Archive - 003

Chapter 003 - Cultivation

At first, Fang could only vaguely feel something changing inside the little fox. Its eyes seemed to have gained a hint of intelligence instead of the empty look from before.

This only held on for several short moments though, before the little fox cried out in pain. Its cry reverberated through Fang's Sea of Consciousness, shaking his mind and causing a sharp pain to assault his head.

A moment later a cocoon made out of light surrounded the fox, and the cries intensified sharply.

It was as if needles were repeatedly inserted into his brain, his head felt like bursting each time a wail of pain echoed from the cocoon.

The worst pain, however, came from somewhere deep within his being. It was a harsh tearing and ripping sensation that made him want to die. No amount of mental fortitude or resolve could possibly stand up to this absolutely horrid pain that assaulted his whole being.

Fang knew it was his soul that changed with his spirit on a fundamental level and that this would be the first step on the path of cultivation, but he couldn't care less at that moment.

He simply wanted the pain to end.

If he could have moved, he knew that he very likely would have taken the dagger and pierced his own heart just so he could free himself from that agony.

Luckily that Paralyzing Rune made that impossible, and so he had to suffer in silence for more than several long minutes. Unable to even faint as the pain came from his very soul, not his physical body.

When the cries of his spirit finally started to subside and the pain in his soul started to lessen bit by bit, Fang knew that it was finally over. At least that was what he had hoped for.

As the cocoon of light split apart and vanished, a beautiful white little fox appeared from within.

With the spirit's appearance, a chain reaction seemed to have started inside his Sea of Consciousness, as the whole space seemed to shake and morph bit by bit.

This time Fang directly fainted from the pain in his mind, not being forced to stay awake due to his soul suffering the same agony.

…

Waking up a few hours later while it was still nighttime outside, Fang could only feel a small throbbing sensation in his mind.

Drawing his focus back into his Sea of Consciousness, Fang could still see the bright orb that was the Archive, but the soul force lake had changed drastically in size. Being nearly five times as big, his spirit now had flawless white-coloured fur and a bit of life in its gaze.

'One-Tailed Spirit Fox, a true rank one spirit ... It truly is a league of its own, ranked spirits that is ... But the price to pay for that technique is simply too agonizing.', he thought to himself.

His soul force quantity had not only increased five-fold but the density and purity of it had also reached a whole other level.

If he formed his cultivation seals with this kind of soul force, the speed at which they would attract spiritual energy and the quality of the refined spirit essence would be totally different compared to before.

Fang knew that things would only get better if he kept using the Spirit Forging Manual to increase the rank of his spirit, but he shuddered at the mere thought of the pain he had to endure.

Still, he was also very aware of the fact that nothing came for free in this world and that he would have to pay the equivalent price for the power the technique provided him.

He would have to make a few more Paralyzing Runes, however, or he would surely try to kill himself during the process.

For now, however, he could finally start his cultivation with the Blackhole Revolving Art.

Having satiated his hunger with the rest of his dried meat, bread, and some water, Fang was ready to start his cultivation.

Settling down on his beddings, he again focused inwards and arrived at his Sea of Consciousness only a moment later. During the few hours of unconsciousness his soul force had already recovered completely, so he didn't have to meditate to hasten the process and could start to cultivate directly.

To get started with the Blackhole Revolving Art, one had to form nine seals. These nine seals would then function as the foundation of the cultivation art and help one attract spiritual energy from the surroundings. Only together could these nine seals form a firm cultivation base, any less and it wouldn't work.

Drawing on his soul force, Fang directly started creating the seals. And while their difficulty didn't quite reach the level of the Spirit Forging Seal, that he used to rank up his spirit, it was still very taxing.

The sun had already risen beyond the horizon and the tribe awakened from a night of rest when he had finally finished the last seal.

The moment he did, all nine seals escaped his control and arranged themselves on their own, creating a brightly glowing circle in the process.

Suddenly all his spirit essence, which had been stored inside his body by its previous owner, was sucked dry, while the surrounding spiritual energy also poured into his body. Fortunately, this only kept up for a few moments, so nobody noticed him as the center of this odd phenomenon.

The energy gathered inside the circle of glowing runes, where it seemed to undergo inexplicable changes. Slowly, but surely it turned into a tiny black core that revolved around itself.

Formation of Blackhole Seed! Success!

He had succeeded in the first step of the Blackhole Revolving Art.

Exhaling deeply, Fang let relief wash over him. Failing in that first step could have resulted in severe consequences after all, with damage to his Sea of Consciousness being a light one.

A simple prompt from his mind, caused the black core to spin even faster and gather more spiritual energy from his surroundings.

Drawing on the refined spiritual energy – also called spirit essence, Fang used the Titan Star Law to draw a star-shaped rune in his Sea of Consciousness. The rune was very complex and on the level of the Spirit Forging Seal, so it took him nearly two hours before he finished.

Mentally drained like never before, but finally having finished all the preparations to finally start his cultivation journey, Fang quenched his thirst with the rest of his water. His hunger though had to go unanswered for the moment.

It was time to redo his Skin Transformation.

Obviously, he could have done so with the Blackhole Revolving Art alone, by simply circulating the spirit essence around his body, but the effect – while otherworldly – would be subpar in comparison to the Titan Star Law's.

The Titan Star Law was the most incredible body-forging method in existence and its effects could best be described with the words: Carrying stars with one's hands and a Universe inside one's heart.

Indeed, at its highest level, this cultivation method would allow one to grab stars with one's bare hands and swallow galaxies into one's stomach, just like real Titans of ancient times had been able to do.

