Archive - 010 (Patreon)

[A/N: Hey guys. I read your replies to my post yesterday and it seems that most of you are either waiting for an update of my original story or 'Spear Devil'.

Personally, I lean more towards Archive as it is a story completely of my own making.

Each chapter though is longer and more work to write as a chapter for one of my FFs, as I have to build not only the story and the character but also the world around him. Not to mention that I have to be careful how I do that to avoid information dumps or plot holes.

One day is simply not enough to write a chapter for Archive most of the time, which is also the reason that I stopped working on it and focused on 'The Wanderer'.

This though is true most of the time when I work on two stories at once as it takes time to 'reset' myself and dive into a different character when I switch between stories.

It's just something I have to be careful with in general, to avoid the characters mixing together even though they are different people with different dreams and goals.

Still, I want to try working on both Archive and 'The Wanderer' simultaneously, though I have to warn you that my weekly chapter count may drop to six instead of seven. It's not a certainty but it is possible, so it may happen from time to time, simply because the workload for switching stories is greater.

For those of you, that are waiting for chapters for 'Spear Devil' and 'Rise of the Dragon', I think those will have to wait for a bit longer. I am not sure when but I will try to make some time and write a chapter or two for those stories but they aren't my main focus for the time being.

Anyway, that's all I had to say. Enjoy the chapter!

PS: Tomorrow it's back to 'The Wanderer'!]

Chapter 010 – Training Plan

Looking at the pile of neatly cut beast skins, strange runes covering every piece, Fang was in deep thought as he sat in the cultivation chamber of the inheritance cave.

This chamber had a special array formation drawn on the surfaces of the walls and the ground that automatically gathered the surrounding spiritual energy to help with cultivation.

Such arrays weren't particularly high-level though and could only make this place suitable for cultivators below the Mist Gathering stage, which was the first of the Spiritual stages of the Energy Gathering System. Liquid Spiral and Solid Core cultivators wouldn't benefit at all from such formations, not to mention cultivators of higher stages.

This was true for most of the inheritance cave, as Elder Luo had only been a Half-Step Endless Sea cultivator, which was one and a half stages above the Solid Core Realm. He had been a refining master first and foremost, and while he may have been able to set up some better formations, they wouldn't have differed too much from this.

The Dao of Refining was a vast and highly complex field, as was the Dao of Arrays. There may have been a few overlapping points, but Elder Luo had only mastered the first and not the second one.

Not to mention that he had intentionally set up this cave to only serve as a training place for low-level cultivators. Fang knew from the Archive and the message he had been left behind, that the Elder only wanted to provide a place for his inheritor to build a solid foundation for his cultivation journey. The real journey of his inheritor had to begin outside this cave, at least that was what the Elder had believed in.

Naturally, the true treasure that the Elder had left behind was the Wind Soul and the countless rare metals and ores inside the spatial ring, as well as the many weapons, tools, the cultivation technique, and refining methods. There were also a few million spirit stones in his spatial ring, which was considered a fortune even for small sects.

In fact, with the resource and the inheritance left behind, Fang could very well establish a sect, as the most important resource a sect had to possess was in fact not wealth but a comprehensive inheritance, i.e. a cultivation technique.

Though this was not something Fang had any intention of doing, as that would only cause him unnecessary trouble. There was no such thing as a peaceful sect, not here in the Mortal Realm or in the Divine Realm.

As long as there were people there would be conflict, and this was even more true for cultivators. Besides techniques, most cultivators needed endless amounts of resources and treasures to advance on the path of cultivation, and most of them were heartless in the pursuit of such.

Putting away these thoughts, Fang looked over the runes he had created once again. There were roughly two hundred Paralyzing Runes that he had created from the various corpses of the snake-type beast.

They were all Unranked Runes of course, as Ranked Runes could only be drawn with materials from a Ranked Beast. Nevertheless, over fifty of them were peak-grade Unranked Runes, roughly ninety high-grade ones, and over a hundred middle-grade ones.

It wasn't a bad result considering that he had made the most out of the resources at his disposal. Naturally, this didn't make him a peak-grade Unranked Runemaster, as he had only really grasped the Paralyzing Rune, even though he had knowledge of uncountable others.

A true Runemaster had to be able to draw at least one attack-type, one defense-type, and two support-type Runes of the same rank to be called a master. At least that was the common way to judge the rank of a Runemaster.

The Paralyzing Rune could deal no damage and it couldn't help Fang defend, which meant it was categorized as a support-type Rune. If Fang wanted to be a peak-grade Unranked Runemaster, he would have to learn how to draw at least three more Runes of the peak grade.

