MCU Cultivator: (Chapter 13)

Well. 

That... 

That's a little surprising. 

Steve's eyes widen slightly, obviously hearing the bragging girl, I can feel his gaze flick from me to her. 

Guess my parents had a kid after I left. 

They were pretty young still. Sixty years isn't that much time. I guess my younger sibling waited pretty long to have a kid as well. Maybe forty to forty five or so? 

"So..." I begin quietly, looking to Steve. "Anything else you want to do here?" 

Normally, I might say something along the lines of 'Well, I heard that his family disowned and cast him out, but whatever, keep using his name for your own means, I guess' just to be a little shit. But... 

Eh. 

Sort of leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Not worth the effort and attention it'd get me. 

"Are you-" the man blinks repeatedly, gaze flicking from me to the girl. "Are you sure?" 

"Yeah. I'm satisfied with what I've seen here. Are you?" I blandly shrug. 

"Yeah..." He nods after a moment. "I guess I am." 

We turn and leave the group of three. I make a mental note of their strength. They seem to be first stage cultivators. How interesting. 

My eyes flick upwards suddenly as we pass a large hanging rocket engine, eyes narrowing at the cords near the ceiling. 

A low sigh leaves my lips as a quiet straining creak seems to echo out. 

"Hang on. That thruster..." 

"I've been... wondering what that's about." Steve admits. 

"Oh. That's a part of the rocket that went to the moon." 

"W-What?!" He hisses, eyes growing wide. "When?! How?!" 

"Ninteen sixty nine." I answer "To be honest? Space travel doesn't really concern me. Most higher ranking cultivators apparently travel the stars... I've heard that there's a bunch of spirit stone mines on the moon... but they're mostly depleted." 

"Spirit... stones?" He echoes. 

"That's a currency we use in the cultivation space." I explain blandly. "What's caught my attention is that it's about to fall which is why-" 

Creeeeaaaaak-BANG 

I lunge forwards, lazily swinging my hand to the side. A needle of Chi rockets towards a nearby camera, sinking inside of it and cracking the internal lens. 

My hand slams into the large hunk of metal as I quickly reorientate it into a sitting position. 

My eyes stray to the person I had just saved, then with a blur of movement I disappear again, coming to a stop beside Steve. 

I moved fast enough that most people probably didn't even see me. 

Plus there was that basic 'anti-detection ward' of mine. 

Should be more than enough to get people to stop noticing me. 

"We can go now." I nod slowly. 

"Aren't you worried?" He asks slowly. "I thought you wanted to hide." 

"Anti-Detection ward." I admit as I turn and begin walking. "Most people 'see' me... but any real identifying information about me just rolls off their memories like water off a duck's back. When they look at me, they see 'John normalson. The totally normal guy' only people with an enhanced mind or are highly trained could-" 

I bump face first into that blonde girl. My... Niece... 

"oof-" she collapses to the floor. 

I crouch down slightly, offering her a hand. "Oh I wasn't watching where I was going. My bad." 

She is pulled to her feet, my chi briefly traveling through her body before coming back to my hand, confirming my suspicions. 

First stage. Half way through the mouth acupoint. 

She looks stunned, eyes growing wide. 

I step around her and continue walking. 

"Like I've been saying, Steve. A lot's changed since you've been in town. I wouldn't necessarily call it change for the better, either." 

[Split] 

Pov: Elsewhere. 

A blonde girl looks to her shaking hands. 

What- what was that? 

Her eyes grow wide as her two friends quickly rush past her, looking for the sound. 

"What just happened?" The green wearing dark skinned boy questions a nearby person. 

"It- It fell." They supply, seemingly stunned into shock at how close they came to death. 

"Is anyone hurt?" Makato questions, her other friend. 

She's... hurt... 

Her shoulder aches. But that- that doesn't make any sense! 

She ran over here hearing the noise, not paying attention to where she was going and- she... ran into someone but- 

They should have been knocked flat... not her! That just doesn't make any sense at all! 

Then... when she looked up at him... it- it's like she was looking at an insurmountable wall. An ancient beast. 

