Body Cultivation Hurts - Chapter 9

He arrived in a wide-open area like a town square. There were shrubs surrounding the cobblestone paved opening and many other people were porting in as he had just done. There were hundreds of people, but they were all spread out. He hadn’t even gotten his bearings when his eyes were drawn to a man wearing the starting t-shirt and shorts. He was orcish.

Not orcish exactly. He just had the brutish physique that Nathan pictured when one pictured fantasy orcs. The man was at least seven feet tall and bodybuilder wide. His facial features didn’t match his physique which was model handsome except for his abnormally large jaw.

Nathan caught himself scratching the back of his head as he considered the guy. There were so many different combinations of paths that even he couldn’t pinpoint them all at first glance.

When the massive guy noticed him, he looked himself up and down before turning back with an overly excited grin. Balling his fist and throwing them out to the sides, the man roared. His pitch was a little off, making him sound like an overly excited boy that had just gone through puberty. He then marched over and stopped right in front of Nathan who had no idea how to respond to the guy. The man roared again while holding his goofy grin.

Nathan held up his fist.

The man pounded it while generously controlling his strength. Then the guy strolled away and just kept randomly roaring. Most of the people gaping at him still looked human.

That’s what happens when a teenager hulks out, he chuckled to himself. Except instead of rage-monster, the guy was more like hyper-monster. Hype-monster? He cringed to himself.

Nathan took a moment to observe the people around him. It was the first time most of them had ported in. Even though they’d just been kidnapped by the Monarch, the exhilaration most of them felt was almost palpable. The majority were still human looking, but, well, elves were popular. Especially amongst the girls. As in, half of them had become tall, slender, supermodel types. The first sign wasn’t the eyes, or even the ears, but their hair reached all the way down to their waist. As for the guys, there were a few elves, but almost all of them were as tall as he was if not taller and had bulked up.

There was a time his new height of 6’6” would often make him the tallest guy in the room. Not any longer.

They weren’t all that way. Some people kept their original height. Those in this group had mostly chosen the mage path. It had been one of the most popular in his first life and he expected no different this time around. They were some of the smarter ones. It made him wonder how many people had wasted their points on cosmetic enhancements.

He understood choosing the elf race because of the looks and there were minor physique benefits. There was also something to say about being able to choose an attractive spouse. It didn’t have a high point cost either. But how many people had gone with just what sounded good at the time and didn’t look at its end game potential? Well, there was the possibility of evolutions and ability blending, so nothing was set in stone.

He didn’t personally have an observation or identity ability. Only specific mage and monster classes started with that. And it wasn’t like they brought up an information window like in a video game. It was more like an advanced sense that allowed you to feel out a person’s strength. They’d all need to rank up to sense much detail, with few exceptions. His personal observation skill would come in the blood realm. His perceptions wouldn’t technically be unlocked until the nascent realm after blood, but there were techniques that allowed you to get a basic feeling for auras.

He saw one of the average-sized guys turn all sparkly before disappearing. Blinking, Nathan found the guy closer to the exit of the town square and heading for it. A teleporter. It was a path that could turn into one of the most powerful, but, without the right supplementary enhancements, it would just provide you with one of the better quick traveling abilities.

“That was so hot,” a feminine voice sounded as an elf-human girl stepped up to stand next to him. She glanced up at him, giving him a sly smile.

She’s flirting with me?

“What powers do you have?” she asked, leaning into him.

He hesitated to answer but couldn’t think of any reason not to tell her. “I’m a body cultivator.”

“Yuck,” she said, pulling away from him. “Boring.” She walked away.

“That just happened.” He muttered, then turned away quickly when he caught himself watching the way she swayed with each step.

Something caught his attention, and he looked up.

A very human-looking girl flew straight over his head about twenty feet up. She was gaping in astonishment and fear as she went.

She wasn’t alone. Two others were already in the air, and another flew up to join them. The guy was fiddling with his fangs. A vampire. The most particular one he saw was a flying girl with cat ears and a tail. She was pawing at the air with human hands as she slowly float-swam toward the exit. Flying furry…

Knowing what they would face in ten years, his expression darkened. He didn’t fly into a rage, or rebuke anyone. This was all new to them and he was even able to appreciate the atmosphere.

He shook his head to himself. He was making assumptions. Her upgrades were probably more powerful than he thought. His brow wrinkled as he watched her doggy-paddle the air to try and go faster. He looked away.

It was then that a little-green guy, obviously a goblin, strolled by. He had long pointy ears and yellow eyes. When the guy glanced his way and nodded, Nathan relaxed. As ridiculous as the guy looked now, he could end up being the most powerful path in the future.

