Chapter 48: Y[U]hao: Now, I am a little motivated.
Let me know your thoughts on this chapter. A lack of feedback really kills my motivation, so every comment helps keep the story going!
Without further ado, enjoy the chapter!
✦•✦•✦•✦•『Chapter 48: Start』•✦•✦•✦•✦
『Beginning recycling process. 』
『Skills rank from D to C to B to A to S and so on. With D being kind of useful in certain situations but still weak and SSS/Ex being an isekai level cheat. 』
『Skill 『Wall crawling』『Rank: A』 has been recycled. 1,000,000 points has been added. 』
He won't be paralyzed anymore.
『Skill 『Air walk』『Rank: B』 has been recycled. 100,000 points has been added. 』
Clear away all the clutter and congestion, and stop hoarding. Bring the efficiency and clever use back.
『Title 『Clean Freak』 has been recycled. 10,000 points has been added. 』
Similar prompts filled Yuhao's vision, but he paid them no mind as he made his way towards the backyard and sat cross-legged on the back porch.
'Let's lock in for a second.'
He closed his eyes as his consciousness dived towards his soul. He ignored the numerous skills that were disappearing from his soul; in fact, he felt as if a heavy load had been lifted from him.
He made his way towards two of his favorite skills.
『Great Sage』 and 『Golden Rule』
They were his first skills. Ones that he got directly from Ellie and not the essence. That alone made them worth more than any other skill Yuhao has created.
(Happy pink noises.)
He willed them to enter his spiritual sea and they yielded to his will. Both skills disappeared from his soul and appeared in his spiritual sea.
One looked like a sphere with countless light particles spinning around it. The other looked like a golden cloud filled with nothing but fortune, wealth, and luck.
His consciousness appeared shortly after in his spiritual sea, and he paused for a moment to admire the new changes that happened after his breakthrough.
His spiritual sea was ten times wider than before and the same could be said about his spiritual energy; it was now ten times denser than before.
The blue sea signifying his liquid spiritual energy appeared clearer and more vibrant than ever before.
'It felt free.'
He breathed in deeply inside his spiritual sea.
Spirit Abyss Realm uses the spirit as a world with the upper boundary as heaven and the lower boundary as hell. In simpler terms, his spirit was considered a 'world' of its own.
Keyword 'considered,' but not yet a true world. It would become a true world on its own when it can become independent of outside interference and can produce its own energy.
He stopped narcissistically admiring his own spiritual sea and focused on his two skills.
'It was time to truly grow out of my shell.'
His 『Great Sage』 skill was a weird one. While it did have all the functions of the original Great Sage skill, it didn't have a voice.
He initially thought that it was only Rimuru's wish for companionship that mutated the skill and forced it to have its own voice. It was a valid theory if you thought about it that way.
However, why did Ellie give Yuhao a 'normal' version of the skill and not the mutated one that had its own voice?
Was he unclear with his wish? Did she make a mistake? The answer was neither.
Threads made of his spiritual energy surrounded the 『Great Sage』 spherical shell and brought it to him at the center of his spiritual sea.
He sat cross-legged in the middle of his spiritual sea and gently raised the 『Corrupt Light』 elemental core into the false sky to make way for the approaching skill.
In contrast to how gently he was handling the 『Corrupt Light』 elemental core, he roughly shoved the other two divine spheres, the gold and purple ones.
"They overstayed their welcome, that is for sure."
He clicked his tongue at the two spheres that were flickering as if to voice their dissatisfaction with how roughly they were treated.
"I need to wake them up before going back. I don't want the Douluo Dalu divine realm core to ping their location and expose me to that fucker."
No more holding back. Tang San was his enemy. Nothing more, nothing less.
But why? At this point, Tang San shouldn't have antagonized Huo Yuhao in any way, shape, or form, right? Why would Huo Yuhao concern himself with Tang San?
The answer was:
'I just want to.'
Yuhao stopped lying to himself. He thought that he would be occupying the high moral ground if he didn't antagonize Tang San unprovoked.
But we all know the truth.
'It is better to have him dead before he starts scheming anything against me.'
It was better to take an active approach and not a passive one. The best defense was direct, violent offense.
'I dislike him, and that is enough reason for me to face him head-on.'
Living in a modern world shall not dull his true nature as a cultivator.
'I don't want him to stand at the top of the world. My world.'
No more self-righteousness.
No more hypocrisies.
No more standing on a fake hill called 'moral high ground' bullshit.
Huo Yuhao finally realized his true desire.
'I hate for the sake of hating.'
'I love for the sake of love.'
'I don't need to have a deep reason, a trauma, or a depressing origin story to make the world dance to my tone.'
The fact that Tang San was the reason for the eviction of both Huo Yuhao and Huo Yun'er was already enough for both of them to hate his guts.
