Chapter 26: Reinventing Oneself

“It’s good that your body is so adequately cultivated. It would have been a waste of time teaching you the first segment of Infinite Transformations, Altering Body. Then again, you wouldn’t have been here otherwise”. Gid Chu remarked. He watched Zax holding the earring shaped communicator and expounded on the device. “It’s not your typical violet stone”.

It was round and its size tinier, which meant that it had a short range, so how could Zax think of it as better than the one he already had?

“Wear it. I removed the restriction so be sure to activate them after instilling your soul energy”.

Zax followed the instruction. Placed his old communicator in his spatial ring, at the moment he could only commune with Fengar and his other associates through it, should he get back to the Western Continent.

The instant the communicator activated, Zax’s mind reeled in surprise. “This range ... An A grade communicator! It covers a third of the continent!”

“It’s not a regular A grade communicator. For safety it was modified so its frequency would be impossible to decrypt, therefore its range somewhat short. Anyway, search for folder ‘BMT’, don’t move”. Gid Chu tapped Zax’s forehead with his finger, “It’s the formation password”. He explained so Zax will not block the stream of soul energy. “Copy and channel it to the folder”.

Zax was about to retort, ask Gid Chu how he expects of him to erect it without prior practice. Then, the complicated formation sent to his sea of consciousness deconstructed, revealing its entire layout and rebuilt itself. ‘So it’s only a shape’. Zax understood. There were no insights into the way of formations that had to be comprehended before using the one sent to him, only a well deceiving, complex structure with a few hidden features.

He opened the folder and looked at the file titled “Bone And Muscle Transformation” inside it. In an instantly a flood of information streamed to his sea of consciousness, anatomy pictures of the human body with detailed concentrations, further explanations, elaborated applications and more.

“This is incredible!” Zax got excited. Aside from the bodily maneuvers, which had a different goal, he never viewed a bodily technique nor considered the manner in which it can be compiled. It was not mystical or had the first impression supernatural vibe like soul and mist technique possessed. It was more... “Realistic” some would have probably said before the discovery of Earth’s Cores. It literally looked like a section of an anatomy book – at least in a first glance.

“Maybe this is the correct way!” A spark of insight illuminated his eyes as he immediately thought of the results of implementing additional focus on the overall anatomy of the body to the Seven Stages Of Bodily Refinement, beyond its three principles of Pain, Destruction and Rehabilitation. ‘Too difficult’. He groaned inwardly. ‘I can sense every cell and fiber in my body, control it, the way it is, perfectly, but I don’t really understand it. Mm?’ He halted the flow of thoughts as he skimmed through the information of the Bone And Muscle Transformation technique and realized something.

“This technique can only alter a small margin of the body”.

“What, did you think that you would be able to transform your body like I do? Let me tell you something, transforming the body isn’t as easy as it looks, regardless of the technique. Infinite Transformations Altering Body is the best in the field and even I had to spend long periods of time learning and thoroughly understanding the anatomy of the Armored Squid and the Golden Steel Behemoth”. Gid Chu sneered. “Besides, this is not the Infinite Transformations Altering Body bodily cultivation technique. It’s a technique the me and Yurnal devised so members who aren’t interested or did not have an affinity to bodily cultivation technique could master to disguise themselves by only cultivating the first flexibility segment. Since your cultivation technique isn’t inferior, you can skip the first segment and start right away to learn the Bone And Muscle Transformation”.

“For disguise ... it should suffice”. Zax had to admit that his expectations were unreasonable.

“It would. You don’t use mist energy to conceal your true self, so there aren’t fluctuation. As long as your blood isn’t being matched, not even those from the Martial competition’s top ten who were recruited by Luminous Church or Beatriz, who know you face, will be able to recognize you”.

“I suppose. But it will take me a long time to master it to a satisfactory level. Half a year, if I won’t let anything else to distract me”. Zax could tell that the requirements of the Bone And Muscle Transformation were not low. On the contrary, it seems that he will have to compensate the essential lack of flexibility by reconstructing the alterations in his body.

“It’s enough. The preliminaries of the Elite Tryouts will last about a year and there are still more than two weeks before they start. As long as you’ll eventually appear and give a tolerably rowdy performance, they will give you a chance”.

“And then? Even if I’ll fool them by disguise, without relying on dark attribute energy, my physical strength can only compare to an Advanced or Peak second level Martial Mortal”.

“You don’t have to worry about that. As long as you won’t disclose your cultivation technique, it is fine to dominate by physical strength alone; at most they will assume that your mist cultivation and attainment of the attribute are poor”. Gid Chu apparently thought of everything. “Let’s return”. He concluded and made the first step to leave. “You can stay in the cottage or find somewhere else. Zechariah and the others are staying in different hotels in the city. You can join them if you want to”.

“What about the thing you want me to retrieve from the Grand Abode?”

“It’s not a pressing issue. While practicing the Bone And Muscle Transformation, see folder ‘C#100’ about computing. You won’t be able to help me before understanding particular thing and you best learn everything, anyway”.

‘Computing... ‘ Zax examined the content of the folder. ‘Interesting’. He grew up in a fairly modern society and in cultivator’s time it was not long ago that he was playing computer games with his friends.

...

It was early morning. Vendors began to open their shops for business and the streets were being cleaned before the early rush hour and the rise of the hot burning sun.

Up front of Zax was a five storey building, “Sanctum Oasis’s Desert Palace”, a hotel shrouded by a Soul Sense obstructing formation.

‘Linor, come out here’. Zax munched on a prickly pear he bought from a greengrocer in the price of a Splinter for two and contacted her via his new communicator. It was Gid Chu who told him where she and Zechariah are staying.