Archive - 004

Chapter 004 – First Hunt and Reaching Peak Middle-Grade

Still, as things stood, Fang naturally knew that with his strength he couldn't face most beasts roaming the Wildernis. Even if he knew his opponent's strength and location with the Archive's help, he simply may not be fast enough to avoid them, nor strong enough to beat them.

The solution to that problem came in the form of a new technique, called Deceiving Heaven Art.

It was a divine secret technique that utilized soul force to conceal one's aura, scent, and the noise of one's movement and breathing at its most elementary stages. When mastered one could even transform into a rock or a tree that even true powerhouses of the Divine Realm wouldn't be able to see through.

Such a technique was absolutely necessary considering the secret he carried in his Sea of Consciousness, as it also allowed him to conceal his mental space easily enough once he had learned it.

The downside was that it would use up his soul force and at the moment he still couldn't cultivate the Heaven Swallowing Manual.

After thinking about it for some time, Fang decided to practice another Spirit Nurturing Tactic for the moment, until his spirit rank had been raised and he could use the Heaven Swallowing Manual, as this wouldn't hurt his foundation, because the Heaven Swallowing Manual was cultivation art that could be trained at any stage.

Furthermore, the technique he planned to cultivate for now was of equal rank to the Heaven Swallowing Manual, though less overbearing.

It was called Absolute Serenity Tactic and was also a peak-level technique. As Fang was a calm individual by nature, it suited him perfectly.

The Heaven Swallowing Manual was undoubtedly the greatest technique to cultivate soul force but it was a tyrannical technique. By using it one could devour the earth and swallow the sky, even the very Laws of reality weren't safe from this technique.

There existed no other technique like it, but it had a considerable downside, which was that only those with a Rank Nine Spirit could train it safely, as the strain of this technique would cripple or even kill those with weaker spirits. The strain of training this technique was simply too great for spirits of lower rank to endure.

It was an ultimate technique that had allowed a powerhouse of the past to dominate an Era, stepping on the Nine Universes with absolute strength.

The Absolute Serenity Tactic different as the power it granted its wielders was considerably less, but the advantange was that anyone could practice it. It helped one to develop a calm deposition while strengthening the spirit and purifiying one's soul force. It granted the user a calm strength through slow gradual acculmulation.

Of course, 'slow' progress was realtive to other peak techniques of the Nine Universes, and in comparison to the techniques found on this planet it was practically incomparable. In front of the Absolute Serenity Tactic, the Soul Forging techniques of this world didn't even deserve to be called such.

Sitting beside the lake, cleaned and well rested with his hunger satiated, he began to circulate his soul force through his fox spirit's body according to the Absolute Serenity Tactic, while the chants of the scripture echoed through his mindscape, causing his mind to achieve a state of refreshing calmness and relaxation to spread through his whole body.

After some minutes of getting familiar with this technique, he could already feel the minute increase in his soul force, but more importantly, he felt more in control of his soul force and felt as if he could now use it with more efficiency than before.

Next, Fang initiated the Deceiving Heaven Art to not only shroud his mind in a layer of concealment but also to suppress his aura and scent, while drawing his soul force to the surface of his body and moving it according to the secret technique.

Suppressing his aura was comparatively easy, as the Blackhole Seal in his Sea of Consciousness exerted a natural attraction force that kept almost all his spirit essence from leaking from his body subconsciously.

Consciously restraining all of his spirit essence to the confines of his physical body was easy enough, as he just had to stop suppressing the Blackhole Seal formation for a bit, which caused the attraction force to become even greater, causing it to restrain all his spirit essence.

Even though this required him to continuously exert some mental strength, he just considered it to be part of his training when it came to the finer control of his energies.

…

Spending a few hours practicing the secret divine technique, Fang felt as if he had made some good progress, as he could keep up the concealment of his aura easily enough now and with a bit of effort also suppress his scent and the noises he made by moving around.

Walking through the forest, he heard the calls of insects, birds, and other animals echo around him. At that moment his eyes had changed from his normally green eyes into two completely black orbs with shining galaxies inside them, which signified that he was currently using the Archive to keep track of his surroundings.

Sensing some weak lowest-class rat-type beast nearby, Fang approached it from behind with his curved iron blade in hand.

His approach went unnoticed, as neither sound nor scent was emitted from his persona, while his aura was also completely hidden. The moment he entered the vision of the beast it was already too late.

Fang's blade had already descended, and while rat-type beasts were known for their agility, it simply couldn't react in time against a sneak attack from an opponent of roughly equal strength.

With a surprised and panicked shriek, the beast's life ended abruptly.

