Scene:
Inside the cave, Tianzhu is sitting still, not moving at all. His eyes are slowly turning red.
Rundie arrives.
Rundie:
So you ate all the souls. Good.
Scene: All souls have been devoured by Tianzhu.
Rundie:
Now create a skill that can devour those monsters' bodies.
Scene: Tianzhu doesn't respond.
Rundie:
Hey, Tianzhu? What happened? Say something.
Scene: Rundie walks toward him, sits down, and touches him, but Tianzhu gives no reaction.
Rundie:
…!! Tianzhu!! D-don't tell me a soul possessed his body?!
Scene: Suddenly, Tianzhu's hand grabs Rundie's face.
Rundie:
!
Scene: Rundie punches Tianzhu hard, sending him flying into the wall.
But Tianzhu takes no damage.
Tianzhu:
Ow… Master, I was joking! You seriously punched me?!
Rundie:
I-Is that a joke?!
Tianzhu:
Were you scared? Hahaha…
Rundie:
Don't joke like that! I thought some soul possessed your body!
Tianzhu:
Okay, okay, sorry. It was kind of fun, you know.
Rundie:
Fun my ass! Anyway, what about those monsters' bodies?
Tianzhu:
I made a magic for that. I was waiting for you.
Rundie:
I see. So what is that magic?
Tianzhu:
I named it "Planetary Devastation."
Rundie:
The name sounds powerful. How does it work?
Tianzhu:
This magic works in two ways.
First, I can normally eat anything edible and possess its body.
Rundie:
Like a devour skill.
Tianzhu:
But it's dangerous. If the body is poisonous, I'll get poisoned too.
And it must taste good… -_-
Rundie:
And the second way?
Tianzhu:
I enter a formation. Ten circles appear around me.
Every dead body inside that radius will automatically be absorbed into my body.
And if someone attacks me during that time, the attack will be reflected with three times the power.
Rundie:
Wow… That's a broken magic.
Tianzhu:
Yep! I'm smart!
Rundie:
How did you even create that magic?
Tianzhu (thinking):
My IQ is 50,000, but sorry, this is my secret power.
Tianzhu:
Sorry, Master. I can't tell you.
Rundie:
I'm your master, you can tell me.
Tianzhu:
Hehe… sorry.
Rundie:
Fine. Then at least tell me about your Ghost Barrier. I want to learn it.
Tianzhu:
Okay… but why? You're already so powerful.
Rundie:
I'm only the strongest among humans.
Among elves, dragons, and demons, there are magicians stronger than me.
Tianzhu:
I see…
Tianzhu (thinking):
And I thought defeating Master would make me the strongest magician…
Rundie:
Alright. Use your Planetary Devastation magic. I'll watch.
Scene: Tianzhu floats in the air. The stones above him break and fall.
He stretches his hand forward.
Tianzhu:
Planetary Devastation.
Scene: The air shakes, the ground trembles.
A silver web-like energy spreads from Tianzhu's hand, covers the monsters' bodies, and returns to his hand along with them.
Tianzhu:
(licks) Ekk… those monsters are not tasty.
Rundie:
This is not the time to joke!
Tianzhu:
Oh yeah… sorry.
Rundie:
So, did it have any effect?
Scene: Tianzhu nods and shows his hand.
Suddenly, his hand transforms into a huge green monster hand with big red scales and sharp claws.
Rundie:
Wow…!!
Tianzhu:
It didn't turn out exactly how I imagined.
Rundie:
What do you mean?
Tianzhu:
I thought I could use every monster's body parts separately.
Like having many different monster hands, legs, wings, etc.
Rundie:
So?
Tianzhu:
But when I absorbed them, all the body parts merged together.
All monster hands became one mixed hand.
Rundie:
So they fused into one.
Tianzhu:
Yes. But that's also a benefit.
Now those parts are stronger than before.
I can't use their powers without transforming that body part, but it's fine.
Rundie:
So if you want to use a monster's power, you must transform that body part.
Tianzhu:
Right. If I want monster hand power, I transform my left hand into that hand first.
Scene: Tianzhu punches the wall. The entire wall shatters into dust.
Rundie:
Well, it's not that bad.
Tianzhu:
Yeah… but I can't fully use this power yet. My body can't handle it.
Rundie:
Don't worry. The souls you absorbed will help you handle even stronger magic and attacks.
Tianzhu:
Really?!
Rundie:
Yes. Now let's go. We have another place to go.
Tianzhu:
Where?
Rundie:
You trained, but power alone is not enough. You need experience.
So let's hunt some monsters.
Scene: They leave the cave and fly in the sky.
Tianzhu:
So Master, where are we going?
Rundie:
Aryavarth's northern border.
Tianzhu:
Why there? There are monsters and enemies here too.
Rundie:
True, but I got information that a small demon army with monsters will attack the north border.
Tianzhu:
Demons with monsters?! Is that possible?
Rundie:
They are demons. They can tame monsters, like humans tame animals.
Tianzhu:
Then why can't humans tame monsters with magic?
Rundie:
You can create magic to tame them, but controlling them is almost impossible for humans and elves.
Only dragons and demons can truly control monsters.
Tianzhu:
I see…
Tianzhu:
Master, if I want to become the strongest magician…
Rundie:
The strongest magician in the world? That's impossible.
Tianzhu:
Why?
Rundie:
Two reasons.
First, other races live longer than humans.
Dragons live the longest, then demons, then elves, then humans.
Humans have the shortest lifespan and least experience.
Even with magic, a human can live 200–300 years max.
A normal elf lives around 350 years.
Tianzhu (thinking):
This is unfair! Why do dragons, demons, and elves live longer than humans?!
Rundie:
Second, other races are naturally stronger.
Elves are one rank above humans, demons are two ranks above, and dragons are three ranks above humans.
Tianzhu:
There are more ranks?!
Rundie:
Yes. Three more ranks.
But no human can surpass Grand Master in their lifetime. It's impossible.
Tianzhu:
But Master, you are only 40 and already Grand Master Level 4.
You can reach the next rank easily.
Rundie:
Hahaha… It's not that easy.
Grand Master has 10 levels. After that comes Divine Rank.
To reach Divine Rank, you must hunt 100 million monsters
OR learn the top 20 Level-9 Grand Master spells.
Divine Rank has 15 levels.
So imagine how hard Demon and Dragon ranks are.
Tianzhu (thinking):
I thought surpassing Master and becoming Grand Master Level 4 would make me the strongest magician in the world.
But no. I must surpass elves, demons, dragons, and their greatest magicians.
I will become the strongest human in the world.
What I think, I do. What I don't think, doesn't matter.
Time to grow more!
Scene: Tianzhu and Rundie continue flying in the sky.