Pandora Unchained - a Cultivation Progression Fantasy

The jade-leafed corpse-eating lily Sorin obtained from the governor was very useful to Sorin. It was not a death-aligned poison as one might expect, but a potent acidic poison instead.

"I really don't understand you, Sorin," said Mr. Primrose when Sorin went to find him a few hours later. "After going through all that effort to craft an acidic poison that barely qualifies as a two-star poison, you've suddenly changed your mind and come begging me for help. If you're going to be stubborn, see it through to the end!"

Sorin held up his hands. "There's no helping it. My cultivation technique requires me to absorb a ten-poison. The higher the quality of the poison, the more likely I am to succeed in my breakthrough. The first poison I made is really just a one-star poison that was elevated through artificial means. This, however, is a high-quality poison that I could almost use directly."

"Give me two hours to blend this," said Mr. Primrose with a sigh. "It's a fairly simple poison, and most of the groundwork is already done since you're feeding the inferior poison you crafted." Sorin winced at that. Crafting this poison had required an investment of ten thousand gold, all borrowed from the adventurer's guild.

Mr. Primrose wasn't fond of others looking in on his work, so Sorin waited near his own desk. He looked around the familiar laboratory, knowing that this might just be his last time seeing it.

Though Sorin hadn't spent much time in the poison workshop, it was still a place he would fondly remember. It was, after all, one of the few places in the outpost where Sorin had truly felt welcome.

Before he knew it, two hours were up. Mr. Primrose handed him a flask full of bubbling green liquid. "If you're going to assimilate that, it's probably best to do it here," he said to Sorin. "In my personal cultivation chamber, preferably."

Sorin gratefully accepted his invitation. "I wasn't sure if my manor would survive my breakthrough. I assume the chamber is protected from acids?"

"And many other types of poison as well," said Mr. Primrose. "The guild master himself placed the enchantments. I dare say that you'll find no environment better suited to your situation."

"Thank you," said Sorin, deeply moved by all the assistance the man had provided him.

"You can thank me by surviving," said Mr. Primrose. "Poison cultivation methods are often much riskier than their non-poisonous counterparts. By the way, did you bring extra clothes? Well, it's not your first breakthrough. I'm sure you know what to expect."

***

The Ten Thousand Poison Canon was a comprehensive manual of all available poisons on Pandora. It included any poisons that qualified as a one-star poison fand everything up to and including the legendary six-star divine poisons that were rumored to grow on Mount Olympus before the twilight of the gods.

It mirrored the Divine Medical Codex in many aspects, including the most vexing aspect of all: protections against the assimilation of advanced knowledge. Some knowledge, apparently, could kill or damage a cultivator if acquired prematurely.

As a result, Sorin's knowledge of poisons was limited to one-star poisons and a few weak two-star poisons. They were categorized as simple physical poisons, which were grouped according to five subcategories: acitoxins, necrotoxins, manatoxins, neurotoxins, and hemotoxins.

Acitoxins were a broad classification of poison that included flesh-dissolving poisons, simple mineral acids, and other more complex acids. Necrotoxins caused necrosis of living things like flesh and bones and deprived these living tissues of life mana and vitality.

Neurotoxins were poisons that inhibited nervous response. Sorin's paralytic poisons were a type of neurotoxin. Hemotoxins included blood-born poisons of various kinds, and manatoxins encapsulated all manaborne poisons like the manabane poison produced by manabane chrysanthemums.

Sorin had thought long and hard about which poison to imbibe first, but in the end, it had come down to availability. Two-star poisons were difficult to obtain in the outpost, especially those that qualified as the base of a ten-poison.

The jade-leafed corpse-eating poison was an acitoxin. "I sure hope this doesn't kill me, Lorimer," said Sorin to his trusty familiar. "There won't be much for you to eat if I lose control."

Lorimer rolled his beady little eyes from atop his own tiny cultivation mat. Placed before him were five bone-forging pills, as well as the core of an iron-plated armadillo demon that Sorin had obtained from the group loot following the defense of the outpost.

"Well, here goes nothing," said Sorin, opening his pack to reveal 206 crystal needles made from two-star crystal. He opened the flask and directed a drop of acitoxin to each of the crystal needles before manually taking each needle and inserting them into his body, lightly piercing bone in the process.

Inserting the needles was extremely painful, as Sorin's Toxic Metabolism was too low-leveled to properly dissolve the two-star acitoxin. Even so, it was not just a heroic ability—it was a divine ability. As such, Sorin was able to make steady progress absorbing the poison into his bones as he circulated his mana according to the Canon's instructions.

