Reaper of the Martial World

Book 3: Chapter 22: Tell me, Kid. (1)

‘What the hell…’

This came completely out of left field. True Empath? Auroras?

Dyon quickly scanned the other doors, maybe knowing the names of the others would give him a clue. However… Dyon only grew more confused.

Of the ten doors, there were a pair of duplicates for each, almost as though this was expected to be a competition. And the other pairs read…

‘Cycle of Reincarnation… Ethereal Permeation… Temporal Lock…’

Dyon’s eyes suddenly sharpened as he heard a soft rustling coming from in behind the large ever-changing statue.

His feet flashed as he wrapped around the statue. ‘Huh… What the hell…’

Dyon stood confused and frozen as a little girl charged at him with her fists up. To be honest, her form wasn’t bad and it was clear she had training. In fact, Dyon could sense some of that weird energy coming from her, so she definitely trained in something.

‘Wait… That energy, it’s a will, then? She has no cultivation, what else could it be?…’

Suddenly the little girl stopped. “It’s you! You’re the handsome guy!”

Dyon raised an eyebrow. ‘The handsome guy?’ After a moment, Dyon finally recognized this little girl as Alidor’s younger sister, but why did she have no protection?

‘I guess to Alidor this is the safest place for her. There are his enemies and the spatial fluctuations outside, and inside, the trials must be too dangerous to take her…’

In the end, Alidor decided that it was unlikely anyone but Dyon would be able to enter. But, to Alidor there was also a good chance Dyon was dead, even though he wasn’t sure. Then there was the fact Alidor really didn’t have any other choice. According to his calculations, this lobby area, a place he had been to before, was the safest place for his little sister while the conquered the rest of the gate.

Kaeara, suddenly realizing that she might be in danger backed away slowly. She had no way of knowing how Dyon would react. What if he attacked her as an act of revenge? ‘Wait, he doesn’t know who my elder brother is! I just need to act natural…’

Honestly, there was nothing wrong with Kaeara’s deduction. It had been a long time since her brother left with the basilisks, leaving her here. Someone so young and without concept of how difficult it was to enter the tower, wouldn’t have connected Dyon’s appearance with that of her brother’s entrance.

What she forgot in her flurry to attack was that she had already revealed the fact she knew Dyon by calling him ‘the handsome guy’. Dyon could only chuckle as Kaeara tried put on what she thought was an ‘I’m acting natural face.’

Yet, despite her best efforts, Kaeara trembled under Dyon’s questioning gaze.

Suddenly, Dyon’s hand moved, causing Kaeara to leap back with fright. But, a flash of light was all that occurred as 2 children appeared before Kaeara.

Her large black eyes blinked with confusion. Why did he do this?

Little Lyla looked from Dyon to Kaeara before seemingly understanding. She skipped over to Kaeara with a big smile on her face. “Hi! My name is Lyla!”

Dyon chuckled. “You shouldn’t try to hide much from her or me. I’m already quite aware of who your elder brother is. And, although I can’t promise not to kick his ass, I wouldn’t lay a finger on you out of spite.”

Zaire stood by Dyon quietly, an act Dyon found quite funny. ‘Look at him being a man. Well done little brother.’

Dyon had been watching Zaire interact with Lyla recently and always had a smile on his face whenever Zaire did whatever Lyla wanted without hesitation. The only exception was when he was hungry, Zaire didn’t mess around when it came to his food.

“My name is Kaeara.” A bright smile spread across her face. Although she was seven years older than Little Lyla, this was the first time she had been near anyone that would classify as a child. Her brother had always been so much older than her, and there obviously weren’t any other orphans hiding in the gates.

“So, tell me Kaeara, what do you know about the tower?”

Kaeara pouted. “I’m not telling you anything. You want to hurt my big brother!”

Dyon chuckled. “True. But your brother attacked my fiancée first. There’s got to be a rule for that.”

“No.” Kaeara shook her head violently. “My big brother is always right. So, you did something wrong first.”

“Ah, I see. Interesting.” Dyon looked around, he had to get moving soon anyway. He didn’t expect Kaeara to have much useful information anyway.

“You three stay here then. Aside me from me and Alidor, it’s an impossibility that anyone else enters. But, just in case.” Dyon’s ring flashed as a charming demon general appeared.

