Reborn: Apocalypse (Volume 3): (A LitRPG/Wuxia Story)

by L. M. Kerr

  Micheal had ignored that as he moved on to the third Necrotic Burner, the one he had used up right now.

  And, through a bit of luck, this one worked like the first one had:

  Perfectly.

  The energy was absorbed without a hitch, Micheal’s experience at guiding and manipulating energy coming in handy as he allowed it to merge without any issues. The leftover energy healed his heart and related veins, wiping away the damage the second Necrotic Burner had left as if it hadn’t ever been.

  And now, as Micheal sat on the rooftop, only a minute or two after he got started, he couldn’t help but to smile.

  When he began using the Necrotic Burners, Micheal had decided that he was going to experiment with something you were only supposed to be able to do at the Sky Tier of Ki Cultivation:

  Directed Cultivation.

  As he felt the changes in his body, he could intuitively tell that this experiment had been a roaring success.

  ‘Status.’ He thought to himself, calling up the small blue screen.

  .

  — - Status — -

  Name: Micheal Care

  Points: 11,213

  Race: Human

  Age: 18

  Physique: Energized Physique - 2 Star

  Soul Quality: 3 Star

  Strength - 173 -> 212

  Endurance - 129 -> 151

  Recovery - 127 -> 128

  Soul - 38

  Abilities - (6/7)

  Life Orb Master

  Ki Cultivator (Earth Tier - Late)

  Grandmaster Sword Mastery (1/5)

  Impact Release

  Ceaseless Mind

  Temporal Bubble

  .

  ‘It really worked!’ The attempt had carried a small amount of risk, especially since he was absorbing Ki from other people, even if that Ki was supposedly purified and cleansed by the Necrotic Burner. If something had gone wrong, he might have been forced to waste a Life Orb.

  However, given the immediate positives and his own confidence, Micheal had opted to try it.

  And here he was now…

  He had successfully managed to direct how the increase in Ki affected his body, customizing the increase in stats on a permanent level. Aka, Directed Cultivation.

  Ki Cultivation was an interesting thing. By absorbing the energy of existence, by feeding off of reality, you could enhance your body and Soul in fantastic ways.

  Typically, this energy would be absorbed in a general fashion. It would affect your entire body, boosting you in a nominally balanced manner.

  However… as your body grew stronger, able to handle more Ki, to handle denser energy, certain possibilities began to open up. As long as he had a strong enough Soul, with a body that could handle it, it was possible for Micheal to manipulate how his stats would grow, how his physical body would evolve. Micheal had always been able to subtly affect this, causing there to be a larger focus on Strength in his growth, but never in an overwhelming way... until now.

  His Soul being strong enough wasn’t even a question. With a Soul stat of 38, his Soul was on par with many Sky Tier experts.

  His body’s stats, though… well, they were decent, but not yet Sky Tier, especially for the vast majority of humans with any type of boosting Abilities.

  However, his 2 Star Energized Physique was strong, more so than a regular human’s. It was this Physique that gave him the confidence to at least try, a body that should be capable of many things.

  And, because of his efforts, he had been rewarded.

  ’39 points in Strength, 22 points in Endurance, and 1 point in Recovery.’ The hugely unbalanced increase was a direct result of his Directed Cultivation.

  He heavily prioritized Strength, while giving secondary emphasis to Endurance. As for Recovery, he abandoned it almost entirely.

  There were some people that thought having balanced stats all around was the best method of growth. By keeping your Strength in tune with your Endurance, with a backdrop of Recovery that could keep up, a warrior could maintain his Strength at a strong level for long periods of time.

  Micheal completely disagreed with that mentality, here in his second life.

  He needed power.

  Raw, unrestrained power.

  Sure, having a strong Recovery stat was important. It let you heal from injuries at a faster pace, recover your energy during battle at an increased rate, things of that nature.

  What else did that, one might ask?

  Artifacts. Pills. Certain Magic Herbs. Potions. A plethora of tools and objects that could be used to handle those issues.

  Even if he didn’t have the ability to come back to life after dying, Micheal’s thoughts would remain the same, though perhaps not to such an extreme degree.

  Recovery was an important stat for the general populace, to ensure they survived the longest.

  But for someone whose goal was absolute, unadulterated power, Recovery was a stat he could mostly ignore, letting it grow on its own, through each Tier upgrade and from his body naturally becoming more healthy.

  Endurance, on the other hand, was not a stat he could ignore. He could be insanely strong, but if he broke his hand every time he launched a punch, all of that power would go to waste. Thus, his Endurance needed to be strong enough that it could bear the strain he would place on his body, just enough to work in combat.

  Strength, the final stat he could easily affect, was the holy grail of these three stats in Micheal’s eyes.

  Battles between experts in close combat typically lasted from seconds to a few minutes at most. Duels that lasted for hours were a thing found in movies and fantasy, not reality.

  A single misstep, an accidental mistake, the fate of a warrior’s life could be decided in a tiny fraction of a moment.

  To ensure he had the greatest chance of winning that moment, Micheal poured the lion’s share of his efforts into Strength.

  Enhanced senses, faster movement, stronger power, the Strength stat was the single most important stat for him among those he could easily influence.

