《SOUL LAND: DOULUO DALU THE GAME》CHAPTER 17
Advertisement
Sunlight peering through the open window, warmly embraced my face. I slowly opened my eyes while rubbing it. I was clearly not in my bedroom, no infact I wasn't even on earth but somewhere else on an unknown planet, on an unknown continent which the natives called duoluo continent. Yes, I had reincarnated into the world of douluo dalu, into the body of the protagonist, Tang San.
While sitting up, I checked out my surroundings, it was surprisingly tidy. I had to be cautious, I didn't knew how Tang Hao would react. Since I couldn't figure out what to do, I waited for him to react first, before deciding.
Tang Hao sensing my "deliberately" weak attempt to sit up, rushed at once. His eyes were watery, from my concern. He had greatly changed from the cutscene Tang Hao. His once disheveled hair were now properly cleaned. His once hidden beauty once again emerged. But it formed a clear contrast with his robe filled with patches. It seemed that the thought of losing his only son had greatly impacted him. Atleast he would now be more controllable and reasonable to deal with.
"Little San"... he said with a strong yet gentle voice. I couldn't help but look directly into his eyes. My feets trembled as I saw his eyes, deep inside it was full of love towards a certain someone, and he wanted to take care of him. Even though I managed to hide my expression, my heart was pounding heavily. I hadn't seen it anywhere, it was my first time experiencing this kind of pure and deep love. Perhaps due to the life and death situation, the love Tang Hao and Ah Yin fostered couldn't be compared to the love seen between the people of Earth.
"are you..." before he could even complete his question, I asked, "Dad, what happened? I remember... I.. I recall mom!? I actually don't remember much. Dad, what happened? " As, I couldn't answer if he had asked me what happened? So, Instead I asked him first.
"Sigh. You were unconscious for a whole month. We found you near the foot of the hill in the morning. But then, when you gained consciousness, you started screaming and hallucinating. Seeing your pained expression, I had to make you sleep, but you fell into coma for a month."
I had to make up some good excuse for this. Since I had already used the word, "mother" I went along with it and told him that it was perhaps related to my martial soul - blue silver grass. Without much hinting , he understood it was related to my blood. He was clearly puzzled, perhaps he thought it was due to me being a hybrid between a human and a soul plant. He
asked me not to stay up any longer and rest.
For the next two months, I practiced my six martial arts from the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record along with blacksmith. Surprisingly, Tang Hao took the initiative to teach me. But it was painful. My task was to forge a fifty square centimeter block of pig iron into fist size. This was such an impossible task, if I were to Hammer it in normal way, but Tang Hao taught me the Skill of Random Hammering. Continuously hammering made my whole arm sore. But I preserved!
My whole day went either blacksmithing or practicing the Tang Sect techniques. Since I used Purple Demon Eye every day, it had made significant progress compared to before. My eyesight was already capable of clearly seeing the minute motion of a mosquito flapping its wings within ten meters. I had already mastered Controlling Crane Catching Dragon and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track with the help of main protagonist memories. But, whether it was Mysterious Heaven Skill or Mysterious Jade Hand, they showed no sign of improvement. I needed my first soul ring before the threshold was broken.
Advertisement
With the force leveraging method Tang Hao taught me, I was capable of more than twenty four hammer swings, every swing with flawless precision due to Purple Demon Eye, including control of force due to Controlling Crane Catching Dragon.
At once, entering the door, lightly touching my wrist, my heart fluttered, my face showed a trace of a satisfied smile; on my wrist was attached the first work I did since arriving in this world, and every step was completed by me on my own.
This was a spring loaded dart concealed in my sleeve. This concealed dart was the most ordinary kind of hidden weapon in Tang Sect. The key to manufacturing the concealed dart depends on the power of the mechanism as well as the degree of ingenuity of the design. This manufactured sleeve dart was even equipped with a safety device, so that no accidental injury could be possible.
One set of sleeve darts had three arrows made to fit in a sleeve. The material for the sleeve dart was exactly the fist sized chunk of pig iron I had hammered for nearly two months.
