4 A Friend?

Shin didn't know what to think of the V's handsome silhouette. He sensed no ill will towards himself or any other negative emotion. Surprisingly- that person was only irritated at him for messing up his food.

He approached the table once more.

"Sorry for the ruckus. I'll pay for your meal as apology."

Shin scratched his hair as he nervously smiled. But all he got was a "Oh" while that man sipped his tea and at the same time caressing a soft cushion in his lap. "You shouldn't bottle up your feelings Shin, if you don't let it out you'll destroy yourself." Words that were once spoke to him revisited his attention span. He Sat down opposite to V.

"Would you like to hear a pitiful story?", V didn't reply but looked at him. Shin continued anyway:

He was born in the prominent Wen clan which had existed for over 1000 years. Many experts were born from this clan and it's fame was made with their names. His parents died while he was young and he was left in his kind grandfather's care. When he failed the clan's aptitude tests in a pitiful manner with the lowest ranks possible, he was erased from everyone's memory. His third cousin, hated him to the bone since childhood and never ceased to bully him. It was this third cousin who conspirated with others to frame him for rape. Despite his pleas of innocence, no one believed him.

He was banished from the main clan. He went on to tell V of all the petty injustices he suffered.

"Sigh.... Thank you for listening to me... it's a load off of my chest." V got up and turned to face the exit," You are weak but no one will make you become strong."- his mouth curved a bit as he waved goodbye," Similar to what that loud one said before, birds fly in the skies and worms writhe on the ground. Which are you?"

Shin fell into a contemplative state.But he abruptly sprung up from his seat and shouted to the door.

"Oh wait!"

"?"

"I forgot that I don't have any money...hahaha"

"..."

Promising to pay the bill but having no money.... He seemed to have the memory of a goldfish, thought V.

.....

A shirtless figure held both hands in front of him against A large boulder in a stream against the flow with a waterfall increasing the pressure tens of meters away.

His muscles were shimmering in starlight although it was day time. His feet suddenly applied great force in the water sending a strong splash outwards from his feet, the muscles on his sides tightened as his fingers pierced into the boulder.

Electricity seemed to flash through his muscles as he lifted the boulder with his fingers, placed it above his head and slammed the boulder against the water with a powerful force shattering it to pieces.

"Huooo" He let out his suppressed breath as his muscles twitched. The muscles on his chiseled frame twitched. The Body Refinement Realm's first three layers consisted of strengthening the muscles in body. The first layer consisted of the lower body's muscles, the second consisted of the upper torso muscles and the third consisted of the tender muscles of the body's weakpoints: muscles in and near the ear, muscles in the face, groin muscles etc.

He had trained each muscle in his body assiduously with knowledge of human anatomy from books. He pushed them to their limit and back again, inserting astral qi into them to strengthen them. He could be considered to be at the peak of the 3rd layer of Body Refinement but he was unsatisfied with his current muscle strength, he felt he could be better.

He crossed his arms and his chin pointed forwards as his face gazed at the blue skies and blazing sun. His eyes seemed to want to peer through the skies to the starry expanse beyond it. His pupils seemed to harbour the shadow of a mysterious constellation, starry flicks of light seemed to emanate from his irises whose muscles had also been delicately refined by after much care.

"Herbs. There exists certain mystical herbs that contain potent effects that could be used for a variety of different purposes. There should be one for my muscles."

That rectified one problem but sprung a next. He couldn't afford a high ranked herb who could only be bought by yuan meteor stones.

All Yuan Meteor Stones originated from the Heavenly Layers, and were exceedingly precious. The amount of Astral Energy contained within the constellations was incomparably immense.

Although Stellar Martial Cultivators could sense and absorb the Astral Qi, the amount which they absorbed could only be considered a droplet of water in the entire ocean! As such, even if the Yuan Meteor Stones were small in size, the Astral Energy contained within was extremely terrifying.

In addition, Yuan Meteor stones could be used to greatly increase the probability of communication with the constellations. For example, if Verathragna, through his meditation, used the Yuan Meteor Stone in his hand in addition to that of his sensory abilities, he would be able to feel the connection between the Astral Constellation which the Yuan Meteor Stone had descended from.

Other than this, the benefits of Yuan Meteor Stones include forming innate links with the constellations, aiding the cultivator in absorption of the Astral Energy, or even condensing an Astral Soul. As such, many cultivators used the Yuan Meteor Stones as a means of becoming a Stellar Martial Cultivator.

Rare herbs could also be purchased using yuan meteor stones. But only prominent forces had even the opportunity to use them. He would love to be honorable and honestly earn them- actually no it didn't matter to Verathragna- but he had limited options but to steal them.

He headed out to town. He arrived at the Lawson clan after asking around a bit. The clan of the loudmouth of that day. From his tone, he seemed to be from a rich family so V chose this a his target.

Bypassing the guards by altering their perception for one second was easy.

