Apocalypse Cultivation 2 ch 15

Jake didn’t remember losing consciousness, but he woke up on the ground.  Asphalt was pressing into his cheek.  He looked around, getting his bearings, and verified he was definitely back on earth.  It seeemed he’d popped into existence in front of a fast food chicken restaurant.  There was a four lane road a stone’s throw away with a few broken down cars.

“I didn’t actually tell her where to put me, did I?” he wondered out loud.

Jake judged the time was dusk and sundown wasn’t too far away.  That at least was working in his favor.  Sitting in the parking lot was making him feel awfully exposed, so he got up and moved behind the restaurant.  There was a little wooded area further back so he moved himself there and sat down again, hopefully where some trigger happy local wouldn’t start shooting at him.

Of course, he wasn’t really expecting anything like that to happen anytime soon.  The area was awfully quiet.  All he could hear was a vehicle or two in the distance.  That made sense.  This was two weeks after the apocalypse.  By now, all the survivors in America with guns would have figured out that they should start conserving their ammo.

Jake pursed his lips and tapped a finger against one knee.  He had an absolute ton of stuff in his storage ring since he hadn’t touched any of it in a decade.  For that matter, he was planning to add to it while he was back on earth.  Being back after a decade felt interesting.  He’d been expecting to…feel more about it.  But instead, it was almost like seeing an old friend, the best kind where years could pass, but the friendship was instantly as strong as ever after meeting again.

He was home, and it just was.

His original plan to just escape the web burrows back in the Murim world had grown far more complicated, but this was an amazing opportunity.  He didn’t plan to waste it.

Jake sighed, stood, and did a quick inventory.  After some careful thought, he decided to travel with some weapons.  He’d been a monster for so long, and prisoners in the Web Burrows were all so weird, he’d almost forgotten how people on Earth would probably react when they saw him.

Some of the shit he was going to be wearing likely wouldn’t help.

Jake actually thought about changing into fresh earth clothes, but shrugged.  “Fuck it,” he said out loud.  His worn cultivator robes had worked fine for the last few years.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  The seamstress in the Web Burrows still thought he was fucking crazy for having her sew pockets into his cultivator outfit, but pockets were a must, especially back when he hadn’t had his storage ring.

He still had the Deep Heavens Soltice Society Midnight Cloak, and that stayed on.  Jake also took an AK pistol out of his storage ring and slung it on one shoulder.  It was hard to argue against the power 7.62x39, even out of a shorter barrel.  He didn’t really see himself needing any longer range guns.

Withdrawing his custom saber, the special one that Morrigan had changed, made him grin.  His reasons for not using it before getting trapped in the Web Burrows seemed silly now.  This was his first time properly examining it, too.

Let’s see what three thousand years bought, he thought.

Blooming Honor, Destruction Flower of the Eternal Nightmare

Originally a sword crafted for Major Terry Swafford by a mortal, master sword smith, this weapon has been reborn in divine flame.

Personally touched and invested by Morrigan, goddess of war, fate, and shadow.

Remade for Jacob Hessian Mazzariello.  Imprinted on by Jacob Hessian Mazzariello, and will burn any being that seeks to wield it.

Indestructible by any power short of Transcendent.
Can be summoned by Jacob Hessian Mazzariello anywhere.

Limited ability to pierce supernatural barriers.

Supernatural cutting ability.

Imparts soul damage.

Growth type

Ego Weapon

“Wow!” said Jake.  His eyes were wide as he examined his sword.  “Holy fucking shit!” he breathed.  Jake could hardly believe his eyes.  The sword made all the potential rewards he’d seen so far in the Eternal Struggle Reward System seem like trash.  This was the kind of weapon someone could use to kill…practically anything.  At least with enough skill behind it.

He’d also never actually seen an ego weapon in person, but he’d heard of them before.  They were sentient tools, powered by and possessing a soul of their own.  This one was even more interesting, a growth-type of sorts.  Jake tightened his hand on the grip and almost instantly felt another presence in the back of his mind.  Something humming, or purring like a cat.

The sword seemed to like him.  That was good.  The alternative might be lethal.  It seemed to be communicating with him, too.  No words, just feelings he could understand.  It was sending greetings.

Jake reverently slid the saber back in its scabbard.  “Ten years, and I had this in my storage the entire time.”  He shook his head.  When he’d first gotten to the Web Burrows, he’d been weak enough it might not make a difference, but now?  Suddenly, the odds of succeeding with his escape when he got back just went through the roof.

