Time flowed calmly again. Shelob didn't require much control; usually I summoned her only to share energy. Sometimes she asked to hunt and I let her go near the forest, from which she always returned with prey.
I wasn't worried about hunters noticing her; we didn't have such powerful magicians. Gradually she began to grow, reaching the peak of her phase. I need to get the third tier as soon as possible; then in half a year with good feeding she'll surely become a high Servant. Then I can arrange a bloodbath for the Black Order at their ceremony; those cute spiders are rightfully considered among the most dangerous monsters of the Sahara—one of the planet's most dangerous wild zones.
Synthesizing the source of madness wasn't immediate; as it turned out, I used the wrong approach. The poisons I synthesized before were of animal or plant origin, while the source is a natural magical phenomenon. So I divided the source into components and isolated the substance that increased aggression. Surprisingly, it turned out to be an analog of a stimulant or aphrodisiac, but exciting other parts of the brain. Eureka! As they say—make love, not war.
The source affected only magical creatures—more strongly on animals, causing a temporary fit of rage. People just became angry and irritable, sometimes with panic attacks. Но человек существо мыслящее и может себя контролировать. For monsters, the source completely switched off the brain, leaving only instincts and rage.
The source of madness concentrate took the penultimate sixth star. Now I don't have to return there for samples and can focus on work.
How quickly time flies during work. I didn't notice how another half year passed. The Black Order bastards brought another dozen people into the city. Three of them disappeared without a trace, but I know they went to dinner with a beauty named Shelob. They were all Intermediate Magicians, mostly with elemental magic, and didn't even have time to notice her attack before they were dead. This greatly spurred her development; after all, Intermediate Magicians are much more nutritious than rat monsters. She was now at the peak of a middle-tier Servant, having doubled in size and become even faster and deadlier. The hardest part was catching them alone. A couple of times they even set obvious provocations, but they didn't know that before elimination I spent several days following my victims in the shadow and had fully scouted their bases. I can't stop being happy about my mutated shadow. With a standard set of spells I surely wouldn't have succeeded. By the way, I practiced releasing Shadow Spike in two seconds. Progress.
I'm not touching Poison much yet. I reached the barrier, but don't have enough strength to break it yet.
I brought Summoning to the second tier and will soon take the third. And for dessert, we have Spirit! How I struggled with it. The stars of this element didn't submit at all. How much time I spent on them!
Today I was going to take it—the most stubborn and persistent seventh star. Sitting down to cultivate, I lined up six stars and looked at the last one; it hovered before me as if looking back, debating whether to obey.
Trying to catch it was hard, but I started to succeed! The star began to break away, but the time for persuasion was over and I began to press it. Little by little, I managed to put it in place. Something like a string snapped in my soul; the world became brighter and wider. It was as if I took a dusty bag off my head that had been hindering my breathing and vision. The Spirit stars whirled around me in a merry dance, with the seventh star being the leader, starting to fawn on me.
"So that's what you were planning, my dear."
The star didn't answer but resumed the merry dance. Well, I certainly didn't expect to break through to the second spiritual boundary today. And the stars themselves helped me do it. But as I understood, the recipe is simple: strain your soul strength as much as possible, and Spirit should help a lot with that. Also, a high spiritual boundary helps hide your strength from people whose boundary is not higher than yours.
Although it's still better not to cross paths with the Space magician from the Black Order; surely his is higher than the second. But I digress.
So, Spirit element, first tier: Pacification. This magic makes monsters friendly and can interrupt magicians' spell construction. Of course, it again depends on the spiritual boundary and cultivation level, but for now, this will suffice.
My arsenal has grown significantly, and I plan to arrange a Judgment Night in a month. I found a solution with the source of madness. Adding pink dandelion extract—a very treacherous plant whose airborne seeds cause an endorphin explosion when attached to the body, leading the victim to the mother flower to die of happiness right before the parent. And the juice of Ice Aloe, which is used as a strong sedative but has the side effect of alexithymia—an absence of any emotions for a long time. And I got quite a decent aphrodisiac.
