章 10: Asura Sword Path

-Little Wasp village-

It was nighttime, with the moon shining brightly in the sky with some stars shining brightly while others are missing today. If one didn't know any better they would think there is a Tiger roaring in the night sky.

On a very shabby bed, a young man with a pale face scrunched his eyes in discomfort. His breathing became labored, as he was struggling to take in air into his lungs. The young man fought against an invisible foe, while his body kept struggling.

Luckily this lasted for just a few minutes, leaving him drenched in sweat from head to toe. And soon enough his breathing became normal, and he slowly opened his blue eyes. Oswin felt there was a unique thing being pumped out of his heart along with his blood. The strange energy gave him a very comfortable feeling as if it always belonged to him.

In this village, he had a unique identity. He was connected to the most powerful family in the village but at the same time, he was considered the ill bearer.

The village head, Bradley was the best friend of his deceased father. But only he knew that his father was secretly murdered by the very same best friend. At that time Oswin was a young boy of 8 years old and he was hiding in that place afraid that his dad would find out he stole the candies. He had gone into a shock right there, and by the time he recovered Bradley had already left.

Bradley killed Oswin's father, Elton by strangling him while at the same time he revealed to him that he had been poisoning him for a long time, but that poison will only take effect when he takes in ecrow fruit. He was a sadist bastard who even explained all the details so that Elton would feel complete despair before dying.

Ecrow fruit is actually a medicine taken to relieve pain and emotional trauma, but if one had taken large quantities of Pink spur, it would be the complete opposite and in multiple. Pink spur is an herb that causes certain skin problems and no one eats it, so no one suspected anything suspicious. How Bradley tricked Oswin's father into eating it is something, he has never had the opportunity of finding out.

Long story short, Bradley did a few things behind scenes and took over control of both the village and married Oswin's mother. Life was not easy for Oswin, as he had to live in the same house with his murderous Stepfather, Not to mention Bradley's son Warwick had always been at odds with Oswin.

But things came crashing down when his mother died in childbirth. A few days after her funeral, Oswin knew his life was in danger. Accidents always seemed to happen to Oswin, and people associated it with his bad luck. After all his parents had died young. The last time Oswin went to pick up herbs from the cliff, it was an isolated area, Warwick found him and beat him half to death before he left there alone to make his way back.

By the time Oswin was able to get up, it was already dark, and he missed his step on the way back. That was the last thing he remembered before waking up now. He didn't think he was saved by his Stepfamily, as all of them disliked him. But here he was perfectly alright and much stronger than before, plus there is this mysterious energy that keeps rotating inside his body.

He felt that he was looking at a tiger every time he saw that pattern.

"Well I can figure it out some other time, but I had better escape from this village now or once everyone wakes up, I will be stuck here till they trap me again"

Oswin didn't waste any time and made his way toward the road in the southern part of the village. He heard if one went straight ahead on this road they could reach Lumia city. Oswin knew the dangers of traveling at night so he only wanted to put some distance from the village.

There was a rest stop up ahead where merchant caravans like to camp if they didn't go to little wasp village. His target was there. He hoped he would find some leftover tent or something, otherwise, he would spend the night on a tree branch. As he was reaching the rest stop, he heard a loud voice

"Who there?"

Even though he was surprised to find a merchant caravan here today, he swiftly replied.

"My name is Oswin, I come from RedTarp village, the caravan I was traveling with was attacked by bandits and I have been lost. I heard this road goes straight to Lumia city."

"Oh you are a bold one, to dare to travel alone at night, come into the camp, My name is Harper and this is the caravan of the Capell family"

*****************************************

-NewMoon woods-

Bheem was on a simulation spree, as he went on repeating his previous choices, with the only difference of trying to create a node on his body, sadly even after seven attempts, he was not able to make it. Even the skills he received on the attempts were not useful to him as they only provided a slight increase to his attack power.

But he did hit jackpot on his seventh attempt. No, he really didn't create a node, but he got a C-grade skill called Minor Refinement.

(Minor Refinement: Can remove the impurities and improve the condition of the materials and weapons)

It was a much-needed skill, as Bheem had understood that the sword body he was occupying had a lot of good materials inside, but because they have not made a proper energy path, and the materials have not been properly treated. He would love to try it out in reality but the chances of it backfiring were really high.

