2oth November 2018- Day 9 of the Aria calendar
The first thing Myra took care of in the morning was to have Aurella treat the internal injuries and organ damage that Li Qiu had suffered and also further regenerate Katsurou's limbs.
The moment Li Qiu's injuries were completely healed, he went outside the nest to further train in his abilities.
As he saw Li Qiu walking out to train, Prakash decided to tag along.
"Bro, wait for me" Shouted Prakash as he trailed after Li Qiu.
"Sure, come with me" Replied Li Qiu since he could easily guess Prakash's intentions.
"Hehe" Prakash laughed sheepishly as he walked alongside Li Qiu as they both went to a place quite far away from the nest's entrance.
"So, big bro, I wanted…"
Li Qiu motioned for Prakash to stop speaking with a wave of his hands as he raised his right leg a foot high and gently stomped onto the ground surface.
The next second, from the point of contact of his right leg with the ground, 2 waves, one blue and one red, rippled out radially as they travelled to about a 100 metres in radius as a circle with Li Qiu as the centre before dissipating into tiny embers.
"W-what was that" Prakash questioned Li Qiu in a dumbfounded manner as he tried to find some clues from his surroundings that might help him figure out the reason for Li Qiu's weird action.
"I was just eliminating a couple of pests. Don't bother yourself about it too much. Now, tell me the problem that is currently giving you such worry" Said Li Qiu.
"I guess, there's nothing that I could hide from you" Replied Prakash, a bit amazed at Li Qiu's perceptiveness.
Prakash came to the decision that he might as well solve his problems first and later worry about the previous incident.
"It's like this, my ability is completely reliant on external objects, but the more our stats increase as well as the stats of other creatures, the less becomes my choice of materials to use while either attacking or defending. Even that steel barbell was unable to properly injure that Practitioner Stage fireball lizard. Not to mention now when Adept Stage experts are popping up one after the other and it's not like Artefacts grow like cabbages for my use. Even the ones in our possession which we could only obtain after risking our lives were stolen by that David" Ranted Prakash.
"Let me get this straight" Said Li Qiu as he motioned for Prakash to sit beside him as he picked up a piece of rock from the ground and gave it to Prakash.
"Use your innate ability on this piece of rock and show me everything you could do with it"
"Fine" Replied Prakash as he focussed his innate ability onto the rock.
The rock initially rotated over his palm, then lifted his palm when the rock was suspended below it, moved over his entire body at places where it could touch his skin and finally vibrated at very high frequencies.
Suddenly, when Prakash was still in the process of trying to increase the frequency of vibration of the rock, the rock suddenly shattered into pieces as it hummed a weird humming tune.
"Did you notice it?" Questioned Li Qiu with a smile on his face.
"Noticed what?" Prakash questioned back with confusion plastered on his face.
"You've only been applying a single type of force on any object that you used till now. Try it again and observe carefully when it breaks. The hint to all of your problems exist within this piece of rock"
Said Li Qiu as he left Prakash to his own devices and walked over to another location.
"That's all the hints I could give you, the rest is all up to you to figure out. After all, you're the one who understands the most about your innate ability little bro" Thought Li Qiu as he kept walking.
It was at this time that he gazed upon the tall pile of rubble that was the remains of the 60-story building that was constructed beside the park.
After a momentary hesitation, Li Qiu scaled up to the top of the rubble as he was met with a subtle change of scenery.
The previously still intact buildings that had survived the initial explosions and mayhem were now almost another pile of rubble.
Too many battles had occurred simultaneously in the same place with different species battling against each other with all sorts of abilities and body mass to claim the various Artefacts that were created as a result of Li Qiu's actions.
Just when Li Qiu was experiencing a feeling of melancholy as he gazed at his surroundings from atop the pile of rubble, he felt his eyelids twitch in annoyance as he immediately activated his 'Essence Sense' innate ability.
"You know, you are really starting to creep me out" Said Li Qiu as he glared at a piece of concrete that was located a couple of feet before him.
At the next moment, from beneath the piece of concrete, a mass of crimson blood surged out like a crepy-wriggling snake as it slowly transformed into a miniature version of Katsurou and stood a foot in length.
"This is one of my surveillance toys that I have placed in this location to scout out for any threats. You are misunderstanding my good intentions" Said the miniature Katsurou as it tried to act cute with its tiny body.
"Misunderstand my ass. One per area is enough but this entire area is filled with them abominations. They are really creeping me out" Replied Li Qiu as he tried to somehow reduce his sense of disgust by deactivating his 'Essence Sense' innate ability.
The less he could see, the less he would feel disgusted by it.
"They were recently created, you see. Most of these surveillance toys were either destroyed in our fight yesterday or were retracted by me when I assumed my Blood Devil form" Said the miniature Katsurou as it showcased its free hands.
"Say, how does your ability even work. You're able to display and execute such varied tasks, not to mention your rapid growth in combat ability" Questioned Li Qiu in curiosity.
"Why should I even tell you?" The miniature Katsurou sneered in disdain as it cutely blocked its own mouth with its tiny crimson hands.