Her watery black eyes blinked in confusion as she looked around before she noticed Dyon. “Oo, successor. Did you finally call me to service you? It’s been a while, but I’m still quite good.” The beautiful demon general shifted her long white hair away from her face, touching Dyon’s arm seductively.

Dyon sighed. “Faenor, you’re always trying to get me killed.” Suddenly, Dyon smiled deviously. “As punishment, you’ll have to watch the kids.”

Faenor pouted. “You’re no fun. It must be because you don’t like used women. I only had sex with a few other demon generals. Don’t be so sexist.”

Suddenly, Dyon regretted choosing Faenor. The truth was the among the elite demon generals he had with him now, Faenor was the only one with remotely passable social skills. Well, social skills that would be transferable to handling children… a thought which now seemed quite flawed with you looked at it with this limited evidence…

“Yea, yea.” Dyon walked away, patting Zaire’s head lightly on his way to the True Empath doorway. “Have fun!”

“Wait! At least give me another one of those fun video games before you go!” Fraenor rubbed her hands eagerly. A while ago, Dyon had used creation arrays and his expertise in PC building to create computers for the orphans.

Because of that, many of the demon generals became intrigued, so, Dyon began duplicating some of the movies and video games he had brought with him from the human world.

Usually, he only used his human world entertainment when he wanted to have a nice date with Ri or Madeleine. He didn’t know what it was about he martial world, but the level of annoyance there was with taking out a beautiful girl was ridiculous. So many people felt entitled to his women. But, because of the insistence of the demon generals, he had learned a duplication array just to help entertain them.

Dyon sighed. “Alright. Alright. I quite liked this Persona 5 game, have at it.” Dyon silently chuckled to himself. ‘The puzzles will take you forever without a game guide. That should hold you off for quite a while.’

“Successor, one more thing!”

“Hmm?” Dyon looked back.

“Why are you entering that one instead of the Aurora one?”

Dyon looked up at the True Empath symbol. “Oh? That? Just to help out my little sister.”

With that, Dyon disappeared into the fog.

Dyon’s vision was suddenly completely cut off.

It felt as though he was in a bubble, completely apart from everything. The only sense that he was still him was the sound of the blood rushing through his body and the steady beating of his heart.

Suddenly, a deep voice reverberated in Dyon’s mind.

“It’s been thousands of years since anyone followed the game of this game properly, and even longer since we’ve had any legitimate contestants. And yet, there are two of you today?”

Dyon raised an eyebrow, there were clearly more than two. The Basilisks had entered as well.

“Why would I count the snakes? They wouldn’t even make it past a single trial. I just teleported them away as soon as they entered. I don’t like useless people.”

‘Oh great… He reads my mind… At least Little Lyla doesn’t use her ability against me.’

“Mm, that little girl is quite good. You shouldn’t have entered this trial. She actually has the highest compatibility I’ve seen with one of my abilities. Well, the True Empath ability anyway.”

‘Your abilities?’

“Of course. Each door is a guide to gaining perfection in the path of my abilities.”

‘Divine techniques?’

A hoarse laughter filled Dyon’s mind. “Do you think that aurora of yours is comparable to a mere divine technique? Don’t be ridiculous. They can’t be compared.”

‘What exactly are you trying to do here…’

“Have fun. Obviously.”

Dyon could almost see the voice rolling its eyes. He wanted to think that it was ridiculous for such a powerful entity to be so petty, but he tried to hold himself back.

“Oh please. You think you can use sub-thinking parlor tricks against me like you did that Jade girl? We’re not even on the same level.”

Dyon sighed, resigning himself to his mind being read. ‘I want to take this trial in the stead of my little sister. Since you want to have fun, it shouldn’t make much of a difference to you, right?’

“Of course it makes a difference. Breaking the rule of a game is never any fun.”

‘Then make it harder.’

“Hm. Still no.”

‘Then clearly this isn’t for your fun. What are you hiding? What’s the real purpose behind this?’

A sudden pressure engulfed Dyon.

He had thought he felt an insurmountable mountain when he faced the death core… But, this was on a completely different level. It felt as if even if he had million to even billions of years to train, he wouldn’t even reach the feet of this entity.

