Challenge System CH30-40

Walking into a boss battle unprepared wasn’t my cup of tea. Of the three challenges I’ve received so far, one had been conditioning, another had been a boss battle, and the latest one had been a duel. With that in mind, I knew my last fight in the prehistory world had to be an even greater battle. I took that to heart while I swallowed my pills and fucked Samael and Elorael. My next fight would be against a tribe of warriors equal to Samael except with shields and the skull god. There was also a good chance I would have to fight the forest god.

It had been six months since my duel with Samael, and I got antsy. What could I say? Training myself to near death only to heal thanks to my regeneration could get old. My goal had been to be as prepared for what was to come as possible and that wasn’t like me.

When I let myself be eaten I shouldn’t have been able to go through with it. Most people would have ran instead I shut off my emotions and stopped myself from struggling. When I fought I wasn’t thinking most of the time. I didn’t have some grand strategy or plan in mind before the system. In the few fist fights I’ve had in my life before the system I didn’t think. After the system and the pills I started to plan and scheme. I started acting like the mage I wanted to be.

The first month after my duel had been the worst. Even touching one of the many trees with the intention to harm them had some terrible consequences. Cutting a tree down was like kicking a hornets nest with wasps larger than buses and with bad attitudes. Sapient creatures from legendary moose to T-rexes always seemed to know where I was in the forest. They couldn’t wait to take a bite out of me either.

15 days after the duel.

I took a large chunk of obsidian normally used for making spear tips and used it to rake some of the bark off a tree I felled. That same obsidian stuck out of my new ax for a remarkably sharp head. Once I felled a tree and freed up some light, I did the responsible thing and began delimbing the tree for my preparations. One of the massive trees could be carved into numerous boards that could make a remarkably nice fence. In addition, I had some ideas for a little enchanting to keep dangerous animals and bugs away. All I had to do was till the ground, and I could buy a steel shovel or maybe an actual diesel tractor for that.

All I heard was a grunt before it hit me full speed. Ironically like a deer hit by a truck, I folded and rolled over the moose’s horns. The second I hit the ground and got a good look at what hit me, I was stunned. While the monster’s horns glowed like the lights of a truck and charged again, I couldn’t move. The second hit didn’t have as much power behind it, but it still hurt like hell.

The world blured in fast moving bulging shapes of silver and gold. At first I felt shocked and mad as hell as the pain from the hit washed over me. Like waking up from a dream those emotions no longer made sense, I moved grabbing ahold of one of its horns for leverage and then punched it in the back of the head. The moose blasted down and flipped from the impact. My training hadn’t slowed down after my duel; if anything, it ratcheted up with the last challenge looming over my head. When I seemed to grow used to whatever hellish training, Zosimael, Mekael, or the online forums could come up with, I searched for something new. Whether that was using runes to enchant my body glove for more defense, learning how to build a homestead with an ax, or the basics of locating iron and coal, I was on it.

I threw a cross jab. The punch connected and the moose’s head shot to the side, it bellowed before tipping over. I quickly snapped its neck and inventoried the flopping moose. Once the moose was dead, and I calmed down, I tried to go back to what I was doing. Moose were known for being territorial, and maybe I wasn’t paying attention. This was my first attempt at building fencing from scratch. I could be forgiven for letting my guard down even in the dangerous forest.

A roar disabused me of those thoughts. On instinct, I scaled the nearest tree seconds before a familiar glowing T-rex charged through the clearing before ramming into the tree I climbed. My perch shuddered, and the lizard had the gall to open its mouth and walk under me. Somehow it didn’t need to search; it knew where I was.

I pulled a spear from my inventory and threw it without a second thought before pulling my bow free and knocking an arrow as I jumped between trees. Before I landed in the other tree, a large silver orangutan kicked me. Once again, I was surprised.

Not once but twice, something fooled me. The T-rex leaped up even as it turned its head to keep my spear from penetrating the soft flesh of its upper palate. The monster’s teeth closed on either side of me, and its massive tongue pushed against me. I plunged the arrow still in my hand into the hard muscular tongue of the predator.

I stood using the spear I threw earlier for support and delivered an uppercut to the top of the T-rex’s upper palate. Blood blasted down around my fist as flesh and bone split from my blow. At that point, my rage couldn’t be contained.

I recently purchased a new feature for my inventory. After the purchase my inventory could equip and unequip the weapons held within my inventory, complete with hotkeys. I raised my free hand and the ax I stored appeared in my grip. I slammed down on the monster’s tongue and split it in two as I pulled the muscle closer. Blood fell on me like a crimson shower as I destroyed the inside of the predator’s mouth. The ax in my hand vanished only to be replaced with a club with a hard stone embedded into it. I shattered a tooth behind me, replaced my bow with my ax, and slammed the head into the gap between the T-rex’s teeth.

The monster’s mouth opened wide as it shook its head from side to side to free itself from me. I threw myself out and turned my attention to the beast that kicked me before. More of the beasts had joined the orangutan. Each of them wielded primitive clubs, and if they managed to move in close, they would be a problem. I reequipped my bow and aimed for headshots. In those few seconds between my freedom from the T-rex’s mouth and landing on the tree, I killed 4 apes and reequipped to my knife and spear.

While the T-rex flailed and other silver predators prowled, I closed the distance between myself and the other sapient creatures of the forest. They had ambushed me, and I decided to do away with them. Even if it wasn’t a conscious decision at that moment, allowing them to leave alive seemed impossible. It wasn’t anger that made my decisions but something cold and logical. Even if I wasn’t thinking of a bigger picture leaving enemies alive to attack me again coulnd’t be allowed. So I killed them to the last and put their bodies in my inventory. Later I planned to skin and cure their hides to give them as a present to Elorael and Samael.

