Zhen Liu stared as a dark blue ball of light materialized from the palm of his left hand. While he wasn't sure what the difference was between this one and the [Heroic Core] was in terms of power level, he could feel a difference on a fundantal level.
'Bleh...just looking at this thing is making rember so things I'd rather not...maybe I should've just ditched this core and gone ho with Jin Fang. Hell, why don't I just go and ki...wait, no, that's the [Core of Regret] talking. That dude must have crazy deep regrets in him,' Zhen Liu thought as he shook himself free of his depressing thoughts of regret both mundane and extre.
Now that he was in a better headspace, he now had to address the problem of dealing with the core. As he began to muse in how to store or hide the glowing ball of energy, that sa voice from before made another announcent.
'What do you an by sto-whoa!'
Ribbons of dark energy suddenly flourished from the palm of his hand and engulfed the glowing blue core. The ribbons began to wrap themselves around the core, layer by layer until eventually stopping after at least four layers had been added. In the blink of an eye,the kaijin core had transford from a conspicuous ball of light into a much more manageable looking cloth ball...that looked vaguely familiar to Zhen Liu.
'Think about it later, you have people to talk to and things to do,' Zhen Liu told himself as he pocketed the ball. With the kaijin core secured, Zhen Liu proceeded to make himself scarce before Sullivan noticed him.
'Wait...did I specify where outside the quarry I'd et Jin Fang?"
_________________________________________________
Back in the Zhen Clan's Dungeon, Zhen Jin and Zhen Long had finished yet another round of interrogating their father's treacherous forr assistant Moka.
The two of them have been trying all manner of "confession aids" in order to get him to confess on who is true master was and where they were, so that the Zhen Clan could repay his master's "kindness" in full and with interest.
The Roaring Tide way: Like how the tide can wear away a mountain with each successive blow, repay any action with increasing asure. Repay a cup of sake with a bottle of your own and take their throats if they take your eye.
"FUCK YOU, YOU FISH EYED PISS DRINKERS!"
Unfortunately, they still hadn't gotten anything useful out of him other than racial slurs and insults about their parentage, their appearances or their "lack of spines". Either way, the two brothers weren't amused.
"Zhen Jin?"
"Got it."
"Damnit! Not the co-AHHHHHHHHH!"
And the sweet sweet octaves that can only be reached when soone gets electrocuted in the testicles by a Rumbling Rattlesnake. It was funny the first three tis, now it was just sad.
As Zhen Long and Zhen Jin watched Moka get electrocuted for the umpteenth ti, the forr let out a deep sigh.
"Well this is getting us nowhere," Zhen Long said while palming his face, "Knock him out, detox him and we can try again later."
Zhen Jin gave a curt nod before removing the Rumbling Rattlesnake from Moka's lower region. Moka let out a low groan as his source of pain had been removed, but that was quickly silenced as Zhen Jin knocked him out with a quick chop to the neck. Once Moka was knocked out, Zhen Jin set about on removing the venom from his bloodstream. Zhen Jin began to channel aether into his hands and produce a small seal that began to extract the venom from Moka's blood.
Zhen Long let out another sigh before reaching into his coat and pulling out an ornate looking pipe. Using a bit of aether, Zhen Long produced a small fla on his thumb and lit the contents of the pipe.
"Huh? I thought you gave up smoking years ago, big brother," Zhen Jin asked when he noticed the sll.
Zhen Long took a long drag of the pipe before blowing out several rings of smoke. Zhen Long took a deep breath before answering his little brother.
"I did, but after recent events...I found it prudent to relax my mind with sothing a bit more potent than tea or a hot spring. Besides, my formula needs to be stimulated like this every now and then."
"Whatever you say man," Zhen Jin replied as he finished removing the last of the venom. He had condensed the dangerous liquid into a little sphere and moved it into a jade bottle for storage. Once it was done, he kept the bottle in his coat for safekeeping.
"Hey, I just thought of sothing," Zhen Long began.
"What's up?"
"Ain't the annual Prospecting Challenge a few weeks from now?"
"Yeah," Zhen Jin answered after thinking for a bit, "Why?"
"You think whoever set Moka up to do all this is going to be there?"
"Huh?"
"Well," Zhen Long began to explain after putting his pipe away, "Rember when Zhen Yan showed up with those letters from Moka's room? After we had been given them, I couldn't help but notice a weird sll coming off of them."
Out of sight of both Zhen Jin and Zhen Long, Moka suddenly twitched at the ntion of the letter's scent.
"You an the scent of dried ink?," Zhen Jin asked sarcastically.
"Haha, no. I an, I slled sothing... tallic on the paper."
"The scent of iron? That ain't too weird, he did keep the letters next to a bunch of weapons."
"Yeah, but most of our stuff is made of beast bones with only a little bit of iron or bronze mixed in. This sll was was way stronger and had a scent of soot and ash mixed in. Now who do we know that works with tals in such a way?"
Zhen Jin paused and scratches his chin in thought before his eyes went wide with realization.
"You're not implying-"
"I'm just guessing," Zhen Long said as he threw his hands up, "But...I'd be on guard about this upcoming competition. I got the feeling sothing is about to co to surface and it ain't gonna be good."
User Comments
0 comments from readers