Chapter Nine

"Fuck, how the hell could I get eaten?!" Alem looked around with his shining eyes, slightly annoyed by his situation. "Now I have a single hand as well, this situation is messed up." He sighed before sitting on the rough surface. Water wasn't really within the mouth of the creature. It was dry. "I should stop the bleeding first." Pain was there, but it wasn't terrible. He had been through the worst, so this wasn't much. Using the ring that was in his right hand, he pulled out a towel. "Wait, how the hell will I wrap my arm?' His hand was frozen with the sword, so he couldn't really grip anything. "What should I do? This bleeding needs to stop somehow." Sure, he was stronger than before, but as Shameless once said during his training, currently, only his physical body was stronger, he hadn't actually begun cultivating essence. Maybe essence was in his body since he now had an Origin Body, but he couldn't access that essence. He thought about it for a while before looking at his right hand. 'What if I freeze it?' It would stop the bleeding, but what if it freezes too much? It was risky. Plus, if he brought it out and it accidentally froze the creature, then he would be stuck inside until Shameless came back. Anything could happen in that time.

'To risk or not to risk, that is the question.' He snickered at his own humor, but he decided to quickly pull the big bulk of red out. 'I have to be quick.'

Getting up, he thought for a second before the red pearl appeared. 'Now!' He quickly touched the pearl with his ripped hand, yet his gaze saw the food begin to quickly freeze as well. 'Fuck!' Seeing his hand was frozen enough, he pulled the pearl back into his ring.

GURURURU

"What the hell is that?" He slowly turned his head and saw something yellow coming from deep within the beast.

GURURURURURUR

"No way…" In the beginning he thought it was some sort of acid coming from its stomach, but it wasn't. Like an ocean of yellow, critters that carried what looked like teeth, rushed towards him. Their numbers were in the thousands, possibly more. One had to know that the beast was in no way small. If the red pearl could fit inside the mouth easily, then the monster was possibly bigger then even the stone platform. "Shit shit shit!" He looked around for some sort of exit. Whether he could fight one of them and be fine was an easy answer, but a thousand? He couldn't. Not in his state especially.

'Run! I have to escape!' He rushed towards the beast's teeth and slashed at it with his sword, but not a single dent was made. He tried the flesh, the tongue, anything, yet he couldn't injure it, let alone make an escape path.

GURUR GURUR

Alem turned his head and saw the thousands upon thousands of creatures looking at him with their hands tilting left and right. Each were about the size of his hand. They resembled tiny monkeys, wearing face paint of sorts. Their ears were sharp and pointy, while their hands were large, and their feet tiny. Their hands actually made up most of their body frame, which was funny to look at.

"Hey… haha. I was just passing by…" Alem laughed while taking a few steps back.

Guru

One of the little monsters pointed at the ice on the floor and made a weird sound, tilting its head even more.

"This?" Alem pointed at the ice, which made the monster nod its head. "Oh, it wasn't me. I saw some old man bring some kind of pearl here and then run. He ran out of the mouth, that way."

Gur Gur

"Yeah, I don't know how he managed to do that." As Alem conversed, something suddenly struck his mind. 'How the hell do I understand what they're saying?' Whatever sound they made, he for some odd reason understood them. "But I got dragged in here too, look at my hands. He froze them too and even cut them off. He's truly evil!"

Gur Gur Guru Gur

"It does hurt, but I can handle this." Alem rubbed his head and smiled. "But now I'm stuck here. Do you guys know how to get out?"

Gururururu

"Oh, I'm a human. I come from outside of the ocean. Umm, the ocean is this monster's home, and I come from outside." He sat down and began to explain the general layout to the creatures. For some odd reason, he found the creatures to be very cute. They were like children in his eyes. "... well, that's where I'm from. What about you guys? What are you and what is this place?"

Gu Gu Gurur Gu Guuu ru Guru

"Oh, that's cool." He nodded his head, listening to one of them speak. "Gur's, so that's what you are? This place is the inside of your mother? Wow." He became more and more captivated by these creatures. "Hey, would you mind telling me what this ice is?"

