by Lupine King
Gleamscales blood vessels broke and his meridians burst whilst he was still alive and unable to do anything about it. Even when his body rent itself apart and his lifeblood flowed out onto the cave floor Gleamscales did not die immediately. His own vitality and cultivation were too potent for that to happen. Alas, that did not stop him from dying in the end.
All he had left was his despair and anger.
‘Why?' he questioned.
He could not help the anger he felt towards the heavens and their unfairness. This was supposed to be his moment of triumph. He was a dragon. A creature that stood at the apex of daemonkind. This was supposed to be a metamorphosis that would start his personal legend and it was all for naught.
WHILST ALL THIS ONLY took place mentally. The experiences that Valerian's body was going through were not any less significant. He had long since lost feeling and control over his physical form and being embroiled in the dragon's experiences made it such that he had no presence of mind to tell what was happening.
His eyes were blank and unseeing. His body driven by instinct.
However, Valerian was not the only one in the chamber. The ever faithful and watchful Avery was still there and the transformation taking place was happening before his horrified eyes. He was finding it hard to keep himself from rushing over. Unfortunately, he had already made his choice and his master was now too far gone. Stopping him now would be the opposite of helping. As such, he could only watch.
Before entering the cavern, Valerian was in the meridian opening stage. He had succeeded in opening three of his eight meridians. Yet, at this moment he had five open. Right before Avery's eyes, his qi levels had risen dramatically and as if self-aware forced open two more meridians.
The whole thing was shocking and painful to watch. There was no bracing for it. No method to help the process along. Just brute force. Even a normal cultivator would have to space the process out. Opening the meridians was a risky endeavour. If it went wrong they could be damaged and that will greatly affect future cultivation. In addition to this, they needed time to recover before they could be used again. Right after opening they would be sore and tender. It had taken two years for Valerian to open the three he had. His was more violent and harmful and the time needed to recover was proportionately longer. But he did not have that chance now. His body did not pause. With each opening, it would shudder and then continue with the process.
More and more essence flowed into his body transforming into qi to begin the next attempt. Strangely, he did not scream or cry in pain. Avery had no idea of knowing that Valerian was not present in the mental sense or that his mind was far away. All he could sense was the ever-increasing levels of qi and the numerous breakthroughs that his charge was having. He could only look on as Valerian's power continued to rise. Eventually, the sixth meridian opened, then the seventh and then finally the eighth.
In front of him, viscous, golden qi begun to rise from Valerian's body. It formed a haze of energy and power around him. He had broken through to the qi manifestation stage. Qi could finally leave his body and be used for external skills. This seemed to excite him. A golden glimmer could be seen on his body, nourishing his flesh and strengthening it.
Valerian flexed his legs and pulsed his qi, leaping high into the air. Avery watched with astonished eyes as his master landed right next to the dragon but what happened afterwards nearly had his jaw falling so low and hard it would have entrenched itself in the rocky floor.
Valerian's golden qi covered his hands shaping itself such that they looked large and taloned. Using these enhanced limbs it reached into one of the gashes in the dragon's flank and tore out a long strip of flesh. Holding the bloody thing in his hands he brought it to his mouth. Before Avery could come to his senses and stop him, he consumed it and then reached out to tear off more.
Daemon meat was a great source of essence. Valerian had been eating it for years. However, he had only been eating the meat of low-level daemons or beasts with daemonic lineages. Even that meat had to be specially prepared before eating. You could not just go ahead and eat raw daemon meat. It could kill you. Ignoring poisons, parasites and diseases, daemon meat was tough and charged with power. It had to be prepared with herbs and ingredients to lessen its potency and make it more palatable for humans. Also, the more powerful the tier or class of daemon the greater the essence and the danger in its meat.
Dragons being powerful daemons would, of course, be high on the list. And yet, his master was busy shoving its flesh into his mouth.
Forget its cultivation, it was a Steel Scaled Wyrm. A daemon known for its defensive abilities, and physical strength. Its flesh should be thick, muscly and tough. Valerian did not seem to know that though. He just kept ripping out chunks and eating it with his bare hands.
The effects of that begun to show. The amount of qi in Valerian's body began to skyrocket even further. Apparently, whatever was going on had not ended. Splattered with bodily fluids, Valerian's qi pool just continued to expand till the word pool became too inadequate a name. It was a veritable sea of qi. A quick comparison told Avery that it was at least twice his.
Mercifully, it soon reached its limit and stopped growing. However, Valerian kept eating and the vortex around him had not ceased its motion. He continued eating his way into its abdomen, taking in more and more of the dragon's true essence. The faint haze of qi around his body flicked and began to grow less translucent.
This was a sign that he was now in the qi condensation stage. He was getting ready to form his own core crystal. Once that happened he would be a true tellurian practitioner. Oddly, Avery couldn't help but have conflicting feelings about what was happening.
