Chapter 52

How Is That Possible?

“Of course. Let us fight!”

As Chu Shen eagerly said these words, Leonard smiled. “Of course.” He replied and immediately shot off into the air.

Chu Shen grinned himself and took off towards the bugs. He started hitting the warrior bugs with his hammer. The warrior bugs were big and their armored exoskeleton was incomparable to the drone bugs from earlier. However with Chu Shen’s increased power, they were smashed to bits.

He smashed left and right, left and right. Chu Shen was even faster than before. Where as earlier Leonard could tell what he was doing, now it was all a blur. Chu Shen once again withdrew the pistols and started using them to great effect.

All of a sudden a red beam of energy shot out, drawing his attention. Sure there had been energy beams before, but they were all directed towards the ever encroaching army of bugs. The energy beam lanced out, piercing through several bugs before disappearing into the distance.

Looking over he saw a man with skin made of metal. His right arm was a metal cylinder and his back had a slight bulge to it. It was the cyborg. Chu Shen nodded to the cyborg, grateful for the support.

He ran forward towards a tanker bug. Swinging his hammer he hit it on the side. Before, Chu Shen only cracked the outer shell. Now he could do way more than that. His weapon could now increase its weight by over 100 times now, and he had over 30,000 pounds of force in his hands.

The hammer hit the tanker bug’s shell. It passed through the shell, cracks spread out over the large exoskeleton where the hammer had impacted it. The hammer passed through the inside of the bug and the handle ripped a line through the shell as he swung.

The hammer completed its swing and blew a second hole through its exoskeleton as it exited its body. As blood along with various pieces of the exoskeleton and its organs gushed out of the hole, the tanker bug let out a loud screech.

Chu Shen leapt back the second his hammer was freed from the tanker bug. Leaping sideways he swung with his hammer as he passed the bugs head. His hammer blew right through it as he soared past, on his way to fight some different bug.

He fought for a while with various warrior bugs before he suddenly stopped. Running forward towards the front of the fort he faced the horde of bugs. It wasn’t just a small group of ten or so like he fought on the honeycomb styled fort. It was a swarm of a couple hundred.

Chu Shen grinned as he started circulating his Qi. Willing his Qi out of his body, he released a large surge of energy. Qi could come in all sorts of shapes and type. There was a basic form of Qi called blade Qi. This Qi is thin and sharp, able to cut through various things.

However, compared to a real sword wielders Qi it was incomparable. Using his Qi he released a surge of sharp blade Qi. It surged forward in a crescent wave. Honestly if he was facing a fellow cultivator on the same level as him, he would have never done so.

Such an attack was too easily blocked and wasted far too much energy. However these were not cultivators and could be considered normal animals. Against such things, an attack like this was the best since it took out large swathes of them at once.

The Qi shot outwards, slicing practically all of them in half. Leonards instruments picked up a large surge of energy. Expecting it to be some sort of new bug he quickly flew towards the front of the fort. The fort had a huge pile of corpses laid out in front of it.

Every single one was cut in half. The top half slid off a couple tanker bugs as he watched. Standing in front of the fort was a single kid. It was Chu Shen. Leonard had thought that nothing this kid could do would stun him.

He was wrong.

The best thing he could think of that could do this kind of damage was an energy blade. But it couldn’t be. Those were expensive for one thing. For another they were short range, maybe a couple feet but most definitely not how far he was seeing.

He thought of another possibility. Maybe an energy wave cannon. Most of the time it was just a surge of energy that burned or knocked down everything in its path.

It was of course possible to modulate it so that it would become a large blade but that kind of modification, along with the gun itself, was as expensive as buying a house! How could the kid of a colonist have that kind of money. Then again, what about the pocket dimension. Those thing were really expensive too, expensive enough to buy some asteroids or a minor planet!

As he was thinking of this the bugs continued marching forward. It looked like a solid carpet of bugs. Except for the large holes where the tanks had blown holes in the formation.

Leonard started killing them immediately. Suddenly there was a massive energy release. Looking down he saw a surge of gray colored energy shooting forward. The bugs were sliced in half as soon as that energy passed through them.

Leonard couldn’t believe it. This energy, it was just like the energy wave cannon. He had speculated but most definitely thought he was just making wild speculations.

Chu Shen frowned as the energy shot outwards. This was too costly. A single energy wave cost him five percent of his energy. While this didn’t seem to be a lot, if he used it just 20 times he would be out of energy. The bugs were endless.

He started recreating that blade wave. But this time instead of releasing it like a blast of energy he held it in front of him. Of course, the energy would still dissipate but not as rapidly as if he just let it loose. It also tired him mentally as he had to use his soul to carefully control the Qi so it didn’t just dissipate the second he released it. As the energy created a crescent wave in front of him he started running forward.

As he did his null Qi started to absorb the Qi from the air. As he ran the crescent blade in front of him grew stronger. Any bug that came in contact with that wave of energy was sliced to bits.

Chu Shen ran and ran, killing over a thousand bugs easily. As he did he thought to himself. ‘Truly, a peak Dragon Stage warrior cannot compete with even the weakest Martial Student cultivator.’

Leonard was once again confused beyond belief. The energy wave gun wasn’t acting normal at all. Now the energy wave was suspended in front of Chu Shen. And he was using it to just run the bugs over?!

This was impossible!!

1. N/a

Chapter 51

Fight!

Chu Shen was in the middle of an important process. Each person has 8 major meridians. However the 1st major meridian was different. Rather than it being a single large meridian it was a collection of smaller meridians. This network together was called the first major meridian.

Until the outer meridians were unblocked the other 7 major meridians could not be sensed. The meridians were located in these locations.

One on each leg, one on each arm, one on the head, two in the chest, and a collection of minor meridians below the skin, The meridians could be unblocked in any order however the minor meridians below the skin had to be unblocked first.

Each meridian had 10 blockages  in it, resulting in the 10 levels. The outer meridians were the same in that each minor meridian had 10 blockages in it and breaking through those blockages advanced another level.

Chu Shen could feel he was getting closer to a breakthrough. His Qi was seething and boiling in his meridians. It was like a river that was trying to overflow its banks.

As he meditated Ti Wu came out of the Voids Hand. As he observed Chu Shen he knew it was time. Raising his hands he absorbed some of the Void Qi in his outer meridians.

After he did Chu Shen was able to feel the existence of meridians besides his current ones. Manipulating the Qi in his body it flowed towards these new meridians

As it did his Qi came across something blocking it’s path. No matter what he did he couldn’t break through. Trying a new approach Chu Shen gathered all his Qi onto only one meridian and pushed forward. After he did he broke through the barrier. When he did the sudden surge of Qi caught him off guard.

Utilizing this surge of Qi he pushed onwards towards the other branches. Eventually all the outer meridians were broken through. As he did a black smelling funk was pushed out of his body. This was impurities found in the body.

That was what he felt was blocking his meridians. As the surge of Qi rushed into him his dantian was filled. After it was filled the Qi started filling up his meridians.

As it did some of it inevitably overflowed and spilled into Chu Shen’s body, strengthening it. His strength went from 16,550 pounds to 30,000. In comparison to a normal cultivator it was insane! Their strength would normally reach 20,000 pounds! His body’s defense also reached new heights.

After a couple seconds his body seemed to hit a breaking point before suddenly his dantian grew over twice as big as before. With its increase the overflowing Qi found a place to rest in. All of the Qi flowed into his dantian and settled down.

Chu Shen immediately controlled his Qi and made it leave his body. A clump of gray colored energy appeared before him in the palm of his hand. He just stared at it.

“Ha…Haha…hahahaha.” The Qi disappeared as Chu Shen started laughing. Images flashed by in his mind. Faces filled with pity, envy, and shame. Voices that told him why he was never going to reach his full potential. He laughed in the face of it all.

As he kept laughing he dashed out of the house.

“Hahahaha! I did it! I finally did it! They said I couldn’t do it but I did! I even did it faster than they did! Ha! To all those who said I couldn’t advance take that! I have finally stepped into the Martial Realm! I might just be a Martial Student but just wait! I will surpass you all!”

Beep. Beep.

His comm set started going off. Most likely it was the bugs since Chu Shen had instructed the A.I. to contact him once they got within two kilometers of the small village he was in.

He smiled. Now that he had broken through, the bugs provided the perfect chance to hone his skills.

Of course he couldn’t fight in this condition. He needed to stabilize his cultivation. Sitting down he focused on calming the still unstable Qi. After an hour the Qi in his body stopped seething, becoming as calm as a lake.

Now that that was settled he could get started. Using his enhanced vision, Chu Shen immediately set off towards the bugs.

…………..

Leonard Maximus was flying above the bugs. Hopper and winged insects flew towards him only to be shot out of the sky by his pistols. A tanker bug walked steadily towards the ship only for a bright red beam to slice it in half.

A half robot, half human man pointed his metallic arm towards another tanker bug. As it did another brilliant red beam to shoot out, slicing it in half.

Leonard shot out a black disk at a warrior bug. It looked like the drone bugs but were half the size of the tanker bug and as fast as the hoppers. It exploded, cracking it’s thick shell and knocking it backwards. A quick shot to it’s brain ended its life.

Explosions went off in the distance as the artillery in the back supported them. Truly this was one of the last great efforts they could make. Until backup arrived, they had to holdout.

Suddenly there was a large explosion of dirt and bug parts as something smashed into the ground right in front of the fortress. It couldn’t have been the machines in the back since they were most definitely busy thinning their ranks.

Emerging from that crater was a smiling twelve year old kid holding an archaic black hammer.

……………………..

Chu Shen couldn’t, of course, just run the entire way. In fact he found a much faster and efficient method. Using his greatly increased muscles he jumped upwards, covering over 300 meters in a single jump. Taking the fall with his body he would once again jump.

As he approached the bug horde he saw new species of bugs were attacking. These ones were big, fast, and apparently a little smarter since they were actively attacking threats instead of attacking everything. Timing his jump just right Chu Shen jumped towards the middle of a group of the warrior bugs.

Using the momentum of his landing he withdrew his hammer from his ring. The [Earth Shattering Inscription] had grown much stronger with his increase of Qi. Swinging his weapon downward the massive blow shook the ground.

The shock-wave alone killed the closest warrior bugs while the rest were blown backwards. Standing up Chu Shen surveyed their situation. The bugs were coming closer, not even hesitating. Some interesting people such as the ones with silver skin or the one with a metal arm were close by.

Jumping upwards he landed near the abnormal scout, Leonard Maximus, who swooped down next to him. “Hello senior brother Leonard.” Chu Shen said respectfully and bowed.

Leonard smiled ruefully, truly this kid was an enigma. “Hey Chu Shen. It looked like you abandoned us when you up and left like that.”