Lord, if I succeed, this will be the joke of the century! Synthesizing the necessary composition in the seventh star to turn the source of madness into a more harmless version, I headed back to the cave.
Finishing with the source three days before Mo Fan's duel with Yu An, exhausting the Poison element to the bottom. Your problems, guys.
Shelob did manage to evolve about two weeks ago. That's good. I have big plans for her.
Black Order members visited here several times, but I didn't touch them; their time will come soon, and for now I'll prepare a surprise.
Nothing is known in this world about using explosives, although chemistry is quite well developed. I set up a small chem lab in the sewers. Got sulfuric and nitric acid. Bought coal, sulfur, and saltpeter. Collected wood dust at a local woodworking factory. Making neat explosive packs from them, I connected them to detonators from a common linked system and placed them in cracks and specially made recesses throughout the cave, carefully camouflaging everything. I likely won't kill Advanced Magicians, but I'll at least rattle their nerves.
***
The duel is today. Many students went, but I said I had work from the hunter union. I actually took it so I'd have an alibi for the city incident—if anything, I'd say I was on a mission.
The principal was pleased with me, saying many outstanding people started as hunters and holding me as an example. I was still popular at school, even having a small fan club. I wouldn't mind visiting them and arranging a small orgy, but there was almost no free time. Good thing my ex and I split, otherwise I'd be exhausted making excuses. Actually, I started noticing I'm turning more into a heartless machine, so I decided to distract myself.
Today, on the duel day, I decided to visit my parents. Initially, I didn't consider them such, but over time I grew fond of and respected them. They called me every weekend, asking how I was and sharing news. By the way, congratulations: I have a sister! Her name is Li Yu. I don't know what mental twist it is, but I perceived my sister as a sister and desperately wanted to meet her. Perhaps because she was born when I was already "me"—I don't know, but I desperately want to see her. She's two years old and I really want to babysit.
Entering the parental home, I was very excited; I hadn't been here for almost three years.
"Hi! Dad, Mom, little sister."
"Wow! Who is this man?" my mother said and hugged me tightly. "You've matured so much, you're quite an adult now. How I missed you. You should visit sometimes."
"Well Mom, I told you I became a hunter and I cultivate a lot."
"He's probably chasing girls and telling us tales about work and study. As if I wasn't the same at his age. You could at least not lie to your father," my dad said with a smile.
"Dad, this is not a conversation for female ears, we'll discuss it later!" I said with a sly wink.
"I'll give you 'not for female ears.' My ears should hear all about it," Mom protested.
In such a relaxed atmosphere the day passed; I talked with my parents. After the transmigration, I thought of them as strangers, but not now. Besides, a clan needs to start somewhere, and my parents are very smart people who can help me. Who else to trust but them.
I played with my sister until night and fell asleep hugging her. I haven't slept so peacefully in a long time.
And the next day I left the parental home. Time to start. I hope I didn't make any mistakes and everything goes according to plan. Otherwise, I'll drop everything and save my family, but then tens of thousands will die, and I won't be able to sleep because I could have prevented it and didn't.
Well, I chose my path. Time to kill!!!
Even if we hand the source to Zhang Kong, it won't solve the problem. Surely the Black Order will lay low for a while, but they need the source for a larger ceremony in Xi'an. The next student who comes to cultivate there might also be a member of the Black Order, like Yu An, who will steal it. Or even simpler—join its guard and take it. Also, a new source of madness might appear under it, and this time the Black Order will conduct the ceremony as planned. And the only way I saw was to destroy the source. Maybe I'll even sacrifice a rainbow vein to the city once a year in exchange for the source. With them, the probability of an Intermediate breakthrough is even higher. Having decided everything, I went to meet one of the Black Order groups.
Three magicians in grey robes stopped opposite us. This was one of the reinforced groups, consisting of an Intermediate Magician and two Basic ones.
"I feel the energy of the Holy Source from you; give it to us and we'll let you go."
