Sun Ki

Ace was drowning in an indescribable feeling. It was a mix of pleasure for his life advancing to a higher level and an indescribable dumbfoundedness for the changes that occurred in himself.

An obvious change was that he could directly control his soul separately from his body, as if it were a second body, instead of being in a passive situation. He felt as if his consciousness gained the ability to split itself in two and maintain synchrony.

His vital energy disappeared and was replaced by a similar energy much more powerful. If his vital energy was like a gas, this new energy was like a liquid.

It flowed along his blood in his veins and arteries and was so closely linked to his blood that they seemed to be a single thing.

His meridians were transformed because of this change, and they became as solid as the other channels. His soul power didn't form anymore and was simply circulating in the meridians.

His soul power gained a new kind of vitality after his soul transformed, it was much more powerful and also more ethereal. Ace even felt that his soul power didn't need the meridians to spread through his body anymore, it could link his body and soul perfectly without them.

Indeed, the only remaining energy that was still dependent on the meridians was his aura, which was indeed numerous times more powerful and abundant than before.

The sense of mystery Ace felt in the breakthrough slowly became clear. The change that occurred in his aura was beyond his expectations.

He didn't need to try much, he could feel that his aura could inspire the power of the natural abundant unrefined spiritual energy while outside his body to increase its power and even use a higher level of power. Ace had the illusion he could partially control the world around him.

This higher level of power was like a mysterious rhyme that he couldn't completely understand, like a continuous chant echoing through the world.

When he controlled that rhyme to his limit, he could partially affect the world to a drastic level, increasing the level of destruction he could cause.

Not only this, he could feel that the aura core formed in his energy core was passively absorbing bits of this rhyme and integrating it in itself.

The aura core formed was pure white, but it had a few red spots on its surface that Ace didn't understand yet but felt were related to his new energy that replaced his vital energy.

Following his most basic instinct, he named the new energy Blood Energy, for it was like a higher form of blood.

After spending some time checking himself, he opened his eyes and spread his soul sense around. He finally felt the situation of Lin and Cin, who were kneeling on the ground while trying hard to breathe.

Ace frowned and understood that his small experiments with his aura caused them to be affected.

He waved his hand symbolically and the pressure over them disappeared.

"Congratulations on your breakthrough, teacher!" both shouted at the same time.

"For how long was I asleep?" Ace asked with a frown after sensing the changes in their body.

"It has been... ten years," they said.

'Damn you, system! What took you so long?' Ace cursed in his mind.

[I had my difficulties doing what I could, ungrateful bastard.]

Ace took a deep breath and frowned, "Look at you, already showing signs of old age, are you proud?"

"Sorry, teacher!" both of them clenched their fists and were truly aggrieved.

Lin mainly, she already done her best to avoid the traces of time, always keeping smooth skin and healthy beauty, but a few white hairs were already showing on her head.

Ace shook his head and said, "Since kt is how it is, what can be done? Just try harder from now on!"

"Yes!" Lin and Cin shouted.

Ace suddenly frowned and looked at a distance far away, his soul sense, which could now spread to a ten-kilometer radius, felt a powerful creature approaching.

Judging by the traces of power emanated by the creature, it was at least as strong as him, if not more.

"After all, I was lucky to have not been noticed until now..." Ace muttered with a bitter smile.

"You two, go back to the village, you shouldn't stay here," Ace said to the siblings, "A powerful being is approaching, I can't protect you two if we fight."

Their expression changed drastically, but obeyed his instructions after some initial hesitation.

The reason they didn't offer to help was because they knew they were too weak, so weak they couldn't even approach Ace without him allowing.

[How do you feel?]

"I even ordered my students to avoid intelligent creatures when they visited the village, but in the end, I was the one who attracted a powerful being," Ace said with a sigh, "Should I say my luck is horrible?"

[Host, you want to meet the enemy wholly naked?]

Ace suddenly remembered he was naked and cursed out loud, "Bastard! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

[Why do you think the little girl was blushing so hard while looking at you? Just because of your mediocre face?]

Ace took a deep breath and said, "Anyway, it's just an animal, why would I feel embarrassed if it saw me naked?"

