Devouring the Heavens (ATG)

A/N: So if you guys aren't aware, Webnovel has been 'shadowbanning' comments recently. This means that any comment that contains profanities in any form, will be automatically deleted.

So words like: Fuck, Shit, Bitch, Bastard, Cock, Bollocks are all nonos. Even words such as: Sex, Hell, and Damn are out too. Basically, if you want to comment using forms of those words, you will need to get creative.

Well, Enjoy the chapter...

-----------------------------------

Shane was currently experiencing his own little slice of heaven. He was laid down with his head on Qingyue's incredibly soft and warm thighs, humming some Lord of The Rings, Rohan tunes, and enjoying her fingers in his hair while she told him everything she knew about Blue Wind Empire and the major sects.

He probably knew just as much if not more on the matter than she did, and on some level, Qingyue knew that too but it was all she could do to keep her embarrassment from their current position at bay.

When he had first called out to her and indicated what he had wanted her to do, She had replied with "How shameless." Followed quickly by an absolutely adorable, flustered pout. Shane then tried to coax her by reminding her of how she slept in his lap the last time they were here and even how she purred at his massage but she still wasn't convinced, so he brought out the big guns.

Shane explained a little to her about the control he had over the dreamscape and how he could change almost anything in here with but a thought. To which she originally looked at him with a 'so what?' expression. That, however, changed pretty quickly to one of abject horror when he materialized a bunny suit out of thin air and looked her up and down with a raised eyebrow.

After that she caved, it's not like she was really against it in the first place, she just had to maintain her image as a refined young woman! And so, Shane got to enjoy a couple of hours of absolute heaven! Although he didn't forget to gloat a little after he got comfortable on her thighs and said. "En, I knew you actually wanted to spoil me all along, Qingyue."

During this time, he had been thinking a lot about what the Will that allowed him to form and create this place actually was. At first, it had felt like an unused muscle in his head but it had been growing stronger and easier to use each time he took control of the dreamscape and made an effort to change things to the way he envisioned them.

It was different from his intent, it allowed him to enforce his presence upon the world, strengthened his mental state, and also cleared his mind. It even aided him immensely in forming and separating his Warhammer from Organic Constructs.

Shane had even recently found that each time he entered into a created dreamscape, memories of some things that he experienced from earth would become especially clear. Now, this wasn't perfect, he couldn't choose which memories surfaced after all.

From things as simple as remembering the complete lyrics of a song, he had been fond of, to remembering the design diagrams for a fridge freezer he had briefly glanced at only once before. He had seen many random and some useful things and once remembered, they were all stored away in his memory palace

Shane however was already anticipating that with time and the strengthening of his Will, he would be able to perfectly recall a lot of the knowledge he had either intentionally or unintentionally picked up on Earth.

This would undoubtedly be immensely helpful, especially for understanding and cultivating the laws and elements. In the future, it would essentially make him a walking textbook filled with knowledge from a world where science was an extremely advanced concept… 'Providing chemical interactions and physics and stuff actually exist here... Urrgghh'

Qingyue seemed to notice his visible deflation as she had stopped talking and looked down at him with a questioning gaze. Shane glanced up towards her, his eyes momentarily stopping on the heavenly mountains that were impeding most of his view and when he met her eyes he saw a little embarrassment and a little knowing pride in them.

He was about to tease her when something about her eyes caused a song from his life on Earth to flash through his mind. This particular song seemed to perfectly fit their relationship. Even if the lyrics weren't exact, the tone and meanings were similar.

It resonated with Shane and so he used both of his hands to grasp hers, pinching her velvety smooth little palms and feeling all along her almost boneless fingers as he did so.

He brought her hands to his chest and closed his eyes. Then he took a breath and started to softly sing.

-

Step one, you say we need to talk

He walks, you say sit down, it's just a talk

He smiles politely back at you

You stare politely right on through

Some sort of window to your right

As he goes left, and you stay right

Between the lines of fear and blame

You begin to wonder why you came

-

'At first Qingyue seemed confused but as the song went on her eyes began to mist over as she let the lyrics resonate with her as well'

-

Where did I go wrong?