Chu Shen shook his head. “No. I would never. It is the duty of every human to ensure that normal people are kept safe from primordial beasts. I was merely having a breakthrough to become stronger, that is what kept me from joining you.”

Leonard just shook his head. ‘I think the translator botched that one up.’ “Anyways, these bugs need to be put down. Think you can help?” He asked while raising an eyebrow.
“Of course. Let us fight!” Chu Shen brandished his hammer as he spoke.

1. N/a

Chapter 50

Breakthrough

Chu Shen had on his scout armor and was currently inside of a small maintenance airlock leading out of the city. Why? Well because of the radiation shielding. With it in place he couldn’t possibly cultivate so he had to go outside.

After Leonard Maximus, the abnormal scout from Sparta, had brought him into the infirmary there had been a lot of questions. The hammer and where he got it from was one of them. Of course since Leonard had mentioned a pocket dimension Chu Shen went with that explanation though they were skeptical.

Hugh had scanned him for radiation but found nothing. He of course couldn’t explain it but Chu Shen knew why. With his null Qi’s properties of course the doctor found nothing. Afterwards he was told to get some rest and left alone.

Afterwards he snuck out of his room which was easy considering the fact that there was no guards. There was too many things to do to be a guard. Then he left to go outside leading to his current situation.

Chu Shen reached the end of the airlock and opened the door. Stepping outside he immediately closed the door and started running. He had looked at a map the A.I. had provided so he wasn’t running aimlessly.

After a while Chu Shen came across a deserted town. Unlike before where the town had a large dome around it this one had a small force field. Luckily it was shut down to divert power to where it was needed.

Chu Shen went into one of the houses and activated his comm device. He had asked the A.I. to contact him if the bug horde came close to the small town he had chosen.

With all that settled Chu Shen went into one of the abandoned houses and found a comfortable bed. Sitting down on it he started cultivating.

The danger of fighting and the knowledge of the vast hordes and powerful bugs that he had yet to fight put enormous pressure on him. That pressure brought out hidden potential in him. His soul started to grow, increasing his chances of breaking through.

Everyone knew that fighting was the best way to temper techniques since only by fighting could you adapt those techniques to combat. However it was also true that when your life was on the line the body brought out everything it could to grow stronger. It was a rule of nature.

Life and death struggles not only honed techniques but also let the soul grow stronger and more mature.

As he cultivated he also went over what he had done in the fight mentally. Recalling the sensation of using the pistols he also pondered over the strange weaponry here.

At heart he was still an artificer and since he saw the blueprint for it on the computer Chu Shen was fascinated with it. He started thinking of the applications using Qi instead which lead him on interesting paths.

For two days he stayed there, cultivating and meditating in peace. Outside though it was becoming more and more desperate.

After the captain had landed the General in charge had told him to keep the civilian onboard. After a day went by the captain decided to check on the kid. Unfortunately he was gone. A quick query revealed that the kid had left the ship and headed into the town.

Sighing the captain resigned himself to more important things. It was better to use available manpower to hold off the bugs then to hunt down a civilian that didn’t want protection.

Over the past two days the bugs had advanced closer and closer. Various elite soldiers had shown up on different ship’s. One had a cyborg powered by a fusion reactor. With it he could use heavy equipment like the laser cannon he had for an arm.

Another had a group of soldiers that had nanite injections. Using the nanites to construct various tools and to enhance themselves this elite unit killed many bugs. The best of all though was the ammo fabber two ship’s had brought.

With how many bugs there was, there was absolutely not enough ammo to deal with them. However the fabbers produced ammo out of any material fed to it.

Using the waste products from the mining the colonists did they were able to provide enough ammo to hold off the bugs. Unfortunately there was still not enough. They were pushed back by the vast hordes.

Closer and closer the bugs came to the lone bastion of human civilization on the planet. Soon there wasn’t going to be a human civilization if something didn’t change. Then it did.

A frigate dropped out of hyperspace. Apparently the attack fleet had been attacked by pirates. As soon as they saw them they immediately sent a frigate ahead. The frigates had a faster hyperspace charge time and were able to enter before the pirates disrupted hyperspace.

To avoid the pirates the frigate had to make a detour in the hyperspace jump resulting in lost time. The frigate brought the news that the extra ship’s should be here in another day since the pirate group was not that big.

This was the reason for the delay. The frigate was capable of space to ground combat and readily bombarded the surface with lasers and plasma cannons. Unfortunately since the Weapons of Mass Destruction Ban, nukes and other large scale destructive devices were not available.

The weapons on the frigate made up for it though. Using the weapons the bugs were pushed back. Until the shield bugs and sniper bugs came out. The sniper bugs were not genetically bred but were cybernetic constructs.

They launched pieces of rock and metal at speeds that boggled the mind. The frigate could withstand that kind of blow but not with the numbers present. The shield bugs were another cybernetic construct that used force fields. They were rarely seen on the battlefield since the nanites were expensive to the K’ateesh.

This delay was crucial to the defenders. The bugs were now less than 3 kilometers away from the main city. They were also only 2 kilometers away from where Chu Shen was.

Suddenly a large fluctuation of energy surged from where Chu Shen was at. He was laughing as he ran out of the house.

“Hahahaha! I did it! I finally did it! They said I couldn’t do it but I did! I even did it faster than they did! Ha! To all those who said I couldn’t advance take that! I have finally stepped into the Martial Realm! I might just be a Martial Student but just wait! I will surpass you all!”

1. N/a

Chapter 49

Retreat!

Chu Shen and the abnormal scout kept destroying tanker bugs as they went. He used various methods, besides the hammer. Using one of the grenades he picked up from a fallen scout, he copied the abnormal scouts method of destruction.

Then he used the vibro-sword for a while. It cut through the bugs exoskeleton swiftly but unfortunately it broke from Chu Shen’s massive strength. As Chu Shen fought he realized that this was not where most of the action was.

He was on the small fortress they had built around the ship, that was true. However, most of the killing was taking place before the bugs even reached the fortification.

It was honestly an interesting strategy. A single soldier could kill a hundred bugs with their guns. A single blast from a tank could kill fifty bugs. So it was set up to in a three layered formation.

First there was the fortress with the soldiers on it. Then there was the ship. After that was the various types of machinery like the tanks. The flying vehicles like the hovercraft and scooters were scattered everywhere.

Because the bugs went by instinct, they only attacked what was in front of them. This way while the bugs attacked the fortress the heavy machines at the back would thin their numbers before they even reached the fortress. Then until they could break through the ship, the machines could again pound the enemy lines.

Once the ship took off or the bugs started looking for other prey though, the vehicles would take off, outrunning the bugs to reach another ship farther down the line and reinforce them.

This way there was a minimum amount of firepower lost and instead as the bugs came closer and closer to the city they would face more and more resistance. Truly it was an ingenious way of conserving firepower but it was also clearly ruthless. The ground soldiers were being used as a distraction.

Chu Shen and the abnormal scout continued fighting for another hour. A total of three hours had passed since Chu Shen had started fighting with them.

Soon however there was very few troops left. At most there was a handful or two. Suddenly the ship opened the hovercrafts launch platform along with some hatches on the top of the ship opened.

Radios belched out a command. “Retreat. We won’t do any more good here. Command has ordered a general retreat for the front lines. We are to fall back to the rear for resupplies before being redeployed. All hovercraft are to do a bombing run close to the ship in order to cover our retreat. All mechanized units are to cover our retreat before going at top speed to the closest fortified spot. There you will be sent to the rear to rest while someone else will take over your vehicle.”

There was a general cheer from the troops at that order. Explosions which had so far only been seen faintly in the distance suddenly came a whole lot closer.

Chu Shen had heard the command because of his precise hearing however he suddenly became deafened. This was an unfortunate price to pay for his ability to absorb Qi again. The helmet no longer blocked sound, leaving him vulnerable to the explosions sound.

The abnormal scout saw Chu Shen stumble and became dazed. He was puzzled at first before quickly realizing the reason. Shaking his head he flew down on his gravity boots and grabbed him, hauling him to the ship.

Five minutes after going to the hanger bay through the airlock, the ship started rumbling. They were taking off.

After a couple seconds the ship took off. The fortress they had built around them was made of self-replicating nanites. Unfortunately after they took a shape, they couldn’t be disassembled making them a one use item.

It shattered to pieces from the ship’s take off. Various bugs were blown back by the force of the take off. The heavy machinery fled backwards towards another position.

The ship flew as swiftly as possible but was hit by three small plasma balls anyway. A blue energy shield flared to life as the plasma hit. It’s bright glare dimmed noticeably after blocking the plasma balls but the ship was undamaged.

The ship got out of range of the tanker bugs. It flew for about half an hour before landing at a large city. They flew over various smaller cities and other areas but they were all evacuated. This large city was where all the citizens of the planet.

If the line broke then all these people would die.

……………………………….

Back on the ship.

The abnormal scout helped Chu Shen to the medical bay. As they walked down the hallways many of the soldiers who saw both of them started clapping.

Chu Shen’s face glowed red with pride and embarrassment. He had never been admired like this before. Of course at the academy most of the students acted like this but Chu Shen didn’t feel like he had earned praise. Now however he took pride in his accomplishments.

When they got to the medical bay there was no one else. If their suit had been punctured they were killed by the radiation. The suits protected them from everything else though.

Officer Hugh was waiting for them. He had of course heard reports on this miracle dwarf that was able to kill over a thousand bugs in hand to hand combat.

Upon seeing each other they both exclaimed out loud. “You!”

The abnormal scout set down Chu Shen on a bed, ignoring them. Then he took off his helmet, revealing a handsome young man with blonde hair.

The scout looked at the doctor. “Okay doc. Let’s hear this guy’s story. He seems kind of young to be on a military ship.”

Hugh sighed. “You know that heavy worlder kid we picked up some time ago.”

“Yeah. What does that have to do with anything?”

“That’s him.”

“What!?”

1. N/a

Chapter 48

Qi is deadly?

Normally even though the hopper bug was fast, Chu Shen could have definitely avoided it. After all it was maybe half as fast he himself was. However it was truly unfortunate that the bug was behind Chu Shen when it climbed onto the platform.

Chu Shen once again sensed there was a bug behind him as the hopper leaped towards him. Forcing his body to move sideways he dodged most of the blow, but unfortunately the hopper bug was truly too fast. Instead his helmet was cut at the seams, barely avoiding his neck.

Radiation poured into his suit, alarms started blaring. However Chu Shen didn’t hesitate. He ran towards the hopper bug, firing his pistols as he went. The hopper bug landed on the edge of the platform but fell due to the repeated shots of the pistols, dying from the neurotoxin.