When I first held the fist sized chunk of completely forged pig iron, I was shocked to discover that the pig iron which originally contained impurities had now transformed into a chunk of iron mother, genuine iron mother.
This was unbelievable. Even on Earth, no such technology was available. This sleeve dart on my wrist was made from that chunk of iron mother. To completely manufacture the sleeve dart, including three ten centimetres small arrows inside, I had used all the iron mother I had.
Ordinary sleeve darts had a range of fifteen metres or so, but the sleeve dart made by me could maintain an effective attack range of over thirty metres.
Effective attack range, is exactly the range where the weapon is fully able to kill or wound.
The sleeve darts, even though only three, were made extremely ingeniously. On each sleeve dart were three blood grooves. If not for the size being too small, I would have added arrowheads barbs to these dart arrows. The tail had four tiny fletchings that could cause the sleeve dart to fly extremely smoothly. The tapered arrowhead was spiral rifled, so that when the sleeve dart was launched it possessed even greater piercing power.
Tang Hao was greatly surprised by the maturity I displayed. I asked him such various and unique doubts, that a 6 year old never would have asked. Whenever we ended up spending time, I always tried to emotionally get connected to him. I tried all I could to enter his heart, but no matter what, even when he was full drunken, he would never spill anything about Ah Yin or Clear Sky tribe.
Finally, two months had passed, I was a little disheartened that I didn't get to know more about blacksmithing but a part of me was secretly glad that I didn't need to blacksmith anymore.
Sure enough, in the morning he had secretly gone to meet Old Jack.
“Little San, where on earth did you go this early in the morning?” Tang Hao coolly asked when he returned.
I replied, “For the past two months, I have been going out at the morning for exercising at the hill.”
“Oh. But your injury...”
"It's now ok, dad"
Tang Hao did not try to dig deeper, and coolly said,“Today you won’t practice forging again. Get your things ready, tomorrow old Jack will take you to Nuoding city.”
“Nuoding city? Why?” I asked innocently, even though I knew it. It would be awkward if I didn't ask.
Advertisement
Tang Hao gave me a look, and said, “Do you not want to study soul master abilities? Old Jack can take you to Nuoding city’s primary soul master academy to become a working student. There you can study whatever you want.”
Hearing this I smiled internally, but still asked in a confusing tone, “Dad, what changed your mind?”
Tang Hao returned with a question, “Do you still want to go or not?”
I rebutted,“But if I leave, nobody will make you food.”
Tang Hao coldly said, “Do I still need you to look after me? You just leave. This is your chosen path. Every year Holy Spirit village has a quota of one, do not waste it. I have handed over the forging methods to you, so you can look for work as an apprentice in a smithy in town. It should be enough to cover tuition and food expenses.”
Even though Tang Hao’s words were very indifferent, I could sense the warmth behind his words. For who knows how many times I tried opening his heart, but everytime he refused to openly talk to me. For the past two months, even though Tang Hao always reacted to me in a manner that certainly never changed, but he was certainly being influenced, even if a little; now the tall wide ashen man before his eyes already gave him an increasingly paternal feeling. This was the effect of continuous accumulation. At first, it seemed that the small actions of getting closer didn’t do much, but being continuously subjected to it, it slowly started changing Tang Hao. It was so small that even Tang Hao, himself didn't notice.
I, of course wanted to go study the lore of soul masters, but at this moment I made an expression which was reluctant to part with his father.
Tang Hao said,“Letting you go to Nuoding comes with a condition. If you agree you may go.”
“Is it related to my martial soul? ” I spoke without the slightest hesitation.
Tang Hao’s brows wrinkled slightly,"That's right" he said.
"Let me guess, it's about the status of Twin Martial Soul. Out of 8 children, only I awakened Twin Martial Soul, it should be very hard to find someone with Twin Martial Soul. You want me to hide my identity and only use single martial soul. Am I right?" Summoning both of my martial souls, I asked Tang Hao as I "deduced" this information.