He wanted to be happy. Valerian's progress down the tellurian path had been full of so many troubles. He had suffered ridicule as well as hurt just to get where he was. They had been reliant on his mysterious maternal legacy this whole time and that was not without its costs. From the start, when he noticed Valerian's qi rising he recognised its work.
That was the only reason he allowed it to continue. But seeing what it was doing to the boy was gut-wrenching. Who knew what issues would come from this? It was always stressed that quick progress was shallow and unsteady. This was so quick it was nearly instant. Still, Valerian's tellurian skills were always going to be sub-par anyway.
Be that as it may, Avery knew he was merely .trying to allay his own fears. He was deliberately ignoring the fact that his charge had just gone through what was sure to be an extremely painful process. He had just guzzled the equivalent of lamp oil in an attempt to light a twig. The effects this was having on his insides were anyone's guess.
The boy was in a weird maddened state, splattered with blood and other fluids and still chewing on meat that should kill him. Even so, Avery did not stop him. He doubted he could at this point. All he did was take out every bit of healing, recovery or support artefact and medicine he had on his person and place it within easy reach. He would be ready for anything.
THIRTY-ONE
The Ancient Will
THE TELLURIAN PRACTITIONER tier is the first and the most basic one in the earthly cultivation path. It is the foundation on which everything else is built. Until a person has completed it he or she is not qualified to call him or herself a tellurian practitioner. Hence, the title true practitioner. Till then he or she is still a mortal and not an actual cultivator.
Once a person is discovered to possess qi, he or she would have to train and cultivate through five important stages. The first is the bone transformation stage. Here the tellurian prospect would use his or her newly awakened qi to cleanse and strengthen the skeleton.
Qi is life force and physical energy. The greater and better the physique, greater the effects and the growth of qi. The skeleton is the framework for the body. It provides surfaces for the attachment of muscles and organs. It protects the vulnerable bits and produces the most important thing in the physical self, blood.
Blood is the medium f
or essence, both qi and arcane energy. Bettering the skeleton improves the blood as well and the blood would circulate through the body bringing about the evolution of all the other constituents.
The second is the flesh transformation stage. The name is a bit of a misnomer though since it is not only the muscles that are transformed. There exist a variety of methods and training styles that could improve the organs, muscles, skin and all other ‘fleshy' bits.
The first two stages of the tellurian path are known collectively as the preparatory phase. This is because the whole reason for going through them in the first place is primarily to boost the quality, structure and general vitality of a person's body. This does not mean that they are not important. It is just that they are there so that people could raise their physical standard to the minimum required for the third stage. That is the meridian opening stage.
There exist eight extraordinary meridians in every body. These meridians are channels or routes for energy to travel in the body. A tellurian could open these vessels and then use them to channel his or her qi through his or her body. However, the opening of the meridians is a dangerous venture that could go very wrong if not properly prepared for.
Thus, the reason for upgrading the body beforehand was so it could handle the stress. Without a strong enough vitality, a person might not properly recover from the process. Even then, if his physical resilience is not up to par, the meridians might burst during the opening. Finally, the Qi collected and refined during this time increases the qi pool and provides the fuel for the opening of the meridians.
Once the meridians are all open and the circuit complete, qi can fill them and then, diffuse through the minute pores in them and into the body. Then, it can be exuded from the body. This is the manifestation stage. Besides the ability to externalise qi there is nothing special about this stage. That is if the ability to use tellurian skills is considered as nothing special. All the famous special skills attributed to tellurians required them to get to this stage before they could be used. All the sword beams, protections, explosions and the like started here.
The final stage is qi condensation. It requires one to take his or her qi pool and then compress all that energy till it formed a crystalline core in the pool's place. With that done, a person would have created his or her own qi core. A vessel with scores more times the energy storing capacity of the qi pool. Not just that, the quality and intensity of the qi would improve by multiple times.
It was only when a person formed a core that he or she could be said to have consolidated the first tier be that person tellurian or arcanist. A ranking that Valerian was close to qualifying for.
Deep in the aperture that housed Valerian's qi pool.
An immense pool of qi swirled around a central spot. It was not a whirlpool. Whirlpools sucked things down into the depths. This swirl gathered the energy changing it from its tea-like consistency to that of a soup and from that to a thick gravy. The sea of qi shrunk continuously, becoming more and more condensed and purified. The power it gave off increased as well.
As time went on a small crystal began to form. It started out the size of a grain of sand and then slowly increased in size. This small crystal drained all the qi in the sea and then went on to draw in the dregs from Valerian's body and meridians.
His body completely empty, Valerian's newly formed core crystal rose in the space glittering like a gem in the sunlight. All that was left was for it to release some of the changed qi back into the body and meridians to finish the process. That was how the process normally went anyway.
However, nothing about Valerian's tellurian cultivation had ever been normal. Just before the core crystal emitted its first pulse of qi, a mysterious force came over it and seized it. At the time, Valerian was still stuck, quaged in the mire of Gleamscales memories but it grabbed him as well and dragged him out.