For the time being though, he only needed the Paralyzing Rune, as they were necessary to use the Spirit Forging Rune, which could enhance his Spirit.

His cultivation was still in the Middle Bone Transformation Realm, as he had barely spent any time cultivating during the last month. This wasn't due to his limited time though, as Fang had deliberately suppressed his cultivation.

At this point, if he wanted to make use of the middle-grade Unranked Paralyzing Runes, he couldn't advance his cultivation or they would not have any effect on him. Though this wasn't the only reason he had not cultivated, even though it was a major one.

After having thought things through, Fang had realized that if he rashly advanced his cultivation, he would lose more than he would gain.

Truth be told, with the cultivation techniques that he possessed, Fang could probably step into the Mist Gathering Stage in a short period of time, considering the abundance of spirit stones and the grade of the Blackhole Revolving Art.

But at that time, he would be a Spiritual Stage cultivator and only Ranked Runes would be of help to him, while simply procuring the carcasses of so many ranked snake-type beasts was a challenge, even if he hunted them himself. It would be immensely time-consuming considering that Ranked Beasts didn't just appear out of nowhere.

As for buying the carcasses, it would cost a small fortune which even he would find hard to stomach with his current wealth, not to mention that he may not be able to find someone that sold so many snake-type beast corpses with intact cores in the quantity that he needed in a short amount of time.

And even if he found someone that sold what he needed, he would expose his wealth which was dangerous in itself without the power to back it up.

On the other hand, it was rather easy to find Unranked snake-type beasts in the Wilderness, as this massive forested region was infested with beasts of all types.

Sighing as he thought about this, Fang looked down at the tiny fox whose body was barely the size of two fists excluding the three tails, and couldn't help but smile gently as he brushed over Yue's soft fur while she rested in his lap with closed eyes.

Fang had the goal to advance his Spirit to the Ninth Rank, which was an incredibly lofty ambition and he had no idea how many Paralyzing Runes he would need until he reached it. The Spirit Forging Manual wasn't a simple technique at all.

From an Unranked to a Rank One Spirit, he had only needed to use the Spirit Forging Rune one time, but things were different if he wanted to advance his Spirit further.

Every time the Spirit Forging Rune was used it strengthened one's Spirit by inducing a metamorphosis that would bring it closer to the Origin, but that didn't mean it would directly advance its Rank. There were huge differences between Spirits of the same Rank as well, and by using the Spirit Forging Rune, one would slowly strengthen the Spirit's inherent potential.

From Rank One to Rank Two, he might need to draw up the Spirit Forging Rune a dozen times until a qualitative change occurred and his Spirit could advance in Rank.

And even though he could not guess how many times he would have to use the Spirit Forging Rune until his Spirit reached the Ninth Rank, he knew that the pain he would suffer during its use was not something that could just be endured because he wanted to.

He needed the Paralyzing Runes to stop himself from doing something unthinkable in case the pain was too much.

Another factor against advancing his cultivation at this point was that Fang had realized that he needed more time to train in his Battle Arts and get a handle on his blade intent.

Becoming stronger would mean that the Illusion Killing Array would become useless for his training, while advancing too quickly might also hinder his growth later on.

The Mortal Step of the Eight Directions Step was the foundation of this peak-ranked movement technique, and it represented the foundation of the whole technique. Still, the Mortal Step focused solely on the movement of the physical body without the enhancement of spirit essence or the involvement of Concepts and Laws.

To master this step was to master one's physical body, enabling one to draw out the full potential of one's bodily strength. Without sufficient mastery of the Mortal Step, one would never be able to comprehend and use the full potential of this movement technique.

Not to mention, that Fang planned to walk the path of Body Transformation, so it was without a doubt of utmost importance for him to know how to utilize his physical strength in the most efficient way.

His Basic Dual-Wielding Technique wasn't much different in this aspect, as he may have reached the Intermediate Realm in his understanding and use of the technique, but this was far from enough to be recognized as a master of the blade.

The basic movements recorded in this technique had to become second nature to Fang if he ever planned on mastering the use of his twin blades.

Most cultivators, especially in the Mortal Realm would see things differently as they did not have Fang's vision and knowledge. Through the Archive, Fang could peer into the past and he had seen an uncountable number of mighty figures ascend through the path of cultivation only to fall from grace due to issues in their foundation.

A lot of cultivators focused on learning strong and fanciful Battle Arts that had great destructive powers but those techniques didn't make them powerful, at least not in the eyes of a true master.

It was like handing a gun to a child. The child may be able to kill an adult no matter if the adult trained in martial arts or how much strength they had, but this didn't mean that the child was powerful. A tool could never replace true strength and ability, especially not in this reality.