More forest creatures prowled the base of the trees, and even silver glowing hornets attacked me without provocation. I slaughtered them with my bare hands; anything small enough to fit into my inventory was also slaughtered from a distance with my bow. The fliers from the sapient hawks and buzzards to falcons, never dared to approach.

I returned to the treehouse I called home to a teary-eyed Elorael and a worried Samael.

“You did it this time. The priestesses are going crazy. No one in the history of our village has been excommunicated before. The whole forest is going to go after you now. Some think they will go after anyone who even talks to you. The ministers are talking about kicking you out.” Samael said.

Now that the fight was over I couldn’t help but think it was only a stupid tree. But then again if I killed Samael’s dog I might have a fight on my hands. To her the wild dog that liked to piss in my shoes was more than a mutt. The forest god might consider trees to be more than just trees.

“Darling, we could move. There is an ambassador from the skull tribe; maybe they will take us in.” Elorael said.

Samael snorted. “My mother would never let us go; we know too much. Even swearing on the forest god wouldn’t be enough.”

Samael looked out the window to see several silver creatures flying about. When I approached the window they scattered.

“They won’t come any closer. Faith in their god isn’t enough to make them throw their lives away. Perhaps I have destroyed their faith in the forest god. I have some new furs that would look great on the both of you.” I said and tossed two of the silver ape corpses out of my inventory.

“You killed sapient creatures,” Samael said.

“If they were really that smart, they wouldn’t have attacked me in the first place. At least I don’t have to be careful when I hunt any longer. Now I can knock down all the trees I want without repercussions.” I said.

“The forest god could awaken to destroy you,” Samael said.

“Darling already killed a god once, and now he’s much stronger. So I don’t think it would be impossible for him to do it again.” Elorael said.

I smiled at that Elorael was someone always on my side. She was a great bro. If I could bring her back to my world I would. That’s something I hadn’t asked message about. I was actually a little scared to know the answer. My procrastination wasn’t something that a few pills could get rid of so easily.

“This would be an open rebellion. Our tribe won’t survive it. There is no way my mother would let us get away with it if she were calling the shots.” Samael said.

Our eyes met and the message was clear. Her mother wasn’t calling the shots anymore and despite people talking there wasn’t an angry mob on our doorstep. As far as the village leadership went this could be considered beneficial.

We fucked all night after that, and I still trained my ass off the next day. While I was excommunicated, the forest creatures stopped trying to kill me after their bodies piled up. We had the silver ape hides taken to be processed, and I started working on my farm. I turned the small patch of free sunny land into a small orchard. After another month, I had my fence up, complete with runes to keep troublesome bugs out managed to plant quite a few saplings that would grow into fruit-bearing trees.

One day while I toiled, a powerful creature made itself known. It stood easily 6m in height, and it was covered in layers of natural bark-like armor. From my time battling the sea god, I recognized what type of creature I was dealing with. It was an avatar and, more importantly, a sapling of the forest god.

“My name is Uriel fleshling. And I’ve come to see what you chose to do with the sunlight you’ve stolen by felling an elder of the forest before its time.”

PL40

To be blunt, my current qi level or power level was 14. Qi levels rose based on how long a breathing technique was used, food supply, and battle experience. After fighting Samael, my qi levels increased, and I had another gain after constantly fighting Mekael while wearing my weights. My 14 was extremely impressive. The forest god avatar was more powerful than me. That couldn’t be denied if we looked at sheer qi supply. He could bring over 3 times my strength to bear.

He was a creature made to tear people like me apart. Only there were more factors at play. I was a liar at heart, and I loved nothing more than picking apart opponents. If this turned into a nondeadly encounter, I decided to let it believe I wasn’t as powerful as it. Of course, if we compared PL, that was the case. It had all the power it needed to use an untold number of techniques. With just light’s speed, it could destroy me before I could even make a defense. With a Light Beam or Photon Burst, the fight between us would be over in a flash. I couldn’t even use either of those moves; light was just out of my reach. I couldn’t sense out the light of the binary suns to replicate that power. Much less use the solar storing ability only forest god avatars could use. A light technique against it would only make this creature even stronger.

With that in mind, I couldn’t defeat Uriel. I actually had little information despite Temael’s digging for me. Zosimael was still trudging through her own memories after recovering from her poisoning. Looking at it from any perspective like that, I was at a major disadvantage.

“I can hardly grow something new without sunlight. That’s the problem with such large and old forests; the new rarely gets a chance to grow strong while under the shadow of an elder wood.” I said.

“They are hardly new other fruit-bearing trees grow elsewhere. Yet, you slew an elder instead of working to find one and earn its fruit by competing with others. How can you justify defending yourself against other loyal fleshlings for closer fruit-bearing trees?” Uriel said.

“You act like I did something wrong. I needed sunlight and a clear area to grow the fruit I wanted, so I made the room. How is it my fault that an elder tree couldn’t defend itself and no others came to defend it? It’s not like it asked me to stop. Besides, it's not truly gone; I’ve repurposed it.” I said.

“Should I wear the skins of fleshlings then in retaliation? Would that be fair?”

I had to act like I didn’t care but also show I had teeth. Backing down would only put me in the avatar’s power.

“Try it; there are plenty of moose and lizards. But attack one of mine, and I’ll destroy you.” I said.

The 6m tall living tree looked at me with what I could only call humor. Between the two of us, it was obvious that I wouldn’t stand a chance if we fought. David and Goliath's stories were just that stories. In a fight, all tools being equal, the more physically powerful individual would win. Unfortunately, intelligence rarely wins a fight when it’s a head-to-head battle.

“I don’t understand how it is better to slay a moose instead of an elf. The moose can become sapient just like an elf. Is it because elves become sapient faster? I’ve had many more pleasant conversations with moose than I have elves. Even the priestesses who try to form a relationship with my kind are hardly good conversationalists.” Uriel said.

