power of its glorious final charge alone.

Eric wiped an unexpected tear from his eye, blinking as his vision revealed nothing but the rustle of entertained spirit fruit and the massive carcass of the king boar he had fought.

Eric took a deep, shuddering breath, paying his respects to the monstrous woodland titan he had fought even as superhuman clarity and insight became the muddleheadedness of exhaustion, his mind, now ablaze with multiple revelations, in desperate need of rest.

He didn’t hesitate to store the magnificent and minimally damaged specimen, a final perfect lunge to the brain assuring a specimen in near perfect condition as he quickly made his way back to sanctuary, not even looking at the messages blinking across his interface until he was sinking under his covers with an exhausted smile on his face as his young friend happily puttered around their kitchen area, allowing a gentle afternoon nap to recharge him in ways not even cultivation could match.

He didn’t bother looking at his rank-ups until after he had woken up, wonderfully refreshed the next day, earning a bemused smirk from Sam, who made it clear that Eric had slept nearly 14 hours. Sleep that had clearly been put to good use, his body obviously needing the rest, and paying Eric back in spades with a greater understanding of his body than he had ever had before.

Congratulations! Find Weakness has reached Adept Status! +6 to Perception and +3 to Finesse means you can spot the weakness in any physical structure or martial stance, able to sense the flow of combat so well that you have a chance to sense your enemy’s next move before they do!

Adept Tier Perk chosen! Forging yourself in the crucible of fire that is a cultivation realm has done wonders for your Perception! You can now effortlessly sense the flow of Qi in spirit beasts and your environment!

You have achieved Adept status with all Spears! Growing mastery with the oldest weapon known to man infuses you with the insights and wisdom of countless millennia. Strength, Finesse, and Quickness all increase by 3 points as the lessons of countless hunters and soldiers becomes your own!

You have embraced Adept Tier Perk: Battleforged, after pressure-testing your skills in countless life and death struggles! As a Battleforged spearman, you will now grow faster than ever in the crucible of conflict, blessed by epiphanies that only require you to risk your life to achieve!

Note!

You have achieved Battleforged Tier mastery over 3 different categories of weapons.

You have achieved Adept Tier mastery over 3 different categories of weapons.

You have soul-bound specimens of 3 different categories of weapons.

You may now maximize your insights and epiphanies by alternating between all such soul-bound weapons!

Fight well, Contender! May your struggles lead you to insights that will be of aid to countless champions destined to come into being long after you have crumbled to dust!

Eric blinked, more than a bit humbled to find that he had actually achieved Adept Rank in both skills with a fight that still sent shivers through his soul. Yet he so vividly remembered how utterly in tune he had felt with the beast he had fought, both of them embracing a dance as old as time. And perhaps he shouldn’t be surprised that he had earned the full nine points with his spear. The style of shooting forth with the shaft in the lunge, or drawing it back to ward the line, sweeping weapons or tusks aside before countering with winding thrusts truly was nothing like the vicious draw cuts and cleaving blows of his bardiche. And with countless eons of history and the lessons of untold millions of spearmen no doubt infusing the System… he wouldn’t have been surprised if he had earned even more.

Best of all, his spear had the perk he had been hoping for above all others, which made perfect sense, since he had only ever developed that skill while fighting desperately for his life, and he wasn’t surprised at all that his Find Weakness skill had evolved to at least allow him to easily sense the flow of Qi in both his environment and the beasts themselves, much like Infravision had allowed him to see into the arcane spectrum.

In truth, he didn’t know if Qi Perception would give him any added edge in spotting weak points in targets at all. All he knew was that he would gladly sacrifice any other Perk for the privilege of now clearly being able to sense the subtle flow of spiritual energy lighting up the entire pocket realm in ways glorious and grand, everything seeming more real, more vital and whole, than it ever had before. Even the peaches sparkling with the fiery essence of life resonated with a vitality, a reality, he could scarce describe and hadn’t really understood before.

Now he truly felt connected to this realm. And that feeling of belonging brought him a sense of serenity, and completeness, that he only now realized he had always been looking for.

