NOVEL WEB 4. A Bad Bat and a Stowaway
One week later:
Constantine, in his grey robe, squeezed through the dense crowd milling around the small square. Countless stands, their vibrant roofs shielding them from the high sun, sprawled in every direction. His face was no longer as pale as it used to be, as the nightmares had gradually become less frequent.
'Ink, ink...' His eyes scanned for the ink his teacher, Scholar Asmodeo, had requested. But the crowd was too thick. He knew it would take a while, much to his frustration.
His stomach growled at the mouth-watering smell of roasted meat wafting through the market. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, his rough linen robes only exacerbating the midday heat.
'Why is the weather here like this?' Constantine pondered, unsure why nights could be freezingly cold and days blazingly hot.
Suddenly, a scream pierced the market's hum. "Sky! In the sky!" A cascade of cries followed, and chaos erupted in an instant. The crowd surged, nearly toppling Constantine.
Unable to see the source of panic, he joined the fleeing masses, the unknown threat fueling his legs. A blinding light flashed in the corner of his vision, followed by scorching heat and erupting flames. People turned into screaming torches, and the acrid smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils, freezing him in place.
A man shoved past him, arms burned and blistered, snapping Constantine out of his shock. He began to run again, glancing over his shoulder. An enormous bat, the size of a human child, swooped low, its maw lined with razor-sharp teeth and flickering flames.
Its red fur and crimson eyes stood out against the blue sky, striking terror into his heart. 'A monster!' Adrenaline surged as he pushed through the crowd, using his smaller stature to slip through gaps. He couldn't die now—not before settling his debt of blood, not now when he was so close to a better life.
Another explosion of flames erupted further away. Constantine shivered as he ran, the rumble of wheels and cries of pain behind him. He dove to the side, landing hard as a decorated carriage thundered past, trampling people like stalks of wheat. In tracks, blood pooled, limbs twisted grotesquely 'If I was a moment slower...'
The reality made him pale. He was too close to death—to a pathetic and needless death—crushed under the wheels of some rich bastard's carriage.
A sudden pain shot through his leg, jolting him back to reality as a bulky man stomped on it, barreling down the street. The pain was intense, but from his experiences of being beaten while begging, he knew it wasn't broken. He stood, adrenaline dulling the pain, and resumed running with a limp.
A gust of wind whistled above him, moving his hair. Constantine turned his head, locking eyes with the monster diving out of the sky, heading straight at him.
'I am dead.' His heart stopped as the bat's talons narrowly missed him, seizing a burned corpse just steps away.
He stood, paralyzed, watching the bat rise with its prey. His body refused to move, the horror overwhelming him.
It was the second time he had experienced near-death in just a couple of seconds, his heart still pounding and cold sweat drenching his clothes, making them stick to his skin.
'There are more of them!' His eyes wandered into the sky, noticing a second bat-like beast diving down, bright orange flames burning inside its gaping maw.
Whistling, metal bolts blasted through the air, striking the monster and making it let out a high-pitched scream that made the boy's bones vibrate.
The guards, decked in sturdy leather armor, were rushing in, their massive crossbows aimed at the sky. The boy fell to his knees, the pain in his injured leg intensifying.
"Fuck, fuck!" He screamed, yelling at no one, just to vent his pain. He wanted to stand up and run, but his legs turned wobbly. His body, even though it was gradually improving, was still malnourished and weakened by his old injuries.
Just as he wanted to breathe out in relief at the presence of the guards, the bat opened its mouth, blood dripping out of its injuries, raining upon the streets below. Each droplet sizzled, letting out a sulfuric odor.
Blazing fireballs descended, crashing amidst the soldiers, their bodies bursting into flames. Dropping their weapons, they screamed.
"Mortals, your weakness disgusts me; you can't even kill a lowly beast like this. A beast of the lowest cultivation? Truly unworthy." Constantine opened his eyes and saw a man in flowing white robes, embroidered with a silver eagle on his back, standing there. His presence was unnervingly still, and his eyes were cold and detached.
A long, curved, and sleek blade, glowing with an eerie orange light, gleamed in his hand as he casually stretched. His long blond hair moved as if in the wind, even though there was none.
Constantine didn't even notice when the man arrived, but he knew one thing: the man was a cultivator and a dangerous one at that.
"Enjoy, mortals, for I shall save you from your own pathetic weakness, for this young master is a merciful master." The cultivator's voice was melodic but held a chilling edge. He spoke as if savoring the moment, relishing in the attention and the pleading gazes upon him.
The beast opened its maw again, lashing out as it bled, spitting out one fireball after another. Flames exploded amidst the retreating crowds and ranks of the guards. The screams of pain didn't stop for even a single moment.
Constantine just watched with disappointment. 'That fool is just standing and speaking there while people are dying!' He wanted to yell, but he forced his mouth shut, knowing that provoking a cultivator was a one-way ticket to a certain, potentially painful death.
The cultivator moved like a blur, rising as if stepping on invisible stairs into the sky. Constantine could only blink as, with a single flick of the saber, energy blazing around its polished blade, it was over.
The beast, split in half, blood pouring out in waterfalls, fell from the sky.
