Trope World

I tied a la.s.so with the silk rope and twirled it overhead.

Skill discovered: La.s.so lv1; active cost 100SP; +1DEX

Skill Discovered: Knot Mastery; pa.s.sive; +1WIS

Skill level up: mana manipulation lv10; pa.s.sive; +5INT/PER

The loop of the la.s.so caught a post, I pulled it tight, and yanked on it to ensure the knot was right. Sending some mana through the rope I loosened the loop and pulled my loop back. A smile flashed across my face as I made my way to the herb garden. I caught sight of Li Jing across the field she kept an eye on me as I made my way to the field.

I made my way swiftly to the weakest weed. It was a stalky shrub covered in thorns. It resembled the 9 Eye Blackberry bush beside it only faintly.

Spinning my la.s.so overhead, I tossed it around the bush and pulled the loop tight. The eyes of the weed turned to me in confusion. It wasn"t used to being exposed. With a mighty pull the ground around it crack. The plant dug its roots deeper and wrapped its vines around the rope. Like a turn crank it began to pull me closer.

skill discovered: Drag lv1; active cost 1SP; +1STR/CON

The weed continued to twirl the rope in its vines pulling me closer as I pulled at it. I turned and dug my heels in the dirt. Barefoot, I took a step forward resisting the powerful weed. Sweat poured from my head as the weed dragged me closer.

It was a weed of the 2nd qi condensation. It was weak compared to the many powerful workers around here. To me it was a powerful monster and a test of my growing power. Every few breaths, drag leveled up and new strength fill my body. My body was growing heavier, st.u.r.dier, and more powerful. Even as I was forced to release more of the rope, I grew stronger.

The weed continued to spin its vine and spool the rope. As my strength grew the process slowed. This was the strength of a gamer. Fast and overpowering adaptation. I didn"t grow from meditation and spirit pills. I grew from doing.

Hours pa.s.sed and the battle went from overwhelmingly in the weed"s favor to a stalemate. My stamina was depleted, so I had to rely on my own body to see this through. My hands were torn apart from rope burns which chipped away at my health until it hit zero. My mortal body was exposed any damage inflicted upon me would be permanent. Worse my skill had soft capped at 24. I continued moving forward but the weed didn"t lose any ground.

Blood seeped from my hands making the rope harder to grip. This entire adventure had been hard from the beginning. Bulls.h.i.t only got me so far. I needed this win. The pain could be ignored. It wasn"t enough to level up the pain resistance skill anyway. What was the point of pain that didn"t make me stronger?

As I pulled, I felt something. The ground beneath me had worn away the soles of my feet. My feet were sore and b.l.o.o.d.y, but I felt something. When my foot moved forward, I leaned my torso forward horizontal to the ground. From there, I ignored the pain and pumped my legs relying solely on my feet and legs. My hands only job was to keep hold of the rope.

A crack rang out as the hardened soil around the weed broke. The thorns it used to spool my rope were now a detriment. It couldn"t untangle itself. I took another step forward feeling the something give way.

Skill level up: drag lv25; active cost 1sp; 25STR/CON

Const.i.tution has reached the milestone 50

Power Skill Discovered: Iron Diet lv1; pa.s.sive; +10CON

This was a breakthrough. My body shook as I pulled the weed out of its hole. I was stronger in a real physical sense. At the same time, I had become weaker than ever. My body was eating itself to support my stronger body. My muscles were being devoured. I took hold of a spirit stone and swallowed it. As soon as the stone hit my body my self-cannibalism stopped. Instead my body started to feed off the spirit energy within the stone. Soon my strength returned in full and my body was once more at peak strength.

I pulled at the weed dragging it towards me as it reached out the grab ahold of the other plants around it. Its body shifted into a crocodile"s mouth and it snapped at the silk rope. At the same time, it had begun to tangle itself in the rope. It happened in an instant but still the silk rope held. There was no telling if my wyrmling Dao could harm the weed or not. This could have all been a waist of time.

Out of the soil, I saw a small bulb attached to the monster"s roots. My In Sight flickered and I knew that this was the monster"s life. It was store where the weed held all the qi it stole from other plants. Without it the monster would soon die.

I sent the mana ball containing wyrmling at the bulb spinning it in my before launching it like a curve ball. It seemed to be about to hit the weed head on. The weed thought it was crafting putting everything it had in the front to protect its core. The ball curved and struck the weed directly. A small explosion of fire went off. It was no wider than a quarter meter in radius, but it easily destroyed the monster"s core.

