Immortal Ki Technique

ran through the cave as if it was his own backyard, now that he had entered the aura body stage, he could sense any living creatures within 100 ft of himself. With this newfound ability, he could now perfectly avoid every goblin within this cave system. Not only that, he could now mask his own magic and ki energy, allowing him to go undetected by Colt and Rize as well. Remembering the path he had taken when he escaped earlier, Lowen once more retraced his steps back to that huge metal door, back to that battle mage. Coming around the narrow corner, Lowen looked down a long corridor. On both sides of the wall, it was lined up with cell after cell, each one holding several women and children. Now that he was at the aura body stage, Lowen could see even better inside of all these cells. With his earth sensing abilities, Lowen could make out the forms of people but not much else. Now that his eyes could see auras of living creatures, he could tell for a fact that these were living people and not just bodies. Walking down the long corridor, Lowen cautiously approached a huge metal door. As he came upon it, a rough voice immediately reached his ears.

"Hmm, boy, didn"t you already leave? Don"t tell me my directions were wrong. Have I really been down here this long that I"ve forgotten?"

Lowen shook his head

"No, the directions you gave me were right on the mark. I came back to ask you a question."

The man in the cell looked at Lowen dumbfoundedly.

(This boy, is he an idiot? He already left but came back, who is this kid?)

"Boy, what kind of games are you playing? You actually managed to escape from here and yet you came back, are you foolish or just crazy?"

Lowen ignored his words and just asked his question outright.

"Old man, do you wish to take revenge on the one who put you here?"

The man in the cell once more looked at Lowen as though he were crazy, shaking his head he said.

"Boy, if that were possible would I still be here. Hehe, you should hurry and leave here. With your capabilities, if Rize catches you, you"ll be his forever. Being able to leave once is a rarity in itself but to leave twice..."

The man in the cell chuckled bitterly.

"Now that would be a miracle, I suggest you leave now."

"No, I won"t leave, I can"t, not until I finish what I started. I ask you again, old man, do you want revenge?"

The will of fire that burned in this man"s eyes seemed to flicker for a moment before returning to their former self. The man bit his lip hard and a line of blood rolled down his chin. The man grit his teeth and said.

" I…. I don"t know anymore. I did long ago but now...now, I"m just not sure. I only want one thing now."

Lowen was taken aback by this. This man, this battlemage, he was supposed to be Lowen"s reinforcement, Lowen"s backup but now, now it seems this man had lost his will to fight long ago. Lowen looked at this man with confusion.

(This man doesn"t want to fight. Where did that burning desire to live come from? He said he wants one thing, what could it possibly be, for it to hold more value then getting revenge.)

"Old man, what is it you want?"

Lowen didn"t know what this old man wanted but if it was something he could fulfill later on, then Lowen would do it in exchange for this old man"s help now. After Lowen asked the man what he wanted, the man"s body began to tremble. Just thinking about his hearts one true desire, in a small wispy voice, the man whispered.

"Children…...my children, I wish to see their faces one last time."

Lowen at first thought this to be a strange desire, he couldn"t understand why this man wanted to see his kids so much. Lowen had never loved anyone in his entire life. At first, it was very difficult for him to understand where this old man was coming from but then he thought about this mans situation. This man had obviously been captured and held here for who knows how long, for him to go so long without the ones he cared for. Lowen suddenly thought about Nia and Ben and what it would be like if he just disappeared out of their life"s one day or they out of his and just how gut-wrenching it would be. Maybe it wasn"t love but Lowen did care for the two of them. As far as feelings go, he never felt anything like it before in his previous life but he knew one thing for certain. He genuinely did care for the both of them and it made him wonder.

(Is this what a brother and sister are?)

Lowen looked at this old man with a little more understanding and said.

"Old man, if you help me out, then I will do everything in my power to see that you see their faces again. So, will you help me?"

The old man looked at Lowen with a serious expression, he could tell that Lowen meant every word. He could feel his heart beating faster and harder. The sadness within his heart began to fade and his desire and will began to burn hotter and brighter. He didn"t know why but this young child"s words really affected him. Giving a nod he said.

"Yes."

Lowen couldn"t help but release a sigh of relief. If he failed here then everything would have been over before it even truly started. Lowen like before with the lock on Lucy"s door held his sword up and with a thought, he willed it, turning it flexible like rubber. Pushing part of his sword into the lock, he fit it perfectly with the mechanism inside and with another thought he willed his sword and hardened part of it. Turning his family sword, the lock made a small noise.

*Clink*

Lowen took the lock off and laid it on the floor gently as to not make too much sound. Grabbing the handle of the door, Lowen began to pull and could tell right away that this heavy metallic door would require at least 10 full grown men to open it. It seemed the only one capable of opening this door, in this entire cave system, only Colt the second circle earth mage could do it, beyond that, it would require a squad of soldiers. Lowen slowly pulled this huge door open and slipped inside.