It didn't matter how good the Battle Arts were that one cultivated, if they couldn't master its essence, one would never be able to attain true strength. In this aspect alone, there were many mortal martial artists without cultivation, or only a meager amount of it, that understood the essence of combat in a way most cultivators didn't.

It wasn't about who had the stronger weapon, but about which of them knew how to use it best.

An even more important reason why Fang didn't want to advance his cultivation for the time being was his blade intent.

Intents were a special source of strength for cultivators and only very very few could ever comprehend them, this was true even in the Divine Realm. Naturally, the population in the Divine Realm was incredibly huge so intents didn't seem to be as rare there as they might be in the Mortal Realm, but that held true for most things.

Intents were also divided into different categories and could be ranked based on strength.

In truth, Fang's blade intent was only ordinary when compared to some of the more powerful intents that existed in the Divine Realm, and its greatest strength lay in its destructive potential and the help it could provide him when comprehending blade techniques.

But that was only for now, as intents could also be cultivated and strengthened through comprehension and effort since they were a pure manifestation of mental strength!

For the last month though, Fang had not made any great progress when it came to his blade intent and after consulting the Archive and gaining more comprehensive knowledge about intents, he understood why that was so.

Generally speaking, the first step after comprehending any type of intent was to learn how to use it consciously. The process of how to do so was different for every intent, though, for weapon intents like Fang's, the easiest way to do that was through entering many battles and facing danger.

The pressure brought along by fighting for one's safety and life was the best whetstone for someone possessing a martial intent like his blade intent.

Naturally, this meant that he had to face opponents that were capable of causing him harm, which meant that in case of his cultivation rising, he would most likely have to go and battle ranked beasts or powerful cultivators, which wasn't ideal as both of those options carried great risks and might require of him to leave the vicinity of the inheritance cave to join a large tribe.

Joining a large tribe might not end well for Fang, as he would have to hide his wealth and cultivation techniques, lest he attracted disaster to fall on himself. Not to mention that Yue was too eye-catching a target.

Materials from ranked beasts were worth a lot, and beasts with the potential to reach Rank One were worth even more.

Yue had been blessed by her mother's essence since even before her birth and she already had three tails even though her current strength could hardly compare to a low-grade Unranked Beast or a Flesh Transformation cultivator.

She was simply too young and would need a lot of time before she could grow up and reach her mother's strength, but the crucial fact was that Yue would not face a bottleneck!

She could directly advance to Rank One given enough time and provided that she received enough nutritions while growing up. It was worth mentioning that Peak-class Rank One beast could even contend with Solid Core stage cultivators!

And while truly reaching peak-class or even high-class might be a bit difficult, considering that her bloodline purity wasn't too outstanding, Fang was sure that he could find a way for his little treasure to reach that stage eventually.

After all, as long as his own strength was great, how could there be a limit to what he could achieve? This was a world where individual power could move space and time, even celestial bodies were but toys in the eyes of mighty figures.

What did her potential mean though for the immediate future? It meant that Yue was sure to reach the battle prowess of a Spiritual Stage cultivator upon reaching adulthood! As such, she would naturally attract the envy and greed of others, and Fang didn't want to bother with that for now.

The low-level Spiritual Stages weren't worth mentioning in the grand scheme of things but for the backward clans and tribes of the Wilderness, such battle prowess stood at the peak.

It was easier to maintain his current cultivation realm and fight the unranked beasts roaming the Wilderness. Here, Fang could accumulate his strength and set down a firm foundation for his future before leaving and taking a look at the broader world.

And so his immediate plans were to rank up his Spirit, and deepen his mastery over the Mortal Step and the Basic Dual-Wielding Technique, while simultaneously getting familiar with his blade intent.

The only thing he could truly cultivate without the worry of hampering his future growth was the Absolute Serenity Tactic, as the Soul Forging Path didn't clash with those goals.

On the contrary, strengthening his soul force would naturally benefit his mind and it was a very hidden strength that normal cultivators would never be able to see through.

After all, it was exceedingly rare for someone to cultivate the Soul Forging Path even in the Divine Realm. Here, in the Mortal Realm there practically existed no one that was even in possession of a true Soul Forging technique.

Most cultivators used minor paths like Alchemy, Rune Inscription, Array Formations, and Treasure Refinement to temper their soul force and cultivate their soul, but those weren't true Soul Forging techniques.

It was the mortal equivalent of physical training, i.e. weight lifting, when compared to true Body Transformation Techniques. They were of some help but the gains were incomparable, and the upper limit of such techniques was also obvious.

Thinking things through up till there, Fang didn't hesitate any longer as he grabbed a Paralyzing Rune.