The Merit Universe Tower Level One
So far, the same. Julius pieced his observations together as he arrived at Level One. The flower beds, transparent pure river, and the same landscape. Nothing has changed yet. As he headed down the hill leading to the spot where a chest would summon, Hu tapped his shoulder and gestured him to the hill on the other side.
As the two walked up the hill with Julius behind Hu, the latter summoned her virtual screen, which seemed to work just fine. The hill they climbed up was the same spot where they had tea in black ceramic cups and the time where they spectated the former Tang Family members and Míngyuè training. Strange, it looked taller and steeper. Julius perceived it, and he was right. He and Hu had to fly up to the hill’s flat surface. The view of the rest of Level One was very distant, and because of enhanced vision, everything below was clearly seen.
Julius felt his gut was trying to tell him something, and it wasn’t a pleasant sensation. He looked at Hu, who was summoning the protected cubical space with transparent walls. The two then sat down in their seats, watching the crowd below being confronted by a large chest.
“You don't seem comfortable,” Hu said after glancing at Julius.
“I'm unsettled. I feel a suspension is going to happen soon, but I don't know what it is and what damage it will cause.”
“Here.” Hu summoned a ceramic cup filled with green tea. “Have this. It should keep you company.”
Julius took the cup without hesitation and drank a few sips, simmering his gut, feeling quite a bit. “Thanks.”
Hu nodded. “Just relax. I'm currently looking for whatever access I have, so put your mind at ease while I do that.”
Julius didn't say anything, as he didn't want to agitate himself. Hence, he focused on tea. Hu summoned a full teapot with a side coffee table next to his seat. He sipped once more, emptying the cup. The first refill, and feeling a little better, Julius watched as the crowd appeared to finish taking either the Flames of Azure (蔚蓝) or the Flames of Wrath (愤怒). The leaderboards showed up on Hu’s virtual screen, and she projected it for Julius.
Azure. A contrast to Empress Cai. Julius thought, finding every other participant was Wrath except Mizuhana. The chest disappeared. Hence, there wasn’t any evidence of second thoughts, which put Mizuhana as the sole ‘Flame of Azure’ user. Julius’ longsword summoned and leaned to his chair’s right armrest. He leaned from the back cushions and viewed the small crowd. The sky grew gloomy. Heavy and angry clouds ran to the scene, accumulating its mass above. Every flower withered and ceased into the dirt. That was when the differences began. Julius saw Hu try to click something which resulted in a vibrant red colored error. She has been locked out. He thought. Suddenly, his gut resumed the distraught feeling, and he felt unsettled once again. This isn’t good…I don’t have a good feeling about this. Julius gulped the refilled tea and placed the ceramic cup on the table, refusing to drink another.
Unlike any other time in Level One, it rained for the first time. The ground didn't turn dry, or the river never receded. Instead, it flooded the plains. The scenery turned into a swamp; an uncanny familiarity to the swamp where Julius fought with others after Longyue got burned down. By then, the tea’s relaxation and soothing effects all ceased. Hu, surprised by this change of environment, flicked off her virtual screen and participated with Julius, viewing the match that was about to begin.
Ahead, a portion of the sky cleared up. It revealed a rocket-like projectile crashing down, followed by a massive explosion, exerting clouds of dust. The clouds enveloped the clearing, returning the gloomy look. Rain began pouring heavily. Everyone at the scene watched and wondered what came crashing down.
Even though Julius and Hu couldn’t see what was happening in the cloud of dust. An immediate sense of crippling fear struck into the former’s stomach, inflicting his mind of confusion and distraught. That feeling hit Hu too, causing her to turn to him. He did the same and turned to her. Both couldn’t speak, but their minds raced like a treadmill at maximum speed. “Hu…I’m in pain. My stomach is fighting something from the outside.” Julius telepathically said.
Hu struggled to nod while both of her hands gripped hard onto the chair. “I never felt anything like this before. It freaking hurts.” Her chair’s armrests started to crack.
They forced their bodies to turn their heads back to view the scene. The cloud of dust hadn’t surrendered, though two glowed red eyes flashed from within. Like two spotlights, its brightness amped to the maximum, revealing a monstrous silhouette. The dust clouds were gigantic. Julius had to look up because it seemed some monster inside was controlling it. After all, the two glowed eyes flew up, followed by the rest of the silhouette. Dark smoke gushed out similarly to someone smoking, where exhaled smoke was hastily released because this was strongly fast. Also, they were very puff and heavy, like a bulky crate. The smoke covered everything, blocking the view of Mizuhana and the rest of the participants below. That only raised the fears and the severity of the ailment because Julius and Hu lounged from their chairs, tumbling to the floor. Both were in flat, push-up positions as if someone or gravity were pressing their backs down.
Julius refused to bow down to the gravitational force that put him and Hu in near incapacitation. He exerted qi as much as he could around his neck and head until he could articulate it. Come on! Bring it! His sudden anger arrived at the right time, and Julius began moving a little, just enough to see the floor and not face flat. Once his eyes adjusted, he saw dark qi flooding the entire space. His longsword, leaning against the armrest of his chair, glided right to his right hand. It levitated like a spaceship, continuing to hover over it because it was closed into a fist. Move the qi over, damn it! Julius’ body flexed to the extreme that he could crack any bone. He was an inch close to altercating his upper torso when his right fist finally opened. The longsword immediately boosted right onto the bottom of his palm, spinning his entire body into a spiral for a few seconds.
Slam!
