In a dark location, a dark figure was meditating.

Another dark figure approached him. “Sir, Bali’s life jade was broken,” the newly arrived figure said. “I am afraid he has passed away.”

The figure that was meditating opened his eyes. An aura of strength and vastness radiated from of his frame. His eyes seemed to contain the whole universe in it. It was like he could see through everything.

“Should we send a punitive team to investigate?” the newly arrived figure continued.

“No,” the meditating figure finally said. His voice contained an imperative authority that took no disobedience.

“As you wish, sir.” The other figure bowed and left the scene.

“That stupid little snake,” the mighty figure that was left behind muttered. “He must have let his impatience and gluttony get the better of him.” He sighed in pain. In front of the other figure, he hadn't shown any fluctuation of emotion. But how could he not feel pain when his beloved disciple who was akin to a son died? If he could, he would have liked nothing better than to find and rip the body of the culprit piece by piece.

But he couldn’t. If he made a careless move now, everything he had worked towards for many millenniums would be wasted. Not yet. He told himself. It was not yet the time for him to bare his fangs. But when he did, he would drown the world in blood. He would have his revenge.

An unbearable stench woke me up.

Ding!

Congratulations!

You have cleansed your body of impurities.

My body felt lighter and smaller. It was like my whole body was restructured. In a way, it was.

I saw my body lying on a small pool of dark murky liquid. The thing was, it was coming from my body. It was also the source of the unbearable stench.

“Fa…ther…” an immature voice spoke.

I saw Byakko a few feet away from me. He was looking at me with worried eyes. He looked torn between coming closer to me and moving further from me. I didn’t blame him. I already lauded his tolerance. The smell that was coming from me would have even made saints wrinkle their nose in disgust.

When did he learn to speak? It occurred as an afterthought. Last time, he had only been able to pass a few words mentally.

I was relieved. I had been worried something untoward would happen to him outside. My first priority, after I recovered my strength had been to look for him. Now, there was no need for it. There was a change in my priority list. For starter, I needed to give myself a good bath.

With Byakko in tow, I headed out. Our destination was the pool I had found previously.

I had already figured out that the reason none of the beasts approached the cave we stayed in was due to the presence of the basilisk. I guess they had some sort of senses that could sense the presence of a strong predator. As for why Byakko didn’t sense it, I could only attribute it to his immaturity.

The basilisk was dead now. I didn’t know if his body would still deter the other beasts. I didn’t want to risk leaving Byakko there. And for some reason, I felt a strong surge of strength after that whole thing with the giant serpent. I felt like I could take on the beasts. Relatively weaker ones, that is.

I plunged into the pool and scrubbed my body clean until the disgusting smell of my body was totally gone.

I checked out my reflection.

I now looked like a proper ten-year-old kid. Those unsightly fat was all gone. I could even consider myself cute and adorable. Definitely not being narcissistic here. My status window would attest to it.

GENERAL

Name

Su Ren

Age

10 years old

Cultivation Method

N/A

Realm

N/A

Lifeforce

1500/1500 (Regeneration: 10% per second)

Qi

0/1430 (Regeneration: 10% per second)

ATTRIBUTES

Strength

124

Physique

150

Movement

135

Control

132

Soul

143

Comprehension

150

Charm

21

Fate

10

INNATE TRAITS

Innards of a God

Kaleidoscope Eye

Photosynthesis

Eternal Stratum (Incomplete)

Bond:

Byakko (White Tiger)

My charm was more than double of my previous one. It was more than Byakko’s. Another thing to take note of was the massive increase in my physique since the last time I checked my status.

I checked my newly acquired skill, namely [Kaleidoscope Eye]. I had no means to test [Eternal Stratum] at the moment. I had no Qi to deplete. Since I had no cultivation, I had no way to accumulate the Qi. As for depleting my lifeforce, I wanted to avoid pain, if possible, thank you very much.

With [Kaleidoscope: Mode Silver], I captured the figure of a cantering deer some twenty kilometers away. I simultaneously activated mode [Black]. The status window of the deer appeared in front of me.

GENERAL

Name

N/A

Age

13 years old

Race

Deer

Realm

Qi Gathering 9

(900/1000 Essence)

Lifeforce

500/500 (Regeneration: 1% per second)

Qi

480/480 (Regeneration: 1% per second)

ATTRIBUTES

Strength

47

Physique

50

Movement

50

Control

50

Soul

48

Comprehension

47

Charm

9

Fate

5

INNATE TRAIT

Fast Leg

I activated mode [Yellow]. The deer stopped in its track.

