Black Onyx - Phoenix Resurrection

I closed my eyes and resigned to my fate, praying my body was strong enough to survive. But who was I kidding, I had no chance of dodging, let alone blocking, and surviving an attack from a Core Disciple was but a dream. I could only wait for death.

Only death never came.

“Let me go! He dared to insult our great name with his presence, he should be killed!”

“Boss, you are drunk. Calm down. I’m sure the kid didn’t mean any offense, he just didn’t know any better. Isn't that right?”

The last part was directed at me, and I quickly nodded like a bobblehead. [Right, of course! I meant no disrespect, Senior Tan Gong. Please forgive me.] I bowed deeply to show my sincerity.

“Bah! Whatever!” Tan Gong grumbled and shook his hands that were being held by the two other men. “Let go!”

“Promise you won't try to kill him again?”

“Yes, yes… I’ll let the little worm off the hook this time…” With his promise given, Tan Gong was released. He sheathed his sword and snorted, before taking a bottle of wine and disappeared behind the sofa again.

“Don’t mind him, he’s just grieving the loss of a strong beast Soul. I’m Weh Chu by the way.” Weh Chu said, cupping his fist.

“I didn’t lose it! It was stolen! There is a difference!” Tan Gong shouted, taking a short break between sips of wine.

Weh Chu just shook his head and sat back down while gesturing for me to do the same.

“Don’t take what he says to heart. He isn’t usually like that.”

[Oh no, it’s not a problem at all.] I said and quickly sat down. This place was scary!

“It’s just that after the Trading Hall Incident he has been a bit… emotional.”

[The Trading Hall Incident? I heard of that.] I was the cause, actually. Accidentally devouring the Hydra soul nearly killed me. But that was a secret I could never tell to anyone. It was a matter of life and death.

“You did as well, huh? Well, I guess by now most of the Sect knows about it.” Weh Chu said and sighed. “I’m not sure what the rumors say about it, but basically what happened was that we lost a Soul of a beast we killed that was supposed to bring us quite a bit of money.”

“It was a Hydra Soul! A four-headed Hydra! And it was stolen! It was supposed to be our big payday, and instead, we got tossed out like common criminals!” Tan Gong shouted.

“To be fair, only you were tossed out. Or, more accurately, you were politely escorted out after making a big scene.”

“That’s the same thing! I was just about to buy new gear, and now I’m ruined!” He took another bottle and began chugging.

“Oh, come on! We even made a small profit, it wasn’t that bad. Though with all the alcohol you are drinking, I’m getting slightly worried about your tab…” The other guy grumbled and I perked up my ears.

[Wait, you only made a small profit? But I thought hunting is very profitable?]

“Well, it is… Usually. But the Hydra was a strong opponent, and its body parts were in bad shape by the time we killed it and harvested it.” She Chu said, pouring himself another drink. “You might not know it since you are still a new guy, but even though we were at about the same level as the Hydra, ten of us battled against it for hours, and that was after we managed to corner it.”

[Ten of you? Wow…]

“Yeah… And it wasn’t easy. Still, with everything we received from selling the loot, it was barely enough to cover our expenses. We had to repair our gear, fix the weapons, buy a new batch of poisons, arrows, and traps. Then we had to restock on various pills and talismans… I’m sure I’m probably forgetting something. Anyway, it was damn expensive!”

[Oh, wow… I had no idea.]

“But anyway… back to you now. So, how strong are you?”

[Um… Fairly strong?] What could I say? Even I wasn’t completely sure of my capabilities since I had nothing to compare them to. And I would probably have to keep it a secret too.

Weh Chu just smiled. “We’ll see about that. How about your speed, how good is it?”

[I know a Movement Technique if that’s what you mean. It’s called Hunting Tiger.]

He nodded. “Hmm, a bit basic, but it works. We will have to test you to see what you can do, of course, but maybe we can find something that you can do.” He turned to the other two. “What do you think, guys?”

“Let’s see what the kid can do first, then we’ll talk.” The guy said.