“Ugh!” Julius grunted after his back slammed on the floor. After gripping the longsword, his right arm freed from the pressure, regaining full control. He realized something and had no choice but to join the fight. Frustrated as he was to figure that this would be his fourth time stepping foot inside Level One, but the third time having to fight at all. He let his mind do the work, accepting to transform into his Lich Emperor Form. The armor summoned from the fingers of his right hand and quickly enveloped his right muscular arm. A little of the metal touched his back and immediately felt no more weight. His feet regained movement, free from the paralysis. Julius leaped up into a standing position. Qi exerted from the bottom of his boots. Once his helmet was on, the entire space was filled with his qi’s darkness, and there was no visibility to the ordinary naked eye. He saw Hu and blasted a boost to her body, freeing her from paralysis. She doesn’t need to be told as she naturally understood the premise, transforming into her hybrid beast form.
One snap of his fingers broke the transparent walls, and Julius’ body generated wind and blew the excess qi into the scenes below. Enough to disperse from the dust cloud that hid the mysterious monster’s appearance and the smoke. What beholds within was more sinister and a being that Julius thought would never appear. One glance up and a staring contest gave him vivid detail. Whatever Hu had said at the end of Level Three didn’t exist anymore. This was no nine-tailed fox or a replicated attempt. Instead, a new behemoth-sized creature that was as tall as a ten-story building. Even on this hill, the creature wasn’t at its fullest height because its back was hunched at a nearly ninety-degree angle, but it was standing with two legs. Its head was exactly like an octopus. Oval-shaped and tentacled portion surmounted on a hauntingly large body of a tiger with a flapping tail of fire. This monster’s physical features were truly bizarre, as if it was designed to encompass anything possible with less risk of failure. Monstrous legs came with enormous feet, but their arms were the most human-like of all, with the difference being more muscular and a high vascularity that was painted purple.
A Cthulhu? It exists in this world, huh? I wonder how he would feel to see this. As someone who had read a little of Lovecraftian horror, it was still unbelievable to witness with his own eyes.
Slash!
“What are you doing?!” Mizuhana yelled at one samurai below.
--
虎克苏鲁 (Hǔ Kèsūlǔ) joined the match.
HP: 300%
--
The Skoltor System briefly glitched, causing screeching noises. Once it stabilized, Julius saw the boss fight’s health percentages triple. Three full purple bars flashed at the top of his heads-up display with the Cthulhu-influenced beast’s name in bold purple summoned above it, “Hǔ Kèsūlǔ.”
The beast flexed up its chest and upper torso as if it were about to lift something up in the air. It raised both of its arms halfway up, summoning multiple light specs that looked like stars in the clear night sky. The beast looked away from Julius and flashed turns to the crowd, facing them.
“GET OUT OF THE WAY!” Julius telepathically said to the entire crowd as the beast first a barrage of dark beams, striking the ground floor. Dirt shot up in the sky, causing clouds of brown dust.
Julius turned to Hu. “Are you ready?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Let’s train ourselves.”
The two launched from the near-mountain high hill. Their feet tore fifty meters of landform into blitz, causing a rocky landslide. They detoured from the major battle site as the dirty dust arrived like an attack. Hu went in for it from the opposite direction that faced towards the beast and the wrecked hill. Julius did a similar route, but immediately went to the ground in a clearing. His spot was only a few meters away from the dust and the battle. I don’t know who you are, Hilde Georgine, other than you being close to K?nigin Gertrud, but thanks for the damn “Die Verbotene Kampfkunst.” Julius had a new set of Hanzi he had thought of using. He observed the ongoing battle overwhelmed by the sounds of clashing katanas, fateful screams, and cries, and the beast’s noises were gnarly incomprehensible. Somehow the dust was so dirty from the ground, and it kept flowing in the air like fog. The large leaderboard screen hovered in the sky from afar, revealing around forty total participants, but, however, their progress grew terribly. Except for Hu and himself, everyone else’s health percentages are going on a trend. What Hanzi should I use? His mind went through a list of characters while recognizing that at least one healer was in the battle zone.
When Julius was ready to head into the battle zone, the warp opened at the entrance area. Julius stopped himself by a millisecond and turned his attention to the glowing light.
Blast!
“Shit!” Julius reacted to a detracted blast heading towards the entrance area. He dashed right next to the warp, and when he swirled and struck the blast, two silhouettes came and rushed out from the illuminating warp. He felt a crash to his back, to where it vibrated for a couple of seconds, like an upper massage. His longsword easily pierces through the blast, with the blade absorbing bits of fading qi like a vacuum. Before he turned around, he cast number three. “Wirken! Sān!” The Hanzi 三 activated three bright dash lines in front of him. He gave a long slash like a cross on the Hanzi three, splitting it into six lines, and therefore, he ended it with a palm pressure, shooting out a thrusting force, sending the six lines right into the battle zone. Julius watched it grow in magnitude at such an extraordinary rate. The six dash lines of blooming light each transformed into the shape of a wide slash, magnifying the pressure that could be felt hitting his armor.
Kaboom!
A red omnidirectional blast erupted from within the dirty fog. It got big so fast that Julius summoned a shield barrier, protecting himself and the likely two people that crashed into his back. Forceful gusts blasted right to the shield. A repetitive and relentless barrage of thunks and banging sounds crashed into it. Keeping his left hand in direct contact with the shield, he let his longsword stand next to him, piercing its blade into the ground. He finally turned around and saw a man on the left and a woman on the right laid with their faces flat. Surprisingly, no blood in sight, so they were likely okay…hopefully. Julius’ right hand shot out a healing spell, and their qi readings got better. Their groans grew louder before they stopped. In a swift move, the man jolted up from the ground, revealing his dirty face to him.
