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Chapter 99: Abandoned
🕑 Added 2023-01-29 17:37:00 +0000 UTCMolten iron flowed through Jack’s veins. No, it wasn’t iron; it was his blood. He screamed and seized as his entire body tensed at once. From his skin to his intestines, even the muscles he couldn’t control cramped up, tightening to their hardest.
They didn’t relax again. However, over the following seconds, Jack slowly felt the rigidity leaving his body. In just a moment, he was fine, and his body was flooded with more strength than he had ever dared hope for. His muscles felt like steel cords, and his entire body had gotten at least twice as durable.
He clenched a hand in wonder. The movement of his fingers felt unstoppable. He stomped on the ground, and the rock below shook like he’d dropped a piano on it. Moreover, he could sense that his reflexes and kinetic vision had evolved with his strength.
He was frozen for a few moments, unable to believe it. He was drunk, euphoric with power. He felt like a God.
He had never experienced such a leap in power before. Even when he got ten Levels at once, or when his skills all rose a tier after the fight against the black wolf, it hadn’t been such a total, overwhelming upgrade as this.
He estimated that he was now fast enough to give Dorman a run for his money, even with the teen’s Lightning Form activated. And speed was traditionally his weakest aspect. His current strength… Even he didn’t know how strong he was.
Just what would a Meteor Punch look like if fired with this body?
Jack quickly opened the blue screens and kept reading, eager to see where all these changes came from. After all, his new Class hadn’t given him any stat points!
Congratulations! You are now a Fiend of the Iron Fist (Elite).
Congratulations! Pugilist Body (III) upgraded into Iron Fiend Body (II).
Class Skill unlocked: Ghost Step (I).
He opened the Iron Fiend Body first.
Iron Fiend Body (II): Your have iron knuckles. Your muscles resemble iron cords, possessing explosive strength and great tenacity. You have significant durability, slight regenerative powers, and heightened control over your body, including its natural limiters. Additionally, your mind is fast enough to keep up.
The massive strengthening of my body must have been due to this Skill… Jack thought. But boy, the description doesn’t do it justice. This skill is incredible!
He willed the description of Pugilist Body III to appear. Iron Fiend Body was the upgraded version, and it read pretty similar.
Pugilist Body (III): Your body has adapted to your fighting style. You gain significant flexibility, reflexes, and durability, as well as increased hardness on your knuckles. You have heightened control over your body, including its natural limiters, and slight regenerative powers. Additionally, you have the ability to harden every surface of your body at will, significantly increasing your defensive properties.
Basically, Jack had gone from a pugilist’s body to one made of iron. It was certainly an upgrade, even though the skill had lost a proficiency tier. And it wasn’t even a Dao Skill!
Of course, there were many reasons working in tandem for his massive strengthening. Reaching the E-Grade was a big one—that, by itself, was a tremendous change. His body had been imbued with his Dao. Since he had the Dao Seed of the Fist, that made him stronger and harder than before. Add the iron body to that, and he was at least twice as durable as he used to be.
He had also gotten ten points in all stats, and if his math was correct, he had also leveled up once, netting him another five points—the level-up bonus had increased massively as well. He invested them in physical. At this rate, his stats would rise exponentially as he climbed through the Grades. The seventy-five Levels in the E-Grade alone would give him…almost four hundred stat points.
Dear mother of God… How strong is an immortal? he asked himself, glancing at his master, who still seemed intently focused on his thoughts. Five hundred?
He wanted to test his new power properly, but before that, he read through his other new Skill, Ghost Step.
Ghost Step (I): Active skill. Step like a ghost, moving quickly and silently to anywhere within nine feet of you.
The description was deceptively simple, but the skill itself sounded useful. A movement skill had been exactly what Jack missed. He did have Parkour, but it was…insufficient.
None of these two new Skills were Dao Skills, but that was okay. With time, they would be.
