As I closed my eyes once again, I extended my reach not to the broken Aether Core located in the centre of my chest, but deeper within myself. I continued past the Aether Core and into my physical being; specifically, to the bones, blood and marrow that are directly connected to the Valdrake bloodline which can be felt and heard deep in the body via the low-end "bass" note that vibrates from it.
I was now connected with
The Void Aether, as opposed to my Aether Core, is present within the Valdrake bloodline as another source of power. The Void Aether is normally not attained directly through the cultivation process; therefore, it is usually ignored or not considered as an option. Accessing the Void Aether directly is analogous to trying to drink from a kitchen sink's pipes instead of getting water from the spout. It is dangerous and has not been processed (refined) like the Aether within the body.
I reached out and took hold of
A single thread of Void Aether, as a black (cold and iron-like) Thread of Aether began to make its way into the meridian channels of my right hand. Unlike the Aether Core, which was broken, the meridian channels were completely intact, thus the Void Aether flowed through only the meridian channels where it is normally processed (refined) Aether was being transported. It felt and sounded like I was pouring acid into a water pipe, and while it was not an acceptable substance, the Aether was able to flow through the pipe.
I felt a coldness in my right hand followed by a prickling sensation of heat rising within my wrist; it was as if my fingers were submerged in ice water followed immediately with being placed against an open flame. The top of my knuckles became slightly discolored; this represented an internal bruising process occurring in the knuckles.
As soon as I picked the sword up and swung it,
The blade became a blur.While other F-ranks in the world may have been more accustomed to this type of speed, most of them were either unimpressed or bored after watching an F-rank perform this sword form. However, the speed I was able to produce was far superior to anything I had achieved before due to the raw power of Void Aether mixed with my deep-seated need to survive at all costs.
My tendons were strengthening through the energy from the Void Aether, and my muscle contractions accelerated and increased my reflexes to an extent that felt equivalent to moving from walking to jogging.
Then, I took a small step back and swung again. The basic form of a Valdrake sword form is a three-strike pattern: a diagonal cut, then into a horizontal cut and finally into an upward strike. I made these three motions all at once, using Cedric's muscle memory to guide me through each technique, while at the same time using the fuel from the Void Aether to enhance my physical capabilities.
Success! My strikes were faster and stronger than anything I had previously produced. Of course, if an Acolyte had been watching me they would have easily seen that I was an F-rank; however, with only three weeks of training and practice, I could be considered an underperforming D-rank by someone who wasn't paying very close attention.
Along with my successes came my losses. After finishing my last swing and feeling the exhilaration fade, I was hit with pain. For thirty seconds after completing my last swing, my right hand had locked up due to the seizing up of all five fingers at once. My joints had begun to feel as if they were filled with broken glass and I dropped my sword onto the stone floor where the sound echoed loudly through the otherwise quiet room.
Looking at my right hand, I was horrified to see what had happened to it due to the amount of energy that had been transferred into my body through the Void Aether. My knuckles and fingers were raw and red, looking like a friction burn, and I could see the dark lines of blood vessels visible against the pale skin, which were a clear indication of how the Void Aether had travelled through my meridians. It was like looking at the beginnings of a bruise that would never heal.In Stage 1 of Void Sovereignty: Null Touch.
In this specific game, it was a passive ability that allowed one to nullify all magic whenever an object was touched physically or closely, which is just a tooltip in the game's menu. The tooltip does not tell you how much using this ability costs.
However, this cost is indicated on my hands by having many lines on them from broken blood vessels, as well as having to feel intense pain in my nerves.
Flexing my hands felt slow, but I was able to move them again, through the pain I had to get the feeling of heat back in my fingers, then the texture of the stone floor beneath me, then lastly the pain which I assumed would be forever by my side.
Chronic pain of the hands was documented as the price of Stage 1 of "Null Touch." Therefore, the game had been correct about having chronic pain in my hands.
With both of my hands, I continued to train with my sword using my left hand, and the only thing that was different this time than the previous two times was that this time the markings on my hands from the damaged blood vessels of my left hand were now mirrored on my right hand.
Therefore, I had two hands that had sustained damage, with three weeks of training behind me until I had a match I was going to lose, or not survive very long against Aiden Crest, and would not be able to afford getting a bad loss if I wanted to survive.
All I could do was sit on the cold stone floor and stare blankly at the practice sword before me, on top of my hands that were now turning red, from the pain I experienced in them, but also because I was now being scarred for life by this new power that was going to demand so much from me for the rest of my life.
I knew that I could never defeat Aiden Crest. Not now that I was an F-rank with a broken core and would not be able to do this within twenty-four days from today.
