Divine Arsenal 2: Dual Weapon Cultivation Read online

  Divine Arsenal 2

  Dual Weapon Cultivation

  Dante King

  Copyright © 2021 by Dante King

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Contents

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  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

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  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  The Hungry Herb Tavern was busy at all hours of the day or night, but it never seemed to be busier than during the breakfast hour. For many of the farmers, workers and peasants of the town, the only thing that got them out of bed in the morning was the promise of one of Lyra’s sweetcakes, or the savory taste of the spicy rice balls that were her barmaid Kij’s specialty. As I sat in the common room of the Hungry Herb, devouring both treats, I thought about how radically my life had changed in the last two weeks.

  A month ago, I would’ve told you a place like the Hungry Herb simply didn’t exist. This whole world didn’t exist: it was so utterly different from the Earth I knew, containing dungeon-like Zones and filled with magic-wielders called Cultivators who walked the path of the Eternal Dao. I’d only heard of the Eternal Dao once before coming here—and then, I’d thought it was all part of some crazy carnival attraction.

  I wasn’t much back on Earth. Alright, I wasn’t exactly a loser: I had a decent job, a little spending money in my pocket, and a burgeoning relationship with the cute girl in the social media department of the company I worked for. But here, in the world of cultivation, I was something else entirely: a hero. Someone worth looking up to, admiring, waving at in the morning on your way to the tavern for a bite.

  I still had the relationship with the cute girl, too. She’d come along with me for the ride. I was actually waiting for her to come downstairs already and join me in my meal.

  I glanced up from the table to see Kij sauntering across the common room, another platter of those delectable rice balls with the sliced fish held in her hands. She refilled my mug and my plate, then put a few on another plate in front of the chair next to mine. “For Anna,” she told me, cocking an eyebrow with a knowing smile. “Whenever she decides it’s time to roll out of bed.”

  I met Kij’s grin with one of my own. Both of us knew the reason Anna remained in bed late into the morning. Ever since the two of us discovered Dual Cultivation—an ancient technique involving the co-mingling of a man and a woman’s essences to increase their cultivation power—we’d been ‘practicing’ it just about every night. It was why I ate so damned much without ever gaining a single pound—it was all fuel for my special techniques.

  It’s weird, I thought, watching Kij serve another table with sweetcakes and tall mugs of Lyra’s special near beer. I’ve only been here for two weeks, and this place already just feels so much more like home than Earth ever did. Maybe Eliezer was right—this is where I was always meant to be. This world is my destiny.

  Maybe. But considering the guy called himself the ‘Peak Supreme God’, I was pretty sure I could take his musings with a grain of salt.

  The sudden turning of nearly all the heads in the common room (the male ones, anyway) alerted me to the arrival of my girlfriend. I turned to see Anna descending the stairs from the second floor, her gorgeous body sheathed in one of the silken bathrobes belonging to Lyra, the establishment’s proprietress. Her ash-blonde hair and striking blue eyes marked her as an outsider in these parts as thoroughly as her luscious, sleek body. Lyra’s establishment was known for having some of the prettiest barmaids in the whole province, but Anna put them all to shame. I could tell every woman here wanted to be her, and every man wanted to be with her.

  But she was mine. My woman. And my weapon.

  She grinned like a cat as she reached the bottom of the stairs, taking the chair Kij left for her and sampling a small bite of her meal. As always, how the barmaid had known Anna was on her way downstairs eluded me—the way of women, I suppose. One of those mysteries the male mind was never meant to comprehend.

  Several barmaids gave Anna knowing chuckles as they made their way past, carrying trays of food or drinks. None of the townsfolk or farmers beginning their day would be caught at this hour dressed like Anna. They were far too practical for that, too salt-of-the-earth. But for her, they made allowances.

  After all, she and I were heroes to these people. Together with Lyra, the owner of the Hungry Herb Tavern, we’d attacked the Silent Auction put together by the villainous Hollow Frog Guild. With my cultivation, we’d freed the humans they’d intended to sell as slaves and put the whole sordid tradition to an end.

  At the time, I’d done it merely to save Regina, the wife of a smuggler who’d been sold into slavery to pay her husband’s debts. It didn’t come out until later that several of those on the auction block that night had been members of prominent families in the town. Word got around—which meant that if the cultivator who’d saved the blacksmith’s wayward son and the apothecary’s daughter wanted to parade his half-naked woman around the common room of the Tavern on a sleepy morning, the town would graciously look the other way.

  It was their way of thanking ‘Clan Hyde’, as we’d become known. My last name on Earth was now the moniker of a growing legend.

  “Good to see you finally making your way downstairs,” I said, smirking at Anna as she tore into a sweetcake. My girlfriend transformed into a powerful demoness when she got hold of her cultivation, growing horns and fangs. Sometimes that aspect of her nature came out unexpectedly, like when she was hungry. “How’s Lyra? Should I be expecting her presently?”