I lost a friend

Somewhere along in the bitterness

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life

-

'Unknowingly, tears had begun to pool in the corner of her eyes as she tightly gripped his hands and their fingers entwined.'

-

Let him know that you know best

Cause after all, you do know best

Try to slip past his defense

Without granting innocence

Lay down a list of what is wrong

The things you've told him all along

And pray to God he hears you

And I pray to God he hears you

-

'A warm smile spread across her face as memories of the times she spent together with her mother and father before they were separated, surfaced and played over in her mind with perfect clarity'

-

Where did I go wrong?

I lost a friend

Somewhere along in the bitterness

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life

-

'The memories of her family gave way to those of Shane. He was always appearing whenever she needed him the most.

Never giving up on her, even when she sent him away.

Never blaming her, even when she treated him the way she had.

Before long her mind was mostly full of his image and she realized something very important. She couldn't go back to the way she was before...

She couldn't lock her emotions away again, was that even living? No, Qingyue would never willingly 'exist' like that again. She couldn't even begin to imagine living without these feelings anymore. No, it was more than just that, she couldn't imagine living without HIM anymore...'

Shane's Will had unknowingly infused with the lyrics as he sang them in his deep and husky voice and they were affecting Qingyue on a spiritual level. Something deep inside her very being was beginning to awaken.

As he finished singing, he pulled Qingyue's little hands up to his mouth and kissed them before sighing in contentment, and this action brought her out of her reverie.

At the same moment she looked down, he opened his crimson eyes and gazed into hers with love. What shocked him completely was that he could only feel the same love and devotion radiating back at him from her icy blue ones.

"...That was beautiful," She said, quietly and with a slight shake in her voice.

He gently reached a hand up to her face and wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eyes, gave her a wink and said "I know"

There was a small pause before she burst into laughter, the sound of which was like a melody in itself. It made his whole body brighten up in happiness and soon he was laughing along with her while thinking. 'Is this the fabled jade beauty's silver bell laughter?'

They spent the rest of the time on the couch in the garden just enjoying each other's company until Shane felt the familiar pull from his connection with Dusty. That meant it was time to wake up already, and so, after sharing a rather intimate hug goodbye, they both left the dreamscape.

-----------------------------------

When Shane's consciousness returned, he felt that his body was a bit numb and so he opened his eyes to see a 2m long Dusty the thickness of his bicep, wrapped around his midsection. He glanced to the right where she was currently chirping and licking his cheek and raised his hand to scratch those cute little stubby horns she had been growing the last few days and cooed.

"Who's my little cutie! Did you get bigger? Yes, you did, yes you did. Are you gonna scare young masters for me one day? Yes, you are." She let out a little yip and did her best to lick as much of his face as she could while he squished her little cheeks together. Slowly but surely, his words devolved into even more mushy nonsense.

*ROOAAAAR* A loud roar of unconcealed challenge in the distance brought both Shane and Dusty onto high alert. Dusty quickly reverted to her small size and wrapped around his neck as the silvery essence poured out of both his hands and Shane's armor materialized within seconds.

The roar of the unknown beast caused his blood to boil and his battle lust to explode outwards. Thankfully a rumbling growl was the next sound to reverberate through the surrounding forest and it carried a pressure to it that made Shane's eyes go wide. Spirit Profound! It was a battle between Spirit Profound beasts!

Shane started to move for a better vantage point and so he used his four limbs to climb, jump and swing from one branch to another until he was at the top of a rather tall tree and could see for miles in every direction. In a clearing, around 1.5km away, in the very same direction he needed to head, the two beasts confronted each other.

Hesitating for a second, Shane decided that if he wanted to be someone great, he couldn't just run away from everything and made his mind up to get closer. Even though he didn't intend to fight, perhaps he could be the Oriole behind and grab some benefits.