Grrr Gu

"It's an egg!" Alem looked at the Gur's in shock. "Wait, so the ice is how another one of your mothers is created? Interesting." He then shook his hand a little. "Then, do you know how to remove this ice?"

Gur

Suddenly, one of the creatures walked over to Alem and opened its mouth. There were no teeth inside, just a hole. "You want me to put my hand inside?" The Gur nodded its head and Alem did as he was told. There wasn't much else he could do. One on one maybe he could beat them, but against such a number he was bound to die. With nowhere else to go, he might as well listen to them, plus they were all innocent creatures to him, so no harm would be done.

He inserted the hand with the sword first, since that hand was his more important one, plus his other hand would start bleeding again if the ice was taken away. Soon enough, the ice one his hand began to disappear. "Wow." He nodded his head as he looked at his finally free hand. "Thank you."

Gur ur

With his hand no free, Alem put his sword back into the ring and pulled out his sketchbook. "Would you mind if I draw you guys?" He asked, yet the monsters didn't understand such a concept, so he decided to just do it.

He began to draw the creatures, again in various scenes and positions. As he did, information about their species began to enter his head. The first time it happened he could say it was just a weird occurrence, but the second time, it wasn't so simple. 'So, these guys are like the immune system of this creature?' He sorted all the information in his head and finally had a general idea of how to deal with these creatures.

"Look, help me get out of this place and I'll bring one of you guys to find the egg with me, alright?" They were anxious about the egg that Alem had in his ring. If they got the egg, he had a very high chance to befriend them. The Gur's were very simple creatures, almost idiots. Yet, this simplicity also made them dangerous. "What do you say? I can take a few if you guys want as well."

The Gur's looked at one another and quickly began to mumble. Alem found the scene very comical and cute. They were all so small that they stood on each other's shoulders and spoke as well.

He waited patiently until finally one of the creatures leapt off the group. He walked over to Alem and then jumped on his shoulder.

Gurur

"So, you'll be the one joining me?" The creature nodded its head and pointed towards the teeth. Alem looked in the direction and saw a few Gur's walk over and tap the teeth gently.

Srrrrrr

The teeth began to separate, revealing the vast ocean once again, yet this time it was dark. He wasn't near the surface anymore. He was much deeper. "Umm." He looked at the Gur beside him and scratched his head. "You do know that getting back to the top will be dangerous, right? Can't you have your mother protect us?"

GUR

The little Gur suddenly flexed its big arms, and spoke fearlessly.

"I understand that you guys are strong, but the creatures this low are atleast the same strength as your mom, maybe stronger." When he saw this, the little creature's mouth widened completely. Its small beady eyes shrunk further. The expression was adorable. "Right? It's crazy, but it's true. So, tell your mom to take us up."

Gur Gur Gurur

The little Gur tapped the beast's mouth and said a few things. Soon, the beast began to move. It was slow in the beginning, but it began to move faster and faster. Alem felt like he was in some sort of movie theatre, watching a documentary of the ocean. "This is kind of cool." He watched on in a trance, just seeing various creatures, mountains, and really anything and everything appear. It seemed like the Gur's mother was some dangerous beast since most things avoided her. Even creatures that Alem knew would basically one shot him, avoided the mother. 'Good thing I didn't try to fight back, I could have been killed easily. Haha.'

Gur

"Alright, let's get off then." It was time for him to go out and 'find' the egg since the mother would not go any further. They both entered the ocean and just before swimming, Alem noticed that the Gur was struggling to hold its breath and couldn't even swim. "Are you alright?" He swam over and held the creature worriedly, but didn't know what to do. He looked at the giant mother. "You have to help this guy, he can't swim, so how will he travel?"

Srrrrrrr

As Alem said this, red ice suddenly came from the large beast. It surrounded the little Gur and created a small mask for it. Once the mask was created, the Gur calmed down and was able to move around normally. 'No wonder the area inside was so dry.'

After making sure that the Gur was fine, Alem grabbed him and began to swim away from the beast. "Let's give you a name. How about Macrochiria? Wait, that sounds weird, maybe just Chiria?" Since he was studying medicine, he knew that the term for overly large hands was Macrochiria. Atleast, a condition where someone had large hands. Since the Gur had large hands, bigger than even its body, it made sense. "I'm just going to call you Chiria, alright?"

