Monsters and Legends, page 66
part #1 of Infinite Realm Series
The one obstacle she saw was Fier. He had been the Sect Head’s nephew, and even though he had fallen out of favor he was still a blood relative. She knew that the Black Viper Sect wasn’t in a state where it could survive suffer more losses, however, and going against an unknown force would probably be too much of a risk.
At least that was what she thought.
“What I wanted was to live in a safe place where I could raise my daughter in peace. You promised to protect us as well as the town.”
“And so I shall. I understand your fears, and I even understand the fears of the others, as well as their doubts. I do not hold those against them. My word holds as long as theirs does. I do not know how powerful their Monarchs are, but they don’t know anything about me either. And I have faced greater odds,” Ryun said, his face contorting into a bitter smile. “If they force this into a conflict, I will carve my way through them.”
There were so many things that she wanted to say, but she knew that none would change his mind. Ryun was so different from anyone she had ever met. He had the same arrogance that the powerful in the sects had, the same belief in his own power, but the difference was that most of those in the sect had been gifted that power, had grown up in powerful families with many advantages.
Ryun was a Ranker. He had clawed through a falling world to get to where he was. Anrosh couldn’t even imagine what he had gone through in order to stand here before her now. She might not have known him for long, but she had learned a few things about how to manage him. She couldn’t change his mind—she could only offer advice and hope that he listened.
“We should be trying to do everything in our power to secure a peaceful resolution with the sect,” Anrosh told him.
Ryun nodded gravely. “Violence is never my first response. If they do not act against me and those in my charge, I will not act against them. But I am not going to bend, to let them cross lines as I seek peace. To do so would be to show them weakness, and I am most certainly not weak. There is more to power than just levels and realms; it is about the way you react to the world, about your convictions and the set of rules you live by.”
She had noticed how he had changed since she first met him. He spoke more and for longer periods of time, rather than answering with just grunts or single-word answers. But still, she saw the same man before her now as the one she had met long ago. Ryun never spoke anything that he didn’t completely believe in, but his convictions were unlike any she had encountered before. She wondered what kind of events had shaped a man like him.
“No matter how powerful you are, you are still just a single man. Even if you were powerful enough to fight off all the sect’s Monarchs together, they still have an army filled with capable warriors,” Anrosh told him.
Ryun gave her a strange look, and a glimpse of a smile, but then he sobered. “Perhaps you are right. Fighting is what I am good at, but I cannot be at many different places at the same time. Yet I have given my word to protect these people.”
He hummed to himself, and then he put his hands close together over his stomach. A moment later she felt his Qi moving, and then glowing energy bouncing between his palms. In the center a crystal was starting to form, and she realized that he was cycling Essence. She had suspected that he had spent most of the Essence he had cycled before for the town and to raise Jishh, Enka, and her powers, but he clearly had some left unassigned. She couldn’t even imagine how he could have so much.
It took a while for the crystal to fully form, and then when he was done, he grabbed it and took a long look. A moment later, he offered it to her.
“With this you should be able to advance one more stage in your path,” Ryun told her.
She swallowed hard. She had been telling herself that what he had already given her was a gift without measure, and he himself had told her that he wouldn’t give her any more Essence, that she would need to advance further by herself. Now it seemed like he had changed his mind.
“Didn’t you say that you wouldn’t be giving me any more Essence?” she asked, not taking the offered crystal.
“I did,” he admitted. “But you are right. In order to keep my word and protect this town, I need someone strong enough to fight by my side. The next stage is the one where I gained much of my power, and this will truly be the last time I will offer you Essence.”
She knew what the Mid Lord Stage brought with it, of course: a True Body, for many the pinnacle of advancement. To have a True Body was a mark of strength, of prestige, and of power. Until she had met Ryun she had believed that all True Bodies had a physical mark, an alteration that clearly showed their ascension. But Ryun had no physical mark, or none that she could see. She had no idea what his True Body even did, but she was incredibly curious.
She looked at the Essence Crystal and then reached out for it. “You want me to advance here?” she asked. If she did so, everyone in the town would be able to feel it.
Ryun looked thoughtful for a moment, and then he shook his head. “No. I know a better place.”
Before she could even react, he reached for her and picked her up, one hand behind her shoulders and another behind her knees. It took a lot of restraint on her part to not react. If it was anyone else, she would’ve done so, violently, but Ryun had never shown any interest in her, and she knew that he had his peculiarities.
A moment later he jumped and it took everything from her not to scream. The wind pushed down on her as they soared, and then slowed before starting to fall. A moment later his Qi moved and they landed on a Qi cube. She didn’t have much time to adjust before he jumped again, leaping through the air. The very act of it made her feel dizzy, but she managed to keep her cool. A couple of jumps later she was collected enough to look around. She saw the barely visible treetops below them, and the shining moon above them, with the stars surrounding it and declaring their territory.
Even though she couldn’t see much, it was an awe-inspiring sight. She was soaring through the air, almost flying—she had never felt anything like it. She noticed that they were headed toward the mountains, and belatedly realized where they were going.
