*Please note that Alexander will be referred to as Deno from now on, the only exception being when his past is being referred to.*
The blinding lights protruded from the ceiling into Alexander's eyes causing him to rapidly blink attempting to adjust his vision to suit the arena.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the undisputed champion, the undefeated, the ravaging, BLOODY MAMBA!"
The announcer's hair-raising and exaggerated voice boomed throughout the arena sending chills through every spine present. It was as if the announcer was the conductor and the crowd was the orchestra.
The cacophony of distorted noises caused Alexander's face to scrunch up, this was getting monotonous, win after win, the blood mamba being the final opponent standing in his way to the top and yet would he even have to try?
The announcer didn't fall short of hyping Alexander as well as he declared.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce someone that has been flying through the ranks; he's travelled around the world in search of strength and he is someone who has trained in a myriad of martial arts taking them to the summit of his craft! The Unyielding Fist!"
Alexander cringed at the nickname, he had cringed far harder the first time they called him that but surprisingly it was beginning to grow on him.
Both opponents moved towards their corner, the audience was filled with men that had bet thousands on the Bloody Mamba so naturally, they cheered for him.
Promptly, the bell was rung and both fighters dashed forward
Alexander was immediately struck in his solar plexus and kicked at his calf.
'Erh, seems like the champion specializes in Muay Thai.'
Perfectly analysing Bloody Mamba's martial art, Alexander switched up his fighting style to Krav Maga, something he picked up in Czechoslovakia.
Switching his stance by hopping to the right, Alexander swiftly knocked Mamba to the ground in one clean motion by a leg sweep holding behind it a truckload of strength dislocating Mamba's knee. Doing all this while keeping his guard.
Following through, Alexander refused to provide Mamba with any breathing space, relentlessly diving at him much to the audience's shock and dismay.
Locking Mamba in a choke hold, Alexander sent a flurry of punches with one hand, each with the strength to kill a boar.
-Bang
-Bang
-Bang
Continuous strikes were sent one after another every punch drawing out more blood while each hit breaking every bone.
All in the crowd were petrified of the beast-like figure of Alexander and eerie silence was naturally created. The arena all of a sudden seemed allergic to sounds, the spectators all holding a mixture of fear and respect towards Alexander. Only the strikes to Mamba's deformed face could be heard while Alexander began dressing himself in the blood of Mamba.
It felt good, incessantly beating him, either he was to be hit, or he would hit. There was never a question of life or death, merely life until death.
That night, he truly became The Unyielding Fist.
---
"Arkhh!"
'It was just a dream...'
Waking up in an unfamiliar environment, Deno was panting heavily while drenched in sweat, his arms stuck by the sides of his waist.
Glaring up at the titan-like trees towering above him, their lofty appearance gave him an uneasy feeling causing him to become uncomfortable and alert.
He was laid in a warm plain brown blanket, tightly securing him and was placed beside an imposing tree.
A comforting fire flickered to his right, the nostalgic texture of the flame reminded Deno of his times with his family so many years ago.
Deno stretched his neck for his vision to see beyond the fire. He noticed two bodies seemingly lying down beside the fire, one belonged to a young girl and the other to a man that looked to be in his twenties.
Deno slowly began to drift back into his slumber as a sudden voice popped into his mind.
'Op, you awake now boy?'
Adriana commented clearly eager to talk.
'I am now. Actually, I kind of forgot you even existed.'
Deno responded in a humorous tone.
'...'
Not responding to the rudeness displayed by the man, Adriana remained silent expecting him to apologise.
-Snore
'HEY! WAKE UP!'
Shocked by his sudden nonchalant attitude, Adriana lost patience with him.
'Uh, why? What's up?'
Feigning ignorance to vex the lady, Deno began to slyly smile on the inside.
'I know what you're doing boy! Stop it now!'
Adriana, at her wit's end simply pleaded for him to stop. She was a guardian, people would tremble at the sight of her and now she was being teased by a human man.
'Alright, Alright. You want to clarify some things yes?'
'Indeed, I would appreciate it if you could at least try to participate.'
Internally nodding to each other Adriana began to speak first.
'I have searched your mind and have understood all about your past and how you have reached this point. Quite unfortunate that you were born here human, as an infant for an experiment, how sad.'
Feeling extremely exposed, Deno shouted in terror. A man's private life was not something to be meddled in so casually.
'How much did you see!?'
'Ho ho, don't worry, I have lived for 3 millennia and have seen much more than your mortal life. Considering I have seen your life and past, it is only fair you see mine. Although many areas will be, restricted, due to me not wanting you to see my past or it being too much for your measly consciousness to take.'
Being left speechless, Deno felt immensely disrespected multiple times throughout the conversation and it bruised, kicked and scratched his ego. Either way, he faced the reality of the situation and internally nodded at her.
Looking through her memories available to him, he saw something he would never have been ready to see. Her memories he viewed contained instances of the war, her death, the Vanadium Empire's legacy and the fact that she was a god damn dragon.
'Holy Shit! You're a dragon!?'
Looking at him understandably she in a more shocking voice stated.
'Imagine how shocked I was to see that you weren't even from this world. What a horrifying race you humans are, even in different realities. Incredible technologies and devices, yet no Dao. Although, it begs the question, how is it possible that you've been transported here?'
'Dunno, couldn't know even if I wanted to but yeah I agree, humans are terrifying.'
"Hey, you awake little guy?"
Snapping Deno out of his contemplation and discussion with Adriana was Nicholas and Ally hovering above him like stretched giants.