Tang Hao was slightly panicked, hearing this. To think his son would have such high intelligence at an age of 6!
"I have always felt that the hammer spirit is always powerful than the blue silver grass spirit. I guess you would want me to hide my hammer spirit as a trump card and wish that I would continue cultivating my blue silver grass. But why?"
Tang Hao was naturally taken aback. His son saw right through his thoughts before he could even tell him anything. He'd never seen such a monster.
The barrier that prevented me from entering his heart was naturally Ah Yin. Evwn though I knew, I couldn't say anything that would arouse suspicion towards me. But what if he himself told me about it? Even if it was just a mention, I naturally would have more leeway. The way I answered him, surely he would be more than just surprised. And in this state if I were to ask a "why?" then chances were he would say what was buried deep inside his heart.
But this man was too tight lipped. He controlled himself to not say anything.
"You will know when the time comes. And you're right from now on no matter how you cultivate your soul power, you must not let your hammer spirit absorb any spirit ring, so much so that you cannot let another person see it appear. Do not let other people know that you have twin spirits. The blue silver grass spirit you can use as you please, cultivating, exerting whatever soul is also no problem. With twin martial soul, both martial soul do not need to rely on soul rings to promote soul power to be able to cultivate. Provided you have one martial soul that possesses a soul ring, the soul power promotion bottleneck will disappear.”
"Little San, promise me, you will always use the hammer to protect the blue silver grass. Only if you encounter a life threatening situation should you use the hammer. Otherwise, do not use that hammer.”
I spoke with ease, "Dad, I promise you. Even if you hadn’t told me this, I was planning on hiding atleast one of my martial souls."
“Good, let’s eat.” Tang Hao said.
After supper, Tang Hao left without a word to go out drinking, as if nothing was different from the routine. He told me not to make noise and disturb his sleep when he went out for his morning exercise the next morning.
Early morning, I sat atop a large rock on the summit of the hill. I was holding tree leaves, with my eyes having a purple lustre. Not knowing why but Purple Demon Eye had advanced very rapidly; the leaf in his hand, even if it was the smallest lines, he could distinctly observe them. This proved that my Purple Demon Eye had already begun to enter the realm of the detailed. While Mysterious Heaven Skill had nine levels, Purple Demon Eye only had four levels, survey, detailed, mustard seed and boundless.
Mysterious Heaven skill welling forth, suddenly I poured the inner qi into the tree leaves, the soft leaves immediately became perfectly straight. As my index and middle finger jerked slightly, and the tree leaves spun out, splitting the air as they flew forth.
But after just one metre, they were unable to maintain their rotating state when they stopped being perfectly straight. As it left my finger, Mysterious Heaven skill’s inner qi strength effect naturally vanished.
The day of partition had arrived, Tang Hao was sleeping peacefully. Since he didn't wanted to see his son depart, and since I didn't want to waste my time here, him sleeping was beneficial to both of us. But I couldn't outright leave, I had to maintain my image that I have been building up from the past two months. The rice congee was already ready, I just left with a well worded emotional message. This, was the only thing which could remind him of, me constantly taking care of him.
Old Jack had came to escort me towards Nuoding city. I was finally starting my life as a soul master! That's also where I would meet her. Nuoding city, here I come.
