Body Cultivation Hurts - Chapter 31

Mitch Travis waited for the last day to make his move. He’d remained on the outskirts of the command group throughout the training camp, but I’d been sure to introduce him to everyone even though he did what he always did and remained in the background. He wasn’t like Silvester Hitchens who led with the weight of his personality and zeal. For the last month, he’d chosen when to approach the others one on one. This was the first time he requested to speak with all of us. Despite remaining in the background, everyone took his request seriously.

Ma Mencius arrived with his daughter. Nathan still didn’t recall the girl from my first life, but she could be quite fierce. Jun Takao arrived with Yuma and one of her great uncles. They weren’t alone. The pop star Vanessa Montgomery arrived with Eugene Carr. The Franco brothers and Silvester Hitchens were walking together with Rich, Juan, and Katrina close behind. Oleksiy Kulyk brought up the rear with his wife on his arm and Justin and Sam at their side. The members of Nathan’s gym had spent most of the training camp with the groups they arrived with.

The last to arrive, however, was Kyle who he’d requested find Jess and have her join them. She didn’t balk at training, but these kinds of gatherings were not her thing.

Nathan was standing with Mitch Travis. There was little small talk that passed between them. He’d grown used to the man’s mannerisms and was comfortable in the silence.

They didn’t meet in the ring, but beside it. Only about a quarter of the camp hadn’t broken through to the Blood Realm. Those present were amongst the majority. He’d made sure of it.

When everyone was there, Mitch unceremoniously got started. “There’s been a lot of talk about what to do following camp. Many of you have something in mind already. If we coordinate, we can get more done without stepping on each other’s toes.

“So I suggest we clearly define our mission and go from there. But first, I have a suggestion. Nathan Kane has revealed things that he arguably shouldn’t have. Especially to so many people.”

Nathan grinned broadly as if he was oblivious to what he meant.

Mitch’s deadpanned expression was exactly what he remembered. The man continued, “It’s likely impossible to keep rumors from starting, but I recommend we don’t help them along and do what we can to keep Mr. Kane’s identity a secret. The reason is simple. Knowledge of the future makes him a threat to those that would take advantage of people in the tower. Powerful people with connections outside the tower. That makes you and your family a target.

“My reasoning is, of course, selfish. I’ve seen enough evidence over the last month to believe you. I want to continue taking advantage of your knowledge, so keeping you safe is a priority.”

“He is right, little brother,” Jun Takao insisted. Yuma stepped forward with him, nodding firmly that she agreed.

“It’s for the best,” Ma agreed.

“You belong to us now,” Kyle proclaimed, holding back a snicker.

Nathan face-palmed.

Silvester burst out laughing. “You got a good group around you,” he said before switching to a serious tone. “They’re not wrong. And even if you don’t become a target, being recognized everywhere you go brings with it a whole set of new problems.”

He held up his hand, stopping them. He reminded them about the videos he posted, and the promise he made to share how things had gone with their training camp under time dilation.

“Then give them what you promised but use other people as examples instead of yourself,” Mitch Travis replied.

“That’s easy enough,” he admitted. “But everyone here was watching when I claimed I had returned to the past. That means anyone could make a video and upload it.”

When the former Navy Seal Commander crossed his arms over his chest, Nathan knew he already had a solution. The man responded, “I spoke to your merchant friend.”

“GooGee?”

The man nodded. “She has spoken to the Judge Isacara on our behalf. She’s agreed to block everyone’s access to the event and leave it to your discretion.”

Nathan began to say something but found himself speechless. It didn’t last very long. “If I can keep it where only the people in this camp know, then I’d certainly prefer it that way.

“And as for the instruction videos, Silvester, Vanessa, how would you like to do some commentary work? Eugene, your welcome as well.”

“I won’t even charge you,” the former world MMA champ jested.

Holding a hand over his heart, Nathan said, “Thank you. I’m a little low on points at the moment.”

“I’ll bill you after,” Vanessa teased.

“I’ll give you a discount,” Eugene said with feigned smugness.

“Good,” Mitch Travis said, raising his voice just enough to cut through the laughter. “Now, what’s our first objective?”

***

Nathan wasn’t the one that spoke to the crowd at the end of the training camp. He’d never been a leader of larger groups. At most, he’d had his own squad. Silvester took over as the primary speaker. There was a danger that some people were burnt out, but at the same time, training was over. Guiding everyone to a place where they could try out their new strength made perfect sense.

He spent the last half of the day with Silvester, Vanessa, and Eugene as they put together the main instructional video that would come out of the training camp. There were also dozens of highlight vids of which Nathan would be purposely left out of. The insane feats they accomplished during training should be enough to overshadow his earlier videos. Since he would be uploading them, the shift from vids with him exclusively to cultivators in general should help rebrand his channel. It wouldn’t completely undo what he already started, but even viral videos would soon be distant memory.

