Investigating the White Blood

"That was too many clients for one shift." Rey complained, "Break time for everyone else is truly my hell." Rey let out a slight sigh.

"And ours, Rey." Fiore smiled as she crossed her arm over her heart. "A job well done, however. Many clients were happy and left satisfactory reviews!"

"But... my work is so mundane and boring. I'm meant for more than this, Fiore. I should be doing more important things."

"Like what? You have to work here to earn money and improve yourself. How else are we supposed to obtain materials and cultivate to get strong?"

"Ever think about leaving Sanctuary to hunt creatures? It's the quickest and cheapest way to cultivate well." Rey asked.

"You think it's that easy to kill those creatures?" Fiore sighed, "Training in life and death battles are too risky, one wrong move and you are dead. There's nothing left after that. I'd rather work at WcDonnalds and be safe like most people than take the dangerous route of cultivating. Besides, this way I can meet people that might be helpful to me in the future."

As Fiore was talking, Rey's facial expression changed as he fell deep into thought. Noticing it, she smiled and stopped talking.

"Okay, time for my shift again. See you tomorrow, Rey!" Fiore bowed and went back to the clients as Rey changed and walked out of WcDonnalds.

Heading back to the central plaza within Sanctuary, Rey found an informant to help confirm his payments.

"And you're sure about contacting Grey Kioko? You do realize that this is a large sum of money for someone of your status, correct?" a woman informant, who was in her late thirties with long brown hair and a warm face looked at Rey in shock.

"Yes, I am certain about the purchase. Can you contact him for me? I need to meet with him as soon as I can." Rey said with haste and determination.

"He can meet with you in two days, during the 3rd hour of his work." The informant checked Rey's balance as she gave him Grey's contact number. "Good luck, valued client! May Sol Invictus bless you."

Thanking the woman, Rey felt uneasy with himself as he exited Sanctuary. Stepping back into the emptiness, he suddenly felt so alone in the void. With only his body and the portal in view, he sat crossed-legged and began to cultivate again. Humming a silent tune, symbols flickered and gleamed around him as they coalesced out from the void.

With a soft humming, the symbols were pierced into Rey's body with ease. Diving them deeper and deeper into his muscles, they touched his heart and pierced into it. White fluid came out of Rey's heart as the symbols crumbled to pieces. The wounds healed up before they even had a chance to bleed. Rey's eyes were opened wide with his mouth ajar.

"Weird... those symbols actually got destroyed? Hibari told me that was only to occur after reaching the 4th threshold. . . Yet I only just reached the 3rd threshold and still broke them." After pondering for a moment, Rey decided to continue and move onto breaking through to the 4th threshold.

Humming a different, stronger and deeper tune, more symbols sheened and vibrated into existence. Continuing to sit in a lotus position, he urged then towards his head as they melded into his skin. Soothing warmth passed from his head to his toes, tingling and pulsating his whole body.

"Switching from pain to pleasure, the mind to the heart. Only through cultivating these different aspects can one train their mind and heart against all things. All of my desires: My want to be known, my greed to have everything, my love for my friends and family, let go of all pleasures and embrace mindlessness. Become one with nature, Rey." He strengthened himself

"The wooden man does not contemplate the birds, flowers, nor the stars. He just exists. I am the wooden man, I exist and am mindless towards all. Nothing affects me, and I have no effect on it." Chanting this, Rey pushed the symbols deeper into his head as they began to ring and he heard his voice once again call out to him. Each desire called him by name, offering everything he wanted, showing him visions and lies to tempt Rey.

Seeing everything he ever wanted, Rey was indeed tempted by the thoughts, enough to not know they were simply illusions. After a few moments, Rey's mind began to waver. When he sought to give in to the illusions, his heart thumped hard as his thoughts became clearer and more apparent. Taking the moment to clear his mind, he immediately retracted the symbols from his mind. The symbols were flung far away from him and disappeared into the void again. Cold opaque sweat formed on his forehead. Wiping it away, he noticed it was the same substance from his heart.

"Whatever that white fluid did, it helped me push through a whole level and even saved me from falling into my own illusions. I can't quit now, though. I need to push on for everyone." The white fluid in his sweat was absorbed through his skin and pulled back into his heart as he felt it even deeper than before, coursing through his body.

Fascinated by the white fluid coursing around his heart, Rey decided to focus on that instead. Creating a symbol, he grabbed it and drew a small wound. The white fluid drew to the cut and healed it within a few seconds. taking a deeper cut into himself, the white fluid flew out of the cut in his chest and blocked any blood from seeping out.

Making a small cut on his hand, he drew blood to the wound in anticipation. But when his blood came close to the white fluid, it retracted back into his body and also healed the cut, albeit slower than the white fluid could.

"Strange. The white fluid has a repulsive effect on my blood it would seem. Then does that mean my heart is void of any blood?" Rey continued to test his blood and the white fluid.

Within the void where he sat, he madly cut and observed his body's reaction repeatedly. With each time his body was healed, the effectiveness dropped until it took a few minutes to heal the wounds on his heart and hand.

"It would seem that this is the limit of what the white fluid can do." Rey said as he used his fingernail to cut his hand once more. Red blood seeped out from the small cut and continue to move away from Rey's body. More blood continued to pour out as Rey panicked.

"What's happening with my blood‽ "Rey felt a rush of adrenaline run and cursed as he got up to his feet. As soon as he got on his knees he collapsed though and felt his strength leave him. The last of his blood pooled out of him a few feet away around him, forming a sphere around his body. With ragged breathing, his mind unable to think as he lay face-first on the ground, he felt as if he was truly going to die.