What was that?! 

"Wait... is that-" One of her friends gasp pointing towards the side of the rocket. 

The metal is slightly dented, a hand shaped indent pressed into it. 

Wait... 

Could it have been- 

Just who was that? 

[Split] 

Steve lets out a small sigh as he eats his burger. "It's not the same... it tastes... off..." 

"Tell me about it." I agree, rubbing my forehead. "The mouth acupoint is such a bitch at times." 

We stopped by a fast food place to grab something to eat. But we are both left kind of... wanting... 

"Food really has changed in the past sixty years." I grumble. "I avoided most of it by living in the mountains." 

"I always thought cultivators were super frivolous and arrogant hiring master chefs and stuff when any burger will do, but... wow." I mutter. "This sucks." 

"Mhm." Steve agrees. 

Much like how you could kill a Victorian England child by giving them a single skittle... modern fast food holds no candle to what it used to be. 

I slowly gather the wrappers and bags of our food, rising to my feet. 

I've already paid. "So. Where now, Steve? I've seen pretty much all I want to."  

"I think this is enough for today. It's... overwhelming." The man frowns. 

"Fair. Fair." I nod slowly. 

The door swings open, a man brandishing a gun stepping out into the open. "NOBODY FUCKING MOVE!" 

My eyes glint as I smirk. 

Flowers swirl in his pupils as he pauses, a couple people across the restaurant letting out cries of terror. 

He collapses. Falling to the floor like a puppet that had its strings cut. 

I step over him, Steve's gaze hovers on him briefly before following me. Kicking away his gun as he does so. 

I take a seat in my convertible, slipping on a pair of sunglasses. 

"You know, you would do pretty good at cultivation." I observe as the man sits down in the passenger seat, the door thudding behind him, the force he shut it with briefly shaking the car as the top begins to slowly retract back. 

"Jeez Steve. You need to get used to that extra strength." 

"Normally I'm a lot more careful than this." He admits, looking at his hand. "I... might be having an off day." 

"Oh Right." I mutter. "You're stronger than you were during the war." 

His eyes widen as I crank the car, looking over at me with a confused expression. "What?" 

"Yeah... I forgot to mention it, but it appears your chronic illnesses were weakening you still. If a normal man is a ten, you started out as a four... the super soldier serum just added fifty... and now that I healed those illnesses, it can focus more on improving you than keeping you stable, thus it now adds like... eighty or so." 

"So. Basically. Fifty four to ninety." I bluntly explain as I turn, slowly backing out of the parking space. 

"I see..." He whispers, looking at his hand. "That explains a lot. I've been feeling kind of off this entire time. Now I know what's wrong. It's just like when I first got the serum." 

"You'll adjust." I nod slowly.  

With that we pull out onto the street and begin the trip home. 

[Split] 

"So... what are our estimations?" 

A brown haired man in a black suit and a slightly receding hairline stands in front of a massive engine. There's a taped square on the side of it, within the box hand print is imbedded in the steel. 

"Well... the rockets for Saturn Five weighed about nine tons... of course, this one has been slimmed down a bit for display... but you're still probably looking at maybe... one... two tons maybe?" A guy with glasses begins, there's a handheld device in his hand that creates a beam of light that seems to wash over the hand print. "The cameras have a cracked lens so we were unable to capture a decent image of the man who did this." 

Another person speaks up. "The witnesses can't even seem to remember what the guy's race was or what he was wearing. Let alone any defining characteristics. Heck. Most of them couldn't even tell me his gender!" 

"You think that something else was at play?" The original man questions. 

"Well, If I saw a man stop a falling hunk of metal that weighed over a ton with one hand, you'd bet I'd memorize his face so I don't cross him in an alleyway and get my body painted over the walls like I got hit by a bullet train." 

"Phil." A hooded figure calls out to the suit wearing agent, causing him to turn. 

"Soldier." He replies with a small nod. 

"We are looking for a man... about six feet tall with amber colored eyes, tanned complexion with brown hair tied up into a ponytail." The hooded man begins quietly. "One of my students got a good look at him." 