“Once again, you are mistaken. I don’t care about the relationship between elves and the forest god or its avatars. You need the elves to keep the skull god at bay. While they negotiate with the skull tribe and send ambassadors back and forth, the skull god won’t attack. Without the forest elves, the skull tribe would invade and burn down this forest, and the skull god would come with them. It most likely has avatars much like yourself. No matter how good they are at conversing, moose can’t tie the skull tribe up with trade deals and ambassadorial missions.” I said.

“You are not an elf, but you belong to that tribe and take on elf mates. No elf would do this to the forest on purpose, but you chopped up a living testament to history with glee; what are you?” Uriel asked.

“I am that which alters the world to suit my needs. Whether it’s the land, sea, or air, I will alter it as I see fit. For example, the oak tree covered the forest floor with acorns and killed everything beneath it. So, I got rid of it. Not only that, but I plan to bathe the soil with qi-rich blood to grow superior fruit. My power will grow by eating that fruit, and what I can do to affect the world will increase.” I said and stared at the avatar.

“Despite your grandiose claims, you have succeeded in removing an old partially rotted tree and planted new trees in its place. While the elder wood was old and contained a great history, you didn’t destroy it for no reason. By planting new saplings after their destruction, all you have done is encourage new growth. So long as you maintain this situation and keep your destruction limited. Then, I can overlook this act of violence against the forest. We predicted a harsh forest fire this year, but you may have created a break in it instead. So, that which alters the world, while our goals align, I will not slay you as an encroaching species in a foreign habitat. But remember your limits. I’ll keep my eyes on you.” Uriel said.

Shortly after that conversation many of the avatars were reported to go into hibernation to assist the forest god in absorbing the sea god’s power.

1 month after the duel.

My SP hit zero even as I added more pictures of a very naked posing Samael. That happened a lot after I got into magic. Nearly everything that involved magic was expensive if I wanted to gain anything in a timely fashion. There was a reason why most wizards were greybeards.

Samael gave me an unimpressed look as I dug through a pile of bones. Books of all kinds, chiseling hand tools, and battery-powered grinders littered my worktable. A small rotating engine rested in the room, blasting out tiny blue particles as it sucked in necromantic energies.

“I don’t see why you want to learn magic when you already have qi,” Samael said.

That woman had just begun shopping online with one of my newly bought tablets. She had taken an interest in buying things just to buy them. Now she couldn’t.

What she said made sense. I was already over my head and drowning in learning years’ worth of cultivation knowledge in weeks. My god light techniques were finally making some progress, and I managed to blast a pinecone with a narrow light beam. However, more esoteric skills like Light’s Speed or Photon Burst were beyond me. Until I managed the basics, those buffs would be beyond me. Knowing that, I still went ahead and bought a mana core kit, several books on necromancy, and a negative energy filter.

“The experts say the best way to get into magic is to get a familiar. And the best familiars are made by hand. Its best for those familiars made by your own hands are either golems or necromantic constructs. I can fit my familiarity with nearly infinite energy with a necromantic filter-based core. Our familiar bond will also give me a leg up on the competition.” I said.

“Darling, we aren’t saying you shouldn’t get into magic; we would like to get into it as well, but you have a lot on your plate,” Elorael said.

“50% of those who don’t get into magic early never take it on as their main weapon. If I don’t get into it now, it will only ever be weaker than my qi.” I said.

“It looks like a small skull avatar. The ministers will spread rumors that you are a skull tribe spy.” Samael said.

I nodded my head. The ministers needed to die sooner than later. I would add it to my schedule and ask Temael to collect more information about them. Plans to build a drone with a phosphorus charge hooked up to it came to mind. Some C4 to blow up wherever they meet to come up with their dastardly plans wouldn’t be a bad idea either. A Bluetooth camera to spy on them would help out as well.

“Are you really going to kill them instead of giving up on this?” Elorael asked.

The smirking dark-skinned islander elf clearly didn’t mind a little murder of officials. But Samael looked much less convinced.

“If you fail, there will be a civil war, and if you succeed, my mother will no longer be poisoned. She will take one look at your projects and throw you out of the tribe. If she doesn’t, her surviving supporters are most likely on the side of the ministers; if you don’t get them all, they will turn my mother against you.” Samael said.

The beautiful ivory-skinned elf’s ears turned pink as my gaze fell over her. She had become quite the sub after we made it official. But, while she gave me blowjobs all the time along with Elorael, she didn’t like it when I sucked her. Instead, she was the type that loved a good hair-pulling pounding.

I shook those thoughts away and returned my attention to the slowly awakening magic engine. It was a tool used in worlds where mana didn’t occur naturally. A phenomenon called magic saturation allowed those around dense manacules or mana molecules to absorb mana into their bodies. This could be hastened ironically through breathing techniques.

Constant prevented me from adapting to a new breathing technique, so I had to find a workaround.

Magic and qi were two different sources of energy tied together. Qi might as well be lifeforce, and it grew stronger by eating qi-rich food and training. Even if there was no more qi to cultivate in the air, I could raise my qi with training. That’s how I grew strong so quickly. Not only did I eat qi-rich foods, cultivate in a qi-rich environment, but I also trained to encourage my qi to grow.

Magic was the energy of the mind. It could be improved with a breathing technique in mana-dense environments, eating mana-rich food, and studying magic. But, of course, I was a mage, and what did mages do best?

They cheated. So,cheating should be second nature to someone like me, so I focused on my work.

Using qi-rich bones, I could create a powerful vessel that should be more than capable of handling a mana engine. Unfortunately, what I was doing hadn’t been tried in a system user’s infancy before. I was nothing but a newborn squirming in the cradle compared to the old vampires, ancient mages, and immortals. Most would save their SP and purchase a powerful breathing technique and slowly adapt their bodies to the pure mana of a perpetual mana engine. Unfortunately, a breathing technique wasn’t an option. So, I could only craft a familiar and make a familiar bond.