Dyon’s brows furrowed, ‘I can’t ask questions now?’

“Ha!” The entity suddenly started laughing. “Imagine realizing you stand not a chance against me even given all the time that ever has or will be, and still answering so disrespectfully! Are you stubborn, brave or stupid?”

‘I can’t exactly filter my thoughts…’

“And that’s exactly why I should hear and feel your fear. I think I’ve decided that you’re simply too stupid to feel fear.”

‘Alright, oh great one. I’m stupid. If you won’t let me take this trial for my little sister and won’t answer my questions, would you send me to an aurora door then?’

“Don’t be ridiculous. I told you that the doors are meant to provide a trial for gaining the perfect form of my powers. Why would you need it since your innate aurora is already perfect? Isn’t your innate soul strength at the 4^th level? Do you just like wasting time?”

‘Perfect? I see. I just assumed you didn’t give out the perfect form of your abilities.’

“I don’t. It’s just that the place you’re from had my will blocked from it for a long while. You just happened to break the dam and gain the full brunt of the ability that should have been spread over many. Which is why your manifestations are so ridiculous. You’re pretty lucky and I guess unlucky at the same time.”

‘Will blocked off?’

“Don’t bother asking honestly. Getting involved in human affairs isn’t my cup of tea and I’m not trying to deal with an emotional teenage boy. I’m here for fun.”

Dyon’s brows furrowed. This was the second time someone had eluded to something bad having been forced upon the mortal realm.

The first was the elder from the Daiyu clan, and now it was this unknown entity. He had never heard anything about this from anyone else.

Also, if Dyon had noticed how Elder Daiyu aged… He would have been quite surprised to see that this entity could seemingly speak freely without worry. He just chose not to for reasons that were as annoying as he was.

And what was this about not interfering in human affairs? Isn’t that what he was doing right now?

“Alright, stop thinking about useless things boy. You’re much more interesting than that other character. His mind was filled with nothing but calculations. In fact, now that I think about it, you’re the only relatively sane person who’s come here with one of my abilities.”

‘From what I’ve seen… People tend to go insane when they have only portions of your abilities…’

“Aiyah. How is this my fault? Mortals are so weak minded! I’m just a consciousness broken off from my main body. All I do all day is float around and check on this and the other 99 towers every so often. And yet here I am after millions of years, just fine!”

‘Maybe a bit sadistic though…’

“Oh please. From what I see in your memories, people from your world enjoy watching men and women batter each other half to death. And that’s entertainment to them! What right do you have to look down on me?”

‘I guess he’s talking about boxing and the MMA… Fair…’

“Of course it’s fair! I’m all about balance. I would never do anything unfair.”

Dyon started ignoring the entity. He didn’t know why it refused to tell him anything or why he even played this game, but there was something else weighing on Dyon’s mind. Something important.

It wasn’t something he thought about often, but, during his test to enter Focus Academy, his task was very simple. In fact, it was almost laughable how easy it was.

All he needed to do was have his cultivation talent tested by some odd stone. According to the attendant, a very deadpan man who happened to be the captain of the silver yacht he had been pulled by, the stone summed the average of his soul, body and energy cultivation talent.

In the end, Dyon had received a score right at the average, something that had greatly shocked those from the martial world. He had always wondered… Why were they so surprised by an average score?…

“There you go, thinking about useless things again. It’s like you don’t listen to anything I say!”

‘Alright, alright. Can I ask questions related to the trials themselves?’

“Sure!”

‘Okay. How do they work?’

“The trials are different depending on the ability. The aurora trials are probably the most abstract. They have to do with your senses, your soul talent, and your ability to comprehend complex concepts. I can’t give out perfect auroras to stupid people.”

‘Don’t auroras boost your intelligence?’

“Of course. But, if you’re stupid, and you get a boost, won’t you only be slightly less stupid? It works better if you’re already smart. That’s probably why my will chose you after it broke through the dam. Well that and it probably liked your stupidity.”

‘Uh… Am I stupid or smart?…’

“Both, obviously.”

‘Is this back to the balance thing you were talking about…?’

“See? Smart.”

‘Are the only rewards you provide the powers themselves?’