"Oh."

The old man seeing this was slightly surprised, he never knew someone could pick a lock that way and his mind grew slightly more excited. Lowen walked over to this old man in chains and was surprised. Coming in closer, he could see the man"s face perfectly. Although he was covered with facial hair, it seemed this old man was actually not old at all. Instead, he was actually pretty young, he seemed to be in his mid-to-late thirties. The only reason Lowen had thought him old in the first place was due to all the scruffy and disheveled hair. Seeing this man"s face up close, Lowen once again couldn"t help but think he looked somewhat familiar. Now however was not the time for any of that. Using the same method as before, Lowen took the chains off of the man"s wrists and ankles. Feeling the weight of these chains, in examining the material they were made from, Lowen was very curious. Although these cuffs were only slightly bigger than wrists and ankles, they each weighed at least 500 lbs a piece. Looking at the material, Lowen couldn"t identify it, he made a mental note of it and decided to look it up later.

(For this small amount of metal to weigh so much and be this durable, amazing. I need to check my Divine Blacksmith book later on and see if this material is in there.)

As the chains and cuffs were taken off of his body, this man felt a huge relief, one in which he hasn"t felt in a long time. Standing up, he extended himself fully and stretched his body, in doing so, his entirety made large popping noises. From his feet, all the way up to his neck, everything seemed to creak and crack, not in pain but instead in pure pleasure and ecstasy. The man looked down at the inscription tattoos on his arms and legs. Closes his eyes for a moment he inhaled and exhaled deeply and with a thought, he could feel the tiny bits of earth energy entering his body. The inscription tattoos on his limbs started to glow ever-so-slightly, at first dim but as time went on they began glowing brighter and brighter. This man could feel power coming back to him, he could feel the strength he hadn"t had in so long, once more becoming his. He never imagined in his wildest dreams that the one responsible for this would be a child around his son"s age. He couldn"t help but chuckle lightly, this was truly a weird occurrence for him.

"So are you ready? if so let"s go."

Lowen was already turning heading for the door but this man quickly stopped him.

"Wait wait wait, how can you defend yourself against Rizes mind control. If you go out there like this without a way to deal with it, then he"ll take you in no time."

Lowen gave a confident smile and said.

"For that, you needn"t worry, he cannot control my mind and even his backup, even if I"m mentally exhausted, his powers will still not work on me. So you need not worry, instead, I can help you resist his control."

Lowen then went on to explain exactly how to escape Rizes manipulation, hearing this, the man was both shocked and saddened. Had he known all of this beforehand, then he would have never of been captured in the first place. His gut felt sour just thinking about it. Throwing these thoughts to the back of his mind, he asked.

"So what"s the plan?"

Lowen didn"t hesitate and quickly laid out his plan.

"At first I wanted to rescue someone and then immediately leave but if Rize remains alive, he will be a plague upon humanity and when his power grows even stronger, there will be little anyone can do to stop him, so he must be killed. With my ability, I can move about this place basically unseen, so what I want to do is find him and while he"s alone I"ll sneak in and a.s.sa.s.sinate him. During that time I"ll need a distraction of some sort, that"s where these come in."

Lowen pulled out the three statue cores and told this man what they were.

"I"ll take these to the dome chamber and let them rampage attracting most if not all of the goblin soldiers. While this is going on, I want you to engage with the earth mage. I want you to keep them busy while I kill Rize, after that, I"ll send a signal through the statues giving you the heads-up to retreat and after we"ve regrouped, we"ll slaughter them all. "

"Wait a moment, you came here to rescue someone, don"t tell me a woman."

This man"s words took on a hint of pity after he said, woman. Lowen couldn"t help but raise an eyebrow as he asked back.

"No, it"s not a woman but what if it was?"

The man shook his head with a small look of disgust.

"If it was and she wasn"t rescued immediately, I"m afraid shed already be ravished several times by now."

Lowen had already known this, goblins were truly despicable, vile creatures. It didn"t matter whether it was a goblin or human, as long as it was female, if they could catch it then they would defile it, that"s how f.u.c.ked up they were. The man"s next words brought little comfort as well though.

"So it"s a man. If they haven"t killed him already then that means he"s important and if he"s important, I"m sure he"s already being tortured as we speak. Rize will try and break that man"s mind so he can control him. I"m afraid that man...he"s running out of time"

"What?"

This man then went on to explain what happens to men that come here and how he himself had been tortured for more than a year In the worst possible ways you can imagine. All for the sole purpose of being completely controlled forever by Rize. With this new information, Lowen immediately made a change to the plan. After that, Lowen once more was ready but again the man stopped him.

"What is it? What"s wrong?"

The man looked at the weapon in Lowen"s hand and said.

"Your hammer...give it to me. "