{AN: Made a discord server with the help of my friend, here is the link:
https://discord.gg/ZCX5F5cfKq
Don't worry I will also post the link in the comments session.}
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Looking at the compass in the book cover I was able to confirm where the south is and proceeded to walk in that direction.
As if no time has passed the sun was all high and mighty there in the air, it looked like I am roughly in the middle of the day. This of course means that it is scalding hot right now, and if it wasn't for [Ki] and [Ripple] mixed together constantly cycling my body, my feet would have probably melted in some way.
But when I looked at my body I couldn't help but wince, I am scarred, extremely so. No doubt from using [Fury] recklessly as I did. I must look positively hideous right now. Thankfully there is a lot of alternatives and solutions to that predicament.
There is the face sculptor in Riften, she can probably remove the scars on my face and maybe if I stretch a little on the rest of my body. This world also has flesh magic, no doubt something like that can help me remove some of my scars. I can also brew or buy a potion that helps remove them. Or maybe find a very good Restoration mage. It can't be that difficult to remove simple scars right?
Alt Jin also has some misconceptions and crazy theories about the subject.
"Well... I may not be able to use magic, but I made sure to study it intensely. And one of the most dangerous magics is Flesh Magic. The ability to literally mold the flesh of someone like clay is something terrifying, and I advise you to avoid that. Flesh magic may be tempting or may be an extremely easy solution for a problem, but it is a branch of necromancy for a good reason. And no matter how much we humans try to mold our bodies with flesh magic, it will be imperfect. No normal human can replicate nature perfectly, so the moment you change yourself with Flesh Magic anyone with some keen senses will be able to spot something amiss about you, and seeing the number of people like that in this world, I deemed that using Flesh Magic extensively isn't worth it." ~ Alt Jin's Book ~
"Ok... I may have shat one on flesh magic quite a bit in the previous paragraph. But in my defense I am older and wiser, thus immediately granting me the rights to complain. What I don't want you to do is go there and use Flesh Magic. Flesh magic is really dangerous because it causes a soul dissonance." ~ Alt Jin Book ~
"[Soul Dissonance] is when your body doesn't correspond with your soul. If you change yourself the normal way like; drinking a potion to help remove a scar or change hair colors, there isn't a problem because it's considered natural and your soul can easily adapt to such changes. But Flesh Magic is literally considered a branch of necromancy, being more unnatural than that is impossible."~ Alt Jin Book ~
"You are probably a little bit curious about the soul, right? Well, I don't know much because the soul is quite a complex subject, but I can at least shine some light in your life. The Soul is composed of two things, a Core and the projection energy of that core. The core is where all the precious and fun stuff is, the literal center of your being. But don't for all I know affecting someone's core is night impossible, so you are safe."~Alt Jin Book ~
"Then comes the projection of your core, the energy that it projects in the form of your body, this energy can be affected and used in a multitude of ways. A ghost is, for example, when someone's core already passed away but their energy remained trapped somewhat. This energy projected from the core is also what gives fuel to enchantments and fills [Soul Gems]." ~Alt Jin Book~
"This energy is also the part that naturally changes with your body, if you are wounded, or lose a limb the energy will change according to match your physical body. It may take some time, thus enabling you to reconnect a limb you lost depending on the circumstances. Then that comes to a huge problem [Soul Dissonance]. [Soul Dissonance] is when you change your body in an unnatural way usually using necrotic energies AKA Flesh magic or necromancy. I explain a little bit more about those side effects and things of the sort in page 78, be sure to check it out later. So don't try to change yourself with flesh magic before you change species, if you try to change species with a [Soul Dissonance] you will probably fail, horribly."~Alt Jin Book~
"Why I am explained all those things? Simply because you are going to change your species, [Soul Dissonance] is expected to happen. But changing your whole species will have a huge [Soul Dissonance], and if you stack one dissonance on top of the other you probably are going to explode or become a blob mass of flesh. You have a human soul, so no matter how you look at it, you will have would dissonance no matter what race you choose. Thankful there are plenty of speculated ways to cure [Soul Dissonance], I will write everything I know on page 80. " ~Alt Jin Book ~
"I also speculate that Races that can change to a humanoid form wear their form like some kind of extremely tight clothes, thus their souls aren't changes by the endeavor. So for example, when True dragon from DnD changes to his humanoid form, he is just putting on some "clothes".. ~Alt Jin Book ~
"Ah, and do remember to take this info with a grain of salt. The soul is an extremely complicated subject, and everything I researched could be just a load of crap. [Soul Dissonance] could be just a temporary side effect of flesh magic, and changing your species may not even cause it, or your body slowly and naturally gets used to the changes until your soul eventually changes species. In the end, those are all simple theories of mine, and as you probably remember, I wasn't exactly sane when I researched all of those" ~Alt Jin Book ~
Why the fuck would you write so much about the topic if it's all a bunch of theories and speculation? And It's even about an extremely important topic, and you are saying to em you researched it when you are mad? Not even in the nine hells would someone believe this crap, why the fuck waste so much time and space talking about it...
