Divine Arsenal: Dual Weapon Cultivation Read online

  “Is it now?” I perked up, taking a sip of my tea. The stuff was damn fine—hot and bitter like the blonde warrior woman sitting across from me. “In my experience, there’s forbidden and then there’s forbidden. Anybody who’s ever interacted with their girlfriend’s father knows there’s a difference.”

  Anna giggled at that, hiding her mouth with her fingers.

  “Forbidden as in ‘the highest sacrilege a person can commit’,” Hazel said in a dead serious tone. “It is possible to acquire knowledge of the elements by... absorbing the Core of a fallen cultivator. In the past, brigands and cults have been known to slay vulnerable cultivators for just this purpose. They would perform ritual sacrifice, handing the Core over to their cult leader or the champion of their criminal organization. Many gained great power in this fashion in the distant past.” Hazel shuddered. “It is unspeakable.”

  Anna shrugged. “Seems pretty cut-and-dry to me.”

  Hazel couldn’t have looked more shocked if Anna had pulled up her shirt to reveal a clutch of writhing snakes instead of breasts. “Excuse me!”

  She held up her hands. “Look, I’m not saying the cult thing is good. That seems pretty fucking horrible to me, to tell you the truth. But say some cultivator attacks you, ambushes you out of nowhere. Suppose they were to attack Eric, even.”

  Hazel’s gaze traveled to me. I shrugged and gestured back at Anna. She’s the one making the point, not me.

  “I’m just saying, at that point they’re no better than a monster, right? And like you said, monsters drop loot after you kill them. The most important of which are Cores. So, assuming you killed a cultivator in self-defense, why shouldn’t you just take their power?”

  Hazel looked like she wanted to throw up. “It is an abomination,” she whispered. “There are some in this world who would do such a thing, but none of them would dare speak about it so freely. Watch your tongue, girl—or one of these days, someone may cut it out for you.”

  “Not while I’m around,” I growled. Anna turned a devoted gaze on me, beaming like I’d swept her off her feet.

  Outside the window of the shack, night had fully fallen. While we spoke, the internal clock of the Mana Zone switched over from daytime to nighttime. The effect was subtle, but noticeable if you listened for it. If this place had truly been a video game, the heroic strings and thumping bassline of the background music would have been switched out for something with thousands of ‘chill’ remixes on YouTube. A few animals screeched in the trees, trying to attract mates.

  “I wanted to ask you about something else,” I said, settling back against the wall. The food had been eaten, the tea was all drunk, and Anna and I had begun to grow sleepy. Yet I wasn’t ready to rest—not yet, in any case. I needed more answers first.

  Just as Hazel had said, the key to becoming a good cultivator was knowledge. In the same way that I’d sensed the Croc’s Gust or Hazel’s Stinging Fist Flurry, I sensed that getting as much knowledge as possible would be the thing that saw Anna and I through this strange journey alive.

  Hazel yawned. “Sure, go ahead.” As she spoke, she leaned over and prodded the fire with a long poker, increasing the light and heat in the shack. “It’s not as if we have anything else to do but sleep. The Ruins won’t be safe to travel until the morning.”

  I cleared my throat. “I’ve got a pretty good idea of what a level is. The, ah, games we played back on Earth had those pretty frequently. But what is a Realm? Where I come from, that word means something like a kingdom, or a city-state.”

  “A Commonwealth,” Anna added.

  I decided to take a guess. “A bunch of Zones put together, are they a Realm?”

  Hazel shook her head. “Realms form the landmarks on a cultivator’s journey. And levels are the building blocks of those realms. I don’t think they are like these ‘video games’ you keep comparing things to at all, actually.”

  I frowned. “Shit.”

  “There are five Realms,” Hazel said, trying to be helpful. “One: the Mortal Realm. Then the Soul Realm, the Saint Realm, the Immortal Realm, and the God Realm. Progressing through each requires a greater level of mastery—along the way, you pass through various levels, signifying your progress.”

