Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Reality vs Illusion.
Chapter 7: Reality vs Illusion.
A few hours passed, and the morning sun started waking up, casting a golden glow that gently warmed the earth.
"Hmm…" Huo Yuhao woke up from his slumber. He sat up and let out a lazy yawn as he canceled the illusion, he had cast the previous night.
"Today is the big day. We are escaping tonight," Huo muttered to himself as he gazed out the window, watching as the gentle sunlight warmed up the air.
He moved his gaze towards his mother, who was sleeping beside him, and what greeted him was a surprising sight that shocked the crap out of him.
Huo Yun'er, who usually had dark circles below her eyes and a weak constitution, was no more.
The lady sleeping beside him could now be considered a total babe with milky fair skin, beautiful sharp facial features, impressive assets, and golden hair that sparkled under the warm sunlight.
'Holy crap, is this mom? What happened? The nanobots are supposed to heal her and improve her constitution a bit, but this is truly a miraculous transformation,' he thought to himself.
He checked on the nanobots inside her body to know what had happened to her body.
'The nanobots are improving her condition by using the spirit energy in the air. But that is not all. They are evolving her constitution? It is similar to the body metamorphosis that happens when a person gains enlightenment or uses pills to remove impurities in novels.'
'And now she can cultivate her [Spiritual Eyes], after all, Yuhao inherited [Spiritual Eyes] from her. And the potential that lies in them is astonishing,' he noted to himself as he assessed her situation.
'Hmm, I was considering ascending her to a class user, so she can gain affinities and attunements to at least know how to protect herself in case something happens to me. I don't want her to be a damsel in distress; I want her to fight beside me.'
'Now that she can cultivate her [Spiritual Eyes], I need to find her a class to fit with her martial soul. That would have to wait, though,' Huo Yuhao thought as he made a mental note to choose a class suitable for her after they escape to a safe place.
Huo Yuhao was about to cast an illusion on her to look like her former self and wake her up, but he stopped.
'Why should I wake her up to suffer another day working in that accursed mansion where everyone is against her? I need to convince her to escape from here, so I will simply cast an illusion on her.'
'In the illusion, I would pressure her daily to escape from the mansion. And her treatment in the mansion gets worse and worse until she finally loses hope in the White Tiger Duke.'
'Obviously, that is inside the illusion and not in real life. Is it scummy? Yes, it is. Is it morally questionable to corner her emotionally to escape the mansion? Yes, it is. Am I justifying the act for myself? No, I know what I am doing is wrong.'
'But it is necessary. Huo Yun'er has blind belief that the White Tiger Duke is going to rescue us when he returns. And this Douluo world, where love is truly cursed beyond saving.'
'We had a powerful twin martial spirit titled Douluo simp over a soul grandmaster because of his so-called "wisdom" till her last breath. We had a love triangle between two holy dragon martial soul possessors and a talented female cultivator that turned into a madwoman at the end of the love triangle, as she swore to end the world with hatred and darkness.'
'Truly a cursed love-brain world. Wake up to reality, mother; you might have been the duke's childhood friend and lover, but that is it. You would die when I reach 10 in 4-5 years if we continue to live here. I can't simply allow that to happen.'
Huo Yuhao steeled his heart and cast the illusion on Huo Yun'er. The illusion would last until she finally snapped.
In the meantime, Yuhao continued to train his [Illusion Manipulation] skill, [Thread Manipulation] skill, and [Nanomancer] class. He also wanted to prepare himself mentally for the possibility that he might have to kill his enemies in this world.
Evil spirit masters are roaming the continent because of a mistake made by the control freak Tang San. Thanks to him, there is no safe place on the continent anymore. So, they might encounter evil spirit masters on their journey.
"Sigh, life is tough. At least I have Ellie with me. Am I right, Ellie?" Huo Yuhao asked, and Ellie came out from his chest and started 'rubbing' his cheeks with one end of her body.
"Haha, stop it, it tickles." A few moments passed by, and the duo finally stopped messing around.
