Chapter 580: The Ambition of the Young
We’re back to Hoof Speech, usual indicators have been restored.
…
Seriously, you need to figure out a better to convey this feeling.
|I can’t change the font type on this thing and I don’t think people can read cursive anymore.|
But it’s so pretty!
| And undecipherable.|
Boo…
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“Well…on the plus side, everyone’s pills appear to be legitimate. On the downside, I am not entirely sure if these will guarantee a breakthrough for the young masters.”
“I see…thank you, Corriandis.”
“Any time, sir.”
As people of high(ish) standing, the Zhen Clan had made sure to make the trek from Stone Claw to Willow Scale with a handful of trusted attendants and servants in order to help address the more menial concerns and provide expertise in the fields all of the elders were lacking in.
As such, some time after being given what were essentially tailormade aether pills that were designed to help elevate the cultivation of their children, the Zhen clan elders deemed it necessary to consult their resident alchemist, Corriandis, aka, that butler that Zhen Yan hired months ago after visiting Emerald Eye City.
There were some questions about his previous employment with the fallen Marquis du Howlite, but he couldn’t recall anything.
Since then though, Corriandis had been fulfilling his duty as both butler and alchemist to moderate satisfaction, with his current career highlight being the refinement of the [Sacred Beast Essence] that they received as a gift from Zhen Liu’s mysterious master.
That being said, Corriandis only had the skills for the time being to prepare rank one and two aether medicines that were only good for Aether Acolytes and below, but none of which could facilitate a breakthrough easily.
Supposedly if he had access to more powerful and more unusual aether plants he’d be able to make more powerful medicines that could facilitate breakthroughs.
Due to some recent “windfall”, the Zhen Clan could afford to do so. However, by the time they got the materials in, the core of the branch clan had to head to Roaring Tide. It was not long enough to give Corriandis time to increase his alchemy skills.
It was long enough for him to learn how to identify bum pills from the real ones though.
“If that is all you need, my master, I shall be on my way.”
“Of course, thank you for the assistance.”
As of this moment, the elders and patriarch of the Zhen Clan were seated in the Cozy Maple Hotel’s lounge in lieu of a private chamber to discuss and determine if these pills they received from the main branch were safe or not.
With the aether pills now thoroughly vetted though, there was now only one thing left to do in regards to these aether pills: give them to the kids and see what happens.
“Hey, where did our kids go?,” Zhen Long asked his brothers, “last I saw them was when we split off in different directions once we returned to the hotel.”
“Oh, yeah. Since they’re going to be participating in that family competition tomorrow, Xiao Yue decided to drag them to an impromptu sparring session to see if they were any last minute improvements they could make to their abilities. That and to help get the aether flowing. Make it easier to digest these pills, ya know?,” Zhen Hou answered.
“Ah.”
What Zhen Hou told his brothers was technically half true, because Zhen Yue had indeed grabbed her cousins to go and practice in preparation for tomorrow’s activities.
However, what the practice entailed was a bit less…typical.
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‘Quick double check, I’ve been using the Possesstol a lot on people that were at Aether Master, minimum. Is there any downside on me using it on anyone who are Aether Acolytes? And don’t use Jasper as a counterpoint, because y’all said they were aether pathless like me.’
=In that case… technically.=
‘Technically, how?’
=At around the Aether Master stage, your channels are pretty much set and the formula’s groundwork is fully established. It’s actually possible to swap formulas at this stage to with minimum backlash.=
‘Weird…good?’
=We have a record of a previous lord doing what you are asking before on a friend of theirs. The man was born with an Ignati formula, got possessed…he became a she with a Terraqi formula and that lord’s first wife.=
‘Dafuq?’
‘Never say that again.’
=Wait, there was one other case where an Acolyte ended up getting his entire formula bumped up from Corporeal to World because of the possession, there was a prerequisite though.=
‘A prerequisite?’