  My hand went to my chin. “So it’s more like getting a belt in karate, then?” I asked. Since Hazel had mentioned ‘martial arts’ earlier, I figured it was a safe bet she understood the reference.

  Her eyes widened, and I knew I’d hit home. “Something like that,” she said. “Only there are belts between belts, as well.”

  I groaned. “This is a lot to keep track of,” I said.

  Hazel smiled. “As long as you’re getting more powerful, you’re getting the hang of it,” she said. “Try not to focus so much on terminology. Expanding your knowledge of nature and the universe is the important part.”

  “Okay,” I said, still feeling irritated. “So what’s between the belts?”

  “The Levels are sort of... tiny landmarks on the path between the Realms,” Hazel explained, choosing her words carefully. “Within Levels, there are even smaller landmarks called Stages. The four stages are as follows: Early, Middle, Late, and Peak.”

  I expected to be even more confused by these—yet I realized I already understood them to an extent.

  “Eliezer,” I said, confirming my suspicions with a glance at Anna. “He told us he was the Peak Supreme God.”

  “Peak is the Stage, and he is a member of the God Realm Level 3, which is known as Supreme God,” Hazel explained before she sighed. “The Death Defying System should provide you with a list of all the Realms, their Levels, and the Stages within them. Simply think of it, and such a list should appear.”

  I decided to do as she said. Then, it appeared, a large table flooding my vision.

  Realm 1: Mortal

  Level 1: Mana GATEWAY

  Early

  Middle

  Late

  Peak

  Level 2: Mana BINDING

  Early

  Middle

  Late

  Peak

  Level 3: CORE FORMATION

  Early

  Middle

  Late

  Peak

  Realm 2: Soul

  Level 1: Embryonic Soul

  Early

  Middle

  Late

  Peak

  Level 2: SOUL BLOOMING

  Early

  Middle

  Late

  Peak

  Level 3: SOUL EMERGENCE

  Early

  Middle

  Late

  Peak

  Realm 3: Saint

  Level 1: HEAVENLY BOUNTY

  Early

  Middle

  Late

  Peak

  Level 2: BATTLE SAINT

  Early

  Middle

  Late

  Peak

  Level 3: WORLD SAINT

  Early

  Middle

  Late

  Peak

  Realm 4: Immortal

  Level 1: INITIAL IMMORTAL

  Early

  Middle

  Late

  Peak

  Level 2: MIDDLE IMMORTAL

  Early

  Middle

  Late

  Peak

  Level 3: TRUE IMMORTAL

  Early

  Middle

  Late

  Peak

  Realm 5: God

  Level 1: DIVINE IMMORTAL

  Early

  Middle

  Late

  Peak

  Level 2: ANCIENT GOD

  Early

  Middle

  Late

  Peak

  Level 3: SUPREME GOD

  Early

  Middle

  Late

  Peak

  “Whoa,” I said as I dismissed the progression table with a thought, “this is like some kind of progression chart from a—”

  “Video game,” Anna
finished for me, her eyes also wide as they stared at something in front of her. I figured she was looking at the same chart, except mine had highlighted Level 3: Early Core Formation.

  “What’s highlighted in your chart?” I asked Anna.

  “Early Mana Gateway,” she replied.

  “Incredible. And Eliezer is all the way at the end, Peak Supreme God.” I said his title now with at least a little more understanding. I had no idea what his power limits were, or if he even had limits, but at least I could now see how far away from the beginning he was.

  Hazel nodded. “If you’re telling the truth about that, it means you came into contact with one of the most powerful beings in the universe. The cream of the crop—the absolute apex of cultivation. This Eliezer would be a mere step from attaining the heights of the First Cultivator, and ascending to whatever is beyond the Fifth Realm.”

