Black Onyx - Phoenix Resurrection

The spiral of stones, crystals, and precious metals on the ceiling was like a galaxy in the sky. The Qi around us was slowly pulled in, spiraled towards the middle, and was then compressed by some unknown force until it gained physical form from the sheer density, forming a drop.

But those drops, those super concentrated balls of energy, took a full month to form.

I could only watch from the side as a Grand Elder filled a special ceramic jug with the precious liquid, sealing it away from other curious eyes. As they sucked up the white liquid, the old men were talking between themselves, unconcerned about the audience.

“There’s so much of it, I wonder what the Patriarch will say.”

“Surely he will want to store most of it in the vault, like the rest.”

“Bah! I think we should use it to uplift some of our best candidates and get them to the Sky Realm sooner. I bet we could create at least a hundred new Grand Elders in just a matter of years.”

“And then what? Use them to fight the other two Clans?”

“Maybe. Haha, those arrogant bastards wouldn’t know what hit them. But no, I would make use of their new power. Just imagine what would happen if we could expand our best fighting force so rapidly. We could get a much bigger territory, and then the resources would just pour in.”

“Snowballing until we became too big to lose? I approve.”

“Yeah… Probably won’t happen.”

“Definitely won’t happen. I heard the Patriarch is close to reaching the peak. He had been preparing for it for so long already, in a few years he’s probably going to attempt reaching the Demigod Realm.”

“Just imagine the energy required for that. To reforge his body and Soul… The Pure Spirit Water is definitely going to be used by him. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

They suddenly paused and the oldest of the bunch closed the lid on his jar.

“Alright, done. Let’s go back.”

“What about this place? Should we lock it down?” One of them asked.

“Leave it for now, we don’t have the manpower. Most are still busy with the previous find.” The old man said and then turned to us. “You. Keep this place secure until we come back. For your payment, you can collect the drops that form in the meantime. Just make sure nobody damages this place, alright?”

“Yes, Grand Elder! Leave it to us.” General Red immediately bowed and cupped his fist. Such a reward, even if pitiful in comparison to what they just took, was incredibly valuable. He didn’t dare let such an opportunity slip.

“Good, good. Alright, let’s go.”

The group of grand Elders left the cavern and returned to the surface with millions of Spirit Stones worth of Pure Spirit Water. My heart was bleeding as I watched them leave, but there was nothing I could do. The money was gone.

I sighed and sat on the ground. The puddles were completely dry. They really took everything.

Leaning back I looked at the ceiling, where the galaxy of Qi swirled, forming drops of energy at the tips of the large crystal crown.

Seventeen per month. Almost three for each of us, if spread out evenly. That was nearly 300 Stones by doing nothing. It was not bad. Definitely much better than the little we were otherwise paid and certainly much better than we could make on our own.

I absentmindedly scratched my finger on the floor, breaking off millennia-old stalagmites that began to form over the ground.

As I did so, old, broken tiles were revealed, probably from the time before the great war. Now they lay in ruins, the golden inlays between the black marble blocks cracked and missing.

It must have looked nice when it was new. Gold and black went well together. But even rock, after such a long time, became damaged and broken.

I picked up a small golden flake. It used to be so valuable back on Earth, while here, in a Cultivation world, it was barely better than trash.

Rolling the golden nugget between my fingers I made it into a ball and then threw it into my mouth for fun. The metal was so soft my tongue could easily spread it apart like a piece of gum. I chewed on it for a while and then, for some reason, swallowed.

“Did you just eat a piece of gold?” Sunfire asked in surprise as she sat down beside me.

I just looked at her and slowly nodded. Honestly, I even surprised myself.

“Why?”

To that, I just shrugged.

Yeah… Why did I do that? So weird.

I wasn’t worried about eating a small piece of gold. The metal was inert. It would just pass through and come out on the other side. Or so I thought. As I was thinking about the weirdness of the situation, I realized I was already chewing on another chunk of gold. And it was... tasty?

[The hell?]

I spat it out and looked at it with a sense of disbelief.

“Are you feeling alright?” Sunfire asked and moved closer.