  If he ended every fight in a matter of seconds, he wouldn’t need a Recovery stat that could keep him fighting for hours. If he killed all of his enemies before they could injure him, he wouldn’t need to be able to heal his injuries in seconds or require a sky-high Endurance stat.

  The fact that he had his Life Orbs did provide a great deal of reassurance and make this route more feasible. But, well, that was part of why he chose this Ability in the first place.

  ‘Soul still at 38, eh?’ He shrugged when he noticed that. As always, that particular stat was a royal pain to raise.

  He also noted that his Ki Cultivation was still in the Late Stage of the Earth Tier. However, he could feel the noticeable changes that were beginning to take place, indicating that he was close to the Peak Stage, the last wall between him and the Heart Trial for Sky Tier.

  Micheal tapped on his Spatial Ring, simultaneously moving his arms and legs to begin getting used to his newfound strength.

  He scanned the contents of his ring for a second, zeroing in on the remaining Necrotic Burners. After a few seconds, the smile on his face widened slightly.

  ‘I have 14 more left.’ His perfect recall meant he already knew this fact. Still, he liked mentally reassuring himself and counting them out.

  He had literally looted Yvvtal’s entire treasure when it came to Necrotic Burners. With this many left in store, reaching the highest Peak Stage of Earth Tier Ki Cultivation was only a matter of enemies killed.

  And then, the Sky Tier would be only a Heart Trial away.

  Micheal took a few more moments to get acclimated with his body.

  After that, he got to his feet and stood up, ignoring the rain that was dripping off his green cloak. He put on a dry shirt from his Spatial Ring, gearing himself back up to fight.

  He had gotten his first set of kills and power boosts. It was time to get another-

  Just as he was in the middle of thinking, a blur in
the corner of Micheal’s eye interrupted his concentration.

  His head snapped to the left, staring at an armored female warrior that had just landed on his rooftop. She was a tall fighter, armed with a small, silenced pistol in one hand and a battle-axe in another. Despite jumping up a sizable height, she didn’t make even a sound when she landed here.

  Micheal’s gaze fell upon her and then flickered up for a split second.

  ‘Right.’ He thought, frowning slightly.

  The disturbance he’d made had been very minimal, but he was facing true experts, not random brigands.

  Micheal felt, rather than saw, two more armored warriors land on the rooftop, one behind him and another off to his right. The one behind him was a male wielding two large swords, while the one on his right was another female, this time wielding several throwing stars.

  A three-man squad, armed to the teeth and ready to fight.

  The warriors didn’t speak, nor did Micheal. Instead, they seemed to be sizing him up.

  A cool breeze swept across the rooftop, interrupting the scattered rain.

  Micheal’s frown vanished as he took hold of the situation, replaced with a small smile.

  It seemed that his prey had decided to come to him instead.

  “Well then.” Micheal spoke aloud as he held his hands out to the side, ten long, metal threads flowing free from his gloves,

  “Shall we begin?”

  Without waiting for a reply, Micheal immediately began his attack.

  .

  Chapter 42

  Micheal’s hands splayed out to the side.

  In a split second, ten titanium threads ripped outward through the air, glowing red energy covering each line with a layer of power as the threads spread out.

  The three warriors reacted at the same time Micheal did.

  The female in front of Micheal immediately raised her firearm. As she did so, her entire body began to transform, morphing as yellow light glowed out from her eyes.

  Her form became slightly smaller and thinner, more wiry than muscular. Her legs hunched forward slightly while her arms elongated, the metal armor she wore stretching to accommodate her.

  As soon as Micheal saw these changes, he was able to instantly guess what her Type was.

  When it came to Full Transformation Types, especially ones you could get from the Mystical Variant Transformation Type Ability, there were four distinct Tiers used to classify which Types were among the strong and which were weak.

  The first Tier, Standard, was composed of the vast majority of Full Transformation Types. The strength of these Types was nothing special, they were commonplace and the norm for most people.

  The second Tier, Rare, was the start of the upper tier of Full Transformation Types. Less than 5% of Types fell into the ‘Rare Tier.’ These were creatures of greater power, those that stood head and shoulders above common breeds.

  The third Tier, Mythical, was composed of extremely strong Full Transformation Types, ones that often held certain mystical Abilities and powerful might. They were creatures out of myth, rarely seen or heard from. Very few people had a Type from this Tier.

  The fourth and final Tier, Legendary, was for awe-inspiring creatures out of literal legend. Types that held devastating power that were absurdly rare to an extreme degree.

  The infamous Black Dragon King of Micheal’s original timeline had a Legendary Tier Full Transformation Type, though when he faced the Deities, he fell all the same in the end.

  This female warrior’s type was one Micheal recognized. The changes in her body, the way her legs hunched forward, and the painted image on her mask made it clear.

  The White Tailed Spring Monkey Type Ability, a Full Transformation Type that was listed as one of the strongest among the Rare Tier. It was an Ability that greatly improved one’s reflexes, hand-eye coordination, speed, and strength.

  A single glance was all it took for Micheal to determine the other two warriors had the same Type. This entire squad appeared to consist of those with the same Type Ability, warriors that knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses the best.

