Gruesome Sight
"You can leave now" A cold voice echoed within the room.
A young boy currently stood in the center of a room wiping his bloody hands clean.
He turned his head prepared to reprimand the man who currently stood frozen like a statue.
The man was a guard who was assigned to Messor and given the task of escorting him towards a specially designated execution chamber.
Currently, however, he stood frozen due to the gruesome sight right in front of him.
He quickly managed to pull himself back together and leave the room as instructed. There was no longer any danger towards the young master he had to escort.
If anything he felt safer being away from the young master. He used a technique that the guard has never heard of, it was as if bits of flesh, muscle, and bone disappeared in an instant.
Then a moment after blood would start to flow wherever the young boy used his fingers.
He started by killing one man instantly with a single finger but the following two weren't so lucky.
The first man had his face slashed twice, once horizontally and once vertically resulting in a gruesome sight.
The final one had his neck sliced but due to the large chunks of flesh missing his head fell forwards and dangled on what was left of the neck.
The guard had seen his fair share of terrible ways others have died, however, this is the first time he saw a technique that could destroy body parts instantly like this without a trace.
He believed this would be a terrifying technique on a battlefield, if your enemy saw their friends die in such a horrible way they surely would surrender right away.
Deciding it's better not to dwell on it the guard decided to try and empty his mind and stand guard outside of the room while whatever the boy is doing in the room gets done.
—----
Inside the room, Messor had confirmed the door was locked shut before slicing his palm and dripping blood around himself and the three prisoners.
After spending the past week learning and mastering his cultivation technique he had learned about runes and formations.
If he uses his blood to draw a specific design on the floor around him and connects it to the bodies from which he will absorb QI and Talent, he will be able to absorb much more QI while the talent remains unchanged.
This was certainly a cheat-like technique, a free power boost but thinking how it took time to set up and he had to have dead bodies on him Messor figured this technique was meant for increasing the yield from bodies that have aged a certain period of time.
Seeing how most times he wouldn't have time to reap their talent at the same instance that they died this made sense to Messor however he was determined to use it to its maximum efficiency at all times.
Messor proceeded to draw all the marks around the corpses and finally, he drew them around the spot he was going to sit.
He sat down and closed his eyes dropping into a meditative trance.
He started following the steps given within the technique book, it was his first time doing this on his own so he was quite nervous as Odin made him painfully aware of the possibility of failing and experiencing QI deviation.
While rare and shouldn't really happen with other techniques, however, this one relies on the power of dead enemies and the slightest lapse in concentration and one mishap could figuratively end his life when dealing with sinister energy like this.
Messor calmed himself down and started absorbing the QI and Talent from his dead enemies.
[Remember to only do them one at a time] Odin warned Messor
'Couldn't you have told me earlier?'
'I'm guessing you have a good reason for me doing them one at a time?' Messor questioned Odin in hopes the other would be amiable to share some details
To his luck, Odin felt like sharing information without much of a fight
[If you took in all that energy you'd explode]
Sweat could be seen suddenly on Messor's face. He was indeed going to try to drain them all at once.
[You might have been fine if not for these runes. I'm honestly shocked you have the resolve to do it this way]
'Huh? What do you mean?'
[Well, other than the pain it weakens you. It's not permanent but the more powerful you become the weaker you will be in this stage, making you more susceptible to attacks and making it harder for you to reap the greater rewards]
"No risk no reward" Messor mumbled in a low voice as he concentrated on draining the QI and talent from the first man.
As he gathered the QI, Messor started feeling extreme pain, however soon after the pain started lessening and he saw something pop up in front of his eyes.
'DING'
[Unlocked New System Component]
[Low Grade 'Pain Resistance' Unlocked]
"Huh?" Messor couldn't help but question this development audibly
'Odin, do you know what happened? I don't remember reading anything about this' Messor looked through the technique cover to cover however not once did he see about randomly gaining resistance or anything else.
[Reall? Do I really need to say it again?]
[It's in the name, Talent Reaping. This ant was clearly talented in resisting pain]
Messor suddenly had an excited grin on his face. Knowing this he was certain he would become beyond powerful.