Success. I could simultaneously use all the three modes of [Kaleidoscope Eye]. That increased the usability of the trait by a big margin. The three modes were useful individually. But when three of them were used together, the usefulness shot through the roof.

Also, I noticed that the stats of the deer were weaker than me. It occurred to me. Maybe, I had overestimated the strength of the beasts around me. I looked around and checked. Most of the beasts were at Qi Gathering Layer 9 or below, with a rare few in Foundational Stage. Their stats were below mine. Looks like we were going to have meat for dinner. I grinned. Then, I recalled the corpse of the basilisk in the cave. The need for the hunt disappeared.

I soon remembered Byakko was unable to consume food with high energy content unlike me. Looks like I needed to hunt after all. It would also serve as a valuable combat experience for me.

The boar readied to charge forward, sending a cloud of behind it. Its red eyes filled with rage seemed to say ‘How dare a puny human with no cultivation oppose me?’

I swallowed my saliva with gulp. The stats of the boar were much weaker than me. Incidentally, it ran like this.

GENERAL

Name

N/A

Age

9 years old

Race

Boar

Realm

Qi Gathering 3

(30/400 Essence)

Lifeforce

200/200 (Regeneration: 1% per second)

Qi

170/170 (Regeneration: 1% per second)

ATTRIBUTES

Strength

20

Physique

20

Movement

20

Control

15

Soul

17

Comprehension

15

Charm

4

Fate

5

INNATE TRAIT

Charge

I purposefully picked a weak opponent. Many had lost their lives due to their overconfidence. I didn’t want to be one of them. So what if people accused me of being a bully? Technically, wasn’t I the weaker side? I had no cultivation while the boar was of Qi Gathering Layer 3.

The opponent was weak, I knew. Still, I couldn’t shake off my nervousness. This would be my first real combat. The one with the basilisk didn’t count. At best, it could be considered a wild tussle.

With no signs or signals, the boar charged towards me.

I activated [Kaleidoscope: Mode Yellow].

The boar froze. The momentum it had gathered worked against him, making it crash against the ground, throwing dust everywhere into the air.

I gingerly approached the fallen figure of the boar and tore a hole in its neck. I used the [Kaleidoscope: Mode Yellow] again, to make sure the beast didn’t berserk as his last struggle.

I sighed in relief when I saw the boar breath its last breath. That was nerve-racking. The battle itself was pretty anticlimactic. But I couldn’t stop shaking. I had taken a life with my own hands. My heart felt uneasy with guilt. I hadn’t felt anything when I killed the basilisk. Maybe, it was due to the high adrenaline running through me at that time or the whole situation where death loomed over my head at every second.

Ding!

You have killed a Qi Gathering Layer 3 Beast.

Congratulations!

You have gained +35 essence.

I dismissed all the unnecessary thoughts. If I wanted to survive, I will have to take many lives. I couldn’t let myself get down just because of one life I took.

Just like with the basilisk, the essence energy disappeared after finding no reservoir to occupy.

Byakko came out from the thicket he was hiding in. I didn’t let him participate in the battle for now. I wanted to gain enough experience to bail us out if we came across any unexpected situation before I let him fight.

Carrying the body of the boar and with Byakko trotting at my heels, I headed back to the cave.

And thus, many days passed. Meanwhile, nothing unexpected happened. The beasts still didn’t dare to approach our cave. Guess the deterrent provided by the basilisk was still very strong, although, it was already dead. Our lives were relatively peaceful.

The same couldn’t be said for the region we were staying at.

We had been using the beasts around us as grindstones. By now, I could easily take down a Qi Gathering Layer 9 beast. I had learnt to use my overpowered stats to my advantage. I didn’t even have to resort to using any of my traits. I also let Byakka participate in battles. Let me tell you, he was an absolute monster. He tore through the beasts very swiftly and ruthlessly. When I noticed that, it made me appear silly for worrying unnecessarily.

“Father~ Father!” Speak of the devil. The fellow glided towards me, with his wings stretched. At some point of time, he became able to use his wings to fly. Also, he became able to talk fluently, although his voice was still immature.

Talking about conversation, I should mention something about the language of this world. It was really strange. I was sure I had never heard it, let alone use it. Yet I could understand and converse in it, without having to learn it! Byakko, too. As his comprehension grew, he became able to use the language automatically. It was all a mystery. Unfortunately, at the moment, my level was too low to unravel it.

“Father, I gained a Qi Skill!” The little guy chattered in an excited tone.

I promptly checked his status.