After a while, a creature similar to a lion appeared in his field of vision but was in no way an ordinary lion. It was twice as big and its mane was raging crimson flames. Its eyes were like two round stars, full of aggression.

It growled at Ace and spoke in a strange language that he didn't understand.

"Can you understand me?" Ace asked with a frown.

"Why are you speaking human language?" the lion asked back.

"That's the only language I understand," Ace said calmly.

The lion was silent for a while and then said, "Have you grown along the humans?"

"Is it rare?" Ace feigned, he knew the lion was mistaking him as a spiritual creature.

"Not really, the world is big," the lion said, "But what did you do to the humans after you grew up?"

"Nothing, I owe them after all," Ace said without batting an eye.

"That's good! Our lord set a law for monsters and spiritual creatures to not hurt humans without permission," the lion nodded and approached.

"Was it you that caused all this ruckus?" it asked while examining Ace, "And why are you still keeping this fake human form?"

"My strength suddenly grew bigger and I had some trouble controlling it," Ace lied while also examining the lion, "I like humans very much, can't I use this form?"

"It's not exactly a problem... but, don't you feel uncomfortable?" the lion asked.

"More or less," Ace was ambiguous and changed topic, "What are you?"

"I'm a general under the lord of this great land, I'm the Raging Beast of the Molten Mountains," the lion began to proudly announce its identity, "I'm from the Sun Lion race, and my name is Sun Ki!"

"...I'm Ace, I'm a type of chameleon, I guess," Ace said.

"A chameleon? That's a bit rare," Sun Ki had an expression of surprise, similar to a human's, "I guess that's the reason you imitate a human being so well without having a true human form."

"True human form?" Ace heard an interesting term and asked.

"There's a mystery in this world, when a creature other than a human reaches a very high level, it can transform its body into the shape of a human being," Sun Ki explained patiently, "But some creatures can imitate humans since early to feign power, just like you."

"Why are you so sure this is a fake human form?" Ace narrowed his eyes.

"Because of how powerful a beast needs to be to transform into a human shape," Sun Ki laughed, "I can sense that you have similar strength to me, so there's no way you achieved it.

"Unless you are a descendant of a transcendental being, but I never heard of a transcendental chameleon."

"I see..." Ace nodded and said, "Thank you for answering my questions."

"It seems that humans taught you to be polite, that's great!" Sun Ki nodded and suddenly transformed into a human shape, a young male with bright red clothes, "This is my fake human form, I use an illusionary ability to do this."

"Amazing," Ace applauded.

"Can you show me your true form?" Sun Ki asked with an eager expression.

Ace twitched the corners of his mouth and said, "I'm too ugly, I don't want to."

"Well, that's a shame! I never saw a chameleon as powerful as you, I only heard about it," Sun Ki shrugged and returned to his true lion form.

"Sun... Friend Sun Ki, why did you come here?" Ace asked with genuine curiosity.

"This place is close to my fort, so I came when I sensed a ruckus here," the lion answered and narrowed his eyes, "By the way, I sensed two weak creatures with you before, where are they?"

"They were curious about me, but they ran away after I said a strong being was approaching, I didn't know if you were a friend or foe," Ace explained calmly.

"I see..." Sun Ki nodded, "But since we met, I need to take you to the lord of this land."

"Why?" Ace was alert.

"Because as powerful as he is, he needs generals under him to control his territory," Sun Ki explained, "And he set the law for all monsters and spiritual creatures that reach our level of strength to be reported to him."

"...How powerful is this lord?" Ace asked cautiously.

"I can sense the alert in your eyes," Sun Ki laughed, "He is so strong that he can flat great mountains with a single blow, is it enough for you to know?"

"So strong?" Ace was shocked.

"But fortunately for you, he is from the peaceful lineage, and likes peace instead of war," Sun Ki added, "You don't need to worry, he will at most delegate you as his new general."

"Is he far away?" Ace asked.

"Very far, it takes me two months to get to his great headquarters," Sun Ki nodded.

Ace was silent for a while and said, "Let's go, then."

"Aren't you going to bid farewell to the humans of your village?" Sun Ki was surprised.

"I will eventually return, there's no need," Ace shook his head but very secretly left a few words engraved on the ground.