Besides, Shane didn't think he would lose to a single beast at the [1st of Spirit Profound]. If he utilized all his abilities and had the help of Dusty, even if he couldn't win, he could surely escape… right?

Withdrawing his presence as far as possible, he headed closer to the clearing where the battle between the beasts had already commenced.

By the time Shane arrived some minutes later, there were already a few trees uprooted. Splintered wood and trampled greenery covered the once grassy ground that now had many deep furrows in it.

*Crack, BOOM!* Another tree was impacted with immense force and fell to the ground not far from Shane. Then he finally caught sight of them...

One of the beasts was a muscular black Panther-like creature the size of a car. It had deep, slitted yellow eyes, two tails, and large curved fangs that reached down past its bottom jaw. It was currently snarling towards the crown of the recently downed tree and prowling from side to side with a slight limp, the cause of which was a badly mangled front leg.

A quick whispered "Appraisal" confirmed his earlier suspicions. [Fierce Dusk Panther: Spirit Profound 1]

Not a moment later, a throaty hiss came from within the huge toppled crown and a massive Komodo Dragon the size of a large van swaggered into the clearing, shaking the ground with every step.

It was bleeding from deep gashes all over its tree trunk-like limbs and bulky body, with a particularly nasty one exposing the ribs along one side but that didn't seem to impair its movement or will to fight at all.

Shane used Appraisal again and couldn't help rubbing his hands together in anticipation when he saw the result. [Grand Forest Komodo: Spirit Profound 1]. This was likely to be a very close fight and if by chance the winner was left exhausted, then hehe. He would have no problem becoming the fisherman who catches both the clam and the piper.

From then on, the fight went as one would expect, the Panther was much faster than the Komodo, even with its injured leg, and it wounded the latter many more times. However, its stamina was not as good and when it got tired, it slipped up and took a beating from the lizard's tail, cracking some bones in the process.

Once Shane had gotten used to the loud sounds of impact, having to move from his vantage point often and the Profound power-infused roars that the beasts kept throwing around, the fight was actually rather boring.

It lasted for hours... until finally, the Komodo's front legs gave in and it slumped to the ground exhausted and defeated. The Panther moved in towards its neck, ready to deliver a killing blow, when it all went wrong...

The Panthers mangled front leg slipped as it was about to bite down and the Komodo snapped its neck to the side, capturing the Panthers entire head within its jaws!

The panther, Shrieked and used its incredibly sharp front claws to destroy the Komodos eyes and most of its face, but it was too late. With the last of its strength, the Lizard thrashed once, followed by a sickening crunch as the big cat's neck snapped like a twig.

The Komodo slumped over, profound energy exhausted and breathing deeply. Shane knew his chance had come! He summoned his Warhammer and poured every last drop of his profound energy into his arms and legs.

He pushed off the tree and launched 50m into the air like a cannonball as a round crater with spider web cracks formed on the durable wood of the huge trunk behind him. By the time he had reached the top of the arc of his jump, Shane's arms were fully extended with his hammer raised high above his head.

Silvery essence ran along his arms and up the shaft of the hammer until it reached the head where it formed a brutal-looking, footlong, twisted spike.

The 150kg chunk of hardened SteelOak essence followed by Shane, stopped their ascent and began to plummet down towards the exhausted and injured Komodo.

With an effort from Dusty, and a roaring BBBOOM, Air cannons formed at the back of his shoulder blades and the back of the head of his hammer, propelling him downwards like a meteor.

The vibrations caused by the air cannons had finally garnered the Lizard's attention but it was too little too late and the hammer tore through the firmament before crashing down onto its huge head.

The spike penetrated its head like a hot knife through butter and as the resultant weight and force behind the blow shattered the Komodo's thick skull and turned its brains to mush.

A bloodcurdling scream escaped his mouth as Shane's arms snapped like a pair of twigs on contact. The hammer was ripped free of his grip and he dropped to the ground, landing on his heels and immediately slumping over backwards onto the floor.