The Gur, Chiria, nodded its tiny head. And soon, they began their little search.

They remained close during the travel, at times separating to search different caves. They actually faced a few creatures. Alem did well against them even with one hand since he had so much combat experience, but Chiria didn't fall behind either. His method of fighting consisted of crushing heads, throwing bones, etc. It was simple, yet effective.

"Chiria, are you able to sense it by chance?" He asked questionably. If Chiria couldn't sense the egg, then he could find a way to sneak it into a cave.

Gurur

"So, only your mother can sense it? That's fine then, let's keep looking. Hopefully, she will find it." He smiled brightly on the surface, but began to find large caves during his search.

A few days went by slowly, he would come out for air at times, but every time he would, he wouldn't be able to see the stone platform. He knew the direction since he had a basic map in his head, and he would always slowly swim in that direction. He needed to get back since that area was safe.

"Hey Chiria, check in that big cave, and I'll check in this one, alright?" The little Gur nodded its head and swam to the large cave. Alem swam to his and when he got deep enough to the cave, he looked around and released the egg.

"Shit!" As the egg appeared, he saw hundreds of creatures laying on the ground. They opened their eyes slowly because of the cold and looked around. "It wasn't me; It wasn't me." He spoke quickly before swimming to the exit of the cave. "Chiria, I found it! Call your mother first, there are too many beasts here!"

He quickly rushed out the cave and saw Chiria. The latter began to make loud sounds.

GUR GUR GUUUURR

It's screams vibrated across the ocean, yet it wasn't just the mother that could possibly hear it. Other creatures also came out to see the commotion. "Shit, they're coming out, and they don't look happy." Alem clutched his sword and prepared for battle. Who knew when the mother would get to them, afterall, they were searching for many days. "Chiria, prepare to fight, we have company." He calmed himself down and stared at the hundreds of creatures with a glare. He didn't know about his pink eye just yet, but it seemed to affect the creatures, intimidating them ever so slightly. Alem swam towards them slowly. He glared at them with Chiria, and they did the same. No one was making the first move. It was a stalemate, one that lasted only a few minutes. "Chiria, you attack from the left, I'll go right. Don't aim for the middle, that guy is too strong for us right now." When he said this, Chiria nodded its head and flung itself to the left. "AH!" He charged while howling like a beast.

He instantly slammed into the beasts and began to slash his sword everywhere. Different things hit his body. Some were acid like attacking, corroding his body, some were sharp nails, piercing into him. His lack of two hands slowly became a problem. Sure, he knew how to handle himself without two hands, but that didn't mean it was easy. "Die Die DIE!" He kept slashing in a maniacal way, yet his face remained calm, despite his voice getting rougher. The fight was hard, but not enjoyable. It reminded him of his thousand-year combat training. The methods of fighting, the tactics, all of them were basic. He had seen the styles many times, so he was able to counter them too.

Srrrrrrrrr

As the fighting was getting more and more tiring, Siris finally heard the voice of Chiria's mother. He didn't turn his head or get less cautious. He just continued to fight at the same pace, just waiting for the creatures to swim away in fear.

Gurur

Alem turned his head and noticed hundreds of Gur's rushing out of the mouth with ice masks. They bombarded the creatures with bones and began to crush their heads. Chiria began to fight harder as well, getting excited by its brethren's backup.

Seeing that the possibility of winning was basically zero, the creatures began to swim away in fear. Alem felt his side become easier by the second, until finally all the creatures dispersed. Alem swam to Chiria and smiled at the little guy. It was covered in injuries as well. Yet, a wide smile was on it's tiny face. "The egg is inside that cave." As he said this, hundreds of Gur's rushed into the cave and brought the egg out after a minute or so.

Srrrrr Srrrr

"Seems like your mother is happy, huh?" Alem smiled at Chiria who nodded its head. "Anyways, since everything is done here, I need to get back to my home so that I can heal my injuries." The Gur nodded its head and waved its large hand at Alem. Yet, before he left, the large mother suddenly began to shoot out red ice. "Hm?" Alem looked at what was being done and suddenly saw a tiny item take form.