Advertisement
- In Serial264 Chapters
Delve
Summary – Level 1: Delve is an isekai litrpg that follows an average guy who just happened to wake up in a forest one day. He wasn’t summoned to defeat the demon lord or to save the world or anything like that, at least as far as he can tell. The only creature there to greet him was a regular old squirrel. Soon enough, he meets other people, only to discover that he can’t speak the language, and that not everybody immediately trusts random pajama-wearing strangers they met in the middle of the wilderness. Things generally go downhill from there, at least until the blue boxes start appearing. Delve is a story about finding your way in a new, strange, and dangerous world. It’s about avoiding death, figuring out what the heck is going on, and trying to make some friends along the way. It’s not about getting home, so much as finding a new one. Did I mention that there will be math? Summary – Level 2: Okay, but what are you in for, really? Well, this story is supposed to be realistic, or at least, as realistic as a fantasy litrpg can be. The main character doesn’t instantly become an all-powerful god and murder-hobo his way across the universe. Delve is, at its heart, a progression fantasy, but that progression is meant to feel earned. The numbers in this story actually mean something. Everything is calculated, and if you find a rounding error, I expect you to tell me about it. That said, if math isn’t your cup of tea, there is plenty more that the story has to offer. Characters are meant to feel real, and progression isn’t only about personal power; it’s also about allies, connections, and above all, knowledge. Figuring out how the system works is a significant theme. ... What, you want more details? Okay, fine, but this is going to get a bit spoiler-y. Are you sure? Yes! Really sure? I mean, this summary is practically half as long as the first chap– Now! Okay, okay! The main character becomes a magic user, but he takes a route that is not very popular in adventurer culture, namely that of a support. There is a full magic system with various spells, skills, and abilities, but our MC decides that aura magic is the way to go, and that the only stat worth investing in is mana regeneration. Most people at the Adventurer’s Guild think that this makes him a bit of a dumbass, but he’s playing the long game. We’ll see how that works out for him, won’t we? Because of his build, the MC levels up fast, at least compared to normal people. There are no cheats, though, and he is limited in other ways. There are some clear and pretty obvious downsides to his build. That’s what makes it fun, no? Morals? Our MC has them. Again, we’ll see how that works out for him. Realism, remember? Would you be okay with killing someone and looting their body? I sure hope not. POV? The focus is on the main character, but there will be occasional varying perspectives from people around him, or involved in the events related to the main plot. It isn’t going to jump all over the place. Tech is standard medieval stasis. No smartphones, but the MC does have a technical background. Computers and their programming might be involved. There might even be a bit of uplifting down the road, who knows? Anyway, it isn’t the focus. He isn’t going to invent the gun in chapter 1 and change the face of warfare. Romance is not a major focus. Friendships are more the name of the game, though there will be some characters in romantic relationships. There is exploration, though not as much of the geographical nature as you might expect. It is more about exploration of the system and the culture. The pace is slow and detailed, sometimes verging on slice-of-life. The action is meant to be realistic and grounded in the numbers, and it is intended to have meaning beyond simply punching things until they stop moving. The general tone of the story is grey, and some parts can get quite dark. People die. Sometimes, people with names, but not anywhere near GoT level. There is plenty of light, too, though, to balance the darkness. The world is dangerous, but overcoming that danger is why we’re all here, isn’t it? Anyway, if you’ve made it this far through the summary, you clearly like words. I hope you enjoy the story! Cover by Miha Brumec Summary Updated: 2020-06-14
8 850 - In Serial85 Chapters
Humanity's End
Given a year to prepare by the mysterious ‘system’ for contact with the wider galaxy, humanity must work to ensure the Earth’s defense is ready to meet any challenge. Sadly, most of the world seems dedicated to tearing itself apart as the year-end deadline gets closer. The west is in barely contained Chaos, while the east descends into internal conflict and war. The Pillar Forts, one of the few successful projects of the United Nations headed by the United States, stand ready to defend humanity against any invasion that may come through the strange Connection Pillars that appeared on each continent. Massive steel and stone walls that surround the Connection Pillars. They are filled with deadly men and women trained in all manner of warfare, each trained in the newly acquired System with skills and magical abilities that they put to deadly purpose. Beside these brave warriors, tanks, helicopters, artillery and more stand ready to defend humanity at each of these powerful installations. But, can they overcome the disparity in levels and experience