The abnormal scout flew down and landed next to Chu Shen. His radio activated and a deep gruff voice came on. “Soldier, you’re suits integrity has been compromised. If you have anything inside the pocket dimension to fix your suit up, act quickly otherwise the radiation will fry you alive.”

Chu Shen meanwhile was basking in something completely unexpected. Qi! It was Qi! Ever since he arrived in this realm for some reason he had not been able to absorb Qi and now he could!

Upon hearing the radio though he suddenly thought of a possibility. He had read on the ship that radiation was various forms of energy transmitted through space but now that he thought of it, wasn’t this also the definition of Qi?

Of course! Radiation was deadly to normal people! So of course their armor and spaceships would block radiation or rather, Qi. This was why Chu Shen couldn’t gather Qi even when he could sense it. It was indeed being blocked.

Instead of pulling out a suit patch as the abnormal scout had suggested, Chu Shen instead unsealed his helmet completely. The scout was taken back by the young face that confronted.

Then he started yelling. “WHAT THE H*LL ARE YOU DOING! YOU’LL DIE IF YOU DO THAT!”

Chu Shen didn’t say a word but rather shook his head. Then he started circulating his Qi. The Qi in the area started gathering towards him. The energy circulated through his internal meridians.

With the fresh surge of Qi it was like basking in a hot shower. A soothing feeling came over him as the Qi penetrated his body. Feeling refreshed Chu Shen immediately took off, ignoring the abnormal scouts astonished look. He started looking for more hoppers, shooting them the second he saw them.

Circulating his Qi, Chu Shen was able to keep gathering Qi as he fought. Honestly the Qi expended wasn’t a whole lot. Most of what he was using to fight the bugs was his physical body.

Chu Shen fought with the abnormal scout, who looked on him with awe. They fought the bugs continuously for two hours. Now the horde of bugs had thinned a lot however now it was rare to encounter a drone bug. Hopper bugs were exceedingly more common now.

The floaters were tasked with thinning the horde out before they reached the fortified positions. They were doing a good job too but most were starting to fall back due to return fire.

The plasma bugs weren’t so good at hitting small agile targets like the floaters but the tanker bugs were finally starting to slowly crawl up. They were huge cockroaches. There was a large tube sticking out of the bugs neck, pointing straight forward along with a bunch of smaller tubes sticking out of its back.

A floater flew past, dropping bombs as it went by. The tanker bug looked up. The small tubes on its back started glowing blue. Then over twenty basketball size plasma balls flew upwards.

The floater dodged most of them but one burned a hole through the back of the floater. With smoke billowing out of it the floater fell down into a swarm of bugs before exploding. It left a huge crater from all the bombs it held inside it exploding as well.

Chu Shen saw the sight and immediately focused on the tanker bugs. These he knew were going to be tough. The biological armor was thick, almost ten times as thick as the drone bugs were. Not to mention the large plasma tube on the front.

While he was puzzling over how to kill such a creature, a large explosion went off. It was a one of the one-man scooters. There were five of them in a small group floating in the air. They were out of reach of most bugs and so far had stayed out of the fight.

Their explosives were best for penetrating a tanker bugs skin, not for large explosives like the floaters. Firing in unison the group of scooters launched small, baseball size mortars towards the tanker bug.

The explosives hit the creature. The shaped charges unleashed a blast that sent metal shrapnel cutting into the creature’s hard outer shell before reaching the inside of it. The flammable material used to create the plasma balls ignited in the explosion. With a loud WHOOOSH, the tanker bug went up in flames.

Because of the nature of plasma, it was not explosive however it was extremely flammable. Chu Shen looked around for a little bit before finding an appropriate tanker bug. Once he did he took off for it.

Meanwhile the abnormal scout had taken off towards a tanker bug himself. Flying down he landed next to one of the plasma tubes. Because of the hard exoskeleton and the way the scout had flew in, the tanker bug didn’t notice him.

The scout waited until after the tube had fired off a plasma ball before dropping one of the explosive disks from his right arm into the tube.

The disk fell downwards until it reached the inside of the beast. Three seconds later the disk exploded, making the bug burst into flames. Of course the scout was long gone by then.

Chu Shen though, dashed forward at breakneck speeds. Reaching the side of the tanker bug, he swung the hammer with all his might. The hammer hit its side, cracks appeared in the armor where it was hit.

Unfortunately, that was all that happened. The tanker bug slid sideways a couple inches while Chu Shen used the force of the blow to flip backwards, landing on the dusty ground. He frowned. So one blow wasn’t going to cut it.

He got an idea though. Turning his hammer around he reversed it so that the spike end was now where the blunted end usually was. He leapt upwards onto the creature’s back. Using the spiked end as a pick axe he swung it downwards, penetrating the exoskeleton.

Using the spiked end he pulled a hunk of the armor off with brute force. With the proper leverage it was easy. Then Chu Shen had a problem. What did he do now?

He put back the hammer and instead pulled out the pistols. Firing them rapidly into the hole in its armor, Chu Shen fired towards where he guessed the heart and plasma chamber was. The beast shuddered in agony as the needles went through its body, delivering their deadly payload.

Plasma fired out randomly from its tubes as it started jerking around. It started twitching and jerking its legs as Chu Shen kept firing. After a couple rounds the thing started to slow down. Then it fell to the ground and the plasma balls stopped shooting.

Chu Shen hopped off the tank bug and nodded in appreciation. ‘Heh. That thing was pretty big.’
With that Chu Shen turned around and promptly started off towards another tanker bug. It seemed these things were most definitely the bigger threat.

1. N/a

Chapter 47

This. Is. Sparta!

Chu Shen flew through the air. He landed on one of the platforms. A couple soldiers were there fighting for their lives. As Chu Shen went towards them he saw one of them deploying vibroblades and cutting a bug in half.

He smiled. The power of vibration was truly wondrous. When he could master the <Song of The Stars> then this kind of attack would be child’s play. Looking down at his hands he stored the vibro-sword in his storage ring.

He landed on the platform. While it was true that advancing in cultivation led to greater strength, the true benefits were more subtle.

The best benefit was speed. There was a saying in the martial world. Defense can be broken, attacks can be blocked, but speed is king. What good is an attack that can’t land on the opponent? How can you defend against an attack you can’t see? Only speed can have advantages while also having no disadvantages.

It can be used for both attack and defense while to focus on merely attack or defense can lead to a crucial lack of strength.

Chu Shen dashed around the platform. Each bug on the platform received a single blow from his hammer before exploding in a huge spray of gore. The soldiers could only see a blur as Chu Shen attacked. He picked up a gun from one of the dead soldiers. Storing his hammer away he grabbed the rifle with both hands.

He fired a couple rounds to get a feel for the accuracy. With that Chu Shen turned around and pointed it at the bugs. Recalling the models of the drone bugs Chu Shen aimed at the bugs heart and brain. Firing a single needle at each drone the needles flew accurately, unerringly finding their targets.

Chu Shen frowned. He wasn’t truly happy with this kind of weapon. Bending down he instead grabbed two pistols from the dead bodies. When the Needle Gun runs out of ammo these pistols would be used until they could reload.

Suddenly someone flew through the air two platforms over, a streak of blue appearing under their shoes. They were dressed in a scout armor, though it was clearly different.

Instead of the armor being pure black it had skull marks on both shoulders. The helmet looked like a white spartans helmet instead of a pure black dome like everyone else had. The armor was thicker than every other scouts armor. The arm guards and the leg guards bulged outwards slightly. In the leg guards case it was obviously because of the gravity boots.

Wielding two pistols the abnormal scout flew in above the bugs, his dual pistols firing. Because of his superior position in the air, the bugs couldn’t hurt the scout. All of the bugs died without a fight.

Chu Shen started using the two pistols he started firing at more bugs. The bugs went down just as easily as before. With his Qi enhanced reflexes and senses, it was no wonder he could outshoot even those with an implant.

The soldiers that Chu Shen had saved could see him standing on the platform. They were all stunned by what they saw. His hands were a blur, such was his firing speed. Everytime he fired a bug fell down. This was an unbelievable example of accuracy.

While they were all stunned at what they saw, a bug climbed up the edge of the platform. As the bug rushed at Chu Shen’s back he sensed something was wrong. Leaping into the air he dodged the bugs charge.

Storing the pistols inside his ring he withdrew the vibro-sword. With a push of a button the nuclear battery inside the vibro-sword activated. As it started vibrating Chu Shen landed on the ground. Pushing off the platform he sliced the bug in half with a spray of gore.

Withdrawing the sword, Chu Shen took off from the platform, leaving behind him a small group of soldiers.

“Did you see what I saw?”

“Yeah, that scout was unbelievable.”

“You know, I heard that some mercenary joined us, a friend of the captain. Supposedly he’s extremely fast because of some enhancements he has.”

“I heard that too. It’s said he had a military-grade enhancement.”

“But we have military-grade enhancements too, how come his is so different.”

“Dumba**. It’s because he didn’t get a UBF enhancement. Supposedly he came from Sparta. They say he’s one of those clone soldiers.”

“What! No way!”

“It’s no wonder he’s so good at fighting. Everyone from Sparta is a monster. I thought he’d be taller though.”

…………………………………………….

One hundred, two hundred, three hundred, within twenty minutes almost five hundred drone bugs lost their lives to Chu Shen. He also personally saved almost ninety soldiers while protecting over two hundred

No one could keep up with him on the battlefield. Chu Shen thought before looking over his shoulder. Well, almost no-one. Surprisingly there was one person that actually was as strong as him, or even slightly stronger.

It was the abnormal scout that Chu Shen had glimpsed back then. The scout became exceedingly more strange as Chu Shen saw more of him. Not only did he have a modified scout armor, but he also had extremely expensive equipment, with the gravity boots being one of a long list.

Shooting grappling cables out of his suits arms, the abnormal scout used the bug he had caught as a battering ram. He twirled it around him, knocking back the bugs that were trying to surround him.

Then a bright beam of energy shot out as he used an energy beam on the underside of his right arm. Miniature explosive disks shot out from the left arm.

He was like a one man army.

Chu Shen smiled. Both of them were clearly an example of skills from both worlds. Chu Shen with his Qi enhanced body and antiquated hammer, and the abnormal scout with his advanced weapons and enhancements.

He frowned. The Qi was thick in the air, but again Chu Shen couldn’t absorb it. It was like something was preventing the Qi from reaching him.

Although they couldn’t know, most of the other ships in the area had been over run. With the ship’s guns still working though, most of the ship’s decided to stay until a Tank or Warrior bug showed up. Besides, with the plasma bugs instincts to fire on anything flying, most ship captains wouldn’t risk being blown up.