"Sir! We got another alert. A robbery." 

"Well." Phil begins quietly. "I'll go." 

[Split] 

I stand across from the blonde man in a white tank-top arms folded behind my back. "Whenever you're ready." 

His eyes flick down to the large red white and blue sheild on his arm. 

He spins, hurling it with enough force to cleave a man in two. 

My hand comes up and I lazily catch it. Even as it strikes my palm and tries to jerk back the way it came my fingers anchor it in place. 

I raise an eyebrow at the captain, a small smile on my lips. "Although it has done you well... and your shield somehow bends reality to never lose momentum after striking a solid surface, perhaps it isn't the best idea to hurl your only form of protection at someone... honestly Steve, I'm surprised that you managed to survive the war considering how much you threw this thing." 

"Heh. Well..." The man shrugs idly. "If that didn't work, the gun I had in my other hand usually did." 

He blurs forwards, a fist rocketing towards my face. 

I duck, flicking the shield upwards as I weave through a flurry of attacks. 

I grab his wrist, causing him to over extend, my foot comes to his ankle as my other arm comes to his elbow. 

He thuds to the ground a short distance away from me as I send him flipping through the air. 

I reach up and catch the shield with one hand as Steve lets out a low groan, rising to his feet. 

"You've gotten better." 

"Well, I am a fourth-stage cultivator now..." I announce. 

"Yeah yeah." He grumbles, raising his fists. "I can do this all day." 

"I can do this all week." I smugly hum, causing him to roll his eyes. 

I skip the shield off the floor like a stone, it striking awkwardly and flipping end over end as it flies towards Steve's face, it's not traveling very fast so he's able to catch it quite easily. 

A mistake as I moved forwards in the brief moment it blocked his vision, palm striking out. 

I don't hit the shield. No. That won't work. What will work is this shove here. 

The man is shoved back, feet sliding on the wooden floors, shoes making squeaks of exertion. He barely manages to stay on his feet, slowly putting the shield back on his arm. 

"I'm not used to being so outclassed in strength." Steve mutters. 

"Well... To be fair, I'm a fifth stage in body... I just necessarily can't back it up on the spiritual side." I explain. 

Though it is worthy of note thanks to my multiple void cores I DO have more energy than the average fourth stage. 

Steve begins his assault anew, swiping and punching at me. Shield bashing, even adding in a few kicks here and there. 

But. None manage to touch me. 

"Is there really this much of a gap?" 

"The gulf between stages is vast, Steve." I begin, catching his shield bash with one hand. I repel it a moment later by flicking my fingers downwards, causing him to stumble slightly. "You see, there's a unique trait for each." 

"The first stage has the acupoints, with each you unlock giving you the chance to unlock a special power relating to them. Next, with stage two you gain access to Ki... which allows you to do many special arts." 

I hold up two fingers, an orb of blue energy the size of a gumball appearing above my hand. 

I flick my fingers downwards as Steve's eyes widen, letting out a grunt as the little bead of energy strikes the metal with the force of a raging bull. A loud bang echoes out like the sound of a gong or bell as the orb breaks, creating a wave of blue energy that washes over the front of the shield, letting little puffs of energy leak off the sides. 

He is knocked off his feet by the attack. 

I fold my arms behind my back as I allow him to get back up. 

"Third stage is where it gets interesting... you gain these special little things called Meridians... then there's the fact that even a newly promoted third stage has around twenty times the energy of even the strongest second stages. As for meridians, cultivators typically awaken four, which they can activate in battle, each one granting the cultivator a tremendous boost in strength. With each granting roughly two and a half times the original strength to the cultivator." 

Steve has risen to his feet again. 

"However. Once you ascend to the fourth stage, those four meridians are always active." 

I duck under a shield throw, idly noting as it rebounds off the wall behind me. 

"Then you get to where I am now." I finish. "The end of the fourth stage." 

I hold my hand out, the shield which was rapidly approaching the back of my head freezing in the air. 

