"You are truly interesting, and appearing here after that massive surge of energy... could it still be a coincidence?"
I stared at the robed Man. he looked about 50 years old, with long hair and garb resembling an ancient Chinese warrior.
He continued examining me. "Could you be a Seeker? I wasn't aware of any deployed to this area."
I shook my head. I had to answer him, and the best way to do this safely would be to tell mostly the truth with a small lie. "I don't know anything about that surge of energy. I had a one-use system that put me in stasis for twenty years since the bomb fell on this place. I've been fighting for my life ever since."
The man nodded. "So I could see. I only saw the aftermath, but from the damage, it must have been a truly harrowing battle." He turned and gestured away from the city. "Since you haven't been around for 20 years, you will likely want to catch up on information at a seekers guild. There is a small one that way."
I nodded. "Thank you. May I ask your name?"
The man looked at me for a moment and then said, "I am Li Feng, A cultivator from an upper realm. Be careful not to ask such things of others like me, as they may take it as an insult."
He then flew away, leaving me somewhat bewildered.
Shrugging it off, I decided to head in the general direction of the Seekers Guild, but first, I must absorb this core.
I looked back down at the monster's corpse and reached out to where I felt the energy coming from. The monster's entire form condensed into a ball of light, which flew into my mana core. I felt a surge of energy and my Mana pathways pulsed and extended. Dark veins protruding from the large dark lines on my body circulated the excess mana before fading.
I breathed out. Absorbing the monster's body was surprising but didn't cause any pain. I looked forward and without wasting any time, shot towards my intended destination.
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Above the city, six beings floated on thin air, staring down at the city. One of them spoke.
"So if we all came here, then none of us caused that influx? If so, who could have brought divine energy down on this planet?"
Li Feng spoke up. "Indeed, being able to comprehend divine energy is enough for one to be known by every government in this world. But being able to summon it forth makes you a target. A great shame. The only one close enough to witness was a mere rank one Cultivator."
The person who spoke up before was none other than the world's third strongest, A system user who had grasped divine energy only a year ago. Seo Jun
Another among them spoke, "Li Feng, I suppose you sense this as well, then. Even for divine energy, this was Refined to an extreme level. We can only bring such energy into our realm, but to refine it is an absurdity."
The group turned in shock as the person who had just admitted he was incapable of such a feat was none other than the current Number One strongest in the world, Simon of the Quetzolcoatl and co-founder of the Seekers.
The only other person not to be surprised was Li Feng, who is the second strongest in the world. "Yes. Refined divine energy was not something I had even thought possible, and using such a technique on a rank 3 system user is beyond comprehension. It's almost as if to the one using this, it was a casual attack..."
Two people were so deeply in shock that they couldn't speak a word. These were the numbers six and five in the world. If a lesser heard this, they wouldn't be as in shock, but to people who could comprehend, this was mind-blowing information.
A young man cleared his throat."*cough* So was there nothing we could find at the scene?"
Simon shook his head. "No, anything we might use to investigate would be fried by residual divine energy. We must wait for this person to show themselves again."
The young man answered back nervously, "And what do we do then?"
Simons' face darkened. "We must get back to our training, and sincerely hope that persons' intentions are just."
With that, the group nodded and flew off in differing directions, leaving only the young man above the ruined city.
Jirou Wakamatsu, the fourth strongest in the world, a prodigy of 24 years old, is already a ninth core cultivator.
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I dashed through the forest at extreme speeds. About 7 minutes ago, I left, and I was able to move around 100 Kilometers per hour. about 3 minutes ago I had noticed something following me.
A pair of green eyes darted through the trees to my right. It kept pace but was slightly slower and didn't seem to have any intentions of leaving me alone.
Up ahead, I saw light break through the dense forest. Accelerating slightly, I burst out and realized I was now flying through the air.
I whirled around and saw that the forest came to a sudden and abrupt end on the side of a cliff.
I supposed I would be fine with my new attributes but this was still far from Ideal. As I thought about this however my eyes widened.
From the trees where I had just come from, a Humanoid Robot burst forth, on its legs, engines flared, and it landed a kick on my chest in an instant. Looking down, I saw the ground approaching faster and faster.
I cursed and gripped on the leg. It did not budge, and we continued our descent. Which ended with me being violently slammed into the ground. I was dragged against the earth for about 100 meters.
Just when I thought it was over, we fell off another cliff. The robot lost control for a split second, and I swung myself above it. Energy gathered in my mana core, pulsing, and I swung my fist. The robot blocked in time, but it dented its arm, and the resulting impact sent it flying downward. A massive splash notified me that a small stream ran below us.
I followed and managed to stick the landing. the Robot got to its feet as well, and we squared of., I decided now would be an interesting time to attempt some of the Magic I had previously seen.
Gathering Mana in my core, I attempted to blast it outwards into the nearby water. It responded just as explosively and erupted toward the robot. In response, the robot channeled a surge of electricity and blasted the water and sizzled through me. I gasped and collapsed to a knee. The robot took advantage of this and blitzed in. More jets clicked out on its hand and shot it forward, smashing into my face. I felt my teeth shatter and was knocked back.
I flipped and landed, mimicking the beast I had fought earlier. I guarded my face while the robot pummeled my arms and body. I grimaced through the pain and, after four seconds, regained my composure as well as my teeth. I swung back with an energy-filled punch. Far from the level of technique I had used before, however, I used this power just to knock back this robot.
The robot flew and crashed into a nearby waterfall. after this everything seemed to fade I focused but only heard the sound of the waterfall. I channeled my energy to the surface and As I did so, a massive toad stepped out from behind the waterfall.
"What the?"
The toad jumped at me, and behind it, the robot also dashed out. The toad's tongue shot out and grabbed me, whipping me into a rock wall nearby. Compared to the beast from yesterday, this impact was nothing special; however and I stood up and grabbed onto the sticky tongue. I swung it around and slammed it into a boulder.
It made a pained groaning sound as I turned my attention toward the robot. jumping off the rock wall , I slammed my elbow into the robots arm. My left hand came up and slammed into the robot's head and sent it reeling back. Angered by the pain of hitting solid metal, I snorted and channeled my energy into my leg. A massive front kick shot out and blasted the robot back. Once again, I felt the tongue of the toad grab me and pull me.
The robot stood up and jolted forward, pummeling me back as I was unable to defend myself due to the unusual movement of the frog.
I turned and let the robot attack my back. Snarling, I made a blade of energ and sliced through the frog's tongue. It yelped. I followed up with a punch that crushed it for good, and light from its core started glowing.
Turning back, I slapped the robot with the frog's detached tongue. Energy coated and refined on my right hand, it formed the shape of a dragon.
"Human God Style, Second form: Single dragon, Elemental infusion."
As I spoke the water infused the shape of the dragon, which impacted the robot on its center. it detached from my fist and shot away, destroying a large area of the woods.
I had now truly decided. with my talents I could now make my own martial art, I thought doing so might be silly but in this new world, such things seemed justified.
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Once I got back on track I eventually found the Seekers Guild Outpost. it resembled a military compound but had a large symbol on it depicting a green hood as well as a sword, shield and staff.
Now there was nothing to do other than to continue forward
in this changed world.