"Haah, I have a question for you, Ellie. You need energy to perform wishes and miracles. Can you absorb abstract concepts to fill your reserves faster?" Yuhao asked Ellie out of curiosity, wondering if this cute golden string could directly absorb abstract concepts like [Justice], [Faith], [Holy], etc.
The dancing Ellie 'froze' in her place and started 'thinking' and glowed once, and Yuhao received his answer as information that made its way to his brain.
And it turned out that Ellie is truly an OP miraculous existence. She can absorb the energy part of the abstract concept so that the concept would not be applied to the linked target. However, her owner also has to be connected to that abstract concept in one way or another.
For example, if Yuhao instructed her to absorb all the [Luck] energy/Qi in the [White Tiger mansion], then she could do it. But if she is asked to absorb the [Luck] of [Shrek Academy], she can't, as Yuhao himself is not a part of Shrek, but he is a part of the White Tiger Mansion, at least by blood.
"Hmm, that is very interesting. What happens if you absorb all the [Luck] of the [White Tiger mansion]?" Yuhao asked, intrigued by Ellie's ability.
Ellie glowed once and answered Huo Yuhao directly in his mind.
It turns out that [Fate] and [Luck] are intertwined. What does that mean? Suppose that a person has a fate to become the strongest person in existence, then [Luck] will favor him so that he can grow to fit that [Fate]. The same thing happens if a very powerful person has the [Fate] to lose everything; then [Luck] would work against him so that he reaches that fate.
If Ellie absorbs the [Luck] energy of the [White Tiger mansion], all the members of the [White Tiger mansion] will never reach their destined [Fate].
And [Luck] is a unique abstract concept. A person can't have only good or bad [Luck]. A person has to have both of them at the same time; however, a lucky person will have higher amounts of good [Luck] when compared to his bad [Luck], and vice versa; a person who is unlucky will have higher bad [Luck] when compared to his good [Luck].
So, if Ellie absorbed all the good [Luck] energy in the [White Tiger mansion], then only bad [Luck] energy or [Doom] energy will remain, and all members of the mansion will suffer disaster after disaster. Keep in mind, just because Ellie absorbed large amounts of good [Luck] doesn't mean it transfers to Yuhao directly and he becomes luckier. That is not the case because Ellie is absorbing it as energy and not transferring it to Yuhao.
"Hahahaha," Yuhao laughed hysterically after knowing all this information, clapping his hands like a retarded seal.
"Alright, Ellie. Start absorbing the good [Luck] energy of [White Tiger mansion]," Yuhao instructed Ellie as he laid down on the forest ground.
He had been training for hours now. He started with control training in the morning and in the afternoon; he began training his body by doing the number one Baldy hero training regimen. He noticed that his body kept adapting to the stress, so after a couple of sets, the training did not affect him at all.
'Weird, do I have to find other ways for body training?' he thought as he watched Ellie glow with golden light. He felt 'something' moving towards Ellie. Ellie's body started glowing more brilliantly as more 'energy' was being absorbed by her.
A couple of minutes passed by, and finally, Ellie stopped absorbing the 'energy'.
"Alrighty then. Ellie, please upgrade my unawakened martial soul and add anything that you find suitable for me in the future. I leave it to you," Yuhao instructed Ellie as he watched her glow four times and then sank into his chest.
He felt a familiar warmth envelop him, and after a while, he felt something change in his being. He felt weird but not in a bad way.
'With this, we are at least guaranteed to have a good starting point in martial soul cultivation. I will reach six years old in a day or two, so I had to upgrade before the awakening ceremony,' Yuhao thought to himself.
Ellie appeared again and started dancing in the air. It looked like she was in a good mood after 'eating' to her fill. The upgrades did not take much of her current energy reserves.
"Now then, for skills. I don't have enough time to train a new skill. I am still mastering the current ones, and my class is advancing at a swift pace as I kept making nanobots create random equipment and weapons."
"So, I will just add a support skill. Ellie, give me the highest rank of the [Golden Rule] skill that wouldn't take a toll on your energy reserves. I still need you in top shape in case an emergency happens. We will need a lot of luck to escape successfully, and [Golden Rule] is a suitable skill for that," Yuhao said to Ellie in a more serious tone.