The trip took them less time than she imagined, considering the distance involved. Ryun dropped down onto the mountain plateau, high up and close to the peak. Illuminated by moonlight, she could see the snow and the small shrine in the distance. She felt the cold hit her skin, but her stats were high enough to keep her safe.
Ryun let her down and took a step back. “Advance,” he told her simply.
She took a moment to collect herself and looked at the crystal. It had enough Essence for her to finish her six cycles. She took a deep breath and did as he said, suppressing her former belief that cycling was wasteful. Once done, she filled her core for the last time, and then triggered the advancement. Her Qi surged through her core, compressing and changing it, making it stronger. The transformation was quick, and a few notifications appeared in front of her.
Her eyes turned to the most important one: three choices of a True Body.
She couldn’t help but feel excited. This had been beyond a dream for most of her life. She knew that True Bodies depended on many factors, the person's race among them, but her choices were all incredible.
“Show me,” came Ryun’s voice from next to her, and she snapped out of her thoughts.
She looked at him and hesitated. Showing private stats was frowned upon in the Infinite Realm, though one might ask advice of a master or a teacher—but Ryun was neither to her. Although, in some ways, perhaps he was something like a mentor. She would hesitate to call him a friend, yet he had named her as much once before. She didn’t know what friendship meant to a person like him, but she was grateful for his nonetheless.
She did as he asked and a window she had been looking at became visible.
Path Perk available: True Body
True Body—Mithridatic
Your body has been reforged into your true self, adopting attributes to reflect your path. Your path is that of resilience. Your body has been exposed to poison Qi, and as such has gained incredible resistance to poisons. You gain a 90% resistance to all poisons. You only need to survive a poison once to become immune to it. Your body is adapted to your poison Qi, and it no longer damages your body. If chosen, physical changes will manifest themselves.
True Body—Enduring
Your body has been reforged into your true self, adopting attributes to reflect your path. Your path is that of the ultimate survivor, and as such your body is forged in that image. You gain a second heart. Pain tolerance is doubled, lung capacity is doubled, stamina effectiveness is doubled, and all stamina-draining effects have reduced impact on you. If chosen, physical changes will manifest themselves.
True Body—Overwhelming
Your body has been reforged into your true self, adopting attributes to reflect your path. Your path is that of overwhelming power, and as such your body is forged in that image. Your physical size is doubled, and for every point of strength you will gain in the future, you gain half of a point for free. Effectiveness of dexterity reduced by 20%. If chosen, physical changes will manifest themselves.
Ryun looked at her choices, not saying anything as he focused on reading. She did the same. She hadn’t ever dreamed that she would reach this high, but now that she had, she actually felt a bit disappointed. Her choices were all incredible, but there was only one choice that she could make. The nature of her path demanded it.
“The Mithridatic body is the only choice,” Anrosh told him.
Ryun turned and looked at her. “No, you should pick the Enduring Body. It synergizes better with your combat style and path.”
Anrosh blinked at him. “I have the poison Qi aspect, and even now I can feel it harming my body every time I use a technique. The more powerful I get, the worse the effect will be. It could kill me. Enduring Body is good, but it will not save me from poison.”
Ryun tilted his head and smiled. “Trust me, your poison Qi will not be an issue.”
Anrosh looked back at her choices. His words didn’t make sense to her, but he hadn’t steered her wrong so far. He had given her incredible power, and she had a debt toward him that she could never repay, but she still wasn’t sure about his advice. She wanted to believe him, to trust in him…
And so she made her choice.
She felt herself, her body widen and grow. She did not double in size as her last choice had offered, but she changed enough to accommodate changes in her body. There was no pain, but it was a…unique experience. She didn’t know how long the transformation took, but when it was over she found herself on her knees. She blinked a couple of the times, feeling her new body. The changes weren’t obvious to her, at least not at the moment, but she felt more powerful. She looked at her palm and frowned. Something didn’t look right about her skin, but she couldn’t tell in the pale moonlight. A moment later she saw Ryun take out something from his storage, a small vial. He shook it lightly and a pale light blossomed from it, illuminating them.
She blinked at the light, and then looked down. Her skin had changed color. She no longer had the green skin she had been born with, but instead it was now a deep blood red. She remembered stories that her parents told her, of people with red skin, Rankers who had achieved such level of power. It had to be a universal change for her Iteration, when they gained a true body.
She straightened and looked at herself. Her clothes were tight, and she could tell that her muscles were more pronounced. She wasn’t all that different, but she was slightly taller.
Then she frowned as she noticed her braid. She pulled on it and looked at it.
“It’s—” she started.
“White,” Ryun finished for her.
More changes, but somehow she was happy to have them. She turned to look at Ryun.
“This body is incredible, but my Qi…”
“Do not worry,” Ryun told her, and then he pulled out another vial from his storage and offered it to her. She took it and her eyes widened as she read what it was. A Core Purifying Elixir… She had never even heard of such a thing, but she knew immediately that what she had in her hands was worth more than the entire Black Viper Sect. What fortune would someone farther along their path give to be able to change their aspect, someone who had gained incredible strength and now could afford the best?
