It was important to remember that the objective was the sarcophagus and not the leviathan vein.
Together they entered a swirling portal with groups of psions with legions of human slaves, the two of them against the world. But unfortunately, Gwen didn't have anyone among the nobles to rely on, leaving Vergil to help pick up the slack.
One at a time, a transmission was called, bringing a group through with them at the back.
"Remember, when they send the transmission, don't respond. I will move forward and send a transmission to you. Don't send any transmissions yourself until we are through the gate and out of sight of the golds and diamonds of the Far clan.
Vergil understood he really did. Revealing his existence as a potential psychic could unbalance the current state of psion society. They were a people with morals and ethics and certain lines they didn't like to cross without very good reasons. Their republic of Neptune was named after the Roman god of the sea to honor the human societies they destroyed. Even if humans were considered animals to them, humans were at least highly sophisticated animals.
If he hadn't seen Gwen go through 20 humans like a bunch of happy meals, he might even believe it. But, unfortunately, reality didn't care about ethics or ideals, and people with power made up excuses to keep it all the time. So if he wanted to survive, he needed to lay low and grind out his cultivation.
As their name was called, he turned his head and saw Tyson, the powerlifting state champion, back in high school. The man looked good and terrible at the same time. Vergil could see the lights in the man's eyes dying out, but his body remained incredibly powerful. 10 years out of high school, the man looked like he could bench press a car, and with cultivation, he probably could.
Tyson hadn't helped or pushed Vergil towards the gate when Gwen came. Vergil was thankful for being out of there and away from his past. It was why he left and never returned, but somehow, it all returned to him.
For old times' sake, Dante and Clay played a little prank on him, giving him flashbacks to the past. He couldn't let it go; if he didn't reconcile it, it would become an inner demon.
Clay was dead, so that left Dante.
Tyson was also someone he had a past with if more cordial. He wanted to apologize for not keeping in touch and being a friend. Letting friendships die on the vine was something he had done too often in life. Maybe he could help Tyson protect his mind if it wasn't too late. Only the gold and diamond rank psions would notice if he sent a transmission.
Vergil gave Tyson a look and decided he could last a bit longer. Once Tyson was himself again, Vergil would hit him for not helping.
He couldn't help but wonder if Dante was still in the cell or if he had escaped somehow. Peak prenatal was strong, but he didn't know how much punishment a psion could take.
"That's us; let's go through and head west. If my map is correct, that should lead us to a system of caves in the more dangerous side of the dimension. All the safe veins will have already been claimed by the Far and Su clan members that went through before us." Gwen said.
Gwen floated forward, and he followed her, careful to keep close and avoid the tentacles of hungry gold or diamond psions. Vergil saw them stretching dozens of feet with tentacles almost grazing the ground. He saw one brain-dead slave get taken and couldn't risk that happening to him.
They shot through the portal, and Vergil had no idea which direction was west but followed Gwen. He could feel her unique psi signature. His Ostrich Oscillation skill continued to pay dividends. But that wasn't all; there were vital energy sources all over the place.
Gwen grabbed him with her lower tentacles, and he nearly freaked out before her hands grabbed him. "We will find a cave and quickly set up a base of operations. Don't stray far from my side; there are many predators in the area." Gwen said.
The second she said that a 6ft tall chimp with three eyes, silver fur, and tentacles flowing from its back climbed up from a rocky alcove. Vergil heard the rush of water down below as it hit the tide before the ape screamed and rushed on all fours. Chimps were 4 to 5 times stronger than the average human and could rip a man's face off, and they bite.
That very important information flew through his mind as the chimp leaped at him, arms grasping forward, and Gwen flew out of reach.
He tried to feel what was going on with her, but there was only panic. Vergil activated burst on instinct since the technique had been learned and felt his psychic energy burn little holes in his skin, and he punched out.
Vergil was already leaning back away from the blow when he swung, and Vergil's punch only had enough power to move the animal's head back a little. He hit the ground, and it bit into his shoulder. Vergil's initial punch knocked off the animal's aim slightly.
He swung with all his might; pain from the bite, the technique, and fear had brought out more strength than he would normally have. The ape tumbled back, ripping a chunk out of Vergil's chest while the cultivator screamed.
"Dante, I hate you." He screamed the words in his mind before transmitting them to the beast.
It stumbled back from the sudden transmission. Vergil poured more power into it. "I hate you," Vergil screamed from his mind, and the ape cringed like it had been struck before he threw a running punch.
Blood spurted from his wound with his heartbeat, but Vergil hadn't let go of the Burst technique, and the pain and blood loss was making him crazy. That's why he punched the monkey in the face. It stumbled back half a step and looked more bewildered that Vergil had punched it than anything.
