At the sect tournament, everyone is fawning over their darling. Eli, wielding the soulbound sword gifted by the master, has beaten me to the point of serious injury.
"Looks like you're losing this one, senior brother."
I cough up a mouthful of blood, trembling. My dignity is being ground into the dirt. I cannot lose. Not like this.
So I reach into my storage ring and pull out an AK-47.
The cold black barrel flashes in front of the entire crowd. The sect disciples erupt into laughter.
"What is that thing? Has losing his spirit root driven Ash completely insane? He just pulled out a piece of scrap metal."
Eli puts on a show of reluctance. "Senior brother, if you simply concede and hand over the jade spirit mushroom, I'll go easy on you. Otherwise, I'd hate for my sword to hurt you any worse."
I run my hand along the cold steel of the AK-47. Deep in my soul space, I roar.
"System, get out here. Give me an explanation. Now."
"Player, we got sent to the wrong world. But hey, a mission is a mission. Same job, different world. No big deal."
"Are you out of your mind? I was assigned the interstellar realm script."
Before I was sent here, the system swore up and down that our next destination was the interstellar realm. My one mission: survive to the very end. That's it. To survive a world of bullets and laser fire, I spent every single point I had earned across all my missions and converted them into standard interstellar grade weapons. Aircraft, particle guns, healing serum, laser cannons, everything I could possibly need.
My entire warehouse was stuffed to the brim with every kind of weapon imaginable. Even the corners were packed with plump little atomic bombs, nuclear bombs, hydrogen bombs, and canisters of tear gas. With all of this perfectly stockpiled and ready to go, the unreliable system dumps me in the cultivation realm, a world where people train using spirit energy.
What use are atomic bombs here? I blew every single point for absolutely nothing.
The system tries to appeal to my better judgment. "There's no rule saying you can't use this stuff in the cultivation realm. Besides, we have the cannon fodder script. Just hold on until the story wraps up and the mission is done."
"Why should I be cannon fodder? I'll just drop a nuke and level the entire sect. If I go down, everyone goes down. Nobody gets to walk away."
"Player, your spirit root is damaged. Your power can no longer grow, and your junior is running the beloved script, which means the story calls for him to step all over you and become the one everyone can never forget."
I almost laugh out loud. Last world, I was mowing down zombies with a machine gun, blood spraying across my face. My heart had grown as hard as a crystal core inside a zombie skull. And in this world, there is no way, absolutely no way, I am going to quietly be someone's stepping stone.
I raise the AK-47. Three shots, straight at everyone's darling, Eli.
I go on the offensive, and I will still make it to the end. No problem. Let's settle this once and for all. Are these Foundation stage nobodies tough enough, or are my twelve atomic bombs?
This rifle is ancient by interstellar standards, basically scrap metal on a real battlefield. Even among ordinary people, it would be considered outdated trash. But here in the cultivation realm, the sound of one pulled trigger is enough to scare someone's soul right out of their body.
Boom.
Eli doesn't even have time to react. His left arm is blown clean through. The spirit armor he was wearing is left with a charred, smoking hole. This precious gift from the master can't handle rapid fire bullets.
Eli freezes for a few seconds, then screams in agony. He clutches his arm and crumples to the ground.
Vera, who had been playing dead in the audience, vaults onto the stage in an instant. She pulls Eli hard against her chest.
"How dare you use a hidden weapon on him. Ash, get on your knees and apologize to Eli right now."
Her Gold Core stage pressure crashes down like a tidal wave. My knees buckle under the weight. I hit the ground with a heavy thud. Every bone in my body groans and cracks. One more second and I will snap in half.
I grind my back teeth and force out one sentence through gritted teeth. "If Eli lost, fine, I used a hidden weapon. But if I won, doesn't that mean Eli was the one ambushing me?"
The contempt on Vera's face is impossible to hide. "With your pathetic level of cultivation, who exactly do you think you can beat? Eli just wants the jade spirit mushroom you're hoarding, yet you keep dragging your feet. Some senior brother you are."
That jade spirit mushroom she's talking about, I dug it out of the frozen wastes with my own hands. That trip nearly killed me. I almost got eaten by spirit beasts. I barely made it back with this life-saving medicine.
Everyone in the cultivation realm knows a damaged spirit root means your cultivation is finished. That mushroom is the only thing standing between me and ruin. But the moment I returned to the sect, Eli heard the news and went straight to the master to demand it. And what does he even want it for? Just to give his cultivation a minor boost, a luxury he doesn't even need.
This kind of absurd demand, there was no way I was ever agreeing to it.
According to sect rules, if words don't settle it, the ring does. The winner takes the loser's treasure. The master, terrified his precious little darling might lose, actually lent Eli his own soulbound sword to help him steal my life-saving medicine. And today, during this very match, the entire sect has been whispering behind my back, calling me petty and selfish, too stingy to give my junior a single mushroom.
I stare straight into Vera's eyes, dripping with contempt, and speak each word slowly and clearly.
"Short memory, Vera. My spirit root was destroyed saving all of you. A spirit beast did this to me."
Two weeks ago in the secret realm, Eli couldn't keep his hands to himself and provoked a spirit beast. The entire group was about to be wiped out. To save my fellow disciples, I, already sick and weakened, risked my life to lure that beast away. The spirit beast hunted me for a full day and night. Not a single one of them came back to help me. In the end, I threw everything I had at it and barely made it out alive. But the poison destroyed my energy core completely.
Vera's expression flickers, just for a moment. Then the disgust floods back, heavier than before.
"That's your own fault for being too weak. Don't you dare try to blame your broken spirit root on us."
The very ingrates I saved pile on, tripping over each other to agree.
"Exactly. Your cultivation was just too weak. You couldn't even handle one spirit beast. Don't blame us for that."
"Now Eli, Eli was incredible. He cheered us on the whole way while we ran for our lives. He even offered up his spirit crane to carry everyone out of there."
Still on my knees, I let out a slow, cold laugh. Truly worthy of the title. Everyone's darling. I put my life on the line to draw the beast away, and in their eyes the real hero is the guy who cheered from the back.
My laugh must have set Vera off. She flicks her wrist with pure contempt. A bolt of spirit energy fires from her fingertip and drives straight for my chest. Her Gold Core pressure pins me in place. I cannot move a single muscle.
The system watches all of this unfold and is not the least bit concerned. Instead, it sighs with something like satisfaction.
"Now this is what the script calls for. You're the stepping stone. Remember, you're supposed to suffer all the way to the final chapter."
"Shut up."
I slap the system hard across my soul space, sending it tumbling.
The bolt of spirit energy stops dead in the air, less than two feet from my chest. A stream of code intercepts it and sends it shooting straight back. Before Vera even has time to switch from contempt to terror, the full force of the rebound slams into her and sends her blasting dozens of feet through the air.