Difference in Status (2) - Breaking the Boundaries
Felix was conflicted, when he had heard that a group proclaiming to be part of the Naga's was drawing near, he told his men to drop everything, then erase any evidence that they were present before leaving. When he left, about thirty minutes had passed, he soon realized he had left the cores by Stigma's side.
Leaving behind the only thing for them to use as a trade was one thing, but what concerned him more was it the right thing to leave Stigma behind.
He had some doubt whether Stigma was telling the truth the entire time, so he wanted to leave no trace behind and see his reactions.
Since there are some drugs on the black market to stop a heart, it would be possible to find a drug that could fake an illness for a few hours, so he wanted to be sure.
He wanted to go back to retrieve the cores, but his heart stopped for a moment he saw a group going towards the tent, instantly recognizing one of the individuals, Will; when he first met him it was during an encounter in the market of Mordan.
He was considered a minor aid at the time, but his prows in using a mace was lethal when he gained momentum, if Felix wasn't careful he would be grievously injured from one misstep.
With not much choice, all he can do was wait and see how Stigma would react from the Naga's group side, then make his decision in trusting him.
When they first meet Stigma, Felix was still skeptical if he lied and did had any relation with the Naga's, since the entire encounter could still be some ploy.
But all his speculation was unsound for, as he watched dumbfounded when he saw what happened next, four men have a caved in chest, while Will had a deformed face.
If he thought about it, drawing attention was too much of a ploy, if they knew Stigma personally, they wouldn't draw to much attention.
Eventually the meeting became a confrontation, then escalated to a fight, but when Stigma started beating Will a few more times nearly crippling him. Felix would have thought they would eventually get killed without mercy.
The entire beating was breaking the boundaries of just acting it out to fool others.
If they were comrades, this type of method of communication or exchange would be considered too much, but when Stigma took the space ring, the mace; along with breaking their armor, Will's throat, legs and ribs, along with slandering them as beggars, it just shows he really had no actual relationship.
If Stigma did know Will, he would be on the receiving end, not the other way around.
With evidence piled up, Felix felt like his gut was punched and not just him, the men all had the same expression, so Felix made a decision.
"...It confirms it, Stigma has no ties to the Naga clan, and also..." Felix does not need to say anything else, since all of theses men had already recognized Will, it only meant one thing...
'The Naga's are here...'
Afterwards, Felix and his group disappeared into the crowd and met up in a shop nearby discussing their future plans.
----
Most of the spectators who came, were only interested in finding out what the ruckus was, while others wanted to gamble on what was going to transpire; be it an affair taking place or some country hicks are trying to land in a good impression to their supposed employer.
However, all their previous betting choices were thrown out the window, when they saw someone exiting the luxury tent.
A child who appeared to be at the age of ten walked out the tent with a rusted sword, if they looked closer they could see that the boy had white hair a some shades of black, and his overall image was - weak compared to the five grown men.
'What the hell...' When they first saw Stigma exiting the tent, everyone in the vicinity had the same thought, 'the child is supposedly living under a wealthy sponsor or parent', so the majority lost their bets.
Some people however, took the opportunity and made new bets behind the scene; the content was whether which side would win if a fight were to break out; the one's from the tent or the five men.
The ones who were interested had evaluated the men, and they all came with the same conclusion - they were all strong. Some testified their identity of being cultivators, they had entered their shop to 'procure' some merchandise without pay and had beaten their hired mercenary when they retaliated.
Normally, they would report this to the guards to arrest them, yet these men had claimed to be part of the Naga Clan, so the difference in status had been made making them all backed down, then they eventually bowed their head, as they continued to harass and steal from them.
It was not as though no wanted to confirm such an obvious trick, but the fear of offending an actual member would spell trouble to them, so none dared to step out.
But when Stigma confronted them about their identification, they all went silent. Soon, the theory of them lying was being confirmed, and their background were being questioned.
All clans have insignia to differentiate themselves to one another, and the Naga's were known to use robes with serpents insignia sewn on to indicate being a member.
Yet these men only intimidated them and showed no actual evidence on their status, the victims slowly realized they were played of as fools when these men harassed their female associates, and destroyed or stole their merchandise from them. Causing them to slander them with even more crime from those who remained silent.
Before they could gather together, the men then lashed out of rage, aiming at Stigma with the intent of making an example, but instead of Stigma being beaten to the ground it was the other way around.
If people heard this from someone they would not believe them, but the truth was right before their very eyes.
Stigma's movements were to fast like a specter and only left blurs when he swung his fist, aiming at the most vulnerable spot in the opening of the armor - the ribs.
The impact of bones breaking along with five men flying of the ground have left them all speechless. After seeing Stigma who looked no younger than ten years old, completely gave a one sided beatdown against five grown men with little to no effort, causing them all to reevaluate who Stigma really was.
Before anyone could step in, Stigma came back out the tent and looked around. While ignoring the glare coming from the men on the ground, he walked towards Will.
