35 Chapter 35- What The Fuck, Nid…
=Back to plain Ol'3rd person PoV=
~Another year later~
A young man with messy black hair adorning a red hue on its tips could be seen zipping around a lush forest, teleporting from one tree branch to another in just a matter of seconds.
He was running away from what seemed to be a double-colored tiger with two tails. The tiger swiped its paws and two claw marks appeared in the air, dashing towards the boy, Long Ren.
Long Ren, seeing the two claw marks approaching him, space stepped away and sent four bullets from his right hand. The bullets clashed with the now four claw marks and an explosion occurred.
*BOOOOOOOOOM*
As the smoke dissipates, Long Ren and the tiger were already 30 meters away from their initial position, and as they chased each other.
The now eight claw marks are still chasing Long Ren, while the now eight bullets chased the claw marks.
*BOOOOOOOM*
*BOOOM*
…
Series of explosions rang throughout the forest, scaring even the most ferocious rank-6 beast residing in it. They quivered in fear as they seek solace from their fragile homes.
The now total of 32 projectiles clashed upon a small hill of rocks, smashing the terrain into oblivion as three bodies were propelled through the sky, shouting team pocket is blasting off again or something.
What was left of that explosion was a crater of destruction, sizzling sounds could be heard, as 32 claw marks floats in the air, only to disintegrate the next second.
Meanwhile, Long Ren and Nid clashed once more as they sent multiple projectiles one after the other. Their clash seemingly never ends as the night rolls in…
…
Several hours later, Long Ren was panting heavily on the ground. He had been following this routine every other day now for the past year.
He barely spends time cultivating and instead, most of them went to either learning the skills with Nid or sparring and applying them
But even then, his cultivation had already risen to the 6th rank. What can he say, torture works, it just works.
As Long Ren desperately stabalized his breath on the ground, Nid jumped down from a tree branch and sat next to Long Ren.
"You've improved quite a lot brat! I can't believe you managed to reach this level in just two years." Nid said. She licked her paws and forwarded it to Long Ren. "Now my payment."
Long Ren groaned. "Ugh, can't you let me rest for a bit? You've worked me to death every other day!" He said as he got up and put a ramen cup on Nid's open paw.
"That's more like it. Good Boy~" Nid said. Praising Long Ren as she patted Long Ren's head with her large paws.
Although Long Ren hated getting treated like this, Nid loved it for some reason. A reason Long Ren did not know what.
"Fuck off Nid!" Long Ren shouted.
The tiger rolled its eyes. "How many times have I told you not to call me that," it said. "Also, language."
"Then tell me your name, It's been 2 years and you still won't tell me. Calling you tiger this tiger that is annoying you know." Long Ren said.
After the first month or so of calling the tiger "tiger", he asked for its name, only to receive cryptic replies such as, "You're not worthy of knowing my name.", or "The world will smite you for mingling with the forbidden one."...What a jackass.
(A/N: IK this flows very off but an explanation is at the end of the chapter.)
…
So Long Ren decided to just call her Nid, short for a cougar he knew from his past life. Cougar, Tiger, same thing basically. Though, he did get a thorough beating after confirming her gender.
Let's just say Long Ren did not (was not allowed to) get any sleep for a month. It was quite a hellish time.
Anyway~!
Nid tilted her head and looked at Long Ren for a while, seemingly contemplating something. They stayed there for a while as Long Ren rested. Her eyes then showed a determined, yet sad look.
"I think we're done here." She said. Her eyes, away from Long Ren as she couldn't bear to face him right now.
"Huh?" Long Ren said. A bit surprised. "Didn't you say I would need two decades or so to learn, how come I'm done now?"
Nid shrugged lightly. "How would I know, you train with my techniques with perfect compatibility even though you're human." She said.
She had racked her brains and still couldn't comprehend this anomaly. She herself had trained many of her offsprings before, and yet most of them did not even come close to this human.
His speed, though slower than hers, could really be called as a once in a lifetime genius.
She looked at Long Ren's sweaty figure, his breath now calms after a while. 'Haaah…Why can't all my children be this hardworking, all they have are useless talents and vain pride…What a shame.' Nid thought to herself as she shook her head. Her smile was wry.
"Nonetheless, I have nothing more to teach you brat, your cultivation and experience are the only things that determine your limits." She said. She moved her paw and placed it on Long Ren's right shoulder.
She looked at Long Ren's eyes. She had decided to do this a long time ago. She needed to do this. "I'm only going to say this once, so savor it….I'm proud of you!" She said. Her eyes had a red hue on them, almost shedding tears.
Long Ren was not ready for this, "What the fuck?!" he shouted. "Where did the shitty Nid go?!"
A paw flashed across his eyes as his cheek flushed red, he was face-slapped seven times before he could even realize what just happened.
