Chapter 14 Captured

Possession, immortality, invisibility, intangibility, shape-shifting, transportation through dimensions..... And so much more.

Luca had seen it himself. Hei Bai, a panda spirit could change form to a giant monster with increased physical prowess.

He could instantaneously move from one place to another in a split second quite similar to the body flicker technique and could release a powerful sonic scream.

Why couldn't humans do anything close? Because their Chi wasn't designed to do so? Unless the Lion turtles came again to impart something that didn't belong to them.

Humans naturally couldn't bend. So the Lion turtles had to tweak it to fit their energy type.

'Well .....'. Of course, all these thoughts were his mere assumptions. Although he believed they were well-founded and perhaps carried a large amount of truth within them, it was ultimately still an assumption.

As for how and why he could come to such conclusions?

All these questions were things fans would use to compare the two worlds and come out at the end of the debate that the Ninja world was stronger than the Avatar world. Back in his previous life, he was one of those netizens who had a lot of spare time to argue on threads and forums on such topics heatedly.

Ahem! If there was another hidden benefit to transversing other than plot knowledge and past life knowledge, then it was an overly active imagination gained when the above two were combined.

Numerous possibilities, assumptions, and ideas could be drawn easily for a better advantage. And what his status panel was displaying literally screamed opportunity.

Unfortunately.....

'You've gotta be kidding me'.

The information was clear enough to understand. This special Chi was gained and produced by spirits.

No normal human should even be able to gain access to what was within him currently. There were probably only two exceptions.

One! The Avatar.

And Two, Himself.

But both named exceptions had …. problems.

Just like any regular human, Spirit Chi didn't belong to the Avatar, nor could it be produced by him/her. That was what Raava was for.

Among other uses, Raava supplied the Avatar with endless cosmic Chi surpassing what anyone else could harness. She held the spirit Chi for the Avatar as well as the rest of the elements.

Unless the Avatar state was activated, no Avatar could gain access to Spirit Chi in their base form. Plus, the Avatar state was probably regarded as an ultimate move, the last trump card for each reincarnation cycle to defeat whatever difficulties they faced.

After gaining mastery of four elements, there were rarely any enemies that needed the use of the trump card. Some Avatars most likely wouldn't use it at all in a span of years.

If Luca had to sum it up, it was rarely used for experimentation as they were already powerful enough. Anything extra was unnecessary.

This was their disadvantage.

Then there was the second exception. Luca.

Unlike the Avatar, he could access this new energy source in his base form and could control it without the need for external help (Raava)

Well, he had no advanced form to begin with.

But his disadvantage was stated in the system panel. Unlike the Avatar, he had no Raava and hence, no one to provide him an endless supply of Spirit Chi.

One couldn't use it because it was inconvenient, had lacking creativity and imagination, and ultimately didn't need it.

The other couldn't because his reserve was too little.

If he remembered clearly, the total amount of Spirit Chi he had extracted from Hei Bai should be close to 1,800. With his own mediocre chi reserves, the use of Density Shifting was taken from his Spirit Chi.

He hadn't used it for more than Five seconds

Now, he barely had over 1400. Two days had passed, yet it showed no signs of increasing.

With the outrageous usage requirements of Density Shifting, his current social predicament as well as the pitiful normal chi reserves, there was no doubt this number would soon be exhausted if he ran into a few more life-threatening situations.

What the hell?

It was fine that the number didn't grow, why was it reducing with each use? There was no Chi regeneration stat as well either.

The message ended there. However, Luca didn't want to believe it.

And so, he reread the notification on the panel over and overlooking for a loophole. A possible way around his current situation.

If Spirit Chi was as miraculous as he imagined, then what he could gain from it would increase his strength by a large portion.

Now he desperately wished his status panel was a gaming system. At this moment, a quest should jump out of nowhere, telling him to achieve some sort of hard, dangerous, perhaps nearly impossible task with extremely strict completion conditions. The penalty would be death and the reward being a spirit Chi regeneration stat.

Which he would ponder over, weigh the pros and cons, come to the conclusion that there was a 99% chance he would lose his life and ultimately still end up accepting the task anyway.

Unfortunately, this wasn't one of those.

Despite closing and reopening it three times over, he still failed to find anything else. There was no continuation.

Unless he turned back to confront Hei Bai, his situation was just as the panel described. A tank that couldn't be refilled.

After a while of staring at the panel with a depressed face, he could only move past the Chi stat and take a look at the other changes.

The Fatigue value 6/100 was easy to understand. Basically, how exhausted he was at the moment.

As for why there was six there instead of Zero, he could only attribute it to hunger.

Alignment…. Lawful Evil. It was strange before, but now that he knew where this body originated from, it wasn't surprising. Nevertheless, that didn't mean it sit well with him.

After playing DND for years …. (For those who don't understand. Dungeons and Dragons) He had seen enough to understand what each alignment represented.

Still, the status panel displayed what it displayed, and he currently knew no way to change it.

Everything else was still the same, save for one new addition.

Regeneration: 10

Under his mastered skill list, a new stat had appeared. One he honestly had never expected to receive ever since his Wish Perk denied him before coming to this world.

Similar to the Spirit Chi stat, this new attribute also opened up to give an explanation.

— Regeneration: 10 (Passive)

Consumes Chi to heal wounds and injuries. Your flesh and blood will regenerate from inflictions without your consent. Due to the low skill level, the effect is greatly limited.

