novelraw Chapter 120 - 119 - I am an Idiot
Chapter 120 - 119 - I am an Idiot
The dust in the arena was floating as the small crowd looked on. The 2 combatants inside were not fighting to the death but they seemed irreconcilable for some reason.
"So she just challenged her on arrival?" A demoness sat on one of the seats as her companions nodded. A smile spread on her face as she saw the dust clear and only 1 was still standing. "I like this one and heard good things but she is far beyond what I expected."
A sigh came from the far right side of the seated area.
"She has always been this way, but I wish she would take a calmer approach at times." A platinum blonde young woman looked worriedly at the arena as she also could no longer see the opponent for her friend.
A young woman in a white battle dress was exposed as her whip was recalled back to her side. Dark green hair was sweat slicked as she looked over the arena but even her well honed battle instincts could no longer find her foe.
Before any could wonder if they fled, 2 arms encircled the whipmaster and formed blinding light that all had to blink away. When their vision returned they were in shock. The whipmaster had lost!
"Shoti!" Qing hopped up and ran down to the arena floor but all the others looked on proudly at their acolyte. The battle had been one way to enter the official disciple hood of the sect and she had not rejected it.
"I knew her illusions were powerful but to be able to defeat a World Realm at the peak of the Sand Tier while still only at the 5th tier of the Soul Realm is stunning." Elder Yi's face was plastered with a seemingly vicious smile but all the knew her recognized it as prideful smiling.
Annabelle was breathing heavily as she was in her white robes as she stood over the collapsed Shoti. She was smiling though, despite being nearly dry of any Qi in her dantian.
"She is only passed out and no permanent harm." Annabelle assured the gorgeous blonde that was checking Shoti over. That whip was a nightmare but since Shoti could never see the real her from the start, it had not been too difficult. If Shoti had been in the Stone Tier, it would have likely been harder with a more profound technique to deal with.
Annabelle had learned that what Lind taught her was more effective when using her elements, but unless she put her all into it, the illusions could be defeated by World Realms fairly easily.
"Ugh, why are there so many colors?" Shoti regained consciousness quickly but was still fuzzy on what she was seeing. Annabelle saw Qing laugh and hug her but then both turned to her in what seemed a very similar look. "You are good, my new junior. Congratulations. Now, tell us about Lind."
Annabelle felt sweat breakout as both women suddenly became very scary in front of her.
****
An explosion rocked Myriad Treasures but despite the large amount of smoke rising from the 4th floor, no one even blinked about it. The customers glanced but as the staff made no issue of it, they assumed it was an experiment that was known about and went back to their purchases or orders.
Inside a heavily reinforced workstation near one of the windows, a blackened but unharmed Lind Frey stood over the remains of his work area. He was beyond frustrated yet also quietly accepting after 3 weeks of the nearly same result.
Not all of them exploded, but any time he tried to work with all 6 elements could cause a massive release of energy that took everything, not just the ingredients. After the first explosion, Master Harold had laughed and suspiciously had formations to protect against such issues on hand.
Lind was clearly not the first to think he could solve the 6 elemental core issue. Just as clearly, a massive surge of energy had some dramatic results that made such protective measures ready to go for artifact creators.
Weapon or armor cores were more limited in the sense that the cultivators themselves powered the items to compliment their skills where artifacts are meant to operate independently once activated.
"I am tired of cleaning shards out of my hair." Lind complained out loud in a tired voice as he tidied up the mess he had made. A few other apprentices actually looked in sympathy to Lind as they remembered their own attempts long ago. He had stuck it out longer but they understood as he was a 6 elemental.
Moving down through the Myriad Treasures, many now familiar faces waved at him as he passed. Lind waved back and even Master Harold smiled encouragingly. Compared to Lind's stalled progress, both Masters Harold and Cain had found inspiration from Lind's staff.
The arrays were beyond any of them to fully grasp but the inscriptions were only at the World Realm. According to Cain, the most he would rate them was peak grade 3 which was the peak of the Iron Tier.
Lind shook off some dust as he exited to the street. It spoke to how often things exploded in his face that the blue clothed guards on patrol merely waved at Lind in recognition. The store owners were the same while a few customers or random members of the crowd looked at him as if he was wounded but he smiled and waved all off.
He finally made it to his inn, Life's Shade, and withstood the regulars poking fun at his clear failure once more as the daughter of the innkeeper smiled at Lind and tossed him a key. The hexagon stone was set to unlock the private bath a customer could buy and Lind had just put down a month's worth of fees after the first few days of failure.
"If I knew I would ever bathe this much, I would have focused on just formations" Lind mumbled to himself as he opened the bath's ornate wooden door and entered a pleasantly scented stone room. The white tiles were relaxing as the steam floated partially through the room. No one else could be in the bath without paying but there was a common bath not far away groups could use as well.
