Chapter 54

Ancient Race

Chu Shen wasn’t able to help with any of the cleanup. The general found out about a civilian running into the fray, especially a kid, and threw a fit. Of course, he was soothed by the fact that he could more than hold his own.

The general had a lot of questions about how this kid was able to do what he did. Curious didn’t even begin to describe it. This kid picked up from a backwards colony world was able to destroy thousands of bugs, more than even his own unit could.

The more the thought about it the more the general wanted to meet this weird kid. Chu Shen had gone back to his room after the reinforcements had arrived and was inside for two hours.

He mostly spent the time meditating, reflecting upon the battles. He was definitely not happy with himself. His Qi control was sloppy and leaked everywhere. Some leakage was impossible to avoid but he was using almost twice the Qi it normally required.

He was too slow and didn’t have enough awareness. Several times he barely dodged death at the last second. Especially with the plasma blasts. He frowned. Chu Shen had truly underestimated them this time.

The main reason he underestimated them was because he had never taken one of the blasts head on. For some reason they never fired the huge plasma bombs. If they had Chu Shen would have been more prepared than before.

As he kept reflecting off of those mistakes a chime sounded. It was coming from a wall on his cabin. “Computer, what was that noise?”

“That was the room’s messaging system. Would you like me to read the message out loud?”

Chu Shen nodded. “Yes please.”

“Acknowledged. Message as follows.” The computer changed voices. Now it was a deep but smooth voice. “ I am General Irving of the UBF. I have seen the recordings of your exploits on the field and would like to… Hold on. He’s just a kid. He won’t understand that. Okay now how do you delete it? I can never really figure these things out. Uhhh… Here it is.”

“End of message.” The computer’s voice was back to normal. Chu Shen was really confused now. What was that all about? After about ten minutes there was a knock on the door.

He went over and opened it. Standing there was a broad shouldered man in a military uniform and a buzzcut. The man nodded at him. “Hey kid. The general wants to have some lunch with you. Nothing fancy just a little thank you for what you’ve done. Do you want to come?”

Chu Shen figured this was what the man that had messaged him was going to ask him. He nodded. “Yeah. I’m feeling kinda hungry.”

“Great. Follow me.” The guard left and headed towards the roof. Once there they arrived next to a hovercar. It was similar to a hovercraft but was built for luxury and was decorated. Clearly it was ornamental.

They got in and flew towards the center of the compound. Inside the compound there was huge celebrations going on. The miners were all out celebrating for all they were worth. And why wouldn’t they?

It looked like they were all going to die but here they were, not a single one of them dead. Their mining operations weren’t even damaged. Once the bugs were completely gone they could start mining immediately.

Of course they were saddened by the soldiers passing and honored their sacrifice. But that was it. They didn’t know them and wouldn’t grieve too much.

Chu Shen flew over the celebration. Looking down on all the happy faces, he wished he could be down there as well. He sighed. Sometimes being a martial artist was just too awful.

Soon they reached a small out of the way restaurant. Outside the restaurant there was three soldiers in a parade uniform and inside there was only a middle aged man in non-descript casual clothes with a buzzcut eating a cheeseburger. (Chu Shen didn’t know what it was until he picked up a menu.)

The hovercar landed in front of the store and Chu Shen and the soldier got out. The soldier saluted towards the middle aged man, who he assumed was the general, before taking up position on a bench across from the restaurant.

Chu Shen came in and walked to the generals table. The general smiled at him and put down his cheeseburger. “Hi, I’m General Irving of the UBF. Go ahead and sit down I just wanted to discuss with you a couple things.”

“Okay.” Chu Shen replied simply and sat down. He picked up a menu and ordered a cheeseburger, the same as the general. As he waited for his order to arrive the general just looked at him.

After his cheeseburger arrived a second one arrived for the general. They both sat down and ate their burgers. Chu Shen was startled at the flavor of the cheeseburger.

It was salty, and juicy. It was beyond what he had ever tasted. Nothing he had even thought of tasted this good. He took a second bite and just savored it with a sort of childish glee. The general saw his look and smiled.

It couldn’t be helped. When such an innocent looking kid smiled in such a cute way it was like an angel descending from heaven. Chu Shen eventually ate the rest of the Cheeseburger and then looked at his plate in disappointment. He licked his fingers in sadness, trying to get another taste.

Chuckling, the general ordered Chu Shen another hamburger while he sipped some water. After he finished the burger off they waited in a kind of unbreakable silence.

Finally the general’s curiosity got the best off him. “So. You’re name is Chu Shen right?”

Chu Shen nodded. “Yes, my name is Chu Shen general. Thank you for the cheeseburgers.”
“Your welcome. Anyways Chu Shen, I just wanted to ask you one question. Are you one of the ancient races?”

