8 OiM - Chapter 7: Half Truths
The Paranormal is something mysterious, for millennia on Earth, a lot of effort was made for us to understand even a small fraction.
Even after more than 4 millennia, not even 1/3 of the Paranormal could be considered known.
But one thing is certain, the Paranormal is composed of 4 Elements: Death, Blood, Knowledge and Energy!
But there is a 5th element, which everyone is sure is the Other Side itself, which gives strength to all the Elements and forms the Creatures of the Other Side!
What is the 5th element? And the fear!
Fear is the unknown, which forms the whole Paranormal!
The Fear of People gives birth to strange and horrible creatures, bringing out humanity's worst fears!
...
Blood is the entity of feeling. He seeks intensity: pain, obsession, passion, love, hunger, hate. Everything that involves feeling an extreme emotion pleases the entity of Blood.
The extreme feelings of Blood overcome reason and the lull of Knowledge.
Death is the entity of time. It searches for the moments experienced, distorting the egoic perception of each individual's existence to its own liking.
Death's temporal distortion ruins the carnal perception of Blood.
Knowledge is the entity of consciousness. Discover, learn, know, decipher. Having one's own perception of the Other Side and its entities pleases the element of Knowledge.
The reason and logic of Knowledge reintegrate and suppress the chaos of Energy.
Energy is the entity of chaos. Everything that cannot be explained, the intangible, the anarchy. The constant change, the heat and the cold, the light and the dark. Everything involving unpredictability and transformation pleases the Energy entity.
Transforming Energy overwhelms the effects of Death.
Fear is the entity of the unknown and the infinite. Present since the dawn of humanity, it modifies the nature of the universe. Their differentiated existence is a mystery.
…...
Kai was meditating, using the [Breath of Suffering] and in that time, something curious happened.
Golden sigils began to surround him, with extra focus in his mind, connecting and forming even more complex sigils.
Soon a black mist began to be expelled from Kai's body, followed by smoke leaking from his mouth.
Suddenly Kai opened his eyes, which were entirely black, but then golden veins began to appear in his eyes, then began to appear all over his body, taking the form of lightning bolts.
Kai with his eyes open, continued to breathe, all the Raw Energy in a radius of 300 meters being sucked by him, then purified almost instantly by Kai.
The golden sigils grew stronger and brighter, the necrotic tattoos on his body slowly disappearing, as mysterious purple and pink lights began to bounce around his body, avoiding the sigils as if in fear or disgust.
Then Kai's entire body began to shudder as blood seeped from his skin, covering him in full.
Even though he was suffering from hellish pain, Kai maintained his calm and senses, constantly calming all 4 Elements, because he is in charge!
And after an indeterminate amount of time, the sigils disappeared, along with their necrotic tattoos, which symbolize the end of restrictions.
Kai could feel his Paranormal Exposure increase, but in a controlled way now, it wasn't rampant as before.
And he understood that this is due to his Internal Energy, everything that happened today is due to the fact that he reached 10 Years of Internal Energy.
This somehow brought a significant change to his body, which caused the Other Side inside his body, namely the 4 Elements of the Paranormal, to suddenly become active.
As a result, the Death-hating Energy Element has lifted its restrictions, as it wants to see chaos ensue!
The Knowledge Element, on the other hand, reduced the repercussions caused by Energy, bringing balance and calm to everything.
The Blood Element aimed to weaken the knowledge, but the Death Element stopped it, causing the impurities in Kai's body to be expelled in the process.
That is, the 4 Paranormal Elements aimed to fight each other, but in the end, under Kai's certain control and due to their own characteristics, they benefited him instead.
"20% Paranormal Exposure, 10 Years of Internal Suffering Energy…" – Said Kai calmly, getting up and exerting some strength.
He is only 7 years old, but his strength… he thinks he could easily kill a 2nd Class Martial Artist.
If you use your Rituals, killing a 1st Class or even a Master wouldn't be difficult, as long as you caught them off guard.
And seriously, it's hard for them to keep their guard up for a 7 year old.
…
A few days later, Kai had new tattoos on his body, this time he used special materials, that is, the blood of animals and people, along with bone dust and ashes.
Kai also used some medicinal herbs, naturally not touching the poison, it would be foolish to use it to make tattoos.
He also practiced using his Internal Energy, discovering through the Knowledge Element, which he became even more proficient and connected with, how to liquefy it.
This naturally cost all of his Internal Energy, naturally it wasn't permanent, but it would take weeks for him to get it all back.
But at least he created 4 types of inks, one for each element, then started tattooing his arms and legs, he could feel some conflict of the Elements in his body, but his Internal Energy recovering, calmed them down easily.
So Kai looked for his mother.
…
"Tattoo? What?!" - Makima asked shocked and not understanding.
Then she noticed that the symbols on her son's arms and legs had changed, but that only made her even more confused.
"The marks have disappeared, now I need to redo them, but I am unable to do them on my back." - Said Kai calmly.