"What...do...you....want....brat" With his face bruised all over and his throat crushed, Will could barely speak. But what concerned him more was why Stigma came back, without realizing Stigma was eyeing the mace by Will's side.
"I forgot to get something...my tribute, you beggar." Without warning, Stigma grabbed the mace by Will side, lifting it with little difficulty.
The mace had four blades positioned on the handle paralleling each other, if one looked at the top end they would see a cross.
It may not be made of rare metals,but nonetheless the mace would be considered a quality weapon, that could take in a few abuse. Before he could use it, Will had to go through a series of muscle exercise to try lifting it and that took him three years to finally swing it around with ease, yet Stigma took it like it was nothing but a piece of stick in a matter of seconds.
Silence, complete and utter silence. The scene of a young child lifting a heavy object had left them dumbfounded.
With such an believable thing happening, Will tried to fight back by grabbing his leg, only to be kicked in the gut and the mace he was struggling for, had landed on his chest plate leaving a large dent causing him to suffocate even more.
"...Stubborn aren't you...Hump!" Giving another kicked, Will finally let go and coughed up blood on the ground, glaring at Stigma like a mad dog.
Stigma was already aware that these men were not beggars but even so, he already had enough people pushing their luck on him as is. And if these men did belong to such a group, he doubted they would do anything to be discovered or cause trouble.
"You'll... pay ....for this ....your...brat!" Giving out a warning was the only thing Will could do to the situation, once he returns to the Naga's Stigma would be in the other end of the stick.
"Hump! Don't bother causing me anymore trouble, you trash!" After taking the mace, Stigma looked around as if there was anything else. Since he attacked them all, the armor and spears were either bent or destroyed, thus became low quality.
After recalling the events so far, Stigma looked around and found what he was looking for, the orb Will threw at him.
"If I remember correctly...you summoned this out of thin air, correct." After grabbing the orb Stigma took a few steps closer, eventually kneeling to looked at Will's hands and causing him to shudder from the look of Stigma's eyes, since he found what he had expected.
A space ring.
'Bingo!'
With the presents of the space ring, Stigma took of opportunity and grabbed the ring. But as expected, Will struggled and fought back, eventually Stigma retaliated by either punching or stomping on his head, neck and side until he passed out.
All the spectators had the same expression of confusion, whether they should stop him from beating Will up or should they take the advantage and 'take back' their supposed payment and items, they allegedly all stole from them.
But after looking over the men coughing up blood and Will's state, they decided to wait then move.
'Must have broke a few ribs...Oh well....' Stigma in his previous life had already done similar feats to swindlers, so looking at his point of view he wasn't killing them, he was making sure his message was heard.
'Don't push your luck, you bastards'
So far, Stigma had earned himself a good weapon with a space ring along with a strange treasure so he earned quite a profit. He would check the others, but that would be a waste of time, and got the feeling that all of it was inside the space ring so he went back inside the tent.
...
...
...
When Stigma left, the crowd outside moved in and started attacking the wounded men on the ground. Repeatedly cursing and beating them for their misdeed and started 'reclaiming' their stolen goods. When they checked them, all they had were the clothes, armors and broken equipment they had at hand..
With no actual identification, they continued to slander them even more, and demanded them to return their stolen goods. Only to be berated that Stigma took it, which they didn't believe.
For safety precaution, Will instructed his men to give him their robes, coins and prized goods along with his, in case someone slipped up. What he did not expect was that his plan and precaution would backfire, leaving them no proof and to fend for themselves as they had their equipment and dignity taken.
Afterwards they didn't believe anything else they said, eventually the Top's guards were called and they arrested them for fraud, causing another scene of five wounded men with no armor and weapons, struggling and demanding them to be released.
But Stigma didn't care and jumped right into bed.
It would have a relaxing moment, if not for the shadowy figure standing beside his bed, staring at him as he tossed and he turned.
If that wasn't bad enough, a sword was endlessly praising him none stop, causing him to cringe every now and then. Questioning as to how narcissist ever get use to hearing those ridiculous praises.
"Magnificently done Master! Those men should know their place after insulting you right in your face, it just shows that you are a genius in the making. Clouds form before, blah, blah, blah. Anyone who meets you should grovel and the ground singing praise to you with undeniable worship, blah, blah, blah"
After hearing the cringing phrases, he finally told Hilda to stop since it was beginning to annoy him.
"But I wonder Master, why slap the last one. In normal cases, throwing a punch was understandable, but when you slap someone it was just equal to insulting them."
"Hmm, nothing much, if I used my fist, his head would be too deformed if he was strong, but if he was weak he couldn't survive one hit."
It wasn't an exaggeration, when he woke up his body was numb for some reason, so he was unaware that his first four punches were him not holding his strength back, so he was stunned upon seeing four men flew through the air with a caved in side. He didn't even feel the impact much less the strain, so it was clear he has yet to fathom how physically strong he was, him breaking both of Will's leg with ease were clear examples on dangerous he can be.
