Beast Core (Mortal)
Attuned Element: None
Purity: 52%
A beast core from a Mortal-grade spirit beast. Can be consumed for a minor boost to Internal Energy Control. Beastkin or those specializing in beastly martial techniques have an increased effect from consuming beast cores.
The alpha’s beast core looked identical to the ones from the rest of the umber wolves, with the exception that its purity was much higher.
Chun and Sariah had slaughtered the rest of the den, consisting of over a dozen wolves. They had also seen a litter of pups in the back of the cave, but they had backed down from attacking them. Not only were their internal energy pathways severely underdeveloped compared to a fully grown wolf, but Chun also didn't feel like committing filicide anytime soon.
As they had begun to wash up in the river they had passed by, both of them were covered in the stench of blood as they thought of their next move.
It was still midafternoon, but they still needed to head back to the Port eventually. Preferably before the sun set. From what Chun remembered, the beasts became more ferocious at night, and most nocturnal spirit beasts tended to be far stronger than their day-waking counterparts.
Granted, Chun had confidence that he and Sariah could hold off most of the beasts the night would throw at them; the key word was most.
Chun was roughly the strength of a martial artist of the fifth martial stage, possibly the sixth if he used his buffs. While he could stretch his assumption to the seventh stage, he didn't want to take his chances in facing something he would simply lose against.
That being said, however-
“Let's look at the snake sighting,” Chun stated as he looked over the map they'd bought while Sariah cleaned herself in the river. They were relatively close to the sighting. Thinking back to the wolf den, Chun had seen what was likely the jaw of a Titan Serpent above their cave entrance. If he had to guess, the pack had hunted one at some point. Even if it was a hard-fought victory, and they lost many of their number, they had still killed the massive upper-Mortal grade spirit beast. He had confidence he and Sariah could kill it if they truly tried.
“Our armor should hold against its fangs for the most part. Though it will damage them quite severely.” Sariah explained as she stepped from the river and began to clothe herself.
Chun scanned her scarred, muscular body as he watched her don her armor. She truly was the type of Amazonian-type woman many in his past life (and likely a not insignificant amount in this life) would drool over. Chun certainly found the woman attractive. But she wasn't the curvy, faintly toned figure that the man preferred.
Shaking away the thoughts, he nodded. “We will try to end the fight quickly. Can you still use that shotgun in your arm?”
Sariah looked at her wooden prosthetic with a raised brow. “Do you mean my scatter gun?”
Chun nodded, making a mental note that it wasn't called a shotgun.
She nodded. “I still have three more uses of it. I had four, but I had used one against you.”
“What materials do you need to make more ammunition?” Chun asked.
“I don't know. I did not make it. A craftsman in my hometown is the one who made it. While there may be a craftsman from my land somewhere in the Ports, I do not know where they would be. Even if we found one, the mechanisms within my prosthetic are rather complex. I doubt they would be able to make more ammunition unless we give them quite some time to research my arm.”
Chun nodded along with the explanation. “Unless we are in a life-threatening situation, try to refrain from using your scattergun.”
Still not having fully donned her armor, Sariah bowed to the martial artist. “Understood, master.”
***
After Sariah had gotten sufficiently clothed, the two headed eastwards towards the Titan Serpent sighting.
Chun expected the snake would be attracted to his position once they got close enough due to his Beast Magnet modifier. Though he was starting to expect more intelligent creatures could resist the effect to some extent. If they couldn't, the entire pack of Umber Wolves, including the alpha, would have left their den to look for him. He guessed the true effect of the modifier was likely just a beacon of sorts for the beasts that they were drawn to simply due to it being a unique experience. If he saw a random pull towards someone or something, he would likely also check it out via pure curiosity… probably.
Come to think of it, Chun began to think of other small things about the system he didn't fully understand. Or at least things that didn't seem to be truly translated properly to the world he was now in.
Firstly were his stats. While the stats themselves were self-explanatory in what they represented, they were somewhat misleading. The values represented how much he could enhance his body with his own innate internal energy flow without injuring himself in some way. While he'd never really tested it, he bet he could push his physical attributes beyond the value they held, at the risk of damaging his internal energy flow. Granted, this logic only applied to his physical attributes and not the mystical or social ones. Though for now, his physical attributes were the most important, just ahead of his mystical ones, followed lastly by his social attributes. He was sure he'd need them eventually, but for now they were too low to be of any real use.
