Chapter 44: Smooth Sailing
I sat down on the bed that I awoke in just a couple of hours ago, staring at the wall in front of me. I breathed in and out, using the meditation technique to calm my overly stressed mind. After calming myself down, I started to cultivate using my storage of Genesis Orbs while brainstorming.
'I've been thrown off my game recently. So much has been happening, and to top it all off the curse I have is starting to grow stronger again. It's not like I'll make as big a mistake as I did when I first got here, but it will still cause me some difficulty when talking to others. And then there was also that dream I had. Why would my brain go back to that point in my life? I have already moved far passed it, so it has to be that damned curse.'
I fell onto my back as the well-cushioned mattress embraced me with its soft blankets. It wasn't my first time having so many different things going on at once, so I already knew what I had to do. I would logarithmically take down each problem in my mind in chronological order. After all, the outcome of a battle should already have been calculated before you make a single move.
'First, I'll start with my semi-death. I was definitely burnt to a crisp by Cortritio, but somehow I'm still alive. The only explanation I can think of is that right as I passed out he stopped attacking and rushed me to medical attention. But that's still bad for me. After that entire healing incident with Salquam, I thought it would be smart to look more in-depth at healing-type Fruits. I discovered that the human body can only handle a certain amount of healing before it starts to crumble in on itself. Not much is known about why, at least in this sect, but what is known is the limit of the amount of healing one can handle. It has to do with both the quantity and quality of the healings one receives. You can heal a small cut hundreds of times before you reach your limit, but you can only heal amputated limbs a couple of times. Of course this changes based on how high class the Fruit is, the healer is, and the receiver is. I may have been able to defeat Stone Class Cultivators, but I'm still Dirt Class, so my limit is much smaller than others. And since I was practically brought back from death... I wouldn't be accepting a heal anytime soon.'
I repositioned myself into a cross-legged position as I held my hand to my head and brought myself to the next subject.
'Next, is something very important. I was somehow brought to the Underworld. I accepted it all at the time since I thought I was dead and all, but now that I think about it, it doesn't make any sense. How is the Underworld of Jungle Mythology any more likely to be true than the Door of Life and Death of Mountain Mythology, Hell of Stone Mythology, or even Hawaiki of Island Mythology? It doesn't make logical sense for Jungle Mythology to be true, but for none of these other beliefs to be true. After all, even the most far-fetched rumors have a real origin, and this was even more true in a world as such. I have no clue how these "Gods" conduct themselves or how they work, but I do have speculations. What if the Gods of these mythologies were originally inhabitants of the Region they belong to? They got stronger and eventually became a God of their birth Region. It would make sense, but it still brings on more questions. If these mythologies were real then how come no one practiced religion for them, instead praying to the Sovereign of their Region?'
I sat on this for a moment, thinking hard. Suddenly, I thought back to my old world and a prime example came to mind.
'That's right! It's a basic rule in any type of leadership, even for religion. If something is gone for too long, people won't believe in it any longer. In my past life, there was a king who left his nation to speak diplomatically in another nation, but because of how long it took him, people lost hope in the king and a new power rose. It must be the same thing here. All of these mythologies have a certain truth to them, but the stories that these Gods once had were buried by the new, and they were eventually thought of as fiction. So that explains why instead they pray to a more recent powerful entity, their Region's Sovereign. Although the path is still blurry, this hypothesis does bring some light to the path of Godhood.'
A feeling of excitement flowed inside of me as the thought of getting strong enough to exact my revenge became more possible. This feeling soon dissipated and I then focused on a tidbit of this whole underworld thing that I was really interested in.
'Hades definitely called me his son. And judging by his words, he wasn't talking about my new body and mind, but my soul. That is definitely a point of curiosity for me. I never knew my birth parents of my last life, instead accepting the people who raised me as my parents. But if Hades truly is my father... I guess that's why I had crimson eyes despite not being a true demon. That also explains why the Gods were so wary of me, even going to the point of forcing me into the position of Demon King to keep a closer eye on me. But I don't really care about that, all that I care about is the fact that this could be another way to exploit strength out of people in the future. But... right now I shouldn't be worried about the future, first I need to figure out the present.'
I stood up and began to pace around the room while moving my hands into multiple different positions. I seemed to move faster as my head thought faster.