  “He said he was looking for someone to succeed him,” I muttered, looking down at a thin plant growing between the boards of the shack. “Told me I had the potential to reach an even higher level than he had. If I’d known this was what he meant by it, I’d have been mega intimidated…”

  Maybe Eliezer had kept this information from me for a reason. By cloaking the whole thing in the ‘Eternal Dao’, he’d kept it simple and mysterious—like a grand adventure. The real thing, as it turned out, would require a great deal of work and sacrifice.

  At least I’ve got a cute girl by my side, I thought, smiling at Anna. She met the gaze with a grin of her own, giving my hand a squeeze as if to say ‘as soon as Hazel goes to sleep!’

  I hadn’t forgotten. I was looking forward to it.

  “The fact that you were invested with a Core by this... Eliezer person,” Hazel said, still unwilling to speak his full title, “allowed you skip the first two Levels of the First Realm, along with the Stages of Early, Middle, Late, and Peak within them.”

  “Damn,” I said, impressed. “You said that was hundreds of years of development, right?”

  Hazel shrugged. “It would have been hundreds of years if you’d sat on a mountain top thinking of flowers and rain,” she said, her tone telling me what she thought of that particular pursuit. “Under the tutelage of a proper Guild, like the Hollow Frog, that process would have been sped up considerably.”

  “So what does that mean exactly? Early Core Formation?”

  The three of us scooted a little closer to the fire as we talked. The temperature did nothing but drop while we were inside of the shack, until the balmy jungle night had grown surprisingly chilly. The fire felt nice against my hands as I held them up to get warm; it was even better with a couple of girls next to me.

  “As with all Realms, the Mortal Realm contains three Levels,” Hazel explained. “Remember, Mortal is just the first of the Five Realms—mastering is not the end of a cultivator’s journey, but merely the beginning. You’ve taken a shortcut, which means you have a lot of catching up to do if you want to ascend the Stages of Core Formation within a decent time frame. Your body won’t have undergone the required conditioning that that of someone who has progressed through the Mortal Realm normally. So you’ll need to be careful. You could easily burn out or use too much power at once... which would be bad.”

  “Gotcha,” I said, nodding.

  “The first level of the Mortal Realm is called Mana Gateway,” Hazel said, pointing to herself. “This is the level that I myself am at. Chiefly, this stage of development is all about sensing Mana around you, learning to shape the elements to your command.”

  I thought about Hazel’s Stinging Fist Flurry technique—and how it had seemed almost useless against the Marsh Croc. I nodded ruefully.

  “At the second Level, known as Mana Binding, you gain the ability to purify your own Mana and the Mana around you into a more powerful liquid form,” she explained. “The Mana Shield technique you used against the Marsh Croc; that is a technique normally learned at the Mana Binding Level. If you are as inexperienced as you’ve suggested, then I would have to conclude that Mana Shield came with your Core.”

  “I think it did,” I said. “It was like my Core was telling me to cast it, then it happened.”

  “An instinctive technique, then,” Hazel said. “Not particularly useful other than when it decides to rear its head. You should work on learning it with intention if you wish to use the technique in future battles.”

  “Understood,” I said. “So, after Mana Binding is… Early Core Formation?”

  “Correct,” Hazel replied. “Once a cultivator understands Mana well enough, they are able to draw enough of it into their bodies to shatter their dantian. As it shatters, a Core forms within the cultivator, their Mana going from a liquid to a solid form. After this occurs, the cultivator may use their Core to develop techniques and spells from the world around them. This is the third Level: Early Core Formation.”

  “Like I did with the Marsh Croc,” I said, remembering the knowledge that coursed through me during its attack. The idea that this strange thing inside me was actually the solid form of life energy itself quieted the last few worries and doubts I had about keeping such a thing inside of my body. It was meant to be there, no less a part of me than the blood in my veins.

  “Just so,” Hazel said, tapping a finger toward me. Had she really been a teacher, she might have given me a gold star. “In most cases, in order to begin the path of Elemental Mastery, one must ascend to Early Core Formation. What you did with the Marsh Croc was only possible after the initial Comprehension of the Element of Wood. You learned the same Gust spell that was used against you—in a greatly reduced form, however.”