It was a body-refining method that transformed one physique into that of a Primordial Titan, a race of beings that were already extinct but had once held immeasurable power.

Using the newly created rune, Fang fueled it with his newly-refined spirit essence and moved it in very a specific pattern throughout his body. The spirit essence was transformed by the rune into something called Titan Essence and seeped into his skin, changing it with every moment this continued.

This in itself wasn't a painless process, as every part of his skin felt as if it was pricked by a needle over and over again. Fang though had just experienced a type of truly soul-crushing pain and was able to grit his teeth and endure it for now.

This also had to do with the fact that he knew very well about the fact that strength always came with a price – the greater the strength he sought, the greater the price he had to pay. It was a universal law that no one could escape from. Power wasn't just gifted to lucky ones. No, it had to be taken by the enduring ones.

He wanted to be free, freer than anyone had ever been in the Nine Universes. And this goal would require nothing more than his willingness to put his life on the line, something he was ready to do without hesitation.

Life had no meaning for him if he couldn't be free anyway.

While his cultivation went on for some time, he suddenly felt that his spirit essence couldn't keep up with his cultivation. The cultivation of the Titan Star Law used up an enormous amount of spirit essence, that even the peak cultivation technique of the Blackhole Revolving Art couldn't replenish, though the main reason for this was mostly the thin spiritual energy in his surroundings.

Grabbing two of his three remaining beat cores, Fang did something that could only be described as crazy if he were anyone else.

He used his soul force and guided the beastly energy in the cores through his body and into his Sea of Consciousness, which was something the instructors from the tribe had warned them all about to never attempt.

The problem was that the untamed and wild energy in the cores could pollute one's own soul force and drive a weak cultivator crazy. Even stronger warriors wouldn't do something like this, as this energy would make one foundation unstable and was basically uncontrollable. The short-term gains simply weren't worth the consequences.

Fang though didn't worry about that one bit, because as soon as that energy meet the seal formation of the Blackhole Revolving Art, it was sucked into it without a chance of resistance, being refined into incredible pure spirit essence.

That was one of the reasons Fang had chosen the Blackhole Revolving Art to cultivate, not because it had a strong offensive or defensive power, but because its ability to gather and refine different kinds of energy into spirit essence was basically unchallenged in terms of speed and purity.

Of course, this cultivation art had substantial battle power when practiced to higher levels, but Fang had already decided on being a close-range combatant and the Blackhole Revolving Art was the perfect technique to serve as his foundation.

A few hours later, when it was already midday and Fang couldn't suppress his hunger anymore, he stopped his cultivation as if awakening from a trance. Both beast cores had already turned to dust in his hands at this point.

A rather horrible stench greeted his senses as soon as he did so though. Black and grey sludge completely covered his whole body.

'Sigh, there goes my second change of clothes.', Fang thought with only a hint of regret, as the joy for his accomplishment overshadowed this small loss rapidly.

Fang had just done what the previous owner of this body couldn't do for nearly half a decade, he had successfully advanced in his Skin Transformation to the middle-grade realm from the early-grade realm.

Packing up all his valuables and weapons, Fang stuffed them in his bag, before leaving his tent with his bag in hand. He had decided to throw on his only cloak, so no one would notice his appearance.

He would rather sacrifice another piece of clothing than alert anyone of his minor breakthrough.

His own tent was placed on the outskirts of the tribe, as was expected of someone with his strength and status, so it didn't take long for him to leave the small town, where the tribe had gathered and find a nearby stream.

He did get a few curious looks along the way, but most just tried to keep their distance because of his current stench. Still, this far from the center of the tribe, not many even bothered to give him a quick glance, as they were more concerned with getting something to eat and not starving to death.

The Archive helped him in monitoring his surroundings somewhat, so he knew that nobody had followed him and that he was indeed alone. So as soon as he arrived at the stream, he threw off his clothes and began to wash himself vigorously.

Some herbs near the streams with a handful of sand had to be enough as a cleaning agent for the moment, but he swore to get some real soap in the near future, or at least something comparable.

All in all, it still took him nearly two hours to get himself cleaned up and remove the impurities that had been expelled from his body. He even managed to make a fire and roast the snake meat from yesterday's hunt to satiate his hunger a bit. Fang also took this opportunity to burn his clothes, as they were simply unsalvageable, though he managed to clean up his cloak enough so that it was still usable.

Looking at his reflection in the stream and at his newly-cleaned skin, Fang couldn't help but be satisfied. While his looks were rather average, he had shoulder-long black hair, green eyes, and an olive-colored complexion.

After successfully completing the early Skin Transformation, his skin looked exceptionally smooth, but as he tested his durability with his small iron dagger, he found it hard to make even a small cut.

It was as if his skin had transformed into hardened leather itself, which was a lot more impressive than the normal middle Skin Transformation cultivator. Most only had this durability after becoming peak Skin Transformation cultivators and advancing to the Flesh Transformation Realm.

This was the advantage of a peak-level cultivation technique after all, though the disadvantage though was equally apparent. Fang had used up two whole beast cores and only advanced a minor realm in his cultivation and that was with the previous body owner's accomplishments and work of nearly a whole year, which directly showed that the resource requirements were incredibly steep for someone using a peak cultivation technique.

Fang estimated that to successfully advance to the Flesh Transformation Realm he would need two dozen of the lowest-class beast cores at the very least.

This meant only one thing for Fang, it was time to go hunting.