“Jinhai (锦海)?!” The woman then lifted herself up from the dirt. “Yizhen (怡珍)?! How the hell did you get in here?!” Julius asked and was confused that getting inside during battle was even possible for participants.
Yizhen got up, wiping dirty stains on her face. “Mother tossed us through the gates as it was about to disappear. She forced us in.” She then looked at her younger twin brother, kneeling partially down and touching his shoulder. “You, okay?”
Jinhai silently nodded, and Yizhen helped him up from the ground.
“Wow…I didn’t expect Hóng to be going that far. Welp,” Julius turned and grabbed his thirsty longsword, “she gave me more responsibilities…Now I have to protect you two because it’s impossible for you two to get a wrath orb right now, so you’re going to start raw.”
Thump!
A few samurai flew and crashed right to the shield, with their backs facing right towards Julius. The latter had nothing to say, not even when they surrendered to the ground. No qi readings from them. An expiration has got to them. He half turned to the twins. “We’re about to leave this shield. I expect you two to remain close. If you don’t, I’m in big trouble.”
Yizhen moved to Julius, causing Jinhai to hold her arm and preventing her from accepting. Julius, whose head was in his helmet, wondered why Hóng decided it was a good idea to bring one who was feared by the world and the complete opposite of his deceased older brother. Yizhen shook her head. “Oh no. You are not doing this again.”
“Have you trained in anything before entering here?” Julius asked.
“Only the basics.”
“Like what?”
“Knowing what Qi is.”
Julius sighed. “Our job just got more complicated.” He let his left hand push out a force to repair the shield and turn his full body away from it, buying a little time. Maybe they could try this. “You two are going to learn the hard way right now, but not without this.”
A sigil summoned beneath the surface of his right palm. It rotated clockwise. The more pressure and aggression he applied to it, the faster it spun like the spinning wheels of a speeding car. Hence, he did and deployed a rain of darkness from his Lich Emperor’s powers.
“What is this?” Yizhen asked, looking at her hands. “I sensed something warming up inside of me.”
“I don’t know, but I’m told I can give a fragment of this power I’m donning to others…It should start now.”
Yizhen and Jinhai were levitated into the air by a few feet, and Julius took a step back, watching them getting transformed. Their transformation contrasted with Julius’ armor by color, body structure, and helmets. In a way, that made his awareness a little easier to process, confirming that everyone has different looks rather than uniform. It was quick and did not give time to fail and only needed ten seconds to armor the two. Afterward, the twins landed with heavy boots thumping to the ground. Jinhai gained black and red armor with a helmet shaped like a Vermilion Bird. A cape unfurled from the top of his upper back, revealing a maroon color. He grew by a foot, up to Julius’ shoulder from the latter’s point of view. Jinhai strolled in a circle to get the feel of the new transformation. Strangely, that was when he started talking more, to the other two’s surprise.
Yizhen, on the other hand, got a similar reference to her mother. A general-like war outfit except it was created by armor. The whole fit was navy blue and had the smoothest presentation of all. What was different was she received a coattail that came with the outer coat, and its lavish appearance could fool the pack. One movement revealed the illusion from her coattail, revealing the bladed layer that hid behind it. A body swing from her hip was the only thing she needed to do, and long, tooth-shaped blades would protect her from any projectiles. Her helmet had no animal or mythological references, but an ordinary helmet designed with a t-shaped visor. However, her face wasn’t visible at all and only her long black hair stuck out of the helmet and managed as a ponytail. Yizhen sounded happy being in the suit, prompting Julius to ask one question before the shield broke.
“Do you two know martial arts or some swordsmanship at least?”
“Yes, we do,” Yizhen said with a tone of excitement, nudging her twin brother. “You ready?”
“Mm…”
“Come on…Cheer up like you were a couple moments ago. Being quiet doesn’t get you far if you want to be like the older brother.”
“Sister…you really know how to get on my nerves, do you?” Jinhai asked as he started to move.
“If it can get you good results, then sure, I do.”
Julius hummed and turned back to the shield. He lifted his longsword and gave a loud vertical slash, releasing magnitudes of energy right into the dirty fog. As the shield immediately broke, he activated his aura, clearing all the fog at once. He had to punch someone that was flying towards him. Purple slimy liquid splashed onto his helmet. Julius dropped the body down as it was pretty much dead after his fist impaled it. With one glance at it, he realized the scale of this entire battle. Clones and minions. Great. Like how he tried offering powers to Jinhai and Yizhen, there was one more ability he hadn’t tried and that was the sole purpose of being called the Lich Emperor.
“Arise! I will give you freedom, but from now on…you will be ordered by me! Rise up!”
--
New Mission Added (1):
Destroy anything related to Hǔ Kèsūlǔ.
--
It got up immediately, and by his telepathic command, he ordered it to charge right into the battle zone. Finally, Julius and the two would sprint down to join the fight. The former briefly put his longsword on his back and thrust both arms outward, raising the dead bodies that lay on the dirty ground. He gave a scream, expressing horror and terror bidding. Mizuhana, who was tearing off a Hǔ Kèsūlǔ clone, stared in absolute freight and her face slowly grimaced.
He turned swiftly to the right, sliding through the dirt as if he were playing a baseball game, and went for the home run. Julius got stuck on the ground, sitting with his feet stabbed into the dirt. With one thrusting gesture right to the Hǔ Kèsūlǔ, every corpse infused with darkness ran in a stampede to the beast.
