Crystal core 4 a litrpg.., p.27
Crystal Core 4: A Litrpg Cultivation Adventure, page 27
I couldn’t afford to relax and become complacent; there was still so much that I needed to learn.
“I don’t have time for this,” I groaned.
Sergeant Rainer said, “Leave, then. We’ll try to stall them.”
“I couldn’t ask you to fight cultivators for me.”
Just about then, I felt a connection to one of the people walking towards me. It was Hidego, the first derivative cultivator I had… created? Made? Assisted?
“Hidego is with them?”
Sergeant Rainer nodded. “He’s been training with them. And don’t worry, I wasn’t suggesting anything suicidal. I simply meant that we’d try to stall them with our words. Hidego could probably take out a couple of them, though probably not their leader. He seems either more powerful or more skilled than the others.”
I nodded. I could run or I could stay, but either way, I was going to be reacting to these cultivators. With time so limited, it was better to get it out of the way as quickly as possible. When the figures came into view, I smiled upon seeing the man walking in front next to Hidego.
I gave a short bow as I said, “Master Valdoc, long time no see.”
His bow to me was much deeper. “You honor this old teacher for remembering him after all this time.”
“Uh… it hasn’t been that long, has it?” Suddenly, I worried that time ran differently in Avernus. How long had we been gone? “It’s been less than a year since I last saw you… hasn’t it?”
“You’ve been gone from the realm for over two months, Hero. I was not privy to where you went,” he replied, “but your honorable wife, Eluanshi, assured her father that you were still alive.”
I nodded. “I’ll gladly tell you about it—but later. I don’t suppose you have any healers with you? My companion was gravely wounded.”
Valdoc started to answer when another cultivator stepped forward, almost shoving Hidego to the side. He was the other peak C-ranker I’d sensed. Judging from his robes, he was from the Feldaru sect. He gave me what was probably the slightest bow he felt he could get away with.
“What is all this banter? The Hero is here. We must do our duty by informing the council, and then bringing him to Regev.”
Time being what it was, I didn’t bother responding with words. Instead, I pushed out with my aura. Most of it was focused on this Feldaru cultivator who crumpled to the ground as though his legs had turned to jelly. Even then, the others around him all groaned and dropped to a knee.
Valdoc trembled as he looked at me with pleading eyes.
I cut the pressure off after only two seconds. “If that doesn’t convince you how this is going to go, then I don’t know what will. I need a healer—now—and anyone who opens their mouth to say anything else is going to find out just how short my temper has become.”
I heard Rainer suck in air with this proclamation. I’d probably shocked him. Truth be told, I’d shocked myself a bit, too. I just didn’t feel like waiting on their stupidity—Neki couldn’t afford it. Fragments of another’s memories rushed through my head, they told me that the only way to deal with people like this was with an iron hand.
Valdoc said, “Yes, Hero, we have two healers. All the healers of the sects have been roused to support the incursion teams. And not just Yandao, all the sects are working hard to hold back the horde.”
I wanted to ask so many questions, but instead I said, “Healers, come with me. Valdoc can come as well.” I turned without even waiting to see if they obeyed.
A moment later, I heard an argument behind me. It seemed the Feldaru cultivator thought Hidego was getting in his way. Apparently, I’d gone too light on my aura if he was already causing trouble. I didn’t care enough to turn around, though, because he didn’t push it to a confrontation. In moments, I heard the sounds of three heartbeats and three sets of feet walking the hard-packed road behind me.
Since I didn’t run, it took us longer to get back to the cottage than it had taken to get to the gate—but not too long, since even walking, cultivators moved quickly. Three minutes later, we stood in front of the cottage. I turned to the two healers, both women. I judged them to both be E-rank, with one of them was pretty close to breaking through to D-rank. Hopefully, that would be enough.
Bowing my head, I said, “Esteemed healers, a good friend of mine, Nekita, formerly of the Kraznev clan, lies severely injured within. If you can save her, you will earn a favor from me.”
All three of them winced at ‘formerly of the Kraznev clan’, but it was what it was. The realm was changing, and everyone needed to get on board. Maybe a few months in hell had changed me, or maybe it was the pit fiend’s memories, but I wasn’t going to coddle anyone.
I would adapt to this world. That I had promised my wives, but the realm had some adapting to do, as well. The Hero changes things, after all.
Both women nodded.
I added just as an afterthought since I’d sounded so stern, “And if you earnestly try but can’t heal her, then you shouldn’t fear any retribution from me. I’m not like that.”
They didn’t show their relief at this statement in the way of outward signs, but with my level of Perception, I noticed the subtle signs of released tension.
I led them into the cottage and to Neki. She was still unconscious on the bed. Both healers extended their auras to get a sense of what they were working with. One after the other they gasped.
The water cultivator asked, “What is infecting her?”
“Hell Mana, mostly.”
“How?! She was wounded fighting demons?”
I quickly weighed how much I wanted to share. “There are some things which will be difficult to explain now and aren’t really relevant. We simply need to get her body to start healing properly again. Can you do that?”
The Yandao cultivator bowed her head to me, “I will try my best, Hero.”