Suddenly an abnormality appeared. A bug appeared but it was different from the other bugs. If it could be described it would be like a flea with blades for its front limbs. With this new bug it meant that the second wave had reached the front lines.
With a sudden burst of speed the Hopper Bug, as it was called, shot forward, slicing Chu Shen’s helmet!

1. N/a

Chapter 46

Chu Shen Joins The Fight

Chu Shen was still thinking about how exactly to help in the upcoming fight whenever he started hearing things. Tap tap tap. It sounded like rain was hitting the roof of a building. Other sounds came faintly to Chu Shen but he couldn’t identify most of them. The best he could come up with was a muffled drum.

“Computer, what is the noise i’m hearing?” Chu Shen looked up at the ceiling.

“There is no noise registering in human hearing range.”

“I can hear a tapping noise, like rain. Please identify that.”

“That is machine gun fire from the troopers outside.”

“What! You mean they’ve actually started fighting already? Why didn’t they tell me!?”

“It was because they didn’t wish to worry you. Because we are one of the late arrivals we were put on the front lines. The first massive wave of bug drones are attacking now. While this first wave is the biggest what follows is waves of tougher bugs.”

Chu Shen went up to the door and opened it. Outside was the guard that was assigned to watch him. Unlike before where the guard was in a black uniform he was now in a heavy infantrymen suit.

The guard turned towards Chu Shen as he walked out. “Hey, hey kid! You can’t be out here, there’s a war going on.”

Chu Shen looked at the guard’s helmet. Because of his studying he knew exactly what this was. An outdated exo-suit designed to protect against blunt projectiles and radiation. It increased the wearer’s strength by over 50 times along with having a deployable vibroblade.

It was extremely out of date but the UBF was also underfunded since it was on the very fringes of known space. It was the cheapest and best suit to get.

He looked at where he figured the guard’s eyes were. “That’s why I’m here. Since I’m a heavy worlder I figured I might be able to help a little with the bugs. They attacked my town so I want some payback.”

Chu Shen had of course looked up what the captain and medic had labeled him as.

The guard was stunned for a couple seconds but he called up the captain. “Sir. The civilian kid says he want’s to fight. He is a heavy worlder sir so he might be able to help some.”

The captain was startled. He had actually completely forgot about the kid, he was a distraction he could ill afford. He started to consider the guards suggestion. Eventually the war would get to them. While the drones couldn’t break through the ship’s armor the warrior and tank bugs after certainly could.

“Alright. Give him a suit then get him to a hovercraft. We need to evacuate this kid now. The floater can take him farther down the line. Escort him to one of the hovercraft. Go now.”

The guard was surprised. “Okay kid you got your wish. Come on, we’ll fix you up some scout armor.”

They walked down some hallways, up elevators till they reached the part of the ship where the floaters were launched at. There was some armored scout outfits that the pilots wore. Luckily some of the pilots were dwarfs, children that were not genetically engineered for heavy gravity, resulting in the stagnation of growth along with heavy muscle density.

“Here kid, put this on.” The guard threw one of the outfits towards Chu Shen. Then the guard grabbed a heavy needle gun and a vibro-sword. Only high ranking officers had clearance for them because of how expensive they were but because of his mission clearance he could have one.

Silently Chu Shen put it on. The guard turned around after he grabbed his sword, expecting to have to help Chu Shen into the outfit. Unexpectedly Chu Shen was waiting for him completely dressed. The guard checked his helmet seal before walking towards the closed blast doors.

The reason Chu Shen was dressed so fast was both studying and because of how fast his Qi enhanced body was. The guard opened the door. He closed the first door after they were both in and then opened the next door. The airlock helped keep the radiation out of the ship.

As soon as they stepped out Chu Shen’s face lit up. There was Qi all around them! The ship looked like a giant turtle shell. Walls built in a honeycomb structure with platforms suspended between them every now and then spread outwards for close to 300 meters. Drone bugs were fighting and killing soldiers all over the place.

“Come on kid! The floater should meet with us soon. Just stand here and they’ll pick us ughh!”

The guard pointed to a platform near them when all of a sudden a bug that had been climbing the wall appeared. As the bug charged towards the guard Chu Shen immediately sprang into action.

He activated his spatial ring, the 1 ½ meter long hammer appearing in his hand. Chu Shen pushed off the ground with the tip of his foot, moving at mind boggling speed. He shoved the guard to the side out of the bug’s way as he flew past. Swinging his hammer so fast that a small sonic boom echoed out he hit the bug in the side of its carapace.

The hammer changed from being only 20 pounds to being over 3,000 pounds and crashed into the bugs side. If it could be seen in slow motion this is how it would be described.

The hammer first hit the bug’s legs, snapping them like dry wood. Then the exoskeleton of the bug was hit. The exoskeleton cracked as soon as it was hit. The hammer didn’t stop though and went completely through the bug. To be more accurate, it exploded outwards like someone hit it with a grenade as the kinetic force was transferred throughout the bug.

It looked similar to a baseball bat hitting a water balloon. The guard that Chu Shen had shoved hadn’t even hit the ground yet when the bug was killed. Chu Shen turned around and ran towards the guard, grabbing him before he hit the ground.

The guard had no idea what was going on. The kid moved so fast that he couldn’t even keep track of him.

Chu Shen set the guard down. Looking around there were more bugs than he could count. He smiled. They could be counted as a Man Stage Level 8-10 primordial beast. Compared to a peak Dragon Stage cultivator, they could be killed by the droves.

The Qi in the air was actually thicker than even the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion’s. Chu Shen gripped his hammer tight in preparation, then he leapt towards the closest platform.

He was ready to kill some bugs. After all.
This was war.

1. N/a

Chapter 45

Private Viradne

Chu Shen was asking the computer questions left and right. The hologram displayed a 3-d image of a ship. It had no scale but it was tear drop shaped. The top was round and bulging but the bottom was flat. All over the ship was hatches of various sizes though at the bottom under the pointed front was three large hatches and the top had a single oversized hatch.

This ship was what Chu Shen was currently on. The hatches on the flat bottom held mining tools to dig the ship into the ground for fortification. The large hatches were used to release the troops and the rest was for guns and anti-fighter missiles. The ship itself was faster than anything but a fighter so it was only equipped for anti-fighter and anti-personnel duty as the compute had explained to Chu Shen.

The hologram switched to a display of a rifle. In a couple minutes it switched to other handheld weapons. Chu Shen was just starting to study the automated suits used for combat when all of a sudden he felt a strong sense of dizziness. He fell down on the ground. Inside the Voids Hand Ti Wu sensed this and stood up from his meditation.

The sensation passed after a couple seconds. He looked up at the ceiling. “Computer, why did I feel dizzy?”

“The cause of dizziness was from the exit of hyperspace. Upon exiting various side effects such as nausea, dizziness, vomiting and other symptoms may appear. Studies show that after ten or more hyperspace exits and or entrances the side effects will have a diminished or no effect.”

Upon hearing this Chu Shen and Ti Wu was relieved. It was a temporary effect and not intentional.

“Warning. We are entering Getrin’s atmosphere to confront the bugs. ETA until bugs touchdown on planet is fifteen minutes. ETA until landing on Getrin will be updated when the information is available.”

Chu Shen sat down on his bed. He looked up at the ceiling. “Computer can you explain what exactly the bugs are?”

“The bugs are a series of genetically engineered soldiers that resemble insects made by the K’ateesh. These soldiers come in various forms and have been repeatedly sent to try and destroy humanities grip on various star systems. The conflict arose whenever the K’ateesh were discovered by a colony group.”

“The K’ateesh believe they should be the only intelligent beings in the universe and have aggressively wiped out any other species they find. Because of the fact that both species live on the same type of planets and value most of the same resources, both try to engage on the ground instead of commencing orbital bombardment to preserve those resources.”

“However. The K’ateesh have been deemed a class 6 threat since they cannot threaten humanity as a whole. On the edges of civilized space such as this technology is very poor. Because of this the K’ateesh and the bugs are at a stalemate with humanity however if the decision to wipe out the K’ateesh makes it through Human Space Council board then it could be accomplished in a matter of days.”

Chu Shen nodded. So the bugs were just puppets and they were the aggressors. Politics was the only thing slowing down the annihilation of the bugs. “How do the bugs act, what do they look like, and what are their weapon capabilities.”

“The bugs are mindless creatures. The K’ateesh won’t make an intelligent soldier since it is against their belief so instead they program them to instinctively attack anything not like the K’ateesh or themselves. Certain bugs such as the plasma bugs specifically target only airborne targets while the drone bugs attack anything on the ground.”

“The bugs have various looks based upon their function. Drones are six legged creatures with a hard exoskeleton. Their front two claws are extremely sharp and as hard as steel. The plasma bugs use an organic process to create balls of plasma and launch them into the air. Some plasma bugs are as big as this ship and are capable of launching plasma into orbit. Warrior bugs are the same as drones but have enhanced capabilities. The scout bugs are…”

Chu Shen paid attention to the various different types of bugs as their image popped on screen while the computer explained their capabilities. After all he would soon have to fight them.Halfway through the list there had been a thud and then a series of scraping and grinding noises. The computer told him they had landed on the planet and was fortifying themselves.

The computer finished the explanation eventually after 20 minutes. The list of bugs was extensive. Most of them though Chu Shen felt confident in handling.

While Chu Shen was contemplating the future battle, unknown to him it had already started.

………………………………………………….

HISS PSEEW PSEEW BANG SCREE CLACK CLACK WHOOSH

The battleground was a mess of noises. Energy beams shot out with a pseew while the needles hissed through the air. Mortars were launched landing with loud bangs. The bugs screamed out in anger and pain as they were shot, burned, blown up, and burned again.

The floaters whooshed through the air and explosions rocked the ground where they flew over. They were purely atmospheric bombers and were far more nimble than the space fighters were planetside.

The bugs so far were drone bugs. They were a blue green mottled color. The bugs were as tall as a man and twice as long. They looked similar to a giant cockroach but the head was raised up and looking towards them. In front of the head was two black arms that ended in blades. The reach of the blades was almost 1 meter.

Private Viradne was a heavy infantryman. The bugs came in a huge wave. At first they were dark colored blurs in the horizon. He, along with his entire squad had fired the second they were in range. The cockroaches required several rounds to kill each one and it was almost impossible to target a single one in such a huge horde.

The bugs left mounds of bodies piled up as they ran towards the barricaded ground troops. Explosions sent up huge amounts of bugs flying through the air. Private Viradne confirmed killing at least 200 bugs by himself. Bits of antennae and exoskeletons flew upwards, green blood splattered everywhere. But the bugs kept coming.

