Chapter 900: Mimicry, Adaptation and Creation
So this is the power of a dragon when properly channeled…interesting!
Incredibly interesting!
I couldn’t copy that weird metal stick, but everything else was possible.
I wonder what would happen if I were to…
…
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POW!
<
As if to spite Hermit Zhong Wei, the Martial Mimic Monkey proceeded to use that same cedar palm aether art he had copied against it’s originator.
However, this time there was a twisted added in.
Instead of using normal wood aether, the Martial Mimic Monkey had actually tapped into its innate dragon force again, and use the energy from that to empower his attacks even harder.
So instead of almost getting hit with a giant wooden palm made of cedar with an octagonal diagram in its center, Zhen Shi and Zhong Wei almost got smashed into oblivion by a giant wooden dragon’s paw.
The elderly warriors ended up dodging in opposite directions in their attempt to avoid getting smashed, which left them isolated from one another.
This in turn, gave the Martial Mimic Monkey an opening to go in hard on one of them.
That lucky one being Patriarch Zhen Shi.
“OOKIE!”
“Stupid monkey! Die!”
Despite getting rushed however, Zhen Shi managed to react fast enough to lash out with his [Astra] chains in an attempt to smash the monkey’s face in.
The reason he opted to do this was due to the fact that, from what he could remember, Martial Mimic Monkeys could copy any move they saw…unless weapons, tools or [Astra] were involved.
Aether beasts, by default,were significantly stronger than aether warriors of the same rank.
All things equal, a 2nd tier aether beast was as strong as an Aether Master, and the beast would win those fights.
However, aether warrior fights were never equal.
[Astra], [Regalia], treasures and weapons of all kinds enabled aether warriors to be able to equalize any battlefield, even against those of higher tiers…sometimes.
Regardless, due to these items being external entities that don’t have a set method of aether circulation, or have a unique circulation method as was the case for [Astra], it was impossible for the Martial Mimic Monkey to copy such abilities.
Granted…this was the case for normal Martial Mimic Monkeys.
As Zhen Shi’s chain came crashing down on the Martial Mimic Monkey, a strange glint appeared in it’s eyes.
Perhaps it couldn’t copy this exact movement, this exact chain of ice and snow, but maybe it could adapt some of it to match his own capabilities?
POW!
POW!
“Gah! What the-?!”
In the exact moment his chain made contact against the Martial Mimic Monkey, the beast had manifested it’s dragon tail once again, and spun his body in such a manner that the aformentioned tail slammed into Zhen Shi’s body in the same manner as the chain impacting it’s own.
In other words, the Martial Mimic Monkey had turned a reactionary counter attack into a reactionary cross counter that sent them both flying in opposite directions.
‘Why does my chest feel…what the fuck?’
When Zhen Shi slammed his chain into the monkey’s chest, he made sure to infuse it with enough aether as to release an icy burst of energy against it.
Ideally, this would encase the monkey’s chest in ice and make it harder for them to breathe and move. In every other scenario, it would least deal additional damage in the form of a sudden blast of cold against bare skin.
This latter outcome happened as expected, with the Mimic Martial Monkey visibly having chunks of ice forming on his chest for a brief moment before breaking it.
However, this same thing happened to Zhen Shi as well!
The moment the Martial Mimic Monkey’s dragon tail impacted Zhen Shi’s chest, a burst of cold aether mixed with a touch of dragon force was released upon him as well. This burst had managed to bypass his [Regalia] defenses and directly penetrate his flesh with spikes of cold.
This attack honestly would’ve hurt more had Zhen Shi not been training to deal with it for the past few months, but it still stung.
That and it implied something…more dangerous.
‘It managed to copy Jinju Ren’s dragon force arts, it managed to modify Zhong Wei’s attack and now it adapted a wild swing down to the aether. Is…is the damn thing learning to adapt?! Fuck!’
On the plus side, he wasn’t the only one to realize this was a bad situation.