He had exhausted all his profound energy, banking it on that one attack and if the lizard wasn't dead right now, he would be sure to follow soon after.

Pain! All-encompassing pain! Every single one of Shane's muscles had torn and his bones had rattled so hard from that impact, he was lucky they didn't all shatter. If his body wasn't strong, he would probably have splattered against the lizard's head like an egg on a rock!

"*Groan*" 'Fuck fuck fuck! That hurt so much, I guess trying to directly use True Profound strength against the defenses of a Spirit Profound beast was a bit silly. But damn if it wasn't awesome!' He managed a weak chuckle before an even worse wave of pain washed over him.

After a few minutes of flailing around on the floor, Shane succeeded in activating devour with both his palms and finally he could focus enough to withdraw things from his storage.

After that, a veritable flood of herbs and spirit grasses appeared in the air above his hands before being devoured and refined for vital energy to supplement his body's natural healing process. He had thousands of the things from the last few days in the mountains so he wasn't too sad over the loss.

It took almost an hour before Shane could move his arms and legs without feeling pain again and it was the most nerve-wracking and defenseless hour of his new short life. Thankfully, no beasts wandered by or he would have been a goner!

Anyhow, now that his profound energy had also recovered, he could grab his prizes!

Gingerly but greedily rubbing his hands together, Shane approached the Komodo and unceremoniously stored the whole thing away. Consequently, this freed his hammer but there was no way he could lift that right now so he stored it too. 'I really need to get a storage ring when I reach the town or someone will see me pulling things out of thin air and I will attract unnecessary attention. Wait, did I just raise my own flag?'

He approached the Panther beast next and decided he would take the core, some meat, and some skin out of this one. He wanted a new pair of shorts, a bunch of profound coins to stay in the best inn and some good food never hurt anyone. What was even the point in struggling to get stronger if you couldn't enjoy the good stuff?

It took another good hour for Shane to dig the core out, peel the skin off the back of the beast, and cut out around 50kg of meat from it too. He stored it all away separately as he looked around to see if he missed anything.

What greeted his eyes was a veritable warzone of felled and splintered trees and now that he had a minute to relax, he noticed a rather enticing aroma hanging in the air.

After appraising one of the trees he was surprised to see that almost all of them were sandalwood. He remembered it being an expensive and sought-after wood back on Earth, it also had a really nice smell to it. While thinking that maybe he could make something useful out of it later, he went around and stored every single felled sandalwood tree he could find.

It was early afternoon by the time Shane got moving again, and this time he focused solely on speed as he moved swiftly across the forest floor, slowing only to store away profound herbs directly along his path.

By nightfall, he was back to full strength, and instead of stopping to rest, he decided to find a place to absorb the two Spirit Profound corpses before continuing on his way. With a flash of emerald green, Dusty was back in her 2m long-form and she slithered around, forked tongue, tasting the air for a bit before chirping at him and shooting off into the undergrowth.

Shane followed her through their connection until he found her in front of a den dug into the ground hissing at a large mole-like creature the size of a human. He didn't hesitate and launched it far off into the air with a kick only for Dusty to bisect it in two with a wind blade, mid-flight.

Shane withdrew both of the Spirit Profound beasts, one at a time, and devoured them immediately so the smell of blood wouldn't spread. He and Dusty then retreated into the Den, Sealing it shut as they went.

The two sat together in the depths of the den, Shane cross-legged and Dusty in his lap as he probed inward with his intent to observe the refined energy in his veins.

Then began a few refreshing hours of the peculiar cycling, circulating, and sharing of energy between the two of them that took place whenever Shane devoured anything recently.

------------------------------------

A/N: Sorry to disappoint, but Shane will be using a Warhammer as his weapon for a while to come. He has yet to fight with anyone, let alone anyone skilled enough at using a faster and lighter weapon that could make him rethink his choices. His naturally strong body allows him to swing the Warhammer around like a sword anyway.

-----------------------------------

A/N: Good Lord, how come nobody told me that the spacing for the song lyrics looked that disgusting? Should be fixed now