Srr

"A gift?" Chiria was the one that nodded its head since Alem couldn't really see the mothers reactions, it was too big. He took the item and the second it neared his left arm, the ice that covered it formed an arm that held onto the item. "Wow." Alem looked at the new hand in shock. It was a temporary hand of course, and only formed if the item was nearby, but it was better than nothing. "Well, thank you" He smiled at the large mother beast and began to swim towards the stone platform. Of course, he waved bye to his new friend Chiria and followed the map in his mind.

It didn't take him long to get back to the stone platform. At most, around four to five hours of swimming. He didn't face too many beasts as he remained mostly closer to the surface of the water.

"Finally, I'm back." He dragged himself onto the platform and quickly laid on top of it. "I hate the water now, it's too dangerous." He took deep breaths as he laid on the warm platform. "How long until Shameless gets back? It's getting so boring." He sighed as he pulled a towel out and began to dry himself. 'What should I do then?' He stared at the massive bookshelf that was on the platform. "Although I'm not allowed to touch too many books, maybe I can get some basic information on cultivation? An introduction on how to start possibly."

He walked towards the bookshelf and suddenly felt a sort of barrier preventing him from walking too close. "Hmm?" He noticed that it wasn't super strong unless he walked further in. He forced himself to keep on walking, but his hands began to shake until he finally made it.

[Congratulations, you have made it past the first barrier. It will now unlock all information of the very first cultivation realm and much more information. Tio get access to higher level information, you must make it past the second barrier.]

Shameless' voice entered his mind. Alem looked around yet couldn't see the old man. "Probably just a message." He looked in front of him and noticed that the large bookshelf which was filled with books only showcased a few dozen. Everything else was covered in a type of mist. "How do I access the next barrier? There isn't anything else here." He looked around hoping to try the second barrier, yet he couldn't see anything.

[In order to access the second barrier, you must first achieve the first realm in cultivation. The third can be accessed after the second cultivation realm has been reached, and so on.]

He sighed hearing the rules. 'Well, that's no problem then.' He reached for the book with the title 'Cultivation Basics'. He opened it up and began to read it carefully.

From days to weeks, then months. Time passed quickly as Alem became engrossed in the single book. It not only described the method to cultivate in the first realm, but it spoke about how essence works, the inner works. It described why peace was important at times, and why chaos was important. From eternal life, to so much more. Normally, the book could have taken a few days to complete with a few breaks in between, since it was so thick, yet Alem took even longer than that. Each word, each sentence, had a meaning. He got lost in figuring out what it meant, and trying some of the things listed in the book for himself. He didn't try and cultivate, but instead tried to use the essence that was already in his body. Sadly, it wasn't that simple.

"Alem, I'm back." As he slowly got to the last chapter of the book, Shameless suddenly appeared.

"You're back!" Alem got up and ran towards the old man. It had been too long. "How did you get back so early?" He asked in confusion. According to him, there was atleast a few more months left.

"Early? It's been a full year. What are you talking about?" Shameless asked in confusion. "Also, what happened while I was gone? Your left eye is now pink."

"Huh? What are you saying?" He pulled out a mirror from his ring and stared at his face. "You're right, what the hell?"

"Also, let me heal this hand of yours. What happened while I was gone?" Waving his hand, the red ice disappeared and instead Alem's hand grew back. "Fill me in on the details. Don't miss a single thing, even if it's small."

He nodded his head and began to talk. From him eating his pizza, to seeing the two beasts, and then drawing them. He also spoke about the weird incident in relation to him drawing and getting information in his head. He explained how critters were following him, and then he went into the ocean and all the events that occurred there. "Speaking of which, I haven't even checked in on Grey." He quickly ran towards his house and found Grey a bit bigger than before, yet still asleep. The animals were still there, just they were now dead. "He's alright, which is good." Walking back to Shameless he rubbed his head and smiled. "That's all."

"I understand." Shameless nodded his head. He had an understanding of what may have happened, but he didn't speak of it just yet. "Anyways, now that I understand the situation, let's continue with your training."

