PtM Book 16 - Chapter 12: Mirror Battle

3/3 this week. This one's a small one ^^. 

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Cha Ming rested for a day after clearing the red strength trial. Once he was fully replenished, he moved onto the orange trial. He then continued on until he failed to clear the green trial obelisk, one less than he’d been able to clear on the path of body tempering.

He tried many more times to clear it, but failed, and it became clear that his strength control was lagging behind his body’s toughness.

He decided face the last trial, Trial of Battle. Its central position indicated that this was the most important trial, but also required the support of the other two.

The moment he touched the first obelisk, he found himself on a metal platform jutting out from the jade mountain. The platform was circular, and there was no way to enter or exit. Its surface was mercifully slip free, and though it had no walls, an energy barrier was present around its entire circumference. It extended upwards as a hemispherical shield.

“Defeat yourself,” a soft voice said. “Qi and domain abilities are sealed. Spiritual abilities are sealed, and auras are supressed. Should you suffer near-lethal damage, you will be saved, but your injuries will remain. Fight!” A soaring battle intent filled Cha Ming as a mirror image of himself appeared opposite him on the arena floor.

This was not the first time Cha Ming had faced a mirror image. He had done the same before in the Star-Eye Ancestor’s trial back in Stargazer City, but the objective of the trial that time was to overcome his limits in a set amount of time.

This copy felt lacking. In fact, it barely felt real. The first thing it did was summon a copy of the Savage Deity War Staff and crouch low with one hand on the floor.

An alien intelligence could be seen inside the replica’s eyes. The mirror image wasn’t a projection but a type of mimicking construct. Cha Ming wondered exactly how much it could copy. How much did it know? Since it could copy his staff, could it use his divine abilities?

The copy charged, but it was weak, and Cha Ming knocked it down with his staff. The exchange took all of three seconds. But it refused to give in and rose to try again, so Cha Ming let it recover to see what it was capable of.

It regenerates slowly compared to my true body, Cha Ming observed. And its defences are lackluster. It was almost as though he were fighting a demigod one rank weaker than he was.

His copy charged at him once again. It was using the Savage Deity Battle Arts, but it wasn’t doing a very good job of it. It was like whatever was copying him had retrieved a wash up memory of the technique that he’d almost forgotten.

It was easy to circle around the clone and evaluate it, and before long, Cha Ming grew bored. He probed it with elemental attacks and discovered that its resistances were one rank weaker as well. Its ability to gather and deliver energy was also extremely weak.

As it was, it might survive the red trials for defence and strength. Maybe. He wasn’t sure, so he spent another five minutes evaluating the clone from various angles before ending the trial. He appeared outside the first obelisk, not at all diminished, and saw that this was common reaction.

Curious as to what the next trial would bring, Cha Ming charged ahead and entered what appeared to be the same battle platform. This time, an orange light flashed to summon his copy. It too was lacking, but it was much stronger than the one before. Its strength, defences, resistances, and energy transfer had all improved drastically, and its Savage Deity Battle Arts had gotten a step stronger as well.

Even so, Cha Ming easily picked it apart, though the clone did take him by surprise when it suddenly activated Claddings of Light to blind him, then used Clockwork Blitz to get into his blind spot before sweeping out with its staff. Cha Ming was able to resolve the situation without taking damage, however, and before long, he was facing a clone derived form yellow light.

The yellow clone’s attack and defence are somewhat high for cultivators one rank lower than me, Cha Ming analyzed. If its skill matched up to mine, perhaps it could be threat, but as it…  The battle held no suspense, but he did take damage when the clone used the Savage Deity Battle Art’s explosive movements and Wrappings of Runic Binding after a well-timed Runebound Defence. It was clear that the next bout would be much more difficult.

He waited until he was fully rested to enter the green battle trial. The clone this time had strength and defences only slightly weaker than his own. In fact, it was a little stronger than he was, but its defensive capabilities were a bit lacking.

In terms of attributes, Cha Ming had the absolute advantage, but it made up for it in a better command of the Savage Deity Battle Arts. The construct generating and controlling this clone clearly had a good grasp of the technique compared to him. While it could not use its Savage Deity Aura to attack, it was able to channel more explosive strength through its strikes and steps.

They traded blows using simple footwork and only occasionally setting up traps. Neither of their battle arts was at a high level, and their divine abilities were the same. Each of them also had fierce intuition that enabled them to evade traps ahead of time.

Unlike the bouts before, this was a true battle. And without his qi abilities or domain, Cha Ming had no ability to quickly deplete his opponent’s divinity and keep it from regenerating, and vice versa.

There were close calls. His clone’s clever use of lightning form to evade damage and land surprise attacks was something Cha Ming could learn from. It was also skilled at using wind form to avoid some of Cha Ming’s more deadly attacks.

But they had more than enough time, and Cha Ming was able to quickly work some of these things into his combat style. Eventually, he wore down his opponent to eke out a victory.

Cha Ming took a full day to recover before entering the blue trial. He knew he would lose, but he had to know. He had to see.

A flash of blue light summoned a clone that, for the first time, showed a hint of personality. It smirked at him, and Cha Ming saw that it too knew that it would victorious.