Finally, Jack inspected his status screen, filled with pride.
Name: Jack Rust
Species: Human, Earth-387
Faction: Bare Fist Brotherhood (E)
Grade: E
Class: Fiend of the Iron Fist (Elite)
Level: 50
Strength: 134
Dexterity: 134
Constitution: 134
Mental: 23
Will: 23
Skills: Fistfighting (III), Drill (III), Parkour (III), Iron Fiend Body (II), Ghost Step (I)
Dao Skills: Meteor Punch (II)
Daos: Perfect Dao Seed of the Fist (early), Dao Root of Indomitable Will
Titles: Planetary Frontrunner (10), Planetary Torchbearer (1)
When he closed it, he was filled with pride. The first E-Grade of his planet, and a perfect one, too… How far he’d come.
But now, it was time for the truly fun stuff. “Hey, Edgar,” he said, turning to the wizard a few feet away. “Check this out.”
“Wha—”
Before Edgar could reply, Jack took a step. His form blurred like a ghost as he soundlessly hurtled through space, appearing right in front of Edgar almost instantly. “Ah!” Edgar shouted, jumping back. The shield flickered. “Jesus, Jack. You scared the crap out of me.”
“Heh.” Jack chuckled, panting a bit. Ghost Step had practically teleported him, but it was tiring. It had felt like wading through mud.
But it was extremely fast. Jack was no longer slow. He was…well, he didn’t know the E-Grade’s standards, but he was at least decent.
“Check out how fast I am,” he told Edgar, then sidestepped in circles around the wizard. His movement was so rapid it raised a cloud of sand.
“Hey, stop that!” Edgar complained, forming a second blue barrier around his face. “No need to—”
Jack punched the ground. His hard-as-iron knuckles slid through the sand like it wasn’t even there and rammed into the stone. The entire arena shook. Some people on the stands lost their footing. When Jack pulled his hand back, the stone had a bowl-sized crater—and his knuckles were completely unhurt.
He grinned. “I think I’m going to like this,” he said. He couldn’t test his durability right now, but surely some random scion would help him soon.
“Holy shit. What’s your new Class?” Edgar finally asked. “You chose already, right?”
“Yep. Fiend of the Iron Fist.”
“Fiend of the Iron Fist…” Edgar mouthed the name, testing it. “Why fiend?”
“Because I’m suppo—”
The world fell away. Jack suddenly found himself in an overcast world, hovering high over a field of broken bodies. Blood and weapons littered the barren dirt. Jack himself was only a ghost, lacking a material form.
He grimaced. He had forgotten about this part, but he had to admit that he really looked forward to it. His eyes swiveled, looking for the caped bald man of his first Dao Vision, but he was nowhere to be found. Instead, a new person had taken his place.
It was a big-bodied human. He was bare-chested, with wide shoulders and bulging muscles. His hands were clasped behind his back, and he stood straight like a ramrod. Three long gray lines were tattooed on the right side of his chest, like a wound left over by an animal’s claws.
He did not look like a kind person. His long gray hair fluttered in the bloody breeze, while his gray eyes were harsh and narrowed into slits. His skin was bronze. His face was hard. In Jack’s eyes, this man resembled a merciless, brutal master.
Gedritch, Level ??? (C-Grade)
Faction: Iron Fist Empire (C-Grade)
Title: Leviathan Slayer
Facing him was a fortress. Colossal dark walls stretched three hundred feet into the air and many miles on either side. Squinting at their top, Jack could make out a host of people preparing to defend. They sported all sorts of weapons, as well as magic. With a few random scans, he discovered that they were also gedritch, the same human-like species as the bare-chested man, and they were all in the E-Grade.
He also spotted dozens of figures assembled into battle formations, flying over the walls—immortals.
A single woman stood on the wall ledge. She was clad in golden plate armor from head to toe, and she radiated bright power. When Jack scanned her, she was also at the C-Grade—though the fact that she stood on the town walls indicated she was at a lower Level than the bare-chested man.