GENERAL

Name

Byakko

Age

3 months old

Race

White Tiger

Realm

Qi Gathering 8

(654/900 Essence)

Lifeforce

822/830 (Regeneration: 1% per second)

Qi

840/840 (Regeneration: 1% per second)

ATTRIBUTES

Strength

84

Physique

83

Movement

85

Control

85

Soul

84

Comprehension

78

Charm

21

Fate

12

INNATE TRAIT

Wings of the Heavenly Tiger

Bonded to: Su Ren

QI SKILL LIST

Slot

Skill Name

Rating

Level

1.

Heavenly Tiger Transformation

Epic

1

2.

>

It was true. He had an extra table.

I checked the details of the skill next.

HEAVENLY TIGER TRANSFORMATION (EPIC)

Level 1

Enlarges the size of the body. Increases Strength and Physique by double while at the same time, reduces Movement by 50%.

Cost: 10 Qi/sec

Not a bad skill at all. I felt a small trace of envy.

I could infer several things from this. First, one could only start learning skills when one had a cultivation base of Qi Gathering. Second, it was not easy to learn skills. I had already battled many Qi Gathering beasts but I had yet to battle a beast in possession of a skill. Even Byakko learnt this skill after many battles. I could only study about Skill Learning slowly. Third, skills had rating based on its effectiveness. I was not sure about the exact ratings for now. Fourth, there was a limit to how many skills one could learn at a stage. It seemed to be two for Qi Gathering Stage. And finally, Qi had a use, after all. Seeing it doing nothing, I took it for a dead stat.

I felt a whole new world open before me.

“Byakko, let’s go and give your skill a spin.”

“Okay, father.”

We picked a Qi Gathering Layer 9 leopard for Byakko’s opponent.

GENERAL

Name

N/A

Age

32 years old

Race

Leopard

Realm

Qi Gathering 9

(789/1000 Essence)

Lifeforce

880/880 (Regeneration: 1% per second)

Qi

780/780 (Regeneration: 1% per second)

ATTRIBUTES

Strength

86

Physique

88

Movement

90

Control

92

Soul

78

Comprehension

54

Charm

7

Fate

3

INNATE TRAIT

Agile

It was a tough opponent for Byakko. I activated and kept [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Yellow] ready just in case I had to jump in.

“Use your skill and dive down! Go!” I commanded Byakko like it was a Pokémon Battle.

Byakko who was floating in the sky, out of the leopards reach, increased his size. From a cute and cuddly little figure, Byakko became a ferocious tiger that boasted a height of two meters and length of five meters.

“Auoo!” With an adorable roar unfit for his size, he dived down from the sky.

Poor leopard! It was not able to make full use of its agility. Before it could do anything, Byakko’s giant paw hit the leopard’s head.

With a ‘boom!’ the leopard was thrown away and it crashed against a tree, breaking the tree in the process. It fell limply to the floor and didn’t move. It had died.

I could only gape in surprise.

The opponent that was more than a match for Byakko was one-shotted by Byakko due to the existence of a single skill.

I checked my status.

GENERAL

Name

Su Ren

Age

10 years old

Cultivation Method

N/A

Realm

N/A

Lifeforce

1980/1980 (Regeneration: 10% per second)

Qi

0/2010 (Regeneration: 10% per second)

ATTRIBUTES

Strength

167

Physique

198

Movement

187

Control

176

Soul

201

Comprehension

205

Charm

27

Fate

17

INNATE TRAITS

Innards of a God

Kaleidoscope Eye

Photosynthesis

Eternal Stratum (Incomplete)

Bond:

Byakko (White Tiger)

Would I be able to take on the skill? Yes, for now. But what if Byakko’s stat increased more? I wasn’t optimistic enough to think that Byakko was the only one with skill. If an opponent with a stronger cultivation base, with good stats and a skill, heck, it could be more than one, would I stand a chance?

The sense of urgency I had forgotten for a while crept back to me.

Byakko shrank back to his normal size and tottered towards me. His eyes seemed to say 'Praise me~ Praise me~'

I obliged. I picked him up and said, “You were great there, Byakko. You have become truly strong.”

The innocent little fellow purred, “Nuu~ Nuu~” in contentment and nestled in my arms.

On the way home, I thought through things carefully. The appearance of Qi Skill had poured cold water on the confidence I had on my stats and traits. I needed to up my game. I had to find ways to get my hands on Qi Skills, too.

But before that, I needed to get my hands on a Cultivation Method…

Then, an absurd thought occurred to me. If I can’t find any, then why don’t I create one? The more I thought about, the more it appealed to me.