Chapter 106. Crystal
Chapter 106. Crystal
[Sword Monarch - 800,000
Absolute zone - everything in a radius of 3 meters is the user's absolute zone. User is able to wield swords at 3x power, speed and accuracy.
Faded steps - an unpredictable step of footwork that allows for the user to enter the enemies range in an instant without detection. Sword strike directly after faded steps is 3x as strong.
Tengoku + Kyoki
Bankai form]
Rei looked at the latest description of his sword monarch ring and smiled at the possibilities.
'If I combine it with the Samsara eye's then I'll have an almost perfect defence within a 3 meter radius. I wonder how far this'll increase too when it reaches 1,000,000. The faded steps is also good as people would have no way to detect me should I attempted to enter their range in a fight.' Rei thought as he sat on his chair with right leg crossed over his left. Rei rested his head on his arm as he watched Bai Wu sleep with such a peaceful expression. Ever since Rei started to cultivate qi, he realised that he no longer needed sleep while it was still an option since it would help increase his energy recovery in the time he slept.
'Currently I'm a rank 30 spirit grand master but my overall power is at a rank 80 spirit saint. Though I can't last as long as them since my abilities take too much qi. Once I increase my qi reserves this problem should be gone.' Rei thought in his head.
"Heheheh~" Rei suddenly heard Bai Wu giggle as she hugged the bracelet he gave her earlier.
Rei smiled softly seeing this.
"This girl...what is she even dreaming about." Rei muttered as he stood up and moved the cover up again as she had knocked it away.
Rei sat back down but then frowned.
"Aiko has used a life saving barrier.....only 4 more remain..." Rei muttered.
"Seems like she chose the path of trying to follow me." Rei shook his head as he looked out the window.
He could see that the city were preparing for something grand as they started to put decoration up in the city.
"So not only are there lots of people coming to the city but they also started to decorate the city." Rei remarked as he rested his head on his hand and looked at the city road. Even though it is still awhile before sunrise, Rei could see many people setting up stalls early.
"That reminds me, I have a total of 9 rings I can make and so far I have 2 of them. So I have 7 more to go....I need to try make rings for all of my abilities as they only take mana." Rei muttered whilst shaking his head. Due to his second rebirth, all of his abilities had adapted to his mana so unless he uses mana he can't access them. By infusing them into rings, Rei will be able to broaden his combat ability so that even if he is thrown into an unknown world like this, he would be able to use his skills.
The sun slowly rose as the sunlight decorated the streets. Rei watched as the dark streets slowly lit up, the stalls started to open as people started to cook breakfast for people going by.
"I haven't cooked for a long time...maybe I should start again." Rei muttered looking at his hand.
"Mn...." Rei heard Bai Wu waking up and turned around.
Bai Wu, sat up slightly as the cover was almost falling off her. Her hair was slightly messy, while she yawned slightly and rubbed her eyes. Rei looked with a soft smile as he got the comb out.
"Morning Bai Wu." Rei said as he sat behind Bai Wu and started to comb her hair.
"Morning~" Bai Wu said still slightly out of it. Rei knew Bai Wu had her moments of confusion waking up so he only smiled while waiting for her to wake up fully. She bobbed her head around gently while Rei brushed her hair.
Rei finished brushing Bai Wu's hair as she was still half asleep. Packing away the comb, Rei went through his own morning routines.
Bai Wu walked behind Rei as she poke his shoulder. Rei turned around and saw Bai Wu, before saying anything, Rei held his hands between his and Bai Wu's lips.
Rei raised an eyebrow.
"Trying to kiss me as you wake up?" Rei said causing Bai Wu to frown in frustration at her failed attempt.
"Che! Lei too on guard." She said stomping away.
Rei only chuckled as he followed behind her.
"Bai Wu, there seems to be a festival going on today, want to go have a look?" Rei asked.
"!! Festival!! FOOD!" Bai Wu said with her eyes lit up.
"Hahaha you little glutton." Rei laughed slightly.
"But human food taste better than just energy." Bai Wu complained as Rei could only agree. While he could survive on just energy, it tasted quite bland if one was to be honest.
"Hmm, then I'll show you what a real cook can do." Rei said as he walked to the staff of the inn.
"Excuse me but can I borrow your kitchen? Of course i'll pay for me borrowing it." Rei said as the staff went to ask. She returned not too long after and gave an ok sign.
"Bai Wu, wait a little ok? I'll make you some food." Rei smiled as he walked into the kitchen leaving a smiling Bai Wu.
"Heheee~ Lei's food in the morning~ Lei's food in the morning~" She hummed with a blissful smile while watching Rei preparing to cook.
Looking around at the ingredients, Rei decided to go with something simple yet delicious in the morning.
Using his own method of cooking, Rei broadened the horizon's of the chefs in this inn when he was making everything with amazing accuracy.
Right now, Rei was operating 6 pans all by himself as he was also working on making the syrup.
As Rei was making the food, the noise it created sounded like music as everything was rhythmic. Bai Wu felt like she could watch this forever, Rei's serious face as he made something just for her made her smile uncontrollably.