Instead of sucking in mana through my lungs, I was installing a direct pipe. Another concern was installing a magic engine to a familiar. Giving something like a familiar infinite power might not be the best idea. Usually, when one was installed, even a small one, it was after a mage had mastered many spells and entered a more powerful world.

Fortunately, I had forums and dozens of videos to choose from to build a rune-based mind for my undead familiar. After going over my work numerous times over a week, I was sure my rune-based AI would do the job. To that end, I began the installation process and ran a final debugging. I tapped the glasses on my head and watched my rune code for any errors.

Rune craft was a tricky business needing numerous supplementary techniques. If I didn’t learn a self-hypnosis technique, they weren’t possible. In essence, I had to trick myself into believing a bunch of squiggles could affect energy to make them affect energy. The symbols were easy to screw up and needed to be incrementally carved into a structure with the greater idea held in the carver’s mind. If I wasn’t already meditating to feel photons, then I wouldn’t have the willpower required to carve each separate rune.

Once the debug read negative, I activated it again. Measure twice cut once as they say. I’ve fucked up too many times and can’t afford to do it now. Buying another 10k mana engine wasn’t my idea of a fun time. I could take out a loan for one, but I didn’t want to deal with interdimensional collectors.

After the second debug, I found an error and quickly took chisels to it, hoping it wasn’t too big of a problem.

“You’ve been at this for a week; maybe it's time to stop,” Samael said.

I hit the debug twice more and found no issues. Then I slipped on the mirror runes that would bind this creature made of bone and magic to me.

The familiar was carved into the form of a bone dragon with two maws, five-toed claws, and skeletal wings. While it might not be able to fly at first, it had a lot of room to grow. Its body was made from qi-infused bones from various sapient animals. So it was, in essence, a custom-made skeletal dragon. According to the strongest monsters forum, being undead and a dragon would give it some of the best typing and survivability.

“What are you talking about? It is done; I’ve already completed it.” I gave myself two weeks to get the familiar together, and it was already done. All I had to do was brush a rune, and the mana engine would begin feeding the construct.

“Darling, I don’t know about this; it looks scary,” Elorael said.

I brushed the rune and watched the power from the mana engine slowly move through the numerous runes lining its body. Finally, a pale blue light lit in its six eye holes, and it raised its head. The creature took two steps and fell on its face. The familiar runes on its body lit up and connected to the runes on my glove. They began to heat up until pain lanced up my arm. I had to either cold sear brand them into my skin or wear the glove for nearly a year until the bond settled.

My connection to the small dragon tentatively awakened like opening a window into a trippy world.

The ground around the little dragon froze over with her ever taloned step. The first thing I felt from her was an overwhelming emptiness. At first, I assumed that was part of her undeath until she sniffed the air like a living dragon. Only through her, I gained some phantom senses. She was looking for bones to eat.

“It worked. I can’t believe it worked. Did you make a little god?” Samael asked.

“She might one day grow as large and powerful as one.”

I dumped a pile of bone shavings on the ground, and the little devil went to work. Her form shifted as the bone fragments she consumed merged with her own body. Magic was unpredictable, and when I really thought about it, she didn’t have a life before this or even prehistory. The magic in her body constantly increased at a steady rate.

While the mana engine inside her was a good one, it was still only a kit I bout for 1.5k and built with cheaper materials. It would help me adapt to mana over a few years and eventually develop my own mana source. After a few years, I could develop my own organic mana core and produce a steady supply of mana myself. Of course, it wouldn’t be as efficient as the mechanical mana core. Still, a magic-user could become powerful combined with some familiars, enchanted rings, amulets, clothes, and weapons. Of course, it also depended on the build and when the build started.

I was still in my infancy, and going with a build now was the best idea. So far, I favored familiar craft, binding to myself, and a heavy lean on physical combat. According to the meta forums, golem craft was robust and adaptive.

For example, it allowed users to create their own armies of mobs by using the bodies of fallen mobs with magic and qi; the older the creature, the more powerful. So by making my familiar now, she would be very powerful.

“Darling, I have a name for her,” Elorael said as she fed my skeletal dragon familiar a larger bone. “She’s so white and pretty, and her scales are long and pointy. They look like the petals of one of my favorite flowers. So, I can’t think of a better name than Lotus.” Elorael said.

She gently picked up the little dragon while it chews on a bone. The little familiar snuggled into my ebony elf’s breasts, and I couldn’t help but take a picture and post it. At least I would have a lot of photos for my memories when I got older.

For once, I wrote a caption. “Lotus was born today.” The SP rolled in.

2 months after duel.

The white-furred pelt I wore over my blue body glove collected light like nobody’s business. Apparently, when animals gained sapience, they also mutated, adapting to the qi in their bodies. The silver apes I killed could gather vast amounts of light with their fur. After practicing while wearing the fur, I got the hang of the technique. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as impressive as it sounded. I barely increased my qi, sensing enough to feel the twin suns’ rays.

Despite finally getting a handle on the technique and starting the long journey of learning light god techniques, I still wore the pelt. Elves looked at my girls with a little more respect and mostly ignored me. The more devoted turned their eyes away, and the ministers seemed a little warier. That was a good thing. I wanted those bitches to be wary of me.

While an enemy that wasn’t scared could be a problem, they already knew I could beat Samael in a duel. From that perspective, hiding my strength wouldn’t give me any advantages. I could pretend that it was a fluke and try to get them to lower their guard, but then I would have to tiptoe. At this point, I preferred to make waves, and planting an orchard after cutting down a giant tree made one hell of a splash.