“Wirken!” He went for an unorthodox method of casting. “Yì!” A cast from solely his hands and saved plenty of milliseconds for each stroke. A 义 was cast by his fingers, summoning a gigantic gavel. Julius went on controlling it by the gesture of his hand, starting off with the Hǔ Kèsūlǔ’s head as a sound block.
Bang! Bang!
The echoing noises vibrated from the hard slams in its head. It only bought some time for Julius to get up because he knew this was only a temporary setback for Hǔ Kèsūlǔ. Hence, he exerted his qi into his thighs, yanked both of his legs from the ground, and thrust the dirt upwards in the opposite direction. He regained his footing and as he was about to get back his longsword, Yizhen came by and sounded fascinated by what he did.
“Let me try that move…Wirken!”
Julius’ helmet opened upwards. “Wait—”
Spark!
Yizhen tumbled to her knees, coughing heavily. “What the?”
“Maybe stick to what you have with that armor and not copy what I just did?”
“Why?! Unfair!”
“It is unfair because unfortunately, cast magic with qi is a forbidden technique, and I must teach you for it to work. Otherwise, multiple failed attempts are fatal.”
“That sounds so unbelievable given how easy it was for you to cast a Hanzi.”
Julius pulled out his Longsword and healed Yizhen from her first failed attempt. “Trust me. I experienced it twice while I was reading and learning how to use it. The first time was exactly like your violent coughs, but the second time…”
“What?” Yizhen wondered, standing up from her knees. “What happened?”
“Full Paralysis. Luckily, Hu was there and healed me out of that crisis…Like how I got you out of that violent coughing spree. How about this?” Julius offered her a trade. “Get through this level, and I’ll teach you. Fair?”
“Deal…You better keep that promise.”
“I will.” Julius gave her the first telepathic exposure.
“Woah.”
Julius let out a chuckle. “Alright that’s enough, let’s get to work.” His helmet returned from the back of his neck, closing.
Mizuhana, still with a grimacing face, assisted her as Julius analyzed for the best scenario.
--
虎克苏鲁 (Hǔ Kèsūlǔ) HP: 290%
--
The beast eventually resisted the constant bashing from the gavel and responded with a heavy grip on its surface. Julius felt the pressure despite there being no signs that caused him to be pinned. He quickly figured it out and made a violent head turn, facing the sky. A focused glare at the surrendered gavel, and with no hesitation, his mouth boiled and fired a big blue beam out from the back of his mouth. Visible ring shockwaves flashed momentarily like a powerful plasma gun. The beam struck the gavel and shattered it into specks of qi. All the glitter fell to the ground like a rainstorm. Julius’ mouth beam had hit the sky before it dissipated. It was strong enough to wipe out all the dark clouds, leaving the rest of the match in a sunny sky.
Clearly, the beast wasn’t in the happiest mood after realizing he had been setback by Julius’ colossal gavel. Julius would take that opportunity by going for a strike at both of its Achilles’ tendons. He went for a hard and unpleasant dash, dodging a new mob of Hǔ Kèsūlǔ clones. His knees want to tear and hug the armor with it.
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Fortunately, by a rare chance, it didn’t. “Wirken!” Hence, he inflicted a horizontal slash while simultaneously casting 一, covering the beast’s right ankle. A massive gush of blood shot out of its wound. Hǔ Kèsūlǔ grunted and continued to roar in incomprehensible sounds. Julius focused on the next leg, the former’s left. His feet launched him away like the start of a track race, dashing to the other side. “Wirken!” He yelled the command again, but this time inflicted a 二. Two gashes struck at the left’s Achilles tendon. Finally, it felt its first moment of weakness. Julius paced out of the way when he noticed more mob spawns of the clones. They’re everywhere! He reacted to the massive spawn area, expanded, and covered the limits of the battle zone, so everyone now was screwed.
Crack!
Both of Julius’ legs suddenly cracked within his knee, inflicting terrific pain. Despite that, he refused to react to the pain’s intensity. A true madlad of a cultivator. He continued to dash away at the speed of light, stopping at a spot with a little free space. Only ten seconds to spare. When he redid his footing, he felt wet from both his knees, and something dripped down to his feet. Crap. Again, he ignored it and went on exerting his aura as a mob of Hǔ Kèsūlǔ clones sprinted towards him from all directions. His eyes closed and then flicked open, flashing red eyes. Julius gave a circular swing, striking and decapitating their necks. He watched their heads thump on the floor. After one touch, each decomposed and withered away in an instant, leaving the blood and the rest of the body behind. That pretty much makes their corpses useless to even dare resurrect. Hence, he did another swing, summoning black flames. All were consumed in one go with no traces left behind, and the black flames ceased.
--
+17 Points
--
The complete match went on a massacre spree, dealing with these clones. Of course, Hǔ Kèsūlǔ came back from his wounds to finish what he originally predicted. Julius was ready, but most of the participants weren’t. Mizuhana, Yizhen, and Jinhai battered their way through their own crowd of mobs. Hatamoto Tadamasa arrived after. The four did fine, according to the leaderboard, while the rest of the participants were going into a collapse. Death cries and screams followed, prompting Julius to stare around the vicinity. He saw Mizuhana and Hatamoto Tadamasa’s samurai men surrendering to fate. Hu was wrong. She arrived a minute after Hatamoto with a disappointed face, expressing apparent emotion.