Seeing Deno confused, Adriana quickly translates.
'What is he saying?'
'He asked if you're awake...'
Deno took a pause and continued to ask Adriana.
'How do I say, incredible observation Sherlock Holmes.'
Adriana in a slight chuckle remembering the sherlock character from his memories replied.
'I don't think children of your age should be able to fluently respond to others yet.'
'Huh, right. Still, could you teach me the language?
Adriana ceased and contemplated for a moment and realised an easier solution.
'How about searching through my memories and studying by when I learnt the human language many centuries ago? You could use them as manuals if you will... Tutorial videos.'
Deno became paralysed with fear.
'Just how much did you see?'
Adriana began to giggle in short bursts.
'Hehe, hehe don't worry about it. What a magnificent and interesting culture the humans from your world have.'
'From my recollection, I thought you would despise humans after what they did.'
Understanding why he would think such a thing she remarked.
'Yes. The humans of this world I despise, not so much yours though. I'm not a racist after all.'
All of a sudden thumps across the ground could be heard as Deno opened his eyes to see a six to a seven-year oldish girl running toward him.
"Oh master Nicholas, could I hold him, please let me hold him!"
Nicholas smirked.
"Maybe you should let him rest. In the meantime, let's begin your cultivation. Taking into consideration the other children in your generation's head start, you will have to work extremely hard to catch up to them."
'Not that you truly need to with your potential.'
Nicholas secretly added in his head.
"I understand master!"
---
Back in Deno's consciousness
-thump
-thump
'So what you're saying is that I can achieve that godlike power as well?'
Deno's heart raced with excitement at Adriana's words shrieking with excitement at Adriana.
'Well, it will be difficult with your potential and all but if you assist me in recreating a body for myself, a dragon body, then I will train you as my personal disciple.'
Deno knew her words could not be taken lightly, from her memories he could see that she was a fearsome dragon and had killed thousands with a single technique. If someone as great as her, a guardian of an empire could train her, it would be exceptional.
He had always felt like he had reached the limit of the human body's capabilities, he became undefeatable, an immortal on Earth but he still fell short of their weapons such as guns and knives, yet in this world.
Anything can be overcome with cultivation.
He had reached the peak of one world, why couldn't he reach the peak of another.
Sensing his resolve and willingness, Adriana took it as a yes and began to explain the core sections of Dao.
---
Simultaneously, outside.
Sitting down legs crossed, Ally paid extra close attention to Nicholas's words.
"What are the sections of Dao?"
Nicholas looked at Ally with curiosity, her neck quickly retreated like a turtle into her rags as a result of knowing the answer. Taking her silence as her not knowing any basic foundations he continued.
"They are: the martial dao, where you cultivate your strength and durability as well as intelligence and perception; the alchemy dao, where pills are cultivated as medicine or to boost cultivation; Enchanting dao, one that has the ability to enchant items and weapons is craved by every sect most lower and tiny sects not even having them at all. There is also the Array Dao in which an array master can create dimensions, equipment, illusions and traps. You can choose to specialise in any one of these Daos as they all link back to the Supreme Dao of ancient times who created all that is. The Supreme Dao is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent so always make sure to pray to it."
Nicholas's expression turned dead serious as he glared daggers at Ally while repeating himself.
"Do you understand!?"
"Y-Yes I Do!"
Nicholas nodded in relief, then realised explaining the reason would be for best.
"Do you know what omniscient and omnipresent means?"
Ally hurriedly nodded, joyful that she finally had known it beforehand than to bother her master with teaching it to her now.
"Yup! It's... Uhm... I forgot."
Nicholas facepalmed in exasperation making sure to emphasise this part.
"It means the Supreme Dao is everywhere and knows everything. When you ascend to a stage, you undergo tribulation; a process where your body undergoes a transformation into reaching the next level in your cultivation journey/stage. The more you make the Supreme Dao favour you, the easier the tribulations will be. Once you attempt to ascend to the master stage, though, your life could still be in danger even if you're in good favour with Dao. Never undergo ascension to the next stage if you're not ready."
---
Simultaneously within Deno's consciousness.
'Question.'
Adriana stopped and internally nodded, giving him permission to speak.
'If Supreme Dao is omni-everything. Did he create the universe using something like the big bang? Could he be the one that brought me here?'
Sighing at Deno's difficult and redundant questions, Adriana internally shrugged.
'I'm not sure, I'm not sure if anybody's sure.'
'Then what's up with these cultivation stages you keep talking about, how do they work.'
Adriana's eyes lit up in surprise as if she never expected a good question to come out of Deno.
'Excellent question. The stages essentially work the same for all different Dao arts from alchemy to martial and they proceed like this... Stage 5 Cultivator-->Stage 4 Cultivator-->Stage 3 Cultivator-->Stage 2 Cultivator-->Stage 1 Cultivator. Then it ascends to the master stage, expert stage and finally into the true divine ranks: sage stage, saint stage and mystic stage. That should be all you need to know for now.'
'Mhm, but how will I know when I'm nearing my limit?'
'Your dantian will fill with Dao matter and the more there is within the Dantian, the longer and more difficult it is to fill. Once it has some Dao matter, it will be a lower realm stage x cultivator then middle realm stage x cultivator and higher realm stage x cultivator.'
Deno's face paled, the more he listened the more he realised that his sister would always tell him about wuxia novels she would read and they sounded extremely similar to this.
If only he had read them back on Earth.