  The unnatural silence that enshrouded their actions was also an Ability Micheal recognized. The ‘Silent Zone Ability’ that cost 178,000 Points in the Shop. This Ability created a sound-dampening field, quieting most sound waves before they could escape from anywhere within one meter of the user.

  They were a team of silent killers, assassins sent out by the Vile King to wreak havoc and force humanity into war. A mix of hatred and pity stirred in Micheal’s heart as he looked at the warriors.

  The ten metal threads Micheal had cast out stretched more than a dozen meters in length. The thin size of each thread made it much easier to spread his Sword Energy along, something that would’ve been impossible on a sword of even half their length.

  These threads cut through the rain itself as they flew out into the air, hovering just above the rooftop. The dim red light the threads gave off was difficult to see, completely obscured by the rain if you were farther than twenty or thirty meters out.

  As soon as these threads spread, and just as the three warriors were beginning to attack, Micheal jerked his hands inward.

  He brought his right arm up above his head, while his left arm went down below his chest, pulling as hard as he could. His muscles bulged as he went all out, tugging ferociously.

  The metal threads, guided by his Advanced Tier Sword Energy, followed his commands, whiplashing back in and cutting through the rain like 10 razor knives.

  It was like a visible wave of metal, slicing outward in one second and then rushing inward in the next. The attack was extremely sudden, especially given how hard the metal threads were to see.

  For a single, frenzied second, everything was peaceful.

  In the next…

  Micheal obliterated the roof.

  His titanium threads sliced the top of the warehouse apart like it was butter. The Farians had reinforced these buildings, constructing them from a special type of durable rock. Despite their efforts, Micheal’s attack devastated everything in his path, shearing through the tough stone with ease.

  He relied on two Life Orbs hidden inside his shoes to keep him up and hovering in the air.

  His strike had been near-instant, moving with incredible speed. Despite that, all three of the Beast warriors saw through it, each of them possessing an intuitive sense of battle awareness when it came to conventional attacks.

  The female warrior in front of him simply jumped backwards off the roof, moving out of range of his attack.

  The man behind Micheal withdrew two large metal shields from a Spatial Ring and stored his two swords, holding one shield on each side of his body as he huddled up, opting to block the attack.

  The last warrior, the female on Micheal’s right, smashed through the roof with her foot using a technique that caused a small, fiery explosion. She managed to carve a small enough hole to duck into, letting her avoid the strike.

  As a result of their lightning-fast reactions, the two females on the squad successfully managed to avoid Micheal’s attack.

  The lone male, on the other hand…

  When Micheal’s titanium threads tore the roof to shreds, shards of stone were sent flying. Debris and rock shrapnel ripped through the air, clashing off the rain in a chaotic mess. What was left of the roof immediately began to collapse as its entire structure was ripped apart, unable to support itself.

  Just before it began to collapse, however, Micheal’s threads reached the shield-bearing warrior.

  The two shields weren’t random ones the warrior had picked up off the street. They were Marrow Shields, Artifacts which cost 142,000 Points each. Colored bone white, these shields were renowned for their ability to regrow after taking damage as long as you fed them with blood, making them extremely durable. Their defensive prowess was top notch too, making them a steal of a Defensive Artifact.

  At the same time, a blue glow began to appear around the warrior
and his shields. This glow seemed to make the shields grow a little bigger, enhancing their power. Micheal guessed it was the Sky’s Ally Ability, a Limited Ability that cost 212,883 Points in the Shop. This power allowed one to temporarily buff their Artifacts, a very useful Ability for a warrior.

  In just a single frantic moment, the warrior transformed into a leviathan of a tank, exuding defensive prowess that was previously nowhere to be seen. His Type wasn’t one geared towards blocking attacks, yet he managed to overcome that hurdle through his own efforts.

  Most warriors would not even be able to break through his defenses, let alone injure him.

  Unfortunately for him, Micheal was not most warriors.

  Ten glowing metal threads slammed into the two stalwart shields.

  The cutting energy combined with the sharp edge of the threads sliced into the shields, but failed to slash all the way through it. The reinforcing energy from the Sky’s Ally Ability forced the threads to slow down, preventing them from digging all the way in.

  The warrior grunted as he felt the impact. While the threads were small, the combined energy of Micheal’s Sword Energy and inertia gave them an impact that would’ve sent a Third Rate Warrior stumbling back.

  For a brief moment, the shields held together. The male fighter was able to take the hit and hold steady, never faltering. He successfully blocked the attack.

  In the next moment, the roof fell apart underneath him.

  Micheal snorted slightly when he saw this. At the same time, he pulled hard on the metal threads, tugging them down and to the side in a jerking motion.

  The male warrior put forth a valiant effort as he tried to tuck himself in, but blocking a multi-pronged attack while caught by surprise falling in mid-air… well, even Micheal would have a tough time with that.

  The warrior’s body was literally ripped apart as half a dozen titanium threads sliced him into pieces, killing him instantly. If he had a last-resort Defensive Artifact, he didn’t have time to activate it as he died without even a chance to strike back.

  .

  —-Points Obtained—-

  Points: 29,272