Chapter 1060: Reckless Youth: Core Decision
‘Oh what in the name of [Chaos] was I even thinking?’
[While I admit that it’s novel not being able to sense where you are, you must realize how annoying it is to manually search for you, yes? So why don’t you do us both a favor and come out here so you can die like the man you could never hope to be?]
‘What the fuck does that even mean?!’
At this moment in time, Spring Brawler was playing a game of “hide and go kill”, with Gao Dau of the Grafted. Initially, this was a straight up brawl with him throwing punches against the three eyed warrior, but it had devolved to hit and run tactics due to a couple of reasons.
First, out of the entire group of Grafted warriors, Gao Dau was the only one who was a normal Aether warrior prior to his grafting operation. In other words, he was the most experienced and therefore the most deadly, despite not having as much raw power as some of the other Grafted. Granted, his new eye did come with the power of mind reading, energy reading and an eyebeam, but those former two were only useful against normal opponents and not Kaijin. That latter power could still obliterate Spring Brawler with a single look though.
Second, out of everyone in Zhen Liu’s roster, Spiring Brawler was considered the weakest for one very good reason.
He still hadn’t figured out what his [Core] should be.
Lacking a [Core] was the mortal equivalent of not having a soul. Without a soul, a mortal cannot establish a cultivation formula, and without a cultivation formula, a mortal would be unable to cultivate or use aether arts.
In the case of kaijin, the lack of [Core] not only meant that initial lack of aether abilities, but also meant that they couldn’t channel [Chaos] for their attacks.
In other words, they were limited to what their bodies could physically do, while only being able to use [Chaos] as far as a coating.
To Spring Brawler’s credit, he had figured out a lot of interesting ways his body could stretch to its limit while being able to fight all manner of foes, who couldn’t deal with [Chaos].
However, against these Grafted warriors, that particular advantage disappeared.
Case and point, his spring arms still had that cut in them from when he was fighting Sophita. And it was getting worse.
‘Shit! If I keep stretching my arms like this, they might snap off. Wouldn’t be an issue if this was at home, but on battlefield like this. It’s a one-way ticket to oblivion,’ Spring Brawler estimated while staring at the scratch on his arm.
When he initially pulled Gao Dau down to his level, he had noticed a sharp pain in his arm, but thought nothing of it.
Once the actual fighting got underway though, that’s when he noticed that the sharp pain was spreading.
Eventually, even Gao Dau began to notice that Spring Brawler’s movements were getting all sorts of hinky, so he tried to exploit that fact to his benefit.
This, in turn, led to Spring Brawler’s other arm getting scratched up and forced the proto-kaijin into hiding.
Thankfully, he could pull off such a trick due to the fact that [Chaos] wasn’t that great at detecting [Chaos] signatures below a certain level of power. That power level being proto-kaijins and zakos.
That stated, it should be noted that Spring Brawler didn’t want to keep hiding if he could help it.
Fortunately, there was one way he could get out of this situation, but it was also a choice that could determine his entire existence.
He had to pick a [Core].
‘I always figured I would be more emotionally ready for a choice like this…but I guess beggars can’t be choosers,’ Spring Brawler grumbled to himself as he closed his eyes and looked inward.
Months ago, his [Core] had almost completed itself and would’ve formed [Core of Reconnections]. But through a conscious decision and an innate desire to want to learn more about the world, Spring Brawler stopped his core from forming at ninety-nine percent completion.
His reason: he wasn’t sure if that is what he really wanted.
This went against his instincts as a kaijin, as a powerful [Desire] was needed to maintain their form and power in the material plane, but this turned out to be good decision.
In the span of time since that time and now, Spring Brawler had accrued about three additional [Desires] he could focus on, on top of the first [Core of Reconnection].
The only issue was that there desires were so different from one another, that he had no idea which to pick.
‘Alright…let’s go over them again, speed of thought, don’t fail me now…’
In the innermost depths of himself, four possible [Cores] appeared one after the other, all looking like highly decorated spheres.
[Core of Reconnect]
The first of these spheres appeared to be a ball made of chain links that were constantly breaking and reconnecting with one another, forming patterns and shapes on the fly. Spring Brawler wasn’t entirely sure, but his instincts told him that this core would enable him to connect objects and attacks in ways that were unpredictable and impossible to understand.
Much like how people can have connections with things that others would see as unsalvageable.
‘A supporting role is not a terrible thing, but it does seem right to me…’
[Core of Fiery Passion]
The next core looked more like a fist and radiated this feeling of unmitigated [Violence] and [Passion]. This core formed around the time that purple flamed Ignarii showed up and tried to challenge Zhen Liu and the kaijin to a duel. At the time, Spring Brawler couldn’t help but to admire the man’s passion, even if he was an enemy.
If Spring Brawler chose this [Core], he’d become a more straightforward attacker, with blazing fisted boxer that could knock out even the hardiest of dragons. That said, he couldn’t help but to think that he’d be just copying Nepherage and Blazejudicator if he did.
‘Too much firepower…’
[Core of Knowledge]
The next core was a bit strange, as it took on the form of a bronze sphere, that was actually a series of rings, covered in hieroglyphics, runes and letters.
This was a core that Spring Brawler developed after spending most of his time reading in the [Library of Nowhere].
In his free time, Spring Brawler had been reading book after book, scroll after scroll, tome after tome, all in the pursuit of a [Desire] that he could focus on.
He had heard how Razorstella was partially inspired by a comic she stumbled upon about a puppet wanting to be a mortal person, and couldn’t help but think he could have that moment too.
Instead, he found that pursuit of knowledge itself was a [Desire].
Countless formulas, countless laws of physics and nature, stories formed and shared by the human experience, all combining together into one tapestry known as [Knowledge].
If Spring Brawler went down this path, he’d arguably be the “smartest” fighter of the kaijin, using his mind to calculate everything and an extensive knowledge base to identify every weakness and habit of all opponents.
But…
‘Being smart is good and all, but what if I get stuck in my own head? Sounds unpleasant to think about…’
[Envy].
As for the last core…this was the weirdest.
The core itself appeared to be made of solid green jade and was entirely smooth…at a glance.
But at one angle, one could see carvings that resembled a horned ogre’s face.
At another, the carvings took on the visage of a mammoth.
And at yet another angle, it resembled a frog’s face.
But if one were to take in the sphere as a whole, taking in every carving and cut, they would see that the sphere was actually designed with the face of a massive snake and that it gave off this energy that made everyone who looked at it be filled with [Envy].
To admire someone is to envy them, that is a truth not a lot of people want to admit it.
This core took form over a long period of time, but it was something that had already festered in Spring Brawler’s mind the longer he was around the other kaijin.
In fact, it didn’t really take shape until after Tortallion had appeared before him, Frosttusk and Hurricroak.
He admired their strange, wondrous abilities and their steadfast [Desires] that allowed them to reach greater heights.
He envied the fact that they could be so certain with their actions, that they could cultivate aether and use aether arts.
He envied the fact that those three were born first, while he himself was more of an afterthought.
Spring Brawler had honestly no idea what would happen if he chose this to be his [Core].
He had read up on what [Envy] meant, what it represented and how society and religions viewed it.
But…if kaijin were already monsters in the eyes of the world, would it really be so bad to embrace it?
‘[Reconnection], [Passion], [Knowledge], [Envy]…why do they all fit yet…don’t?’