He stimulated his astral soul to circulate thorough each fibre of his muscles one at a time as he waited silently in the shadows. Waiting for information to come to him. After a while, a young member of the clan walked by his position. Two eyes appeared in the shadows as a sword's hilt hit the clan member's chin, rattling his brain.

All it took was pretending to be another clan member and asking the out of sorts young man where was the treasury. Expecting traps, he once again hid in the shadows and slowed his breathing as much as possible while enveloping himself with the colorless aura of his astral soul. While waiting for another helper, he had a sudden flash of inspiration.

"What if i dissolve or leak a yuan meteor stone in a herbal bath, surely it'll temper my muscles but I also need healing herbs to heal damage that might plague my muscles and vitality. I might as well Rob those too. A clan like this is surely to have one. Just their houses and land consists of many towers and a square mile."

The Lawson clan was a prominent power in this city and never expected someone had the gall to Rob them so they didn't see this coming at all. Guards lazily walked about looking left and right in a perfunctory manner as they gossiped.

Although he could enter the treasury any time, he waited for a withdrawal to commence before going in an stealthily taking a pouch containing 13 yuan meteor stones and a box of herbs was made.

A red veined ginseng root contained strong medicinal energy that could be used in medicine as well as to consolidate foundations in the Arterial Circulation Realm.

The purple vibration beetroot was a poisonous herb that converted its poison into sonic vibrations when dissolved in white earth water, a relatively common water type found in areas with caves.

He stocked up on, well, all of those two present and took all the other high ranked herbs before leaving.

Verathragna avoided human contact as much as possible while heading out ,when he did contact persons they, did not see him.

....

In a barrel within his room at the Inn, Verathragna punctured a hole in the yuan meteor stone, crushed the ginseng and applied the beetroot in a barrel of water.

The astral energies of the yuan meteor stone fueled the sonic vibrations of the beetroot liquid while the energy of the ginseng seeped into his muscles. Verathragna's brows furrowed in pain as pain invaded every fibre of his being, he had to activate his astral soul's slowed perception ability on his hair which didn't hurt to stay sane.

It felt like lava rubbed against his skin, permeated his bones, and bubbled in his muscle cells as his astral soul condensed on his forehead sending waves of mysterious coloured astral energies through his being. He even went as far as liquifying a yuan meteor stone and dripping one drop into his mouth to work on the inside and outside tantamountly.

This became his nightly routine and his daily routine consisted of swallowing the raw healing herbs and colliding his body against a hard cliff- the pain was negligible if he didn't think about it an d immersed his will in his astral soul slowing down time for himself and dislocating his perception by using this ability only on his consciousness and leaving his body out. They were essentially in different timezones. Neither affecting the other.

He also pondered ways to utilize his abilities in a diversified manner.

2 weeks later.

V slowly made light move moments and flexed his muscles before the rock layers behind the waterfall of his favourite training spot. It was an indented section in the rock, not a very standard cave feature.

"Hoo", V breathed out with one hand lightly pressing the rock before him and the other behind him pressing on the air in a similar fashion. He closed his eyes before fiercely opening them and clawing away the rock before while simultaneously running. Yes, he was running through rock. Thick rock, with just his body. Like a crab furiously attacking the rock he swam through the rock sending tiny fragments behind him and making dust in the other directions.

30 minutes later.

In a narrow passage immersed in darkness, silvery hair and pupils glistened in the dark, almost glowing. Verathragna's chest rise and fell rapidly and his head rested backwards on the rock. Sweat droplets trickled down his curved muscles as his body was baptized in sweat.

His mouth curved upwards as he smiled- This. This was it. Satisfied with his current progress he released his qi restraints and stopped suppressing himself. "Pop" , just like that his qi travelled into his meridians and energy channels revolving constantly, the tyrannical astral energies from the 6th Heavenly Layer decimated his meridians and energy channels, using this superior quality astral energy his meridians were refined through destruction and reconstruction, gradually from the inside.

He finally utilized his qi by coating his hands with it as he ripped a new path to the outside in 12 minutes. Breathing in the refreshing air he greedily inhaled as much as he could, savoring the feeling before exhalation. Truly, you didn't treasure something you had until you had lost it.

He looked around at the unfamiliar environment before the notion clicked, he had obviously moved quite a distance away from his previous position. He seemed to be in a cellar of some sort. It was filled with sealed boxes, opening one of them V recognized them as parts of demonic beasts. These parts had a variety of uses: cooking, weapon forging, medicine and so on and so forth.

He also noticed a book in the corner which laid in a treasure chest like box with clear, see through crystal forming the lid. The book was tattered and made of beastskin. Checking the box for traps and finding nothing; he took out the book.

The first page:

Several Dozen millennia ago a new profession was discovered, Astral Spiritist. This profession quickly surpassed alchemists, divine inscriptionists, weapon smiths and became the most prominent, revered and exalted position in the hearts of many beneath the Nine Heavenly Layers.

Astral Spiritists used mysterious runes deduced from the natural world and the starry rivers vast array of constellations. This book revealed five basic runes crucial to become an astral spiritist, unfortunately he couldn't understand heads nor tails of it.