--
虎克苏鲁 (Hǔ Kèsūlǔ) HP: 250%
--
Only forty percent. Julius thought of the number, realizing he did all the forty percent alone. The ten percent from 300 to 290 was from his gavel. So, excluding Hu and himself, everybody’s efforts were only on the clones themselves. They are going to need a rework of the entire curriculum. Julius perceived, and, originally, he thought he was only going to be giving an assist, but it seemed like that wouldn’t happen. He was going to have to take control and end this level. Hence, Julius told the group to go at a hundred percent as long as possible.
“Watch out!”
Slam!
Julius’ hand manifested a colossal-sized sigil, preventing Hǔ Kèsūlǔ’s beam barrages from hitting any of the group. “I'm buying you time, now amp it all out!”
The sigil absorbed the energy, causing it to widen rapidly. Strange enough, it grew so large that it hovered over the entrance region, and some of the circumference was about to touch the ground. That was when it madly spun. A circular form of defense magic turned into a rotative blade, trimming the dead grass and piercing through the dirt. Julius knew he had less than ten seconds. With one-half turn to view behind him, the five unleashed shockwaves through their feet. Hu lunged up, turning into her Black Nine Tail Fox form. The twins don’t know what they released, but they tried it as they could with their prior martial arts experience. Their aura enveloped their entire body like wearing another layer of clothes. Julius felt cold from them, reminding him of their mother. Mother-like family. Maybe the oldest son was the only father out of them all.
The twins would leap into the air, following Hu. Julius’ arm felt it might implode like gas, or anything was inflating from inside. The accumulation of the energy generated from the spinning wheel of magic forced the energy back into his right arm way too quickly. Hatamoto Tadamasa’s Katana glowed purple followed by his eyes, matching colors. A portion of his clothes weathered and cracked into vein-like patterns, letting the desperate purple shine through. He launched off the hardest, causing the spot to rumble, and Julius almost tripped, unintentionally being dumped with more energy.
“Hurry! I’m going to ignite if you don’t get it going with others!”
“Can you just kill it?”
Julius sighed with a headshake. “I could, but that would be an unfair string and ruin the whole point of this. Right? Now, for God's sake, get going and strike that beast like how you did it to me!”
Mizuhana’s aura took over, and she transformed into the prior form before teleporting away from the ground.
Finally! Julius felt relieved and returned his focus to the Hǔ Kèsūlǔ and its match against the five. Despite all the interior pressure, he forced multiple skin eruptions on both of his arms. Many needle-sized openings were summoned, spitting out his blood like an impaled bag. Along with the blood, the excess qi escaped through. When for certain he felt the weight was reduced, Julius articulated the giant sigil and performed a frisbee throw. An upward force was generated from his body once he let it go. A view of it sped right to the beast as the five launched their current and absolute best arsenal. They flashed a bright light, and Julius stared up without nudging when it shone. I still miss wearing my sunglasses.
A puffy cloud formed from the dusty heat that was created by the five’s complete attack, Hǔ Kèsūlǔ’s knees went for a hard tumble, crashing right onto the surface hard. A smoky but tangent smell blew from within, spreading across the scene.
--
Counteracting All Negative Ailments.
--
The fumes reached his helmet to no avail as his Skoltor System blocked and resisted the terrifying smell.
--
Hu was the only one that didn’t cough, and the other four partially succumbed to the tangent smoke. Hence, they dropped to the floor with a weakened ailment. Julius activated his telekinesis, pulling them away from Hǔ Kèsūlǔ. They landed hard on the ground and rolled a few feet away from Julius’ behind. The latter did a full body twirl and blasted a shockwave blast at them, pushing them far from him and the beast. He followed up with another one but merged with his telekinesis, directing the four to the entrance region. After they landed there, Julius teleported right up to Hu. “You need to get to them. I’m going to turn.”
“In here?!” Hu asked; then she looked up to the sky. “Are you sure you won’t break the ceiling?”
“Well, we can only find out,” Julius said and gestured to her to get out of the way.
--
虎克苏鲁 (Hǔ Kèsūlǔ) HP: 191%
--
Impressive enough. Julius reflected on the five’s performance. Afterward, he dispersed his armor, transforming into his Heian-Juren 1 (黑暗巨人一) form. He confronted Hǔ Kèsūlǔ face-to-face and barged right into it, becoming a battering ram. His head and arms went for a thrusting strike at the beast’s torso, sending it into a flying frenzy. Julius, in his hybrid dragon form, launched off from the ground and performed a swirling kick, hitting the beast’s shoulder as it was lifting itself up.
As Julius grabbed it off the dented floor, a multitude of meteorite-sized blasts fired at him, forcing his grip away. Around, at least a mile radius from Hǔ Kèsūlǔ turned into a danger zone. Julius’ wings flapped and steered him away, and the blast appeared to be like a targeting ability because it followed Julius as he removed himself from the danger zone. A pure white sword, with a dragon head that substituted the guard and multiple protrusions on the blade’s both sides, summoned into his right grip. Hence, Julius gave a heavy slashing motion, and the blade’s tip blurted white smoke that could be mistaken for heavy snow.
The snowy smoke acted like a wrapper, surrounding and blocking a few meteorite-sized blasts from proceeding further. It brought it into a landlock, and therefore, the smoke wrapped around all the blasts into a cluster and ignited right at the spot. Instead of purple light, it was white like a shining star. It was strictly contained in the air and right at that spot. Julius took an interest, as he had never seen this kind of move before. He then forced his wings to stop flapping and landed back on his feet. By then, the explosive had ceased, but it wasn’t finished. The snowy smoke then charged right to Hǔ Kèsūlǔ like someone with a bucket throwing water.