…
[Alright, that’s the third time in a row that this so-called mimic of monkey had actively adapted a move as opposed to just copying it outright. What am I missing here?]
=We’re at least fairly certain that trying to use aether arts or anything dragon force will probably be a very bad idea. Unless you can end it faster than it can end you.=
[Obviously…wait, can’t I just use |Chaos| to counter its dragon force bullshit?]
<=Maybe? But it's also possible it'll copy your moves and swap out the [Chaos] with dragon force.=>
[Great…]
=Also, you better stop the dragon girl before she accidentally gives that monkey an even bigger reptoire of moves to work with!=
[SHIT!]
…
[Mistress Ren, wait!]
“Huh? Why are you stopping me?! Can’t you see that malicious monkey is currently stomping teacher and grandfather-in-law?!”
[Because if that thing was able to copy your Draguar, then it’s very likely it’ll be able to copy the abilities to your other familiars too!,] Nepherage pointed out.
“But-!”
[But nothing, you gotta fight smarter, not harder,] Nepherage stated, unaware that this was a rather rich statement coming from her, [besides, looks like your teacher just came up with somehtibg clever.]
…
‘If it’s this damn thing is able to copy and adapt any aether art I use…than I’ll just use techniques it has no way of copying!,’ Zhong Wei thought to himself as he saw the Martial Mimic Monkey correct himself in the air with a sudden flap of it’s dragon wings. ‘I just need some projectiles…’
The reason why Zhong Wei was the only person sent to accompany Jinju Ren on her cross continent stay with the branch Zhen Clan wasn’t just because he was an Aether Lord. If that was the case, the Pearl Scale Emperor would’ve sent a pair of accompanying Grandmasters as well.
No, the main reason why Hermit Zhong Wei was sent by his lonesome, was because he was one of the rare few double cultivators in the entire Empire.
Not only was he on the aether track, but he was an Anima Wielder as well, one who managed to reach the third lock, no less.
To put things in perspective, a single lock in anima cultivation was equivalent to a stage and a half in aether cultivation, in terms of raw power.
“URRAAA!”
Sound of a heavy club shattering several trees into giant chunks of wooden sharapnel.
Which was why Zhong Wei was confident that this next trick of his was going to work and then some.
‘Now to focus,’ Zhong Wei told himself as he made a gesture as if he grabbing the chunks of wood from the air, causing them to suddenly stop mid-fall as his grip tightened.
Unlike aether, which needs to be circulated in order to be used and produced visible distortions in the environment, anima was all about “concentration” and was basically invisible due to being entirely mental.
Meaning that to those who had no idea what anima, like the Martial Mimic Monkey, it appeared as if Zhong Wei wasn’t using any power at all to cause these missiles made of splintered wood to float in the air.
<
With a wave of his hand, and a strong flex of anima, Zhong Wei released a barrage of splintered wood, broken branches and hardened seeds at the Martial Mimic Monkey at breakneck speed.
It wasn’t enough to break the sound barrier, but it was fast enough that getting hit by one would definitely shatter a bone…or five.
(Un)fortunately, this damage was dependent on whether or not the aforementioned monkey had a means of defending itself.
Based on the move it has currently copied so far, no.
But…it had recently developed a very good memory after it’s recent transformation.
…
[Draguar Strike] is no good here.
[Eight Point Cedar Palm] is no good either.
[Coiling Serpent Finger] wouldn’t end well.
But what about this?
…
In response to the barrage of shrapnel heading towards him, the Martial Mimic Monkey had suddenly curled itself into a ball with its wings acting as a light form of covering.
This made it so that he not only minimize the amount of spread he had, but gave him just enough time and room so that he could take a deep breath.
Most other warriors in this situation would think the aforementioned monkey was merely defending itself, aiming to weather out the barrage in order to strike.
To Zhong Wei though…he was familiar with this sort of trick.
‘Wait a minute, that hum…FUCK!’
Which is why he immediately hauled ass in the direction opposite of the Martial Mimic Monkey.
‘Need to find cover, now!’
