[Last Emperor] Chapter 23 - Flames

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Unlocked an A+ Grade Skill - 

Avatar of The Phoenix Risen

Tao Zi stared at his new system notification, rereading the skill over and over again. An avatar? That sounded like a powerful ability that could fight for him. Would it summon a literal Phoenix? Crash the entire battlefield with a wave of flames from a legendary creature that was touching upon the Foundation Establishment Realm. 

Or was it something else entirely? There was only one way to find out and Tao Zi was too impatient to not do it now. 

He activated his skill. A large wave of Qi escaped his core, enough that he felt it even with his much larger capacity. It would have made him a dry and shriveled thing had he been unlucky enough to receive it before he was ready in terms of cultivation. 

Tao Zi let out a deep breath as a ball of flame formed before him. First it grew legs, then arms, formed a human torso, and finally a head. A humanoid avatar of blue flames that matched his azure fire and cultivation perfectly. 

Except one small issue. 

Said avatar was roughly two feet tall if he was being generous. Closer to a foot and a half. 

Tiger did not like the newcomer at all. Hissing at it from a distance and guarding its food bowl. Its hackles were raised and tail arched. Tiger looked like a demon and sounded like one too. Letting out an unholy sound that Tao Zi had not known it could even make until this moment. He was worried the poor rascal was too terrified to say anything.

His avatar floated up to Tao Zi’s face. It waved at him with a bit too much enthusiasm and joy. It bobbed up and down in the air with a childlike glee that was infectious. Tao Zi couldn’t help but smile and be affected by its great mood. 

It giggled like a kid. 

Tao Zi could feel its desire to assist and help in any way it could through a mental link he had not expected. Read for any command he gave it. Whether it was fighting or otherwise, with a clear distinction between the desire to battle for him and everything else. This was an avatar of war and destruction first and foremost. Everything else came after the victory had been attained. 

“Let’s see what you got little guy.” Tao Zi said.

He stood up and went to the back of the cavern. A giant wall of stone and rocks that he had no chance of digging through much less any attempt to break into. The perfect area to test new abilities and skills without worrying about the cave collapsing. 

Unless the new skill he received was too strong. He wasn’t sure what A+ Grade was supposed to mean overall, but that had to be strong right? All letter based power ranking systems started with F and ended with triple S-es. Right? That was what Tao Zi knew. A+ Grade skills should be near the top overall and would necessarily be just as strong as their placement. 

Tao Zi couldn’t help but get excited at the potential of having a real secondary aid in battle. 

The rascal, Tiger, was no help at all. 

Just eat, sleep, and shit absolute nukes in his litter area. That was all of Tiger’s days. 

Other than annoying Tao Zi. 

His avatar mirrored his excitement. Jumping in joy and letting out silent battlecries that seemed more comical than anything intimidating. Size was not a strength for it, that was for sure. Hopefully it packed a greater punch than its diminutive stature would indicate.

“Go ahead.” Tao Zi said as he pointed to the wall. 

The avatar mimicked rolling up its sleeves and approached the wall with more confidence than Tao Zi expected. It extended its hand and focused hard. Its tiny facial features morphing into a serious frown of concentration. 

It roared silently as a wave of Qi erupted from its limbs and blasted the wall. Singing where it hit and leaving Tao Zi stunned at what he was looking at. The avatar spun on its heels with a pleased look on its face. Clearly happy with what it had accomplished even if it looked tired already.

The fuck am I looking at? How the hell is this an A+ skill?

A dime sized singe marked the area the avatar had blasted. A fire so small he doubted that it could hurt Tiger. It had no hopes of hurting anything stronger, not him, not the chimps, not Zarfu, and definitely not the scale covered HellHounds. 

It blinked at him in confusion. As if asking him if that was not enough and why he wasn’t pleased with its incredulous level of power and skill. It only reinforced Tao Zi’s mental estimation of the avatar and its broken sense of confidence. 

Tiger yawned after seeing the attack, laying with its legs crossed and a dismissive look on its face. No longer threatened by the little avatar of flame. 

Tao Zi, on the other hand, could only sign. 

It had been proven to him time and again that the system was not completely reliable. Yet, he couldn’t imagine it being this bad. Taking nearly a thousand of his experience points only to give him a dud that could not achieve anything at all. There had to be something special about it.

Did it potentially grow with him?

Or was it not an active skill perse’, but rather a support ability instead? Just had the irrational confidence of something that has never seen defeat or failure. 

He tried to think of everything he could possibly bring to mind using his experience reading and gaming. From the worst type of skills to the best things he could think of. There were too many possibilities to narrow it down properly without wasting time bullshitting instead of growing and getting stronger. 

Tao Zi didn’t have the time to test and experiment and potentially not receive any experience or rewards in the process. He had a working system, one that would likely need to be recalibrated to fit his new found abilities and level. Yet, it was there. 

Whether it was exercising and pushing further and further up the weight tree, to swordsmanship, and down to attempting to cultivate the new manual he had received. The Azure Flames of the Dragon Ancestor  were multiple folds better in terms of grade and potential when compared to the novice beginner one he had been stuck on until this point. 

Even if he tested with it, there was Qi to gain. Just slower if it failed. 

He reached out to the little avatar and patted its head. Surprising himself with how solid it felt. The sullen avatar leaned into his petting, very much reminiscent of Tiger, just not as tsundere as the darn rascal. Always faking his dislike of the scritches he gets every day. 

Tao Zi could swear the orange cat loved every moment of it. Just refused to let Tao Zi enjoy the victory. 

He moved from his testing area and back towards his bed. He sat on it and pulled out his new cultivation manual and began to read through the pages. Tiger jumped on the bed and laid at his feet. The avatar sat on a stone rock that jutted up right at the end of the bed. Watching him with wide, innocent, and curious eyes. Tilting its head back and forth, wondering what he was doing and why he was doing it. 

A sense of bewilderment passed through their link, wondering why they were outside trying to burn enemies and bring destruction upon those that would stand before them. 

Tao Zi sighed. 

Tiger was enough to deal with over all. Having a maniac, innocent, murderhobo, and quite frankly overconfident little avatar that shot out little embers of flames might just be too much for him to handle. Not that he had a choice. 

“I should probably give you a name…” Tao Zi thought for a moment. “Bob?”

The avatar laughed, nearly falling off the rock outcropping. 

A definite no. 

He decided to keep the animal based naming scheme he took with little Tiger. Naming the avatar Heron. It did not seem to mind it as much as Bob, but that was more in the general direction of indifference rather than actually liking it. 

Tao Zi shrugged as he turned back to the manual. He had a few hours of work before he could start lounging around again. 

Recovery was an important part of growth after all.