"Oh? Another cultivator who has reincarnated? Well, that’s fine, but what does a mechanical type system mean?" Caelus spoke to Aphro, since he could sense no one was nearby, he was fine speaking out loud.
[Well, as it’s stated, not like me, Mechanical means it just gives quests, rewards, guide, and all, I guess you can say it’s soulless :D]
Caelus tilted his head when he heard Aphro say this; he found it generic, almost boring. "Well, then, I’m glad I have you instead. I’d be bored to death with a system like that." Caelus replied, sighing in relief.
[Aww, are you saying you like me~?]
"...No." Caelus quickly composed himself, his voice becoming Monotone.
"Anyways, I’ll be going to see Sol." Caelus walked away to Valoria’s training area. He saw Minerva sitting there. Since he wanted to know about Sol, he thought it’d be best to ask her.
"Uhm- Hello?" Caelus spoke, standing next to Minerva, who was cleaning her blade.
"...Yes? What do you need?" Minerva replied, barely showing any emotion, not even looking towards him.
"Do you know where Sol is?" Caelus replied, feeling very little about how she replied, though feeling a little annoyed that she didn’t make eye contact. He wouldn’t judge based on that.
"He went to the Grand Tournament; from the looks of it, he’ll reach either the top ten of the finale, so he’ll be going to a Sect from now on." Minerva continued, turning to him as she noticed it was Caelus. "Oh."
Caelus understood, seeing as he wouldn’t be in contact with Sol much, or probably Arjuna, he’d have to be with Tellus and Elysia.
Which he felt awkward about, because he’d have no male friends, but he didn’t really mind it that much. Turning away, Caelus finished the conversation. "Well then, thank you, I’ll be on my way now."
Seeing as he had very little to do now, he left before Minerva could continue speaking, being oblivious that she didn’t expect it to be him asking that. She watched him leave, confused why he didn’t stay to continue talking, but seeing he was busy, she kept it to herself.
"Hmm... I guess I can go out now, I haven’t really been on my own, I could also brainstorm for more techniques there..." Caelus mumbled to himself, noticing that he could now switch his voice to the language spoken here, Russian, so people couldn’t understand him.
"Was this your doing, Aphro?" Caelus asked, the people around him not recognizing the language and assuming it was Wyvern tongue.
[Indeed! It makes it easier for you just to say something outloud to yourself without others understanding, meaning you could teach Tellus the language and she’d be able to understand it and help you if both of you fight together and communicate like that!]
Caelus listened and just nodded to himself, no. He wasn’t going to do it. Speaking of which, he realized he hadn’t really seen much else about Tellus other than her hair, height, and build. He did remember her clothing, which was more flowy and covered her hand, making it harder to see which direction her hand was moving, great for her blade, but a little too much for him.
By the time he noticed, the Empire was only a faint silhouette behind him. He continued a bit farther, finally stopping near what looked like a beach.
Going down, Caelus experimented with other things he could do in his mind, while the rest of his brain focused on what was ahead and around him. Finally reaching the end, he noticed blubbery, round, gray things with flippers just lying down nearby. Though he didn’t touch, he found it goofy. Almost making him laugh.
Sitting down among it, his Aura passively excluded them, not being humanoid or Draconic in any manner, so they were oblivious to what he was. Taking a second, he noticed they smelled like fish... Very easily, since his sense of smell was powerful. He also noticed whiskers, some of the creatures were blinking slowly.
Feeling the wind and the sand, he could hear everything breathing here, at least within the radius of the entire coastline. Closing his eyes, he calmed down, his brain no longer working overtime for everything, only one part passively releasing his Mana outward to sense anything in a citywide radius.
A few minutes passed as his Mana pulled back, going into him, compressing and fluctuating slightly around him. As his eyes opened, he saw the blubber creatures around him. "...Uh-"
[It’s because of your body heat.]
"Oh, I see," Caelus spoke to himself. Looking to the side for each one, who were sleeping peacefully, feeling his own body temperature, it was unnaturally high, borderline on the level of Burning Temptation, but it was expected since his Fire Breath was high enough as is.
Moving his hand, Mana coated it, making sure he didn’t burn the blubber thing.
[...Caelus, do you genuinely not know what that is?]
"...No," Caelus replies, confused why Aphro said this. His hand touched the creature softly, and it woke, looking towards him, almost irritated. Caelus kept his hand on it as it moved and bit his scale; though no damage occurred, he moved his hand away. It didn’t want to be touched, so he wouldn’t anymore.
[That would’ve hurt if you were a normal person, you know that, right?]
"Yeah." Caelus knew it would have, he still wanted to feel its texture, having never seen it before.
Feeling a change in the air. Caelus got up, turning as he noticed Yun Li swinging his blade towards him with little to no resistance. Along with that, he saw the other two Guards and one older man, probably an elder, who was standing farther away, watching.