Also, I could not hide my weakness from everyone, forever. Eventually, someone will test me, and once that happens, it would then be obvious to everyone what my real weaknesses are.I could not follow the game's storyline because Cedric was dead and buried at the end of each timeline. I could not rely solely on the game's knowledge because a dead girl named Sera had shown me that this world was much deeper than any strategy guide I had written so far.
Therefore, I could do the following:
I could gain knowledge. This body has 17 years of martial arts training in its muscles and a bloodline that could theoretically erase the gods once it had been unlocked. So the foundation of a thriving Martial Arts dojo was already there and had the potential for ultimate power. All this was currently locked away behind a fractured core and what would be an incredibly painful price to pay to unlock it.
I could create a plan of attack. Four thousand hours of strategic analysis and thinking were not lost just because the game became reality. If anything, the stakes involved in this reality had honed my ability to think clearly and evaluate the advantages of every situation. Every time someone made a mistake, it became a puzzle for me to solve, and I had spent two years solving puzzles that were harder than this one for the fun of it.
I could enact my plan of attack. The mask of the young master Cedric Valdrake was the most flexible weapon in my possession. As long as the people in this world believed I was the cold, untouchable young master, they would hesitate. They would second-guess. They would waste precious time looking for the trap instead of acting on the opportunity presented to them. Fear made everything more powerful. The Valdrake name produced fear in others as efficiently as the sun produced heat; continuously and passively at distances far enough away to make direct confrontation seem suicidal.
I could cheat. Not with my power but with the knowledge I possessed. I knew where to find all the treasures, all the hidden techniques, and everything related to secret quests. I also knew all the layout of the academy's dungeon, the areas that were off-limits, and the vaults that were sealed.I knew which professors were good to trust and which ones to avoid, even after received the Sera revelation which really added to my uncertainty.
I had a total of twenty-four days.
I then stood up with my hands throbbing from the impact of my impact with the practice sword (it felt many times heavier, and yet also lighter).
Once I got started I would work each evening on the Void Meridian Reversal and then at the same time practice, pushing Void Aether through my body and using it to train myself to be trained into meridians that I had never been trained for.
It is not fun to do, and it will be painful, and I will probably permanently scar myself from the process of using the Void Aether in this manner.
However, each session will bring me closer to reaching a point where I can at least be similar in power level to a person who knows what they are doing.
I will spend my time studying in the Valdrake Library and will read through all of the books on combat theory, Aether circulation, and Family History, etc., and hopefully I will find some kind of reference to Sera or a true description of what the Void Sovereignty is and all of the things that this game did not actually show me.
And then, for every moment that I am awake, I will continue to prepare by mapping out everything: Every flag that has ever died, every character that has died, every event that takes place in the game, and I will have all of these mapped and analyzed before the time that they occur and I will prepare and file them away behind my purple eyes that many people have considered they're filled with nothing but contempt for them.
As I had my Villain's Ledger open, it pulsed once again and I received a new notification that I found floating in front of me like a feather floating down from the sky.Goal: To circulate
Void Aether through 100 times the Meridian
network without participation of any core.
Current Status: 2/100
Reward: ????
Note: Quest does not appear in original game; interesting, very interesting.
---
A hidden quest.
Not within the game information. No datamined files; there are no walkthroughs or wikis about it.
New content to the game.
I stared at the notification for an extended time period of time. The system indicated that the quest was not in the original game; in other words, it was generated by my specific character — a villain with a ruined core attempting an outdated cultivation process — or that it had existed within the code of the world long before any player could have met all of the requirements to activate it.
Either way, I now had an indication of the potential for this world to surprise me in a non-lethal manner.
I dismissed the quest notification and picked up the training sword again. My hands were in agony.
I continued swinging that sword.
Only 98 more circulations to go. I had 23 days until the entrance exam, and I had 47 death flags before I could reach a time line that had never been written about it in the game.
I entered the Valdrake stance with my sword. I could see my reflection in the dark glass; I was a pale figure wearing black clothing, my violet eyes hung in the darkness like distant stars.
I did not have a save file. I could not go back to continue; there would be no second chances for me.
I was now a dead person learning to fight in a body that was created for war but broken long before I was given the chance to use it.
Swing. Pain. Reset.
Swing. Pain. Reset.
I counted to 3 and then 10. Instead of stopping to count, I just kept swinging because it hurt equally regardless of whether I counted. Somewhere in the rhythm of steel slicing through the air and nerves igniting like torchlight, I felt something I hadn't felt for the past 2 years.
Purpose.
Not enough to replace the void left by Hana; nothing will ever replace that.
But enough to keep swinging.