Chapter VI: Three-Core Beast

After a couple of weeks exposed to the elements, Shoneyi was severely wounded. One of his legs was almost shattered, his left eye had lost nearly all visibility, and although he couldn’t be certain, a few broken ribs could be added to his atrocious fate.

“Damn you, Dakun Rao.”

The words were legible on his lips, even if they emitted no sound. Little by little, Shoneyi had had to learn to move through the forest without attracting the attention of magical beasts. Anything he found on the ground was a powerful weapon from his poor vantage point.

He had lost vision in his left eye due to an attack from a three-magical-core beast. Shoneyi was badly hurt, but he had learned to conceal his presence from any predators around him. To do this, the boy began to understand how spiritual energy flowed in the environment. Gradually, the colors that previously surrounded him ceased to be so opaque and became clearer, sharper, and brighter.

A light with the force of a sun burst from within him. The energy, like dust, surrounded one of his spiritual points, and as Shoneyi sat cross-legged to concentrate and meditate, his first Spiritual Core was formed.

Upon this event, his body automatically began to heal; his injuries went from fatal to minor in a matter of hours. His broken bones were no longer fractured, changing to just a few bruises.

While for Shoneyi it felt like perhaps a few minutes or a couple of hours, two years had already passed in the real world.

As time was passing in another part of the world, specifically in a cabin in the Heaven Sect: “It seems you finished off yet another slave, you little scoundrel.”

The Fifth Master’s voice sounded like a grandfather scolding his grandson, yet without the intention to genuinely reprimand him. With the same intention, he communicated with the proud look of a father.

“Greetings to the Fifth Master.”

Dakun Rao performed a bow of a little more than ninety degrees and, at the same time, increased his spiritual flow to display one, two, three… six, seven, and what caught the elder’s attention, an eighth core glowing from within his disciple.

“Excellent work, young Rao.”

The elder turned toward the central cloud where the sect leader was located and, with eyes that could only describe a Machiavellian plan, his goal of becoming the new leader began to take shape with the increase in Dakun Rao’s power.

“I now possess a little over two hundred magical cores.”

Shoneyi said to himself, placing one core after another in a small cave that had served as his home for the last two years in the lost forest. Since the boy was in the middle of the beast territory, leaving was not an option unless he possessed a second core in its final stage.

Another year passed unnoticed for the boy, who became lost in thought whenever he was in the cave. “Finally… I will be able to leave this hell.”

Despite his fear of blood, Shoneyi managed not to faint every time he saw it; one could say he was comfortable with it as long as it wasn't his own. When the boy went out to hunt single-core beasts, he only needed to hit them once or twice to defeat them, wait a few minutes, and claim their core for his collection.

“You’ll pay for this, damn Dakun Rao, I’ll make you pay for every single one of your stupid kicks.”

If someone could see the boy in the cave, they would understand that what he was saying was already a mantra, something he repeated every day to mark it within his spirit.

“It is time… it’s time to go back.”

With determination in his gaze, Shoneyi left the cave and found four single-core beasts. With a swing of his leg, he sent one of them flying toward the other three; the place where the beasts had been was now a pool of blood.

“Not again…!”

Sounds of coughing and someone vomiting could be heard in the center of the forest. After wiping his mouth, Shoneyi continued almost without issue, but when he was close enough to see the Heaven Sect, a three-core beast crept up silently behind the boy.

A heavy scratch began descending toward Shoneyi’s head. The beast had entered a frenzy mode; it knew this individual had escaped alive some years ago, and it was time to complete its past task.

The beast’s strike hit only the air the boy had vacated. A lateral step to the right, a counter-clockwise spin, and a leap that leveled Shoneyi’s right arm with the beast.

A great wave of air and dust could be seen where the beast and the boy had been. After a few seconds, and once the dust dissipated, there were only three magical cores in its place and a small hand collecting them one by one.

“You’re next…”