Chapter 9: Scabbard

Ning Ruogong looked at the cloudy sky and sighed to himself. 'No, sun today as well.' It had been a few days since the sun was out in the sky.

The energy he was gathering had gone back to the same slow days.

A seagull came flying towards the rock and perched on top of it. "BOO!" A massive sudden sound ran out from the rock, scaring the bird away.

'Ahahaha,' Ning laughed to himself. Every since unlocking the 'Sounds' unlock, he could start making sounds at the expense of a few hundred energy for each second.

That 'boo' just there had cost him 300 Energy. But he didn't mind that. The 'Sounds' unlock had also brought along another change in him. He could now absorb energy from sounds as well. More specifically, he could gather the energy of the vibrating molecules which usually carried along with the sounds.

While the ocean itself was pretty quiet, the waves hitting the rock would make enough noise for him to gather a few hundred with each big wave. However, he was also in a very shallow location in the ocean, so the waves were never really that high.

'Status' he even thought in a tired voice.

[Status

Energy: 632,000

Task: Collect 368,000 more energy

Reward: You gain Parallel Thinking

Shop: LOCKED

]

The next upgrade was something called Parallel thinking. According to the system, it allowed the user to concentrate on two different things at once. Later on, he could also buy more mental strength to change his attention from 2 different things to 3, or 4. However, each upgrade cost exponentially more.

'Just one hail storm where the lightning hits me, and I would surely get it. I wonder how much energy the lightning bolt has? Hmm... that reminds me. Hey system, What's the next form of energy I will be able to absorb after sound?' he asked.

<The next form of energy you can absorb will be revealed when you gain a human body>

'Oh, then that means it's not that far away, right?' he asked.

<System cannot confirm how far away the unlocks are>

'Whatever,' he was happy that he would soon, well, relatively soon acquire the ability to become a human. 'Hmm... I wonder if I will have to possess another human to acquire the body, or the system will give me a new one.'

The system didn't answer anything. A few days went by and he finally got the sunny day he wanted. The warm heat on his 20 meters wide-body felt really great.

As he was sunbathing, he suddenly heard something. Something was making a lot of swooshing sounds in the air.

'No way!!!' he thought. He looked towards the sound and saw 2 people flying towards him from the ocean. Just as they were about to reach him, a giant fish jumped out of the water to bite at one of the people.

However, it seemed the people were prepared as they immediately dodged it and started throwing all kinds of magic attacks towards it. This fight was much closer to him, so Ning could see everything clearly.

'Wow,' he couldn't help but be entranced by the fight. The cultivators were tough, but the fish wasn't a slouch either. It suddenly jumped out once more and slapped one of the people with its tail.

'Oooh,' Ning internally winced as he was pretty sure that attack just now broke the man's right arm. The man wobbled a little as he tried to stabilize himself in the air. The person happened to near Ning now, so he could clearly see the man's mangled arms.

The man, however, didn't cry or even make a sound. It simply looked at the fish that was distracted by the other cultivator and took out his sword from its hilt in his waist.

The sword started glowing a frightening crimson red, and he tossed it towards the fish so fast, it created multiple sonic booms just on his arms.

<You have gained 102,366 Energy>

'Woah!, Just one of his attacks, and the sound alone gave me 100K energy. How much energy would I get if that thing really hit me?' he wondered.

The sword accurately hit the fish monster's head, blowing off a chunk of its head. The other cultivator started huffing very loudly as he was tired of fighting the fish alone.

"Losen eugb isen"

"Soeh"

Once again, they spoke languages that he didn't understand. They slowly flew towards him and sat down on his rock to rest. He could finally see them clearly.

Both of these men looked like they were in their 40s. The man with the mangled arms finally started showing pain on his face. Suddenly, he did something, and a small round object appeared in his hand.

' Is that a pearl?' he wondered. The man suddenly put it in his mouth and swallowed it.

'Woah, what was that?' he wondered. The system didn't seem to be answering any of his questions so he wondered if this was related to cultivation as well.

Suddenly, the man's arm which was entirely mangled started to change its shape. Slowly, the arm returned back to its clean, undamaged state. The only thing that was damaged now was his cloth.

The man slumped to the ground and sighed with relief.

'Hmm...' Ning started feeling something poking somewhere on him. He looked at what it was and realized it was that man's sword. Or more accurately, the sword scabbard.

'Wait,' he thought, 'That's an object touching me right? Hey, system. Can I switch body to that scabbard?' he asked excitedly.

<It will cost you 5000 energy. Are you willing?>

'Yes! Do it'

<Confirmed>

Suddenly, he felt his entire consciousness move from one body to another. His vision and proprioception were the two senses that gave him the most trouble as they took time to adapt.

Once he was done adapting, he looked around, he could finally see the rock he had been living on for the past few weeks. The men slowly started flying, and Ning could feel himself getting lighter. He looked towards the direction the two cultivators were flying.

'Southern Continent! Here I come.'