"...Hilda, how strong do you think I am?" Turning to Hilda was the best option he had, since she had been exposed to most battles, she can compare to his current situation.
"Hmm, if we go by the Zero Tier, your physical strength is the most exceptional, and I'm not exaggerating. When you fought, I can tell you didn't even use any Zen energy in each strike, so I am quite excited to see when you go in a no holds barred type of fight."
"...So you still think I am still in the Zero Tier?"
"Yes, I can tell if a person is in what tier based on their reserves, so when I first met you, I immediately knew you were a Zero Tier, it's just that...Master"
"Yes..."
"Are you hiding something from me..."
"...Maybe, wait a while, then you can see what I mean."
...
...
...
"HAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
After thirty minutes, Hilda was barraging question after question on how did Stigma get from being Zero Tier to directly breaking through the First Tier.
"HOW MASTER, HOW DID YOU IMMEDIATELY BREAK THROUGH WITHOUT GOING THROUGH THE STAGES, THERE ARE REASONS AS TO WHY THEY ARE STAGES!"
"Alright, calm down, Hilda, but tell, why are there stage"
"Why? It because immediately breaking the boundaries of that common sense, would use up a lot of the Cultivators life force so many take precaution and use multiple treasure to use as a substitute in the Higher Tiers. But only clans or similar organizations, who accumulated enough can do it without repercussion. If they attempt to force it without any preparations, they would not notice that they had used up a large amount of life force and be dead after a few days, that was one of the theories as to why they are more non cultivators than Cultivators."
"But many Cultivators don't have the luxury of the accumulated wealth to purchase or find them, so they came up with an alternative, accumulating large reserves of Zen energy via Cultivation training such as meditation, to act as a substitute of life force, so they would get a longer lifespan. It's a slow and tedious process, but it lowers the chances of them losing their life due to negligence and its cost effective."
'...I did have some reserves and the Demon's soul must have acted as a catalyst instead of my life force, the Demon did say it's species can regenerate lost life force.'
"Say I did have enough, what happens afterwards if I had enough accumulated Zen reserves."
"Afterwards, instead of feeling new found powers they would feel extremely sluggish, so many would be considered a non cultivator by mistake....I'm sorry I doubted your abilities master, I hope you can forgive this foolish one."
"Well, you weren't far off the mark."
In all honesty, Hilda's confusion was sounded, when Cultivators in the Zero to the upper Tier, use up all their reserves they would be mistaken as non - cultivators, if not for their physical trait. In Stigma's case, since he broke through and all his reserves were spent, but the rate of his recovery was alarming along with his reserves equaling to a Early Stage in the First Tier. Making Hilda question if her senses were dull or did she mistake his reserves from the start.
Due to the Demon' s cultivation method, Hilda wasn't aware of Stigma's development process and break through to the First Tier, since the technique needed Stigma to be in a death like state were no Cultivator can fathom. When she saw Stigma passed out along with hearing the symptoms of low breathing and high fever, she mistaken it for a form of sickness.
But in actuality, his soul separated from his body due to the Demon's intervening. So Stigma was experiencing training from another realm that was cut of from all connections to the material word, yet what he gains and what he learned will be transferred back into his real body as a form of instinct.
It was a suicidal technique that literally means: 'Breaking the boundaries between life and death'.
But that didn't stop Hilda's relentless questioning, which finally made Stigma give in and told what happened, forcing Hilda to be silent about it.
"....Master...where or how did you learn such a dangerous technique, please reconsider in using it, one small mistake can lead to having your life taken."
...
"...Thank you Hilda, but don't worry, I won't gamble in something I have no confidence in winning, so rest easy, I only want to get stronger so don't worry."
"Mmmmm....fine.....I still don't trust the little Demon, once I met him, he will be answering all my questions!"
"Alright, alright....now that I think, how strong have I really become, I have been using 'Essence Reader' non stop since I fought the Demon, but I didn't hear he notification..."
'Essence Reader!'
*BING!*
[Congratulation Dear Host, due to fighting the Demon Infant, Host has know gained skill Demon's Soul (shortened from Demon Infant's Soul), excess energy has been rewarded to you and has assimilated to Host]
*Demon Soul
- A part of the newborn demon's life force, produces a presence that draws hostility towards surrounding beast with light affinity.
- A soul with partial knowledge of the Demon's wisdom, any form of experiment shall reveal a new path to evolution via 'Essence Reader'.
- Host body will gain the ability to produce curses; Current range, within arm length.
*BING!*
[Using the Demon's excess energy you can choose to upgrade current skill by one whole level, which will you choose:
Essence Reader(IV) 90%, Poltergeist (III) (1) 60%, Soul Eater (V) 0%, Taboo(III) 45%, Demon's Soul 0%]
Huh?!?!!?!?