between themselves and the forces that threaten them and the rest of humanity? Main Characters Jessica Brown- A young African American girl. Her 18th birthday in Detroit was the same day the systems message appeared. She discovered she was Level 7, much higher than most of the rest of the world. Why she is blessed, or cursed, with the power she doesn’t know. But what she does know is that she rather likes the feeling that comes with manipulating magic. The week after her birthday, government workers started testing every person in the US in a massive census effort of skills and abilities. Jessica Brown found herself conscripted into the US Magical Corp, a new branch of the US Military, and shipped off to a Pillar Fort. Somewhere hot and muggy in her ancestors’ home of Africa. As she grows stronger, she finds she has some connection to the pillars. While everyone else sees beauty or danger when they look at the pillars, after connection is made all Jessica can see is a Tree. A tree the size of the entire universe. Isaka Smith - is a third generation American and farmer who just wants to be left alone. But she is dragged into the situation by events beyond her control. When people in her small town had to deal with rioters and looters after the system announcement, she rallied them to defend themselves, earning her a trait that the government found extraordinarily useful. After a visit to a local reservation, she finds herself conscripted to lead one of the many small support towns erected around the great pillar forts. Not near her old home, but in far-flung Africa. John McIntire, the “Fighting Bull” -The commander of the African Fort, but because of circumstances beyond his ability to contend with shortly after taking command after being re-activated from retirement, he finds communication with his chain of command increasingly difficult. The US government, hell, even the United Nations, seems to have fallen into complete and utter chaos. The African Union is embroiled in a bitter civil war just outside his door, and supposedly, most of the world governments are in similar situations. Meanwhile, John must do his best to be ready to facilitate diplomacy, or to match the hostile argument of whatever force might come through the pillar of light when the year timer finishes counting down. Can our heros defend Earth from outside threats, while it tares itself apart? Or will they need to rebuild from the ground up? DEDICATION: This story is dedicated to my father who passed away recently. Jim Holloway, you’ll be missed you old silverback gorilla. Love you dad. Always have, always will.
8 314 - In Serial12 Chapters
Rise of Toki
From a common worm to human to a dragon, they have a gem embedded in their bodies since birth. These gems contained the skills of that specimen for it to grow and mature. The more skills one obtains, the stronger they become, the more evolutionary options they open. Then their powers would be passed down to their children to unlock. This is a story about a little tortoise rising up against ... the world! Maybe not. It all started out when this little tortoise sought out to find her little sister in a big world. My attempt to draw the main characters.
8 202 - In Serial8 Chapters
Sky Dungeon
In a world filled with magic, where gods roam the earth and fearsome beasts of legend fill the land, mysterious monsters known as dungeons have existed in perpetuity since the dawn of time. This is the story of one particular dungeon that ruled the skies. A lone dungeon that hovered over the earth and traversed even the world’s most lone and desolate places! A dungeon of dreams, of hopes, and of many desires that inspired great fear in some and great destiny on others. The one and only flying dungeon of its time, the sky dungeon! Inspired by Ancient Strengthening Technique by I Am Superfluous and RoyalRoadLegend’s Dungeon Heart by MinningDragon. The Cover is temporary and is not my own work, nor have I been given permission to use it. I found it on a blog belonging to the artist Aiste Surutkoviciute.
8 134 - In Serial30 Chapters
I, Paladin (an urban fantasy novel)
I was born and raised in Guthrie, Oklahoma—a town with 10,000 people. Mama runs a vintage diner inherited from family and the farthest I’ve been from home is a thirty-minute car ride to Oklahoma City. It's been a traditional middle-America upbringing. Until I have to defend myself from a vampire at sixteen. Suddenly, life is fight training, classes about monsters, and possessing a power I don’t understand or know the origin of—all made more complicated by a crush on my instructor, Agent Thirteen. I don’t want any of this, but The Agency promises to pay Mama’s medical bills and making sure she’s taken care of always comes first. It’s only been the two of us for years. Becoming a paladin means sacrifice.
8 172 - In Serial27 Chapters
Cross Roads: The Monsters Among Us (Book One)
In a series of bizarre murders around the Sycamore University, now more than ever people are getting restless and scared. With no end in sight, a gift from heaven (so to speak) comes knocking on their doorstep. A group of magical young ladies with immense strength and unfathomable intelligence, arrives as a godsend. As they delve deeper into the investigation, a story between what is righteous and what isn't stands firmly in the presence of what is really happening around campus.
8 174

