Chapter 18: Indra's Tastes

As Feng Biao eagerly chugged the trashy liquor a crowd began to form behind him. It was clear to all that this man was insane. Everyone was aware the "liquor" in the slums was mostly chemicals, water was simply too expensive to use to dilute it with.

Simply drinking a cup of it would flood your mind with terrible sensations

"Chug! Chug! Chug!"

Slowly but surely, a chant had formed, and the crowd became connected for a few brief moments.

As Feng Biao slammed the barrel with a crash on the ground cheers erupted from all around. For a moment Feng Biao was the most exciting thing around.

Then the crowd dispersed. Feng Biao's stunt was exciting, but nobody wanted to stick around exciting in the slums for too long. Exciting meant attention, and drawing attention to yourself was just drawing a target on yourself.

Returning to his seat Feng Biao found Hunter sitting with awe on his face.

"Dude are you even aware of what that, uh, stuff has in it?"

"Nope."

"Then why, you know what," Hunter said in between laughs, "never mind."

"We don't really get our hands cut off if we get caught out here, huh?"

"Nah, that's reserved for real deal crap. We'll get punished, but nothing that'll scar you," Hunter said while exaggeratedly waving his hand.

"But how the actual fuck did you just stomach that stuff?"

"That's a secret."

"Oh go fucking suck it."

"Alright, alright," Feng Biao said laughing and began tapping his right hand. Hunter understood the implication.

"So you're like immune to all poisons?"

"No."

"You have some sort of extra dimension in your stomach?"

"No."

"Then?"

"I don't get drunk."

Laughter erupted from Hunter.

And a fist flew from Feng Biao.

"Ok, ok," Hunter said while holding up his hands, "my bad, but you have to admit that's a terrible ability."

"Yeah, well it gets worse, my Rank Up Quest is going nowhere."

"What do you have to do?"

"Drink high-quality liquor."

"And nothing you drink has been high-quality, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Have you tried using your PDS? Rank Up Quests for Mortals occasionally are the same for different people."

"Yeah, I did that, nothing. Apparently, Indra is pretty rare."

"So that's your Divinity? Yeah, never heard of em', but then again there are so many Hindu Divinities that's not surprising."

"Song Zhilan said he was bad."

"Also not surprising considering that, wait what is it? Please tell me it's at least a Divine Passive?"

"Yeah, thankfully I guess."

Despite not getting drunk Feng Biao was still spilling his worries to Hunter. He chuckled internally about that. And as he did he noticed his Contract was shining. And giving it a quick glance he saw something new.

Divine Contract System

True Divinity: Indra

Divinity: 10/10

Rank: Tempered Mortal

Rank Up Quest: Form your Divine Foundation (0%)

Divine Abilities-

Divine Passive: [Indra's Indulgence] (Grade F)

Divine Active: [Indra's Tricks] (Grade F+)

"My Rank changed!" Feng Biao excitedly exclaimed.

"Woah, you serious?"

"Yeah, and I also got a new Rank Up Quest."

Nodding his head Hunter understood, "Forming your Divine Foundation, huh? Not easy, but not impossible."

"How do I do that?"

"It's more time-consuming than anything really. You basically have to spread your Divinity throughout your body over and over."

"How many times?"

"Depends how efficient you are. There are techniques for it and teachers, but they're all pretty expensive. For you, you'll just have to do it the simple way."

Thinking back to the training session from earlier today Feng Biao guessed what Hunter meant. "So I'm gonna have to physically train?"

"Bingo, easiest way to get your Foundation out of the way is to brute force. Using Divinity in your muscles is intuitive."

Excited at the prospect of growth Feng Biao gripped his hand tightly trying to force his Divinity to flow into it.

"But it's kinda weird."

Feng Biao turned towards Hunter who was now clearly pondering something.

"This stuff ain't high-quality."

Looking at the glass Hunter held Feng Biao agreed. Indra had accepted it as high-quality liquor anyways. What was his Divinity thinking?

Feng Biao got the sense Indra was a bit pathetic from the descriptions in his Contract.

"Still, to consider terrible stuff like this high-quality, why?"

That Feng Biao could not figure out. So he decided to change the subject to something he needed to figure out.

"Hunter, who is Brandon Steele?"

Hunter lost his smile before speaking, "He's the scion of America, at least the Western Autocracy."

"Why is Song Zhilan engaged to him?"

"I'm not a politician so I can't tell you exactly why. I can guess one reason though," Hunter said before sighing. "They're probably compatible."

Seeing Feng Biao was confused Hunter continued.

"There are some Divine Abilities, really powerful ones, that let you see the future. But not really, more like possibilities? There is only one outcome, but an infinite amount of possibilities, some are just more likely than others."

"Anyways, the child of Song Zhilan and Brandon Steele. The possibility of it being Marked can be seen. The possibility of it being a Primordial Marked can be seen as well."

"How the, as they call themselves, "Free States of America" work is stuff like that, paired engagements based on probability of Marked birth are mandatory."

"So my guess is if their child is likely to be a Primordial Marked a lot was offered by the FSA to get an agreement from the HCF to broker a deal for an engagement."

It was a lot to absorb, but Feng Biao understood. From the moment Song Zhilan was Marked she was not treated like him, a person, she was an asset. To be used for maximum gain.

"Of course that's all a guess. Stuff concerning Primordial Marked is kept real hush-hush," then Hunter grew serious again, "Feng Biao, Brandon Steele is not someone you can piss off and survive."

"Stay away from Song Zhilan. It's her own life, she will have to decide how she lives it."

What Hunter said made sense, but it didn't feel right. Ultimately he was cowering before the invisible might of a man on another continent, with his current strength and status he was not in a position to stand tall.

Gripping his fist Feng Biao resolved to get stronger faster. As a leaf in the wind who would be able to protect him when a storm came?