1. N/a

Chapter 53

The End Game

Chu Shen wiped out thousands of bugs. He was actually able to kill more bugs with one move than the tanks in the back. But he couldn’t be everywhere at once. Soon his group was the only ones that could still hold their position.

After another three hours, the retreat came to a stop. This was their last line of defense. If they didn’t hold out then the entire population, along with them, would be wiped out. Chu Shen and his fort stayed where they were, to be the vanguard for the defense.

They tried their best but it wasn’t going to be enough. Chu Shen’s fort was attacked by a wave of tanker bugs. This time instead of rushing forward they spurted plasma at the group.

Chu Shen saw this and reacted immediately. Because of his null Qi he was able to absorb Qi from the atmosphere so his energy was at about 97 percent. He circulated his Qi, activating the <Universe Shield>.

A circular gray shield appeared in front of the fort. It was a wavery, almost waterlike gray and chinese characters were inscribed on it in a darker shade of gray. The whole thing was basically transparent. Chu Shen had studied the skill but never practiced it, resulting in him having a weak grasp on it. He could barely use it to block an attack equal to himself otherwise he could fight above his level depending upon just this shield.

The bright blue plasma balls hit the shield. Three hit the shield in a row before five impacted it together. At first the shield only flashed as it became more opaque. But when the five plasma balls hit it immediately shattered as a large hole was burned through it.

The plasma balls were not quite as bright as they were before but they were still headed for the ship. As it did Chu Shen had a panicked expression on his face. He had truly underestimated these bugs.

The plasma balls combined attack was similar to a fire-attribute Martial General warrior. There was no way he could block that.

Honestly it was a miracle that Chu Shen had weakened it and that was only possible because the plasma did not arrive all at once. With that his null Qi could absorb the energy and strengthen it before the others arrived.

He now only had 57 percent of his strength left. The took about forty percent of his energy to activate. Gritting his teeth Chu Shen once again activated the shield. This time he also deactivated the energy blade and focused all his attention on the incoming plasma ball.

The shield once again appeared before him, but this time it was smaller and its form was more solid. Chu Shen manipulated his shield so that he could concentrate its energy on a smaller spot.

Once again the plasma balls hit the shield. It flared and became gradually more and more solid as the plasma impacted the martial art. After a couple seconds it was no longer like a translucent outline but rather like a giant was holding a shield in front of them.

The plasma was eventually absorbed. The shield stayed there as Chu Shen collapsed in exhaustion. He managed to forcefully keep himself awake and stared at the incoming bugs.

The tanker bugs fired another salvo after they were joined by twenty more tanker bugs. The combined attack made the shield flicker but it stayed put. Leonard along with the nanite squad went out and attacked the tanker bugs. The cyborg ran to Chu Shen and grabbed him.

He was placed over the cyborgs shoulders as he ran away. Leonard and the nanite squad suddenly ran back towards them. The ship unearthed itself and troops started boarding, just like Chu Shen had before with Leonard.

The cyborg jumped inside a hovercraft that flew down. The pilot flew the hovercraft backwards towards the defense line. They had lost the support of the tanks some time ago since they could have been flanked from the sides once their line collapsed.

Fortunately they had Chu Shen who replaced the tanks and thinned the horde considerably. Chu Shen and they cyborg flew over hordes of bugs. The hovercraft banked left as it avoided a plasma ball. They flew over their defensive line and landed behind it.

Chu Shen had recovered enough to stand and walk after the short flight. Shrugging off the help of the cyborg he got out of the hovercraft and jumped on top of the ship’s defensive structure.

The comm attached to his shoulder automatically switched him to the local soldiers channel. “WOOOHOOO” “YEAH, BLOW THOSE BUGS TO KINGDOM COME.” “COME ON, ROAST THOSE COCKROACHES.”

He was taken aback by all the sudden screaming on the channel. Normally it was the officers giving orders, or people asking for help. Now it was full of joyous yells. But he soon saw the reason why.

BOOM BWOOM ZZZZT

Explosions sounded off in the distance. Turning he saw large explosions and lights plow through the remaining bugs. The sky was ripped apart as missiles and energy beams flew to the ground from orbit.

Chu Shen was finally able to get an answer as to where the fire was coming from. Space. It was finally here. The reinforcements.

They rained fire down upon the bug swarms, eliminating them in vast swathes. When they arrived they immediately destroyed the various anti-space bugs first. Then they rained down death on the birthing bugs, destroying their hope for swarming the planet.

Of course, it didn’t end things there. Afterwards they destroyed the bugs in the open and the troops were sent to scout for hidden bugs. The colonists knew they were saved and that it was only time until they could return to their normal lives.
Everything was looking up.

1. N/a

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