He headed toward the exit. Because of the goblin’s short stature, Nathan caught him quickly even if he wasn’t trying to. Seeing as man notice, he spoke “Brave choice.”

The guy smirked. “Why, thank you. It’s not what you think, however. I was able to earn some extra points in a trial the system gave me, so I was able to afford both goblin and mage selections. So not only do I have a guaranteed high-tier race, but also top-tier magic potential.”

Nathan’s eyes lit up. “Good move.”

“It sounds good on paper. I hope it ends up that way. Besides, just being a mage, I hope being a goblin with magic unlocks a top-tier evolution.”

“It would surprise me if it didn’t.” He didn’t want to say too much, but he wasn’t exaggerating when he complimented the guy. It would most definitely turn into a top-tier combination. If he got a rare evolution, he could probably become a ranker. “I hear you grow to look much more human as you rank up.”

“Oh yeah. Goblin to hobgoblin then to ogre is the general path. But I confirmed, I’ll look much more human after my first and second evolutions.”

“Nice. I’m Nathan.”

“Wolfgang. From, Maine.”

“Florida. I’m glad others are taking advantage of the path trials.”

He nodded. “So what’s your Path?”

“Cultivator, Body, Toughness.”

“Going all in on the tank-class, eh?”

“I’ve been into MMA for years, so I just want to be able to use what I already know. Toughness will allow me to not die in the process.”

“I get that. How much specializing were you able to do?”

It was nice meeting someone that had done a lot of research into the system. This guy had obviously given cultivation a serious look. “All the way,” he confirmed without mentioning he was able to take it even further, simply because it wouldn’t do him any good and he didn’t want people coming to ask him about it later. When the time was right, he’d release the information to help new initiates to the system.

“Excellent. I was seriously considering going that direction as well, but—I don’t have the experience you do. Are you looking to go straight to hunting?”

“Something like that. Cultivation requires me to find specific environments to gather qi in. I’m heading out the northern gate to find a frigid waterfall or something in the mountains. I’ll probably kill random creatures, but I’ll mostly be exploring.”

“Okay. I’m afraid participating in the trial has set me back so I’m going straight to hunting.”

“You don’t have to worry too much. Do you think everyone here participated?”

Kyle looked around. “Now that you mention it, no.”

“I think you have the right idea, though. What magic are you specializing in.

“Force. I thought it would give me some decent crowd control abilities early on to get me into groups. Since I’m a goblin and all. But it’s really the space manipulation at the end game that I’m interested in.”

Nathan nodded. “You might want to try the hunting grounds to the south then. They’re open plains, so crowd control is more important, and many of the creatures there are small. Not only will hunting parties need you, but you’ll stay busy, and your magic will grow faster because of it.”

The goblin’s face was tight with consideration. “That sounds perfect.” He began to scan the surroundings.

“Those are system terminals,” Nathan said, pointing at the small panels with large handprint drawn on its surface. They were all around the perimeter of the town square. “Just place your hand on the screen and it will take you to a private space to speak with the system. Ask to port to the southern gate.”

“Man, you’ve been a lot of help.” The guy spun and offered his small hand.

Nathan shook it. “Here.” He tossed him one of the extra transmission jades he taken from the dead thugs. He then explained how it worked and they exchanged information. The man’s combination of paths interested him, so he planned on checking on him later.

Exiting the square, which was one of thousands of entry points circling the Staging Facility on the outermost layer of the city, he jogged toward the northern gate of the city. He was only a few entry points away. Because there were literally billions of people, managing where they ported in and out of was essential. He’d almost rather the tower and system act more like an actual game and greatly simplified many of the systems necessary for things to work. But this was the real world. Managing so many people took space, and as for the number of paths—there was almost an unlimited number of combinations.

It was better this way. There were certainly some hard limitations on what people could do or become, but as they progressed things only became more complex. And unlike a game, life wasn’t fair. Some people’s paths were just superior to others. There were variables and different scenarios, of course, but there would be no updates to change things or balance people’s power later. As for what was meta, or the best paths to take, that was almost impossible to say. For every top ranker on a specific path, there were others on the same path that didn’t even make the ranker list.

As for the ranker list, it wouldn’t be released until after a few months had passed. It would list the top million people in order from worst to best. There was technically more than one that measured a mixture of things. One was a person’s rank, but only cultivators used a Cultivation Ranking. For mages, they were given a Magic Ranking. Monster were given a Monster Ranking, but it was more complicated than that, for each monster race had their own unique system. Since it was difficult to know how every system scaled, if not impossible, the ranking system took care of it for everyone.