Each of Sorin's 206 bones smoked as the poison drilled into them, etching away their surface to reveal an emerald-green runic structure. The appearance of the runes provoked a change in Sorin's body that strengthened his attunement to mana and deepened his connection with the ambient mana inside the room.

Yet shortly after this mysterious connection was formed, his bones began to burn like red-hot metal. The source of the burning was naturally the two-star poison working its way into his bones and modifying them.

The external pressure on Sorin's bones provoked a natural response that mobilized his marrow, his blood, and his mana to support his skeletal integrity. All the mana in his body was sucked dry in an instant. And when there was no more mana to be found, his body went looking outside itself for more. This provoked a chain reaction in the ambient mana that manifested as a funnel of mana pouring into Sorin's body.

A clash between his own mana and the external poison ensued. The poison struck at the mana in his bones hundreds of times in quick succession. Each strike compressed and condensed his mana, working it deeper into the runes on his bones until, finally, the runes could no longer take the strain. They shattered, revealing highly complex sapphire runes.

A blood-thickening cultivator's talent is determined by their naturally awakened meridians, while the grade of their bones determines a bone-forging cultivator's talent, thought Sorin. Emerald bones are the weakest, followed by sapphire, ruby, bronze, and silver bones.

Several painful hours passed as the acitoxin first hammered his bones into shape and brought out their natural runes then attempted to integrate itself into his marrow and displace his own mana.

Sorin's bones were very tough, especially when reinforced by his tarnished gold blood and mana. But the acitoxin was stronger, and by the time the first strand of acitoxin reached his marrow, his bones could no longer take the pressure. The sapphire runes shattered, revealing potent ruby runes that were fifty percent more effective at conducting mana than the sapphire ones.

There's a huge gap between grades of bone-forging cultivators, thought Sorin. A bone-forging cultivator with sapphire bones was twice as strong as one with emerald bones. Ruby bones were three times stronger than emerald bones, while bronze bones were four times stronger.

As for silver bones, they're supposedly ten times stronger. They were also very difficult to unseal to that state, and doing so resulted in other benefits.

There were five stages to the bone-forging realm, regardless of talent. Each stage represented a doubling of one's strength. Generally speaking, a bone-forging cultivator was considered ten times stronger than a blood-thickening cultivator. This took into account both their forgings and the grade of their bones.

It took a half day for the acitoxins in Sorin's bones to finally show signs of integration. His marrow began to glow with a tarnished gold hue and finally began producing more potent blood and mana. The potency of the toxin continued to nourish his marrow until, finally, the acitoxins in his body reached the ten-poison level, completing his breakthrough.

This led to a sharp increase in mana in his body that strained his bones beyond what they could tolerate. The ruby runes on his bones shattered, revealing complex bronze sealing marks that gave off an archaic aura.

Bronze-grade talent, thought Sorin with a smile. Very good. With luck, I should be able to obtain the Kepler Clan's bone unsealing method and improve their quality further. Regardless, ruby bones are the minimum requirement to reach the flesh sanctification realm. As for bronze bones, they qualify me to advance through the ranks in the flesh sanctification realm.

As the mana intensity in the room subsided, Sorin turned his attention to Lorimer, who'd already gobbled up the bone-forging pills and the steel-plated armadillo's demon core. The demon was fast asleep, but Sorin could sense that the small rat was transforming on a fundamental level.

Like Sorin's bones, the rat's bones were transforming to better accommodate mana. It wouldn't be long until he became a fully-fledged two-star demon.

I guess it's time to check if any of my abilities changed, thought Sorin. He closed his eyes, spread his awareness throughout his body, and hoped for the best.

Yet before he could properly evaluate his abilities, Sorin's surroundings vanished. He found himself in a quaint room adorned with strange furniture. A fire crackled merrily before an old wood rocking chair.

A man with flowing gray hair man sat in that rocking chair. His features were chiseled, and his body was muscular despite his advanced age. But what struck Sorin most about this man was his serpentine eyes. "Greetings, inheritor," said the man in a kindly voice. "Greetings corrupted one and descendent of my mortal line. I know you probably have many questions, but let's start with who I am.

"I go by many names," continued the old man. "Son of Apolo was an earlier one, though many called me the Viper or Lord of Snakes. Eventually, they started calling me Medicine God, though I would prefer if you simply called me by my given name: Asclepius."