chapter 8 ~<781st Tower of Ascensions>—II~

Eden was walking around on the seventh floor zone in the <781st Tower of Ascensions>. He had walked away from the meadow where he previously was and quite deep into the forest. He was strolling silently, at least on the outside, his thoughts were a completely different case. Inwardly, he was having an intense question and answer session with his 'partner', the second fragment or just no.2.

He had managed to obtain information on quite a lot of things such as the ranking of monsters commonly known as karmic beasts in this new world.They were unintelligent creatures possessing the ability wield karma, they are also extremely hostile toward humans. According to no.2, the karmic beasts ranked from the lowest grade 10 to the highest grade 1. Even within these rankings though, the monsters were categorized into low level; monsters from grade ten to seven, the intermediate level; from grade six to four and finally the high level; grade three to one. And that's not all, the monsters themselves came in various species such as the insects, beast, demonic and the legendary draconic species.

'master would have belonged to the draconic species........' I thought and I became saddened. Even though I had already strengthened my resolve to avenge my master, it still didn't feel real. An existence that I had spent thousands of years with, a great teacher and an even greater friend was gone, never to return again. It was a heavy reminder of the realness of death, a concept I had long since forgotten.

*Slap*

I used both palms to slap myself on the cheeks, reminding myself of my goals and reaffirming my resolve. And then

*Rumble*rumble*

The earth was shaking, and I could sense that a presence was approaching, it was quite strong, if I was to compare it to my current self of course. The ground quaking was a sign that the monster itself was quite large.

I closed my eyes and tried to sense the karmic energy so as to determine the direction from which the creature was coming from. After concentrating for a while, I felt it coming directly towards me from the north. I quickly opened my eyes and activated my karmic stigmata, an ability I decided to name Blue tempest, and a light blue aura started to emanate from me. I recalled a certain conversation I had with my master concerning his stigmata.

************

"Master, what is the special characteristic of your stigmata?" I asked.

"Hmmm?".

"I mean that every other stigmata I have seen so far had a special characteristic, but I haven't noticed any in yours. Why is that? Have I not reached that level yet?" I clarified.

"HAHAHAHA".

"What's so funny?" I said, pouting.

"Look, if you think about it, there was never a rule that said a person's stigmata had to have some sort of special feature. Mine is just pure power and, when I think about it, it actually does have a special feature. It's far more flexible in the way it can be handled, making the possibilities for it endless". He explained.

"Oh, I see". I said, finally understanding.

******************

Blue tempest was a stigmata that boosted ones overall stats, and that's not all.

The creature had finally reached me. It was a giant centipede. It had hundreds of legs which supported it as it stood at a height of almost ten feet! Its entire body, except it's belly was covered with extremely hard obsidian scales. It's mandibles opened wide as it let out a huge roar towards me.

*Kiiiiieeeeeek!"

It screamed and the sound resonated throughout over forty metres of the entire forest. This was probably meant to scare me but unfortunately, it was absolutely Ineffective. Prior to this meeting, I had already encountered existences that possessed gazes far more threatening than this. I stood, completely unaffected by its scream. Instead of entering a state of panic I remained calm and collected, I inwardly thought to no.2.

'give me all the information you have on that monster'.

'that is an obsidian centipede. It seems to still be a young offspring but it's a high end grade 8, insect type species".

'I see. What about it's scales? How hard are they?' I already had an idea from just looking at it, but I needed to be sure.

'equating adamantium, the hardest known substance to 10. It's scales would be a 4.5. it's not at a level which the current you can easily pierce, even with that weapon'. No.2 was referring to the object I had previously strapped on my back but now held in my left arm.

I looked at the piece of my masters tail that broke off during the fight, somehow the object travelled and ended up with me here. Since it was a part of MASTER'S tail and it had a somewhat pointed edge, I thought maybe it might just be able to pierce it, but apparently.........

The weapon was not completely useless as its material was extremely high quality. It was expected since, well it was MASTER'S after all, but it had an abnormal shape which could only be used for stabbing, this was going to be a hindrance to me as my swordsmanship utilized both stabbing and slashing.

The creature began wriggling it's body, it was preparing to attack.

'looks like I don't have a choice'. I said as I raised my makeshift sword and assumed a battle stance.

The creature lunged at me. It dived at me, its mouth fully open in an attempt to swallow me whole. It was faster than I thought but its attack was still relatively easy to dodge, I simply side stepped to the left and it crashed, head first into the ground.

I immediately repositioned myself facing the creature. The beast recovered it's head from the ground and shot me a look that felt like a glare.

'hey, will killing this creature help me to increase my output'. I asked the creature started charging up it's karmic energy.

'albeit more intense, fighting stronger opponents in actual combat is a form of training, it should help you get used to your new muscles and increase the amount of karmic energy that you can harness'. No.2 explained.