To be kicked out of their own world like homeless puppies just to avoid being schemed against was enough for him to set the entire sea ablaze.
'I am the current fated one of Douluo Dalu.'
His calm spiritual sea was raging with tides reaching the upper boundary, 'heaven,' wanting to devour it. He was still riding his motivational high.
The high-tide waves made up of liquefied spiritual energy were colliding with the divine cores of the two goddesses 'sleeping' in his spiritual sea, washing them and providing them with more energy to speed up their awakening.
'They were sucking up too much, tsk.'
He clicked his tongue one more time, much to their annoyance, before he cleared his mind.
『Great Sage』 was hovering directly above him with more threads of spiritual power binding it.
Then it happened.
Swoosh.
A tendril of clear blue water shot out from the 'sea' and started binding the skill with more power.
Swoosh.
Swoosh.
Swoosh.
Other tendrils followed suit and started surrounding and binding the skill's shell. More 'water' flowed upwards from the 'sea' to the bound skill using the tendrils as a bridge.
And as more water flowed towards the skill still hovering in the air, the more it descended towards the 'sea.'
The process remained steady, with Yuhao diligently controlling the process.
It was only when the skill was about to sink into the 'sea' that the water tendrils broke free from it and returned back into the 'sea.'
'Now for the challenging part.'
He kept his eyes closed and tried to control the 'water' inside the skill's shell.
The first cycle failed.
The second cycle failed.
The third cycle failed.
…
The forty-second cycle failed.
…
The sixty-seventh cycle failed.
...
The sixty-ninth cycle failed.
…
…
The hundredth cycle succeeded.
'Gently refine the spiritual energy inside the skill sphere and merge with it.'
He delicately controlled his spiritual energy and merged it with the skill's components.
'To cover it with his own spirit and color, to melt it into my being and for it to be my first spiritual core.'
Ellie's 『Great Sage』 skill was not defective in any way, shape, or form. She originally made it in the first place not as a skill, but as material.
Material that would be used by Yuhao to condense his first spiritual core, and what better material than a literal core of wisdom?
『Notice! Skill 『Great Sage』 is changing. 』
He paid it no mind and continued refining the skill using his spiritual energy. Tides of spiritual power were cycling inside the skill shell, eroding any resistance or rejection they faced.
Refining.
It was a term used by cultivators without being completely explained what was actually happening or how the process was operated.
It differed from one cultivation system to another.
Some refine sequence potions, some refine Gu worms, and others refine literal heavenly fire to ascend on their path of cultivation.
It was the same for the power system of Douluo Dalu.
Soul masters in the world of Douluo Dalu refine energy rings and soul bones that are obtained from killing spirit beasts and change them into a skill that could be utilized by their martial soul and ascend to the next level of cultivation.
The soul rings and soul bones themselves carry everything that the spirit beast had in its entire life: skills, energy, and bloodline.
When spirit masters who had carefully chosen their spirit rings finish the refining process, they would upgrade their bloodline, soul energy, life force, and mental energy. That was why the higher you cultivate, the longer you live.
But it is still a form of refining. But again, what did any of that mean?
Refining simply meant 'making something yours' using your own energy, whether it be mana, Qi, or even soul energy.
As long as you circulate your energy through whatever you want to possess, be it an artifact, a heavenly treasure, or even a heavenly law, for long enough that you don't feel any more resistance or friction from it, then it could be considered refined.
And that was what Huo Yuhao was doing.
By filling the skill shell with his own spiritual energy (the icy water) from his own spiritual sea and cycling it through every part of it to make it his own, to process it.
He kept cycling his energy through the skill shell and filled it with more spiritual energy when his was absorbed and assimilated into it.
Rinse and repeat until he felt no resistance when cycling his spiritual energy through the skill.
No friction. No resistance.
'Now my spiritual sea would not reject it as a foreign object and will harmoniously accept it as the spiritual core.'
He smiled as he lowered the sphere into the sea, slowly sinking it to the bottom; the icy water vortexed around it, with the current gaining more power and speed as it descended to the 'bottom' of the sea.
When it finally touched the 'bottom' core of his spiritual sea, something changed.
『Notice! Skill 『Great Sage』 assimilated into 『Wisdom Core』 +1,000,000 points. 』
Yuhao smiled as he felt the freshly named 『Wisdom Core』 make contact with the center of the spiritual sea and merge with it.
"Now, Great Sage finally has a voice."
He said, stretching his arms out as if he was hugging the entire world, and strangely, it felt like he was being hugged back because it was actually hugging him back.
A construct made up of his pink spiritual energy appeared to be hugging him back. What was strange about it was how similar it looked to Yuhao.
Both looked exactly the same, except the construct had lovely pink hair and eyes that shone with the ever-distant brilliant light.