'You could have done this the entire time?! It took you less time to kill the beast than to finish your stupid monologue?!' Disgust, anger, and, most importantly, disappointment filled Constantine as he clenched his fists.
Like a leaf in the wind, the cultivator lightly landed beside the dead bat. To Constantine's wide eyes, he dug his saber deep into its flesh before plunging his arm into the bloody hole.
The cultivator grinned as he raised his arm, clenching a small, glass-like ball in his blood-covered hand. The smile on his face was cold and predatory.
'A demon core, this is what he was after!' The entire display of mercy? To Constantine, it felt like farce and pretense. The cultivator before him had no regard for human life; he only cared about the core.
'I bet if it wasn't for the core, he wouldn't even deem us worthy of the effort.'
"Mortal, what are you looking at? Are you seeking death?" The sudden words sent a chill down the boy's neck—the cultivator was looking straight at him with eyes that seemed to pierce his very soul, devoid of warmth or humanity, his perfect face without a single blemish or wrinkle, his arms crossed behind his back.
Constantine's heart pounded. He had seen mortals get killed for even dumber reasons. He knew that a single wrong action would lead to his death. Yet he opened his mouth without a single hesitation, knowing that delaying could kill him as well.
"Young master, please forgive my daringness. I was enchanted by your flawless strength and generosity in saving us, lowly mortals, from the vile beast! Your power was so overwhelming, I couldn't stop admiring it."
"Remember it, mortal; remember my greatness." The cultivator's voice was cold and indifferent. He turned away and slowly walked off, his arms still crossed behind his back.
At last, Constantine released the breath he was holding 'Playing into his ego has paid off.'
Gathering his strength, Constantine got up, shifting his weight onto his right, uninjured leg. Slightly shifting the left one, he confirmed it wasn't broken.
His gaze moved across the scene of destruction around him. Burned, dead bodies and smoldering stands sprawled across the small square. Pants and the cries of the injured brought chills to him, his stomach churning at the smell of burned flesh and the stench of urine, vomit, and human waste.
He didn't bother; he couldn't help them. Instead, he curiously moved between the massive burn marks on the ground left behind by the fireballs, and the bat's gutted corpse.
'How did you do this?' From the words of the cultivator, he knew the monsters were just a small fry of low level, but according to the cultivation manual, a cultivator couldn't unleash their forces externally like that except for extremely powerful ones.
His curiosity got the better of his common sense as he took a step closer to the monster. He needed to know what the difference was that allowed it to perform such a feat.
'If I can find it out, I could perhaps replicate it.' Throwing massive fireballs, shooting lightning out of his fingers; his eyes twitched with excitement. It was something that would be solely his way.
"Disperse!" A loud voice froze him in his steps. Guards, their weapons clanging, swarmed the market. He needed a corpse to dissect and analyze, but now was not the time, unless he wanted to be thrown into jail.
Evening of the same day:
Constantine sat on his cramped bed, his eyes shut. His left leg still throbbed with pain, but it had already subsided significantly.
Clearing his mind, he focused on the weak but growing warm sensation circling and throbbing through his body, his breathing steady and slow. After today, he knew he needed to get stronger if he didn't want to die in some random monster attack.
Focusing on the warmth, he grasped it, willing it to circle through his body like blood. His mouth gradually curled up as the heat persisted, not dissipating like before. It had been a couple of weeks since he started his practice, and this was the first time he could feel it, almost like water flowing around his body or wind whistling through his hair.
Just as his focus slipped away, the heat vanished once more, leaving behind only cold emptiness. Before his smile could turn into a frown, a text appeared floating in the corner of his vision.
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<<0% -> 1%>>
'What?!' He stared at the text, his heart pounding in his chest. The sight of the familiar interface from his previous life sent a jolt through his entire being. It was something he was used to seeing every day, but here, in this new body and strange world, it felt like a ghost from the past.
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Initializing data...
Warning: The system experienced an unexpected shutdown
Welcome! You have 2 unread messages
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It was his brain implant, a standard piece of equipment in his old world.
'How?' His heartbeat sped up, and his hands began to tremble uncontrollably, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. Did he finally go insane?
'Could an implant get into this world together with me?' It was one thing to accept the possibility of his soul reincarnating into a new world, but it was entirely a new level of ridiculousness that he somehow brought the device with him.
His hands didn't stop trembling. Instead, the shaking intensified as excitement shot through the roof. He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself, but the possibilities racing through his mind made it impossible to remain calm.
Not daring to raise his hopes too high, but still unable to wait for even a single second, he focused his thoughts, wanting to either confirm or deny his suspicion.
'Implant, give me a file-system report.'
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Total number of files found: 550,616,052
File system status: Healthy
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His excitement peaked. 'All my documents are still here.' He was just a human, and there was no possible way for him to remember everything, but now with all his textbooks, various science papers, and inbuilt datasets in his hands, everything had changed.
His mind spun with disbelief and exhilaration. 'To progress in my studies, I would need a lot of experiments and calculations, but now I have a computer.'
The implant was the crown jewel of modern technology, containing a powerful processor capable of complex calculations, even an adaptive neural network usable for complex data analysis.
'Implant, start collecting data on the unknown energy.' With the device, his goal of analyzing the truth behind supernatural forces became even more possible.
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