- Do not expect to regenerate missing limbs. Do not expect to heal from attacks to the vitals. Do not expect to heal instantly. Do not expect to feel no pain. Do not expect to still be able to move after being heavily injured. The severity of the injury will determine how long it will take to heal as well as his much Chi will be consumed -

- Consumes Spirit Chi and Spirit Chi only. Do not expect to replace it with a lesser substitute -

.....

"...". He should be happy. Although it was far from what he hoped for, it was free and better than nothing. But the second to last part ruined that happiness by half. Consumes Spirit Chi? He didn't have that much of it left. And why did the last part feel like it seemed to see through his future thoughts and was mocking him in advance?

Was this panel sentient or not? Well, it didn't matter. It's not like it was going to answer him anyway. (Rest assured, the Panel will not develop a system AI. Author's promise)

With the cumbersome Fire Nation uniform taken off and tossed into a ditch at some point during his journey, Luca touched the area where he was recently pierced by an arrow.

Smooth, just like always. There wasn't even a light scar to indicate.

He had noticed when the injury healed on its own. He had also noticed that the horrific scars the predecessor suffered while imprisoned, had been removed.

That about summed up all the charges in the stat panel. Now that that was over and done with, Luca began to contemplate his next course of action.

The Fire Nation shouldn't bother him in a very short while. But they would be coming for him without a doubt. Perhaps the outposts East would be informed to keep an eye out for him.

He doubted he was faster than a messenger hawk. Escaping from the plains, he had taken only three things with him.

The Komodo Rhino, A long sword, two short swords. That was about it. Blademanship was a skill he had mastered after studying under Master Piandao.

Technically, he could use a large variety of bladed weapons. Long swords, broadswords, and short swords were among the list. However, Luca intended to use the dual short swords as his main weapon.

The long sword would be sold for some money at any town or village he came across. That money in turn would be used to purchase some actual food and possibly a map. The sword was surprisingly one of fine quality.

From his own deductions, it would sell for a good price of about thirty silver coins. That amount could vary depending on the buyer, but it would be enough to get a map, food and some new clothes. It wouldn't be enough to afford an Ostrich Horse mount, though.

After all, the Komodo Rhino was too conspicuous. Ditching it was practically a certainty. It all depends on when.

The evening wind blew once again into the small cave.

With his brows deeply knitted, Luca took another look to the dark skies outside the cave entrance.

'Sleep tonight'. He thought to himself.

'Tomorrow will be another day to fight for survival'. So he said as he prepared to go to sleep and get some shut-eye.

... Or not. Tonight was quiet ..... Normal at first, but eventually, it grew too quiet. Like a conditioned reflex, Luca opened his eyes and sat up from his sleeping posture.

He didn't know how long he had been asleep but judging from the fire that had already burned out, a considerable time had elapsed.

Ignoring that, his ears focused into the dense darkness that was the evening forest. All noise was gone.

The woodland sounds that took place every now and then in the peaceful evening had vanished into thin air. Turns out, a place being too quiet was actually a thing.

That alone wouldn't be enough to spook him. But what followed did.

Snap!

The sound of a twig breaking.

Snap! And another.

Snap! And another.

No animal would roam the forest at this time of night except carnivores. And no carnivore would make such blatant noise, practically announcing their presence.

Not to mention, the breaking stick noises wasn't a one-time thing, but occurred constantly.

That meant only one thing. Humans.

Then it appeared. Inside the dark forest, small flames could be seen appearing in the distance.

Torches.

'Oh shit!'.

It started with one, then another …. And another. One by one, the dark forest was lit up as human figures began to enclose towards him from all directions.

Luca stood at the entrance of the cave and watched flatly, a long sword within his possession and two short swords placed by the side of his robes.

The cave where he made his abode was placed at a cliff wall. The forest in front of was the only way he could advance. There was no going back, and it was too far to go around.

He would be caught up to regardless, so why bother running? Instead, he was quite curious. How the hell were these bastards able to catch up with him so fast?

By bastards, he meant the fire nation. He was sure of it. As they drew closer, he could identify them immediately.

His brows couldn't help but furrow in surprise.

Unlike regular Fire Nation soldiers in the army, these guys wore a slightly different getup. The middle and lower parts of their uniform were the same as regular soldiers, save for the fact that their uniform carried a brighter shade of red.

And instead of bare faces or helmets covering only the back head and forehead area, their helmets were entire masks.

'Imperial Firebenders? Hunting me?'

Luca knew who these guys were. Imperial Firebenders were elite Fire Nation soldiers tasked with protecting members of the Fire Nation Royal Family.

Also known as, the Royal Procession. They could only be seen when there were members of the Fire Nation Royal family around. Luca was a bit puzzled.

Had he grown that big of a threat that Ozai dispatched these guys to deal with him?

"My prince, we found him".

'Prince?' Turns out he was overthinking. He was being hunted alright, but it wasn't by the Fire Nation army.

But, Prince? At this time, there was only one person who could be regarded as a prince in the Fire Nation. That would be .....

"Finally.....". A young teenage voice resounded from the forest. Following which, a figure emerged from the darkness into plain sight. Bald head with a ponytail hair, Fire Nation uniform, the eye area of his face scarred for all to see.

'Zuko?'. Surprised would never end. 'What's he doing here?'

"Looks like that bird wasn't taking us on a wild goose chase after all".

'Bird?' His eyes widened. Following which, he raised his head up to search for a familiar figure. With the place slightly illuminated, he found what he was looking for.

That damn Eagle Hawk.

"It … Followed me". Luca uttered slightly dumbfounded then turned his gaze back to Zuko's face.

'Well, I'm screwed..... again'.

"You're coming with me".

...

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