Ah, I understand...
Researching something is extremely difficult, and I can learn from both the errors and the successes, so Alt Jin may have just put that info there to help me when I start my research on souls. Smart man.
What? Of course, I am going to research souls eventually. Souls Are extremely important to this world, principally for enchantments and the likes.
That part where he talked about the core of the soul and its projected energy AKA the astral body, is probably the closest to the truth. The soul gem and the ghost part are also probably true in some way too. The soul molding and [Soul Dissonance] part are probably full of shit, I can't see that crap being the truth. I would probably need my own research to confirm those kinds of things, but for that, I would first need to have access to magic, meaning that I need to change species first.
The part where he says flash magic is extremely dangerous I completely agree. I don't doubt that thing is dangerous in many, many ways. I guess I would try to avoid that and go for the other solutions first.
I of course was multitasking while I walked in the scorching sands. I continuously circulated my cultivation technique, making sure [Ripple] and [Ki] are properly mixed. My body slowly strengthening and improving itself thanks to it, I am definitely still riding in the boost of eating a [Divine Dan]. I bet after my body gets used to it, I won't be improving as fast as I am right now, but I don't mind. Seeing as alchemy and potion making is a real-life profession here I don't doubt there are some elixirs or pills that can give me some boosts in the future.
I should definitely specialize in alchemy after I change species and have magic, it just seems too damn useful to pass it up. And maybe I can even recreate some crazy shit potions I saw in movies and books. Imagine if I had a Felix Felicius, or Swallow Potion, or a Brain Enhancing potion. There is definitely a huge world of possibilities with alchemy alone, and I will make sure to explore it.
All this time, circulating my cultivation technique, walking, and reading Alt Jin's book a lot of time passed. The sun was still up, but I can clearly see it changed positions, meaning it is probably afternoon right now. All this time while I walked, and circulated my cultivation technique I didn't stop reading the book, every new page, every new paragraph filling me with new information, or simply some speculations Alt Jin remembers from his crazy days.
The amount of shit his crazy self experimented on is staggering. Sadly he was crazy at the time, so most of those things weren't exactly trustworthy. He even admits it himself.
"Yeah, I know the Werezebra theory is bogus now that my mind is clear and free of the crazy. But at the time I was researching it I was so sure of it that I honestly cringe just from remembering some of that stuff. You probably already reduced this, but much of my speculations were made in my crazy period, so don't forget to take things with a grain of salt. But don't worry about the species change thing, that is something I made sure to be correct." ~ Al Jin Book ~
The guy's brain was probably very damaged in a lot of ways. I am just thankful he was able to write everything when he was sane. And even if I am reading a lot of crazy shit right now, I am thankful he is fulfilling his word on writing even the most unnecessary info he remembers. It may sound useless to a lot of people, but I can't deny its usefulness for me, even if it is just for inspiration for my future endeavors.
"Ahhh... About some materials... You will need to commission a lot of needles. It doesn't need to be some fancy Glass needles, just normal sturdy needles would suffice. Any blacksmith worth their salt can produce something like that, so it should be fairly cheap. These needles didn't need to be enchanted, but if you can enchant then it may help, I will give you more specific instructions on page 62, where I even drew the needles diagram." ~Alt Jin Book~
"Those needles are of course for the species changing ritual you will be undergoing. You will need to use a lot of acupuncture for that (See page 128 for the correct way to do it). You can do it alone, but it would be incredibly difficult. Anyway, these needles will be used to destroy your body current body and help change it in a different species." ~Alt Jin Book~
Well, that looks like it will be extremely painful. Maybe they have some anesthetic potion? It would certainly help me a lot-
"Be sure to buy an anesthetic potion, you will certainly need it for how painful the process will be."~Alt Jin Book ~
Huh, even Alt Jin agrees with me.
I continued much in the same manner until the night fell. I know traveling at night is extremely dangerous and severely frowned upon. But I don't exactly see anything remotely dangerous in my field of vision.
"..."
Okay, I know this joke is shit. But in my defense, I am very irritable due to having to walk in the scorching desert all day long. But it's equally dangerous for me during the day and during the night, I can't see shit past 10 meters mark, so it didn't change much. and yes, the [Sharingan] has night vision, seeing in the dark was never a problem, the problem is my limited 10-meters sight range. And yes I know a lot of predators go out at night, but I think staying in movement is still better than waste the entire night still. My stamina is still pretty cool, so I don't think I need this sleep time for me to continue.
So I simply continued as if nothing had changed, circulating my cultivation, walking in the south direction, and reading the book. And yes, the book is bigger than I thought, the bastard wrote it with an extremely small font, that is not a problem to a [Sharingan] user, but the sheer amount of info he is able to squeeze in a single page is quite impressive. Yes, there are some diagrams and hand drawn images from time to time, but they are few in between.