I made my way to watch the ministers’ meeting with that in mind. Temael told me about it, and that girl had an ear for gossip. The other up-and-coming warriors liked to talk while they plunged their dicks inside the girl. Even with a swelling belly, Temael couldn’t help but fuck and suck. That girl didn’t know what else to do, so I had her move in.

It was the middle of the night when I approached a small cave hidden near the coast. Elves loved their fish, swimming, and dolphin girls. So it wasn’t hard to ask around and make a map of all the cave locations. Most elves had an instinctual sense of direction which was great for them.

Technology really changed the game when it came to spying. I had a lot of plans for the meeting place of the ministers, and none of that included outing myself. So, I flipped on a few TVs from my own cave setup after firing up the generator.

Lotus rested in a corner munching on several whole fish. She had moved on from just bones to meat and filled out because of it. Her body hardly resembled a skeletal dragon at this point. Swirling blue patterns covered her pristine white scales, and a thin membraned connected the spiny ends of her wings. Even with her snake-like body, she would be a flier soon.

One of the best advantages of having her here was her ability to cool down the cave. After all, I could store all the junk food Samael wouldn’t let me have with her. All I had to do was show them the internet, and before I knew it, they were trying to control my diet. Apparently, I should only ever eat leafy green vegetables, a little fruit, and plenty of meat. They learned English at an astonishing rate and ate up knowledge from the forums. Buying them two tablets wasn’t such a good idea.

The two liked to post their own pictures, and while the SP felt great, I didn’t like having to justify my purchases to them. I felt less like their man and more like a company man using a business card. How long would it be before I could return to my world for all the mountain dew and video games I could handle?

A torch lit up on one of the screens, and I swigged some sugary sweet tea. The supply minister walked on screen, and I adjusted the audio to tune her steps out. Other ministers were filing in until all the actors were present. Then someone I hadn’t seen before stepped into the torchlight.

He wasn’t what I expected. Most elves looked like women. They had large breasts and acted like women with dicks. Unfortunately, the skull tribe was the reverse. A masculine elf stepped exposed his hooked nose, several bone piercings sticking out of his lip, and a flail with leather-wrapped obsidian teeth lining its side on his hip.

I watched through one screen, and through Lotus’s eyes, I stared at another. I could see the skull tribe ambassador in all his glory from two angles. The man elf wore armor made of bone in a series of plates that resembled fish scales. His skull was half-shaved, leaving the other half long and braided with shiny gems. Yet, even from the screen, I could sense his strength. Fighting him would be different from Samael.

The man spoke up, starting the meeting and establishing the pecking order. I could almost call it a day with that alone. But, just the cultural significance of an outsider starting the conversation meant he oversaw this meeting. So, the ministers were all traitors.

“We don’t have much time left; our warriors are dying against the plain tribe, their many gods, and avatars. We will be consumed if your forest god doesn’t awaken and join the skull god in battle. And then nothing will stand between the plain tribe and you.”  The ambassador said.

I racked my mind for the man’s name. “Zekael,” Lotus supplied, and I snapped my fingers.

“That’s it; his name is Zekael,” I said and decided not to set off the myriad of explosives I planted in their cave with drones. Honestly, I was looking forward to what a white phosphorus charge could do to a cultivator’s body. But if we were about to team up with them against the plain tribe, I better not.

“We can’t send our warriors; we have too many malignant factors at play. One of those old fogies who remember the battle against the skull tribe has cured herself of the memory poison. We’re afraid she’ll challenge the chief to a duel and become chief herself if we try anything. You know what she’ll do shortly after that.” The minister of supply said.

“I don’t care if any of you live or die. Kill the old elf and the chief and put someone younger in charge. My tribesmen are dying, and winter is coming, and soon the Plains Tribe will pull back. Come spring, if we aren’t united, they will destroy us, and then nothing will stop them from digging you out root and stem. If you can’t send warriors, then at least send food. While my people fight, we can’t store food for the winter.” Zekael said.

I guessed by the way the ministers nodded their heads like good yes men; it really was getting close to winter. Really in a world with binary suns, I thought winter wouldn’t be much of an issue. We might also be closer to the equator, which would mean warmer temperatures. But, of course, I could be wrong; there might not be an equator.

This twist was unexpected. I didn’t think there would be a reason not to simply do away with the ministers and ambassador. Killing them seemed like the right thing, but I guess I was wrong. Still getting a god off its ass to fight with another god wasn’t likely. On the other hand, the Plains Tribe seemed to have a pantheon thing going, and there wasn’t much of a chance of success. And still, there wasn’t a challenge from the system. So, like before, I can only keep up with what’s happening around me and prepare for whatever happens.

4 months after duel.

Fall came quickly, and winter was on its way; the deadline for ministers was coming up, and they seemed happy to sit on their hands and constantly jittery. I couldn’t blame them; I would be too if I crippled the leadership of my government with dementia and had a war on the horizon. Young fertile warriors could always be bred to make more Plains Tribesmen, but what about old set in their ways nearly infertile ministers. Especially those known to poison their leaders and make deals with other tribes. Who could trust such women?

Oh, I couldn’t fool myself either. The second the Plains Tribe attacked, I had better have my shit together and be ready to wipe out the army of a god. If I wasn’t ready, then that would be it for me. To that end, I had a plan in the works to manufacture a lot of anti-unit and avatar ammunition and possibly build a reserve of moose. Unfortunately, it was bound to step on some giant toes, but if everything went well, who knows, it might be just the thing we needed.

I upped my weights against them because they were feeling a little light and began storing whole trees pointed at one end in my inventory. Soon enough, I had a stack of 999 trees with the diameter of a ford truck’s length. There were many massive trees in the forest, and with fall coming, the forest was a little slow to react. Even the silver animals couldn’t do much, especially with an air-born Lotus hunting them.

On occasion, I heard a squeal and had a phantom taste of blood in my mouth. But, to Lotus, it was delicious, and she enjoyed eating the silver prey the most. They apparently put up the most fight and had the chewiest bones.