It was only after what seemed to be an eternity to Rey that his heart also stopped moving. Within a split second, the white fluid gushed from his heart and expanded throughout his body. His heart continued to beat and thump even faster and more aggressively than before. The blood sphere around him backed away even further as his mind and thoughts became clearer. Rey's strength returned back to him tenfold as his veins and pupils turned clear white.

"Foolish..." Rey found himself speaking without thinking. Putting his hand over one eye and grabbing his head, he immediately felt pain like an ear-splitting headache throbbing in his brain. The white fluid thumped within his heart once more before retracting back as his strength left him again. As soon as his veins and pupils returned to normal, his blood orb around him condensed and forced its way back into his body. A small portion of his strength returned back to him, but he felt drained and tired.

"Just what is this liquid... white blood instead of red blood?" Rey questioned himself as he laid in the void with nothing else to distract him. "If I can tap into that power again... I can finally get out of here I think!" Rey felt happy at what had occurred, despite how dangerous it was for him.

"It's just as Fiore said. A cultivator's best chance to improve is to straddle the line between life and death, releasing all of my potential and breaking through beyond all of my limits. I have to try for my parents, for Riza, for Aizen, for Hibari, and for myself!" Finding a new path to get his body back, Rey became excited. But before he could even fully enjoy that moment, he needed to get his body back to its best condition; he couldn't even move his body as he sat there helplessly.

"This has never happened before... I've never been this drained of energy ever. I haven't even felt tired once without my body. Now that I've used the white blood, however, it used up too much energy. The side effects of using that white blood are too strong it would seem." Rey's eyes lit up at the thought.

"The white liquid that replaced my blood is too strong, so my own blood gets forced backward. Just like the symbols too as I have to drive them deeper into my heart and mind. It's as if they're competing for dominance within my body and being slowly trained from within." Rey's mind continued theorizing as he recovered. "Does that mean that I can train my red blood using this stronger white blood too?" Rey felt like he struck gold as he realized it might actually be a possibility.

Wanting to try it again, Rey felt depressed as he felt the state of his body. He felt void of any energy, even his life felt weak. With nothing to do, his consciousness fell dormant for a period of time until he woke up again. His eyelids closed as he succumbed to tiredness.

Opening his eyes some hours later, he realized he was standing right before the bars that kept him a prisoner inside his own body. Confused at the sight, Rey noticed his hands were slightly blackened. Looking beyond the bars, he saw a tall man with long black hair and purple eyes looking back at him. The man stood there staring at Rey aloofly.

"Soma?" Rey took a step backward in panic.

"Already reacting, Ouranos? Exciting indeed..." Soma said as his hand glowed with a purple substance. Sending it forward through the bars, it arrived near Rey.

"Eat." He commanded.

Rey, in a cold sweat of fear and anger, took another step back as Soma looked at him unnervingly.

"Eat!" He shouted in a deep voice, prompting Rey to bite his tongue and swallow the congealed purple light. Swallowing it in one big gulp, Rey felt prickles on his tongue. Traveling down his throat, it ran rampage through his body until it reached his heart and bound to it. The purple light stitched itself to the inside of Rey's chest, making him feel uneasy and tight.

"Safe... safe now." Soma smiled at Rey, making his body shudder and hands shake. With a single glace into Soma's purple eyes, he vanished and left Rey alone. Feeling helpless and pained, with so much anger, fear, and hatred, he screamed out in hopes someone would hear his cries. Pain that felt thousands of times worse than anything he had experienced came surfacing out of him. In desperation he collapsed onto the ground, shivering and shaking as he kept replaying it inside his mind.

Rey suddenly felt electricity and tingling dance around his brain as if it was shutting down. His vision distorted and blurred as he felt woozy.

"Come, Hibari! Show me what you've learned! Suppress me if you can!" A loud, but warm voice, echoed as Rey looked up to see a tall man in front of him. With a red-tinted armor woven around him, the man with blonde hair and purple eyes looked at Rey with expectation.

"Don't be too confident, master!" Rey's lips moved into a smirk as his body reacted uncontrollably. With a shot of adrenaline coursing through Rey's veins, he sprinted forward in front of the man. Rey felt the soul energy from his heart deplete as it ran down his arms and into his hands. Purple light shined as it fused with a foreign energy Rey couldn't recognize. The purple light congealed in Rey's hand as the man created a thin membrane around himself.

"Still very young Hibari-" The man began to say but was dumbfounded the next moment. Rey's hand slammed into the barrier, but the purple light actually broke through the barrier and was headed directly for the man's heart. With no time to react, the purple light went inside his heart and stitched itself to the man. Coughing up blood, the man fell on one knee.

"Good!" He laughed, "Very good. You truly are a genius, Hibari. You might just be the next to lead us into a new age of space and soul suppression techniques." The man stood up as he placed his hand on his chest. "Stop calling me master though, I told you not to call me that, especially when you might surpass me one day."

"Very well then, king Nefasi." Rey coughed once, "That purple substance... I need it back though." He said while avoiding eye contact.

"Wait, what is this substance?" King Nefasi stared back at Rey as his face contorted. Once he felt his body enough, he understood and kicked Rey backward a few hundred meters. "Bastard! How shameless can you be, injecting parts of your soul and blood into me‽ What kind of disgusting technique is that?"

After Rey heard that, his vision faded and he was back in the void, laying on the ground. Placing his hand over his heart, he understood what had occurred.