It didn't take long for Rei to finish the breakfast as he presented the 6layered pancake breakfast for Bai Wu. On top of the pancakes were his freshly made syrup using concept of time to speed things up. The syrup wasn't too sticky or too sweet. It was perfect for a light yet delicious breakfast.
"Try it." Rei said with a smile as he put away his apron.
Bai Wu smelled the aroma and got her fork. Stabbing it into the pancake, Bai Wu saw that the fork easily went through the pancake yet it wasn't flimsy. Bringing it to her mouth, Bai Wu took a bit as she closed her eyes.
"Ahhh~" Bai Wu moaned as she tasted the food.
Rei's heart suddenly thumped seeing this while everyone currently blushed at Bai Wu's display.
'So she can restrain herself to not gobble it down. Otherwise it would make her look bad. This seems to be a nice way for her to train her will.' Rei thought with an approving smile.
*Clang clang clang!!
Bai Wu started to eat the pancakes in her own little world the moment Rei thought that.
'And there it goes out the window.' Rei thought as his initial smile twitched.
"Customer, I know it's embarrassing to ask you. But can you cook more portions, we'll pay you for each dish and the ingredients are on us." The manager said as he can tell how nice the food was just from the aroma.
"How much per dish?" Rei asked as they should make it worth while for him.
"How about 1 gold per dish?" The manager asked, as he knew that while they maybe making a loss here, the attraction of godly food will draw in more customer's in the future making it all back.
"2 Gold." Rei said without letting the owner lower the price. His tone stated either take it or leave it. Rei initially wanted to cook for Bai Wu but since this guy wanted to promote his inn using his food. Rei though he should extort the guy a little.
"Hmmm....fine 2 gold." The manager said after some long thoughts.
Rei nodded while he started to make the food. The aroma started to even attract the customers outside of the inn as they all queued up to eat Rei's food.
"Hello chef? Would you like to cook for the royal family." A nicely dressed butler asked after he had tried Rei's food.
"Not interested." Rei said as he finished cooking since there were no more ingredients.
"Manager, that is a total of 358 dishes. Ill let you off 8 of them so that'll be 700 gold." Rei said as the manager handed him a stack of money. Rei thanked him as he and Bai Wu walked out of the inn. However, what the manager didn't realise was that 15 of those dishes when to Bai Wu alone.
"Did you really need to eat 15 plates? Arn't you worried you'll get fat?" Rei asked causing Bai Wu to kick him in the leg.
"Hmph, Bai Wu wont get fat. The food Bai Wu eats becomes qi." Bai Wu pouted quietly so that only Rei could hear.
"Is that so...." Rei muttered.
"Young chef! Wait up!" The butler shouted as he finally got out from the crowd of people.
"Are you sure you don't want to cook for the royal family? Think about the benefits you can get." The butler tried to persuade Rei as he talked about the benefits he would get. Titles, roles, money. Each time Rei rejected but the butler didn't give up. He didn't want to let such a talented chef go.
"For the last time no! I'm not interested in cooking for the royal family." Rei said clearly displeased. The butler only lamented as finally got the cue that Rei won't ever say yes.
The butler sighed as he walked away.
"He finally left." Bai Wu said in relief as she had wanted to kick the butler away if Rei didn't tell her to hold back.
"Yeah, now let's go see what this whole festival is about." Rei said as they wondered the city streets. Rei could see that everyone were either selling food or carving sculptures out of crystals.
Rei grabbed a pamphlet that someone was handing out.
[Crystal Sculpting Event.
As celebration for the Crystal Festival after the city had discovered a huge crystal mine, we are holding a event to see who could make the best sculptures. Entry fee of 5 gold per person. Winner will get the biggest crystal this city had mined up, the thousand year dream, as well as a winner's reward money of 300,000 gold.]
It was then followed by an image of the crystal. The crystal in the picture seemed to contain a myriad of colours as the size and width was perfect for a sculpture.
"Hey Lei, this seems interesting. I wonder if I can win if I make a carrot?" Bai Wu asked causing Rei to laugh.
"It'll have to be a really good carrot for it to win." Rei said patting Bai Wu's hair.
"Come on, we have some time to register. Since this is only a festival and nothing major, we should enjoy it while we can." Rei said as Bai Wu nodded with excitement.
"Crystal carrot! Crystal carrot!" She called out excitedly.
Rei only smiled as he lead her to the large venue the map pointed them to.
"Hello, can I register two for the crystal sculpting event?" Rei said as he handed the person 10 gold.
"Yes, you shall be contestant 425 and you are 426." She said handing Rei and Bai Wu their badges.
"Please enter the main stadium area as your crystal shall be prepared soon." She said.
Rei and Bai Wu walked to the main plaza and saw that the spectator seat was almost filled to the brim.
"hueh~ So many people!" Bai Wu said looking around.