They could afford the losses. The breeder bugs just kept making more. It was like a swarm of rats. The landscape was like a desert previously. Only red sand and orange rocks popped up out of the plains. Now it was more like a horror film.

Private Viradne fired his needle gun. His implant synced with his targeting system. HISS HISS. The needles shot outwards and buried themselves into the exoskeleton of the bugs.

The ship’s guns were firing behind him. The noises from all the heavy fire and explosions would have been deafening if his suit didn’t isolate the noise. The bugs got closer and closer. Soon they were no longer 800 meters (half a mile) away but now 100. The bugs were reaching the edges of the barriers.

“AAAAAAAGH” “GET IT OFF ME!!!” “EAT THIS YOU F*CKERS”

Shouts came from the soldiers as they were swarmed by the bugs. Private Viradne saw a bug running towards him, less than two meters away. He fired his gun and the bug fell backwards from the impact. Three more climbed up to join them.

He kept firing killing two but the third got close enough to swing its bladed appendage at him. He ducked underneath it but was hit by the bug’s body. It hadn’t stopped running at him. He flew backwards losing his gun. The bug landed on top of him.

“AHHH” Private Viradne screamed in rage. He deployed his suits vibroblades. The half a meter long blades came out of his forearms. The blades hummed as it vibrated over 10,000 times a second. He swung upwards at the bug’s body. It came apart in a shower of green blood and guts. The bug squirmed around as it tried to kill him. Using the vibroblade he cut the thing in half, emerging from its bloody body.

Standing up he saw that there were another thirty bugs on the platform with him. His four squadmates were fighting with them, barely holding them off with their vibroblades.

Another five of his squadmates were on the ground. One had a chunk of his suit missing. He was shaking and having a seizure. The radiation was frying his brain. Unseen to Private Viradne was the boils that appeared on his skin as the radiation attacked him. The others were either in the same condition or they were being eaten by the bugs.

Private Viradne was shaken at the sight of his teammates being eaten. He withdrew his vibroblades, reached down, grabbed his needle gun and started firing. He drew the attention of five drone bugs. The ran towards him. He sprayed them with needles slowing them down. Suddenly his gun stopped firing. Warning. Ammo has been depleted. His implant toned in his head.

The bugs were getting closer. Only one had died. Two simultaneously swung their blades at him. Knowing he couldn’t dodge he deployed his vibroblade and blocked their blades with it. Another two bug blades buried themselves in his chest and leg. Refusing to give up he leaped forward, cutting off one of the insects head. He cut off all the legs on the side of the other bug. More and more blades stabbed into him.

He laughed. “HAHAHA. You’ll NEVER eat my you D*MN bugs!” With that he activated his suits self-destruction option. The nuclear battery in his suit overloaded. It exploded, destroying all 30 bugs on the platform, his squadmates, and another 20 bugs in the surrounding area.

Amidst the incinerated section of the fortification and the sundered, bloody bits of metal, bug parts, and human limbs came another 100 bugs.

This was war.

1. N/a

Chapter 44

They’re Coming

After Hugh explained why they couldn’t drop him off to be with his ‘family’ he had sent Chu Shen to a room and then assigned a guard to him.

The guard was kind though Chu Shen didn’t like the looks of pity that he gave him every now and then. The guard had pointed out a couple weird things that were in the cabin. There was something called a hologram, a food synthesizer, and there was a desk and chair that he had called the computer interface.

After pointing out everything the guard told Chu Shen, “Just ask the computer any questions and it will answer you.”

Chu Shen looked at the guard. “Who is the computer and how do I ask it to do anything?”

The guard stared at Chu Shen trying to determine if he was serious. He was. ‘Country hick huh. I didn’t think the colony was that bad but maybe the parents were anti-tech.’

“Well the computer is not a person but an object, an artificial intelligence programmed to watch over the crew. If you want to ask any questions just say it out loud.” After that the guard left to stand outside the room.

Chu Shen didn’t get what he meant but if the computer could talk to Chu Shen and it was an object, then it must be similar to a treasure spirit. They were rare but occasionally they did appear in high-level treasures.

Chu Shen sat down to cultivate but when he did he frowned. He could sense energy was barely present inside the room. There was a vast flood of it a little bit away but for some reason it was being blocked. He couldn’t cultivate like this, otherwise even with his cultivation technique it would take over a couple months to breakthrough, such was the small amount of energy available in the room.

Chu Shen tried talking to Master Ti Wu but for some reason he couldn’t contact him. (Inside the Voids Hand Ti Wu decided to take a break. He really didn’t want to try and answer his disciples constant questions so he blocked himself off.) Since he couldn’t contact him he decided to ask the computer some questions.

“Computer, where am I, what city am I in?” Chu Shen felt a little bit silly talking to air like this but what happened next truly surprised him.

A voice that for some reason had a bland voice with a metallic undertone answered his question. “You are aboard the UBF Spaceship Casanova. We are in hyperspace currently en-route to the colony Getrin. We shall arrive there in three hours, exactly fifteen minutes before the bugs land on the surface. “

Chu Shen looked around in surprise before becoming excited. He’d never thought he’d meet a treasure spirit or artificial intelligence as the soldier had put it. He looked like a kid in a candy store.

“What’s a spaceship and what’s hyperspace.” He asked the computer for clarification on some points.

“A spaceship is a mechanical vehicle using a variety of methods to cross space to reach other destinations such as moons, worlds, asteroids, and other celestial bodies. Hyperspace is described as a subspace that FTL or faster-than-light travel is possible through using a special energy called Tachyons.”

Chu Shen had an expression of deep shock. Travel to other worlds was basically a pipe dream until they reached a level of a Cosmo’s Immortal. These people on the other hand barely cultivated. There was only the smallest of Qi inside their bodies yet through mechanical means they were able to travel to other worlds by themselves? This was absolutely amazing!

Chu Shen started quizzing the computer on both history and also asked for descriptions of these spaceships and it provided blueprints for him. Of course he didn’t understand everything so he had the computer help him. Since he was a cultivator he had a photographic memory. He gained a lot of knowledge and before he knew it, three hours were up.

Captain Jimmy Hentle looked at the readout of bug types. He frowned. This was extremely bad. They had only transports which was good but there was over 300 of them. Previously his ship’s division of 500 Scouts, 2000 Heavy Infantry, 200 Mechanized, and 100 Floater troops had destroyed the single transport at Chu Shen’s colony with about 128 deaths and 301 injuries. Luckily only about 40 of them weren’t able to be patched up before the fight.

A vast majorities of the deaths and injuries had been in Scouts and Heavy Infantry with only about 50 spread out between the other divisions. That particular transport had no flying or anti-air bugs on it so there was no deaths in the Floater division.

They had about 70 ship divisions available along with a carrier and 30 fighters. They could destroy some of the craft on the way down but certainly not all of them. Once the bugs landed they would almost certainly have some anti-space elements and anti-air elements mixed in with their numbers.

The civilians were all evacuated into the shelters inside of two cities but the UBF couldn’t protect them for long. At most they could defend for two days. The good thing though was that there was another 120 ship divisions along with 10 frigates and 2 small destroyers and carriers inbound.

If they could hold off the bugs for 1 day they could save the entire population. Otherwise they were doomed. There was a General on one of the ships and he was organizing everyone.

The captain landed the ship in his designated spot. Checking out the tactical map he saw he was towards the frontlines. He started trying to get in contact with the general. He had to know there was a civilian on his ship. If he was at the frontlines, then there would definitely be a media catastrophe, blaming the UBG for purposefully endangering civilians. Unfortunately, with there being only another three minutes until the bugs landed, how could the general have time for him?

The soldiers got off the ship. There was scouts dressed in armor like Delgado had, then there was much larger suits with full body armor. Lines of energy ran throughout the armor unlike the completely black scout armor.

Then there was a variety of vehicles such as the large gravity tanks, the small one man mortar scooters, the medium size hovercraft with different weapons systems like lasers, plasma guns, machine guns, missiles, and grenade launchers.

The ship itself began burrowing itself into the ground. The soldiers started setting up fortifications along with portable machine and energy guns on and around the ship. The ship was obviously going to be used as a temporary base when the bugs attacks. Various guns popped out of hatches on the ship. Far off there was other ships, barely visible with the naked eye.

The soldiers had completely prepared for the invasion. The bugs had landed over twenty minutes ago. The fighters had been able to pick off about 13 transports but the fighters were forced to back off after the anti aircraft bugs were set up. These bugs launched balls of plasma at the fighters. Over a third of the fighters was forced back.

A couple of soldiers was talking on the fort.

“Hey, do you think we’ll make it?”

“Of course not. We’re one of the first ones to confront the bugs.”

“Yeah, but now we don’t have to worry about being eaten or processed.”

“Why not?”

“Well if you’re suit opens up the radiation will fry your brains out.”

“Oh yeah. Makes you wonder why they even set up a colony out here anyways.”

“Greed. There’s lots of minerals out here. Makes it a pain for the colonists but the radiation force fields protect them fairly well.”

“Sigh, it’s always because of credits isn’t it?”

“Yep. Ironic that I signed up to the military for the credits and here I am about to die protecting someone else’s credits.”

“Shhh. You hear that?” The three Heavy Infantry men stopped talking. As they listened carefully there was a dull rumbling sound coming from in front of them. There was a large dust storm gathering in front of them. The ground started shaking.

“What is it?” One of them asked, fear obvious in his voice. The one next to him shook his head. He’d fought for ten years against the bugs. He was no stranger to what this was.
“That son is a bug stampede. EVERYONE GET READY. THEY’RE COMING”

1. N/a

Chapter 43

Going to War

Chu Shen followed Officer Hugh to the room he had woken up in. He was panicking now. He was in an unknown realm with no idea what was going on. As a young twelve year old kid isolated from politics, Chu Shen was hopelessly naive and didn’t want to lie to them but they would never believe him.

He was still trying to figure out what was going on when he remembered, he wasn’t alone. ‘Master Ti Wu, can you help me?’

‘Oh ho. So you finally thought of me brat. I’m surprised you still remember me hmmph.’

‘Master, please don’t be like this. I don’t know what to say. The only one I can turn to for help is you.’

‘Fine. Just see what he has to say and then repeat what I say.’

‘Thank you Master.’

Officer Hugh sat down in one of the chairs in the room, oblivious to the conversation that was going on. Chu Shen came back to reality and sat down with him. His relief was obvious on his face.

Hugh misinterpreted his expression as relief that Sergeant Delgado was okay. He cleared his throat and began questioning him. “Now kid, we discovered the bugs were inbound and we evacuated all the civilians two days before the bugs landed.”