  That made sense. “How do I get it up to the same strength? Through repeated use?”

  Hazel smiled secretively. “To an extent. Close your eyes, Eric. I want you to remember what you learned of the Wood Element during our last battle. Let’s see if we can’t have you intentionally cultivating before the night is through.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. I’d used magic instinctively, but now I was going to do the whole intentional practice thing that I’d seen in all my favorite movies and read in my favorite books.

  Keenly aware of Anna’s eyes on me, I closed mine and concentrated. She didn’t like this new tack Hazel had begun to take with me—I could tell she thought the two of us were getting a little too close. And yet, beneath that jealousy, I felt something... strange coursing through Anna’s veins. An odd kind of excitement. What was that, exactly?

  Something to figure out another time, I told myself. I’m supposed to be concentrating on the lesson, not girls. That comes after Hazel conks out for the night…

  I reached out for the knowledge I’d gained while knocked off-balance by the Marsh Croc’s Gust spell. For long moments it refused to come, then the strange symbols I’d seen earlier appeared against the backsides of my eyelids. Emerald leaves, glowing in the darkness, wrapped with thick vines like a flowering plant.

  “I see it,” I told Hazel, trying to decipher those symbols.

  “Good,” she said, reaching out and taking my hands. I heard Anna make a shocked little noise, but she didn’t try and stop the golden-haired warrior. “So far, you have simply begun the Memorize stage of Comprehension.”

  A groan escaped from my lips. “That has levels, too!?”

  “Hush,” Hazel said not-unkindly. “This part is simpler. For each level of an Elemental Mastery, there are three stages of Comprehension: Memorize, Apprehend, and Engrave. While you have memorized Gust, and have the ability to cast it, you won’t be able to use it as often as someone who has apprehended it. It will use more of your Mana, for a smaller result.”

  Her words filled my mind’s eye with a picture of the tiny tornado I’d summoned in the midst of battle. Sure, it wasn’t a lot—but it had been enough.

  “I still flipped the Croc over,” I said, my eyes still closed. “Sure as hell wasn’t nothing…”

  Hazel’s hands moved. One left me completely, while the other went to my side,
feeling my Core through my robes. The touch felt surprisingly intimate, and I became painfully aware of both how close the two of us were and how beautiful Hazel could be. She even smelled amazing—like an exotic flower.

  “Open your eyes,” Hazel said—and when I did, I saw her holding the tiny Core she’d taken from inside the Marsh Croc. “I’m going to show you how to absorb this, Eric.”

  “Um.” Anna’s arms lay crossed beneath her breasts, a peeved expression on her pretty face. “Maybe this should wait until we get to your Guild. You know, let some skilled personnel like this Ji person do the job.”

  “It’s fine,” I assured Anna. God, why’d she have to be so jealous? And yet, that strange current flowed beneath her envious expression. It felt like... longing?

  Well, I couldn’t blame her for that. I was longing for a little Anna time, myself.

  “She knows what she’s doing,” I told my girlfriend. “This is going to give me more power. We might need it to get out of this Zone.”

  Anna didn’t look happy about it, but she assented. Hazel put the Beast Core in my palms, coming so close to me that our faces nearly touched.

  “In order to absorb it, you must purify the Core,” she whispered, the tips of her fingers trailing down my arms. “Sense it, Eric. Feel the Mana surrounding the Core, and pull the impurities from it. Only then can you draw into your being.”

  At first, I didn’t understand. Then my senses opened, and everything clicked into place.

  The Beast Core was just another aspect of the universe. Like the wind of the Croc’s Gust, the vines wrapped around the thick jungle trees, the ants crawling in the ground beneath the wooden boards of the shack—all of it remained connected. All I needed to do was perceive it correctly, and pull the right threads.