  “The lady of the house is indisposed,” Anna said, washing down the morsel with some beer. “After your performance last night, I’d be surprised if she makes her way down to mingle with the common people at all. I certainly wouldn’t have come down if my stomach hadn’t been rumbling like an earthquake when I woke up this morning. Damned cultivation!”

  I grinned. Both of us had worked up quite an appetite this morning—after all, we’d spent most of the previous night in Lyra’s bed. There wasn’t much the three of us hadn’t done in the bedroom together, but last night we managed to find something new. We’d Dual C
ultivated with two cores at once, draining the spheres we’d pulled from the carcasses of rare monsters in the nearby woods. It had been a great success, giving us each a boost in our cultivation powers—but it left us even hungrier than usual as a result.

  I ate like a starving man after I cultivated, so Anna and I both needed way more food than usual. The plus side was it gave us one hell of a metabolism, so Anna could basically eat whatever she wanted and stay slender and beautiful. Predictably, this made Lyra’s barmaids even more envious of her.

  “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Dual Cultivation,” I reminded my girlfriend. “And you definitely wouldn’t have a hot older woman stroking you and whispering what a good girl you are in your ears while I was inside you.”

  A hot flush rose to Anna’s cheeks as I reminded her of the previous night. She coughed, as if some of her sweetroll had gone down the wrong pipe.

  “Anyway, she told me to tell you to go ahead and get started without her,” the blonde said, pointedly ignoring the mental image I’d smuggled into her head. “She’ll make her way to the garden eventually.”

  “As will I,” I said with a shrug. “As soon as I’m done eating.”

  Back on Earth, I would’ve allowed myself to be pushed around. But I wasn’t that person anymore—the Eric Hyde who’d been a mild-mannered IT professional was as dead as the monsters I’d slaughtered to augment my powers.

  Now I was the leader of Clan Hyde, a cultivator walking along the path of the Eternal Dao. I’d get to training, of course—but on my own time.

  One more rice ball and cup of coffee later, I sighed and stretched. Anna had been watching me the whole time, sizing me up as if she couldn’t decide whether to reprimand me or drag me upstairs and jump my bones again. I loved being in that sweet spot with her. Her rebellious nature in the streets just made things hotter when she turned ultra-submissive in the sheets.

  “Good girl,” I leaned over and whispered, my lips brushing her ear. Anna stiffened, a low moan escaping her lips, and I knew I had her eating out of my hand. Good.

  I stood up from the table before Anna could beg me for a morning rendezvous. It would have been fun, but I really did have work to do. Not to mention people who depended on me. This town was under the protection of Clan Hyde, which meant I needed to sharpen my skills against any threats.

  As I made my way across the common room, a dozen figures rose from their own tables to follow me. No matter how many times we did this routine, it never failed to startle at least a few of the patrons eating their breakfast in Lyra’s tavern.

  They know about me, I thought, suppressing a smirk. And Anna, of course. But the others are always such a surprise to them…

  Now at the lead of a loose column of figures, I pushed through to the back of Lyra’s establishment. Behind a sliding door adorned with pink cranes and pale-faced dancing girls lay a beautiful garden, sheltered between the Hungry Herb Tavern and the outer wall of the town. This grotto had undergone a substantial amount of remodeling since the first time I’d set foot there. Lyra and I had almost destroyed the place the first time we’d practiced her cultivation back here, and some parts of it had never truly recovered. Instead, we’d cleared out the center and turned it into a kind of dojo. The most exclusive club in the entire town—where Erik Hyde and his cultivators practiced their skills.

  I’d never been much of a leader, but I’d had ample practice since coming to this world. The cultivators who stepped into the garden each bowed smoothly before me as they took their places on the training grounds, showing me deference and respect. A couple of them were from the town, strays we’d detected with the gift of cultivation, but most were from other regions of this province—or from even further off.

  From how silent some of them were about their past, I figured at least a couple of my trainees had been disgraced in foreign kingdoms, or exiled to our backwater province. I didn’t pry. I just greeted each trainee with a nod as they entered, asking this or that cultivator in training how they’d slept last night or how their latest errand for a villager had gone.

  As the last member of the group stepped into the garden, I turned around and moved to shut the sliding door. As it did every morning, a hand shot out from within, grabbing it and forcing it back open. I let out a put-upon sigh as Hazel stepped into the garden, her dirty blonde hair tied back in a utilitarian ponytail. She wore the same sleek, comfortable robes she always did, ideal for fighting a duel or sneaking into an enemy’s residence.

  “Morning,” Hazel said, hardly meeting my eye as she pulled up a chair. At first when she started to show up at our gatherings, I’d ordered Kij to remove the garden’s only table with its three slender chairs. As if by magic they’d been returned to their proper places in the morning, no matter where we hid them. Eventually I’d just given up. “How’s it going, Eric?”

