Chapter 105: Throne of the Flying Immortal
The Armored Fire Lizard roared and opened its maw.
Another huge fireball was rapidly forming, and this one looked many times stronger, probably because it was not using a skill, but its innate natural talent.
Zero tensed, preparing to dodge the attack, while the Water Bull backed away and started preparing a water skill of its own.
Suddenly, a wolf maw violently erupted from the Armored Fire Lizard’s own shadow and bit its body entirely in half.
The fireball it was creating destabilized and exploded point-blank, destroying the remaining front half of its body.
Looking at this execution, both Zero and the Water Bull got chills.
Lucy smoothly dived back into the shadows. Zero quickly reacted to the opening; she widened her sharp mandibles and shot a ice beam at the Water Bull, which was currently in the middle of activating a water imprisonment skill.
The freezing beam hit it point-blank, locking it in solid ice for a fraction of an instant. During that exact moment of vulnerability, Lucy erupted from the shadows once again, bit its entire head off, and melted back into the shadows.
Aah, I can’t get enough of eating raw meat, Lucy thought feraly as she happily chewed on the massive head.
...
As for the robotic twins, Lilith and Eve stood side-by-side beside Night, shooting bullets and the most kills of anyone on the field.
Even Night joined their firing squad, shooting [Nightmare Fire] bullets from his fingertips.
Of course, not every single shot resulted in a clean kill.
The White Foxes and Dark Phantoms were incredibly agile, able to dodge or at shift their bodies to tank the hits on non-vital organs.
But that tactic only worked against Eve and Lilith.
Night’s every hit was lethal; wherever his blackish-purple bullets hit, the flames instantly devoured them. It didn’t matter if it was a vital organ or not.
Death stood coldly right next to them, acting as the vanguard in case they got ambushed.
She only commanded her Ice Light Eagle skeletons, planning to turn some of these corpses into skeleton the moment she got a chance.
As Night was carefully aiming his finger at a distant Armored Fire Lizard, [Blaze] suddenly interrupted.
"Night, aren’t you a Summoner?"
Night’s lips twitched. This was the second time today he was being reminded of his Class. "Yes," he answered defensively. "Haven’t I already called them out?"
"Yes, but what is the point of just leaving them to do their own things?" [Blaze] scolded. "As a true Summoner, you should be the Brain, and not the brawn. You should step back, take the high ground, and take charge of the battlefield!"
Night slowly lowered his hand and looked around.
He saw Sage fighting on her own at the side.
A little further away, Zero and Lucy were struggling against a duo of Armored Fire Lizards and water bull.
He looked beside him; Eve and Lilith were doing great, but they simply shot at whichever random monster they felt like hitting.
And behind him, Death just stood completely coldly, using her skeletons to keep the horde from reaching their position, and nothing else.
There was no actual synergy.
...
Zero and Lucy briefly discussed their next strategy telepathically, but just as they were about to execute it, they heard Night’s voice echo in their minds.
"Ahem... Guys, let’s group up. We need to work as a team."
Both of them looked back and froze. Night was no longer standing; he was sitting on a throne.
It looked like it was seamlessly forged from some kind of matte-black metal, with numerous glowing runes intricately covering its wide sides. Night sat cross-legged upon it, but the weird thing was that it wasn’t fixed to the ground, it was simply floating in the air.
They were both stunned speechless for a moment.
Night looked down at them, "Come quickly. We need to form a proper strategy."
They rapidly rushed back.
...
Just moments prior, Night had thought hard for a second.
Then, acting on pure impulse, he had opened the System Shop and scrolled rapidly through all the artifacts at random, hoping for something that might actually help him be a proper Summoner.
He might be decisive when it came to killing monsters, but when it came to supporting his friends, he was a softy.
And you couldn’t complain, they were the only people in this world he had any meaningful connection with.
Then, he had come across a weird artifact. It was a chair that looked too good to be just a simple seat.
Checking the systemic details, he rapidly noticed why.
[Throne of the Flying Immortal (Growth Type)]
[A majestic throne originally designed by the now-deceased Flying Immortal.
As a peerless prodigy of her generation, she aspired to dominate and conquer the Immortal World. In the process, she annoyed some dangerous beings who quickly put her out of misery.
This Throne was her soul-bound immortal artifact. It has regressed to become a mortal artifact, and it will now grow with the new user. The throne will match the fundamental strength of its master.
Skill - Ruler (Passive): Sitting on the throne will enhance the user’s cognitive capabilities.
Skill - Flying: This throne can fly using the user’s energy.
Skill - Barrier: This throne can form protective barriers using the user’s energy.
Skill - Subjects: The throne actively sets allies as ’Subjects’ and immediately grants them a 20%+ boost in all stats.
