Jodye Trill and Xavier Tricko were running for their lives on the fourth sub-level of the Dark Cave. Behind them were thousands upon thousands of fiends at level 3, level 4, and even level 5. A fifth level fiend usually possessed between 60-80 BP, but the fifth level maniac fiends could possess up to 220 BP! Worst of all, there were several first level ghouls in this mob! Each of these ghouls possessed at least 200 BP.
To Jodye’s horror, there was also a second level maniac Lower Zombie Ghoul! The Maniac Zombie had eyes full of intelligence, and he was running faster than the fiends! This terrifying mob wailed, screamed, and moaned in pursuit.
“Muzz… eat yurn… flesh!” the maniac Lower Zombie actually spoke in a broken drawl! It’s words made Jodye’s determination waver for 0.2 seconds before he snapped out of it. This freak was trying to scare them. It was less than 100 meters away from the kids.
“Must… eat… your… soul!” threatening ghastly voices kept traveling into Jodye Trill’s mind from the many great apparitions in pursuit. They were trying to break his will! The Brave Fang Collar lit up with a startling light, and Jodye heard shrieks of pain in his head then felt his mind clear up.
“Looks like we owe you another one, pops,” Xavier Tricko yelled half a step in front of Jodye.
“We’re definitely going to die!” Jodye Trill was now scared as hell, urging every bit of his power as he shot through the dark caverns with all of his might! This was like being in a horror flick.
“We just have to make it to the second level! The higher level fiends won’t be able to stand it up there!” Xavier was actually far calmer, as he ran next to Jodye holding Fenrir on his shoulders. “Hop on my sword!”
Jodye didn’t consider much and leaped in mid-stride, landing on top on Fenrir. Xavier’s body burned to with golden atmosphere, as his muscles swelled and his features turned more savage and feral. Xavier’s speed suddenly doubled before he turned his body 360 degrees and threw Jodye and Fenrir forward with all his power. The [Cosmos Revolving Grimoire] appeared on in own in a flash of purple light, and Jodye’s face quivered as he was sent 4 kilometers forward in mere seconds. After crashing tragically in a mess of rocks and ruin, Jodye was somehow magically ejected before the impact, but he still landed harshly before he swiftly rolled to his feet. He heard a mischievous bell-like giggle, but when he turned, he saw nothing but the [Cosmos Revolving Grimoire] floating silently next to him like a spirit guide. After a thought, it flipped open to the first page.
[Name: Joseph Goldwolf][Age: 6 years, 5 months.]
[Status: 69% Health, 4:19 am]
‘Immortal Sage Path: Scholar Realm, Perfected Sophomore rank, 23 BP.’
‘Titanic Rage Path: Wimpy Man Realm, Level 9, 92 BP (dormant).’
‘Heavenly Saint Path: Fledgling Saint Realm, Three Star Revolving Force rank, 20 BP.’
[Guardian 1: Cosmos Devouring Sky Wolf47Cosmos Devouring Sky WolfCombat soul of Jodye Trill. True soul of Sylvester Sylknarius Tricko, heir to the great Sephiroth of Anubis Great World. Consciousness and true form unlocked.]‘Compatibility rating: 3%.’‘Stasis’ [Guardian 2: Mighty God Sky Jackal]
‘Compatibility rating: 45%.’
‘Tier 1 Primary ability and auxiliary abilities unlocked.’
Jodye noticed that his heavenly grimoire’s connection with him seemed to proliferate whenever he was in danger. After dusting himself off a bit, he was able to tell from the pressure that he had returned to the third floor. Fenrir was impaled upright in a huge rock, and sitting on the tip of the handle was shockingly Xavier Tricko. When he saw the shock on Jodye’s face, he shrugged and spoke calmly, “The heavenly grimoire won’t let me get more than 100 meters away from you.”
However, before Xavier’s words finished, Jodye was already running as fast as he could towards the second sub-level. The ground was beginning to rumble, and this rumbling was growing fiercer with every passing second. Xavier hurried to jump down in pursuit, Fenrir disappearing into a red gem on the small wolf boy’s forehead.