There were a few reasons to clear out an area of forest. My first reason was to establish a herd of moose to be broken and eventually turned into mounts for calvary. With a war of the gods on the horizon, I didn’t think our forest god would survive, so, fuck the forest. But, I had other thoughts and a few a little more grandiose than herding moose.

My connection with Lotus mana was a resource that could be stored in bones. Necromantic properties, types, and origins were a thing as far as magic was concerned. Lotus had an unnatural advantage where that was concerned. I couldn’t afford the books that did anything more than reference what any of that stuff did. But by the reference, Lotus was very good at necromantic magic. Using the mana she funneled into me through our familiar bond was best at summoning undead. Since her mana was all I had to work with, that narrowed down what I could summon.

While that could sound like a disadvantage, it made things easier. I had a near unlimited number of magics, techniques, and perspectives to choose from. Not everyone agreed that elements and origins mattered. Few even persisted those properties mattered in magic. Those who were true mages swore by it, but the older users claimed that everything was merely preference. If I decided that fire was the way to go and focused all my time on fire and fire alone, detectors would eventually determine that my element, origin, and properties were fire or had something to do with fire.

“What are we going to summon today?” Lotus asked.

As a being in my head, she learned my language quickly. “We are going to summon some banshees,” I said.

“I didn’t think there were any other spellcasters here,” Lotus said.

“Should we summon some Grievers, Rottlings, or Poison Fogs instead. It could be a while before anyone invades, and the upkeep of Rottlings or poison fog would be too much for us.” I said.

Banshees were used almost exclusively to interrupt a grand summoning or a step in a spellcaster's plan. They are kind of strong against certain enemies, but not really. As spiritual undead, they are weak against sunlight, with binary stars that weakness is even worse. Qi-infused attacks damaged spirits through will, and banshees weren’t known for their ability to take punishment.

A poison fog would be devastating against any army that relies on a breathing technique. They also hate the living in any form and would plot to destroy me. On the other hand, Lotus could control them without much effort.

The only actual use for a banshee was their scream. It could rattle the manacules in the air for miles and disrupt summonings for even experienced mages. Almost all mages or magic users had at least one banshee in their back pocket to make the other side wary of going all out on a big summon. Of course, that’s assuming the mage doesn’t have their familiar in their inventory or redundant summoning areas. If a mage controlled an entire planet, they could attempt a single summon numerous times, banshees or not. I had a few dozen acres to get this right.

I dug my summoning circle in the mud then applied a bone meal mixed with concrete to it. My hope was to synergize it with Lotus to make necromantic summoning easier. But, unfortunately, I wasn't raising any kaiju-sized undead unless I had a lot more time and hundreds of corpses lying around. To do that, I might need a summoning circle the size of a few square acres. So it was better to walk before I ran.

Once I was sure the circle was right, I placed my right hand on it and slowly channeled some mana to it. A blue light lit up the circle, and I could feel the mana move to the summoning circle’s predetermined shape. The summoning energy reached out and linked up with another summoning circle on a far-off world. That, too, was normal. Summonings at my level only connected to far greater circles which did the heavy lifting.

Light flashed in the circle, and a see-through black-haired girl wearing a white robe appeared. Out connection formed immediately. The banshee connected to Lotus, and I could control the banshee through Lotus. Words wouldn’t be needed; I could give order with my mind and see it carried out. Once I was sure about how that worked, I really didn’t have a use for the banshee.

“Can you sing the SpongeBob SquarePants opening song?” Lotus asked.

I blinked and concluded something that Lotus agreed upon wholeheartedly. Our summoned banshee was of Japanese descent, and listening to her sing that sound would be adorable.

The summoned banshee sighed and needed no further prompting. “Ooh!”

6 months after duel.

There was still no challenge, and my body was getting used to my latest ridiculous set of weights. On the bright side, my qi sensing had finally reached the point where I could touch photons. After that, it was days of work meditating in sunlight while I adjusted to absorbing light. While that went on, I couldn’t help but find other projects to get into. For one, I needed a better weapon, and to that end, I started diving.

While diving seemed to have nothing to do with getting a weapon, I had a plan. First, beneath the reef where battles between gods had taken place, I searched through the seafloor for a piece of metal. So far, I found a calcified hunk of armor from the forest god, which played into my plan very well. Then, after searching high and low, I found a cave by some rocks inland with some honest to God coal. That was the ticket I needed to really get started.

I started getting into smithing between meditation and diving, and Samael immediately took over. Yea, she saw what I was doing smelting, ore, and my failed attempts to carbonize it to steel and kicked me out. I bought another tablet, and she immediately watched videos on smelting and smithing steel. After seeing Samael take over the task of smithing, Elorael took over taking care of the orchard. That only led to more spending on my SP and buying fertilizer online.

With their help, I offloaded my problems. I started searching for pieces of the metal god’s armored hide in earnest and went into enchanting research. Samael had learned enough English to look up what she wanted and use the tablet, and Elorael had begun writing in runes with her free time. That was another thing with my ability to store food in my inventory; they didn’t need to hunt or scavenge as often. That gave them more free time.

After giving it some thought, we began researching an enchantment to cool off an area.

My plans for that entity hadn’t gotten out yet, but it was only a matter of time. I had a challenge from one of the priestesses of the forest god that I couldn’t turn down. From what Samael said, those types had a habit of spamming long-range light attacks.

It had only been a week since I beat Samael, and I spent that time working on my conditioning. After learning the basics of rune craft and watching a few videos on basic enchanting, I upgraded my training weights. After that, I spent a few hours sparing with Mekael or shattering boulders with my fists every day.