Hǔ Kèsūlǔ stood right up when it got hit with a load of snowy smoke. After it touched the skin, the exposed areas brightened. It was like the white light Julius saw when the smoke was containing and detonating the meteorite-sized blasts. Hǔ Kèsūlǔ screamed in agony, roaring out its incomprehensible sounds.
To Julius’ unawareness, the sword began acting on its own, and he was forced to follow what it was doing. Hence, his whole torso began a coordinated movement. Stop it. He tried to resist but failed. The tip of the blade began to cast like from Die Verbotene Kampfkunst. Instead of characters, it did a full word, and that caused Julius to be concerned because a word requires a lot of strokes to pull off.
A square? Julius thought when his right arm finished the cast in one shape. “Zerst?rer” was the word meaning destroyer. Circular waves formed at the blade’s tip. Its elongation rate was bizarrely rapid, growing into nearly a quarter of the size of the High Cai Plateau’s surface. His right arm then lifted fully into the air, and his entire body leaned partially forward, delivering a vertical slash. The circular waves folded into a rectangular prism and subsequently fired at Hǔ Kèsūlǔ. It jolted to the beast, not opening any chance of its escape.
An opportunity, Julius opened his mouth and shot out a massive qi wave. The first time it wasn’t hot but extremely cold. It was like piled up with ice cream in your mouth, causing a brain freeze.
--
Counteracting All Negative Ailments.
--
All the resistance capabilities enabled him to continue pushing out more power through his mouth, and his interface showed the beast’s health percentage bar drastically dropped down to only one bar. Two bars were wiped completely off. Julius’ right arm involuntarily moved again. This time performing a different maneuver. A new word because it seemed like why not have another one. The Zerst?rer’s combos were about to be completed as the remaining snowy dust in the air began to fade. This new word was cast in a perfect circle. “Luftschloss” was summoned, causing Julius to be troubled. No…You better not—
A stone castle was summoned directly above Hǔ Kèsūlǔ, and it went for a drop. Because this was an entire castle dropping from hundreds of feet from the air, the sound effects were so loud that Julius dropped the dragon-like sword. He closed his ears, and suddenly, his Heian-Juren 1 transformation reverted as it expired. Julius landed down to the ground back in his regular size and watched the health bar’s percentage drop very fast. What kind of castle is this?!
The castle must have a supersonic or vibration along with it. When it crashed and landed on Hǔ Kèsūlǔ’s back, a period of persistent echoing and throbbing vibration shot through Level One’s permitted space. Gust blew everywhere. Julius, with his ears still covered, teleported to the entrance area and summoned a shield with Hu’s help. He finally let his ears go and turned to them. “What the hell just happened?”
Yizhen lifted her arms. “Why are you asking me? I’m confused as you are.”
“I wasn’t even in control when casting in that form.”
Hu, who was setting up the last reinforcements of the shield, turned around. “You weren’t?”
“No, I wasn’t. My white arm was moving on its own. The two words that were cast out were not in my control. It was my first time seeing such a casting happen.” Julius paused before continuing. “Like I never learned anything about tracing basic shapes resulting in long words.”
“It wasn’t even in Yue,” Hu said while her hand was on her chin. “…but in the original language, Kriegyu.”
Julius nodded. “Indeed, it is. In fact, that was the most powerful cast attempt I’ve ever experienced. According to the Verbotene Kampfkunst, an immense magnitude of power relies on long or complex words.”
Yizhen tried to understand. “Oh, man. Those coughs hurt from one character, and you're telling me there are full words?! In a distinct language?!”
“I was going to tell you that during training but welp…you got spoiled.”
SCREECH!
--
虎克苏鲁 (Hǔ Kèsūlǔ) HP: 1%
--
Ironically, the beast’s incomprehensible roar turned briefly comprehendible, prompting Julius to turn around. He heard only the screech portion of the roar. The Skoltor System revealed its health drastically dropped to one percent. When Julius took a step forward to get a little better view, it went to zero. Hence, the beast gave all its remaining energy in a berserk. Why is it acting like that? He was appalled at the first reaction but realized it was only a large beast type of creature at the end of the day. It reacted like a kid hyper on sugar, laying on the floor and refusing to stop moving its limbs. However, the worst part was that it was in pain, like how Julius’ arms were enlarged earlier. Julius felt it was going to explode, so he treated it like a balloon and forced multiple spots of skin open to leak. In the beast’s case, its entire body popped open bit by bit, and gas spewed out along with its dark qi.
“I’m not looking at that,” Jinhai said, expressing sentiment.
Mizuhana naturally walked and stood right in front of him, blocking all the view. Yizhen did the same.
It lasted for at least two minutes, as Julius would finally smash the shield. Everything turned quiet. Level One’s sandy terrain transformed back into a beautiful, Eden-like space. The supposed hill that was as tall as a skyscraper collapsed in a whiff, reverting to a little elevated surface. Temperatures cooled down, and the beast succumbed to its wounds, died in silence, and faded away.
--
Mission Completed (1):
Destroy anything related to Hǔ Kèsūlǔ.
--
The leaderboard was refreshed with updated numbers, putting Julius in first place. Mizuhana was second, then Hatamoto Tadamasa, Yizhen, Hu, and Jinhai. The top six took around ninety percent, while the ten percent were from the multiple deceased samurai. Afterward, the leaderboard expanded, giving an upper blank space to summon an intermission timer. The six headed down to the center of Level One.