“We couldn’t take the bug craft down without some bigger guns but we were able to kill all the ground troops and retake the colony. We finished repelling the invasion less than two hours ago. Now that you have the big picture I need some questions answered.”

“ Where were you when all this happened? Why did you not get evacuated? And finally, where are your parents?”

Chu Shen listened and repeated back what Ti Wu said. “I don’t know anything about the evacuation. I lived on the outskirts of the colony alone. I don’t know where my parents are. They left the colony and told me stay put. I heard the fighting and everything going on and then after it all stopped I went to see what was happening and then I was hurt.”

Hugh nodded his head in agreement but inwardly he was skeptical. The UBF had gone house to house confirming everyone was gone. Their genetic scanners hadn’t picked anyone up so unless they had an expensive safehouse with scan blockers they wouldn’t have missed him.

The whole story about his parents leaving the colony also sounded a little fishy. Of course it could be that they decided to leave on a camping trip and left Chu Shen at home. With his body strength he had nothing to fear from the other colonists especially since weapons were outlawed.

“Okay, thank you for the information. Let me talk to the captain for a bit and then we’ll decide what we can do.” Officer Hugh walked over to a corner and activated his comm link.

“Hey Jim, I have something to report.”

“What is it doc?” The captain was an old friend of Officer Hugh, dating back to the UBF academy. He was one of the only ones on the ship that could talk so casually to the captain.

“You know that civilian kid that we picked up back at the colony?”

“Yeah. What about him?”

“He woke up. Told one heck of a story. Apparently his parents left the colony on a trip, probably a camping trip, and told him to stay put. Like a good little kid he stayed there even through the evacuation. After the firefight he went out looking for what made the ruckus and he ended up getting shot.”

“Yeah, seems like one heck of a tale.”

“I’m not buying it Jim. The scanners would have picked him up when we went through the town the first time.”

“Take it easy Hugh. The kids what ten, twelve years old? If his parents did go camping or whatever it was then their probably dead by now. You know that the bug ships scatter breeders all over the place. We had to spend a week hunting them all down. They were most likely eaten by the bugs, we won’t even get a body back.”

“Well ignoring that we have a real problem right now. The kids a monster Jim. Not only did he wake up he broke the restraints and broke Sergeant Delgado’s ribs with a single punch.”

“My God. Did he have on his uniform? It should have protected him from the impact.”

“Yeah he did. Didn’t help him too much though. Don’t worry. I have him a Bio-Gel tank.”

“Well this is a problem. What do you think our options are.”

“We can’t keep him in here drugged till we get to port so we’ll have to give him a room. Best thing to do is to assign a roster to watch him and accompany him in the ship. Then we can drop him off at the space station when we get there.”

“Sigh. Hugh, we won’t have an option. The bugs launched an all out attack at Getrin. UBF needs all the troops they can get and we’re one of the closest. We don’t have time to drop him off and neither is there any civilian ships capable of docking with us to transfer him over. He’s coming with us to the Getrin for the bug invasion.”

“That’s not an option. We can’t take civilians into a live combat situation.”

“There’s over ten million people on Getrin. If we don’t go there won’t be any left. You know the capital ships are all protecting the major planets. Little colonies like this have only us ground pounders to protect them.”

“I know. We have to prioritize the important things right?”

“Right Hugh. Listen. I’m sorry for involving you in this.”

“Yeah. I’ll break the news to the kid okay?”

“Thanks Hugh.”

Hugh signed off and sighed. Glancing over he saw Chu Shen looking at him with expectant eyes. ‘He thinks we’re bringing him back to his parents. Now what do I say?’
Little did he know that Chu Shen with his sensitive hearing had been eavesdropping the entire time. ‘I wonder if they call cities planets here. Only thing that makes sense. So the bugs are the primordial beasts they fought with before huh? Looks like I’m going to war…’

1. N/a

Chapter 42

Whats Going On?

Upon entering both men were stunned. The had both known that the restraints were being broken but seeing it was another thing. To see a kid almost half your size breaking metal handcuffs was so impossible that both men doubted their eyes.

The kid looked up at them. Chu Shen immediately linked them to him being brought here. They had shot him, treated his wounds, and then chained him down to a bed.

Delgado and Hugh put up their hands. “It’s okay kid it’s okay. It was all an accident. You’re safe now, the bugs have been dealt with.” Delgado started trying to reassure the kid. Chu Shen cocked his head. They were speaking gibberish.

Hugh leaned over and whispered in his ear. “He can’t understand you. There was no implants detected on the medical scan and he doesn’t carry any translators. All he has on him is jewelry with some weird runes carved onto them.”

Chu Shen started walking towards them. Obviously if he couldn’t understand them, then they couldn’t understand him so he didn’t try speaking.

As he got closer Delgado’s military training kicked in. He drew his gun and pointed it at Chu Shen. It was a cable free taser. “Kid, back away slowly and sit on the bed. Doc get a transl- OOF”

Chu Shen saw what was obviously a weapon from the man’s demeanor pointed at him. His training in the Voids Hand Shadow Arena made him immediately jump forward. Faster than Delgado’s enhanced nervous system could keep up he dodged the weapon in the man’s hand and punched him in the chest. He went flying backwards, his mouth made a perfect O shape as he went flying backwards. He crashed into the bulkhead, Delgado was sure that some of his ribs were broken. He laid on the ground groaning and clutching at his chest.

Chu Shen glanced down at his fist and then at the man on the floor. This man was so weak. Hugh was just now reacting to the sudden actions. While he was a soldier it had been a long time since he had to fight.

“Why is he so weak? He should have been able to take at least one of my fists.” Chu Shen muttered to himself. Hugh blinked. His implant automatically translated what Chu Shen had said. Most likely the kid didn’t know how abnormal his strength was.

He cautiously walked over to the cabinet that held the mobile translators. He took out two small metallic disks from a tray. He then walked over to Chu Shen and gestured towards him. He put one on his neck and then held another out to the kid.

Obviously the gesture was to make sure Chu Shen did not think the device was dangerous. Taking the disk he put it on his neck. It used static cling to stick to him without hurting him.

Hugh started speaking. “Hey kid. Sorry about this whole mess. You were accidentally caught in the crossfire between us and the bugs. We brought you back here to treat your injuries but we had to restrain you so you couldn’t irritate your injuries.”

He glanced at the green slime that covered the holes in his body. “The Bio-Gel can’t be irritated or it won’t heal properly.” Chu Shen was confused. The gibberish was suddenly comprehensible.

Obviously they were still speaking gibberish but now he heard instead his own language. This was probably because of the metal disk they had given him but how it worked was a complete mystery. He started to theorize how it worked before catching himself.

Ignoring the idle thoughts he had he listened instead to what the man had to say. Apparently this whole thing was an accident. He was caught in a fight between humans and primordial beasts, or at least their equivalent in this universe.

They had treated him but restrained him so he didn’t mess up the treatment they had given. ‘What a weird treatment.’ Chu Shen exclaimed mentally. Looking over at the man groaning on the floor Chu Shen started to feel bad. “Are we going to help him?” He pointed to him.

“Oh Delgado? With the suit he’s got on it’s probably a bruise that’s all. Such a big baby. He didn’t whine like that even after his arm got cut off.” Hugh grabbed the medical scanner on his way over and held it over Delgado.

While a blue light scanned Delgado he turned back towards Chu Shen. “By the way I never got your name. I’m Medical Officer Charles Hugh and this is Sergeant Delgado. We’re both with the United Border Forces.”

“I’m Chu Shen, it’s nice to meet you Medical Officer Charles Hugh.”

“Nice to meet you as well Chu Shen. Just call me Officer Hugh in the future.” He muttered underneath his breath. “Such a mature kid. What a mystery.” With Chu Shen’s cultivation reaching such depths how could he have not overhead Hugh’s statement? But he pretended to miss it out of privacy.

Hugh frowned. The medical scanner wasn’t registering just bruising but fractured ribs, internal bleeding, and even a mild concussion from the impact. Delgado was groaning, almost incoherent from the pain.

“Well this isn’t good. He’s much worse than even you were. Hurry up and help me lift him.” Chu Shen hurriedly went over and picked him up all by himself. The doctor was perfectly fine with that though he instructed Chu Shen on the right way to pick him up.

He guided Chu Shen over to another door. The door led to a different section of the medical bay. The portion they were in was mostly for patients who needed to rest. The most they could treat there was cuts and abrasions.

Inside the room was a lot of specialized medical equipment but Officer Hugh completely ignored them all and went over to a large tank. He pulled a lever on the side of the tank. It was being filled up with the same gunk that was on Chu Shen’s arm.

The Bio-Gel filled up until it reached the very top of the tank. “Alright Chu Shen, put him inside the tank.”

Chu Shen shook his head. “Won’t he suffocate though?”

“Of course not. You can breathe inside Bio-Gel. Now put him in. The Bio-Gel will speed up the healing process. He’ll be fine in a week.” Hugh was grateful for the concern but irritated at Chu Shen questioning him.

Chu Shen nodded. This realm/dimension would have the most appropriate treatment for themselves. He climbed up the ladder at the side and carefully put Delgado inside the tank.
After Hugh checked on Delgado’s status he let out a relieved breath. He turned around and there was Chu Shen staring at him. “Okay, we need to talk.”

1. N/a

Chapter 41

This Place Is Strange…

Sergeant Delgado paced in front of the medical bay. He had already taken off the scout armor and was wearing a tight fitting full body outfit made of a thick sturdy stretchy material.

Whoosh

As the door slid upwards into the ceiling another man walked out. He was the exact opposite of the sergeant. He had a mustache and black hair with hints of gray unlike the bald sergeant. The man had white skin and the sergeant had dark brown colored skin. The man wore a black suit and on the back, front, and shoulders was a patch with a red cross on it. The sergeant had on the same uniform but the patch had a white background with a black gun with 115 written on it in white.

As the Medical Officer Charles Hugh came out of the medical bay he was tugging at the portable helmet around his neck. “This d*mn thing is going to choke me someday” he muttered underneath his breath before the sergeant stopped him.

“Officer Hugh sir, how’s the kid?” He stopped for a second and looked at him before the realization struck him.

“Oh it’s you Delgado, I haven’t seen you since I had to grow an arm for you back on Heldeten. Anyways the kids alright. The antidote worked just fine and we gave him a sedative, he’ll be out for another ten hours or so.”

Sergeant Delgado let out a relieved breath. “Whew. Thank god for that. I feel so sorry for him, you know after I shot him and all.”

“Yeah, I just wonder why he’s here though. His muscle density is almost off the charts for someone his age so he must have been a heavy worlder that moved here with his family but no one we evacuated was reported as having a muscle density like this.” Officer Hugh had a contemplative look on his face as he thought over the conundrum the kid represented.