As they ran forward desperately, Jodye’s face suddenly twitched, and he stopped abruptly grabbing the startled Xavier, jumping to the side.
“Wah?”
“There’s someone up ahead, and they ain’t normal,” Jodye Trill was sending his divine awareness in a straight line ahead as he ran, as he didn’t want any surprises. Unfortunately, a little more than 300 meters in front of him there was a shroud of darkness being followed by thousands of low-level fiends. Jodye’s divine energy couldn’t pierce through that dark shroud, but he was able to discern that it was a person. Merely, this person seemed to be covered from head to toe by smaller waves of consciousness, it was impossible for Jodye to break through them all in secret. Xavier allowed his mind to sync with Jodye’s, and he became aware of the situation.
“Hey, little Joe! Want to have some fun?” Xavier’s immediate question baffled Jodye, but Xavier continued on, “I’ve got a bad feeling about that guy, he’s definitely as strong as that Maniac Zombie. His aura is even more sinister! We’ll die for sure if we run into him.”
“What makes you think he wants to kill us?” asked Jodye Trill, in spite of agreeing. That dark shroud gave him chills. The feeling was somehow familiar.
“What made you stop and hide?” snorted Xavier, “Of course, it’s his thick killing intent! Listen, we can lure the big bad dead guys here, and then hide in a corner while they gang up on that creep out front. Then, I can ask the pixies to invert the laws around us so that the fiends all avoid us!”
“Killing intent… yeah, that’s right. Wait, Pixies? Like, a heavenly pixy pixy? You can command the heavenly pixies? Is that your divine spark? Why did we even have to run?” asked Jodye Trill appalled. The Pixy tribe lived in the void within the divine ennead and were the most ancient and mysterious creatures in existence. Anyone who could see or even just hear a pixy was destined to have a blessed life.
“Not a command, a request. No one can command a heavenly pixy. The pixies are really nice, but they don’t like to be manipulated! Trust me, you to don’t want to get tricky with a pixy.” Xavier explained, “It’s not a divine spark, I inherited this from my mother, it was her bloodline limit. The pixies taught me the ability Meta. Meta is an ability that can invert the true meaning of a law. It was tough to understand at first. However, it was thanks to Meta that I was able to perfect my Nebula of Might divine spark and stand on par with Sly. My meta-calamity force can refine evil and poisonous energy and fuse with the pure energy to form a new power called viral force! I made it myself.”
Xavier continued to explain some of his viral abilities in detail. Jodye felt his brain short circuit. Creating his own force? Inverting the laws of calamity to absorb poison and fiend forces and convert it into new energy? Now that was badass! An original thought suddenly occurred to him, prompting him to ask, “Can the inverted law be changed back?”
“I have to be using Meta to invert the law, it will return to normal the moment I stop using it,” replied Xavier bitterly. “Meta is a terrifying ability, but I can only use it with the energies I understand. The deeper secrets of this ability are something I have yet to discover.”
Jodye knew why Xavier was bitter and didn’t press further. He watched a small level 2 vicious beast that was the size of a palm. It had eight legs, and a pattern on it’s back that looked like electricity sparking, level 2 vicious beast the Silver Spark Arachnid! He zoned out as it crawled on the ceiling of the cave, and then an idea struck him. He turned to X and asked another question that had been bothering him, “X, you’re like a mad scientist! You’re so smart, and you have the blood of the Immortal Sage clan right? Are you a Sage too?”
“Well…” Xavier Tricko rubbed his nose awkwardly. They were somehow now approaching a subject that he had already been forbidden from contacting. Jodye was truly more intelligent than Sylvester had realized. Xavier knew this was due to his contempt for mankind.
Merely, if he was being asked directly, then Xavier honestly couldn’t lie about it, “Technically, I should be considered a sage. However, if it’s the Mighty God Sky Jackal that you see now, then I don’t cultivate the way you do because I have a monster soul and physique. However, when I turned 300 years old, my older brother tricked me into a chamber filled with his nirvana flames, and he remodeled my body to become a perfect hero-sky wolf hybrid. If he failed, I would have ended up a powerless wretch. Lucky for me, he didn’t fail. The problems within my bloodlines were fixed, and I had a body that could cultivate on the hero paths.”