He was growing restless. The camp had gone as well as he could’ve hoped for. He was ready to hit something that didn’t just hit back but intended to kill him. He’d already taken out one region boss. The other three he’d leave to the others. Unlike the one out of the western region, the rest didn’t isolate themselves because of their bad breath. The Putrid Undead Cannibal was unique in that way. It would take a group effort to defeat them, but he had given them all the information they needed to get it done.

His objective was the Naga Desert Queen—a hidden boss to the south. She wasn’t supposed to be discovered until after the first floor was beaten. She was equivalent to a monster nearing the late Blood Realm. He knew she’d put up a good fight. One he wasn’t sure he yet had the ability to win. She was also guarding something. Two somethings. The prickly pear cactus and the pitahaya, or the dragon fruit cactus. Both were cactus’s that bore fruit and had been raised in a rich qi environment. It was how the plant stored qi that made them especially good for the Blood Realm, although anyone in the Body Realm could benefit as well.

Nathan didn’t just intend on taking the fruit, however. He had every intention of taking several cuttings from both cacti and propagating more of them. The only thing better than prickly pears and dragon fruits was an endless supply of both.

 Introducing mountain ginseng berries early would have a large impact, but if he could get a small harvest of twenty or more of each fruit a year from now, it could propel individuals to the top of the Blood Realm in record time. It was exactly the kind of natural treasure he was looking for. One that could make a difference.

He arrived at the south gate with Oleksiy Kulyk, the man’s wife, and a conglomerate of strongest man competitors, wrestlers, and a few people that had chosen to join them during the training camp.

Waiting for them were three men I recognized. Corey “The Hyperion” Shepard, Chevy Paul, and Benedict Thompson were all World’s Strongest Men competitors and at the top of the world. At least, they had been before initiation. And now?

Corey “The Hyperion” Shepard, got his nickname from his height. He’d been 6’ 8” before the tower. Now, after taking the Giant Monster Path and every strength improvement available, he was nearly eleven feet tall and easily one of the largest people in the tower.

Chevy Paul was just the opposite. He’d always been short compared to Corey but had still been the average height for a guy. He’d gone in the opposite direction, picking the dwarf race, but also loaded up on strength enhancements. They had increased his height, so even as a dwarf he stood over five feet tall and was as wide as two doorways.

Last but not least, Benedict Thompson, stood at a more reasonable seven-foot tall, matching Oleksiy. He’d broken the mold of the other two and taken vampire as his primary path. Of course, he’d also invested in strength enhancements.

It wasn’t just their choices that made them intimidating. They’d been some of the most competitive large men on the planet. That hadn’t changed for a second when entering the tower. It was impossible to know for sure without them showing him, but he would’ve been greatly surprised if they hadn’t all reached level ten, which was equivalent to someone reaching the Blood Realm. They could even be a few levels higher than that.

It was also important to make the distinction between other paths and cultivation. Just because they were at a similar level, it didn’t mean cultivators had an advantage. Until they started developing martial techniques, cultivators were generally considered mid-tier. Not all of them had gone through the training camp they had, though.

Nathan and Oleksiy had grown close as competitors during camp. The man waved him over to introduce him.

“This is Nathanial Kane,” the big guy said.

The Hyperion giant reached down with a fist as large as his head.

Nathan reached up and gave the massive thing a knuckle bump.

The dwarf of the group, a man who quite literally made a silverback gorilla look like a child, extended his fist as well. It was just as large as the giant’s.

At least he was able to shake Benedict’s hand.

They were all sizing him up.

Nathan wasn’t sure what Oleksiy had told them, but looking at others as competition would become an integral part of the tower.

“I thought he’d be bigger,” Corey muttered.

Snickering, he replied, “You guys should make easy work of it. Just make sure to keep a healer around. Your size should allow you handle far more venom than normal, but that doesn’t make it suck any less.”

“Poison?” Benedict asked, raising his brow.

Chevy grunted. “The guy’s been drinking the stuff.”

Studying the world’s strongest vampire competitor, Nathan wondered aloud, “Poison variant?”

The man shrugged. “The whole blood drinking thing kind of grosses me out.”

“As if poison isn’t even fouler,” the giant grumbled.

To their surprise, Nathan grinned. Pulling out his transmission jade, he said, “Exchange details with me and I’ll send you what I have left of the western region boss’s poison.”

The man’s face lit up. “That’s got to be pricey. You sure?”

“Not a problem. I got all the use out of it I could. I’d much rather see it go to good use than earn a few points. If I can pull off what I intend today, it will be chump change in comparison.”