"Hate," Vergil yelled as he delivered a second blow.
The chimp's head barely moved before it swiped with its hand. Vergil felt a tooth crack and went sprawling. It laughed at him while it ran up and slapped him again. Vergil grabbed a rock as he fell from the latest slap and smashed it against the ape's face repeatedly with everything he had.
It struggled at first while he bashed it with the really hard rock.
Vergil stumbled back from the gore he left behind and put pressure on the wound in his chest before focusing on the image to activate the Black Goat's Embryo technique. As it drained what remained of his psi away, he felt slime cover his body and fill the new apertures covering his body.
As the warm liquid manifested on his skin from the summoning, he felt better. The method of body refinement he chose was a little unorthodox, but it felt like he might survive thanks to it.
"I'm sorry," Gwen said.
"Everyone gets scared. Did you see that guy?" Vergil said.
"If I had fought him, you wouldn't have been hurt," Gwen said.
Vergil felt the warm liquid sink inside him while he cultivated vital energy. It felt almost like a warm shower.
He stood up, took off the remnants of his shirt, and tossed it aside. While the confrontation hadn't gotten him to the initial realm, it was in the right direction. There were ki techniques to turn the corpses of defeated enemies into pills, but he needed to reach the natal realm before he had access to them. But there was something he could take from the monster. So he reached into the blood and gore and pulled out a tiny black stone.
"A Void Pearl contains mysterious energy needed for cultivating gold rank psions to diamond. One of them is worth 100 deep pearls." Gwen said.
"Then why aren't the golds hunting them to extinction?" Vergil asked.
"Dimensions that hold leviathan veins have restrictions to keep monsters stronger than silver at bay. Unfortunately, those same restrictions also limit a gold's power. So while they could kill a few apes, it is more efficient to trade deep pearls for them than to come here themselves. There is also the risk of dying from the ape's fangs." She used two sticks to lift a pair of pitch-black fangs. "If this had bitten me, I would have died slowly and withered away. You seem fine even though humans should take a bite even worse than my kind, and why are you wet." Gwen said.
"I have a body refinement technique that also heals my body," Vergil said. "Can't you project a shield or something to protect yourself from the fangs?"
"Are you secretly from a human cultivation clan? Never mind, don't answer that. Very few clans have access to those techniques, and they guard them jealously," Gwen said.
Vergil searched for a good mental technique that she could use that would protect her whole body and transmitted it.
"Here, guard it jealously, and don't let any of those Far clan assholes get it," Vergil said.
She went still before pulling him into a hug with lots of tentacles. He spat out a mouthful of blood and realized his ribs were still a little on the cracked side.
"Sorry, where did you get it. This technique will work for me; all I have to do is mirror it to one of my managerial brains, and it will connect it to activate automatically with my sub-brains. It looks simple but efficient. While I have psi, those apes won't be able to hurt me." Gwen said.
Vergil coughed out another mouthful of blood when she squeezed him harder.
"If you like it so much, then do me a favor and find us someplace to rest for the night," Vergil said.
"Is that really all you want. Somehow I thought you would want to kiss me or play with my tentacles." Gwen said.
When he searched the void pearl with his technique, he found a tiny trace of spirit energy. Even a tiny amount could help his ki cultivation. However, if he wanted to get really strong, he needed hundreds of them. He needed to cultivate his body and ki up to the peak stage to get the most out of a leviathan vein. That would allow him to jump to the natal realm and give him room for more techniques. Every stage gave him room for techniques, but only mind cultivation would allow Vergil to get the most out of the brand.
"Are there any other items like these that golds need?" Vergil said.
"We are here to cultivate, not search for treasure. Cultivating by a Leviathan vein is worth hundreds of years of cultivation in the outside world. Vergil, I'm silver; my foster parents are silver; only my uncle managed to break through the bottleneck." Gwen said.
This was about her family's honor. Vergil didn't understand, but he could help her out. Before they found a vein, he needed to hunt the apes and grind away at his cultivation.
After a lot of searching, they found a defensible cave with a high ceiling for her. When they entered, she immediately went to work pushing her tentacles through each and every crack in search for a hint of a leviathan vein.
Vergil cycled Ostrich Oscillation and found what he thought was one of the veins. It felt like a nuclear power plant dumping constant bursts of psi into the air. Unfortunately, the energy it outputted wasn't close enough to use his ki strings to cultivate. His three strings reached out but couldn't quite get to it.
Between them and the geyser of psychic energy were nasty creatures with what he could call cores of spiritual energy. They were tiny powerful things that he desperately needed if only his body wasn't in rough shape. Of course, he would have to finish healing before going hunting.