Fang had even circulated his spirit essence to enhance his movement speed, not holding back in the least in his surprise attack. He didn't have much strength to begin with, so he wouldn't dare to hold back against any opponent at this point.

Using his blade to cut open the carcass and he took the beast core, before hurriedly leaving the place, still using his Deceiving Heaven Art. Fang knew the outcry of the beast and the scent of blood, would attract stronger predators soon enough.

With galaxies spinning in his eyes, Fang left the place at a measured pace, avoiding the already nearing wolf-type and snake-type beasts.

…

When the sky began to darken, Fang returned to the tribe with half a dozen lowest-class beast cores more in his bag and the corpse of a lowest-class chicken-type beast in his hands.

Generally speaking, lowest-class beasts could match Skin Transformation cultivators, but that only counted for head-on fights with an unarmed cultivator. Using a sneak attack with a weapon capable of injuring such a beast changed the situation significantly after all.

Going to one of the bigger campfires on the outskirts of the tribe, Fang wordlessly handed the carcass to a young girl.

The girl didn't say anything either, as she simply handed him a few big pieces of roasted meat in some leaf wrappings.

A lot of cultivators delivered the corpses of low-level beasts in exchange for ready-made food, so they could spare themselves the trouble of having to cook themselves.

Of course, Fang had already taken the beast core from the carcass, so he could absorb it, but the corpse still had a value higher than the meat, as the feather and claws of the beast could be sold separately.

In any case, the materials from the corpse and the raw meat were the payment for the food he received, and while he may have lost some money on the deal, Fang didn't really care.

Material value was worthless without personal strength and he didn't want to waste his time preparing the carcass for roasting it himself, so he considered it a good deal like many others did.

Returning back to his tent, Fang directly placed down his bag and weapons and began to satiate his hunger with the roasted meat, his filled-up waterskin taking care of his thirst.

Today had been greatly exhausting and mentally draining, as he had to use the Archive and his concealment technique continuously to avoid getting himself into a dangerous situation, even though he hadn't even moved far from the tribe.

The focus required to do so was very great, and he had to take several breaks and use the Absolute Serenity Tactic and Blackhole Revolving Art to restore his mental and physical energies.

Still, his haul for the day was really good, as he had managed to get himself six additional lowest-level beast cores. With his remaining beast core, Fang estimated that this may be enough for him to advance to a top-grade Skin Transformation martial artist, or at least reach the peak of the middle grade.

Taking three beast cores in each hand, Fang started to draw on the untamed and tainted energy within them while he also stopped restraining the attraction force of his Blackhole Seal.

While the Blackhole Seal directly devoured the beastly energy and refined it into pure spirit essence on its own, Fang directed this spirit essence towards the Titan Star Seal in his mind, letting it transform the spirit essence into Titan Essence.

It took only a few short minutes before the beast cores in his hands had been completely emptied out and turned to dust and all the energy inside them had already been converted into spirit essence. With a mental prompt towards the Blackhole Seal, Fang once again restrained its attraction force, before using the Titan Star Seal to transform all the spirit essence into Titan Essence.

Preparing himself mentally, Fang gritted his teeth and directed the Titan Essence around his body according to the instruction of the Star Map, which was the circulation path for Titan Essence recorded in the Titan Star Law.

As the pain assaulted his nerve endings, Fang was ready for it and didn't lose his focus while continuing his cultivation, his ambition and dream giving him the necessary strength to endure the pain.

Cycle upon cycle, the Titan Essence moved around his body, refining his skin and changing his epidermis on a fundamental level.

Three hours passed just like that and the Titan Essence in his body was nearly depleted, when suddenly he felt his whole skin tighten painfully for a moment, before returning to its flexible state.

Peak Middle-Grade Skin Transformation Realm.

Elation spread in Fang's heart, even as his facial features didn't change from his calm look. His strength had risen once again, if only by a smaller margin. It seemed the cores hadn't been enough to reach Top-Grade Skin Transformation in one step after all.

Once again a nauseating smell assaulted Fang's olfactory sense, which made him thankful for his foresight as he had stripped all his clothes off before he had started to cultivate. Looking down at himself, he could clearly see the film of impurities that covered his skin.

Sighing to himself, Fang packed his belongings and weapons into his bag, before leaving the tent in a hurry, not bothering to put on his clothes and ruin his last set of clothes.

As things stood, his body contained a look of impurities after years of eating 'earthly' foods, instead of spiritual fruits and pure nutrition pills, so it wasn't surprising that he excreted so many impurities with only a minor breakthrough. Only rich Tribes and Clans in the Wildernis could allow the heirs and children of the high-ranking members to eat the kind of food that caused a minimal amount of impurities to appear in the body.