Dao Skill level up: Wyrmling lv30; active cost 30mp; +3INT/WIS

I heard hoof beats behind me. My In Sight flashed Od was worried but couldn"t show me favoritism. Gantalga had more to worry about than one human slave his sister owned. It was Li Jing. "Little brother Melchior, I don"t mean to be cruel, but you can"t keep this up. The rope was a good plan, but your prey was the weakest weed in the garden. What do you plan to do against the stronger weeds? What of the weeds in palace building formation? They are as far above the qi condensing stage as the heavens are from the earth." Li Jing said.

I stood up feeling stronger than ever. It seemed killing was the breakthrough Wyrmling needed. I didn"t think it would ever get past 25. Most of my skills weren"t beyond 5. I doubted I could get any of my power skills up to five any time soon. Conditioning probably needed weights. How high could I get conditioning?

I looked up from my musings to Li Jing"s beautiful face. Her ears were laid back in displeasure. She was stronger than the weed, but they were of the same rank. Qi condensation stage 2, but she was significantly stronger than the weed. Centaurs were obviously stronger than plants. It would be silly if they were at the same strength. He chuckled to himself. The pain in his feet and hands must have gotten to him.

"I should be able to handle it. I"m nearly twice as strong as I was before fighting the weed." I said and began removing the rope.

"Then return to me the rope. If you won"t see reason, then I must punish you as an elder sister should." Li Jing said. She frowned at him. Sweat poured off her face making her skin glow. She was much shorter than a normal centaur but still towered over me.

Slowly, I unwound the rope from the weed monster"s corpse. Its body was already starting to shrivel up and turn brown. My head turned to see another weed quickly drop its seed in the new hole. My work wouldn"t be done for a long time.

"I can"t stop you from doing your job. I may be able to convince Gantalga to give you an easier job." Li Jing said. I shook my head. I looked at her face. She had blue eyes only a shade lighter than mine.

"This was the job Od gave me. Besides the day is almost over, I"m sure I"ll get better at it soon." I needed a new strategy. Setting fire to the herbs in the garden wouldn"t earn me any friends. I had no tools to use, so I was stuck.

"Take this it isn"t much, but it will make your job easier." From her bag of holding she pulled out a rusty sword covered in qi. "I found this when I still had hope that my cultivation would rise enough to leave slavery behind. It is only a sword of the qi condensation fourth sate. If you can get it to work, you should be a match for most of the weeds in the garden. Finding them has always been the biggest issue." I held the flying sword in my hand and felt my mana rush into it. For a moment the sword sputtered before the symbols shined and the sword hovered.

I bowed low. This was the best gift; I had received here yet. "Thank you I will use it well."

"Don"t die to weeds Melchior and your elder sister will be happy." Li Jing said before trotting back to her field. I watched her go seeing her tail flash up and about. Odd feeling swept through me. Was I attracted to the centaur"s around me? I snorted and walked back towards the field.

I found a weed with a BP of 4500. It was hiding in the orchard among the mand daydream pears. The fruit were pink and gave off a scent when smelled made invoked sleep. The weed had the color wrong and seemed to be at the 3rd level of qi condensation. It was still well bellow Li Jing. Her BP was 15,000 their difference was clear.

I sent the flying sword into tree and it embedded itself to the hilt.

Skill discovered: Sword Mastery lv1; pa.s.sive; 1STR/DEX

The weed shrieked and ma.s.sive limbs as flexible as vines looped around the hilt and pulled the blade free. It threw the blade aside only for the blade to twist in the air and impale the tree again before ripping itself out and retreating from the garden.

In my head I pictured plant monsters as pa.s.sive creatures. These weed monsters were anything but pa.s.sive. They were more like ambush predators. The tree trampled its way out of the garden squashing several herbs on its way. From the trunk of the tree two monster cores dangled like a set of bull t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es. One core obviously belonged to the plant, while the other held a feeling reminiscent of a young bull. It leapt over the fence giving him the perfect opportunity to send his flying blade spinning under the tree.

In a single move he removed both swinging cores from the plant. Only this one didn"t stop after that. I quickly checked my In Sight. As it turned out this weed monster had merely stolen those cores. Its original core was inside it under a dense layer of bark.

I turned my hand and a ball of wyrmling appeared. The flames were barely restrained. They seemed hungry to devour the plant. I pointed towards the plant and the magic flame leapt at the tree. It impacted and exploded with flames blackening the outside of the tree. The weed monster shrieked and turned back to the cores it lost. I launched another two wyrmling Dao at its back. The small fireb.a.l.l.s exploded cracking off a layer of bark. My flying sword flew forward impaling the place where I burned a layer of bark away.