“We have three minutes to decide,” Julius said. “Do you want to leave and come back? Or do you guys want to proceed once the timer is up?”
“I would love to—”
Yizhen jolted her hand, blocking Jinhai’s mouth. “I’ll join you if that’s what you want. I’m not losing the chance of learning all this casting.”
Jinhai tried to grab her hand, only to fail. His continuous muffled voice emits underneath. Julius shook his head while letting out a slight chuckle. “I knew you would resist despite your mother wanting to get you out of your comfort zone…But even if your sister is enthusiastic, I’m teaching the Verbotene Kampfkunst to the rest, too.”
“My sister and now you can get into my skin—”
Julius activated his qi’s pressure, forcing Jinhai to crash down on his knees. “Watch your tone, son. If you keep this up, you’re going to be killed sooner than the rest.”
“What the hell are you doing?” Yizhen asked him with a dismayed but furious face.
He turned to her. “He was being disrespectful, you know?”
Yizhen shook her head. “I disagree, he wasn’t even saying anything.”
Julius then triggered telepathy right into her head, exposing her to it for the first time. “But he was in his mind, Yizhen. I rarely interfered in mindful privacy, but his thoughts were ticking my head. I hope you understand that.”
The first exposure caused Yizhen to appear in a trance. Her legs looked imbalanced, as if she was about to fall.
“Julius, you can stop,” Mizuhana ordered, prompting him to stop.
The two took a heavy breather. Yizhen was probably freaked from the violent coughs now, because she had it again.
Julius let them be as the intermission timer was now at the one-minute mark. The remainder of the time was silence and strolling around. Julius let his body regenerate any other wounds. His internal qi recycled by recirculating throughout as if it was recharging a car battery. By the end of the process, he felt more refreshed, like waking up from a good sleep. Ironic, but whatever it was, nostalgic in a way at least.
--
Intermission Timer: 0:33
--
He strolled back to the group, finding them with a better vibe than a minute ago. Mizuhana, whose robes were ripped again, had to throw out her robe, leaving only her inner red clothing. Julius came to her attention first. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes, I’m healed,” Julius answered, looking at her fit. “Again? I think we need to get you a better fit than wearing the typical robes you were obliged to.”
“Only one day spent at Longyue, and I already noticed you’re trying to remove cultures, are you?”
“No, it's more of adaptation…Would you rather have something that can be disadvantageous or adaptable?”
“I mean…it would be great to not have to get my legs exposed all the time,” Mizuhana reluctantly said as her qi fixed up the thigh part of the pants. She then turned to Hatamoto Tadamasa. “How come your fit isn't as damaged as mine?”
“You didn’t know? Only your golden haori was suitable for battle and a perfect shield.”
Mizuhana’s face drowned. “Sheesh, so I’m being lied to by multiple Shokunin?”
Hatamoto Tadamasa shrugged his shoulders. “I’m sorry, empress.”
“Are you guys done?” Julius asked, waiting for them to finish. “It’s time to depart. The intermission timer ended.”
The transparent leaderboard screen blinked away, and a grand double-door entrance was raised from the flowery ground. The dual doors opened, revealing a bluish portal. Julius walked right up to it before turning around, gesturing at the others to follow.
One Hour Later (Y1010年 07月 29日)
High Cai Plateau → 7 PM.
Empress Cai stood with Hóng and Qiang Zhao, staring at the spot of the grand gate. It was about to be anytime now for it to summon. Everyone else only arrived a minute ago, waiting to see the crowd coming out.
She turned to the two who were standing to her right, asking Hóng how she felt about her twin children. “What do you expect from them?”
“My twin kids? Well, I trusted that Julius could take care of them for the time being. At least in the tower’s realms, they have more time to learn things. But I’m more concerned for Jinhai.”
“Is it because of Jia Hao?”
Hóng nodded with a little groan. “Mhm…He was like the bridge for all his brothers and sisters. You guys know the story; he was supposed to be the successor to his father’s position as village chief. He was trained in all attributes…Then the Renos took him and my husband away.”
“And you wanted the whole family to protect themselves for their future. Yes, I remembered that clearly, which brings me to ask one question I never get to ask.”
“Go on.”
“Why haven’t you taken over the village?”
Eyes blinked, Hóng took a moment before answering. “I’m not sure what you mean by that? Take over the village? No, why are you asking me this?”
“Because it has the village decided who’s the next chief?”
Another moment of silence. “Uh…They’re working on that right now. However, the reconstruction is taking the time away from them thinking about that topic.”
You are trying to ditch the topic. Come on, don’t hesitate. Empress Cai pushed the idea further. “Then that’s the perfect opportunity to do it. You bring them the spirit and with our backing, your village will be further fortified against surprises.”
Hóng, partially grimaced. “Has even Julius come to mind about this?”
“He said the option is on the table.”
“So not a definite yes you meant?”
Empress Cai scratched her itchy neck. “But it doesn’t mean it’s a no.”
Hóng sighed deeply. “You really wanted this? Do you?”
“It’s not that I’m forcing you. I’m here to tell you that this is what you wanted. Jia Hao would’ve done the same in ruling the village,” Empress Cai said, then pointing to Hóng’s right pocket. “You explicitly said in your journal that you have a grand disagreement with your husband’s perspective on maintaining the village.”
Hóng's face popped. “What the hell? When did you read my private journal?!”
“During the day, we attacked the Renos at the Gulf, and I escorted you and the village to safety. Your journal dropped to my grip and opened. I glimpsed your page clean before handing it back to you. Sorry.”