"Yeah, whatever. It's not like I care about it as long as you plan to abide by your promise" Said Li Qiu as he just gazed at the ruins that laid before his eyes and sank back into his melancholy.
"Aren't you supposed to leave? If you keep dilly-dallying like this, you may not be able to find what you're hoping for" Said the miniature Katsurou, trying to sound worried.
"Heh, I need to have some insurance before I depart for my journey. You don't strike as a trustworthy person, so I can't gamble the safety of my companions on it" Said Li Qiu, as he grabbed hold over the miniature Katsurou's head.
"Then, let me tell you something that might assure your trust in me a little. I hate you, like really-really hate you. Something about you pisses me off but I'll patiently wait to deal with you after your return" Said the miniature Katsurou when it was suddenly vaporised by Li Qiu's Thermal Flames.
"How reassuring" Commented Li Qiu as he dusted his hands.
"And stop burning one of my cuties every time you come across them"
A voice drifted over to Li Qiu's ears as another miniature Katsurou popped out from under a piece of rubble which was a couple of metres further from Li Qiu.
"There are plenty of you anyway and this is the only source for venting out my frustrations" Laughed Li Qiu.
"That's caused you're weak…."
That miniature Katsurou was once again burned mid-sentence as another popped out and shouted.
"And! Stop! Burning! My! Cuties! Every! Damn! Minute!"
"Then make sure they stay at least 50 metres away from me otherwise I may accidentally burn them again" Said Li Qiu with shining eyes that was radiating the purity of an innocent child, one who was still untainted by mortal filth.
"Bleh…." The miniature Katsurou vomited out half of the blood that comprised its body due to the pure unadulterated disgust that it felt from gazing at the current Li Qiu as it rapidly retreated along with others of its kind from that area, never to return again.
Meanwhile, Katsurou who was lazily sleeping on a couch formed from lustrous crimson blood which rested atop his 'Abyss Turtle' suddenly shivered like a grass that had encountered a storm.
"Disgusting...delete….delete…..delete…aaargh….that bastard…..showing me something like that…." Katsurou clutched his shoulders as he began rolling atop the couch and constantly kept murmuring "Disgusting" while he occasionally bashed his head atop the Abyss Turtle's shell.
The 'Abyss Turtle' just opened one of its eyes as it lazily gazed at Katsurou's antics, rolled its eyes in annoyance and closed its eyes once again, pretending to be asleep.
Back to our protagonist, as he saw that all of those tiny annoyances had successfully retreated, Li Qiu clenched his fists in determination as he muttered "Materialisation"
The day passed uneventfully as the others just rested their tired and weary bodies. Since they had loads and loads of monster carcasses stacked within the ant tunnel, they just decided to spend the day as they wished.
Myra once again lead her brethren to modify and reinforce the tunnel walls. Enbi Arin chased after Aurella to tease him while he mostly hid behind Akiko who refused to hand him over to Enbi Arin.
Hikari played with Stella as she taught her how to wield a knife while Bella just continued to play with the mud toys that she had created.
Gabriella, the only ant who seemed to have the inherited the ancestral genes of a snail silently climbed atop the 'Abyss Turtle' and lazily curled up like a cat atop its head.
Katsurou was too lazy to even bother with him while the 'Abyss Turtle' didn't even notice the existence of Gabriella atop its head.
"Success, hehehe" Meanwhile, Prakash who was still in his deep contemplation about his innate ability heard the joyous laughter that reverberated from Li Qiu.
During night time, Li Qiu rounded up everyone as he stood before them, a bit hesitant to speak out.
Suddenly, Katsurou interjected with a yawn "You're too much of a drama queen, acting all hesitant like that, get on with it already"
Li Qiu sent a friendly gaze towards Katsurou as he coldly said "Can you please shut up, you're grandpa is trying to convey something important here"
"I think you weren't properly beaten up last time. let's go out now and see who's whose grandpa" Katsurou said to Li Qiu, ready to fight then and there.
"Oh no, I was beaten up so much that I have lost my arms" Retorted Li Qiu as his right hand held onto his left arm while displaying a painful expression on his face.
Suddenly, Li Qiu's left arm was taken hold by a tiny delicate hand that shone with a silver coloured radiance.
"Hahaha" Katsurou started to laugh as he rolled around on the ground while pointing at the embarrassed face of Li Qiu.
Li Qiu rubbed over Aurella's head as he said, "I'm fine now, thanks for that"
Aurella blinked his tiny innocent eyes in confusion as his tiny hands let go of Li Qiu's as he ran back
to Akiko's side.
"So, what is it that you had to say that required you to summon all of us here" Questioned Enbi Arin as her eyes occasionally darted to Aurella who was in Akiko's embrace.
"Its….uh…I….uh….wanted… to…"
Li Qiu kept stammering when Katsurou interjected once again.
"If you need my help, all you have to do is ask once and maybe beg a couple of times"
"Shut up" Li Qiu retorted towards Katsurou as he let out a sigh and took in a deep breath and let out a sigh as he said,
"I'm going on a journey"