Skill - Enemy: The throne actively sets targets as ’Enemies’. Enemies will have their stats forcefully reduced by 20%.]
Wow... Night thought in awe.
It was such an incredibly overpowered support artifact. He wondered why absolutely no one else had bought it yet, until he looked closely at the price tag and realized why.
[Cost - 3,000,000,000 SC (3 Billion SC)]
Then, after a moment of hesitation, he hit purchase.
As soon as the chair...no, the throne...materialized in the real world, Eve, Lilith, and Death looked at it in surprise.
"I bought it," Night stated simply.
They nodded slowly. They thought he must just be tired of standing.
He gently touched the cold metal of the throne, and immediately, he got a notification.
[Do you wish to form a soul bond with The Throne of the Flying Immortal?]
[Y / N]
As soon as he mentally agreed, he felt the massive throne shrink down to a speck of light and enter his Soul Space.
It appeared beside the small plant in his internal world and fixed itself into the fertile ground.
-_- Night’s expression instantly flatlined.
Looking at this outcome, Night completely didn’t know what to say.
How exactly am I supposed to use it out here if the stupid throne just got comfortable sitting inside my internal world?!
Inside the internal world, [Dream] appeared beside the imposing throne and looked at it critically for a moment.
She chuckled softly and said, "Don’t worry. It is a genuine Soul Artifact, and it is supposed to rest inside the Soul Space."
"Then how exactly am I supposed to use it?" Night complained.
"Simple. Come in here and sit on it," [Dream] instructed.
"Okay..."
He projected his consciousness and appeared in the Soul Space beside [Dream].
[Dream] looked at him, "Sit."
Night shrugged and sat on the cold metal. After actively feeling nothing special happen, he looked up at [Dream] in puzzlement.
[Dream] didn’t say a single word. She walked near him, gracefully lifted her hand, and pressed her thumb directly onto his forehead, right in the middle of his eyebrows.
Immediately, Night felt a rushing stream of complex information enter his head.
"The Dream Sutra?" Night gasped.
"Yes. That is the true name of my Cultivation technique. While it is a little early for you to start, it is perfectly okay," [Dream] explained calmly.
She shook her head softly and added, "In the vast techniques I have just successfully transmitted into your mind, there is a method for refining and utilizing bound Soul Artifacts. Follow the method, and you should be perfectly able to project and use the artifact in the outside world."
Night nodded in realization. Rapidly scanning through the ocean of new information, he quickly located the refinement method.
Following the instructions, Night summoned his [Nightmare Fire] internally and completely covered the throne in it. As he successfully did this in the Soul Space, the Night in the outside world simply sat cross-legged on the bloody ground.
Looking at their Master, Death, Lilith, and Eve were completely stunned.
They had literally just watched him buy a ridiculously expensive throne, touch it, make it vanish, and now he was just peacefully sitting in the ground.
Completely unaware of their dilemma, Night changed his breathing pattern, strictly following the instructions of the Dream Sutra, and tried to sense the ambient Qi in the surrounding world.
It took him some moments, but he quickly became aware of it.
Then, he actively tried to pull the Qi into his body and absorb it.
At first, it exactly felt like he was trying to grab thick fog with his bare hands; every single time he tried to pull the strands of Qi, they kept effortlessly slipping away.
"Don’t try to grab them," [Dream] guided gently. "Create an vacuum; they will naturally flow in entirely on their own."
Night immediately realized his error.
Though he had the knowledge, he was severely lacking in comprehension. Luckily, he had the creator of the technique with him.
As soon as he changed his approach, relaxing his grip and creating an vaccum, he felt the surrounding Qi flood directly into him.
He quickly and methodically circulated the Qi along his Nadis (energy channels) exactly as per the Sutra’s instructions.
The first circulation was incredibly tough; it felt exactly like he was trying to push a mountain.
But after the very first successful circulation, the speed at which the Qi moved increased exponentially. It was exactly as if the energy had finally found a carved route, and like a rushing, unblocked river, it now flawlessly followed the exact path he guided it toward seamlessly.
Because of the efficient way the transmission worked, he didn’t need to struggle; he already knew exactly what to do. He just had to put it into actual practice.
As he successfully finished his 108th circulation, he felt an invisible barrier inside him crumble.
Suddenly, he felt as if he was floating. No... he was really floating! He was floating in the outside world.
"Congratulations on stepping onto the path of the Immortal," [Dream] praised warmly. "You have reached Qi Awakening. From here onwards, there is only going up."
Night was stunned. He didn’t think this was how he would start his Cultivation journey. Because of a chair... no... an expensive throne.
Night:
(^_^);