Hóng shook her head, admitting her genuine desires. “You really are livelier than ever when Julius comes around. Darn it, you win.”
Whoosh! Clank!
The Tower of the Merit Universe’s grand dual gate has arrived.
“I rarely do, and I’ll cherish this till my death,” Empress Cai said with a cheeky smile before turning back to the scene of the gate opening. “Now, let’s see what the result is.”
As the clouds released from the opened gates, bright light followed. Because of the clouds, everyone outside could only see what the light could emit. Hence, they waited until finally, footsteps echoed from the inside out.
One silhouette
Two silhouettes.
Three silhouettes.
Four silhouettes.
…
Nine silhouettes.
Wait, what’s going on? That’s all? Empress Cai remembered there were at least more than three dozen that came with Julius. She waited to see if there were any more silhouettes appearing with the eight, and it turned out to be only nine as the final number. Four on the left, another four on the right, and a central silhouette. The gate’s light from the portal dimmed as the doors closed. The clouds dissipated around the center, and Julius stepped out first. “Hello!”
His appearance silenced everyone. All minds were excluded from distraction and only focused on him. Something was off. It wasn’t only his face but his hair and overall appearance.
“Why are you guys looking at me like that? Did I scare you or something?” Julius asked while facially expressing confusion.
Hóng blurted out the second before Empress Cai opened her mouth. “It’s all silver! If I didn’t see your face, I would’ve thought it was an old man!”
Eyebrows raised; Julius almost burst out a laugh but swallowed it. “Very funny…It’s called Qi exhaustion, where our qi depletes to zero for a short period. The reaction to it varies case by case. For me, I got silver hair and a nice beard that can’t be shaved or removed.”
“Qi exhaustion,” Empress Cai muttered while glaring at Hóng and Father Kang. “I never heard of such a thing, and I only thought hypoqi fatigue was the worst thing that could happen to us.”
A second silhouette, standing across from Julius’ right, appeared from the clouds. “And it still is. He hasn’t said anything that’s bad, but it was a risky deal. We are the first from outside of the Merit Universe to experience it,” Jinhai said. Also looking older by at least a decade. He pulled down his cloaked hoodie.
“Boy, is that you?!” Hóng asked while walking up to Jinhai. “My Yinhai…You’ve grown too tall!”
“All in the flesh, mother. A long time has passed in the realms of Level Two.”
“What do you mean? It’s only ten days.”
Julius shook his head. “No.”
The third silhouette revealed itself from Julius’ left. “It has been three months…A long story to tell, but I’ll cut to the chase.” Yizhen, the only one in the crowd with no traces of silver hair. She looked more mature compared to herself before stepping foot into the Merit Universe. Her clothing fit also transformed. Empress Cai recalled it was like the formal wear from Earth. How did you even get that tuxedo? She thought it was good.
All the clouds and coverings faded away, and the other six silhouettes out of the nine were revealed simultaneously. Mizuhana, also in silver hair, was the first at Julius’ left. Empress Cai remembered she was only by her shoulders, now it seemed she grew as much of a spurt as Julius had. Again?! By the Yinhai. She found it hard to believe that Julius had gone through another one. The point of view and in that angle was vivid and not fooling around. He really had grown not by a little, but a lot. A first in history to have anyone grow more than twice. For Mizuhana, the top of her head reached his jaw, which could only mean one thing. Damn it. I lost. Empress Cai realized and probably jinxed herself from what she said to Hóng.
The latter had a reaction to Yizhen’s look. “Yizhen! What did you do to your hair?!”
Yizhen rubbed the back of her head. “I knew you'd be focused on my damn hair. It’s magic that I trained to alter my appearance. So, no. I didn’t cut my hair; it’s only hidden from view.”
“Bring back the long hair, daughter.”
Shaking her head, Yizhen refused. “No, my long hair is reserved for only special occasions. Sorry mother, get used to this.”
As much as Hóng wanted to protest, she kept it quiet with a heavy groan. More surprises for her because Jinhai walked up with a lady by his side. The rest who exited the gate departed from where they stood, and the grand gates disappeared. Julius and Mizuhana strolled to Empress Cai, confirming her analysis. Ironically, it was now only up to his shoulders. She then didn’t hesitate to ask. “How tall are you two?”
“Almost nine feet. Eventually, I must figure out how to stop growing my height because this is concerning.”
Empress Cai chuckled at that remark. “Well, we're going to have to get the doctor to check y’all’s physical changes.” Her eyes then turned towards Mizuhana, who was standing a few inches above her. “Lucky you, you are now that you are taller than me. How does that make you feel?”
“Worth all the stress.”
“Oh, you…Anyway we need to depart, but who are the others that came along, and what happened to the samurai?”
“All the samurai died at Level One. Let’s only say that they did their best, but the sudden changes in the level of difficulty were extreme. I think the second level was as difficult and more insane than Level Three.”
“So, the two are not samurai, but from Level Two, I assume?”
Mizuhana and Julius both nodded. “I’ll tell you guys the story later, but it seemed like the Merit Universe was more complicated than ever. Many civilizations exist there as if they were in their own world, and the specific one that the two came from, they wanted to escape and join us. I’ll be blessed if the tower only has ten levels because Yinhai helps us all.”
Is it that bad? Empress Cai, curious, followed the two along with the rest of the crowd as they walked down the wide stairs. Everybody was starving, and Father Kang invited all to join at his manor again but for an informal dinner.