I didn’t answer immediately and instead went to examine my memories. Anything relating to gold, I double-checked. And soon I had a clue.

[Dragon bloodline? Could it be…?]

Dragons ate gold. That was the general knowledge at least. They would eat gold and their body would then turn it into Spirit Metal, empowering them.

I took out a Spirit Sword and looked at it. The metal was basically just refined Dragon’s blood. Apparently, dragons began eating more gold as they reached the Spirit Realm. I had been in the Spirit Realm for a few months already, so maybe it happened slower in me? I had a quite thin Dragon’s bloodline after all. Also, I didn’t often come into contact with gold. That could have also played a part in the delay.

“What are you doing?” Sunfire asked again as I stared intently at the blade.

[I need to test something.] I said and brought the sword to my mouth. As my teeth touched the cold metal and I applied some pressure, the blade snapped. A piece fell into my mouth and I began to chew.

Sunfire stared at me as I chewed, the sounds of cracking metal loud and clear.

“How is it?” She asked after some time.

I looked at her, paused, and then spoke a single word with all the seriousness in the world.

[Crunchy.]

After consuming the nearly two-meter-long blade in its entirety, even I was surprised, much less the fiery lady beside me. She just stared, unable to believe what she had just seen. I couldn’t blame her, it was pretty unusual.

“That’s all you have to say? Unusual?! You ate a freaking sword!”

[Yeah, well… It was quite tasty.]

“…Tasty.” She stared blankly.

What else could I say? The sword was delicious and weirdly, after eating it, I felt full for the first time in a while. I could usually just continue eating even when I wasn’t hungry, but after finishing the blade I felt stuffed. It had to be the material that did it since the volume was way too small to fill my stomach.

[I’m starting to feel some weird tingling. Also, is it just me, or is it getting warm in here?]

Sunfire looked me up and down. “It’s you. You are the one who’s hot.”

I almost blushed. [Oh, thank you. You aren’t bad looking yourself.] I then jumped up and stretched. My body felt… weird.

“No, I meant to say you are on fire.” She clarified.

My mind immediately went back to the fight we had with the beasts. I was pretty amazing back then, that was true.

[Haha, oh, stop it. You don’t need to compliment me so much.] I smiled.

“No! Gerald, you are literally burning!” Sunfire shouted and pointed at me.

That’s also when the pungent aroma of smoke reached my nose. My robe was on fire, with heat visibly radiating from my body, and I wasn’t the one doing it.

[Huh… Well, would you look at that.] I murmured as I watched my hands glowing ever brighter. For some reason, I was unable to stop it.

I theorized all that Pure Spirit Water I drank must have somehow reacted badly with the sword. And, judging by the increasing heat my body was giving off, I judged, I was going to blow.

[Pardon me while I find a safe place to deal with this.]

I quickly jumped into the air and flew through the tunnel where the monsters came from. The tunnel walls just rushed by as I dove deeper into the earth, deep, into the glowing red part of the Underdark. No creature could survive there for long unless it was in the Spirit Realm, and even those were rare.

What I was trying to say was that the place was completely empty. I was alone, and my body continued to glow brighter and radiate more heat.

Shit, am I going to blow for real? Am I really going to die again?

The thing was, I didn’t really feel bad. Sure, the energy inside me was going wild, but not in a chaotic kind of way. It was more like… an accelerated change.

[You know what… Fuck it!]

If anything bad was going to happen, I didn’t have the knowledge or power to stop it. Whatever was happening to me was the unknown, so I reacted in the only way I knew how. By adding to the chaos!

I took the broken pieces and scattered them around, I took the Spirit Stones and stuck them in the ground. With the fresh blood of mine, I drew a Formation. I fired it up, and laughed at my creation.

If the world wanted me burning, then I would be a flame. A blazing bonfire, without shifting the blame. The golem pieces melted, my bones feeling the pain. I knew I had to do it, and I would never be the same.

Jade Bones and Starlight merging deep underground, with Spirit Swords and treasures, my powers abound. My blood was boiling, my bones were under stress, I was growing stronger, that I can confess.

With each passing moment, the feeling increased. There was no doubt about it, I was becoming a beast!