'My situation is filled with pros and cons. First, I'll start with the cons. As I already recalled earlier, once you leave your base of power for too long, your influence begins to fade. That would definitely happen to me when it comes to my growing influence on campus. If Medisma didn't tell others about my kidnapping, which she definitely wouldn't, then I would be declared missing. Some people may try to look for me, but they wouldn't find me. Convir hadn't put too many resources into me yet, so he would only see this as an unlucky loss and begin his next plan. The students would have differing opinions, but eventually, they would lose all the respect they held for me. And, most importantly, the keys I was fattening up will lose the hope they once held in me. Then there was also the fact that I had to play teacher for what was explained to me as a group of idiots with an absurd amount of power in their hands. I'm sure that would prove a challenge on its own.'
I sat down at the desk on the side of the bed and tapped my foot while listing off the pros in my head.
'The pros on the other hand are obvious. I'll get to Stone Class much faster than before. I'll probably even be able to ascend before midterms. But is that pro good enough to cover for the cons? I would have been able to ascend just fine on my own, and how am I even gonna use the Talent Plunder Fruit? How am I going to upgrade my skills outside of cultivating?'
I suddenly came to a complete stop as I suddenly understood a fact that I had been ignoring all this while.
'How come I've been so naive? It's obvious this is the better outcome. What is better, helping a conniving bastard like Convir or helping a slightly less shady old hag like Medisma? The answer was obviously Medisma. Not only did I feel less risk by being on her side, but she also had some immediate benefits to give me. Yea, I may lose the influence I had in Convir's faction, but I'll regain it easily as long as I have Medisma backing me. This was still one sect after all. As long as I don't make too many people mad, my growth will be supported. I mean, it wasn't like I had a choice to begin with, but at least I could feel content with this.'
I walked over to the desk in the room, sat down in the chair, pulled out a piece of paper, lifted my pencil, and began to write. Writing has always been a help in organizing ideas, so I decided to do it. I needed to plan some things.
I'll start with this.
How can I exploit this situation to the maximum?
___________________________________________________________________________
Yawn.
As with most mornings, I started it with a yawn as I crawled out of the bed that I'd grown accustomed to. I walked over the the dresser and picked out the clothes I would be wearing today. After changing into the flexible shorts, the short-sleeved shirt, and the half-mask Medisma ordered me to wear, I left my room and walked around for a while before finding myself in the dining room. On the table were two plates adorned with over-medium toucan eggs and crispy sloth bacon. I found my seat and sat down before I began to eat my breakfast while listening to the complaints of Medisma.
"That damned Sect Leader I tell you, if it weren't for the fact that he was Iron Class, I would have tried to take him out of his position forcefully. He and Convir are both trouble, constantly bickering over stupid things like, "Who controls what resource". I tell you, their fight for power is nothing more than a thorn in my side. Because I'm always the one that has to clean up after them so the sect doesn't fall apart."
I let the chewed bite of bacon slide down my throat before asking her, "What are they fighting about this time?"
She held one of the eggs above her mouth before dropping it into her gullet and answered me with her mouth full, "Well, actually this time is a little different. Convir is trying to blame you missing on the Sect Leader, saying that he must have done something to get rid of such a "star pupil". Blegh. Star pupil my ass. All you do all day is train, train, train, and then train some more. A real star pupil would follow me around and listen to my every whim to try and get a grasp of the wisdom I hold in my steel cage that is a brain."
I ignored her comment by finishing my food and leaving the dinner table. I have already gotten a good grasp of how she works, and trying to get any information out of her is useless once she begins to talk about herself in such high regard. So I have just made it a habit to eat as fast as possible and get out right as she starts tooting her own horn. Although, I still have to be careful around her. She's able to keep control of a huge portion of the sect, so she must have something going for her, mentally speaking.
I walked outside and began to do my morning stretches. I'm still in a normal body, so pulling a muscle is a big possibility, one that I didn't want to risk. After finishing my stretches I began my exercise routine. Cardio, arms, core, legs, back, etc. everything needed for a good morning workout. After I finished with that, I made my way to the basement where the training area was located. I opened the doors and found a couple of Medisma's assistants inside. They were working on a combo-move for the big tournament that was going to begin soon.