“Oh… could it be that you also have a…?”
“Less of this, host temp, we have to focus!”
“Oh. Right! Okay, so here’s the real plan!”
……
— Dark Cave level 2B
Aiken Moon was wielding two daggers as he sliced and diced through first level fiends in an underground passage. Behind him, Sirius Regal proceeded forward slowly, allowing the fiends to freely attack Aiken. Sirius had a stern and placid expression on his face, but secretly he was shocked! This was because Sirius had only given Aiken some regular daggers made from magic iron. Yet he was taking out every Goon that stepped in his path. In fact, even as more and more Bullies begin to appear, Aiken was able to fight them off with a bit of effort.
“Not bad kid,” Sirius was impressed and even allowed them periods of rest so that Aiken could meditate and refine the tainted fiend force. To his further shock, Aiken would finish purifying the diseased qi in only a dozen or so minutes. Sirius decided he would take this boy on as an apprentice26apprenticeAn apprentice or student is someone who is learning something from a teacher. While the relation is sacred, and there are mutual obligations between the apprentice and the teacher, there is no commitment between them. A disciple40discipleone who accepts the knowledge of and assists in spreading the doctrines of another, taking them as a master., on the other hand, has committed himself to the master, and the art of his master. The disciple has committed to entering and mastering a secret branch of knowledge and has requested the master to accept him into the arcane path. The relationship is very sacred and the obligations are binding. after their play was done, as he indeed had the potential.
Plus, there was that thing Aiken always said about getting him back to Rodinia for a rich reward. Sirius hadn’t even put this in his mind before, but after witnessing Aiken Moon’s talent, he changed his perspective completely. This kid had the gene pool, that was certain! His young skin was pinkish white, so there was no way he was a descendant of one the negus families to the north.
The boy was likely telling the truth. This might be his ticket into the grand stage that called Rodinia.
“Strange how all the first level and second level fiends are missing. Where are they?” Sirius Regal was very familiar with this remote Dark Cave, they had been collecting death crystals here for weeks already. The second sub-level was usually filled to the brim with goons and even possessed several wraiths and a few bullies. Yet, everything here was enough for the little boy Aiken to handle alone. In fact, he would likely even breakthrough to the next sub-rank of his concept soon. However, Sirius soon figured it out, as he had seen the methods of White Serpent Cove before, “Something important must be on that child, for the White Serpent Cove to go this far. Hmm…”
“AH! DESSA!!” Sirius Regal’s thoughts were interrupted entirely by Aiken Moon’s frantic bellowing. Aiken dove head first into a small army of fiends, the azure pure essence qi in his body spilling out like streaks of yellow blade lights tearing apart the Goons surrounding Dessa’s delicate frame. However, before he could reach Dessa, Aiken’s vision was blocked by a pitch black object that slammed into his face and knocked him tumbling several meters back, crashing against the cave walls.
By the time Sirius laid eyes on Aiken, the boy had already been brutally clobbered by a Bully’s club. Sirius glared at the Bully, who retreated in fear of the spiritual pressure being released from Sirius Regal’s body. Sirius glanced at the delicate looking little beauty in rags on the dirty cave floor. He was secretly stunned that she could remain so pretty while on a dusty rock floor, covered in insects and cobwebs. Several goons were surrounding her with foul intentions visible on their bodies. However, they only surrounded her. Sirius presumed they were waiting for her to wake up.
“Sick s****, die!” Sirius Regal may not claim to be any sort of righteous man, but the one thing he hated the most was these sick ass creatures and their tendency to violate and torture inhumanely. His right hand swept across the magic pouch on his hip, withdrawing a three-foot-long sword and slashing out a red wave of power that obliterated every fiend in the surroundings!
Sirius ignored that bleeding child whose back had merged with the cave and approached the unconscious girl. Unbeknownst to Sirius, a thin layer of gentle silver light covering Dessa’s body was retracted back into her body at the moment he attacked. Once he approached, he saw her long crimson hair that was draped over the front of her body, covering the parts that would have been exposed. She looked like an exotic painting, it was nothing less than intriguing.