Sergeant Delgado shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe he’s adopted? Anyways when he wakes up how about letting me know ok? I want to apologize to him for shooting him.”

Officer Hugh nodded. “Sure. The captain decided to restrain him until we hit port. So when he wakes up I have to be there too to keep him calm. Hey how about we head to the cafeteria? While the kids out cold I can have a lunch break.”

“Fine with me.”

As they walked down the hallway, something completely unexpected was going on in the medical bay behind them…

…………………………………..

Chu Shen opened his eyes. He was laying down on a comfortable bed inside a weird room. The walls were white and a soft, soothing glow came from the walls. There was strange metal objects on the walls and floors. There was some reflective things hanging on the walls as well.

He tried to turn around to see what was behind him when he felt something tug at his arm. Looking down he saw there was a handcuff on his right arm attached to the bed by a chain. As he glanced around he saw that all of his appendages were chained down as well except his head.

As he looked at his settings in confusion he suddenly remembered. Poison! He had been hit with some sort of poisoned dart that had punched through his body. Turning his head he saw that the holes in his chest and shoulder had some sort of thick green paste on it.

Master Ti Wu was looking at his disciple from inside the Voids Hand soul realm. He had been observing the situation the entire time. Chu Shen’s Null Qi had started neutralizing the poison immediately though the going was slow so the poison was obviously not going to kill Chu Shen.

From the reaction of the person that had shot him, it was obviously an accident. Most likely the bug corpses was from a fight earlier and he was shot on accident. The weapons they used were very interesting. He had seen nothing like them. They were like crossbows but fired dozens of small projectiles.

This accident was unfortunate but it was an excellent opportunity to observe his disciples actions.

Chu Shen circulated his Qi. With the extra boost to his physique he pulled at the chain on his right arm. The walls started pulsing with an angry red light as it started making a creaking noise. He looked at the walls for a couple seconds before putting it out of his mind.

Concentrating the Qi in his right arm he pulled fiercely at the chain. It came off with a loud SNAP and with a CLANK it landed on the ground. He started pulling off the rest of the chains.

……………………………………………………………………………….

Hugh and Delgado were slowly wandering down to the cafeteria whenever Hugh suddenly stopped. “What’s wrong Hugh?” Delgado asked.

Hugh shook his head. “It’s nothing really, just that the kid woke up sooner than expected, probably due to his biology. Looks like you can apologize a little sooner than I thought.”

Delgado shrugged. “Ok then. Let’s go.” They both started back down the hallway when Hugh’s eyes lost focus for a second. Then he started running down the hallway. He turned back to Delgado.

“Hurry up. That kid somehow broke the restraints we had on him. If we don’t want him panicking we have to get there soon.”

Delgado immediately took off behind Hugh. as he did he started asking questions. “How did he get out? I didn’t see anything on him but jewelry.”

“I don’t know either. The restraints we had were just enough to hold him. Most likely I miscalculated his strength.”
They both had military grade enhancements to their body along with a cybernetic implant. With this almost superhuman boost they were able to get to the medical bay in a matter of seconds. What they would find inside, would change their lives forever….

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Arc 2: Artificer’s Dreams

Chapter 40

A New Realm

“Alright men, do a final sweep of the area and then move out!”

“Yes Sir” The left overs of the 500 man strong platoon immediately spread outwards towards their assigned sections.

Sergeant Tony Delgado was suited up in the latest of humanities infantry armor, the Falcon Scout Armor III. It was a black skintight suit made of nano-carbon fiber. There was even a motor that amplified their strength by over 20 times.

As he patrolled the remains of the bug nest he kept an eye on his radar and genetic scanner. As he was patrolling he saw something moving out of the corner of his eye. Nothing was on his instruments but that didn’t mean anything. The genetic scanner used DNA to pick up the locations of the bugs. However it was toggled to not pick up Drone Bugs right now. These types of bugs were easily killed so the army left them to the cleanup crews instead of hunting them down.

They had made sure less than 50 of them were on the planet so the colonists weren’t overwhelmed with their numbers. So there was still some of them on the planet.

Thinking along these lines he lifted his Needle Gun and shot out a small burst. With a sinister hiss five, 1 inch long needles shot out of the Needle Gun towards the moving target. The needles sunk into their target and as they did they released a neurotoxin that was lethal to bugs.

As Sergeant Delgado saw the target the needles had hit he winced. “Aw sh*t”. It wasn’t a bug!

………………………………………………………

As the world crumbled around Chu Shen, Ti Wu released the Void Qi he had been storing in the form of a bubble. The bubble was barely visible, ghostly even. As bits of rock slammed against the bubble it turned into a muddy colored energy before merging with the black colored Qi. As it did the Qi became more and more realistic until it formed a solid black shell.

Inside Chu Shen was staring outside at the world as it changed around him. The earth crumbled into bits of rock. The Pagoda’s all disappeared somewhere as well. The disk of land shrunk until it became no longer flat but rather a mountain floating in the air. Water came out of nowhere, forming a large river that flowed down creating a waterfall that flowed into the void of space.

Appearing on the mountain was a deep tunnel. Eventually the whirlwind of the rocks stopped. If Ti Wu had not been there then he would have indeed been crushed to death. It was almost inconceivable that something like that could happen to a martial artist however these were not ordinary rocks. The Qi inside this space could be considered extremely concentrated. The rocks had been strengthened by this dense Qi until it was even harder than steel.

Master Ti Wu said not a word but manipulated the bubble to float towards the tunnel. The sides of the tunnel was made of rock but somehow was as smooth as glass. Suddenly the tunnel opened up to reveal yet another pagoda.

Outside this pagoda was countless decorations and statues. Bits of metal, plants, jewels, and even various beast cores were used to craft the magnificent sight. Each one was unique and the ingredients were rare. Some Chu Shen had never heard of and others Chu Shen had doubted he could ever see.

He gasped in shock. Whoever had created this world was truly an expert. There was nothing else, not even a sign. He walked into the pagoda. It had three rooms. The rooms were labeled the Formation Room, Treasure Room, and Training Room. Chu Shen tried to enter the Treasure Room but before he even got close, a formless pressure forced him back. If he had truly entered he felt as though he would have been crushed.

The same thing happened when he tried to enter the Training Room. When he tried to enter the Formation Room though nothing happened. Upon entering he saw a huge formation set up. It was vast and so incredibly complex he got a headache just looking at it.

It was surrounded by a translucent barrier, obviously it was protecting the formation. Looking at it Chu Shen had a feeling that it was the formation that kept this place alive. He found a rack of chain bracelets alongside the wall. There was thousands of them. Beside them though was a jade slip. Going over he read it.

It simply said. ‘To those who have arrived at this place be grateful. It is full of surprises and mystery. I created this treasure vault that wanders the realms as an idle past time. It is a collection of all the things I forged on my journey. There is no cultivation methods here, nor martial arts. There is simply wondrous artifacts. If you can pass the test in the Training Room then you may enter the Treasure Room.”

“I know not everyone will be able to pass right away so instead you must adventure outside. Towards this means I have provided the Chains of Transportation. These chains are able to transport you wherever you wish, including across dimensions. All you must do is tap the bracelet on the ground while providing some energy.”

“It will form a unique talisman that when you touch it will transport you there. Be warned though that only ten such talismans can be made, but with how many chains i’ve made I think you can take a couple to counteract that downside. When this place transforms into its pagoda form you will be kicked out.”

“It will transport itself across various places in that dimension for a while before taking itself to another. Once it leaves that dimension the Chains of Transportation will activate and bring anyone wearing it back here automatically so you can’t get lost, unless you take it off. Don’t worry, you can always return if you wish.’

Ti Wu in his ghost form was looking over Chu Shen’s shoulder as he read it. As he did he sighed. It was indeed as that senior had said. The crazy fool had indeed carried out his plan. Well, I can use that seniors craziness to equip Chu Shen with some great gear.

“Okay Chu Shen, grab some of those chain bracelets then let’s get ready to go. Different realms means more opportunities, different people, and even different martial arts!”

“Okay master. I guess I just have to wait until then.” Chu Shen cultivated for an hour before the glowing, pulsing formation suddenly stopped. It let out a bright pulse of light. The ground started to crumble again. A barrier just like the one surrounding the formation kicked up around Chu Shen. It covered him, protecting him from the dense rocks. He floated out of the pagoda. The Pagoda was surrounded by the same barrier but suddenly it disappeared.

Chu Shen gasped in awe while Ti Wu snorted. It was a simple energy manipulation barrier. All it did was make it invisible, it hadn’t disappeared. The pagoda’s formed like last time. Then like last time a black door formed at the entrance. Surprisingly the barrier bubble didn’t float towards the door. It hovered in midair for a while but suddenly a black vortex appeared, sucking up the barrier bubble along with Chu Shen.

He appeared all of a sudden in a strange place. There was lots of rocks and ruins of buildings around. Surprisingly the buildings were made completely out of metal and stone, not wood like the ones he was used to.

Ti Wu said nothing but merely watched. He walked around for a while. Corpses of giant insects almost three times the size of a man were visible everywhere he went. There was extremely little Qi in the corpse and a very small amount in the air.

As he wandered around he suddenly heard a HISS sound. He thought it was one of those insects and started looking around. He suddenly felt something hit him on the left side of his chest and arm. Whatever it was completely penetrated through his body with minimum resistance. Even his hard as metal skin couldn’t stop it, testifying to the power of the weapon.

As he fell to the ground he felt a burning sensation all over his body. It became extremely intense. He screamed for a second before passing out. Before he did the only thing he could think of was, ‘whatever hit me was poisoned.’

…………………………………………………………….

Sergeant Delgado ran up to the kid. He was from Asian descent, that much was obvious from the black hair and skintone. He pulled out his injector and shot the kid with the antidote. Pulling off his helmet he listened for a heartbeat. He sighed in relief, there was one.

“Major! I have something to report Sir!”

“What is it Sergeant?”

“Well Sir, I found an Asian kid on the battlefield.”

“I thought the civilians were evacuated? Oh well, just bring him aboard after you finish sweeping your area.”

“Sir it’s not that simple. I mistook him for a drone bug and shot him with three needles Sir.”

“WHAT! That much could kill even you guys! And you all have immunizations for this stuff! Great, if the news gets a hold of this we’ll all be court martialed for sure.”

“He’s still alive Sir, not sure how. What should I do?”

“What should you do? Run as fast as you can and bring him aboard the dropship. Give him some of the antidote as well but hurry up. We might be able to save him”
“Sir yes Sir.” Sergeant Delgado got off the coms with his Major and immediately ran towards the dropship. As he did he started praying. ‘Don’t die on me kid. I’m begging you, don’t die.’

