808: Blank Pages

Blank Pages

Dyon sat, meditating with his eyes closed. He was used to quickly figuring out the solution to things, even when they were related to the complexities of the martial world. But, this seemed a bit different.1

The truth was that Dyon had a possible solution already, two, even. The problem was that both would cause irreparable harm to himself. It wasn't something to be done lightly. So, he had spent all of this time trying to think of other possible solutions.

He needed to get this Dragon Refining Arts tome to acknowledge his existence as being worthy of receiving its final 18 pages, but he was currently paying for the quick benefits he received from the Demon Sage.

The first was to pull blood essence from his new talent base and drip it onto the tome. The best-case scenario in this case was that it only took a single drop, the worst case was that it took even more…

The second possibility was less damaging to Dyon, but he was still unwilling. That was, of course, taking a drop of the Demon Sage's blood essence that had yet to be integrated into himself.

This might make Dyon seem a bit stingy, especially if the tome really did only require a single drop. But, he wasn't entirely wrong here. Integrating past even 80% was labor intensive because every percent beyond that point was practically a heaven shattering change. If Dyon gave up a drop, that would be the equivalent of diving up a step or two towards that end.

One top of all of this, Dyon wasn't in the business of kneeling down to techniques created by people who had long since left this world. If he wanted benefits, he would take them. Why would he ever give up something of himself to gain them?

Suddenly, Dyon's eyes flashed open, and intelligent light sparkling throughout them. Yet, they held a cold and unfeeling depth to them that made it clear that although he had buried his anger, it was very much still there.

Let's say that the tome really did need its owner to cultivate to the 9th stage first. On the surface, that would make this a helpless situation. However, Dyon saw this differently.

To someone from a science intensive world, Dyon saw everything as a chain of cause and effect. For the tome to be able to recognize someone only once they reached the 9th level, there had to be a certain trigger. That trigger could be any number of things.

One example could be vein surface area. Another could be Dragon Blood Integration. Yet another could be Dragon Soul strength. The list was endless, and it might even be a combination of things.

There had to be something within the book that was capable of checking such things. That meant that Dyon's first task before doing anything else, was to find what this thing was.

The most obvious possibility was an array. Dyon didn't think there were many other things capable of fulfilling such a responsibility.

Unfortunately, Dyon immediately saw two issues with this.

Firstly, this was a body cultivation tome, not a soul cultviation tome.

The second problem built off of the back of the first. Even if there was a person highly proficient in both body and soul cultivation, enough to create such a technique and build such a complex array, there was still no way that Dyon wouldn't have been able to see such an array.

So, Dyon's next thoughts were quite interesting. Wasn't the process of forging yourself a completely new set of veins from a species that wasn't even your own bending the laws of the universe as well? If that was the case… Did he inadvertently stumble upon the body cultivation equivalent of array alchemy and magic?

In that case, could it be that this tome relied on a body cultivation equivalent of array alchemy?!

Dyon immediately started rifling through his master's memories. If such a thing existed, there must be something about it.

Suddenly, what he was looking for flashed in Dyon's mind: Runic Veins. The practice was also colloquially known as Rune making, Totem forging, and those who practiced it were known as Rune Masters.

Dyon was immediately intrigued. This Runic Vein theory was essentially telling him that if he mastered it well enough, he could change the capabilities of any living thing? What if he applied this theory to his array alchemy, it might even be able to lower to requirements for creating higher level plants!

There were vein patterns capable of increasing speed, strength and even speed of thought. However, they all came in two major categories.

The first category was a limitation category. This was when a runic vein was inscribed on a runic tablet and infused into the skin as a tattoo.

The second category was one that made Dyon's eyes flash with a sudden realization.

Highly skilled runic masters were able to use the human body as their canvas. This method wouldn't have any limits at all and would only be based on the skill level of the rune master. However, it came with an added level of risk and a fatality percentage that did depend on the talent and cultivation of the person.

Dyon found the second method so interesting because the Dragon Refining Arts was exactly such a method!

This wasn't just a peak divine cultivation technique… It was a rune of a level even Dyon's master couldn't properly place!

Unfortunately, there was another problem. To start the path of Runic Vein Theory was far crueler than array alchemy or magic. It required creating a fire similar to that of the aurora flame, but the way to do so even made Dyon cringe. In order to create the runic flame, Dyon had to actually burn his blood essence!

The good news was that since the flame would become a part of him and be nurtured by his body cultivation exactly like his soul nurtured his aurora flame. This meant that there would, theoretically, be no loss in talent.

The bad news was that even the slightest mistake meant that it would become impossible to recover. This was because you were converting your blood essence to a form that made it impossible to re-integrate.

Dyon had two trump cards though that wouldn't allow him to fail.

The first was overwhelming body cultivation talent. And the second reason was the reason he was truly confident. He had his master's memories!

pqdm.com