The Talent Plunder Fruit

Quis' POV:

By the time Capcis and I parted ways, the brilliant golden sun that covered the jungle was setting. The sky took a mystical mix of blue and orange, not a cloud in sight. Even with the setting sun, it shined brightly through the thin trees. It was a blinding sight, making me unable to look in that direction as I neared the dome of red gas.

This dome took up a large area, but not large enough for it to be the Fire Genesis Essence area. It was privately owned. Bought by Medisma Nima, Spiravit's grandmother and Grand Elder of the sect. I learned about this location from my times of avoiding Spiravit. Even if it didn't seem relevant, it was important to know as much about your enemy as possible, and it paid off now that I had to find Spiravit.

If he wasn't at school, then there would only be one other thing he'd be doing, cultivating. Entering the Fire Genesis Essence bubble was a problem though. It's not as though I'd blow up, as long as I don't cultivate while inside at least, the problem had to do with the privately hired guard at the front gate. I couldn't beat him to submission, he was a Stone Class Cultivator, I would just end up making a fool of myself. And it's not like I could take the long way around him, he's probably a Magic Path Stone Class, so he would be able to sense my Genesis Essence easily. So if raw strength and avoidance wouldn't work, then I would have to rely on a scheme.

I ran into view of the guard, breathing heavily. In reaction to this, he immediately entered a fighting stance and yelled out to me, "What are you doing here?! Don't you know this area is the private property of the Nima family?! If you are looking to cultivate, then go to the public area!"

I bent my back, heaving air into my lungs, and said with scattered breath, "Huph, I'm actually not, huph, here to cultivate, hugh. The Dean, huph, asked me to collect all of the, huph, out of the way, huph, Stone Class or above cultivators in the, huph, area." I took a second to catch my breath while the guard looked at me questionably and then continued, "Apparently, he needs a recount of everyone's story about last night, even if you weren't under his payroll. I would make it fast too, he was looking very impatient when he asked me to do this."

The guard thought about it for a moment before asking me, "Who are you?" He wouldn't be so easily tricked it seemed. Using my real name was out of the question, that would only breed suspicion since it was well known by this point as a potential murderer, so I needed to borrow someone else's, "Oh, my name is Gallile. The Dean forced me and a couple of other students to do this, he is paying us though, so it'll be worth it at least. Anyways, I gotta go and get to the next person, see ya!"

I ran, still obviously exhausted, into the jungle. After running for a couple of minutes, I turned back to see the guard was gone. He probably went to the cultivation school, but once he figures out I was lying, he would return and I wouldn't be able to talk my way out of that, so I had to finish this fast. After making sure no one else was near, I entered the Genesis Essence dome and soon a figure came into view, it was Spiravit. He was sitting cross-legged, cultivating.

"Hey there Spiravit. How are you?" I said this quietly, but it was enough to get his attention. He opened his eyes and upon seeing me standing over him, his eyes widened in surprise. His surprise then turned into confusion as he tried to figure out why I was there. I sensed his confusion and promptly answered the silent question, "I came here to collect tax."

This made him even more confused, but I already said enough, so I simply walked up to him, and under his confusion, kicked him in the chin. The impact of my kick sent him back a little, causing his back to hit the ground. After realizing I wasn't there to make conversation, he got up and entered a fighting stance, though I was generous to say that. It looked more like he was holding an invisible violin than a fighting stance.

It wouldn't do me any good to stand here and do nothing so I ran up to him, initiating the battle. He threw a punch at my impending figure, and while it was fast, I already knew it was coming by observing his shoulders and hips. I sidestepped around his fist, and threw a punch of my own, hitting him right in the temple. This sent him to the ground, but he wasn't passed out yet, which I needed him to be. I straddled his body while it was prone and disabled him completely. He struggled a bit, but after realizing his position he looked at me.

'What the hell?'

This was strange, very strange. His eyes weren't filled with anger or fear, not even shock. He looked utterly calm, I even saw a flash of admiration in his eyes. It was very out of character for him. What happened to him to react calmly in such a losing situation, and what was he respecting right now? I had a lot of questions, but none of them really mattered in the end, so I just decided to continue my beating-

Gah!

Spiravit headbutted me in my forehead, causing him to be able to knock me off of him. He took this moment to get up and create some distance between the two of us. He was on much higher guard than before; it would be difficult to make this quick now. It wasn't like the chaotic battlefield of the earlier brawl, this was a one-on-one fight, and Spiravit was taking it seriously. He stared at me with the utmost concentration, waiting for me to make my attack. Of course, if he thought I would just attack him head-on, he had the wrong idea of how I fought.

"Ha! Is that all you've got?! No wonder Pulchra hated your guts." I spat some lines to try and get him angry. But... my provocation didn't work in the least. Was this the same Spiravit I knew? If that didn't work, then it was time for a classic strategy. I kneeled, and after clenching my fists, I jumped to him. He got ready to counter-attack me as I neared, but he had the wrong idea. I threw the loose dirt I grabbed earlier at his face, causing his eyes to shut in response. He wasn't expecting such an attack and lost his fighting posture.