Not bothering to talk, I threw a Poison Spike at their leader; a water curtain appeared before him.
I turned to Mo Fan and shouted:
"This is an Intermediate Magician, he can call reinforcements! Destroy the source! Drink!"
"What?" Mo Fan looked at me in surprise.
"Fast!"
Mo Fan opened the bottle with the source and started drinking quickly and greedily.
"What are you doing?" Yu Xin shouted.
"Noooooo," the Black Order leader yelled.
"Nom-nom-nom," Mo Fan drank the source quickly.
The Black Order group leader started forming a Fire nebula. I used the Spirit element and his spell failed; immediately I threw a Poison Spike at him. They tried to set a water curtain again, but I used Spirit faster. An artifact shield appeared before their leader, but my attack managed to hit him in the stomach.
I turned to my group and commanded: "Run to Zhang Kong quickly, I'll hold them."
"But..." Yu Xin tried to protest, but I interrupted.
"Run, dammit!"
And they ran. I exchanged spells with the Black Order members for a bit more until they disappeared around the corner and decided to finish. Dive into the shadow, knife strike in the back of the Water magician. He jerked and went still. The second, a Wind magician, tried to get me with a simple knife, but I caught his hand, twisted the wrist, and plunged his own knife into his chin from below. Holding him for a second, looking into eyes full of resentment, I threw him onto the asphalt and approached the Intermediate Magician.
He lay on the asphalt all pale and sweaty; my spike had pierced his stomach through, and the poison on the wound was dissolving his guts, slowly spreading through the body. He groaned dully.
Kneeling before him, I said: "Soon you will die; I will leave you here to die slowly and I'll kill all your comrades." He looked at me with eyes full of hatred. "You know, I like what I see! I think I'll do the same to them."
I stood up and walked further down the road. Time to continue the hunt. Several groups had already arrived at the meeting point in the park, as had their main group, but about a dozen bastards could be caught throughout the city, which is what I did. Diving into the shadow, I moved to the nearest group—emerge, and a spike hits the stomach of the nearest opponent. While the second was turning, I managed to form the spell again and it plunged into his stomach. A few seconds and two pieces of filth are writhing in pain in fetal positions on the asphalt, and I dive into the shadow again. The hunt continues.
The city magicians managed to kill all the emerged monsters before they came to their senses. Some weak Servants were even poked to death by ordinary citizens with pitchforks or similar. Many videos appeared online of some hero beating a monster with a bat or other handy tool. Authorities promised to investigate the strange incident.
On the bright side: a bunch of monsters in the area killed each other in battles for mating partners. Zhang Kong even managed to kill a Winged Ash Wolf, a Commander-level monster. It was just flying from place to place using all available she-wolves, and our military instructor caught it in the act and called Heaven Flame Funeral a couple of times, burning the wolf to death. And how many Leaders the military magicians poked, heaven knows! Too bad I wasn't around. So many souls lost.
At night I sneaked into Lin Yu Xin's house; she was already in her room, and her mother had gone to sleep.
"How did it go with Zhang Kong?"
The girl jumped up.
"Oh, it's you! Everything's fine. No one knows how to extract the source from Mo Fan. So everyone was ordered to keep quiet. Only Zhang Kong, us, the city council, and association leaders know about it."
"You know, there's a good saying: 'what two know, a pig knows.' Surely the Black Order already knows."
"You're likely right. But what should we do then?"
"I'll try to keep an eye on him."
"Where are you going?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"Probably not. What two know..."
"Well done, you learn fast!"
We were silent for a bit.
"I never thanked you for saving me."
"You're welcome."
"You know, I recently lost my sister. A rat got into Ming Wen school and took her. Surely she's been eaten. I really wanted to find at least what's left of her to bury. Но если подумать, то что случилось с моей сестрой, могло случиться со всем городом. Thank you, for all those two hundred thousand people you saved. Though few know, you did more for this city than all the magic associations and the army combined."
She approached and hugged me tightly, and we stood like that for several minutes. In complete silence. Hugging.