"Fourth stage cultivators enhance their bones and gain access to something called 'sword telekinesis'. 

Wooden blades slowly float off the wall, flying towards me where they hover around me. 

Seven blades. 

Like the seven heads of my orochi technique. 

I flick the shield forwards as the man before me stares up in awe at the feat of mental ability. He has likely never seen- nor thought of- this as being possible ever. 

And yet. 

He wordlessly catches the shield, narrowing his eyes slightly. 

"Would you like to continue?" I ask. 

He rushes forwards, causing the corner of my lips to quirk upwards. 

I point a finger at him, causing one of the seven blades to float down, hovering just in front of my fingertip. 

It shoots off like a bullet a moment later, Steve can barely bring his shield up in time. The blow striking it like a hammer hitting a gong, creating a loud ringing explosion that echoes throughout the room. 

He is knocked back a little, but he managed to deflect the attack to the side. 

He did even better than I expected him to. 

I expected him to get thrown off his feet but this time he braced for it. 

"Vibranium really is something." I sigh as I grab the wooden blade of another training sword with two fingers and flick it downwards. 

It soars forwards as Steve braces, his shield. 

It slams down on him with the force of a god, the floorboards crack as his feet slightly sink into the floor. His arms shake under the strain of my attack. 

He pushes forwards and with a roar of exertion my blade is thrown back. It flips through the air. 

It suddenly rights itself and shoots downwards like an arrow. He barely manages to twist out of the way of the attack as it sinks into the floor behind him. 

His eyes widen as he sees the other six floating around him. 

"You did surprisingly good." I comment. "That first attack would have probably killed anyone with your strength if they didn't have a vibranium shield." 

"How much were you holding back?" 

My smile becomes slightly strained. "About that..." 

I'm silent for a moment. "Not using poison is a given. I do not want to maim or kill you. As is enhancing my blows with Chi... you also need to consider that I am by no means a normal fourth stage... I've been braving a new path. Most fourth stage cultivators only temper nine of their bones as the rest will be similarly upgraded once they advance to fifth stage... I have tempered every single one of my bones... meaning that physically I am comparable to a newly promoted fifth stage cultivator. No. I surpass them thanks to some of my previous decisions. Against the entire US Military... unless there have been some serious changes, I'd win... every time. My body is strong enough to shrug off gunfire and the explosions of grenades even when I do not use Ki to protect myself and... if I do that, I doubt most missiles short of a nuclear bomb would harm me." 

"Nuclear... bomb?" Steve echoes quietly. 

"Ah. Right... you missed the part when the US bombed Japan to end the war... I really need to get you a history book." I mutter, scratching the back of my head. 

"Regardless... do you think this is something you'd like? This sort of power? It'll take time, but I'm arguably the best pill forger on the planet. I could probably get you up to the third stage in... three years at most. That should be more than enough to double... no... quadruple your current physical strength. Maybe more if your body synergizes well with your inherent traits." 

"I don't know." He mutters after a long moment. 

"You've got time to think about it." I shrug. "I'm in no true rush. The thing with cultivators is that witch each stage your lifespan grows as well. First stages live to the peak of normal humanity, anywhere from one hundred to one hundred and twenty. Second stages live to about two hundred and forty. Third stages can live for four hundred and I... will live for about six hundred years. 

"How can you live with it?" The man slowly asks. "Knowing that... everyone you know is growing old... will age to dust before you're even middle age?!" 

"I've... surrounded myself with cultivators." I admit. "There's a lot more than we thought, Steve." 

"With cultivators, its more a worry of them being killed than them dying of old age... so I'll always more or less have someone." 

I watch the man gaze down at his hands, cringing slightly. 

[Split] 

Su Clan's Seven: "So, Venom Dragon, did you get your friend all sorted out?" 

Northern River's Loose Cultivator: "I still think it's ridiculous that a mortal human could have a physical body comparable to that of a second stage cultivator." 

Venom Dragon the Miracle Maker: "Oh yeah, he's fine now. Stronger than ever, actually, now that he doesn't have a few dozen chronic illnesses being fought off by his strange pseudo immortal body. We've spent the day going around and looking at how things have changed. Did you know that mortal fast food is *Awful*?" 