The escape plan had been stressing him out, as this was his first time doing something like that, and he hoped everything would go well.
Ellie 'stared' at Yuhao, glowed once, and sank into his chest again. He felt familiar warmth, and he quietly enjoyed it. A couple of minutes passed by, and Ellie reappeared with a new golden ring on her body, indicating the success of the skill acquisition.
While Yuhao was admiring the dancing Ellie, his illusion that he had cast on his mom sent him a signal.
"Well, it is time to go back. Finally, mom changed her opinion. I was about to give up escaping today. Seriously, how can you be this stubborn?" Yuhao complained as he was making his way back to the cottage.
"Man, I was wondering if I should start a harem or something in this fantasy world, like every healthy teen would think. But after seeing what love does to people, I think I will pass," Yuhao said with a sorrowful tone.
"Anyways, Elli- *Ack*" Yuhao was about to tell Ellie to get back in his body, but he tripped and fell on the ground.
'What the hell? Did I trip over myself? Ridiculous, how can I, a dignified [Nanomancer], trip over myself?' Yuhao cursed. As he was about to get up, he noticed something in his peripheral vision.
He used [Great Sage]'s [Analytical Appraisal] subskill to see what it was and was flabbergasted by what he saw.
(An: This is not a status screen or a system screen; this is the info that [Analytical Appraisal] provided him. This form just makes it easier for you guys to read instead of describing it in a paragraph.)
[Item name: The legacy of the 9.5th class soul engineer.]
[Item nature: Legacy item.]
[Item rank: red] (An: I will use Douluo's standard white, yellow, etc.)
[Item description: A great 9th class soul engineer who was developing all types of soul guidance tools and was skilled enough that people thought he would reach the pinnacle of soul guidance devices, the 10th rank.]
[Unfortunately, when he was about to make a final breakthrough, he received news that his family was massacred by evil soul masters while he was immersed in his research. Filled with hatred and vengeance, he hunted the evil soul masters like a madman and destroyed them one by one.]
[After fulfilling his revenge, he was filled with guilt towards his dead family. Blaming himself that if he wasn't immersed in research, he could have protected them from such vile bugs. He stored everything he knew about soul guidance tools and threw it randomly as he flew towards the far north, waiting to die next to his family.]
Yuhao did not know what to say. He was beyond shocked. He stared at the violet storage-type soul tool in a daze.
"Ellie, sweetie. What is the rank of my [Golden Rule] skill?" Yuhao asked Ellie in an eerily calm voice. Ellie 'ignored' him and entered his chest swiftly.
He did not say anything and just picked up the ring and put it on his left thumb. The ring shrank to fit his little hand. He browsed the space in the ring with his spiritual power and just sighed.
"Man, I wish I had such luck when I rolled Gacha," Yuhao spoke as he raised his head towards the sky. Why did it start raining all of a sudden?
A few moments later.
"Guess I secured a source of income when we escape the mansion," Yuhao spoke to himself as he made his way towards the cottage.
He removed the defensive system and made his way inside the cottage. His mother was still sleeping. The nanobots were still improving her condition until it reached a level that they were satisfied with. (An: tsk tsk tsk Simp perverted nanobots.)
This time, however, she was soaked in sweat, and her face was frowning as if she were experiencing a bad dream.
It is time to remove the illusion…
[Huo Yun'er's POV in the illusion.]
(An: Keep in mind that the illusion is not real, so none of the events in the illusion happened. It is just a bad dream for Huo Yun'er. You can skip it if you feel uncomfortable.)
'Why is this happening to us? Why are they treating me and my son like that? Do they feel happy when they constantly oppress me and my son?' Huo Yun'er asked in her mind as she gazed at her son.
Her poor boy had really been through hell for the last week.
At first, she thought that the extra bullying would stop once they got bored of her. They would give her rotten crumbs of food for her and her son as meager pay for her 12-hour work shift. While less qualified maids got silver or sometimes gold coins for their service, it was unfair.
