Still burning up and in unbearable pain.
He stepped on a log and jumped into the air,white streaks of steam being excreted from his body.
He landed in the water with a big splash,but the water only increased the pain. He groaned, gritting his teeth, and the pain suddenly tripled just as green smoke started coming out of his body. It was like steam shooting out of a teapot.
Omari ran out of the water and started rolling on the ground.
"Ahhhh!
Ahhhhhhhhhh!"He screamed his lungs burning until he finally passed out from the unbearable pain, his body disappearing in a cloud of green fog-like energy.
Omari slowly opened his eyes,groaning. He sat up straight and started looking at his body. Everything seemed okay except it was the next day in the morning. Dark clouds started to gather, making it feel like it was night time again.
"You thought you could kill me and get away with it,"an ominous voice echoed.
Omari looked around in fear,spinning around, hoping to find the location of the ominous voice.
He stopped spinning and was about to run forward when he heard the sounds of someone coming towards him from the front.
He turned around about to run in the other direction and ran into the hands of the cultivator he had killed.The cultivator grabbed his neck tightly.
His body looked like an undead,"You are a monster, truly a cursed child." the man hissed.
He slammed Omari on the ground and sat on him.Omari was choking, struggling to set himself free.
"You deserve death, demon child," the cultivator spat.
Die!!He barked.
Omari woke up with a deep inhale,taking in as much air as he could into his lungs. With ragged coughs, he started breathing normally realizing it was a nightmare. Looking around, he quickly shielded his eyes with his hand to block the sun that was shining too brightly on him. He slowly stood up, noticing that it was already in the afternoon.
"It's safe to assume father has already sent more hunters after me,"he spoke.
His mind quickly remembered the events of the previous night.He lifted his arms, looking at his body to see if there were any changes. His body didn't have many changes, but it felt a bit lighter and more fit than before.
Instead of wasting time,he decided to rinse his clothes in the river and take a quick bath to remove the mud he was sleeping in. He walked over to the water and looked at his reflection first, and got surprised to see that his eyes had changed. They were now dark green in color.
He took his clothes off and quickly rinsed them,also taking a quick bath. After a few minutes, he was standing away from the river wearing wet clothes.
"They'll dry up while I run."
He then took off running back to where he had left his new sword and cultivation book.
"My speed has increased...cultivation huh, this feeling is amazing," he thought, dashing through the forest. He planted his foot about to jump over a bush and shot into the air, stopping a few inches close to being above the treetops.
"What the heck,"he muttered before tumbling down to the ground, landing flat on the ground in an explosion of dust.
"That hurt,"he uttered, standing up, the bit of pain he felt from the landing vanishing. He limped for three steps then bolted again, enjoying his newfound speed.
It didn't take him long to reach the tree he had left his stuff.
He stopped and started looking at his body again,"I don't even feel tired. Is this Body Refinement? If those hunters show up, I have high chances of outrunning them and escaping."
He sat down and started reading his cultivation book some more.
"I need more knowledge and I also need to control my excitement and greed...I almost died last night."
He froze for a few seconds,"What was that green smoke? Did it save me? Cultivation is so mysterious, I can't wait to see where this takes me."
After an hour of reading,he stood up and stretched his limbs.
"So Body Refinement has two stages, Superhuman Body and the Unbreakable Body. After that, a person becomes an Awakened. This is when I'll finally be able to sense qi, or spiritual energy. My senses will also be heightened and I'll be able to strengthen my body with the natural qi inside my body.
Then lastly,the Spiritualist. I'll be able to use spiritual energy outside of my body. These are the basic stages of cultivation for beginners..."
Before he could finish,a loud noise echoed from his stomach. He hadn't eaten in a day and a half.
"If I hunt and kill any animal,I'll have to light a fire to cook it and that will make it easier for the hunters to find me. I can't stay here for long; the city might be the safest place for me."
To distract himself from hunger,he decided to test his body while waiting for nightfall.
He jumped into the air,landing on the side of a tree, and instantly pushed himself off that tree to another. He wooshed through the air and slammed back first into the other tree and fell down, crashing on the ground.
Ahhh!!he groaned, getting up.
"He's this way,let's follow his tracks," a voice echoed. It was a bit far for a normal human to hear, but he was able to hear them: the hunters.
Looking up,he noticed the sun was already going down. He picked up his sword and wrapped it in the cultivator's robe and tied it around his back.
"If I start going back now,it'll already be dark when I run into them."
A smirk appeared on his face,"Let the hunt begin."
It was now dark and Omari was hiding behind a bush,watching at least fifteen hunters searching for him.
"If I go straight to the city,they'll surely find my tracks instantly; I need to throw them off."