My fist collided with the gray stone of a freshly uprooted boulder. I felt a crack, and a piece of the boulder slid off. No matter how bruised my knuckles felt, they only took a few seconds to heal. When the rock cracked and broke apart, I felt stronger. Before I trained my breathing technique to constant, it would have been impossible to pull off such a feat. Now, I could uproot the boulder and toss it dozens of yards. But, it wasn’t all fun and games.

I uprooted the boulder for practice and to help clear a field. While it wasn’t easy, I knocked over a few trees, uproot them, and harvested a few boulders. After working all day, I cleared around a hundred acres before flattening the ground by filling up holes with hills. Once the area was cleared, I replanted multiple fruit trees and began work on building some fencing materials. It wasn’t until the fence was built that the challenge from the priestess was issued.

“Red, you’re amazing; I don’t have the balls to piss the forest god off like this. But, once you beat the priestess, the forest god might have one of his avatars challenge you.” Samael said.

“Darling, don’t you think you’re going a little overboard with this farming? There are some areas further inland that are already fields. Some of this land falls into the skull tribe’s territory.” Elorael said.

“When I was a child, this was a pastime of mine. I loved to bend or uproot trees and make things out of them. Once I made a stretcher to help carry someone out of the woods for a survival exercise. Of course, the credit went to someone else for the idea even though I had the idea and supplied the materials. I wanted attention and recognition; it was only after I got older that I hated those things.” I said.

“If you don’t want attention, what’s the point of all this?” Samael asked.

I stared at the field and thought about it.

This place would resemble a giant summoning circle from a bird's eye view. Though it would take several weeks to fully power it. With it, if one of the gods fell in battle, we can summon a powerful spirit to animate the god’s body and make it even stronger than before. But there were other reasons.

At first, fell into the familiar, then I thought about something a little more innovative. Moose were valuable for their hide, meat, and bones. From building materials to clothing, that animal was used more than any other. Even the marrow from their bones was used for glue. So, what if I built a place to contain them and guarantee a steady supply without any fear of predators? That wasn’t all; I had an idea that wouldn’t disappear. What if we could domesticate and ride them?

“Let me show you,” I said.

I walked along the fence, little more than massive trees stabbed into the ground. Keeping the line even was easier than removing the limbs from each one. Some of their roots stuck out high overhead. Quite a few had snapped in half from the force of my throw, which made me a little nervous. If they were that fragile, what would happen when a predator wanted in to get at my moose herd?

The massive horns of a moose came into view first. As with most animals in this world, they were both male and female, which made reproduction confusing. When in rut, they pissed in pits, and the other massive moose wallowed in them. The herd devolved into mating, and more moose were born. All it really took to attract more moose was to take one of their numbers and move it into the fenced-in area. From there, others followed.

I approached the moose I wanted, one that I had fed, and formed a friendly relationship with over the week. I tossed a blanket over its back and hopped on without my weights.

At first, the beast didn’t do anything; it acted like everything was normal. Then I kicked it slightly, and it went berserk. The moose ran forward and rammed its head into one of the many trees. With a lurch, I rocketed forward and collided with the tree. I barely managed to put a hand in front of my face before hitting.

“Great job, Darling; you managed to subdue a moose for us.”

I rolled over on my back. “If we could tame them a little better, we would have something fast and mobile to ride on. A spear would be even deadlier with a charging moose behind it.” I said.

“That would piss my mother off. When blowguns were introduced, she threw a fit and nearly dueled their inventor to the death.” Samael said.

“We know that isn’t a problem. Your mother isn’t exactly herself right now. But, darling, the ministers will be even more dangerous if you do this.” Elorael said.

“They already want to kill me, and the feeling is mutual. If the forest tribe wants to survive, this is the next logical step in their evolution. Mounted calvary can destroy infantry.” I said.

Plans to find the most qi-rich plants to grow came to mind. First, we would have to find the areas where the forest god loved to shit and transport it to my farm. Including them in this would be nothing but helpful. With some fish to help the fertilization process, I could help the herd grow even stronger. Most animals adapted, growing stronger, smarter, and faster to a larger qi supply. The moose was no different. If we artificially hastened the process by introducing higher concentrations of qi in a fenced-in area, it would be even better. Of course, there were other problems with that. A few trees in this forest could move, and they had eyes. I could only surmise that they were a type of sapient plant.

Some parts of the forest we didn’t enter because of those plants. Some of them hunted the moose just like we did and wouldn’t think twice about taking a bite out of an elf or me. I imagined the insects would also be an issue. All it would take was one carrying the seed of one of those more sapient plants to spread one to my field.

We made our way back to the village soon after that. I had a duel coming up.

…

A massive golden creature approached us on our way back to the village. Samael didn’t draw her spear, and Elorael froze. I couldn’t feel the creature’s strength until it was only a few meters from us, and I knew what it was then. Standing easily 6m tall covered in bark-like living armor was an avatar of the forest god.

“Fleshling, you have taken too greedily from nature’s bounty. Your designs for this world can not stand and will be crushed under the great roots. So bow your head and surrender or face my wrath and feed the growth.”

I stared at the massive creature, and my mind raced. All the stories I’ve heard about them made the avatars out to be invincible. No spear could breach its armor, and all techniques were absorbed by its body. Attacking it with light was utterly useless, even if I could use those techniques. My sensing was still too low to grasp the techniques. My weapon on hand was a bow with steel arrowheads. Moving my qi around was a new development and one I hadn’t adapted yet.

At the same time, I could outspeed Mekael, Samael, and Elorael with my weights on. I put the last god down from the inside, but I doubted I would need that for the other one. My only real problem with this fight was a lack of DPS (damage per second). In other words, I couldn’t inflict any lasting damage on the monster with my current skill set. A punch might not do enough to matter, and I only learned enough about enchanting to raise the weight on my training equipment.

