Capítulo 35: Meeting Jue Zhu

The tumbling I'd taken had knocked me down a fair ways, so I couldn't see it anymore and I had to think it couldn't see me. Once the gale stopped once again, I heaved myself back to the top with a mighty effort. This time, it dove at me immediately, its right talon set for "eviscerate." Sparks flew as my sword met it, and it took all my concentration and strength to stop the large foot from slipping through my guard. I dove aside, buffeted by its right wing even as I cut into it. I couldn't tell if I'd managed to wound a pinion and stop it flying, but the beast was clearly angry now, and it did seem a little slower though it took to the air with no problems.

Slow enough, indeed, that I was able to get my bow back out and shoot it before its next gale started. Unfortunately, the gale started just in time to knock the arrow away in mid-flight. However, once it was through this time, I was ready to start shooting again before it could even position itself for another dive. I got it in the wings several times, but it still stayed aloft, though I could tell it was using more effort to do so. I was also ready enough for the dive itself to get myself below the trees where it couldn't easily get at me. It crashed through the canopy a fair ways before halting, and I got a couple more shots off.

I'd turned the flow of battle totally in my favor now—it had been weakened too much to threaten me as effectively as before, and I'd taken only superficial damage. Of course, without the Lamentation Bow it would have taken a lot longer to get this far in the battle. Whether in VRMMOs or this world, having a good quality weapon made a huge difference.

However, no matter how I damaged it, the Gust Falcon didn't fall from the sky until the killing blow. Student equipment wasn't suited to carve Ascended Beasts up for useful parts, so just like with the Lake Serpent before, that was left to Academy staff, and I'd still get the merits.

Tired but victorious, I made my way inside the Falcon's former nest. In plain site was a small box, containing 9 identical small round pills. When my system's Inventory revealed their identity, my eyes lit up.

[Earth-Sky Pill x9]

Grants the gift of flight to an Earth or Spirit Rank cultivator for 1 hour.

I could easily imagine plenty of ways that could come in handy. For now though, it was time to rest and start absorbing cores. By the time I was done, it was nightfall, and I was about 10 billion more "Qi" short of the 7th Realm.

The next day, I had a long discussion with Jue Zhu about resupplying. Since the two of us could cover a lot more ground in a day than the others, we could buy more healing pills and the like for everyone while they continued to press ahead toward the volcano. They weren't cheap though, so I had concerns that there might not have been a mechanism in place to have them pay us back. "It wouldn't make much sense for that to be the case, though," he said, "I remember at least one lesson where it was mentioned it's routine for disciples to transfer contribution points in real sects, and the Academy emulates real sects in every way it can, right?"

"Hmm, true..."

"Honestly, you don't have to buy any more pills if you don't want to. Ultimately, I'm the one benefitting from this—I'm the one who's getting the third piece of the Jade Ox Medallion."

"Eh, I won't make you restock for me at the very least. And if it turns out the others can pay me back, there's no harm in it. I'll let you know how it goes."

It was pretty easy going to get back to the camp—after all the time in the Gust Falcon's territory, I was strong enough that the enemies that didn't have a territory avoided me. Even under such conditions, going along the canopy was still way faster than tearing through ground level. Still, I didn't doubt that Jue Zhu could get all the way from the volcano to the camp and back much more quickly than the rest of us. When I got there, the Academy person running the shop cheerfully confirmed that the Academy did have a process for transferring merits that also worked with credits during summer. He walked me through it for a little while, and once I was ready to actually make purchases, I let Jue Zhu know that I was able and willing to cover the supplies Jong and Shokoya had asked for, so he should get the ones for Quan. I doubted Quan would seriously try to avoid paying me back, but I didn't want to risk it even being a joke at my expense.

Now that I wasn't stopping to grind magical beasts, I reached the volcano early on the third day. I wasn't even slightly surprised to see that Jue Zhu had beaten me there, even though he'd confirmed I'd gotten to the main camp before him. The guy was just too strong by now. "Good to see you again," I said.

"It has been a while, hasn't it? I guess you could say I've been lonely at the top."

"I'm sure you'll find people on your level at the Azure Flame Abbey."

There, I'd said it. Azure Flame Abbey had notoriously rejected all comers from the so far ten graduating classes of the Academy. However, more talents were being found now than ever before. Not only Jue Zhu, but Kunlun Jong as well were predicted to finally meet their standards. The Head Instructor had said there was at least a chance for me as well, depending on how I did in the test of what he called my "overall" talent. Apparently, just because someone gained one or even two of the Nine Measures faster than normal didn't necessarily mean they also possessed good overall talent. Without good overall talent, a cultivator would run into a great deal of difficulty advancing through the Spirit, Heavenly or Divine Realms, and would have virtually no chance of becoming an Ancient. Their Purity would increase less if and when they reached a Purification Realm or managed to come across a Purifying Treasure. Poor talents also had a large risk of decreasing or losing their multipliers when they reached a new class of Realms as well. And that was just the top of the list of a slew of reasons that no cultivator wanted to find out they had a poor level of talent.

There were methods and treasures to increase talents, including overall talent, but of course they were absurdly rare. Of course, even though the Zodiac Legacy was currently despised by most in the Mortal Heaven, there was little doubt in the minds of most that such treasures could be found in the Zodiac Temples—at least according to the Academy's lesson on the subject. The lesson also mentioned that there were some, apparently, who had begun to doubt there were even treasures at all.

However, even if I had the talent to join those two in the Azure Flame Abbey, I had no intentions to do so, and I hadn't made a secret of that. The reason I'd given, and the Head Instructor had accepted, was that if they did accept me, it would surely be at the level of a normal, unremarkable disciple. As a Comprehension specialist, I was confident that the 10,000 Scrolls Library would much more appreciate my talents.

And it was a reason, certainly, but not the biggest one. That reason was no one's business but mine, though. Jue Zhu hadn't reacted well, though he eventually understood. It had sobered him, knowing that nearly everyone he'd bonded with here would be leaving him. He'd been spending the most time with Jong for quite a while as a result, though even he couldn't really keep up with Jue Zhu now. Since then, Jong had been training extra hard, just in case it would help his chances of being accepted by the Abbey.

So, Jue Zhu and I weren't really as pally as we were in the underclassman years. "I just hope I find some who are decent sorts," he said. "Anyway, we still have more than a whole year together. We can make the most of it."

comentario 0 comentario

Votar

ENVIAR REGALO

Load failed, please RETRY