After hearing this, I started grinning. This seemed to annoy the creature as it let out an aggressive scream before charging at me.

*Whoosh*

The creature charged at me, moving at very high speeds. It's mouth was open again, it was still trying to swallow me. I jumped out of the way and onto a tree branch, but instead of getting face planted into the ground again, it somehow controlled his momentum and redirected itself upwards towards where I stood. I quickly jumped out of the way again, but this time I didn't come out unscathed. The impact was so much for my new body, I fell and tumbled on the floor a few times before getting up. I had been bruised badly. The creature didn't wait for me to recover, though as it lunged at me once more, this time definitely going for the kill. I tried to turn around and run simultaneously but my body was not flexible enough, it was a hinderance, and I ended up with a recoil that delayed my take off speed, causing me to sustain even more injuries.

I ran forward, away from the obsidian centipede who was hot on my heels. I charged some of my energy into my weapon and spun around. I recalled another conversation I had with my master.

****************

"Hey, teacher, is it possible for me to integrate your powers into my swordsmanship?"

"Why, of course, you can utilize it for anything. After all it's MY power. Hahaha!"

..............

"Woah, I knew you were talented in the sword but this is...... To think you would be able to create a technique, using my powers and your mastery of the sword".

*************************

Thats right, I still remember the astonished look on Asura's face when he saw my newly formed sword technique.

"<Blue tempest sword technique>. One point dragon stab!" I shouted as I took a stance then charged at the centipede.

*Booooom!*

A loud noise was heard as the tip of my sword collided with the centipedes hard skin. The after impact of the collision pushed us backwards, I flew and crashed into a large rock at least twice my height, kicking up a lot of rubble and dust.

I stood my self up. At first, my legs were wobbly and I supported my self with my weapon, but after few seconds they recovered. Not fully, but enough that I could stand without any support.

The centipede also took a lot of damage as I could notice a purple fluid leaking out of it's injuries, that seemed to be it's blood. The creature steadied itself and looked at me, I could sense so much bloodthirst.

'The belly is the only place I can land critical damage on, I need to open it up somehow'. I thought.

I positioned my self to perform the same technique I used earlier, but just as I did.

'warning. Your body can't handle that technique again'.

And immediately after I heard the message, before I could even process what No.2 said. I was assaulted by an immense pain. My muscles were aching and twitching like crazy, my bones felt like they were being brushed on a rough surface. It was terrible.

"A-aaah!". Not being able to bottle it up anymore I screamed in agony and an amount of blood poured from my mouth and I coughed violently. I was already on my knees. I felt a large shadow over me and I looked to see the creature's mandibles directly over me, I was salivating. In fact, a stray drop of saliva fell on my face as I looked up at the creature, it was staring at me with greedy eyes. It truly wanted nothing more than to just gobble me up, but I wasn't gonna just let that happen. After all, I was living for more than one person now. So if I did, then all those countless lives would then disappear and I wasn't about to let go of this life that my master sacrificed himself for, when I haven't even lived a full 24 hours.

The beast slowly closed the distance between its mouth and me and from this action alone, I knew that it didn't have enough hunting experience. I took this for an opportunity as a memory of my master crossed my mind.

**************************

"Listen up Arthur, my stigmata can be considered the most powerful one out there because of it's versatility".

"It's versatility?!" I asked.

"That's right. In terms of how it can be used, my ability is second to none in the entire multiverse".

"Woah... A-are you serious?"

"Dead serious. Hahahahaha!".

********************************

I started gathering energy In my hand.

'wait for it'.

The creature's mandibles were approaching me and by the time that it was just an arms length away from me I shouted out.

"Now!!"

I quickly gathered as much energy as I could and unleashed it on the beast. The power released in the form of a wave that pushed the creature's upper body backwards, leaving it's belly wide open.

'tch, too weak but at least it was effective'. I thought inwardly as I readied myself and took the same sword stance as earlier.

'warning! Your body can't handl-'. I recieved another warning from No.2 but before it could even finish.

"shut up!" I roared.

The pain was gripping at me but I gnashed my teeth and recalled a certain sentence my master said that always remained in my subconscious.

"If you ever find yourself in a bind, then as the student of this great one you are expected to grit your teeth and take it, head on! Hahahaha!"

My teacher was a muscle head.

As I remembered this, a smile replaced my former expression and all the pain I previously felt was temporarily gone.

He may have been an idiot who liked to rush into things head first but his power and charisma made all those seem like minor faults. And as an inheritor of his legacy, I would be more than happy to inherit his way of doing things, even if they were stupid.

<Blue tempest sword technique>. One point dragon stab.

"Aaaaaaaah!!" I roared as my energy fused with my swordsmanship.

A loud explosion was heard as the tip of my weapon made contact with the beast's belly and then the light covered my vision.

~END~

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