Once I pulled the sword away, I launched another ball of wyrmling in the wound. The monster turned and slapped me with a branch. My head flew to the side and my body along with it. I struggled to my feet and spat a mouthful of blood.

-1500HP

Skill level up: Struggle lv30; active cost 30SP; 3STR/END

If that attack hit me again that was it. I would die. This had to end quickly.

My flying sword pa.s.sed by again. It plunged into the same hole widening it. The weed monster had let me attack its back so far. If it gained its stolen cores back, there wasn"t much I could do. When I cut off the two cores its BP dropped down to a third. Another wyrmling smashed into the hole and exploded cracking the already burnt wood. The weed monster froze then turned away from the cores and back to me.

I popped another spirit stone in my mouth. It quickly dissolved turning into spirit energy. My health quickly recovered leaving me with only 3 pills. If I was lucky, I could take one more swipe from the weed.

Dao Skill level up: wyrmling lv40; active cost 40mp; +4INT/WIS

Skill level up: Sword Mastery lv10; pa.s.sive; +10STR/DEX

Just using my flying sword taught me enough about the sword to reach lv10 in sword mastery. I was barely scratching the surface in that regard. As for my Dao Wyrmling. At lv40 it had begun resembling an egg. Within the egg was the outline of a developing dragon.

The limbs moved at an incredible speed capturing my body before lifting me aloft. Atop the tree was the body of a woman hidden within the trees. She was a green as tree leaves. A smile graced her face and her mouth opened wide. This was the consciousness of the weed. It wanted to eat me.

"Why does everything want to eat me?" I yelled out before launching five wyrmlings before the branches started constricting around me like a snake. This battle had gone on for too long.

-2000HP

Blood shot out of my mouth and I knew my organs were damaged. I heard my ribs crack, soon my organs would be pulped. The charred green monster in the weed"s treetop watched me with hungry fever. Seconds away from crushing me into pulp her eyes widened, and she shrieked. The limbs tightened around me for a moment before their strength was lost. I reached into my bag and pulled out a two of the medical pills Od included in my bag. Blood replenishing, bone regrowth, and a spirit pill were swallowed down in an instant before I fell. As gravity took hold of me, my bones healed, and my blood recovered. The fall took out more health.

-1000HP

I had survived but falling on the tree hurt like h.e.l.l.

What did Od see in me? I didn"t know. Maybe she thought, my In Sight would help her farm hands handle the weeds. All I needed to do was identify them. That was my original theory but Gantalga clearly expected me to kill the weeds myself. Maybe she wasn"t fooled by my bulls.h.i.t and knew I was more than I appeared.

HP 2620/2620

SP 569.94/569.94

MP 2772/2772

BP 1987.91

STR 40 CON 65.5

DEX 16.1 END 35.4

INT 77 PER 31

WIS 36 CHA 3

Skills:

Crush lv1; active cost 1SP; +0.5 STR/CON

Bulls.h.i.t lv1; pa.s.sive; +0.1CHA/INT

In Sight lv30; PAS; +15 INT/PER

Conditioning lv4; ACT cost 1SP; +0.4 STR/END

Pain Resistance lv15; pa.s.sive; +15CON/END

Shock Resistance lv13; pa.s.sive; +13CON/END

Struggle lv30; A cost 1SP; +3STR/END

Bellow lv1: A cost 15MP; +1INT/CHA

Claw lv1: A cost 1SP; +0.1 STR/DEX

Riding lv1; pa.s.sive; +1DEX/END

Leap lv1; active cost 5SP; +1DEX

CAC (Compare and Contrast) lv2; PAS; +1 INT/WIS

Movement lv20; pa.s.sive; +2DEX/END

LOL lv1; pa.s.sive; +1CHA/WIS

Eating lv1; pa.s.sive; +1CON

Mana Manipulation lv10; pa.s.sive; +5INT/PER

La.s.so lv1; active cost 100SP; +1DEX

Knott Mastery; pa.s.sive; +1WIS

Drag lv25; active cost 1SP; +25STR/CON

Sword Mastery lv10; pa.s.sive; +10STR/DEX Power Skills

WCS (Worst Case Scenario) lv2; PAS; +10 INT/WIS

Dream lv1; pa.s.sive; +5INT/PER

Compress lv1; pa.s.sive; +5INT/PER

Dominate lv1; active cost 500MP; +10INT

Iron Diet lv1; pa.s.sive; +10CON

Abstract skills

Set A Course lv2; pa.s.sive; +20INT/WIS

Dao skills

Wyrmling lv40; active cost 20MP; +4INT/WIS