Later, the ranker list would even be broken up to the Power List, Combat List, Craftsman List, and Influence. The Power List focused solely on a person’s power output regardless of path. The Combat List was considered even more important in most cases. It didn’t just weigh a person’s power output but combat ability. It was basically the system giving its best guess after observing everyone’s battles and progression as to who would win in a straight one-on-one match. Craftsman graded craftsman’s ability to create high-end gear, while Influence was determined by estimating political influence.

After a few years, the ranking would no longer be limited to the top million, but anyone that reached a certain level. At his best, Nathan had made it into the top ninety thousand.

He came out of his musing as he reached the northern gate. There were no doors. The gate was as wide as a twenty-lane highway and only had foot traffic if you didn’t count people flying overhead.

There was little traffic heading out of the north gate, but tens of millions of people could squeeze out each hour once they stopped walking everywhere they went. With that in mind, he checked his straps and started running.

He glanced up as he passed under the gate. It was more than ten stories high. One moment there was a cavernous ceiling a few miles overhead, and the next a clear open sky. Each floor was in its own spatial dimension, so they could have thriving worlds like the one he’d just entered. Technically, this open sky region was all connected with the other gates creating one giant map.

Feeling the surface of the earth change from stone to a dirt path beneath his feet, he took a deep breath, then shot passed everyone loitering near the gate who were focused on sightseeing.

Close to the Staging Facility were packs of the zombie-demons he’d fought at the portal before initiation. They were more difficult than the zombies in the path’s trial, but their groups were limited to around the three to five range. There were some larger groups that numbered around ten to fifteen.

As a cultivator, killing them didn’t provide the same benefit it would for other paths. Paths like Mage and Warrior would absorb some of the energy that seeped out of the monster’s body after each kill. They were the more game-like of the paths. Some monster paths also shared in this method. The only thing Nathan would get for killing them was points awarded by the system and battle experience. He didn’t need the experience at all, and there were much better ways for him to earn points.

He skirted around all the monsters he saw. They weren’t as simple to avoid as in video games, so any that saw him often took chase. Sometimes he chose to outrun them, which wasn’t difficult. Other times, he engaged.

For one group of three, he made such a choice. They weren’t smart creatures, so he waited for the closest boney-baldie to reach him.

He took a sideways stance. As soon as it lumbered too close, he launched a spinning side kick right into its face. His foot struck like a gunshot, nearly removing its head.

It wasn’t that weak, but it was possible to snap its neck if he caught it just right. This one lucked out, but it limboed against its will and buckled at the knees.

The next one he took low, battering it with a shin kick to the thigh. It too went down, leaving him a final one to deal with.

With the two immobilized, he ducked under the last one and came up behind it. Wrapping his arm around its neck, he kicked the back of its legs to drop it.

It grabbed at his arms with its powerful grip but was out before it could find any grip. Then he snapped its neck. He then repeated the process with the remaining two.

So far, he was just taking things easy. There was no reason to go all out when these were just low-level monsters.

There was nothing to loot from them, so once again he was off.

His goal was the mountains which were two miles from the northern gate. It was an easy run, especially now that he could make use of the qi he pulled in with each breath. He headed around the bases of the first few mountains. Staying to the lowlands would keep him away from most of the more powerful monster in the region. Of course, that would eventually change if he went deep enough. As for now, the lowlands were filled with the zombie-demons. There were millions of them spread out in the hilly region over many square miles.

He wasn’t looking for any monsters to hunt at the moment anyway. He was looking for resources. The natural treasure kind.

There was an alcove that opened into a valley between two mountains. The valley was almost a square mile that had a lake near its center and an outcropping of tree. He picked up speed as he headed for it.

He saw a pack of wolves on the fair side of the valley. They’d probably spotted him if he could see them, but he’d yet to hear any corresponding howls.

As he was running by a swath of tall grass, he saw motion out of the corner of his eye. He ducked and punched out. A suicidal horned rabbit had tried to ambush him, so he left its body flying and broken.

He ran over to retrieve its horn. He could make use of the entire corpse, but there were so many things in the area that would benefit from the free food that he didn’t bother. More movement came, and he didn’t move this time, but sharpened his breathing.

Another horned rabbit soared at him.

He lifted his shirt so that it wouldn’t poke a hole.

The four-to-six-inch horn jabbed him in the abs.

He caught it before it fell but looked at the tiny trickle of blood coming from his new wound that looked about the size of a mosquito bite. He let out a sharp whistle. Not even the handguns were able to do as much damage. These things were quick, but the reason they were so dangerous was because they weighed much more than a bullet and their horns were as sharp as a needle.

The rabbit screeched at him, but he killed it quickly and yanked the horn from its head. Finding the second rabbit, he took that horn as well. He was glad he was the first person to find the valley. Unless the party had a good healer or a tank with decent armor or physique, the little bunnies could’ve easily killed someone.