Cha Ming did not back down. At worst, he would be forced out of the trial to recover. They clashed, once, twice, thrice, and Cha Ming discovered that his opponent’s strength control now exceeded his, and his defences did as well.

It fought better. It responded more quickly. Its body was better tempered. It could better use its strength. Its battle arts were also far superior.

It began toying with him just like he’d toyed with it earlier, as though it remembered what had happened and wanted to regain lost face.

It alternated between the Savage Deity Battle Arts, executing one swift and unpredictable strike after another and combining it with another battle art Cha Ming had never encountered before.

Five Mountains Staff Art, Rune Gathering Tier, a voice told him. Cha Ming looked around but found no one.

Not only did it have access to a second battle art, but the clone’s Savage Deity Aura also had reached a point where it could be compressed and unleashed within its body to attack in short bursts of blinding speed Cha Ming had never thought possible.

Savage Deity Rush, Special Attack, Savage Deity Battle Arts, the voice said once again.

Cha Ming was enlightened. He recalled seeing three shadows executing techniques that he couldn’t yet comprehend. He wasn’t sure what the key to unlocking them was, but he knew that since he’d reached the first stage of the Savage Deity Battle Arts, he should be able to learn these special techniques.

The clone continued to display Savage Deity Rush, and since its victory was assured, it seemed to relish in showing off the technique just to show Cha Ming that it could. The special attack involved rushing in a straight line at double one’s normal physical speed. Savage Deity Rush could be used several times successively, and one could pivot between usages.

Cha Ming fell on the back foot and never recovered. Because each of the clone’s staff strikes was backed by twice the speed, he eventually suffered crushing wounds that began to accumulate on his body and refused to recover properly.

In the end, the clone tossed him to the ground, smirked, then held up its staff. “Better study up if you want to win. You have a long way to go.” Cha Ming’s eyes widened, because it was the same voice that had spoken into his mind earlier. The clone wasn’t just there to beat him up. It was his mirror image, but also a sort of instructor.

Cha Ming appeared outside the blue obelisk covered in wounds and coughing up blood. He looked up at the leaderboard at the back that could be seen from everywhere in the trial hall. His name and rank had already updated.

Daoist Clear Sky. Rank: #2,563. Score: 2,930. Trials Completed: 11.

He was not the weakest demigod here, but he was far from the strongest.

Up at the top was a familiar name.

Cao Wenluan. Rank: #10. Score: 13,930. Trials Completed: 14.

Blue trials gave 5,000 points, and Cao Wenluan had clearly completed two of them. The top five had all completed three blue trials, and first place had even completed an indigo trial and claimed an extra 25,000 points.

It was just another reminder that back on the Inkwell Plane, he could be considered a genius, but here, he was only normal. He would need to work hard to close the gap while there was still time for peaceful training.

***

Two weeks came and went, and Cha Ming challenged the body trials multiple times. Each time he did so, he discovered areas to improve, and soon, it became an addiction, and a way to keep himself distracted.

It was, in a sense, an extension of the habits he’d developed in the entrance trial. The savagery in his soul had not faded but had instead formed a careful balance with the limited feelings he could tolerate, and the ephemeral spark of hope that grew with every passing day.

Others took the occasional break, but not Cha Ming. When he was not training, he was planning or reading in the library. The pursuit of strength became his obsession.

“Body cultivation… what a complex topic,” Cha Ming said, closing book. “So complex that its impossible to get reliable information. You would think that they’d have hammered this stuff down aeons ago.” He was currently in the general reading area, where thousands upon thousands of training regimens and diets could be found. Each of them promised quick results for little effort.

Cha Ming didn’t trust any of them. The reason for his mistrust was that these supposed instruction manuals were really just hooks for the larger advertisement at the back of each book.

Some advertised alchemy products. Others offered spiritual massages from true immortals. Most of them, however, pointed the reader to a trainer. The Heartforge Realm apparently had a hundred gods willing to offer their services as fitness consultants.

Cha Ming forced himself to read through every book and combine it with whatever actual research material he could find. After rejecting superfluous claims, not much remained. In the end, only one author’s materials closely matched up with what he’d discovered.

The book was concise. It offered sufficient content to tease deeper and more interesting subject matter, but then went on to promote a ridiculously expensive initial consult with the Heartforge Realm’s only Godking trainer, Godking Heavenbind.

According to Godking Heavenbind, there were three ways to improve one’s cultivation as a demigod. These ways were faith, reputation, and body training. Faith was more applicable to gods, as demigods were rarely in a position to be able to accept faith, as doing so meant having to fulfill obligations they weren’t empowered to fulfill.

Reputation was the go-to for demigods. The more people recognized your heroism and your growing divinity, the more your cultivation would surge to meet their expectations. It was a fake-it till you make-it approach. Cha Ming also had it on good authority that arena fighting and wars for the sake of reputation and ego were commonplace in the Slovana Empire for exactly this reason.

In the end, however, body training was the only reliable way. It involved pushing one’s body to its limits using various techniques and stimuli, then reflecting on how to improve one’s body and inner world. The best results were obtained by submitting one’s body to great stress and recovering with nothing more than sustenance and time.