Luckily, her son, her sweet, loving boy, would catch fish from the river and prepare a meal for them both. He was basically taking care of the household chores while she was away.
How she wished for them to get better living conditions. How she wished the duke would return to the mansion at least once.
The treatment got worse and worse until something horrendous happened. One of the maids stalked her and found out that her son was catching fish from the river for meals for the two of them.
The maid wore a sinister grin as she reported the news to the duchess. And the duchess, of course, rewarded the maid with gold coins and ordered the guards to beat up this filthy bastard until he was unable to get out of bed for at least a week.
Claiming that the forest is the property of the [White Tiger mansion] and his act of catching fish in the river is the same as stealing the property of the White Tiger Duke.
The guards obliged her order, as no one would want to be on her bad side, even if it meant beating or even killing a child.
They stormed towards the cottage they were living in while they were having their simple dinner and dragged him out like a criminal. She was held and gagged with a filthy rag by the other maids. She watched as grown men in White Tiger armor beat her beautiful boy without mercy.
Her son, being the child that he is, kept apologizing and asking for forgiveness, hoping they would have mercy on them and leave. Unfortunately, mercy did not come, and what she received was her beaten-up son with bruises all over his body.
She wanted to help him, but she couldn't. She wanted to protect him, yet she couldn't. She wanted to treat him, but she couldn't.
She couldn't do anything for her son. It was him who did everything for her. The meager pay that she received was not even enough for her to support him, let alone support both of them.
And if that was not enough, she was dragged by the maids every morning to work till midnight, leaving her injured boy alone with his wounds.
The events kept repeating again and again and again.
'Is it even worth it at this point?' she asked herself as she made her way home to her son.
She gazed at him sleeping on the bed, all alone in the darkness. Her pay was deducted, and she wouldn't receive any more support from the mansion. So, throughout the week, she tried to sneak medicine or food for her son to recover. But the strict supervision on her left her helpless.
'Ah, so they are waiting for our bodies,' she had a strange thought.
The White Tiger Duke told her to wait for his victorious return from the border. She naively thought that he would return and take care of her and her son like a prince on a white horse.
'Empty promises, empty words,' she thought as she made her way towards her beautiful boy.
His words kept repeating in her ears.
"Can we leave the mansion, mother?"
"I heard from one of the guards passing by that there are large cities outside with gentle weather, tall buildings, and a lively atmosphere."
"Sob sob, I am sorry. I will not go to the river again."
Various scenes kept repeating in her mind.
Did they deserve this? Did they deserve any of this?
'Ah, Yuhao, your mom is a bad mom. I am sorry for being a bad mom, Yuhao. I will listen to you, Yuhao. We have to escape from here.
'To hell with empty promises. To hell with empty words. I curse you all in the [White Tiger mansion].' Her rage was almost flowing out of her body.
Huo Yuhao shivered a little when she neared him, and all the anger vanished instantly and was replaced with endless twisted love and obsession towards her son.
'Ah, Yuhao. My Yuhao. My precious boy. You are the only one for me in this cursed world. We will leave this place soon, and we will live a life worth living.'
'I promise you, dear.'
Huo Yun'er thought as she lay beside her son. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she saw her son standing beside the bed while he was wiping her face with a cloth.
"Ah, you are awake, mom! How are you doing? Are you feeling bette—" He couldn't finish his sentence as she embraced him tightly.
'Yes, you are my treasure, Yuhao. My one and only.' Huo Yun'er thought as her thoughts started drifting towards an unholy direction.
(Chapter 7 finished.)
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An:
Phew, that took a while. Nearly 3.4k words. This story has officially surpassed 15k words. So, please write a review and give me power stones.
Don't worry, there will be no Shota action or anything like that. In fact, I hate such interactions. The story is still holy but with a Yandere/Goudere Huo Yun'er.
Anyways, do not forget to comment memes, your thoughts, and most importantly, waifu pics.
Might finish and upload one more chapter if we get more reviews.
That is all for today.
Bye.
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