With two swirling galaxies in his eyes, it was easy enough to avoid any patrolling tribesmen in the middle of the night, so no one saw him running around almost buck-naked. Using the Archive he once again came to a nearby stream without any problems and washed himself quickly, before putting on his clothes.

He didn't dare to make a fire in the middle of the night, the light would inevitably attract predators which he was incapable of dealing with, but he still decided to not return to the tribe just yet.

Instead, he sat down on the damp grass and thought about how he could improve his immediate combat strength. His cultivation path was secured and on the right track, so now it was time to think about his combat prowess, which left much to be desired.

The logical conclusion he came to was Battle Arts, which included weapon techniques, movement techniques, and other secret techniques that could raise one's combat power drastically.

The Blackhole Revolving Art and Titan Star Law were both complete and comprehensive cultivation techniques, so they both naturally included a Battle Art as well, it was just that his cultivation was simple to weak, so he couldn't even dream of using them for now.

Thankfully there were a myriad other Battle Arts in the Archive to which he had access and while Fang would have very much liked to learn them all, he had to choose carefully, as his time was limited after all. To master even one Battle Art could take someone many years, so before he had advanced to a high enough realm where he didn't have to worry about his lifespan, such thoughts were meaningless.

Fang already had a rough idea about the way he wanted to develop his fighting style, so he could narrow his search somewhat. It still took him nearly half an hour to select two Battle Arts that suited his taste, there were called: Basic Dual-Wielding Technique, and Eight Directions Step.

Basic Manuals were very common and could be found everywhere even in a low-level world like the Blue Sky Planet, though the Basic Dual-wielding Technique was different.

It contained precise instructions and training methods, along with basic movements and stances one had to learn. It was a comprehensive manual practically tailored to those who wished to learn dual-wielding and not just a basic technique that barely taught someone how to hold a weapon so one didn't kill himself while training, like it was common with most Basic Manuals.

The Eight Directions Step was a peak movement technique among all movement techniques. It focused on precision, timing, and minimal movements in its footwork, and its spirit essence circulation was simple, yet profound. Of course, as a peak technique, it contained many more mysteries, but for now, he planned to not focus on them, as he was after all a complete novice when it came to movement techniques.

After choosing his techniques, Fang concentrated on directly learning the movement technique, as he first had to exchange some twin blades in the tribe before he could start his practice of the Dual-Wielding Technique.

The Eight Directions Step only had four levels, or 'Steps', with the first being called Mortal Step. This first step relied on nothing but one's physical body. Reaching a state of perfect control, precision, and timing with one's footwork as if one was an ordinary mortal without spirit essence was the goal of this step. Only after one had gained basic mastery in the First Step, should one try and practice the other steps.

There were no complicated and inflexible sequences for one's movement, but simple guidelines that emphasized the importance of control, balance, and timing. Every step one did in battle had to be perfectly timed and controlled, no unnecessary energy was to be wasted. Keeping your balance at all times, or learning to shift your weight and force even in unpredictable situations to regain your balance at a moment's notice.

While it sounded lackluster compared to other movement techniques that promised one to cross a hundred feet in one step or being able to tread on air like it was flat ground, it was profound in its simplicity and the practical value of this footwork was many times greater than flashy but inflexible techniques.

What use was a technique that could only be used under special circumstances or had to be activated with conditions attached to it?

The Eight Directions Step relied on simplicity to be applicable in all situations, while the higher grade Steps introduced many more possibilities and variables in this footwork, though Fang knew that he shouldn't focus on these things for now.

Gathering a few leaves from nearby, Fang placed them on the ground in a random pattern on the ground, the night being illuminated by the moonlight.

As he stepped into the middle of the spread-out leaves, he began to move from his original position in all eight directions by stepping from leaf to leaf. Fang tried to move with enough speed so that made it difficult for him to maintain a perfect balance, as to challenge himself constantly.

In this way he trained his control and balance for the next few hours, thoroughly exhausting himself before taking another bath to wash off his sweat. Afterward, Fang directly turned back to the tribe, letting the nightly breeze dry his wet hair.

Sneaking back into his tent was easy enough with a near-omniscient view of his surroundings for Fang. Lying down on his bedroll, he decided to rest for the remaining night and go to the blacksmith shop in the morning and exchange for some new weapons.

Not long after, Fang had already fallen into a deep and comfortable sleep. The sense of freedom he felt by being in this new world, soothing him in a way nothing else could.