Arthur had finished cultivating and opened his eyes. He felt that his sword was much different from what he remembered yesterday. Forget it since he couldn't figure out what the issue was, he would just focus on getting stronger. He made a light breakfast from the leftovers of the rabbit he had for dinner last night.

Then made his way out of the cave, it was the same routine, hunting, killing, sucking blood, and purifying it. It is just that purifying was not going too well these days. On top of that, his sword was slowly becoming a proper demonic weapon. He felt if it went this way soon he won't be able to control the sword as he likes.

Just six hours later Arthur returned to the cave, he couldn't absorb any more blood as it was making his head hurt. He didn't even hunt many beasts today as all the beasts had deserted the area around his cave. The ones that remain are all strong level-two beasts, he can't go against them for the time being.

Once he returned to the cave, he took out a small hen-like bird and quickly had dinner. Then he sat on the rock boulder in the cave with his legs crossed and sword on his lap and started to meditate, to try and purify as much as he could.

Bheem could see that Arthur was slowly losing control. He planned to do a different simulation today. He had been collecting notes on the Holy Cross technique for a while now. He could finally experiment with it today. All simulations till now he had taught Arthur the basic asura path to control the sinister force.

It was better to try out the risky plans in the simulation first, that way he won't be abandoned here in the middle of nowhere. After all, beasts don't need swords for hunting, and the next visitor to this cave would be a beast.

"Would you like to start the life simulation" The cold voice of the system immediately responded, its response to his thought was very fast in this matter.

"Yes!!"

[Life Simulation has been activated]

[Arthur spends the entire night refining the demonic energy in his body using his basic energy, without a meditation technique to help him, his energy will soon be converted to demonic]

[You are immersed in trying to refine your sword body to create a node, as a result, you refine a lot of bloody energy and expel the impurities. Unfortunately for Arthur, these impurities found a lot of their kin in his body and effectively enter his body resulting in him losing control much ahead of time, which caught you off guard.]

[You try to use the holy cross technique to help control the rampaging energy in his body but the progress is very slow. After more than 200 rotations you gradually get Arthur in control. But while you were focused on trying to gain control over his rampaging energy, the demonized Arthur had caused wanton destruction in the forest, attracting the attention of a very troublesome foe.]

[An Earth dragonling, which had a scaly tealish gray hide and a body shaped like an Iguana's. Its face resembles that of a weasel, and snake-like eyes with a pair of long horns. It was a very formidable foe, so you didn't hesitate to use the skill Demonize, and start the battle with it.]

[After two hours of very gruesome battles, Arthur finally pierced its brain matter through its left eye. But Arthur was also fatally wounded and died with regret and remorse.]

[You don't take it to heart as it worked out in your favor, with the earth dragonling's huge blood force, your conquest to create the nodes became easier]

[Two months passed but you still haven't successfully created a node.

[Three years had passed after Arthur's death, and you finally created your first node]

[You keep practicing and trying to perfect your refining technique to increase the number of nodes needed to cultivate the basic asura path. Gradually you understand more and more intricacies of the node]

[Twelve years have passed since that fateful day when Arthur and earth dragonling contributed selflessly to your research, And finally today you have completely made all the necessary nodes. The remaining deterrence on the earth dragonling's body has also disappeared.]

[You try to use the remaining two hundred plus blood energy to stimulate the basic asura path, but halfway through it has run out and you burst into pieces]

[This simulation has ended!]

"I am quite excited to see what achievements I will receive"

[The simulation has ended, please choose one of the rewards.]

[One: Ruthless (A-Grade Skill. You can sacrifice anything for scientific research. A must have talent for a mad scientist]

[Two: Sword Energy at the time of your death (Value: ****)]

[Three: Insights you have gained in the holy cross technique]

[Four: A partial memory fragment from the simulation]

[Five: Heart of earth dragonling obtained from black ravens in the simulation]

"It was a very long life, it has been a while since I had that long simulation"

"System I choose the fourth option"

"Ding! Congratulations to the host. The memory fragment will be delivered directly to the host's brain. Please brace yourself."

Afterward, a whole new memory appeared in Bheem's mind. The new memory included details of Blacksmith's refining experience in regards to the nodes and also the basic asura path sword edition