"Wait, let me eat something first, please. I haven't actually eaten since the last time." Seeing Shameless nod his head, Alem sat down and pulled out about ten boxes of his pizza. "You wanna eat too?"

"Of course." Shameless didn't dig into the food Alem had, rather he pulled out his own dozen boxes of pizza.

"Nice." Alem laughed at his master and then both began to chow down. "Where did you go?"

"I have a friend who makes special items, so I went and requested a few from him. It just took a while to make everything." Shameless at a large slice while explaining. "I had him custom make things just so they could fit you better."

"Clothes?" Alem asked confusingly.

"Well yes, but there were a bunch of other things as well. I'll show you in a bit. Let's finish eating first." They continued to eat their many boxes of pizza, which took them about half an hour.

"Alright, what first?" Alem asked. He was so bored for so long, he needed to do something. Sure, there was the ocean incident, the one with the two beasts, but overall, it wasn't exciting. He had already been in life and death situations so many times that it was now all a bore to him.

"First, we continue with battle training." Shameless said with a smirk. "Of course, there is a catch. No weapons, no Origin Body. Just human strength, I want to see how far you can get. You will be matched with people around the same strength. They will increase in difficulty and number."

"Damn, another session of fighting?" He just came back from the ocean fights and now he had to go back into action. He felt depressed since the task was so overdone and boring, but he could understand the reasoning. "Alright, let's go." He walked back to the fighting arena that Shameless used before, with the old man following him from behind. "Also, you don't need to worry about that bookshelf, although you can browse through it, it isn't actually meant for you."

"What do you mean?" Alem asked in confusion, yet he thought of something that happened in his own books. "Wait, it's just a guess, but if the bookshelf isn't meant for me, then it's meant for someone. Either, you are accepting more students again, which is unlikely since you said I will be the last, or…" He then pointed at himself.

Why else would the bookshelf be there unless it was for someone or people?

"Smart, but yes. At some point, you will begin accepting students yourself. Of course, the amount and the time for this will be up to you. Taking in disciples is an important way to progress, and that's from firsthand experience." After speaking briefly, he led Alem into a new arena. It resembled an ancient Greek stadium,

"I will fight here?" He asked in confusion. Before, it was just a stone room, not a huge battle area?

"Unlike before, which was an introduction to your own current strength and various fighting styles using your speed and strength, this time, you will fight without that agility and strength. The stamina will disappear and be that of a normal person. Any special abilities which a normal should not possess will be restricted and you will fight as if you aren't a cultivator. From regular one on one battles with humans, to group battles, survival of the fittest, etc. You will fight, survive, and be forced to do much more than just the previous simple fighting. This is the final step to strengthen your instincts, battle sense, battle skill, and so much more. After this, we must move onto other things since if even this isn't enough, nothing else will be."

Alem understood that if he couldn't peak out his combat prowess in this final stage, then only time could tell when he would be at his best. "Alright, I'm assuming I can't use any of my weapons, right?"

"You can't use anything, even your interspatial ring will be restricted. The only thing that you will use are your bare hands from the beginning." Hearing his words, Alem nodded his head.

"I can atleast bring my clothes, right? Or do I start naked too, haha." He wanted to be comedic, but Shameless' words made him gawk.

"No clothes. You will begin naked." A smile played on his face as he said this.

"Damn, is this some sort of survival video game?" He couldn't help muse as he thought back to the video games back on Earth. This whole concept was basically that, but in person.

"Take it as you will. Anyways, we will first go through a series of battles, and then the survival round, and so on." As he said this, a gate opened from one end. "Begin." With this last word, Shameless appeared on the stadium stand with hundreds of people.

"What the hell?" He looked at the filled stadiums in confusion. "Shameless, where the heck did these people come from? Are they your creations?"

"Nope, these are all real people. All of these people will be with you in the survival round." As he spoke, Alem felt danger and looked at an incoming knife.

Snorting, he quickly side stepped and grabbed the man's throat with one hand, and his forearm with the other. Kicking his legs, he tripped the man before sliding the hand holding the forearm to the wrist, twisting it. "Arg!" The man groaned as he fell towards the ground and felt the knife drop from his hand.