Lind tossed his singed robes into a basket and just picked up the soaps and hair tonics. It took over an hour to get all the bits out of his hair alone and sometimes the burnt waste would resist heavily. It made him giggle to know there were literally grades for soap.
It took a low grade 2 soap to overcome the refuse plastered on his face and hands. His skin was bright red once he was done and he was fully done taking baths for the day. He wanted to go back to his room and just comprehend if he learned anything from this failure.
Covered in the dark red robes he had purchased while in Cimmeria, Lind was about to leave the key on the bar and head up when the young daughter, Sasha, beckoned him over.
"Master Frey, there is a Maiden here to see you." Lind smiled wide as he turned around and saw a bright head of sapphire and gold by the entrance. Annabelle smiled but she seemed subdued for some reason. Concern flared, but then he noticed her robes. They were the robes of an outer disciple!
"Congratulations, Annabelle. I am so proud of you!" He nearly picked her up in a hug. It was nice to see his friend progressing. It distracted from his frustration at his bottleneck. Her smile brightened and she became more enthusiastic now that Lind was hugging her.
"Thank you, Lind. Can we go out to eat?" Warnings went off in Lind's mind. Annabelle was becoming more confident as time passed, but she still rarely volunteered to go out into the crowds of Cimmeria. There had not been any negative incidents, but that request was too far out of the ordinary. Still, he nodded and waved to the few regulars he recognized before heading outside.
They had entered the open street and Lind's instincts screamed at him. In one smooth movement, his staff extended as a barrier was formed of all 6 elements with Annabelle next to him.
He barely waited to feel water and darkness Qi flowing against it before he used his free hand to slam into the stone street and heard a yelp from above and to his back. From another direction, he could sense fire and air gathering, but he reacted on instinct.
Lind used his Sky Touch to take over the Qi in the immediate area. He was not reliant on Soul Arts as he had pushed his Touch to be part of his arsenal below the Sky Realm. A surprised shout followed his actions, yet Lind never stopped moving.
"Stay with me!" The crowd had long fled as battles between cultivators, even the relatively weak Soul Realms, could far too easily draw in innocent parties. Lind had carefully guided the deflections so no one would be struck but his opponents were in the World Realm.
He was already straining himself.
His Touch had been more effective but the first attacker had been lost, yet Lind showed no concern. He now looked grim but made sure to smile at Annabelle to reassure her as she stared in shock at him.
Lind was desperately channeling air and fire into the air around him but he doubted he would get much result as Cimmeria was in a warmer climate compared to the Southern District, yet he kept it up.
In a few moments the attacks resumed but Lind was curious why no weapons were being used. It was pure Qi conjuring attacks only thus far, yet he was still under extreme pressure as his Qi was being depleted at an alarming rate. World Realms had far higher reserves compared to any Soul Realm.
Some god granted Lind mercy as a cool breeze became aware to him as he glanced up. A small smile as clouds slowly formed and thunder began to rumble. He honed his targets and hoped they would be focusing on him alone.
"Close your eyes, Annabelle, this will be where we break free." Lind saw her blink in confusion but then she seemed to want to speak but then the world went white. It was far weaker than the last time as Lind had only induced a local effect, but it was still far stronger than anything he could conjure himself.
Two screams were cut short but Lind froze. He recognized those voices!
A gust of wind propelled him up as he took Annabelle with him. Many looking on were confused and stunned as lightning had fallen from a nearly clear sky after clouds suddenly appeared.
What just happened?
Lind finally saw his 'attackers' and felt his veins twitch. While he had been successful, both women had powerful defenses that saved them from any lethal damage. Even so, they were never meant to stop nature itself entirely as only an idiot would allow storms to strike them.
"I am an idiot. I should have known." Lind now realized he had been too worried about Annabelle's odd actions that he had ignored his usual practice of identifying who was attacking him if he could. If he had, he would have instantly recognized Shoti and Qing.
"Um, they wanted to, um, see you, Lind." Annabelle was nervous but he reassured her with a pat to her head as he looked at the dazed women on the ground.
"Don't worry, they are my close ones. Unfortunately, they seem to have been too mischievous for their own good." Lind was very glad he had not been able to summon the full power of lightning or he would have been full of guilt.
Lind brought out 2 low grade 3 elixirs as they would be enough and allowed the women to recover completely. Shoti had the gall to look up at him in anger while Qing looked a little guilty, but both seemed to refuse to explain themselves.
"Well? Why did you attack me?" Lind was feeling a little guilt but he had been responding on instinct and was glad his control had improved so much. He had kept delving into his understanding of the 6 elements as they related to each other as time passed.
"Apologize fir–" Shoti was saying something when Lind's mind exploded.
"I AM AN IDIOT!!!" All 3 women flinched as Lind suddenly looked elated. He was also starting to laugh like a maniac. "HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN SOMETHING SO BASIC?!"
Lind hugged all 3 women suddenly and jumped back to the street before sprinting back to the Myriad Treasures. He had figured it out!