“I still think we should *hic* use him as bait.” Tan Gong said, making his thoughts known even though nobody asked him. An emotional drunkard. A leader or not, that was no way for a man to be acting.

“Come on, don’t be like that. I’m sure he is doing his best.” And of course, that came from the girl. I mean the woman. Damn this shifted aging process was confusing. Everybody looks way too young for their years.

“Well, we still have to test him." Weh Chu said in the end.

I had nothing to add and so I just patiently waited as they discussed. I wasn’t holding out much hope, but maybe they had some simple tasks I could do that didn’t require too high of a stat base.

“Alright, let’s go, follow me.” Weh Chu said and stood up, and I ran after him. We went out through the backdoor, leaving the other three members behind.

I expected something complicated, but he just told me to run in a straight line. I started off slow at first, but with Weh Chu’s encouragement, I reached the top speed my body could do. I didn’t use any Qi to enhance my body or to clear the exhaustion, so I couldn’t run for a long period of time, not that that was the point of the exercise.

“Hey, you are pretty good at this!” Weh Chu grinned back at me, easily keeping pace a few steps ahead of me.

[Thanks!] I gasped for breath. I circulated the Turtle Breathing Technique the entire time so I wouldn’t accidentally reveal my true Realm, even if nobody watched me up close. I was paranoid, what could I say?

I observed Weh Chu had an odd way of running. He was nearly parallel to the ground, but he wasn’t pushing off it. His feet looked like they touched the ground, but there was no force transfer as far as I could tell. He wasn’t kicking up dirt and debris as I did. Heck, he wasn’t even leaving any footprints behind.

Though I did see flashes of yellow beneath his feet every time he took a step. He then got propelled forward fast enough to keep going, basically flying for dozens of meters until he took the next step. It was weird, and it left me with even more unanswered questions.

“Alright, that’s enough!”

I slowly skidded to a stop, sweat pouring off my face as I panted like a dog. I really needed to train more cardio. And I hated cardio.

“Your speed is quite impressive, for a beginner. You’ve trained in it before?” He asked.

[I have a few friends in the Inner Sect that taught me about Essence before the Elders.] I answered. I was slowly learning to use partial truth to avoid triggering the automatic lie detector of a Soul.

“Ah, so it’s like that… Well, it’s good for a quick boost, but don’t overuse it. Those that gain power on their own generally reach much greater heights.” Weh Chu said, giving out advice like an old sage. “Let’s test your strength as well. We’ll start with this.”

He took a longsword out of his Space Pouch and handed it over. It was a beautiful bluish-silver blade, clearly enchanted, and more than a meter long with a two-handed grip. It felt so comfortable as my fingers coiled around it. And then he released the blade.

My eyes went wide and the sword nearly pulled me to the ground.

[Holy… What is this thing made of?!] The sword was heavy, really heavy! It wasn’t that the weight was too much for me, but the unexpected pull that suddenly came from it. It had to be at least a hundred times heavier than a normal steel sword.

I swung it around a bit, and each swing gave me a sense of power and elegance. A truly impressive blade! But it was completely unbalanced and I was getting dragged with it with every swing.

“Yeah, everyone is surprised when they first equip it, but you get used to it quickly.” Weh Chu laughed and took the sword back. “At least it’s better than swinging a normal sword around. Those things weigh like a feather and are just as useful in a fight.”

He then gave me a hammer to hold. It had a long handle, about two meters, and a massive head that was flat on one side and had a long curved spike on the other. A Warhammer, and it was at least five times as heavy. I had no trouble lifting it just like the sword, however, swinging it around was another thing entirely. It was way heavier than me and no matter how strong I was, it was pulling me along with each swing.

“Haha, Junior, you’ll have to gain some weight if you wish to become a real warrior! It looks like the hammer is swinging you instead of the other way around.”

He could laugh, and I didn’t mind. It was a good experience to test these weapons. Now I was even more convinced I needed heavy armor to counter the stupidly heavy weapons. Balance was key! Also, no matter how strong I was, there was no way I had the stamina for swinging a thing like that around for hours. I could do it for a few minutes at most.