"Of course, since this is such a large festival, people are bound to be interested." Rei said as he led Bai Wu to a empty spot. Soon staff showed up as they handed Rei and Bai Wu a medium sized crystal.
Rei looked up as he can see a big screen as it would go around the contestants and look at their crystals. Everyone had the same type of crystal to make things fair.
Rei and Bai Wu got the tools needed as they waited for the cue to start.
"I thank you all for coming to this event hosted by the royal family. As celebration to the recent discovery of the crystal mine, we will start the tournament to see who is the best at crystal sculpting. Mind you, we may also have some hidden masters that will surprise us with their products. You have 3 hours to make your sculpture and...START!!!" The person shouted as as fireworks or spirit abilities shot up.
Bai Wu immediately started to make her carrot as she carved the crystal with care. Rei smiled seeing her concentration and decided to make a sculpture of him when he held Bai Wu as a rabbit. Rei crossed his legs as he had a gentle smile. The screen zoomed in on Rei as many females were swooned by Rei's handsome appearance while sculpting with a small smile.
"Oh my goodness! He's so handsome!!!"
"Where did this prince charming show up from?!?!"
Many females started to chatter while members of the royal family watched him as their head butler told them that he was the chef he wanted to recruit but failed.
"Hmm seems like he is using a spirit ability to help him sculpt." The prince said looking at Rei.
Meanwhile, Rei was having a easy time as the samsara eyes helped him see everything with detail. This allowed Rei to carve the crystal with ease as he knew where to cut and how to make the sculpture detailed.
Three hours passed as the fireworks shot up signalling everyone to stop.
"Ahhh!! But Bai Wu haven't finished her carrot yet ;" Bai Wu made a pained face as she looked at her half made carrot.
Rei pattered her head with a small smile.
"I'll buy you some crystals and tools so you can make more carrots when we get home." Rei said as Bai Wu turned to him with sparkling eyes.
"Really?" She asked with excitement as Rei nodded. Bai Wu saw what Rei did and was surprised.
"Isn't that Lei holding rabbit Bai Wu?" She asked picking up the detailed crystal. Rei's small smile as he was holding Bai Wu, his posture, and the rabbit. The sculpture looked like it was taken directly out of the scene.
"Beautiful...." She muttered.
Everyone one watched the screen zoom in on Rei's sculpture as the details presented was was amazing. They could even imagine the sculpture move to life right now and they won't be surprised.
"Well it seems like we have truly found a master today. From the natural expression of the contestant sculpting himself to the rabbit. Everything was done with so much detail even the masters we have invited today are impressed." The host shouted out as he got his assistants to bring out the rewards.
"Contestant number 425, congratulations for winning the event. Everyone let's give him a round of applause!!!" He shouted as everyone clapped their hands as they knew they wouldn't be able to add the same amount of detail as Rei even if they were given the twice the amount of time.
"Lei! Lei! Can you make a sculpture of Bai Wu?" She asked holding the sculpture that Rei made.
Seeing the excitement in her eye's Rei's smile softened as he nodded.
"Is it ok for me to sculpt it now?" Rei asked as he has just the image in his head.
"Sure, do you need any tools?" The host asked as everyone waited for what masterpiece Rei would make now.
"No need, with such a large crystal it'll take too much time." Rei said summoning out Tengoku and Kyoki with his sword monarch ring. Rei made sure that he didn't show his ring as people only saw two swords appear in Rei's hand.
"Hou~ now this is interesting." The prince said looking at Rei in the main area.
Rei got people to step back as he walked towards the crystal with his samsara eyes active.
'Absolute zone.' Rei thought as he started to carve at the crystal. Due to the fact that the two swords were reinforced with a mixture of qi and mana, their sharpness increased by many folds as it cut through the crystal like butter. Everyone could only see small hints of Rei's swords as his hands became a blur while he slowly shaved the crystal away. Bai Wu watched by the side wanting to see how Rei would make the crystal with a smile.
The originally large crystal started to reduce in size as a figure started to appear from the crystal. Since Rei had mastered the art of controlling his body, Rei was able to carve the sculpture easily whilst still capturing the details.
Rei smiled as he stopped. People started to frown when they saw that it was still a undetailed sculpture of a person. When they were about to protest, Rei walked up to it and gently knocked the crystal with his hands.
The crystal started to break off as it revealed a life like figure of Bai Wu sitting on a medium sized rock. She was scooping water in one hand with a gentle smile. Her expression, her hair, the clothes, everything looked so beautiful as the crystal shone slightly with a myriad of colours making it seem even more beautiful.
"Let's leave the name as it is. The thousand year dream." Rei said carving words "Thousand year dream" into the rock.
The stadium was silent as they couldn't help but be mesmerised by the sculpture. Rei turned to a emotional Bai Wu as he smiled.
"Lei!" She cried out as she never saw anything so beautiful in her life. She launched herself onto Rei as she hugged him. Rei only smiled gently as he accepted her hug.
"Do you like it?" Rei asked softly.
"I love it." She replied.
The screen zoomed in onto the duo as they hugged in front of the goddess like sculpture.