"Die." This single word came out calmly as Alem grabbed the knife and stabbed through his own hand, piercing the man's throat. The pain was there, but he didn't really feel too much.

"Umm, Alem. I forgot to mention this, but I won't heal you until this stadium round is over. So, try not to get injured." A slick smile appeared on Shameless' face when he said this.

"Damn." Alem smiled bitterly as he took his top off and wrapped it around his hand, stopping the bleeding. "I'll be more careful then." With that, the fighting continued.

This time, it didn't take too long. Only about a few weeks of fighting. Afterall, there wasn't too much Alem needed to learn in straight combat, just more practice.

"Alright, let's begin the real survival round. Let me also explain what your goal will be." Shameless appeared in front of Alem and healed him quickly, also getting rid of his fatigue. "The people in the stadium, they're your opponents, but they don't consist of only people from your world, namely criminals. Actually, a few cultivators from smaller planets, from my world, and so on will be included. Some of these cultivators are humans, while others are not. Of course, everyone will be restricted to only human strength, but they will have their own strengths and weakness' which you will have to figure out yourself."

"No issue from me. Not like I actually have a choice right? Haha." He got up and removed the cloth from his hand.

"Good. Everyone, listen as well. This test will focus on more than just survival instincts, but that will not be explained by me, you will understand yourselves at some point. Killing is allowed, and really anything is allowed in this round. I won't be able to spectate what goes on since there is a special barrier blocking my view, so anything that happens inside will not be known to a single soul." Shameless' expression was calm, yet sharp as he explained. Narrowing his vision while he looked at a few in the crowd. "Now, some of you may be wondering how to complete the round or win. Well, there is of course a way to win in the end. Multiple requirements must be met." He pulled out a small pellet and enlarged it so everyone could see it. "Everyone will have a small pellet like this inside their bodies. It has only one job, to absorb other pellets and a few other items, which I won't get into. Your first requirement to complete this round will be to absorb atleast five other pellets. I don't care how you do it, but five pellets are the minimum. Other requirements will be shown during the round." He waved his hand, and everyone disappeared from the stands.

"Is there a winner for this round, and prizes?" Alem asked.

"Of course, there are winners and losers. Rewards will be shown in the end though. Also, no one in the stands were able to see your face, it was blurred for them, so they don't know what you look like nor your voice. This round is free for all, alright?" He was very worried for his disciple greatly, but there wasn't much that could be done. This round was extremely important, possibly more than even the thousand year fighting round. What Alem would be learning in this round was vital for future survival.

"I understand, It makes things fair. But I'm curious, why did you bring cultivators as well, are they criminals as well?" He didn't understand why Shameless didn't just use his own creations. Why the need for real people?

"These cultivators aren't criminals, rather some are from small sects and clans, others from major. I wanted to help them also get a bit of experience in this training since the world is a chaotic place right now." Shameless sighed. "He caused the world to be in despair and a frightened position, so everyone must train. Although you are the main focus, we still need people to get stronger to protect their smaller areas from threats."

Alem understood the gist of it, so he just nodded. "Who were the people you were focusing on?" Alem caught on to this when he was watching Shameless explain information on the pellets.

"Oh, they're extremely talented cultivators and beasts from major clans and sects. Some you may actually meet later down the road." Shameless didn't think it was a secret to hide this since it wasn't super important in the end. It wouldn't change how Alem reacted nor how the tests progressed. "Nonetheless, let me send you into the survival world. I'll hopefully see you complete this trial; I know you can." Even though Shameless was confident, he was scared for Alem, not because of the cultivators, rather the people from Earth were the scary ones. They held a major advantage over others, being criminals, they knew how to sneak around well, how to hide their tracks, stalk, and so much more. Sure, some of the beasts were also extremely frightening, but overall, Shameless felt the Earth criminals posed the largest threat to Alem and the other cultivators.

A door opened up in front of Alem which the latter slowly walked through, of course his clothes began to disappear, including his interspatial ring. He was left butt naked.

'Pass this test Alem, it's the last dangerous one for a long while.' Shameless thought quietly as the door shut and vanished.