Anrosh was at a loss for words. “This is…”
“It is for you,” Ryun said and pulled out a clear glass globe. “Take it. With your Bottomless Core, the loss will not hurt you much. And then we can see about giving you a new aspect, one better suited for you.”
He gestured behind her, and she turned. The shrine stood there, at the edge of the plateau.
“You have done so much for me, more than I could’ve even dreamed. But this…this is a debt that will put me in your service forever.”
He tilted his head. “I do not require such things. I’ve told you once before, I do what I want, when I want, because I want to do it. There is no other reason behind my actions. I believe in simple things. Wealth and influence do not interest me; I want only to be allowed peace to advance as I will. Giving you enough power is serving that goal. You are my hands and voice. You keep the world and their wretched agendas away from me, so that I do not need to be bothered by them. I need you powerful, so that I do not need to step in. It is as simple as that.”
She looked at him, the man who had saved her life and that of her daughter from a terrible fate. He who could’ve asked anything from her, and had instead given her more than anyone else in her life ever had. He didn’t even ask for her to swear loyalty to him, nor for her to prostrate herself before him. He had never spoken to her as anything other than an equal, even though she was far from it. He didn’t need such things, oaths and promises—he gave them to the town because they needed them, not him. His word was the only thing he held as valuable. She was amazed by him…in awe, even. It was like he was a figure out of stories, a legend that she was read to about when she was a child. A force of nature, a being that followed a different set of rules than anybody else.
Anrosh opened the vial and drank it all.
CHAPTER 90 – PRESENT – Anrosh
Absolute Cold
The elixir hit her stomach and Anrosh felt a searing sensation spread from there. Her core was on fire, and she fell to her knees. It was painful, far more than she expected it to be, and she wondered just how it would’ve felt without her new True Body. She didn’t know for how long her core was on fire, but eventually the heat started to move, going through her Qi conduits and burning any remnant of her aspect out.
And then, in what seemed like an instant, the heat was gone and she gasped. A notification appeared in front of her, informing her that she had lost her aspect, and she could feel that her core was just a tiny bit smaller, that it had less Qi capacity. She had a Bottomless Core, so the 10% reduction that was the price for the use of the elixir wasn’t much to her.
She gathered herself and stood, seeing Ryun standing in the same spot and just looking at her. He hadn’t offered any words of encouragement, nor did he try to help her. It wasn’t like she had expected him to, she knew that he wasn’t prone to such actions.
Yet, the look in his eyes made her wonder what their relationship really was. They weren’t a master and a student. She was technically in his service, yet he didn’t really treat her like that. He mentored her, without really teaching her much, and he had been a kind of a sponsor. He had invested wealth into her advancement, but he didn’t ask for much in return. He had called her friend once before, but she didn’t know if she could call them that. She knew very little about him, and he knew less about her. And yet…
He had been more of a friend to her than many—all—of the people she had ever considered friends. She wondered if that was what they were: friends. She didn’t know how to classify their relationship, not really. But seeing him standing there before her, a clear globe in his extended hand, she couldn’t help but feel close to him. He had done so much for her, in return for so little.
“Take it,” Ryun said, snapping her out of her thoughts.
She reached over and took the globe, looking at it and the low-tier aspects available around them.
Ryun turned his head, looking at the shrine. “Go as far as you can. The power of the aspect you will gain will depend on your own power.”
Anrosh turned, and took a step. She wanted to tell him so much, to thank him, and to… She didn’t even know how to translate her own feelings into words, and in a way that made them similar. She glanced back, seeing him watching her. He knew, without her needing to say anything.
She turned back toward the shrine and walked, watching the globe in her hand. The Cold aspect changed, going from tier 2 to tier 3, and the chill around her increased. She walked forward, feeling the chill increase even further as the tier changed to 4. Her old aspect had been tier 3, a shop-bought aspect. It had been her husband’s idea, a way to make their application to be adopted into the Black Viper Sect more attractive. There were people with different aspects in the sect, but they were outliers, special cases. Most shared the same one, which made it easier for the sect to share their knowledge, to shape their warriors’ techniques and paths. Her path hadn’t been as suitable for the aspect, but it was good enough. More than most got.
She had never entertained the idea that she could change it—or at least, the person that she’d been before she met Ryun couldn’t. Now, the aspect of Cold around her was more powerful than anything that she could’ve hoped to gain by herself, and there were more steps for her to take to reach the shrine. She took a few steps more, and the cold intensified, as the tier changed to 5, enough that she felt a faint pain on her skin. Her Enduring Body made her better at handling pain, doubling her tolerance, but she could feel her body fighting the cold by itself. Two hearts beat in her chest, sending blood surging through her body. She was changed, for more than she even realized. She would’ve been hard pressed to survive for long in this cold just a couple of minutes before.