“He talks like a big man,” Corey jested.

After giving the men a toothy grin, he bid them farewell.

There were thousands of people exiting and returning at the southern gate. Nathan had left the strongest men’s competitors just inside the massive gate as they waited for other people who were coming to join them. There was an unofficial rule that people returning entered in one side and the people left used the other.

He had known it was the guy he was looking for as soon as he saw him arrive. “Wolfgang,” he called out.

The guy had chosen the goblin path and already experienced his first evolution. It wasn’t abnormal for them to have their first around level ten. He was still rather short with pale green skin. Not all hobgoblins were tall. He looked like a kid football player with overly large pads in his armor, but the sky-blue cloak hanging over it indicated he was a mage. There wasn’t a specific color scheme people went by that indicated which mage path they had taken, but there was the beginnings of one. An even paler blue would be used in the future for Force Mages which Wolfgang was.

The man waved to him and motioned for the two other people with him to follow. They met just inside the gate.

“Nathan,” the guy announced, grabbing his outstretched hand and pulling him into a bro-hug.

“Congrats on your first evolve,” he replied.

“Thanks. Spell Goblin,” he said, holding up his arm and flexing.

“Not a hobgoblin variant?”

“Not yet.”

His eyes widened. “It’s a rare one then.”

“That’s what my research tells me too.” He nodded smugly. “Let me introduce you. This here is Lady Zera, our Healer.”

The elven woman beside him cringed at how she was introduced. “Hey. He’s a dork, but we love him.”

Nathan shook her petite hand. She had kept her skin tone as human as possible which made him think she’d kept her own.

“As you requested, she knows how to keep her head in a tight spot,” Wolfgang said.

“Nice to meet you, Zera,” he replied.

“And this is our tank, Leroy Death.” The goblin half winced as he tried to grin while saying it.

“Sup,” the sickly-looking guy said. “I’m a Zombie, Paladin. My first thought was to make a Deadpool clone but then saw this combo and just couldn’t pass it up. I get to wear the best armor while having undead regeneration and strength on top of another Regeneration upgrade.”

“Nice combo,” Nathan had to admit.

“He’s actually a decent damage dealer as well as our tank,” Wolfgang added.

“Yeah,” Zera acknowledge. “Believe it or not.”

“So spill it,” Leroy said. “We hear you found a secret hunting ground?”

“This is not the place,” Zera insisted. “People could hear us.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Nathan replied. “It will take a while to get there and all the monsters we’ll be facing are elites or named elites.”

It was unexpected enough that they took a moment to recover. Leroy responded, “Shouldn’t we get more people?”

“You should be more than enough. I’ll back you. I don’t collect energy from monster killing. That why I invited you guys. Someone should get to take advantage of some of the best hunting on the first floor.”

“Then why are you going?” Zera asked. “I mean, there’s a reason, right?”

“Yup. I’m hunting the hidden boss of the first floor.”

Wolfgang tapped his chin as he said, “What level are we talking about?”

“It’s close to level eighteen. Maybe twenty.”

“We can’t fight that.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure anyone could right now,” Leroy mumbled.

Zera chewed on her bottom lip.

“I didn’t invite you guys to fight it,” Nathan said with a chuckle. “Just to kill of its minions. It won’t appear until after you’re done. Then I’ll take it from there.”

“Your friend dun went crazy,” Leroy scoffed.

Wolfgang looked like he mostly agreed even if he didn’t say it out loud.

Nathan had come prepared. Removing a holographic array jade from his pack’s front pocket, he made a request. “Watch this.”

They huddled back against the wall so that they were out of the way. He instructed them how to use the jade. Soon, they were watching the demonstration he’d given on how to use martial skills during the training camp. As soon as Silvester Hitchens appeared, Leroy mentioned him by name and informed the others who he was.

The former world champ struck the dummy, and the zombie paladin let out a shrill whistle. “Woah.”

Nathan grinned.

Then he appeared in the hologram across the ring from the dummy.

Zera glanced back at him as if giving him a second look.

He instructed the crowd before his fist flashed. The disappearance of the dummy wasn’t obvious from that angle. It was there one moment and gone the next. Then a second angle displayed Nathan’s martial skill performed from a sideward angle in slow motion.

As the dummy caught air, backflipping over the heads of the crowd, the jaws of a spell goblin, undead paladin, and elf healer all dropped open in unison.

When it was over and they were just standing there gawking, he clapped his hands and said, “You ready to get going?”

Zera got bashful all of a sudden, Wolfgang just shook his head, and Leroy sounded more like a werewolf wannabe as he howled something that was supposed to sound like a battle cry.

Soon they were off.