He wrapped the horns in his extra shirt then placed them in the back pouch of his bag. He’d have something to balance it out soon.

He was careful as he jogged passed more brush, and soon made it to the forested area. There were large pythons in the trees, but unlike games where everything attacked you, these creatures had their nature intact. They wouldn’t commonly attack him unless he attacked first or were simply starving. He wasn’t a fan of snake meat, so why bother?

A grin came to his face as he saw the red berries growing at the base of some of the trees. Jackpot. He had no intention of picking them all, but he hurried over the closest ones, took out his knife, and started to dig around them carefully. Before long he had five unbroken mountain ginseng roots with stems attached. The berries alone could help with cultivation, so his plan was to replant them in his Personal Chambers and create a small green house. His chambers were already rich in qi, so he just needed to create the right environment. He was familiar with their shading requirements and would only need to get an automatic drip system up and running.

He noticed the silence immediately. The local insects were already used to the constrictors which didn’t bother them, which meant…

Glancing behind him, he saw not just one wolf, but seven. He stood up slowly but didn’t back away. Wolves weren’t commonly aggressive toward people unless they were hungry, and this pack was a large one. Curiosity was also a possibility. What arrived was only a hunting group and not the entire pack, however. They must have been looking for a larger meal and reaching the snakes wasn’t easy.

He gave the constrictors a quick glance and saw them either ignoring the wolves or slithering further up into their trees.

“Some help you are,” he said aloud. Instead of retreating, he walked toward the canine hunting party while distancing himself from the dozens of ginseng plants that were flourishing there.

He’d gone away from the lake since he had no idea what lived there. The Monarch wouldn’t have put some overpowered monster inside it, but it still might be an ambush predator. A body cultivator’s physique was powerful, but he hadn’t even reached the first small realm. A large enough gator or crocodile could do a job if it got a hold of him unaware. He didn’t want to be growing new limbs during the first week of initiation.

The area he led them to was rocky and slanted at an angle. It didn’t have the same overgrowth as the way he’d come, so he wasn’t worried about horned rabbits.

He pulled out one of the mimic-plastic bags that his new wardrobe had come packaged in and carefully placed the ginseng roots inside. He would’ve preferred to individually wrap them, but his situation was what it was.

He then pulled out one of the rabbit horns and swirled it around in the air.

The wolves that had been doing their doggy-creep toward him stopped in their tracks. He was already acting strange—and too confident. They could sense as much. “Good doggies,” he said in his best baby voice. “Yes. So cute. You want the horn? Yes, you do. You ready?” He played like he was going to throw it. “You ready?” He lunged forward in an exaggerated throwing motion. He smiled widely as if not seeing their bared fangs at all and froze like that.

They were just as still as he was, wondering what this insane creature was doing. Then some of them bolted as he danced forward and threw the horn across the valley as far as he could.

Many of the wolves spun to see what the thing was. When they turned back, he was gone, sprinting in the opposite direction.

He snickered to himself before reminding himself to focus on his breathing. He had to admit that initiation was doing him good. There was little danger, and he could just—his countenance fell. Forgetting what he’d seen a few weeks before wasn’t going to be that easy.

His father had become a cultivator as well, except he’d chosen energy cultivation. Before the tower, he hadn’t really known his father. Not like he had after initiation. As the danger they faced grew, the man had ended up a defensive powerhouse, but that hadn’t stopped the demon horde from turning him into a pile of smoldering meat.

It took everything in Nathan to keep himself from turning around and taking out his sudden rage on the beasts racing behind him. The ginseng would have to be replaced if he did, but there were plenty of them. It was a pointless battle with no real benefit to be had. He hadn’t faced off with any fangs or claws to speak of since his rebirth, but these weren’t even grey wolves, the bigger kind, or the monstrous dire wolves. With his current physique, their bites would be strong enough to crush smaller bones like those in his hands. That didn’t mean he’d lose.

Cultivators were considered amongst the most graceful of paths. For energy and soul cultivators, that was true. For body cultivators, however, they were the most brutal. And he’d been amongst the best.

He drew from his wrath and nearly doubled his speed in an instant. He took long, confident breaths as he left the usually faster beasts far behind.

Once out of the valley, he doubled back down his original path. Half a mile later, he slowed his pace, but didn’t stop. Any fatigue that had been building was quickly recovered.

Hearing a howl, he knew they wouldn’t follow him further. They’d likely found the horned rabbit corpses and would take them as a consolation prize.

The mountain he was looking for was one of the closest ones to the northern gate. He ran another mile before he saw it. It would still be hours before he reached the place he had in mind. But now he had his heading.