Two days later.
Albion laid on top of a 25ft orca floating above sea level lazily with one hand behind his head and the other hand holding a roasted herring as he lazily sang to the setting sun and evening ocean breeze.
~The sunny sun sets, and the chilly sea wind blows.
A man adrift, and lost at sea.
To where I must go, before the treasured land is found?
To the far horizon, the ocean blue stretches.
But what I want, is the lush green plains.
If that is not possible, the yellow sandy shores will do.
Man is not picky, man is not picky, ah~!
"Who is lost at sea? I am! Arghhh, I am so bored! How much longer before I see some land?!"
Albion ended his song with an indignant roar to the ocean waves. The orca shivered in fear but dared not swim away.
The orca was something he had found while cruising the ocean and tamed after a round of beating.
[Host is a terrible singer. There is no structure, and no rhythm.]
Goldfinger inserted.
"Hush it, Goldfinger. I did not ask for your opinions. I was just voicing my mood, alright? Besides, good music is felt with one's heart, not heard with one's ears. I reckon it was a great song!"
Albion said pompously.
He took a bite of his roasted herring and continued to lament his situation. If the Dark Emperor knew his Ashura Flames were used for roasting, he might just be angered to death in the afterlife.
"Haiz, guess I'll train a bit."
He said to himself.
Over the past two days, he had learned that cost of learning skills and knowledge was not fixed. The price can be reduced if he practices the related skill or reviewed the related knowledge.
As such, there were two primary skills he was practicing.
The first skill was the Hundred Transformation Art found in the Dark Emperor's memories. It was a skill used for disguising himself.
He found this skill to be an absolute necessity. It was also one of the Dark Emperor's most frequently used skill as he took on different personas.
The Hundred Transformation Art had three stages. The first stage alters his face, the second stage alters his body, and lastly, the third stage alters his aura.
The four generals have seen both his true face and familiar with his aura, but so long as he does not run into one of them, mastering the first stage was enough.
The second skill he was practicing was naturally the Dark Emperor's exclusive cultivation art, the Ashura Empyrean Art.
This cultivation art will most likely stick with him throughout his new life in the alternate world.
The more he trains in the Ashura Empyrean Art, the quicker he will improve his soul and restore his true cultivation.
Right now, he was at the Innate stage first rank.
The Innate stage is one stage higher than the Internal Force stage and allows him to use Innate Energy. Innate Energy is also called True Energy and is much stronger than Internal Energy.
The prerequisite for practicing the first stage of the Hundred Transformation Art is to be able to use True Energy.
It was quite fortunate that his cultivation was at least in the Innate stage, which allowed him to meet the minimum requirement.
At this moment, he had already gained some experience in practicing the first stage of the technique.
After finishing the roasted herring in his hand, he tossed the fishbones into the water and tested the first stage of the Hundred Transformation Art.
True Energy revolved in his body and moved towards his face, subtly shifting his bones and facial structures.
The Dark Emperor had fair skin, thick brows, big but sharp red eyes, and long white hair due to long age. He looked like a typically aged vampire from some fiction novels.
Despite this, he only looks like a 25-year-old albino Caucasian in the eyes of others. No one would suspect that the body had lived for 10-thousand years.
After quick thinking, he decided to disguise himself as a half-caste of Caucasian and oriental descent.
The image of his old face and the Dark Emperor's face overlapped in his mind, and he began to alter his appearance accordingly. The eyes became smaller, the brows were still thick but appeared sharper, the jawline changed, and the nose bridge was removed.
He could not change the color of his hair and eyes with his basic mastery of the first stage of the Hundred Transformation Art.
"How do I look, Goldfinger?"
[Does the host want to hear the truth or the lie?]
Albion wore a doubtful look and ask, "Why do you ask?"
[…Because the host looks ridiculous. At least, according to the current world trend of what is considered 'normal.']
Goldfinger state.
"That bad?"
Albion was taken aback.
He quickly looked into the water reflection while the sunlight was still present and was given a big scare. His appearance was far from what he had pictured in his mind.
There was no symmetry. Everything was crooked and uneven. For example, he had one big eye and one small eye. It was beyond the scope of looking ridiculous.
"What the f*ck! I thought you were just being savage when you said I looked ridiculous, but ridiculous was actually an understatement. I look like a fricking abomination!"
Rather than being upset, Albion began to tear up and laugh at his own appearance, so much so that Goldfinger started to think that the host had lost his mind.
It failed to understand what Albion found so funny.
[Is it funny to look hideous?]
Goldfinger asked.
Albion wiped his tears from laughing too hard and shook his head.
"Of course, not! But I know that my appearance can be fixed. Nevertheless, I failed big time. I tried to look handsome, but I got the complete opposite result. Haiz, this is probably what a real-life Quasimodo would look like."
Albion said.
Goldfinger failed to understand his reference, but neither he expected it to. He shook his head and began fixing his appearance.
"Better use the water reflection as a mirror while there is still some sunlight left. It is clear that blind alteration does not work out well."
Albion chuckled.
As he used the water reflection to assist and check his progress, the image in his mind was finally being realized.
His face had little resemblance to the previous Dark Emperor. It resembles his face from his past life more, except more handsome and without the previous blemishes.
"Finally, a face to match my devilish self."
Albion checked himself in the reflection.
[…]
"All that is left is a haircut."
Albion rubbed his chin in thought.
He was not used to long hair despite putting up with it for the past 2 years and 3 months. It always gets in the way of his eyes.
As he used his long nails heated with Ashura Flames to cut his hair, his ears suddenly twitched. He heard some distinct noises in the waters from the westward direction.
"There's a ship? I am saved—No, it could be an enemy."
His excitement dampened as soon as it came, replaced with a cautious look. The ship needs to be observed before he approaches for help.
If the ship belongs to any forces from the Dark Emperor's four generals, it was better to avoid them instead.
Having made his decision, Albion patted the orca softly as it took him underwater before they silently made their way over to the ship for closer observation.