<=How durable would you say your cousins are?=>
‘Oh boy…’
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“I’m sorry, you want me to what?”
“Oh come on! You know what we’re -”
“Oh I know, I just can’t believe my ears!,” Zhen Liu complained.
Some time after returning to the Cozy Maple Hotel, Zhen Yue dragged him and the rest of their cousins off to an abandoned training courtyard that was nearby.
It was there that Zhen Liu was given a rather unexpected request by his weaker cousins.
“We want you to blast us in the face like you did Zhen Hai!”
“Huh?!”
Due to the sudden arrival of a certain beaten slave girl and the need to perform impromptu surgery, Zhen Liu had to blast Zhen Hai in the face with a Razorstella possession and himself with Arachnidame.
Meaning, Zhen Hai saw this and proceeded to tell the others how Zhen Liu had the apparently ability to bestow new methods of understanding aether and various other forms of knowledge via having his “puppets” forcefully possess somebody.
In other words, just the thing a bunch of Acolytes needed to have the edge over their competitions tomorrow.
“Oh please Zhen Liu!,” Zhen Xing begged, “we saw what it did to Zhen Hai! The man can shoot lightning out of his fingertips and now he was medical knowledge that exceeds most doctors’ understanding!”
“Not really,” Zhen Hai argued, “all I know is how to cut someone open and take stuff out…also how to apparently safely remove a cancerous cell growth from everywhere except the heart.”
“The fuck does cancerous mean? The fuck is a cell?”
“I don’t know…”
“See?”
“Aish.” Zhen Liu groaned as he rubbed his temples out of frustration.
A part of him couldn’t help but feel good about the fact his cousins that once treated him with disdain were now taking the initiative on approaching him for help…while the other was shirking over the fact that they were giving him this much attention.
That being said though…while he wasn’t going to leave his cousins out to dry, he wasn’t going to capitulate easily.
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‘Okay…let’s go with that preparation method then. You guys cool with that?’
[As you wish milord.]
[Okay…]
[Ooooh, I call dibs on shark boy!]
[Stars vs moon…let’s go!]
‘Right on.’
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Zhen Liu let out a sigh before holding up his right hand.
“Huh?”
His cousins were confused by the gesture…until he summoned the Possesstol for them all to see.
“Whoa!”
“What the fuck is that?”
“Wait…I know that energy…”
“Okay, so the way this thing works is that it forcibly overlays a formula that had inscribed into my puppets on top of whatever formula you have in yourselves. This makes it so you can use your aether in the ways inscribed in the puppet and in yourselves,” Zhen Liu explained.
“Doing it on an Aether Master is fine due to their formulas being solid at that. Anything below that and shit can get weird as there is a high chance of your formulas being distorted by the overlay.”
“Oh…that is significantly more dangerous than I thought…,” Zhen Xing admitted for the group.
“That is…unless y’all get used to it beforehand.”
“Huh?”
Once he had everyone’s attention on himself, Zhen Liu proceeded to take off several accessories and then throw them behind himself.
As the accessories soared through the air, they proceeded to glow a variety of colors before exploding and transforming into his trusty band of “puppets”.
“Whoa!”
“I keep forgetting how many he has…”
“Is that one with the leg knives new?”
With the kaijin all summoned, Zhen Liu proceeded to walk somewhat dramatically in front of them, placing himself in-between his cousins and the kaijin.
“Alright, you want me to do my little bestowal trick on ya? Prove you can handle it, by beating the puppet you want to bless ya!”
“Oh…wait, what?!”
Zhen Liu’s cousins might’ve had the guts to take a strange blast of energy to the face…but fighting their cousin’s puppets was just asking to be buried in the ground!
They had seen what he could do with them, hell they saw the results of trying to fight them.
“You guys want the power? Prove it,” Zhen Liu goaded. As he did though, he subtly hid his left hand behind his back.
“Show me some desires, everybody…”