On the other hand, my inventory still had 999 trees sharpened on the ends to make them dig into the ground easier. With my strength increased to its current ludicrous amount, I made trees into practical throwing weapons while using my inventory as a near bottomless clip. It might have cost me 3000SP to increase my inventory size to make it usable, but that was all I needed. Then, of course, there was another option, one that the avatar couldn’t predict.

First, I dropped my weights from my arms, and they crumbled hard against the ground. The relief from lightening the load on my arms left me in near ecstasy. My shoulders felt relieved, and the only thing better was the removal of my vest. A small crater expanded where my vest fell. I could feel my back pop, and all the tension within relaxed. After that, I took off my boot and finally my leg weights. With a single jump, it felt like I could fly away.

I abused my body’s regeneration and higher strength and speed potential to their fullest the week after I fought Samael. I waited for the final challenge to issue, with the last challenge hanging over my head. Undoubtedly it would be a fight against the avatars and the forest god. My body was ready, and my spirit was willing to begin that fight. I couldn’t imagine such a giant entity could catch me.

But the third challenge didn’t appear. Instead, I moved and snapped the leg off the avatar’s leg. Golden sap gushed from the wound before slowly stopping.

“You used a technique against me, the voice of your tribe’s god.” The avatar said.

“You’re wrong,” Samael said.

“Was it you or the other outsider who used a technique? Did my distraction cost me so much? Is your tribe rebelling against me?” The avatar demanded.

“Darling didn’t use a technique,” Elorael said.

“While island obliterating fist had been integrated into my normal punch. I only pulled your leg off. Let me show you that again.” I said.

The avatar roared and thrust out its hand. Golden light suffused the limb, and if it connected, I would take a lot of damage. I had heard a lot about avatars and what they could do. Without the stories and legends from the battles against the skull tribe, I wouldn’t know how to respond. But if I avoided the claws, I could touch the rest of the arm without damage. I pulled gently, and the avatar’s giant arm came free.

“You’re called an avatar, but that isn’t true. You’re more like a child of the forest god. While that doesn’t sound like it is very different, it makes all the difference. You are a seed to the forest god, and trees make many seeds. So one dying won’t make much of a difference.” I said and gave a normal punch.

The avatar’s head exploded like an overripe melon. A smile spread across my face. I had become scary quickly, and I was only going to get scarier. My body felt like it was still growing, and I hadn’t even scraped against the ceiling yet. But, with a little more weight and time, I could reach the very heights of the world.

“Darling, what are we going to do about the body?” Elorael said.

Those words sent my ass crashing back down to earth. I tore the avatar apart and placed it in my inventory. Maybe they worked like sweet potato vines. Once I bury the ends of the limbs, new avatars might sprout up. We can farm these godlings endlessly and eat them to increase our cultivation with enough of them.

“We’re going to plant it and see what happens,” I said.

The main thing I had to worry about was the other avatars and the priestess. Neither of them would be a problem once the invasion began, but they were like the sword of Damocles until then. Winter was over, and spring was here; the wars would start again. This land wasn’t safe, and all I could do was prepare and try not to bring that sword down on my neck. Clearing out 100 acres sounded like a lot, but it was on the outskirts of the forest god’s territory.

While the forest god rested to adapt to the sea god’s power, I had time, and once the war happened, none of this was my concern. So instead, I planned to wait until the forest god was defeated to fight.

7 months after duel.

My preparations hadn’t been swift enough. Elves were poor riders, and moose were poorer mounts. Getting a few elven aspirant warriors to try and ride a moose wasn’t hard. Breaking the moose into reliable mounts was more difficult. From what I could determine, they couldn’t be trained to pull chariots either. A moose’s value stopped at their meat and hide. I found a species of pigmy horses, but it would take decades of selective breeding to make one strong enough to bear a rider.

So, I scrapped the mounted elves' plan in favor of archers. Longbows weren’t easy to master, but in only a month, most elves could put an arrow where they wanted it at 100yrds. Their keen eyes, qi enhanced bodies, and height gave them an incredible advantage in that regard. In addition, their longbows were made of a glowing yew that didn’t mind losing a branch in exchange for a moose.

As it turned out, moose became something of a currency more than a mount. So my plan to herd and breed them wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

I walked over to a limb poking out of the and uprooted it. Long silvery roots came up with the limb. It wouldn’t be long before it formed a whole avatar by its growth. All it really needed to grow was water and sunlight.

My qi sense felt, tasted, and heard the sunlight stream into the limb, and by some complex process, qi was refined from it. The limb of the avatar did naturally what Zosimael attempted to teach me. No breathing technique was involved; instead, its disembodied will pulled the light into itself, almost like a single constant breath.

Challenge 4 Slay the Gods 3months

Forest God Slain: 10 Red Pills

Skull God Slain: 10 Blue Pills

Plains Pantheon Slain: 15 Green Pills

My fourth challenge was harder than any before it. I hadn’t managed to kill a single god, and this one only gave me 3 more months to succeed. Well, it wasn’t like I was weak. I had trained myself every day as much as my regeneration would allow. While I could use a little light and move like any warrior with a spear, those weren’t my goals. While deadly, a mid-range light technique wouldn’t allow me to kill the forest god. I couldn’t store as much light as Samael, much less an avatar.

There was only one thing I could focus on to separate me from the others. Qi and qi control used in conjunction with my weights allowed me to increase the strength of my body dozens of times over. First, I made my weights as heavy as possible through runes, and with qi, my body surpassed human limits. Then I made a familiar bond with Lotus and started gathering mana. In short, I worked on the basics as much as possible in preparation for a terrible war.

My training arc had finally ended, and I was ready to fight. Not only were kaiju my opponents, but I had a whole pantheon to destroy. After eating some of their flesh, there was no telling what powers they would give me or how much stronger I would become. I had trees I could use as throwing knives, a dragon in my inventory, and a massive summoning circle in my back pocket.