Black Onyx - Phoenix Resurrection

I had created a blueprint. Some might call it a hobby, but it was more like a life’s work, considering how much time and resources I poured into it.

Over two months I created, in detail, a plan, a structure, and a scaffold, to build my creation. But that was only the beginning.

Over the next three years, I Cultivated in the Underdark. I fought, bled, and suffered in the hellish place surrounded by allies. It was a choice I made and had a purpose. Mainly access to rare resources, food, and Soul Essence.

I had reached the Third Level. It was slow, much slower than the first two, but that’s because the beasts were increasingly difficult to find. Unlike before, when people would fight and kill some, letting most creatures escape, I kept seeking out my prey, killing and devouring as much as I could.

Truth be told, after the first year, the Underdark where I served became incredibly boring. There were barely any attacks and we had a lot of free time. But that was fine as well. I needed a lot of time to bring my creation to life.

Every day I did my guard duty, but I also melted down pieces of the Goruct or the drones, reforging them into specific pieces that fit together. Every day I fired up the forge, creating a miniature sun to be able to work on the Celestial Metal. Slowly, over many months and years, I built it. A machine.

A dull golden construct, indestructible to all but the strongest of foes.

Every chunk was enchanted, every piece bathed in the blood of my enemies, with runes and inscriptions carved into them like a web.

While doing that, I also Cultivated my Spirit Body. I had tested my progress a few more times, and after more than three years, the conversion only came up to 6%. It was incredibly slow, yet still ludicrously fast by normal standards.

And as if that wasn’t enough, I put even more on my plate. Tiny’s core, his artificial Soul, I took it and forcefully Cultivated it, bringing it to a higher Realm. With the help of the beast cores I acquired, and with the help of extra Essence, I pushed him to the peak.

It was stupidly easy to get a normal Soul to the peak of Spirit Realm, though I could go no further. Sky Realm was, I knew, eternally out of his reach. If I wanted to create a stronger construct I would have to take an existing Sky Realm Soul and modify it. Uplifting it otherwise was impossible, at least for me at that level.

I forged Tiny his new body out of Celestial Metal. His core I encased in Spirit Metal cage by melting some of my swords, the meridians of blue and gold connecting every part of his body. The alloy was one of my own creations, mainly born out of necessity, as I wouldn’t have enough Celestial Metal to complete my work otherwise.

Mithril, the refined blood of Dragons, the Spirit Metal, was used as a scaffold for all the other pieces to connect. I created the shape and filled it out in its entirety.

The golem stood nearly four meters tall, with five beast cores to provide it with energy. Three of them were of a peak Spirit Real beast, the strongest one housing the main Soul, and the two others not far behind.

Lastly, to cover the metallic muscles and unbreakable bones, I gifted Tiny my most valuable possession. The Arcane Ferrite Wardplate. The dull gray armor snapped around it, reshaping itself to fit perfectly just as the golem powered up.

He looked like a broken beast no longer. He stood straight and tall, with the shape of a man, slightly larger than myself. With armor that guarded against magic, enchantments that would bring armies to their knees, and an indestructible body forged from only the most precious of metals, my creation was complete.

I looked at him, and Tiny looked at me, the intelligence almost visible in his red glowing eyes, hidden behind a golden mask.

I grinned. [Welcome to the world, partner.]

Over the course of three years that it took to create Tiny’s new body, I traded for many manuals and Spirit Stones. My stores of wealth inflated significantly, bringing me close to the mark of 200.000 Spirit Stones. The pay, personal Stone production, as well as the beasts I killed, contributed greatly to my savings. It was a significant wealth for an individual, no doubt, yet still a pittance to what I watched be taken away just a short time ago.

Yes, I was still feeling disgruntled about the Pure Spirit Water even three years later. In truth, that feeling, though it greatly diminished over the years, never went away completely. To watch the untold millions slip through my fingers, how could I not be?

Anyway, that was all in the past. I had completed the task I gave myself, I had exhausted the resources available to me, and I had begun to stagnate in my Cultivation in the Underdark, so it was time to move on. It was time I returned to the outside world, to grow, to explore. Despite my many travels, there was still much of the world to discover.

My departure was met with sorrow and happiness in equal measure. The friends I made in the darkness were sad I was leaving, but at the same wished me success in my future endeavors. In truth, they knew there was not much future in the Underdark. While the few years I was there were fruitful and brought us much wealth, that was already greatly diminished with the disappearance of dangerous beasts.

Many mercenaries were already transferred over to other battlefields where mortality was much higher. They would likely soon join them, bringing the peaceful life to a close.

“Gerald? Took you some time to call back. Anything happened?” I heard John’s voice through the relic.

[Nothing much. I just wanted to announce I’m coming to visit. I’m done with the Underdark for now.] I said. It had been nearly a year since our last talk, and that one was quite short.