Jumping back on track to his physical attributes, consuming pills and elixirs that boosted his physical attributes actually increased the ease or effectiveness of his internal energy to that specific part of himself. Strength represented his muscles, primarily. Speed represented his reflexes and nerves. Endurance was his breathing. And durability was his skin and bones. While these were rough simplifications, it was all that Chun’s mind was beginning to piece together on their walk through the forest.
Chun was snapped from his thoughts, though, when he heard something. It was incredibly faint, and it was nearly drowned out by the faint crunches their footfalls made on the grass. But he still heard it.
It was a voice. It sounded vaguely feminine, but not quite human. It was raspy and high-pitched. Like a mix between the sound of flowing sand and an echoing whisper.
“Human, or beast? Or predator, or prey?”
Chun suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked around, drawing his sword from his storage ring. He saw nothing out of the ordinary immediately. But whatever the source of the voice was seemed to notice his searching.
“It hears speech. It understandssss.”
The last sound came out far more audibly as the hiss of a snake.
Sariah finally stopped at hearing the hissing sound and began looking around them as well.
“Interesting human.”
Suddenly, Chun’s senses forced him to leap to the side before he could properly understand why. But as he looked where he’d been standing, he instead saw the massive body of a brown-scaled snake as it slithered past.
Its massive body made a barrier between Chun and Sariah as they watched it slither by.
It was larger than Chun expected, based on the description in the bestiary, assuming this was even a Titan Serpent. The snake was roughly 100 feet long and large enough to easily swallow Sariah whole.
He followed its body up to see it coil around and up a nearby tree, nearly completely blending in with its trunk and branches. Though, looking near the tree's crown, he saw two yellow eyes staring back at him.
“Fast human.”
It spoke freely now, loud enough for even Sariah to hear it. Were she able to understand it, at least.
The serpent wasn't speaking the tongue of man. But was instead speaking in an array of hisses and smacks of its lips and fangs.
Chun didn't know why he could understand what the snake was even saying, but he didn't dwell on that thought for long.
The serpent shot towards Chun again, this time with more ferocity. While it was faster than its previous attempt, Chun wasn’t off-guard this time.
Chun leapt to the side as the serpent’s maw passed within inches of his face. He made a reflexive slash with his sword, but wasn't able to put his full force behind it. Regardless, the treasure still cut through the beast’s scales. Albeit, it only left a shallow cut as the snake passed.
Sariah also struck the snake’s body, but to much less success. She slammed her fist into it, but it hardly seemed to do much.
Chun was about to ready a true attack on the snake’s moving body when the head of the snake turned to lunge at him again.
This time, however, he activated the Light Step art before jumping clear over the attack. He angled himself downward before swinging his blade three times. Internal energy coursed through his blade with each strike, the last slash hitting with considerable force.
Swordsman’s Flourish technique used: -2 Internal Energy.
The snake recoiled as wounds were cut just behind its head. Its slithering became more frantic as it shot towards the treeline and began to coil up the largest of the nearby trunks.
The rest of its body also suddenly shifted. A section of its body near Sariah lashed out, slamming into the woman. Her armor protected her, albeit by denting inward from the blow, but she was still sent backwards.
“Painful human with strong steel. Piercing scales, strong weapon.” The snake hissed as it slithered amongst the branches of the trees. Clearly it had now thought that leaving its body exposed after a lunge was idiotic.
Looking into its eyes again, Chun saw the same odd intelligence. Though this one felt different from the alpha’s. While the wolf’s eyes had felt prideful, the snake’s seemed… envious? Jealous even? He couldn't quite place it. He also found it perplexing that the spirit beast could speak. The bestiary had no explanations of any mortal-grade beasts having sufficient intelligence to speak. Then again, seeing as it wasn't speaking the tongue of man, it may not be a truly accurate statement.
The snake opened its mouth in a hiss as it bared its fangs, each the size of Chun’s torso. That's when he noticed faint green veins of internal energy forming within the creature's mouth.
He had just enough time to use an art and set his blood to boil in order to dodge the attack that came at him.
Iron Body Art Used: -5 Internal Energy
Iron Body Art Effect: +10 Durability, +5 Strength
Awakened Bloodwrath Activated
Effect: +5 to Strength and Speed
A bolt of electricity shot out from the snake’s mouth just as Chun leapt away. Though even with his twenty-two points of speed, arcs of the main bolt shot out to strike his arm. The electricity bypassed his armor as if it weren’t there.
His Iron Body Art took a large portion of the blast, the armor of internal energy breaking apart and slowly beginning to reform.