  I rubbed my forehead. I was beyond tired of this dance, but Hazel seemed to want to draw things out. “They’d be a hell of a lot better if you were with us,” I confessed, glancing at my followers arrayed in neat little lines. “Why don’t you join the group, Hazel?”

  “I told you,” she said, her blue eyes flashing. “I’m not here to cultivate, Eric. Just to watch.”

  It was the same thing she told me every day. Before she met me, Hazel had wielded the powers of cultivation as if she’d been born to them. She’d been accompanying me on my adventures when she fell afoul of Guildmaster Ji, the leader of the Hollow Frog Guild. He’d used a spell to strip her cultivation from her, dooming her to the life of a peasant.

  Hazel knew that I could give her powers back through Dual Cultivation. Hell, everyone in the garden knew it. A night in my bed would give Hazel back her abilities and then some. She wouldn’t even have to do it alone—Anna or Lyra would gladly split the bill with her, adding a little spice to the mix.

  Yet Hazel refused. She’d come so close to giving in multiple times, only to pull back from the brink. From the way she looked at me, I knew she was attracted to me—clearly, something else tugged at Hazel’s resolve. I wished to hell I knew what it was, so I could fix it for her.

  Instead, I turned to my team. As I inspected the ranks, Anna drew up beside me. “She’s still staring at you,” my girlfriend teased, glancing over my shoulder.

  “I don’t understand it at all,” I said, the frustration I’d been suppressing welling up inside of me. “I don’t know why she doesn’t do something else with her time, Anna. She’s going to watch us all morning and make those snide little comments like she always does. I’m sick of her bad attitude.”

  Sensing a storm approaching, Anna quickly took my hand and pulled me aside. “Hey, it’s okay,” she told me, stroking my hair with a smile. “We owe that girl our lives, babe. Don’t be so harsh with her. She will come around eventually. Both Lyra and I agree on it.”

  My hands slid to her waist. “Well, if you and Lyra agree on it,” I murmured.

  “Hey,” Anna teased. “We also agree that you’re a pretty great guy, so…?”

  That made me laugh. As if by magic, the spell was broken. The storm clouds inside of me dissipated, leaving only the desire to get the day started.

  No better time than the present, I suppose, I thought, looking at my followers.

  “We’re going to keep practicing our drills today,” I told them, to general nods and approval. I didn’t make a big deal out of these speeches like some leaders did, or try to turn them into praise sessions for myself. I liked to get down to business and start working as soon as possible. “Anna and I will run through our weapon abilities, along with Lyra once she comes down here.”

  “When will that be?” The question came from the youngest cultivator, a girl with straight black hair and almond eyes. She’d been one of the slaves-to-be we’d freed from the Silent Auction—the daughter of the town’s richest blacksmith. “You tire Lyra out more and more each night, Master Eric. Soon she’ll be nocturnal, like an owl!”

  Several of the cultivators in
training laughed at this. “We’re all here at the lady of the establishment’s pleasure, Soojin,” I told the young woman, my voice mingling amusement and correction. “It would be best to speak her name with respect.”

  “Aye,” the young woman agreed. She managed to keep a straight face for only a moment—then broke down in giggles. “You certainly seem to be here for her pleasure…”

  More laughter. Alright, I could admit I walked into that one.

  “Soojin, you spar with Dominic today,” I said, prompting groans from both cultivators. Since their elemental aspects were similar, their spells had a tendency to bounce off each other—making a fight an exercise in frustration. Still, patience was a virtue necessary to become a decent cultivator. “The rest of you pair off on your own. I’ll come around periodically to offer guidance. Got it?”

  They got it. Soon the dojo was a whirl of activity, students casting spells and fighting with the air of soldiers. That’s really what they are, I realized, watching them go. Soldiers. My soldiers…

  I still wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I’d figure it out eventually, I guessed. Right now, I wanted to burn off some steam by sparring.

  Anna shot me a smile, then feigned falling over. She ‘tripped’ toward me, glowing as she lost her balance. A phantasmagoric wash of colors rolled over her body, in shades normally invisible to the human eye. Her silhouette rapidly changed shape as she fell—and by the time she reached my hands, she was no longer a woman any more, but a scythe. Inlaid jewels covered her handle, framing a curved edge of steel sharp enough to shave with. Anna was a fearsome weapon, capable of spilling blood by the bucketload. She’d done it plenty in my service.

  “Ah, that’s better than a cup of coffee!” Anna’s voice purred in my head. Even in weapon form, I could hear my woman’s thoughts as if she whispered them in my ear. The lines between violence and sex blurred inside Anna whenever she transformed into the scythe—meaning she literally got horny for killing. The sounds she made when cutting down my enemies and the noises she made in the bedroom were practically indistinguishable.