1. N/a

Chapter 39

It’s The End

While Chu Shen cultivated in forced isolation the teachers outside were conversing.

“Are you ready for the expedition?” Asked Chu “Stone Face” Tang.

“Yes Sir” They replied.

“Good, let’s go then.” With that the teachers along with the two leaders from both factions lept into the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.

This was the true reason why they had come, not to cheer on their students but rather to seize a treasure. Most of these teachers had a deep cultivation. Upon reaching a level like this it became increasingly hard to find an appropriate weapon.

After all, who could craft weapons for those at the Nature Stage and above? No one could craft such a weapon but a six star artificer and good luck convincing those proud and aloof artificers if you were merely a teacher.

Therefore teachers of outstanding students could go to the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion to pick out some rewards. They could only go for two hours though, leaving the first and last hours to their students.

Master Lang and the other teachers followed them inside. When Master Lang went in he glanced at the Pagoda of Mortals. According to what he knew, his student would be in there.

Chu Tang looked back. “Master Lang, you know it’s forbidden to interfere with the students. Just follow along to a pagoda to pick your reward.” Of course Chu Tang knew of Master Lang.

A seven star artificer joining a school ran by the Chu Sect was a big deal. Because of this Chu Tang had memorized Master Lang’s appearance and was pleasantly surprised by the fact the student he was so bemused by was actually his disciple.

Master Lang nodded. “Of course Master Chu Tang is correct, I shall follow your suggestion.” With this said he flew towards the Pagoda of Natural World Mortals.

Since Master Lang was a seven star artificer gathering items such as these could be considered as both unimportant and yet absolutely crucial.

Since he could forge items like these he did not lack anything of this caliber. At the same time though by gathering these he saved time forging them and also gathered other inscriptions. To a true artificer what they desired most was to expand their knowledge. By gathering items with unique inscriptions such as these he could forge more diverse weapons and even become inspired to create completely new ones.

After a while two hours were up. With several different items Master Lang and the other teachers left to wait for their students. Outside waiting there was already seven other students who had unfortunately failed the tests at some point. Most of these were students who after gathering what they needed decided to test their luck with a higher level item.

Meanwhile Chu Liang had gathered an entire set of equipment for himself along with several spares. ‘Chu Shen can’t possibly beat me now. I have such powerful items not to mention some of these unique artifacts. There’s no way I can lose.’

As the time ran out more and more students lost their qualifications and had to leave the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. This was the reason the Majestic Sword Academy was called the number 2 school on the continent after the Imperial Academy. With the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion and the items they extracted the school had enormous funds. With these funds they could buy techniques and resources for both the Chu Sect and its school.

Soon it was only fifteen minutes from the time the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion would close. If the rest of the students weren’t out yet they would become trapped inside.

Out of the 50 students 43 of them were already out. Soon there was only one left. Master Lang had an anxious look on his face. Where is Chu Shen!!!!

………………………………………………………………..

Chu Shen was still cultivating when Master Ti Wu stopped him. “Chu Shen, you had better get up now.”

“Huh, why master?”

“There’s only ten minutes left now. The lock is gone.”

“Oh. That’s good.”

With that Chu Shen walked over and pushed open the door. It opened quietly. He started to walk down the staircase when Ti Wu reminded him. “Hey, if you don’t want to disappear along with this place you might want to hurry up.”

While he said this out loud internally he opposed himself. ‘Of course, that wouldn’t be a bad suggestion if that expert wasn’t lying. But I can’t trust my disciples lives to the mutterings of an old man.’

Chu Shen realizing this immediately started running. He had 7 minutes left. Soon he reached the entrance of the Pagoda of Mortals. 2 minutes remaining. He ran towards the exit of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. 1 minute left.

He was almost to the entrance. 300 yards. 45 seconds left. 200 yards. 30 seconds. 100 yards. 50 yards. 25 yards. 15 seconds. The world started shaking. The ground itself split. 10 yards from the exit Chu Shen was dodging cracks left and right. Suddenly a boulder jutted upwards in front of him. He fell down less than an arm’s length from the exit. 0 seconds left.

The exit disappeared. The world around Chu Shen continued crumbling. The black pavilion and staircase merged together to create the mysterious black sphere. Without a sound it disappeared.

Master Lang had a frozen face on. Unexpectedly Chu Shen was gone. Hurriedly he pulled out a life tablet. Since Chu Shen had bonded with it, if he had died the life tablet would no longer be bound to him. As he scanned it he found the bond was still intact with that he sighed in relief.

Chu Tang came up to Master Lang. “I am sorry for your loss Master Lang. He was a marvelous talent.”

“What do you mean. He’s still alive. Hahahahaha. He’s still alive, see, see, SEE! HAHAHAHA!” Master Lang started pointing to the tablet, insanity temporarily taking over him. Chu Tang shook his head.

Both masters knew there was no way Chu Shen would survive. To satisfy their curiosity an elder of the sect had set out to find where the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion went to. Unfortunately, nothing went as planned. All they had to do was wait five years but unexpectedly on the fourth year the life tablet of the elder had shattered.

After that it was determined that since even an elder at the Cosmos Stage couldn’t survive that no one could. It was forbidden ever since to stay on the pavilion when it disappears. Sighing Chu Tang condemned Chu Shen to land of dead.

Chu Liang had a frozen face before suddenly cracking a smile. Heavens fortune was with him! Now he could become the champion of the freshman. And no one could blame him since he planned to delay Chu Shen and not kill him. Ha. Everything turned out okay.

Soon, no one would ever remember the young genius, once called Chu Shen.

END ARC 1: Hopeful Beginnings

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Chapter 38

Inside the Pavilion

Heading into the pavilion Chu Shen had no idea what to expect. Inside he found a whole other world.

Looking around Chu Shen found himself on a flat disk of land. It was floating among the stars, there were many buildings on the disk of land. On the side of the buildings were carved names. The buildings were enormous, thousands of feet across with multiple levels. However that was only the buildings on the left. The ones on the right were much smaller.

Looking to his left, Chu Shen saw it said Pagoda of Mortals, beside it was another building. This one said Pagoda of Martial Mortals, and yet another building said Pagoda of Natural World Mortals. Other buildings said Pagoda of Celestial Mortal, Pagoda of Demigods, Pagoda of Lower Gods, Pagoda of Gods, Pagoda of Higher Gods, and finally there was the Pagoda of Universal Gods.

Many of the students were looking around curiously. However, those members of the Chu Sect set off towards the the Pagoda of Mortals and the Pagoda of Martial Mortals. One of them turned towards the students.

“Hey, are you all going to stand there gawking? If you are in the Mortal realms go to the Pagoda of Mortals, if you’re in the Martial realm go to the Pagoda of Martial Mortals. Those are the only ones you can enter anyways, if you don’t believe me you can try and enter a higher pagoda than that, though you’ll regret.”

With that the Chu Sect member turned around and left. As he did he sighed. Now there would be more competition but if he hadn’t said anything his master would have berated him.

Hearing those words the students looked at each other. “Did you hear what they said?” “I don’t believe it they must be trying to fool us.”

With that one of the students headed toward a pagoda at the right. As he opened the door and stepped in his face turned pale and he stumbled backwards. Blood spurt out of his mouth and he fell on the ground groaning.

“Ugggh. There’s a horrible pressure in the building, I think only those at the Emperor Stage could stand up to it.” The person who had warned them had almost reached the Pagoda of Martial Mortals when he saw the scene.

“Haha! That’s the first test of the Pagoda’s. If you can’t even stand up to the pressure how do you expect to pass the test!” With that the man strode into the pagoda.

Chu Shen saw all this and then turned towards the left-most pagoda. He walked into the pagoda. As he did a formless pressure bore down on him. His body grew slightly heavier as it pressed down on him. Chu Shen didn’t even notice it. With his body as strong as it was, how could something so small bother him?

Unfortunately as he walked in he did not notice the two people who were staring at his back.

“That’s him little bro?”

“Yeah that’s him big bro. Will you help me?”

“Of course little bro, that’s what brothers are there for anyways.” Together they walked towards the Pagoda of Mortals.

There was a long hallway filled with doors. Chu Shen opened a door and looked in. There was lots of weapons inside, though they were all swords. Sensing the ripples of energy he could tell it was merely a Low-grade weapon.

Advancing down the hallway other students trickled in. Periodically Chu Shen would open a door and check on the grade of weapons. Once he opened a door with a mark on it. All the other doors had no marking on them, they were all blank. Upon seeing the marked door Chu Shen had become excited to see what it was but inside there was nothing.

Or rather, there was merely scraps of metal and broken weapons. The materials weren’t even high quality. How could the materials used to craft Mortal Weapons be worth anything? Disappointed Chu Shen closed the door.

Eventually though Chu Shen reached a stair case. Climbing up it the pressure suddenly increased. Of course even this amount could not bother Chu Shen but now he noticed it. ‘Oh, this must be that pressure they were talking about.’

Opening up a door he found there was Mid-grade Mortal weapons inside. Turning back to the staircase Chu Shen climbed up one more level. Opening up the door he nodded. It was indeed High-grade Mortal weapons.

Thinking hard he realized what he truly needed was not weapons since his living steel hammer was better than anything but rather armor. Crafting armor was actually harder than crafting weapons because each armor needed to suit the user perfectly.

As he opened up each door to glance inside suddenly someone grabbed him. A silver colored energy covered his eyes. Withdrawing his hammer he swung it wildly behind him at the assailant. The hammer whistled through the air when suddenly it was stopped.

The person spoke in a deep husky voice, obviously to mask what they sounded like. “I’m not going to hurt you. Just prevent you from getting a weapon. No personal feelings right?”

Chu Shen was tossed inside one of the empty rooms that he had seen before. As he turned around the door was shut. A muffled voice came from the outside. “We locked the door with an array but don’t worry. It will unlock ten minutes before the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion leaves. So just sit tight for a couple hours.”

Footsteps echoed as they walked away. Chu Shen was angry that something like this had happened but wasn’t too upset that he had lost. Because of the Qi covering his eyes he knew his opponent was in the Martial realm The current him, no matter how strong his physical body was, couldn’t compare to a Martial realm warrior.

Ti Wu inside the Voids Hand had been ready to make a move if they had truly tried to harm Chu Shen. Since they didn’t harm Chu Shen he didn’t reveal himself. Besides, it was only some Mortal weapons. Chu Shen could always forge some instead of picking them up like rocks at the wayside.
Chu Shen tried the door handle but no matter what it wouldn’t budge. He sighed, seemed like he was truly trapped here. Sitting down Chu Shen started cultivating using the <Voids Child> technique and waited.

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