Battle

Blood. In all of the novels I've read, it's always a cool sounding fight between two powerful cultivators. But this, is not right. All of the people are so... squishy. So easily slain, each crying out as they are pierced by my blade.

Although I have no sensory organs, I can smell the stench of blood, feces, and rotting flesh. There is nothing noble or cool about this battle.

It's a desperate fight to the death, an unsightly filthy fight. It's... my purpose.

Perhaps I'm getting to accustomed to life as a weapon, but I don't shirk at this pit of human misery.

I was literally made to kill, to be an instrument of death in my wielders hands. I am a sword.

My full attention is in the slaughter, I feel the essence of death and violence being sucked into me. Becoming fuel for my strength.

[Host has gained Exp!]

[Host has gained Exp!]

[Host has gained Exp!]

It's certainly more messy than I imagined, entrails and human waste litter the ground.

Blood soaks my blade, Gerald slices through the opposing army. This is this is no war, it's a subjugation.

I don't know much about the geography of this world, but an empire surely outranks a kingdom. The Empire Gerald belongs to is probably expanding their territory and calling it a war.

It's fine by me, as long as Gerald gets the qualifications to become a cultivator.

The battle slows down, and comes to an end. Many tried to escape but were either killed by people chasing them down, or their own comrades hurting them in the chaos.

Most are killed, while a few are taken prisoner. The most notable prisoner is the enemy cultivator. He seemingly is weaker than our cultivator, but managed to survive the fight.

Seeing him, an idea lights up in my head. I wait for the soldiers to pack up and leave. They begin marching back home, and eventually have to stop for night.

While Gerald and the rest of the soldiers are sleeping, I use [Telekinesis] to go over to where the cultivator is kept.

Ever since the system said that my [Spirit] is the equivalent of Mental Energy, I've been wondering about its other uses.

[Qi] is just Qi, and is the force behind cultivation and most techniques. Mental energy is probably something like soul power or divine sense.

I can use it to perform [Telekinesis] and [Shapeshifting]. I'm starting to have an idea about the other applications of spirit.

I creep next to the cultivator, who is beginning to doze off. I access my [Exp] panel. After the last battle it now shows [Exp: 22/10]. When I "level up" it gives me the option to increase my [Spirit] or [Qi] by one.

I'm tempted to choose [Qi] but the cultivators would probably be able to sense me, and would kill Gerald to obtain me. So I dump all of my experience into [Spirit]

[Host has leveled up twice! [Spirit] is increased by two]

I feel the immediate effects, as my [Telekinesis] became much stronger. I could probably injure a man with just [Telekinesis] now.

Now for the moment of truth. As the cultivator drifts off to sleep, I quickly dart towards him. Instead of piercing him, I use [Spirit Manipulation] to make my spirit invade his mind.

The cultivator didn't have his guard up, was already weak, and isn't strong enough to defend his soul so I was able to infiltrate his mind.

[Host has gained skill. [Soul Search]

Hehe. I don't have much time to waste, so I begin rifling through his memories. The memories from birth are faded, so I search farther down the line.

I stop, a young man joins the army and climbs the ranks. His family is made up of farmers, and he wants to make enough money to support them.

His kingdom is small and weak, constantly under pressure from the nearby Pyrule Empire. Still, he managed to make a name for himself.

Eventually he was able to gain access to his kingdoms cultivation technique. The "Heaven Absorption Manual" it had an imposing name, but it was really one of the most basic techniques out there

It consisted of sensing and drawing Qi into ones body. Tempering it in order to prepare for the acceptance of cultivation.

The soldier cultivated up to the fourth stage "Refining Tendons and Ligaments" before he was deployed to the battlefield between his kingdom and the Pyrule Empire.

Now here he is, captured. I read his mind, not for the fun of it but to get a vital piece of information.

A cultivation technique!

[Detected Host has acquired cultivation technique]

[Adding technique to collection...]

[Would you like to inscribe the technique? [Y/N]

Uhh, sure?

As soon as I confirmed, there began to be some indents on my blade. Not damage but rather words that spelled out the cultivation technique. Ohh, so this is how I can share my technique with my wielder.

I try to use [Shapeshifting] to wipe the inscription away, it works and I can even put the inscription back.

For now, I need to remain low key so I can't give Gerald the technique just yet.

The first realm of cultivation shouldn't really be detectable since it only deals with the refinement of the body, and I'm a sword. So I can proceed with it.

Now let's begin! First level of the Body tempering realm, Skin Refinement! Err, edge refinement?