Yu Xin raised her head and looked me straight in the eyes. Slowly, as if afraid to scare me away, the girl took off my hood. Pausing in hesitation for a moment, she took the edge of my mask and slowly began to lift it. Stopping halfway, she just as slowly pulled my head to hers and kissed me. Our lips met; hers were soft and yielding, but that didn't satisfy me—I found her tongue with mine and began to act more aggressively. Pressing her waist tightly to me, feeling her heavy breathing, I enjoyed the warmth of her body. Our tongues tried to overcome each other, but there was no winner and the match promised to be long. Moving down a bit, running my hands over her body, I picked her up by the hips. Her hands still held my head, no longer just touching but demanding, not letting me pull away a millimeter. Without breaking the kiss, I carried her to the bed and slowly lowered her. Holding her waist with one hand, I slid the other under her white blouse, finding a soft, firm breast, and began moving my fingers around the hard, hot nipple. She wrapped her hips around me and pressed closer with every second, more demandingly. My hand moved to her thigh, encased in black tights, possessively running from knee to butt, where it stopped with a firm squeeze. Pulling away from the girl, I began unbuttoning her blouse while she unbuttoned and removed her skirt, which I helped pull off. In return for the concession, I threw off my cloak and balaclava. My T-shirt followed. Hovering over the girl, we paused for a second. She looked at me without blinking, steadily, right in the eyes. In return, I didn't look away. Taking my head again, she pulled me back, continuing our unfinished match. Our skin touched, causing waves of goosebumps; my hands roamed over her yielding body. Removing her bra and pressing tightly, I felt the soft breasts; her nipples had long since hardened and moving them against my skin caused a slight tickle. Sliding my hand into her panties, I felt a warm, pleasant moisture—this moment was like an invitation that you'd insult the hostess by refusing. Finding a small pearl, my fingers moved smoothly around it; the girl's breathing became heavier and her actions even more demanding.
Pulling away again, I slowly began pulling off her tights, my other hand running over the skin of her slender white legs as they were freed from captivity. Freeing the second foot, smoothly kissing the smooth leg, my head reached her belly. Thin fingers dug into my hair, demanding I continue. Taking her from two sides, I smoothly pulled off the panties. Quickly standing up from the bed, I shed the rest of my clothes, catching her appraising gaze. Satisfied with the appraisal, the girl spread her legs slightly wider, inviting me to continue.
Lowering onto her, joining our lips in a kiss, I directed my member into the girl's moist womb. She was narrow and hot; hearing a soft groan, I went further until reaching the end. Slowly, I began moving my pelvis up and down; all this time we didn't break the kiss. Gradually I began to accelerate; my hands possessively roamed over her breasts, hips, and buttocks, squeezing them harder and more demandingly, starting to enter more and more roughly, driving the member to the very base. At one point the girl put a hand on my chest, demanding I stop; flipping me onto my back, she sat on top.
Straddling me, she began moving her hips forward and back; my hands didn't stop exploring her body, squeezing and stroking her wherever they could reach. At one point her core began to tighten, giving unforgettable pleasure; I sat up and my lips closed around her hot nipples. The girl began to tremble slightly, but I was at the limit too. My member tightened more and more, trying to hold in everything that was trying to come out, but it was beyond my strength. The girl began to shudder noticeably more; I picked her up and laid her on her back, taking a firm nipple in my lips and settling on top, quickly driving my entire essence into her. Unable to withstand the sweet torture, my dam burst, heading directly into my partner; in response came a loud groan which she tried to stifle by clenching her teeth on my shoulder. Her legs squeezed my sides tightly, and a light tremor ran through her body. Lying in each other's arms for a minute without saying a word, our lips joined again, silently asking to repeat what happened between us.
A few hours later the girl fell asleep. Hugging her from behind, I thought about what to do. And I decided to retreat. I'm not running from possible responsibility; I'd gladly stay, but staying with her puts her at considerable risk. My war is not yet over. And I know exactly when I can declare myself the winner.