The two healers discussed strategy first and then went to work, applying their healing in turns. I marveled at how quickly they tired, and over the next half an hour, it became obvious that they didn’t have enough juice to fix Neki.
There was a solution for that, though. I had plenty of juice. It would just require me revealing something I wasn’t sure I wanted the sects to know about—at least not yet.
I shook my head. I couldn’t allow Neki to die because I was unwilling to share a secret, even if she would have deemed it a fair exchange. “If I could boost your power, would you trust me enough to form a cultivation circle with me?”
Chapter 27- Learning the Details
Both healers were clearly nervous, and hesitated to reply to my question. Then Valdoc stepped forward and spoke. “Uh… Hero… both these women are married.”
I shook my head. “I’m not asking to marry them, just to boost them. I guess there is probably some rule about that. I didn’t mean to offend by asking. If you like, I’ll explain a bit more.”
The woman in the brown and green of Yandao said, “We understand that you don’t know understand our customs, given you have been here such a short time. I would be willing to form a cultivation circle with you, so long as my sect brother also joins us. That would help to balance the circle, and prevent any suggestion of impropriety.”
I wasn’t sure what she meant by balance. For all I knew, it was a superstition they had about cultivation circles. I was continually amazed by how cultivators’ customs took on an almost religious connotation.
I tried to be understanding. “That is fine with me. I apologize, I don’t know your names and didn’t ask for them. I’m sure you know, but I am Ryan Wilson. And you are?”
Valdoc answered for them again. “This is my sect sister, Imara Tols, wife to Ibram Tols, a C-ranked cultivator of the Yandao sect.”
He pointed to the water cultivator and said, “And this fine woman placed under my authority and care is Missy Valos, wife to Eugene Valos, a C-ranked cultivator of the Mosel sect.”
I found it interesting that their last names were not the same as their sects. As I understood it, that meant they were sect members but not part of the clan. I guess if I was going to start a clan and sect, I would need to understand these differences.
I bowed my head. “I am honored to meet you both.”
Missy straightened her robes nervously. “May I ask a question, Hero? What do you believe the cultivation circle will do? Is it simply that you believe you can give us more mana to do our work with?”
I nodded. “In my experience, I have been able to push significantly more mana into a cultivation partner than they can draw on their own. But there are likely to be… other benefits.”
“Such as?” Valdoc asked.
I hesitated for a moment. “I’d prefer you keep this to yourselves, but I can’t ask you to go against your sects. If I can do what I claim, would you be willing not to tell anyone about it for at least three months? By that time, it will likely have become public knowledge whether I want it to or not.”
Imara shook her head. “I am confused as to what you think you can do for us.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, and then sighed. “I can condense your mana, improve your mana concentration, and in some cases, even cause breakthroughs—upgrading the stage of your mana. Basically, I have experience increasing the rank of cultivators… sometimes significantly. None of you may know him, but I did this for Master Dryden, formerly of the Baku clan, amongst others.”
Valdoc nodded. “He was often my counterpart in Senetra. I had as much respect for Dryden as I could for any not of my clan. It might also have something to do with how both of us were stuck at Peak C-rank, despite being esteemed trainers.”
“And if I told you that Dryden has reached early A-rank because of what I did for him… what would you say?”
Without missing a beat, Valdoc replied, “I would first tell you that such a thing is impossible. Once a cultivator reaches his or her potential, it is fixed. But after telling you that, I would say that if the Hero could somehow do such a thing, I would give just about anything for you to do the same for me.”
I shrugged. “Maybe it was because Dryden hadn’t truly reached his potential… or perhaps I can raise your potential. Either way, seeing is believing.” I rotated my head, cracking my neck. “What do you think? Are you willing to try? I promise no harm will come to you, but our time is not limitless. The healing you provided Neki should keep her stable for a few hours, but this process may take some time.”
The three of them conferred for a moment while I politely pretended I couldn’t hear everything they were saying. It was obvious that they struggled with believing what I’d said, though it was just as clear that they wished it could be true.
Eventually, Valdoc nodded. “We will do this.”
We formed the circle easily enough. I was shocked by how much weaker the women’s foundations were than any of the cultivators I’d worked before. Missy was peak E-rank, but only had her limb meridians, groin, and stomach meridians open. Her channels were full of crap—for lack of a better term. Imara wasn’t even at peak E-rank, and the sludge build up within her channels was more pronounced.
Valdoc was in a different situation. He had the sludge, but his foundation was solid. It was firm and well balanced. He had opened all of his meridians. He simply seemed to be blocked from pushing his mana density to solid or expanding his channels.
I tried to be gentle, but the longer I was at this the more uptight I got—and not just about Neki. I could only imagine how my wives were feeling. The connection with them had been dulled while in Avernus, but once I stepped into the cottage, all my connections had flared back to life.
They had to know that I was back in the human realm and would be fretting about why I wasn’t with them—especially Kumo, who was susceptible to dark emotions. I didn’t want to think what would become of her if I had actually died.
I pushed the cultivation circle hard, condensing their mana as I flooded their systems. I also pushed psi into each of them with Lesser Mental Clarity. I found that without a connection, that it didn’t work as well as it had with Lian, Dryden, or the others. But it did work.