"What? But why do you need these things?" - Asked Makima seriously.
"Mom, the tattoos-" - When Kai was about to explain himself, someone came in and informed him.
"The Patriarch has returned from the quest!" - Said the soldier before leaving.
"… ok, let's save that for later, let's see your father!" - Said Makima sighing, it's better to have Thomas' approval in the end.
…...
Thomas looked at the familiar gates, it's been over 2 months, he was smiling at the familiar smell.
And just passing through the gates and entering his residence, he saw his family and Clan elders awaiting him.
Clasping their hands together, everyone bowed in respect as they received him.
Thomas nodded, his eyes landing on Kai, he could sense something different coming from his son but decided to see about it later.
...
A great feast was held to celebrate the return of Thomas and his troops, and of course, Fabius' advance to the Exalted Realm!
Sasha Gray was extremely ecstatic with the news, even more so when she found out that her son also acquired Sword Intent!
This made her even more convinced and confident.
Many came to congratulate Fábio, who received everyone with open arms, but his attention was mainly on Kai, but his father told him not to mention the subject in front of others.
...
The whole clan was in a festive mood, in addition to earning 20,000 Gold Coins, they gained an Exalted Realm Master, who will be the future Patriarch, just as Thomas said he will soon enter Isolation, to try to break through to the Unrestricted Realm.
The good news was only increasing.
And around 2am, everyone went to their rooms, a lot of drunk people.
Kai was already sleeping, he had no reason to stay at the festivities after 10 pm.
…...
As expected, Kai was called to Thomas' office, where he only found his father and older brother.
"Dad! Older brother!" - Said Kai in respect and bowing.
Thomas waved his hand, insinuating him to sit down, Kai did so.
"Kai, your mother told me that the black marks on your body disappeared, but you got a tattoo and now you want to tattoo your back?" Thomas asked calmly.
"Yea!" - Said Kai looking Thomas in the eyes.
"Can you tell me why?" Thomas asked.
"With tattoos, I won't worry about pain anymore!" - Said Kai calmly.
"How do you know that?" - Asked Fabio.
"I have received Knowledge!" - Said Kai calmly.
"Have you received knowledge? What does that mean?" Thomas asked, frowning.
"Father, please list me the known elements." - Said Kai calmly.
Thomas was confused, but then he said. - "Fire, Earth, Wind, Water, Light and Darkness."
"These are the Base Elements, but each Base Element has its variant, as Fire has Lava, Earth has Metal or Nature, Wind has Lightning, Water has Ice." - Said Kai calmly, which is common knowledge.
"But what if I told you there was an additional Base Element?" - Kai asked, which surprised the duo.
"What would that Element be?" - Asked Fábio curiously.
"The fear!" - Said Kai, which made the two frown.
"Fear is the unknown, the infinite mystery, what every living being fears, from a small insect to ghosts!" - Said Kai calmly.
"And Fear has its variant Elements, these being Death, Blood, Knowledge and Energy, each having some mysterious aspect to be discovered."
His words left the pair confused and then Thomas asked. - "How do you know all this?"
"I received the [Mark of Fear], I don't know what it is, I just know that I am one, this Mark allows me to connect to the Elements of Fear and use them to my advantage, the Knowledge Element gave me wisdom, which has allowed me to be able to read and speak proficiently since I was 1 year old, which allows me to memorize and understand everything with immense ease." - Said Kai calmly.
His words are unbelievable for the duo, but in a way, it explains a lot.
"What about that meat ball? Which is?" Thomas asked.
"I used what I learned to condense my blood, flesh, herbs and vitality, through the Blood and Death Element, to create something capable of supplementing the need for nutrients for healing, just as I used the Time Aspect of the Death Element, to accelerate healing.
But as the elder brother may have felt, an agonizing pain rang out, that would be all the pain felt during the time it would take for his wound to heal to that point, but it was amplified by 2 to 5 times as the Blood Element is the aspect of sensations, every pain or pleasure felt is amplified!" - Said Kai calmly.
"So one did what was needed to close the wound, did the other speed up healing?" - Asked Fábio scratching his chin thoughtfully.
"Yea!" - Kai said.
"I assume you were born with that [Fear Mark], do you know why?" Thomas asked.
"I don't know, it just happened!" - Said Kai calmly.
"And your illness, what was it?" Thomas asked.
"The Elements were manifesting, with Death being the most prominent, in itself it was not a real danger to my life, but my weakness was due to the Elements fighting within me, which had recently been stabilized when my Internal Energy reached 10 years!" - Said Kai calmly.
"Has it arrived in 10 years?" - Thomas asked in surprise.
"Less than 1 week ago, the Elements within me stabilized and Martial Arts makes them more controllable."
"I see, but what about the tattoos? What are worth for?" Thomas asked.
"Tattoos serve to suppress the Elements, preventing them from running rampant through my body or causing harm to me or my surroundings, as well as allowing me to take greater advantage of the Elements, helping me to understand more about them." - Said Kai calmly.