“Alright, that’s enough. I’ve seen enough. Let’s go back.”

We returned back to the lounge, and the first thing I noticed was Tan Gong loudly sleeping on the floor. He was snoring, so it was kind of impossible to miss. Also, he was hugging an empty bottle, a sight that just made me shake my head internally.

“Hey, gang! We’re back!”

“Aw, man! Already?” The other guy sighed loudly and fixed his clothes and hair. The girl/woman beside him also straightened her clothes and gave us a smile. What were they doing while we were away? Honestly, I didn’t even wanna know.

“So, how was it?” The guy asked.

“Decent… He is pretty fast, and strong too, for his age. There is probably some work we can find for him.” Weh Chu answered.

“Well, he clearly isn’t strong enough to fight with us. Maybe he can take care of the camp together with Fyuka?” He turned to the woman beside him.

But she just shook her head. “I’m more than capable of taking care of everything by myself.” Fyuka said. “But he could be our cart puller, since, you know…”

“Ah, that’s not a bad idea!” Weh Chu said, seemingly agreeing with her.

“Hmm, a cart puller? Interesting…”

I looked at Weh Chu sideways. [Cart puller?] I was at a loss for words. Did I look like a horse by any chance?

“Yeah! That’s the only free spot we still have. Unless you are able to fight against a Golden Core beast?”

Like, bro, what was that question? Obviously not! [No, I’m afraid not.] I said out loud. [And I thought you had that big… animal to carry your stuff.] I remembered seeing them come with a giant Yak-like animal last time in the Trading Hall. Why didn’t they use that one?

“Bebumu? Nah, she’s not ours. We managed to borrow her from the Elder for cheap, but now with the Beast Tide coming, the prices for a beast of burden will shoot way up. We can’t afford to hire them, especially after losing the Hydra Soul.”

“Hydra! Soulzzzzz…” Tan Gong suddenly shouted in his sleep. We all looked at him, but he quickly went back to snoring again.

[What about Space Pouches? Don’t you have those for your stuff?] I asked. Pulling a cart really wasn’t something that interested me. I would do it, of course, but only as a last resort.

“Oh, the pouches?” Weh Chu patted one at his side. “Don’t even get me started on these. They can only hold a cubic meter of stuff, and they are damn expensive. One Spirit Stone each!”

[One Spirit Stone?!] I loudly whispered, not wanting to wake Tan Gong. That was crazy!

“Yeah, you didn’t think they were worth that much, huh? Eventually, you would find out, but not before gaining a few years of experience in the Sect. The Elders don’t want you to rely on handouts and become self-sufficient as soon as possible. If you knew you could just sell your inauguration gift and get enough money to live worry-free for two years, how many do you think would still go to work?”

[Not many?]

“Exactly! We don’t need lazy people in the Myriad Beast Sect. Everyone has to work, one way or another. And by the time people learn how much Space Pouches are worth, they already have enough brains to realize it’s not worth selling it.”

[Ah, well, even if it was worth double that, I wouldn’t sell it. Having all my stuff at the tip of my fingers at all times is way too convenient.] Seriously. Who would even think about selling one of those? They were literally the best things in the world. Apart from those super expensive storage rings.

“I know, right? But anyway, we can’t afford to buy so many Space Pouches just to carry beast parts. They take way too much space, especially after taking down a Class 4 like the Hydra. We would need to spend half its worth just to buy enough storage.”

[Woah…]

“Well, maybe I’m exaggerating, but it would still be a lot.”

His words made me pause and I took a few minutes to think things through. I had no choice. If I wanted to join them and possibly get an all-you-can-eat Soul buffet, I had to do what they asked me to. So, I have decided. [Cart puller, huh? I guess it’s decided then?]

“Well, we’ll have to vote on it with the rest of the team, but I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t accept you.] Weh Chu told me honestly. [We already have another guy to do the same job, so it should be smooth sailing from here.”

[Oh, I see…]

“Just come back here in two days when we’ll be discussing where to go next. We’ll have decided by then.”

I simply nodded, and then said my goodbyes, and left the room.