Omari crouched low in the shadows,eyes locked on the nearest hunter, a man who had strayed slightly from the group. His heart thudded, not with fear but with a cold, focused adrenaline.
"This is risky...but here we go."
He burst from the bush like a shadow,dagger flashing. The man didn't even have time to gasp before Omari's blade cut across his throat.
The other hunters quickly turned to see one of their own drop to the ground,holding his throat, blood spraying out while he let out a gurgling cry.
"If they want a cursed child,I'll give them one," Omari sneered.
He brandished his bloody dagger,yelling,
"Those who look for me,I, the devil's spawn, will gladly accept your lives!"
Kill him!!!
The hunters charged,shouting for his death. The first swung his spear wildly, but Omari sidestepped, spun, and drove his dagger into the man's neck.
Another fell.He yanked his blade free and with the side of his eye he saw an archer and smirked. He saw the archer draw his bow. An idea, born of desperation, flashed in his mind.
The archer released his arrow,and instead of a full dodge, Omari twisted his body at the last second, turning a kill shot into a glancing blow. The arrowhead tore through his shoulder, and he cried out in genuine, searing pain.
Ahhhh!!He groaned, holding his shoulder.
With a green glow in his eyes,Omari charged forward. He dodged one spear slash.
Ngrrrrr!!He gritted his teeth in pain and with a feral grin, the green glow igniting in his eyes, Omari turned and sprinted deeper into the forest.
"He's injured;he won't go far. Let's kill that bastard," the one leading the hunters yelled.
Omari stuck his hand in his pouch and pulled out five orange pills.He took one and returned the rest. His bleeding stopped and he continued to run at full speed. Once he was a bit far, he swerved and shot upwards, landing on a tree branch.
He took a deep breath and jumped towards another tree and hugged it,holding it tightly, and climbed up the tree. He jumped to three more trees going back and stayed up there for a few minutes. He was going back to where the hunters were chasing him from.
"That was a crazy plan;getting stabbed hurts like hell," he thought, gritting his teeth. The hunters ran below him on the ground.
"I still see his tracks;let's keep going forward... He's close."
He took another orange pill and started going down the tree slowly,trying as hard as he can not to make any noise.
Once on the ground,he made his way towards the city. He started running after realizing that the hunters had gone way too deep into the forest looking for him.
Omari reached the city after a little while.The guards let him in since they were used to seeing him pass through while going to school.
He walked around in the city,looking around, and every time he would see a food stand he would swallow hard with hunger.
He passed through a blacksmith's store,dragging his feet from exhaustion. A few meters away he stopped and walked backwards. He stopped in front of the blacksmith's store with a smile, "That's it."
The forge rang with the hammering of steel as Omari stepped into the shop.Sparks danced in the air, and the blacksmith, a broad-shouldered man with soot on his arms, glanced up.
"Aye,kid, this ain't a place for children," he grunted, wiping his brow.
"I'm not here to play,"Omari spoke, his voice steady. "I'm here to sell a sword."
The man's eyes flicked to the bundle on Omari's back.
"Alright kid,let me see what you got."
He watched as Omari unwrapped the weapon,the silver blade gleaming with a faint, unnatural glow, its handle shimmering blue in the firelight. The blacksmith's breath caught.
"Kid,where did you get such a fine sword?" he asked.
Omari handed the sword to the blacksmith,"You see, I'm homeless and I needed some money, so I watched people die and took their belongings."
The blacksmith was busy running his hand across the sword,admiring the craftsmanship, but froze when he heard Omari.
Ha ha ha ha!He let out an awkward laugh, "Aye, can't blame a young lad for trying to survive."
He continued,"So, what's your price?"
Even though Omari knew that the sword should cost a lot of money,he needed to act a bit like a homeless kid, not too much, not too less.
"Fifteen,"he spoke.
The blacksmith laughed,"Okay kid, you drive a hard bargain; I'll give you your fifteen silver."
"Gold, fifteen Gold," Omari corrected him.
The man froze for a second and scratched his head a bit,"I don't think I can give you that much, kid, but if you lower the price, I'll give you...."
"I think I need to find another buyer,"Omari interrupted, putting his hand forward. "Can I have my sword back?" he signaled.
The old man walked three steps back in fear,hugging the sword, "I can't lose this beauty; this is my key to many riches."
Omari's gaze turned murderous,the green glow slowly lighting up.
The blacksmith reached for a drawer and opened it.He took a pouch and threw it at Omari.
Omari took the pouch and checked;all the gold was in it. He turned around about to leave.
"Hey kid,if you find more....merchandise, come and find me."
Omari stopped for a second,"Sure," he waved as he left the store.
A few minutes later,Omari had bought a fresh pair of clothes and was sitting in a restaurant, eating his heart out.
"Next,I'll have to find the Cultivation World."