I walked across the large room until I found myself before the weapon rack. I moved my arm forward and picked up the type of sword I was most accustomed to in this world. It was a classic longsword, complete with the hilt and all. Of course, if I had a choice I would use a katana, but that wasn't an option here. So instead I decided to work off my rust with the longsword. I spent a large amount of the day practicing with the wooden longsword while simultaneously cultivating my Genesis Orbs until I wasn't able to swing the sword anymore.
I moved my heavy and gibrating body up to the second floor of the mansion all the way until I found myself in the library. I had no other way of acquiring knowledge anymore, so I had to commit to self-study. I spent some time inside the library until I heard my name being called by Medisma. I put down the book I was reading and walked downstairs to a resting room. Once I walked in, on a couch was Medisma sitting down with an unconscious man lying next to her.
She opened her eyes on my arrival and muttered to me, "Go ahead and do your thing. I still don't get why you want to look at an unconscious person for a minute every night, but hey, if it helps you get to the peak of Dirt Class faster then I don't care."
She closed her eyes again, probably doing something inside of her Duranian, and I activated my Talent Plunder Fruit. The Fruit did its thing and transferred some of the Talent that belonged to man before me and put it inside of me. After doing that, I went back into the basement but this time it was to cultivate, I needed a good source of Genesis Orbs after all. The cultivation room was surprisingly diverse, holding around 10 bubbles of Genesis Essence of different varieties. I walked into the Firearm Essence area, and, although it was smaller than the bubble on campus, it was still a surprise to see it here at all.
These cultivation rooms were what Medisma was referring to as a "boost". Apparently, cultivating while inside one will give the effects of one whole level higher than your actual Talent. So with the added benefit of my Arrow Trepanation Fruit, I was able to cultivate at the level of a B+ Talent. And the interesting thing is that this effect was still effective for my Genesis Orbs even after I left the room. It was due to the Magic Circles engraved in the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room. It was less about making your Talent higher and more about making the Genesis Essence higher quality.
Thanks to the process being so similar to creating mana crystals, It takes me five seconds to create on Genesis Orb, so after making around 1000 of them only about an hour and a half passed. Once I was done creating enough to last me until tomorrow, I left the cultivation room and went back to the dining room. I ate some dinner before heading to my bedroom. Once inside of my room, I placed myself underneath the covers of the bed and closed my eyes as I entered my Duranian.
The Duranian had no big differences except for one big thing. In the town side of my Duranian, a new building was being built. The Archery Range.
I had crossed into the 5th Level of Dirt Class the day after I was kidnapped and for the past week, I've been trying to get this building fully operational. It'll take some time for sure, but it'll be well worth it afterward. It'll make growing Firearm Branch Fruit much easier and the real kicker was how it would extend the lifetime of Fruits that you keep inside of it. So I have been working diligently on it.
I spent an hour or two working on the Archery Range before leaving my Duranian and giving myself a moment to think.
'For the past week life has been... very smooth. Not that I'm complaining, I needed some time just to focus on bettering myself, and this is an opportune moment for that. And since I have no choice other than going along with it, I just have to accept it. I just hope that this crazy hag doesn't keep me here for the entire school year. I still need to make sure I can smooth things over when I return.'
I ended up falling asleep soon after because of how exhausted my body was. I would wake up in the morning and start the process over again. And then sleep, and then awake, and then sleep, and then awake again.
For the next couple months, life was smooth sailing.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
MrChill
MrChill Alright, now we've got some meat cooking. Just so you know, I will not just be completely skipping the next in-story months. For Ikusho, he's pretty oblivious to the outside world right now, his only insights being the rare comment from Medisma. But for others, stuff is still brewing. I want to go into some other characters over this period and also use the time to explore some political stuff, because, after this section, it's going to be only Quis' POV, for a while.
PS: Life is like a box of powerstones, you never know how many you'll get. I guess if you are an isekai protagonist maybe... eh whatever. If you enjoy the book powerstones and/or a review is appreciated.
Also, I'm officially at 100,000 words for this book! I have actually never put this much effort into any other webnovel of mine, so this is pretty cool to see. Now I just wait until I get to 1,000,000 words... that will be an interesting day.
Thank you.
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