“Hmm. There are other awards… depending on how I’m feeling. I seem to remember giving out that spatial ring on your finger to someone…”

‘Oh?… No wonder it’s so high level. Aren’t you helping me cheat by letting me have this ring?’

“Cheat in the gate? Not really. You can use it to bring across high level experts to other universes, but if you ever released them in the gate itself, they’d die instantly. Even your dao formation experts are nothing before me. As if they could escape my rules.” Clear pride reverberated in the entity’s deep voice.

‘Then what about array alchemy? Why is there a taboo placed on it?’

“Who are you trying to fool kid. What does that have to do with the trials?”

‘It’s very much related. After all, since you’re the creator of the aurora, the fact people aren’t practicing array alchemy makes it harder for them to realize the gates are even a game to begin with. That’s less fun for you, no? Maybe if I knew the why, I could help.’

“As if. The people facilitating the taboo on array alchemy are existences, below, but not too far from me.”

Dyon chuckled at these words. ‘Below’. Clearly these were existences at the level of this entity, but the entity was too prideful.

“Don’t laugh kid. They truly are below me. That’s why they’re scared of the dao my first student created.”

‘Your first student?’

“Ai. The aurora was my ability, but the use of it was seen much more clearly by my first disciple. He created the dao of alchemy in your tome. It’s really sad you don’t even have a concept of the treasure you picked up.”

‘Can you tell me?’

“Look at you, being more respectful. I guess as your people say, a broken clock is right twice a day.”

‘Yea… But I always say.’

“If that clock kept running on the wrong time, it’d never be right. Quite clever of you.”

Dyon laughed. Maybe this guy wasn’t so bad.

“So disrespectful. You realize the First White Mother of the Celestial Deer Sect was my disciple as well, right? You’re my grand disciple many times removed. Show some respect.”

Dyon’s eyes flashed with interest. The 25^th White Mother was his master. And every white mother before that was the master of the latter. ‘Interesting…’

‘That’s all the more reason you should be lenient with me, no?’

“You haven’t even given me my due respect, why would I help such an unfilial grand disciple. You’re not even the only grand disciple in one of my Epistemic Towers right now! In fact, you’re not even the only one I’m talking to right now!”

Dyon sighed, ‘Point taken…’

“Good. The tome is among the 33 heaven layer artifacts. Usually, these weapons and artifacts are split into their use for either energy, soul and body. But, this one is a bit special. Although it’s categorized among the 11 soul layers, it has the ability to inscribe technique and spirits – ugh, you disgust me, you actually call them abyssal cores?… Actually… That doesn’t sound so bad.”

Dyon chuckled. ‘Ri would love this.’

“Anyway. Point being, what you did was the death core was stupid. If you had used the soul tome, you could have absorbed over time leisurely instead of literally killing yourself again and again. Essentially, aside from techniques the tome itself inscribes as you master it, you can also use it to cleanse souls and absorb various useful things.

The effect it has on souls is most of the reason why its categorized as it is. As you’ll find out, the first technique it inscribed isn’t even soul related… Well… Not entirely anyway. It uses the soul as a medium to do something quite important. Although, now that I think about it, it’s completely useless to you.”

Dyon was taken aback. ‘Completely useless?’

“Of course it’s completely useless to you. Are you an idiot?”

‘But… Why?’

“Do I really have to explain everything to you?”

‘Please?’ Dyon tested the waters, hoping for an answer.

The entity sighed. “I don’t know why you’re in denial. You’re much too intelligent to have not figured it out.

Out of everything in this martial world, you have a solid understanding of many basics. And yet, you haven’t made heads or tails of anything energy cultivation related.

You wanted to start finding and making the perfect energy cultivation technique, and yet you, despite being hard working, haven’t started even almost two years removed from that decision?

And you keep telling yourself you just need to mature first here and there. But the reality is you can’t improve and understand what’s good versus bad about energy cultivation techniques, because you can’t even sense the core of what every energy cultivator needs.

Unfortunately for you, your intelligence may have broken the dam when it came to soul cultivation by allowing you to have a perfect innate aurora. And you may be able to make up your body cultivation deficiencies with your understanding of wills and by absorbing essence blood. But. The dam for energy cultivation in your mortal realm is still very much there.

Tell me. Kid. How are you planning on using the greatest energy cultivation technique ever created with non-existent meridians?”