Using this opportunity I created, I swiped his legs with my foot and he lost balance. After he hit the floor, he regained clarity and was about to get back up when he saw me leap at him, elbow poking out. He wasn't able to get out of the way in time and my elbow went deep into his belly.

ACK!

He let out a painful yelp as spit was blown out of his mouth, the rest of his lung's air along with it. He was completely powerless now. I punched him in the temple one last time. After my strike, he limped over and passed out. I sat up on his body and wiped the sweat off my forehead.

'That was almost bad. I need to make sure I don't get off guard just because he's inexperienced. Both his ability to stay calm even while under intense pain and his natural knack for combat... he was a talented one. I'm sure that after enough beatings, they'll turn into actual fights. But it is strange. If it were before, then he would rage at my comment and that would be that, but instead, he didn't fall for my insult at all. It was very out of character... I'll just chalk it up to Pulchra's death changing how he thinks. Death can change a lot about a person after all.'

After some self-reflection, I went up to his body and activated the sole Talent Plunder Fruit that I had in working condition. The Fruit's seed that I had planted was still growing, so I only had one Fruit, but it would be enough. The Fruit digested in my stomach and it wasn't long until an unfamiliar power pulsated throughout my body.

Unlike the Crossbow Bolt Fruit, this Fruit didn't stop at my hand, it stopped at my Duranian. It entered my Duranian and somehow found the veins that connected to my pores for cultivation. It entered the veins and exited my body from my pores. I couldn't see what it did, because it was an invisible power, both in Genesis Essence and material. But it wasn't long before the mysterious power entered my pores again. It went through each of my pores, spreading a power of its own before slowly fading out of existence. I didn't feel much of a difference yet, but I was sure it had an effect.

After completing my goal I took a last look at Spiravit.

He was different, that was for sure. Normally I wouldn't care much about someone's change in character, but this was different. It wasn't just a slight change in character, but a major one. I wasn't sure if he would revert after processing the death of Pulchra or not, but I did know one thing.

He was going to become a problem.

___________________________________________________________________________

Boom!

The sound of a tree trunk hitting the ground reverberated throughout the previously silent island, causing me a minor surprise, 'That was the first time I heard something from my Duranian, I guess that sound is a possibility in here, though it did cost a lot of Genesis Essence to cut the tree.'

I was looking at the tree I just chopped in my Duranian. It was the first interaction I've had in my Duranian other than growing Fruits. But even the Fruits that I did grow were grown in the town area, so this was my first real contact with the island in my Duranian. Now that I was in the 3rd level of Dirt Class, I was able to make more direct contact with the Duranian, though it was still too limited to do what I wanted to do. It would be better for me to focus on cultivating to a higher level and then I could build the Firearm Range.

I was sitting inside the Firearm Genesis Essence area, experimenting with my Duranian a bit before beginning my cultivation session. Today's would be special though. It was the first time I would be cultivating while using the Arrow Trepenation Fruit. I prepared myself before sending the blood orange-like Fruit straight to my stomach. I felt a wave of pain fluctuate throughout my body as soon as the Fruit was digested. It wasn't a surface-level pain, nor an inside kind of pain, it felt like a pain that touched every single point on my body.

The pain soon centered itself into little dots all across the surface of my body, and thanks to that annoying curse, I was barely able to stand the pain. Then, in a sudden burst of immeasurable pain, tiny little arrows pushed through my flesh causing rippling bursts of blood to spray out of my body. The little arrows all were sent flying in the direction they left my body, leaving me out of breath due to the intense and sudden pain.

I was able to recover from the mental outburst quickly and examined myself. I was covered in my own blood due to the arrows that pierced me from the inside, but soon that blood soaked back into the holes that were created and those holes also closed up. After the holes closed up I could feel a wash of satisfaction come from every dot that was wriggling with pain before. I waited for something else to happen, but it looked like the Fruit was done. I decided to see if I would notice a contrast in my cultivation and activated the process.

I sucked in the surrounding Genesis Essence and felt an immediate difference as it entered my pores. There was a much larger quantity of Genesis Essence entering me. It was almost as though my pores grew in size... I thought back to the shocks of pain earlier and how the arrows broke through my skin right where I was sucking in the Genesis Essence now. I connected the dots. It was an interesting method for sure, but as long as it worked I didn't care what form it took.

I put my focus back onto the process and as I watched the Genesis Essence enter my Duranian, I could tell that not only was it in much higher quantity, but its quality was also much greater. I guessed this was what it felt like to have a C in Cultivation Talent instead of my pathetic D-.

I was just about to get into the meditative state of cultivating while creating Genesis Orbs when a loud roar unconscientiously entered my ears, "Quis!!! Get out here right now!!!!!!"

It was a familiar voice. One that made me sigh in exhaustion as I brainstormed a way out of it.

It was the voice belonging to Beulus.