He proceeded in continuing draining all 3 corpses of their QI
—---------
A handful of hours later Messor had finally ended gathering QI
He was drenched in sweat and a satisfied smile was visible on his face
"Status Screen" Messor called out curious to see his progress finally having managed to refine everything he managed to reap.
[Status Screen]
[Name: Messor Torvus]
[Age: 15]
[Cultivation: 8th Stage QI Gathering]
[Techniques: Divine Reaper Cultivation Technique, Void Veil]
[Body Physique: N/A]
[Passive Bonus:: Low-Grade Pain Resistance]
[System Level: 1]
[Talent Points: 160]
Messor glanced at his status screen overjoyed at the speed of his progress. Just a week ago he started cultivating and already he was nearing the peak of the QI gathering stage.
He felt slightly dejected by the fact that his peers were ahead of him, especially those coming from a powerful background like him.
But he wouldn't let this keep him down, he has decided to treat it as a fun challenge. He has come to terms with the fact that his biggest goal in life was to rid the world of other talents and claim the peak for himself.
'Odin, why did I get so many points for these men while I only got 5 for that would-be assassin?' Odin still did not explain how the Talent Points are calculated so his curiosity was at its peak.
[I'm starting to doubt your intelligence, think for a second why would someone have fewer TALENT points than another…] Odin responded in a semi-sarcastic tone trying to mock Messor
Messor frowned and scratched his chin with his hand before responding
'The servant had already reached his peak or just never had much talent for cultivating, to begin with, these prisoners were similar however they were more talented than the servant.'
[Yes! See you can figure these things out on your own] Messor gritted his teeth at Odin's continued mockery upset at the fact that the system doesn't have a physical body otherwise he would smack it on the head.
Messor was about to have a look through the store now that he struck it rich with Talent Points before having a sudden realization.
'Why was Void Veil only 5 Points when it's this powerful? I understand the high energy upkeep but its power is too high for this cost'
[That's because it's only worth that much. Everything you can acquire from the store can cause global warfare]
[Dynasties would wipe each other out just for a chance to acquire even the lowest of the low in the store]
'So that means the more expensive techniques and treasures will be even more terrifying?'
[Ha, if you think your Void Veil is terrifying then you better stop now]
Messor gulped before diving into the store.
He looked through many techniques and weapons but at the rate, he was going, most of them he would certainly replace sooner rather than later
While Odin was certainly correct in saying wars would be fought over these, Messor doubts it would be to the scale Odin made it out to be.
The majority of these techniques sounded powerful but were near impossible to utilize in actual combat making them effectively worthless.
Odds are if anyone ever possessed these techniques that power would get instantly grouped up against and decimated so instead the most likely scenario is that the techniques would be destroyed so no one could potentially create something new, usable, and even more heaven-defying as certain techniques within the store.
After some period of looking Messor decided to ask Odin for his recommendation who promptly recommended two system skills.
Messor hadn't noticed a small section in the store called system skills so he didn't even consider buying any of them. His main focus was on battle techniques and weapons so this was to be expected.
Odin suggested for Messor to purchase 'level 1 basic storage' for 100 points allowing him to store 1KG of anything not living in a 1x1x1 meter cube.
There were multiple levels of storage and even grades with the basic storage being the lowest.
The second system skill he unlocked was 'Talent Scout' As long as Messor had a close enough cultivation base he could see the Talent Points of others.
This would give him a way to track and spot potential targets and nuisances, also it would let him see who he should take seriously and who shouldn't pose a threat.
Fortunately for Messor, he had already sworn to himself to never underestimate an enemy otherwise this single skill would have brought forth his downfall on a day he meets a certain individual.
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We have reached our goal of 10 collections! Thank you to everyone who has been reading this so far. As promised tomorrow I will post 2 chapters. The next goal will be a bit harder but if we reach 25 collections I will do this again and have a double release!
Speaking of which make sure to add this novel to your library if you're curious as to what happens next, I've already hinted slightly at what is going to happen but let's just say our cute little guy is going to showcase his decisiveness sometime soon in a fun and exciting way.