"I see, as is the case, I will hire someone to help you, do you need any special ink I presume?" Thomas asked.
"I already have it, I just need help reaching the back, or I would have already done it, as for the front, it won't be necessary." - Kai said.
"Before we're done for today, your brother had his arm severed, but I managed to reattach him with that ball of flesh, but it doesn't seem to be 100% recovered." - Thomas said worriedly.
Kai looked at Fabio, who showed the scar around his arm. - "I can play?"
Fábio approached, Kai touched him, closing his eyes, before saying. - "I don't think you will have any problems, your recovery is going well, eat a lot and avoid alcohol for 2 months, then you will be 100% recovered!"
"Serious? Will there be any side effects?" - Asked Fábio surprised.
"If you were an ordinary person, or at least an ordinary Master, I think you would lose around 10% of your arm's functions, but that's not your case, at least I don't think so. Anything, come talk to me in the future, when I get stronger and more knowledgeable, I can understand better." - Said Kai calmly.
"That's good to hear, about the meatballs, can you make more of them?" Thomas asked suddenly.
"Yes, do you?" - Kai asked returning to sit in comfort.
"How many can you make and do you need help with them?" Thomas asked.
"I'm still practicing, the 5 I gave you were the best, but I think that per week, I could create up to 10 of them, but the problem is that they only last 1 year, even in isolation." - Said Kai calmly.
"Are they expensive?" - Asked Fabio.
"One of the ingredients is my blood, but I can get around that by using the blood of living creatures, I will also need meat, the stronger the meat individual is, the better the effects of the meat balls will be."
"Does that cause you any trouble?" - Thomas asked worriedly.
"Except for a few days of being unable to cultivate, I don't think it's a big problem, I just have to concentrate hard and be careful that a monster doesn't spawn!" - Said Kai calmly.
"What? Born a monster?!" - Thomas asked in surprise.
"Fear is not a good thing, even though it can be used for benefit, it generates hideous creatures from the fear of us humans, legendary monsters can be born because of fear!
If I continuously create flaws and discard them in the same place, the Fear Energy can gather or disperse, corrupting the discarded flesh or our entire environment, then affecting corpses and turning them into creatures called Blood Zombies, which I believe , would have the strength of a 2nd Class Martial Artist at the very least!" - Said Kai calmly.
"Is this… so serious? Can you control it?" - Thomas asked seriously, Fábio was also serious beside him.
If creatures with the names of "Blood Zombies" are born around here, it can naturally draw the attention of the Sanctified Faction, who will come to investigate and if brought before them, they are likely to be annihilated and if they survive, they will be labeled as a part of the Demonic Faction .
"I use the Sigils of Knowledge and Death..." - Said Kai extending his hand and soon strange golden and mystical symbols began to fly. - "... Death suppresses the Blood Element, while Knowledge allows me to amplify its restrictive capabilities to a certain extent."
"Are you confident you won't let anything slip?" - Thomas asked seriously.
"Yea!" - Said Kai confidently.
Thomas looked at his son, then started asking more questions, he wants to know more about Fear.
Kai was careful when he spoke, not touching on the subject of the [Other Side], as as far as he is aware, it is knowledge that is acquired at 50% Paranormal Exposure, he is currently only at 20%.
Even though his father and brother aren't connected to the Paranormal doesn't mean they won't be for long, Kai can already see hints of Paranormal Exposure in them, clearly due to the meatballs.
Then he explained the basics of Elements, but didn't touch Ritual matters, he said that the materials he needs are just for experiments, as he is practicing, which is a fact.
Kai himself has very advanced knowledge about the Paranormal, but his knowledge of Internal Energy is low, he is practicing it and seeing what changes it brings to the Paranormal.
So far he is very satisfied, but naturally he can improve a lot!
So, after allaying any doubts and fears of his father and brother, Kai waited until the next day an experienced designer and tattoo artist arrived.
Kai then instructed him while drawing on his back, having made several mistakes, having to clean and redo several times.
But after more than 1 hour of drawing, the tattoo artist started to use the special ink, using special gloves, since Kai doesn't want him to suffer when he touches the slime of Death, or the Blood!
So he watched as the tattoo artist marked his back, he could feel the balance in his body strengthening.
And after 4 long hours, his back was tattooed, the tattoo artist took his payment and left.
Kai on the other hand, could feel that for 5~20% Paranormal Exposure Rituals, he didn't need any ritual component, which made him happy.
The best thing is that after what happened with reaching 10 Years of Internal Energy, it brought such huge changes to all the Elements in your body, making your affinity with them stronger, even though Death is the dominant one, the others don't get much back.
If he had a body like that in his past life, he would easily be one of the most powerful Psychics in his world!
===
Read advanced chapters for only $1, double the chapters for $2. Support me on my Pa-tre-on: www.pa-tre-on.com/Ero_Hacker
Want to chat with me? Come on the Discord server, sometimes I will play some bonus chapters there(random): discord.gg/4CdW8ygQQX
===