“Dessa, huh?” Sirius was curious about this child. How could those fiends have left her alone? She had a low-level saint aura, she should be like a delicious snack to these sick creatures. Sirius was no idiot. The girl must have a treasure.
……
Meanwhile, Jodye Trill remained unaware that Dessa and Aiken had tough times, he was having his own! In a large cavern, there was a sea of fiends and undead ghouls wondering aimlessly around as if searching for something. One Zombie with sharp eyes stood tall and still as it surveyed the area. Behind a rock wall near the entrance to the cavern, two figures were shrouded in complete darkness. This was the unique trait of the Dark Jumble bush! Without any fruit having been condensed, the aura from this origin flora would never leak out of the darkness, nor would theirs!
“Okay, you ready?”
“Yeah, but why does it have to be me?”
“Of course, you look far more delicious to a zombie. Besides, I only have a fate body while you have a sage body and divine dragon blood. They’ll only take a few bites out of you, tops.”
“A few bites is enough to get infected with corpse poison!”
“Just go!”
Jodye Trill was pushed out of the cover of darkness comically and heard another strange giggle echo about like little bells ringing. At the same time, it felt like something light was sitting on his left shoulder, but nothing was there. However, before Jodye could marvel at this, he saw that every voodoo creature in the cavern was looking at him. Sweat dripped down his brow, but he still turned around and pat his bum, shouting out before diving back into the dark, “Come and get me, you half dead wimps!”
The mob of monsters immediately pursued him crazily making the entire surroundings rumble. At the same time, Jodye Trill was using the Fist of Might technique with the astral points in his feet to propel himself forward at impressive speeds! Withdrawing the Baleful Glaive from his space ring, his current speed was backed by the power of 247 BP, and nearly 100 meters ahead of him at all times was Xavier.
“Yu… muzz… die!” Suddenly, Jodye Trill heard the voice of his nightmares right over his shoulders. He turned his head and saw the level 2 maniac ghoul, a six foot tall male dark elf Lower Zombie with rotting flesh and intelligent eyes, baring his menacing teeth in an attempt to savagely bite into Jodye’s flesh! A slimy green tongue was hanging out of the dark elf Zombie’s jaw down to his chest. Acidic liquid dripped and slightly corroded everything it touched. However, right before the razor-sharp fangs could sink into Jodye, the mouth stopped where it was. Jodye heard and melodic bell-like giggle in his ear, and felt movement on his shoulder.
He looked carefully and saw the tiniest distortion in the space around his shoulder as if an invisible creature with four limbs had its arms stretched to hold the zombie’s jaw in place. This was the moment he had been waiting on! He looked the Maniac Zombie, who was struggling in fury while staring at him, square in the eyes as his right eye released a dazzling blue beam of divine nascent yin source!
Serene Stare!
The Maniac Zombie’s body shook as it wailed and stumbled backward. It was shivering intensely as if all of his functionality was slowing down.
Noticing this, Jodye wasted no more time took a shining silver spider out of his robes and threw it on the ghoul! The little vicious beast’s eyes were two small deep golden black flames until it bit into the rotting flesh of the Maniac Zombie. The Silver Spark Spider disintegrated into dust, that blew off in the wind. On the other hand, the Maniac Zombie was now docile, standing still with two black-gold flames in its eyes.
This was one of Xavier’s second tier abilities, Viral Parasite! X could create a parasite by refining viral force and soul force into an empty vessel. Such as a level 2 vicious beast with an obliterated soul! To use this ability X had to sacrifice 10 points of their compatibility rating, truly shocking! To make this leader of the fiend army become a viral parasite, Jodye had to put himself at risk and believe in the pixies that X had asked to help! If that pixy didn’t block and stun the Maniac Zombie for him, they would never have the opportunity to infect it with a parasite.
However, now that the second level Maniac Ghoul was a viral parasite, they could swagger through this cave without fear! The rumbling grew intense as the mob of fiends was closing the distance between them. Jodye looked at the empty space in front of the Maniac Zombie one more time and felt the slightest fluctuation with his divine awareness. He bowed once and then shot off to catch up with Xavier.