“Oh, perfect! I just came back home. I’ve been meaning to show you the progress, but… Well, anyway, let’s talk in person, it’s going to be faster.”

[Sure! I’ll be there in a bit.] I answered and cut the connection.

Not long after I found their house, the memory of my first visit was still fresh in my mind despite the time that had passed.

As I knocked, John came to greet me.

“Oh, you came earlier than expected. Welcome!”

[I hope I didn’t leave you waiting for too long. It’s been just… what, three years since we last met?]

John shrugged. “More than that, I think, but who cares? We are Cultivators, what is a few years? Come in, come in.”

[Where are the other two?] I asked after I took a seat in the living room and got served some tea. I could not detect their presence anywhere. Even the close connection we all shared was not there.

“They are back at our new base. Been working on it for the last few months, I just came here to get a few things and then I’m going back.” John explained.

“It’s such a coincidence you called because I was just about to leave and go back when you did.”

[Oh, really? Establishing a new base of operations? Now I’m really curious.]

John smiled and waved his hand dismissively. “It’s nothing much. A small, humble structure. It’s just outside The City, on a small hill in the desert. We can leave whenever and I can show you.”

[Cool. How far is it?]

“A few hours’ walk to the west after you leave the furthest reaches of The City. Or a few minutes, if you run. Obviously even less if you fly.”

[Pretty close then. Alright, let’s go!] I drank the tea in one gulp and stood up.

John laughed. “Sure, just follow me.”

It took us about an hour to reach our destination, and that was because we were going slow. Also, most of the time we spent just leaving The City. The place was huge, crowded, and we couldn’t fly, so obviously our movement was limited.

We reached a small hill, where a stone structure rose to the sky.

[You call this humble?] I laughed. Above a sandstone base, a tower rose to the sky. Its orange appearance blended in well with the surrounding landscape. The red, orange, and yellow rocks were everywhere, so it wasn’t difficult to guess where the material came from.

“It is humble…” John grumbled. “It’s just normal stone. Though I do have to admit, I did decide to make it a bit nicer than originally planned.”

[A wizard tower…] I murmured. [I like it.]

The tower was quite tall and much thicker at the base, ending with a pointy top.

“It’s for collecting Qi. The energy in this area is quite thin, but making a whole new mountain is unfortunately not allowed so close to The City. It’s the best we can do.” John said, appearing annoyed.

[Bureaucracy again, huh?]

He sighed. “Tell me about it…” He then gestured for me to follow and we entered the tower.

On the inside of the walls, I could see veins of Void Stone running up, carrying small amounts of Qi, to where on the ceiling a Formation concentrated it and spat it back down. The energy density inside was quite a bit higher than the outside, though it was still nowhere near enough for a Spirit Realm Cultivator to Cultivate optimally.

I also noticed containment arrays on the walls, preventing the Qi from escaping.

The place was quite nice actually, with motifs and stone carvings decorating the walls. But just as I wanted to say how great the place was, the back wall opened, revealing a set of stairs to the underground, and a pair of workers came up, carrying large blocks of stones in their hands.

I instantly recognized them as being in the Golden Core Realm, but otherwise, they weren’t familiar.

They gave a quick nod as a greeting and then went through the front door and left to throw away the stones or whatever.

I turned to John with a confused expression, expecting an explanation.

“I hired some local stonemasons to decorate this place. It was not in the budget originally, but considering how fucking expensive building the Anchor is, this was not worth mentioning.” He explained as we descended the stairs and the air became nice and cool.

[Wouldn’t bringing in other people ruin the point of this being a secret? I’m assuming it’s a secret, right?]

“Of course, kind of.” John said. The stairway was quite deep, spiraling downward into the underground. “The tower up there is not a secret, but the Anchor we are building is. But don’t worry, all workers here will get their memories wiped after they finish. They will remember they worked and got paid, but anything about what they did or where they did it will be gone. It’s the standard procedure.”

[Huh. I had no idea.]

The stairs ended and after a short hallway that had a few doors to the side, we reached the main hall. Inside were workers carving stone and expanding the hall. The arch around the entrance was already being decorated with spiraling patterns, parts of which were inlaid with gold and silver.

Precious metals weren’t all that precious in a Cultivation world and were used as cheap ornaments. Judging by what I saw, the entire construction couldn’t cost more than a hundred Spirit Stones. In comparison, creating the Anchor was closer to a million. It was bloody expensive!

“Oh, hey… You are back.” I heard a voice and turned, seeing Adam and Alexandra coming down the hallway towards us. After a quick scan, I realized the other doors led to sleeping chambers and other homely rooms that they came out of.

[Oh, you are here as w-]

The words got stuck in my throat as I looked at those two. Well, on Adam specifically. I cocked my head in confusion and scanned him with my Spirit Sense. There had to be something wrong with it. It had to be a cloaking technique. It had to be! How else could I explain it?

Why was he at the Nascent Soul Realm?!