In contrast, the man stood completely alone, facing down a fortress of immortals.
“We are willing to pledge our allegiance, Baron Longform,” the woman shouted. Her voice echoed to the nearby mountains, easily reaching everyone’s ears. “Promise the safety of our descendants and disciples, and we will serve the empire without a word of protest.”
The bare-chested man shook his head. “Once a traitor, always a traitor,” he replied. His voice was deep and harsh, sharp enough to cut through stone, and that wasn’t a metaphor. The walls and ground shook. The E-Grade defenders atop the walls screamed before a wide curtain of golden light spread over the entire length of the wall, shielding them. Jack was glad he had no body in this vision.
The woman’s eyes were hard now.
“Very well,” she responded commandingly. Her entire body erupted with a column of golden light that reached all the way to the sky, splitting the dense clouds, and ethereal wings spread from her back. “Then, let the emperor’s dog die here.”
Thundering shouts came from the immortals in the sky, joined by the still-reeling E-Grade defenders on the walls. Jack couldn’t see behind them, but he thought he heard many more voices rising from inside the fortress—either civilians or back-up forces.
The bare-chested man smiled grimly. He did not move a muscle. Suddenly, a wave rolled out of him.
It was invisible and formless. Jack only sensed it when it washed over him, and he was instantly flooded with unease. The man’s form had changed, but not visibly. He had somehow gotten sharper, stronger, more intimidating; like he was a bomb of violence ready to explode. Like a killer, a tyrant, a monster, a devil.
Or a fiend.
An aura of palpable violence spread in all directions, drowning the town in fear. Screams rose from all directions. The immortals in the air dropped like flies. Only a few were able to resist, but even they were unable to advance on the man.
Jack felt true terror grip his heart. This man would grab him and tear him limb from limb, bringing unimaginable pain. There was nothing he could do to resist, only despair.
He lost all power. His Dao Roots were suppressed, his soul shivered, and he couldn’t stop shaking. If not for the protection of the System letting him experience this vision, he was sure he would have crumbled on the spot.
Jack could not see beyond the wall, but he sensed that people were dying in droves, their souls and wills crushed beyond redemption, overwhelmed by terror.
And the more people that fell, the stronger the bare-chested man grew. He fed on their terror until his body overflowed with power, and the black-and-red aura around him grew so thick that it seemed to form horns over his head and leathery black wings on his back.
This all happened in an instant. The woman’s golden light did nothing to stop this aura. A second later, her face contorted in fury and despair. She charged forward, screaming, “Have you no honor?! No shame?!” at the top of her lungs, so hard it tore her throat.
A lance of pure light materialized in her hand, filling the entire world with heat. The man clenched his fist and stepped forward. Then, abruptly, the vision cut off. It had shown what it wanted. The rest of the battle did not concern it.
Jack was back in the arena, reeling and losing his footing. Only a moment had passed in the real world, but he was shaken, like the terror of the bare-chested man had seeped deep into his bones.
It receded a moment later, like it had all been a bad dream, but Jack remained stunned. That Dao Vision had been…alarming. Perhaps the new Class would come with some complications after all…but a weapon was a weapon. Even if the aura targeted his allies as well, which he doubted, he would just have to use it carefully.
Or, even better, twist it to his path. His Meteor Punch had also deviated from what the bald man had used, according to Master Shol. He could do the same with this aura. And then, it would be an incredible weapon. Feeding on the enemies’ fear… How cool was that?
“Jack?” Edgar’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “Are you okay? You were saying something, and you just cut off.”
Jack shook, realizing he was still in the middle of the arena.
“Sorry, the Dao Vision came. It was…” He trailed. As soon as he had the chance, he would meditate on that Dao Vision intensely. He looked forward to what he would learn.
“Promising?”