He couldn’t help but take some moments just admiring the striking beauty of his surroundings, only now truly able to appreciate it, before returning to the goals that had driven him to push himself so hard over what was nearing two months time, still eager to achieve as many milestones as he possibly could, while forging himself into the champion he so desperately needed to be.

Perhaps even one capable of taking out the champion of an entire realm.

A man capable of saving his sister, and everyone he had ever loved, from invaders dead set on destroying everything Eric held dear.

With that resolve firmly in mind, Eric focused on unclogging his final gateway and purging the last of the plaque from his foundation with a dedication that bordered on fanatic zeal, taking only the time to mentor Sam on the finer intricacies of both loading and firing the tri-shot assassin’s crossbow that truly was a prize surpassing any of his mundane reverse-draws, even if the winch meant his friend couldn’t expect to use it more than once in a fight.

With three shots, equivalent to half a revolver’s worth of ammo, it might just be all his friend needed to save his life… or safely participate in future hunts.

Yet it still took a solid weak of effort before Sam finally started to hit the bullseye on the undead backstop now covering the back wall, his hoot of excitement nearly a match for Eric’s own when he finally, at long last, getting the message he had worked so hard to achieve.

“Eric, I did it! Three for three in the bullseye! I’m finally ready to start joining you on the hunts!… Eric?”

Sam’s eyes widened, a look of surprise turning to an awed grin. “Shit, you did it. Didn’t you? You don’t have to say a word. I can see it with that stupid, cheeky, too-handsome grin. You actually did it! You cleared your final gate!”

Eric only nodded, not trusting himself to speak as his spirit was flooded by a pristine golden current of power. For just a moment he feared he had done something wrong, when he sensed that the rich flood of spiritual energy roaring through all his meridian channels was now lit with a constant white-hot flame.

But the sense of well-being flooding his soul as the final dregs of plaque were completely washed away made it clear that he was in no danger at all. That the flame was, in fact, the culmination of all his work and effort, of communing ever deeper with the fires of his soul, bringing to the fore the one element that resonated in this cultivation paradigm just as well as it did in the world he had left behind.

He truly was a fire cultivator, and it showed. And now that he thought of it, his near fatal injury hadn’t been due to the flame, but the crystallized chunks of plaque he had tried to rip too enthusiastically free of his meridian channels. It was the over-enthusiastic scoring of a novice cultivator with no mentor to teach him ideal techniques for flushing dangerous calcified residues that had caused the near fatal strain that constant cultivation sessions had thankfully transformed to hyper-resilient cultivation channels… not the flame itself.

For his initial intuition had been spot on. The flame really was a part of him, an extension of his soul, and his channels welcomed the white-hot purity of his essence. It was the sharp, jagged, and increasingly unstable pieces of shrapnel-like plaque, thanks to abysmal cleansing techniques, that had almost done him in.

Sam was gazing up at him with something close to awe. “Jeez, Eric, I think you grew an inch in just the last two weeks!”

Eric laughed. “Well, I’m not that much older than you. So whose to say I wasn’t blessed with a final growth spurt?”

His friend’s grin matched his own. Tentatively, he reached out his hand, palm shimmering with blood tingling with power. “Show me?”

Eric gazed at his friend for long moments before sighing and clasping Sam’s hand, revealing what he knew his friend was determined to see, Eric pleased to note that he wasn’t the only one making progress.

_____________________________________

Eric Silver Level 9 Conscript

Rank 12 Basic Fire Cultivator

Physical Characteristics

Strength – 74 (92%)

Vitality – 51

Finesse – 79

Quickness – 67

Appearance – 19 (Congratulations! You have achieved Apha genetic compatibility! Almost any compatible partner will find you captivating at first glance, and for those able to smell pheromones or otherwise sense biological fitness, you will come off as absolutely irresistible. Best to expect plenty of marriage offers in the near future!)

Mental Characteristics

Scholarship – 16

Perception – 57

Willpower – 35

Charisma – 13

Potency Pools

Arcane Potential – 17

(Mana Pool = 204)

Spiritual Energy – 33

Soul Reserves – 58 (5.9 Points reserved = 52)

Stamina – 530 Points

Health – 673 Points.