Valerian did not even have time to adjust or return from his delirious state before he felt the presence of that alien force weighing down on him.
Whatever it was, it was alive. It was immense. It was powerful and it was old. It was so old and ancient that it seemed immemorial. And this was only the first impression he got from the presence. It was a peculiar will, a psychic force that was pressing down on him and everything he was.
As it was, Valerian could not stand the pressure it generated. He felt like an ant before a god, like an inconsequential grain of sand that could be washed away by the slightest ripple of power it sent his way. Despite that, he knew that it was not doing that intentionally. In fact, it was not doing it at all. It had taken no actions against him. It was just there and the fact that it was present was what was giving him that crushing feeling.
Valerian was terrified. He rightly recognised the space as one of his essence apertures and yet here was this ... thing. It had trespassed in his very core and taken control. The feeling was stomach turning, like leaving your house for a few hours and coming back to find that someone moved in and played in your room, worn your clothes, eaten your food and was lying in your sheets.
Valerian felt more than a little violated. It was a very distressing situation. Finding yourself with an intruder but powerless before it. Alas, Valerian had never really been a passive person, even when the odds were against him. Marshalling his forces, Valerian launched an attack containing everything he had. He targeted the immaterial foe dwelling in his qi space. It was a formless attack, little more than a forceful yell that carried his fear and outrage, backed by both of his cultivation bases. It sought to banish the intruder, to shoo it away or carry it out with its force.
It did neither. Valerian was sure he struck it but his attack might as well have been that of a mosquito sticking its proboscis into a mountain. It did not even count as an irritation. It was still an affront though and his ill-advised attack was responded to in kind. The moment he sent it, he felt great guilt and knew he had done wrong but it was too late. He could not take it back.
A formless weight came upon him. He thought the presence was crushing before but now he readjusted his position. This was crushing! The pressure upon him seemed to squash his very soul. His mental avatar crumpled and fell, metaphysical bones creaking and blood vessels rupturing.
He had been wrong. He had been stupid. What could he have possibly done to an entity powerful to invade his qi centre, manipulate his body and summon his mental avatar? The fault was not completely his. Bear in mind that Valerian had not been in the right state of mind in a while. In some sense, he had not even been in his mind. That strange instinct had shoved his consciousness to the side and then he got sucked into the memories of a dragon.
He had just been through a physical and mental wringer. He was drained and tired. Then he had to find someone trespassing in his core. It was no wonder why he swung at it. Now, he was suffering the consequences.
Even so, he did not want to die. He tried to get back out, to stand, to get away but he could not. The pressure locked him down. When he tried to stand, it increased. Rendered motionless, Valerian was scanned by the strange presence. He was laid bare before it. He might as well have been naked and translucent. It looked at and through his mind and soul, seeing it all.
All of a sudden, a grudging approval came from the entity and the pressure let up. Evidently, whatever it saw in him had impressed it. It raised him up to stand on his unsteady feet and then reached out to assess his physical form.
What came next was a feeling of disdain and contempt that left Valerian feeling ashamed. This time he did not meet its standards. He felt like he had disappointed it somehow. The urge to apologise and explain sprung up within him but Valerian suppressed it. What was happening? Why was he feeling this way towards this invasive force?
No answer came his way but what did was a strong compulsion.
Sleep.
OUT IN THE REAL WORLD, Avery watched with worried eyes as Valerian finally stopped tearing away at the dragon. He stood stock still halfway into its abdomen. The haze of qi still
surrounded him, illuminating his dirty form. Stale blood covered his lips and dripped down his front. His hands were still sheathed in the taloned qi shrouds but he did nothing but stand there.
Thinking that whatever was happening had stopped, Avery prepared to go to him. His plans immediately changed when he felt the vortex of essence around his charge pick up speed. In moments, it became a violent maelstrom that sucked in all the free essence within three kilometres of Valerian.
Avery was beyond confused. ‘What could possibly be going on now he wondered?'
From what he could sense, Valerian had already formed a core and become a true practitioner. What more use could he have for all that qi?
The veritable mini-tornado of essence centred itself on Valerian and his own qi responded. It collected itself and shot out through the eye of the energy storm. Following that, all the energy began to calm down. It condensed itself and enveloped the young man, forming a large, two metre tall, golden egg that hovered half a metre off the ground.
‘What in the heavens is going on?' Avery wondered.
INSIDE THE EGG.
Valerian floated insensate in the slush of essence. Unconsciously, his body curled up into a foetal position. His clothes, armour, all of them were sent out of the egg to fall on the ground below. Now naked, he stayed curled up his egg waiting for his rebirth.
Under the influence of that ancient will, his newly formed crystal cracked and crumbled, releasing all the energy it contained back into the aperture. Afterwards, his cultivation base begun unravelling. It was not just his qi core. His meridians began to close and every bit of qi within him retreated back into his core; Same for the heart aperture that housed his arcane energy. More and more essence poured into the space. So much that it seemed full to bursting.