“Terrifying. But yeah, very promising. I think I made a great choice.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Edgar smiled widely. “Now, you were saying something about your Class name. The reason it included the word ‘fiend.’”
“Oh, yeah. Well, it’s mostly a historical thing, as the previous wielders of this Class were tyrannical, and I suspect that some Skills will be pretty fiend-like. I am supposed to oppress others with an iron fist.”
“And you’ll do that?”
“Only if they deserve it. I’m a pretty good guy,” Jack replied with a sardonic smile that wasn’t at all reassuring.
Brock was hopping in place in front of Jack. He seemed as excited as his big bro, which made Jack even more excited. Finally, someone he could brag to.
“Check this out, Brock!” he said, flexing a bicep. Brock raised a hand to grab it, but no matter how he pushed, the bicep didn’t budge. His monkey mouth formed into an ‘O’, and then he started yelling congratulations in monkey.
Jack wished he had a bananarm to give him.
“Disciple,” Master Shol’s voice came from behind him, and Jack turned excitedly, eager to share everything.
“Master, I—”
“Please wait.”
Jack paused. Master Shol’s voice sounded raspy, tired. His eyes were sunken and helpless. He seemed like a man who had lost a battle.
“What’s the matter, Master? What happened?” Jack asked in worry.
“I don’t fucking know.” It was the first time he heard Master Shol curse like this. “Listen, boy. There are only a few minutes remaining until the one-hour deadline, and we must come up with a plan quickly. My master abandoned you. She will not take you in.”
“What?” Jack’s eyes opened wide. “But I—”
“I know.” Master Shol seemed furious. “She promised that she’d accept you if you won, but she claims this is not a proper victory. However, you broke through so quickly, and with a perfect Dao Seed, too! This marks you as a talent worth nurturing! Even C-Grades should take you seriously now.”
“So what happened?”
“That’s the problem: I don’t know! My master just told me she received a direct order from the faction’s Grand Elder. And do you know what it said? Leave Jack Rust and Earth-387 alone.”
“I— What?”
“How would the Grand Elder know about Jack?” Edgar asked, stepping up beside them.
“There is only one explanation: the Animal Kingdom.” Master Shol’s eyes were dark. “Do you understand what this means, Jack?”
His heart sank. “Of course I do…” he muttered. Right when he thought everything was going great, he was once again plunged into despair, and deeper than ever.
If the Animal Kingdom went so far as to ask the Exploding Sun to stay out of this, doubtlessly paying some sort of compensation, that could only mean one thing: they considered him too large of a threat to let live. He was already their enemy. If they believed he had the potential to grow into a threat to their faction, they would nip this problem in the bud.
“But why would they go so far?” he asked. “I’m only at the E-Grade!”
“You formed a perfect Dao Seed, Jack.” Master Shol shook his head. “You should know that over half of those who have a perfect Dao Seed become immortals, provided they can survive until then. They even have a chance at reaching the C-Grade! Moreover, you have repeatedly insulted their scions and targeted the entire faction, and you are part of an alliance against them on this planet. Most importantly, you defied the planetary overseer just now, too.”
Jack gritted his teeth. His master was right.
“Even the Animal Kingdom has a bottom line, Jack. And it appears you just crossed it.” Master Shol’s eyes were tinged with sadness. “You are marked for death, my boy…and nobody will help you. Only I can try, but my power is very limited in this state.”
“Doesn’t the Grand Elder’s order extend to you, Master?”
“It does, but fuck the orders. I’m here already, and you’re my disciple. As long as it doesn’t expose my faction to trouble, I will help you.”
“Master…” Jack’s eyes went wide.
Comments
Nilbog
I mean the tournament is pretty much done and this is essentially fallout.
Nilbog
they seem a bit too ruthless to care about some E grader. Jack's going to have to prove himself with more than just some crappy tournament
Gio
Contact the Iron Fist Empire, maybe they will take him in.
Wconn1979
This is dragging on.
