Chapter 463

He cheated. Arthur knew he shouldn’t have, but after a week plus of doing nothing; he cheated. He slipped out with the team on their next run, not too far away but to a nearby waterfall where the group enjoyed luxuriating in the cooler weather near the water and where groups of hantu gathered, with enough clear space that killing them was simple.

Triggering his Shadow Sense, working with Uswah on improving it, did little to help his connection with the book spirit, but it kept him sane. Which was rather important.

Strangely enough, this aura based technique helped diffuse his aura too, making him harder for the spirits that seemed to target people based off their auras to locate him. It showed up in the way they almost always avoided Uswah entirely, honing in on those individuals with a more powerful, active aura. That mainly meant Jan and Mel who had started studying the fire aura techniques, making their attacks more flammable but also included Yao Jing whose basic nature seemed to leave himself and his aura unconstrained and Rick, whose various artifacts actually helped deflect attacks at him by slightly adjusting their trajectories from a distance.

As for himself, Arthur found that it was a bit of a coin flip whether any particular orang utan hantu would target him or just go straight for him, while he crouched in the distance. The Heaven Beating stick technique, however, helped a lot with dealing with that; holding the technique in play all the time was draining on his energies but at his increased level, not terrible. Not like Imbued Strike or even the Heavenly Sage's Mischief body boost.

A swing of his spear cut through the nearby monster, letting the separated, physical portions of it fall to the ground below him in a rainfall of dust. The team had learnt that it made more sense to just stand still and not move, taking the occasional hit than to dance around, kicking up dust and leaving the group struggling to pick up their loot.

Now that he had a moment of rest, while the air was filled with the pounding of the waterfall and the occasional pained grunt from Yao Jing or Mel, he scanned his latest technique.

 

Heavenly Sage’s Heaven Beating Stick

Staff technique that infuses weapon with energy. Initial stages reinforces staff, increasing durability and damage done, allowing the staff to strike ephemeral and spirit creatures. Higher stages of the technique will allow the projection of energy-infused extensions of the staff.

Cost: 1 Energy per Minute. Must attune to weapon beforehand.

 

He really wanted to reduce the energy cost, but he had to admit, having attuned to his own spear already and been able to extend the energy projection was quite the success. It helped that his trait of Sticky Energy had helped him attune much faster than ever. Given enough time, he could probably make the technique work with the cursed kris by his side, even though it might not be the intention of the actual skill technique itself.

Another buzzing, and Arthur shuddered as the creature that had emerged from the ground behind him attached itself to his leg. It started creeping upwards, trying to drain him dry and rather than shift his spear to attack it, Arthur pulsed Imbued Strike through his body, flooding the affected limb with attacking chi.

It tore through the creature in a moment, exploding the dust in a shower away from his body and leaving his skin feeling all kinds of tingly. Uswah, not far away, shook her head as she gestured; a shadowy tentacle across the nearby cliffface reaching outwards to grab at a floating hantu before destroying it.

The bark of Rick’s gun continued, though Arthur noted the man had switched to his smaller gun, what he called his ‘twenty-two’ or a pea shooter. It was a new addition to his weapon store, something he’d brought along not just because of the hantu in the Tower, but also to work on his accuracy. It helped that he could carry a lot more of the bullets, since the tiny bullets involved meant he rarely had to reload and could pack a ton of it at a time.

Mostly, though, he was using the big Bowie knife in his off-hand to kill things that came too close, seemingly content to utilize the magical nature of the weapon to add to his kill count. The others were utilizing the day as a training exercise too, learning how not to move to kill swarming creatures, trying to increase efficiency of their energy use.

All but Yao Jing, who had his own portion of the encampment on the lower end of the cliff face to himself. He bounced around, full of energy and hype, punching and jabbing at the ghostly opponents without care; seemingly drawing from a never-ending reserve of energy.

Of course, that was partly because of the technique he had purchased; which amused Arthur non-stop. Who would have though that an Energiser Rabbit Spirit technique was lurking around; that benefitted from someone like Yao Jing constantly moving and never really stopping?

It certainly suited the man’s personality, if not necessarily his physique. After all, no one ever felt a bodybuilder should be that quick on his feet, or a bodyguard that jovial and happy.

“He’s certainly done better at getting his spirit to work with him,” Mel, having chosen to stay close by, called out to Arthur. “Maybe if you spent more time…”

“I can only study so long!” Arthur grumbled.

“You obviously weren’t hit enough when you were younger to learn some discipline,” Mel replied.

“You know, corporal punishment doesn’t always work,” Arthur said.

“But it still can.” Me sniffed. "And some people, you just need to hit."

"You're feeling very violent today." 

"This isn't fun lah." She gestured around her with her spear, catching one of the monsters that was buzzing around her and tearing it apart with the spear head. Unlike most of us, Mel had invested in a simple enchantment on her spear that was particularly useful against these creatures - but had none of the armor piercing or defensive ignoring benefits of a real technique. It was, in fact, almost entirely useless except for this Tower and places like this. On the other hand, it meant she could just keep swinging, which she did, unless something came too far into contact with her fire aura.

In Mel's case since she had spent a lot less time practising her aura and, unlike Jan, had kept the active component off; the aura only went to aggressively annoy the ghost and make her a target. It did little to damage them, though it gave her a bit of a secondary sense for them as the creatures drained her from the aura itself. As such, once they snuck in too close, she had to act, killing them with her spear.

Jan's own side was much more spectacular, since the creatures burnt up in her aura even as they sucked her energy clean. It was like tiny firey dust devils, sometimes in the form of floating orang utan head that was swallowing in the energy and fire at the same time. Those popped with quite the impressive display, energy raining down all around us and making me smirk.

"Yeah, sorry for making you all do this..." Arthur said, sighing. "It's true. Fighting them isn't really satisfying, is it?"

"Nothing to hit." Mel confirmed.

"I kind of like it," Uswah murmured, from all too close to Arthur. He jerked hsi head, surprised, only to find that she was still in her spot. He narrowed his eyes, wondering what that was all about; guessing a new ability of some sort. The woman was really leaning into the creepy bit. And with the tudung, if she just wore a set of highly covered ones, she'd be like a flowy robed ninja once she went black.

Which... well, he wasn't against the idea of his own ninja. Maybe the Durians could have their own....

"I promise, I'll get back to work after tonight. And get us out of this floor soon," Arthur admitted at last.

"And this Tower," Mel said, firmly. "We need to get back into the real world, sooner rather than later."

"Yes, boss!" Arthur said. Mostly earnestly.