They all remarked about the odd sensation and how everything seemed simpler or more straightforward.
The hours ticked by, and my impatience grew. I finally felt the first breakthrough when Missy pushed her mana into liquid state, which was a big boost at her rank as both her core and her channels expanded. Her mana capacity had more than doubled, and it was now more potent than before. She was easily at late D-rank, and pretty close to peak D-rank.
After that, she dropped out of the circle, saying she needed to stabilize herself and get comfortable with this new level power. I assume she got a significant boost in stats, too, but I didn’t ask. I did, however, know that this wouldn’t be the end of her growth. She was an experienced cultivator, so it would have been unbecoming of me to tell her how to handle it.
Oddly, once she left the circle, it moved faster. It struck me that this was probably because I had a pseudo-affinity for Earth Mana. That was Imara’s only affinity, while Valdoc had a very strong affinity with it and a lesser affinity with Fire Mana. The more I studied Imara’s channels the more a suspicion began to grow.
“Did you, by chance, take a flawed cultivation aid?” I asked the water cultivator. When I looked up, I saw tears streaming down her face.
“My father gave it to me. He told me it would boost my cultivation, but in reality, he wanted to stop me at E-rank so that it would be easier to marry me off.”
I groaned at the cruelty. “Hold on, we're going to clear out all that sludge in your channels.”
I increased the cycle of power, and for a while, I was sure that Imara was straining at her limits. But if my Neutral Mana was good at anything, it was breaking down other types of mana—including this sludge.
After another hour of this, both Imara and Valdoc experienced breakthroughs all at once. Valdoc shot up because of his solid foundations, just as Dryden had. One moment he was stuck at peak C-rank, and the next, he was at peak B-rank with the potential to climb higher.
Imara was different in that her foundation was so damaged that I found myself rebuilding it as I went. She gasped and shuddered as I pushed her into D-rank, but I didn’t stop there. She had more potential, it had simply been cut short.
I knew that most cultivators who stopped at C-rank weren’t like Valdoc or Dryden. I did believe, however, that almost all cultivators could make it to at least C-rank with the right help.
I kept breaking down her channels and rebuilding them until she finally gasped, “No more, Hero.”
I pulled back immediately and inspected what I’d wrought. I’d pushed her all the way to mid C-rank with the foundation necessary to climb to at least the peak of that rank. It was a life-changing event for her. Not only would it extend her lifespan, but the extra power and respect she would now enjoy compared to her previous station could not be underestimated.
After a moment, she wiped away her tears and bowed from her seated position, “Thank you for stopping there. I don’t think my husband would have responded very well if I had surpassed him. He is stuck at late C-rank.”
I nodded in understanding. Weak men were the same on any world. They felt threatened by the accomplishments of the women in their lives.
It took both of the healers a while to recover, but once they were both ready to try again, Missy and Imara healed Neki in less than fifteen minutes. Their massively boosted power and increased mana density made their healing much more effective. I was impressed by how they wove Earth and Water Mana together to achieve greater results.
Neki thanked them and then thanked me, kissing my cheek before she pulled back. Her pale cheeks were a bright red as she apologized for losing control and failing to comport herself appropriately.
I waved it off, even if both Imara and Missy glared at her as if she’d just kicked a puppy. I decided it wasn’t worth explaining that my wives had done everything but throw Neki into my bed.
Once she was alert, Neki started asking questions of Valdoc. We discovered that 71 days had passed since we’d been pulled into Avernus. Throughout that time, the number of incursions had steadily increased. Valdoc didn’t know everything, but his team had been stationed in this area and had dealt with any portals within 100 miles of Eno. They had faced six incursions since being stationed here.
“What about the town?” I asked. “It seems to have grown a great deal.”
Valdoc shrugged. “Yes, the dwarves and elves have been remarkably useful. I thought I knew everything there was to know about stone, but the bearded folk have taught me several new things. They do not cultivate, but have some other type of power. It seems their power is connected to items they craft. They have grown stronger the longer they’ve been here and the more crafting they have done.”
I wondered what they had made.
“The elves, likewise, do not cultivate,” Valdoc continued, “but they have something they call natural affinities. It gives them what I can only describe as magical abilities. They have all helped the community a great deal.”
“And the people have accepted them?” I asked.
“While I believe some of the sect leaders, and certainly my Feldaru counterpart, would love to simply kill them all,” he replied, “the people of Eno have come to love them.”
“Perhaps I should meet them and see if there’s anything more to learn from them.”
Neki snorted. “Are you not still digesting what you learned on our trip?”
I shrugged. “Okay, fine.” I looked back at Valdoc. “Could you arrange for the elves and the dwarves to come to town and meet with me tonight? I would like to speak with them before I must go. I need to leave first thing in the morning to get back to my wives.”
“Uh, I can, but it is not necessary. I assure you that they are thankful you saved them. And as far as leaving, I agree. Ogden will already have sent a message to the council via a communication crystal. All of the incursion teams—or at least as many as possible—are equipped with a crystal. It only allows for limited messages, but it will be enough to let them know of your return.”