Damage Sustained: -11 Vitality
Chun’s body tensed up as lightning coursed through his muscles for a brief moment. He nearly fell to the ground, but was able to stop himself as he regained control of his body.
However, he was forced to leap away when the serpent’s jaws began to close around it. It had taken his stunned state as a chance to devour him.
He dove to the side and flipped himself, swinging his blade across the side of the snake’s mouth.
The serpent didn't slow down from the wound; however, instead it curved around and shot towards Sariah. At the same time, its body shifted suddenly, slamming into Chun. The martial artist was sent flying back, but he quickly reoriented himself and landed without any damage.
Sariah held out her shield and widened her stance as the serpent’s maw tried to clamp down on her. She kept her shield upwards between its fangs while her other hand held down its lower jaw. Her feet were planted into the ground, but it was futile to hold back the inertia of the massive serpent. Sariah was forced back despite the woman pumping internal energy through her body. She attempted to use the same boosting technique she'd used against Chun in the tournament. But something was wrong. Her internal energy moved through her like honey. It was as if her pathways had become increasingly thin and crooked. She had never bothered to refine her pathways, relying more so on her raw strength, but they had never been this bad.
The foreigner gritted her teeth as her back slammed into a tree. She was nearly forced fully into the serpent's mouth by the newfound barrier. Deep within its throat, she had begun to see faint crackles of yellow lightning. Both her arms were occupied keeping the snake’s jaws at bay. She mentally braced for whatever impact came next.
The lightning never left the serpent’s maw, however. Chun had shot forward in a burst of speed and plunged his blade into the snake’s neck.
Swordsman’s Pierce technique used: -3 Internal Energy
Trade-Off used: -5 Endurance, -5 Strength, +10 Speed
Cooldown: 5 minutes
The lightning in the snake’s mouth exploded within itself as the blade blocked it from going anywhere. The entire snake convulsed, flailing its head side to side.
Sariah was tossed out of its mouth and into the branches of a nearby tree while Chun clung to his sword and struggled to not fly off.
The snake began to slither away, taking Chun with it.
However, the martial artist grasped his sword with both hands and began to pour as much internal energy as he could into his blade. The blade began to crackle with lightning, but that wasn't Chun’s idea. With a twist of his internal energy, a burst of flames ignited within his energy, turning the electricity a mix of red and orange. A second later, the blade within the serpent’s neck exploded in a burst of red lightning. Rather than shock the beast’s insides, it scorched them, turning it a dark color and causing black fumes to erupt from the wound and the snake’s mouth.
The explosion was so strong, in fact, that Chun was flung from the creature, his sword going with him.
The slithering snake had also been knocked aside by the sudden explosion, ultimately causing it to ram into the trunk of a tree.
Damage Sustained: -10 Vitality
Elementalism Used: -15 Internal Energy
Chun got up from the ground as the snake’s body fell limp. He hadn't expected the blade to explode, but it seemed worth it, even if some of the lightning had shot from the wound and struck him. He had also used far more internal energy than he had expected.
Looking down at his blade, Chun saw that it was mostly unharmed. The lightning pattern on the blade was glowing orange, but was beginning to fade back into its yellow state.
His attention was drawn to the snake as it slowly began to move. Though it didn't seem to have the strength to go anywhere. Still, its mouth moved, and it spoke in a far more raspy voice than before.
“Human. Beast. Prima. You hunt me, why? I have guarded this place as you once decreed.”
Chun didn't know what it meant by those words. But he didn't much care. He stepped towards the snake’s head and brandished his sword. “I have no idea what you're talking about. But I'm not whatever a ‘Prima’ is.” He said as he raised his blade.
“If you are not the Prima’s vessel, then-”
It then let out a scream mixed with a hiss as Chun stabbed its blade through its yellow eye. The massive serpent made a sad attempt to flail about, though it only managed to flop over a section of its body. Until finally a final breath was drawn from it and it fell limp.
“Master, are you alright?” Sariah shouted as she raced to rejoin Chun. Granted, the snake hadn't slithered that far since he'd stabbed it, only about 40 feet. But Sariah had also been flung who-knows-where during its flailing.
“I'm alright.” He replied, looking down to see the front of his robes partially torn. He could feel his raw and pink-tinted skin where the ‘fire lightning’ had scorched him. Though he wasn't terribly wounded. Nothing he couldn't naturally heal anyway.
Chun then looked to the corpse of the massive serpent. Let's collect the beast core and get out of here. If there are stronger things than this once the sun sets, I'd rather not get caught amongst them