Of course, certain training exercises and supplements would make the process more effective. This was where the sales pitch came in. None other than Godking Heavenbind would personally tailor a training program for you for the low price of 10,000 points. He would also provide additional consulting at various points in your training for 5,000 points per session. A steal of a deal, if the book was to be believed.

Cha Ming had grown up to hate this form of advertising with a passion, so whatever credit the Godking had built up by writing concise and accurate material was cancelled out by principled annoyance.

This naturally didn’t stop him from reading another book by the same author. One of them touched on divine abilities, of which Cha Ming had little knowledge. Like a demigod’s body, divine abilities could also be trained, and even changed out if necessary.

There were rankings for how powerful divine abilities were, though more important was finding suitable divine abilities for every demigod. A demigod could have up to eight divine abilities, each of which fit into something called a ‘slot’.

Thus far, Cha Ming had filled six divine ability slots. The first slot, the body slot, was occupied by his Greater Five Element Affinity. This gave his body a high resistance to the five elements and increased his synergy with the Seventy-Two Earthly Transformations.

His vision or mental slot was taken up by Crown of the Starry Skies. His arm slot was taken up by Wrappings of Runic Binding. His leg slot was taken up by Golden Boots of the Clockwork Dragon, and his clothing slot was taken up Claddings of Light.

While he did not have a weapon-based divine ability, he was surprised to discover that his soul-bound treasure occupied that slot as a two-handed weapon. Xing Tianlong’s twin soul bound treasures, his Yin Lightning Dragon Spear, and his Yang Phoenix Buckler, only took up a single slot.

This left Cha Ming with an armor slot and an auxiliary slot. Given that the last of his Seventy-Two Transformations would need to rely on the Inkwell Clan for balance, it was likely that the armor slot would get filled next. This only left his auxiliary slot open. He wasn’t sure what to fill it with, but he knew that for the right consultation fee, he could receive advice from Godking Heavenbind himself about the most suitable option.

Like he’d ever give that crook the time of day.

Armed with this new knowledge, Cha Ming returned to the Body Trials. He saw several familiar faces still stuck on the same trials from a few days prior, though a few had managed to advance. He hoped that he too would advance soon enough.

The tempering trials had become a daily routine for Cha Ming. It started off with a blast of blue flames that seared away a good portion of his muscles down to the bones, costing him a good deal of divinity. The rest of the five elements followed – the wood tempering was especially nasty, because it included strange blue plants that burrowed into his bones. But the heavenly wind portion of the trial was where he typically failed, since its caused his body to grow uncontrollably, and in turn wasted his divinity.

He was forced out of the trial with five percent of his divinity remaining. Cha Ming had been ejected many times before and no longer found it embarrassing. The other trial takers didn’t bat an eyelash as he dragged his sorry body over to a prayer mat, set up a formation, and transported himself into the Clear Sky World.

Cha Ming no longer bothered to hide his realm treasure, not least because two others in the same trial zone had something similar. Soul bound treasures were common here, and everyone else had time acceleration formations or devices.

Having exhausted most of his divinity, Cha Ming felt tired. He wanted to rest, but instead ate some food pellets and focused on his inner world.

It was just as Godking Heavenbind had described. When a demigod suffered damage to their body and recovered, one’s inner world would change, and so would their divinity. As long as one endured, one would improve, which was why body tempering was so commonly used to advance as a demigod.

The changes to Cha Ming’s inner universe were quite slow. For the most part, the planes inhabiting him shifted positions and changed how they interacted and how their boundaries overlapped. External pressure like body tempering caused them to move closer to each other, thereby increasing his inner universe’s energy density and facilitating the movement of energy from the universe’s outer edges into its core, where Cha Ming’s divinity pool resided.

Similar changes took place inside his body. His bones transformed. His flesh realigned. All to make himself more resistant to damage so that his inner world would not suffer as much next time.

This was where most people stopped their observations. The vast majority lacked awareness of their inner world and had no ability to perceive or guide the changes within it.

Cha Ming had developed his inner universe extremely early, and his was much larger than most. In fact, most demigods couldn’t really call it an inner universe, because their body housed a single plane, and it wouldn’t even be well populated.

But Cha Ming could, and he was determined to capitalize on this advantage. He focused not on the universe itself but the people inside it. Like the universe, they were also transforming. Thanks to the rapid passage of time, he was able to see exactly how.

Once upon a time, Cha Ming’s inner universe had contained powerful elemental lifeforms. Demons had come after, and with the passage of time, the powerful bloodlines of both had waned. Their descendants, weaker demons and elementals, had evolved in many stages.

Now, there were many beings that could be considered people in his inner world, and many even looked humanoid.  What surprised Cha Ming was that the stimulation from the trials was accelerating the shedding of elemental and demonic bloodlines.

A new type of humanoid was rapidly growing in population. They were weak, but they used tool and could communicate and codify information. Their luck was unusually good, such that even when they made terrible decisions, evolution seemed to usher them along on in a predictable path.

Soon, he would be forced to accept them for what they were: ordinary human beings.