Yellow Mountain: "Heh, yeah, it tastes like dirt once you've had real cultivator cooking." 

Venom Dragon the Miracle Maker: "No, no, even Steve, a non-cultivator agreed. Apparently it's gotten even worse over the past sixty years or so." 

Yellow Mountain: "Even worse? It must be nightmarish now. Thanks for the information. I might tell some... friends that it has gotten better." 

Venom Dragon the Miracle Maker: "Anyways, the mortal world kind of assumes I'm dead. They still use one of my inventions I made in World War 2. oh, and I have a cultivator niece, apparently." 

Northern River's Loose Cultivator: "Oh? Congratulations. What stage is she?" 

Venom Dragon the Miracle Maker: "First stage, almost at the mouth acupoint. She looks to be possibly 16-24, it's kind of hard to tell with cultivators, even first stage ones. Now I'm debating on if I should even reveal myself. Cause I mean 'hey, I'm your uncle who was thought to have died sixty years ago, how's it going?' Doesn't seem like a very good introduction. My voice has changed quite a bit, and I grew my hair out. Plus, my most identifiable trait, my eyes, evolved into a new form. Then there's the fact that people might target her to get at the 'Miracle Maker'." 

Yellow Mountain: "You want some genuine advice? I'd say to go and meet her. You can't get things like family back, a lot of loose practitioners like yourself, who's family thought they were delusional or didn't have the talent to cultivate would do a lot to get back that connection. You have a great opportunity to help her grow, to allow her to protect herself in this world. It'd be wise to not waste that. And if people try to use her against you, just do what cultivators do and kill them." 

Venom Dragon the Miracle Maker: "That is... fair. I'm assuming they're already looking into me because my niece ran into me full-force and got knocked flat, I'll let them track me down and see how things go from there. I wonder who is teaching her, because I seriously doubt that she and her friends just so happened to stumble upon cultivation. Probably the US government doing things. Might even be one of my old friends from back in 1940." 

 Yellow Mountain: "Oh, before I forget, there's someone else I need to add to the group." 

Seven Lives’ Talisman has joined this group! 

Thrice Reckless Mad Saber: "OH! What gender is our new Daoist? Are you a saintess? If so, what are your three sizes and please share a photo!" 

Venom Dragon the Miracle Maker: "Is that all you think about?" 

Seven Lives’ Talisman: "Hello, I am Seven Lives' Talisman." 

Northern River's Loose Cultivator: "I remember you. It's been about fifty years? Are you still working on completing your oaths?" 

Seven Lives’ Talisman: "I'm afraid so. But now that I'm here I do have something quite important to ask, has anyone seen a medallion like this before?" 

An image is posted in the chat. 

Clutched in his hand is a dark wooden plaque of some sort with a tassel on the end, three claw marks rest on its face while the top has the head of what looks like a tiger or bear. 

Venom Dragon the Miracle Maker: "You know, that does actually look kind of familiar. Give me a moment to recall." 

Seven Lives’ Talisman: "It would be a great help if you told me." 

A cascade of negative answers roll throughout the chat, I was the only one who recalled anything. 

Venom Dragon the Miracle Maker: "I think I recall some dude flashing it to another in Jiangyin city? It's been a good 40-50 years though. Could be wrong, though." 

Seven Lives’ Talisman: "Jiangyin City? Alright, I'm quite close. I'll take a look. Even if nothing comes of this, thank you for your help, Vemon Dragon." 

Venom Dragon the Miracle Maker: "So what's the reason you are looking for these guys?" 

Seven Lives’ Talisman: "I made an oath to destroy them." 

Northern River's Loose Cultivator: "Ah, I remember now. You were looking for them back when we last met, too. I do not envy them. To gain the ire of a virtuous cultivator like yourself." 

Oh good. I didn't just doom some random sect to some villainous psychopath. But these guys don't really seem to be the sort to tolerate those with evil in their hearts.