"In the end, you're still just a little higher-quality brat huh," Nid said. She took her paw back and dragged Long Ren towards the cliff they sat together two years ago with the old man.
She took out the fire runestone beds and pillow they have been using every day for the past two years and handed the pillow to Long Ren.
Long Ren took and sat on it, taking out another cup of ramen for himself. They sat there, enjoying the cold winds brushing through as the cup of ramen warmed their bodies.
~A cup of ramen later~
…
"Now what?" Long Ren asked. His routine had completely changed after meeting Nid. Though he had less sleep, he enjoys sparring and learning new things from her. He really enjoyed her company.
There were many exciting things he learned from Nid, her past adventures, her unique situation, etc. Though he did not know of her age, from context clues he got, she is at least a solid 500-year-old hag.
Change isn't really a thing Long Ren liked. He longed for serenity. He wants to feel safe every time, hence his reason for power. Sometimes it's good to have a change, but this time, it really didn't feel good.
Nid looked at him, melancholy in her eyes. "Listen brat, teaching you have been fun these whole two years…Although I want to stay and teach you more things…I realized something,.." She got back on her paws and trotted to the edge cliff.
She looked at the sky and then turned towards Long Ren. "I miss my brats…" She whimpered. "Although you're annoying, at least you're hardworking…and maybe sometimes funny."
"After our first year, I started liking you. Your payment tastes great, you exceed my expectations, you never made me snap, at least not completely, and…you reminded me of them…you reminded me of my brats"
His mouth opened and gaped as he heard this. She had never told him about her personal life…he didn't realize she treated him like her child…
He remembered all those times she kept nagging him, slapping his face every time he did something wrong, He remembered her patting his head after every successful accomplishment, he remembered, and realized…
To be honest to himself, He never saw Nid as a mother figure, she was more of a violent, nagging, and annoying friend, a close friend. But now, he started realizing her as one…
Nid turned her head back towards the sky, unaware of Long Ren's thoughts. Her body starts glowing as she grew in size, reaching 20 meters high.
Two sets of horns appeared atop her eyebrows, her tail multiplied into 8 and her claws grew sharper. Her cultivation? Unfathomable.
Her black and white body looks so majestic and elegant. He touched her right leg and her fur felt heavenly. Long Ren's body shivered with a bit of excitement. He could not believe what he is seeing right now. The small Nid had gigantamaxed!
"I have decided," Nid said. She looked at Long Ren, her lips pursed. "I'll be getting my kids back…Thank you for reminding me of them, these two years…I'll cherish them.
As a parting gift, I'll leave you this." Nid opened her gigantic right paw as her iconic black and white strands of qi intertwined heavily, forming into a cube, a glossy crystal clear cube.
She willed the cube to arrive in front of Long Ren. He reached out as the cube trembled. His hand soon trembled as well. His eyes opened wide, as the cube started merging with his body.
Seeing the cube merging successfully, Nid flashed a gentle smile, looked towards the sky, and roared.
The sky, as if following her orders, started fluctuating between night and day, black and white, only to finally intertwine on top of her, forming a giant portal.
"This may be our last goodbye, I might not make it so, If somehow you ever meet my brats…" Nid said to Long Ren, eyes full of warmth. She turned back at the now bright sky and jumped, no, flew, towards it.
"Tell them, I'm sorry…" Her words trailed off as her body trembled when she made contact with the portal…
A glimpse.
All Long Ren saw was a glimpse of the other side. He saw its chaotic red sky with purple thunder, reigning on Nid, wanting to strike her down. The fiery haze it gave off was unfathomable…his body drenched in sweat…
Several figures appeared just as Nid touched the portal, figures clad in shining armor. Human figures yet…not. Everything about them looks human but that's where the similarities end.
Time seemed to slow down as Long Ren stared at them, Only half a second barely passed yet they have clashed and battled multiple times.
The portal slowly closed as Nid's whole body fully passed through …
The small glimpse of power, of something out of this world…
It was, in all its glory, a higher realm.
…
'What the fuck, Nid…' was Long Ren's last thought, before he, all of a sudden, passed out.
*Alternate Title: Chasing Her beloved.
(A/N: TBH, this is just something I wanted to try writing, farewells. I definitely did not make myself attached to Nid nearly enough to make the farewell somewhat worthwhile/emotional, so that's something to learn.
The chapter before this, Chapter 34- I Miss Them. wasn't supposed to be a thing since I wrote 33 and then immediately 35. It was an attempt to make me feel more emotionally attached to Nid as I'm letting her go here. That's why that one part was very off, but I really liked that paragraph so I kept it in.
Did I succeed? Not really xD, You decide ig, UmU. I'd count you feeling a tiny bit of emotion towards Nid a success.)