At least he thought so.  Hopefully.

He found a baldric in his storage to use to wear the sword.  The crude, carved sword he’d been using for years lay on the ground and Jake regarded it for a while.  He almost put it into storage, but decided to just wear it through his belt like he had been.  Even with all the crap hanging off of him, he could still move easily, and he nodded.  With that, he thought he was ready.

Jake hadn’t forgotten about his Living Clay Bat.  This time around, he wouldn’t be running around like a dog, trying to meet some ridiculous time limit.  If he wanted to, he should be able to ride in style.

But first, he wanted to get his bearings.

It felt good to be properly armed again.

Night was falling quickly.  Even though Jake wanted to walk around on foot before traveling, he decided to use the Clay Bat to figure out which direction to go in.  Summoning the bat from his storage ring was easy, and after it was out, he just examined it for a minute.  The last time he’d seen the bat, it’d been to immediately teleport and then he hadn’t seen it again.

The bat was big, but not as enormous as Jake remembered.  Of course, he’d half seen it before while streaming out of a hole in the ground, as everything was half formed, so he’d known his memory might be suspect.

It stared right back at him as he examined it.  If Jake had to describe it simply, he’d say it looked like a winged golem in the shape of a giant bat, like one of those flying foxes in the Philippines.  The bat’s eyes glowed in the failing light.

Cultivators back in the Murim world usually just used things like this as tools and didn’t really give a shit if they got broken or destroyed, but the bat had probably saved Jake’s life before.

“Do you have a name?” asked Jake.  The bat didn’t move, just continued to look at him.  “If you understand what I am saying, nod once,” he said.  The bat nodded.  “Do you want a name?  Nod if you understand but don’t care.  Nod twice for yes.”

The bat nodded once and just stared again.

Jake shrugged.  “Well, I feel like naming you.  So for a bat with no personality, I’ll give you a name full of personality.  From now on, you are Bartok.”

He’d half expected some sort of surge in his chi after naming the bat, or some other sign that something mystical had happened, but nothing changed.  Jake chuckled to himself.  “Might as well give my sword a nickname, too.  “Blooming Honor, Destruction Flower of the Eternal Nightmare, huh?  I guess I’ll call you, Bloom.”

The entire world seemed to vibrate.  Jake’s energy ran wild, circulating about ten times faster than normal.  It felt like the earth was shaking.  The feeling only lasted a moment, but when it stopped, Jake had to pick himself off the ground.

“Well, that happened,” Jake muttered.  Then he hopped on his bat Bartok and instructed him to fly directly upward.  “Who needs drones when you have a clay bat, huh?”  Jake laughed at his own joke. A moment later, with a little bit of worry, he wondered if all the time he’d spent in the Web Burrows might have harmed his sanity a little.

“I’m a fucking monster.  If that didn’t make me go loco, I’m not sure why digging in a prison would.”  Jake nodded but decided to stop talking to himself.  It was tempting fate.

Once he was high enough to see the surrounding area, he realized that a highway was not far to the west.  It looked like there was a Walmart to the Northwest, businesses and hotels to the south, and residential areas to the east.

There was also a Golden Arches to the west.  He’d already seen people gathering at them before, when he’d been traveling across Georgia.  Maybe enough people had seen or heard of his advice here, wherever here was, that he could find people at this one, too.

“Wherever here is,” he said out loud.  It felt like his entire existence on Earth after he’d died seemed to revolve around figuring out where the hell he was.

On that note, at least he was fairly certain that the Morrigan had put him somewhere decent.  If she’d screwed him over and zapped him to Montana or something, that wouldn’t exactly be helping him.  He was likely somewhere in Georgia.  Now he just had to figure out where.

Jake had Bartok lower him back to the ground and sent the bat back into his storage ring.

Residential, businesses, Walmart, or McDonalds? He thought.  When his sensitive hearing caught the sound of screaming to the East, he nodded.  “Head toward the screaming it is.”

Jake took off at a run, quickly leaving his wooded area and flashing across a residential road.  As he neared a zombie, his wooden sword flicked out, fast as a striking snake and crushed its head as he passed.  He hadn’t even slowed.

Being on earth again might feel the same, but he was not the same anymore.  He was a hell of a lot stronger than last time.  Part of him worried for whoever was screaming, but he also admitted that he was excited to be back.  His entire reason for coming here had been to kill vampires, too.  Maybe he could help people and get what he needed all at once.

“Let the hunt begin!” he said.  His grin showed his sharp teeth.