Caelus’s Mana Barrier went up. Along with that, he noticed Yun Li was about to step on one of the blubber creatures, to which Caelus reacted by grabbing Yun Li’s blade and throwing him up into the sky, jumping and moving his body midair, his leg swinging up and stretching out towards the sky. Kicking Yun Li into the water, causing it to fly everywhere, landing on the creatures that were sunbathing.
Since they noticed the force being used quite easily, they quickly jumped away, though with some difficulty.
Caelus distracted part of his brain with the animals, only to return and focus on the one he was actually fighting.
"You!" Yun Li was about to say something, but stopped himself, jumping up, his body moved weirdly, like it was lagging behind, and in a sudden movement, Caelus was slashed right at the chest, a thick gash which reached into his body and let blood spill out, only for that blood to land on Yun Li and cause an immense amount of pain.
"AGHH- Oh, you little-" He shouted, making the blood stay off his skin and slide off.
The pain was insane, yet his body only went lower, his body quickly healing. In less than a second, the wound healed, his clothing reforming as well.
Caelus pointed his finger at Yun Li, who was pushed back. "Rend."
Yun Li had gotten ready for Rupture, ready to dodge or block it; instead, what looked like nothing flew out, though the elder on the back with the guard stood still, but noticed the slashes.
Hundreds of them flew out, the first one bypassing his Mana barrier and hitting him, causing him to lose balance up in the sky, the rest of the slashes flying in, creating tons of cuts and gashes in his body, finally sending him flying back into the water once again.
Caelus wouldn’t taunt; that wasn’t his style. Yet he noticed both Guards had disappeared, meaning they had moved. Looking down, he saw one flying up while holding his blade, so he assumed another would be above. He shifted his body back, letting them stop just short of hitting each other, looking effortless. "Okay, what the hell is going on? Why are they attacking me again?"
Caelus quickly turned and punched one of the guards right in the head with Mana, enhancing his body to a level far beyond what the guard could handle, sending him flying back. Caelus heard a crack.
Probably from the skull, Caelus looked down and noticed the other guard hold his blade in a position like he was about to use a technique, yet in that instance he saw it move just for a second, swinging down at his head to split him in half, quickly trying to move to the side while in air, he wasn’t able to move in time, the lower part of his hand being cut clean off.
His eyes widened as he saw part of his hand missing, his Adrenaline still capped as he didn’t want to use it right now, unless it was truly dire. The pain was bearable, since he’d had to take Tribulation before, which was much more powerful, but losing a limb still caused immense pain.
Quickly, his Mana moved, repairing his body as his hand returned, fully formed once more. He could survive almost anything that didn’t involve the destruction of his entire body; even then, he was certain he could survive it as long as he had a pool of blood left, though this is something every Virtuoso cultivator could do naturally.
As Yun Li regained his balance, Caelus moved down, quickly landing on the pathway to which both of the guards quickly moved, with Yun Li also approaching, in less than even half a second, each one swinging from one side, Yun Li from the left and being at the front, another guard behind Caelus, and one guard from the right, basically surrounded other than up, but he felt if he did jump or do anything like that, the elder might interfere.
So instead, from Caelus’s view, everything turned red, a literal red color with people in their original color, quickly moving, being ten times faster than what he would naturally be able to go. His natural speed matched that of a spacecraft on reentry at its peak, and Horizon Step multiplied that by ten; his movement curved as he noticed the elder still following him.
"...Hmmm." Caelus thought, wondering, only then remembering what he used against Tellus, moving his hand forward, clasping together; Horizon Step completed, a wave flew forward, with gaps between them, hitting Yun Li on the back with extreme force, especially given the Mana density. Along with that, the guards, getting caught in the crossfire, moved their blades to block the attack, Mana fluctuating as they panicked.
Yun Li quickly regained composure, moving back and then to the side where the gap was as the Wave flew out farther.
"Reversal: Congruence."
Caelus spoke as Yun Li closed the gap almost instantly, thanks to the sheer speed and short range. Still, as soon as Caelus’s technique was spoken, the part of the Wave that was left open flew out, sending him back once more, with even stronger force than Disjunction without the incantation, causing him to cough up blood.
The Wave disappeared as Caelus stood still, ready for the next attack, only then noticing the elder was gone. He rushed over to Caelus before he could even blink, delivering a punch that sent Caelus flying into a mountain, a gigantic crater forming.
"GAH-" Caelus coughed up blood, feeling the punch. He looked down, seeing that his chest looked a little different, almost like it healed.
[Yeah, because your chest had a hole through it, though it healed by itself.]
Caelus got up, coughing a bit, feeling dizzy. Hearing that only made him realize he had to let go of his fear of getting hurt; that would be natural here, it would be something he might have to deal with every day.
[...Self-Defined Order has become more refined | Your Techniques have become more refined due to your conviction | Your Draconic Body resonates with you.]
[The Supreme Foundation stabilizes itself]