{And it is my voice.}
It answered back with Yuhao's voice.
Both of them smiled, then giggled, and then finally they fell and hovered on top of the cyclone vortexing in the middle of the spiritual sea, laughing to their hearts' content while still hugging each other.
The spiritual sea felt their elation as more pink sparks appeared at each corner and touched the empty parts of it, sprouting a beautiful garden made of pink flowers that illuminated it more and more.
•✦•✦•✦•✦•✦•✦•
"What a lovely experience!"
Whispered Yuhao as he observed his spiritual sea with a gentle gaze.
"I Tru[E]ly felt as if the whole world was hugging me for a moment."
He was smiling from ear to ear. A natural, beautiful smile free of all his shenanigans.
"I have reached enlightenment while waiting for my mom to get ready for our date. Pfft. You truly can have enough time when the ladies are getting ready for an outing."
He stopped himself from laughing at his own stupidity before taking a deep breath and bringing his attention to the second skill core that appeared in his spiritual sea.
『Golden Rule』
"Assimilating this one should be a lot easier, right?"
He asked no one in particular; in fact, it looked like he was talking to himself in the vastness of the spiritual sea, except…
{Affirmative. Data has been recorded inside 『All of Creation』. Recreating assimilation phenomena is possible.}
A voice similar to his own answered from all around the spiritual sea; it appeared that the whole world was talking back to him, but in actuality, it was the 『Wisdom Core』 answering his inquiry.
He felt all giddy in his chest hearing the reply. His mute Great Sage was not mute anymore. In fact, it was technically wrong to keep addressing it as Great Sage.
It was now his spiritual core housed inside his sea of spirits, similar in nature to the dragon core beating in his chest but different in execution.
While the latter was obtained after the trials in the realm of 『Nihility』, where he gained his 『White Dragon of Nihility』 martial soul and his signature element 『Corrupt Light』, the former was created by him using 『Great Sage』 as a base.
Its presence inside the spiritual sea would accelerate the rate of acclimation, purification, and recovery of his spiritual energy.
As it used the nature of 『Great Sage』 as a base, it unsurprisingly took over all of its functions and finally gained a voice, Yuhao's voice.
"Then proceed with the assimilation process. Assimilate skill 『Golden Rule』 into me."
Different from 『Great Sage』, 『Golden Rule』 operated on the metaphysical aspect of 'acquiring wealth or having a life filled with riches.' Simply possessing the skill could allow someone to hoard immense wealth during their lifetime, and it was one of Yuhao's favorite skills when it came to the business side of the world.
What, do you think gaining the help of the 『Kicking Saint』 was easy? Or gaining extra materials and drop items from killing monsters was normal? Then you are up for disappointment, as without it, acquiring wealth would have been a much harder task unless the individual used forceful means.
However, what aspect can 『Golden Rule』 be assimilated into?
『Great Sage』 was a spiritual type skill, one that excelled in learning, studying, and gaining information, so it made sense for it to be assimilated into the sea of spirits and given the attribute of 'wisdom.'
'The answer was everything.'
Yuhao watched as the golden sphere floating inside his sea of spirits began disintegrating into tiny motes of light.
'To assimilate wealth into every fiber of my being. Whether it be beauty, talent, power, luck, body, or fate. All these aspects are related to wealth and fortune in one way or the other.'
The tiny motes of light kept assimilating into him, and he felt as if he had been sprinkled with fairy dust and kisses. The process continued for moments more before the golden sphere was finally reduced to nothingness.
『Notice! Skill 『Golden Rule』 has been assimilated. +10,000 points. 』
And as expected of the essence, it rewarded any innovative move that he made; however, it should be noticed that it was a lesser amount than the previous achievement of assimilating 『Great Sage』, as this was the second time he assimilated a skill, therefore lesser points, and the third time would yield even less.
"But that was fine. I am not chasing points anymore."
He was a changed man now.
The number of skills that you have doesn't really define you as the winner in battle, but how well you could use your repertoire to your advantage.
'I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times, right?'
It was a good philosophy that he was now adapting into his everyday life.
He stood upright in the air and watched his vast sea of spirits that shone with white and pink light before focusing on the two orbs, purple and gold, that were trying to make themselves as small as possible to avoid him, which they failed at immeasurably.
He huffed at them before disappearing from the sea of spirits, causing the two divine cores to heave a sigh of relief when they saw him disappear.
But that didn't last long.
"Within a day's time, I will be coming back. You better think of a way to repay me for your free lodging in my spiritual sea for the past two years."
His voice boomed throughout the vast sea of spirit, causing them to tremble.
'Time for my date.'
✦•✦•✦•✦•『Chapter 48: Finished』•✦•✦•✦•✦
Word count: 2.9k